I picked up these for cheap at my favorite antique store to stack in my craft room. I am alway needing more bins to put my fabric and supplies in and know these will travel! My favorite part is the inside because you don’t expect this bright apple green lining.

I filled the smallest suitcase with my wool yarn. The second with scraps and smaller pieces of fabric. And the largest with fabric I know I have at least 1 yard. This helps to keep me organized and to know where to go when I am looking for a new idea, and easy to travel to another room to work. Plus I like buying something that is multi-purposed; if I get tired of them in my craft room I could always use them for luggage!

Tada! This is the beautiful serger that I got for Christmas! (Thanks family, I am finally using it!) It was intimidating to even get it out of the box but I am hoping that it will really make my sewing look more professional and many projects much quicker, so it’s plugged in now!

One of the first uses I had for it was hemming a pair of jeans. Apparently alterations are a dying art and everyone that enters my house and sees my machine ends up coming back with pants to shorten. I hate turning denim over twice and breaking multiple needles trying to get over the side seams, so I let the serger cut the fabric and edge the bottom of the jeans. Then I just had to turn them under once and sew the hem on my regular sewing machine. It went really quickly so bring them on friends, I’m equipped now!

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I haven’t shared my craft space before now because it was basically, well, the dining room table. We don’t have space for me to have my own studio but I have claimed a corner of our office as my own. This view is taken from my living room couch so you can see the need to keep it somewhat pleasing to the eye.

I love this desk that I got at my favorite antique store. The drawer has an organizer it it for my scissors, marking chalk, pins, measuring tape, etc. I got the baskets separately and usually keep my current project in them for easy access. A bright, adjustable lamp provides good, direct lighting over my work. I like too that if we want it to look like a desk I can just stash my sewing machine away.

The rolling cart next to it is where I have organized my mailing envelopes, tags, and stock for etsy or swaps. I have a bamboo magazine holder for craft books and patterns, and matching photo boxes for ribbon and notions. Somehow I manage to fit it all in and store stuff that I only need occasionally in the attic.

I love these cute little jars I got for cheap at IKEA to display all my colorful buttons. Seeing the colors makes me happy and the jar help to organize by color which is helpful for matching and very time saving! And I love the shelf above with drawers where I can just reach up and get often used tools.

So here’s the Oprah-with-her-makeup-off reality of what it looks like mid-project. But now that I have had it organized I am eager to get it back into shape!

See you can pack alot into a corner and make it work! The irony, now that I am organized, is that we are moving to another house this month where I will actually have a whole room for my crafting! I have so many ideas and can’t wait to show you when it is done!

Reporting directly from Santa’s workshop: It’s a mess. Do you craft on the floor? I often do. It tends to be the last available spot for me to spread out since most of my table tops are covered with last month’s homework and advertisements. Also, when you’re beading the beads won’t roll off the table. (duh )

Given the current state of affairs at my household, my extreme handmade gifting pledge (I will only give handmade presents made by myself) will probably only extend to the female members of the family. The nice thing about making the kind of jewelry I’m capable of putting together is that it only takes a very finite amount of time. After one hour I feel like I was creative and actually finished something. For inspiration, check out Beading Daily. For how-to’s I like Rachel Nelson-Smith’s site. After following her tutorial on how to form a basic loop, I finally got it!

So who will get these pretties?

I have never shared with you pictures of my “studio” because until recently I didn’t really have one. But recently I got a great desk from my favorite antique store to put in the corner off of our living room. A permanent, beautiful desk that doesn’t fold up to be put away! Now that I am all organized with my shelves of baskets and matching bins I really want to work to keep it an attractive corner of our house. But as much as I love my sewing machine I don’t want to look at it all the time. So I made this pattern for a sewing machine cover.

I made it reversible and heat bonded the two fabrics together so it would stand stiff. Then sewed bias tape around to edge it.
The reversed side:

The sides tie with ribbon.

It was fairly easy to make and I love to look over and see fabric that I like rather than just my machine. If you are interested you can buy my machine covers here.

This second cover is made with four panels to cover all sides of the machine and has a handy opening for the machine handle. It has pleated corners and a stripe of velvet trim. This is also available at my etsy store, and look for more colors. I was pleased with these covers which did not take much fabric, and make me smile when I walk by. Here you can get a slight glimpse of my new sewing table! The cover really finished it!

The embroidery school is post-poned until tomorrow, so if you’re following that, please check back tomorrow morning for Lesson 3.

My fellow knitters and crocheters – who has signed up for Ravelry?

I signed up months ago, and I just got my invite the other day And let me tell you, it was well worth the wait!

Check out the 27 screen shots they have for a sneak peek! Have you already submitted your email? They have a page where you can check and see where you are on the waiting list!

I am giving this site a huge two thumbs up! Its such a neat idea and so amazing – the inspiration on there is unbelievable! Its easy to get lost looking at everyone’s projects, and chatting on the different groups. If we get enough readers on the site, we could even start up our own Crafty Daisies group!

Oh, and my username is “heccles” if anyone wants to add me as a friend!!

Hope to see you around Ravelry!

Many of the organizational tools that I have keeping my craft space sane have been swiped from my husband’s woodshop. This first organizer is perfect for beads/headpins/clasps for jewelry beading. For only $10 from a home improvement store, it came full of bolts and screws, which my husband cleaned out, and left me plenty of space for my beads. It is great because each of the clear trays is divided for different size beads and comes out of the gray holder so I can pass them around the table and lay them out when friends are over making jewelry. As you can see at the top is a screw driver handle that comes out and the screw driver heads are in a pull out tray at the bottom. My favorite parts about this are that I can securely carry my beads wherever I go and it narrowly stores them on my shelf. I use it all the time!

Below are mini magnetic dishes, about 3″ across. My husband brought me home a box of 4 of these dishes from a tool store. They are wide which is great to toss my pins in as I sew without having to precisely stick them in a pin cushion. The black bottom is also magnetic so you can even hang it vertically from a metal cabinet. My favorite part about this is that since the bottom is magnetic if you drop pins on the floor you can just hold this wide magnet over it and gather them up. I hate picking up pins! (I hate nail maintenance more!)

I have toyed with the idea of making an animal or shaped stuffie to set the dish in for decoration, but haven’t yet. Any ideas?

P.S. Check out his shop while thinking about your craft organizational needs. I know my husband is proud when he sees me putting his ideas to good use.

I have a friend Amy who is a beading genius. I’m sure there is some official name for these people that make incredible creations by stringing beads together. I’m going to call her this for now. Here’s some of her stuff she was finishing up for the Cuirim Craft Fair. She’s a genius I’m telling you!

She spends hours on this stuff.

I swear there is a difference between “artists” like her & my friend Joanna and “crafters” like me and my girlz. I mean, Amy and Joanna actually feel their work. When they finish something it is like they have given a piece of their soul. Not me I just try it out and if it works I’m like, cool! Then I try something else. I love that there are different ways to craft. It’s not that I feel less than them or anything they are just a different breed. I’m just thrilled to see art like theirs. That they spend any time with “crafters” like us is just a gift.

I stenciled this then gave it to Amy. She spent hours beading it for me before we made it into a bag. Here’s the way the bag turned out. Sweet work Amy – thanks so much!! Brian and Kirsten are going to love it. We are going to give them this bag with the fat check we made from the Cuirim Craft Fair in it.

I have a new craft crush. It started with Heather Bailey, when her blog single-handedly changed my whole view on crafting. While I tried to remain faithful to her, another crafter caught my eye and I must share my love of her crafts with you all. If you’re not familiar with Manda of Tree Fall Design, you must go over to her blog now. WAIT! Not now, after you’re done here, okay?

She has the cutest toys for kids, but truth be told, they’re great for adults, too. I have been wanting a Scairdy Cat for awhile and when she put a new batch on her etsy shop, I gobbled up Red Astair.

Isnt he adorable? Love him! And for those who remember my sock puppy attempt, I decided to leave it to a professional and I also recieved Bewley, my very own sock pup (the one I wanted, but was already sold, so she made another at my request – how awesome is that?)

Love him, and best of all – he doesn’t shed. These goodies arrived Tuesday and I squealed with delight when the mailman pulled it out of his satchel. It’s one thing to admire someone’s work via the internet, but to actually be holding a finished product in your hands, and that is actually yours is really cool. And the quality is so good, I was really impressed. So go check out Manda’s blog and bookmark her – you’re not going to want to miss what else she’ll be cranking out.

Ok, I am so excited right now. I have been dying to tell you about Anna Maria for a long time! I am soo obsessed, addicted and crazy over her stuff. There are few blogs you really want to read every word and go back to posts and look at the pictures again and again. This blog is just like that. Watch out if you’re not careful you’ll spend hours there! I feel so privileged to tell you about this amazingly creative woman. When I get this excited I have trouble sharing my thoughts. My mind goes faster than my hands can type so bear with me here.

Thing is I totally want to be just like AM when I grow up. She has 5 kids and still finds time to craft! Be sure to take a look at her bio, for I am sure to leave something important out. Her daughter Juliana who just turned 15 is adorable. She helps her with all of her big craft projects. My favorite is the younger kids play room they designed together. I can’t wait to be able to do stuff like this with Lucy! So fun!

She is a fabric designer among other things. Take a look at her home studio. She has her own line right now called Bohemian. She just came out with a new line called Chocolate Lollipop, which will be out in April or May. I can’t wait to get my hands on it! Oh my gosh super cute!!

some of her fabulous pillows. (she has made so many her husband has threatened to put them in storage!)

Be sure to check out her great technique for making super circles. It’s so great I want to try it right now!
and a few more reasons why I love Anna Maria….