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!

Brand New Furniture for the price of a can of Stain

note: Gonna call the 1st end table project #37...

So we have this pine furniture that we bought almost 12 years ago. We loved it. So much that we bought: a hutch, a TV Ar moire, 2 side bookcases for it, 2 end table, and a book case. All matching, in the same light colored pine. It's been completely functional, and we've loved it. Until we moved into this house, and it just wasn't working anymore.
It was better after we got rid of our old couches, but still wasn't working.
We even moved the hutch to the garage, and considered selling it on Craig's List. Then I saw on someone's blog that they had a front door to their house that looked just like our furniture, and they had stained it a dark espresso color. It looked awesome. I showed the pictures to my husband, and we decided that it would be worth trying. So, I decided to try it on one of the end tables. They were the smallest, cheapest, and most expendable, in case it didn't work...
And although my photos are terrible, it did work, and it looks awesome! So, I am now in the process of doing the other end table and the hutch, and we are planning on doing it to all of the furniture- so stayed tuned as I reveal the before and after photos on all of those.
I'm even considering doing the dining room table.
I am trying to figure out the best protective finish to put on them. I'm going to try Minwax finishing paste, that's what another furniture blogger recommended, but I know I'll need something more heavy duty for the table- something that will hold up to daily spills, water, etc. What do you recommend?

Zebra and Pink Baby Shower

So last weekend, I threw a baby shower for my friend who is having a little girl. It was so fun to do, not only because she is my good friend, but because the theme of this shower was so fun! It was just Zebra Print and Pink.
I was going to do a Peter Pan theme, since she loves that, but no ideas were coming to me. None. I have to have ideas. I can't throw these kind of things together at the last minute. Some people have that gift.
Not me.
I mull it around in my brain for a long time. (there's my confession)
Since I joined Pinterest, I even had a board I was pinning ideas to. What did I ever do before Pinterest?
So, after she sewed a Zebra print Boppy cover, and I noticed that her cell phone was Zebra Print, I thought, hmmm...

So, here is the invitation:

I made a Diaper Cake, which was so much fun to make:

I think this one might be my most favorite one that I've made! (I may have said that last time, too) With all the fun zebra print ribbons, I thought the feathers would be the perfect topper. I realize that they are not a baby item that she can use. But I couldn't resist.
I also noticed lots of pink beaded necklaces in my daughters dress-ups, so I added a few. A friend commented that it looked very "Marti Gra" ... well, it was that time of year, and we did just get back from New Orleans, so there's a chance some of that crept into this. But, lest you think it's all just bling- there were 95 size 2 dipaers, and 20 size 1, All the flowers have hair clips, so baby can wear them, there are two cans of formula in the center, and the very top tier has three headbands wrapped around it for baby to wear. Also, my friend is going to (eventually) use all the ribbons to make a ribbon board to hold all her hair accessories. Oh, and the bottom is a pizza pan- which mommy can bring to me anytime, and I will make her a homemade pizza- call it a bonus gift!
The front room was decorated with not only her diaper cake, but a clothes line of zebra print clothes for the baby!
I loved the little leggings the most! I found all of this at Hobby Lobby, but then, I had to make it personal for Baby Beverlie
So the pink onsie got a big "B", the hat, bib, and zebra onsie got her name embroidered on it.
As guests came in the front door, there was a basket of diapers for them to write messages on:
I think I enjoyed this the most (I may or may not have gotten a little carried away with my messages as the party wore on)

I also got the idea from Pinterest to use a baby changer for display (they used it to put cake and desserts on) I was planning on making cotton candy favor bags for all of the guests, but the night I planned on that, I ended up in the ER with my first kidney stone (and let's pray it's also my last) I still think it would have been really cute. Maybe another time.

The Food:

was obviously breakfast foods, since we were having a brunch. I'll let the pictures tell you what we ate. Except for the quiche was still coming out of the oven, so it's missing from the pictures I snapped.
Did you notice that big thing in the middle?

That was the Belly Cake

I know, the resemblance was just uncanny... especially since the mommy showed up in Zebra print!
The front room was all about Baby, but this part was all about mommy
(I love that she didn't hesitate to dive in!)
And here is one more shot with Daddy to be, who came to help her get home (she couldn't reach the petals at this point, so she couldn't drive!)

2011 Project Wrap-up

Before I start making my lists of all the projects I want to get done in 2012 (I know, you all already did that- I'm a little slow...)
I thought I should hurry and post a few projects that I actually finished in 2011, and just hadn't gotten around to posting.
So, my new couch came with these pillows that I thought were hideous:
So I made new ones: I actually used the old pillows as inserts for the new ones. The big one in the middle has cording piping around it. I was kinda proud of myself for figuring that one out.
(Project #35)



I also finished this Roman Shade window/door covering for my daughter's room. (Project #36) The lucky girl has her own balcony, but the builder did not include the doors when we got blinds put in through out the house.
She wanted orange. I had a hard time with that until we found this pretty fabric. You can't see in the picture, but it actually has little sparkles all over it. I thought if I gathered it for some rousing, (or is it ruching?) it would look like a fancy dress. Much more feminine than all the other orange fabric she was trying to talk me into.
I lined it with black-out fabric for privacy, and so her room won't bake in our hot sunshine.
Confession: I pulled the strings up to take a picture of the shade when it is up. I broke the string. I haven't told my daughter yet. I will fix it when I get around to making a coordinating window treatment for the other window in her room.