Craft Cupboard 2.0 - Week 1 - The Haberdashery Shelf

So I made a new years resolution that I was going to learn a new craft every month this year so 2014 is definitely going to be a busy year. However before I can even start to think about that I had to do something about my craft cupboard. I had been so busy crafting on the run up to Christmas that I had just shoved things in everywhere and it was now over flowing.

Then it hit me - why don't I merge tidying my cupboard with learning a new skill - WOODWORK!!!

I started designing craft cupboard 2.0 immediately and was very pleased with my plans, masking taping them to the wall for inspiration

I couldn't wait to get started the next day and dragged my boyfriend to the local DIY shop (Homebase) to help me pick out wood. I was all ready to by sheets and sheets of wood but Quinn recommend I just buy a couple to get me started and then if it works out ok then I can come back for more. Luckily it had turned out I'd bought enough for 1 shelves worth of wooden tidies and that was hard enough work in itself! Turns out my plans to have the whole cupboard finished by the end of this week was a bit inspirational but I am very happy with what I've managed to achieve.

The first shelf I started with is my Haberdashery shelf for all my material, wool, buttons, ribbon and thread. I didn't think I had to much for this shelf but it turns out there was lots of things hiding in there and I might need to do a wee bit of a further clear out

For the stuffing and wool I just made your average box. Actually the material one is the same but I wrapped the material around piece of cardboard before slotting them into the box so that I can easily see what I have to hand. I made two of these material boxes, putting one in front of the other.

For the 3 in the middle they were slightly more complicated so I've made a tutorial for each in case you want to learn how to make your own!

Thread Holder

Button Drawers

Ribbon Holder 

Hope this inspires you guys and hopefully over the next few weeks I'll have some more time to tackle another shelf

I'll be back xx

Thread Tidy

I'm always finding thread all over my house! I made the mistake of leaving it on a table and before you know it my cats have hidden it somewhere to play with it later, the sneaky devils! So if you have a similar problem or just want to keep those threads tidy then here is the tutorial for you!

What you need:

Wood (I got 6mm thick MDF from Homebase and a thinner one for the sides of the top shelf )

Wooden dowelling (smaller than your thread reels)

Hot glue gun
Drill piece that can make a hole larger than the size of your fingers

Step 1

Cut the wood to fit the space you are doing to put it in. My shelf was 38cm tall by 38cm depth and I had a 8cm gap on my shelf, so I cut the following:

38x8cm - 2 pieces (front and back)

36x8cm - 3 pieces (shelves)
36x7cm - 1 piece (top shelf)
36x3cm - 2 pieces (sides of top shelf)

5cm long dowelling - 25 pieces

Then sanded it all down so that it was all ready to be glued together.

Step 2

On the bottom shelf, mark out where you would like to have your thread stands. I used my actual thread reels to measure out how much distance I needed between each and also staggered the two sides (I managed to fit in 17).

One the middle shelf I was going to place my larger thread reels so I just marked 8 circles right the way down the middle

Step 3

Using my glue gun, I glued the dowelling on to the markers. You can drill into the shelves first so that the dowelling sits in the holes but I found the glue held fine without this step

And as you can see the cats are already confused about why they can't move the thread away! Almost there!!!

Step 4

Glue the sides of the top shelf on either side of the base, making sure it is sitting at a 90 degree angle to each other

Step 5

Glue each of your shelves to the back of the thread holder, again making sure they are all sitting at a 90 degree angle to the back of the holder

Step 6

Place the front of the thread holder on the other sides of the shelves (but don't glue yet) and mark out where you would like to put the finger holes on the front, making sure there won't be a shelf in the way. Then drill out the holes.

Step 7

Glue the front of the thread holder on to the other ends of the shelves to complete your holder.

Step 8

Your thread holder is now ready to start being filled. I use that top shelf for all those wee bits of thread that are not on reels and also those pesky tape measures which you can never find when you need them.

I'll be back xx