Craft Room Transformation (Part 2)

Happy Sunday! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. I've been sick for several days but have been fighting it off. Today it has me whipped. So I am in bed. I thought I would share this quick post with you today.

Remember this pic I showed you in Part 1?

One of the things I love about woodworking (there are MANY)... is that I can use my love for woodworking to help make useful organizing tools for my craft room. See the cut little pink shelf that I have my glitter glue and inks on? Guess who made that? Yep... I did! This was a quite simple project. Took no time at all. Used scrap wood and I have found it very useful.

I have these little baskets that I've been using and they sit in one of the shelves on my cubes. As you can see, they aren't very effective. And since they sit in a cubby hold I never can see what I have.

Another issue with storing them in this basket is... out of sight, out of mind. I'm one of those that forgets what all I have. And I commonly forget about these guys. 

It was quite simple to make. I measured the height of the items that I wanted to store and the number of shelves and that gave me my dimensions. I had scraps of 1x2's so I just used what I had on hand. I LOVE creating things without having to go buy materials. 

I added a little glue to each end, clamped them together and then used a nail gun to secure them. There's not a lot of weight on this shelf so this is more than sufficient. 

As far as the finish... this poor guy actually seen many stages. This part of the process took more time than anything. I stained it and decided that I didn't want that. Then I thought I'd do that distressed look. So I painted it black and then pink over that and hand sanded the edges and a few other spots. It turned out kinda cool actually. Made it look aged. But it wasn't the look I was looking for either. So in the end I just added another coat of pink paint. I love this color and you will be seeing it again and again as I make more pieces. Only thing I don't like about it is that it is a gloss finish. I prefer satin. But they didn't have this color in satin. 

I can't wait to share more with you as I complete my craft room. I recently decided to make a big change from what I have now. So I am excited to get those changes made and share them with you. 

Thanks for stopping by. As always I appreciate your feedback and comments. Would love to hear from you about storage solutions you have come up with. 

New Halloween Sign with this weeks Free Images

So… I've finally got my computer set up and my Expression 2 up to date and working. It's so nice to have it connected to a computer again. I am so totally lost without Cricut Craft Room. I love that program so much.

So here is this weeks project I made using the Free Images. I'd like to try and make a new project every week with the Free Cuts. It's really a nice program that Cricut offers and lets you try out cartridges without having to buy them.

I took this little frame that I got from Goodwill for $1 to make a cute little Halloween frame. I took the glass out because I couldn't get a decent pic without all the glare. And again… still using my phone camera. It's hard to get really good pics.

This weeks Free Images are from the cartridge Classroom: October & November. I was so surprised that when I did a google search and a search on Pinterest and even on Cricuts projects page that there really weren't any projects. I need to find out how to do a link party going so that I can see what everyone else can do with this free cut.

Click on the first image to take you to the Free Images page and click on the second pic to take you to this cartridges Digital Handbook. I will try to find out tonight how to do the link party. Maybe we can see some of your  projects.

I created this project in Cricut Craft Room but it would be very simple to do straight from your Cricut. My frame is 8x10. One tip I'll give is that I used the ghosts from the Project tab and cut them apart for the Happy Halloween title. This way I could make them a separate color.

Can't wait to make my next project. May be making some more signs. Not sure yet. What would you guys like to see?

I've had fun the last two days making these projects. So glad to have my room set up! :)

Are there any Imagine users out there?

Just a quick post today. While getting my new craft room sorted I paused for a while last night to do some quick projects. I also had some company over and I was showing them Cricut Craft Room and how it worked. I noticed something odd. While I haven't hooked my Imagine up and updated it yet I noticed some cartridges that weren't familiar to me in my "My Cartridges" filter. I thought it was interesting and noticed another but figured they were part of the free images of the week.

So today… I get on and I do more of a search. There are SEVENTEEN cartridges in "My Cartridges" that I've never linked. What's up with that? Where did they come from? I wondered if they were free because they've discontinued it but not all the cartridges are there. Does anyone have any info about this?

Oh… and here are the signs I made last night. Bad lighting. Used my phone. But I love how they turned out. Will be doing a tutorial on them soon.

I just love how these guys turned out.

Please let me know if you have any info on those cartridges. I LOVE some of them. A few are ones I would  have loved to have bought. If they are a limited time I want to get some things made. :)

Have a great day!

My Cricut Closet Craft Room Transformation! (Part 1)

Hello crafters! I am so very excited today to be sharing with you. When I started this blog I was in a small room… lets face it… a closet. Hence… the name. And trust me, I couldn't  have been more excited about that closet. It was MY space. And in a home that (at the time) had seven children and two adults anyone having their own space was rare. But over time the space became very cramped. And then the heating/cooling didn't quite work. So sometimes it was just too hot or too cold to work in there. So I spent less and less time in there. But… now things are different.

So here's a little throwback to those days.

 Yep…that was it. I wish I  had some pics of what it turned into next. I can't seem to find any.
But so many things have changed since then. And my crafting, as well as my life, has taken new directions. I won't bore you with the details of how life has changed but I will say that there are now three children and one adult living in this house. And just his past summer my oldest son graduated and moved out. So… his room was up for grabs. My two youngest boys had shared a room for a long time and when given the options… they chose to stay together. (very strange. I'm still not sure how that worked out). So there has been a big shuffling of rooms. My daughter was no longer sharing the largest room in the house with her step sisters and there was my oldest sons room up for grabs.

Ooohhhhhh….. now I remember how we got to the point! This four bedroom house has only ONE bathroom. It's insane, I know! There is a house that we visited that is the exact same house. In their house, there is a bathroom where My Cricut Closet was. I told the boys they had a choice… they could move into their sisters old room (the largest room in the house, and it's upstairs) or they could each have their own room. There was only one catch… if they moved into their sisters old room we would make my craft room into a second bath. They jumped at the idea. So in the end they traded rooms with their sister and my oldest sons room would get made into my craft room. The original intention was also to leave a bed in their so my son could have a place to sleep when he visits. However… I don't see that happening. LOL!

I had several different ideas in my head as we attempted the move. First… we got everything out and put into the  new room. I just stacked as much stuff as I could in the corner. I have lots of plastics totes, drawers and bins. LOL

Deciding how to set it up was going to be hard for me. I had been so used to a very small space that I had too much room to work with. LOL… have you ever heard a crafter say that? I doubt it. Trust me… I don't have too much room. I could use a lot more. 

So I focused on where to put my desk. I picked up the nice huge corner desk/table from BigLots. It had a chip somewhere (I can't honestly tell you where) and it was the last one. It is massively heave and I got it for $17 and change. Crazy huh! It works perfectly for my Cricuts. It's very deep. So I as you can see I can put my Cricut in the corner and while you may think that's wasted space behind it, there's just enough room for the 12x12 mat to do it's thing. When I use my 12x24 mat I just pull it out. Makes it so much easier. 

I also have about 11 of those storage cubes from Hobby Lobby. I had bought them while they were on sale 50% off. The first six I actually got even cheaper because I had a 25% off your entire purchase including sale items. Then I added the others as I could. I'd still like to have lots more. But I'm thinking I will be making those. (More on that later!)

Originally I thought about making a sort of "wall" out of them and this is where I put them. But I quickly changed my mind.

I have the basic layout done right now. Now I have to get everything organized and in it's place. Remember how I said that my crafting has taken a new direction? I still do, and always will LOVE my Cricut machines. I couldn't imagine not having them. But I've also added a a new sort of "crafting". I have also been doing woodworking for the last year or two. It's amazing! I love it. And I also love how I can incorporate my love of my Cricut with my crafting. I used my Cricut to make these signs. I blogged about it a while back. 

I used vinyl on all of these. Some I put the vinyl directly to the wood and others I used the negative as a stencil and painted them. I really love mixing my woodworking with my Cricuts. 

And those are some of the frames I made. The first ones I ever made. I kinda like them just sitting there like that with no glass or anything.

                   

So this is Part 1 in this series. As I spend my time in here organizing my plan is to make this room very user friendly so I can find what I need and when I need it and to make it easy to have guests over to play in my room with me. :)

Here's a small sneak peak of what it looks like so far. This is just a glimpse. More of a tease. LOL

It's not exactly the greatest picture. But I took it last night with my phone. Gotta get my good Canon serviced and a new charger for it. But for now…. here is my workspace. You'll notice I have a favorite color. Can you guess what it is? LOL. 

This is also a good example of what I mean when I love how my two crafts, woodworking and paper crafting, are coming together nicely. The shelf you see in the background with the glitter glues and ink on it is a shelf I made specifically for those. I'm  not sure that's where it will stay but its there for now. Also in front of it you see a shiny pink stand. Made this stand as well for my iPhone to sit on. I also plan on making one for my iPad. 

I've got so many ideas rattling around in my head. So many things that I'd like to make. Both on my Cricut and in my wood show for storage. I can't wait to share them with you as I go along. 

Please post any comments, suggestions or ideas. I'd love to hear from you. 

And yes… this means I will be able to make Cricut Craft Room videos VERY soon! 

I have also joined Bloglovin. I'm still very new to it so bare with me. 

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Another reason to love Cricut Explore!

I'm already in love with the Cricut Explore and I don't even have one yet. Every time I look more into the Explore I want it even more. Cricut and Provo Craft have really outdone themselves on this. And no... I don't get anything for saying that (I wish I did though LOL).

So as I'm looking into the Explore I found that they have the Make It Now app for the iPad released.

Image from Cricut.com

Click on the pic above to read more about it. I've downloaded the app on my iPad and I'm loving it. I can see that this will be a very useful app when I get my Explore. You can browse all the Make It Now projects that Cricut Design Space offers including the FREE projects. It shows you what files you need and allows you to purchase them from the app. You can also connect to your Explore wirelessly and and cut straight from the app. And I LOVE that it shows you your mats and will allow you to move the cuts around on your mat so that you can cut just where you want... exclude cuts you don't want... change your material size... and select a mirror image if you are doing an iron on. It has the project to allow you to cut, draw or score.

Well... I'm off to play around with Cricut Design Space. I'm gearing up to make some videos. I'm hoping to get my Explore in the next few weeks. I can't wait. 

What do you think about the new Cricut Explore?

So... the new Cricut has been out for a while now. I'd love to hear from those that have the machine. I remember thinking that I wouldn't need the Expression when it first came out. Then I didn't need the E2 when it came out... and of course...It took me forever to finally get the Imagine thinking... I didn't need it.

So of course... when I saw the Cricut Explore I figured I wouldn't need it either. But after checking it out... I'm LOVING the Cricut Design Space... therefore I HAVE to have the Explore. The software looks so easy to use and has soooo many more uses than Cricut Craft Room. Don't get me wrong. I love CCR. It's been great. I'm just looking at CDS and it looks amazing.

I'd love to hear more from any of you that have the Explore. Also... if you have any experience with Cricut Design Space I'd like to hear some feedback from that.

If you haven't checked out the Explore or Cricut Design Space... GO NOW!!! I think you will love it. 

Can't wait to hear from you. I will be providing a YouTube video for CDS soon. 

More Signs With Cricut and Vinyl

Lately I've been using my Cricut Expression 2 and Cricut Craft Room to make custom signs and frames. Here is a collection of just a few that I've made. 

I've used a couple different methods to make my creations. The large "Welcome" frame is a 10x20 frame that I upcycled. It was a frame I picked up free that was getting thrown out. I simply painted it black and took everything out but the glass. I used Cricut Craft Room to create it and cut it out in black vinyl. Using the transfer paper made placement on the glass much easier. 

For most of the signs I simply used the same method above. But on the small black signs I tried something different. I used the vinyl to cut out the words. Then I used the negative from that on boards as a stencil and painted them using craft paint.

Watch for a video tutorial on how to do this technique to make your own signs. And if you are lucky enough to have the new Cricut Explore... the font options are ENDLESS. I can't wait to get mine!!!

Until next time... Happy Crafting!