Craft Closet & DIY Ribbon Storage

July 23, 2014 | Bliss, DIYs

I recently shared my workspace and gallery wall in my office. In that same room I also have this… Oooohh…doors. I’m sure you’re seriously impressed by now. These are the key to having any sort of order with two boys running around because behind those double doors is…

A new car! No wait…even better…my art supplies!

See the need for doors? They’re the only thing keeping this room from complete and utter chaos. It’s like a Pandora’s box to have this open when the boys are around, they can’t wait to get their hands on every single button and marker in there.

And truth be told sometimes I make a huge mess and I want to be able to shove it all in the closet and pretend it never happened.

While it might not be a Martha Stewart Craft room, it works for me. When we moved I collected every plastic storage drawer we had and figured out how to make them all fit. The labels are chalkboard vinyl which is great because as I move things around it’s easy to relabel.

The one part of this whole situation that wasn’t working was my dowel rod ribbon storage. It kept getting knocked down and I hated having to take all the spools off to get to one in the middle.

Yeah… Pinterest totally lied to me on this one.

So I headed to Micheal’s because surely they would have an overpriced solution to my problem. But all they had was a dowel rod type holder…boo! As I wandered thru the store I had a revelation. All the spools for sale were on cardboard shelves so I decided to make some of my own (forgetting of course that I had a pin in my wrist and a brace to my elbow).

Here’s how I did it…

Supplies needed:
Exacto knife
Foam core
Ruler
Craft Glue
Command strips (optional)

These are the pieces I cut:

1 – Back (16×20)
4 – Shelves (16×5… since mine were 5 inches deep)
4 – Shelf fronts (16.25×1…wider to account for the width of the foam core)
2 – Sides (I made my shelf edges angled)

I just built it to fill the space I had and to fit the spools I had… so adjust your measurement as needed. Then just cut and glue together…and that’s it.

Kind of minimal instructions here but I assumed anyone who is reading this and has a need for ribbon storage probably can handle that part. Everyone else, I’m sure you ended up here accidentally while looking for videos of kittens…let me direct you here.

I just used command strips to hang it (although it’s going in the craft closet with everything else).

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Office: Gallery Wall - Creative Inspiration

DIY Watercolor Quote Art

July 15, 2014 | Decor, DIYs

So last week I shared my office gallery wall. One of the pieces I created was a printed quote over a watercolor I did. I love the contrast between the printed typography and the fluidity of the paint.

Here’s how to make your own!

Supplies needed:
- Watercolors or Acrylic paint
- White duck cloth or thin canvas (I used duck cloth because I used it for several other projects)
- Freezer paper
- Inkjet printer

I started by lightly wetting my entire piece of fabric (make sure to put something down to protect your workspace from water and paint bleed-thru). I began painting with my lightest color and basically just did brush strokes as if I were trying to clean it.

TIP: A little paint goes a LONG way if you’re using acrylics so start light.

There’s no wrong way to do this…it’s just art, not brain surgery.

I tend to create 2 or 3 pieces at a time and then pick the one I like the best and toss any I don’t like.

After your paint dries iron your fabric flat (on the non-painted side). Then cut freezer paper to the size you want your final piece.

As long as you can run it thru your printer you can make it any size (most likely anything smaller than 8.5×11).

Iron the freezer paper to the back of your fabric (shiny side down), then trim off the excess fabric.

Now you’re ready to print!

Just lay out your artwork (or download mine below) and set your page size to match your fabric size. Then load your fabric and print it!

The first time I did this I 100% assumed it would be a total fail and my printer would jam but this actually DOES work. Proof:

And that’s it.

Want to download the quote and print for yourself?

Download Quote Art

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Office: Gallery Wall – Creative Inspiration

July 7, 2014 | Bliss, Decor

When we moved into our new house we I immediately claimed the room with the largest window and most sunlight for my office. Since I freelance I need a space to actually work but I also use it as my craft space.

Above my workspace I created a gallery wall. It’s been a long time coming since I started my office makeover…then we moved and I had to start all over in a new space.

But here is where I do most of my work:

The entire space isn’t totally finished since my non-essential projects are at a stand-still for now and my other desk has become a temporary first-aid station.

Obviously I started writing this months ago since my calendar still said May…it currently says June so I’m going to assume I took this midway thru last month. The calendar is from Sugar Paper.

Creative Workspace

I feel like it’s constantly changing as I find new things to frame.

I made this gold 3D heart with my Silhouette Cameo and the pattern that can be found here. After just looking at that page I want to make a whole bunch more of them because they’re so adorable. I love framing things without glass and having them come out into the space. Eventually I’d like to make my feather artwork something more dimensional.

Office Gallery Wall, DIY Painting

I love the Coco & Hearts paintings by Jen Ramos but they’re always sold out so I made my own inspired-by brush-stroke painting. I actually make about 4 and then just framed the one I liked best.

The ampersand art was inspired by Two Twenty One’s Glitter State (although I just used my cutter to cut it out of glitter paper).

The quote is a good reminder especially to me since I always tend to take on too much.

The herringbone art was just a fun painting I created to take a break from working on the computer.

The top print says “I never met a color I didn’t love” and can be purchased from etsy seller Pencil Shavings Studio (I made mine).

Office Gallery Wall, DIY Painting

This was a mixed media piece I created to remind myself to take creative risks.

My gold dog tape dispenser stands guard near my polka dot pencil cup.

My DIY Bulletin board and my degree (which I just framed…10 years after receiving it) hang to the left of my workspace.

Creative Workspace

So that’s one wall of the office, maybe I’ll put all the junk I moved off my desk back and photograph the rest eventually…when it’s clean…my husband just laughed.