Organization is the Spice of my Life

Posted by Nat on Sep 19, 2010 | Comments Off on Organization is the Spice of my Life

I’m such a nerd.  I love it when things are organized.  It makes me feel calm and like I might know what I’m doing in at least one venue of my life.

When we first got married, Michael and I bought a super-tiny condo near downtown San Diego.  It was 1,000 square feet + a garage + a tiny storage unit.  No patio, no outdoor area for a grill- nada.  Our kitchen was neat, but not huge, and I wanted to keep our spices out of the cupboards.  I found these containers at the Container Store and in the spices went.  Even though that was our first place, and we are currently on our third, we still use these spice containers.  I love having easy, fast access when I’m cooking, without hunting and pecking for common spices.

Originally I handwrote in permanent marker the names of the spices.  However, at a recent visit to the Container Store I saw that they make nice stickers for them, so I redid them and am again in spice-organization-heaven.  By the way, do you know how to erase permanent marker from plastic? All you have to do is color over it with a dry-erase marker and then rub it off with a paper towel- it all comes off.  I had to do it a few times, but it totally worked.  Love it!

We are going to be remodeling our kitchen in the next year or two, and I plan on still keeping our spices out.  I love the colors, the names, and the access.  We may put them on a backsplash instead of the fridge, but they will be out in the kitchen with us somewhere.

How do you organize your spices?   I love seeing how people cook and what they do in their kitchens.  If you do something with yours, please post a link with your comments- I’d love to see!

A Journey and a Pillow

Posted by Nat on Sep 8, 2010 | 3 comments

I have begun a journey that I know will end on June 17, 2011.  I have begun my final year of teaching.  I have mixed feelings about it.  I still like teaching in the moments with my students- I love giving children joyful experiences through music, I love the teachers I work with, and I think if I have a traditional job, I want it to be teaching.  But my life has become one that I see needing a non-traditional scenario.  I watch hundreds of moms throughout the week picking up their kids from school and walking home with them, and realize that I want to be that mom.  I want to be able to pick my kids up from school, I want to be there when they have a bad day so I can give hugs and homemade cookies.  I want to be there for them- it’s the most important thing.  And so, with this realization last year, I told my husband and my principal (in reverse order) that this is my last year of teaching.  I needed to name it and speak it in order for it to happen.  That, coupled with my newfound love of sewing and creating things with love has instilled in me a lot of hope.  I have no idea if we’ll be able to “make it” without me working.  Rather, I’m sure we’ll “make it” but it will be a different kind of life.  But it’s the life I want; my current life is hard to handle on a day-to-day basis.  I can’t keep up with myself, my kids, my relationships…. the list goes on.  I don’t handle being two people well.  I want to be a good teacher, but it’s more important to me to be a good mom than anything else.

This blog is going to be sporadic while I’m working- I hope to keep up with posts.  I am for sure unable to stop sewing- even if I want to take a break, an idea comes to me and I make it or else it eats at me.  I’m also addicted to giving things I make to family and friends- it’s so much fun.   So I hope that those of you who are reading this blog consistently stick with me- I can’t wait until I can consider myself a true SAHM and a full time blogger/crafter.  I fantasize about it.  No really.  I do.

On to one of my latest projects.  I posted here about my duvet cover that I made.  Yeesh- I can’t believe I made that thing.  I needed to finish it off with an accent pillow, so here it is:

It’s that little green thing in the middle of the two white pillows.

To make the slipcover for this accent pillow, I followed this tutorial at Cottage Magpie that I found while hunting for tutorials.  (That, by the way, is an addiction in and of itself.)  This tutorial is GREAT- I wouldn’t change anything.  I will probably never buy pillows ever again- it’s so much easier to pick your own fabric and make exactly what you want.

My pillow is 14×14 and a bit chubby, and because I wanted the fit to be just right I cut the fabric to be 15.5×15.5.  This gave me plenty of wiggle room, and since the cotton is nice and crisp, it looks great.   The only thing I did differently was the back two pieces are slightly bigger than what is recommended in the tutorial because I didn’t want there to be any pillow showing.  So my two back pieces were 15.5 x 10.5.  This gives you a nice, flat overlap in the back.

Here are some closeups:

It’s amazing what a little pillow can do!  Now if we could just get the rest of the room finished…

Beer Makeover

Posted by Nat on Aug 23, 2010 | 20 comments

I’ve been eyeing the six-pack beer containers for a while.  Not just for the delicious containers of summertime bliss, but for their revamp possibilities.  Last week I did a huge cleanup in my office- reorganized everything and made my creating space much more useable and functional.  Someday I’ll have a space like this or this, but that’s a long way off- right now I’m just happy to have a table and a closet.

When I was done I decided to get to work on the possibilities of this here beer container.  (Keep your beer preferences to yourself.  And if you haven’t tried this kind, give it a whirl- I love it.)

Here’s what you need if you’d like to repurpose your beer container.

• Beer container or anything else that holds cans/bottles
• Mod Podge (of course- it’s my new BFF apparently) and applicator (I like sponge brushes)  (I have MP Hardcoat pictured- was thinking of using it and decided not to)
• pencil or marker for tracing
• Scissors (I’ve only pictured my big pair, but I ended up using a small pair for the handles)
• Paper that you love, love, love and have been afraid to use for something because it’s just so nice.  Use it.  What’s the point in it sitting there?  There will always be more paper somewhere that you love.
• Any other cool, crazy accoutrements you’d like to add (stickers, letters, borders, zots, tags, etc.)
• Something to cover your worksurface.  Come on, we’re using MP people.

Steps to take:

• Drink the beer (sorry, had to say it)
• Decide how you want to use the paper- what’s going to go on the front, back, sides, etc.  I did not do this and ended up having to change things up.  It still looks fine, but I was momentarily bummed.
• Trace the different sides of your container on the paper and cut out.  You don’t have to be too precise- the parts that show on mine are hardly noticeable, and it just adds to the character.  I’ve had this paper on the left for years- I think, actually, for about 10 years.  I always thought I’d use it to write a letter or something, but never happened.   I just love her face and her arms.  I couldn’t bear to throw it away.  When I found it during my office reorganization I knew it had to be part of this- this way I can see her every day.  Love it.

• Mod Podge it up.  I painted the MP on the container first, smoothed the paper on top and then let it dry.  Then I came back to it 15 minutes later or so and painted the paper with MP.
• Add your “extras.”  I framed the girl in a frame I had that happened to look good with what I had.  Then I used 3-D Zots to lift her up a bit from the box- nice layered look, I think.  Here’s my finished product- I. Love. It.

Oh, but that’s just one side.  Here’s the rest, and a shot of it on top of my shelf.  The other side says, “Get your craft on!”  The two small sides say “create” and “love.”  I was going to do “create” and “inspire” but I ran out of R stickers.  Oh well.  Love is always a good thing, I say.  I’m using it to hold my (what else?) Mod Podge, acrylic sealer and brushes.  The slots are just a bit smaller than a large jar of MP, but since the cardboard is flexible it’s all good.

And now, here’s my little freebie for today:

I have 7 more pieces of this little lady.  Would you like to use her?  I’d love to send you a sheet- it’s just 8.5×11 paper, not thick at all.  My only condition is that when you make something with her you link up to this post and let me know what you do with her.  ‘M-kay?  Pictures would be awesome.  So, since I have 7 pieces, the first 7 peeps to post a comment will get her in the mail.  Make sure I can find you, either leave your email with the comment (not in the comment- in the box) or make sure your contact info is current on your blog.  That way I can get your address.  If you don’t want the paper but still like what I did, feel free to still leave a comment- I love to see what people think.

I am linking up to It’s a Blog Party,  C.R.A.F.T., and  Making the World Cuter.  Yee haw!

p.s.  I apologize for my excessive use of parenthesis.  (I can’t control myself.)

The Miracle of Paint

Posted by Nat on Aug 17, 2010 | 2 comments

Something needed to be done.  Before I get into this let me preface everything by saying that eventually we are going to do a complete overhaul on our house.  We are actually meeting with a contractor this week to talk about what we could do and how many thousands of buckaroos we would need in order to do what we’d like.  Michael and I like to brace ourselves early.  It won’t happen for quite some time, but we need to dream a little and take in the big picture.

Anyhoo, our front entry way has what some would call a security gate.  It also functions as a screen door, so while my first reaction was to rip it off the house, I realized that then we couldn’t leave the door open for a nice breeze, which you can do nearly 365 days/year where we live.  I like to keep tabs on my kids and my dog, so there’s another nice function of the security gate.  Also, lizards like to invade our house from time to time (I can’t tell if it’s different lizards or the same lizard that is stalking us, be he/they are not nice and he/they bite if given the chance.  Neat, eh?), and when we first moved in we heard coyotes howling in the night, too, so there are LOTS of good reasons to not get rid of this thing until we have a nice replacement.

Here’s the “before” shot.  Brace yourself!

Black is not exactly a welcoming color.  It may say, “I’m a security gate.”  But it also has sort of a “go the he** away” vibe to it, too.  I’ve been itching to paint it since we moved in, but other things took priority.  With the school year looming and other things on our horizons, I decided it was time to do it.  So, this last weekend I taped everything off, primed it up…..

And Voila!

(don’t worry, Sophie isn’t dead- she’s just old.)

It looks much, much better.  I’m not entirely sold on the color- maybe should have done a darker brown to match the door, but at least it’s not black anymore.   If you are blessed with a security gate circa the 1970s and need to spruce it up, you will need at least 5 cans of spray paint, lots of drop cloths (light ones- heavy ones won’t stay up), painter’s tape, and depending the color you may need some spray paint primer, too.  I actually need to get one more can and touch up some areas, but we’ll see how important that becomes once school starts… 🙂

Did you notice anything else about the entryway?

If you haven’t seen, you can enter my first giveaway to win a sign similar to this one for fall.  I plan on making one of these for each season, and a few holidays.  Click here to enter.  Hoooray!  I’m very happy with how this helps our entryway- it’s so nice to have some color and fall colors, even though it’s not really fall yet.

The only thing left for this area (for now) is to fix that lovely overhead light.  We have one to put up- I’ll post a picture once it’s done, but that’s Michael’s territory- I’m not allowed near the electric work for good reason.  We’d also like to tile up the cement, but that will depend on our eventual plans for the house- we’re not going to tile it now if we may rip it up in just a few years.

p.s.  Check out this guy- he was hanging out in our small woodpile in the corner.  I’m glad I saw him before I moved the wood- he was HUGE!

Do you have an entryway?  What would you like to do to it?

Product Review: Ironing Pad

Posted by Nat on Aug 15, 2010 | 1 comment

I hate ironing.  No really.  I hate it.  I know of some people who love certain household tasks (my mom and my brother-in-law love to vacuum).  I have yet to find one that I look forward to. That being said, I love a product that makes any household task easier or better or faster.  This one that I have found does all of these things.  I love it.

We are blessed with a laundry room in our house, which is great.  Not having laundry in the garage seems to be an anomaly here in SoCal, so I was really pleased to know I would have a designated space for laundry and a place to keep chemicals and other things up high.  However, our laundry room is pretty narrow, and an standard, run-of-the-mill ironing board would not work.  I didn’t want to use our guest room or another room for ironing because I’d never take it down, so we’d always have piles of fabric and clothes needing to be ironed, and one more thing to do.  Up to this point I’ve been either a) avoiding ironing all together or b) using our old, over-the-door ironing board.  It’s loud- when I take it down it’s creaky, and when I iron it’s creaky.  The board itself is too small, too.

I wasn’t exactly in search of anything, but then I was looking through Improvements catalog and found this.  (Improvements is one of those catalogs that you never know what you’ll find when it shows up.  Lots of great things for your house, and then as you’re flipping through it they spring things on you like the “health and intimacy” pages- oh my.)

I love this thing.  It’s the answer to my ironing prayers.

Here’s my dryer before:

And here it as after- this was a great “forced organization” for me- I reassigned some things in about 10 minutes to make way for the pad (okay, and I also finally put away the carpet adhesive).  Now the dryer is always clear.  Love it!

What I love it for best is pressing/ironing fabric that is ready to be sewn into something.  I throw all the fabric behind the dryer and pull it forward as I’m ironing, like this:

(Sorry about these photos- they were taken at night.)

It’s great.  I have to shift it to the left or right as I go, but I still get ironing done so much faster, and having nothing to pull out or set up makes it so great.  I wouldn’t say I love ironing now, but I’m enjoying it much more than I used to because of this thing.

So far it’s held up great.  The only place I’ve noticed with any wear and tear is when I ironed some very small parts of sewing projects to press them, the area around it did show some heat damage.  Also, when it comes it reeks of plastic, so if you’re sensitive to smell you may want to open it outside and let it air out before bringing it inside.  Last possible negative is that it covers the lint filter on my dryer, so I have to remember to clean it.  If you have a fancy dryer like the one I dream of I’m not sure where the filter is, so it might not be an issue for you.

I think for $13 you can’t beat this thing.  I’m wondering if one could make one on their own with more fun prints or something.  Maybe I’ll add that to my list…

Happy Weekend!

Welcome, Tutorial and a Giveaway (Wow!)

Posted by Nat on Aug 13, 2010 | 35 comments

I’m working on this whole “having your house rise up to meet you.”  Yeah, I know.  I’m a Martha fan and an Oprah fan.  Big time.  So sue me.

I’m also in the process of revamping our front door… area.  Stoop?  Threshold?  Doorstep?  You know- where people arrive.  More to come about that, but this whole revamp got me to thinking that aside from all the plants we have, there isn’t really anything to welcome people to our house.  I’ve seen little welcome signs around in stores, but none of them have the flair or look that I want.  I want them to be just the right size, not too big, not too small.  I don’t want them to be boring, but I don’t want them to be too busy because no one wants to be distracted while walking into someone’s house (especially me- I’m accident prone).

So I set to work.  Have you seen JSIM?  If not, get your booty over there- Cathe gives you free stuff all. the. time.  I recently downloaded some alphabets from Cathe  here and chose one to use for my sign (Cathe- you rock!).  I don’t own a Cricut or a Silhouette (someday?), so it was either print something on the printer or make it myself.  I was feeling artsy and techy, so I opened up Photoshop and put together “Welcome” from my favorite alphabet that Cathe gave me, and printed it out on a plain piece of 12×12 piece of paper to create a sort of mock stencil.  This did not look “pretty” when it printed- since it was a stencil it was just a functional thing.  You’ll see it below in the pictures.

Here are the other supplies you need (see list below the collage):

• Canvas or other crafty surface to put everything on (picture frame? bottom of a box?  endless possibilities)
• pencil & permanent marker; also a good eraser if you are sloppy like me
• paint brush with a thin tip
• Brushes and applicators for your Mod Podge and paint
• Mod Podge (if your sign will go outside you’ll want some Outdoor MP)
• Acrylic Paint in color(s) of your choosing
• Paper flowers (mine are by Bazzill Basics)
• buttons for flower centers (doesn’t matter what color they are- they will get covered up)
• coordinating scrap/craft paper (take the easy route- I chose two that were already paired together)
• any other scrappy/crafty things you’d like to use.
• paper plates for Mod Podging
• newspaper for covering your work surface
• scissors- I used two kinds (see photos) a basic pair and a small, extra-sharp pair for the detail work in the frame I cut out
• Clear Acrylic Spray- something to coat the finished product

Steps:

Paint the canvas a color you like.  Paint most of it, but you don’t have to paint the very center.  (I had orange and brown left over from this and this, so I mixed them up to get a nice fall orange going.)  Set aside to dry.

Mod Podge the top of your flowers, being careful not to MP them to whatever they are sitting on.  I really just did this to stiffen them up a bit in case the humidity gets to them over time.

Cut your background paper to the size you want.  Since my canvas was 11×14, I trimmed mine to about 10×12 (I think).

Choose a shape for your Welcome paper.  I was going to do an oval, but then while in Photoshop saw this oval frame and liked it better.  I printed the frame on my Welcome paper and cut it out.  The frame wasn’t as dark as I wanted because of the pattern on the paper, so I went over it again with a dark brown marker.  You could also just trace a shape you like, or draw one freehand, but I’m not that symmetrical in my drawing.

I turned the Welcome that I printed out from JSIM into a sort of pseudo-stencil.  I trimmed it up and traced parts of it on the paper, and then connected the dots.

Then I went over it in an archival pen, and then I painted it with paint so that it would look more handmade/crafty.  Here you can see I’m halfway done with the paint.

Get out your Mod Podge!  I used two types here- basic Matte MP for the first stuff, and then Outdoor MP for the last layer.  I did the two papers, background and Welcome, just on the back first, and then let them dry for about 30 minutes or so.  Before they set I went over them with a ruler to make sure there were no bubbles.  Then I came back and did the top of the paper.

Flowers:  I placed the flowers on with MP. Then I covered buttons with the same papers and MP’d them to the flowers.  This was all very messy, which is fun or awful depending on your level of  mess tolerance.  Since my children were not present, I loved it.  Had they been present, I probably would have received 5 phone calls and had to settle 3 tantrums.  Instead, I ModPodged in silent bliss.  It was great.

After all of that dried, I did the layer of Outdoor Mod Podge.  Note:  Outdoor Mod Podge is THICK stuff.  Work carefully and slowly.  Spread out what you have before glopping on more- especially with the flowers.

After all of that dried, I sprayed the whole thing with some clear acrylic spray (outside) and let it dry overnight.  Add a couple of hangers and some lovely brown ribbon and voila!  A welcome sign!

Here is what it looks like hanging on the wall.  I don’t think the ribbon will stay this long, but I just wanted to see it hanging to give you an idea of what it looks like because…

Giveaway Alert!

Here comes my surprise….

I made TWO!  One for me and one for one of you lovely readers.  My plan is to make one of these for each season and a few holidays (so yes, there will be more giveaways here at Crafting Crazy).  It was really fun to make, and if I can brighten my doorstep and yours, who can lose, really?

How can you win this Welcome Sign? Read on:

This Giveaway includes:

1) Polka-Dot Welcome sign pictured above

2) Two brass hangers for hanging (I will place them if you like, or send them along with the sign in case you aren’t sure how you want to hang it)

3) Lovely brown ribbon for hanging- you can let me know how long you’d like, or just let me guess how much you need.

How to win?  Share the love.  Lots of ways to win:

#1:  Leave a comment.  That’s all.  Just leave me a comment- say hello, I like your sign, I hope I win, anything.  Just leave a comment.

#2:  Look at the bottom of this post.  See the little bar down there that says “Sharing is Caring?”  Share my post somewhere from that bar, then come back here and tell me which one you used and if it was cool, annoying, easy, hard, etc.  This is a new tool and I don’t want to use it if it’s frustrating.  If something doesn’t work, tell me!  I need help with this one, so even if it doesn’t work, just tell me and that counts as an entry.

#3:  Do you tweet?  Follow me on Twitter (button is up on the right) and let me know via a comment.  If you already follow me (thanks!) then just let me know in a comment.

#4:  Subscribe to my blog via email.  In the right side bar near the top you’ll see a box that says “Subscribe to Crafting Crazy Via Email Updates”.  Enter your email, and leave another comment to let me know.

#5:  Use my RSS feed button (the little orange thing at the top right) or the Google button (below the orange thing) to add me to your blog feeds somehow.  Let me know- leave another comment.

I will announce the winner on Friday, August 20th and will send the winner the sign to hang.  I would love it, if you win the sign, to send me a picture of it hanging in/on your house so I can see where it ends up.  If you blog, I’d love a mention on your blog, too!

Can’t wait to see who wins!