Almost Done - Mom's Craft Room Surprise Renovation! March 2018 Progress

So we're nearing the end of Mom's craft room decor surprise... sort of. 

I was meticulous throughout the whole process, so sorting through anything took For-EVER!

She had a LOT less Scrapbook paper than I thought she would (thank goodness), so sorting through the colours was easy. 

 Sorting through all of the letters and themes for scrapbooking that Mom had accumulated over the years from magazine clippings...took pretty much from January to near the end of March (Mom and Dad return from Florida at the end of March!)

The scrapbook papers ended up below the work desk, and the magazine clippings in the pink boxes to the left - again, organized by theme and alphabet in separate ziplock bags that Mom was already using. 

Each theme had a tag I made with a picture and font reflecting the theme - like Hawaii or Ocean as pictured below. There were a good 100 or so of these!

For the scrapbooking words, I organized them by theme - hand made about 100 separate mini 6" x 4" folders to hold each word theme, and printed out separate labels for each folder - each word a different font and picture, depending on the theme. 

Each word theme fit into photo boxes mom already had. And the file folders I cut up to make the mini folders were hand cut to fit. 

 

I decorated the main wall board with star fish mom had collected over the years in Florida - glued on with super hot glue and a few burnt finger tips along the way!

 I hung the shelf unit that had originally been sitting on the work table onto the wall near the sewing table - I had to improvise a bit, as my Dad's workshop wasn't as handy or stocked as I thought it would be - but I made it work - and it's still holding the weight!  

Stupid fabric flowers. I hate thee!

 

More board items: like a stuffed leaf I made from the Rebecca Page Bunting Flag pattern - it's now a pin cushion!

 

 On the table, I separated and labelled all the doo dads - like beads, charms, and other decorative bits. 

The label font is the same, but I changed up the colours. 

 

Hand painted Pinterest inspired pictures - I bought the canvases at Michaels with a 50% coupon, so they were about $10 for the larger ones.  

The smaller frames (near the closet) were from the Dollarama - 5 for $1.50. Woo!

And more Buntings from the Rebecca Page Pattern - one for each side of the craft room. Originally this sign was to say, "The Beach Is My Happy Place," however, the wall wasn't big enough, so I removed the "Is" 

And I used more of the caskets mom had to decorate the walls. Shells applied with glue gun to showcase my favourites!

 

And I made  a Notebook at Shutterfly as Mom seems to love to write everything down in notes. I put some cute pictures of us on our adventures as a reminder to her that I love her and care. 

Shutterfly is great, as they always have free products - I just pay a small shipping fee. 

Mom loved the room and was so surprised - I didn't tell her I was surprising her, and now it's organized and I no longer twitch when I go over. 

Mom's Craft Room Renovation - February Progress





So I went every weekend in February - usually a 9-10 hour day, as I was slow and meticulous.

And there was  a LOT of craft supplies to go through.

In order to organize, though, one must make a mess. So I made a mess.

My process entailed pulling everything out of a drawer, bin, or crevice - one area at a time.  Sort through it, repeat

 

And another bag of stupid flowers on the left, and more containers of random treasures on the right - probably a good few hours to sort through.

The organization sprawled into the upstairs hallway for weeks...

So many empty containers in the left picture (hallway) - some were recycled, others put in the basement storage room.


On the right, the window corner with more bins emptied.

On the left, the closet was getting organized! 


And on the right, bins awaiting to be put into the closet on the shelves.

The is a double bed. And the ribbon I spent days twirling onto foam 2" squares.

Flowers organized by colour in separate containers. 

I decorated the containers with a nautical theme - and a colour of the flower pertaining to what's in the container!

And remember that old pincushion from the last post?

The one on the left is old, and the right is new and cute!  A cactus pincushion!!

Did I mention mom Scrapbooks??  Well here's some of her paper and pictures!

On the left, Mom's working table in transition - the basket on top ended up being hung on the wall above the sewing table later on.


On the right, table cleared off, and two cabinets Mom was using to store letters she cut from magazines - now used for beads, brads, and bobbles!


Everything is now labelled on the little cabinets, and the board is $2.50 cork board with some glittery fabric ($1.25) - both from Dollarama.  This is  a great board to pin memories, pictures, or projects.

 

Close up of the board lace fabric, and the table area almost complete!

The left side of the closet - I moved a cabinet that had been under the window into the closet, and hung her craft sheet and stencils.

On the right are 3 photo boxes. I actually separated the words Mom cuts from magazines into themes, printed over 100 labels, made over 100 little folder files, and organized them.


Please stay organized!

I also used two drawers from a box I used elsewhere to make little shelves for her punch stamps!  They're decorated with nautical themed cording and shells

Who doesn't want to be welcomed home wiht a Welcome Board? This and the markers were under $5 at the Dollarama.

I also printed some inspirational stickers (hung up with magnets and hard to see) to inspire Mom to be the best person she can be!

Apicture of Mom in her 20s? She is still a pretty and elegant woman. I'm going to age well!

And a box I hung with dried flowers

I found some old pictures - this is me  graduating College in Mississauga - I was SO young!

Merlin and I in our first official apartment with NO ROOMATES!  It was awesome to be so poor to be able to afford this and nothing else (seriously - I'm not a roomate person - I like personal space).

The balcony was neat, as the old tenants put up chicken coop wire to keep out the seagulls, so I asked the Landlord to keep it up. Merlin and I would sit on the balcony at night and just listen to Lake Ontario - the waves crashing. And have coffee in the morning.

And I found out why Mom decided to start cutting things out of magazines and decorating store bought cards...I guess I started that Trend!

Last but not least for February - the damn ribbon. all the damn ribbon.


All organized by type and colour in two drawers. Vs 20 different spots.


Until next organization day when sh$t gets real!