~5~ Craft Table {part II}

It's FINISHED!! (in case you missed part I, see the beginnings of my craft table HERE)

On Wednesday, I got the plywood needed for the table top from Home Depot.  I ended up going with a 2'x4'x3/4" piece of plywood.  The tricky part of getting it attached to each leg of the table, was making sure that the nails went into the post of each shelf part.  After a little trial and error, we got it all set!  Then, I had to paint the top white.  Once that was dry, I used my Cricut to create a stencil to draw onto the top.  For the center design, I used the "Stamping" cartridge and for the corner design, the "Home Decor" cartridge.  Finally, to finish it off, I used a Sharpie paint pen to outline the designs and make any touch ups.

On top of my table, I have an organizer full of crayons, markers, scissors, my ZIG two-way glue pens, and paint pens/brushes.  I also have magazine holder with my paper cutter, embossing gun, and my favorite tool-an Advanced Tape Glider (ATG) in pink of course.  The centerpiece of my table is my Cricut Expression.

I am so excited to have my own space to craft in.  I hope everyone has a very Happy New Years!

Until next time-

~4~ Christmas Recap

Today, I wanted to take a minute while it was still somewhat relevant, to talk about Christmas.  Christmas is by far my favorite holiday.  I love the smell of fresh cut pine trees, the twinkling lights, and of course, spending time with family.  What I love most of all though, is baking!  There is just something about the holiday season from Thanksgiving to Christmas that makes me want to bake.

Even though I'm adopted, I tell people that I inherited my baking skills from my paternal grandma and that it just runs in my blood.  My grandma Vicki, was very well known for her knack for baking all kinds of pies, which she passed on to my dad, who passed it on to me.  In addition to my dad, I also grew up baking with my sister-in-law, Sue.  Each year for many, many years, we would get together around Christmas and make cookies to give out to friends and neighbors.  Although we no longer bake cookies together, I still enjoy baking cookies in the few weeks prior to Christmas to give to our friends, and family members.

This year, I made 3 kinds of cookies-Frosted sugar cookies, Snickerdoodles, and White chocolate cherry shortbread cookies.  I was particularly excited to do sugar cookies this year because I discovered through Pinterest of course-a new website called, "Sweetopia", that showed a more polished way of frosting sugar cookies and how to use the feathering technique.  Instead of spreading on the frosting with a knife, you outline the cookie shape using royal frosting in a piping bag.  I used a #3 Wilton tip.  Then, you flood the inside of the outline with frosting and shake the cookie to even out the frosting and make it smooth.  To feather, line different color frostings next to each other and then use a toothpick to drag through it and intertwine the colors together.   When I was done with all of them, I was so happy with how they turned out!  I will definitely be doing sugar cookies this way from now on.

After making all of my cookies, I put them in a small plastic bag, and used scrap book paper and ribbon to seal the bag and make them look really pretty.

What Christmas/holiday traditions do you have?

P.S. For any of you who actually read my blog (do you exist yet??) and are wondering what ever became of my craft table-I was able to work on it more tonight, but haven't finished it quite yet.  I promise to post an update once it's done :)

Until next time,

~3~ New Craft Table {part I}

Last week, a few days before Christmas, my husband, Jake, was running late coming home from work.  I started to get a little worried so I called to see where he was and why he was so late.  Turns out I ruined a Christmas surprise from him :(  I had recently shown him a craft table that I wanted to eventually make on pinterest and he had planned to go get the supplies and build it on Thursday, when he knew I'd be out of the house.  Unfortunately Walmart, didn't have the supplies necessary, and his plan was bust.  However, he didn't reveal this plan to me until after Christmas had passed.

After doing a little research, I ended up finding all of the supplies I wanted to build my *perfect* craft table at Target.  I originally had thought about using the larger 3x3 cube shelfs like in my inspiration-which were $60 each.  However, I stumbled upon a cheaper option I found that Closetmaid makes 'mini' 2x3 cube shelfs that are 6" deep as opposed to 12" for only $13.  Now, these were a lot smaller than standard 2x3 and only stand 16" high-too short to be a desk.  LIGHTBULB!  If I bought 4 of them, I could stack them 2 on each leg of the table to get a total of 32" tall.  And so I set my plan into motion.

 Today, at Target, I bought 4 shelving units.  Two of them were 2x3 cube shelves, and two that were offset cube shelves.  I also bought the matching Closetmaid mini cloth drawers to go with and 2 long fabric baskets to put in the shelves.
My husband helped me to assemble each of the shelves separately, and then we nailed one on top of other to create 1 leg of the table.

Once assembled, I placed my drawers and baskets in where I wanted them, and filled them with various craft supplies: ribbon, clear stamps, ink, craft paper, envelopes, and Cricut cartridges.

Tomorrow, I will be assembling the other leg, and getting 2'x4'x1" plywood from Home Depot for the table top.  I will update my blog with pictures of the completed table once it is finished. 

Until then….

~2~ Blog Goals

Ok, I know, I know. I JUST published my last blog entry less than a minute ago, and here I am already with post #2.  I initially thought about posting this with my first entry, but decided that this topic needed to have it's own post.  Since this is part of my new year's resolution, I decided that to help myself be more successful this year as compared to last year's (which lasted all of 1 month), I better make some short term and long term goals to keep me on track.

Goal #1: Post to my blog at least once a week for 1 whole year.

Goal #2: Document at least 1 new craft project per month.

Goal #3: Acquire followers of my blog who I do not currently know.

Goal #4: Have a fully functioning and running Etsy shop by the end of March.  (3 months should be enough time right? …..)

I do believe that having these goals written down and posted for all of the world to see will keep me more accountable than just saying what I want to do out loud once.  My hope is that this blog, will be a constant, nagging reminder of what I want to accomplish this year.  This and my husband, Jake, who has been pushing for months for me to really invest in my skills and passion to craft.

~1~ Bake Me A Craft

Why hello there blogging world, let me introduce myself:
My name is Maggie, and I am a 26 year old wife, teacher, and crafter.  I live in Des Moines, IA with my husband Jake, and my almost 11 year old beagle named Buckles.  After an almost 10 year hiatus, I have decided to re-enter the blogging world.  This week, I determined that my 2012 New Years resolution would be to build up enough inventory to open and maintain an Etsy shop, as well as start a blog to go with it to document my various projects.  While I realize that I am writing my first post prior to the start of the new year, I figure it doesn't hurt to start my resolution a little early.

When coming up with a blog title, it took a bit of trial and error.  I wanted something that would be catchy and memorable, but not overly cliched.  I also wanted something that described me.  After wrestling with many different (not so great) names, it finally came to me: Bake Me a Craft, which perfectly marries my two favorite things to do-baking and crafting.  And so, a blog was born.