Ribbon Rack

My ribbon organizational system was pretty much nonexistent.

Everything was thrown into a cardboard box that I would rummage through when  I needed something.

As a temporary solution, I organized them within the box.  

This made everything easy to see, but not so easy to get to and not so pretty to look at.

I searched online for some ideas. 

I originally didn't like the idea of it being displayed on rods, but it began to grow on me.

I showed my dad a few pictures and he designed one for me.  

Together, he and my grandpa build me this organizer.  It's quite large and heavy (made out of oak).

I sanded it up and primed it.

I gave it two coats of white paint.

 

The finished product!

Linked to...

Yesterday on Tuesday

Somewhat Simple 

House of Hepworths 

Someday Crafts 

Organize and Decorate Everything

Scrapbook Area 3

I'm still organizing away. 

 If you haven't seen my first two scrapbook organizing projects click below:

Scrapbook Area 1

Scrapbook Area 2

Before the bf gave me a Cricut, I used foam letters like crazy.  I still like to use them.  Previously, they were all in the plastic packaging they came in.  It kept them separated, but those little containers were difficult to store.

I used these little drawers to organize them all. 

1st drawer:  lowercase letters



2nd drawer:  capital letters



3rd drawer:  different type of capital letters



4th drawer:  same as 3rd drawer

5th drawer:  winter



6th drawer:  snowflakes

7th drawer:  north pole



8th drawer:  little letters



9th drawer:  sparkly numbers



10th drawer:  sparkly letters

Have I completely bored you yet?  Maybe Probably Definitely so... sorry I need to get everything organized so I can mess it up making stuff :)



Gift Wrapping Organizations (part 2)

Hello blogger friends!

I shared my gift wrapping organization earlier here.

When I originally posted, I didn't have any organization system for my ribbon and bows. 

 (Unless you count shoving everything into a shoe box.)

Here is the before; basically just everything shoved into a shoebox.  Classy!

I put the ribbon that isn't on spools in this bead organizer.

I found this little beauty at Target for six bucks.

Ribbon in this one...

...and this one...

...and this one too.

And the last one for bows.

Ta-Da!
So much better than a shoe box!

The other thing I wanted to share was my wrapping paper storage.
Nothing too fancy here, they sell these babies everywhere.

I keep tape and scissors in the top part.

I have never paid full price for wrapping paper.  I think its foolish!
Just wait until after the holidays and get it cheap!

Linked to:

IHeart Organizing

Scrapbook Area 2

I have been working on reorganizing my scrapbook area.  I'll be sharing it as I get it completed.  Here's Scrapbook Area 1 that I previously completed.

Today I finished reorganizing my paper stash.  I didn't take any before pictures because there wasn't any dramatic changes. 

Before, I had all my paper separated by colors.  Both scraps and full 12 x 12 sheets were in the same drawer.  This was no good.  I could never find my scraps and ended up cutting up 12 x 12 paper when I really didn't need to.

I decided to separate by 12 x 12 paper from by paper scraps.

The first step was to dump out all my paper and separate it all.  This took several days and I did it little by little.

The next step was to find my BFF, my label maker!!

I made labels for my 12 x 12 paper...

... and for my paper scraps.



Here's my 12 x 12 paper, separated by color... pink, red, orange, and yellow...



...green, blue, purple and white...



...black and brown, miscellaneous...

Then below I started with the scraps... pink and red...

... orange, yellow, and green...



...blue, purple, black, brown and white.

The 12 x 12's

The scraps

The whole shabang.  It may not look like much, but it makes finding what I need so much easier. 

 (Please ignore everything beside it; I'm still working on those.)

Linked up to...

Organize with Sandy



Featured on...

Organize with Sandy

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my blogger friends.  My goal by Christmas was to have 5 followers.  I have 70!!!  May all of you have a wonderful holiday season with your families.

Etched Plate-Cookies for Santa

Throughout high school I worked as a waitress at a little family owned restaurant.  It was owned by a husband and wife; she did the cooking and he tended the bar.  I was the evening waitress and another lady worked lunch.

Needless to say, I spent a lot of time with the owners and they became almost like grandparents to me.  Soon after I went to college, they sold their business and retired.

I haven't seen either one of them in quite a while, so I wanted to surprise them with some Christmas cookies.  (When I waitressed for them, we often times made cookies in the evening.)

I bought a plate.

Using my Cricut, I cut out the words "Cookies for Santa."

Tip #1:  Use white contact paper, rather than vinyl; it is MUCH cheaper and still works great.
Tip #2:  You need to place your contact paper upside down on your cutting mat, so the letters are backwards.  OR  You can flip the letters using Sure Cuts a Lot and put the contact paper on the cutting mat like normal.

Using a small paintbrush, brush etching cream on the letters.  Now don't be skimpy with this stuff.  It is very expensive, but you have to use a lot.  You can reuse the extra, so don't fret.

After letting it set for 5 minutes, run the plate under the faucet and let the water wash away all the cream.  (If you want to reuse your cream, use the paintbrush to brush it off and then put it back in the container before rinsing the plate under water.)

Peel the contact paper off and use glass cleaner to clean your plate.

These photos are all awful, but it looks so much better in person.

I wanted the plate to be funny, so I didn't stop there.  I continued with my etching by crossing out "Santa" and putting "Mary Ann."

Here's how it turned out.  These photos don't do it justice, but I know she'll get a kick out of it! :)







Linked to:

Not Just a Housewife
Sugar Bee 
Bella Before and After 
New Nostalgia 
These Creative Juices
Sugar and Dots 

Nut and Bolt Monogram

My best friend from high school and I are both teachers.  She is an Ag teacher, meaning she teaches kids to weld, build stuff, plant stuff, work on engines, etc.  Her classes contain mostly guys and I am pretty positive that every boy is in love with her.  She is a gorgeous girl and a great teacher.

Being and Ag Teacher, she can't really have a girly, fun classroom (unless you consider welding helmets fun).  She spends part of her time teaching in her classroom and part of the time teaching in the shop.  I wanted to give her something for her birthday that would "pretty up" her classroom in a way that her male students wouldn't think of a too girly to be in a shop class.

I went to Home Depot and bought nuts and three sizes of bolts.  Now, I don't know much about "handy work," but I am not a complete idiot.  I know that you count out however many bolts you want and put them in a little plastic bag.  It's just like buying fruit at the grocery store.  Well, apparently a young female in this isle of Home Depot is a rare thing.  In the 10 minutes I was in the store, I had about 6 people ask me if I needed any help.  Now don't get me wrong, I heart good custom service, but geez people, I am trying to count bolts here!  Stop interrupting me ;)


Okay so on to the actual project and enough of my long-drawn out explanations.


I bought a shadow-box-like frame from Michael's.

I measured and cut out a piece of thick paper that would fit in the frame.

I printed out the letter 'R' and cut it out.  (Don't mind the lack of ink in the printer, it got me through.  I just needed a rough outline.) 

Next, I lightly traced the letter 'R' on my thick white paper.  I gathered up my nuts, bolts, and super glue.

Then using my nuts and bolts I filled in the 'R' I traced.  I played around with this for a while trying to decide which way I liked it. 

After I decided, I started to glue each one down.  I don't know if super glue was the best choice.  At one point I may have had a bolt or two glued to my fingers
 (Now, Home Depot guys this was the point when I actually need your help! haha) 

My friend's last name is Rice, so using my Cricut I cut out 'Miss Rice' in black vinyl.
 I added it to the white paper.

Here's how it turned out:

This would also be a good gift for any guy's garage for a birthday or Father's Day.  Instead of "Miss Rice" on the side it could read "Bob's Man Cave" or "Dave's Other Home."






Linked to:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Texas Monkey
The Girl Creative
Keeping it Simple 
Polly Want a Crafter? 
A Little Lovely
Giggles, Glitz & Glam
Not Just a Housewife 
Sugar Bee 
Sugar and Dots