Compulsive Craftiness

Moving

I don't have a lot of details to share yet here, and will wait to say much until papers have all been signed. But my week has taken quite a turn. Rather than keeping the house all pretty and ready to show, I've packed everything up inside of a big storage pod. I'm down to boxing up all the things that used to be inside the furniture, cabinets, and garage. Emptying out a place that I've spent a lot of time filling up is strange. It's exciting, tiring, and going to totally be worth it. So I'm still waiting for our new life in our new house to begin, but it's feeling a lot more real now that my current house is looking less and less like home. … [Continue reading...]

Filed Under: Life

May 17, 2013 By sarah Leave a Comment

Pretending to Repaint the New Bathroom

Well, I discovered something else to occupy my time while waiting to actually occupy the new house - virtually remodeling it in Photoshop. It's a pretty rough fix-up, but I can already imagine this bathroom becoming a much more sophisticated space for the price of some paint, primer, and a few boards around the mirror. … [Continue reading...]

Filed Under: Decor

May 14, 2013 By sarah Leave a Comment

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

I have no idea who sings that song that I quoted in the title above, or even what decade it's from (though I'm guessing 80s). But it's been in my head all.the.time. lately because that's basically the thought that's constantly running through my head. Occasionally a bit of wisdom from John Lennon will break in, and the stereo in my brain starts playing "life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Seriously. I'm not kidding. My life is like a movie, with its own very repetitive soundtrack. Some moments I wish I could just go to sleep like the villagers at the end of Sleeping Beauty while the magic fairies figure everything out. Wake me up when it's over. Most of the time I walk around with butterflies in my stomach. In case you didn't read my last post, I should explain what it is I'm waiting for. We have a contract on a new house, and our house is for sale. Yep, we are soon going to own two houses at the same time. The new one should be ours very soon, but … [Continue reading...]

Filed Under: Life

May 14, 2013 By sarah 2 Comments

A Pending Move

All has been quiet on this blog for much too long. But after 8+ years of living in this house, I was finally done decorating. Ha, who am I kidding? I'd love to add subway tile to the kitchen, frame out the second bathroom's mirror, add shelves to the kids' rooms, etc. All of that costs money, though, and a few months ago we set our sights on finally selling this house and saving our money to move to one with more space. I just didn't think that we would be making an offer on a house so soon. But when I started doing the math, I realized that any money I save in the next year could easily be wiped out by a one point increase in interest rates. Have you guys checked out the difference in payment at 3.5% vs. 4.5%? Or better still, vs. the 5.875% we got when we bought this house years ago? Buying right now is allowing us to save so much money in interest that our new, bigger house will cost almost the same amount in payments as this house did in 2005. Crazy! So, we changed our plans of … [Continue reading...]

Filed Under: Decor, Life

May 7, 2013 By sarah Leave a Comment

The Happiest People

My husband, Matthew Wilson, has a Society6 shop where he sells lots of great art. I love this quote! It's for sale in a variety of sizes, starting at $20. Click the print to visit the shop. … [Continue reading...]

Filed Under: Typography

February 24, 2013 By sarah 2 Comments

Simplify

Life has gotten too busy lately, and too unnecessarily complicated. I took some time off of the Internet this weekend, and I just got back on. I've cancelled Instagram and Facebook, realizing that this new world of social sharing can get obsessive for no real reason. I have found myself telling my kids that they need less screen time, whle obsessively checking my iPhone. Time to set a better example. In a brief fit of wanting to become Amish or something, I considered closing this litle blog. I'm still here, but this morning I spent some time simplifying the look of everything. No more bright colors or bold fonts. I may add some more style to it later, but for now I just wanted it to be basic. No trips to Goodwill to dump stuff off are necessary when you clean up a blog. Ha. I've made plenty of trips there lately, and not the shopping sort. Spring is in the air in fits and starts here lately. I think it's inspired me. It's a sort of seasonal, non-pregnant nesting. Hope you all are … [Continue reading...]

Filed Under: Life

February 20, 2013 By sarah 1 Comment

Office Cubicle Makeover

Of all the cubicles I've been decorating, this one is my favorite. Green has long been my favorite color, but orange has taken over my home and my be my actual favorite. So I think that combining the two is just perfect. Here's a quick and dirty mockup of what I thought it might all look like: And here are the before and after photos. After I snapped these photos over the weekend, I finished one last project: It's a pin board that leans against the wall behind her desk. I wrapped fabric around a ceiling tile, and finished it off with upholstery tacks. … [Continue reading...]

Filed Under: Decor

February 15, 2013 By sarah 1 Comment

Printable Valentines

Matthew and I were up making valentines for Taylor's first grade class until 11:30 last night. Before he began helping me, I was about ready to curl up in bed and cry and sleep. I was exhausted, and my original plan of using the Silhouette Cameo to cut out 25 cute little heart boxes had failed. My mat just wasn't sticky enough, and the paper kept shifting and completely messing up the cuts. Since I had cut, folded, and stuffed 15 of them with candy by that point, having to quit and come up with a completely different valentine design was super discouraging. Luckily, I had just finished doodling and coloring a little Valentine for Matthew in my sketchbook. Matthew digitized it for me really quickly, so I could print it out on the black and white laser printer. We cut them all out, and I glued them to small kraft paper cards. Then I decided to cut them out completely. Since we don't have a working color printer, we colored each one in with markers. It was a slow process, but I … [Continue reading...]

Filed Under: Crafts, Free Downloads, Seasonal, Typography, Valentine's Day

February 14, 2013 By sarah 2 Comments

Finished Waiting Area!

I know at first glance, you might think I already shared this room. But I didn't share the real thing - only a super realistic Photoshop mockup. I'm kind of wishing I hadn't done that now, because it's really the same thing, only in real life. Which proves I have crazy awesome Photoshop skills, huh? Let's review, since I'm excited that it's done and want to talk all about it. So forget that I told you some of this already, ok? When I started designing spaces in the office building, it was all just white walls and concrete floors. This waiting area was just a little space inside the front doors, which I didn't even notice was big enough to be a "room" until the owner pointed it out. The makeover was really a basic design, I realize. Symmetrical, and without many accessories, unlike some of the other spaces in the office. The frames are filled with scrapbook paper, most of which was designed by my husband who works there. Have I mentioned that this office is for a … [Continue reading...]

Filed Under: Decor

February 13, 2013 By sarah Leave a Comment

Monster Valentines with Silhouette Cameo

Jacob and I have been hard at work today making Valentines for his class party next week. It seemed like a perfect occasion to use the new Silhouette Cameo. Gotta get my money's worth! I downloaded this file, which is on sale for 75 cents for their Valentine's Day sale. I shrunk them down a bit from the size in the file to reduce paper waste and fit four on a 12x12 sheet. I'm still a very new user of the Silhouette, and I've yet to get very good at setting it up right the first time. The paper settings they have never cut right for me, and I end up having to increase the blade number and slow it down. Also, my blade is dull, I think, and my mat has lost its stickiness. Ha! I'll need to solve both of those problems before I finish them all, but these four are done so I thought I'd share. I'm thinking I'll tape a lollipop on the backs, so that it looks like the monster is holding it. Jacob's class is a good starting point, since he only has 8 classmates. Taylor's … [Continue reading...]

Filed Under: Crafts, Seasonal, Valentine's Day

February 7, 2013 By sarah 2 Comments