Summer Mantle & Mirror Redo

It was time to revamp the mantle for summer.

I started by spray painting this 39.99 Walmart mirror in ivory. I loved the shape and detail.

Added some peonies from the garden

Added some summery outdoor lanterns, a few seashells and my wood carving of a woodcock.

Placemat File Box

Ever since we lost our 3rd bedroom (which acted as our home office) to our son's nursery our mail and filing has been less than perfect...

Mail in tray on top of fridge

Carrying papers down to the filing cabinet downstairs is just not convenient on a daily basis.  I needed a solution for filing our daily mail in a central location but that was still pretty and low cost.  I started by purchasing a simple inexpensive letter size file box at staples. 

I acheived the "pretty" by hot gluing two placemats to the file box which fit perfectly, I only had to cut a small strip off the bottom.

There were so many placemats to choose from at the dollar store, but I loved the texture of these cream coloured ones.

I am going to create the following labelled tabs so that our active files have a home.

• To Pay
• To Act
• To Read 
• To File

Linking to Sew Many Ways Sew Darn Crafty Party & A Bowl Full of Lemons Week 9 Purge Challenge

Bathroom Cupboard Organization

My master bathroom cupboards were just not working for  me,  they were not terribly cluttered but they just did not look tidy as nothing was contained.  A lot of people think being organized costs a lot of money and I can prove it does not with the little organization project I gave myself this weekend.  

I started by re-using some FREE solid cardboard boxes and recovering them with sticky paper I bought at the dollar store.  Seriously take a look at your recycling, sometimes the best size boxes are overlooked because we don't think of ways to re-use them.  I even found a print to cover them that matched the vanity colour!

I added an additional shelf that wasn't being used in the vanity for additional storage and so that no space would be wasted.

I added black vinyl lettering using my silhouette. L.O.V.E my silhouette!!!

I re-used berry containers to create a "nail caddy" and to contain the things I use "everyday". The sticky paper covered the writing on them.  

On my husband's side of the vanity, I created two more storage boxes one for his belongings and another for extra products such a toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorants, body wash and Q-tips.

I also needed a better solution to containing my travel cases and travel sized products which were previously housed inside each travel case, this didn't work for me as different trips always call for different things.  I was excited that this dollar store canvas tote fit perfectly inside a shelf in my vanity.

I used another dollar store plastic container to hold the travel products within the canvas tote.  

Total cost of this bathroom cupboard makeover:

• Sticky paper: $1.00
• Canvas Tote: $1.00
• Plastic Storage Bin: $1.00
• The joy I get when opening my pretty and organized cupboards....priceless :)

Linking to
Sew Many Way's Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party
http://www.organizewithsandy.com/2011/03/14/organizing-mission-monday-link-party-week-13/
http://organizeyourstuffnow.com/wordpress/?p=18650

Homemade Pot Scrubbers

Confession: I have always saved my onion bags and no I am not a hoarder... 

I make pot scrubbers with them an idea I stole from my Grandmother who has been doing this for as long as I can remember. 

These little scrubbers work amazing on pots and pans or for scrubbing down the kitchen sink. They would also make a great little accessory for a housewarming gift bucket of natural cleaners.

Purse Organization

For an organized person I was quite embarrassed about the state of my papers in my purse.  On an organized day my checkbook, kids health books, calendar and notebook would be all held together with an elastic.  I kept my coupons in an envelope also with these items.  My purse would always slowly fill with store receipts and bank statements from the debit machine until I went through and purged my purse.

I decided it was time for a little lunch hour organization project when I saw the perfect little organizer at the dollar store.  I had seen these kind of organizers before for coupons but did not feel it was necessary to organize my coupons to that level. This was the perfect size!

I started by making a list of all the paper things I kept in my purse and purging all the unnecessary items such as expired coupons, receipts, business cards etc.

This is the list I came up with:

• Business cards
• Bank statements
• Calendar
• Checkbooks
• Canadian Tire $
• Coupons
• Health Card L
• Health Card J
• Important #'s
• Loto
• Notebook
• Receipts
• Stamps

I had to cut the labels made with my label maker with scissors to fit them onto the little tabs.

I am so thrilled with my little $1.00 purse organization project.  This will also make my life easier when I am transferring purses.

Bar Stool Makeover

I love a good before and after and this simple reupholstery project cost $15.00 and took one hour for two stools. 

I can thank our three year old for the gruesome before photo complete with dirty hand smudges. 

These inexpensive Walmart stools are now a little more chic.

Linking to the following parties:

http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2011/02/sew-darn-craftylinking-party-4.html
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2011/02/playing-on-porch-welcome-to-110th.html
http://craftskeepmesane.blogspot.com/2011/02/motivate-me-monday-59.html

Magazine Holder Update

My magazine holders in my work office are a great way for me to organize my various brochures, newsletters, booklets on various different topics on my bookshelf--however they were sooo ugly.  The holes in them didn't hide the papers very well. I purged each holder and created new subjects for the information I did not have a category for.

I decided to trade up my black ones for some larger cardboard ones we had a ton of in the office. You could also use cereal boxes and cut them into the appropriate shape.

I covered them with wrapping paper and scrapbooking tags both found at the dollar store and labeled them.  I liked them so much I made 10 of them since that is how many one role of wrapping paper could cover. 

This little improvement makes me happy and only cost me $2.00 :)

Linking to Thrifty Decor Chick's Organize it Party

Another Valentine Topiary

The arrangements I made for our work bathrooms in December that you can see here were still in the bathrooms all dried up looking.  I though it was time to revamp them for Valentines.  I had so much fun making my valentine topiary you can see here, that I decided to make a little one using the same glass vase I used for the Christmas arrangement. 

This arrangement cost me about a dollar to make since the styrofoam balls come in a package of 6 for a dollar and I only used half a bag of rose petals that also cost a dollar.  I used some cupcake liners to fill  in the top.  I typed in some valentine words at http://www.wordle.net/ to create a word cloud that I could use to hide the green foam.  Wordle is so much fun, you have to try it. I covered the wood dowel in crepe paper (Birthday streamer) since I was too lazy to paint it.

This little topiary brings a little life to our ugly work bathroom, it hardly cost anything and it makes me happy to see it when I wash my hands :)  Stay tuned for cupcake liner topiary---my last valentine topiary!

Valentine Topiary

I wanted to make a valentine craft for my mantle this year using a colour I never decorate with...pink!  I figured with a house full of boys it was time to add some feminine flare for this years valentines.

I purchased 2 packs of 250 fake rose petals, a feather boa and a package of wooden dowels at the dollar store.  I already had a container, ribbon, sewing pins, fake pearls and hairpins at home.

I started by taking three petals and folding them in half.  I than folded them in half again and stuck a sewing pin through it and poked it into the styrofoam ball.

I kept sticking these little rose buds into the styrofoam ball for about an hour and a half.   I used a larger styrofoam ball than the one shown above so it took almost the whole episode of watching the bachelor.  I was pretty satisfied on how it turned out but I remembered I had these pearls and hairpins leftover from my wedding day in my craft box and I thought they would look pretty.  I just strung the pearls onto the hairpins and pushed them into the styrofoam ball.  

I than stuck the wood dowel into the ball and filled a pot I had on hand with styrofoam.  I used a piece of the feather boa to cover the styrofoam and tied a ribbon to the dowel.  I still need to paint my dowel white.

 I like my snowy owl next to my topiary, I think its the feathered boa that brings them together.  This topiary would also look so cute in a little girls room.

Linking to: 

http://todayscreativeblog.net/get-your-craft-on-39/

http://gigglesglitzandglam.blogspot.com/2011/01/glam-party-12.html

http://www.thegirlcreative.com/2011/01/just-something-i-whipped-up-with.html

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/01/24/made-by-you-monday-36/

1st Birthday Decor

I have not had much time to craft anything lately being back at work full-time but I did want to create something special for my little guy's 1st Birthday.  I decided to do a puppy dog theme as he loves dogs.  A quick search at  a few stores proved unsuccessful in finding anything party-dog related.  I received a silhouette electronic cutter for Christmas from my husband and decide it would be my first project to make a few little decorations for his Birthday. 

I started with a banner for the mantle spelling out his name. I bought two graphics at the silhouette online store for 0.99 cent each and used 4 sheets of different colour card stock.  I wanted to use mini clothespins to attach the flags to the gift ribbon but I didn't have any so I used paper clips. I had a green bone in between the R and E but it seems to be missing.  

I also made these little dogs to hang on my china cabinet (sorry these are not the greatest photos).

For a frugal centrepiece I bought 2 packs of doggy paw tennis balls at the dollar store and put them into a clear glass vase.

I ordered the cake from our neighbour that does them on the side and I used doggy gift wrap for a table cloth and since it did not get dirty I rolled it back up and will use it again for gift wrap:)

I wish I would have had more time to play with theme as there is so much I could have done.  I was supposed to make dog bone shaped cookies but I just ran out of time.  I also would have liked to have had everyone bring a donation to our local animal shelter whether it be a used towel, blanket or food etc

DVD Jacket Artwork

I have been looking for some Thomas the Train artwork for my son's room as it is his favourite thing right now.  I could not find anything with Thomas so I decided to be resourceful.  I had these old frames from his nursery that he had grown out of.  I pulled the backing off and untaped the artwork that was in the frame.

This is currently his favourite movie...it has played in our house everyday since Christmas.  I used the extra cardboard jacket that came with the DVD to frame as artwork.  I simply cut the front of the jacket and taped it to the frame.

My son loves these in his room as they are his two favourite movies.  I like them because they took me 5 minutes to do, cost me nothing and I can change these up whenever he is into something new.