The Thriftiest Flip Flop Storage Ever

I just have to give Jen at EPBOT the biggest thank you ever for helping me to figure out a great storage solution for all my flip flops. Follow the link for the tutorial on how to make these for yourself.

These flip flop holders are made from hangers and some spray paint... How simple is that?? I love functional storage that looks really cool and these are both functional and beautiful!

 I do not have great closet space to hang these in. I have to work vertically when organizing sometimes. That's why I like to make storage art as i call it.
I decided to go with an apple green color to stand out against my walls.

I went with the bend and snap off method for cutting the hangers. I don't recommend this. You should find some good wire cutters if you are going to make these yourself. At first I tried to bend the ends all into perfect little curls that were all the same. This didn't work so I did what I could and I actually really like how they are all different from each other.

After a couple coats of the spray paint (and a little on the basement floor) I hung them all up on the wall using my giant thumb tacks I got at the dollar store.

These will even hold up some other shoe like flats if the hanger is strong enough. I have a couple more on hand just for this summer's flip flops! I love them!

Thanks again Jen. I really enjoyed recreating your idea!

The Franken-Dad Can

My fiance has this adorable game he plays with our son where he acts like he is Frankenstein coming to get  the baby. He puts out his arms and walks stiffly saying "Franken-Dad" in a low voice. My son loves it! He squeals and runs from his dad laughing hysterically to hide.

So when I got this cool new spray paint called Green Apple I wanted to try it out on something. Of course the thriftiness in me made me save all my old formula cans from when my son was on the bottle. In the long run this worked out.. I have a bunch of cool canisters with tops to make things out of. 

I painted an old formula can I had with the green paint and I spray painted the top a glossy black. When I seen the colors together I realized that it would make a great Frankenstein can.... and the Franken-Dad Can was born. 

I hand drew a Frankenstein face on one side with black permanent marker. Sorry for the flash in the pics, it was a dark day. 

On the other side I spelled out frank-en-dad with some black sticker letters I had. Then I filled it up with some treats and had my son give it to his dad as a little present. :)

I am definitely going to do more of these for Halloween. You could do Frankenstein, a witch, a ghost, a pumpkin, a vampire... this is going to be fun :)

Operation Organization: Hallway Reorganize

Well I have come to a conclusion. I simply cannot have empty spaces in my home that have no purpose. First of all, my house is too small for all the stuff I have. Valuable storage space should be take advantage of. Second, when there are empty spaces with no purpose this happens...

The space becomes a collect all for junk! This is bad. No matter how much scrubbing, dusting, washing, and vacuuming I do, if there are spaces that look like this then the house just isn't clean.

Therefore, Operation Organization is now in effect, and this ridiculous hallway is my first mission!

This is right outside my bathroom door. If you look at the bottom of the picture, you can see that there is a pretty good sized pile of dirty laundry starting to form. It's obvious to me that this needs to be a laundry space. But first, the space needed to be cleaned out. 

Ahhh... I felt a little bit better already! Next I got these there plastic hampers to organize the laundry. This was not the thriftiest purchase. I could have gotten slightly cheaper hampers but I decided to spend a bit more to get the ones that were easier for me to carry up and down two flights stairs. 

I made this coat rack many years ago out of a cool distressed old board from a broken headboard. I just bought some hooks and screwed them in. Then I hung it up in the middle of the wall for towels and such.

Much better. To pretty the space up a little I made a clothesline sign to hang above the board. 

Then all I needed to do was address the window. This is a west facing window so it gets great light in the afternoon. That being said however, we are also only about 15 ft from our neighbors house so I definitly needed some curtains... 

...and my hallway reorganization is complete!! What do you think? Better?

DIY Seed Packets

My family and I are gardening people. We share seeds, plants, harvests and tips every year. Because of this I like to have some diy seed packets on hand to collect and give out seeds from my garden.

I used the seed packet template from Microsoft office 2010 and printed them on scrapbook paper. The template is great. It lets you design the whole thing as intricately as you want. You could even print actual pictures of the plant that the seeds came from on the front.

These are pretty big seed packet but you can make them whatever size you wanted to by adjusting the size.  

My 2012 Springtime Mantel

I love Springtime so much. Opening up the windows and airing out the house from that stale winter air, all the new plants and flowers, the birds chirping, being outside... I just can't get enough of it.

I also love it that I get to switch out a little decor for the new season. I'm lucky enough to have a fireplace in my home and I love it. (especially at Christmas time) The decorating possibilities of a fireplace mantel are truly endless. I usually switch out my mantel decor three times a year for spring/summer, fall, and Christmas/winter.

This is my 2012 Spring/Summer mantel.

There are the pom pom yarn flowers and the mini birdhouses that I posted a couple days ago. I had a couple bigger birdhouses that I put in there as well. I decided to not use my toilet paper roll wreath and go with some stick bunches with silk leaves wove into them. I put two on the sides to add some height and hung another one about the mirror.

For the hanging one I got three little wooded  ladybugs that I painted and hung from the sticks. The ladybugs are another Dollar Tree find!

All in all, I think it came out pretty springy :)

Updated 04/01/2012

I was fooling around with some clothespins and came up with some flower picture holders that I added. I think it goes well with my springy theme.

Decorate $1 Mini Birdhouses

Just a quick post here to let you know about this fabulous $1 mini birdhouse opportunity.

Run don't walk to your nearest Dollar Tree or Michael's craft store and get yourself some super cute mini birdhouses and decorate them up! These are mine.. decorated with acrylic paint and some flower decals.

I took these over to my Mom's house to have her and my SIL (sister-in-law) help me decorate them. Even if I don't use them (which I will) it was definitely worth the $3 just for a fun night with the girls. 

Just wanted to share. Happy day everyone. 

Jessie's Project Night-Night Update

In an earlier post I explained that I was putting together my own Project Night Night. This is where I collect and deliver bedtime packages to my local shelter for homeless children. It's going a bit slower than I thought but it is definitely under way. I just got around the first four packages and they are absolutely adorable.

Each bag has a book, a stuffed animal, and a blanket.

Aren't they sooo cute! My awesome friend Amanda has one all made up for me and I just have to go get it. I also have at least 5 more people making some up too.

I am so excited to do this, I really believe one of these care packages could make a real difference in the life of a child. I also truly believe that one good experience can dramatically improve a child's life.

Scrapbook Travel Mugs

I had to make a quick dollar store run tonight and i found these awesome design your own mugs -- for a dollar!! So I got three to make. I tested them out when I got home (before I put the scrapbook paper in it) and they seem to hold their seal very well.

Each mug came with the little template shown above in the picture. I used this to trace the shape onto scrapbook paper so that it would fit right into the mug and voila in literally minutes you have cute personalized scrapbook travel mugs!

I think I may have just found the newest gift that everyone is going to get one of. I am definitely going to do these for Grandma and Grandpa presents for Mother's and Father's days from my little one. Just think of how you could personalize these for different holidays and different people... I'm so excited to make more of these I just might have to get a case of them online. You really can't beat a dollar gift. I think they'd make excellent teacher appreciation gifts too. 

Also.... how fun and easy would this be to do with the kids. My son is only 16 months old but he can scribble so I'm going to let him do one too... That one will be mine :)

Pom Pom Yarn flowers

As I mentioned in my first post today I'm working on my springtime mantel... I wasn't going to post anymore about it until I posted the whole thing but these came out so darn cute I had to share them. :)

These are my adorable yarn pom pom flowers....

I found the best tutorial for these at Craft Snob. Follow the link to see how to make them for yourself!

In the tutorial they use floral wire to wrap around the yarn and then make a stem. I didn't have any floral wire so I used twist ties from garbage bags to wrap around the yarn. Then to make the stems I found a "pick up sticks" game that hadn't ever been used and I stole the green sticks out of it. I popped them in the middle and they work great. I really like the color of them too. 

 These are made by wrapping the yarn around your fingers. I made 2 small = 20 wraps around 3 fingers, 2 medium = 30 wraps around 4 fingers, and 2 large flowers= 50 wraps around 4 fingers. Even after I made these I still have over half of the ball of yarn left. 

Springtime Toilet Paper Roll Wreath

A couple of nights ago I started working on a toilet paper roll wreath to go up on my springtime fireplace mantle. Although I plan to post my mantel when I get it done I thought I'd post a pic of my wreath... because I think it's really cute!

I was thinking that I'd put it up on the giant mirror I have on my mantel, hung with some purple ribbon maybe...? 

Anyone can do a toilet paper roll wreath. All you need are a bunch of toilet paper rolls, scissors, and a hot glue gun... and spray paint if you don't want it brown.

They make great wall hangings because they are so light. I plan on doing a black one soon. I've seen pictures of those and they are just amazing.

One Heavenly Slice of Breakfast

If you haven't made a quiche of your own yet, then you really don't know what your missing. They are delicious!! You pretty much throw your favorites into an unbaked frozen pie crust then cover it with an eggy cheesy mixture and bake. Oh yeah and knock the socks off of anyone who happens to be lucky enough to be at your house for breakfast.

It's basically like your favorite omelet all cheesy and warm, held together with a yummy buttery pie crust. Mmmmmmmm.......

The quiche above is a bacon, onion, tomato, and Swiss cheese quiche, after MY favorite omelet. But you can put pretty much anything in it that you wanted. You could also use any type of cheese you wanted as well.

This is such a crowd pleasing dish. 


1 frozen prepared pie crust
6 strips of bacon
1 large sweet onion
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
4 eggs
1/3 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon and crumble. Chop the onion and cook in bacon grease until the edges start to turn translucent. Spread the cooked onions and bacon evenly in the bottom of the pie crust. Beat eggs and milk in a bowl, then add the cheese and beat again. Pour mixture over the bacon and onions and even out the cheese as needed. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or until a knife in the middle comes out clear. Enjoy!

Make a Goal List

I'm a HUGE list person... I have them everywhere... in my purse, on my desk, in my car, ect... I make lists of for everything these is, chores, groceries, wants, needs, ect, ect, ect...

So it makes sense that I would end up making a goal list. I think that if you can see your goals written out in front of you everyday it keeps them fresh in your mind. The more you think about them the more you want to accomplish them so the harder you work towards completing them. 

Then one day I saw this little beauty on The Cornflower Blue Studio, and knew I had to have one. 

I made mine out of a dollar store clipboard I had lying around the house. I liked that it already had the hanger on it and a place to hold chalk.I painted it black with acrylic paint and added some flowers and paint dots. Even though this is not chalkboard paint it works just fine as a chalkboard. I've wrote on it and wiped it off with a damp paper towel many times now. I sponged painted over a stencil to make the word goals on the top. 

These are just some funny goals, but I do intend to use this goal board realistically. 

There are soooo many ways to repurpose a clipboard. Pick one up for a dollar and let your imagination run wild!

For the Birds

This morning has been for the birds... literally! I made these hanging birdseed feeders to try and entice all the robins back for an early spring :)

I had a little trouble getting these to stick together. I tried a recipe using Knox unflavored gelatin that I found online. I followed it to a T and it didn't work at all. So I just added a bunch of flour water paste and another packet of gelatin and they eventually dried out and hardened.

I used a muffin tin for the form and stuck some broken crayons in the middle to create the holes.

I was still a little worried about them holding up so I decided to make a little base out of popsicle sticks to help give a little bit of added support. I just hot glued the sticks together in an X shape and tied a ribbon in a knot around the middle. Then, I flipped the stick over and tied another knot in the middle of the opposite side. 

Finally, I just strung the birdseed molds through the strings and tied them off on top and took them outside to hang in the trees. Come on over birdies I made you lunch!! 

Have a wonderful day...

Cereal Box Mail Organizer

Mail has never been organized in my house. First it goes to the table and from there who knows... some of it gets to the right places and then again some has not. I just lost a really important letter and so I decided enough was enough. Something had to be done!!

 And so my cereal box mail organizer was born.. 

This was super easy, fast, and free! 

All I did was take three cereal boxes and cut them down to three different sizes. I covered each one with a brown paper shopping bag and attached it with hot glue. I printed some clip art stamps and mod-podged them on to the front of each box. Finally, I added a few lines and a ribbon so that it looked like three mail packages. I think it came out really cute. 

Now the mail gets put in it's correct place and  no more important information is lost. 

Project Night-Night

Image from Project Night Night website. Click Here to visit the site. 

I recently came across this Project Night Night program on Pinterest and it tugged on my heartstrings so much I decided to do my own Project Night Night in my town. Bedtime packages are made up for homeless children that contain a new blanket, a stuffed animal, and an age appropriate children's book all held inside a bag. 

I love this idea. One little care package provides so many things. It encourages reading, provides a form of security, and gives the children something that they themselves own. 

And so I put it out to all my friends on Facebook. Hopefully we can get together a bunch of these packages for the kids. I'll be updating on the results so make sure and check back! 

Have a happy day everyone! 

I LOVE Diaper Cakes!!

I discovered the diaper cake when I had my baby shower and got one. I think they are so adorable for a baby shower gift. For boys or girls or for the sex unknown, they can be personalized in so many different ways. They can be decorated with baby items or it can be decorated simply with ribbon and/or flowers. ADORABLE!!

So when my best friend got pregnant soon after I had my son I knew exactly what I was doing for her shower. This is the first of many diaper cakes to come...

I was really lucky and got some GREAT deals on diapers so I made it pretty big with 5 tiers. She was having a boy and her colors were green, so the I tried to keep with the light greens and blues. 

I wanted to do a functional diaper cake with lots of useful things on it, rather than a decorative one. I surrounded the 2nd and 4th tiers with receiving blankets. All new mommies and babies need those. Then I just added a bunch of baby stuff like socks, toys, bibs, spoons, travel size baby bath accessories, and a lovey for the top.

This was so fun to make and to give. I can't wait for another baby shower!!

Easy Canvas Jewelry Organization

I seen a picture online where someone had taken canvases and covered them with burlap to use a jewelry organization/storage unit. I really liked the idea but wasn't too into the burlap. I had a couple canvases on hand so I decided to make my own version of it. I actually made this for my sister but I threw it up on the wall in my bathroom and put some jewelry on it to show you.

For the backing of the canvases I used a styrofoam insulation sheet that I cut the pieces out of and painted an espresso brown. I used a blue paint called blue jean for the canvases themselves. As you can see, I ended up only using three canvases instead of four.

To cover the canvases and make it possible for earrings to hang on it, I used a regular white tool fabric that I cut out of an old bridesmaid dress I've had in the back of my closet for the last 6 years. I wanted to use white so the color would show through. The tool didn't stick to the canvas very well with just hot glue so I used popsicle sticks to help stretch and secure the tool to the canvas. 

After I covered each canvas with tool I attached them onto the brown styrofoam backs. I found these jumbo pushpins at the dollar store and added them around the board for hanging jewelry such as necklaces, bracelets, and rings. I put a small ring of hot glue around each pin to hold it onto the board. The pins actually extend longer than the foam board so that once my sister gets it into her house she can pound in the pushpins and it will help hold the piece in place on the wall. 

To put everything together and hang it, I connected the smaller canvases to the larger top canvas with white ribbon and hot glue. Again I use popsicle sticks to help hold the ribbon in place and make the hanger stronger. First I glued the ribbon onto the foam board where I wanted it and then hot glued a popsicle stick over the ribbon. (I didn't bother painting the back... it's going to be up against a wall...) I tied a loop in the ribbon for the top canvas and did the same with the popsicle sticks. 

And there you have it! Jewelry storage as wall art.