Happy Birthday America!

Just a quick note to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July!! This past February,
my family and I decided to take a long weekend trip to Washington DC.
We had a great time and saw ALL the patriotic spots. The weather went from
lightly snowing one day to warm the next, but we survived!

This is on the rooftop of Charlie Palmer's Steakhouse.
The waiter took a liking to the girls and asked the general manager
to take us up there. He was fantastic and gave us time
to take all our photos! 

The wind on the other hand, was not as cooperative!

I still think these photos are so fun!!

So I hope you and your family have a happy and safe holiday. Eat lots of
burgers and potato salad and enjoy the day off!! Back to organizing tomorrow,
but that's for another post!

Inexpensive Homemade Gift Ideas . . .

Ok, so I am little behind in posting this because this is something I made back in May (truthfully, it slipped my mind). I needed a last minute gift for my Girl Scout troop parent volunteers. Having been a Girl Scout leader for the past 8 years (1 more to go!), I had run out of ideas for homemade gifts. Normally, the girls make the gifts but we also ran out of meetings so I was left to my own skills (ha, ha!) such as they are.  So I looked in my craft cabinet, found 4 tall glass cylinders and some Modge Podge, and got to work! 

I believe I got these from the Dollare Tree - the dollar store where the items actually cost only $1.

I printed out the GS Promise and Law on regular paper.

I had some old Mod Podge (yeah, look at the top of the jar!). I have used a version of
watering down glue for projects in the past and they have worked just as well as the Modge Podge - I just had it on hand and like saying Modge Podge. I tore strips of the poems and haphazardly started gluing them on. I did the top and then turned the jar over to do the rest.

Once all spots were covered, I put one more layer of Mod Modge all over the outside.

I didn't like the rough edges showing so I added the ribbon to the top and bottom.
Here's a close-up version of the finished project.
We filled them with daisies (sorry, no photo) and the moms loved them!

The next day, and still on a Mod Podge roll (no it wasn't the smell of the glue), I needed a gift for one of the days of Teacher Appreciation Week. Each day of the week, we are assigned items to bring in, this day being candy. I did not have time (or the forethought) to run to the Dollar Store so I had these canning jars. 

I found some poems about teachers and printed them out. 

Back to gluing!

Almost finished project - I decided, after taking the photo - of course, to add a ring of ribbon to the top and it gave it that finished look. We filled the jars with Hershey's Hugs and Kisses for a couple of the teachers who particularly loved them and Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Squares for two who are on Weight Watchers (and added a note for how many Points in each square!). My daughter then wrote a note of thanks and we were good to go.

I think they look great - use your imagination for the ribbon!!

As I was making the gifts, I realized that they could be made for any occasion. You could use sheet music or lyrics for the piano teacher, scores and schedules for an athletic Coach, you get the idea.

Now back to organizing my craft room, but that's for another post!

Cross This Off the List . . .

Ok, so I have been dying to get more organized. I swear, I take one step forward, and slide and fall two steps six steps back. This summer is the year of MISSION ORGANIZATION (read that with a deep, drawl-ing, echoey voice - sounds good, right? Didn't I say this in January too, though??).

Go to my Pinterest account for the original source.

So I have been wanting to do this forever (of course I found it on Pinterest in fact, one of the very first things I pinned last summer when I was told about this Godsend by my friend Beth. I then proceeded to waste the next 3 days of my life getting everything organized (ha, ha - my Pinterest is more organized than my house!) and pinning everything I loved!!

I love the idea of these storage boxes. We have a lot of guests and items are usually left behind. I try to keep them in a certain spot but then they get moved, shoved, borrowed, and so on! I also have the random item to return to the store or donate and again, they just get randomly placed wherever. I was going to put them in the hall closet but since I don't usually open it every time I leave the house, I thought this location would be better. This is the door from the house into the garage. I pass by here a lot more so I will see what's in the boxes on a more regular basis (no so out-of-sight-out-of-mind). So here's my solution -

I wanted the containers to be see-through because I would not always remember that I had something to return/donate/etc. I already had the shelves as you can see by below (quickly look away and scroll down if you have an adverse reaction to clutter/crap/junk/etc... because this will send you over the edge!).

But now it is all gone, most of the pink storage to my niece Presley as we no longer have any pink in our house anywhere - a thought that made my husband (and only male in the entire house) very sad. So again, here is the finished project:

I was going to print out fun labels or paint chalkboard squares but then I was perusing another blog site (and apologies because I could not find the original source) but I saw these Martha Stewart peel-and-stick chalkboard labels. I was overwhelmed! I was overjoyed! I was over the jank labels I was going to make! I immediately grabbed my car keys and handbag and headed to Staples (appears to be the only local place I could buy them). Yes, Tropical Storm Debby was on it's way but that didn't matter to me!

Score!!

Again, me being me, I ended up buying 2 sets of the larger labels (6 labels 3 3/4"x5 3/16", I think around $5.99 each) and 2 smaller sets (12 labels 2 1/2"x 3 3/4", I think same price of $5.99). I can't wait to start labeling everything! Trust me, you will see plenty more of these posts coming to a blog near you! I had chalk at my house but had heard about these new markers that write like chalk. I couldn't find any sets of different colors (Michaels was out and I didn't feel like going to Jo-Ann's because you know, Tropical Storm and everything) so I found this one white marker in the Bridal section at Michaels.

Another score!

I then, giddy as a school girl, head home and actually finished my project. Here are the categories I came up with:

Left behind by guests or borrowed by us.

Being a former retail employee for years, I never use to return items to stores.
Now that I am on an organizing kick, I am working hard at returning something
that won't work for the reason I bought it.
(In fact, just cleaned my closet yesterday and am donating 3 items with tags still on them - ugh!) 

This will be used for any odd item - return library books,  take to be repaired, whatever
we can think of. We can just write it on the chalkboard label and wipe it when done.

I just love it and actually just took a load down to the Return to Owners box. I think I might add the person's name to the label to help remind me. This will work great and create a spot for all those random, transitional items. Now I just have to train my family but that is for another post!

Anyone Want to Watch a Movie . . .

Ok, in addition to Tropical Storm Debby, this weekend brought several home improvement projects for me. Let's start with the little one. I tried staining the DVD holder my Go-to-Guy (GTG) made for me.

These are obviously the befores.

This was the before for the fireplace with bookshelves.
Ha, ha, ha! Actually, only took about 1 hour to put together,
plus, waiting 7 days for the new non-cracked top piece to arrive.

The goal is to get the DVD holder under our fireplace
(yes, it's electric and a long story but after much
debating, we all decided to keep it. We know, it's not real fire, but it does give off a super
nice glow and still gives that warm and cozy feeling!).

Trying to match stain was pretty much impossible, at least for a rookie like me. I took the shelf in to Home Depot and went with the darkest stain I could get that wasn't black. After about 4 coats, lots of sanding and 2 Mike's Hard Black Cherries, I decided that this was a no-go. (Sorry, no pixs, let's blame it on the Mike's!). I had no kids that night so I drag my husband with me back to Home Depot to try to find a paint that will come close. This piece is meant to be utilitarian, not decorative so at this point, I don't really care. After looking at about 100 paint swatches, finding my husband (twice) who is trying to get to the exit and around the corner to Tijuana Flats (he HATES, and yes I know hate is a strong work, but he HATES any kind of home improvement place. I, on the other hand, could sit in the lumber section for hours just breathing in the fresh cut wood!), and dealing with the yahoos who kept giving their input (non-professionals, I mean seriously, who hangs out at Home Depot on a Friday night??), we selected our paint and headed out to dinner.

Me being me (thanks Mom), as soon as I walked in the door, I pulled out my roller and painted the cabinet. (Again, no pictures, blame this on the sangria at TF!) Then I waited, and waited for the paint to dry. Finally, it was dry and I was able to take the below -

Isn't this attractive?

But put them in here and it's lovely!!  I have 3 drawers that hold
70 movies each. Unfortunately, all the drawers are filled
and I didn't even get all our kiddie movies in them yet.
Time to start weeding out . . . 

. . .  and we end up with this. 

 All-in-all, I am thrilled with the final outcome. The drawers are on full-extension slides so it is easy to get to all the movies. I am not in love with the drawer pulls, and found some that would be perfect, but those are special order from Home Depot so I will just wait to get them down the road.

Now, I know I said projects so here is a sneak preview -

What, you ask? No more 1980s railings? More to come but that is for another post!