New Toy, New Space

These last couple of weeks have treated this little munchkin well. I have finally scored my own little laptop to have a bit of fun with (and work, but we all know that comes after play for those creative ones out there) Only problem with new toys is they don't seem to have all the programs that you become comfortable with.....hence i have not been able to upload my new photos as the SD card reader is NOT reading the photos that I need to upload :(

I have finally taken photos of my wonderful craft space....the girls and myself call it the Craft Cave as it is so much more creative than 'the back shed' and we have to walk down cute little winding stairs to get to it and it feels like your walking to another little universe down there in amongst the flowers.

The Craft Cave has one of those amazing vibes that oozes relax, you seem to forget that it's used to be our workshed where welding and mess prevailed. The walls are fully lined and I share it with a pool table which now has a 'girly' cover on it to fit in with my colour scheme but I have found that the pool table is ideal for cutting material on and working on large projects without laying it them on the floor. The old sofas have been revamped with aqua and coffee coloured throws and pillows and my children love to sit in there doing their homework or little craft projects.

I've invested in some cute cubicle style shelving - enough to have all my craft items in a systematic order that enables me to actually put my hands on anything that i need within seconds, which has been delightful over the last couple of days.

I have also placed an old flannel back tablecloth hung up over one of the garage doors (good disguise technique) which is now my quilt design board and I'm in love! At the moment I have an art deco design up, it's been there for nearly a week and hasn't fallen off yet - over this time frame I have been able to calmly sew it together in the afternoons with my children crafting around me without the fear of losing the design or having little feet walking over it or needing a super clean floor to work from - it's been rather refreshing and I don't have to pack it up.

The other little bonus of working within a previous workshop is that my darling husband being an electrician he has installed quite a few 15A hanging powerpoints so even with my table being placed in the middle of the room I have a powerpoint hanging directly over where my sewing machine sits - and this makes this little munchkin feel like she's finally found her happy place - this shed was meant for a craft room :)

When I went through our house finding all my craft hidey holes (I had craft projects in every corner of the house) I discovered lots of little bits and pieces of craft items for the kids and was a bit iffy about having these 'tacky' items in my space - but we discovered a gorgeous old cane basket that fitted all the little fluffy baubles, plastic string, paddle pops, glitter, stitching activities and the odd french knitting tool....the girls know that they are allowed to access anything in the basket on the provision that they pack it up afterwards and it is so exciting for them to have their own little special basket that they leave mum's goodies for mum :D

Will post photos as soon as I can get them uploaded to my computer.

A DAY OF SEWING & INSPIRATION

Today I had the pleasure of a full day patchworking course learning to sew curves using the drunkards path template. It was at a beautiful quilting shop that is run from a residence that has been turned into a B&B quilting retreat so just being within the grounds was peaceful enough let alone in a room full of people happy to be there. I've chosen material in my favourite colours though the normal colour tones were floral I have used teal, coffee and chocolate tones with geometric patterns so when i started playing around with patterns it's looking very art deco. Will post photos soon.

I've also been inspired to take over the back shed and create my own design craft area within the large shed. It's already been lined but just has the pool table in and some old sofa's so I have thrown a couple of throw rugs and cushions around to revamp and brighten the place and will start to but some shelving in soon so that all my craft stuff can be stored there. The clever part will be creating a 'wall' of shelving (cheap white shelving from discount shop that I'm in love with for it's clean lines and affordable price) that will hide basic household storage behind it.

In the meantime we have had our first successful market with another one coming up the end of this month I have my hands full.