Weekend projects!

I haven't been working on many crafts lately...mainly because I really want to get some organization done around my house. Some of it is a long time coming, so this weekend I dedicated to getting some jazz done! Here's what I accomplished.

1. Cleaned out my bedroom closet! It's pretty amazing how much stuff I forgot I had. It's really quite sad. But now it's all hanging nicely and I can be happy again. Now I can clean out the rest of my room and put up a divider that I'm working towards.

2. I finally hung up my shower radio in my shower. I know...doesn't seem like much, but it was on my towel rod and driving me nuts, so it finally made it into the shower!

3. Put up a curtain in my hall way. I have this little inset thing in my hall way where I put my garbage can and the cat litter box. For two years when I walked by this would annoy me. So I bought a shower curtain (fabric of course) and a shower rod and put it up. At first I was not so excited about it, but the more I walk past it the happier I am! I might alter the curtain later, but for now...the results are shown poorly below. The whole project cost me less than 20 bucks.

Before - Notice the ugliness that is apparent.

After! All hidden!

What's going on?

I haven't finished any projects this week...although I've started a few. I'm going to make the up-cycled sweater boots tonight hopefully and finish a gift for a friend, so I'll have something to post! My to do list is getting shorter and I couldn't be any happier!!!

Happy weekend!

m

Project: Brag Book

My mom asked me to make a gift for her friend who is going to become a grandma soon. The other gift (a birthday journal, see previous post) was also a gift for this friend. This is a 5x7 album with 12 pockets, 24 pages. Each one has a background and room for a 4x6 picture. Now when the little one comes, the new Grandma can just pop in some pictures and show off the little bundle of joy to everyone she runs into!

Project: Birthday Journal

I just finished a birthday journal my mom ordered. It is for a friend who is going to be a grandma soon to give to her son and daughter-in-law. They don't know the gender of the baby, so I made it neutral with paper my mom picked out. The birthday journals cover 22 years with space for photos as well as a review of the last year and how the little one celebrated their birthday. I'm going to see my family this weekend, so I'm excited to give this to my mom!

Inside pages of the journal

First page

Morgan has to be in on every photo shoot...whether invited or not. Diva.


The cover

Sites I ♥: Instructables

I love making things that ppl don't generally make. I look at a lot of things and think, I can make that. If you think the same thing, this site is right up your alley. Whether your thing is Art, Crafts, Food, Games, Going Green, Kids, Music, etc etc etc, Instructables has a category for you. What I'm currently dying to make is the Up-cycled Sweater Boots.

The other thing I love about this site is that if you sign up for a free account you can download PDFs of the projects! I can spend HOURS browsing through the site, reading the how tos, downloading the PDFs and being amazed at the amount of creativity that people have and are willing to share. Warning: This site, like many others I enjoy, is extremely addicting.

http://www.instructables.com/

Sites I ♥: Burda Style

Do you like to sew? Do you like to see what other ppl sew? Burda Style is great. They have patterns (some are free, some have a small charge), projects by members, how tos. It's a great site that is super addictive. Check it out!

http://www.burdastyle.com/

Project: Covered Jar Lids

Covered Jar lids. Genius.

I originally found this tutorial on DesignSpongeOnline.com. Below is a really bad picture of my attempt. It is such a great project! You can recycle those nice glass jars to hold beads, small pieces for projects or make candles with the wonderful lids. I've done several and would recommend this to ANYONE! The pictures don't do justice to the project, so just take some scrap paper, a jar you would otherwise recycle and give it a shot!

General Update

You may have noticed that I put a few gadgets on my side bar. Here's what we've got.

1. Sites - These are extra sites that I love. They may rotate slightly to highlight a few and I'll add those must visits when I come across them. Otherwise check out the sites I ♥ posts to view some of my other faves.

2. To Do List - This is my way to track what I've got going on. Hopefully those to do lists will turn from to dos to project posts in short order, but no promises! I do have a few labeled gifts. I don't want to specify further because the recipients of the gifts may read my blog and I don't want to ruin the surprise!

That's all for now! Have a wonderful weekend!!

Sites I ♥: Whip Up

This site is a must visit if you're looking for a new project. They cover many different things, from crochet projects to sewing. I constantly find myself forwarding the links to people with the text "Isn't this great?" or "Either you or I have to try this!"

http://whipup.net/

Sites I ♥: Color Me Katie

This site just makes me happy.

http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/

I wish I had the creativity and imagination of this chica. Make me happy that she always seems to be so happy.

Plus, she also has a cat...and I think Moo and Morgan could be besties if given the chance.

Project: Hand Bound Books

A lady I work with ordered some Christmas Journals and a Guest Book for Christmas gifts. I'm posting the pictures here. (Note: these were finished a few months back, but I'm sharing regardless)

Guest Book

Sites I ♥: Growing up Creative

I have no children, but I have three nieces that I can't spend enough time with. I love how much they question everything (sometimes) and how excited they are about small things. I like to try to live a life of small victories, so when Lexi is excited about a box of Christmas lights or Peyton is all giddy for a piece of gum, I have to smile.



Growing up Creative is the kind of mom I want to be if/when I have children of my own. I've used several of the ideas listed with my nieces and they loved them all. Helping children explore more than a TV or a video game is so great and this blog will help you do it!



http://www.growingupcreative.com/

Sites I ♥: Taste Spotting

Like to cook? Like to cook things you've seen the pictures of? This is my favorite ever food blog! Wonderful pictures and great recipes! I've tried several things off the site and they've all been very good...which I attribute to the blogs being run by ppl all over who just love to cook, bake and educate! Warning: If you click on the link below you may become addicted to the site.

http://www.tastespotting.com/

Project: Stationary Holder

I first saw this project idea in a Gift Maker Magazine that I picked up years ago. It's a stationary holder made out of a place mat! I loved the idea and never tried it, so for a Christmas gift exchange this year I tried it out. I think it turned out beautifully. So much so actually that I not only made the one for a few others who made my nice list this year. It's a great project that any one with a sewing machine can do! Below is the first one I made!

Project: Brin's Memory Game

For little Miss Brin's Christmas present, I wanted to make her a memory game. I got the idea of doing photo transfers onto wood from a blog I follow, Matusuke. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the transfer to work correctly, so I ended up modge podging the pictures onto the tiles. Results shown below. Thanks Dad for making me the tiles!!



The box is just a JoAnne Fabrics $3 box. The tiles have pictures of all of Brin's Grandmas/Grandpas/Aunties/Uncle/Sisters/Parents. Two of each of course. It is a memory game after all. She's not even a year old so I'm sure she won't play with this for a while, but her sisters can have some fun until then.

Sites I ♥: Google Reader

There are a lot of blogs, websites, other online presence(s) that I love on the web. I find it, after my friends and family, to be my second most favorite source of inspiration. So I'm going to start with my favorite site, because it allows me to combine all of the sites I love to follow in one place.

www.google.com/reader

Google Reader is so amazing (Thanks Benson for turning me on to this). I can visit one URL and see all of my favorite cooking blogs, craft blogs, friend's family updates, etc without having to click around to hundreds of different links. And I say hundreds because I literally follow hundreds of blogs...some say I have a little problem...but I do not mind.

If you don't have google reader account I suggest you run right out and get one!!

Project: Travel Journal for a friend

A friend from work recently retired and loves to travel. So my response? A travel journal for her to document her post-work adventures. It's made out of mat board (doubled up for strength and to prevent bending), some great map paper I bought at my very favorite altered art store in Green Bay (The Assemblage Studio), some purple uhu glue sticks and some vinyl that I got from an old place of employment when they had salvage sales. The results are shown in pictures below. Note that the pen holds the journal closed and there are several pockets to hold travel mementos, like tickets or my favorite souvenir...coasters from pubs and restaurants. Congrats Sherry on your retirement and I hope this journal serves you well!!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! You'll see posts here relating to my creative obsession, projects I do, websites I love and projects I want to do. I like to think of myself as a renaissance woman when it comes to crafts/creative endeavors because I do a bit of everything...from book binding, to canvas transfer, to sewing to quilting to anything else that strikes my fancy! Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy my blog!