::Day 16 & 18::

Day 16 was the fridge. This one wasn't too bad, since as I said in my last post, I do this every few months. It's easy peasy, just take everything out, wipe down all surfaces, and then get rid of the food that is expired. I didn't have too much to get rid of so it was easy work. Here is the before pic:

And after: I organized my sauces and cooking stuff in an order that made sense to me. Day 18 was Keepsakes. I don't keep a lot of things as far as this goes, but when my daughter started preschool this last fall, I decided to keep her art work in a binder. I would write the date on the back of the paper and then put it in the binder after about a week. We'd display her latest work on the fridge. She is getting so much better at coloring, its fun to see the progress.

This is the binder I had, so I decided to make it cute like Toni did on A Bowl Full of Lemons This is what I ended up with, I think it turned out pretty cute.

I had some stickers leftover from another project, so I'm trying to use them up. The paper in the spine was so hard to shove in there. I had to cut the sides to help get it in!

I'm linking up at:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

A Bowl Full of Lemons

::Organization Day 14::

Organization day 14 was under the bathroom sink. This one needed to be done, only because I neglect this space. There are 2 cabinets in my master bathroom and one big one in my little girls bathroom. So, it didn't take very long, but I'm loving how much nicer it looks. Here are the pics:

My curlers are in a flimsy bag, and I have shampoo and conditioner down there that I haven't used in 2 years!

I don't even know what that big box is down there, and looks like some random papers??

This is under my little girls bathroom sink, just not very organized.

After taking everything out of all the cabinets, I wiped them down good, added some cute contact paper, and only put back what we use. I found this great shoe box at Target for just over a dollar and it works PERFECT for my curlers. I also went and got another cute box from the dollar spot at Target for my feminine products. (I only paid 50 cents for that box because they only had a few left, so they were half off! Go to your Target now to see if they have any left!) I am loving how much better these spaces look, even though its only us who sees them.

Up next is the fridge. This one shouldn't be too bad, because I do it every couple months anyway. Then I only have my desk drawers, keepsakes, and the rest of my kitchen cabinets and drawers! I'm almost done with my 21 day challenge, and it's only taken my like 2 months! ha ha. I'm so not looking forward to doing my desk, that is the one area that has not stayed organized. After I'm done with it though, I hope to keep it nice and tidy!

::Giveaway time::

Head on over to Bowl Full of Lemons, Toni is hosting a Silhoutte giveaway. If you don't know what this machine is, read up! It is awesome, and I totally want one. I have a cricut, but after seeing this machine, and that it can cut FABRIC, I'm totally in love. So head over to Toni's blog and get yourself entered! Good Luck!

::Organization Days 10, 11, 13 & 20::

Yesterday, I finally found some time to get back to my organizing list. Again, I know I went out of order a little, but it was easier to get 20 done while I was doing the other ones. So without further ado, here we go.

Organization day # 10 was the Laundry Room. Now, my laundry room is in my unfinished part of my basement, so it is nothing pretty to look at. Believe me, one day I will have a super cute laundry room to post on here and be proud of! But, until that day I'm stuck with the unsightly one I have. There isn't much in my laundry room besides my washer, dryer, a extra fridge that is in use and my water heater, heater, water softener, etc...

So, when we cleaned it up a year ago, we laid down some vinyl on the cement. I just took out a few things that didn't belong (some hand weights ended up in there somehow?) and swept the floor. Then I scrubbed my washer and dryer because they can get pretty dirty. Sorry I didn't have my camera for a before pic, but here is the after:

(please don't take notice of the cardboard boxes my hubs so nicely nailed on the 2x4's?? I know, super white trash huh!)

Organization day #11 was The Freezer. I was really not wanting to do this one only because we have 3 different freezers! (I know, excessive). But, once I got to it, it really only took about 15 minutes. So, all I did was take out all the food, threw out what was REALLY old, and wiped down the freezer. Then I put it back in an order that made sense to me. Again, sorry no before pic, but here are the after pics:

Organization day #13 was my medicine cabinet. I don't have an actual medicine cabinet in my house, we kept our meds in our master bathroom in the closet. I've never liked it there for safety reasons, so when I started this process, I cleared out the cabinets above the microwave for my meds to go in. And I have to say I'm loving the containers I put them in. They are from Dollar Tree. I just printed some address labels from my computer to put on them. Here are the before and after pics:

I used to have my mugs up here

After: so much better


Organization day #20 was my bathroom closet and drawers. This one I was actually excited for because it has gotten so bad in there. I must admit I've let it get worse since I knew I was going to get around to organizing it so I wasn't as careful with keeping it neat and clean. As you can see from these before pics, I needed to get these spaces done pronto! The closet was a mess, with too much stuff in it. The drawers were piled with crap and stuff that just needed to be organized.


Closet, I know its crazy!

My drawer, seriously, what the heck??
Hubs drawer, mostly just junk!
Once I decided what I was keeping in the closet and what I was keeping in the drawers, it was easy to get going. I took out everything and wiped down the shelves (they really needed it) and then I wiped out the drawers too. Since I freed up a shelf from the meds, I was able to move my Hubs stuff down one, which is probably easier to see all the stuff. The bottom shelf is for extra things that we have, soap, contact solution, etc... I love how it looks now:

I got these great little boxes at Target in their dollar spot a couple weeks ago, and I love how the keep like items together. I had a lot of random stuff that I wanted to corral together, and these little guys were perfect.


Now onto the drawers. I found these little white baskets at Wal-mart, I think the were 3 for just over a dollar. The little glass bowl I already had in my drawer, so that was convenient. I think I need one more basket though. This form of organization is so much better than what I did before. I had my makeup in a travel bag and it just didn't work very good. Now I can see all my makeup easily. I also put sticky backed Velcro dots on the bottom of my baskets to keep them from sliding around. I saw the idea on Tater Tots and Jello

Now the Hubs drawer is empty and sad :(

Well, 2 full trash bags later, I'm all done. I love dejunking my house. It is very therapeutic. Now I just have to finish off the bathroom by doing under the sink and I'm getting to that TODAY. Happy Organizing!

:: Happy St. Patty's Day::

Top of the mornin' to ya! I made these fun rainbow pancakes this morning, after finding the idea on Sumo's Sweet Stuff

I also served up some "golden" orange slices to go with our rainbow!

I love how colorful they turned out, don't you?

::Sewing and Beading::

I've been trying my hand at sewing lately and have really begun to like it. I have made 2 skirts and 2 dresses for my little one, and a really funky necklace that she LOVES wearing. Here are the projects I've been working on lately:

This super cute peasant dress I got the tutorial for from Whimsy Couture.

I loved how there were a few different options on how to make this dress, and it was super easy. I'm definitely going to have to try another version! The fabric and buttons are all from Joann's.

I finished this right before Christmas, so my little girl calls it her Christmas dress!

This "fancy" dress I got from Whimsy Couture.

This was so fun to make, even though it was a little more tricky and I had to have my Mom the master sewer help me out, I did finish it in one night! We call it the "fancy" dress because all the fabrics together look like something Fancy Nancy would wear, don't you think?

Of course I had to make a matching headband to go along with the "fancy" dress. I got the tutorial on how to make this headband from Sumo's Sweet Stuff.

I loved how they both turned out!

This funky chunky necklace was my own creation. My little girl kept seeing all the necklaces I was making for myself, and asked if I could make one for her. I knew she would want something girly, and over the top so I found these super fun beads at Hobby Lobby and just threw it together. She LOVES wearing it, and has even worn it to preschool a few times!

More fun projects to come. Happy sewing and beading!

Linked up at:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

:: Entry Way::

I am so excited that I am finally getting this done. I have never liked how I had my entry way since we moved in. I put of redoing it because we are going to start a major paint project and I thought I would just wait. But, I couldn't take the bare wall with huge holes in it anymore. So, this last weekend, while celebrating my 5 year wedding anniversary, the Hubs and I headed on over to Home Goods in search of the perfect mirror for our entry way. I found it. It is perfect! We hung it up last night, and put the fun pics of our little sweetie up around it. There are a few more items that I want to purchase to hang up there, but I think it turned out real nice. What do you think??



I got my idea for this from this blog, she has such great ideas. I really like the idea of her using the first initial of her last name as a decorator piece, I'm definitely going to have to get an N. Do you have an entry way you are working on?? I'd love to see pics, or hear your ideas.

I Linked up here:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

::Organization day 9::

Day 9 was toy organization. I dread this so much, because my little 3 1/2 year old has a lot of toys. Most of them are in the toy room, but some are in her room too, so I just organized the ones in the toy room. I started out by making piles of donation, garbage (there was a lot of random garbage down there for some reason) and what we were keeping. Then I separated the toys by like items and put them in the black boxes we have (purchased at Ikea). Then I went to my computer and printed up some "labels". I just made signs that said what was in each box with a picture to help my toddler who doesn't read yet. Then I had them laminated and placed sticky Velcro on the back, so I can change those out if I need to in the future. It is a lot nicer now, and I feel like it will stay this way more often! Here is a before pic:

And after, notice the signs. Here is a list of the ones I did:

Purses

Jewelry, Tiaras, & Shoes

Dress ups

Baby dolls, doll clothes, & blankets

Balls

Cars, Potato Heads, & pails

Stuffed animals

Now I am ready to move onto the Laundry Room. This one should be quick and easy, because my laundry room is part of our unfinished basement, so not much to do with the room. I'm excited to get it cleaned out though.

I linked to these blogs:

Today's Creative Blog

Sumo's Sweet Stuff