PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Apple Blossoms on Memorial Day, originally uploaded by St Paul Paul.

Memorial Weekend is more than just camping and BBQs. This is such a beautiful photo I wanted to share it with everyone in remembrance of what this weekend is all about.

CRAFT FAIR TABLE

This is some of the great stuff I've picked up for my craft fair table so far. Almost all of the second hand items you see I've picked up for under $50! I will mix in a few more things from around the house and I should have a beautiful, coordinated booth of products.

I picked up some antique drawers, baskets, silver trays, glass bowls and an old Samsonite piece of luggage to display everything in. I found a cute (and fairly comfy) compact chair; a mirror for customers to try on jewelry; and a chalkboard for $2 to make a welcome sign. I also picked up a blue glass vase for $1 and a few dried flowers for display. With all the beautiful fabric I will make a table cloth and a fabric banner with my shop name on it. I'm using the extra scraps of fabric to make other projects such as the gift tags I posted Wednesday. I'm very excited this is all coming together!

CRAFT PROJECT UPDATE: Paper Goods

I haven't written much on the blog this week because I've been super busy crafting with paper. It started last weekend when I wanted to make product tags for my craft fair out of some old paper grocery bags I had. That turned into making gift tags with the extra bags, some cereal boxes I was going to recycle and fabric scraps from another project. Then I picked up an old world atlas at the thrift store thinking I could make something fun. I used the atlas along with some old scrapbook paper to make confetti and note cards. Then I used the remainder of the atlas maps to make bottle cap magnets and paper balls that I will sting to make garland. Its been a productive week. Once I figure out packaging and pricing I'll have some of this stuff up on Etsy soon.

Oh yeah, I also saved all the left over scraps from cutting out the world atlas and if I get really motivated I might make recycled paper out of it so I can do it all over again!

ECO FRIENDLY STORAGE PROJECTS

Business Card Mint Container

Better Homes & Gardens

Metal Grates Wall Storage

Apartment Therapy

Egg Crate Sewing Storage
Country Living

Picture Frame Shelving
Country Living

Cookie Sheet Memo Board
Better Homes & Gardens

Tin Can Organizers
Better Homes & Gardens

Mason Jar Organizers
Anamama’s on Flicker

Vintage Suitcase Storage
Moje Zielone Wzgorze on Flicker

FLICKR WORKROOM SHOWCASE

Uploaded on July 12, 2009 by Art·Craft·Thrift

I wanted to share this one last workroom with everyone because she has some beautiful collections. We’ve seen a lot of colorful spaces this week and I love color but I really enjoy the neutral pallet in this particular space as it shows off the collections and her work. This photo comes from Jessica on Flickr and you can see more of her space at Art.Craft.Trift.

FLICKR WORKROOM SHOWCASE

Creative Nap-spot, originally uploaded by annamariahorner.

This is another fun, colorful sewing room that I just had to share. Anne Marie Horner is a quilter and her space definitely reflects her work. Although it’s still bold this color pallet is a lot softer than the one we saw from Jenny B. You can see more fun details and her beautiful fabric collections on Flickr by clicking the photo above.

MY WORKSPACE . . . IN PROGRESS

As I mentioned earlier this week, I haven’t actually worked much in my office since moving here because it’s a small space, usually cluttered with projects, and I haven’t felt overly inspired to be in there. So, I’ve been slowly fixing it up. I have a new color pallet in mind and an overall look I want to achieve down the road. Right now we are renting since we recently relocated half way across the country so I share our office with my boyfriend and the cat. Eventually I imagine having a whole room of crafting heaven to myself when we buy a house down the road. For now I am enjoying the challenge of making the small space work.

My workspace is filled with thrift store finds, found objects and collections including the organizer display below for $0.25. I believe it is intended for bathroom hand towels but it works great for organizing my ribbon and jewelry wire. All of my furniture was second hand including my desk, chair and old rickety storage cabinet my mom gave me years ago. I also have collections of Eiffel towers given to me from my family, old keys, vintage buttons and more.

I have a very neutral, mix-matched pallet in my space right now and I am trying to brighten up with some color. Eventually when I have my own room I would like to paint the walls aqua blue with black and antique white as neutrals, touches of chartreuse green and pops of red. You can see swatches of the new colors on my bulletin board below. I love this color pallet because it’s very modern and feminine at the same time. It will also look great with the mix of vintage pieces I have and the modern black frames of our family portrait wall. So with all that in mind I’ve been collecting a few new things here and there including new fabric to update my bulletin board, a WWII reproduction print ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ from sfgirlbybay on Etsy, and some new storage pieces.

The other half of our shared office is taken up by an Ikea corner desk and three large shelves displaying all our beautiful books. My boyfriend is a writer and I have a fond love for interior design, architecture, travel and feng shui books. I also have a hundred magazines from Dwell, Vogue, Home & Garden, Domino, etc. that I can’t bear to throw out. In addition to displaying our books the shelves give me a means to show off my collection of found objects and treasured gifts.

As I make progress I will post photos of my new space. For now you can see more pictures and read more details about my workroom and treasures at Flickr.