Closet Cleaning

Ever since we moved into our house (which was August of 2010) I have had almost all of my sewing and craft and quilt things SHOVED into the hall linen closet. I was scared to open it. Things could fall out and hurt you. It was nearly impossible to find anything.
It was so bad, I was too embarrassed to take a before picture of the closet.
One day I decided to clean it all out. That meant emptying every single shelf. This was not a project I could tackle myself, so I had the help of two friends. After it was all emptied, I sorted through my stashes of fabric and other things. If I had fabric that did not have a specific project intended for it, it went into the get-rid-of pile. That get-rid-of pile turned into 6 bags of stuff.
I gave away my serger because I had no room to set it up and actually use it. It went to a good home, my friend Maria will use it. I was happy she was so excited to get it. She immediately took it in to get serviced, and has started using it. I have no regrets about giving it away. Well, I guess I have one regret: Maria moved across the country...
 Here is the mess at the end of day 1:
The stuff I kept was all organized into Ziplock bags. (Did you know that they have these really cool ones that are 2 gallon size, and hold most quilting projects? Glad makes one that is 2.5 gallons. They are awesome.) Each project was put in a bag with the pattern, and all the fabric and notions to complete it. Those went back into the closet.
 

 I made a list of all of those bags of projects. There were 25. So, that means about 1 project a month for the next 2 years, and if it's not done in 2 years... well, then it probably won't get done at all and will have the same fate as those random things in those 6 bags...
But look how organized my closet is now:I even had room to put things like sheets and towels in it- like a real linen closet! The best news is: I finished the project for March! I haven't posted it yet, because it is currently being shipped to my sister-n-law and I wanted her to see it in person before she sees it on the blog!

March Comes In Like a Lion...

I saw these little lamb cupcakes on Pinterest, and decided that the would be a good kids project. I have a niece with a St. Patrick's Day birthday, and so my kids and nieces and I made these. The kids loved putting the marshmallows all over them. The ones on Pinterest used chocolate to make the face and ears. I had leftover black fondant, that was even easier, and the kids loved doing it.


We also made some green cookies. I told the kids we were doing March desserts, "because, March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a what?"

"A sheep?"

"No, a lamb. In like a lion, out like a lamb."

"What does that mean?"

"Umm..."

Well, I may not be able to answer all their questions, but we had a fun party anyway.
confession: my camera is getting worse everyday. I was trying to get a picture of the 8 I made in black fondant for a topper...

I don't know what they're teaching in schools these days, but I have a sneaking suspicion that these kids also don't know what April Showers bring...

Corner Cabinet #38

So I bought this old corner cabinet at an estate sale just before we moved. I'm not sure what I was thinking... but I'm glad I did. Besides making an awesome Vanishing Cupboard for our Hogwarts Party, I really thought it would be great in our teeny tiny playroom loft for holding all the toys.
But, it mostly sat in our garage for months and months.... here it is with some cute kids I also found in my garage:

Then my husband took it on for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays... and made it into this:
He added beaded board to the door inserts, new crown molding at the top (he is getting really good at crown molding... I'm resisting the urge to put it into my little girls bedroom...) we added a crystal door pull, painted it white, and viola! After some serious purging, it pretty much holds all the toys that don't go in the toy kitchen.
It even inspired me to hang pictures, a magnet board for my daughters drawings, and something to hang dress-ups on on the wall. Sorry the pictures aren't good. It's so tight (small) in this little loft, I couldn't get back far enough to get a good full picture!