I'm Still Here

Hey friends!  I know it's been a while since I've posted and I apologize.  I've been busy- moving again, working, and spending time with my big sis.  And visiting family and friends.

Let me clarify on the "moving again."  I moved into a new apartment about ten minutes from the first one.  I also transferred to a new Starbucks- the other was not what I had hoped.  My new apartment is much nicer than the previous.  I love the area and the apartment is great.  I have a small balcony, however a couple hundred feet from a railroad track.  But interestingly enough, you do get used to it.

I have been crafting a little.  Here are some things I've been doing:

The bird pillow was quite time-consuming but so worth it!

I also have some photos I took with my phone:

I visited my good friend, Sunnie, in Ohio and she and I went antique shopping in Amish Country.  These are my treasures.  I also found a cool metal coat tree.

My craft corner in my living room.  It actually looks a little different right now.  I moved my dining room table over there for my sewing (it's a small table).  Then that silly shelf kept falling so it was replaced by a smaller one.

Cookie Dough Truffles.  Yum!

 

I found this table in my sister's basement.  I believe it came from my dad.  It was broken.  I fixed it and now I have a small coffee table... for free.  Score!

I made a couple of pillows the other day.  There will be more of these soon.  I love beds covered in pillows.

So, anyway.  I've got a lot going on.  I need to start taking more photos of my projects so I can share them with you guys.  I'm going to start some posts about how to decorate an apartment, since I've been looking for months for some helpful tips and haven't been able to find much.  I think more and more people are moving into apartments and need some tips.

Oh, and I just signed up for Craftaholics Anonymous Summer 2013 Handmade Gift Exchange!  So, that craft will be posted soon as well.

Until next time,
Sarah

My Aparment!

Well, now that I have my own place, I've been decorating like crazy.  I've been buying things here and there.  Mostly at Goodwill, antique stores, and Target.  And some things I've made.

Here are some photos of the highlights (when a room is completely finished I will post pictures):

Nice and mostly organized pantry {more on that later}.

This cabinet was at my dad and step-mom's house and was passed down from my dad's side of the family.  It holds "junk" in the top drawer, table linens in the second, and more of grandma's china in the bottom.

The cabinet above was dug out of my grandparents' basement and it will soon be turned into a bar cabinet.  The sign was from a bar my dad used to go to in Florida- it had a large ear of corn drawn on it and took about 2 hours to get off.

 

 



My sister had left a couple of the plastic bins in the linen closet and a bunch of her leftover "extreme couponing" purchases, so I went and got a couple more bins and chalk wrote on them perfectly.

 

 

Free dresser from Aunt Sandy!

 

Curtains made from a twin flat sheet dyed pink.  Cheap mirror on the left with coffee filter flowers.  And the painting by ME!

{sorry for the blurry-ness} I got this library stool from the Derby City Antique Mall.  I can't decide if I actually like it with books on it like this, but we'll see if I can figure out how to change things around.

Craft corner decor.

 

Well, there is your sneek peak.  I will post more as I finish each room.

DIY Vintage Jello Mold Catch-All

My cousin, Leah, and her friend and roommate, Stephanie, came to visit a couple of weeks ago and we went to breakfast then to the Crazy Daisy Antique Mall.

 

{Taken with Instagram}

It's a really cool place!  I actually went there a few days before then and bought a table and bar cart (stay tuned for photos).

When with Leah, I got these cute little jello molds.

Supplies:
Sharpie
Wire
Metal Punch

Set your tins in the pattern you want them and mark where to punch your holes to attach them.

I was going to use jump rings, and you can, but then I decided to just use some thin wire and wrapped it like this:

I laid mine out ina six-sided shape.

Now it's my catch-all for all things metal- safety pins, decorative keys, alligator hair clips, pin backs, and ring bases.

DIY Crochet Hook Case

Hey guys!  I know it's been a while.  I'm going to try my hardest to get back into blogging now that I've moved and I'm going to have quite a few projects to blog.  My first is my Crochet Hook case.

My Aunt's (my uncle's wife) mother died :( and so she got a lot of her furniture and such.  Well, she gave me her dresser and in it was A LOT of craft things that were her mother's including a handful of crochet hooks.  So, now I have a ton and I just threw them into a small vase, but then when I need a specific one I have to go through and check the size on each one.  This is too much work, so I made a case for them.

{Please forgive any blurry photos I'm having technical difficulties with the camera lens I dropped on the floor.}

 

 

Supplies:

Lots of crochet hooks

Felt

Embroidery floss and needle

Scissors

 



 

First I stitched on the letters, which isn't my strong suit so forgive my technique.  Then I folded the bottom up to make a pouch then I did a blanket stitch (my first) around the sides and top.  Then I put a set of hooks into the pouch and stitched it up (I did it this way instead of just making them all the same because each set was a different width).

{Again sorry for the blurry-ness}

Moving Progress

The move is coming along nicely.  The only snags I've come across is my loving, yet over-concerned, friends telling me moving by myself might not be a good idea, and listing all the bad things that could happen.  Yes, I know it is loving concern.  But this girl is ready to spread her wings and take that leap of faith.  No regrets, right?!

Anyway, I've been packing.  Mostly so I can go through things and figure out what I want to sell at our garage sale at the end of this month.

There is storage space above my closet and it's filling up.

I cleared out an under-the-bed box and a plastic crate, and cleared off my bookcase.  Working at Starbucks, boxes are not in short supply.  However, some of them are awkward sizes, but I just pick the best ones.  When we moved to California from Tucson, we use primarily Starbucks boxes.  This time I discovered the boxes from the breakfast sandwiches- they are the perfect size for heavy things like books, china, etc.

I have my paternal grandmother's china.  My dad sent it to her from the Phillipines when he was in the Navy.  Then she gave it to my sister and I to split.  Well, I ended up with all of it somehow and it's just been sitting in boxes, collecting dust.  I'm going to try to figure out some way to display it, or store it nicely, when I move.  But, for now, it's in a box, or two or three.  It was in two boxes- one small and one large- then I had to split it up for ease of moving.

This box weighed a ton.  (When I got it out of our outdoor storage closet by myself, I almost died)

Isn't the china simple and pretty?!

Now, it's in these small boxes.  It makes me happy.  I can carry it more easily.  That other box it going to house something light in the move.

So, now I have two large plastic bins, seven small boxes (like the ones above), and that large box in my room.  I also have two boxes in my closet with nothing in them yet.

I'm hoping our garage sale at the end of the month gets rid of most of my furniture and the crap I really don't need to pack ever again.  That is going to make this all seem like much more of a reality.

I also was on the net looking at printables for my Home Organization Binder and found a Moving Kit from Pinch a Little Save-A-Lot.  I am now obsessed with printables to keep me organized.  And I'm making a Home Organizer for my sister.

Well, until next time.

DIY Home Organization Binder

I got this idea the other day, probably from something I saw on Pinterest, to make a Home Organization Binder.  I mostly wanted it to see a budget on paper, instead of jotted on a small calendar or spread out through various websites and emails from the bills.  Then I kept digging and I came up with quite a bit.  I'll list as many links as I can at the bottom of this post if you want to grab some of the printables yourself.

I covered the outside of a crappy old binder by, first, covering it with light colored paper (a large sheet kind of like tissue but thicker) so the black of the binder wouldn't show through.  Then I spray glued on the fabric.  Then glued on the ribbon.

In covering the inside with fabric, and then paper I covered up the pocket where I had put the pens, so I had to fix that.  I have a black pen, a pencil, a highlighter, and a colored pen.  And I glued on a clip for extra paper.

I didn't have any tab pages, so I just printed some plain titles for each page and put them in page covers.  First tab- schedule.

Second- finances.

My budget pages will seriously come in handy.

Third- shopping.

Four- housework.  Yes, I needed a schedule.  I'm terrible.

Fifth- lists.  This includes "to-do lists" and a media inventory list, which I filled out today and I have 70 DVDs, who knew?!

I perforated my "to-do lists" so I can easily tear them off.

Sixth- food.  I have a stock-pile list, and then some recipe pages.

Seventh- Medical for Dr's names, addresses, and numbers.  And space for notes in case I need it.

Eigth- Etsy.  It's an online income list for my store.

Ninth- WWW.  It's a list of all my usernames and passwords for various websites.

Tenth- ideas.  A sheet to list ideas and supplies needed for them.

Eleventh- Blog.  I found these printables to plan out my block each week.

I'm hoping this will help me stay organized, especially with the important things.  Let me know if you make one of your own with any cool ideas.  I'd love to see them!

Links:
Cleaning Schedule @ Evelyn Kate Designs
Blog Calendar @ Living Locurto
I got most of the tab ideas @ DIY Home Sweet Home
Stockpile List and What's In Season Calendars (schedule tab) @ About.com Frugal Living

 

Contact Info page for Medical @ I Love it All
Media Inventory List @ Pinch a Little Save a Lot
Monthly Budget @ SissyPrint
Binder Covering Tutorial @ The Creative Place
Blank Checklist (shopping list) and Online Shop Inventory List @ The Nest Effect

I think that's it!  I makes for quite the hodge podge of designs on the pages, but printing them from someone else saved me a lot of time.

Enjoy!