Weekly School Summary - ECC Week 1 (Aug. 24–26)

 

We had everything mostly ready, so we decided to just start school! The kids were too excited to wait any longer. (Really!) I think part of the excitement was that we hadn't let them into the schoolroom for the past 3 weeks while I decorated, stocked, and finished things off.
We knew they'd need time in the room to check it out and explore before we had a real school day so we had the grand reveal on Sunday afternoon.

They had fun checking out their fresh school supplies, personalized spaces, and different resources in our room.

Wednesday morning came and they could barely contain themselves they were so excited to start. (I know I've just used the word excited way too many times, but there is no other way to describe how happy they were.) After I took their 'coming down the hallway' pictures (like we do on Christmas morning), I had them start their morning chores.
Now with them being home all the time, I know full well the house will get dirtier and more untidy more often. So I made a teamwork chart that we'll follow each day for our chore time. Anybody can pitch in (even Mom—maybe) to do our daily tasks or jobs that we'll tackle once a week. They, in their hyper excitement, raced to do the chores so we could start school! That's never happened before!

After our morning tasks and hygiene were taken care of, we headed into the schoolroom.
The day overall went really well. It took a little longer than I was thinking, but since it was our first day, we spent time explaining the process of how we'll do things each day, where to put finished papers that need to be checked by mom, and how to use the work schedule and boxes that we had set up.
 

Tenor completed his typing, math, and reading rather quickly.
Soprano did really well with her math and reading and then had a little difficulty with SOS Spanish. I think a few more lessons will help her understand how the program works. She giggled a lot at the story that was read. (La niña sees la rata. La niña says, "Eek!" La rata says, "Eek!")

After their individual work, we jumped into our first day of MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures. They liked filling out their passport applications but Tenor really wanted his right away. I told him government bureaucracy takes time. They also really liked the Wee Sing song that we listened to. Soprano is in 2nd grade so she's using The Complete Book of Animals and completed 2 of the farm animals worksheets.

After a quick break for lunch, we came back to Language Arts for both and handwriting for Tenor. After, they played outside for awhile and then school was done! I think we did Day 1 rather well. (Going to Olive Garden for dinner to celebrate our first day was just a bonus!)

Day 2 started with a repeat of chore time excitement. We started with our pledges and prayer and then into individual work. Spanish, math, and reading all went pretty well.
Then, we worked together on ECC. The younglings enjoyed creating their John 3:16 posters. I found an idea online where they color copied a few pages from Children of the World to use for the posters. So I followed suit, and they had fun choosing pictures to include on their posters. We used letter size cardstock, so that we can include them in their ECC binders.

After they made good progress on their posters, we had a quick lunch and then started our Maps and Globes project. They did well to draw continents on their clementines, then I helped get the peeling started. Helpful tip: Use a Sharpie to draw and not washable markers. We had some serious marker bleeding going on which made the final examination a little difficult. The kids got the point though.

 

Tenor's (North and South America)

 
Soprano got the equator down pretty well. The rest was a little... um... sketchy. :)

 
Mom's (Asia... sort of)

We finished up the day with a PA history worksheet, language arts, and outdoor activity. The whole school day only took 3 hours.

Day 3 (and the last of our first week), we had another great chore time today. I'm not sure who these chore-loving children are, but I'll keep them for as long as they want to stay!
Our school day started with prayer and the usual individual subjects. The actual schoolwork goes well, but Soprano is having a little trouble understanding her printed schedule. She persistently will finish and then come to ask me what she should do next.
Her printed schedule has everything in order as does her magazine holder workbox. I'm hoping it's just her age and familiarity with traditional school that makes her hesitant to proceed by herself. We'll keep working on it.
After a million interruptions (Verizon tech fixing the phone, then calling about said phone issue, more phone calls, unexpected friend visiting, Soprano not knowing what to do next), we got to our MFW ECC work.
With a 2nd grader and 4th grader, I try to do all of their together work at the same time and then let them finish up with any individual stuff. Soprano did 2 more worksheets on farm animals from The Complete Book of Animals while Tenor did some search-and-find exercises with me using the Illustrated World Atlas. I just asked him use the index to find various countries or cities in the atlas. I picked countries where we know people live, have lived, or have been missionaries to try to personalize it.
We quickly did language arts and handwriting before stopping to eat.
After lunch, we went outside to do the Backyard Habitat exercise. Soprano wasn't really into it but they both finished. Overall, the day took 3 hours. 

So we survived our first, somewhat shortened, week of school.

Super Frugal, Yet Meaningful, Wedding Gift

Friends of ours recently got married, and we were delighted to be invited to be part of their special day. Unfortunately, what we wanted to give and what we could afford to give were at opposite ends of the monetary spectrum!
I got to thinking what would I have found most useful as a new bride... easy recipes! (Bass is giving an amen to that since he had to teach me how to cook spaghetti. I was all over boiling water and making toast though. I had me some skills! Just sayin')

Over the 11 years that we've been married, I've collected and refined recipes that are well within my cooking comfort level. They were all a mess though: magazine clippings, stained cards, and handwritten gobbledygook. With a wedding gift in mind and my 7-year-old's request for me to "give her all my good recipes someday," I started typing.
A few hours and a template in MS Word was all it took to transform my mess into a great archive of usefulness.

 

I found a super cute photo album at AC Moore and bought it with a 40% off coupon. I also found a wood clothespin at Michaels for $1. Using my Nana's Kitchen (DCWV stack) scrapbook paper, I made a little insert for the photo album cover, and I covered the clothespin. Then, I used my Cricut to cut out "spicy" and "sweet."

 

A few coats of Mod Podge sealed it.

I sorted the freshly printed and typed recipes by category and put them in the album. I also used the Stampin' Up round tab punch to create category dividers. I just used a little ATG tape to stick them to the middle of the photo album page.

A quick card, wrapping paper, and bow, I had a wedding gift ready to go.

 

(Hint: I always try to wrap my card inside the package for a wedding or shower. That way there's no chance of it coming unattached and lost.)

 

This gift was definitely a labor of love, but now I have all the recipes stored in the computer for future weddings (or for my 7-year-old). And I got to update my recipe book too.

Linkin' it up here!

Our New School Room!

We recently have set out into the world of homeschooling and part of my "conditional surrender" to actually doing this was to have a school room. If you're interested, you can catch all the details of how and why we decided to homeschool in this post.
I know that we'll probably end up doing school work all over the house or outside or on the road but to have a visually pleasing space where I can shut the door if necessary has been a huge help in getting me to the point of wanting to do this instead of just gritting my teeth through it.

This spare room had some water issues when we moved in. We think we've resolved the problems but we don't want to take chances so all the furniture has plastic or metal feet and the bookshelves are set up on small ceramic tiles. We pulled out carpet and yucky paneling, painted the walls, doors, trim, and floor, and added an electrical outlet and 2 additional light fixtures.

Here's what it looked like post-paneling/carpet removal.

Inviting, eh??

After all the down and dirty work, here's what you see when you look straight in from the main door.

And looking from the main door in towards the long wall. Our quickly filling bookshelves that we got on sale at Target.

A fun rug (easily movable in case of water) on sale at Ross.

A close up of the bookshelves.
On top, I have 3 canvas bins from the Target dollar spot. One is for math manipulatives, 1 for games and flashcards, and 1 yet to be filled. I also found a file folder box at Target that holds file folders for each kid's school subjects. Throughout the year, I'll file worksheets, random papers, field trip info, and weekly log sheets to be used to compile year-end portfolios. The 2 magazine holders, painted to match our color scheme, hold mom stuff like catalogs.

The next shelf holds fiction books for independent and curriculum reading. I combined lists from a classical Christian school's website and Sonlight to create a list of books for each grade level that I'd like the kids to read. They're voracious readers, so I want to try to steer them towards good literature and classic fiction that I remember reading while growing up.

The next somewhat empty shelf holds art/music/Bible/character books, then language arts/literature books, a couple of geography puzzles, play money set, magnifying glass, and computer disks for this year's curriculum.

The next shelf holds magazine holders. I bought several sets at Ikea for super cheap and then painted them to match our room's decor. The left side starts with Soprano's nature study binder (for completed pages) and MFW binder. Her current items (math, reading, language arts) are in the first pink magazine holder. Her current MFW geography game, flag sticker book, and eventually passport are in the 2nd. Extra Lightunits, reader, and math workbook are in the next 2 holders.
The orange ones are for me. I have MFW student sheets for each kid and teacher supplement in one and random current curriculum in the next (PA history worksheets, nature study blank pages, health worksheets). 

The other side is similar but holds Tenor's things in reverse order. These will be our sort of version of a workbox. They'll just pull their magazine holder of current stuff and reference their weekly log to see what needs to be completed each day. (That's the plan anyway. We'll see how it works in real life!)
The next shelf holds our MFW books on the far left, other geography and PA history books, then T's globe, and at the far right, science books.

The very bottom has some curriculum we got at a yard sale before we decided on this year's plan that I might use in the future, a magazine file box that holds my current teacher manuals, another canvas bin from Target for library books that we'll borrow for our MFW studies, and then a whole shelf of history books. (If you look closely, you can see the tiles we used to lift the shelves off the floor.)

On the right side, we used command hooks to hang their storage clipboards. They'll use these for their weekly nature walk/study. I found great story sheets at an educational store that have space for a picture at the top and handwriting lines at the bottom that they'll keep in here along with regular and colored pencils. I also tucked a yard stick and meter stick over here.

Another fun Target buy was this butterfly chair. It's really comfy and perfect for a cozy reading spot. We had lanterns left over from our Vacation Bible School to hang in the corner and got a fuzzy, shag rug at Ikea to soften the floor. You can see the curtains hanging there too. That wall had paneling removed (see the before pics above) so it was blank cinder block with a less-than-pretty sewer pipe running along the entire length. We got Deka wires and clips and Knoppa flat sheets from Ikea to hang and disguise the uglies.

On the short end wall, we set up Tenor's desk area. (We thought it might be best to have the younglings face opposite walls to try to minimize potential annoying and bothering.) The desk is the Vika series from Ikea. We got the white top and white legs for both younglings' desks as well as for the long work table. New spinny chairs, lamps, and wastebaskets were all on sale at Target. I got the cork board at Michael's with a coupon and painted the frame white and then covered it with fabric. I found a super cute bulletin board set at a local education store and used the clip-art to decorate his bulletin board. It came with a lot of guitars so I cut letters out with my Cricut, adhered them to the guitars, and then had them laminated. I used a simple piece of ribbon and colorful paperclips to create a name banner that hangs above the bulletin board.

On his bulletin board are a handwriting chart, grammar/writing cheat sheet, and required reading list (for independent reading time.)

We found this little supply box at Walmart which is perfect for holding freshly sharpened pencils, much needed erasers, and other handy supplies. (No excuses of 'I can't do my work, I don't have a _____.')

Next to his bulletin board hangs a clipboard. I painted the base and then covered it with scrapbook paper in his colors of green and blue (and several coats of Mod Podge.) This will hold his attendance chart and weekly log/assignment sheet.

Moving to the long paneling wall, we have our maps. We used a tri-fold foam display board and a sheet of cardboard to create a map backer. This side has our world map. We hung the US map on the other side. Because it's light-weight foam, I can take it off the wall and flip it around as needed.

Next to the maps we have our clock and large corkboard. On this wall, we put a long Vika table for group study and art projects. It's also probably where I will sit to correct papers. Our big bulletin board has a clip art 'Welcome' and will hold our memory verse of the week. (I found adorable, free printables for MFW's weekly memory verses at Mama Jenn.)

This side has my basket of supplies. The little tins were also at the Target dollar spot. (They were actually $1 though.) I have my handy-dandy red pens, dry erase markers, decorated clothespins, notepaper, etc. and tissues for the upcoming fall allergy season.

The little magazine bin I found at Big Lots for $3 has handles which make it super easy to cart around. It will live on the bookshelf when it's not needed.

A close-up of my clipboard.

 

And classroom rules (also dressed up a bit in Publisher)

I borrowed that idea from Our Goodwin Journey blog and just made them coordinate with our decor scheme.

At the other end of our project table, I have another mesh bin and Target pails with art supplies for the kids.

Then, past the main door around the corner, we're back to Soprano's desk that is the first thing you see when you enter the room. She has the same set-up as Tenor only in her color (pink, in case you missed it.)

Soprano's supply box

Soprano's clipboard

A quick reminder of before:

And after: 

Doesn't that just make you want to do school?? We haven't let the kids in since I started decorating and shelving books to try to build their anticipation. They keep trying to sneak a peek though and have said they're totally ready to start school! Here's hoping that enthusiasm will last!

Linking up to this fun blog hop at Heart of the Matter (with tons of great school room ideas)

and a few of these great linky parties! 


This redo was featured here:

Homeschool Curriculum 2011–012

Since we officially decided to homeschool, I've been asking every homeschooler I know, begging on Facebook, hitting all the blogs in the Not Back to School blog hop, and reading as many reviews as possible to try to decide which curriculum to choose for our first year of homeschooling.

The process has been a little overwhelming since there are so many options out there!
My first thought was since I don't really want to do this, let's make it as easy as possible. I'd pick an all-in-one curriculum or even sign the kids up for an online school of some sort.
After researching things a bit more, we decided that a charter/cyber school was not the route we wanted to take, so that was off the list.

Then, reading different reviews, we couldn't really find an all-in-one that we thought would hit everything we wanted. My attitude about the idea of homeschooling was changing at this point so I thought maybe we'd do one curriculum for the main subjects and pick and choose our electives.

I still couldn't find anything that we really felt comfortable with (knowing that Tenor is not a sit-down-and-fill-in-workbooks-all-day kind of kid and that I am not a stand-up-front-and-teach or lots-of-reading-out-loud kind of mom.)
So more research, more review reading, more online looking, several placement tests for each kid for various curricula (sorry kids!), we decided to just pick and choose everything. Hey, why not? LOL

This has definitely been a learning process for me so far. I am so not a teacher person. It's not in me whatsoever! Educational methods? Learning styles? Manipulatives? How to spell the word curriculum??
I had no clue!!!

Lots of praying (and more researching) led us to what we finally chose for this year. I'm hoping it will all work out for the full year but in reading other blogs and talking with friends, I'm prepared to shelve something and switch mid-year if we have to.

So here's what's on the table:

Soprano entering 2nd grade
(Yes, I think I'll keep the younglings in a 'grade' while we homeschool. It's just easier to tell people when they ask and for sports/co-op sign-ups, etc.)

MATH – Saxon 2 (with meeting book and manipulatives ---I know what manipulatives are now!)

LANGUAGE ARTS – Christian Light lightunits (It includes grammar, penmanship, creative writing, some reading comprehension, and spelling. It's a Christian curriculum and also has Bible verses and character building throughout.)

READING – Christian Light lightunits (It's more in-depth reading than in the L/A curriculum. It requires 2 readers, which are really, really sweet and also include Bible verses and character building along with poetry. Reading is out loud and silent.)

We're also looking into dance (ballet or Irish step), swim lessons, baton twirling, or cheerleading to help fulfill her Phys. Ed. requirement.

 Tenor entering 4th grade

MATH – Saxon Math 5/4

LANGUAGE ARTS – Christian Light lightunits (We'll also be using On Teaching Writing to supplement creative writing exercises. Creative writing is recommended and the OTW book is suggested but not included in the actual lightunits.)

READING – Christian Light lightunits (for this level, it will only be 2–3x per week)

HANDWRITING – His handwriting has room for improvement, and it's time to get going with cursive writing, so he'll be using A Reason for Handwriting C. I think the lessons will be short enough that he won't be frustrated with it.

We're also looking into swim lessons or organized sports of some kind for his Phys Ed.

Together

SCIENCE/GEOGRAPHY/BIBLE/ART/MUSIC – My Father's World Exploring Countries and cultures (They'll do this together every day each with activities at their own levels. I love how it includes all the different subjects along with living books --I know what those are now, too!-- using a little bit of the Charlotte Mason, Classical, and Unit Study approaches. I also found some awesome printables that correspond with this curriculum at Mama Jenn. She has created copywork and memory verse pages that are free to download!)

HEALTH – I ordered 2 books from amazon.com (Health, Hygiene, and Nutrition, Grades 1 - 2 and Healthy Choices, Grades 1-3: A Positive Approach to Healthy Living: Self-Management, Diet, Exercise) and am waiting for them to come in. I know that most of what these books cover, we already 'teach' in our daily lives. I'd like to use the books for their worksheets so I can include some substance in our portfolios (without having to make my own.) I think I'll probably schedule something about once a week.

PA HISTORY – I'm totally chintzing out this year but want to have something to include in their portfolios. I decided to start with 'The Positively Pennsylvania Coloring Book.' It was $4.00 at a local educational store and reproducible. Each week, we'll read the informative caption and color the page.

Same but Separate

SPANISH – They'll both use Switched on Schoolhouse by Alpha Omega for Spanish.

TYPING – Each will get weekly time with Typing Instructor.

Additional MUSIC – I'll probably start Soprano on piano and try to continue piano with Tenor. He's more interested in guitar, so I might just go with that instead.

We're looking forward to some fun field trips this year that will correlate with our countries/cultures studies. I think a trip to ZooAmerica in Hershey, the Philadelphia Zoo, possibly the Baltimore Aquarium, Stoudtburg Village in Denver, PA, several local parks/rivers, and some yummy ethnic restaurants. (I'm pretty sure Olive Garden counts, right??? Please?)

So, that's all totally doable for a first-time homeschooler, right? I'm feeling more ready to do this but trying to be realistic about how much work it will actually be.

Helpful links:
Homeschool Reviews
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Children's Books (discounted curriculum)
Homeschool Discount Products
Christian Book.com
Half.com
Amazon.com

Homeschooling in PA

I thought I'd write a few more posts about our venture into the homeschooling world so if you're following me and totally not interested, feel free to ignore me in the next week or so. I can promise that this won't become a strictly 'homeschooling' blog!
While it's all fresh in my mind though, I'm going to lay it all out in case it will be of use to anyone and so I can remember the whole process.

Apparently, Pennsylvania is one of the strictest states regarding homeschool regulations and requirements. Hooray! I'm thankful that we have homeschooling friends who have given me great insight into what we need to do and some helpful websites.

First up.... askPauline. I don't know who this woman is but I'd like to send her flowers on her birthday every year! She has a great site that she put together with lots and lots of info and details about navigating homeschool paperwork with the state. It's very thorough and extremely helpful. 

 

Before you begin...
Affidavits:
Our first step is to file a notarized affidavit. If you are a first-time homeschooler, it needs to be filed before you begin your schooling. If you are a continuing hs'er, then it must be filed by August 1st.
Portfolios are due by June 30th so many people recommend submitting your end-of-year portfolios and next year's affidavit at the same time near the end of June so that summer activities will count towards your next school year. (Update as of 2018: Portfolios are no longer required, just an evaluation.)
You do not need to file for children under the age of 8 unless they were enrolled in a public school for first grade. If they were enrolled in private school, the law is a little hazy so it's probably better to file, in this instance.
AskPauline has sample affidavit forms that you can fill in and print out. I got mine from her because it was just plain ol' easy!

Objectives:
With your affidavit, you must also submit proposed educational objectives.
Following the advice of some friends, I borrowed objectives from two of the samples on the askPauline site and mashed them up a bit to fit what I'm hoping to do. I kept them very general and nonspecific. I printed it 2x and just headed the page with each kid's name but kept their objectives the same. We'll be able to use these year after year if we continue hs'ing.
For example, our math objective states, "The math program will cover previous skills and introduce new concepts through incremental development and review."

Medical Info:
PA requires medical care, dental care, and immunizations (or exemptions) for children at various grade levels and for 1st time hs'ers. So I also printed 2 very basic forms from askPauline and had our dentist and doctor sign that we had check-ups and are up-to-date with PA state required immunizations.
A quick summary of requirements by grade level:
Medical: first time hs'ing, 6th, 11th
Scoliosis: 6th, 7th
Dental: first time hs'ing, 3rd, 7th
Hearing: K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 11th
Vision: annually
Height and weight: annually

During the year...
We are required to keep attendance records (180 days or 900 hours for elementary), a log of work that is done, a book log, and a portfolio. We are also required to do standardized testing in grades 3, 5, and 8.

Attendance:  
I'll be using a one-year calendar where the younglings can check off their attendance. We're going to go by the 180 day requirement, which is easier to meet and keep track of than the 900 hours. (Found at askPauline.com I'm telling ya' this woman is wonderful!)

Logs:
From samples I've seen online, there are a million and a half ways to do this. What I'm planning to do is to type out a spreadsheet for each child in 1 week increments. I'll have the days across the top and their subjects down the side. For each day, I'll type the work that they need to complete. As they finish their assignments, they'll initial it showing that the work was completed. If they don't finish, I can adjust the log accordingly.

Book Log:
Again there are multiple ways to do this, but I'll be just listing the resources we use in an excel spreadsheet. My headings will be title, author, subject, media type (book, CD, DVD, etc.), and student name. At the end of the year, I'll just sort the list based on which kid used what and then print their list for their portfolio. I don't think this will be too hard to maintain. I'll fill in the textbooks and readers that we'll be using all year and then list additional resources as we come to them. With this method, I don't need to list the book each time we use it but only once no matter how many times we'll reference it throughout the year.

Portfolios:
In the portfolio binder, I'll include all of the above along with samples of work that show progress in each subject. I'll have tabbed dividers for their logs/book list/objectives, each subject, and field trips. Again, askPauline has great tips for what to include. 


At the end of the year...
To finish off the year, we need to assemble our portfolios and then secure an evaluator. The PDE (PA Dept. of Education) has a list of qualifications to be an evaluator. So once we find someone that fits, they'll review the portfolio and interview each kid. Then they'll write a letter that we'll include in the portfolio. We submit all that to our local school district office and voila.... that's it. (See the current law to note that only evaluations are required.)

Piece of cake, right??
At first glance, it seems like a lot. Once you get through all the legal mumbo-jumbo (thank you, Pauline!!!) it's not nearly as burdensome as you'd think. There's a lot of paperwork to keep track of but a little organization will go a long way. It's been super helpful for me to see the logs and portfolios that my friends have created in person. I'm an Excel junkie so spreadsheet files are fun to me, and I also found a great hanging file box at Target that I'll use throughout the year to collect worksheets and field trip brochures, etc. (School room reveal and paperwork organization tips coming soon!)

A few other sites for first timers that I found to be really helpful:
Christian Homeschool Association of PA
Coalition of Homeschoolers Across Lancaster County (PA)
Raising Arrows: the Homeschooling Mother
The Old Schoolhouse (magazine)
Everything Homeschooling

We're going to do what?!!?!?

It's that time of year when little children start begging to stay up later and later each night and frazzled moms start looking over the school supply lists and anxiously waiting for the morning when the big yellow bus stops in front of the house again. But we've been thinking about back to school since the end of June! 

Our younglings have attended a private Christian school for their entire school careers thus far (Tenor–Kindergarten through 3rd grade; Soprano–Kindergarten and 1st grade) We've said each year that for them to continue the Lord would need to provide the finances so we've enrolled them each year praying that our financial aid and income would allow for them to continue but knowing that a time might come when we'd have to do something different.
Well, this is the year!

With leaving our church (and part-time employment) last year, our income is just not enough to be able to afford the tuition this year even with the full financial aid amount available from the school. (They even scrounged up some additional funds for us to try to help.) We just can't do it unless lots and lots of Ramen noodles, zero emergencies, no vacations or trips, and no eating out or non-essential shopping are involved.

We are grateful that we kind of saw this coming, so we've been able to mentally prepare and pray about what we need to do instead. At the end of the previous school year, we had a couple of options: leave 1 kid enrolled and pull the other out, leave them both in for the 1st half of the year and then pull them both out, public school for 1 or both, or homeschool 1 or both.

We live in a good school district and know several teachers in it but after talking to them (even though they highly recommended their schools) we just didn't feel comfortable putting the kids there. We knew, with a great sense of peace, that public school is not the right option for us this year.
After we came to that conclusion, we got our final financial aid info and knew for certain that keeping them in their current school wasn't going to happen either.

So we could either split them and do 2 different things, or we could homeschool them both. HAHAHAHAHAHA
Did I just say homeschool? You're kidding me, right???
I think while I was still pregnant with #1 I said that I'd N-EV-ER homeschool. I'm pretty sure I said it everyday when they were 2, 3, and 4 years old.
I waved happily when they left each morning for school! Soprano had full-day, every day Kindergarten so I've had 2 years of my own life (at least during the school year.) It was nice. It was really, really nice! And now we're considering doing what????

Long story short (or at least a little shorter).... we've been praying and the Lord has gently pulled me down the path to homeschooling, one step at a time.
Pulled? Prodded? Pushed? Dragged kicking and pouting? No matter how I got there, it's been a couple months of massive research, talking to homeschooling friends, and major praying to get us to this point.
We officially withdrew the kids from their school and are setting out on a new path for this year.
It's a little exciting and quite a bit overwhelming but the pieces are falling into place.
So, here we go! Buckle up! It might be a bumpy ride!

My Craft Space

Welcome!

It's not really a room with four walls and a door but it is my own little corner with my own little chair(s). :)
In our last house, I had a monstrous metal desk and a couple of bookshelves in the corner of our family room. It was great to be able to craft and still be part of the action but if I had ongoing projects laying out, it tended to look messy. And, that was only my paper crafting area. My beads were over in the office area of the family room, and my sewing and misc. craft supplies were in the laundry area of the unfinished part of the basement. I had supplies organized but they were all in different areas.

Then, we moved. This house has a full unfinished basement, but it's a nice basement (high, open ceilings; smooth concrete floor; a brick wall (we're not sure why); and a brick (working!) fireplace. They even had built in a room of sorts on one side. It's all paneling but totally workable. MacGyver hubby pulled some lighting fixtures out of his stash and adding lighting in his shop area, the family room section, and in my new craft room.

Then.... water. I had painted the paneling, hung curtains, painted doors and trim, put down a carpet remnant, and gotten all my crafts set up perfectly. But it was not meant to be! It rained, and we got water. Not a lot but enough to make me move everything out. We are thankful that nothing was ruined. We had to hang the carpet from the ceiling with clamps to dry out but it's still usable. We're hoping that with lots of regrading outside, gutter fixing, and some landscaping, the water issue is now resolved. To not take chances though, my space got moved to the back corner of the basement, which looked like this.

The really icky 'before'.

I think I like it back there. I can leave things out and no one will see them, and I can go relax by myself (on rare occasions.) Are you ready for some pics? After a serious cleaning and painting, it looks more like this.

My new set-up has 1 less wall than before so we got 2 Deka curtain wire and clips sets and 3 Knoppa flat sheets from Ikea to hang as a divider. The one on the right is where my entry is and hides this antique hutch. This was a wedding gift from a family friend and has been teal, mint green with a crackle finish, and now a glossy white. I found some light blue eyelet fabric at JoAnn Fabrics and made a panel for the door. We hung it with 2 very short, very thin curtain rods. 

The hutch holds

craft paints and paintbrushes,
beads and jewelry supplies,
my button tin for random sewing project buttons and clothing repair,
embroidery floss and cross-stitch supplies,
bath and candle making things,
misc craft bits and seashells.
The drawer has 'projects to be', kid's small craft kits (great for summer boredom,) and a small tool box that has assorted hardware, tape, clips, hangers, and a few small tools. On top, I have a large plastic tote with big yardage pieces of fabric.

To the left of the hutch, on the back wall, is my sewing area.

 

The antique desk and chair were refinished by my mom and given to me for a birthday gift when I was a teenager. The drawers hold sewing patterns, my foot pedal and power cord, sewing machine manual, and my glue gun and glue sticks. I made the machine cover with some fabric that's been in my stash forever. I only had maybe 1 yard total so I had to make it stretch. The backing of the cover is some blue fabric I had too. Above the sewing machine is a French memo board that the hubs and I made with a window from our last house. I also painted a cheesy clock from our last house that hadn't yet found a home in this house to match the space.

Looking to the left are the 2 bookshelves that hold the majority of my papercrafting supplies.

(Top) On top in the white boxes are 'cards to send' and my complete card stash, printed pictures (from our pre-digital days), and empty CD cases (for unmounted stamps). Next to them on the top are 4 little boxes of fabric scraps and my sewing supply case. (My grandmother made it for me.)

(First shelf) Scrapbooks! Labeled ones are complete; unlabeled are yet to be used.

(Second shelf) Envelopes in the white box. Next to it is a white lunch tin that I covered. It holds handmade cards sent from family and friends that I like to keep. 

The 2 blue boxes next to it hold scrapbook sketches (glued to index cards and sorted by number of pics in the layout) and extra supplies. The other bookshelf has photo albums with extra printed pics that were worth keeping.

(Third shelf) Paper!!! I keep cardstock separate from my patterned paper. Cardstock is sorted by rainbow order. Patterned paper is sorted the same way except for certain theme paper that I use frequently or have a lot of like Christmas, baby, school, family, etc. Then 2 binders with templates and scrapbook ideas. (I added decorative paper to the spines.) Last on this shelf is 3 magazine holders (painted with leftover kitchen paint) with scrapbook idea books and my beading idea books (they don't fit in the hutch.)

(Fourth shelf) Small embellishments and ribbon are housed in Cropper Hopper cases. Then I keep all my letter size cardstock. Some extra organizers, small craft books, a tin with our wedding pics, and my Xyron (covered with a left-over bit of blue eyelet fabric.)

(Bottom shelf) At the bottom, I have theme albums in progress stored in the large 12x12 paper holder. Then 2 partially finished albums of Bass's college trip to the Holy Lands. Next to them are card magazines and idea books, Sheetload templates, old stamping catalogs, crafty gift idea books, and a couple of binders with home/decor ideas and info.

Moving to the left of the tall bookshelves is my Cricut, Sizzix, small tool area. Above, I have a shelf that I used as a little girl holding some decorative things and all my Cricut cartridges and Gypsy. Below is a new purchase: a cheap bookshelf that holds my Cricut (with matching dust cover). I can cut right from there so no moving the machine around. Love it!

On the shelves are my Sizzix dies and old 'Big Red,' still going strong!
The next shelf has baskets with my CM cutting templates, then , and then my punches.
The bottom shelf holds stamping supplies (chalk and walnut inks,) Nestabilities and Cuttlebug embossing folders, and Cricut accessories and extra blades.

The best part.... I got this idea from someone else's blog but it was a long time ago and I didn't save my inspiration. (Sorry!) I stuck a Command hook on the side to hold all of my cutting mats.

 

Moving left again (on the back wall), is my stamp holder. We pulled this little unit out of the trash. Macgyver hubby cut a few new shelves to replace some missing ones. A little clean-up and it has become the perfect solution for my unmounted stamps. (I used to be a TAC demo, which is why I have so many!) I keep my loose mounted stamps in the basket on top and mounted sets (like Stampin' Up!) on the lower shelves. It also holds my ink spot and Dewdrop inks and my stamp cleaning pads. Next to it on the table are a marker holder (a freebie from a former workplace) and a basket with my acrylic stamp mounts.

On the side wall in this corner, I hung my embellie shelf, another MacGyver hubby project. This was the only drawer in our former kitchen. When we redid the kitchen, we kept the drawer and added shelves. It hung in our son's room at the last house but didn't fit in his new room. I took it over, gave it a fresh coat of white paint on the top, and added my pretties. To keep the canning jars looking more uniform, I sprayed all the lids with a coat of oil rubbed bronze paint.

 

Below the embellie shelf, just above the table, hangs this Re-Store corkboard project. Again the hubs handy skills came in, well, handy. We found cork rolls and this cabinet door frame at the Re-Store years ago. I painted it blue to match the decor, and he assembled and hung the whole thing for me.

We had this little organizer unit left over from our old house's linen closet. Now I keep large adhesives and office supply needs in the top drawer, full-size ink pads and my watercolor crayons in the second drawer, and random things to attend to in the bottom. On top is a little basket (perhaps temporary until I find something I like better) holds scrapbook left-overs that need to be put away. 

Here's the whole left hand wall set up. I made a little curtain for the ground level window with fabric scraps to match the sewing machine and Cricut covers. (This was my last sewing project with this fabric so I had to piece and piece and piece it together to make it fit. It's not gathered too much!) You can also see my TV, VCR (I'd love a DVD player someday but MacGyver hubby rigged up a switcher thing so that if I turn on the Wii, for Netflix, or the DVD player in the family room, I can see the same thing on this TV. The VCR is nice when he's home and wants to do something else with the family room TV but during the day, it's all mine!,) and a radio/CD player. 

 

We made a shelf from a $1.99 cabinet piece from the Ikea 'as-is' section. We also got 4 brackets on clearance there for $0.25 each. I covered the adjustable shelving holes on the white piece with contact paper and put them facing up so you'd never know it wasn't a shelf to begin with!
On the shelf, I have a basket with longer ribbon pieces. 2 jars with flower embellies, a basket with embellies that don't fit in my Cropper Hopper cases, and 2 binders with stickers/die cuts/assorted flat embellishments. {The binders are sorted into 4 sections: alpha/numeric, theme, season (winter, spring, summer, fall), and color (if they didn't fit into any other category.)}

 

 

Hanging above is another cute idea that I saw in the Creating Keepsakes Creative Spaces special edition mag. I took 3 strands of patio lights that we had left over from a VBS and then wound pink tulle around the strand between the bulbs. It has a soft, pretty glow when they're plugged in!

We sold the monstrous desk before we moved so now I'm using 2 folding tables that Bass got free from work after a remodel there. One is on the left wall (previous pics). The other I set up as an 'L' and it is up against the wall o' curtain. This is where I do my main working. The tables were a little beat up with marker and paint marks all over them and some chipping laminate, so I covered them with contact paper. It took 2 rolls I think to do both. Now it's a nice, bright, clean finish that's easy to wipe off.

 

 

It has my file box of paper scraps. (I labeled it, in case all the random bits sticking out the top didn't clue you in. *giggle*)

Then I have my tool caddy (JC Penney enabling years ago) on a lazy susan (goodwill find!) It's cute, and it spins! *love*
I keep all of my small tools, bottle glues, scissors, pens/pencils, and watercolor and skin tone pencils in it.

Next up, this little basket that I repurposed from our last house. It now holds all my dry adhesives and my ATG. I really, really thought I wanted a wood ATG stand, but then I realized that it sits really well in this basket and it means 1 less thing on my work space.

 

 

My other comfy chair with recovered seat and slipcover over the back.

 

 

Under the table are my travel scrapbook bag with slipcover (thanks to my mother-in-law's mad phat sewing skills, yo!) and 2 file crates with memorabilia to be sorted through as I catch up in the scrapbooks. It either goes in the book, gets written about in the book, or gets pitched. But until I get there (I'm still scrapping 2005), I just tuck things into folders for each year so I don't lose them.

 

The last little bit of my space isn't actually in my space at all! It's a dresser with all of my gift wrap supplies in it. Bows and toppers on the top along with tissue and gift bags. I keep ribbon, assorted boxes, formula cans and other random packaging, and party supplies in here. It's just on the other side of the curtain.

 

So here's a reminder of the 'oh, my' before:

And the 'oh, so much better' after:

I'm not linking up here but if you want more craft/art space ideas, check out this cool blog: Where Bloggers Create by Karen at My Desert Cottage.
I'm linking up to these weekly parties.