Time off = organizing the house! Tutorial on creating cute and cheap organizing 'baskets'

I have been enjoying time off maybe a little too much.  I have been getting up early to enjoy my coffee and quiet time in the house, then working hard at re-organizing the mess that I call my home.   It is way, way overdue, and I am thankful for time to work on it.  It is going to make my life so much easier in the long run

The first day I wanted to begin to tackle the kitchen.  I had seen people organize their cupboards and pantries with baskets and I had a thought.  I am a little bit of a hoarder...hehe...in that I love to keep old boxes, tins, etc to reuse.  So, I went in the craft closet and found some boxes perfect for the job.  

First, I needed to paint them.  Good ol' spray paint to the rescue!  I chose the vintage-y green, as I thought it would match the new dishes (even though they are not in the same area...hehe.)

Then I went and bought these handy dandy metal book plates at the local JoAnns (which is not only where my hubby works, but also a 7 minute walk from my house...I know, I am a lucky girl!)

This is what I started with....

But then had the idea (I am sure I saw it on the box or something) to put ribbon through the holes like this:

So it would then look like this!

To make sure they would end up staying, I added a little glue to the back.  Any kind will work.  I had already tied the book plate around the back of the box, then kind of flipped it in place to get some glue on it, and then flipped it back.  The ribbon helped keep it in place while the glue dried.

And here are some of the almost done pieces!  In the forefront is the tied ribbon on the back of each box.

Ta da!  I think they came out great!

Finally, here is the finished product!  (Well, basically...forgot to insert the tags in a few of those book plates...hehe.)

But the book plates are perfect to give the family the labeling and organization they need to keep things in better order...something we desperately needed in the kitchen!

Happy organizing!

Ash

Holiday crafting bonanza!

Well, now that the holidays are over, I can finally share some of the things I made for folks!  There are a few people yet to get their gifts...so...hope this doesn't spoil anything for them...hehe.

One of the things I really had fun with this year was kitchen goodies.  In particular, crocheted dishcloths and hotpads.  I had fun making different styles and colors for each of the people's kitchen color schemes.

Here are actually just a few I made.....

This adorable pattern for the hot pad house can be found here at Lion Brand.

So much fun to create!  I actually probably spent more time on these than I should have, and did not finish some of my other gift to folks.  So, they are getting theirs late, and I will share those with you soon. ;)

Ash

Feature Fridays and....Tales and Trials of Mrs. P!

Whoops!  I went M.I.A. again!  But hey, the holidays kicked my butt.  I worked really hard on gifts for friends and family and then we traveled through crazy weather conditions to see family and then drove back!  What a whirlwind!  But more on the holidays later.  

Right now I am excited to present this week's Feature Fridays blog, Tales and Trials of Mrs. P!  The blog is written by a friend of mine, Laura, aka, Mrs. P.  She has a fun blog talking about life with a young child, being a busy professional, and then, of course, her creative side.  Food, crafts and decorating! 

For example, she recently took upon herself to make her daughter a freakin' awesome 1st birthday gift.  I mean, this is something I totally wish I'd had as a kid...a teepee!  It came out pretty adorable...

How fun would it have been as a little girl to curl up in the little teepee to play or read?  Check out her blog post about her teepee and living room here.

And how about this adorable baby costume for Halloween?   Little dinosaur baby!

She also posts lots of great recipes.  We both love to make sure our family is eating healthy but still make delicious foods, so I like to see the recipes she shares.  Like this one - pasta with italian sausage and vegetables.

I actually don't eat meat, but I think this would rock with a meat substitute if you are also vegi....looks so good!

So go check her blog out and say hello.  As I mentioned earlier, it is fun to see what she and her adorable family are up to, and get some great ideas for around your house, as well.

Happy Friday (and happy almost New Year!)

Ash

Retro yarn wreath...

I do love the holidays, but I can only decorate so much.   I am not the best decorator ever, but I did do a little this year.

One of the things I had to try was a yarn wreath that I'd seen inspiration for somewhere a while back online.  I have a ton of small scrap balls sitting around the house, and desperately needed a reason to use them.  

So, I took an old wire hanger and stretched it back out to a circle and then actually skewered the balls all the way around.  SO EASY!  I felt like it was kinda retro looking, and was a fun and quick scrap busting project for sure!  I took a little funky white skein that was too old and delicate to really use anymore to make a 'bow' at the bottom.

Then just added a ribbon to the top and hung 'er up.  (Upon closer look of this pic, looks like I need to secure the red ball a bit better...hehe.)

I love seeing the wreaths that people make this time of year.  

Hope your holiday season is going great!

Ash

Feature Fridays and Julie Ann Art

Time again for Feature Fridays!  This week, I am featuring Julie Ann Art. Julie Ann runs an awesome blog, and I love her 'about' page, specifically her quote on there about her blog:

"Julie Ann Art is a lifestyle blog with a focus on handmade, Etsy finds and DIY Tutorials. I take great pride in the content of my blog and hope readers are left feeling creative and inspired."

I stumbled upon her page through craftgawker a while back, and loved it.  I think my very favorite thing is her business that she runs, hand-designed cards that are just too funny, cute and crude at the same time!   Absolutely my style!!  I mean, how awesome is this Christmas card?

GO to her etsy shop right now and check these out!  

She also offers quite a few fun tutorials on her blog.  Here are a few of my favs....

The DIY Business Card Holder.  A theme emerges when you look back at my favs from people's blogs...upcycle, baby!  How cute is this?  I think I will be making one for my etsy biz and one for my day job. Stat.

And pom poms!  I am super excited that they are the on design thing right now, because I loved making them as a kid and I am super excited to use them to embellish gifts for the holidays!  Check out her tutorial on this sweet pom pom flower . 

Basically, I really like her blog, and I think you will, too.  Check it out and leave her a note. 

Thanks for sharing, Julie Ann!

Ash

My most exciting thrift store find ever!

I have been beside myself this week, after getting my most exciting thrift store find ever!!  On Sunday, my hubby, my friend and I all hit the local St. Vincent de'Paul's thrift shop for fun.  I was super excited when I saw a vintage dishware set there with 56 peices!  It was so cute,and reasonably priced for a set like this at $150.  I thought that I'd better wait and see if it was still there after the holidays, when suddenly we realized that everything with a green tag was 50% off that day...and it had a green tag!!  Now....the big decision came, but I had been wanting to get rid of our boring dishes for a long time and start replacing all of our kitchen with vintage items.  So I went for it!

I know these pics are not great, but they still show off the cute little green and yellow flowers on the dishes.

And then, when we got home, we looked up the dishes, which are Franciscan Earthware, and found out that they are the 'Picnic' set made in 1971 or 1973 and that they were selling for much, much higher prices online!! And, one of the things I am really excited about is that I get to keep collecting, as there are more prices out there that were not in my collection!

What are your favorite finds?

Ash