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,

Are We Green Yet?

No, not yet?  Well, I have a little something that can take care of that for ya! It's an Irish Country setting you will fall in love with!  Sounds dreamy right?   Fair warning though, this post is heavy laden with pictures and is only one of many that are likely to bring out the Irish desire in you.

Follow me later today as I join;

  Cuisine Kathleen for her 8th annual St. Patricks Day Blog Crawl and

 Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

It's bright and sunny here in the countryside and we are full of all kinds of greenery bursting out everywhere.  Inside, I've set the table for St. Patricks day using a mix of dishes that I hoped would compliment a few new items I made especially for this year. 

I have to say personally that I think this is one of the prettiest settings I have done so far.  I was amazed when looking back that I have only done two St. Patricks day settings, one here in 2012  and here in 2011 .  My how time flys when you are not blogging.  LOL!

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year to do tablescapes.   I really don't mean to sound so vain but I think the colors and choices I chose for this setting are "so me".  I am so in love with it!

 It all came together so fast after being inspired by the beautiful embroidered napkins that I made.  But before I let you look at them, let me take you through the setting I chose first.

 I decided to use woven oval placemats to give more texture to my country setting.  I think they are so pretty behind my Lenox Butlers Pantry dinner plate.

For the salad plate I chose this melamine floral dish in a lime green.  Who says St. Patricks day has to be all emerald green anyway?  I like the way the shape and color and patterns compliment each other.

Then I decided to top off my stack with these pretty china bowls I inherited from my grandmother.  I chose them because of their color and the florals to give that country feel.

My silverware is stainless Louisiana by Oneida.

I pulled out the tall green hand blown goblets I purchased one year from an antique store that also sells resale items.  I decided to use the foam shamrock thingys from the dollar tree as coasters.  Cute! Cute!

Speaking of foam shamrock thingys, did you see what I did with the sparkly glittery ones?  So easy!  Oh wait, am I teasing you a bit too much?  Oh okay, I'll share the napkins now.  (big grin!)

Here they are!  So sorry for the tease. Haha!  I just can't help but enjoy a little shanigans for St. Pattys day yall.  I did want you to see how I decided to layer another napkin underneath the white Shamrock cutout napkins.  I'll get back to why on that in a bit.  For now let me show you the pretty clover designs that I embroidered myself with my machine.  These four are from a set of 8 different designs.  I just love this designer.  I love how each clover is different from the other.  The color combinations I chose were so cheery and fun.  I  actually enjoyed watching each one stitch out as it was on the machine.  

I think this one might be my most favorite though!

Yes, the shades of green on my napkins are every bit as vibrant as what you see here.   I think they are just so cool!  So now you can also see why I chose some of the dishes I did and the rest of the setting can't you?  I wanted colors that would pop right along side of the napkins.

I chose the checked green napkins to sit behind the white napkins to add a bit more layers of color and texture because of the fringe they had.

I thought the fringed napkins complimented the fringe on my table runner.....

.....which I discovered is from Scotland when I flipped it over while setting the table.  Sweet!

The stars of my centerpiece are the floral arrangement, hurricane candles and few little mischievous leprechauns.

I even spread a bit more greenery around the rest of the kitchen, well just a touch here and there.

All I need to do now is hop on over to the Blog Crawl and pick up a recipe or two for dinner and I'm all set.  I'm sure there will be a few goodies to choose from.  I can hardly wait!

Thank you so much for stopping by today to check out my St. Patricks day tablescape.  I hope you enjoyed the peek.  If you did, I would love to hear from you if you have a moment.  

My tablescape isn't the only green around here.  Outside the weather is warming already and the tree have buds and amongst the yellow pollen there is green poking up everywhere.  I love spring and cannot wait to share some of our yard with you soon.

I hope you all have a great week and a wonderfully 

Happy St. Patricks Day!

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!