Inspiration Board

By Kaelyn Angelfoot

Okay, again with the long delays between posts. The truth is, I still haven't quite recovered from my "I hate my job" crafting slump. Also, a lot of my crafting time has been spent (a) cleaning my house for the holidays (b) repairing our driveway, or (c) research! on crafty things.

Inspiration/Design board! (Not mine)

I have a million ideas and finally decided to make an inspiration board so that I don't forget any of them. First things first: supplies..... dum da dum dum!

Did some homework and found out that a lot of inspiration boards are made from cork boards. I didn't want to spend the money and lets be honest, we probably have enough junk around here that I shouldn't need to. When I went downstairs looking for foam board (we have at least a dozen sheets somewhere) I found ceiling tiles leftover from when Cynar graciously repaired our basement bathroom ceiling. Score!

Step 1: Cut to the correct size. I had one piece that was about a third of a tile and two full tiles. I cut one of the full tiles in half.
 
Step 2: Fabric. My sewing room is purple (its always a contest between purple and red for which color I like more but red makes a lousy craft room color as the pale version is pink. I don't particularly like pink.) So, I collected all my leftover purple fabric "scraps." Picked a piece and cut to size, leaving 3-4 extra inches on all sides.

Step 3: Put a thin layer of spray adhesive on the front of the ceiling tile. It just has to hold the fabric smooth while you staple, so it doesn't need to be gorilla glue grade.

Step 4: Iron fabric if necessary and lay over the board. Smooth out! Flip the board over carefully, fold the fabric over the edge and start stapling in place. I did one side at a time and checked to make sure the fabric was smooth before moving to the next.

I made three panels with three different fabrics. It looked a little bland when I was done, so I added some lavender lace (I have no idea where this lace came from. It just appeared in my stash one day.) And voila, a three panel inspiration board. I hung them up with 3M velcro sticky-tab thingies, but I'm not sure they will hold due to the fabric on the back. I also separated them slightly to achieve a modern art look, again, not sure I'll leave it like this. I think they may look better all squished together.

The center panel is covered with a crushed panne velvet in purple, the two outer panels are different shades of purple sateen leftover from the wedding fabrics. All for a cost of one hour of time and zero dollars.I may eventually want to add some sort of border to each panel, to give it a more finished look.

I plan on acquiring another desk for my computer at some point and putting it underneath my inspiration board. This is kitty-corner from my sewing table, so we'll have to see how things work out. I have a large closet right in the center of the back wall of my room, making furniture arrangements ... complicated.

Linking with Homemaker's Challenge DIY Accomplished!

A Mess and a Half

By Kaelyn Angelfoot

Things always get worse before they get better (although this implies a perpetual cycle of worsening) and nothing more aptly describes that than my craft room. I barely have time to sew, let alone clean, but this weekend I reached a new low in messiness. It required immediate intervention before I could work on anything.

So as you can see, total chaos! Creative chaos, but at some point, entropy must be reversed through intelligent intervention.

First up was my thread box, which has been a perpetual nightmare. I purchased a spool holder at JoAnns. I got the large one that holds forty spools of thread because there is no way I have more than forty spools of thread.

Thread box before....

Thread box after!

Much to my surprise, it turns out I have at least 45 spools, but some of those are quilting spools so they have their own home.

Then I tackled a drawer on my tall storage unit.

Contents before...

Contents after! I can actually find my trim and buttons now.

Next I moved my big table to the other end of the room, added risers to my desk, and created a wonderful counter-height L-shaped crafty space that can hold both my sewing machine... and my design/cutting table! So I don't have to get up and walk over to the other end of the room every time I sew a seam.

And lastly, thanks to Jack who glued my foam quilting table together, I covered the foam with the vinyl and now I can quilt! 

Completed quilting table

The room still need major work, but its cleaned up enough that I can craft again! More updates to follow.