Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Flowers are Blooming

My craftiness comes and goes depending on my mood, inspirations, and time. Last week I had parent teacher conferences, which was BUSY, but then I had an extra day off on Friday. I was very productive on Friday - painting, laundry, cleaning, and CRAFTING. I've been eyeing a few different flower tutorials lately and decided to just give them a try. Not bad for my first try!
Felt flower with clear, round buttons in the middle.
Fabric flowers with a pin on the back.
While making the felt flower, I thought, "This is so easy I could make a tutorial for it." But then I thought, "No, I'll just give credit to the person I got the idea from and save myself the time." So here is the link to the felt flower tutorial. And here is the link to the fabric roses.
(click on the word "link" to find the website)
I'm seriously thinking of hosting a craft night at my house for those who are interested in making things like this or have another simple craft to share. I'll be in touch...

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Hooking Up

It just so happens that my least favorite place in the house is in my new favorite room (the remodeled kitchen). I have never liked the entrance to our house from the garage. You step directly into the kitchen - it's cramped and usually covered with shoes and in the winter, coats, hats, and boots. Our long term plan is to maybe build a small entry room in the garage and step up to the kitchen, but I still wanted a fix for now. When I saw this idea on another blog, I knew it would work in our house too.

So here is my least favorite place in the house as it usually looks. The shelf works well, but it doesn't really go with the new white cabinets. I also don't like that Rebecca can't hang up her own coat and backpack or get them down after Dan or I has hung them up.
So here is the new design. I bought two pieces of molding - same profile, but one is is taller that the other. I also got new hooks that would match our new cabinet hardware. The larger molding went on the top with the double hooks and the other molding went on the bottom with the smaller hooks.
You will still need to be careful to not trip over the shoes, but there is more room to hang up coats and Rebecca is excited to be able to reach her own coat and backpack. I do want to find a hanging basket of some sort for extra hats and gloves since there is no longer a shelf. I'm also excited to decorate the wall with a little art work over the top - either some white picture frames or vinyl wall words. So now this is no longer my least favorite place in the house :)

(Feeling the need to give credit where credit is due. Here is the blog I got the idea from, which was a link from this blog that I visit often.)

Spicing it Up

In an attempt to keep my new kitchen organized I bought this spice rack for $10 to put in the cabinet above the microwave.
When I brought it home I showed it to Dan and said, "I bought this to organize my spices, but if you build me one just like it, I will return it." I knew that would get him because I have yet to find anyone as motivated to save money as my husband. So today we worked together to make our own spice rack out of a 2x4. How great is that? And Dan successfully save us $8. Every little bit helps with this major kitchen redo.
(Yes, mom, I still need to alphabetize my spices :)