I'm beyond giddy! I actually have a craft room!!!

Holy cow!  I have a craft room!!!  This is a dream I thought I'd have some year when my kids left the house...so you know like 10 years down the line...but no, I HAVE A CRAFT ROOM!!!

 

I'm just a bit excited if you can't tell.  It took a lot of work to get there, but we're finally DONE!

 

Here's how it all came about.

 

This was my husband's library/study/man cave right after we got it all put together for him.  We painted it, put in chair rail and a custom shelf for all his shot glasses.  Over the last 4 years he added to it with cigar paraphernalia, a couple of cube storage systems to replace the shelves, a different desk, a tv and more, but then he wasn't in there very much.  So one day earlier this year we were talking randomly about what I'd do if I had a craft room when suddenly he piped up and said "You can have my room."  I was like "WHAT?!?" and he couldn't take it back!  I grabbed ahold of that statement and held on tight.  Over the next several months I bought paint, picked up a bunch of this and that's to use for the rooms transformation while ideas just flew through my head.  Here's how it all turned out...just bear with me cause there are a ton of pictures!

 

Bright yellow with white trim lightens up the room tremendously.  I painted the black cube units with white paint and distressed it with a grey wash.

 

I reused 3 canvases I had from a previous project for silhouettes of my 3 kids.  I wear aprons all the time so I added a 3M removable hook that I had in a junk cabinet in the kitchen.  I've had the butterflies stored in my craft supplies for a couple of years.  They were the perfect little "family" addition to my room.

I added the kids' nick names to their silhouettes just to take them over the top.

The butterflies represent our family...Hubby, me, the two boys and my daughter!

The top of the door needed just a little something so I went in search of a crafty, creative saying to make a vinyl.  This one just grabbed me because creativity IS my life!!!

Here's a piece my husband and I made together.  This is a Pinterest inspired project.  I needed something to store all my paint and I loved the drawer idea.  This was a very inexpensive project since I found the drawer at Habitat for Humanities Restore for only $4.00 and we had most of the wood already.

Remember that custom shelf for shot glasses?  Here it is all crafted up!  I wanted several things that represented most of the crafting things I love to do.  I think I found a way to incorporate most of them.

I kept the wine glasses we used at our wedding.  They're special since they're Czech glass and our last name is Czech.  I added some of the insulators I had in the living room and then my two Willow Tree figurines.  I wanted two big wooden spools of thread, but they're SO hard to find.  Instead I found a couple of mason jars (another love) filled with wooden spools (for sewing).  They had the perfect colors...more on that later.

 

For birds & decorative painting I have a little hand painted bird house.  Yes, I painted that myself!

I love flowers and hand painting, and I love the One Stroke painting.  I would love to take a class some day, but for now I'll just learn from You Tube and play!

For my love of vinyl and husband I added some vinyl to the letter "E" as a template for painting.  I also added another bird that I painted pink with chalk paint (another love) and dry brushed with white.

I love my ampersand.  For some reason ampersands are so cool...just go with it!  I also added a milk jar (love) of ribbon!  Then, of course, one of my first loves is scrapbooking so I had to add a stamp. 

Owls!  Who doesn't love owls!  And more mason jars with buttons!  And last but not least are two cups that mean a lot to my husband.  They're replicas of the cups used on "Hunt for Red October" one of his favorite books and authors.  Our oldest's name is actually inspired by the main character.  So those HAD to stay!  That completes the shelf and I LOVE IT!!!  It's not too cluttered but comfortably filled!

Here's my work center.  I thought I'd hate this desk...it was the one my husband had...but I was WRONG!  I love it!  The plan is to paint it later, but for now it's just going to get used.  There's also this cabinet that the printers are on.  We purchased that well over a year ago for the printers, but it wasn't till I started working on the elements for this room that it all came together.  We removed a drawer and added wood to make it a solid shelf for electronic components that were necessary to keep in this room.  It's a perfect fit!

I plan to have my silhouette on the desk quite a bit so I found a piece of trim left over from the printer cabinet and tacked it to the desk.  It keeps the silhouette from accidentally getting knocked off the side.  Again, a perfect fit!

Here's one reason I fell in love with this desk.  My silhouette and sewing machine fit in the side cabinet just an arms reach away!  That is when I actually put my silhouette away.

Another item that stayed in the room is this handy strip outlet bar.  It is amazingly handy for all the different things I need to plug in.  The desk area needed a little extra lighting so I found something we had yet again to fill the need.  My husband had converted this liquor bottle into a lamp and filled it with rocks.  He'd never found the right shade for it so it just sat there in his study unused.  I removed the rocks and added clear, iridescent marbles then I added a decorative shade that I customized with a special fabric.  This is the fabric that inspired all the colors in the room.  I have one more accent fabric that I used for my pressing board and as time goes on I plan to make some throw pillows covered in the two different fabrics.  Oh, and then there's the cork board...we'll get to that later!

Here's one of the first projects my husband and I worked on.  I purchased the rotating tool storage system at Harbor Freight & Tools and he spray painted them for me.  He's better at spray painting than I cause I'm WAY too impatient.  The clock is today's latest creation.  I needed some kind of time piece in there and I wanted to keep it inexpensive.  I just purchased a wooden embroidery hoop and a clock mechanism and used the inspiration fabric, some felt, cardboard and tacks to make the clock.

Let me just say this up front...my husband and I are NOT carpenters.  We could never carry that label, but we do like to tinker...and we have determination!  That's what this shelving unit took...determination!  I had a very small space left and needed a deeper shelf to hold scrapbooks and tubes with vinyl so Eric and I designed it.  We measured twice and cut all the shelves, but somewhere in the process something was off cause those middle shelves were a BEAR to get in.  Get them in we did, however, and this shelf works GREAT for my needs!

OH...I almost forgot a LOVELY and wonderfully functional little addition to my desk...a glued on measuring tape.  This has come in very handy several times in the last week.  A little E6000 and a lot of patience!!!

And of course I can't forget my find at a garage sale.  I found a popcorn tin for $.12 and had my hubby spray paint it in one of the accent colors.  It's the perfect size to put a shopping bag in as a liner and it holds a LOT...which is a great thing in my craft room!

Moving around to the back of the room you can see one of 3 frames I painted and added different backings to in the room.  The first was the green framed cork board hanging over the desk.  The second is this orange frame with a white board added to it.  The third I'll explain in a little bit.  It's my favorite by far!  Then we have the two bird cages.  Right now they're just hanging there looking pretty, but at some point I really want to turn them into pendant lights to hang in the corners of the room.  We've yet to figure out the best method to do that, so for now they'll just be decorations.

Here's the storage side of the room.  My husband had 3 different cube organizers in his room.  They were the black or ebony colored cubes and way too dark for the room.  I didn't want to get rid of them cause they can be quite expensive, so I opened a can of paint on their butts (a tribute to Roy D Mercer)!!!  One more lovely find were these paper holders.  I found 4 of them at Hobby Lobby on sale 50% off but they were all black again.  NOT ACCEPTABLE!  So I painted them the 4 accent colors and added some washi tape around the label plate to give it more interest.  Once I put all my paper in them I realized I had room and the need for two more.  So I went back and low and behold they were on sale again for 50% off!!!  SCORE!  Then there's the glass containers on the shelf.  The two stackable containers I found at Hobby Lobby on an 80% off clearance.  I had NO idea what I was going to do with them, but quickly realized that I could use them to divide up the container of decorative gems I had.  Surprisingly, I had just enough colors to fit in the 8 jars.  I found the center container at the next door neighbor's garage sale and one of the other containers at another garage sale.  I had the container holding the washi tape as well as the box and mason jars on the wall.  The middle jar in the box I found at the same garage sale as my trash can and paid less than $.10 for it.

Here's a close up of the paper boxes.  I used my silhouette to write out the labels on all the boxes.  My font of choice is Great Vibes.  I used that on all the vinyls in the room.

Since I had all these cube openings I needed something inexpensive to hold "Stuff".  If you've shopped for the canvas or basket style drawers you know they're at least $7.00 each and up to $20.00.  I have a LOT of openings and I had NO desire to pay that much.  So Eric and I checked out Dollar Tree to find baskets.  We bought 20 of them and when I brought them home they were too wide.  DANG!  So we headed to a different Dollar Tree and THANK THE LORD they had these and they had 20 of them!!!  They fit great...not perfect, but great...in there with a bit of room so they don't scrape the sides of the cube.  I used my label maker to label everything and organize it.  I actually have a little extra room!  What a wonderful "problem" to have!

Just a few more things left to show you.  This white basket I found at the same cheap garage sale.  I literally spent less than $.50 at that sale and walked away with 4 things that are in this room.  Right now it holds small card stock, but since it's so open it may have many uses over time.  The blue box is the scrapbooking box I've had for a very long time, and the iron just hasn't been put away since I used it this afternoon.  That leaves us with one of my favorite items in the room...

My Peg Board!!!

Eric and I picked up this large frame while out antique shopping.  I loved the frame but had no clue what I was going to use it for...that is till he told me I could have this room.  Immediately I knew I wanted it for a peg board.  I envisioned the spools of thread on dowels I'd glue in till Eric said just use the hooks made for a peg board.  I purchased a couple of packages of them just for this purpose, but we had a bunch of them in the garage as well.  We also had the holder for scissors and hooks for the rest of my sewing items.  It displays and holds all my sewing items so well and looks so organized and neat...I just LOVE IT!!!

I can't forget one last thing...the name.  I needed something to call my area and my mom was the one to come up with just the right combination...Jenny's Jems.  Here's the fun part JEM is my mom's initials!  Yes, I know it's spelled wrong, but it's PERFECT!!!

We're back to the beginning of the room.  So, what do you think?  It's my little haven!  I can put everything away and get it right back out again...ahhhhhhhh!!!!!

Thanks for being patient with all my pictures.  Till next time...

 

Jennifer

 



Entry Way "Welcome"

C.A.S.E.

Copy And Steal Everything

Years ago when I was scrapbooking (does anyone even do that any more?) I heard of this term.  I loved it!!!  I scrapbooked with a group of girls once a month and I was an avid reader of Creating Keepsakes.  I got inspiration from many, many other pages and I always adapted them just a bit to fit my style.  I CASE-D everyone...unapologetically!  So it stands to reason that when I discovered Pinterest I was a VERY QUICK addict.  I've gotten so much inspiration from the Internet.  Google images and I are great friends...and now there's a way to put it all in one spot???  I'm SOOO there!!!

Thing is...you can spend a ton of time on Pinterest looking and pinning great ideas, but until you put them to work it's not going to do a thing for you!!!  That being said, I have this spot right next to my front door that needed...something.  I saw shutters on Pinterest and thought "Yes, that's it!!!  Umm...so what would I do with a shutter on the wall?  Hmmm???"  Then I thought "Oh, I'll see if I can find an old wood ladder and put hooks on it for kids coats!" and spent a TON of time looking for the perfect old ladder to no avail.  This space is screaming for something NOW...and face it, I'm an impatient person...again, unapologetic about it!

So the other day I ran across this letter idea on Pinterest.  It was from Karen's blog Somewhat Quirky.  She had a letter "H" that had an interesting design on it that caught my eye.  I pinned it and went back later to check it out.  It looked simple enough and she described it well enough to duplicate.  I thought "I can do that!!!  And...I could do it to the word 'Welcome' and put it in THAT spot!!!"  So off to Hobby Lobby I went (and isn't it nice when they have the very item you need on sale that week 30% off!)

Pieces needed for this project:

~ Paper Mache letter(s)

~ Aleene's Tacky Glue

~ Aluminum Foil

~ Mod Podge

~ Shoe Polish (I used the waxy kind, don't know if another would have worked better...more explanation later)

~ Acrylic Paint (I used Americana Dark Chocolate)

~ Sponge Brush

~ Brush for paint

~ Soft Rag (this will get ruined so make it something disposable to you)

~ Xacto Knife

~ Damp Paper Towels (used toward the end)

Step One: Pick out some paper mache letters...Hobby Lobby's the only place who carries them here in our Okie town...then grab some Aleene's Tacky Glue.  As Karen says on her blog...Do NOT use Elmer's glue.  It won't work for this.  Aleene's is the way to go!!!  Then plan on sitting down with a fairly steady hand and "glue" some swirls, curly cues, paisleys, polka dots, or stamp an image and glue over it.  This is going to get covered so if you need to plan your pattern and draw it out feel free and don't worry about erasing!!!  Gotta love that!

Once you glue your pattern on all the letter(s), let it dry till it's completely clear.  I let it set over night before moving on to step two.  Then give yourself plenty of time, cause this next step takes it all...that is if you're ambitious and crazy like me and decide to do 7 letters at once. 

Step Two: Cut some strips of aluminum foil about a 1/2 inch wider than the edges of your letter(s).  Mod Podge them to the edge overlapping to the front and back of the letter.  Cover all the sides of the letter(s).  I recommend with letters that have very sharp or deep turns (like the M and W) to start and stop the strips in the turn.  It's nearly impossible to get the foil to bend in those without ripping it.  (Wow...it was sooo much faster typing that than it was to accomplish it!!!  YAY for small victories!)

Step Three: Here's one place I differed with Karen on how to do this project.  This worked for me so much better.  Cut a piece of aluminum foil large enough to cover the letter with a little extra.  Mod Podge the entire letter making sure to cover every swirl and dot of glue.  Lay the aluminum foil over the letter but not tightly...I'll explain in a sec.  Take the soft cloth and start rubbing the letter to adhere the foil and bring out all the lovely pattern you glued so meticulously.  If the foil isn't very tight to the letter, but has just a bit of give it makes it easier to shape the foil around the patterns.  This is easier to understand once you do it.  Once you've fully attached the foil and brought out all the shapes, take the Xacto knife and cut around the letter.  I didn't cut right exactly along the edge, but close and used my cloth to push the foil down and attach it to the letter.  There was usually enough glue along the edge that I didn't have to add any.  The glue doesn't come out of the rag, but keep it because you can use it with the shoe polish...then toss it in the trash cause it won't be good for anything else after that!!!.  Let them dry well!

All the Pieces and Parts to this point

Step Four: Here's where I left the reservation completely (at least that's the saying here in Okie land for ignoring the instructions completely for doing it our own way). I started with brown Kiwi shoe polish wax and rubbed that onto the front of the letter. It wasn't turning out the way I wanted. It changed the tint of the aluminum foil, but not dark enough for my liking. So, I ran to my craft closet and grabbed the first brown acrylic paint I saw and a brush. I painted the front and sides of the first letter with a thin coat of the paint. Then I took a damp paper towel and began wiping it back. It seemed like quite a bit of the paint came off so i decided to put a thicker layer of paint on the next letter. Once the paint was dry I then used my cloth to apply the shoe polish again. This time it stayed a bit better and gave my paint a deeper, richer look. For the next letter I did the thicker paint then wiped it back with the damp paper towel. I was happier with the effect. I also tried painting several letters before rubbing off paint. The paint stuck better...somewhat...but would come off in larger pieces. Either method worked and like sanding back a piece...it's all based on how little or much you work it. I waxed the rest of the letters with the shoe polish then let them dry for a little bit. Once they were dry I painted Mod Podge over the front and the sides of the letter, then let that dry completely.

Step Five: Now that my letters were finished I had to decide how to hang them.  Paper Mache letters aren't heavy at all so Velcro would work well.  3M makes wonderful stuff that allows you to take the Velcro off the wall easily if you want to change things around, but I needed a lot of pieces and that can be a bit pricey.  Stickum might work well, but it might not.  I don't want to walk around the corner to find them on the floor.  So I chose Velcro...just sticky Velcro.  I don't want to move them, so I made a trip to my Michael's and found a 75 count package of Velcro for around $10.  Luckily I had a 50% off coupon so it cost me less than $6!!!  (Yay for coupons!!!)  I chose small round pieces of Velcro and attached them to each prominent corner.

Final Step: I measured each letter length and width and decided how much space I wanted between each.  I added that all up and measured the area I wanted to place them.  I could have been very precise and halved it and all that, but it's right next to a door way and so I just chose to make the top even with the top of the door moulding and left it at that.  Using my determined measurements I attached them all to the wall then stepped back, took more pictures, then enjoyed my new Treasure!!!

So here are my CASE-D letters...in all their glory...inspiration from Karen at Somewhat Quirky, redesigned and modified by yours truly!!!  And now that space driving me crazy is filled and my mind is ready for another project to pester me till I get to it!!!

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Sunday

DIY Show Off ~ Flamingo Toes ~ I {Heart} Nap Time ~ Nifty Thrifty Things ~ Twigg Studios ~ Under the Table and Dreaming ~ Cherished Treasures ~ My 1929 Charmer ~ Petite Hermine

Monday

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Tuesday

Crafty Texas Girls ~ Elizabeth & Co. ~ Homework Today's Assignment: Be Inspired ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia ~ Not Just a Housewife ~ Sugar Bee Crafts ~ Today's Creative Blog