Friday, November 25, 2022

Craft Room Organization: Sewing, Knitting & Crochet

 Craft Studio


Hello friends!  Today I'm sharing how I store my sewing, knitting and crochet supplies in my craft studio.  The area consists of a middle shelf flanked with drawer bins that hold all of my stash.  Read on to see inside:


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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here

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Want to see more from the craft room?  Visit these previous posts:



Craft Studio

On the left side of the shelving is a small set of drawers for my crochet hooks, and larger drawers where I keep ribbons, lace, felt and fabric scraps.  I'm not a huge sewing person, but I do like to have things on hand for small projects here and there.



Craft Studio
Crochet

Craft Studio
Ribbons, Lace, Felt & Fabrics

These photos are what the insides of those small and large drawers look like.  I used felt to line the insides to keep things from sliding around, and Dollar Tree divider trays to corral smaller items.  The fronts of the drawers are lined with rose printed scrapbook paper.  You can see exactly how I did that  here.



Craft Studio

The middle shelving is where my sewing machine sits up top and inside are yarns, threads and sewing accessories.



Craft Studio
Craft Studio
Craft Studio
Craft Studio

Along the sides of the shelving are my collection of various yarns.  I like to pick up skeins here and there to make small things like scarves, but I also just like how it looks to have them tucked in to the shelf 😄



Craft Studio
Craft Studio
Craft Studio

Here you can see inside of the drawers on the left, all thread.



Craft Studio
Craft Studio
Craft Studio

And here are the drawers on the right, full of odds and ends.



Craft Studio
Craft Studio
Craft Studio

To the left of the middle shelf is my remaining stack of drawers.  Here I have knitting supplies up top and the bottom is full of cotton stuffing and quilt batting.  I'm going to let you in on a secret... I have no idea how to knit!  I feel like it's something I can figure out though (eventually), so of course I need the supplies, right?! 😆



Craft Studio

And there you have it, my sewing, knitting and crochet storage and organization 😊



















Friday, November 18, 2022

Peppermint Candy Decor (and Oreos!)

 Recycle Checkers


Using a set of  giant checkers that I found at a thrift store, I transformed them into big peppermint candies.  They were super easy to do - read on to see how:


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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here

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Recycle Checkers
Recycle Checkers

Here are how the checkers looked when I found them for around $5.  As you can see by the lower pic with one in my hand, they are quite large!  I purchased my set while thrifting, but if you really wanted to you could buy a new set  here.  I think a brand new set is quite pricy for something you are going to transform anyway and you could create the same look using these foam rounds for a lot less money.  Just paint the foam in whatever color you want and you are good to go!

You also don't have to make giant ones, any sized checkers will do.  Dollar Tree carries a standard sized set for $1.25 that I have used before to make small cookies.

Now back to those giant peppermints:


Recycle Checkers

Using a Sharpie I sketched out a general peppermint design.



Recycle Checkers

Next I used white paint to start filling in every other section.  It was then that I realized that I hadn't created enough spots so I had to improvise...



Recycle Checkers

...and just painted a third white section over the top of the remaining black line.



Recycle Checkers

A thin white line in between the painted sections added more detail.



Recycle Checkers

And I followed that up with some red puffy paint.



Recycle Checkers

The last step was to coat the entire peppermint with iridescent glitter.



Recycle Checkers

And now you have a set of giant peppermint candies!
I use mine at Christmas time with my candy themed tree in the breakfast room.



Recycle Checkers

But what about the black checkers that also came in the set?



Recycle Checkers

Those I spray painted in chocolate brown and sandwiched together with lightweight joint compound.



Recycle Checkers

Now they look like giant Oreo cookies!  These I keep displayed with the rest of my faux cookies which you can see  here.

And there you have it, and easy way to recycle game pieces into home/ holiday decor!

-Jennifer















Friday, November 11, 2022

Craft Room Organization: Cricut Crafting

Cricut Supplies


Interested in seeing how I store and organize my Cricut crafting supplies?

Read on for more:


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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here

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You can see the craft studio as a whole in this post.  You can also click here to see the jewelry supply storage or here to see the fake bake storage.



Cricut Supplies

Starting with the cutting machine itself, I keep it on this rolling cart next to the desk area of my craft studio.  The cart is lightweight enough to easily move about the room, but sturdy enough to hold the heavy machine without worry.

The cart comes with plastic pull knobs but I switched mine out in favor of decorative beads.  Because each drawer has a lip, knobs aren't really needed for opening and I wanted a prettier look.

You can check out this post if you want more details of how I customized the cart to my liking.



Cricut Supplies

On the top I keep the machine and my heavy duty cutting ruler.  Starting on the left side, here is what each drawer holds:



Cricut Supplies
Power cords andPaperwork.



Cricut Supplies
Cricut Supplies
Machine Tools

The top photo shows a divider box where I keep all of my different cutting tools/ blades.  I also have my stylus here and a bit of foil.  The foil is great for cleaning your blades.  Just carefully stab the blade repeatedly into the ball of foil and it will remove any gunk/ buildup from the blade that might be preventing clean cuts within your materials.  I always try this before replacing the blade and it has saved quite a bit of money on new blades.  The bottom pic is a shot of the divider box when opened.



Cricut Supplies
Scissors and Cutting



Cricut Supplies
Application Tools and Scrapers



Cricut Supplies
Weeding Tools

Besides the obvious weeding tools, I also like to keep a lint roller and some baby powder here.  The stickiness of the lint roller can help get up the tiny bits of vinyl from your mats and workspace.  The powder is a great trick for helping to see your cut lines - just sprinkle some onto the piece that you are weeding and the cut lines become more visible!



Cricut Supplies
Light Pads and Cords



Cricut Supplies
Cricut Pens



Cricut Supplies
Removable Scraps



Cricut Supplies
Permanent Scraps



Cricut Supplies
Cricut Supplies
Iron-on Scraps and Cut List

Since I use HTV the most, I end up with a lot of iron-on scraps.  I like to bundle them by color with a paper clip and mark them with the letter of what vinyl brand they are.  This helps me know which heat settings to use depending on what scrap I'm working with.

I also keep my cut list in this drawer (bottom pic).  Since I often design in batches, I end up making more SVG files than I currently have blanks for.  To keep track of them I make a list of what I want to cut and then whenever I do cut, I just cross them off.

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Now on to the right side:



Cricut Supplies
Infusible Ink



Cricut Supplies
Transfer Tape



Cricut Supplies
Removable Vinyl



Cricut Supplies
Permanent Vinyl



Cricut Supplies
Iron-on

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I've made sure to make use of the exterior of the cart as well:



Cricut Supplies

Machine cutting mats are hanging on the back.



Cricut Supplies

Acrylic rulers are on the left.



Cricut Supplies

And my self healing cutting mat is on the right.



Cricut Supplies

When it comes time to press, I have another cart for all of those supplies



Cricut Supplies
Cricut Supplies

Up top is my largest press.  A few hooks on the back allow me to wrap the cord up off of the floor when not in use.

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Like the other cart, I'll show you the drawers on each side:



Cricut Supplies
Scraps

It's not often, but sometimes I'll cut something and then decide not to use it.  I put those bits here.



Cricut Supplies
Cricut Supplies
Tools and Instructions

Here I have tools that I might need while pressing, as well as a notebook full of instructions for different kinds of vinyl.  Because I use different brands, it can be hard to keep track of all the different heat settings and pressing times.  I find that a notebook with the information (bottom pic) on hand is so much easier than having to look things up each time.



Cricut Supplies
Cricut Supplies

The remaining drawers on the left are where I store blank shirts that I haven't yet used.

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And here are the drawers on the right:

Cricut Supplies
Mini Press and Iron



Cricut Supplies
Heat Mats



Cricut Supplies
Teflon Sheets/ Wax Paper and Heat Erasers



Cricut Supplies
Small Press



Cricut Supplies
Medium Press

*It has to go in upside down to fit these drawers, but it works 😄



Cricut Supplies

Here is a shot of how I put those hooks on the back.



Cricut Supplies

Here you can see how easy it is to roll either of the carts to the big table if I want.

And there you have it, my Cricut crafting storage and organization 😊