Friday, February 17, 2012

Finally.....the long awaited reveal....

....of my new craft room. When we first purchased this home, I couldn't decide exactly where I wanted my craft room to be....at first, it was in the 4th bedroom upstairs, but I realized I would hardly ever use it, being that far away from everything that goes on downstairs....and I didn't use it once! Soooo.....I decided that if I was ever going to scrapbook again, it needed to be moved downstairs & that's exactly what I did. I moved it into the room that we never really figured out what it's supposed to be.....a formal dining room? A formal living room? I guess it could be either, but since we're not 'formal' people, it became my craft room :) And I just love the fact that it has 2 doors in which to enter it through....one near the front entryway of the home (seen below with the glass door) and one off of the kitchen. It's so nice to be able to close the doors so you can't see the mess & the dogs can't go in there & get dog hair all over the place!
The entrance.
My antique window that I altered to look like a scrapbook page....I have this hanging on the wall in between the entrance to my craft room & the front door.
Welcome to my craft room :) This is what you see when you first enter the room.
Right as you enter the room, I have an Expedit bookcase laying on it's side underneath the one window which holds my stereo, my antique typewriter & lots of other decorations. I purchased the draperies from Target about a year ago.
In the corner, between the 2 windows (one thing I LOVE about this room....it gets LOTS of natural light!) I have a black storage cabinet that I picked up at a thrift store really cheap ($15.00) that was handmade along with some Michaels storage cubes & some boxes that I got at Hobby Lobby a while back. The pictures on the walls are mostly of my sister, Karen. The Spider Plant is no longer in this room....it was just there temporarily until I could figure out where to put it.
In front of the second window is a desk that belongs to Jim.....it was a gift from his Mom back in high school. Originally, it was unfinished pine, but this past summer, I finally got around to painting it. I really like how it turned out & it's actually getting used now (instead of sitting in the garage collecting dust!). I'm still debating whether or not I want to change out the handles on it.
These are the shelves above my main work desk area which hold all my jars of Prima flowers, some baskets with stamps, etc., some antiques & my homemade clip-it-up hangs underneath the bottom shelf. Eventually, I will be adding shelves to the side wall as well as a tv somewhere.
This is the wall in between the 2 doorways where I have 2 Expedit bookcases....a 8 cube one (like in the other picture) standing vertically as well as a 16 cube one.
The 16 cube Expedit holds all of my albums along with some magazine holders, jars & nick-nacks. The baskets in the bottom row hold lace, loose ribbons, etc.
The 8 cube Expedit stores all of my 12X12 papers, both pattern & cardstock, in Cropper Hopper paper holders that I have turned on their backs. I didn't want to cut the tops off of them & actually like it this way better because I can access the paper easily....you don't have to pull the paper holders out since the paper faces outwards.
Above my Expedits is my Mom's memorial board that I made for her funeral & framed into 3 frames. I had the hardest time trying to decide exactly where I wanted to hang this when we bought this house, but then when I put my craft room together, I knew it had to go in here & it fits perfectly above the bookcases! My Mom has always been my inspiration to scrapbook & although I did take about a 2 year break from it when she passed away, I am finally getting back into it & enjoying it, once again.

Well, there you have it....my new space. If you have any questions, I'll gladly answer them. Thanks for taking a tour of my new room & have a great day :)

Benita

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Love Day

Today is Valentine's Day....a day for lovers, aka another reason to go broke buying overpriced flowers that die within a few days; another reason to gain weight getting chocolates from your sweetie.....I think you get the idea. I told my hubby a month ago that I didn't want chocolates or flowers for those very reasons & this time, he actually listened :) He got me the most romantic card (sorry, but I'm not sharing what he wrote inside ;) ), along with a 'blooming' paper flower and these:
(He went to Jared, lol)
2 new charms for my Pandora bracelet....the newest Breast Cancer one & a heart cut-out one. Can I just say that....I LOVE THEM BOTH!!! He really hit the nail on the head this time :) Although I think our sales lady at Jared probably helped him out in picking them, lol. Either way, it doesn't matter.....I'm so blessed & lucky to have the best Valentine in the world.....my husband of 22+ years, whom I love with all my heart & soul! Today, we are going to see a matinee movie & then go out to dinner afterwards & then.....who knows ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!
Benita

P.S. I honestly do have plans to start updating my blog more often.....I just started working on my version of Project Life about 2 weeks ago, so I need to take pictures & post them. Hope my faithful blog readers haven't given up on me :)