Creative Spark - My Craft Room

I have a thing for purple and butterflies.  Imagine my delight when my mother (God bless her) told me she would be okay sleeping on a futon so that I could reclaim the guestroom and turn it into my creative space. It's far from finished (my creative brain still wants to improve my creative space!).  I love the fact that I can go in the room, shut the door and create to my hearts' content or at least until one of my daughters call for me.

Happy Crafting!

Creative Spark - Upholstered Banker's Box

The saying is "necessity is the mother of invention".  I say, "I'm bored...let me make something".  This time around, I really did need something to put family picture albums in.  I got sick of looking at them on the dining room chair.  In the process of cleaning my dining room, I came across a banker's box that I used to transport items to my 40th birthday party.  I had a lightbulb moment...I have fabric and batting to cover this.  I used upholstery fabric leftover from when I recovered my kitchen chairs, batting left over from quilt that I haven't finished, scissors, stapler and a glue gun.

Here's the box covered with batting:

Box partially covered with fabric.  I got stuck on trying to figure out the pleating...

Finally figured out the pleating:

Here's the inside of the box.  The obsessive compulsive in me will probably finish it out at some point, but I just wanted to get this puppy done.

Can't forget the lid.  How lucky was I to have a perfectly matched solid in almost the same type of fabric?  It wasn't luck...it was leftover fabric from covering my kitchen chairs for the 4th time.

Here's the finish product.  I am so happy how nice it turned out!  My girlfriends have all requested a box to match different rooms in their house.  I'm thinking about making some more to match my craft room.

Now, if I didn't tell you, would you think this was a banker's box wrapped in upholstery fabric?  If I was looking for fabric to match my living room furniture, I would still be searching for it.

Making myself a priority

When I started my weight loss journey, I was so focused.  Tracking everything I ate, making sure I drank enough water and exercising.  Fast forward 11 weeks and I have only lost a total of 3.8 lbs.  I have a great week, a horrible week followed by a worst week.  I get refocused, re-energized, follow the program and drop weight without a lot of effort.  I've come to the realization that I'm an emotional eater and I do not put myself first.  I resolve to do the following this coming week:

• Track my food and be honest about my points.  That coffee that I drink in the morning is probably closer to 5 points than it is 3.
• Drink more water.  Lots more water.
• Eat more fruit.  They are 0 points.  Seriously, I can get full and still have points leftover for a snack.  That's truly a no-brainer.
• Exercise and give my Fitbit what it wants....10,000 steps, 10 flights of stairs, 1000 activity points and 5 miles a day.  However I can get the stats, I'm getting them.  Wii Just Dance, walk during lunch or hit the treadmill.  Come hell or high water, I'm going to give it what it wants.

I can prepare for the week ahead, but won't pack my breakfast and lunch.  Seriously?  This week, I will make myself a priority.

I think I'm going to start posting my weight next week...