Kitchen Organization

Today was one of those weird days that I couldn't find a desire to do ANYTHING but clean. Weird right? I guess it also doesn't help that everything I've been Pinning for the past three days is a subconscious cry for a organized home and life?

 I like to believe I am a lot more clean and organized than I really am, however, if I'm being truly honest with myself this is not the case. My kitchen was a disaster area and on the rare (ahem...very rare) occasions I cook, I always have a hard time finding what I need. Thankfully with my 'hoarding' nature I was able to round up quite a few baskets and containers to help me get situated. And I actually found that its a lot easier to get organized than I thought.

 Truly, I wish I had before pictures to be able to show off (and toot my own horn, if you will) the dramatic difference between before and after--but once I get in the cleaning mood, you just can't stop the machine, no time for distraction! Here are the after pics...

Finally a use for my mini shopping cart! Isn't it cute?! Holds all my Scentsy refills and fits in my pantry (below).

Thanks to Pinterest, that over-the-door shoe holder is pretty amazing and clears up a ton of room in the pantry. 

I headed to the dollar store to get those little white uprights. I bought two and was more than enough to hold all the awkward, long, flat items. Cutting boards, wire racks, cookie sheets and baking pans fit perfect.

Right drawer pullout by the oven.

Labeled containers for spices, extra utensils and (shh!) candy stash.

That awkward corner cabinet. Everyone has got one. Figured it was best to put all the appliances that don't get used a ton in that one?

Dollar store bowls I had left over from the Fourth of July last year were nice to separate and organize my chip clips and measuring spoons.

That tension rod has saved me so much room, you have no idea!

The top items are all of the paper plates and plastic bowls and utensils for when we have BBQ's and get togethers, those are good up top too since we don't use them on a regular basis. 

There you have it! Maybe now that I have a clean and organized kitchen I will cook more. But in the spirit of honesty and personal revelation--I just don't know if I can commit to that! ;) 

Diaper Cake

My nephew Cale is the cutest little nugget around. He is also one spoiled little boy. Before he was even born, my mom and I threw my sister a baby shower that provided him with enough baby diapers to clothe a small nation. Below is a picture of the wood letters that were made for his Nursery as well as the main diaper cake we made for the Baby Shower. There were six other diaper cakes made, and two big "bootie" diaper cakes (shown behind main cake) as well. I will have to go through my archive to find them and post later!

Baby Gifts

So there must be something in the water around these parts, because a TON of my girlfriends are "EXPECTING" some additions to their family! And oddly enough, most of those friends are preggers with girls, which is crazy good news for me--because there is no limit to all the fun stuff you can create for them.


My friend Brittney has a love for all things PINK. Her hubby is a huge fan of soccer, and after a fateful trip baby clothes shopping, I came across the cutest HOT PINK PUMA sweat outfit! SO after deciding that this was THE outfit,  I decided to try to wrap it in a clever way.

Below is my attempt at a "onesie bouquet" but made out of the outfit instead. I also wanted to make the canister into something she could use and decided to make a headband holder and make her some bows for baby Sophie.

The canister is just a empty formula canister that I ripped off the labeling to. I have heard you can also use empty Granola canisters to make this project.

I took the lid off and cut a piece of fabric to fit around the canister and have a little bit of overlap. I used Elmer's spray adhesive to keep the fabric in place without going with an alternative like glue that may seem through the thin white fabric. I used some ribbon on the bottom of the canister to decorate it up a bit.

The lid (not pictured) I decorated with a circle cut out of fabric and spray adhered to the top. This she can use once the "bouquet" is taken apart and she can store flowers, etc in to keep it all together.

Next I put a piece of green flower arranging foam in the bottom of the canister so I could keep the wood dowels in place with the pieces to the Puma outfit on top. I then stuffed with rolled up newborn diapers and raffia to decorate and put the set of three headbands I bought around the canister to show its purpose. 

I made two flowers and a bow and attached to the headbands and was done! I thought it was a fun spin to a baby gift, and something that might prove useful later on with all of the cute accessories this adorable baby is sure to have! :)

Mallorie's baby Rylee has an amazing purple/brown/green nursery in the works with accents of cute owls! Here is my gift to Mal at her baby shower.

At seven months along, Mal had moved in to a new house and didn't have much time to get her nursery done. She had picked out a super cute purple paint and we did one of her walls as an accent wall that color in her nursery. She had asked me to make something with Rylee's name on it for above her crib since she was running out of time. I happily (and quite honestly probably "pushed" my way into) this project! I have ALWAYS wanted to help decorate a nursery! 

The name was just done with a series of five frames found at Deseret Industries. I found five of all different sizes that I liked that looked like the meshed well together-then I primed and spray painted them in "Ivy Leaf" by Krylon. Once dried I antiqued with a dark antiquing paint and sprayed with a gloss sealant to make the color pop. I attached chicken wire to the back of each frames and created loops out of ribbon so she could hang each picture (I later took the loops off and attached hardware to the back of each frame instead). 

The individual wood letters were bought at Hobby Lobby and spray painted white and glued on by a hot glue gun. 

The bow holder was done with the same idea as the name frames, but with a larger frame and I used printed green ribbon as the holder instead, and simply tied around the top of the frame in knots.

The owl was made from a curved wood block that is sold at "The Wood Connection" in Murray. I experimented with the scrapbook paper and the design, and chose paper that is similar to that in the pictures she ordered off Etsy.

Inside, two outfits, two bottle brushes, a shopping cart seat cover, another formula canister turned headband holder (like the one featured above) and a bunch of rolled up newborn diapers completed the gift. The basket from TJ Maxx held a TON of stuff, was SUPER cute and could be reused in the nursery as well.

I can't wait to see what Mal comes up with for the Nursery. Knowing her, it will be amazing!

Pennant Banner

Today was one of those days that I wanted to make a fast, cute project. I have always loved pennant banners in all settings whether it be in the house for decoration, at parties or baby showers--they are just too cute. And crazy EASY to make.

By definition, my name is synonymous with "hoarder". You know those cardboard pieces in the back of the <cheesy picture of the couple kissing> that you buy with your 8X11" frames? Well I have like 50 of them, where I got all of them I couldn't tell you because I definitely don't own that many frames.

Anyways, the only supplies you need are some cardboard, a <dollar store romance novel> book to rip up, ruler, Modge Podge, a hole punch and some twine and ribbon to create this fun project.

First, I used a ruler to help me create a triangle as a guide to trace my other triangles. Based on what I wanted it to say, and how much room I had available, I cut out 10 triangles in all.

Using my original cardboard piece, I traced one on each page and cut out another 10 triangles on book paper. Using Modge Podge I glued the book page on to each cardboard piece. 

I then hole punched the corner of each triangle and threaded my twine through each hole. 

You can use colored pieces of cardstock or scrapbook paper to create rosettes like I did or get creative with it! Instead of ribbon, I used some tulle to tie to every other triangle. 

You can either hand write a saying on your pennant or use stamps, etc. I just blew up a common font on Word and cut around each letter and glued on. 

And you're done! Way easy and fun. Adds a little "somethin, somethin" I think!