The Big Reveal!

It's been a few months in the making, and finally we're ready for the big Creative Room reveal! I can hardly wait!!

Come on up! I'll be your tour guide. On your left as you come up the stairs there will eventually be a bunch of mismatched frames with cork showcasing my little guy's creative work, but for now you'll just have to imagine it. At the top of the stairs, under my driftwood mirror is the fabric hutch.

Before I turn the corner, here's a quick look back at where we've come from. This was the attic back in June before my dad worked his magic!

Here it is now!! Dad salvaged a bunch of wood paneling from another project and we painted it Veridian Green from Olympic Paints. The best way to describe this color in person is "happy!" My creative area is to your right, my son's creative area is to your left and my husband's reading chair is off the picture to your far left. Now that you've got the floor plan, let's explore!

Let's skip my favorite area for a minute and talk about the rest of the room. Here is Owen's play corner. He's almost 2 years old right now, so his creative space is a chalk board and a tool bench (both garage sale finds!) Soon we will be getting a folding table for this area so that he can color and work on art projects, but for now he would rather hammer and draw.

Turn to your left and here's the hubby's reading chair (it also reclines, which makes for great Saturday afternoon naps!) I'll do my reading in the window seat, which I'm in LOVE with! I have to brag just a little bit and say that I did sew that piped seat cushion myself... pillows are one thing, but I didn't know I could sew a cushion like that until I gave it a shot and I'm pleased with the result. The reason I mention that is to encourage you... you don't know what you can do until you give it a try!

Remember what it looked like before?

And after... The built-in bookshelf was another one of my dad's gifts to us. He is a fabulous craftsman and whipped this up in just a couple of days! Dad was over at our house so much this summer that Owen started calling this room "Papa's attic"!

OK, on to my favorite spot in the room... The metal tray that's hanging on the back wall will eventually be a magnetic calendar so come visit again to see how that one turns out! The idea for this area is that when friends come over to be crafty we can all sit at this main table together.

This is my crafty storage area and if you're anything like me, a picture like this just won't do. You'll want to know what's inside and how I organized it...

So here it is... thank you Picnik for the photo editing tools (fo freeee!!)

The chair was a really nice shade of maroon (that's an oxymoron isn't it?... nice and maroon in the same sentence!) Anyway, I got it on Craigslist and slip-covered it then appliqued a little bird at the top. I'll be showing the tutorial on this soon. Under the table I have my scrap cabinet. I organized my scraps by shade. Neutrals on top, then cool colored scraps, and the warm colored scraps on the bottom. I've got two trash cans. One for trash and the other for scraps. I think the trash cans might be two of the very few things I bought at full price for this room! (The table, chairs and cabinet came from Craigslist.)

My grandmother gave me her sewing basket which I've loved since I was a little girl... right now it's full of little girl treasures and I can't bring myself to clean it out! Oh and I have to tell you about my portable project bag that's right in the front there on the ground. It's from Thirty One and I'm totally in love with it!! Have you heard of Thirty One? It's a christian direct-selling company and the name refers to Proverbs 31.

Back on top of the table you may have noticed the way I'm storing my ribbon. Spools in one container, large pieces are wrapped around old-fashioned clothes pins in a second container, then my small scraps are stuffed into that old Ball jar. My Odds and Ends Rack is in the background.

Just for fun, I etched my initials in the glass. Glass etching is contagious, I'm warning you!

So now that I've shared my big reveal with you, it's your turn!! I loved this idea from Jenny so much that I wanted to try it too.

(UPDATE: Almost three years later, here is my latest post about what the Creative Room looks like now.)

Do me a favor and leave a comment answering these questions so I can get to know you! :) Lurkers, stop lurking and get talking!

1. What's your name (first is fine if you are super secret)

2. Where do you live?

3. What do you like to do in your free time?

4. If you are crafty, what do you like to craft the best?

5. Do you have a blog? Leave a link if you do! I want to come visit you.

6. What do you stink at?

7. What do you rock at?

Here are my answers:

1. Sarah

2. North Carolina

3. Plan my next project. Oh how I love projects and I love planning. Lists are my favorite!

4. Probably anything with my sewing machine that doesn't cost a lot of money

5. I guess you already know about my blog by now, huh!

6. I'm no good at picking out shoes. I have horrible shoe taste, so my husband does it for me! I'm also really bad at spelling and math, so he does those things for me too! Horray for husbands!

7. I'm really, really good at eating. Seriously! I once won a t-shirt for putting away a massive burrito (it took me 3 hours, and the shirt was a XXL... annoying, but I made a lot of good friends in the process!)

Ruffled Pillow

Countdown to the big Creative Room Reveal: 1 day!!

Yes, tomorrow is the big day I take you on the tour of the new creative room! I know you can hardly wait and I'm sure each of you will be setting your alarm clocks early. ha! Until then, I have one more project to share with you, again this one was from my list of "Projects I Want to Attempt" from that sidebar over on the right.

Did you know that Etsy.com has a "how to" section? Neither did I! I'm sure glad I stumbled on this one though, because as you know, I've been looking for a sweater to make my third pillow for the Creative Room window seat and to no avail. When I saw this tutorial I totally forgot about that sweater and starting looking through my felt stash!

Yes, it involved hand stitching 63 felt circles on to a pillow and yes, it involved lots and lots of House Hunters International on HGTV, but I think it was well worth it!

Here's a little peek of what tomorrow holds... see you then!

Let the Countdown Begin!!

Countdown to the Big Creative Room Reveal: 4 days!!

(But don't worry, I plan to show you one project I've been working on every day until then!)

Here's my first project: An Odds and Ends Rack.

(I got the idea from Monica over at Crafty Nest.) When we bought our house it had this little beauty up in one of the bathrooms. yikes! I took it down and hid it away for a future project. Well, 3 years later here it is just before its life is about to change forever:

After a coat of primer, then high gloss white paint...then this little guy from Anthropologie...
I Mod Podged some fabric on the back and there you have it! My odds and ends rack hangs right above my crafting table that you'll get to see on Saturday. I know, I know... I'm so mean to tease you like this!

Atlantic Beach

These last few days I've been on a trip with my mother-in-law, just the two of us, to Atlantic Beach. It rained. She read. I crafted. It was wonderful! The rain stopped long enough for me to take a good long walk on the beach.

I brought along my camera because pictures aren't as sandy in my pocket as shells, plus I can share some of my favorite sights with you... and here's a first, I've never seen a whole horseshoe crab shell on the beach before.

Nor have I ever seen two people boogie boarding in OCTOBER as casually as these two well-over-60-year-old men! This was no polar bear club dare... they were really enjoying themselves for a while! I was impressed!
One thing I loved about this trip to the beach was that I had a lot of time to myself. I could sit on the beach and watch this little guy dig his new home without feeling rushed. I read a lot... 1 Samuel actually... I mean when was the last time you read 1 Samuel? It's awesome!
Oh and I did plenty of crafting too, so I've got lots of goodies to share with you over the next few days!

Get excited... there's a creative room reveal coming soon too! It's finally done!

Modge Podge Shoes

Countdown to the big Creative Room Reveal: 2 days!!

When I saw the shoes that Brittney made using Modge Podge and a little fabric I was totally on a mission! I ran out to Walmart and found these little boogers on sale for $5.

I covered them with Modge Podge and $3 of fabric and I'm loving the result! If you're feeling the need to breathe new life into your old flats, you can follow this tutorial from Make It and Love It.

T-shirt to Ruffled Cardigan

Countdown to the Big Creative Room Reveal: 3 days!!

Maybe you've noticed that I have this list of "Projects I Want to Try" on the right column over there. Some have been sitting in the wing for way too long, and this is one of them. I found a tutorial on how to turn a normal, boring old t-shirt into a ruffled cardigan over at Craft Stylish and decided to give it a try. This is a great tutorial, but it took me all day. I'm so glad I did it because I learned how to sew a ruffle, but I've decided that sewing clothes is a little too time consuming for this stage of my life. Want to see it? Here's the before pic, pretty boring:

Drum roll... Here's the after!

And the back... I chopped off my head in these pictures on purpose because an all day sewing-a-thon means no makeup and scary hair. Can't wait to wear it with the shoes you'll see tomorrow!