here's what my week looks like ...

Do you have a difficult time trying to remember what everyone in your family is doing during the week? I use to before I created this easy diy project for my kitchen. 

I turned an over sized painting that I purchased for $10 at the second hand store into a chalkboard. I hung it in my kitchen in a spot that it would be easily seen and my family uses it to keep track of appointments, school events, games/practices, etc. 

For whatever reason, my husband really didn't want me to put this in the kitchen at first. But everyone that visits our home comments on it and asks us where they can get one ... so now my husband thinks it is a great idea.

I painted the frame using a couple of coats of white chalk paint. I painted over the original painting using a couple of coats of Martha Stewart's chalkboard paint. Luckily the painting did not have a texture so I did not have to do any sanding before I painted the surface.

Tip: Allow the final coat of chalkboard paint to dry for about 24 hours before using it. You'll also want to condition the chalkboard surface by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk over the entire chalkboard. Clean off using a dry cloth.

I knew that I didn't want to have to rewrite the days of the week on the chalkboard every week so I used a chalk marker to write each day of the week and the "good to know" line. I write the weekly notes in chalk. That way, when I erase the board with a dry cloth at the end of each week, everything comes off except for the words in chalk marker.

Even if you don't have great handwriting, it is possible to achieve perfect type on a chalkboard using chalk markers if you follow my handy instructions ...

1. Gather your supplies: white transfer paper, a pencil, chalk markers, print out of your design/type (sized to fit your chalkboard), painter's tape and ,of course, a chalkboard.

I type out whatever words/design I want to put on my chalkboard on my computer first. That way I can play around with different fonts and the spacing.

Note: I print everything in the final size I need for my chalkboard, even if I have to cut up my words/design to print on a number of pages. You just tape them all together.

2. Cut your paper design out to fit your chalkboard so you can see where to place it. Use painter's tape to hold the paper in place and insert the white transfer paper in between the paper and the chalkboard. Make sure that the white transfer side is facing down towards the chalkboard. Now trace the letters (design) using a sharp pencil.

3. When you are finished tracing with the pencil it will look like this. 

4. Now you are ready to write using the chalk marker by going over the fine lines from your tracing. 

And that's it! If you can trace - you can do this.

recycled tee shirts

As the summer weather has finally arrived, I found myself going through our closets this morning to see what short sleeve tee shirts still fit, what needs to be donated to the second hand store and what can be used in a craft project!!

I discovered that my youngest daughter, who only seems to own tees with holes in them, actually has a few tees hanging in her closet with the hangtags still on them. I really can't wait until she has children someday. So, between Robyn's {favourite} tees and a few of my own, I found myself with a new supply of materials for craft projects.

I bought this cute Mickey Mouse tee shirt over ten years ago at Disney World that was too worn out to donate but I loved the screened logo too much to throw it out ... so I used it to create another one of my sewing kits in a bottle. I did a quick tutorial on these a while ago, you can see it here. I used a mini canning jar this time ... it is just the right size for a few spools of thread, some needles and pins.

I've already packed my mini sewing kit in a jar to take to a class I'm teaching on Saturday ... we are making ribbon bracelets and this will come in handy during class.

fyi ... there are still spots available for this class if you live in the area and are interested ... I'm only teaching this class once because my vintage materials are limited. Any supplies that I have left over after class I will use to make these bracelets to sell in my etsy shop.

I know that my oldest daughter talked about making a blanket out of her old graphic tees ... I think that we saw that idea on one of the Twilight movies. Bella's mom made one for Bella ... come to think of it, I have a feeling that Jacob's mom may have made one for Jacob too and that is why Jacob is always walking around without a shirt on! ;)

 If you have posted any project ideas with graphic tees that your older children can't part with on your blog (or know of other blogs that have) ... please let me know! I have a feeling that we are going to have some ideas flying around our house after school today. Have a great weekend!

Let's get organized {part 3} - scraps of paper

I'm still organizing and cleaning ... with a little crafting tossed in to make it fun! Here's a couple of other projects that I came up with for my studio to organize all of the scraps of paper with notes and information that I have in my desk drawers and around my office.

I have been collecting American Art Pottery over the years and found that I had a couple of plain ones in a cupboard that were not very expensive and a good size to use on my desk. I turned the one pictured above into a piece of art that would function as a place to store computer and reference information.

I used vintage pottery that was not really valuable and plain ... you can find these at antique shops and shows and sometimes if you are lucky, at a second hand store (for a fraction of the price).

This project was a great way for me to get some vintage pieces that I love out of boxes so that I can see and enjoy them. I used a number of vintage elements: a photo, stamps from a postcard from Paris,  pieces of rhinestone jewellery, a metal light reflector and words from an old book. I also used some newer materials from my paper crafting supplies: paper flowers, fabric measuring tape and metal embellishments.

I used gel mediums (regular and heavy) to attach everything. I started with the fabric measuring tape and metal light reflector. I save my wooden stir sticks from Starbucks for projects like this ... it is so much easier to apply the gel medium ...

I removed the stamps from the back of the vintage postcard using steam from my kettle ... work slowly and carefully so that you don't burn yourself. I scanned both sides of the postcard to use digitally later on. I adhered the stamps to the pottery with soft gel medium and added a coat of gel to the front. The vintage photograph was purchased years ago at an antique show ... I'm always attracted to these for some reason ... and love the way that they are mounted on beautifully embossed cards. I don't know who this woman is but I'm calling her "Aunt Amy" after one of my favourite Great Aunts that I remember from my childhood. 

Next I layered a few paper flowers for colour ...

... added a piece of text out of a book ... this one came from the Cat In the Hat book.  It felt right on this piece as I'm trying to be a little more "fearless" this year!

And then my favourite part - the bling! I removed the pin back from the rhinestone brooch before I adhered it with heavy gel medium. The size and shape were perfect for this piece. Small rhinestones with added to the flower centres. I added a Tim Holtz metal crown to the photo to make "Aunt Amy" look like a princess. 

Another bling element was added to the space betwen the stamps and the fabric ... some distressing ink to age and then I set it aside to dry for a few hours.

When it was dry and I sat it up I realized that the back with just the ribbon and the original paper pottery label looked a little plain so I decided to add three vintage buttons.  

The pottery fits library cards and blank index cards (sideways). I made a couple of space dividers with mailing labels decorated with vintage buttons, bits of lace and trim and of course, a bit more text from The Cat in the Hat. 

I used another pottery piece to hold more index cards ... these cards have many of my website addresses, user id's and passwords - stuff that isn't "confidential" (like banking and credit cards). I didn't decorate this pottery because I knew that the two items would be together on my desk ... think simple black dress and killer shoes and jewellery.

I dressed up the index card dividers with distressing inks, alpha stickers and glaze drops. If you don't have glaze drops you can used Inkssentials Glossy Accents to get a similar effect on the letters. The index cards were about 1/8th of an inch too big so I cut them all with my paper cutter to fit the pottery ... so if you try to make one of these for yourself don't get too hung up trying to find a container that works.

And now my computer desk in my studio has a new look. My desk drawers are neat and I have all of my reference information at my finger tips!

I hope that this inspires you to get organized and be creative doing so! Have a great weekend!

       

let's get organized {part 2}

I'm still in my purge and organize mood and here's another project that I have been working on in my home studio. This photo is what one corner of my office looks like this morning after a few hours of organizing on the weekend.

I have soooo many scrapbooking supplies in my office and in the basement (where most of my supplies are kept) ... and although I like to think that I know where everything is ... I really don't. I spend way too much time looking through storage boxes that I have so neatly arranged on ikea shelving units in the basement. I'll be honest, I do label the boxes and everything appears to be really neat and orderly ... but I still seem to spend hours looking for "something" just right. 

I've seen lots of ideas for organizing supplies in magazines and on the internet but I wanted to use some things I already had on hand and didn't have to go out and invest more money ...especially after I started working out the math on how much I've spent on scrapbooking materials!

So I converted a metal jewellery stand that I purchased at Pier One Imports a few years ago into fixture to hold some of my scrapbooking elements in my studio.

... here's a close up of the jewellery stand ...

... I used three different sizes of clear zip lock bags to do this ... you can buy these at lots of places ... I got many of mine at the dollar store. Some of my bags had a hole at the top but if they didn't I simply added a hole with my crop-i-dile (but a regular hole punch will work too).

... then I used small binder rings to put the bags into small groups of similar things or items that went together. After that it was easy to organize and hang the bags on the jewellery stand. Now I do have to confess that I did have to go out and purchase additional binder rings ... I had a couple of dozen of them to start but I had way too many supplies to organize!

Here's how my new fixture looks in my studio office. I set it on top of a table that my Dad made for me years ago. Now I do have to admit that this is not all of my scrapbooking materials on this one little fixture ... I have a couple (couple ... who am I kidding, a bunch) of boxes of more ziplock bags on binder rings waiting for a "home". I think that I am going to work on converting one of my ikea shelves so that it will hold more of my supplies this way ... but that will be another project to work on!

I also reorganized the wire tiered basket in my studio ... it sits beside my new fixture and was looking a little messy. It still holds some of my completed mini albums in the top but the bottom is now full of blank albums and a couple of antique glass jars filled with additional supplies.

I have to remember to keep my eyes out for more of these metal jewellery stands and wire tiered baskets .... this is a great time of year to find things like this on sale.

One more thing that I did in my studio office is to use my antique suitcases to better organize my "basic tools". I now keep my most used tools and supplies in the small and large suitcase. The large suitcase is perfect for storing my paper cutter, glass and self healing mats and other cutting tools. The smaller suitcase is great for gel mediums, adhesives, pens, brushes, distress inks, etc. Now when I go to Scrapbook Queens to work on a project or teach a class I don't have to take much time getting ready, I just have to grab these two suitcases. I use the medium size suitcase when I am packing for a class to organize my class "kits" and any additional tools or materials that I will need for that specific class.

Next project to tackle ... my computer fonts and contact information!

let's get organized!

It's January and I've been in a "got to get organized" mood lately. Next to filling bags with outgrown clothing and toys that the kids have "out grown" to donate to the second hand stores ... I've been trying to re-organize the house so that everything has a place again.

One of the things I did yesterday was go through all of the winter hats, mittens and scarves and get rid of the items that we don't wear anymore. I separated everyone's things into baskets that would be kept in either the front hall closet or the laundry/mud room. I love baskets - the ultimate organizing tool that can also be used as part of your decor. I used simple black chalkboard tags to label each of the baskets.

Here's a picture of the cabinets I designed for our laundry/mudroom last year. The cabinets were made by one of our friends, Chris, who owns the area California Closets. I designed the cabinets so that they would  fit the baskets I already owned ... it's so much easier to design the cabinets around the baskets than to try to find baskets to fit shelving! The larger baskets hold footwear and smaller baskets hold accessories.

 I bought my black chalkboard tags at Michaels about a year ago - they were in a clearance bin and really inexpensive. They are made of wood and have a chalkboard finish to them. I could have used chalk to write on the labels but I didn't because these baskets are used often and being the perfectionist that I am I knew that I would not be happy if the words were getting rubbed off all of the time ... so I used a white sharpie peel-off china marker (pencil) to write on the tags and get the same look as the chalk. I can easy repaint the tags with black chalkboard paint if I ever want to change a name. 

After I bought these tags I realized how easy they would be to make them from wood or chipboard shapes! You can buy thin premade wood shapes at most craft stores and just paint them with black chalkboard paint ... if they don't have holes to tie them onto the baskets with ribbon, you can easily make holes with a crop-a-dile or a drill. Or if you have a cuttlebug (or similar diecutting tool) you can make tags from black chipboard ... again add holes with your crop-a-dile, add a ribbon and you are ready to start labelling those baskets! 

I'm going to try to share some more of my organizing projects over the next week ... so if you are in the organizing mood too check back for more ideas. If you have been posting some crafty organization ideas on your blog lately and have some ideas to share please let me know!

I'm at The Answer is Chocolate's Open House!



more "green" crafting at the cottage

Last week we did some crafting at the cottage while we were on holidays. It was fun to just pull out my scrapbooking supplies and let the girls do what they want. Robyn and her cousin Amanda were keen to try out some collages after I showed them some amazing collage ideas in the current issue of  Somerset Studio The Art of Paper and Mixed-Media magazine.  

I let the girls go through my stash of papers, old books and scrapbooking supplies on their own and only offered helped if they asked me. I really wanted them to come up with their own ideas and not to worry about what was right or wrong or what anyone else thought looked "good".  I think that they had a good time and they worked on their projects on and off for two days. 

On the second day, Robyn was happy that I pulled out some of my special scrapbooking supplies for them to use if they wanted. I keep a bunch of my favourite scrapbooking supplies in a spice rack that I upcycled a couple of years ago ... and I don't share these supplies with the kids very often. 

  

I bought this spice rack at Costco at least 10 years ago. It wasn't your ordinary spice rack - it came with 16  spice jars, can and bottle openers, measuring spoons and a bunch of other kitchen tools ... and the rack spins! Once the spices were gone and I grew tired of seeing the rack on the overcrowded kitchen counter I knew that I needed to find a new use for the spice rack and give it a "makeover" ... so I turned it into a "scrapbooking supply organizer".

I used bright coloured scrapbooking papers to decorate most of the wood on the rack. The hooks that originally held kitchen tools were perfect for hanging paper scissors and packages of two-sided tape.

I cleaned out the spice jars and decorated the tops with scrap pieces of cork and flowers that I made out of vintage silk flower petals and buttons. I was originally going to make up labels to decorate the tops but I knew that I would be constantly re-labelling the containers over the years and it was easy to see what was in each jar from the side. The jars are filled with rhinestones, buttons, brads and miscellanous scrapbooking elements that I like to use for cardmaking, scrapbooking, collages, etc. 

The top of the spice rack had a hole in the middle to hold wooden spoons ... I used a small clay pot to fill the hole and store a few spools of my favourite ribbons.

 Haley was inspired by the girls as they were collaging and decided to do a little "upcycling" of her own. She had a white chair in her bedroom that I picked up at a garage sale a few years ago ... she didn't like the shiny white paint on it and thought that it would look better painted in a flat sky blue. After painting the chair, she cut words and phrases out of a couple of the books that I use for collages and covered the seat in random pieces of paper ...

it turned out pretty cool and Haley is so proud that she came up with the idea all by herself!

organizing digital files and pictures

It has been a crazy couple of weeks around our house ... the kids have had so much going on with end of school activities that I've hardly had time to take a break. As the kids have been re-organizing their spaces and getting rid of papers and books that they will not be needing next year ... I have been looking at my digital pictures and noticing that I have fallen behind a bit on organizing and backing up my files.

I bought a new top of the line computer a couple of years ago that crashed after a few months and I lost all of my files ... so I learned the hard way that you have to back up your files (often) on an external drive. And I do that monthyly ... but what I also try to do is back up my digital pictures onto cds or dvds so that my

children will be able to have copies of our pictures when they are older. 

I put them into protective plastic cd cases and add fun cover "art" to them. You can see in the picture above some of our vacation cds from 2004 and 2005. I use scrap pieces of scrapbooking papers and a single photo for each cover. I embellish the cover with stickers, stamps and whatever else I can find that will not make the art cover too thick that it cannot slip into the case and close. I love to use my sewing machine on scrapbooking projects and I do that a lot with these cd covers too ... I guess that it is part of my style.

 

Whenever I make photo cds to give as gifts I add these custom covers to the cd cases as well. If I'm

making more than a couple of digital cds to give to a number of people, I find that it is easier to create a digital file and print it on a cd sticker ... it's a different look and but it saves a lot of time ... although I am not very good with getting the sticker centred onto the cd so I avoid making those most often.

I've made these cd covers for work when I was consulting as a creative director for fashion retailers. I worked on a lot of photo shoots and I always had piles of cds sitting around my office. Visually they looked nice on my desk and they were so easy to reference because I gave each cover a look that was similar to the client's brand. 

Well, gotta go and get caught up!