DIY Magnetic Board for Organizing Your Odds and Ends

So I was reading through the bloggers that had to do with etsy.com. I saw a fellow blogger that had this link on her blog:

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/01/how-to_make_a_magnetic_organiz.html

I am so going to make one of these magnetic organizers.

It looks very simple and since my crafting area is TINY it would help out a lot I think. I will probably use it more for an inspiration board but not sure yet. I will hopefully get it finished in a week or so. I am not sure how much time I will have on my hands for now but it is definitely on my to do list.

Finished my light box

So I finished my lightbox. I really like it. I used this tutorial http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent . Thanks to the author of this tutorial. I like how it turned out but next time I will make it much bigger. I spent $10 total on making this box because I already had a box and I used an old white sheet. The only thing that I purchased was the light and a 100 watt bulb.

Here are my before and after pictures:

Before:

After:

There is a big difference in the looks. I do need to purchase 2 more lamps though to make it bright from the top and both sides.

Going to try to make a light box

So after two days of requesting and getting critiques about my shop on etsy.com, I have definitely came to the conclusion that I need to change my photographs. There is definitely not enough light in my house. I got some great advise from fellow etsy sellers. Thank you everyone who has helped me. I love that about etsy.com. There are tons and tons of fellow sellers that offer encouragement and are willing to share their advice and experience. That is very different for me. I am very grateful. I am going to make a light box tonight. I think that it will help my photos tremendously. I have never even heard of a lightbox so thank you http://www.etsy.com/shop/Zafras for all of your help and links. Hopefully I'll get it finished tonight so I can take new photos tomorrow. We will have to see how my son acts tomorrow. It's hard to get things done with a newly mobile 1 year old running around.

I hit the Motherload

So, I am all about upcycling anything that I can use. I hate to see anything go to waste when there are so many things that ordinary items can be turned into. I have had several books of fabric samples and wall paper samples given to me by some of the local stores here. Big thanks to The Peddler and Bella Vista Fabrics in Murfreesboro, TN for the books. Between the two places this is how many fabric samples that I was able to save from the trash. I do still have to peel all of the paper from the backs of each piece of fabric. I will try to save as much fabric as possible but have found last night that some of the fabrics are just not savable from the paper so I just had to cut around them.

I don't know exactly what I will do with all of this fabric but I do have some ideas. I would love to make hang tags for my items out of them. I think they will be great sizes for that. Other than that, I am not sure what I will do with them. The sky is the limit though. Please feel free to comment if you have any suggestions on what to do with this fabric. Since it is mainly upholstery and drapery fabric, I am kind of limited since it is all spot wash only.

But the plan is to finish up taking off the paper and go from there. Wish me luck