Showing posts with label roundup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roundup. Show all posts

1.09.2012

organizing: small changes


Hello there!  How are your new year goals/resolutions coming along so far?  Still working on them?  Did you give up?  If you're anything like me I know you won't give up that easily.   I'm cheering you on!  I know you can do it! (Hey we gotta motivate each other.  Right?)

I'm sure you're wondering how I'm doing.  Have I started them?  Yes, I have!  Small accomplishments, but rewarding ones.  So far I have gone back to the gym and plan to continue doing so.  I'm also going to bed earlier.  Yey!  I also started  working on a schedule to maximize my time during the day.  Maybe wake earlier (a hard one for me.  Even now that I've been good about going to bed early.)  and hit the gym first thing in the morning so I have the rest of the day to: parent, work, blog, craft, home school and so on.  I really want to find a way to fit all that and more into my days.  Ahem, any tips?

When it comes to organization, though I haven't necessarily started organizing my craft room, I have, however,  gathered a lot of inspiration through Pinterest.  I'm sure I've mentioned before my addiction to pinning and pinning and pinning.  I think my addiction may be as bad as buying fabric!

Well then, let us go back to the organizing shall we.  

I believe that sometimes tackling the smaller spaces around your home first, is better than trying to tackle a large room (like my craft room), so here are some small changes I would like to make around the house in the next few days to begin with.

In my closet:

portable hooks via martha stwart
 Reorganize my belts.  Currently my belts hang from a hanger, but slip off very easily.  That drives me crazy.  Isn't this the perfect solution to the problem? And so easy to make.  You can see the how to at MarthaStewart.com

creative scarf solutions via smallrooms
Tackle the scarfs!  I recently organized my scarfs by hanging three or four per hanger to keep them from wrinkling.   I thought I was the coolest person on the block, but then I saw this and well...all I could think of was- why did I donate all my old shower curtain hooks!!!  Another perfect solution for small spaces.  This way I can hang more scarfs onto one hanger and use up less space.  You can find more creative scarf organizing solutions at smallrooms.

In the linen closet:

there is no direct link to this photo, I stumbled upon it on pinterest.

Um, again- why didn't I think of this before?!!!!  To keep your bed linens tidy and organized simply put your folded linens in their coordinating pillow sham.  Wow!  I totally love this!  Really I do.  You don't understand how picky I am about folding my bed linens, how I carefully fold each sheet (fitted or not) until they all sit perfectly even on my shelf.  Craziness, I know.  But that is just who I am, and I am in love with this solution!!!!

In the kitchen:

scrapbook organizers in the kitchen via Chica and Jo
Our house is not small by any means, but I do have a small kitchen.  Something I didn't mind before I started enjoying cooking and had kids.  If I could make any changes to this house it would be just that, a larger kitchen (and maybe more closet space.)  So I'm constantly looking for solutions to organize my kitchen. You would be amazed to see how much I can fit in our small galley kitchen without keeping it all out on the counters (did I ever tell you I hate clutter? Especially counter top clutter!) Using a craft paper (or magazine) organizer to hold different items around the kitchen would be a perfect solution for my shelves.  To see other ways to use the craftbook holder in the kitchen visit ChicaandJo.com


Organizing, even in the van:


16 ways to organize your recycling via Better Home and Gardens
Need I say anything else?  Not pretty, but very practical.  Though I would skip the plastic bag to keep it greener

Finally around the craft room:

paper towel holder via realsimple.com, box ribbon organizer via marthastewart.com and multi-tiered pants hanger via cratingkeepsakesblog.com




Ribbon!  I have lots of it and need more ways to display it while keeping it organized.  I will share with you one of my own solutions (for a slopping wall) later, on the mean time I share with you the three solutions I found and plan to use for the rest of my ribbon.  I really like the paper towel holder solution RealSimple.com came up with.  I'll be looking for one (or several) of these on my trips to the thrift shops.  MarthaStewart.com also came up with a nice solution using photo boxes, but it takes a bit more work to make.  I really like the multi-tiered pants hanger solutions that they came up with at CreatingKeepsakesBlog.com

Jewelry organizer tutorial by Tonya Staab
Jewelry.  I like to make it for friends, as gifts, for me, for fun.  I like the idea of displaying it in my craft room using an old type set drawer.  I have one that was given to me and I planned to use in my nene's room for him to display all his small Lego pieces, but I just might change my mind and keep it to display jewelry.  Shhh.  Don't tell him.  Okay?

Are you inspired yet?  Want to start organizing?  Still need more inspiration?  Then visit DaNita's blog Delightful Order.  She created a roundup of all her organizing tips.  And she has many.  Check them out and get inspired!

Happy Organizing!


12.05.2011

countdown to Christmas: advent calendar roundup and Christmas book list


I know, I know, the countdown started five days ago.  Yes?  But with all the decorating, the re-organizing of my studio to fit a new serger machine and the daily goings, well we haven't started our countdown just yet.  Not until today!  So let's pretend today is #1, shall we? (Okay,  you we can start with #5. )

In case you've not started your countdown either here  is a small round up of some easy advent calendars you can whip up in one, two, three!:


Not sure if you like any of those.  Well then, how about making one of my past advent calendars?


You can find the tutorial here. 

This is the calendar I made last year, which for some odd reason I did not blog about.  I got the idea from one I saw in the Goosenberry Patch Christmas 2010 magazine.  But instead of using peppermints like they did, I decided to add a small scroll of paper with a book written in each one.  The kids loved it so much they asked for it back this year.  Ah yes, make mami's life much easier my sweet ones.  

Wondering what books we are using for our advent calendar this year?

(this photo is of our book basket last year)
1. How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
2. The Legend Of The Poinsettia by Tomie de Paola
3. You Can Do It Sam by Amy Hest
4. Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini
5. What Star Is This? by Joseph Slate (We also like to read this on Jan. 6th for the Three Wise Men Latin American celebration.)
6. Oliver's Red Toboggan by Paul Korteper
7. If You Take A Mouse To The Movies by Laura Numeroff
8. O Little Town Of Bethlehem: A Pageant Of Lights by David Mead
9. Noah's Mittens by Lise Lunge-Larsen
10. One Winter's Night by Leo & Diane Dillan
11. Que Monton De Tamales by Gary Soto
12. The Twelve Day's Of Christmas by Hillary Knight and/or The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jack Kent (this was mine when I was little.)
13. The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers
14. You Are My Miracle by Maryann Cusimano & Santomi Ichikawa
15. Merry Christmas Curious George by Margret & H.A. Rey
16. Nine Days To Christmas by Marie Hall ETS & Aurora Labastida
17. The Night Of The Posadas by Maria Dolores Campazano Valiente
18. Christmas Magic by Michael Garland
19. The Mitten by Jan Brett
20. Cricket At The Manger by Edith Hope Fine
21. A Charlie Brown Christmas by Charles M. Schulz
22. The Gift Of Nothing by Patric McDonnell
23. The Story Of Christmas by Patricia A. Pingry
24. The Night Before Christmas by Tom Browning

You can find all the Amazon links to this list here. Or by clicking on the tab Books We Love below the blog banner (above.)

Do you have any other books you recommend?  

Now let's officially start that countdown! (kay?)




11.22.2011

thanksgiving roundup

Now please don't tell me Thanksgiving is, um, this Thursday!...It is?!!!  Well, good thing I've been collecting some photo inspiration around Pinterest, to help me decorate our table this year. 

Want to see?

I would like to...





And...


  Fall leaf garland I made using the same concept as my Halloween garland (here).


It is all in the colors.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!