Category Archives: Mama’s Craft Room

Apr21

“I love deadlines…

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“I love deadlines…

I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” I love Douglass Adams. Great books. But I digress. “Deadlines?” you say. Well, self-imposed deadlines are still deadlines, right? I had goals that were not quite all realized this week. I started out great! Monday, I retreated to Mama’s Craft Room, and cut out bunches of my over-sized receiving blankets with matching burp cloths out of the niftiest flannel I’ve seen to date. I got the serger going, and I really love the new thread I got. I took some decent pictures, and Tuesday, voila! Mama’s Craft Room went live on Etsy! Well, it’s “Made In Mama’s Craft Room“, but close enough! My goal was to list something by Tuesday. That evening, I made ready several of my snuggle blankets, all set to be lightly quilted and sewn. But horror of horrors! My Janome 5700 is skipping stitches! I have had this machine since 1999, and it has been my faithful companion ever since. I admit, I have neglected it at times, going months without allowing it to stitch a single stitch, and then WHAM! spending several weeks in a row sewing several hours a day. (Can you guess what time of year that was??) But I have always kept it cleaned, oiled on occasion, and generally took decent care of it. But, she fails me now. I found a place- Stitch Lab– to get her looked at. $75 to clean, general maintenance, and minor repairs. What’s Mama to do? I expect I will be heading that way next week.

In the meantime, I had a GREAT time at our Faux group. We learned kuhmihimo, taught to us by a talented lady named Sue, of Originals. I didn’t think I would get so absorbed in it, but here I am, 11:41 pm on a Friday night, and it’s sitting in front of me on my desk, and I pause in typing this blog post to work a few turns of the kuhmi-wheel. And now I have yet another, new obsession. As if I needed another! But wire and metal working will always have my heart. Even now, as I typed that last line, visions of a metal project I have started is dancing in front of my eyes. My sketch book and pencil to my left, open and waiting for me to jot down yet another addition to the very simple design. Here is a sneak peak at my kuhmihimo:

Kuhmihimo

Kuhmihimo


It was supposed to be a bracelet. That is what the tutorial was for.. however, I didn’t want to waste the Fireline, so we will see where it takes us! I will keep you posted…..

Big day tomorrow. I heard through a nice lady from my Faux group that there is a group of people running a project called ZeroLandfill. It was started in Ohio, and has spread through several states. Luckily, Austin has caught the bug, and tomorrow they are having a huge giveaway? It’s the only word I can think of this late. Basically, come rummage through all the refuse, and bring your own bags! I will have not only several of my trusty reusable bags, but the wagon, too. I think it’ll be easier than the stroller with Adler.

I will be sure to post any goodies I score! Til then, my favorite audience, I bid you adieu.. =^..^=

Apr14

Whew!

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Whew!

Ok, I admit it. Revamping Mama’s Craft Room is and has been thus far, a MAJOR undertaking! I thought I would be done by now, everything organized, a place for everything and everything in its’ place. I thought I’d have all my little collected treasures scattered about on display, inspiring me, tempting me to linger and gaze upon them. But no. I have most of my fabric on the shelves, sorted in a way that makes sense to *me*, I have my yarns mostly on the shelves in a way that makes sense to *me*, and I have much of my jewelry-making supplies sorted and tentatively shelved. But I feel so much chaotic energy in the room right now that I feel I have reached a stalemate. I think I need to move T’s bed to where I plan to put the sleep sofa when we get one, and move my cutting table, and that will jump start the whole process again. I sat up there last night, opening and closing beading containers, bending a little wire, and just plain shuffling things around on my new desk, and oculd not find my groove. Yes, I think The Big Items need to move from the center of the room. They are completely interrupting the flow in there and my feng-shui is way off.

In the meantime, I have my cab wrapping class tomorrow with the very talented Karen Meador, Ph.D., of Dreamcatcher Designs TX. She is a great teacher, very patient and encouraging. Hopefully, taking her class will get me on track for making that certain something I need to get made before mid-May. 😉

I have been crocheting sweet little summertime necklaces with cotton crochet thread and sweet millifiori beads. The idea comes from a necklace Shannon Williams of Vixens Natural Jewelry found on Etsy. They have a cute button closure and are hand-washable.
I don’t know yet what I’m going to do with them all, maybe list them? Pics will be posted soon.

Hopefully, we will have a productive weekend, and I will be able to post Craft Room pictures early next week! Have a great one, folks! =^..^=

Apr9

Accomplishment!

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Accomplishment!

Well, that was a crazy long weekend! I spent two and a half days painting!! And only had to send Tim to Lowe’s TWICE to get more paint! Note: Mama’s Craft Room is far bigger than I thought. Lots more wall space than Valerie’s bedroom, that’s for sure! But I am elated with the results, feeling so proud of myself for busting ass getting this done. It has given me renewed motivational and creative energy and I am ready to keep going! The color is a bit brighter than I had originally had in mind, and a tinged more blue, but nevertheless, I love it. The color in my head would have been too dark for the room and would have made it feel smaller. Clean up from my painting escapades is going to be interesting. But since the floor is a good quality laminate, I should be able to just use a little floor cleaner on a Scotch Brite sponge. Unlike cleanup after painting in the kids’ rooms, where there is a sealed concrete floor. There I couldn’t use any abrasive as it would have taken off the seal. So. Tomorrow, the rearranging process will begin, new curtains going up, and some unpacking will commence! Not too much though, as I don’t have the shelves yet. But the end of the week, I will! I forgot to take good “Before” pictures before I pushed all the things into the center of the room and piled boxes, bags, bins and clutter into the adjoined bathroom tub, but I will most definitely be posting “After” pics!

Stay Tuned, for the next installment of.. Mama’s Craft Room Unfolds.. =^..^=

 

Apr6

Reinventing..

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Reinventing..

Part of the reason I am so behind on getting my craft on, is that I desperately need to make over Mama’s Craft Room. I have been talking about what I want to do, how I want it laid out, where things will go, and on and on, for literally YEARS now. I have finally gotten the lay done, thanks to this nifty tool I found online. After taking measurements, and knowing what all storage I need, and what all horizontal surfaces I require, I began. I have come up with a great layout-IMO-and am ready to move on to Phase II: Implementation! I have cleared out most of the clutter, and moved all “not needing any time soon” things to the hall closet, such as massive amounts of retro polyester I’ve collected from a couple of sources, felt, and various holiday themed fabrics. I have patched the little cracks around the one arched window that have been there since the day we moved in and I never got around to, thinking I would have to tear the entire wall out and rebuild it (o.O) #whatwasithinking?! The cracks have never once changed in size, expanded or extended whatsoever, even through our crazy drought last summer! So I felt confident using a product made for cracks that may expand and contract slightly due to climate changes. I have so far applied it twice and it looks like I’m good to go. Phase III will commence tomorrow, hopefully, with-you guessed it-PAINTING!! YES! I have already bought the paint for my room!! I cannot wait to show it off to you all. Phase IV will consist of the laying out of said storage choices, including but not limited to the shelving I already have up there PLUS….custom floor to ceiling shelves for fabric, yarn and whatever other textiles, courtesy of Tim’s Workshop! Have I mentioned how lucky I am?? Then the Final Phase will begin: Organization. I am hoping this entire project will be finished by April 21st. Lofty, eh? A girl’s gotta dream.. I can’t wait to reveal my project desk. It was a nifty little old hardwood desk I picked up at Goodwill for $29.99. Since it is so solid, I thought it would make a great workbench type desk for jewelry making. The more I discussed it with the guys, including maybe putting a steel sheet on top, among other things, the idea grew, and the desk has become what I feel is a trip down Memory Lane work of art! I took several little findings I have collected over the year-some things were as old as from 1997-and laid them out covering most of the desktop. I hot glued, cemented, taped my way through the years of Great Memories, and when I was satisfied with the result, I sealed it in an epoxy resin!! I am THRILLED with it! Want a sneak peak??

I painted the entire desk “Mother Of Pearl” white, first. It only took about five coats…………………………. And then I forgot to paint the doors! But that turned out to be a good thing, as I will paint them one of my accent colors. I am highly motivated, and will keep you all, gentle readers, up to date as progress unfolds.