spring toddler craft

I wanted to make a fun spring craft with Hudson to send to some family members for Easter.  I don't do a lot of structured crafts with him since he is still uninterested in them.  This craft was made possible by my wonderful husband doing the painting with him while I took pictures.

Easter Thumbprint Flowers

I cut out small circles from scrapbook paper and glued them on some card stock.  Then, using my Clementine Paint, we dipped his thumb in the paint on the lid.

With Mike's help, Hudson put thumb prints around the circles to be the petals.  Lots of help needed here.  Hudson had a hard time keeping his thumb straight at first, but caught on quick.  I ended up turning the paper so Mike could concentrate on not getting paint everywhere. 

I then added stems and cut grass for the bottom.  This one is headed to my sister, Karen, to help brighten her day with some goodies for her last week in the hospital.

My entry into Creative Me is sponsored by Appliances Online and Bosch Washing Machines.

craft room redo {part 2} - fabric storage

As part of the craft room redo, I wanted to add some more storage for my fabric.  It's been housed in two plastic tubs and a bazillion joann fabric bags.  

I came across this great idea on pinterest to turn a file cabinet into fabric storage.

picture from sewmanyways.blogspot.com

I got an old file cabinet from craigslist for $5!!! Most of them were $40 or more but this one was perfect.  It's definitely used and had some rust spots, but I knew I was going to paint over it anyway.

I wiped it down and then taped off the handles.  Then it was time to spray paint.  This was my first time spray painting anything.  I used a rustoleum primer that was good for metal.  I used the whole can and did 4 thin coats.  

Now for the fun part.  I used Rustoleum Ultra Cover in Satin Lagoon.  I wanted to go with a bold color since most everything else in the room will be a neutral.  I love love how it turned out.  I know I took pictures of the process, but I can't find them on the computer.  I did 5 thin coats, which used the whole can.

Here's the pretty blue color.  I wanted to stencil on it a bit too.  I used Martha Stewart's new paint for Michaels and her stencil brushes and one of her stencils.  All bought with 50% off coupons, of course.

This was my first time stenciling anything.  I should have started on the side, since there was a bit of a learning curve.  I started out with too big of a brush, so some paint bled through.  I still love how it turned out, just don't look too close.

And here it is.  The white and red really break up the blue so it's not too much. 

To hang the fabric, I cut file folders in half and just wrapped the fabric around the folders and pinned it in place.  Some folders have 2 pieces of fabric wrapped around.  Now I can see all of my fabric and it doesn't get all wrinkly in a big bin.  It's already full and I still have some more fabric.  I'm going to have to come up with a secondary way to store some.

craft room redo {part 1}

 This is what my craft room looks like 90% of the time.

It's a horrible mess and makes me super unmotivated to sew.  I finally decided to get my act together and tackle a little redo so I can have a pretty crafty space.

This desk is where I sew.  It was originally bought for Mike to study while in seminary, but when we moved in, I took over the desk.  It doesn't work well for sewing because it is a corner desk, so there isn't a lot of room for fabric.  

After I cleaned up the room, Mike took the desk apart and we just threw it away.  It was in pretty bad condition.  I'm going to use a 6 foot long banquet table so that I have room for cutting and sewing.

 I cleaned everything up.  Threw a lot of stuff away, and everything else is boxed up in the crawl space.  I'm going to paint the room a much lighter white, hoping that it will brighten up the room since it is in the basement.  All the paint was free from Ace Hardware with their free quart of paint on Saturdays in March.

Here's the room almost empty.  Just a few things left on the chair and the bookshelf.  Next up, taping off the baseboards.  I'm hoping to get it painted this week while my mom is in town.