More labels

In the kitchen:

In the hall:

More in the hall:

I can't stop.  And when I asked Sweetheart if there was anything else I could label, he thought about it and suggested the closet.  Yes, the closet!   I have bins in there that hold our winter clothes.....

DIY Air Freshener & Chalk Pen

I ran across this clever "DIY baking soda air freshener" last night as I was perusing blogland.  I found it at this site.  This was a quick and easy project.  Here's my version filled with baking soda and lavender oil:

I already had the oil, scrap paper and baking soda.  I just had to go out and buy the mason jars.  I placed one in the living room and one in the master bathroom to test for effectiveness.  I am forever buying air fresheners because I like a fresh smelling home.  Also since we have two pretty good sized dogs I never, ever want my house to smell like dogs so I sometimes over do it with air fresheners.   If this actually works it will save me money and be less wasteful.   It's a great way to be green. 

I also filled one with baking soda and put it in the fridge. I should mention that this whole project started because last night I spilled a box of baking soda in the fridge.  The box fell behind the shelves and spilled white powder everywhere.  I had to pull out all the food, remove the shelves, and clean up the mess.  This was at about 11pm last night.   That's one of the perks of being a night owl; I didn't wait for morning, I got to cleaning the mess up immediately.  Sweetheart walked into the kitchen and saw me cleaning the fridge at 11pm at night and didn't think twice about it.  He knows I'm a clean freak and I'm sure felt it best to just stay out of the way.  Anyway, I went online looking for container ideas and that's when I ran across this gal's blog.  I figured this was a great way to contain my baking soda in the fridge so that no more accidents like last night occur. 

I used a thick stock of scrap paper for this one and used a dry erase marker to write the date on the jar so I know when to replace it:

While I was out buying mason jars today I also bought a chalk pen and pretty much went crazy with it today.  It's like writing with a pen but it's in chalk so you can erase and re-write as easily as you can with an old fashioned stick of chalk.  It's pretty amazing.  So amazing that I plastered a few more chalkboard labels on various items throughout the house.  I know, I know.  I'm obsessed with chalkboard labels.  Case in point:

Thanks, Caption Obvious.......

I told you, I'm obsessed!

Recycled Canister Project

Check out these cute jars that I converted to canisters simply by stripping off the label and adding a chalkboard label.  I would think this has been done many times over, but it was a new idea to me:

Cute, huh?

 I always have wasabi peas, chocolate chips and banana chips on hand; I buy them in the bulk/bin section at Sprouts.  I make trail-mix packs for me and Sweetheart to snack on so I always get plain almonds, walnuts and dried cranberries too.  The Wasabi peas and the Banana chips are what Sweetheart likes to snack on when he's at home so I thought I would make it easy for him to access (and I figured it would also keep him out of the pantry).  

So here's where my jars come from:

I was at Costco one day and spotted "Famous Dave's signature spicy pickle chips".  Delicous, ever try them?  Anyway, I bought two 64 oz. jars (I know, that's a lot of pickles -- but Sweetheart didn't a problem going through the jars in a very short amount of time):

When the jars were empty, I thought they would make cute canisters.  So I put them through the dishwasher and the labels came off easily.  I added a chalkboard label and just like that, I had a cute canister to fill with goodies!

After that, I thought I would like a jar for my chocolate chips but I didn't need a jar quite that big.  So, I waited for Sweetheart to finish the olives from the olives jars we bought from the Queen Creek Olive mill.  Remember these from this post?

I have to give props to Sweetheart for this one.  The labels on these guys were so hard to remove I had to soak them in water, and use 1/4 of a bottle of Goo Gone and I still couldn't get the label completely off.  Sweetheart saw me struggling with it and grabbed a blade and scraped all the remaining label off for me.  That jar was perfect for my chocolate chips:

I realize I could have embellished the jars a bit more by adding some jute string to the lid or tying a jute bow around the jar.  But, I like a more simple look and the black lids were solid in color with no writing on them at all so there wasn't a need to do anything to them.

I think they look pretty cute.  Now, we all have easy access to our snacks!

Ignore the cork board in the background.  That's a project on my "to-do" list.  I plan on putting the cork board in a chunky frame to spruce it up.  But of course, I am looking for a frugal way of doing that...

Jewelry Center

Remember the mess of a 'jewelry center' I posted about here?  Well the mess is no more.  I worked on this idea all week.  My goal was to spend as little as possible in organizing my jewelry.  This is what I came up with:

Click to enlarge

I looked at dozens of organizing ideas on Pineterest.  Although I loved so many of them, I decided to go with  what I thought might work well and would cost me nearly nothing.  I decided re-purposing would be the best way to go.  So I took the tree tea light holder from this project -- I had broken most of the glass votive holders because I kept knocking it over so it was sitting in my craft closet -- perfect for holding my dangle earrings I thought.  So I grabbed it tried it out and it was perfect!

This is how my project started

I took a can of white spray paint from the garage and painted the entire thing white.  I felt it would be easier to spot the earrings I wanted to wear if they sat on a white surface instead of the dark surface it was originally.  I just realized my paint job wasn't the best but I'm okay with it because this sits in the closet so no one will ever see it.

I also placed the converted earring holder on top of a silver charger and placed the charger on a turntable so that the holder can be accessed from all sides.  This way I can also utilize the back of the tree:

I hung the necklaces on shower rings.  I remember seeing this idea on Pinterest -- although what I saw had a rod attached to a frame and the rings hung on that rod.  I hung the shower rings on the clothes rod.  It's perfect.  Initially I attached the necklaces around the rod which made it difficult to try on different necklaces.  It was a lot of clasping and unclasping that was just annoying.  So this idea really worked out well.  I bought two packages of the shower rings:

I took this silver tray from our bedroom and placed all my bangles in it:

Now everything is easy to access and I can quickly find the necklace, earrings and bracelet that I want to wear:

 I think it turned out great.  And I love that I spent $10 on the entire project.  Re-purposing really pays off and it was fun going from room to room taking items and trying them out.

  

Egg Muffins and DIY Planning

I was going through my emails the other day and I came across this recipe from Johnsonville.com:

They are called "Amazing Muffin Cups".  I thought it was a brilliant idea so I decided to make some for breakfast this morning.  I altered the recipe to include: eggs, onions, garlic, spinach and mushrooms -- Sweetheart and I are eating healthy so I skipped the hash brown, sausage and cheese. 

Here's how mine turned out:

[click on photo to enlarge]

They were super easy to make and so tasty.  It's just like the frittata I've made a few times but so much less work.  I just sprayed the cupcake pans with Pam and poured in my egg mixture and baked for 20 minutes:

I love the little "muffins" because they are an ideal method of portion control:

I'll definitely be making them again.  

Meanwhile, today was a lazy kind of day.  Sweetheart has been battling a cold/flu thing and was off of work all last week.  We spent all day just catching up on shows we have on the DVR.  Our new favorite is The Following with Kevin Bacon.  When I (finally) got my turn with the remote I decided to catch up on SMASH and Project Runway; this is what happened to Sweetheart and Grievous when I did:

Man and his best friend...

Oh and on to my DIY planning.  One of my New Year's goals was to "accessorize".  I know that may sound somewhat lame but I wear the same thing every single day:  my diamond studs, diamond stud necklace, watch and silver bangle/Tiffany bracelet.  I've been working the same thing for like 10 years.  I call it classic and my "signature" as I have said so many times to my sisters (and cousin) who say I need to be a little more open to new things.   So, this year I'm embracing the whole idea.  I've already bought some really cute pieces that I really like.  I didn't realize how much a nice necklace or earrings or even some colorful bracelets really make an outfit pop. 

Back to my DIY planning.  My dilemma is that I never had a need for a jewelry box because I've always worn everything I own.  I mean outside of a few items that I have for special occasions of course.   Well now it's all out of control.  What is usually very organized is now a mess:

I've been on Pinterest looking for some DIY ideas.  For now my necklaces hang from the clothes rod that goes across the closet:

I'm of the mind frame that it's not in front of me and ready to use, I just don't use it so I've been looking at something like this:

  
   

I want to make it myself and of course I want to be as frugal as I can.  I also want to keep what I make inside the closet rather than in the bedroom.  I'm hoping I can put something together this coming weekend.  I'll post it as soon as I'm done!