Play Kitchen Fun

I love making stuff. Baking, cooking, painting, ceramics, writing, collage, woodworking, sewing, crafting, etc. I've often said my dream is to make a living "making stuff". The problem is I'm not really great at the aforementioned hobbies. I'm just OK, and OK isn't good enough to sell stuff, usually. No one will buy a cross stitched tea towel, for example, if the stitches aren't nearly perfect. A majority of the reason I believe I'm not really good at crafts and stuff is because I'm impatient and a little OCD. Nothing it more tedious to me than spending hours on one little piece of a project. I would much rather spend a few minutes sewing, then a few sanding wood, then some painting then...you get the picture. Working on an assembly line would make me insane in about an hour.

I think I've found my new favorite hobby. It's making play kitchens out of old entertainment centers. My friend Jen's sister-in-law Erin made one and posted it on her blog. I thought it was simply brilliant, so I set out to find an old cabinet and some materials to complete the project, for cheap. Found the cabinet for $10 at Goodwill, and spent another $20 between a salvage place and a Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Spent another six bucks at Home Depot for some foam rollers and tape. I have about another $25 dollars I need to spend, on a "sink", some fabric, some hardware and more foam rollers. The total cost should be about $55.

Since starting my project last week, I have spent nearly every discretionary minute working on my kitchen. Actually, it's plural: kitchens, because I went crazy and bought two entertainment centers since they were so cheap. I'm excited to post pics but I'm less than half way done with each kitchen. But I'm having a great time designing and putting together my little kitchens mostly from stuff I have on hand. And it beats Chemistry any day. :)

I'm not quite sure what to do with these kitchens. Sell them? Donate them? One of my friends who has a little girl has said she will buy one for her girl's birthday in January. And there are lots of charity events in the fall where I could donate to a silent auction. But I could really really use some extra money so Jase and I can have a Christmas this year, so maybe I could make and sell a few. Although I have no idea what to charge. Not a clue. But since I've gone part time and Jase has taken a pay cut, we're in deficit each month and Christmas is going to be paltry, as in homemade cards and IOU coupon books, without some added income.

I will post some pics when the kitchens get closer to being finished. In the meantime, I'm loving my new projects.