Database Design

This spring I took a class on database design for my job and what a handy skill that has turned out to be! I decided to create a database in Access for my home business. With this database I will be able to track the same basic information that all businesses should track: purchases, sales, and inventory. The same information can be tracked in Excel, but learning Access is truly handy since data can be related and centralized in one location.

Here is a general breakdown of each unit.

PURCHASES
- included all purchases that I make for the business
- tracks vendors that I purchase from and sell to

INVENTORY
- tracks all consumable supplies in my possession
- allows me to see what I have on hand, when I purchased something, and from where
- tracks finished products and what supplies and labor are put into each one

SALES
- tracks all sales of products that I make.
- tracks my customers, where I sold a product, and how much it sold for

Here is the general diagram of relationships for my database:



It seems more complicated then it is, but each box represents a table in access and each line in the box represents a field of data that I collect. If you prefer Excel, each box can be a separate spreadsheet.

Now I will begin the long and arduous process of filling in the inventory.

Craft Room Design

Like any crafter, at any given moment I am working on a hundred projects. Unfortunately, I have a hard time following through and finishing up my projects. I usually make purchases without any specific project in mind. I stash these supplies away for a rainy day and on occasion, I might start a project. Afters years of being an avid crafter (most would say from birth), working two years at Hobby Lobby, five years of working in a bead store, and owning several home craft businesses, I have managing to collect a enviable cache of goodies. Too bad I won't be able to come to my own estate sale!

Anyway, one of the many projects under construction in my house is the creation of my craft room. Since my leg is unusable for the next few weeks, I figured this would be a good time to start the design of this room. However, even as flighty as I am, I realize that good craft room design starts with an inventory of your supplies. It is important to know what kinds of supplies you have in stock and what kinds of supplies you might get in the future. Once I have the inventory completed, I can decided how to store my supplies and what makes the most sense for that small space.

Simple Bathroom Curtains

As many of you know, when I am not crafting, I am probably working in my old house. In fact, more often than not, I am crafting something for my old house. As much as I enjoy making things, I enjoy making things that are useful. So here is a shameless plug for my other blog:

www.somethingoldisnew.blogspot.com

The fun of owning your own house is decorating it to your tastes. However, if you choose a color palette that is not "trendy", it is sometimes hard to find coordinating interior design options. In the case of my bathroom, we had a tile floor that was blue (the previous owner's choice, not mine), bronze fixtures, a green shower curtain, and purple walls. I was particularly fond of the shower curtain with its green and white dandelion silhouettes that I purchased from Target.

The problem came when I could not find any curtains that coordinated with the bathroom colors or that simply appealed to me. In general, I would say that my style is contemporary/eclectic. I like clean, simple designs, and straight, neat edges. But the bathroom needed curtains, not just for style, but also for privacy. After mulling it over, it occurred to me to just buy another matching shower curtain and make my curtains from that.

I envisioned a simple, flat curtain, somewhat similar to the shower curtain. However, after cutting the fabric and sewing it into a basic, square curtain set, I realized it did not hang like I had wanted it to. In order to make it hang properly, I folded it accordion style and secured each fold with a few stitches on the machine. I then took some curtain clips and hung them on every other fold. The result was a cute matching curtain set.

It soon became apparent that the curtains did not stay as tightly closed as we wanted them to. After all, a bathroom is where people want some privacy! Brice suggested that I sew a snap on them so that they offer more privacy. For the sake of convenience and a one-handed operation, the snap morphed into some sort of a magnetic closure. However, I felt both these closures might be a unsightly and finally settled on the simple and stylish button.

I used a Jade donut and a small, yellow, flower button to create a decorative closure with a simple loop. Now the curtains stay closed and remain stylish!

These curtains are similar to the pleated curtain styles, but updated to be a little more modern. However, the pleats may have to be ironed with heavy starch as the bathroom humidity can soften the folds with time.


If you want to attempt your own home decorating project, curtains are a great start. The are generally square, can be made out of a variety of fabrics, and can be completed in only a few hours. These curtains took about 2 hours to make (much of which was pressing the seams) and cost about $30 ($20 for the extra shower curtain and $10 for the curtain clips). I also have quite a bit of extra material left over for another project, and I can't stress how much I love that shower curtain fabric!