DIY Pin Cushion

I love to have pretty, cute, and colorful things around me. I've been wanting a new pin cushion for a long time. First, because my old one wasn't large enough. Second, because removing pins while sewing was awkward to put them back in. And third, because my old pin cushion was not really my style and didn't go with my craft room.

What you'll need to make your own:

- Picture Frame

- Coordinating Fabric

- Stuffing

- Stapler

My first step was to find the perfect picture frame.
I was picky about the shape and color of the frame.
So when I found the perfect shaped frame I decided to paint it the color I wanted.
This frame was originally orange and I painted it black.
(I forgot to take a before picture. Sorry!)

Here are my main supplies.

For my first step I folded over the edge of the fabric on one side and stapled it onto the frame backing.

Inserting the frame backing edge that I previously stapled down,
I then insert stuffing into the fabric so it is sticking out the front of the frame.
Next I pulled on the fabric that is sticking out the backside of the frame, to get any creases out.
Once I have the fabric where I want it, I stapled the rest of the fabric down to the backside of the frame to keep everything in place.

Trim the excess fabric, insert your pins, and enjoy!

Happy Crafting!

Mission Organization: Craft Room

If you know me or read my blog you know that I don't do boring! So why would I want a plain white box for storage when I could make it pretty? Is there any other choice but to make things pretty? Of course not!! So I dug through my crafting supplies and came up with paint, stencils, and Sharpie brush tips.

First I sponge painted the boxes. Giving it both color and texture.

My purple box now makes it easy to find my alphabet and number stickers.

My teal box will now house my things that I use for my knit shop.
The punch I use for my tags, my logo stamp, and ink, etc.

Follow my blog as I continue my mission of organization!

To catch up on my past mission organization here.

Happy Crafting!

Painted Jars/Vases

Happy New Year everyone! One of my New Year's resolutions for this year is to get organized. I spent the last part of 2013 helping my parents clean out their garage and taking all of my stuff that they've been storing for me for the last few years. In there I found some wonderful memories as well as some not so wonderful ones. It was great to go through everything and figure out what I want to keep and what I'm willing to get rid of.

All of that has inspired me to clean and organize my own house... my craft room is the first room on my list. While my craft room is functional it got messy during the knitting of Christmas scarves. Now that my huge project is done I want my craft room to be super organized... especially since I have new crafting supplies to add in there.

Of course I don't do anything without a little pizzazz! So to start my craft room organization I decorated some matching jars for my knitting needles and crochet hooks. This is something I've been wanting to do for a while now but hadn't gotten around to do yet. 

I love the matching jars! It is totally coincidence that I have them... I got the big one from my dad and the smaller one from my good friend Tamara. I'm totally sentimental so these jars will always remind me of them :)

I found my inspirations here. The blog my inspiration came from is in a different language but has a picture tutorial. So I squirted my paint in and tried swirling it around...

But I wasn't getting the results I wanted. I was hoping to get some paint drops running down the sides. So I watered down the paint a bit.

I wanted a little extra pizzazz for my bigger jar and added a black dot border.

The end result is some beautiful unique storage for my craft room.
I can't wait for them to dry so I can start using them!

Happy Crafting!

Self-Healing Cutting Mat

Sitting in my craft room starring at my self-healing cutting mat that sits next to my sewing machine. Wishing that our hearts could heal the same way that mat can!

My grandfather passed away in December and I'm missing extra today. Happy 90th birthday Grandpa! Give my baby girl a big hug for me! Waiting for the day that we're all reunited in heaven!

Thread Holder

When we moved into our new home last December my husband and I were discussing what we wanted to do with all the space. The two extra rooms upstairs are waiting for babies, we made one of the rooms downstairs a guest room, and we weren't sure what to do with the other room downstairs. Well I helped my husband by deciding to turn it into my craft room. 

Finally I have a space for my sewing machine, fabric, scrapbook supplies, wrapping paper, and my ironing board. We bought a great sturdy desk from a hotel liquidation store. My sewing machine has a permanent spot there.

I LOVE having a room for all my creativity and also inspires me. I can decorate it any way I want. The color scheme is black and purple (the file cabinet I spray painted black is in there as well).

Now to actually tell you about my thread holder! After we moved in I began sewing things for the house or mending. It was driving me crazy trying to find the matching bobbins and thread. I have two or three different shades of beige... Similar yet different. And two different shades of yellow. It was so frustrating to dig through a pile of bobbins trying to find the one that you're looking for and matches! 

I bought a $5 picture frame from Walmart and painted it purple. I had Home Depot cut down a piece of peg board to fit inside the frame. Next I had my husband cut some chopsticks in half for me. I decided where I wanted to put the chopsticks in the peg board and hot glued them in. After it dried I spray painted it black.
The peg board is held securely in the frame with the clips in the back of the frame. I added heavy duty magnets on the back and put it on the side of the file cabinet that's next to my desk. I also added small magnets under the chopsticks that don't have the tapered end so that the metal bobbins can attach to the magnets. (The tapered end is small enough for the bobbin to fit on.) 

Total for this project I spent about $14 (frame, peg board, and purple paint). The rest of the supplies I already had at home. This was cute and cheaper then the premade ones at Michaels or Joannes.

Inspiration