You know the type – can’t pass a yard sale in the car. Has to stop, “just to see if there’s anything good.”

• Has a screenshot of coupons in her phone to Michael’s and Joann’s just in case she needs to stop for something.
• Buys that “thing” just because she knows she can do something with it.
• Owns a personal key to the Lowe’s Spray Paint cabinet.

Ok I’m kidding about that last one but the others are totally true and, well, describe me! And I see that I'm not alone! I too can be a craft hoarder but I’ve learned ways to curb it.

1. If I’m doing something with paper I make myself looks through all my paper supplies, not only to reorganize, but to see what I can live without.
2. Keep the items that fall under the category of, “I know I can do something with this at some point,” in a box and put a piece of masking tape on each item with the date. That way you have one year to do something with it. If I don’t, it’s gone.
3. Get a friend’s advice! If you know a fellow crafter, have her come look at your stash and vice versa. Maybe do some trading! I’ve done that twice now and had it really pay off. I got rid of a few things and scored a few items at the same time. Think of it like a clothes swap party.
4. I know more than a few times I’ve picked something up in my arsenal and wondered why I even had it in the first place.
5. Get a friend’s advice. If you’re not sure you will even use something, ask for some ideas on how they see using it!

How do you keep yourself from hoarding craft items? Do share in the comments!

I just came up with an easy kitchen idea. See I’ve lived in this apartment for the past 15 years and since it was built in the 1920’s there’s not much in the way of closet space or kitchen counters. The later I don’t quite get but anyway, when I had my bookshelf put up, I asked the handyman I hired if he had any experience with tile resurfacing kits as I was considering doing it to my kitchen counter. 

Yes, so much goes with pistachio-colored tile, right? And the burgundy trim is just ... priceless!

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I picked up this 15” around wood lazy susan at a yard sale for $4 but the light colored wood that pine normally is, is just not appealing to me. So deciding how to redo this piece was almost as exciting as getting it for $4!

Since this was treated wood (it has a gloss over it), I knew I needed to prime it for the new color to stick to it, so I picked up Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer for All Surfaces (I guess this is made by Rustoleum) ($13.99/quart @ amazon.com) and painted 1 coat on the top and bottom of the wood.

Then after letting it dry for a few hours I was ready to spray on the texture with Krylon Marbelizing Spray. I had contemplated for about 1 month on how exactly to paint this lazy susan. I was just going to do it in metallic gold but decided at the last minute on adding some texture to it. When I was looking online at different spray paint effects, I couldn’t seem to find any in Pinterest (I use it like Google) so I threw caution to the wind and bought it.

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How many times have you ooo’d and ahhh’d upon seeing a Judith Leiber clutch? Yeah, me too. I love her ideas and designs, but not the price tag. So I decided to make my own version above! I just needed to find the right shape to make it out of and took to eBay to find it.

It took me a few to find this hard case one shown here. It’s a vintage Estee Lauder clutch and I just did a search and see quite a few of the one I used selling on eBay right now. Measuring 7 ½” long x 4” x 1 ¾” at its deepest in the middle, I got it for a steal at $14! While I actually liked the deep brown when it arrived in the mail, I tried  not to rethink the project because of that and get to what I set out to do.

Click the link to find out how to make this and what color stones those are! Aren't they everything??

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I love to visit the Dollar Tree every few weeks to see what’s new and especially when I'm low on $$$ but need a little retail therapy. But you know, not every product is the bargain it seems to be and here’s a list of what I’ve found to avoid at the Dollar Tree.

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I’ve been fascinated with the whole wood crate trend in the past few months and pinned many-a-pins about unique ways to use them. But it wasn’t until I stumbled upon pics of them made into bookcases did I really start to feel my wheels turning. See, when I moved into my apartment about 15 years ago (I know, I thought I’d be in a house by now), I had to buy the basics, of course, and for some reason, I bought a small bookcase. It worked for a while but then one day while looking at it, I decided it was just too small for the wall as in, not tall enough (my ceilings are about 14 feet high and this bookcase was just over 5 feet). That revelation was about 2 years ago.

Finally when looking at these pictures of bookcases on Pinterest, I decided I wanted to build my own and I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like - it would take up a big part of the wall and not touch the floor; each box would be attached to the wall but still touch each other and look like, well, the finished product below!

So how did I get there? Click after the jump to see more in this picture-heavy post!

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I should have known the 2015 Craft & Hobby Conference & Trade Show (2015 MEGA SHOW) was going to be huge when I saw it took place over the span of 5 days, not the typical 3 that I’m used to when it comes to beauty shows. So to say the least, this show was huge, so much so, that I wasn’t sure the one day I had allotted would be enough to see everything.

The CHA was held at the Anaheim Convention Center from January 9th - 13th and since I’ve decided to expand my site into including more DIY and craft tutorials, the timing was great! I grew up in a household with an artist mother so we were alway creating something with clay or paper or paints and using them in a lot of non-traditional ways, so it's only natural for me to include what I do on the side in this blog. So expect to see more in this cateogry.

Anyway, back to the MEGA SHOW!! The show floor is comprised of 400+ exhibitors and 140+ distributors in the craft and hobby world and they covered the pretty much every category you can think of – paper crafts and scrapbooking, polymer clay, paint/spray paint, yarn, craft organization, cake making/cake making supplies, beads, glues/adhesives, jewelry supplies and many other categories. And they also had exhibitions, special guests like authors and known crafters and some companies had hands-on workshops where you could make your own item using their product. 

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I love most things that have to do with the hair, especially hair tools and hair accessories. When I was young I got really involved in making those ribbon barrettes and my fascination with anything I can stick in the hair has not waned! So consider this a tribute to my DIY ribbon barrettes I used to make. 

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I’ve been a tad obsessed with two things the past few weeks – the Dollar Tree and Pinterest. The DIY Craft category on Pinterest is just loaded with good stuff to try and tips to getting the most out of your craft projects.

And the Dollar Tree … need I elaborate? I’ve probably made about 10 trips to about 5 different stores since Thanksgiving and on one trip I saw these Barbie busts in the toy section that I just had to buy. I didn’t know what I would make with them but I knew I’d think of something.

Then I started seeing more of these, these and these and thought I’ll make those at some point but I bet a Barbie busts would look fab on top of the two glass jars I just picked up at the Dollar Tree!

I knew I already had the glue, paint and embellishments in my crafting box, so all I needed was the time and I had it now between Christmas and New Years. Yes!

So how did they turn out? Click after the jump to see. This is a picture-heavy post!

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Recently I was cleaning out my shopping bag section in the kitchen and while I only keep the really nice thick-papered shopping bags I get, it was time to purge. But purging is really hard when you really like the bag. Take this Lime Crime bag I actually tweeted about here a few months back. I love it but what do I do with it? It’s paper so it’s not really practical for grocery shopping but I didn’t want to get rid of it either. So I stuff it back where it was with some others I couldn’t seem to purge, between the wall and stove.

Enter Pinterest… 

Ms. Darla loves the new Christmas Tree Cone!

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