Craft Closet

BEFORE: MESSY COAT CLOSET

AFTER: MY WRAPPING, SCRAPPING, CRAFTING CLOSET

I have been wanting a craft room forever but I was running out of square footage in my house so I had to get creative. The before pic is what my coat closet looked like at 8:00 am yesterday and the after is what it had transformed into by 10:00 pm. It is only 95 % finished but I couldn't wait to give you a sneak peek. I'm so excited !

The first thing I did was empty it totally out and find new homes for all the junk, I mean coats and tools. After taking down the wire rack I painted it with some paint left over from my kitchen, BM Concord Ivory (it's really a golden yellow, nothing ivory about it). I had planned to buy base cabinets, paint and install them, get a countertop and paint and hang pegboard. While perusing my buddy, Craig's list, I found this dresser/bookcase combo for $140.00. It was red and I decided that I could absolutely live with that ! One hour later it was in place and ready for all my goodies.

All my wrapping and tissue paper, scrapbook supplies and crafting stuff lives here now......
I covered a memo board and containers with some fabulous scraps. There are a few more things to do for finishing touches but so far I love it !

I'm linking this to Metamorphosis Monday.......... go check it out.

Tassel Party and Pillow Tips

I made a new tassel for the tassel party that Cheri is having over at It's So Very Cheri. I made this one with a giraffe that I got from the Dollar Store. I added layers of bullion, brush and ball fringe.

This was the third tassel that I have made, go HERE to see my very first attempt and to see what I use for the inside.

I made some pillows with iron on transfers last weekend and Karen@StrictlySimpleStyle wanted me to give some tips for making them. I was going to either use a stencil or the iron on transfers. After looking around at AC Moore I decided to buy the transfer paper and download some images from the internet. I found free images you can use at Icon Etc. and finally decided on these king and queen crowns and little flourishes with a retro stripe. I couldn't get it to enlarge to the size I wanted so I just made it as big as I could.

Tip #1. Enlarge your image in photoshop to get it to the size you need.
Tip #2 Cut as close as you can to the image. They say to leave 1/2" around it but it does have a clear shiny spot around it.
Tip #3 Once you put your iron down don't lift it until the image is set or it will move.
Tip #4 They have transfer paper for white fabrics and one for black or dark fabrics so, use the right one for your fabric.
Tip #5 You can easily make these reversible by putting something different on the back.

It's really easy, give it a try.........

Mounting Roman Shades

When mounting roman shades they can either be inside or outside mounted. The type of window will usually determine which way would be the best. If you don't have enough room to mount inside but you still want the look of an inside mount shade then you can mount them directly on the molding as I did in these two examples.

If you want a structured shade the rings are spaced horizontally about every 10" apart as in the above shades.

For a "relaxed" shade the rings are only placed at the outside edges and that gives you the scoop at the bottom like the romans I made for this dining room. You also permanently tie up the bottom 3 rings so there is fullness when the shade is down.

Pillows With Iron on Transfer

My project this weekend was new pillows for the family room. I've been wanting to bring in some lighter colors to the room and I thought recovering pillows would be a good way to do that. This is my pillow template. It is great for cutting out squares that are square and the really great thing is that you can see the pattern on patterned fabrics to make sure it is centered.

I bought some iron on transfer paper at AC Moore so I could add a design on the pillows. After hours searching on the internet for images, I finally decided on crowns and flourishes with a retro stripe. I found lots of Victorian images but I wanted something fun for this room. I printed them and then ironed the images onto my sunbrella fabric and added some bullion fringe.

Here they are in their new home.............. Zoe approves !

I'm posting these at BNOP for Metamorphosis Monday.