2012: Getting Organized

Hunter loves to color.  Or really just take the crayons out of the box and put them back in.  We bought him some toddler-size markers for Christmas and all of these items were starting to get scattered around the kitchen.  I bought this plastic tote at Walmart and used foam letter stickers to label it.  The foam stickers I had previously purchased at Walmart.  Simple, easy and contained!

 Our pantry is scary.  It's not even a real pantry but a cabinet.  I'll never do that again.  It's very deep and it's so hard to find things in that dark cavern.  After getting inspiration from a picture I saw in Better Homes and Gardens, I invested in these Oxo containers (with a coupon) and I absolutely love them!  I don't need to label them because I can easily identify what's in them AND I can actually see through them to what else is lurking behind.  Best of all they are air tight so Hunter's Cheerios will never go to waste.

Last, but not least, I am always yelling, "Save the bows" whenever anyone unwraps a gift.  I decided that all of these stray ribbons and bows needed a place.  I purchased a Snapware ornament storage container and used the cardboard dividers to divide it up into the spaces I needed.  Now all of my bows and ribbon are in one place.

How are you getting organized in 2012?

Chalkboard Banner

This weekend I decided to make a chalkboard banner for Korey's birthday.  He was at an art conference all day Friday and Saturday so I threw him a surprise birthday party.

I would say this is simple if you know what you're doing but since I didn't research how I should do this it was more challenging than what I thought.  I did know what the end goal would be but getting there was somewhat difficult.

 My original idea was to have these wooden chalkboard circles with magnets on the back that would be lined up on a metal bar to display the message.  That is what was a challenge.  I bought a can of magnetic spray paint and painted a wooden board I bought at Michael's.  After two coats there was no way a magnet was going to stick so I had to resort to Plan B.  Plan B involved me hitting up Target and Home Depot for magnet tape and a piece of metal that could be a board I could hang.  I could only find the magnet tape.  The only metal type stuff at Home Depot was some pipe looking thing.  Umm no.  I'm sure if I'd had more time I could have found something over the course of a couple of weeks. 

So then I went to Plan C.

These are the packages of wooden disks I bought at Michael's.  They were $.99 per package.  Ignore the can of spray paint because I forgot I was going to use chalkboard paint.  Just a side note - I was under a time crunch with Korey being gone and I was also cooking and baking up a storm in the house, running back out to the grocery store because I didn't have sugar or sour cream,  and trying to get Hunter to take a nap because he decided he didn't need a morning nap.  It was a crazy day.

 The can of chalkboard paint is off to the side which I purchased at Home Depot for my chalkboard menu.  I used a foam brush this time to paint on the chalkboard coating.  It was less than a dollar at Michael's.  I only did one coat on these and I think they dried pretty quick.

When the metal board idea didn't work out (I wanted to be able to add or take away letter disks on this piece of metal), I resorted to gluing ribbon on the back of each disk and letting it dry.  I did write my letters on the front first before I glued the ribbon on.  Then after letting it dry I hung it up over our mantel!  If I want to change the letters for next time I can glue on more disks and use a wet paper towel to erase the original letters.

How to:

1.  Purchase packages of round discs (available at Michael's)

2.  Purchase can of chalkboard paint (I got mine at Home Depot but Michael's does have spray chalkboard paint)

3.  Brush paint onto round disks using foam brush (this makes it streak free)

4.  Let dry and then write letters on the front in chalk

5.  Glue ribbon to the backs of each.  I did short little pieces to connect every 2 discs and then one long piece on each end.

6.  Hang up over your mantel and tell yourself that you're a super crafy person!

Austin

Korey and I took a quick trip to Austin because his mom was going to be at a crafts fair in Warrenton. She described it as a mini Canton but not having been to Canton in years I thought it was HUGE!

This is Hunter in his makeshift highchair which consists of the bumbo in a chair in our hotel room. Sans shirt of course because bibs are pointless at his age.



Chilling on the hotel bed.

Korey's brother from another mother (aka his friend he grew up with) lives in Pflugerville so we went to their house one night for dinner and Hunter played with his daughter Carolina.

Here is Javier with his two "kids". Check out his hair. That's where Carolina gets her locks from. By this point I think it was 10pm so Hunter was more than ready to go to bed thus the unhappy face.

The craft fair in Warrenton. It went on for miles. We didn't even attempt to see everything.

Here is everyone taking a break. Judy drove up with her friend Barbara and they are all enjoying floats in the shade.

Hunter was rocking the straw hat in one of the antique booths. As you can tell from my glistening face it was hot.

On the way out of town we decided to take a risk, enter a noisy restaurant with Hunter, and sit down and eat. He made it and did fantastic! I fed him his solids while we waited for food. It was so loud in there I was literally yelling my order to the waitress. There was a lady who was doing balloon animals so she made Hunter a monkey. The big green thing in front of him is the Tiny Diner....love it! Best thing for eating out.

Blessings: Vinyl Lettering Photo Wall

So you remember that blank wall I have in my living room that I vowed to do something with? Well, the time has come!

I love, love Uppercase Living stuff (vinyl expressions) even though I have never bought anything for the house. I am on an email list for a rep and right before Hunter arrived I got an email from a rep saying there was a sale on discontinued expressions. A sale!! I have been wanting to turn the wall into a family picture wall (I hope that's not out of fashion!) and wanted a vinyl expression to summarize the wall. I had been looking at ones that said something Family related but then I found this and knew it was the one! Better yet it was on sale! I think it was only about $15.

It arrived right after Hunter was born and then I had to wait for us to get his newborn photos and for those to arrive. Finally, I have the beginnings of my family picture wall! I was going to place 8x10's on either side but one of the frames was hanging funky so that's why I have zoomed in on the one frame...so you can't see the rest of the blank wall space. I love it!

Chalkboard Menu

Since I've been home on maternity leave I've been tackling projects I have procrastinated on for years. For example, I just finished my college scrapbook. Yep, 11 years later! Besides finishing up scrapbooks (all during naptime of course if naptimes happens...that's another story) I decided to make a chalkboard. And I am in the process of painting chalk labels on my glass jars that hold flour, sugar etc. Below is the chalkboard I made.


How To:
1.  I bought an 8x10 picture frame I found on sale at Target. 
2.  I purchased black chalkboard paint from Home Depot.  It's on the paint aisle and I couldn't find it so I just asked the paint guy to show me where it was.  I also purchased a small paintbrush with bristles but it might have been better to just buy a sponge brush.
3.  At home I took apart the picture frame and laid the glass on some newspaper.  Then I just painted the glass that came with the frame in even strokes with the brush. I only needed to paint one side. Up close you can see the lines the brush made so the sponge brush might have made this smoother.
4.  Reassemble the glass and frame and hang wherever you want.  This kind of simple crafting I can do!


Korey is helping Hunter to test out the chalkboard by writing his name on it. I love how Hunter is looking at Korey in this pic.

By the way Korey isn't left handed so that's why it's scratchy. If anyone is curious about the cereal in the background it's Honeynut Cheerios (hers) and Cap'n Crunch (his). On another side note the Paris sign is not from Paris. I haven't been yet but my kitchen happens to have Paris pics in it. I hope I'll get to see the city in person one day!

Yay! It's his name. He's ready for Harvard.

We did it Dad!

Korey has decided in addition to it being a menu board it's also a menu request board. The first item he has written on it is some stuffed mushrooms he tasted at a party we went to, recipe courtesy of The Pioneer Woman. He loves mushrooms. Me, I can live without them.

Baby Things

These are the homemade/handmade gifts I've received for Hunter. Love them all!

Here are the letters my sister made. She mod podged paper over the letter cutouts and put ribbon on the back. She is nicknamed Martha Stewart in our family.

(I have no idea why this picture is flipped because it's fine in my files). This was from my friend Jayme. She calls it a minky. One of her clients made this and I absolutely love it! It has coordinating fabric on the back.

Embroidered burp cloths also made by one of Jayme's clients.

My SIL made these burp cloths by taking a towel attached to fabric. She used a sewing machine to do this-something I don't even own! These are too cute.

Here is the 3 different ones she gave me.

And a cute onesie made by the minky blanket maker....adorable!

Fabric to the Rescue

I've come to realize that I will never finish decorating my house. I've been in the house a couple of years and I've just now gotten kitchen curtains! But don't think I haven't been looking for them. I have scoured many stores and haven't found anything I like. But my mom came to the rescue with her curtain-making skills and we went to Hobby Lobby and found three colors of fabric that she pieced together into what's pictured below. I love them and so does Korey. Thanks Mom! That windowsill is the next project.

This is my cedar chest that my mom had recovered years ago and now we decided to recover it once again to match our living room. I'm hoping to make it into a hallway bench. By the way Korey and I did some furniture rearranging last weekend in our living room and the baby's room. And now my baseboards need to be cleaned. Ahhh...the joy of nesting!

Here is the before.

My parents had come over to help hang the curtains and recover the bench. We found the fabric at Hobby Lobby and it happens to be the exact same fabric as my couch throw pillows that I had found at Kohls. There's my dad with the staple gun working on the bench.

Korey told me he was deliberately making faces in this picture.

What to do with the scraps??

This is the finished product!

ELFA to the Rescue

In an effort to get organized before Baby Scott arrives, we had to completely empty out our guest bedroom closet and clean it out of all my MK products and the temporary air mattress we had set up after my sister moved out so that we could have this room for the baby. In order to make the baby's room and closet completely empty we had to combine two closets into one and move everything to the back bedroom closet. Whew! It has been a month-long or more process and I'm still not completely done. I say I'm not done because I still have a few piles/projects I need to tackle.

This is the before...which is only the contents of ONE closet. Yes, here is our mess for all the world to see. This is the room that holds Korey's BIG art desk, my desk, a bookshelf, and two dog crates. You can't even see the dog crates in the back right corner because we covered them up! And our poor dogs kept trying to paw their way back to them. They were so confused. Part of cleaning out this closet included me having to tackle a long-ignored box of photos that had never been put in albums. This took forever! Like several weekends.

We decided to install ELFA because it seemed practical and it was on sale! I never would have considered it but in the end we went for it and I'm glad we did. We even considered pieces of furniture to just place in the closet but decided our stuff probably wouldn't just fit. And the great thing about the ELFA is that we can take it with us if we move (to a bigger house that has a bigger kitchen and awesome floors!)

Here is Korey doing paint touchoups after he knocked down a closet wooden shelf thingy with a clothes bar attached. We didn't know how to get this down because the nails were hidden but thanks to Google I found a video online and voila it was done! Korey's grandfather was an architect so, that combined with the artist skills in his blood, made for his meticulous design of the closet. To the point where I didn't care where the shelves went as long as I had a place to put everything! And part of his meticulous design process included me moving almost all of the contents out so he could visualize what the design should look like. I gave him painter's tape and he marked off where the shelves would go (my idea!). This is part of being married to an artist!

And here is the after! This is our back wall. This wall still needs more organizing on the shelves but there is absolutely nothing on the floor to inhibit you from walking into the closet. Awesome!

The right wall has the original shelving which Korey meticulously stacked with our stuff.

Here is the wall to the left. The dogs now have their own shelf to hold food, treats, etc. We even have four drawers below that shelf.

That is the long explanation of our closet makeover and I'm glad it's done...well almost!

Jewelry for Sale!

My aunt is making jewelry and I'm selling it for her! Prices are below each pic. Happy shopping! I have all pieces here with me so if you want anything I can deliver soon.

Bracelet and Earrings set = $15

My favorite piece!! Blue and silver bracelet, small = $10

Earrings = $6/pair

Pendant necklace and earrings set = $18

Necklace and earrings set = $16

Brown bracelets = $8 each

Red/gold bracelet = $8

Chunky jewel-toned necklace and earrings set = $20

I'm modeling the first bracelet pic posted!

Send me an email to kellythorn@hotmail.com

$1 Can of Spray Paint

I am not Martha Stewart nor do I claim to have any of her blood. My sister, however, does. When it comes to decorating I'm always asking her for advice. My mom, too. Recently I've been inspired my http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/. She decorates on a budget but everything is so cute! Some of the things she buys from Goodwill! Goodwill! For cheap! That's where I leave the stuff I want. I don't go back for more! But I took the challenge and went shopping at Goodwill for the first time ever! I was so afraid I would see stuff I owned but I didn't. My stuff was good stuff that someone wanted! Woohoo! Anyways I ventured around GW looking for some stuff to decorate my house with.

Here was my Thrifty Decor Chick inspired purchase. It's a frame that's deep like a shadow box but isn't. It was a grueseome gold color and in great condition. I purchased a $1 + change can of black spray paint from Walmart and finished it off. It's now hanging in my bedroom over my nightstand. So pretty! There is other stuff on the wall but I wanted to show it up close. Total purchase for frame was $4.

Then lo and behold at Target I found these beauties. I love black, scrolly things! If you've seen my house you might remember the huge black, metal, scrolly piece I have over the fireplace. I spotted these in the candle aisle at Target and they called out to me. Yet there was one problem. They had metal candle votive holders sticking out from them. No problem! I took them home and made Korey borrow the neighbor's saw so he could saw off the metal candle holder piece and voila! They got a little scratched up when he sawed them but thankfully I still had some black spray paint left so I touched them up. I now have 3 cool black metal wall decorations. These are now in the living room. The 3 candle votives that came in the box are now in the pic above! Total purchase for black scrolly pieces was $15! Which means I only spent $20 for these two pieces including the spray paint.