Did you know once a month in Salem I host a Community Craft Night that is free and open to the public? I tote all my supplies from the studio, stuffing my decoupaged suitcases full of crafty goodness to share with others. All ages are welcome and I love seeing new faces. So if you are looking for something to do on the Fourth Thursday of the month, come on down to Clockworks Cafe (6-8) for a magical night of crafts. I can’t wait to see what you create!

There is a black and white version that you’ll use as your canvas and the color version to use as reference. Don’t like the colors I picked? No problem, just substitute your favorite color.

These took a couple of hours to create…surely there must be a faster way to make these but please feel free to share with family and friends. That way I’ll know the hours I spent were put to good use. If you like these I will continue to make more!

Here’s the links to The Tree of Life paint by numbers:

Here are the links to simple “The Artist” paint by numbers:

If George Clooney is more of your style check out this paint by number.

Come get crafty at Community Craft Night at Clockworks Cafe! This month we will be making magazine transfer bookmarks. I’ll host the event bringing my supplies and the Culture Shock Community Project sponsors these each month. Supplies provided but feel free to bring a magazine you don’t mind sharing.

Thursday February 16
6:00pm until 8:00pm
Clockworks Cafe & Cultural Center
241 Commercial St NE, Salem, OR 97301
http://www.clockworkscafe.com

I mustache you a question… Will you be my Valentine?

This was so simple to do. I started by purchasing black felt with a sticker back. I cut out a mustache and asked my kids to pose so I could get pictures. I then designed the valentine so that they could be 2up on a standard photo size. I like doing that since it saves money and I don’t have to mess with printing them up myself and instead just send them to a 1 hour photo lab. Then I cut out a zillion mustaches, my hand cramps, I whine a bit and then keep cutting. After the mustaches are cut I secure a mustache to each valentine with a glue dot. Pretty easy stuff.

I got this clever idea off of Pinterest. If you haven’t been to Pinterest before dear reader, let me tell you what you are missing. It’s a bit like window shopping on the internet. With delicious images of all sorts, you’ll be able to make your own virtual idea board, create categories to organize them, and check out what your best buddies tastes and styles are. I’ve even recruited my hubby to be a Pinterest user and he was sweet enough to create a category of photos that remind him of me. Now isn’t that romantic? Anyway, check it out if you haven’t done so already. And be sure to add me to your board “Jessica Ramey” and I’ll add you too. Just leave your contact info in the comments. If you need an invite to Pinterest, I’ll send one your way. Happy pinning!

I love making handmade birthday gifts. They don’t have to be expensive but the time and the thought always means a lot to friends and family (well most of them ) So when my sweet book-loving friend had a birthday coming up I pulled out my embroidery floss and a blank cross stitch bookmark and got to work.

What are your favorite gifts to make?

Mixing a childhood favorite of mine and the always charming George Clooney, I’ve created “The Descendants” paint by number for your crafty pleasure. Simply download and print onto your favorite paper. Then color or paint to your heart’s content. May you find magic when you paint the twinkle of Clooney’s eyes, or stroke his supple lips, or ….well I’m getting a bit carried away aren’t I?

I hope you enjoy a little bit of DIY Clooney and happy crafting!

To use, click on each image to open a larger view. Then left click, “save image as” to save to your computer. These would make really great tags, labels or cards.

Enjoy your crafting time, Valentine!

Before	After

We knew we’d need to make over the bathroom eventually. The laminate cabinet doors were cracking and exposing the mdf middle to water. The vinyl floors were looking shabby and almond toilet needed too much babying (ie plunging). The story began with the flooring. Since we were laying down new flooring on the first floor, we decided to include the first floor bathroom as well.

It kind of starts like the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. To my husband’s dismay, he knows this tale too well. If you have to lay down a new floor, then you’ll have to remove the toilet. And if you have to remove the toilet, you might as well replace it. And if you replace the toilet then you might as well paint the cabinets to match….and it keeps going and going until you and your family are exhausted, the rest of the house is a wreck and eventually, you have a well functioning, good looking room (and you overlook the rest of the mess).

But in my defense I did the majority of the work, saved lots of money and am thrilled with the outcome. So let me share this tale with you step by DIY step.

Here’s a picture of what the bathroom looked like before.

80′s Almond

And here are a couple pictures of the water damaged cabinets.

Floors

Like I said it all started with the floors. And they were the easiest fix. TrafficMaster Allure flooring was our flooring of choice. We put this everywhere on the first floor. We absolutely love it! Not only does it handle water, it’s a breeze to put down. And it’s affordable. For the bathroom I followed the manufacture’s instructions and laid it down directly on the old vinyl. It goes down without a pad, without glue and lays down in easy to manage planks. You don’t even need a saw to cut this stuff but it is durable. Since it was a little room it took less than two boxes to transform the room. I made sure to caulk around the edges where the toilet and tub were. It looked so much better!

Toilet

At Home Depot we found this Glacier Bay Dual-Flush Toilet. I know, I know, you’re thinking a dual-flush toilet sounds fancy. And you’re thinking your going to pay a premium for such energy savings…but you won’t. Nope this toilet was less than $100. But let me give you a few tips. Don’t get the flange screws mixed up with the tank screws, like we did. Or you will have to buy another wax seal and start over again (like we did). The directions are really kind of crummy for this toilet. They are small and don’t give much detail or description so it’s easy to spend more time than necessary to decipher the code. But now that it’s in we love it!

Cabinet
After looking at the homestores and craigslist for a cabinet replacement, I noticed the cabinet size was not standard. I thought maybe I could repurpose an old sideboard to become the cabinet but then worried that the exposed wood wouldn’t be too practical. So I decided to repurpose what I had. That meant no waste and little expense.

First I started by taking the doors off the hinges…simple. I purchased ¼ by 2 inch lattice stripes from the hardware store and cut them to fit around the sides of the doors. This solution not only hid the water damaged cracks but also make the doors look shaker style fitting in better with our 1920s home. After nailing those down I added wood filler to the sides, making sure to seal any cracks. I then sanded, primed with Zinsser Primer, Stain blocker, Bond Coat, sanded and primed again. I added on a couple of coats of paint, waited for it to dry and shazam, I put the doors on again. I was worried that the paint would have a hard time sticking to the laminate but it’s working really well so far. I even tried scratching it and nope, the paint wouldn’t come off at all. For the final touch I added antiqued silver knobs that matched the existing hardware in the room. Don’t you think it looks tons better?

Walls, Molding, and Mirror

For the walls I wanted wood wainscoting, however there were a few drawbacks to this. One, I don’t have a table saw. Two I wanted to be able to do it myself without someone’s help and Three, wainscoting is rather expensive. I found a solution. Lowes offered wallpaper that looks like wainscoting. So I simply removed the icky rubber molding and slapped up the wallpaper and painted it. I finished it off with a chair rail molding at the top and baseboard molding at the bottom. So at a fraction of the price of real wood wainscoting I was able to pull off the look in true DIY fashion.

For the rest of the walls I used left over paint from our basement. It’s a nice grayish blue and feels really clean and calming.

I also took down the huge mirror that every builder puts up and replaced it with something basic yet pretty. The oval mirror was purchased at Home Depot for less than $40.

Vintage Sheet Shower Curtain

The last project for the bathroom was to make a shower curtain. I wanted something light and made of fabric and as always budget friendly. I pulled out my stash of vintage sheets as well as my trusty sewing machine and got to work making one. It was a simple project. I started by laying out the old shower curtain to get the dimensions. I ripped the sheet to size with added seam allowance, stitched up the sides and sewed button holds where I wanted the shower rings to go. Here it is.

Here are some more pictures of the finished bathroom. What do you think?

For the Home

This fun mobile is made from vintage sheet swatches. Made by Jamie of Sew She Sews, this mobile will brighten up any dark corner in your home.

Ruffles and vintage sheets? And look at the dresser. I am speachless! Check out fun tutorial from Melissa at Under Construction Blog.

And you must look at these vintage sheet projects by Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter.

Vintage Sheet Wall Art

Vintage Sheet Quilt and pillow

And this magical creation! Well done Amy. Now I know how you got your last name!

Or pitch a tent with this tutorial from Rubyellen of Cakies!

And don’t forget the napkins by Kirsten Gentry at Kojo Designs and this tutorial.

Fancy Frocks

I made these pillowcase dresses for my daughter and her friend on twin day at school.Check out the easy tutorial here.

Check out these fabulous dresses from Cindy of Cation Designs.  She is a high school science teacher by day, and whips us fancy frocks out of vintage sewing patterns and thrifted sheets in the evenings.

I love the elegance of this Nouveau Party Dress

And check out this fabulous Retro Star Wars Dress. Amazing!

Jessica of Running with Scissors made this lovely maxi dress. Made with a $2 vintage sheet, Jessica shares her pattern here.

Look at this sweet nightgown made by Virginia of Gingercake. She was kind enough to share a tutorial pdf for free here.

Enough eye candy for you? Who knew vintage sheets could be so versatile?

I’m hoping to make it much larger, and if it keeps snowing, surely I will succeed.

Here’s a video tutorial on how to make crocheted rag rugs. The video tutorial uses t-shirts, which I intend to use for my sons rug. But you can also use vintage sheets or any other fabric you have laying around.

If you don’t have have the time or fear you dont have the skills to make a rag rug, you can also purchase one from American Recycle. The owner, Sally Lange has been making fabulous, earth-friendly rugs for years and they are so lovely. Plus she is a Salem Etsy Team member and a wonderful lady.

Well, back to work I go, crocheting this rug. Thanks for stopping by and feel free to send me some of pictures of your favorite rag rugs.