Vacation Crafting

Since 2009, I have bounced around from crappy retail jobs to grad school. From great jobs that lose funding, to right-place-at-the-right-time jobs that end too soon because of a move. Needless to say, I was never anywhere long enough to rack up any vacation time. Now that me and the mister are settled back in New York state and I am working at an organization with a great PTO plan, I am on vacation! Real, paid vacation. For 12 glorious days! And I am thrilled about it. I have no plans, no places to go, just me, my crafts, and dinner with my mister every night. Perfect!

I am working to balance crazy crafting and doing nothing. In the crafting moments so far I have decorated a few more storage solutions... 

I switched this one up a bit from my normal yarn-wrapped cans. A little Mod Podge and some scrapbook paper will go a long way!

I also finished a gift wrap organizer project for a friend.

This gift wrap organizer is a simple, but clever little project. I wish I could take credit for the design, but the truth is I would never have thought to flip a stool up-side down and hang bags from it for storage. A non-sewing friend directed me to this tutorial with a pretty-please.

I made a few small adjustments to the tutorial.

For one, I used a patterned fabric with a simple lining instead of the all white bags of this post.

Next, ribbon was used instead of bias tape. It looks prettier, and there is the added bonus of less sewing. Not that sewing is a problem, but sewing ten 24" strips of bias tape is, to me, tedious.

I also made one extra bag. The tutorial shows bags on 3 sides of the stool. I made the executive decision to make bags for all 4 sides.

And finally, again to cut out tedious sewing, I cut all the patterns on the fold. This way you only have to sew up the two sides. Plus it makes the bottom cleaner, and there are no worries about the seams letting loose if you stuff them too full.

The end product is, to quote my friend, too stinking cute!