{Happy Heart Day!}

Happy, Happy Heart Day!!

Here's a little of what we'll be doing to celebrate today....

Enjoying ice cold "Love Potion" (aka Crystal Light Pink Lemonade)......

Delivering special messages to each other with our fancy new Mail Pouches ......

And watching the kiddo look for her Valentine surprises by reading 10 heart clues on our Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt...........

This is the first year for doing this, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to brag and tell you that my Kindergartener is reading like crazy at a high second grade level (backflips from literacy mom!), so this is the perfect activity this year. I've laid out 10 clues that lead to a linen closet where she will find her surprises!

In addition to the above, we'll also be eating LOTS of candy. :)  

How are you celebrating today? 

Whatever you are doing, make sure to have fun and enjoy the ones you LOVE today!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

XOXO,

{Craft Room-Part 2: Organizing}

If there's one thing about being a crafter, you definitely have to have at least a LITTLE bit of organization! I could spend my day happily organizing anything that's put in front of me, so it's actually a joy to take on.

Since moving in less than a year ago, I've purged some things and done some re-organizing for the better. Here are some things that really work for me!

Tool Storage

 Not all of my tools are here, but a lot of the ones I use frequently are. Punches, thread, scissors, etc. The rails are from Ikea. I love it that I can see all of my punches!

Like Items Together:

  I use ice cream buckets for  A LOT of stuff around the house, and they work great for my el-cheapo foam alphabets that I use ALL THE TIME. I cut out the front label when I buy them and seal that to my ice cream buckets with packing tape. So easy to find the font I want, and I don't have to have every.single.stamp (!) lined up in a small package to put them away! 

I recently upgraded these show boxes from cardboard to cuteness with 12x12 paper and brown spray paint I had in the garage. It was on one of my days when I was coordinating, as you can tell. They match my color scheme. :)

They're perfect and free!

Paper Storage:

I have several 12x12 drawers, and a file box for my 8.5x11 papers. Labels, labels, labels!! I use clear 12x12 folders from the Target $1 spot for projects. This one though holds Disney papers only.

  Project Organization:

I have a Pampered Chef pan lid organizer that I got free at a party once. It sat in my cabinets under utilized forever until one day I found a great use for it. Holding my project folders!

Before 

After

I keep my Cuttlebug plates in the front, sticker folders, and any specific project folders in there as well. Also really big chipboard pieces I save.

Embellishments:

I've got small cases with really small pieces in them as well, but I've found my jars to be great for things I use often because I can SEE them. (Things that don't get seen, usually don't get used!)

The previous owners left a ton of canning jars in the garage, so I put several of them to use on a shelf above my long table.

  Stop back by for some "completed" pics and see it all pulled together.

I'm linking up over @:
http://www.justagirlblog.com/  (can't find a button here this week!)


 

 

Take care,

{My Craft Room - Part 1: Decorating}

I've been working on jazzing up my craft room and the inspiration for it was this sewing machine cover. I have a hard case for my machine, but that's really best for longer term storage. I use mine so frequently that I want it out all the time but also don't want it covered in dust when I'm not using it.

I wish I could tell you where I got the tutorial for this, but I honestly took different parts from different sites. You can google 'sewing machine cozy' and get tons of great tutorials though. This took me about an hour or so to make, using fabric I had on hand.  I made several bags a while back with this fabric and loved it, so I quickly decided it would be a great color scheme for my craft space!

I made my cozy so that it would cover the machine with a spool still on top. I love how it turned out. I added the felt flower and button center as an afterthought...and then my brain kept going. :)

Why not make some valances, too?  :) I did have to purchase more fabric for that, but it was worth it.

I added the fabric flowers, totally free hand cut, about 3 to a valance. I like it that they aren't uniform. :) I deliberately cut cream-colored circles free hand.

Then I found an unused frame that I have and love (it's square, so unless it's matted, I don't have a photo to fit in it).  What can I do with this? Using inspiration from a number of online sources, and coordinating fabric I had on hand, I turned it into a wipe-off project noteboard to hang above my longest craft table. No more sticky notes everywhere!

I had to add a little felt flower to that, too, of course. I cut that one out with my Cuttlebug and small scallop dies. Oh if only my crafty "wanna make" list was really this short!

More craft room stuff to come. How do you decorate in your own craft space?

Take care,

{Coat Closet Substitute}

Somehow our 25 year old house was not built with a coat closet (what??!!), and honestly being a family of 3 in a 4-bedroom house means it's not the end of the world. We use another closet, and we've always had coat hooks at the door anyway. BUT...things like gloves, mittens, scarves, and the like you really want easy access to. 

I have a cool bench and coat hooks at the door (you can see the hooks here ), but I wanted a basket to go underneath the bench just for the above mentioned items.

I also wanted to do it on the cheap. Baskets are cool but can really get $$$ if you're not careful. And I'm sure I would pick out something way cool and way $$$ that never goes on sale. That's usually how I roll.

But then I ran across these wood bins at JoAnn, and 40% off, too!  Score! It was easier than hunting down a basket(s) that would cost more than I wanted to spend, and they solve me problem.  So I snatched up two of them and grabbed my spray paint.

I wish the pics were better, but for some reason I can't get the best lighting. I distressed the edges after painting them black to match the bench, then filled them with our gloves, scarves, and mittens. In the summer, we might actually keep our beach towels in here because we're at the pool all the time. At any rate, I like that they were just under $7 each, and that I can ultimately re-paint them in the future if I get an itch to do so. Added bonus!

Problem solved and on the cheap. I likes. :)

Have a good one,

{Phone Books for Little Ones}

Super easy, super quick, and really important!

If you have a young one, it's nice to have important phone numbers on hand JUST for them and not just on your fridge. I made this up for my 6 1/2 yr old. 

You need:

4x6 cards, printer, family/friend photos, book ring

(optional: stamps, ink, ribbon)

Ours only has 4 pages, for both sets of grandparents, Daddy @ Work, and Emergency. I printed them out, stamped a couple of images on the front, distressed the edges, and secured with a book ring. I tied on some scrap ribbon. You could also use brads, yarn, or staples. For younger kids, I also would have 'laminated' it with clear contact paper.

There you have it!

Have a good one!

I'm linking up over @:
 

{American Girl Backpack}

My 6 1/2 yr old is really getting into her American Girl doll these days, and I have to admit that I love creating homemade things for her! My kiddo of course wants EVERYTHING in the AG catalog, but if you haven't seen the prices, let me tell you...it's not pretty. We are so fortunate that one of her grandpas is really good at woodworking, and as a result, she's been hooked up with a cool doll table and chairs, a balance beam, a 4-poster bed, and most recently, a school desk. (Isn't it cool?!)

So she's been playing school for 3 days straight with the doll and the need for a doll backpack came to my attention...as well as a couple of other things but we'll get to those later. :) After writing up little worksheets for her on scrap cardstock, I got to work on a backpack.  After one failed attempt due to measuring waaaaaaay too small, this is what I came up with. I'm SOOO pleased with it!!

Isn't it darling??!  You need very little fabric for this. I modeled the pattern after the Valentine Mail Pouches 

(tutorial here ), just altered the measurements and actually attached the straps to the bag instead of using snaps or buttons. Just last week I had to cut off a pair of my old jeans that had finally torn beyond repair, so I used denim scraps for the body of the bag, and hot pink leopard scraps for the lining and straps. The flower on the front is another post! :)

I would think these measurements should fit any 18" doll. 

Here's what I did:

For the bag: 7"  x 6.5" - (2) outer, (2) lining, (2) fusible fleece

For the flap: 4" x 6.5" - (1) outer, (1) lining - round the corners freehand

For the straps: 9" x 2.5"  (2) 

I boxed the corners at 3/4".

Some lessons I learned...make sure to attach the straps BEFORE sewing the outer pieces together - AND - mine just has a flap closure which is great, but you could also add a snap if you wanted.

It's so stinkin' cute and the best part is that it cost me nothing and my kiddo loves it! It even fits on the back of her little school desk. :)

Feel free to email me if you have any questions. I thoroughly enjoyed making this! :)

Take care,

I'm linking up to these parties:

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