The Sewing Mom

There was a time when I did quite a bit of scrapbooking. My scrapbooking led me to begin making my own cards and stationery. I really enjoyed doing this and hand crafted my own Christmas cards several years in a row. I have even been known to give packages of my handmade everyday cards as gifts.

Unfortunately, since we moved, I haven’t found any of my scrapbooking and card making supplies. I know they are here, I just don’t know which box they are in. We still have a number of boxes in our garage that I need to empty, so all of my supplies must be out there. I really do need to find them, there are several items I use regularly that I’ve been missing, like my full size paper cutter.

Since I haven’t been making cards, I also don’t seem to have any stationery to write letters to my friends back in Illinois. Plain paper just won’t cut the mustard. They know me too well and know that I love to craft. I would disappoint them as well as myself if I used plain old paper!

Because I am in need, I found Bumpercards Personalized Stationery on the web and they specialize in custom handmade stationery. They have quite a bit to choose from and I can have it personalized, so I think I’ll look into placing an order. You might want to check them out as well.

Tags: bumpercards.com, personalized stationery, staionery

My daughter has never had a proper dresser. In our previous home, I rebuilt the inside of her closet with double rods and a ton of shelving. This allowed her to hang up most of her clothing and all her pajamas and under garments were folded on shelves. I also, someplace in time, had purchased a cardboard, 4 drawer, storage box that she used for her socks and things.

Since moving, I haven’t done anything with her new closet and she still doesn’t have a dresser. Her current closet has the typical one rod and one shelf with a few hooks along one wall. All of her pajamas and sweatshirts are on the floor and her little cardboard storage box has seen better days. She informed me that she didn’t want a dresser in her room as it would take up valuable space, she wanted one to go inside of her closet. Okay, that meant I could look for anything, as long as it would fit, and it didn’t have to match her bedroom furniture.S

I’ve been on the dresser hunt since this past April. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on something that was going to be put inside her closet, but everything I was finding that was decent was $175 and up. I really didn’t want to spend that much. Then, it happened, I got lucky.

Last week, I was wondering through an antique store that I’ve been in several times before, while my daughter was at her guitar lesson. The first thing I saw was a tall, narrow, 6 drawer, upright lingerie chest of drawers. It was priced at $125. The hardware on it was a bit more decorative than I would’ve liked, but considering it would be going inside her closet, I didn’t think it mattered so much. Besides, we could always change the hardware.

While still considering that dresser, I continued browsing the store and couldn’t believe it when I ran across a simple, very basic, 5 drawer chest of drawers that was perfect for our purpose. It was priced at $79 and to my amazement, had a sale sign on it and was marked down to $59! I knew right away that I had to have it, unfortunately, I was driving our small car, there was no way I could get it home.

The next day I traded vehicles with my husband and drove our van back to the antique store, where I quickly paid and loaded that dresser up to bring home. My daughter saw it and was not impressed, mainly because it was green. That’s right, it had been painted green. I told her not to worry, that was an easy fix. I found the remains of the paint I had painted my sewing room with and gave it 3 coats of an off white. I have to say, it looks so much better!

Last night, I lined the drawers and it is now ready to be moved into her closet and put to use. The next thing to do will be to redo her closet, giving her double rods and at least one more shelf. It will be nice for my daughter to not have to have her clothes on the floor.

I had all ready started painting when I realized I hadn’t taken a “before” shot, so my daughter snapped this for me and I snapped the after shot.

Tags: storage, tackle it Tuesday