Organizing 101

Who am I to talk about Organizing?  Most the time my house is in complete shambles and in CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome).  But I DO know HOW to organize, and I'm pretty good at it, I just have to do it and keep it that way.

So here is my brief and over simplified way of organizing.

1. Decide what you want your space to be.  Is it a linen closet, coat closet, etc?  This cabinet had everything from dishes to fabric.  

2. De-junk.  One of the greatest things I've ever learned is, "You cant organize clutter"  so get rid of it!  I do this by pulling things out one at a time making piles.  Keep.  Give Away. Trash.  

If the thought of doing it all is to overwhelming do it in stages.  Like in this cabinets case, I did one shelf at a time over the course of a few days.  

3. After putting away your piles to their various locations it time to put back what you do want in your space, organized!  I needed this cabinet to be my craft space.  So only craft/sewing supplies are welcome here.  

 I even added the hardware on the drawers that have been sitting in my basement for a couple of months. 

Don't forget to think outside the box as far as storage containers are concerned. My tall containers are cereal containers from the kitchen section at Walmart.  I still need to buy a paper tray organizer but that will come soon enough. 

 I love my new craft space, it is so easy to find what I need and so easy to clean up when I'm done!

Super Easy Manicotti

Do you Manicotti?  This recipe comes from my cheese lovin' friend Mary. 

1. cook up your noodles

2. open up a packet of string cheese

3. stuff your cooked noodles with 1 1/2 cheese sticks (the half meaning length wise)

4. poor over a jar of your fav marinara sauce (put some in bottom first

5.  Top with.... more mozzarella cheese (not pictured)

6. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.  Until it looks melted and done 

I forgot to get an "after" shot when it was done baking, but my kids gobbled this up and I loved how easy it was.

Craft Room Completed... I'm back!

My Craft Room has been my focus, my hang-up, my love, my hate, my everything.... since we moved (7 months ago) This was the room I was most excited about. I have done the most projects for this room alone. I am in love! My mom and dad came down for the weekend and we busted out all the wall decor. Mama's just got the perfect eye for putting things together. And my Dad has precision hanging skills-mad skills! I just love having her here. I keep walking in, just to see what it looks like. I spend every morning in here. Its wonderful to have my own space. Thanks mother darling....

Spring pillow

Who say's spring and fall don't mix? My house is so fall-color-dominate that it's hard to "spring it up" but I found this fabric, Aviary 2 by Joel Dewberry and fell in love.

Look my other pillows match!

Lovely! Watch out pillows, now I know how easy it is to cover you...we might need new covers for every season.

I have a lumbar pillow waiting for this fabric...

Larry's favorite Cookies

I combined my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and my Mom's brownie recipe (called "Larry's favorite brownies") and made a yummy, double chocolate cookie recipe. I'm now calling them "Larry's favorite cookies" (which isn't really true, because Larry, my dad, claims peanut butter cookies as his favorite).

Here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 325.

1 stick of unsalted butter; melted

1 large egg and 1 egg yolk

1 tsp Vanilla

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 1/4 flour (I used 1 1/2 cup and they were a little too firm, next time I want them to spread a little more so I'll use less flour).

1/2 salt

1/2 baking soda

chocolate chips (I don't measure chocolate chips I just pour them in)

Melt your butter and let cool till warm. Mix all dry ingredients. Add butter, eggs, vanilla, cocoa and sugar to the bowl and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix, adding chocolate chips towards the end. With a 1/4 measuring cup scoop out dough and roll into a big ball. Break your cookie ball in half and put on your cookie sheet "rough" side up. Bake 16 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Yields: 1 1/2 dozen (18 cookies).

They are so yummy!

Note: These only make 18 cookies, so if you have a big family like I do, you might wanna double the recipe. Or to help you with portion control keep the recipe the same. Our family tends to eat warm cookies till there gone...

Sew...

I have been a nervous-nelly in the past when it comes to sewing, fabric always look "grandma-ish" or "baby-ish" My Mom makes wonderful comfy quilts that my kids wear out. And any time in the past that I have wanted something sewn, I've just placed a phone call, "Mom..."

But NO MORE!!!

I started a goal (along with my friend Mary and the young women of our ward) to quilt a throw blanket for my living room and along the way I discovered other projects. I have become addicted to fabric and drool over cottony goodness online.

Here's my quilt top: Thanks to Sew.Sew. Cluck for the tutorial and inspiration! http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

I can't wait to see it finished. Lovely!

Then I found this post on a fav. blog and had to try: http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/2010/03/ruffly-shirt-refashion.html

And then I got really brave and made a piece of clothing! This fun skirt is so easy and I love how it turned out. Now I can't wait to make more for my girls this summer.

Tutorial found here: http://www.houseonhillroad.com/photos/twirly_skirt/index.html

I love how learning something new gives you such a satisfying feeling and your confidence in your abilities grow.

Button Rings

So.. RINGS!! Its all the rage in accessories. My darling, perfect, niece Maddie came for a couple days to hang out with me while her dad went to a Vet conference. We went shopping, running around, getting our hair done, and playing hard. Our last morning.. we had to craft! We made Dog tag jewels, and then she showed me how to make these Rings. So Cute... I love all the possibilities!

You begin with about 2ft wire. Flexible, it doesn't matter the gauge, just as long as it will cooperate and go through the buttons. I just had some floral wire (isn't she adorable?)Wrap it around your finger 2 times, this is what you'll use for the size...

thread your buttons.

pull the wires together and twist, like your closing a bag of bread

Then start coiling it around, until you want to stop, you don't even have to coil, you can skip a this step, and the prior entirely...

split the wires to go down each side of the buttons

Coil the wire around the ring, repeat on the other side.

clip

Viola...

Good Listener Chart

I love reward systems and have done several different ones in the past, and will probable do several more in the future. Am I ADD or do reward systems loose there appeal after a while? Oh well, it might just be me.

But right now our new family system is "Good Listener Charts" . The concept is simple. When my children get asked to do something and they do it the first time then they get to color in an ear. This will include chores, homework, piano practice, and changing a negative behavior (although this will be something they earn only once a day--at the end of the day. Ex: "Please stop bossing your friends" They will get to color in a ear if that happened the whole day!)

Then when they fill their chart (25 ears) they earn a prize. Which will include anything!!! Okay I haven't bought the prizes yet...but I will.

If your kids are already "good listeners" one of my favorite web sites has a ton of free printable charts. http://www.freeprintablebehaviorcharts.com/

Upholstered sewing table

I have been busy working on my craft room. That's right, I can't believe I have a craft room... So, I laid out a quilt, then layered the lovely fabric, batting (normal quilting batting 3layers) and put the table on top. As you can see I spray painted the table legs prior.
My phone is usually a crucial thing, It's my mom on speakerphone... Love that girl! While I was doing this she was actually sewing drapes. Funny! I called to ask her if I needed to wash the fabric first- which she said "no, that just makes upholstered fabric weaker... (great tip) and one less step! I just pulled the edges tight and stapled. **another great tip: when stapling, if your staples are going in all the way, you aren't applying enough pressure. So really put yo back into it! I was sure to staple a couple on one side, and then a couple on the opposite side so I wouldn't get it puckering... It was nice and even.
I then just trimmed the excess fabric off. Now I can sew, and not have to move too much to iron something. I love it.

Oreo Truffles St. Valentino

One of my favorite indulgences has to be Oreos. Growing up there were ALWAYS Oreos around, Laura, can you remember all the oreo shakes? Well, my Dad had a signature OREO shake... and we had it almost every Monday night for Family Night. So it was "love at first bite" when I had Oreo Truffles! They are sooo easy. Savannah decided she wanted to take them for her class treat tomorrow. We made them together. Its just oreos, cream cheese, and dipping chocolate! They are sooo rich, you only need one to be totally satisfied, and then 20min later you can have another...and 20min after that, another... and so on!

New Recipe Book

This project has been hanging over my head for years. I have wanted to put all my recipes in one place, and organized. But then I realized I didn't want to loose the hand writing, or the actual purple note- because then, how could I find the recipe. So I just folded them any way I could and put them in a photo album. Its been so much fun to cook again. And I just love to look at all the different things I wrote recipes on, Post its, receipts, labels, note cards, wedding invitations... apparently, whatever was nearby when I needed to jot something down. Love it!

Valentine Advent

I got this in the mail this week from my Amazing Sister. She is a crafting contessa! This measures about 2 1/2 feet across, its pretty big. She just used felt, cut a heart, glued a smaller pink heart, and even hot glued the ric rack around the edges. Then she did the smaller hearts- they have little pockets in them, and then just sticky felt numbers... she might have used the cricut?! Anyhoo... each little pocket has a little paper in it that either says an activity like "make a love shack" (a gingerbread house) or "show love to Savannah today by giving her one act of service" or "write a love note to CJ...." The kids love it, especially when the message is something about them~ Thanks LISA!! xoxoXOxoOOXxo

Valentine Bark...ruff!

I came across this idea from November 2010 Real Simple's Magazine article on something like .."What to do with leftover Halloween Candy" They just used Pretzels, raisens and candy corn. When I saw Valentine candy corn, I knew this would be a fun treat my kids could make. For a cookie sheet, I used 2 bags of White Choc Chips (nestle brand... on sale at Target) Melted, spread, then dripped red food coloring, and dropped on candy(m&ms, candy hearts, candy corn) and pretzels. It hardened pretty quick, maybe 10 min. If you need to rush it, put it in the freezer or fridge! So easy, so tasty.

Martha Stewart Paper Bag Flowers

These paper bag flowers are so easy, fast and darling. I have made these a bunch. They are the fastest decorations to take up space. And it seems like everyone is always freaking out that they look so fabulous. A few friends and I had to decorate a room at church with blue and purple. It was tough to come up with something, until I remembered making these for a going away party for a precious friend. They were so easy. Usually I don't put a heart center, but we couldn't find purple bags, or white, so we just improvised- and it turned out cute! Also hanging from the ceiling were the words "Divine Nature" and "Integrity" There was a talk given on those values. It was lovely. And so fun, fast and easy. They can be made in different sizes and shapes..

la Isla, the lsland

We purchased a short-sale home and closed August 31, 2010. WE then spent the month of September remodeling... well more like painting and redoing flooring. We hired some of the help, and did a lot ourselves. So here you can see the monster island. It measures about 8ftx4ft, Its huge, and deserves more of a focus than just a glance. So I started brainstorming with our carpenter friend..... I wanted it to look like a "unique piece" not just part of the existing scheme.

I just didn't like the way the island was just 1/2 cabinetry and 1/2 drywall... so I had him beadboard, and batten board-frame it all out. I love how it turned out. We cut a lot of costs by going with MDF, especially since I knew I was going to paint it. I think the perfect color is red. Red is totally neutral in my book. If you ever want a splash of color- RED, it goes with everything.... well, if you get the right red. I tried about 4 different shades. It had to be a cooler red, not too orange. And Red is a tough color to paint. I recommend using a blue primer if possible. And lots of coats, and patience in between drying times. You can't really go off of they labels. I don't think it was dry until about week 2.

IT WORKED!! I finished it with Black glaze. I will soon post my window to match.... and maybe another view of the other side. Sorry! I also found cute knobs to make it stand out even more. You totally need more views of this beauty. So I'll post more later darling!

Pottery Barn Remake

Loved this card holder, but I had some other ideas. Not just for the holidays, all days.
Just wanted you to see the price, $199, and they don't have the image on their site any longer.

Purchased a frame, $3 at DI, Some picture hanging wire $3 for 15ft, and busted out my staple gun to secure. I just measured and stapled. (all while talking to my dear friend Emily... see Em, this is what I made)

And here it is up and running in my hallway of the mudroom. Love! It actually took longer to hang than it did to make it!