Yikes!

OK - let me make you all feel better about whatever mess in your house you're dealing with. . . ready???? Just look quick and then avert your eyes . . . it's bad. . . really bad. . .
This is what I've been dealing with. Told you it was bad!!! Geez I feel brave to show this picture. Most of this mess is gone now and everything is looking better. Phew. I'm tired. I know a busy bee is a happy bee but this bee feels broken.

Here is a sneak peak, this is the craft table.

I painted the walls orange because I had orange paint. Then to break up the orange I decided on white polka dots. Think they should have been in colors? Then for a punch of color I covered this chair in red, as you can see. I've added more since this picture was taken. Maybe I'll be ready to show more next week. My friend, Julie, is going to come over on Wednesday and hang a glass chandelier that I found in a garbage can. (OK - the wife knew I loved it and the husband didn't know - he threw it away and the wife called me and told me to get it if I wanted it.) I RAN over and got it. It's just going to be perfect. Kinda silly and whimsical. Perfect.

I think my kids are going to love having their own space. How many kids get to have a craft area?? The other end of this nook will be a reading area. I think that my handsome hubby will be impressed that I haven't spent a dime!! Just stuff from my crap - I mean stuff - pile in the basement! Happy crafting!

Chaos!!

Why - why - WHY!!! I'm trying to do a good thing. I'm trying to eliminate clutter in our home. Why then does the whole house have to fall apart????? It looks like someone picked the house up, shook it, and set it back down. I'd take a picture but I just can't make myself record the mess. I guess I'm just not brave enough.

Also, how does a simple project lead into another project so easily? I just wanted to clear an area where my youngest son could color, cut, and glue. In a room other than the kitchen. You know, move some stuff around and give him a desk. Next thing you know I'm painting. . . just one wall to start. . . then the ceiling looked dingy. . . then a couple more walls. . . then I'm painting polka dots on the walls. . . and reupholstering furniture.


I've always called this area my "scary area". When a friend is feeling as if they have the most cluttered house around I just took them to the "scary area" to cheer them up. (I still have plenty of other "scary areas" to cheer friends up with - ha!) I didn't want to just move the junk, er stuff, to the basement so I'm sorting, throwing, and giving away everything I can part with. Stuff that makes me wonder how it ever ended up in my house to begin with - or stuff the kids have outgrown. I guess this project isn't so simple anymore.

Letting go of the past and gearing up for the future (and present) is messy. And soooooooo worth it!

Polyester Paradise

Do you have something that has been with you for practically your whole life? I do. It's a polyester quilt that my mom made me when I was a little girl. I just love that quilt. It has seen me through the sweetness of childhood, the agonies of adolescence, the "learn your lessons the hard way" terrifying twenties, and the stage of life that I'm in right now. Which is somewhere in my glorious thirties. (You can tell my fabulous forties are right around the corner by how I worded that can't you!) This quilt has been on my bed for over THIRTY YEARS!! Now, I wouldn't want to wear polyester - but for a serviceable item isn't it awesome! It still looks brand new. This is a picture of the has-been-on-my-bed-for-over-thirty-years-quilt.


This one was completed over the weekend with my wonderful mother.

Don't they look similar!! They should. . . because some of the same poly was used in BOTH quilts. Some of the poly is 40 years old! Amazing stuff. The quilt my mom and I built is just squares. Lots and lots of squares. It was a good way to give my new sewing machine a workout (Thank you handsome hubby - isn't he AWESOME!) and a wonderful way to spend time with my mom. We cut and sewed and talked for one full day and one short day. My mom even got the top of another one sewn together. I still have to hand sew the binding on the back of this one - but I enjoy hand sewing and will complete this while snuggling up with the handsome hubby. Not all of my squares line up just right, I don't care. It was a good way to practice - I didn't have to fret about the expense of the fabric and not messing up! Ha! Happy crafting! Crafting is so much fun when you can craft with someone!!! Especially someone who knows what they are doing!!! Thank you mom!!!

Tin Can Cover

To follow up on the picture that I posted on Friday -I saw this tutorial on can covers and was intrigued. I have a lot of cans around. Don't you LOVE turning something ugly into something pretty?! Well, as much as I liked it, I realized that if it was going to live on my counter it was going to get dirty. Messes happen. How does that "not me" manage to be in every area of the house??? Ha. So I came up with my own design. It is sew easy!! It can be put together in minutes. Just sew and put it into the can inside out and "cuff" the fabric over the edge to the bottom of the outside. I did take it a step further and embroidered the word "Utensils". To do that I printed out the word in a font that I liked on regular paper. Then transferred it to the fabric by laying the paper under the fabric and tracing onto the fabric with a pen (before sewing anything). I used a light box - but you could use a sunny window instead. The embroidery was quick too. One evening cuddling up with the handsome hubby and watching TV and it was done. Crafting doesn't have to take up a lot of time. If you have time to watch your favorite shows you have time to craft! hee hee. If you click on the picture you will see a larger image that is much easier to read. Happy crafting!!!

Note: don't fret and try to get EXACT measurements - it it is a little longer than 2x the container that is OK - the extra just tucks into the can on the bottom. Also, you could "box" the corners but you don't have to - I didn't.

Well, this is my first tutorial - if you have any questions please post it in the comment section at the end of this post - Thanks!!

Love the picture!

I just LOVE how this photographed! No time to go into details today there will be a follow-up next week. FYI - no Photoshop tricks were used with this photo. Have a good weekend!!

Wall pocket

Do your kids leave little bits and pieces of their life all over the house like mine do? Well, I needed a way to corral the bits. In the past we've tried baskets on the steps - didn't work. Someone ALWAYS stepped on a basket and the contents would spill down the steps. When confronted - it was always that darn "not me" who did it too! I would try to have the kids bring their stuff to their rooms as I found it. That wasn't too practical - they were be running up and down the steps all day!

I came across this tutorial and thought this could be the answer. It will hang on the wall on the way upstairs. I have since made the first of what will be MANY wall pockets. They are awesome! This one is for my daughter. It is now holding her collection of bangle bracelets, a necklace, and any other things I've found around the kitchen. When the pocket gets too heavy I'll ask her to put the stuff away. Think it will work?

I did do things a bit differently from the tutorial. I didn't add the gussets. I figured we didn't need them. I added a dowel on the top and on the bottom in a casing so the wall pocket wouldn't bow out when full. Next time I think I'll add another in the middle.

I want to make them for each kid. . . and several for me!! Don't you just love getting things up off the floor? Do we ever have enough counter space? This would work for curling irons, brushes, school papers, anything! I think this project won't be hard to do over and over.

PS: Are we ever going to get some sun? I'll take another picture when we do!!

Zippered bag

I found this tutorial for zippered bags - and thought I'd give it a try. Um, I can't seem to understand zippers. I tried to insert one before, and that was a REAL disaster. It was a couple years ago and I figured my sewing skills have grown some since then - well - this project took me down a couple pegs. Ha!

Something funny happened to the corner of this particular bag where the zipper is. It really wasn't a corner at all - thus, the tab. I'd love some advice on zippers - I will be trying it again soon. I'm hoping to corral all the stuff in my bag/purse and just grab whatever zippered bags I'll be needing.

PS: To Julie - If you're fusing your plastic bags and you see scorch marks on you parchment paper and holes are forming in the plastic and smoke/steam is billowing around you - your iron is set too hot!! tee hee

Papercut ornaments

I found the patterns for these here via MeggieCat. Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for being so generous!!! I made my mom six of them for Christmas. The first three took me 4 hours to cut and sew. But it was so worth it! I cut each one twice and stitched them together to make them 3-d. The directions say to cut each one once and bead it but I like the 3-d look. Now I just have to make some for myself!

Cut paper ornaments

I may have found the link for this papercut here. I'm not sure. I have spent hours - really hours and hours during football season- searching the web for free papercut patterns. I have a couple more links I will share as time goes by. I never thought I'd start a blog so I have to say I didn't keep track of where this or that pattern came from. Boy - do I regret that!! I've often wanted to go back and see if there were similar patterns and didn't because I didn't know where exactly to go! ha! That is a lesson!! Somehow I'll have to go back and figure it all out - I shudder. And to find the pictures of the ones I cut - more shuddering. My computer files are a mess. I thought they were in good order until I started trying to find stuff. Gonna have to fix that and find a tutorial on that now too - lol! Happy crafting!!!

Ironing pad success and failure

My old ironing board bit the dust. It was one of those table-top jobbies and since I NEVER have enough space (even when my crafting takes over the entire house) I put it on the floor to make room and I stepped on it. Yup - I'm not the feather I thought I was. Sigh. Soooo, when I saw this tutorial I knew this was the project for me!!! (Thank you Little Birdie Secrets!!!) First off I thought I'd make one for my friend. I really wanted one but knew that if I made one for me first I'd probably never make another. Does anyone enjoy doing the same project over and over again? Well, my friend's turned out awful!!!! The corners were all messed up and don't even get me started on packaged bias tape. Ugh - terrible stuff. Never, ever, EVER again!!! No pictures cause I gave it to her anyways - it still functions - and it will make her laugh every time she uses it. We all know I'm no where near perfect and that project just proved it. Ha! So to make this one I scrapped the bias tape - duh - and the tutorial says to use batting, but I had this foamy stuff that came with the shiny stuff packaged together that I pulled out of a dumpster. Yup - a dumpster. People throw away the craziest stuff!! WHY wouldn't you keep an ancient ironing board cover with the foam? Doesn't everyone have a "stash" of crap I mean stuff in their basements? I got the wild fabric for the front from my Grannie. I just love the colors and the pattern but I wouldn't want to wear them. Perfect for this project. The ironing pad works great! The best part is that you can customize it to any shape - mine is quite large. The one I made for my friend is pretty small - like 12"x12" so she can iron ribbon and such for scrapbooking.

Side note: Sorry my pictures are always so dark - but natural light in January? Not where I live. Ha!

Fused plastic bag

First I should start off by talking about the name of my blog. I had other names in mind when I decided to start a blog - but they were all taken. Bummer. So I got out my thesaurus and started typing in different names - uber crafter wasn't taken. Now an uber crafter is what I WANT to be - not necessarily what I am. I think an uber crafter can use what they have and make their world a little more beautiful and useful. I usually don't go out and purchase supplies to make what I want to make right away - I don't know if that is because I'm lazy or thrifty. lol. But I like to look around at what I have and try to "make it work". I love to take old worn-out things and rededicate them to a new purpose. In many of my sewing crafts I'm using old shirts because although there is a stain on the front the back is usually in really good condition. You'll see. I guess this is why fusible plastic bags caught my attention. I first read about them a couple months ago and got all excited and tried it. It didn't turn out all that well. My iron was too hot and I ended up with a hard, shriveled hunk of plastic. I should have saved it to scrape the ice off my windshield. Then Christmas came and I was busy making gifts and decided to try it again later. Lesson #1 - go about a new project slowly. Don't be impatient. I don't mean that you should poke around - but don't let your excitement get the best of you and remember that if it doesn't turn out try again later. I didn't want that bad experience to wreck a fun project. Sooooo, I decided to try again. My daughter carries her shoes to school every day in a plastic bag. I can't strive to be an uber crafter and let that happen!! The fusible plastic seemed to be the perfect choice. THIS time I got a different iron. Didn't turn the heat up so high (middle setting worked the best). Took a deep breath (before the melting plastic fumes could get to me), and got to it. (Really, I didn't even notice any fumes). I am pleased with the results. A couple of things to note: when you cut the plastic after it's been fused don't think you can get squared pieces. I know I cut straight - but they wiggle around a little and not everything was straight in the long run. Next time maybe I'll try to just cut off the jagged edges first - let it rest - then try to cut the squares. It sews like a dream - smoooooooth. I got distracted by an old "Eye of the Tiger" song/video on TV and accidentally cut my mitered corners on the wrong side of the seam - so the bag ended up smaller on the bottom than I would have liked, but if you put the shoes in just right it is a perfect fit!

Tutorial triumph!

Well - let's give this a go - this is my first post. With this blog I want to share my triumphs and failures while crafting. I'm always trying new things and this would also be a good place to put it down. This is harder than I thought!

First thing I want to record is this link. I tried to make this bag today (THANK YOU Tiny Happy for the wonderful tutorial - that was so generous to share!) , and I have to say it turned out pretty well. What would I do different to customize it to my lifestyle? Welllllll, next time I would make the shoulder strap a bit thinner and the bag a bit deeper. I would add more pockets to the inside and maybe one on the back of the outside. I would use a bigger button or a snap, or maybe Velcro. I would remember to clip the seams BEFORE I turned the bag right side out!! Ha!

I just looooove tutorials!!! It is so much fun to learn new things and stretch my boundaries! I'll try to include a picture - I'm not sure how all of this works! Happy crafting!!!