Preparing for 2019

One of the big decisions that I ended up making in 2018 was finally getting a new computer. I had a computer that was 8 years old, it was limping along and was just terrible. SOOOO slow. Very frustrating. And finally one day, I just did it, I actually ordered the new computer from my iPhone! 

Simultaneously, my iCloud storage reached 200 GB capacity. I was already paying $2.99 a month for the added storage. I wasn't making the time to manage my digital life. I also had about 55,000 pictures saved on my iCloud...that's pretty much EVERY picture taken since 2006! 

In anticipation of switching computers, I had purchased an external hard drive (4TB for those who may care) and started the process of transferring photos into files on this external drive. My husband thought I should just carry everything from my old computer over, but I didn't want to bog down a new system with all the old junk. I want to start fresh...but with all my fonts (2,000+!) and access to my pictures if I want them!

I spent hours deleting photos from my phone. I still have to finish a few years worth of photos, but my phone is able to do updates (about 60 GB is available now!)

What is your process for managing your digital life--particularly photos? I was pleasantly surprised that all of the photos appear to be showing up in my Photo app on my computer, I assumed they were all linked to the cloud and once I deleted from the phone, they'd disappear from the computer. The cloud still baffles me--does that make me old?

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Sewing Room {Organization}

I'm extremely lucky to have a designated sewing/craft area. In general, I'm very messy when it comes to crafts because I hate to clean as I go. Any organization in my sewing room was the way I unpacked the boxes when we moved into the house last May...and things needed some changing.

When I decided to start fresh, the room basically looked like this. {For full disclosure, at this point I had already started to move things around and start stacking and rearranging...}

One thing that I think always needs attention when you work on a room is wires. In general: I HATE WIRES. 

When I started organizing and cleaning in here, the first thing I did was start in a corner, and find a container that would fit everything. This corner happens to be the home of all the wires that come into our house for a modem/router. My sweet friend had given make a gift in this fun basket...now it is the home of all our wires/router and modem!

I love those tiny little electrical zip ties.

I also love shoe organizers. Particularly clear ones {from Walmart} like this:

They aren't just for shoes! I also have a shoe organizer in my pantry, in my son's room and in my hall closet!

I picked up some plastic bins {at Dollar Tree} and created a mailing station for when I send out packages. I hate not having what I need when I need it. Now everything is all together. I love being able to print mailing labels on the Postal Service website, because I hate waiting in long lines at the post office with two children!

I also picked up two additional three-drawer plastic rolling carts. Now all my yarn + knitting supplies have a home...when I'm organizing I like to find a home for all "like" items. So all of my twine is on the top of the hanging shoe organizer, all of the shipping supplies are in the red stacking bins. All of the interfacing and odd sewing items are in the rolling cart on the bottom right. The only thing you cannot see in this picture is that I added labels. Because I hate searching for things. Labels are perfect little reminders of what "like" items are together...no need for searching!

Here are the bins with labels. I also keep baby gifts on hand in plastic bins. I try to keep these very accessible so that I actually give away these items!!

This desk was my Dad's as a child. I now store a paper cutter and cutting supplies here. {My old Silhouette machine is also living in that box on the ground, if you know anyone looking for a used Silhouette machine?!}

The black plastic bin is items I plan on selling at a tag sale...or donating to charity if I never pull the tag sale together.


These black shelves are under $40 each at Target. They are NOT pieces of furniture that hold up well when moving. The one on the left actually separated in the middle and I may replace.

I store all of my fabric on these bins. Plus the craft items I like having easy access to.

I added an additional short shelf and moved the tv into the corner nearest my sewing machines. Now I can easily watch TV and sew. Win!

I keep needles, thread, cutting rules, etc all right there on the floating shelves for easy access while I sew.

And next time I'll show you the new sewing table that I made to fit under the window...so all my sewing machines can live in one place!

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Wood Crates {DIY}

As I showed yesterday, my pantry is newly reorganized and a bit updated. 

One of my favorite details in the new pantry is these wooden crates: 

{yes, that is my dog making a little cameo as I tried to take a picture!}

These guys started plain jane, but with a quick sanding and a coat of paint they look so different!

These crates were purchased at Home Depot, they might be seasonal (found in the entry of the store) I paid under $6 for each!! 

By staining the wood with rustoleum {american walnut} they look so different! 

I added stencils {cut with my Silhouette} and black acrylic paint.

In a nod to our time in the Army, we made a "B" rations container. Right now the ice shaver is being stored in this bin, but I think in time I expect food will be stored here.

And in a nod to my time working for the American Red Cross, our emergency bin {just some towels, a blanket, change of clothes, flash lights, emergency radio, and a place to store the extra crap I decide we urgently need if a tornado destroys our house...}

A nice touch, right?

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Pantry Update

Last week I built a table for my sewing room. I brought it inside...bought some new bins + containers...spent a lot of time organizing all of the stuff, and then decided to update my pantry. {I'm starting to think I have some kind of A.D.D. where once I think of a crafting idea, I cannot get the idea out of my head...I'll be building a desk any day now, mark my words!} I need to show off my new sewing table, but have to wait until I actually USE it once!

I had initially wanted to update the pantry of my last house, so many of the containers I used for this update were purchased a year ago, before we moved!

I was inspired by the amazing pantry of The House of Smiths, and considered using my Silhouette machine to make a stencil or vinyl pattern, but ultimately decided to use the stencil of Emily at Jones Design Company.

My pantry wasn't even terrible before, it just was cluttered and disorganized, well and a little plain.

{before}

 

{after}

*yay for awesome iPhone landscape photo option, boo for terrible closet lighting!

I also made three crates to store lunch boxes and our emergency gear, more on that later.


The upper level stores cookbooks on the right, and tons of extra supplies along the top shelf.


But here's the good stuff: canisters, bins, labels, order. {ahhh}

Snack foods in glass jars: {from HomeGoods}

Baking supplies: 

Bins for crackers, chips, and cookies:

Lined up spare foods, candy, lots of home made vanilla extract {make some if you haven't!}

A pantry must have, a clear shoe organizer. I store vinegars, sprays, and the lower portion is filled with snacks the kids can grab easily.

I didn't paint behind the right handed shelves because they are less visible, and already have grey paint behind them, I just reorganized these shelves.

I store all of my cook books and recipes on the top shelf...I suppose that looks like it could be cleaned up {maybe tomorrow, I have no more energy for this project!}

I actually found the painting extremely therapeutic, but I will caution this was NOT the easiest project. Using the Jones Design Company printed stencil {printed to 75%} I had to hand draw each row of the design. I painted the grey portions and in most places took two coats. This is NOT perfect, some areas are thicker or thinner. I used a very fine brush and a 1" foam brush. I spooned paint into a plastic baby food container so I didn't risk spilling or dripping from the gallon can. 

It is definitely NOT for the faint of heart. 

I also did NOT have a good eraser and had to go to the store to buy one...in some areas the pencil marks were more visible. 

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Shoes, shoes + more shoes {organization}

It's always amazing to me that the perfect storage in one house is a complete flop in a different house. 

One example of this is my closet storage. In my last house, we added additional external storage. In this house, we have PLENTY of space, but it seems awkward and like it needs a little something {maybe extra shelving?}

Right before school started, my children figured out that the best activity ever, was playing in my shoes. I was finding shoes all over the place. They were taking over my closet. Meanwhile, I probably have gotten rid of a few pairs of shoes, and well maybe picked up a few pairs....but I have about the same amount, but the storage I had been using just wasn't working in this house. So I decided to try plastic shoe boxes. I figure if it's a total flop, I can reuse them for something else. 

So far, everything seems to be staying in place! The boys have stopped playing in my shoes!

My heels are all on an upper shelf still. I think at some point, I need to come to terms with the fact that I haven't worn high heels in about 5 years and get rid of some, OR I need to add some additional shelves instead of keeping the shoe rack up there. We'll see. 

I also did a quick project that I'd seen on Pinterest. I cut pool noodles earlier this summer to stick inside my boots to keep them standing upright in the closet! So easy + makes a huge difference! 

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Vehicle Records {Printable}

A long, long time ago, I purchased my first car. My dad's mechanic made a recommendation, and ultimately we got a decent deal...but really, the best part of this car was the previous owner's meticulous records. As in, every last detail of this vehicle, in a folder so I knew everything...it was great!

I like to keep some version of my own records, but the ones I found I never loved...not cute enough. So I created this one:

{Click Here to Download}

Cute, but not terribly embarrassing for my husband to ever have to reference this...right?!

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Spring Cleaning: Sewing Room

Although I know I'm jumping the gun on spring cleaning, since it is still winter and all, but I've been on an organization frenzy. Clutter is not my friend...

My sewing room ended up being the catch-all for anything craft/sewing/gift related, as well as being our guest room. It was working, sort of...the closet was out of control. Seriously, I should have taken a picture, no joke it was like a jenga puzzle about to collapse. I started by removing everything from the closet, and then piece by piece putting everything back. It's nice to know where everything is...and to know that I do not need to purchase ANY stationary any time soon.

Starting from scratch always helps me to start organizing. It's amazing what a clean canvas does...my organizing is finished for now, I just need to make a few labels...

I had already labelled my sewing room shelving...I added the green IKEA boxes recently, and still need to finish those labels, but for the most part, I can find everything and think the room has come a looong way.

Fabric storage has always been an issue for me. For a long time I stored my fabric in plastic bins, but there was just never enough space...and it was impossible to actually FIND the fabric...so usually I'd just go buy new...

I ended up using cardstock paper and folding each piece of fabric around the paper...if the fabric was too small to fit on a piece of paper, the fabric ended up in a canvas bin, sorted by color. After I folded all of my fabric (this below picture is before I added all of the fabric from the plastic bins!) I sorted the fabric by color. I swear I found fabric I haven't seen in 5 years!

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Organize This.

So, as I'm sure you can relate--things are a little busy with gearing up for the Holidays.

Normal people clean. They prepare. They don't tear apart every closet {except for my sewing room, I know that will be a HUGE task!} to organize before company arrives. But alas, I'm crazy. I'm embracing it and enjoying my freshly organized closets!

We've lived here for a few months. When we initially moved in we put things away, not necessarily where they "belong." So, there you have it.

I apologize for the awesomeness of these pictures...sometimes the iPhone is the closest camera. Life.

{On a side note, this guy celebrated his half birthday AND started solids.}

 So I figured since the little guy is 6 months old. It was about time I finally decorated his room. I used some blank canvases that I had been hoarding. The two photos are 11x14" and the center with his name is 12" square. This artwork was seriously simple to make. For the two photo canvases I chose two pictures (one from the day he was born and one from his 6 month birthday) and had them printed 11 x14" at Sam's Club. It cost $3 each. I trimmed off the white borders and painted the edges of the canvas with a mixture of black/white/grey paint similar to the photo. I used Mod Podge along to glue the picture down and then again along the top. SO EASY! I then put orange rick rack along the edges just to tie the colors into the room a little more. I

These pictures really are awesome. Ha. {Sorry.} But here you can kind of see the orange trim.

Okay, back to my organizing binge. I did take before pictures, but they are BAD. You would seriously be asking yourself, how does she live like that? Lucky for you, my iPhoto is being lame and not let me view photos I've recently uploaded {awesome} so you'll just have to take my word for it.

This is in Cole's room. I repurposed bins and storage from other places. The upper shelf has 4 boxes across from Ross that were about $5 each about 5 years ago. I used bins from Ikea that I must have bought when Callum was born (so 3 years ago.)

 What do people do with their wedding dresses? Mine has already lived in every closet in our house. I don't know WHAT to do with it. Right now it's living in Cole's closet because I don't want it in mine.

Oh, and back to my ADD, this is Cole sleeping amongst the clothes I was folding. How sweet.

 And here is my project that I completed while folding laundry. My side of the closet was a disaster. I still had maternity clothes (summer clothes, no less) in the shelves. All of the sweaters were on the floor. My shoes were everywhere. I had summer dresses hanging up still.

 My boot collection is now living in the side of my closet...I need a better solution for that as well.

 We have a strange sloped roofline so I'd like to get rid of the wire shelving and make something more built in and nice looking. Maybe next summer...

 Here is some of the excess that I took out of my closet. {YAY!}

 I also cleaned out my laundry room. It was a slight disaster. I had nothing hanging.

SO, progress. Having things in a place is amazing! Now to keep it up!

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Being Ready. {Bear with me, I'm all over the place!}

If my purse can be any kind of indication, I am not ready to welcome a second child into this world.

Yes, it really does look like that!

Really, to be honest, if I did go into labor tonight, I know it would all be fine BUT, I still feel like I have a To Do list a mile long. I have not packed a hospital bag yet. I just made a list of important phone numbers for whoever ends up watching my son while I'm out of commission {check that off the list!}

I know that in my sofa there are clumps of dog hair that might actually cover a small dog.
I have to replace the batteries in the smoke detectors.
The dogs need to go to the vet & get their shots.
The curtain in the living room needs to be rehung, requiring the ladder...
The lightbulb in the kitchen above my fridge went out and badly needs to be replaced.
I need to pack my hospital bag.
And, to top it off: I have about 20 craft projects I'd still like to do before I turn into a human cow....priorities here, right?!

My second "push present" lens arrived in the mail today (happy mother's day to me!) and then I realized I'm over-lensed (is that a word?) and need to be able to safely store these beauties since I can only use them one at a time.

I saw a wonderful idea at Smashed Peas & Carrots to create my own lens bag. So, instead of vacuuming my sofa today, I took a trip to the fabric store/mall and did a little shopping (priorities, right?!) I've always been a sucker for seersucker, and have also been obsessively thinking about getting a new purse. Because none of the other 100 purses I have will do {ironic considering my purse is going to be a diaper bag pretty darn soon!} but momma wants what momma wants. No luck with the purse, but I did score the fabric I'd  need to do some quality sewing. Woohoo.

Just to further lament, my husband has been away for the past 3 days with work. Now, 3 days is nothing, I know, I lived through a 15 month deployment, but I just don't have the energy to function fully. It's no fun when he's gone.

But the up side of the day is that today my son gifted me with a FOUR, yes 4, hour nap. I had enough time to sew the camera bag, realize I didn't love it, take the first one partially apart, decide to scrap it entirely and start over. And finish the second one.

The 1st attempt, the zipper ends just looked funny. 

So, Noodle-Head (see below) had instructions on how to cover the zipper ends to give it a more finished feeling--just what I needed! 

2nd attempt

 And while trying to fix the way the zipper way laying, came across ANOTHER tutorial for a Gathered Clutch that I fell in love with at Noodle-Head.

I decided to sew in a tag for myself, in case I forget I made this for myself. 

This should be a better picture, sorry, but I made the interior with 3 slide in pockets for my credit cards, etc. 

I'm so excited about my new projects...but my purse "move" will have to wait until tomorrow....

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