Finally being creative

Tonight I actually got to be creative. I've been wanting to make some Valentines Day decorations for a few weeks now, so I took the opportunity tonight since I'm done (at least for now) making curtains. I've got a few more ideas for a little more in the decor department, so hopefully I'll be able to work on that too. Although I have to say I'm dying to scrap as well, so we'll see what I get done.

These are really simple to make, I just used Stampin' Up!'s Love Impressions paper along with our red glitter paper, some real red, pink pirouette, and basic gray card stock. Then I used our large heart punch, the 1 inch circle punch and the 3/4 inch circle punch. Pop-up glue dots are great to use on the wooden dowels because you can wrap them around the top if you want to make the flowers look good on both sides (this time I didn't bother since I figure no one but my family will see it from the back side). I always make that deal with my kids that they are allowed to eat the candy after if they leave it alone for my decoration. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. But this time the kids were laughing at me because I had filled the vases with the candy days in advance and then was eating it myself because I love Gobstoppers. I guess that will teach me to put candy that I like in my decorations. I even had to go back to the store and get some more bags to fulfill my candy craving.

No time for stamping

It's a fine line when you're renting about how much money to spend on furnishing/decorating a house, and it really doesn't help when the landlord provides only some of the window coverings. My thoughts on moving in were that the windows that weren't covered (the kitchen, dining room, and some family room windows) were not going to be a big deal and that they could wait awhile. Well, after living in the house a week, I discovered that I was incredibly uncomfortable with the lack of privacy (as you're approaching the house on the street coming to the street I live on, you could see right into my dining room). I wanted to make sure that whatever we did wasn't permanent and didn't cost too much, so curtains were a must. However, and my husband will laugh at me, I always like things to look nice. After perusing the selection at stores that I like, I was pretty disappointed in the selection, but after a trip to the fabric store, some ideas began to take shape. I will be the first to admit that my sewing skills are lacking. I bought a sewing machine for the purpose of stitching on my cards and scrapbook pages, but I did take a few beginner lessons a couple years ago. So, with much trepidation, I decided to bite the bullet and make my own curtains. Here is a week's worth of work: 

Here is a close up of the fabric I chose for the kitchen area:

There are two steel doors in the kitchen area, so I made these door panels and added some magnetic rods for easy placement. Unfortunately, the dog keeps messing with them, so I'm not so sure about them for now:

My kitchen window is curved at the top, and I didn't want to use a rod outside the window frame because then the curtains would be making their way into the sink. So for now I've got them mounted inside the frame and I will be adding a custom cornice or valance to cover up the arched portion of the window. As pretty as the curved windows look, they're not great when you need to cover them. I also enjoy the view out this window, so I used some Stampin' Up! ribbon to tie them up most of the time.

I found this fabric in the fabric store and fell in love with it. I knew it would look great in my dining room where I needed some more curtains, so I began making these. Hopefully I'll be able to finish them off in the next week or two:

 

I'm also hoping to get some time to stamp soon as I'm really missing it, but I keep underestimating how much work the house needs to be finished. At this point, my dining room table and one of my kitchen counters is covered in tools because we keep needing to hang things. So my project for the next couple days is to complete everything that requires tools so I can reclaim my dining room and kitchen. Then maybe I can stamp. :D

Getting back to normal

Today marks two weeks in our new house, and I think we've accomplished quite a bit in that time. I don't have everything settled the way I would like, and I am beginning to despise needing something for a project only to find that it's missing or in a box that has yet to be unpacked. Most rooms are unpacked and somewhat organized, but the best part is that today was my first full day of having my craft room up and running. So of course I decided to craft today instead of working on the house:

I'm so happy to be back at it and in such a wonderful space. I hope to be able to hold smaller classes in my craft room which will mean a lot less running up and down the stairs for me (and if you've ever come to one of my classes, you can attest to how scatterbrained I am). With all the bad stuff going on right now for me, it's really nice to have this refuge where I can relax and recuperate--it definitely helps with keeping the sanity I have left.