Organizing Update + Drawing Challenge

Hi, folks!  You may remember last week's post about my plan to get organized.  Well, week one went pretty well.  I did some journaling and gave myself some "me" time and generally accomplished most of my goals for the week.  The only thing I didn't manage was finding time to exercise.  My plan was to get up early and go for a walk, but I was feeling a bit under the weather most of the week (thanks, weather) so that didn't happen.  But I'm not giving up!  I'm going to keep working on it.

This week is all about organizing my schedule.  I've been sort of organized in this area for a while, so it's nice to  get down to it and really get a handle on things.  I've started one big To Do list of everything I need to do, and I have to say, it felt great to put all of that down on paper and get it out of my head.  If I'd known just writing things down would make me feel that much better, I'd have done it a long time ago.

Now, then.  In other, more creative news, I've taken on another challenge.  I came across this 30 Day Drawing Challenge a few months ago, and with all the business of the end of the year out of the way, I decided to give it a shot.

I always loved drawing, but I never felt like I was very good at it, so I got discouraged rather easily.  Eventually it got to the point where I rarely even attempted it.  Lately, however, I've been meaning to pick it up again and try to just enjoy the process without worrying too much about whether or not my drawings were any good.  So the challenge was the perfect thing to give me a jumpstart.  I started yesterday, and I have to say, I'm quite pleased with my first two drawings.

Both were cleaned up and colored in Photoshop because I just couldn't resist.  I can't guarantee I'll upload everything I draw this month, but I'll certainly post my favorites at least.  

Anyone else done any drawing lately?  I'd love to see your work! 

Note:  You may have noticed my drawing are marked with a Tumblr URL.  That's because I posted them on my new crafty Tumblr too!  If you're on Tumblr come follow me at phantasmagoriumhandmade.tumblr.com!

Organization by the Book: Week One

Happy New Year, Folks!  I know it's a bit belated, but it still applies, right?  I hope everyone had a great holiday and you're all enjoying the start of a new year!

I've never really been one for New Year's resolutions, but this does seem to be the perfect time of year to start a new project.  And I've recently found myself with some extra motivation to get things organized, so I've decided to start a big organization project.

A few months ago, we picked up a book called Organize Now! by Jennifer Ford Berry.  A lot of organizing books seem to use a whole lot of extra words just to say, "Get rid of stuff."  So finding a book that does not beat you over the head with the idea that 90% of what you own is crap and you should just get rid of it and stop being so damned sentimental was quite refreshing.  Equally refreshing is the fact that the book itself is so well organized (imagine that!).

Organize Now! focuses on one area of your life each week and gives you a handy checklist of goals to try and accomplish in that week, as well as tasks to do periodically in order to stay organized.  It is, hands down, the single most practical and useful book of its kind that I have ever laid eyes on.

I've been dying to start working my way through it since we got it, but I've waited because I felt like we ought to finish unpacking things and get settled in a bit better first.  Now we've done that and the holidays are over, it's a new year, and there seems to be no better time.

So here I am.  Day 1.  This week is pretty easy.  It's all about organizing your mind, and I've already done/am doing several of the things on the list.  For instance, I generally get at least 7 hours of sleep every night.  I write out a quick To Do list every morning - if not the night before.  And I started a journal a few months ago (which I lost track of for a while and serendipitously found this afternoon).  The biggest task for me is going to be scheduling time to exercise.

Ideally, I would like to get up early enough to do some walking with Miss Kitty before she has to leave for work.  We've discovered that it's doable - it's just a matter of actually doing it and getting into the habit.

As a bit of extra motivation now and throughout the rest of this challenge, I'll be sharing my progress with you, my dear readers.  So I'll let you know next week how the whole exercising thing went, as well as getting back into the swing of journaling.  Wish me luck!

What new projects are you going to tackle this year?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Holiday Decorating

In addition to cleaning and organizing, I've done a bit of holiday decorating recently.  It was time to swap out the fall centerpiece - which was a store-bought wreath of twigs and berries that I placed around a candle - and after a bit of rummaging around to see what I had available to use, this is what I came up with...

I kept the pillar candle and the faceted candle holder form the fall arrangement and surrounded it with a bunch of pinecones.  The ones I used came from Walmart and were cinnamon scented.  Some of the bigger ones have glitter and the little ones are all painted gold.  Then, because I thought it needed a little something extra, I added a pair of crystal candle holders - ours are Mikasa - and pretty silvery tapers.  And that's it!  It  only took a few minutes and I didn't spend a dime (unless you count the pinecones, but I already had them on hand).  So if you don't have a lot of spare cash to spend on decorations, take a look at what you already have and try to think outside the box.

You never know - an act of penniless desperation might just become a holiday tradition.  The first Christmas we spent together was wonderful, but there was one thing missing - a tree.  We just didn't have the extra money to go and buy one.  But I was determined that we would have something to put our gifts under.  So I picked up the prettiest stick I could find in our yard, brought it in, and positioned it in a basket of pinecones.  We still have that stick, and every year, we put it up as faithfully as anyone else puts up any other tree.  

This year, I decided to put it in the sunny windowsill upstairs in what is soon to be my craft room.  I stuck a bit of Sculpy on the end to help hold it in place and put it in a small glass candleholder.  Then I added a bunch of faux pearls in shades of white, cream, and gold.  I arranged my little "tree" with some pretty white and gold candles atop some pretty, wintery fabric that I draped over the windowsill.  Today, I was gifted with my very own Charlie Brown Christmas tree, which I happily added to my little windowsill arrangement.  I think the whole thing looks quite festive.

Our holiday decor is far from tradition, but it certainly suits us.  What about you?  What sort of outside-of-the-box decorating have you done this year?

Holiday Crafts

Well, folks.  The holidays are upon us once again, and I don't know about you, but for me, this time of year is intrinsically linked with crafting.  I loved cutting out paper snowflakes, and a good portion of the ornaments on our tree were handmade - if not by me then by some friend or family member.  I made popcorn garlands with my grandma and helped Mom wrap presents, which is an art form all its own, I think.

As I grew older and craftier, I started making gifts.  One year I handmade all of my gifts - which was quite labor intensive and a bit stressful, but also very rewarding.

This year, we're making Secret Santa gifts.  After some consideration, we decided on ornaments.  One thing we always have on hand is polymer clay, so that's what we'll be using.  The recipient is fond of snowmen, so we'll be making one of those.  And because we love to pass along the fun, we'll also be making a Christmas pickle.

Like this one that I made last year:

Now, I know what you're thinking.  What on earth does a pickle have to do with Christmas?  

Honestly?  I don't know.  And neither does anyone else, it seems.  It's a bit of a mystery.  The story is that the tradition originated in Germany of hiding a pickle order somewhere amidst the branches of the Christmas tree.  On Christmas Eve, everyone would hunt for the pickle and whoever found it first would have especially good luck throughout the following year - or in some versions of the story, they would get a special gift.  

But apparently, according to a lot of actual Germans, there is no such tradition.  The whole thing may very well have been made up by some kookie person trying to sell glass pickles, for some reason.  

However it originated, hunting the pickle has been a tradition in my family since I first learned about it - and made my first pickle ornament - in the fifth grade.  Having the pickle hunt to look forward to made Christmas Eve that much more fun.  

Long story short, I love the pickle.  It's very special to me, and I look forward to passing on the fun to another family this year.  

Mission Complete: Planner Modification

First off, I apologize for my absence last week, and I feel I should warn you that November is likely to be a rather quiet month.  I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month.  The challenge?  To write an entire 50,000-word novel in thirty days.  I was successful last year, and I'm feeling even better about this year.

That's why I didn't post anything last week.  I was busy outlining and planning and writing up character sketches and so on.  I literally could not tear myself away.  I've got everything under control now, though, and I'm trying to relax until November 1st, when all hell is going to break loose.

Of course, I have been doing some crafting.  When I needed a break from outlining, I turned my attention to a simple but fun - and quite useful - little project.

It all started with this nice but somewhat boring planner I had lying around - your typical faux leather binder-type thing.  I  used it off and on for its intended purpose until I ran out of pages.  I  had always intended to print my own refills, but it has since langoured, unused.

Meanwhile, something I've been meaning to put together for some time is some sort of repository for all of my writing ideas.  I wanted something shuffle around and reorganize as necessary, something with pockets for stashing clippings perhaps, something small enough to be easily portable... In short, I wanted a small binder.  Like my planner.  Like the planner that was sitting unused.

Lightbulb.

There was just one problem.  In it's original state, the binder was rather uninspiring...

It didn't even have those pretty gold corners to start with - I just forgot to take a picture before I started experimenting.  The first thing I tried was plain ol' acrylic craft paint.  That's the gold you see here.  I had already decided I wanted to go for a sort of steampunk look, so I painted the main portion a nice, dark brown.  Which looked nice, but dried with a somewhat unpleasant texture.

So I whipped out the Rub-n-Buff - which I'd have used from the start had it occurred to me.  If you're not familiar with this magical substance, you really should be.  It's a metallic wax finish, which comes in a little tube, and works just as the name proclaims.  You squeeze a bit out and rub it onto the surface you want to cover.  Then you can buff it to a nice, muted sheen.  I used Spanish Copper on the bulk of the binder and Antique Gold  for the details.

I gave the inside a similar treatment, though I skipped the initial painting and used the Rub-n-Buff alone.  There isn't much of a visible difference, but I suppose we'll see how things wear.

All in all, I'm quite happy.  I may add a few embellishments, but I think it's already quite an improvement.  Now I just need to work on innards.  I've got some new stamps to play with, so I think I'm going to put them to use on decorating some dividers.  But of course, there'll be more on that later.

In the meantime, I'm off to try and get some housework done before November arrives...

Humpday Home Decor: Decoupaged Bookcases [WIP]

If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you may have heard that we've been working on decorating bookcases.  We spent the better part of a day painting and decoupaging, and they already look pretty great.  They just need a few finishing touches (and to be moved to their permanent homes where I can get some good pictures of them that do not feature stacks of boxes in the background).  So they're still a work-in-progress.  But here's a preview!

Bookcase #1 got a light coat of matte brown spray paint.  We didn't worry too much about coverage, so the wood grain shows through a bit in places, as you can see here.  Also, we didn't sand or prime this one at all - just painted.  And aside from some funky texture on the edges - which was probably caused by the furniture polish we used to clean it before hand - it worked out just fine.  And we thought the texture was pretty cool.  If you're making a major color change, though, or you just want to make damn sure things turn out right, sanding and priming certainly never hurts.

The medallions here are cut from sheets of scrapbook paper.  If you're going to be cutting out little detailed things like this, do yourself a favor and get a pair of nice, small, pointy-ended scissors.  They are a life-saver!  Or at least, a hand-saver.

And of course, we used Mod Podge to decoupage the cut-outs onto the top and sides.  If you have never worked with Mod Podge, you are missing out.  Go get some now.  Get the big bottle.  Trust me, you'll want it.  This was Anna's first decoupaging venture, and now she wants to cover everything with paper.  I expect to wake up one morning and find her decoupaging the toaster.

But I digress.  Bookcase #2 received a similar treatment. This time we did sand and prime it, and I do think the primer made the painting easier.  Since the sides were black, I imagine it would have taken more coats to cover without the primer.

We decided to go with a steampunk theme for this one, as it's going in my soon-to-be-steampunk'd craft room.  So we painted it with that awesome hammered metal stuff that Rustoleum makes, in copper, of course.  Then we decoupaged it with cutouts of clock faces and gauges.

Yesterday I painted all of the front edges a nice antique gold, just for a little extra contrast.  Now I'm trying to decide what I want to paint on the sides to fill in those extra spaces.  I'm debating between random numbers - in keeping with the clock/gauge theme - and stenciling some fancy little swirly things.

I'm also experimenting with an edging for the cutouts that will hopefully make them look more "welded metal" than "glued paper."  And finally, once I pick up the necessary materials, I'll be making a stencil to add text to the top.  I was going to freehand it, but I'm too chicken.

So.  You'll be seeing these babies again once they're all finished.  And they are not the last of their kind.  We intend to do this with all of our bookcases.  So we should be experts by the time we're done.

In the meantime, we'd love to hear from you.  Have you tried anything like this before?  Revamped some boring old furniture?  Decoupaged anything interesting?  Leave us a comment!

Giveaway Winner

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Those of you who didn't win, fret not.  You can still get $10 off if you purchase the software with this coupon code:  STMMMS66141