Around our Home: Fall Addition

Hi Guys!

It's been a while since I posted last so I decided to stop by today and make time to share some Fall touches around our home. 

I kept things very simple this year and really like it. I see simple becoming a new trend for me. 

Simple is easy and less cluttered and I love it.

So on to the pictures!

 Our shoe cabinet from Ikea is the perfect place for seasonal decorations.

And as for the picture frames....hopefully soon I will get pictures in them!

I love how everything turned out basically neutral with a pop of orange.

I didn't plan it that way!

 I used my Silhouette to cut scalloped circles out of thin packing paper and vintage sewing patterns to make these flowers.

 Our rusty metal pumpkin makes my heart happy :)

 And anyone who knows me knows I love chalkboards. I still have a few of these left in my shop the medium and large size.

I filled a metal lantern with mini pumpkins for a fun pop of orange.

 Our entryway all decked out. 

The dresser was my great grandmothers and was a some what recent addition to our entry. Each drawer has a specific purpose all neatly divided up and labeled. Everything has a place and that keeps us organized when we are coming and going!

 Our plate display is still going strong. I switched out summery stuff with a rooster and pumpkin and leaf shaped placemats layered up to create a runner. I bought the placemats at Walmart several year years ago. As of last year they still sold them but I haven't checked this year. They are the Better Homes and Gardens brand.

 The little tray holds out-going mail. I find it easier to quickly sort in-coming mail if it is dropped on on the kitchen island. A big no-no, I know, but it works for us. I hate piles of papers so that way I am more likely to sort through it faster.

 We picked up the fat green rooster at a flea market. He's not old or vintage or anything like that but I have a soft spot for fat roosters so he came home with us!

 My one and only vintage fan. I love it so much!

 Our armoire got a little love, too. I made the "blessed bunting" out of shipping tags and clipped some paper leaf cutouts to more twine. It's hung with a little washie tape. I might just leave it up for Christmas and just take the leaves down. Time will tell!

 The glass blown pumpkins are from MIT's glass pumpkin patch. We went one year while living in the Boston area and it was crazy but fun.

 This little vignette sits above our new laptop desk. I'll have to share pictures of that sometime. My husband built it and I did the staining and painting. Picture a stained cedar top with cedar legs painted and distressed with aqua chalk paint. It makes my heart sing!

 My little red hutch got dressed up for Fall, too.

 To make a burlap bunting, just cut some squares of burlap, make some letters out of fabric and sew or glue to burlap. String it up with twine and that's it!

That's it!

Simple....just the way I like it!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

My little Anthro Knock-Off

This little project turned out too cute and was too easy not to share!

I recently came across this Anthropologie Chalkboard Spice Jar when I was searching for something else!

via

Does that ever happen to you? 

Lucky for me I did find what I was looking for for another little project I've got up my sleeves and will share that on another day.

When I saw this I immediately thought "jar, spray paint and chalkboard label....I can do that!"

A few days later I felt like an even bigger genius when I came up with the idea to turn little jelly jars into the most adorable "piggy banks" ever for my kiddos. 

We recently assigned our four oldest a few chores each that they are expected to do every day. It's nothing major as they are all ages 7 and under but it is a start. We didn't plan on ever paying them to do these chores until my husband came home telling me about an allowance system that a co-worker of his told him about. It is sort of a backwards or reverse way of paying your kids. ha!

Basically, each kiddo has their set of chores assigned to them and each chore has a value or price assigned to it. On any given day if the kiddo decides not to do a specific chore, they pay YOU from their weekly allowance. 

There are a few rules though: 

1. 10% of their weekly allowance goes to the collection basket at church

2. 30% of their weekly allowance goes into savings

3. No borrowing money if they don't have enough in their jar for what ever it is they want to buy.

We are still getting our ducks in a row before trying this out but have very high hopes!

I love that this system teaches charity, savings and the value of money.

How to make an Anthro Knock-Off Spice Jar

1. Spray paint your jar white and use a clear top coat if desired.

2. Paint the lid and band of your jar (if it is a 2 part jar) any color you want.

3. Let dry at least a day or two to let the paint cure.

4. Using chalkboard paint, paint a label on your jar or use a vinyl label.

**Spray paint on glass can chip off- that is why I did the top coat in hopes that it won't. If it does, cover your label with some painters tape and re-spray your jar as needed or embrace the natural "worn" look!**

Happy Friday! 

Now Go Paint Something!

Craft Room Update: Almost finished!

 I'm so excited to finally feel like I'm at a point in this craft room project of mine to show you pictures!

It's come a very long way.

And it helped that today when I looked at my daily To-Do List, dusting the office was listed. 

So here she is all shinny and pretty. Cleaned up and picture perfect ready.

Now get ready for a TON of pictures :)

I turned our old dining room table into my desk. It is large and perfect for having multiply projects going on at once. My husband built me the hutch on top. We put a lot of thought into how I crafted and what my needs were. Here are some close ups:

 

 Since craft rooms need storage we made sure this hutch would provide that! 

The top is extra deep to accommodate bulky items as well as little stuff and lots of bins and baskets to keep things sorted. I'm not huge into scrapbooking but do have a bin that holds album related stuff (page protectors, pictures to scrap, etc) The red binder (will) have all of my stamp sets stamped in it for easy reference. It's a work in progress as I have a lot of stamps!

And as for those pull out drawers? That's how I keep my paper scraps sorted by color family and Designer Series Paper. It's a great way to use your scraps to their fullest and not waste paper by throwing them out (and saves money, too).

 Now onto the middle section of my hutch. I am a lazy crafter and want as much of my stuff within reach as possible. So up front and center: Paper! The top shelf holds my 12"x12"' designer series paper, below that my 8-1/2"x11" card stock (sorted by color family) and below that my markers (again sorted by color family). hmmm....looks like I need to buy more markers :)

My power strip has it's own special nook so I don't have to crawl around on the floor when I want to emboss! It just needs to be screwed into place. As you can see my adhesive didn't hold. ha!

And a side note on the power strip: I had a pretty one from the container store but (luckily) before ever using it we got a notice in the mail about a recall on it and had to return it to the store. So I'm on the look out for a new pretty one!

 

 Now onto the far left side of my hutch: The top shelf has my scoring board, paper trimmer, cutting mat and embossing gun. The middle shelf has glitter, my crafting tool kit (behind the stuff you see in the front), a basket for buttons and embellishments, a freshly spray painted stapler (so fun!) and a little dollar store bucket that holds glue dots, dimensionals and a tape runner. And at table level is a very large burlap box from Ikea that holds my dies and embossing folders.

 Want to see close ups of the top of my hutch? 

Here ya go!

My ink pad caddy, swim locker basket full of mason jars for more the little stuff...

 ...a wooden berry basket that holds chalk and an eraser (this is were I work when I'm working on product for my shop so chalk up front and center is ideal!), paint brushes, task lamp (lighting is horrible in this room!) and my Big Shot.

 To the far left side of the desk is my punch rack and ribbon storage. I love having these items so close at hand when I'm creating! Inside the closet (you can see the door in part of the picture) holds my stamps and etsy product. I forgot to take a picture so that will come another day!

This is my little sewing desk! It is small but works for my sewing needs.

 My own custom chalkboard!

(I don't list this particular one with "create" in my shop but contact me about a custom order if you'd like one!)

 This is such a happy little corner in my craft room!

Don't buntings make everything happier? Like a party is always going on? 

I think so!

I hung a dowel rod from bracket to bracket for fun washi tape storage. Now when I need a little tape I can just tear it off. If I need a lot and want to take the whole roll down, it's easy enough to do that too.

(looks like I need more washi tape!)

 I found this absolutely adorable bird's nest wire bowl at Hobby Lobby. It is perfect thread storage for my sewing needs.

I love the shelves above my sewing desk. The white baskets hold sewing projects and other projects in the works.

 I love jars and baskets to separate and organized things in.

 My vintage sewing patterns!

I have another post (from a while ago) about my twine storage but thought I'd share pictures again.

 

Months and months and months later I still love it!

And finally my craft cabinet for more supply storage!

 The very top holds a basket of some of my shipping supplies. When I fill orders I can grab my basket and when needed, roll of brown packing paper, (under the guest bed not shown....yet!) and get right to work.

 The top shelf in the cabinet (from Ikea, by the way) holds some albums that I'm working on, Stampin' Up! catalogs and books and the second shelf has baskets (from left to right) holding greeting cards, knitting needle cases and small jars for the tiny stuff. :)

 The third shelf down is packed full of boxes to further sort supplies!

They store anything from (more) glitter, chalk, wire/metal, rope, craft paint, etc.

And the very bottom shelf stores yarn and knitting books/patterns. I threw one tiny little basket in there for now but need something much bigger.

Thanks to my chore planner telling me I needed to dust the office today, I was left with a very clean craft space. To reward myself, I made this cute card to send to some friends of the family to thank them for some yummy figs fresh from their tree!

Thanks for checking out my craft room!

I'll keep ya posted on further progress, sometime show off my stamp storage, shop product storage and guest bed (it needs a mattress right now he he).

BYE!

Craft Studio Makeover

Good Morning Everyone!

I've been up for a while...like since 5:30 am. That is early for me, not by much but earlier than normal. My smallest rascal woke up upset and it took a while to settle her down so I decided to just stay up. I'm gonna be tired today! Thank goodness for coffee.

Once upon a time ago (if feels like that!) my husband offered to build me a craft desk. OKAY! Well, as time went by and we no longer needed our breakfast room table I decided a hutch would be perfect. I started sketching plans, figuring out my needs, flipping though magazines for inspiration and making plans. Hubby drew up detailed drawings, took measurements, all that good stuff and got to work. 

It has been a long wait but the day has finally come. BUT, you are still going to have to wait to see all of the make-over pictures. I just have a teaser for you today. Why? Because I'm still getting things organized, picking out baskets and bins and cleaning up. 

My brand new custom hutch is complete with paper dividers and marker storage and so much more!

Wanna see some messy room pictures? Oh I've got them!

 Do you ever feel like when you are cleaning up one room that you just move piles of STUFF to another? That is how I felt cleaning all of this up, except my piles were just getting moved around the room. At one point I had most everything off the day bed, which doubles as our guest bed, onto my sewing desk.

 Don't think I could have fit much more on it do you? I did!

Look at this mess. Not so bad at the top but as you move to the floor- HELLO MESS. At one point I sort of gave up putting things away knowing that as soon as my new hutch was done, I'd do one big clean up.

One more pretty picture to calm your nerves after those messy ones. See that cute chalkboard label? Yep, they are in my shop now! I saved empty baby food jars and stashed them away knowing that I'd eventually find a use for those cute little jars. I peeled their label off and stuck the chalkboard label right over the sticky adhesive left behind. I now have several in my studio to house all of those little things.

And don't forget- for my readers, though the end of December you can save 20% off your entire purchase in my shop. Use code MERRYCHRISTMAS

Time to refill the coffee cup- bye :)