Super fancy business woman , a.k.a. Crafty Katy

Earlier this week, someone - jokingly? - called me a fancy business woman. Although I would love to take that as truth, here's an example of the less fancy aspects of my business.

I have a client, there's a convention this weekend (actually beginning on Thursday), the woman who usually staffs this particular convention is getting married this weekend, so... they asked me to take it on. No problem!

Except, I didn't know that the whole thing had to be developed and created by... you guessed it! Me! Also, it's all very last minute so I'm not able to order what I want and have someone else make all the stuff like a proper fancy business woman. And so I spent my afternoon making the table top display.

Initially I was a little concerned because it was going to involve cutting paper in straight lines and I do not have a paper cutter nor am I proficient in cutting in straight lines. Ah, but I do have quilting supplies!

Anyway, here's the final product (before and after).



This is just the first step. I have a tack board which is 8x4 feet that still has to be covered with pictures and information when I get to the convention, the pictures and info is stuff which I still need to find and print... it's going to be a long week.

You know what? Actually, this wasn't the first step. The wheel came in multiple pieces and had to be assembled as well. And then there's the step of coming up with the questions and answers for the wheel. Oh man, I'm so not fancy...

More DIY home stuff

I love my apartment. I know I've said that before but I really do. One of the very few things that bother me about it, however, is the lack of counter space in the kitchen. It's always the problem with apartment kitchens. I have a very cute kitchen, with the original cabinetry and an old stove, yellow tiles and light blue/turquoise accents. But the counter space is lacking.

So, I have taken steps to increase my counter space. I got a couple of butcher block topped cabinets. During a previous bout of home improvement fever, I made curtains for them. (see January's post: http://katysthoughts.blogspot.com/2012/01/home-improvements-continue.html)

The continued problem though, is that the top of the new additional counter space was covered with stuff. SO, today I took care of that problem as well, giving myself a whole new large area of counter space. So happy!!!!! It's like I have a whole new kitchen to work with!

Upcycling my way to a more organized life

Upcycling. It's the newest craze. Not really, but that sounded good. It's a fairly new word though, I think. Basically it's just a fancy word for finding new uses for old things. I like the concept and today I made it work for me: A few months ago I found four of these hooks at a salvage yard. I'm not sure why I liked them but I knew I would find some use for them eventually.


Today I finally did.

The problem: too many scarves and cardigans and no place to put them (other than in a big pile on top of my dresser, which was making me a little crazy).

The solution: upcycling! Using those old hooks from the salvage yard to make my life more organized: attach them to the side of my dresser as scarf/cardigan hooks.

I feel so much better now!

Here's the final product:

foggy morning

The sky outside my window was a beautiful bright blue and the sun was shining when I walked out this morning with my sunglasses on, ready for a good walk around the lake in the early morning sunshine. Exactly 6.5 minutes later, when I got to the lake, it was completely fogged in. The lake was, I was, everybody and everything else was too. It was kind of eerie. Here's the scene I encountered when I got there (there's a lake behind there somewhere):



As I began the brisk, now pea soup-y walk around the lake, I figured, the sun would burn off the fog soon enough and as I rounded the half-way point, the fog had begun to lift and one of the buildings began reflecting the sun that was still shining above the fog:



Now it's sunny and clear again. What strange weather the winter brings in the Bay Area!

I saw this little guy (actually, he was quite large!) when I stopped to stretch and thought he was interesting enough to share (what is that bump on his beak?):

A walk on the beach

After a day inside, I decided I needed some fresh air yesterday. So, I combined my grocery shopping trip with a walk on my favorite beach. (This is the same beach where my lobsterization occurred last year. Read all about it in last July's "Lobsterized - a new word" )

It was a lovely sunny late January day, in the mid-60's with just the slightest of breezes. (Reason #587 why I love living in Northern California!) The beach was fairly empty but along the 2 mile beach I came across children playing, jumping in the shallow water, giggling, families building sand castles, flying kites, walking their dogs and riding their bikes along the shoreline. It was an overall pleasant day to spend walking in the fresh air.

Here is where I was:

The home improvements continue

Today, I wasn't feeling too well so I decided to skip my day's planned outings and stay at home. However, I also didn't feel like just sitting around, watching movies or reading. So I decided to tackle a project I've been wanting to complete (well, technically I've been wanting to start it and then complete it but you get what I'm saying).

Several things happened to get me to this place.
1. My kitchen has yellow tiles on the counter tops and teal/aqua/turquoise (what's the difference, really?) accents. It's super cute but I have very little counter space so when I moved in I got additional cabinets. I'm not crazy about them because they're open all around. Here's a pic of the kitchen. (Cabinets are not seen in this shot.)


2. Several months ago I found some cute fabric online at spoonflower.com (check it out for custom printed fabric and fun craft ideas!). It's turquoise with yellow dots. I supplemented it with some plain yellow fabric.


3. When I was at Ikea recently to pick up some the rug for my new home office (see home office post), I saw a nifty idea for hanging curtains that I decided to adapt for my kitchen cabinets.


4. I have a functioning sewing machine again!! A 30-year old Bernina that was in desperate need of being taken for a test run. (Thanks again for a great Christmas gift Mom!)



And that, my friends brings us to the project of today: making curtains for my kitchen cabinets.




And for the full effect: Before and After

new home office

I realized recently that sitting at my dining room table for hours and hours every day was not great for being productive with my work, and also not great for having a dining room table that is available for its intended purpose, i.e. dining. Of course, I do have an area designated as a home office and it was sweet and quaint with the old secretary from Grandma Corinne but, lets face it, I need a larger work surface than that, which is why I migrated to the dining room table.

So, with the new year and the further realization that I am in fact committed to building my own business, I decided I needed a real and functional home office. I had fun putting it all together over the weekend (with a little help from a my friend Jessie, thanks Jessie!). I had no idea how much stuff I had already accumulated so it was also a great opportunity to go through and throw out a lot of the unnecessary stuff and file things I need to keep. Overall, a very productive weekend. Here's the process:






A lot of stuff!

It still needs a bit of work (like hanging things on the walls, etc.) but it's certainly functional and coming together nicely. Take a look at the before and after:



And just in case you're wondering what happened to the secretary, it found a cozy little home in the dining room.