Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Wednesday Wishes

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by!  Here it is almost September and I've barely blogged at all this year.  So I've decided to try and put more effort into my blogging for the rest of 2011.  One of my plans is to try a project of the month.  I'll pick one particular thing that I'm working on and then update about that throughout the month.  Then depending on how busy I am I'll throw in other posts as well.

I thought today I would do another "What I Wish Wednesday" post.  Looking around at all of the mess that I can see from my desk what I'm wishing for right now is a new craft room.  I was just imagining (if I had an unlimited amount of money) what an awesome room I could design.

Just to give you an idea of what I'm working with now I thought I would post some pics.


The big plastic drawers help to a point, but I'd probably need about ten more just to get all of the stuff off of the floor - and they're not very attractive to begin with.  


This blue tote is full of craft supplies.  Helps to keep stuff off of the floor as well, but it's hard to remember what you have when you can't actually see it.  And of course the top of the tote gets used as a place to pile junk on.  I really wish I had a better way to store my wrapping paper too.


I really want to learn how to crochet, but I have no place whatsoever to store the yarn.


This picture actually looks somewhat organized, but my aluminum can tab collection has really taken over.  There are jars and bags of tabs absolutely everywhere.  Besides the enormous 9.5 pound bag that I posted about a while back, I was given another 4.5 pound bag recently.


This is a little cloth storage bag that I picked up at Lowe's on clearance.  It hangs over the door and has 20 pockets.  I haven't actually started using it yet, because I haven't quite figured out what I want to store in it.

So what would my dream craft room look like?  First I can say that it would have to be much larger.  One thing that I know I would want is a gift wrapping station.  I saw one that I absolutely loved in one of those Lowe's Creative Ideas magazines that they send out in the mail.


This is so simple - I just love it!  They basically used a piece of peg board, some peg hooks, a couple of peg-hook baskets, and some cafe rods.  This would be so simple for anyone (especially me) to put together and you could set it up any way you wanted.  I would probably make mine just a bit wider and attach it to the back of a door.  You could attach more cafe rods if you wanted to hang more wrapping paper, but I could easily get away with 3 rolls - one that would work for birthdays of any age, some sort of "congratulations" paper that would work for graduates, weddings, or baby showers, and of course Christmas paper.  I know this pic is a bit hard to see so if you'd like more details you can see the original project here:

As far as what kind of furniture I would like I'm really just dreaming for now.  I've been looking at some of the Martha Stewart Living Craft Space furniture.  They have some beautiful pieces that you can configure your own way.  If you check out the website it actually has an interactive tool that you can use to design your own room.


(These picture do not belong to me, I copied the urls straight from the HDC site)   In this sample room I like the storage cabinet with the storage hutch on top in the back left of the room.  And what I love is how they put two craft tables back to back so you can work on all four sides.  I would love to have that kind of space!  I have a large table right now, possibly bigger than one of these pictured, but it's currently pushed up against the wall and blocked in on either side so I only have one workable side to use.  If I'm working on the inside of my dollhouse I have to pick the whole thing up (and it is heavy!) and turn it around to work on the outside.  And if I'm painting then I just have to give up and wait for everything to dry before I can turn it.


This is another sample room.  I love how clean and organized it looks, but it almost seems more like an office than a craft room to me.  My wishful craft room would need to have a desk area for my computer though so I do sort of like that part of this room.

Anyway, that's all that I've dreamed up for my craft room so far.  Maybe by the time I've figured out exactly what I want I'll have the money to put it all together lol!  I hope that everyone has a wonderful Wednesday and if you have any pics of your craft room that you'd like to share then I would love to see them :)





Thursday, August 18, 2011

Healthy Thinking Thursday and some craft updates


There haven't been any Healthy Thinking Thursday posts on this blog for quite some time - mostly due to a lack of motivation on my part.  Thankfully though my fitness ambitions seem to be returning full force.  I thought I would take a moment today to share my progress with everyone.  This time around I have an arsenal of tools in my fitness plan.  On July 11th I started a program with a local weight loss clinic.  I'm taking appetite suppressants and Lipovite M shots for energy.  And on July 26th I joined the local YWCA.  I've been so motivated lately that I've barely missed a single day at the gym!  A week ago today I also started the induction phase of the Atkin's diet.  Basically I'm trying to relearn how to eat right and get the right amount of physical activity in order to be a more healthy happy me.  And now of course on to the numbers... I've lost 8.8 pounds so far!

(The picture above is one of my yummy Atkin's breakfasts - omelet made with 2 eggs and 1/2 ounce cheddar cheese, 2 slices of bacon, and water to drink.)

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And now for a craft update:  Some of my recent buys -


I found this patriotic basket garland at Ben Franklin's.  It was originally $19.99 marked down to $7.99, which  I thought was a pretty decent deal - 12 baskets for around 65 cents apiece.  I don't know who would actually  use the thing as a garland though, the baskets are all in random order and tied with simple knots onto this ugly threadbare maroon and beige checkered piece of cloth.


The baskets themselves are adorable though and once all separated I'm sure I'll be able to find a dozen cute craft projects to incorporate them into.


Next I got these great seed pods from Michael's for $5.99.  I can't for the life of me remember what they are called, but I love them because they look like tiny pumpkins.


And finally I got 2 more great House of Miniatures kits from the flea market for $6.00 apiece.  One is a Chippendale Slant Front Desk and the other is a Chippendale Chest on Chest.

That's all for now - happy Thursday everyone!