Craft Room Makeover

For Mother's Day, Bryan gave me a very thoughtful present. On top of my standard gift of scrapbooking supplies, Bryan also decided to turn his office into my craft room. He put a sign on his office door and told me that after he cleaned all his things out, I would have a craft room. Part of his motivation for this was the fact that when I would scrapbook or craft, I typically haul all my supplies from the office to the dining room table. When I would leave things out the boys would get into my supplies and would even routine my crafts sometimes.

So here is the problem with what my sweet husband did.... I could NOT work in that office! It was so disorganized and dysfunctional that my OCD brain couldn't focus! Recently I have felt the need to purge and reorganize the ENTIRE house. This started with the craft room (I am hoping to get buy making crafts for Christmas). With just a bit of money and a lot of organizing and purging, I would be able to have a space I could work in.

Here is what the office looked like about 2 weeks ago:

It was sort of a dumping ground for all sorts of things: Bryan's work stuff, old college textbooks, my teaching junk, kid art supplies, scrapbooking supplies - you get the picture!
Bryan's old desk that he cleared out completely for me. So loving - but this is NOT a desk that is conducive to crafting since there really isn't much actual desk space. So instead, it became where I dumped all the stuff I needed to file, work on, etc. Walking in the room and seeing this made me nuts!
My workspace. A table where I could spread out and really scrapbook since I like to have lots of space to work. This became where Bryan would set up and work when he needed to keep the boys from bothering him.

Here is what the office / craft room was transformed into:
I cleared off the desk for Bryan so he could still have a workspace in the office (at least for now, this time next year this area will have a desk for homeschooling).
My new Closetmaid cabinets and shelves! This makes my heart skip a beat! So many places to put things and so many ways to organize my supplies.
These shelves are for paper storage and scrapbooks in progress. Each of the boys has a clear 12x12 box where I keep the pages I am working on.
A rolling cart for scrapbooking supplies to stay organized in. Each drawer houses different supplies: embellishments, adhesives, cutting system parts, scraps, etc.
The finally product (for now). I would still like to paint to make the room a bit more serene, but that will have to wait!
Lots of shelves for scrapbooks, paper, accordion files, pictures ready to be scrapbooked, and supplies for gifts.
The boys even have a space that has been reorganized for all their craft supplies. The drawers are now complete with labels too!

Autumn Banner

I saw the idea for a cute holiday decoration on Nannygoat and I have been wanting to make one for quite some time. Since the ladies at Nannygoat used chipboard letters I was waiting to use those. However, since I was never really able to find large chipboard letters at Michaels and it was suggested on the blog, I just pulled out my handy dandy Cricut machine and cut out my own letters.

Using my Creative Memories cutting system, I cut out the backing circles and wavy edge circles. I also cut out some fall shapes on the Cricut (leaves, apples, acorns). It was all put together with Mod Podge. With the banner being entirely made of paper, I wanted to add some stiffness to the banner and seal all the layers together well. To string the banner I used some thick twine that I had on hand and then to add some finishing touches to it I tied on some grosgrain ribbons in two different widths.

World Card Making Day! UPDATED

As a mom of three, I have learned I have to get things done well in advance. So I used World Card Making Day to get ahead. I made 5 cards for our pastors for Pastor Appreciation Day the following Sunday. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of those. The boys and I also made Thanksgiving cards for Chris's teachers and a few others. Out came the box of paints, foam brushes, cardstock, and of course, the little hands! The end result... well, honestly they aren't completely finished, but I just need to add a few embellishments (ribbons, brads, rub-on transfers, etc.).

I started by cutting some dark brown cardstock to make a 6x6 inch card. Then over that the tan cardstock would be placed with the handprint turkeys. Next, I used CB's hand (the biggest one) and did two layers of "feathers" using his handprints. Notice I only used the fingers and not the thumb for the feathers.

After two layers with the larger handprints, I did two layers of CJ's hand (smaller handprint).
Here is a picture of the completed feathers.
I then used CB's hand again, this time the entire hand including the thumb to make the body of the turkey.
Stay tuned for more pictures of the finished product!

World Card Making Day!

Tomorrow (October 3rd) is World Card Making Day. I am hoping I can find some time to get to work on some cards. Pastor Appreciation week is coming up so I need to make cards for that, a little guy has a bday party this month, and I would love to just have some cards made and ready to go for the future!

We shall see if I have time to craft. As you can tell from this blog and the lack of posts, there hasn't been much crafting time lately!