I'm jazzing up my new craft room

 Okay so I got seriously bored with all my white walls in my new craft room (daughter's old room) and thought I'd do something about it. I opened my trusty PSP program and got after it. I went crazy with colors and thought I'd share!

Some tips for sewing with sheer fabrics

We moved into a new house a few months ago and I was all excited to start putting curtains up and setting up house till I realized that the big kitchen window is almost a whopping 3 meters high.

This is what the dining room looked like when the landlord lived here. 
Btw, check out the paint choices,  green, brown, tan and blue, to each his own!

What? Who makes a window so big? Anyhow, I started shopping for curtains for that window only to discover that they don't sell 3 meter long curtains here. So off to Ikea we went. I found some white sheer fabric for 2 bucks a yard and purchased enough to cover that monstrous window. We headed home and then I realized that I have always failed when cutting such large pieces of sheer fabric. The stuff is the hardest stuff to work with and it such large dimensions it was sure to be a booger!

I searched the net and read all the tips I could find about working with sheer fabrics and off I went. Amazingly, I actually figured out how to work with the fabric and not lose my testimony through the experience. So here are some tips that worked for me.

Tip #1 Take a twin fitted sheet and cover your work space, ie. my kitchen table. I used a twin sized fleece sheet and the fuzziness :0) really helped the sheer fabric not to slip and slide all over town. What's cool is that my kitchen table happens to be the size of a twin bed. Go figure!

Tip #2 Use chairs to support and cold your lengths of fabric. This was the fabric doesn't have to be on the floor and it's not constantly pulling while you're cutting. 

Also you can put a towel over the chair back to keep the fabric from sliding down. This makes it much easier to keep the fabric stationary when cutting. 

I didn't actually take photos to go with my other tips so you'll just have to use your imagination. 

Tip #3 Use a yard stick of even a strait edge of any kind to lightly mark your cutting edge. Line up the folder edge of your fabric with the edge of the table to make sure your fabric is strait when marking. 

Tip #4 Double check! Make sure you're checking your measurements as you go 'cause cutting one wrong could throw off your whole project if you only have just enough yards to get the job done. 

Tip #5 Pin! Pin! Pin! I know you experienced gals can sew a sows ear into a silk purse without even pinning anything but for the rest of us normal gals, PIN! Sheer fabric slips everywhere and it's almost impossible to keep it still without pinning. 

Tip #6 Press! After pinning I pressed all my seams. Not only did it give me a crisp edge but it also allowed me to take another look-see at my measurements. 

Tip #7 Make sure you have a new sharp needle in your machine. Some folks say to use a needle made for this sort of fabric but my normal needle did fine. 

Tip #8 Take your time. Remember slew and steady wins the race 'cause no one wants to get ol' seam ripper out, now do we. Take your time. 

So there ya go. These are the few hints that actually helped me not to throw the whole bunch in the trash. I hate all the lines of the window and the brown color but I think the sheers do well to diffuse it a bit. Still a work in progress but it's coming along. 

Oh btw, notice how empty the wall above the red buffet is, well... I used a Pinterest hint about using hot glue and safety pins to attach decorative plates to the wall and so I jumped on board. Figured that at least I could say I used one of the tuts I found on Pinterest. *wink* Anyhow, we're having dinner at that table with a young family in our church when we hear a terrible crash. We turn around to see that one of the plates had fallen and shattered all in the dish of fajita chicken. Are you kidding me? So I reverted to serving beef fajitas. Luckily they weren't in the vicinity when the next plate fell and shattered. So, thanks a lot Pinterest, you ruined my fajitas! I'm gonna try duct tape next time!

Anyhoo, happy sewing!!!

Laundry room printables

I have been wanting to redo my laundry room for ages, actually since we moved here 3 years ago.
The other day I decided to jump on it and I'm actually almost finished. I know it shouldn't take two weeks to paint and decorate a laundry room but well it has. Anyhoo, I needed some art so I made some. Feel free to save them and print them for your own laundry room.

1. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

2. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7

 

3. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: Philippians 2:14

Hope these make your laundry room a little more pleasant, since I know you spend a lot TON of time in. 

It's amazing what a difference a little paint makes.

We have been here just over 2 months now and we're still getting settled in. We moved into our current house about a month before we headed back to the States for furlough so we really didn't have time to settle in. So we've been busy trying to make this house feel like home.

Our living room was a very dark brown with dark brown windows and furniture. The color was a mistake so as soon as we got home we repainted.


I like the new turquoise color so much better. Okay so I super love turquoise and red so this is right up my alley. It's so much brighter too. 

Then there was our basement room. For one thing Croats don't use the basement for anything more than storage so this was a very unloved room. The whole idea was to make it a sewing/guest room. Since we have guests (Missionary Danny Foss and his family from Serbia) the room is a guest room but as soon as they head back to Serbia all the sewing goods come in. It's gonna be good!
 
 
A little paint and some soft furnishings and it changes everything. I love the fact that this room gave me a whole 'nother reason to use turquoise and red!






What's awesome is that it's finished and ready to be used. Bring on the sewing!

Dreaming of Home

Well with home just around the corner I have been spending lots of time thinking, planning and even dreaming of home. Hey I know they mission field isn't about making a house beautiful but my personal mission field (my family) sure does appreciate it. Anyhow, we rented a home in Croatia before we left for furlough. We moved in and then 1 month later we flew back to the states. We really didn't have any time to decorate so the house sits as it was when we moved it. 

Anyhoo, I took photos of the house before we left so I would have some ideas of space, windows and layout. I'm gonna share them with you but don't be critical of the mess!

Below is our living room. I know it's so dark but we didn't have curtains so I had to keep the out door blinds closed because our neighbors were super close. 

Anyhow, I found a few photos I really like, some of them are not possible but I still like the feel in the room. 

Love the color of these walls and my couch is brown so that would actually go. 

I just love the vintage feel in this room. 

Don't know what all that stuff is, I just like it!

Like it!

This is our entryway, It's very typical for a Croatian house. Sorry it's so dark. We are going to strip all the wall paper off the walls and paint when we get back. The big, ugly glass door is gonna be a job. I was maybe thinking of using trim to make it look like a french door. Big project but it may be nice. 

I love this little idea for a foyer, I think it feels so natural welcoming. 

I like this one too!

This is our dining room, it's really small but it'll do for us. See all the snow outside? Man it really snowed right before we left. Isn't it purty?

Okay so I don't have any inspiration for the dining and living room. I would love to keep the wall color the same since we did it right before we left furlough.

Our kitchen is in major need of help. Since we are renting it we can't replace the cabinets but I would love to paint them. Any idea? The fact that they horizontal lines is a big of a bummer but I'm determined to make them work. 

Then lastly I love this bright yellow wash room and guess what, I have one, a washroom! How cool is that? Don't think I'll stencil but I love the brightness of this room. My washer and dryer are pretty similar too. 

Okay since you all are such faithful readers, I'm gonna give ya a bonus photo. This is the WORST room in our house. 

Are you ready?

Really? 

Get ready for a blast from the 70-s European era. 

Guess I'll be doing a lot of this...

It's gotta be better than the green. I'm gonna try to take that whole wall of cabinets out, wish me luck!

Anyhow, these images have been filling my dreams lately along with dozens of dirty, little, smiling faces. Can't wait!

Merry Christmas missionary ladies!

Okay yea, I know it's not Christmas but if this post surprises you like I think it will for many of you, then, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Okay so several months ago someone told me about  Fomny TV, okay so it's not actually TV but it is awesome.

One of the things I missed from America was HGTV and 3 or 4 years ago I could actually watch whole episodes on HGTV.com but then they started giving me the the message. If you ever try to watch American programming from out of country you know what message I'm talking about.

 Thank you Hulu for making Andy and Goober available to all Americans but us overseas Americans. 

Okay so anyhow, I found Fomny TV and guess what is available on there... No really, guess! 

HGTV, I'm not kidding, it's actually the streaming HGTV from the states with Poptart and Lysol commercials! If you have highspeed then the quality is as good as it is in the states. 

Okay so if you go to Fomny TV and make sure that the little American flag near the top is clicked then scroll down a little then you'll see the HGTV icon; click the icon and give it a second to pull up the feed and you're ready to go. You can upsize it to full screen and BE INSPIRED!

WARNING!!!

 Be very cautious about your time consumption. A half hour show can turn into a who day wasted on the couch eating peanuts and drinking coke of you're not careful. 

Enjoy Y'all!

A Lttile Work

A little work isn't so bad especially when you're doing it for someone you love.

When we arrived in Croatia 9 years ago we bought our boys some wooden bunks and throughout the years they have slowly deteriorated. Finally last week they broke, they're gone and the boys were in need of some new beds. So after a week on the mattresses on the floor we headed where everyone who is anyone heads for furniture, IKEA!

Yesterday Johnny and I went to IKEA alone (so we could fit it all in our little minivan) to buy stuff for the boys room. I was so excited to be able to get more than just beds for them. Their room has kinda always been bits and pieces and not so nice until now.

When we first saw this house the landlord asked us what color we wanted every room, I thought blank canvas and opted for magnolia, off white sorta color. Well the color below is what I got in EVERY room. I expressly told him, not yellow but I guess he has a sense of humor.

Since the beds were gone we decided to paint their room and smokey blue gray. It looked more gray them blue at the paint store but it's more blue than gray at home, go figure!



I'm still planning on painting a solid square behind each headboard so the beds will stand out a little but we can't decide on what color, I'm thinking an orangy color. What do you think?
Okay so it's not HGTV quality but it's not bad. They like it and it's so functional and that's what counts.

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No I'm not trying to sneak back into Blogville without an apology. Sorry! I was temporarily blinded by the bright lights of Facebook but I'm better now. I have chosen, which is what you have to do if you're not a multi-tasker like me, I have chosen Blogville and I'm glad to be home!
Missed ya!