Adding a Little Chicken Wire

From the moment I saw this photo I knew I had to have one. It literally yelled out at me...."Make one just like me!!!" So last weekend, with my hubby's help, I did!! Don't know what I'm talking about?

Here's my take on Marcy Penner's fabulous wire frame:

I used what I had on hand, an old frame, chicken wire and staples. 

The first step was to remove the picture, glass and wire prongs. I found that using an old spoon worked the best for this.

Next up was to cut and staple in the chicken wire. My hubby was kind enough to tackle this and did it so quickly I didn't get any pictures. But, I'm sure you get the idea.

Here's what it looked like with the wire installed:

I wanted to use this board as a way to display the many cards I receive from friends and relatives, and I was thinking I would use small clothespins to hang up everything, until I spotted these at JoAnn's:

They were perfect and at a great price, $1.99 with 40% off!

Next up is to get the frame hung in a convenient spot. Right now it is sitting on the back of my sewing desk.

I love Marcy's studio and encourage you to check it out. It makes my heart smile everytime I look at it. Thanks Marcy!

My Kind of Organization Project

I was going to label this post, "Houston, we might have a problem." but then I changed my mind.  As a girl with a papercrafting heart, recently, my interests have shifted slightly into a sewing direction.  I've been busy this past week selecting and cutting fabric for several pieces I want to sell in an upcoming craft show. The show is in November, so I think I have plenty of time, but I like to get a good head start.

After spending two weeks with my dining room table covered, I decided to clean it up a bit because, frankly, the mess was driving me crazy.

I went to my craft room and sorted the fabrics I've purchased recently, along with some I picked up this summer and found my drawers overflowing with prettiness!!! This is more fabric than I have ever had at one single time.

Here's a shot of my blue, brown and black drawer:

And next is my white, yellow, orange, pink, red and green drawer:

I know, this is not the MOST exciting blog post you've ever read, but I was so happy to see all of my pretty fabrics housed together in one spot (well two spots, technically) and I thought you might be interested to see how I store my fabric.  Everyone has their own different methods and this is mine.  I also decided that although my space is small, my choices are plenty and as I squeezed the last piece in I got the "sign" that my purchasing days are over, at least for the time being....or until I find something I like at a great price.  :)  So the answer is, "No Houston, we don't have a problem."

A Few New Things

So remember in this post when I mentioned that I was going to share with you my new "solar powered" clothes dryer....(a direct quote given by my sister) well here's my new $2.00 Garage Sale find:

And now I'm just loving spending a few minutes in the mornings hanging my laundry out to dry.  It's a funny thing, one of my girls actually said, "What's that smell on my clothes?" And I realized they have never had their clothes hung on the line to dry (because we've always used the clothes dryer since moving into this new home 10+ years ago)....so I responded, "that's fresh air & sunshine!"

By the way, I didn't get a picture of it in the shot, but we decided that because this line is collapsible, we wouldn't mount it in the ground, but rather in a white bakery bucket filled with cement and a large PVC pipe. I wanted to be able to store the line if we needed more space on the patio.

Next, I wanted to show you the new shelf we bought on a recent trip to Ikea....it's a CD shelf and was a steal at $5.99:

I was looking for a way to store all of my Papertrey Ink CD cases together, but without taking up room on my countertop. My countertop space is saved for top priority items that I use every time I put something together and I didn't want to move anything....here's a closer shot:

I believe this shelf will hold a total of 76 cases, so that should hold me over for at least a little while. :) (Sorry about not getting the full-length shot, I was being a little bit lazy and didn't want to remove my zoom lens.)

Working on some spring cleaning, so I'll see you later!

Keeper of the Cards

Until recently, I hadn't found a really good way to organize the cards I've made other than using a square-shaped basket and stacking them on top of each other. It's a quick doable method, but sometimes they get warped and dusty.

But now, Iris has come out with a "Card Keeper" and I found one at Michael's. Here's what it looks like minus the label on the front:
Open it up and all of your lovelies fit nicely inside. You can also separate your cards using the plastic dividers that come with it, but I found that they took up too much space.

I think this a good buy for $4.99 (using a 50% off coupon) and I still have room for a few more to fit inside. Check one out next time you're out!

Easy Idea Storage

One way I keep all of my "creative" ideas sorted is with white notebooks. I have collections of them in various places in my house. I have them in the kitchen for recipes and coupons, my girls keep notebooks of special drawings in their rooms, and I have a shelf in my craft room of these notebooks:
I am a huge magazine fan...love to read them....all kinds and at all times, and I always fold down the pages of ideas I would like to keep whether it be for a tile project in my kitchen, something to do outside, something I would like to sew, or a special treat I would like to make for a classroom holiday. Before I give a magazine away, take it to the "friends" shelf at the library, or recycle it, I go through and cut out the pages I want to keep.

After the page has been cut out, I use my 3-hole punch and file it away in its appropriate notebook. This particular notebook (below) is my holiday notebook and I have it separated using dividing pages (with tabs) according to each particular holiday.

Having everything filed makes it so easy when I want to look at upcoming ideas for future holidays, find a template to sew a Christmas stocking, or make my favorite sausage and potato soup. I love using notebooks.

If you haven't tried this organizing system, give it a try!

Challenge Organization

As I participate in more and more card challenges [because they are so much fun] I wondered how everyone keeps track of their product lists for each challenge....what are the different kinds of ways you remember each product you use?, because, sometimes for me, there are many different product manufacturers on one project...I love to mix things up!

With that in mind, I had my hubby help me design this handy-dandy print out that I use while I'm putting a project together. As I grab something from my stash and decide to use it, I quickly jot it down on these pages for reference when I upload the picture.
Here's a close up of the one I had ready last night while getting ready to start something new:

These print 3 to a standard page of copy paper and are stored in my Microsoft Office program. If you would like to have a copy of the file, just drop me a comment with your e-mail addy and I will be glad to share it with you. Or, if you have a different way you stay organized for your challenges, please do share! I'm always looking for good ways to stay organized! Now...on to more challenges!

New Addition

I added a bench seat to my craft room today. I've had my mind on some alternative organization ideas for this room because several pieces I have just "aren't working" any longer. I can't stand to have a piece of furniture taking up space [valuable square footage in a craft room] if it's not serving a good purpose. So, last night I thought about having a storage shelf of some kind installed under this large window. But, as I was walking out, I remembered this bench which was in my dining room.
With a few wipes of a dust cloth and some handy-dandy baskets (on the bench seat) that I purchased for a whopping 25/cents each at, you guessed it, another garage sale, now I have some new storage at just the right size for my space. You can't get any better than that! And, I saved my husband from yet another building project. Here's another shot:

I am storing new supplies and birthday party supplies in the upper baskets and my photo lights in the bottom middle basket.

I'm always about rearranging and making your space work for you! Even if you are organized, sometimes putting things in a new space makes better use of the space and everyone's happy!

Crazy for Containers

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm crazy for organizing and, with that, comes a crazy love for containers too....I can't help it! I just look at a pretty container and think of all the possibilities.

Yesterday, I decided to pop into my local Salvation Army store (Wednesday is 50% off day) and I found these lovely babes: Here's another shot so you can see the size:

I got all three for $1.50!! I can't wait to see what I do with them! Do you have any ideas?

New Nesties & Storage Idea

I bought myself two new sets of Nestabilities dies. I love these dies! I've also been fine-tuning some areas of my craft room and I decided to try out a new storage idea for these dies. I saw this idea on a message board post on the Splitcoaststampers web site. By using really inexpensive magnetic tape I was able to make instant storage for all of my nesting dies. I applied the tape to the inside door of a craft cabinet that stands near my desk. I bought the tape from Michael's using a coupon for only $2.50. Now the dies are stored out of the way, but still within my quick reach.

Inspire Me

Well, what I really wanted to do today is clear out the clutter by removing the tree and decorations, but I decided to wait. In years past I always waited until New Year's to remove the tree but, this year, I don't know if it will make it that long. To keep busy, I decided instead to concentrate on my "inspiration basket." I got this idea a few months back from a fellow blogger and it really worked great this holiday season. I collected everything I purchased, plus some things I had on hand that would work for my holiday decorations, tags, gift packages, etc., and kept them in this basket on my desk. As I needed supplies or inspiration I would pull from this basket instead of looking through everything I owned. It was a great time saver. Now I'm going to spend a few minutes putting away the Christmas theme and bringing out some Valentines goodies. I'll be ready for the next holiday which is right around the corner.

Lined Up & Ready

I thought I would show you guys how I organize my pictures and paper when I get ready to go to a scrapbook crop. My friend showed me these awesome page planners from Cropper Hopper. They are so wonderful because they have several different sized pockets to hold many different things. They are usually sold in packages of 3 (I think) for around $5.00. I have found them everywhere from Michael's to Target. I love to organize my pictures, scrapbook paper, stickers, alphabets and whatever else I think I may use within these page planners. It saves so much time and creative brain power while you are actually at a crop by doing this ahead of time. You can just roll up with your stuff, sit down, grab a page planner and begin cropping some wonderful pages. These are all lined up on my desk today because that's where I'll be all day tomorrow. I'm going to an all-day crop for 13 hours - I'm so excited! Hopefully, I'll have some cool things to show you on Sunday.

Just a Few Embellishments

After accumulating so many little boxes for different embellishments I decided to have my husband build me a cabinet to hold everything. We were able to find trays for the drawers at a local rubber stamp shop, so he built the cabinet design around the size of the drawer inserts. I absolutely love the usefulness of this piece of furniture. It holds 15 drawers of all kinds of embellishment tools, anything from buttons, beads, brads, eyelets, gems and much more. Having everything in one spot is also a big time saver. The original cabinet, if I were to purchase it, would have retailed for over $150...I think we were able to build this one for around $30.

Susan's Not Lazy Anymore

My organizational tidbit for today includes a new "Lazy Susan" that I found this weekend. We went to a flea market this past Saturday and a lady selling outside had lots of large bins of different items and everything was 25 cents each or 5 items for $1.00. I found this fantastic wooden Lazy Susan. I'm not sure what it's original purpose was, because it has divided sections grooved out of the base. I just wanted it because it had the "lazy" spinning mechanism on the bottom of it and for 25 cents who could refuse? My husband had some extra acrylic in his shed so he cut a piece to match the top. I'm using it on my desk top to hold my pen & pencil organizer along with some useful items like my paperclips, colored staples and binder clips. I love being able to spin it and get to exactly what I'm reaching for. What a great deal for 25 cents!

Tips & Tidbits

I thought as part of a new "series" on my blog I would go around my house from time to time and share with everyone some of the ways I stay organized in this crazy, busy world we live in. I have a passion for organizing and paying attention to details, so it has just become a way of life for me, but, for others, I know it's a daily struggle. If anyone has a specific question about an area that they may be having a hard time with, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to pass on a "tip or tidbit" that might be useful, along with photo or two, because they are always fun.

Today's tidbit accompanies a picture of how I keep my paper scraps organized. I have a white wooden carrying "box" that I picked up on clearance at Target many years back. I think it was originally made to hold silverware, but I use it to hold my paper scraps. Anytime I have a scrap of a significant size, I always cut it to have straight sides and place it in this box. It sits on a stand near my window so I can easily reach for a specific color at any time. Saving your scraps keeps you from wasting your full sheets of paper for times when you might just need a small amount. Also having these scraps has sometimes sparked my inspiration because I use the scraps and available colors I have instead of reaching for that full size piece of paper. Maybe I was thinking to use red and when I couldn't find a red scrap I opted for pink instead and the result was better than I had planned. This is an easy and affordable way to stay on top of those piles of paper we all want to throw away.

Golf Cart Organization

Well, this is truly an example of how much I enjoy looking for organizational tools everywhere! One of my favorite things to do is to take something and re-purpose its use to make it functional for my needs. My husband brought these old golf cart baskets home for me and it was LOVE at first sight! My first thought was to hang them from hooks on a narrow wall I have in my craft room, but as I started doing some de-cluttering on my shelves above my desk and I found that they fit perfectly and I loved the way I could see inside the baskets at all my stuff! My husband was also impressed and I am so thankful he saved them from the garbage can. I can't wait to collect a few more.