Craft central...

Living in a one bedroom apartment can be challenging in an organizational sense at the best of times - add to that a husband, two cats and the desire to have a dedicated crafting area and it gets a little out of hand.  Originally, my crafting space was in a corner of our bedroom (which is quite large, so it wasn't such a big deal) but I was constantly having to run out to the living/dining areas so that I could use the dining table to cut fabric, or set up the ironing board in a larger area.  Lucky for me, The Boy is quite an accommodating lad and so I moved my work desk/sewing machine/supplies out into the living room.  This has meant moving my computer and small desk into the bedroom, which isn't ideal, but it takes up less space and gives me a quieter area to work in when I'm writing or blogging.

In addition to taking over more square footage in the living room, I've also taken over the hutch in the dining room, as you can see above.  This had become kind of a catch-all, so I feel good about re-purposing it for something useful and it's helped me to organize my supplies more than I have ever done before.  Oh, and see that old Underwood typewriter?  Someone had left that in the Free Stuff pile at our old building.  Can you believe that?

Fabric all in one spot!

I've also gone so far as to organize the items within the hutch.  You can kind of see a peek of the labeled boxes in the photo below.  Originally, the hutch had awful wooden handles, so I replaced those with the white and black ceramic ones that you can see in the close up.  Easy to do and the knobs were a cheap find at Paboom (great store with locations in Vancouver and Victoria - all sorts of neat things for the home at (generally) very reasonable prices).  The 'Hope' heart was an ornament attached to something else I bought and the metal owl was a gift a fellow blogger sent during a swap I participated in.

My plan is to eventually paint the whole hutch.  I'm not sure what colour yet, but I'm thinking something light - maybe a pale blue or light lemon yellow.  I know some people frown on those who dare to paint wooden furniture but this hutch is neither an antique nor a particularly expensive piece, so I really have no qualms about it.  Plus, I think if it were a lighter colour it would seem less of a hulking beast.  Summer is pretty much over in this neck of the woods, so I may have missed my opportunity to do any outside sanding/painting for this year.  No matter - gives me plenty of time to pick a colour!

Finally, we have a really atrocious photo of my new desk/sewing area set up.  I've still got a little tidying to do and still have my training wheels on when it comes to fully cleaning up after a sewing session.  Having this in the living area is forcing me to be more mindful of that.  My computer and small desk were in this spot and I just left the cork board and other pictures up.  I need to find a more aesthetically pleasing way to deal with the cords, too.  If you've got any suggestions, let me know!

For daydreaming purposes, I have a panorama shot of Melbourne as viewed from Williamstown to stare at and also a large patio window to stare out of.  I should put some plants or something decorative out on that balcony - it's not very inspiring in it's current empty state.  (We have a second balcony that has the bbq, bistro set and plants - how decadent are we with our two balconies!)

To keep me company, I also have a wee Evil Monkey and a tiny Edgar Allen Poe.  You can just seem them perched on the edge of the cork board.  Oh, and that bunting is from The Boy's birthday - which was two weeks ago.  We like to keep the party going around here.

So, that's my new space.  Not that you know what my old space looked like.  I'm hoping this new set up will make crafting a little more streamlined and hopefully that will translate into increased productivity.  I did manage to finish a new quilt last night so things are looking good!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Thanks to the magic of the internet and Mr. Random Number Generator, the winner of the My Memories Suite V. 2.0 is........*drum roll*......

J Baby!


Out of the many, many *ahem* comments received, Miss J is the winner and will now be able to fancy up her wedding photos.  I'm looking forward to seeing what you do!  Miss J, I will be contacting you soon with the details.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by Pro-Craft-Inator and thanks again to MyMemories.com for providing the prize.

Coming up - a look at my new crafting set up and the start of a new baby quilt.  Stay tuned!

Giveaway time...

...finally.  After some technical difficulties, and without further ado, let's get on with the giveaway!

I recently received an email from a rep of mymemories.com asking if I would like to host a giveaway of their digital scrapbook software on my blog.  I'll admit, I've never done any scrapbooking in my life, unless you want to count photo collages made when I was much younger.  I've also never really talked about scrapbooks here on Pro-craft-inate so I was a little surprised that I got the offer (I know I'm not the only one to have been given the opportunity, but the others that I've found seemed like more likely blogs to host the giveaway).

At any rate, I decided to take them up on the offer because I have a boatload of digital photographs gathering virtual dust on my hard drive and because it might be nice to offer up something to my readers who have stuck by my sporadic postings.  I also thought it might be fun to try it out and see if it was something I could get into.

I downloaded my complimentary copy of My Memories Suite and was able to jump right in and create pages without much fuss.  There are a wide range of page templates included in the software, as well as embellishments, so you don't have to buy any 'extras' in order to start building albums.  If you've ever used any kind of photo editing, or painting software, you won't have any trouble navigating this program.  If you've never used that kind of software, you'll still be able to figure out what you're doing very easily.  Really, it's as easy as picking a template and choosing your photos.

Clicking buttons!  It's that easy.

This is the basic screen.  All I did here was pick my template page, add a few photos and that was it.   If there's an embellishment on the page that you don't particularly care for - take it out.  You can customize these as much as you want, or if you're on a creative roll you can start with a blank page and build it from scratch.  You can see the selections on the right - background paper, text, word art, embellishments, etc.

You don't have to stop there, though.  With the My Memories software you can add video and multimedia, hot links, music and narration to the albums you create.  How great is that?  If you build a wedding album, you could add the music from your wedding.  If you were making an album to send to the grandparents, you could add video of the kids, or recorded messages.  Sharing the albums is a snap, too.

There's a theme to my page.  Can you guess what it is?

If you don't find what you're looking for in the template choices that come with the software, there are many, many more at mymemories.com that you can choose from.  Prices range from around two dollars to ten dollars (9.99 was the most expensive I found but I admit I didn't go through all of the hundred + pages of options).  There is also a very good selection of free templates and a 'dollar store'.  Plus, they have a large number of tutorials and galleries to view if you get a little stuck for ideas.

Keep in mind that you don't have to stick with traditional scrapbook sized pages.  You can also re-size and make custom pages, calendars, cards, gift tags, invitations, announcements, etc.  Print them off at home or send them to your favourite photo printer.

All in all, I'd say the My Memories software is reasonably priced (39.97 USD) for what you get, what you can do with it and how easy it is to use.  Having said that, you could get your very own My Memories Suite (download) for free!  All you have to do is leave a comment below.  Tell me what you'd like to create, pop over to mymemories.com and tell me your favourite paper pack, or let me know that you've 'liked' the My Memories page on Facebook and you're in the draw.  Easy peasy, lemon squeasy!  The draw is open until midnight PST on September 22, 2011.  I'll be drawing the lucky winner's name out of a hat (or something like that) on Friday, September 23.

Edited to add:  If you are posting a comment as 'Anonymous', please provide an email address so that I can contact you if you win.

If you don't win, fear not!  mymemories.com are also offering a discount to any of my readers who purchase the My Memories Suite V2 software.  Use the coupon code when you buy the software and you'll get $10 off the software plus a $10 coupon for the store.  The coupon code is: STMMMS88799.  


Be sure to tell your friends about the giveaway and good luck!

A Small Delay...

...in my giveaway due to my overwhelming urge to re-arrange my crafting and blogging spaces.  The moving of furniture and organization of supplies has taken more time than I thought.  Now all I want to do is sit back and enjoy a big ol' glass of Pinot Grigio.

Tomorrow I'll tell you all about the giveaway.  Exciting!

The day after that is The Boy's birthday, so I'll most likely be busy.

The day after that, I'll tell you about my new workspaces and there may even be never-before-revealed photos of Chateau Pro-Craft-inate...well, parts of it anyway.

Completely unrelated.  It's sunny here - is it sunny where you are, too?

A Thank You and a New, Hot Gallery...

First off, I'd like to say a big Thank You to Sara who was kind enough to mention my shop over on her blog, Saige Wisdom.  Sara included my bunting 'Hello' cards as part of her weekly {Friday Finds} post.  It was great to get her message this morning letting me know Kid & Caboodle was one of her 'finds' - who doesn't love a compliment like that?  Pop on over to her blog (click the banner below) and check it out - you'll be glad you did!

Recently, I managed to hang a few things that have been on the floor,  leaning up against the wall.  We won't talk about the pile that is still waiting.  My intention is to slowly build up a little gallery of prints, original works and other handmade goodies.  Let me tell you a little bit about what I've got so far:

If you click on the photo to the left you'll get a better view.  Top left is a fantastic print that I bought at the last Got Craft? market here in Vancouver.  It's titled 'The Kitten's Guide to Facial Hair' and features numerous kitties with moustaches and beards.  Love.  It was made by Kukubee.  Click over and check out their website.  It's the cutest thing EVER.

Top right is a butterfly I cut out of some sheet music and whacked into an Ikea Ribba frame.  I think it needs something more but for now, it lives on the wall!  As those who really know (and love!) me can attest, I have a deeply irrational fear of moths and sadly, this includes the butterfly family.  I love butterflies but I don't want them touching me.  It took all of my will power to enter the butterfly house at the Melbourne Zoo last month and it was not a long visit.  I put on a brave face for my niece but really I wanted to run shrieking from the building.  So!  Paper butterflies safely locked away behind glass are the bugs for me!

Bottom left we have another creation made by moi.  There's a great little store called Urban Source not far from where I live that sells anything and everything the collage or mix media artist (or bored kids!) could want.  They sell off-cuts of all kinds of materials, papers and other items that would otherwise end up in a recycling bin, discarded photographs, scientific slides, etc.  I got some of the papers from there and I scored the Pi cut out that just happened to fit in a frame I had on hand.  We're a bit geeky at my place so it fits right in :)

And last, but in no way least, is a Star Wars themed cross stitch that I made using a pattern I bought on Etsy.  Bombastitch is the place to go for nerdy, quirky stitching fun (although, I see they are currently on vacation and the store is closed for a bit).  I had bought this pattern to make a birthday gift for CC but it stitched up so quickly there was really no excuse not to make one for myself.  I should probably whip one up and send it to George Lucas as well (hint, hint).

Oh, and before I forget, this weekend I will be posting about my first ever giveaway!  Check back on Sunday for the deets.  Those who love scrapbooking will probably be particularly interested but that's the only clue you get.

Playing catch up...

I'm so over due in writing this post that it has definitely jumped over the line from the sublime to the ridiculous.  Anyway, here I am.  Hello!  Did you miss me?

I have a number of things that I need to post about but first and foremost is the brooch swap that I participated in back at the beginning of the summer.  It was hosted and organized by the lovely Susie of Flowerpress fame and was a lot of fun.  The swap partners were all anonymous and were from all over the world.  It was an event on an international scale!


My contribution to the swap was a flower brooch that I made with left over fabric from a quilt I had just finished.  At the time I sent it off to my partner, who lived in New Zealand, she would have been in midst of winter and I thought a little reminder of Spring would be nice.


Having never made a brooch before, it was fun to try something new.  Tucked amongst my various craft supplies was a bottle of 'Stiffy' (great name, eh?) that I had yet to crack open.  I coated the pieces of fabric and then shaped them over a pencil to form the petals.  Once they were dry, I used a fairly large gauge needle and sewed them together.  A bit of cut felt and some beads form the centre and the leaves were sandwiched between the flower and some backing felt.  I let it fully dry for another day or so and then off it went, with a few other bits and bobs, to the Land of the Long White Cloud...once the postal strike had come to an end, that is.


I had seen the brooch that Susie had made in a post on her blog and was instantly, and terribly, jealous of whoever was getting this sweet little bird.  I had seen some of these little guys when I was in Australia in 2006, and spending a weekend away with my Mum and sister at a little cottage in country Victoria.  It was just before my wedding and I was relaxing and going to the spa and taking photos of all the native birds and animals that happened along.  I have really great memories of that time and seeing Susie's brooch reminded me of that.  Lucky duck that I am, this is the brooch that I received in the swap!

Susie also very generously sent me some fabulous fabric of her own design, a gorgeous piece of sun printed fabric, some co-ordinating buttons and length of ric-rac, and a rose print card.  I have all sorts of ideas for using these but I know the Ric-Rac print fabric will at some point find it's way into a quilt (maybe I'll finally make one for me and The Boy!)  Thanks again, Susie!

Isn't he gorgeous?

In other crafty news, I haven't been terribly productive in recent weeks.  A small trip the hospital in July, followed quickly by a fairly last minute trip to Australia meant I wasn't up to, or around, to do any sewing.  Although, that isn't strictly true.  I did nearly drive myself insane trying to finish up 3 small quilts to take with me to Australia.  One was for my Mum for her 70th (!!) birthday, and the other two were for my two nieces.  In my mad rush to get them finished, would you believe I didn't take photos?  True story.  I also didn't take photos of the quilts while I was there.  Not so smart but I was distracted by the cute, wee people.  I'll have to see if I can get some photos sent to me, although knowing my family, I might be waiting until my next trip south.

Red. Delicious.

This has nothing to do the crafting abilities of myself or others, but look at that strawberry!  Perfection.  Grown by The Boy on our third floor balcony, in the middle of large and noisy city.  Imagine what he could do with a farm?  (P.S. If you happen to be giving a farm away, we'd be glad to take it off your hands.)

Look how shiny it is.  I may have to print this photo and hang it up.  It seemed a shame to cut into it but I did and had it with some yoghurt for breakfast.  You know how store bought strawberries often have white hearts in the centre?  Not this bad boy.  Red and juicy all the way through.  There's a lot to be said for growing your own food, or at least some of it.  The best part though, is that The Boy isn't so partial to the berries which means I get to eat them all!

Awwwww!

           

In parting, as my gift to you for being so patient and waiting for a new post, here are some bunnies that I saw recently at the Saanich Fair.  Who wouldn't love a hutch full of these sweet little faces?  (Again, if you're giving away a farm, call me.)