Organizing your craft ideas

Like pretty much everyone else in this world, I'm obsessed with Pinterest. That's where I store all of my online crafting to-dos, among other things. I love how easy it is to organize and view ideas, and how easy it is to find ideas later.

Problem, though. I have craft ideas and patterns that aren't online. How do I organize them? Like most other people, I had a huge stack of papers and patterns a few feet high - and I couldn't find a single thing in that stack. I sat down for an hour with some basic supplies and created a system that lets me find the projects I want to make, view them for inspiration, and keep everything neat and tidy!

I started with a simple binder - but make sure you get a big one. Mine is 4 inches, and it's already pretty full! 

Next, you'll want some dividers. I recycled ones that had been given to me in a training binder. I just used my label maker to create new labels! You can see from the picture how I divided my categories, but of course, you can do it any way that makes sense to you.

I bought a giant pack of page protectors from Sam's Club for about $12. Filling this entire binder has only used about half of the package, so I'm in good shape to have many, many more ideas. The page protectors make it easy to flip pages and will help you keep the patterns together.

The right side of each page is the image of the finished product. All of the other relevant parts and information are tucked behind it.

I also tucked full patterns in here, which makes it so much easier to find them later!

A lot of the projects in my binder came from quilting magazines. You just can't forget to rip out the pattern pages too!

This is also a great place to store patterns that come in kits. This is one from Connecting Threads. I made this wall hanging already, but that doesn't mean I couldn't make it again with different fabrics! All of the pattern pieces are tucked in this pocket in case I want to make one for someone else.

Last but not least are applique shapes. When I have to find a shape for an applique, I stick it in here in case I ever need it again. No sense in re-inventing the wheel.

So there you have it - a way to organize the craft ideas and patterns you have that you can't keep on Pinterest! Do you like the cover of my book? You can have it too! Just click here to download it.

Click HERE to see the blog parties where I'm linking!

More Pinterest Finds

I have a snobby confession to make: I think I'm a super awesome pinner. So much so, in fact, that I'm worried that you don't follow me on Pinterest and you might have missed out on some of my awesome pins.

So I'm going to share some of them with you here, too. Hope that's okay with you!!

Asparagus goat cheese pasta. Yes, please.

Sixteen ideas for food bars for parties. So cute.

A jar to write fun memories on throughout the year. Open them on New Year's Eve.

What a fun family tradition!

A love map! Where you met, where you got married, and where you live now.

I don't know how to make this sweet thing but I'm going to have to figure it out!

Strength workout. I did half of it and couldn't walk for two days. Victory.

This might be my favorite quilt of all time. I need to make this!

Because sometimes we all need a little reminder.

What have you been pinning?

Knock Off Anthro Letters

Our decorating projects are always a compromise and collaboration. It usually starts with me having an idea, Zac throwing in his two cents, and then us settling on a design or idea that's a mix of both. It usually works out well for us, and we end up liking our compromise idea better than either original.

The cool thing about planning a bedroom remodel is that every night as we laid in bed we ended up brainstorming ideas. You might remember that our bedroom has two closets. One night, Zac suggested that we add some cool letters above the closets that said "his" and "hers." To be honest, I wasn't on board at first. No one goes into these closets but us, and we know whose is whose.

The idea started to grow on me, though. I looked up getting the metal letters from Antropologie.... but $18 a piece? Yikes. It was time to go all DIY on this project.

We started with these paper mache letters from Hobby Lobby. At $2.47 a pop, they were a steal. We went with the paper mache version because they were thicker and stand off from the wall a little bit, plus we liked the font. They had flatter wood letters also.

We took a gamble on the Krylon metallic spray paint - we weren't sure how it was actually going to look on the letters. The verdict? What else in my house can be spray painted metallic???

Beautiful, and not even close to finished. We did one coat on each letter and made sure to get the sides, but that's it. We went inside thinking it would need a second coat later, but when we saw this we knew we would be fine.

Isn't that spray paint amazing? It must have other uses in my house - anything that isn't as shiny metal as I want it to be!

We took the letters upstairs and attached them to the wall with poster gum. They are really light, and there wasn't a good way to use nails to hang them. I did have a flashback to being in 8th grade and using poster gum to hang N*SYNC posters on my walls. Oh, the memories.

Here's a close up of my letters. Can you tell they aren't metal? The light even reflects the way it would if they were really metal.

Zac's letters.

Here's a shot of them over my closet.... 

and over Zac's. I love the textured element the silver adds to our greyish/blue and white color scheme. They look fantastic, and they've been up for two weeks and haven't fallen down yet. You've gotta love that poster gum.

What do you think? Would you be fooled into thinking they are the real deal? And most importantly, what else can I spray with the metallic spray paint??

Click HERE to see the blog parties where I'm linking!

Holiday Helping Hands

Last fall, my friend Clare asked if I would help a class with a service learning project. Clare has a really cool job - she works for a foundation and is in charge of pretty much all service learning projects in our city. If you aren't familiar with service learning, it is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.


I worked with students at Arlington Heights Academy. This is a sort of last chance high school for a lot of kids. Many of them have struggled at other schools for various reasons, but here they have an incredibly supportive teacher who truly loves them as individuals. She seeks out unique learning opportunities for them that set them up for success.


And, each December, they execute an event called Holiday Helping Hands. These students, many of whom come from severely disadvantaged backgrounds, donate various items from around their house to fill a secret santa like store. They create a literal wonderland in their school and invite hundreds of kindergartners to experience holiday magic. They create reading and math activities that teach the students while they have fun. It's a truly magical experience for both the older kids and younger ones.


My role was to help them make a quilt hat would reflect what they learned from the experience. My first visit was last fall, where I taught the students about quilting and helped them create a design. The students came up with exactly what they wanted - my only role was to make sure it was "do-able."


The students decided that they wanted a picture border around the outside, so they also chose pictures to go around the edges.

When I came back the second time, I had printed the photos onto photo transfer paper. The students cut out the pictures and ironed them on to white fabric squares. I was so surprised... they loved it!

Another part of their design was creating twelve circles that simulated a Candy Land board, one of their main decorating themes. Each circle had a word that described their service learning experiences.

They traced the shapes onto wonder under paper and then chose the fabrics they wanted to use. 

I took their work home and tried to turn it into their original design. I brought it back to school for them to tie together. I thought about quilting it for them, but I wanted to give the students as many opportunities to touch the quilt - literally and figuratively.

How cute are these high schoolers? Many of them are just freshmen.

I still need to add the binding -- but here's where we are now.

I'm really grateful for the opportunity to work with these students. Is the design my favorite of all time? Probably not. Is any single part of it straight? Nope - many hands don't make straight quilts. But it darn well might be one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.

What I'm Pinning

Now that school is over (for all of 4 days), I have been dreaming about all of the projects I want to tackle next. Well, to be honest, I've been dreaming about them for two years, but now I finally will have some time to do them!

The first thing I did was head over to my Pinterest account to look at the things that have caught my eye over the past few months. Usually themes arise without me knowing it...

I want to have a fancy party.

'

I want to crochet baby blankets.

And these guys.

I want to eat summer foods.

Asparagus with goat cheese

Zucchini pizzas

Zucchini roll ups. Mmmmm.

I want to become Martha Stewart.

Make your own cooking spray.

And make a wreath for every single season of the year.

What's a realistic "make things in real life that I love on Pinterest goal?" Because there are SO MANY THINGS that I really want to make!!!

The Quilt Festival Part II

Yesterday I showed you all of the cool vendors, so today we'll explore some of my favorite quilts. There were so, so many, but I tried to be selective!

That's a QUILT. Isn't it unbelievable?? The lighter dancers are embroidered in thread. It was totally and completely stunning. and I didn't get credit info for this one either. Second media pass fail. 

Spring Blossoms by Terry Aske

Springtime in the Garden by Mary T. Schneider

I am obsessed with this one. How amazing is the applique? The picture doesn't do the colors justice. And look at the striped binding! Darling.

Something like this might be my next project. Swoon.

Is this quilt not absolutely beautiful? I captured the women in the picture to show you its size. It was HUGE.

The Cincinnati Modern Quilt Guild had an exhibition of Ohio Star Quilts. This one is by Amy Thonnerieux, and was one of my favorites.

I'm sure I'm biased because I love Cincinnati, but look at this beautiful landmarks quilt project completed by the Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Artists. Members of the group worked together to create panels for an expansive quilt depicting neighborhoods and landmarks in Cincinnati. It was incredible.

Love the riverboat!

And the skyline!

There were many, many more beautiful quilts, a lot that we couldn't take pictures of. It was such a great experience, and I'm grateful for the International Quilt Festival for making me feel like a rockstar with my press pass. Can't wait for next year!