Stuff I Learned This Week

May 24, 2013 — Leave a comment

So, I thought I would try out a new blog series called, “Stuff I Learned This Week”. I always love reading Michael Hyatt’s (I shared my fav blogs including Michael’s here.) blog for new tech-y tidbits and I realized that I know stuff that you might want to know.

Let’s try this out!

1. I learned how to capture a screen shot on my Mac

Sorry PC peeps this is a Mac only factoid. I love me some Mac computers and recently I was asked to email a screen shot of a web page. Um, sure I can do that with a little www research I found a simple answer.

To capture a screen shot of one of your windows hold down your Command key, Shift, and 4. You’ll see a cross hair icon show up and you can crop the screen, release your mouse, and you’ll hear the camera snag the shot! Your image should land on your desktop. For more information, check out this article.

2.  I learned how to send electronic agreements to recipients for their electronic signature

EchoSign, a product of Adobe, is an automated electronic signature and web contracting solution that features the easiest signing experience in the industry. Instantly send, e-sign, track, and file documents securely online.

You may be wondering why I’d need to know this for the blog. At this point I don’t but I do run a non-profit called Women Stand Up! International!

You’ll need to sign up for an account but it’s free. The rest is fairly simple and straight forward. Enter email addresses of the recipients and attach the document you need them to e-sign, and send. Pretty awesome right?!

3.  I learned that Michaels appreciates Military service and Teachers!

Did you know I’m an Army veteran? Yesterday I found out that my Michaels offers 10% off your ENTIRE order including sale items for Military every Wednesday!!!!!! I’m busting! Make sure to check with your local Michaels for details. This may only last through the Memorial Day holiday but I’m taking advantage of it now!

While on Michaels website I also noticed that Teachers get 15% (um, why do you all get more?!) every day! Whoo hoo! Again, check with your local store for details.

So tell me what you learned this week. Did you already know how to do the things I just learned?

Come on ya’ll let’s get smart together!

 

In Just Thoughts, Stuff I Learned This Week ,
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Ribbon & Yarn Storage

May 21, 2013 — Leave a comment

Do you have ribbon or embrodiery floss floating around your crap-craft room? I didn’t have a humongous collection but the ol’ cardboard ribbon spools were so bulky that their presence was threatening to take over the whole operation.

By now, you probably know that I don’t like packaging materials as a final resting place of sorts for my supplies. They are usually obnoxious and irrelevant. Especially when it comes to lightbulbs.

People, for the love of all things sane get rid of those flimsy cardboard containers that lightbulbs come in and get another solution.

But back to ribbon. Embroidery floss comes in a very much understated packaging like these from Michaels.

If you’ve ever bought these guys you know that those cigar looking wrappers are useless. And what about those ribbon spools? What the what? Why are they so big? I realized I had a hot mess on my hands and so I found a great space saving solution.

Old fashioned and modern wood clothes pins. Amazon sells these in packs of 100.

I spent at least a hour wrapping all of my ribbons around clothes pins. You can pin the ribbon, tape the ribbon, or clip the ribbon at its end. That way your ribbon can be used without the frustation of playing marco polo with the end of the ribbon.

I found the Old fashioned clothes pins at Hobby Lobby. You can find the regular clippy clothes pins at the Dollar Tree.

I wrapped each color on its own clothes pin and look at how much space I still have left in my Walmart candy jar! It’s colorful and all in one place. Love it!

Check out more ribbon storage eye candy.

Kreative Jewel is using tongue depressors to store her huge stash of ribbon! Storage has never looked so good.

Don’t these plastic bins look exactly like the ones I used in this craft room post? I thought so. Which is why I had planned to do this same thing but I forgot all about this idea when I went to buy my supplies. All I could remember was the clothes pins. I swear I have to write down everything or my life would be one big spontaneous decision. :)

Want more crap-craft room help? Go check out my Pinterest board here.

Just in case you missed it here are some related posts!

DIY Craft Room Desk

Craft Desk Storage

Tell me about your crap-craft room progress! I know I’m not alone!

In Crafts, Office Accessories, Organization , ,
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A Tisket, A Tasket, A West Elm Hacked Basket

May 20, 2013 — 8 Comments

Have you seen West Elm’s Decorative Bowl Wall Art? These handwoven spirals are made from rapidly renewing seagrass.

What is that exactly? Weeds? I might have a yard full of rapidly renewing grass for West Elm to harvest.

Anyways, I like the texture and the simple design so when I went-a-hunting for a basket it was an easy find.

If you’ve been to Goodwill with any kind of consistency, you know there is an entire aisle dedicated to the basket. On one of my basket scouting trips I found this guy for under $2.

The weave was a dead ringer for the West Elm one featured for $30 (top right of first photo). All I needed to complete my West Elm basket hack was a black Sharpie.

So simple. I counted the spirals of my basket and realized that mine was a few spirals short of the inspiration piece. I still counted out from the center and colored two rings with my black sharpie marker, making sure to skip a few spirals in between my colored rings.

My photography is a total downer but in real life this is an identical hack. I can’t wait to collect a few other baskets to hang together like some kind of West Elm basket hack clique. Can’t wait. :)

How was your weekend? Anyone else hacking something other than phlegm? Seriously, these allergies are gettin’ old.

 

In Crafts, Project Hacks , , ,
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Craft Desk Storage

May 14, 2013 — 7 Comments

If you’re just joining us allow me to get you up to speed on Operation De-Crap Craft Room.

First, I identified the problem here.

Then, I built the most awesome craft desk here.

Now, I’ve created storage for the following “piles” of craft opportunities.

Craft Acrylic Paint

Acrylic Paint Brushes

Picture Frame Hardware

Scissors, X-acto Knife, Fabric Cutter

Huge Collection of Embrodery Floss

Spools of Ribbon

Washi Tape Collection

Glue (Many Varieties)

Tape (Many Varieties)

Buttons

Burlap

Twine

Sew Thread and Needle

Felt

Stamping Collection

Do-Dads (Many Varieties)

Paper & Envelopes

Paper Mache Letters

And much more…

That’s a lot of crap craft!

When it comes to creating, I like to dabble in everything. I wanted all of my craft opportunities to be accessible while at the same time I wanted all of it hidden behind the doors of my craft desk.

Remember, my craft room/office is now in the dining room. The dining room is open to the whole house and I wanted all my crafty implements to be close by without the whole world knowing about it. You dig?

I went to Pinterest for some inspiration and found quite a few hot looking craft spaces. (You can follow my Craft Room Pinterest board here.) The only problem was that their storage solutions were on shelves, racks, bookcases. A bit to revealing for me. I like to leave a little mystery. :)

Here are some of my favorites but didn’t make the cut.

Light and airy. I’m always drawn to this look. The one thing I just won’t do from this desk forward is to have my computer monitor out and about. I hate looking at all that hardware madness. I’ll have that solution to share soon.

Source Unknown

I couldn’t find the actual source but I can tell you that this is most likely a pic from a Pottery Barn catalog. I actually have the hanging file (to the right of the white board) in cream. Of course, I can’t imagine paying $50 (retail) for that one piece which is why your girl, Christine, got it for under $10 at the PB outlet. Ah yeah!

I love the vintage, worn in, I get down and dirty with my creative self, room. But I just couldn’t bare to see this daily and out of context of being creative. You know what I mean?

This is what I came up with and I think it’s a good start.

All this can be yours with a few supplies. Check it out.

White stackable bins: Staples, $4.99 for 3/pk. Walmart also carries the exact same ones for about $2 each.

Martha Stewart Bookplates: Staples, $4.99 for 3/pk. These are the largest of the two styles and have a self adhesive back.

Blue & White Geometric Magazine Files: Target, $1 at the front of the store in the dollar bin section.

Glass Candy Jars: Walmart, $6 (larger), $4 (smaller)

Total: $64

I had these storage solutions already on hand:

Paris Fabric Bin: Home Goods

Fabric Hanging File Box w/Lid: TJ Maxx

Teal Letter Holder: Goodwill

Glass Candy Jar: Consignment Store

Martha Stewart White Magazine Holder: Goodwill

Martha Stewart White Box w/Lid x2: Staples

Washi Tape: Michaels and Pick Your Plum

This is only the beginning people but I’m really cooking now!

What is your favorite storage solution ever?

In Crafts, Decorating, Ideas & Inspiration, Office Accessories, Organization , , ,
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A Letter to a Different Kind of Mother

May 10, 2013 — 2 Comments

I’m a mother.

I won’t read a homemade card.

I won’t feel my child’s I-love-you-hug.

I won’t get a Happy Mother’s Day text.

With every well intended Mother’s Day tribute no one will know that I am a mother.

This holiday is impossible to celebrate.

As the Day grows closer I find myself drowning in anxiety and sadness.

My heart filled with an impossible wish.

I wish that many years ago when my soul was broken, I would have seen the Hope that was growing in my belly.

I wish that my second Hope wouldn’t have ended so soon.

I wish your little heartbeat could have been heard outside of me.

I wish that the world knew that you both existed in me.

Meghan and Little Leilani Lou.

You are my girls. I am your mother. And this weekend we celebrate a different kind of Mother’s Day.

If you’re a different kind of mother like me, I encourage you to read Heaven is For Real. It reminded me that I’m a mother and my girls will be happy to see me when I pass from here to there.

In Life Happens ,
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Organizing the Junk Drawer

May 7, 2013 — 1 Comment

Junk drawer.

We all have one. And most of us let it get completely out of control.

An unassuming kitchen drawer that holds every little orphaned do-dad and thingy-majiggy. I’ve avoided the junk drawer in this house until now. I thought I would hold my ground for much longer but after countless thingy-majiggy solutions, none is better than the drawer.

If I was going to dedicate a drawer to the oh so important collection of do-dads, I was determined to do it right.

I grabbed two plastic kitchen utensil organizers from Ikea (I found them with the kitchen stuff). Together they cost around $3. I originally had plans to use them as utensil organizers but they were just a smidgen too big.

Enter plan B: To create an attractive, unjunky junk drawer.

So I cut up the two organizers to fit my one drawer.

I lined each compartment with a different color/pattern of my washi tape!

I’m lovin’ that my batteries are all in one place. Batteries are like lightbulbs in my house. Out of sight, out of mind. Then we end up with a billion of the same item scattered throughout the house.

I have other organizing solutions in the kitchen for mail. You can read about that here. I forgot to take a picture of the Ikea trays before I cut them up but I did take this pic of the product number. Anyone else think it’s ironic that a Swedish company/product/store is made in the United States?

Anyhoo, I’m finding that the more work I put into making things attractive and functional up front, the less work everything is in the long run.

What about you, what does your junk drawer look like? How do you un-junk your drawers?

In Organization , ,
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Bewitch Me & Titi {I’m Co-hosting!}

May 4, 2013 — 1 Comment

I mentioned in a previous post that my 1 year blog-iversary is coming up and I wanted to change some things about the blog. One of those things that I’ve been tossing around is to start a Link Party of my own for anyone wanting to show off their DIY stuff. Mostly because I’m curious about what you’re doing and it’s impossible to stay on Pinterest 24 hours a day. I know cause I’ve tried.

So when Camila from Titi Crafty invited me to co-host her linky party, I was all in. Sort of an apprenticeship if you will. :)

Welcome to“Bewitch Me & Titi”  

Co-hosting with me is Camila from Titi Crafty, a new sweet bloggy friend. I hope you’ll go to her blog and show her some love, we all like that, don’t we?

P.S. Not only am I the co-host this week but I also got the “most viewed” link from last week! I’m feeling pretty darn special right now! :)

Without further ado, please enjoy the party!

It’s been so hard to choose because all of the links were AMAZING!

First here is the most viewed link:

This is a lovely idea if you want to have a curtain custom designed just for you. Sometimes is so hard to find the special one. So this DIY is from Lets Get Crafty

And now here are 4 of our favorites:

 I love pasta and how yummy is this Cheesy Spinach parmesan Pasta from The First Year Blog!!!

I love this girly bedroom from The Winthrop Chronicles. It’s so cozy and fresh, I think I would move in with her LOL!

This is the most awesome, craftiest, and nicest piece of jewelry. A DIY Rope Bracelets from Made in a Day

This is such a lovely and super cute way to show some love to the people we care about, Tea Bag Wrappers from The Diy Dreamer. I absolutely love this and I WILL make it.

 Feel free to grab your feature button!!!

TitiCrafty by Camila

 You all are amazing!

Here is the deal, the Party will start every Sunday at 12:00 M. Madrid Time (6:00 AM US EST) and will end on Thursdays. 4 Features will be posted on the next Sunday Bewitch Me & Titi!. Also they will be promoted on Twitter and Facebook as well as pin it in the Party Pinterest Board.

Now, lets get to the PARTYYYYYY!!!

Just a few guidelines:
1. Please follow your host and the co-host. If you leave a comment letting us know how you follow we’ll gladly follow back.
2. Link up to your post, NOT your main blog.Something made by you is a MUST! (Please no etsy shops, other parties, giveaway or business links)
3. Lets be fair, visit other links and let them know you were there. Everybody loves kind words.
4. Please consider sharing this party on facebook, twitter, google+ or pinterest.
5. Please grab the button and share it somewhere on your blog to spread the word about the Link Party.
6. Link up, make new friends and most important HAVE FUN!!!
TitiCrafty by Camila

 I am so excited! I can’t wait to see what YOU are linking up!!!



In Link Party
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Washing Machine Funk Fix

May 3, 2013 — 18 Comments

Here’s the thing.

I stink.

Last weekend Big Daddy and I went to see the movie, Oblivion. After the smell of popcorn had subsided, mostly because it was now in Big Daddy’s belly, I caught a strange odor.

It wasn’t overwhelming but it was strong enough to be suspicious.

I leaned closer to Big Daddy.

Sniff. Sniff.

Huh. Nothin’.

Could it be me?

Armpit sniff double check.

Nothin’.

For two hours my eyes were feasting on the movie screen and my nose was on a relentless investigation.

I discovered the irritating moldy smell was wafting from my jeans.

I stink?!

How could I stink?

Technically, I didn’t stink but my clothes did.

When we moved in we bought a front loading washer and dryer from the previous residents and we were pretty excited about these new fancy machines. But it didn’t take long for us to notice that the washer didn’t smell good.

Was this normal for a front loader?

If you have a front loader here are some pearls of wisdom to avoid the stink.

1. After a wash, leave the door open for 1-2 hours so the moisture in the wash basin will dry up.

2. Use dry detergent. Apparently the liquid stuff causes an icky film thus creating “the mildew effect”.

3. Pull back the rubber seal that surrounds the door of your washer and clean it if necessary.

I was expecting to find a detergent build up but instead I found these two….

Holy MOLDY!!!!

For the record these are not our socks. Which means these bad boys have been soaking in crud behind the rubber seal for AT LEAST 6 months! I wonder if the previous owner of these front loaders had stinky clothes too? Um I’m guessing that’s a yes.

Super duper gross.

I hope I can tell you how to clean your front loader before I vomit.

Yuk.

Buy a huge bottle of Distilled White Vinegar. Pour 2 cups of vinegar into the wash basin. Run it through a cycle on the hottest water temp you’ve got. I had to do this twice.

To de-funk all your clothes you’ll need to wash them (at the highest water temp) with about 1 cup of vinegar and then again with your laundry soap. I went ahead and used the liquid stuff because I just bought a new one but in the future I’ll be using a DIY mix.

So far so good.

I couldn’t smell any sweeter. :)

Has this happened to anyone else? Stinky clothes? Nasty socks in the rubber seal of the door?

 

 

In Cleaning , ,
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5 Things About Me Declassified

May 1, 2013 — Leave a comment

Did you know that my 1 year blog-iversary is this month? It has me thinking about what I’d like my blog to be about in the future. Some of you may have noticed that some topics have been omitted from my blog. Like most holidays and tragic events aren’t penciled in my blog planner to post about. I guess I just figured I should stay on the DIY topic cause that’s most likely why you’re here reading.

I think I’d like to change that. Just a little.

I find myself wanting to write more than just “How-To” posts. Don’t get me wrong I love doing those kind of posts but writing that kind of blog requires money and time. And sometimes I’m a little lean on both.

And while I still don’t know the balance I want to strike between DIY and personal and random posts I thought I would just dive in with something a bit different.

So today I’ve declassified some personal files and here are 5 Things…

Top5 Declassified

1. I like to make up songs for everything.

I’m a terrible singer but I love to take an event or a statement and just belt it out in tune fashion.

Here are a few of my favorites….

While Big Daddy published his first book called Porn Nation back in 2008 my favorite little ditty went something like this.

Porn, Porn, Porn Nation Porn. (If you haven’t read his book, I’m betting that you should.)

BigDaddyandhisbookYeah it’s a simple song but I tell ya it’s a catchy number. So catchy that I started using that tune for other things like…

Corn, Corn, Corn Nation Corn.

You know it’s a classic family dinner song now.

When it comes to sharing my affections for Big Daddy one of my go-to songs consists of an exaggerated Audrey Hepburn voice singing…

I love you anyways…

The key to keeping this on key is by not being on key and drawing out the word anyways. You should try it.  It’s very romantic. ;)

2. I’ve always been in love with Colorado, the mountains, out west.

Even before I went to Colorado I loved it. I loved it for years and swore that I would move there one day. I’ve moved at least a dozen times in my life and sadly Colorado has yet to be claimed as one of those moves. I still yearn for the mountains, wild horses, and wide open land.

This intense desire to breathe Colorado air is one that’s hard to describe or even make sense of. I even look at homes for sale in Montana, Washington, and Colorado a couple of times a week. That’s a whole lot of dreamin’.

3. I’ve shared my story with thousands of people.

I think this is the most misunderstood thing about me. I have a story. You have a story. Everyone has a story. Some of us find the courage to share that story with strangers.

ohio1

I’ve told my story via a translator in Kenya. I shared my story over the radio in the US and Slovakia. On television talk shows which re-air all the time. I’ve shared my story on stage, in churches, and on college campuses across the country.

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I never started my story telling journey with an ego. In fact, those who truly tell their story can sometimes be plagued with fear as I sometimes am.

I wanted to tell my story because I believe there is a pot of joy at the end of every rainbow. A joy that’s just waiting for me and for anyone willing to stay the storm. I wanted to make that clear to those who’ve never seen that joy. You know, to let them know that it exists. That it’s out there waiting for them to discover it.

4. One of my favorite books of all time is called Kisses from Katie.

You’ll have to read it. With it you’ll understand more about humanity, about God, and about real gut wrenching love.

5. I am enough.

I shared this in an earlier post but I think it bares repeating because it’s important to me. I hope that something in The Woman’s Creed resonates with you.

I Am Enough

I am a woman and a warrior of faith.

I serve the brokenhearted.

I will always speak truth in love.

I will never live in my past.

I will never be the victim.

I will never forget my purpose.

I will never leave a wounded woman behind.

I am beautiful, emotionally and spiritually tough.

I always maintain my worth.

I am passionate and powerful.

I stand ready to forgive, love, and

appreciate the person I am today.

I am a guardian of hearts and

 a woman’s battle buddy through life.

I Am Enough!

“The Woman’s Creed”

- Christine Leahy

Now that you know these things about me do you think we can become BFs?

In Life Happens , ,
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DIY Craft Room Desk

April 25, 2013 — 46 Comments

craft room desk

Aaahhh yeah Operation De-Crap Room in full effect. Except one small detail. I’m moving my office out of, well, my office and moving into the dining room. If you missed the most embarrassing photo I’ve ever shown then you’ll want to view it here.

I know, I know. What kind of crazy transforms a dining room into a crap craft room?

My kind of crazy that’s who. ;)

Here’s the scoop. Big Daddy and I aren’t “Jeeves can you bring us our hamburgers into the dining room” kind of people. We also don’t have family in the area so no need for the big holiday table. When we moved in I knew we weren’t going to use the dining room as a dining room so I dubbed it the “coffee shop”. I envisioned a library-esque with comfy club chairs kind of room. However, since we moved in I’ve made no progress in that room.

Enter my big idea.

I decided to move out and into the dining room and allow Big Daddy to move out of the back office and into my office. Then we would convert the back office into a dedicated guest room. Make sense?

Big Daddy’s office is in the back of the house and even with two windows it’s a bit dim. While my office on the other hand is in the front and has one very large window. My office is cheery and bright and his is more ’bout to get down with my bad self in this dimly lit martini bar.

What’s with all these references anyways? We don’t drink martinis or coffee. Literary license I suppose.

I originally bought these two white cabinets (along with a bookshelf) for 50 bones last year off of Craigslist. I loved the clean white look and the simple modern lines. These beauties have been playing musical chairs cabinets all over my house. And every time I thought it would work in the space, it just didn’t.

One of my last ideas was to place a 8ft long board on top of each cabinet to create a pretty craft desk.

Each cabinet is 33″H x 30″W x 17″D. Even though the depth of my cabinets isn’t a lot, it’s plenty big enough for me to get crafty.

The process is pretty simple. I decided I wanted the entire unit to span the length of the wall which is about 8ft. Big Daddy and I went to Home Depot and found a white melamine predrilled shelf (I think they use these to build closet shelves) that was 1″ x 16″ x 8′. Perfect!

But what wasn’t so perfect was that white top. I wanted something a bit rustic to balance out the modern design of the cabinets. Of course, Big Daddy and I discussed the possibility of using several pine boards and attaching them to each other as a table top but in the end I didn’t have the clamps needed and we didn’t want to spend more money. The big clamps are really expensive!

Big Daddy was/is ultra worried about the middle sagging which is another reason he wanted to use one strong board. After a little pouting I finally conceded.

But I wasn’t going down without a fight Plan B.

To get the wood top I was looking for I headed over to the tongue and groove pine wood paneling and found something similar to this. A pack included 6, 8ft. boards that were unfinished and ready to be stained.

I used the same process and the same Dark Walnut stain as I did in my DIY Sofa Table.

I bought a tube of Heavy Duty Adhesive or Liquids Nails and a caulking gun and went to town. You’ll have about 10 minutes to adjust before it begins it’s heavy duty adhesive thang.

This part was a bit tricky because I had to center the boards but I also had to make sure their tongue and grooves were snug.

You’ll need access to a few very heavy objects that you can weigh down the pine boards overnight.

We still need to drill the top into the the cabinets and I need to find trim to fit around the top but it looks good and it’s already functional.

Super groovy.

Budget Break Down:

1 8ft. Melamine Board-$25

1 Pk. Pine Tongue and Groove Paneling-$16

Liquid Nails-$2

Caulk Gun-$5

Stain and Poly-$0 (had it on hand)

2 Base Cabinets-$16 (had it on hand from previous purchase)

I’m calling this project at $48 bucks. Definitely more than I wanted to spend but still not bad when you’re talking about an 8ft craft desk with storage.

So, what do you think is Operation De-Crap Room getting the job done? If you have organizational tips for the office lay it on me!

In Furniture, Office Accessories, Organization, Tutorial ,
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