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TSRCrafts Blog

Terrarium Picture Frame Upcycle

by Lindsay Allyn on 05/07/18



Terrarium 
Picture Frame Upcycle
Budget friendly and eco friendly, this air plant terrarium is super easy to make and even easier to maintain


Air plants are all the rage these days -- They are low maintenance, don't need dirt, and can be displayed in all sorts of fun ways! 

I put this terrarium together using some picture frames and a few other supplies plus an afternoon of my time. I absolutely loved how it turned out and wanted to share! Other than the moss and plants, it only cost me a few dollars to make, so it's super budget friendly and would make a wonderful gift or addition to your own homes decor. 

Share Some Love this Valentine's Day with Handmade Gifts

by Lindsay Allyn on 01/06/18

Share Some Love this Valentine's Day with Handmade Gifts
Craft projects for adults and kids that won't break the bank!

Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, but The Scrap Room will earn a small commission should you choose to purchase through those links. Thank you for your support.

New Year's has just barely come and gone, and I'm already super excited about Valentine's Day! I mean, a day that's all about showering the people you care about with love and kindness?! What's not to love about that? 

I also love that it's a holiday that's fun for all ages. Whether you're 6, 16 or 60, there's something about it to enjoy! If you're going on a date with a boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse, spending it with friends, school mates, or your family, it's just fun to focus on love for a day!

Sharing gifts is a fun way to celebrate the day, but it shouldn't cost a fortune.  Going handmade is a great way to give wonderful presents to those you care about without breaking the bank.



If you're looking for some great DIY options, check out our tutorial library by clicking the "Craft Tutorials" link up top (or click here.) Our Handmade bird feeders tutorial is one of our most popular pages and is a great option for neighbors, co-workers, friends and teachers! You can make a batch of 12 for about $5 and they are fun to customize with dried fruits and berries. You can get the complete recipe and tutorial here.

If you like handmade projects you may also enjoy our soy-wax candle tutorial. This gift is great for beginners and experienced candle makers, but beware -- soy candle making is ADDICTIVE! I went through over 100 pounds of soy wax in the first year I was making candles! A super fun and rewarding hobby for sure. There are so many fragrance oils out there to experiment with! If you like sweets and treats, check out the Cookies & Cakes oil set on Amazon. It comes with Chocolate Chip Cookie, Sugar Cookies, Cupcake, Brownie, Snickerdoodle, and Coffee Cake. If you prefer flowers, I recommend this floral set by P&J Trading Company. It comes with Violet, Jasmine, Rose, Lilac, Freesia, and Gardenia! All great choices for Valentine's day! To download our candle making e-book for free, click here.



If you're looking for some fun projects to do with the kids this Valentine's Day, click here. I've put together a resource page of fun craft projects for kids of all ages (though some may require a little help). There're just as much fun to create as they are to receive, and definitely budget friendly

I'd love to see what projects you're working on for Valentine's Day this year! Stop by our community page on Facebook and share pics of your latest Make or comment below!


Happy crafting!

Big Changes Coming for 2018!

by Lindsay Allyn on 01/02/18



Big Changes Coming for 2018
Catch up with all the major changes in store for The Scrap Room this year!

HUGE changes coming to the website (and business!) this year, you won't want to miss this post!

First of all -- this post! We've started an "official" blog! (Finally!) After a couple of years of sporadic craft tutorials and posts, I've finally added an official blog to the website.

This is something that I've been meaning to do for a while, but finally started to look into more in late 2017. Ultimately I may be switching it over to Wordpress (there are soo many awesome, and helpful Wordpress plug ins!) but for now I've just started up a basic one through the Homestead webpage I am currently using. I'll still be posting the tutorial pages in our tutorial library, but this blog will be something that I can quickly and easily add my thoughts, tips,  and goings-on, etc. to. It's also something that I'll be posting to on a weekly (or so) basis, so be sure to check back often for the latest posts! (If you have experience with both Homestead blogs, and Wordpress, or even just one or the other, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this! Please share about your experiences with me in the comments below!) 

You're also going to start seeing a bit more of Eric on the site. He is my long-time sweetie, and he runs his own local handyman business. He does a lot of home projects and builds some pretty fun things. You may have seen (his hands) in a few of the tutorials on our site. (He's a little shy, and new to the "internet" world.) But you'll be seeing a lot more of him in 2018. He's already finished a few projects to share, I just haven't had the time to get them published yet. (Hence the next bit of big news...) 

But perhaps the BIGGEST change that I have planned for this new year is.... The Scrap Room will be going DIGITAL! This is a super huge change, since as you probably know, this business was originally started as a custom scrapbook company. As the years have passed, and life has changed and evolved (and we've started a second home business, our schedules have become more demanding, and we need more flexibility), my business has grown and evolved too.

It's getting harder and harder to carve out time to make custom books, let alone work on my own personal scrapbooks, and I just don't have enough time in the day to get everything done anymore! So my sweetie and I decided that things need to change, and we've decided to take the business in to the digital age, and stop selling handmade books. {Gasp!} Yes, the handmade scrapbooks and journals will be going away! (I do still have enough supplies on hand to fill a few more journal orders, but once they're gone -- they're gone!)

Huge, right? I know it's a big change, but it will allow me to spend my energy on other things, and right now, that's what my family needs and what my heart needs. I don't have as much "craft time" these days as I did and this will allow me to be able to spend it on the projects that really speak to me, and allow me the time and energy to blog about them with you!

Don't worry, our scrapbooking and journaling digital downloads won't be going anywhere! You can still find them all in our online shop here. And we have lots of new digital tutorials planned for you this year.  Just click the "Digital" tab in the menu bar up top to see some of our latest. These walk-throughs are designed to help even a complete beginner, use and create digital art to use in your scrapbooking, crafting, or other projects.

If you're interested in ordering some of the last of our handmade journals (no more scrapbooks -- sorry!) click here to visit our online shop. When they're gone, they're gone. If you don't see them listed in our shop, we don't have any left. BUT we do offer a free tutorial on the site passing the book making skill on, so please check it out here to start making your own! 

We also have a whole page dedicated to scrapbooking tutorials and posts, so if you're looking to learn more about the hobby of scrapbooking, head over and check it out here!

A new clock for the New Year's count down!

by Lindsay Allyn on 12/30/17


Twice Told ... and Now Repurposed!
Breathing new life into a $10 Hawthorne to create a truly unique piece of home decor.

Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links on this page are affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, but I will earn a small commission should you choose to purchase through those links. Thank you for your support.

I will definitely be doing a full tutorial on THIS project! I LOVE my new clock! I bought this book all the way back in 2016, at a flea market with my mom in Michigan. I had already been wanting to turn an old book into a clock and was waiting to find the "right one". When I saw this copy of Hawthorne's Twice Told Tales, I though it'd be perfect for the project!

I love books, especially old ones and felt like $3 was a STEAL! When I got home to Washington, I was excited to start my clock! I ordered a clock set by Walnut Hollow on Amazon, pulled out my craft knife, and ... totally couldn't bring myself to cut up this book. LOL!

I had done some research on the book, and found it was only worth about $10, but this didn't help. I just wasn't ready to cut up the book. 

The book literally sat out, on the corner of one of my craft tables for OVER A YEAR. Every day I'd go in the room, see the book, envision the clock, but I just couldn't cut it up. 

Flash forward to the week between Christmas and New Year's, 2017. I always love the week between these two major holidays. I use it as a time to reflect on the past year, and make plans and set goals for the next. I also like to try to wrap up as many loose ends and unfinished projects during this time of year. The rush from Christmas is over, and quite frankly I NEED some arts and crafts to balance out all the "thinking". ;)



I decided I wasn't going to let this book gather dust any more, and two days ago, got to carving! I'm not going to lie. This was a little tedious and time consuming, but it completely saved my hand by using the Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife! So much easier to work with for this project! I used the one with the non-swivel head -- one of my favorites for a LOT of projects actually!

If you decide to try this project out, be sure that you get a book that is thick enough, I'd say you need at Least a 1" wide book, preferably a little thicker for this clock set. You can't really go "too thick" when it comes to choosing your book -- If you use a thicker book, you'll only need to carve out a portion of the pages. For this book, I carved out all but the last couple chapters. It took me almost an hour and a half to carve the spot for the clock workings. It was certainly more tricky than I thought it'd be lol! But totally worth it! My Twice Told Tales clock took me about 2 hours to make and cost about $13 in total! And it looks PERFECT on my beloved bookshelf! 

There was a little bit of a learning curve to this project, so like I said, I'll definitely be posting a full walk-thru! Be sure to watch for it in the tutorial library here!

This unique clock is already one of my favorite pieces of home decor! I can definitely see making one as a gift for one of my book-loving friends!



Can you believe there's only 11 days until Christmas???

by Lindsay Allyn on 12/14/17

DIY Handmade Gifts - Cocktail Napkins

Can you believe it's almost CHRISTMAS?!
This year has gone by sooo fast!

Whew! I can't believe how fast this year has whizzed by! There's only 11 days to go until Christmas and I'm STILL not ready -- for it or the end of 2017! 


Today I've got some last minute gifts that I need to finish up, so since the weather is extra frosty this morning, I've got some festive winter movies queued up on the Kindle (no, I don't have a TV in my craft room. I surprisingly watch very little TV while I'm crafting -- I'm more of a audiobook / music kinda gal...) and I plan on spending the better part of the day holed up in my scrap room. 


I went in there yesterday to do some cleaning in preparation for today, and I totally got sucked in. (You know how that goes, right? Somehow cleaning the craft room always feels like Christmas morning...) Five hours into what should have been a 30 minute tidy-up at best, and I had two more half-started scrapbook pages, and a LIST of projects that I wanted to start lol! I also came up with 3 "mini" scrapbooks that I want to make.  But all that will all have to wait until after the 25th!


Today my focus is going to be on finishing up a few cocktail napkins and working on another apron. I've already finished cutting and hemming the napkins, so there's just some needlework left. The apron I bought pre-made, so again, just some embroidery there as well. These are going to be "Sea" themed and are going in the same kitchen as the wooden spoons project in my book.   (Did you catch my first apron and napkins from the tea party we threw in October? I haven't had time to do a full tutorial on that project yet -- I will! -- but I shared some behind the scenes pics in the Facebook Craft Chat group here if you want to take a peek! They turned out sooo cute! <3 ) If you know me, or have followed my page for a while, you know I haven't been sewing too long. This is such a great project for even for beginners -- really easy to do!  I'll be posting some behind the scenes pics on Instagram today, so be sure that you follow me there

I'd love to hear about the handmade gifts that you're making this season! Please post about them in the comments below, or click the "Community" button at the top of this page and share pics with us on Facebook!

More soon!


PS What do you think about the new "official" blog? I'd really love to know! Post your thoughts in the comments below!