Project: Handmade Storage

I started a great project today that covers everything you could ask for in a project.  It's fun, when you are done you have some great storage and your child can help!  You start with cardboard boxes.  If you have a few the same size you can recycle (bonus!).  I do not have two or more of anything in my house- well anything not wearable at least, so I had to work with purchased ones.  I used 12'' square packing boxes from Walmart at $0.64 a piece.  Not too shabby!  I wavered on making a stack of three or a side by side of four.  When we got into it though, my daughter was insistent on what she thought the finished project should be.  She had her hopes set on something shiny, pink, and covered in glitter.  That really didn't fit my color scheme ( I know, I'm so lame!), so I decided to go for one unit for each of us. 

We started out with the boxes and assembled them.  I started with duct tape, but quickly switched to packing tape because it just holds better.

Once Each box was made I put one on top of the other to check for placement.  I moved them around until I was comfortable with the look.  Next I put a fair amount of glue on the top (i.e. one outer side) of the box. Once the other box (without glue)  is put on top the basic shelf unit is done.  The glued surfaces together create the middle shelf.

After the top box is out on, I used packing tape to reinforce each side and the shelf.  You want to put these on in strips vertically.  If you put them across horizontally and cover the whole seam with tape you will have problems with the glue and fabric later.  The glue won't really stick to the tape.  This isn't a problem if there is
enough fabric around the tape for the glue to hold. In order to figure out how much fabric you will need you can lay the shelves on the fabric as you would to wrap a present.  Pull the fabric up and leave at least two inches of over hang to the inside.  I folded the fabric in half both ways and marked a pencil point in the middle to help me find the center.  You can move the fabric a fair amount, but it's nice to have a general idea.

 

After measuring the fabric, flip the shelves upside down so the backs of both were up and ready for glue.  I did this project on a tile floor for easy cleanup.  I would not suggest doing it on a rug.  You will most likely have some contact with a sticky fabric surface so choose wisely!  If you don't have tile a large garbage bag will work too!

Pull the fabric across the back to pull out any wrinkle.  Do each long side in the same manner, by turning the side up t the top.  Always rub the fabric and pull the fabric from the glued surface out toward the non glued side.  When you get ready to do the top and bottom, cut the short side so that it overhangs by a couple of inches.  Use the fabric fro the long back side to create the top.  Glue down the side fabric pieces, then spread glue on the fabric flaps and the rest of the top.

Stay tuned!!  This post was so huge I'm going to post the insides and final products this weekend!!

World Wednesday: Survive and Thrive In the Heat

I have been spending a fair amount of time outside lately and loving just about every minute of it.  There are plenty of people who complain in the summer when it's hot and wish away for Fall.  I used to be one too. In Virginia , summers are mighty.  The heat is so different than desert heat.  I've spent time in the desert in the summer.  I will grant it feels like stepping onto the door of an open oven.  The heat is dry though, and as your sweat instantly evaporates it feels cooling.  Here, the damp heat feels more like rolling around in a boiling pot, it enters every pore.  I just soak it up now though, storing it away to remember on those winter days when Mother Nature is recuperating and the bleak sky has only pale rays to give.  My mind was changed by my husband's business.  He is a landscaper.  You just can't look someone in the eye and complain about your hot day spent playing with your child outside for an hour or two when that person has spent the day performing grueling labor in worse conditions!  The year he began I stopped being so negative about the heat.  I gotta say it's been great.  I look around more now, focusing on the jungle that is Virginia in the summer.  The woods are a beautiful combination of dark browns and vibrant greens against intense blue backgrounds.  Flowers grow everywhere, twisting themselves into and around every single inch of ground and fence, and pushing up toward the sun.  I want to be a vessel, maybe one of those ancient olive oil jars, just filling myself with all of the energy and joy I feel vibrating around me whenever I'm outside.   

Monday's Work Out

In my work life I have been plotting, planning, and prioritizing this week.  I have so many different directions I feel strongly about.  Between sewing, crochet and jewelry, my head is a little spinny.  I'm trying to come up with a way to choose projects for the long term, but it's difficult!  I'm the type of person who enjoys working on five projects each day and accomplishing a little at each.  This is fun, but not always effective!  I'll figure it out hopefully!!  I'm newly inspired by one of Amy Butler's books.  I love her color combinations and the sense of joy in each of her pieces.  I'm devouring the book after receiving it one day ago and it's already affecting my future plans.  What now? Hats? Slip covers? Pillows?  No, no, I promise no more pillows!  You already have to excavate the couch just for a comfy place to sit.  Ugh!  But the joys of fabric are calling!!

Solar Energy

Usually on Fridays I have been doing a project tip or idea for something I think you would love to try.  Today is a little different.  I had a strange day.  For some reason I still can't put my finger on it just did not go smoothly.  The past several days have gone well enough.  When I wake up in the morning, I usually have a sense of direction for my day, what I want to accomplish, things to do with my daughter, places to go, or at least just a vague concept of how the day will flow.  Today I had no direction.  So many things are piled on my mind right now that it seems my brain decided to give up today.  Instead of prioritizing I shut down, jettisoning everything in favor of a vague feeling of discontent that only grew as the day wore on.  I got snappy.  I kept asking myself, "Why am I acting this way?"  Apparently I wasn't on speaking terms with myself today either so I'm still not sure what was going on.  Finally, in the afternoon, I turned to my girl and asked her if she wanted to go outside.  It had stopped raining and the sun shone, okay, blasted down.  I noticed the outdoors had the same effect on me it does every time, but I seem to forget it every time.  Solar energy isn't just an awesome solution for our vehicles and machines!  The sun pushed its way into every pore of  me, filling me with the energy and hope I had been missing all day.  Looking at the flowers brought a smile and a realization that everything is fine and will always be fine.  Mother Nature is a lovely reminder every time I choose to go out.  I came back in a hotter, happier person. 

Wednesday World View: Blackberries

The joys of blackberries!!  This is the only blackberry I have any contact with, and I think it would be fine with me if it stayed that way!  The last time I went in to replace my phone it was becuase it had slipped out of my pocket and into a toilet.  I didn't know how to rescue phones yet.  After my phone was soaked by ocean water last fall I put it in a bag of rice for 24 hours and it recovered fully.  Truly!  It was a little clickety for a couple more days but the function continued to improve until it was completely back.  So, when I went in to get that later-to-be-ocean-fodder phone, the clerk took one look at the old phone and said, "I take it you don't need much from your phone?"  Yeah.  No I don't!  I don't yet own anything that flips open or has a screen I can touch.  I like things a little less overwhelming.  I might convert someday... Right now I'm enjoying touching everything in the garden instead.  The blackberries are coming in, the string beans are lovely and the cosmos are in full swing.  My little one loves to pick seeds from the cosmos and the morning glories (as if they need help! :-P ), and then sprinkle them all around.  It's truly wonderful to be a part of the cycle of life.

Red Flower Power

New shirt I will list tomorrow.  I'm starting a new adventure on Etsy.  Hopefully all will go well!  I also have several crochet projects in the mix.  I'll keep you posted and I hope you had a great hliday weekend!  I've been booted off the internet seven times thanks to the storms providing their own fireworks here!  Here's hoping this makes it!

Friday's Tip: Yard Sale Pillow Case Magic

There are two plain and simple facts about me.  Okay- many truths could be told, but for today's blog there are two crucial facts.  I love, love, LOVE a bargain and I truly, deeply fear fabric commitment.  Because of the first fact I am pulled into some wonderful yard sales, and I slowly drive by some others.  I went to a fall festival/fundraiser last year at a local church.  There were about fifteen booths of folks just selling their home treasures.  One lovely woman had been renovating her house and was selling all sorts of Ralph Lauren and Laura Ashley things.  I bought an awesome tablecloth for a quarter, a shower curtain for a dollar (which was quickly stolen by my daughter for her playhouse and has never seen the light of a bathroom.  Oh well!  I also bought a few pillow cases from her.  I think they were a quarter each.  Normally I skip on pillow cases because of the ewww factor of having something someone else has slept, and possibly drooled on.  Sorry for that image!!  I couldn't pass up these designer ones which had been in a guest room and just looked new.  I brought them home and washed them in hot water three times.  Maybe excessive, but now I felt comfortable and drool free!  In walks our second fact: my fear of fabric commitment.  As a result I have done nothing with these cases for months.  I just can't commit to a project when a week later I might want something else!  The solution: just fold it baby!  I had a boring brown couch pillow just asking to be covered.  I put the pillow down into the bottom of the the case as far as it would go.  Then I wrapped one side of the left over case over the top and down between the pillow and the case on the other side.  I used a flat hand to to even out the excess, now inside against the pillow.  Then I pulled the outside layer of case fabric until I had an even flat line at the top.  That easy!  The fabric stays put really well and It looks great!  Now, if and when I want to commit to something else, I can just take it off.  Looks great and it was truly cheap and easy to do!