My name is Marie, I am a self taught, self proclaimed artist, music lover and DIYer. I blog about my projects because I am afraid to share with the world what is really going on in my mind, so I keep pretty busy :)
I “work” from home. I use the word work lightly. Currently what I do is go through the motions of work. I guess I shouldn’t sell myself short, I’ve accomplished a lot in the past few months, but still have a long way to go before I’ll feel I can truly say I’m self-employed.
Working from home certainly has its perks; A flexible schedule, lax dress code, unlimited sick and vacation days, extended coffee breaks all make up for the grueling hours and poor wages.
Of course, there are challenges in working from home. Distractions abound and when you suffer from monkey brain, those distractions can lead you down rabbit holes to nowhere. On a good day all temptations to “just polish the drip pan under the refrigerator real quick” can easily be pushed aside to attend to more pressing real world goals. On a bad day, I might end up swinging from one chore to another like a gibbon on crack. (Ok a gibbon is actually an ape, not a monkey, but you get the reference right?) Aside from the usual distractions of dishes, laundry, yard work, dust bunnies and actual work, I have to deal with this:
It can be difficult to concentrate with these eyes on me. As I tap away on the keyboard, I feel the rumbling engines of the train bound for a guilt trip revving. ”Have you forgotten something this morning?” How can I forget? Do I ever forget? Oh, the short memory span of an impatient pup.
As if one pitiful reminder of my dereliction of duties isn’t enough, there are two of them working as a tag team.
I mean, really, how is person supposed to get anything done under these conditions?
What the photos don’t project are the sound effects. They start with forced sighs, subtle hints at my neglectfulness. When sighs go ignored, they move onto whimpering. I offer a few words of encouragement, let them know I really haven’t forgotten, which only takes them from whimpering mode to “my life is pure hell” moans. Eventually, if I am very still, they give up and I get a few more moments of (somewhat) guilt free silence.
Any movement on my part is taken as indication that it must be time for the most exciting, fantastic, mind-blowing event of their lives:
A WALK!!! TIME FOR A WALK (repeat 72 times). However, this is not always the case, sometimes, I simply have to shift positions, or go to the bathroom. They make their disappointment known. And they know if they nag loud enough, their yowling and rooing will get me out the door.
Yet, I find through the stress of it all, this morning ritual they’ve made me part of is better than any timer I could set for myself. They know, better than I, the importance of taking those small breaks in the day. A little walk does a lot of good and does wonders for the mind, even if it isn’t the most exciting, mind-blowing event of the day.
You can probably guess, as I sit here typing away, all eyes are on me, they are beginning to throw in an occasional moan with the sighs – I should save myself a little frustration and get going before the rooing starts. Ah heck – why mess up the routine? I think I’ll finish my coffee first….right after I get to that drip pan….
This post is a little overdue. You may recall my post from a few weeks ago about my negligence in being a responsible cat owner; In my efforts to create functional living spaces for the family, I neglected to consider the cat’s needs. To make their protests known, they began using our newish furniture as their personal pedicare apparatus (it was bound to happen). Well, they got my attention and I set off to create a space they can call their very own.
It started with this old metal shelf we stored in the garage where it became a make shift storage unit for odds and ends. (Please excuse the atrocious mess of it all – this is another project on our to-do list…)
And this:
For lounging platforms I thought I’d use the shelves from this old desk. It was left over from last years garage sale and I guess $15.00 was too much to ask so it was disassembled and put in the garage. Can you tell many of my projects are also an effort to rid our garage of the unwanted items taking up valuable space?
After moving the shelf into the family room (not too far from the furniture the cats have taken a liking to) and gathering all my supplies, everything just sat there for a while as I contemplated the easiest way to put it all together. I’d often see Rex relaxing in the pile. This was encouraging, at least he seemed interested in the materials:
Since I am NOT a technical writer I’ll spare you my pathetic attempts at writing like one. But I’ll give you a quick overview through photos. Basically it went like this:
I purchased two 4 x 8 boards for about $3.00 each. I cut the boards down to seven feet, the height of the shelf. The plan was to make an adequate scratching post on one side of the metal shelving unit.
1) I glued the boards together on the long edge to form an “L” shape. This would be the frame for the scratching post.
2) I used wood screws to screw the boards together (the glue in the first step was just to keep them in place so they could be easily screwed together)
3 and 4) Hooks were used to join the boards to the narrow frame of the shelf with wire.
Once the “L” frame was attached to the frame of the metal shelf I wrapped thick twine around it. I started with the staple gun to anchor the twine, then just continued to wind it around the frame, using a bit of hot glue in a few places to keep it in place. I covered the rest of the frame in burlap as you will see at the end of this post.
I used “U” clamps (four for each shelf) to anchor the lounging platforms to the metal frame of the shelves. I had to add a bit of padding in the space around the “U” clamp, since they were too big and I wasn’t in the mood to run out and buy smaller ones. The padding keeps the boards from wobbling.
Once my kitty condo was assembled I had to soften it up a little. I covered the exposed metal with fabric, added fabric skirting to the wood boards, sewed a couple of pillows together and constructed a little cubby by attaching a fabric skirt around the bottom shelf. I’ll admit, I was a little lazy about this. I intended to construct a proper bottom for the floor of the cubby, but instead opted to just toss in an old pillow I made back when I was on my sewing kick.
OK – I built it, but would they come? To make it more inviting I added a few dangly toys, sprinkled little morsels on the pillows and rubbed a good quality cat nip all over the fabric. I also I chanted a few incantations just for good measure.
Imagine my surprise when I found them exploring the cubby and lounging on the perches?
The real test is yet to come. They still have the nail caps on, so no new scratch marks have been discovered on the furniture, but I have yet to see them go though the motions of using this scratch post either. I guess we shall find out eventually.
I can’t tell you how happy I was to see them actually using this thing. In a small way it was as if they were thanking me for thinking of them. Yes, I do tend to anthropomorphize way too much.
Here is a side by side before and after:
Well, that’s it for this week. TIme to see what else the garage has in store for me. Have a great week.
I came across this today from Elizabeth Ashley at wildflowersblooming.com I think this could be quite helpful. I'm not too crazy about the Fooducate video here as it doesn't give a lot of info, but I found this interview that goes into more detail about this food app.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJvwfFakm0A
I’ve been looking for a way to clear my mind, focus my thoughts and pull in a positive, creative energy on a daily basis. I know about prayer, meditation, exercise, eating healthy – all those support a good mind-body-spirit balance, but I need something else. Something to both relax and stimulate the creative side of my brain.
I attended my first Zentangle class earlier this month. I was skeptical about going, I knew at the end of the class I would be presented with books and pens and specialty papers to buy that were sure to enhance my Zentangle experience. I wasn’t sure I needed to attend a doodling class, and I was absolutely sure I didn’t need to be introduced to yet another hobby I’d never master. But I’m glad I went. Not only did I find a creative, fun way to relax, I learned a lot about what Zentangle is and isn’t. Now I want to share a bit of what I’ve learned with you.
Prior to attending the class I browsed through a few books on the subject and worked through a few YouTube tutorials. Initially, I was reminded of the doodles I did in middle school on the margins of my lecture notes, but I soon realized Zentangle was on a whole different level.
What is Zentangle?
The longish answer, with a smidge of history is this: In 2005, Maria Thomas, an artist illustrator, and one of the founders of Zentangle, was creating a background pattern for a manuscript. She described the sense of focus, well-being and relaxation she felt while designing the patterns to her partner, Rick Roberts, a former Buddhist monk. Rick told her the feelings she was experiencing sounded like meditation. They then developed Zentangle, a system of creating patterns that encourages others to experience the same state of relaxation.
The supper abbreviated answer could be that Zentangle is yoga for the brain. When practiced regularly it can:
- Promote a focused mind, self-confidence and relaxation
- Develop creativity, drawing skills, hand-eye coordination and problem solving skills
Is Zentangle Doodling?
Zentangle has been described as doodling with purpose. Yet, ‘with purpose‘ implies a planned outcome with little room for mistakes. So not true. The ‘with purpose‘ part is really about focusing on the pen strokes as you move your pen across the paper. It’s about the mind and body being engaged in a conscious effort. In short, it’s about becoming one with the paper. How zen does that sound?
As a complete novice to Zentangle I find it hard to tell others how it’s different from doodling. Genevieve Crabe, Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) compares it to the study of music: “The 102 tangles are a form of standardized notation, much as in music, that students first learn to master. Each Certified Zentangle Teacher learns to master these 102 tangles so as to be able to teach students to make art in the first two classroom hours. Standardized tangles make classroom instruction possible. The students soon learn to recognize these tangles in a complex looking piece of art the way musicians recognize chord structure in someone else’s music.”
So perfectly described! Of course that’s why she is a CZT, but I just love the analogy.
Must I Follow the Patterns?
Prior to attending the class, I didn’t think learning the patterns was important. After all, who doesn’t know how to doodle? How difficult can it be? Why should I invest in books or classes aimed at making me a better doodler? I now see to fully understand the Zentangle experience it’s helpful to learn the patterns.
For me personally, I find it helpful to follow along with a book when I want to tangle. For one, it’s a good jumping off point. I also think of it as a warm up, like stretching before a run; following a suggested pattern helps me stretch and warm up my brain.
I told my daughter about the class and she did one of her own Zentangle inspired doodles without looking at a book or following a pattern:
So no, you don’t have to follow patterns. She is quite happy with it and I suppose that’s all that matters. If you are happy with what you create and you found it relaxing and enjoyable then the exercise was successful. But if you’d really like to tap into the benefits Zentangle has to offer, I highly suggest learning more about the patterns. There really is a meditative process that happens when forming them. THAT from a person who doesn’t like to follow rules (at least not in art).
Do I Have to Have Drawing Skills?
Definitely not. Though I consider myself artistic and creative I have very poor drawing skills. Well, I can draw, but I can’t draw detail very well and a decent drawing takes me a long time. After practicing Zentangle for a couple of weeks, I see how it may help me develop better drawing skills.
Most artists are observers. I’m good at observing and I know everything is basically made up of shapes and lines. However when trying to translate the shapes and lines I observe into an understandable (attractive) drawing…lets just say something gets lost in translation.
Zentangle has taught me to break down subjects into blocks of pattern and those patterns into simple lines. In observing a sleeping cat, a flower, trees, I see the chunks of patterns that make up the whole subject. When you see subject matter in blocks of patterns, it is easier to break it down to more manageable parts. This goes along with the music analogy mentioned above.
Before writing this post, I did a few Zentangle tutorials on YouTube. One of my favorites was the auraknot video. The auraknot looked difficult, but the tutorial broke the design down into steps and before I knew it, I had a pretty impressive looking design. Unfortunately, I misplaced the drawings so I don’t have them for you to see, but it was in creating that design I realized how Zentangle is useful in developing drawing skills. In this video you’ll see how to make the auraknot with a simple step by step method.
Do I need Special Supplies?
As you saw in my daughters doodle, she used a sharpie and lined paper for her work. It isn’t necessary to purchase special papers or pens, though I’m sure you’ll want to invest in better quality products as you progress.
In the book “Zentangle Untangled’, Kass Hall, artist and CZT, writes: “…the materials you use often reflect the value you put into what you are creating.”
As your love of Zentangle grows and you begin to cherish those moments of relaxation and exploration, you’ll for sure want to invest in the higher quality materials, but I suggest just trying it first. The library offers books on the topic and of course the internet is a great source of info and ideas. As supplies go though, the official Zentangle tools are not over-the-top expensive, especially as far as art supplies go, so you really don’t need to spend a lot of money either way. I invested in a nice set of micron pens, but I use a small sketch pad of multi purpose, slightly textured paper I picked up from a Japanese yen store years ago which has been working well for me so far. I haven’t convinced myself I need the trademarked paper tiles yet.
Why Do I Love It?
As someone who has only taken one class, I’m definitely not an expert on the subject. I’ve just been so inspired by this form of meditation/art I wanted to share it with you.
I love it for its meditative effects. The process of creating the repetitive patterns is quite therapeutic. Though many practitioners are very accomplished artists and create gorgeous, intricate work, I don’t have a plan when I practice Zentangle. I just let my mind go, a bit like free flow thought, but on paper.
While it seems I might be getting all religious on the matter, I don’t mean it’s an activity full of ritual or that there should be any expectations of reaching Nirvana through Zentangle. It is actually fun and relaxing and isn’t something that needs to be taken so seriously, but I do find it to be a great way to clear the mind.
I didn’t intend for this to be such a long post but once I got started, I found I had so much to share! I hope you will try Zentangle and that you find it useful for relaxation, solving a complicated design dilemma or developing your drawing skills. Most of all though, I hope you have FUN.
Since taking the class I’ve been working on some of my own Zentangle inspired art which I have scattered throughout this post. They aren’t great, but they were fun to make and with practice, I’m sure they’ll get better. And now that I am using micron pens rather than markers, I’ve noticed improvement in the lines.
WOW – sorry for the long post! Have a fantastically productive week!
Most of my posts might lead you to believe I live a pretty boring life. I seem to be holed up in my house just looking for ways to fill my time. Truth is I don’t often write about my personal feelings or deep thoughts about world events. My blog has become an outlet for me to focus on the positive things about myself and escape from the realities of the world. I’ve found this to be more a productive outlet than watching TV or doing hard drugs.
Though I do have a great life, that doesn’t mean I’m immune from everyday stress or I don’t find the world around me too much to bear sometimes. Daily we are inundated with news of depressing world events, pressing political and social issues, reminders of our failures, uncomfortable memories from our past…it’s easy to fall into a state of depression and despair. This is why it’s important for me to have a positive, creative outlet to pour my energy into.
Then there are times when I am stuck in a creative rut, as seems to be the case lately. So for today, I would like to share with you something that always brings a smile to my face when I think of it.
I came across this video last year and I’m sure you have seen it before, but if you are in the mood for a smile today – give it a view.
What do you suppose the neighbors must have thought? Never mind, from the looks of it, they were all involved. So awesome!
I had a bad feeling there would be a part two to The Girl With the Brand New Tattoo Gun. My daughter was 15 when I wrote that post. Since then, I’ve been waiting to write the sequel. Nervously waiting.
I thought her dream of becoming a world-renowned tattoo artist had fizzled away, as many great adolescent dreams do. After all, it had been several months since I last heard the soft buzz of the tattoo gun drifting through the house. I was always relieved to discover her canvas of choice to be the oranges and grapefruits she smuggled from the kitchen. But what’s a girl to do when she grows bored with unresponsive, unappreciative fruit? There is only one thing she can do…
I was told the word “love” on her hand was done with permanent marker. But I had my suspicions. I watched that word closely for several weeks – hmm that must have been a very high quality permanent marker indeed. My suspicions were confirmed when, one day, I heard my husband call out to me from the other room, a bit of panic in his voice. I rushed to see what the panic was about.
“Did you know she has a tattoo on her stomach?”
“What? No! Let me see.”
Apparently in an unguarded stretch my daughter exposed a flash of skin that looked just a little different. Upon further questioning and investigation she unveiled her art work.
Gasp!
For a while the discussion was one-sided:
“What were you thinking?”
“I can’t believe you did that to yourself.”
“Wow, you did that yourself? How?”
“Actually you didn’t do too a bad job. The outline is pretty straight and clean.”
“But oh, what in the world were you thinking?”
“I dunno.” Why should I have expected anything else in reply?
And that four letter word, written in rather lovely scrolling letters? Well, it wasn’t done with your average house hold Sharpie.
What could I do at that point? Is it possible to be dismayed and impressed at the same time? Was it appropriate to be impressed at all?
I have to say, given that she tattooed herself and she’s had no training, it isn’t half bad. It’s straight and well proportioned.
Example of leaf variation among various cultivars of Japanese Maple (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Even if it is a ridiculous outline resembling something very similar to a Japanese maple.
What is the moral of this story? I guess I just need someone to cry to. I know, it’s my own fault but really I can’t say I regret it totally. My daughter doesn’t regret it (HA what does she know, she’s only 16!) though I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t do it again. Is it the end of the world? Is she scarred for life? uh – well….
Here is my number one dilemma with my kids: I see almost every request, action, reaction as a chance to make a memory. Will it be a warm, funny one they’ll fondly reminisce about at my wake? Or will it be a bitter, haunting one they relive in hypnotherapy?
Don’t get me wrong, my kids heard “NO” plenty of times. They were disciplined, corrected and set straight many times, but when it came to things which might help them develop creatively, I always tried to be supportive.
Today at 19 and 16, neither one of our kids seem to have interests they are passionate about. They’ve outgrown or given up on many of their past hobbies. It makes me a little sad. There were so many things I wanted to try when I was a kid; piano, pottery, dance, art – real art, not the kind you do with glue sticks and paper doilies – riding lessons, violin. It isn’t that my parents deprived me, they just didn’t see the need to pay for such things and even if they had, they weren’t able to pay for such things. I just realized something as I type this – I might be trying to live through my kids. Not that I ever forced them to do any of those things, I only asked they commit to what they signed up for (what they ASKED to be signed up for I might add).
Then again, maybe I’m just not paying attention to what their interests and talents are – they’re a product of the techy generation, they aren’t interested in the same type of arts or crafts I am. Who do I call when I need help with a software application? Who do I ask for help when a movie doesn’t download? Who creates impressive Simms houses? Well, I think I just had one of those “aha moments” Oprah is always going on about.
Thank you for going on this journey with me.
I’ll be sure to let you know how the glass blowing class goes next month.:) Hey - she asked!
Notice the perfectly manicured nails? Or pedicured I guess, as cats don’t have hands. I’ll explain the why of it all, but first a bit of a tangent.
Things I have learned from living with cats and dogs:
- Some cats think fresh flowers make great confetti – I love a party, but I prefer not to be greeted with shredded flowers strewn throughout the house when I walk in the door.
- Dogs love delicately embellished throw pillows. Such pillows are perfect for napping. Once they are properly fluffed of course. If all sequins and threading happens to be forcefully removed during the fluffing – all the better.
- Beaded curtains make for perfect 2 am play toys, and once they are ripped down there’s more fun to be had batting them around on a hard wood floor.
- Carpeting and pets don’t mix. While the dogs drag dirt and mud in, the cats like to take turns leaving their own mark on our carpets. Though 75% of our floors are hard wood, the cats always manage to dry-heave their way across every square inch of bare floor to deliver their freshly regurgitated hairball or breakfast onto one of only a few carpeted areas of our house. They taught the dogs how to do this as well.
- I haven’t done a jigsaw puzzle in years. If you know cats, then you know how they will decide to suddenly move from one side of a room to the other as fast as possible. A nice smooth surface to slide across makes for more exciting travels through said room – if only that dang 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle wasn’t in the way – “oh never mind, I cleared it for you” (says cat to bleary eyed puzzle doer).
- Cleaning the glass patio doors is futile.
I’ve learned to accept these things and make necessary accommodations. After all, I spent years accommodating for our kids, why should it be different for the pets? However when fresh claw marks were discovered on our new sofa a few weeks ago I thought ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Or rather, my otherwise patient husband decided enough was enough. Off to the pet market I went; sternly escorted by previously mentioned patient hubby. Hence, the prettily pedicured paws.
Now onto the sneak peek:
I purchased this shelf over 20 years ago at a garage sale. It has worked well in every room in some way. Now it’s stored away in the garage and has become a handy place to store the sleeping bags. I just spray painted it white and now I’m going to attempt to transform it into a cat condo of sorts.
I realize cats need to scratch. I take full responsibility for them clawing our furniture. I haven’t provided them with a cat friendly scratch zone. I’ve thought of purchasing a climbing tree for them, but they can be pricey and you know how it is with cats:
No matter how much we give, it’s never good enough. (photo from i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=78744)
I was inspired by a few designer cat trees I saw on-line:
The Refined Feline Lotus Cat Tower USD369.00 from wag.com
This is pretty and sleek, more my style than those bulky trees I see in the local pet stores, so I doubt the cats will like it. It’s also expensive. What I have in mind for my shelves will look nothing like this, but I’ll at least have saved myself about $350.00 – I’ve already spent a few bucks on the carpet and twine.
So, I’m off to see what I can put together from the old shelves and the scraps of wood and carpet I found. The plan is to get this project finished as soon as possible; before the nail caps start coming off.
Well, here I go.
I think the cats have hatched a plan of their own.
I started blogging in November of 2011. I had no idea I would enjoy it so much or that I would “meet” so many interesting people who inform me, inspire me or encourage me in so many ways.
The more I blogged, the more I wanted to add interest to my posts. The obvious way to add interest (aside from the content itself – which I am still working on) is with pictures. No matter how mundane or serious the story is, pictures bring your story to life and I think they are an important part of any blog.
For those of you who have grown up with technology, have been in the blogging community from the beginning or are just plain smarter than me, you may find the info in this post dated and useless. For those of you who are still struggling and want to do more with your photos but aren’t sure how, I hope this post helps.
When I ask fellow bloggers and Etsy shop owners what they use to edit photos, they all recommend Picasa. I’m in no way knocking Picasa, honestly, I haven’t tried it. I started using PicMonkey before I knew about Picasa, but with all the Picasa recommendations, I thought I’d pop over to their website and check it out. Here is what I was greeted with:
OK already too complicated.
1- I didn’t want to down load anything (I’m weird like that)
2 – I’m not interested in circles and organizing and sharing options
3- I just want to edit a photo RIGHT NOW and not worry about anything else
When You go to PicMonkey you get this:
See the ‘edit a photo’ button? When you click it you are immediately asked to choose the photo you want to edit. When you open a photo the editing options are presented in an easy to read menu on the left along with other options like themes and overlays. Simple, easy and FAST. I should add there is no need to sign in. Sign in is for paid subscribers who want access to the upgrade options. After you edit your photo, save it. PicMonkey offers three suggestions and brief descriptions of each best choice for saving. Click one and save it. So easy a Monkey could do it.
I own all the tools needed to produce great photos, including the full creative suite of Photoshop. Surely this is all any talented tech savvy person needs to create stunning photos. Key words there being tech savvy. Though I have fairly decent computer skills I struggle with Photoshop, I haven’t given up, but I needed something user-friendly (idiot proof) until I become proficient with Photoshop. Patience would help too – I need that as well.
I absolutely love PicMonkey and find for a beginner like me it is perfect; an affordable (if not free) way to experiment and develop my photo editing skills.
PicMonkey offers for free:
- Basic editing options: crop, sharpen resize…
- Several free touch up options like blemish fix, teeth whitening and blush boost – of course wrinkle remover, spray tan, eye brighten and many more fixes are available when you pay for the upgrade. It’s true, beauty always comes with a price tag.
- 30 free overlays such as flowers, stars, flourishes, moustaches and more. There are 11 more cool overlays offered to those who opt for the upgrade.
- Fun themes like vampire, sweetheart, zombies… I made the photo below with the Day of the Dead theme. The overlays I used were free with the exception of the marigolds and flourishes. I realize this isn’t a great piece of work, but I did it on only 10 minutes just to prove how easy it is.
Here are a few things I was able to do quickly and easily in PicMonkey:
Anyway, the point is PicMonkey is fast, affordable/free, easy and fun.
Now, for the paid upgrade part
I wanted to make an Etsy banner which I attempted to do first in Photoshop. It wasnt happening. On PicMonkey there is a layout under the ‘make a collage’ option called ‘Pinter-etsy’. It’s a template that makes it easy to fit your photos to the specifications of an Etsy banner and I’m assuming for Pinterest as well. There is also a Facebook template. These options are what led me to find out just how much it would cost to upgrade.
Was I ever surprised to find I could upgrade and have access to all the fun, useful, easy editing and effect options for only 4.99 USD a month. (Actually – for a year subscription the cost is 33.00 USD a year; $2.75 a month!) Sounded like a deal to me. Within 25 minutes I had my Etsy banner made. Yayyy PicMonkey! (That doesn’t include the time spent trying to capture the perfect photo.) I also created a watermark I want to start adding to the photos I post on-line. You can easily create a simple logo on PicMonkey too.
I was encouraged to write this post because I recently came across a few crafting and DIY blogs that sounded interesting but when I went to read and SEE more, there were no photos offered. How could that be? With such a blog, photos are a must in my opinion. But I noticed those blogs were new, so I guessed the bloggers were still in the learning phase themselves and would have loved to have added photos, but weren’t sure how to go about it. Hey, I was there once too and while I still have a lot to learn, PicMonkey has been a great help – No Master Degree in design software required
Anyway, I hope you have found this post useful.What tools and services have you found helpful in improving your blog? If you’ve never tried PicMonkey, head over to their website and play around a bit then let me know what you think. They also have a very informative blog chock- full of “wisdom and madness” as they say in their tag line. Did I also mention I love their subtle sense of humor?
I’m cheating a little with this post – it’s more of a repost of two separate posts, but what can I say? It was a busy week and this is the best I can do.
I had put them away when our son moved back into the room originally intended to be my space and you can probably guess why a 19-year-old guy might not find this suitable decor for his room - long, boring story. ANYWAY I decided to put them to use as a way to organize my templates; I just added cup hooks to the mini boards, which are actually table legs with cork on them then wrapped in fabric.
I use binder clips to clip my templates and stencils together, then hang them on the hooks so they are easy to find when I need them. And I have room to add lots more!
I call this my Pinterest corner. Yes, Pinterest is a fun, easy way to organize your ideas but sometimes it’s nice to have those ideas handy when you work. Now I have a place to “pin” my own scribbles, doodles, templates and other ideas I want to have quick access to.
That is it for this weekend. I have a few projects on my to-do-list for this coming week so I hope to have something original to post next time, but thanks for reading! Have an awesome week!
So real quick like…. Not a lot of time for a project this week AND I sometimes like to post simple projects for those who think they are not crafty or creative.
I wouldn’t say I’m a type A personality when it comes to organization, but I like to have a place for everything and everything in its place.
I’ve had this filing box for years. No, it isn’t pretty, but it has always been in a closet or a cupboard. What works for me now though is having it out and accessible. I use it to keep all current important documents handy and to file our bills.
Since it sits on the floor out in the open now, (filing cabinets don’t work for me – that’s why) I find it to be a real eye sore. I went hunting today for a pretty decorative box and while I found many, I settled on this one:
I thought the little flip top compartment in the lid was so handy; A great place to store envelopes, stamps and mailing labels and a pair of reading glasses – all the items I need when I am working out of the box.
I often cover boxes with decorative paper and use them for storage on shelves. It’s a simple, cheap and easy way to add a bit of “style”, pizzazz, or color. For this one I just applied some scrapbook paper (from Steam Punk Botanicals Recollections Paper stack) on the top and front. I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to cut around the handle openings on the sides, so I opted for a simple layout:
Very easy, just cut out a design and glue it on the box (I used modge podge) decoupage style. This is a very simple way to add your own personality and taste to a basic storage box (like a sturdy shoe box) in very little time. This took me about 30 minutes. You wouldn’t even have to cut out the pattern, you could wrap it like a present with some beautiful wrapping paper (just wrap the lid and bottom separately).
Boxes are a great way to organize and store small items AND recycle otherwise functional boxes. All it takes is your favorite pattern and some Modge Podge! (If you feel challenged at even using Modge Podge, you could opt for stickers.)
And now to find a way to repurpose that ugly file box…
A WALK!!! TIME FOR A WALK (repeat 72 times). However, this is not always the case, sometimes, I simply have to shift positions, or go to the bathroom. They make their disappointment known. And they know if they nag loud enough, their yowling and rooing will get me out the door.
