Pinspiration Sunday

As I browse Pinterst this Sunday morning while drinking my coffee I am getting some great ideas for so -re-do's I have been thinking about lately. I love the gray in this kitchen. I have all white cabinets so this could look really good. We have brown tile on the wall though, so I need to make sure I get the right shade! 

 My oldest son's bathroom, this room really needs a re-do. This would be a very big project, a complete transformation!! Love the colors here and the beadboard!

 This is also inspiration for the bathroom, that armoire is amazing!

And I have been loving wall stencils lately! I could see this in these colors in my room for sure! Not sure if I am ready to tackle this just yet. Cutting edge stencils has some really great patterns out there, but this one just caught my eye! 

What have you found on pinterest lately?? I know I am on there "pinning" way to much! 

Follow me if you would like! 

Fabric flower tutorial

I have been making some fun things with my new ruffler foot lately, my favorite besides ruffles, is fabric flowers. The ruffler makes it so easy to do! Below I will show you step by step how to make these flowers. They take no time at all! 

 This is the latest purse I made with some great new moda fabric.
 Ok here goes! This is my ruffler foot, you can get generic brand ones for about $30 at Hancock. If you do not have a ruffler foot, you can gather the fabric and still make these flowers.

 Cut a strip of fabric 1 1/2 inches wide. The wider it is the taller the flower will be. My strip is approx 24" long. You can adjust the length depending on how large or small you want your flowers.

Place the fabric in the ruffler. I set mine to ruffle every 6 stitches, you can adjust the ruffler for 1, 6, or 12 stitches. I also set my machine stitch width at 3.5 Ruffle the entire strip of fabric on the edge. Leave about 1/8". 

 This is what it should look like.

 Use a hot glue gun and turn in one end of the ruffle about 1/2 inch and glue in place.

 Now make a circle of hot glue on a separate piece of fabric. I place interfacing on the back of it for stability. You need to work fast here so the glue does not dry.

 Place the end of the ruffle that you glued down in the middle of the glue circle. Wrap the fabric round the glue circle loosely until all of the fabric is glued down.

 This is what your flower will look like, you then need to press down the fabric into the glue to "shape" your flower.

 This is now what it should look like. The you simply cut it out around the base.

 You will have a fabric circle on the bottom. I usually glue my flowers in place, or you can attach a pin to make it removable.

 That's it. These take about 5 min to make and you can make so many in several different sizes. I have added buttons and jewels to the center for add fun!

Happy Sewing! 

How to make your cricut mat sticky again

Do you feel like your cricut mats loose their "stick" rather quickly? Here is a quick and inexpensive way to "re-stick" them! 

You will need a repositionable spray adhesive, I used Krylon. DO NOT use permanent! Tape, my favorite is FROG tape, and a scraper.

First scrape any excess paper or residue from your mat to clean it. 

Then using the green edge of the mat as a guide, tape off all 4 edges. You don't want the edges to be sticky, it will not go through the machine properly. 

Then simply spray your mat! Hold the can approx 12 inches away from the mat, you don't want it to go on to thick. Spray 2-3 light coats. Remove the tape and it is ready to use. This can be done over and over again! Saving you lots of money! 

New Year, Clean Space & some organizing tips!

After spending hours and hours in my craft room this season, I knew I had to get in there and do some serious purging! I spent way to much time "looking" for the right stuff and digging through bin after bin. This is what the room looked like Friday morning: 

And here is what is was by evening:

I spent time going through ever bin, drawer, box, basket and cupboard! I emptied 7 full size totes and found some new solutions to keep items close at hand and more visible.

1st thing was hooks. I added several hooks to the side of my island where I find myself standing and cutting most of the time. I always seem to set down the cutter and then I can't find it. 

This ruler did not have a hole to hang it so I used a binder clip from the office to attach it to the hook. 

Next up my scrapbook supplies, all now neatly in order in clear containers or baskets that slide out easily. 

 I have clear containers all over the room, here is my loose stamps, glitter ribbon, etc. All now easy to see what is where.

 Punches are all organized on kitchen towel rods from IKEA, super cheap there!!

 I have more thread than I like to admit, here is just some of it out that I use the most often, I think I may need to get another storage rack for it though!

 Fabric, I know many of you have seen this already, in fact this was my most viewed and pinned post of all time! I keep all of my fabric on mini bolts made from foam core, out where I can see what I have.
I did have a bin of fabric, most of it such tiny scraps I have no idea why I hung onto all of it. That is now gone. The original post is HERE, I show how to create the mini blots for fabric storage.

 Cricut machine and many cartridges! I have slowed down my purchasing though now that I have SCAL. That software has been great!

 Sweater scraps organized in clear bins by color, lace, ribbon, needle felting, etc. I now can see everything and grab the bin I need!

 My cutting table. I bought 2 more cutting mats and am now able to cover my entire counter with self healing mats. I plan to flip them all over and duct tape the back side to help keep them all together and eliminate the seams.

Now that my room is clean and organized I need to get in there and make something, but I don't want to mess it up!!! 

To find more great storage and organization tips look on pinterest, you will find a ton! Here is a link to one of my boards! 

Pinerest-Home organization

DIY Roman Shades

Today I was finally able to get around to hanging up my new Roman Shades that I made. 

I found a great tutorial on Pinterest! 

They are made from mini blinds and fabric. They were really easy to do and I love the look of them in my entry way! 

Have you found pinterest yet?? 

****WARNING****

Pinterest is highly addictive, you will find yourself on there for hours at a time! 

Have fun! 

Burlap and Ruffles

Now that Christmas is behind us, I had to figure out what else to make for my shop. I have made some runners in the past, but wanted to add a bit to them. So I made some ruffles and fabric flowers! 

 I added some vintage buttons and gems for some fun detail.

 Some birds have eyes, and some just a wing. They are all made with a soft ivory fabric with a light grey script print.

 I have had a bin full of vintage lace I bought at a estate sale, I finally found a use for it.

 I made some place mats to match, it looks great all together on a table!!

Any other good burlap ideas out there?? Maybe I will go and get some pin-speration!!