Craft Closet Update: Pretty Plastic Storage + Print and Cut Chalkboard Labels

So back in January I decided to take one of the messy closets in our office and turn it into a functional storage space for my craft and sewing supplies which I detailed in this post. 

The addition of the shelves really helped to maximize the space in this small closet.  When I posted this project I knew that it was still a long ways from being done so today I am back with an update on the progress of this space.

First up, those ugly plastic Sterilite drawers. They are so functional but they aren't very pretty.  I know that they are in a closet and I could just shut the door but it makes me so much happier to see pretty things when I open up the closet.

I actually purchased several more of these drawers in various sizes and then gathered up my supplies.  I used some cut patterned cardstock in rainbow houndstooth and another fun rainbow pattern.  I don't have a lot of pictures of the process but it was super simple. I measured the inside of the drawer fronts and cut out pieces of the cardstock using those dimensions. I decided to only cover the fronts since that is the only part that would be visible on the closet shelves.  I took my trusty Mod Podge and used a foam brush to apply it to the inside of the drawers and also put some on the cardstock.  I then pressed the cardstock to the inside of the drawer fronts making sure to smooth out any bubbles.  After letting it dry for a little bit I applied some more Mod Podge to the back of the cardstock just to give it a little protection.

You may have noticed the labels on the drawers.  I made those using printable white sticker paper from the Silhouette store and the print and cut feature of the Silhouette machine.  I took lots of screen shots so that I could give a little tutorial on how I made them.  I wanted them to have a chalkboard look.  I could of made them with chalkboard vinyl but cute fonts look so much better than my hand writing.  All right lets get started with this little tutorial.

I started with a label shape that I had in my library.  Silhouette has lots of great label shapes in their online store. I started by going to the fill color window and selecting black for the fill color.

I added my letters to the label.  I used one of my favorite fonts called Sketch Block.  Any sketchy or hand drawn font would work well.  Then I changed the fill color of the lettering to white. I also changed the line color of the lettering to no color so that I could better visualize the finished product.

Then I went to the cut settings window and selected cut edge so that only the label would be cut out in the end.

I duplicated my label and changed the lettering for my various labels.  Here I zoomed in so that you could see what my Sketch Block font will look like when I print the labels.

I then turned on the registration marks and adjusted my labels so that they fit within the lines. Make sure that your shapes don't touch the the gray area.  Once you have them arranged to your liking, load the sticker paper into your printer and send your document to the printer.  Make sure that you paper is loaded correctly so that it will print on the sticker part and not on the backing.

The registration marks will print.  Your Silhouette machine will read these so that it knows where to cut.  My printer was low on ink.  I kind of liked the way it came out because it looked like chalk smudges.  If you want to get that look and don't want to wait until your printer is low on ink just rub some chalk over the labels and wipe off the excess.  Place the sheet on your cutting mat and load it into your machine.

Send the document to your Silhouette.  Select the white sticker paper in the material type menu and change your blade to the recommended setting.  After the Silhouette reads the registration marks it will cut out the labels.

 It was so easy and they look awesome on my plastic storage drawers!

Here are a couple more updates to the office.

I found this little basket that hangs on the wire shelving which is perfect for holding my vinyl and heat transfer material.  I got mine at Fleet Farm but I am sure you could find something similar at Home Depot or Lowes.

A few months ago I found a cool solution for storing my thread which I detailed in this post.

I had some open space on the left side of the board so I decided to add some washi tape storage to the board.

 

I just added two small Command hooks with the movable metal hooks and a wooden dowel. It was easy and simple and it looks cute.  Well that is it.  I packed a lot of stuff into this post.  There is still so much to be done in the closet.  Right now I am working on a storage solution for my yards of fabric so check back next week sometime for that project.

Gallery Wall Reveal

The day has finally come when I get to reveal my gallery wall project that I have been working on for several months now.  There is one part of it that I might redo eventually (we'll get to that later) but for now I am calling it done.  If you can't wait to see the finished product just scroll down a little bit but I thought I would start with a little bit about how I decided to arrange everything and how I hung the items.

I started by spending an evening trying different arrangements with the items on my living room floor. I know, I know you are thinking that I have a super exciting life now. I took photos of each arrangement so that I could compare them later to pick my favorite one.  The image below is of my favorite arrangement.

Next I took some newspaper and traced each item, cut them out, and then hung them on the wall with painters tape in my chosen arrangement.

I hung the pieces using several methods.  The floating bookshelves were hung with the screws provided.  The window frame came with some pretty heavy duty brackets so I chose to put a couple of screws in the wall to hang it on.  I used the painters tape measuring method to get the right screw placement.  

I just took that piece of tape and put it on the wall, made sure it was level and drilled holes for the screws.  It is a super easy fail proof method.

For the smaller, lighter items I decided to try these Command picture hanger strips.

They were really easy to use.  I just followed the instructions on the package.  They seem to be working really well.  The items are really secure.

For the other items I just used regular picture hangers.  And now for the big reveal.

You may have noticed a couple of extra items that weren't in my original arrangement.  When I finished putting everything up, there were a few empty spaces that were bothering me so I decided to add a couple more items.  The family name sign in the middle was the first one.  I used a burlap canvas that I got at Hobby Lobby and my Silhouette Portrait to make a stencil for the letters out of contact paper.  Check out the posts on North Dakota Wood Art and the Etched Glass Window Frame that I have linked at the bottom to find out more about how I did it.  This is the project that I might redo because I had a little trouble keeping my letters straight and the crookedness will probably drive me crazy eventually.

The font that I used for our name is an Art Deco font called Hill House.  The font that I used for the numbers is another Art Deco font called Gatsby.

My other addition is just a cute notecard from Target that I put in a frame from TJ Maxx.

I like the colors, the birds and the quote.

Here is a look at the other purchased items in my gallery wall.  All of the items are in frames that I bought on clearance at places like Gordmans, Target, and TJ Maxx.  The first two are book cover art prints from Zazzle.

The Alice and Wonderland print is from a really cool Etsy seller that prints on antique book pages: PRRINT.

Here is look at what my gallery wall looks like from the outside of the house.

Let me know what you think of my gallery wall.  I am so excited that it turned out so well.

I am going to take a break from porch projects for awhile so my next project involves some more organizing in my craft close.  Check back next week for that project.  In the meantime you can look at the tutorials for some of the art pieces in my gallery wall.  Just click on the pictures below.

Linked to That DIY Party and City of Creative Dreams

Two More Porch Gallery Projects

Today you get two projects for the price of one.  This is partly because I forgot to take a lot of process pictures for one of the projects, oops! First up is a simple project that involved fabric flowers and a cardboard letter.  The R is for our last name: Rogstad

I wanted to keep to a green and ivory color scheme so I went to Hobby Lobby and chose flowers that I thought would work.  I start by cutting up the flowers to get pieces to glue on the cardboard letter.

I used scissors to punch holes in the cardboard and stuck the flower stems through the holes starting with the larger flowers.

I then used a glue gun to secure the flowers in place.  I wasn't a fan of the gaps that I was seeing between the flowers that I selected so I grabbed some moss from my craft closet and began glueing it into the gaps.  I had to really play around with things until I got the look that I wanted.

Then I painted the sides and back with a gold craft paint.

You may notice in the above picture that I have this project mounted on the wall.  I have actually put up my gallery wall on the porch but you will have to wait a few days for the big reveal!  The shelf that my R is sitting on is an antique book that I purchased at an antique store a few week ago.  Umbra makes some cool floating book shelves that you can purchase here.

My next project is a decoupage project using old sheet music and the sketch feature of my Silhouette Portrait.  For this project I also used an oval wooden plaque from Hobby Lobby and gold craft paint.  I chose a flower sketch from the Silhouette online store. Then I put an oval around the sketch roughly the size of my plaque.

I then selected the sketch flower and ungrouped the shape which can be done from the object drop down menu.  I put the sheet music on my mat and loaded the mat into my Silhouette Portrait.

I removed the blade from the machine and replaced it with a black sketch pen.  I wanted the branches of my shape to be black so I selected all the other parts of the shape except that part and marked them as no cut in the cut settings window.

I then sent it to my Silhouette and made sure to select the sketch pen instead of the blade.

I then repeated the same process with a green sketch pen for the leaves and a red sketch pen for the flowers.

Finally I set all of the sketch design as no cut and selected the oval and set it to cut. I put the blade back into the machine. I used the same settings that I used to cut book pages from this project.

I then used Mod Podge to attach my sheet music oval to the wood plaque.  After it dried I put a layer of Mod Podge over the sheet music to give it a nice finish.  The ink in my sketch design did bleed a little but I liked that because it added to the character of the piece.

After the Mod Podge dried I painted the sides of the plaque with gold craft paint.

So there you have it, two more simple art projects.

Make sure to check back later this week or the beginning of next week to see the big porch gallery wall reveal!