My Sewing/Craft Armoire

I'm an avid Pintrester. On my news feed lately I have seen lots of armoires turned craft closet so I thought I would share mine with you.

Currently I live in a 3 bedroom apartment with the husband, the two boys, the dog and the four guinea pigs. There isn't much room for anything else especially when my husband needs one of those rooms for an office! At first I shared the office with my husband but after awhile that became impractical. He often has computer parts spread from one end to the other and was constantly "reorganizing" my side of the closet. -.-

Enter in my crafting armoire complete with lock (that my husband installed). It's not pretty, it's not fancy, it doesn't even match my furniture, but it gets the job done. I found it on Craig's List for 75 dollars. The price was right.

I used cheap bins from the dollar store to stash smaller items like ribbon, buttons, sewing needles, paint, ect. Nothing too fancy. 

See the fabric stash there? That is an IKEA Rast bedside table, turned on its side. The "leg" section leaves the prefect amount of space to store patterns and folders while the inner section is perfect for folded fabric.

This is the best part! The armoire is actually a computer armoire, complete with fold out desk and lights. I use the desk mostly for cutting fabric or working on small projects. With bigger projects I'm still regulated to the kitchen table.

I keep extra fabric in the Ikea bins above the armoire. It keeps everything close.

This is a magnet board and magnetic spice cans were from Ikea and fits perfecting on the side of the armoire.


I dream of the day when we buy our first home and I can have a space to spread all my crafts out in but for now this works great.

Star Trek Guinea Pig Costumes - No Sew

Here it is! The first tutorial for the Star Trek guinea pig cage!

These little shirts look too cute on fat furry guinea pigs and best of all this is No Sew! The shirt design is also open at the bottom so that it does not drag on the ground or make the guinea pigs feel squeezed or confined. This pattern would be easily adaptable to other costumes. I can already see a Mario and Luigi version on these, maybe a princess or just a little guinea pig Hawaiian shirt? What can you come up with?

Supplies:

• Scraps of fleece
• Hot Glue
• Felt for details

If you are going to make more than one shirt it may help to do this next part on card stock or paper so that you can trace it on to the fleece after word.

Using your main color of fleece (gold, blue or red) cut out a square that is 9.5 inches by 4.5 inches.

Using black fleece cut a piece half an inch by 9.5 inches

Using gold or yellow felt cut out a small Star Trek symbol

Take the main piece and measure down 2 inch on the short side and mark. Measure over 1 inch along the bottom of the fabric and mark. Draw a line connecting the two dots and cut along it. Do the same for the other side. This little cut out allows the guinea pig to walk without dragging the shirt on the ground and will be the bottom of the shirt.

Next measure 1.5 inches along the top of the shirt from the edge. Then measure 1.25 inches down from that point. This is where the arm hole will be. At this point I simply drew a circle that was roughly the size of an American penny and cut it out.

Now we have a basic shirt! Bust out the glue gun and glue the back side of the black strip of fleece. Line up the long edge of the black strip and top of the shirt. Place the black strip at the top of the shirt to act as a shirt collar and mimic the black lining on the original Star Trek uniforms. Double check to make sure the glue is sticking and that no spots were missed. reglue as necessary.

Hot glue the Star Trek symbol to the left side of the uniform.

There you are! It's done! Enjoy your cute little Trekkie guinea pig now, just make sure to remove the shirt when you place the guinea pig back home so that he does not get hurt. Costumes are only meant to be worn as photo props.

Star Trek Guinea Pig Cage

Everything is in and set up! Tutorials coming soon... for now, just bask in the awesomeness.

The fleece for the bedding, in all it's glory

I couldn't just decorate the cage in awesomeness so I also made

the guinea pigs MORE awesome. Star Fleet uniforms

Yes, Bacon got the red shirt but he's a tough pig, I think he'll survive.

I hope so at least.

Eddy Pig and Buddy's upper level of Star Trek awesomeness.

Eddy Pig is attempting to show off his customized food dish.

 

Buddy matching the mini potty pad

 

Checking out the Trekkie Tunnel

Ben and Bacon in the engineering level

Checking to make sure the pigloo is in the right spot

All in all the spoiled guinea pigs got Star Trek fleece for bedding, tidy pads for keeping clean in their pigloos, Star Fleet uniforms, custom feed dishes, and Trekkie tunnels to run through.

Like it but don't want to make it?
I'm selling Star Trek guinea pig items in my Etsy shop: Guinea Pig Geekery

Meet the Guinea Pigs and thier Cage of Awesome

The Cage:

 

My guinea pig "cage" is really a custom built, wood and wire, two story, awesome guinea pig abode! Each level measures 2.5 feet wide by just over 8 feet long. Each level is lined with linoleum to protect the wood from any piggy messes. I built this cage about 6 months ago and love, love, LOVE it. I couldn't ask for a better place to house my guinea pigs. Seriously, this is the cage of my childhood dreams.

The Piggies:

That awesome abode is shared by 4 boarly guinea pigs. 

(From left to right) Eddy Pig, Ben, Bacon and Buddy

They don't exactly get along very well any more. The bottom level is shared by Ben and Bacon while the top level is divided into two sections one for Eddy Pig and one for Buddy but still they "share a cage" in the way neighbors "share" a duplex.

Eddy Pig was the first guinea pig my household acquired. He was abandoned at a pet store, beat up by other guinea pigs and had a huge abscess under his jaw. He was underweight, his fur was dull and he did not act very happy at all. It took about a month to turn him around health wise and it took a month after that before I heard him squeak for the first time. He's come a long way and has turned into a very calm and friendly guinea pig. I have had him for about 2 years now. I estimate his age around 2 and a half years old.

Ben was the second guinea pig I got after I learned that guinea pigs should always be kept in pairs. I found Ben on Craig's List, he was being rehomed because the daughter was allergic to guinea pigs. She would get hives on her skin any time she touched him. Ben came to me with bumble foot and arthritis. The family I got him from was his second owners and they said he had always limped. They appeared to really love him and had him from about 2 years. Both the mom and daughter cried when I took him home. With the aid of a veterinarian, it took 2 months to turn Ben's foot health around but damage was already done from the long standing infect and his toes and feet are permanently deformed. His vet does not think this causes him pain, thankfully. Ben is the friendliest guy despite the foot issues. He is always looking for pets and treats and can usually be found hanging out at the side of the cage watching his people. I was told Ben was around 2 when I got him but I have always suspected he was older. I now think he is between 4 or 5 years old.

Next to come into our family was Buddy. Buddy was also found via Craig's List. He has a very typical story, he was bought for a child who became bored of him and the parents got fed up taking care of him. Lucky for Buddy though the parents decided to rehome him only after a few months. I got him at around 4 months old and gave him as a Christmas present to my children last year. He is about a year and a half now and my youngest son's favorite. 

The last guinea pig family member is Bacon. Bacon is again a Craig's List Piggy. Bacon's story is also pretty typical he had a really loving home but his teenage owner was headed off to college. The family took their time and choose my family to give Bacon to. He came to me in perfect health and blended into our herd well. He is about 2 years old and our most active guinea pig, he is also my oldest sons' favorite.