Craft Closet

I think no crafting blog is complete without a tour of where the creativity takes place, unfortunately for me I dont have a room devoted to my crafting supplys where I have a nice big desk with a big window for lots of light:( I do however have a nice craft closet that houses all my stuff and its all on wheels so I can pull it out to the kitchen table when I want to do my projects. Its all mostly organized so sometimes I just go get what I want and don't have to drag everything out.

The first picture is the shelve in the closet that houses my albums, and cricut mats and my drill. I keep all my cartridges on the shelve because I have a Gypsy and they are loaded on there. I keep the ones that cant't be loaded on the cart with the cricut so I don't have to go looking for them in the giant stack.

The next picture is of my carts. From the left is a cart I found at Kmart, It hold the cricut nicely and can hold up to 100lbs I think which makes it move smoothly. It also Holds my cards, Stacks of paper and on the bottom rack it where I keep things I dont use that often. The colorful cart  is where I keep all my loose scrapbooking paper. The cart is from Joann's and I got it from my brother. He actuall sent it in the mail since they were going on clerance. I have an awesome brother and sister in law :)

The next cart has my stickers, markers, ribbons, glue, tape, pens, rub ons, and embellishments. Well that's pretty much the tour but now you know where and how I keep everything.

Wedding Season

Tomorrow I am going to a wedding of a family friend; she actually caught the bouquet at my wedding. Anyways I wasn't sure what to get her even though I looked at their registries I felt that a coffee maker or mixing bowl set was not really special, practical maybe but not creative. I actually thought about taking the easy way out and getting a gift card but I really hate doing that, I don't think they are personal enough. I decided to do some glass etching. I received this for a wedding gift and used it often until me or the hubbs broke one. I had every thing I needed except the glasses and a bonus plate which I did not have, but with a quick trip the dollar store I had everything I needed.

Supplies needed: 

• Glass for etching
• etching cream( I used armour etch)
• vinyl
• Cricut/Gypsy(or precut stencils that come in a kit)
• water
• gloves
• Paintbrush or Q-tip for applying

Step 1 was to clean the plates because they had some kind of grime from China on them. You need to clean the glass before you apply the etching cream so you have a clean work surface.Below is a picture of the plate and glasses after being washed and waiting to become beautiful.

Step 2 is to decide where and what you want your image to be so you can size it appropriately.

Step 3 is creating your  image. I have that part easy because I have a Cricut and a Gypsy. The gypsy makes creating the image so easy but if you don't have one there are kits out there, I've also seen videos on youtube on making your own image with wax.

Tips: I applied the etching to the back of the plate so if you use words you must mirror the image.

Using the Gypsy I layed out the letters the way I wanted and  used a circle around them so when it was cut I would have the negative image for the letters.

The glasses and plate ready for a coat of armour etch

After you have applied your image to the glass you are ready to put the etching cream on. *WEAR GLOVES*  You do not want to get this stuff on your hands.

Apply a GENEROUS coat of etching cream, you need to to apply an even thick coat.

Wait at least 10 minutes, that the amount of time I waited and I think it could have sit a few minutes longer

After the time is up put your gloves back on(I'm assuming you wouldn't leave them on for the full time) and take it to a sink so the etching cream can be washed off. I used my kitchen sprayer to get most of it off but some it was stubborn so you can rub the rest of it off with your fingers. The the glass air dry and you have yourself a glass etching. It seems hard but its really not, I will be doing it again:)

The finished product, minus the glasses. Did you spot something funny??? Well I didn't but my mother in law did, it seems I put the wrong wedding date on the plate:( After all that hard work, well at least they have the glasses and I will be getting them a nice bottle of sparkling cider to go with their new glasses

Trash to Treasure

It's amazing the things you can find setting out at the road waiting to be collected. I found this bistro set last October and thought it would be a great project for the spring. It was several years old, had some rust issues and was just asking to be spruced up. The seats need to be replaced because the were rotting through, for me that was the hardest part. The frames and table needed a fresh coat of spray paint and they were almost as good as new. As for the cushions they needed a new base, new foam and new fabric. Thanks to my father in law being somewhat of a pack rat all I had to buy was the foam, fabric and an additional can of spray paint, total cost was $21.

The finished project with the new patio I put down. I love to have a place to watch my son play or have breakfast on a nice day and  most of all I love that for only $21 and a little elbow grease I can something that was once trash turned into something beautiful