Craft Area Complete

Well I did it... I finished my basement craft area to the best of my ability. 

I say to the best of my ability because right now we are waiting until the spring to paint the basement... we are waiting for the shelving to arrive....

One day too we are going to remodel the basement and I will have an actual craft room but for now... 

I have the space at the bottom of the stairs!

HERE is the before post of the basement

Here too are the BEFORE pics

 

  

As you can see what I really needed to do is to declutter and so it began!

I got rid of mostly all the cardboard boxes and excess papers and things that just did not belong in the craft area

Most of this stuff was from the move in November and then the Holidays arrived and everything was just left there and dumped there and ... forget the excuses!

I then began to compartmentalize everything... stickers and papers and glue and scissors and floral supplies and stamps and punches... well you get the picture!

Everything got a label and a home!

AFTER

I have a beautiful vision for what my craft room will look like in the future... here is what is looks like now. 

It is functional... I know where everything is and it is all easy to put back 

If I have someone over to craft,  they know where things are too

It is easier to be creative when everything is organized... even if it is primitive and not pretty!

Here is the view from the stairs

(yep there is a spool of thread under the ladder)

I love my ladder shelf!

It is so versatile and holds a ton of stuff

Here is the ladder shelf and my cricut table!

The screen in the background is for holding wreaths ~ I still need to hang them!

Here are all of my gift bags hanging from the ceiling!

Much better view than all the clutter

See the cart... well that holds all the projects that I am in the process of completing as well as some gifts too! This cart is right next to my wrapping paper container and above this cart are the gift bags

Here are all the drawers that I keep sewing stuff and tags and paints

(would have been nice if I closed them... keepin it real)

The carpet is a MESS... it is from upstairs... we changed out the carpeting and I moved it to the basement... we are planning to paint the floor soon 

We were planning on tossing all the carpeting but by moving it to the basement I can be as messy as I want and know that when we do finally get rid of it I will know that I used and abused it!

The containers to the right are household stuff waiting for the shelves!

The stuff in the background needs to be organized too when the shelves FINALLY arrive!

All in all though I am thrilled with the space because now I can create and make a mess and when I am done I can clean it up because like a good preschool... everything has a place and is labeled!

LOL

Tool Box for Me

I was so tired of always looking for tools when I need them

Nothing major... just a hammer, nails, screwdrivers, a level, basic stuff

So for Christmas I asked Santa for my very own toolbox

Santa and my mom brought me this

Really nice craftsman soft tool bag!!

And some of these wonderful goodies!!

And because my hubby has lots of extra tools that I organized before our move

 46 screw drivers ~ 4 hammers ~ goggles ~ masks~ and so much more... 

I will be adding to this bag very soon!

 

Tell me do you have a tool box?

Craft Area BEFORE

Okay... here is FULL DISCLOSURE

I am lucky... our basement is very large with high ceilings.
When we purchased our home I knew just where I would craft... in the basement.

Eventually we would like to make a living room down there but there is a lot to do before that will happen.  For now... I will craft in the basement.

I have a New Year goal of creating a space in the basement to craft... but my secret goal is to have it COMPLETED by 2/27

So now I reveal the BEFORE... I held nothing back... this is the actual untouched space that will be my craft area...

These are the organizers that I am going to use to store most of the bigger stuff

Some already have things in them BUT will need to be gone though and labeled

This is my ladder shelf that will hold all the scrapbook papers and buttons and stickers and other fun stuff

This is a crazy pile of junk and good stuff that needs to be organized

Oh and you can see our new light fixture box for our yard that we got for Christmas from my inlaws

Here is a wonderful pic of the 1973 green walls and stunning curtains too

This is a rather large space 

We are painting the walls and the floor in the spring 

Hubby will have the back wall work section and work bench

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I am excited to organize this space... I love to create and need a space to do it

Stuff still needs to be unpacked and put in its proper space and I cannot wait to fully use it!

Quick & Almost FREE Favor

I am linking up with A Soft Palace To Land
for DIY Day
 If you have never been to this blog... do yourself a favor and go... quickly to visit it is awesome 
~Just click anywhere on the words above to be taken to ASPTL~
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I have a need to give out favors at all gatherings at my home

Not sure why or where this even comes from but come to my home and you will never leave empty handed!

In keeping with the fun candy theme of my living room decor I decided to make candy holders that look like candy

I was in the middle of tossing out 2 used paper towel rolls when it hit me.. not the towels, the idea to cut each one in half and then each half in half (am I confusing or what)

I then gathered up the following

Some reeces mini cups

Some red paper fill

Some tissue paper

Some curly ribbon

8 white address labels

This project required NO glue or tape... wahooo!

So taking the roll I filled it with some red filler and 3 reeces

I then laid out the tissue paper  and rolled it around the candy filled roll

I then twisted the ends and tied them with ribbon

I then took the address label and cut it longways in 5 strips and put them around the roll ~ off center!

I think they turned out cute and I know that my guests for Christmas Eve will love them!

 

For the Uncles...

WELCOME

I am linking up with

COTTAGE INSTINCTS

&

BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH

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For this quick easy and inexpensive gift

Thanks again ladies for being such gracious hostess!

Every year for about 10 ~ I give my Uncles (4 of them) my snack mix in a container as a small gift to let them know I

remember them at Christmas

This year, I came across really nice mugs for 1.99 each

I got out my handy dandy cricut and cut out each of their initials from vinyl

I then cut out the negative space from the initial and filled in the letter with ARMOUR etch (My BFF) :)

Here is what the mug looks like after waiting 10 minutes and then washing the etching off

So then I bagged up my snack mix and added it to the mug

with some ribbon and a gift tag

This is much better than just an ordinary bag and probably as much $ wise

Gift tag is from Dollar General... they are so cute and are 1.00 for 10 of them!

So that is all there is to it

Some of them enjoy beer and some of them enjoy coffee and I hope all of them enjoy the mug!

Thanks so much for visiting

Merry Christmas

Come back again to nmyfreetime.blogspot.com

Excited ... for tea!

I have an awesome weekend before me and I am so excited!

Last night we had friends over for pizza to see our new house

My friends daughter whom I love so much said the house was COZY ~ that was from a 9 year old and that is exactly what I was going for when I set out to make our home!

Today I am preparing for my Christmas Tea which I am hosting on Monday for the women in my life that I love so much!

It is called O Christmas Tea ~ We are Irish by lineage and I love tea so this was just a perfect theme

Most of the ladies I invited are off from work on Monday ( including me ) which is a story for another day

I am trying hard to keep the tea traditional

We have a local tea place that I would have loved to take the ladies to but the cost really is prohibitive at this time for me plus I LOVE to host and I think it is more fun at home!

I  made little tea favors ~ which include the poem

On Christmas Eve at Half past three 

Pour yourself a cup of tea

I'll think of you and you think of me 

Sitting beside the Christmas tree

(this is not my poem ~ I got it years ago on a card)

I made each lady a little box with a tea bag in it and will attach the poem

I just took a tea bag and covered it in plaid scrapbook paper

Added some filler to a dollar tree box and tied it all up with a velvet ribbon

I love PLAID if you can't tell!

Here is the Menu

~Traditional Tea~
 ~Assorted Flavored Tea~
~Cranberry Punch~

~Scones~ 
clotted cream, lemon curd, black currant jam, whipped butter

~Asparagus Cream Soup~

~Tea Sandwiches~
Walnut Chicken Salad on White
RGJ’s  Tuna on Rye
Cucumber & Lemon pepper on Pumpernickel
Egg Salad on Wheat

~Assorted Desserts

I will have recipes soon...

The ladies were all told to wear their blingiest Christmas sweater LOL

I cannot wait to take a picture

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Oh and tonight we are headed to a Christmas Party... I am looking forward to it!

MELT away the stress...

This is a BLAST from the PAST
I am linking up with






I thought you all... especially in the East would enjoy my ice melt container...





With all the house buying nonsense going on

I needed to start and complete a project or I think I would go insane

I had this can for quite a while now and could not decide what to do with it!

It is a HUGE Biscotti  can with a rope handle and a lid!

I knew I wanted to store stuff in it and what better to store but ICE MELT for the patio (soon to be)

So I sanded the can lightly as you can see and then I began spray painting it. 

I thought about removing the handle and then decided that it was super sturdy and why risk a catastrophe by changing it.

I painted the rope along with the can.. while it was still attached of course

 

The paint I used was SILVER ALUMINUM from Walmart

I was going to use another color but then did an enie meni minie moe and this is the color that was chosen

PLUS... 

it reminds me of ICE and the can is for ICE MELT... 

Get it?? LOL

Here is the can all shiny and new

The rope did not turn out too bad either 

Thing is I can see every imperfection in the can now... like the places it was SLIGHTLY dented (I could not even see them before) and the places where I was too heavy on the sanding... 

Oh well it is not like it wont get even worse over the winter

CHARACTER is what I like to call it

So I used my handy dandy Cricut to cut out the letters

M E L T

And here is the can... the bad picture taking skills are included free of charge

 

Oh by the way I think I paid 50 cents for the can!

I think it is CUTE!

Makeover and Decluttering

Here is the FINISHED breadbox... FINALLY I bought it for 1.00 at the thrift shop and finished it last week... I am using it for stuff that just does not have a home... until I can find a home Here is the link for the original post when I bought the box

Being that I am going to be off from work soon, I decided to start cleaning out my stash of stuff by decluttering my craft room. A lot of the stuff I declutter will be going into my Etsy shop with any proceeds going toward the adoption of our baby I have a lot of vintage stuff (pottery, jewelry) and some crafts and supplies that I so need to declutter. I need to make room because I want to devote some time this fall to creating what I love... whimsical wreaths, arrangements and ornaments. I need to have the room cleaned out in the next 10 days... YIKES! I am done working on August 1 I want to begin creating my loves then... I have a test for a new job in September Hubs told me to wait on applying until we go on vacation for our anniversary 9/17 Unless something comes up of course! So for a little while I will be jobless... which is fine by me... because I have a ton to do!