My Embroidery and Craft Room AKA My Happy Place

Just last night I was chatting online with another embroiderer who has named her machines.  I commented I haven't done that yet, but I am sure I will eventually.  What I forgot all about was that I may not have named my machines yet but I have named my work room.  Today I'd like to welcome you to "My Happy Place"!

My embroidery room (the Happy Place) is located upstairs and is actually considered one of three bedrooms upstairs.  We have a four bedroom home with the Master downstairs.  As small as this room is it has actually served as a bedroom when the kids were small so the largest room upstairs could be the their playroom.  That was great for a few years and then it got left behind as the boys grew and decided to claim the larger rooms their bedrooms because they didn't want a playroom anymore.  I have used this room as a craft room for some years, but it's always been kind of a cast off place for unwanted furniture and very unorganized.  I tried to cozy it up several years ago when I sold jewelry, some of you may remember that.  But never have I had it so put together that I totally enjoy spending time up here as I do now.  I cannot say enough how much I enjoy this space!

In the overall scheme of posh and pretty rooms this one will not make the mark by far.  But I have been able to set up my room so that its so functional and so calming to my soul.  It's funny how you can sometimes wrestle with that for years with a space isn't it?  One of the things I am most proud of about this room is that I pulled it altogether on a very low budget.  The biggest expenses in this room are my machines, computer and supplies and that's the way I hope to keep it.  I scoured thrift store after thrift store to find extra items to make my workroom function well.  So enough foreshadowing already, let's take a look!

After walking into the room along the longest wall I set up my hooping station.  This is where all thre prep work goes on before the items go on the machine.  The hoops hang on the pegboard when not in use.  I hope to add several different sizes of hoops here eventually so thats why it kinda looks bare now.

This folding counter has been in our garage for so many years.  We actually used it to store the cat food inside.  My husband emptied it out and was about to take it to the dump when I stopped him and begged to let me take it upstairs.  It was in such a state that he didn't want it in the house.  I told let me do my magic and then you decide.  So I washed and scoured it clean then sanded it down, repainted it, added new knobs (actually old knobs we had around the house) and let's just say he had to eat his words.  He liked it so much he tried to claim it for his workshop...Not happening ladies!  LOL!

And because I wanted a girly girly room I had to add a little scented wax melter pot.  Oh, it's sets me in such a good mood!

This small cabinet I've had for awhile now.  It holds wrapping paper, gifts bags, wrapping ribbon and now also serves as a stand for my small ironing board.  I found both the ironing board and the iron at our local thrift store for a whopping total of $4.00, at $2.00 a piece.  Seriously, I was so thrilled because I quickly realized I did not enjoy running up and down the stairs to where I keep my big ironing board and iron to do the ironing I need to do with the embroidery.  That was a big issue.

Further into the room is my new computer.  I knew I would need a computer for my software but I hadn't planned on getting one quite so soon.  I had an old laptop that had crashed years ago and my son revived it for me.  I was using that but it took forever to load and was struggling to keep up.  So my husband surprised me and said let's get you a new one.  Whoohoo!  He wanted me to get another laptop but I already have a chromebook I use for surfing the net so I didn't want that.  I wanted something that would sit here and stay here.  This is command central.  A few weeks ago I decided I needed a computer chair and found this one at another thrift store.  I paid $6.00 for it.  They actually had several to choose from.  This one was in great shape no tears, stains or problems that I could see, and smelled fine, I did clean the upholstery after getting it home and the best thing about it is that is super comfortable.

Next to the computer on the bookshelves is my old Singer sewing machine.  I even have it plugged in and the presser foot right in front of the shelves so I can use it for straight stitching if I need too.

The shelves below may look like a mess to you but I really do have a system set up here.

Wrapping the corner of this wall is my large green desk where all the magic happens.  We inherited this desk from my FIL years ago and I have been in love with it ever since.  The lime green is the original color and there is a matching chair.  I don't use it in here because it's not quite as comfortable as this brown chair (another inherited chair from my FIL) and I like the way this chair glides across the carpet. 

Currently I have decided to use several flip lidded boxes to house my threads.  These are my new threads I keep on the desk. I've started investing in better quality thread now that I know how much I enjoy embroidery and want to keep my machine in good shape.  I have three long moulding plate shelves that I found for $1.00 each at the thrift store.  I've already repainted them and was going to peg them out to use to hold my thread on the wall but I've kinda shyed away from that as I'm thinking I might want to keep the threads covered from dust.  We shall see though.

Of course I had to decorate the space behind my machine ya know.  I found these frames at the thrift store, yep, really and stitched out the designs myself.  They are cute little sewing and scissors designs with embroidery words all around the background.

In the small little dormer nook are a few more functionary items.

We finally finished up this easy conversion of a shoe rack to a ribbon holder.  I had previously used this for wrapping paper, that was a mess because it kept falling off.  I saw something similar to this on pinterest on something else.  I knew it would be perfect for this.  Now I just need some more cute ribbon right?

The dollar tree really came through for me this year with these adorable mix of storage baskets in a color that I just couldn't resist.

I was storing my rolls of ribbons in this holder and my paints in a box.  One day I also saw something similar to this on Pinterest with the paint bottoms showing the colors and suddenly it clicked.   Sometimes you just need to see how to reuse what you already have.

One of my other favorite spots in this room is this little corner.  I have my rocker here next to these shelves that hold an assortment of doodad craft items and several of my books.  

I even set up a special place for Maizey so she would know she is always welcome up here with me too.  She doesn't use her bed too much though because she likes being upstairs with me but prefers one of the bedrooms that she can get on the bed to see out the window instead.  Silly girl!

Last night I worked on this dishtowel and thought you might enjoy seeing this one.  While this design is a common one, it's not really one that I bought.  I have learned to use my software a little more now and created this by using different font's that I have and I pulled the spoon from another design that I did buy.  I love what I am learning to do more and more everyday.  It's so fun!

It is such a joy to be able to be home and to be blessed with a room to call my own to be creative in.  If you are a creative person I can't stress this enough how gratifying it feels to your entire health.   It's even more enjoyable now that it finally feels like me.    I have a hard time getting other stuff done now because I just want to get back to my happy place all the time. 

Well, that's the end of the tour my friends.  I hope you liked it.  Mostly, I hope you will also see that you don't have to spend a lot to make your space enjoyable either.  You can do it, even on a budget!!!

I'm sharing this space with Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Hugs and Waves,

Easter Prepping and Embroidery

Good Morning!

I hope all of you had a great weekend.  It's was wonderfully busy and enjoyable here at The Decorative Dreamers house.   I certainly do not have all things in order around here lately, seems my projects have been crazily scattered about lately.   I do have a few finished projects though that I'd like to share with you.  

Near the end of last week I finished up a pretty darn cute and very inexpensive wreath for the front door for Easter.  You may recall I have previously used my Egg wreath on the front door, (you can click here to see the link for it).  Well, it was getting a bit worn and I wanted something a little different.  I think I will relocate it somewhere else inside this year.  So, I began to think about how to come up with a new wreath for the front door on a budget.  

 Now don't get me wrong, I love big beautiful gorgeous wreaths for the front door especially.  In fact if I wasn't trying to be so thrifty I'd most likely have one.  There is nothing more welcoming to me then a stunning wreath on the door. 

 To be frank I just don't have the budget for it this year and I think I want to spend a little more for my summer wreath instead.  That means my Easter and Spring wreath had to take the cut, I'm still very happy with my results though and very happy that Target made it so easy.  I started with these precut felt bunnies and carrots from the one dollar section.  I bought two packages of each and ended up only using one package each.

I spray painted an old grape vine wreath that I had that was also starting to have seen it's better days.  Those old vine wreaths can get pretty dark.  I chose the same mint spray that I used on my washstand.  Then I dug through my faux flowers and found some ferns and a few white babys breath maybe?  This year because of all the winds we have been having I hot glued everything down really good.  I don't want scattered bunnies and carrots everywhere.  LOL!

 The pink Burlap ribbon was actually a dollar tree find back in December.  There was one pink and one turquoise spool in the ribbon bins among the Christmas ribbons and I immediately grabbed it right up.  What a find!  I guess it was left over from the previous season, IDK.  I added this jute ribbon that I saved from a gift I received at Christmas this year.  It looks a lot like the ribbon I used on some of my trees.  I thought it was so cute on the present and since it was so long I saved it.  Looks great here mixed with the pink burlap.

 The little felt carrots are actually little pockets.  I added the jute bows and stuffed each one with the small white flowers.  Wouldn't it be quite pretty with some really nice flowers inside?   Oh well, maybe I will score some after season deals for next year, I really do love it as it is though!

These little bunny silhouettes were just so adorable, I knew immediately how I wanted them to be when I saw them.  As you can see I chose not to use the blue bunnies that were in the pack and just stuck with the more neutral white and grey bunnies.  They also received little jute bows.  So cute!  I think I am addicted to little jute bows.  I love them everywhere! I also recycled the chalkboard gift tag from Christmas for my Happy Easter sign.  Very simple, but very cute!

I spent part of the weekend on my embroidery machine.  I decided to make a few gifts for the little people in my life after seeing so many online in one of my embroidery groups.   I just had to get on board the bunny bandwagon and embroider up a few little presents for my nieces and nephews children.  These small little bunnies were a bargain at Walmart and will make quite the cute little basket stuffers for them.  This was the first time I've ever embroidered a bunny.  I have to say, It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be and I am pretty proud of myself .  I think they turned out really well.  

While I was at Walmart getting the bunnies, I came across these very inexpensive floppy hats and decided to embroider a few bonnets as well.  Actually, I am very sure these will not end up as Easter bonnets but will be summer hats for my family.  I knew at the price they were at Walmart I had better get them right away.  They were only $3.87 each I think, or something weird like that.  I made one for myself and my sons girlfriend and my mother.  The small pink and purple hats are for my nieces daughters.  I found them at the dollar tree.  What a deal!

I got a little fun with the embroidery on my mothers hat.  I decided for her hat I was going to put MiMi on it instead of her initials.  She loves being called MiMi and would prefer it then her initials any day.  I typed MiMi into my software and was skimming though my fonts when I accidentally clicked on this one.  It is a true Monogram font (that is set up for 3 letters) and is called a scalloped circle with the chevron fill.  Since there were more then three letters the font started a new half circle and this is what popped up.  Well, I actually did some adjusting on the letters and shape by elongating them but you get the picture.  I saw a fish and knew this would be perfect for my mother since she lives on the lake.  I she will most likely use her hat at home since she doesn't travel much anymore.  I added a few bubbles and the eye and it was done.  

Now that's what I call fun and adorable.  She will love it!

In addition to the bunnys and bonnets I also embroidered a few other spring items for the house.  This little baby duck and floral basket is just so precious.  This design is embroidered on a printed flour sack towel from Target.  I am really enjoying embroidering on hand towels of all types.  They are very easy to do and so enjoyable.  This design did take quite a bit more time though due to all the different thread changes with the all the colors of the design.  Whew, it really was a lot of time but so worth it to me!

I also really enjoy making quick little embroidery projects too.  I love embroidering on burlap and finding different places and way to use it.  I liked the way this clothesline design looked like it was hanging and wanted to try and keep the same idea so I simply made it to be a banner to hang in my half bath.  I added the word Hello to the design to give it a bit more meaning.

I still have so many other projects I want to get to on the embroidery machine but I have to stop every now and then and get back to living.  It's so fun though!

Sunday, I put everything aside and spent some time with the Mr. and we went out on the boat.  I will try to share some of that pretty soon as well.  Thank you so much for checking in today, I hope you enjoyed your look into my world.

Wishing you all a great start to the week ahead,

Hugs and Waves!

Sharing some Love with Lavender

Hi Friends!  Since it's almost Valentines day I thought I'd share a little LOVE with you today and tell you about a few of my favorite Lavender things.   Do you like lavender?  Of course you do and I sure do too!   I love almost anything to do with Lavender.  I absolutely love everything about it!  I love the color, the aroma, the oil, the plant, the blooms, the seeds, and the texture to name just a few.   All of those previously mentioned qualities contribute to the whole calming and relaxing enjoyment I get from lavender.  Just the word alone sets my spirit right.

Somehow at some point in time I also began to associate Valentines with lavender. Maybe because when I was young I remember seeing Valentines cards with lavender on them.  Here's one I found today that is so cute!

source: Stylepinner.com

Besides being in love with the color, I really love, love, love the plant itself.  Growing Lavender here in the SC red clay that I have at my house is challenging to say the least.

 Some how I have managed to get one lone plant to survive and thrive.  This plant and another one I had in some pots on the deck for a few years before I put them in the ground.  This one loved the transfer and has thrived very well doubling in it's size.  The other one not so much.  I have tried two more additional plantings with no luck again.   I'm not giving up yet though, I'll just have to keep amending the soil until I get it right.

 I love the way Lavender looks and feels.  I especially love that you can smell the Lavender on your hands after you touch it and run your fingers though the leaves of the plant.  I have Rosemary that is the same way and smells so good on your hands.

I'm sorry I don't have any blooms to share with you today but its not quite the right season for that yet.  I can tell you if this beauty blooms like it did last year it will be stunning.    I promise to come back and share this plants beautiful purple flowers when it  does bloom.

Now if you really want to fall in love with lavender, and surely you must, because your here reading this and because I really want you too, okay?  OK!  You absolutely must try what I wanted to share most with you today.  Here's my secret for indulging in lavender.

You absolutely positively must try these lavender bath salts.  These are by far the best ever hands down!   I received these as a gift one year from my son and his girlfriend and I have been spoiled ever since.  In fact there is only one store nearby that carries it and I have to drive a little further to get this.  This brand is the only one I buy!  Aura Cacia has the best lavender aroma ever combined in a mineral salt that will sooth your spirit as well as your muscles. I've shared this brand on my blog once before in a previous post about my bathroom retreat here.   I love that it is not a bubble bath and I can turn on my jacuzzi tub without worry about bubbles overflowing everywhere.  It truly is a whirlpool of aromatherapy and a spa like indulgence right at home. 

This year I added a little something to my lavender indulgence.  I must have spent a whole afternoon searching for just the right scent of lavender soap to add to a Christmas present for my groomer.  She of course got the bath salt and some hand lotion but I also wanted her to have some soap.  I did find several wonderful homemade and organic type soaps but they were quite expensive and usually sold by the single bar only.  I kept searching and when I was at TJ Maxx I hit the mother-load of Lavender soaps.   I'm not kidding when I say I literally sat down on the floor and smelled almost every brand there was until I found what smelled like authentic lavender to me. I even had another customer who also sat down and started smelling soaps with me.  Too funny! I knew I found what I was looking for when I came across these in a beautiful box of 6.  The brand is Fiorentino, and is made in Italy. What I liked about these other then the smell was that you get more then one bar and they are just the right size.  Not too big and not too small.   I love that I can use these in the guest bath for company or in my master bath without some great big honking bar of soap that sits there forever and looses it's smell.  It feels very clean and much like a milled soap to me.  I love the cute little embossed fleur-de-lis on it.  It's so enjoyable when I go into our half bath to wash my hands that I feel like I've just given myself a little treat.  Try it, it's that good!

This morning I added more lovely lavender to the half bath with a newly embroidered hand towel.  I found this cute design online at Emblibrary and knew instantly where I would use it.  This is the last of the inexpensive hand towels I picked up to practice on from Walmart.  I think this turned out beautifully!  I do believe I am now ready to search for a few nice quality hand towels to embroider on.  I may have to make another one and do a set for in here though.  Now that I look at the picture, it looks a little lonely on that bar by itself, don't you think?

Well if I haven't convinced you yet of all the virtues of indulging in authentic lavender I've got one more small pleasure you could try.  Maybe you don't think you have a green thumb or are like me in an area where lavender is a real challenge to grow.  No problem, you could go faux!  

Last year I shared a post about this pretty little faux Lavender plant that I purchased at Michaels.  I shared it with you when I was showing what was the very beginning of my foyer makeover in a post titled Frenchy Foyer (click here to see).  These had just the right gathered look of fresh lavender.   I also picked up a few more different faux styles to scatter around the house.  I would love to find some dried Lavender that is not too expensive and made well to stay in tact. I have sometimes seen that the dried Lavender blooms tend to fall off easily if not handled carefully.  If you are good at being careful (which obviously I'm not) you may want to search for a dried version of lavender in a wreath or pretty bouquet.  I promise you won't regret it. There is something so enchanting and so old worldly about looking at lavender you can't help but fall under it's spell.

Thank you so much for popping by today and I hope you all are having a very cozy and relaxing weekend.  I would love to hear about your love for lavender or anything about it you'd like to share.    Wishing you all a very happy Valentines day!

Hugs and Waves!

Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday

Which do you prefer?  We claimed both at our home!  This year was just a little bit different at our house.   I decided to step up our celebrations a bit and attempt to cook an actual New Orleans style meal to enjoy with my tablescape. My dinner menu of choice was Jambalaya and California Dreaming King Cake. It may not sound like much for a celebration but for the two of us it was just enough.  We definitely were feeling like it was Fat Tuesday.

Our large round family table is in the den now and is where we enjoy most of our meals these days.  I decided this would be the perfect spot to set up my Mardi Gras tablescape.

This year I stayed focused on using dishes I knew we would use with the exception of a few filler plates.  It's okay to have some just for show, especially for Mardi Gras.   I wanted to try and stay close to the traditional Mardi Gras colors, though I ended up with quite a variation in the shades. I didn't have many choices in green, gold, and purple dishware.  I also didn't want to use anything I have used in my two previous Mardi Gras tablescapes.  I will reshare those again at the end of this post, or you can revisit those posts here, 2014 and here 2012.

  My charger plate (well that's what I'm calling it) is really a terracotta dinner plate that was set just for show.  I chose this to give the whole place setting a bit more depth and width.  I used the green in keeping with Mardi Gras colors and because it complimented the salad bowls I knew we would use for dinner.   Note to self: You really need some gold chargers!

 My next choice for the stack was these square melamine salad plates.  These were to be our dessert plates for later.  They  were also chosen to bring in purple, another one of the traditional colors of Mardi Gras.  I have some lovely small round deep purple salad plates I really wanted to use but they just didn't fit with the rest of the stack.  Maybe I will share them in another tablescape soon!

 This was the dish that was so important for me to keep and the very one I worked everything around. It is a terracotta salad dish that closely resembles a bowl.  I love this dish!  It is perfect for meals like the one we had tonight when you need something in between a bowl and plate.

Finally I topped the stack of dinnerware off with a yellow bowl.  This was to catch all the shrimp tails that we had to peel off ourselves.  I used frozen shrimp for this dish and I while I saw that is was indeed peeled and deveined (time saver) the tails were still on.

Of course I had to throw in a little Mardi Gras bling to spice up the setting.

 Sparkly and bubbly silver stainless flatware and a gold rimmed wine glass brought in a few more festive touches of silver and gold.

 The most exciting elements used for this table for me were the napkins that I embroidered myself just for the occassion.  I decided they looked so cute they even deserved a combination of three napkin rings for a big bling factor.

 This design was such a cute design I found online that I knew I had to try it.  I did some slight editing as it was supposed to have the word Royalty underneath Mardi Gras.  I didn't want that, nor did I want to use the colors that were recommended which brought in Royal blue and Red.  If there are any native New Orleans families out there peeking in, I do apologize for changing up the traditional royalty colors.  I really wanted to keep this design a little more simple yet still have a bit of  bling with the crowns.

For my centerpiece I used some faux flowers I already had.  I just pulled together all the different colors I needed and it was done.  I only added a few beads, again trying to keep it more simple.  I know it's quite odd to keep things more simple for Mardi Gras but that's the way I was rolling this year. 

I didn't want to go out and purchase anything for this setting.  I already had all of these on elements on hand and I really wanted to just focus on the dinner this year.

...And focus on it I did!

Let me tell you the Jambalaya I made was soooo good!!!!  It had all the right ingredients in it to make it one of my newest favorite dishes.  I used a recipe I found here at Gimme Some Oven, with just a few slight adjustments.  I am all about saving time so when I found a frozen package of celery, bell peppers, and onions I was very happy.  I also grabbed a bag of frozen Tyson chicken chunks.  I know it's processed and maybe not the best choice but I really, really, hate to cut up chicken.  It's strange but it just bothers me.  I like to cook fresh chicken, love it, just hate to "cut" fresh chicken.  I also used frozen shrimp because the local shrimp around here is just not the best this time of year.  Remember I was going for quick and easy.  I did use almost all the other suggested ingredients and let me just say it was the bomb!

 Speaking of bombs!  This was supposed to have been the California Dreaming King Cake.   Go ahead, you can laugh out loud now.  I did.   Unfortunately, I didn't grease my bundt pan well enough and it stuck and stuck and stuck.  I tried very carefully to get it out but it would not budge.  Then I finally just gave up, dug it out and preceded to dump it all in a bowl.  It was pretty good even though it looks absolutely awful!  Hey, I know, why in the world would I show you this?  Well, I'm all about keeping it real here.  You win some, you loose some!

I took this picture with such high hopes, thinking I would have a lovely cake to show you too.   You can find the recipe I used for the cake here at The Painted Apron.  This recipe called for olive oil and wine so I just had to give it a try.  I wanted to try this cake since I had some Chardonnay on hand given to me from a friend.   I'm not really a Chardonnay kinda gal.  I like White Zin so this was to be perfect time to open it and use it.  No, I didn't drown my sorrows in it later either, though the thought did cross my mind.

Thank you so much for stepping into my home today for a visit and a chat.  I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope you'll come back again sometime.

Mardi Gras 2014

Mardi Gras 2012


  Tablescapes are just one more of the many things I enjoy sharing with all of you and I also plan to share this post with a few others at;

Tablescape Thursday

This is an action packed week for us.  We've got a 2 year old birthday coming up for this little one,

 and then a Valentines weekend too.  Whew, Good Times! 

Hope you had a wonderful Mardi Gras,

Hugs and Waves!