DIY pom pom project

Last week I shared that I had pom poms on the brain so I decided to do a little project with them this weekend.  I design hats for a living so I have a ton of them laying around.  I cut pom poms off of hats that couldn't really be given away because they had already been cut up or damaged.  Then I figured out the length that I wanted my garland to be and cut my yarn.  I used a big plastic needle (the kind you use to finish a knitting project) to string the pom poms onto my length of yarn.  I also made sure to tie a knot on either end of each pom pom to keep it in place.  This was an extremely simple project and literally took me ten minutes from start to finish.

The next time I do a project like this I would love to make my own pom poms so I can pick the colors and have a uniform size, but I really like the random nature of size and color on this one.  It works well in my overly colorful studio.

I hope you all had a great weekend!
-Kira

My Studio

I've decided to start calling my craft room my "studio."  I want it to be a place where I can do design work from home as well as craft and sewing projects.  It was just way too chaotic for me to design in there before.  I'm guessing some of you probably think it still looks too busy, but it's organized chaos now so it's much better for me.

 I wasn't planning on putting things on the walls until we painted it, got rid of the popcorn ceiling, and switched out the flooring.  I also hope to eventually have cabinet doors over the storage space on the wall.  All of those updates probably won't happen for a couple of years as it is pretty low on the remodel priority list so I finally decided to put some things on the walls.

I received a lot of fun artwork for Christmas.  All of it came from etsy sellers.  From top left: 1. Doily Clock by and furthermore 2. Bits and Pieces Print by Alice B. Gardens Photography 3. Otter print by Berkley Illustration. I actually bought this one myself at Crafty Wonderland.  4. Vintage Wooden Spools Print by HeyZee 5. My DIY cow.

The opposite wall was blank as well, but I ran out of artwork to hang.  The other day I tacked up a piece of scrap fabric to photograph for my paper crown project.  I actually really liked how it looked so I decided to keep it there and add other scrap fabrics to the mix.

This table is still a little cluttered for me to draw at, but I will fix that.  It is where I plan to do design work when I need to get out of the office.  It's not great looking, but it's a folding table so if I need extra floor space or if I have a hard time getting to some of my books I can easily take it down.

I just took a photo of this because I think it's so cute.  When we bought our house there was a random mini shopping cart in the backyard.  I decided to use it to store my felt.

I love productive weekends.
-Kira

There is a cow on my wall

This weekend I finally did the craft project involving my little Value Village cow friend.  Here is how it turned out...

My plan was to just spray paint him and be done with it. The original surface was really glossy so I sanded it beforehand, but I still couldn't get the paint to stick well in certain areas.  It chipped off really easily so I knew I needed to try something different.  I sanded over the paint so that only the areas that were sticking well stayed.  Then I cut out small pieces of scrap fabric and lace and decoupaged them on my cow.  I made sure to cover the areas where the paint didn't stick well during my process.  I think it turned out even crazier than I imagined, but I like it that way.

I also put artwork on the walls in my studio (finally), cleaned the room, and organized my mess.  I will show you photos of the room later this week!

-Kira

P.S. This project is posted on the Project ReStyle flickr group.  There are a lot of interesting projects documented there.  You should check it out!

Sewing room decor ideas

My mom asked me to give her Christmas gift ideas.  I have been wanting to get artwork for the walls in my sewing room to brighten it up a bit since the walls are so neutral.  I also love that it's my own room so I can decorate it however I want.  I don't have to make sure Jeremy likes it first.  So yeah, I'm picking pretty girly stuff.  These are some items on the list (all from etsy):

1. Raccoon Print by Berkley Illustration 2. Bits and Pieces Print by Alice B. Gardens Photography 3. Girly Twitters - Reusable Fabric Wall Decals by Mae 4. Doily Clock by and furthermore 5. Vintage Wooden Spools Print by HeyZee
 I would be pretty excited if I ended up with any of these.
-Kira

*See my update post with a few of these items now on the wall!

A Girly Evening

Tonight Jeremy had his friend Tyler over to play old school Nintendo video games.  I headed into the sewing room.  I listened to Damien Rice, watched past episodes of Glee on Hulu and worked on a new project.  I am working on headbands for the Girl's Night Out Event which is in Bremerton, WA (near Seattle) and is a fundraiser for cancer research.  I was inspired by all of the bright pink I saw while doing the Race for the Cure over the weekend.  There was pink everywhere!  It is so inspiring to see all of the cancer survivors out there in their pink shirts during the event.  I don't generally make or wear pink things, but it was a lot of fun working on this project.

 Thank you to my sister Kara for thinking of involving me in this event even if I'm too far away to actually attend.  I hope it goes great!
 Oh, and to get back to the video games for a second, Jeremy couldn't be more excited about the new version of NBA Jam coming out.  To be perfectly honest, I'm pretty excited too.  I think we might have a little party after we buy it.  Let me know if you want to come play!
-Kira

Sewing Room Update

Hi friends,
 As you have probably been told we are doing updates to the house one room at a time.  Eventually we will get to every room, but that will be years down the road.  One of the rooms that is really low on the priority list is the sewing room.  It has basically been a storage room with my sewing machine sitting on a folding table in the corner.  It has been so cluttered that I have to stretch and step over things to even get to the sewing machine.  Yesterday while Jeremy was buying a desk at Ikea I decided to finally get a chair to sit in while I sew.  The folding chair was not very comfortable.  That gave me the motivation to clean the room.  It took a couple of hours.  This afternoon we stopped at a garage sale some friends of ours were having and I picked up a cute old desk.  I now feel like this is a room I could actually work in.  Someday the popcorn ceilings will be gone and the walls will be painted, but for now I'm feeling pretty good about this room.

 I didn't take a picture of the opposite corner of the room which has my bookshelf organized with sewing books and my old textbooks.  I can actually get to them now which is pretty great!
 Before you ask, I did not make the skirt in the picture.  I bought it from Tulle a few months back when they were having a huge sale, but it doesn't fit me.  This was my way of justifying keeping it.  It fits my dress form really well.
I hope you are all having a great holiday weekend.  I have been getting so much accomplished!
-Kira

Craft Room

My craft room has officially moved. I decided to have it in the main part of the house because the old room needed a a closet ripped out, a window put in, and smelled of cigarette smoke. I wanted a room I could put together right away. So, I moved everything over to the new room and set the room up so that I can use it now. I want to paint it in the next couple of weeks, but I have not decided on a color yet. Jeremy wants to use the Devine palette again this time so I am trying to pick from that. I may stray though because I think I want something bright and fun and after looking I'm not so sure they offer what I want. I still have no idea exactly what that is though.

I took pictures to show the progress, but realized when I set down to upload them tonight that my camera cord is at work. I will get them on here eventually. In the meantime here are some photos of what I would like to add to the room:

Sweet bird and birdcage decals. There are multiple different etsy shops that sell the same thing, but the cheapest one I have found is in Tel Aviv. Even with shipping they are $10 cheaper than the other options. I can't order from anyone yet though because I haven't figured out color. I hate the look of conventional office chairs, but I don't want to just get a wood or plastic chair to sit at my sewing table because I want something comfortable. I found the top chair at Ikea, the print is maybe a bit too busy for me, but I like the idea of it.Something I really, really want is a cutting table. All of the industrial options are really spendy and the fold up ones are just flimsy and not level. I was thinking the best option would be to find an old drafting table. It would be nice to have one that tilts up to use when doing sketches from home. I also like the look of it. I will just end up with whatever table that is big enough and cheap though. Plus, I still want to cover it in cork and I don't think I could bear to do that to something this beautiful.

Anyway, that is where I am right now with the sewing/craft room. I'm going to go eat some cookies & cream ice cream and watch Coraline.

Kira

Ideas running through my head!

We spent a lot of time at the new house this weekend cleaning things up. I can't wait until we can actually sign some papers so we can get in there! Jeremy has so many projects that he wants to tackle and of course he wants to do them in order of importance. The first projects will be the master bathroom and bedroom. We looked at tiles yesterday to get some ideas for the bathroom and I think I have the perfect color decided upon for our bedroom. We spent some time yesterday messing around on the Sherwin Williams website picking colors. They have a really fun program that helps you visualize what they will look like in your room. You should play around with it, it's so fun!

The room I can't stop thinking about is my CRAFT ROOM! I'm so excited to have a place for all of my sewing and art supplies. This room isn't even on the radar in terms of Jeremy's list, but I'm hoping he will just let me do my own thing with it. I want to paint the walls in a fun color that we would never do in any other part of the house, make crazy floral curtains, and put some super cute decals on the walls. I want to buy an old giant table that I can paint and cover the top in cork. And I want to be able to organize all of my things out in the open so I can see what I have!

I also want to start planning a house warming party, but I feel like maybe we should sign some papers first.