Laundry Room Cleanup

I have been a crafter ever since I can remember.  I usually crafted on the kitchen table and then had to clean up to eat and then get it back out to finish the project.  If company was coming, again I had to clean up (because crafting is messy).  I always wanted a room of my own to craft in.  When we built the house I told Frank that I wanted a craft room.  We had a budget that we were trying to stick with so the only way I could get my craft room was to combine it with my laundry room.

I had a dream kitchen picked out and when I showed it to Frank, he said the house wasn't big enough for that kitchen unless...I was willing to give up my laundry/craft room.  I gave up my dream kitchen before I gave up my craft room.

It is next to the kitchen just down the hall.  It has a door that I can shut when I am working on a project so that company doesn't see the mess and I don't have to constantly put it up and get it out.  When the boys were younger I could craft while they were napping and when they woke up I could just shut the door and I didn't have to worry about them getting hurt on my crafting supplies or worry about them making a mess.

This also became a problem.  If I had unexpected company, I would throw everything in the laundry room  and shut the door - I would put it where it belonged later.    I had good intentions, but you know by the time company left it was time for me to start supper and then it's bath time and then bedtime.  Well, I was tired - I'd get to it tomorrow.   This problem got worse and worse until I just had a path to my washer and dryer (which set immediately to the left of the door).

We refinished the basement a couple of years ago so that the boys would have a place to play in bad weather.  Do they do that?  No.  It now feels like that was a waste of time.  Frank suggested that I make a crafting corner in the basement.  I have lots of cabinets in the laundry room to hold my supplies and I didn't have storage in the basement.  I did move my sewing stuff downstairs and left my other crafting supplies upstairs.  That helped with my laundry room clean up.

Well, I did not take before pictures because (in all honesty) I was embarrrassed to show you.  I worked on it for days and now I am proud and want to show you.

I don't remember the exact measurements (and Frank isn't here for me to ask) but I'm guessing it is about 

a 6' x 12' room.  The picture above are the cabinets to the right of the door.  That whole 12' wall has upper and lower kitchen cabinets.  With under cabinet lighting (helps to see my crafting projects better).  The counter top is perfect for folding laundry (see picture) or for crafting (see Cricut - lots of room for it).  I even have spools of ribbon that I hang under my cabinets for easy access, visibility and to keep my ribbon organized (which is hard to do with ribbon - I have mine color coordinated).

The larger cabinet (to the left of the photo) has my vacuum cleaner, carpet steamer in the lower section and more crafting supplies in the upper section.  Hanging on the door are over the door hanger organizers.  I just hang my gift sacks (that I reuse or new if I find a good sale and purchase ahead of time).

This is the same counter as the previous picture (taken from the opposite side of the room).  It is the section that is behind the door (that's where I keep my laundry baskets - so if the door is inadvertently left open company doesn't see my dirty laundry).  On the back of the door I have a hanger for rolls of wrapping paper, cross-stitch fabric, etc.

This is my washer and dryer (in case you couldn't tell) to the left of the door.  There is a little nook where they sit.  The nook was created by the closet in my boys' room on the opposite side of the wall.  To the right of my dryer I stack my broom and mops.  The cabinets above the washer and dryer are for cleaning supplies (and a few crafting supplies too).

Same space from a different angle (from the door), now you can see the mops and broom.  In the lower right corner you can see the pet food containers that I talked about in a previous post.

This is a close up of my ribbon storage (the left side of my cabinets, just above my Cricut).

This is more of my ribbon storage (the right side of my cabinets, just above the laundry baskets).

I used self-adhesive velcro to attach the measuring tape.  I can hold up ribbon or fabric and measure it where it is or I can take it down if necessary.

That was a tour of my crafting space.  Where do you craft?

Pet food containers

I have had opened bags of pet food (dog, cat and chicken) sitting in the corner of my kitchen.  I didn't know what to do with them, don't have cabinet space to store them in and it was convenient (just sitting by the door).

After I cleaned up my laundry/craft room, Frank said that I had plenty of space to put the pet food bags there.  (I guess it was bothering him, but he was such a sweetie he never said anything until then.)

Since I had just cleaned that room, I didn't want to start cluttering it up again and opened bags of pet food looked like clutter.

I went to Dollar General and bought 3 medium sized trashcans (with lids).  Used my Cricut to label the trashcans, I used navy blue vinyl and cut out the letters then put them on the trashcans (white trashcans w/ navy blue lids were all they had in the size that I needed).

I am pleased with how they turned out.  I think now it wouldn't look so bad in the kitchen corner, but I did put them in the laundry/craft room (hope it makes hubby happy).  I wish I could have gotten different colors to match my laundry/craft room.  I could probably buy spray paint for plastic and change it, but I was not up to that kind of project at this point (after cleaning the room for several days I just wanted things back in order as soon as possible - that may (or may not) be a project for another day).

Stamped Coasters

When I was looking for tiles for this project...

I found these and fell in love with them.  They are very porous and I was afraid that my vinyl wouldn't stick to it very well.  But I really, really, really liked this tile.  So, what's a girl to do?

Check out Pinterest of course!  I found this tutorial and was able to use these great tiles to make these...

Note:  These are not the same tiles used in the tutorial mentioned above, I have also purchased and used those tiles too, both work and look great.  They just have slightly different looks.  Find what you like best and use that.

This is being donated to my MOPS group as part of a fundraiser (this is just 1 of 4 - all different, but coordinate nicely).

I used these as a 'Thank You' gift for a friend.  Champ (my son) even got involved and made a set to be used as a gift for someone.  I really like these.  I have made several sets as gifts, tied them together with sisal, ribbon, rick-rack, etc.  (P.S.  Since my last coaster tutorial I was able to find the felt circles and that is what I am using under the above tile coasters.)

Note:  These edges are finished so I did not have to glue ribbon around the edges.  If you like the ribbon look, it could still probably be done.  These tiles are rustic looking and I think the ribbon would be too formal for them, but maybe something else that's more rustic too???

Monogrammed Coasters

If you saw the tile coasters that I made here, well this is how I did it.

To make some monogrammed (personalized coasters), you will need 4 inch tiles (see below).  I got mine from Lowe's for about $0.33 each (the color is called Misty Taupe).  You will also need 1/4" ribbon in black or brown (to match your vinyl), spray sealant (Hobby Lobby - used 40% off coupon)...

...a Cricut machine will come in handy (but you could do it by hand - a little more time consuming and requires a little more skill - which I do not have - to cut it out with an exacto knife by hand)...

...E-6000 adhesive (the napkin is just to catch the drips in between uses)...

...something to place on the bottom of the coaster to keep it from scratching the furniture (I looked for felt circles - that go on the bottom of chair legs and couldn't find any, since I was in a hurry and saw these, I grabbed a bag).

First I placed the foam stickers on the back corners of the tile to keep from scratching the surface that I was working on.  (I chose 4 small squares in the same color.  You cannot see the foam stickers when it is flipped over.)

I then cleaned the tiles with window cleaner to remove any dust or fingerprints.  (Yes, that is an old sock that I use for my craft projects.  If the boys or hubby get a hole in the sock it goes in my rag pile instead of the trash can.)

I used my Cricut and brown vinyl to cut out letters (in this case the letter "D").  I cut out 4 in the size 3 1/2 inch.

To keep the letters from stretching when I peeled them off, first I removed the extra vinyl around the letters.  (If my Cricut blade was sharp enough, I might have been able to skip this step.)  NOTE:  Make sure you follow the directions that come with the vinyl for the Cricut - that will tell you about the pressure and blade depth that you should use.

This is what it looks like when I removed the vinyl from around the outside (and inside) of the letters.

Place one letter in the center of each tile.  I just eyeballed it, but you could measure it.  Make sure you press it on firmly and burnish it (bone folder might work for this - I just used the top of my fingernail).

Then I sprayed the tiles with the sealant.  It is hard to tell from the picture, but the "D" has not been sprayed yet and it is still matte, but the "S" has been sealed and is shiny.

I measure the ribbon (used brown ribbon to match the brown vinyl letter) to go around the tile with a little overlap and cut it.  (I use a wood burning tool with a wedge tip to cut all my ribbon b/c that will heat seal it to keep it from fraying.)

Then I put some E-6000 adhesive on one side and put the ribbon on top of the adhesive, pressing firmly.  Continue around all the sides...

Slightly overlapping on one side.

Here they all are completed.  From the top you cannot see the ribbon, but that adds a finished touch, if you are sitting on a couch with your coaster and drink on your coffee table, you would be able to see the ribbon then.  If you can find tiles with finished edges, you could skip the ribbon step, but the tiles that I found did not have finished edges.

A Perfect Pet for Peyton

When I went to MOPS Convention last August, I registered for a door prize (several actually).  Last month I got a package in the mail and I had won one of the door prizes.  I was so shocked (I had forgotten about it) and pleasantly surprised.

I had won 2 books, A Perfect Pet for Peyton and The Five Love Languages of Children (revised) by Gary Chapman.

I have read The Five Love Languages of Children (check it out here, here, and here).  I loved the book.  I have not read the revised version yet.  

When I received my door prize, I read A Perfect Pet for Peyton to the boys.  It is a book about the Five Love Languages and it teaches children about them.  It is a well written book and wonderfully illustrated.  It is written in a way that children can understand the love languages.  It even has a quiz in the back of the book to help children figure out what love language that they speak.  For those of you (I'm really thinking of your children) that are electronically savvy, you can also get a free interactive APP that goes along with the book.

If you are familiar with the Five Love Languages, I really think you will enjoy reading A Perfect Pet for Peyton to your children.  If you are not familiar with it, I suggest you reading it to your children anyway (children gain a lot from being read to - that's a whole other post), they will enjoy the story and the illustrations and you might just find that you will want to read any of the books from the Five Love Languages  series (yes, there are several).

Note:  Since I read the book (The Five Love Languages) originally, I have learned Rance and Anthony's love languages (they were too young at the time).  Anthony's is Gifts and Rance's is Acts of Service.

I have 5 men (big and little) in my house and they each speak a different love language (there are 5 of those too).  My hubby, Frank's is Quality Time, Lee's is Words of Affirmation/Quality Time, Champ's is Physical Touch and I just told you the 2 little one's languages.

Coasters

We just finished VBS and I wanted to give my helpers a little something for helping me out.  I had the nursery class and we had double what we were expecting and we had the smallest classroom (because we weren't expecting that many).  It was fun, but it was a challenge.

I made a set of 4 coasters for each of my helpers (I had 4).  So I made 16 coasters total.  I personalized them by using their last initial. 

Three of my helpers had a last name that started with a "B" and one started with a "M."

After making them, I tied each set up with sisal.

I then placed them in brown kraft paper bags.  ( I love brown kraft paper!!!!!!!!!)  Stuffed with gold metallic tissue paper, added tags that I stamped, then wrote their name on the front of the tag with a gold metallic pen.

On the back of the tag I wrote a little note in gold metallic ink.

For a tutorial on how to do these, click here.

As seen in our church bulletin...

“Whether you’re a mother with small children, an overwhelmed business executive or an overworked church leader, you too can take a lesson from Moses.  Father we need help with our priorities.  Teach us to understand what’s most important and needs to be accomplished and to let go of what we can so that we are at our best for you.  If we don’t come apart and rest awhile, we may just plain come apart.”

                                                   -P. V. Whitefield