The Cozy Condo

$5 Garland + Lampshade Leftovers = Wreath

2012-11-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

I wish I had taken a photo of the process with my $5 wreath - I wasn't sure it would look decent when I began so I didn't think about documenting the process with photos.

But alas, I can describe it.

When we ~~destroyed~~ dismantled a lamp shade last year, I saved the big metal ring from the bottom with the full intent to turn it into a wreath. We then bought a $5 9-foot garland at Canadian Tire. We wrapped it around the metal ring and squished it until the garland was completely wound around the wire frame. It took two of us to wrangle the wire around the ring and we got little plastic pine needles all over the kitchen. It wasn't the most pleasant activity (repeatedly grabbing wire garlands with poky bits hurts your hands after a while).

I then found a bunch of loose decorations floating around the bottom of our Christmas Boxes and attached them with decoration hooks. I don't want the baubles and ornaments to be permanent because I may want to switch them around next year.

The strands of silver are Mardi Gras Beads left over from a NYE party we went to last year. I just looped them all together, making sure the knots are at the back. Again, nothing here is permanent so if I ever want to reclaim some of the materials, it will just be a case of dismantling the wreath.

I realize that all the materials for this wreath amount to greater than $5, but as far as recent spending habits go, I am quite pleased with my creation.

Paper Mache Mini Christmas House

2012-11-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

This is a mini Christmas house I made recently using paper mache and fimo. I wasn't up for paying ridiculous prices for a tiny house - I've seen some crappy cardboard ones for $8 at a local big box store - not cool. So took it upon myself to improvise. The only thing I paid for was the fimo (years ago) and the spray snow for the roof (dollar store). Everything else was fished out of the recycling bin or my craft desk.

The snowman was made using three cotton balls speared onto a toothpick, then covered in spray snow (which has since clumped - should have done a few more layers of it). His stick arms are twigs, his nose is a piece of foam and his eyes and buttons are puffy paint.

I had never used spray snow before and didn't realize how MESSY it was. It goes everywhere. Molly even got hit with some. After the first few sprays, I stopped and built a little cardboard box shelter/frame, then took it outside to finish.

I didn't realize it at the time, but the fimo decorations took ages to make. I was watching a movie while I made each little leaf for the wreath, but I think it was worth it.
I also wanted to make a few little pine trees, but got bored with the project so gave up.

Has anyone else attempted a mini house this holiday season? If so, I'd love to see!

Dollar Store Nutcracker Makeover

2012-11-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

So I have been on the hunt for a turquoise nutcracker lately, but didn't want to pay $20+. I was all set to make one with paper mache when I found a little one at the dollar store. The only problem was the colour.

Easy fix though - I ripped off all the fuzzy bits and anything that moved and gave him a few layers of paint and glitter glue. I then reattached everything. It's a pity I didn't pick one with even rosy cheeks (didn't notice until I got home) but for only $1.25, I can hardly complain.

I'm quite pleased with his makeover and even more pleased with the price I paid. Now if only I could find a full sized one for the same price...

$500 Bathroom Update

2012-11-10T12:24:00.002-07:00

I am pleased to report that our DIY bathroom renovations are almost complete. Almost. It cost us around $500 in total, but some of the supplies will carry over into our kitchen renovation so we will get use out of them.

Our bathroom functioned well - there's not much you can do in a tiny space anyway. But we were sick of the dusty pink tiles and the vinyl floor.

This is what we were up against:

Our priorities were as follows:

Tile flooring
Replace anything pink with white
Update the vanity cabinet as cheaply as possible
Frame the mirror
Get rid of the rusty old medicine cabinet

We felt that the earthy tones made the bathroom feel dark and crowded and we wanted something fresh and bright.

We also didn't like the vanity cabinet - the beige wood laminate wasn't really our style.

First to go was the laminate flooring.

This was WAY harder than we had anticipated. Tutorials we found online said to just cut it into strips, pull it up and "Presto! Vinyl removed!"

Hahaha, what a joke.

It was not that easy. We cut it into strips, then pulled, scratched, clawed, scraped, swore profusely, took several breaks and questioned our motives for wanting tile in the first place. It took us all day, but we finally succeeded. We have the following considerations in retrospect:

Our laminate was laid in 2001, so it was just over 10 years old. Perhaps this had something to do with its flaking and falling apart?
We did manage to get the plasticy (is that a word?) top off, by cutting it in strips and then pulling the strip up at a 45 degree angle to the floor. This technique was the most successful, but we still had to deal with the papery (?) bottom.
Once the plastic-feeling top as removed from the paper-ish bottom side, we sprayed the heck out of it with a vinegar/water solution and also went at it with our steam cleaner to loosen it up for removal. We then scraped like hell. Not sure if these techniques are deemed harmful or if there was another solution, but it worked for us.

We weren't too worried about minor scratches to the subflooring or the black sealant that had been painted on because we were going to use a Ditra Subflooring. This is what our floor looked like at the end of day 1:

The subflooring was in pretty good shape - no major cracks etc.

When we removed the toilet to tile underneath, we discovered that it had been leaking. Not a great discovery, but also not an expensive fix - the wax ring just needed replacing (which needs replacing every time you remove the toilet anyway). Had we not been renovating the bathroom, we wouldn't have noticed the leak, so even though we just set out for a cosmetic makeover, there was one functional benefit from the renovation.

Here's the tile flooring after:

Our next problem was removing the gross dusty pink tiles from the back splash and all around the shower. It was very disheartening to damage the walls so badly, but they were very difficult to remove. It seems that our original bathroom was built to withstand a horrific natural disaster. Too bad we didn't like the pink...

We ended up patching the heck out of it, but in retrospect, we could have just replaced the gyprock. Not sure how easy that would have been with the large mirror on the wall though. Anyway, what's done is done. We patched it with Pollyfilla for big holes... several times. Then sanded it, ready to tile.

We also removed the medicine cabinet, but then had to fill it in with gyprock... which was not the same depth as the original. That caused a whole lot of problems too. But we also filled that with Polyfilla and it turned out okay.

As for the vanity cabinet, we just painted straight over the laminate finish, using Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer/Sealer and the following steps:
1. Wash down thoroughly with TSP. The amount of gunk build up over 10 years in the bathroom is kinda gross, especially with all the gels, sprays and lotions that previous tenants had used.
2. Thoroughly hand sand with 120-grit sandpaper.
3. Wipe down again with the TSP to remove any loose particles from the sanding.
4. Paint with Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer/Sealer.
Repeat steps 2-4 once dry (follow instructions on the can).
We then had to wait a few days for the primer to really adhere to the laminate. We actually just waited until the following weekend before we painted it with our chosen semi-gloss (Cloud White by Benjamin Moore) then attached new cabinet hardware.

Cabinet before:

Cabinet After:

We were SUPER pleased with the results and would totally consider painting out our laminate kitchen cabinets this way, if the laminate wasn't already damaged beyond repair...

Our last priority for the bathroom was to jazz up the boring old builder grade mirror. We followed this simple blog tutorial from The Idea Room to frame the mirror using chair rail. We found that the wood bowed in the middle, making it difficult to stick to the mirror (masking tape didn't even hold it), so we found ourselves standing on the vanity counter, leaning into it and playing with our iPhones while we waited for the glue to adhere enough to let go. Again, we are very pleased with the results.

It took us five weekends in total to complete the job. We also replaced the lighting fixture (The old one was covered in rust patches). All that needs to be done now is find some nice glass shelves to put up where the medicine cabinet was, but we're still searching for the right ones.

Here are some more after photos:

Our storage problems in the bathroom still remain, so we still rely on our space-saving storage solutions around and above the door.

It feels so much brighter, cleaner and more elegant now. All the problems we encountered, though catastrophic at the time, seem insignificant now and I am so pleased we updated the bathroom.

Apologies if I haven't covered something in detail in this post - there was so much to cover. Let me know if you have any questions!

Red Riding Hood Halloween Costume with Real Wolf

2012-10-29T16:40:00.000-06:00

Thought I'd share photos of our Halloween costumes from a party we went to on Saturday.

We were Red Riding Hood, the Wood Cutter and the Big Bad Wolf, dressed as Grandma.

Molly's costume was made from a thrift store pillow case and elastic. I eye-balled the entire thing, but am quite pleased with how it turned out. Tried to get a good photo of it, but she was camera shy. There were also holes in the bonnet to pull her ears through, but it didn't stay like that for long. It somehow ended up around her neck like a second collar, but she did stay in costume the entire night.

And I made my dress using a guide I found on Pinterest and some cheap fabric I had lying around. It was a rush job (decided to make the dress at 4pm - the party was at 8pm) but also turned out okay. I think I might go back and make the seams neat and fix the hack job at the front, but it was decent enough for a Halloween party. The cape was an old table cloth, pulled from a scrap bin at the thrift store.

Molly's costume cost $1.50 all up, mine was $3 and Hubby's costume was free. A family dressed in theme, including props for under $5. I think that's a success.

Any ideas for pet-friendly family themes for next year?

Happy Trick-or-treating!!!

DIY Tiled Table Top Tutorial

2012-06-17T10:41:00.000-06:00

This is a project we completed a few months ago and I thought I'd show it off.
This used to be the night stand that goes with our bed set. Seeing as our bedroom is tiny and it doesn't fit in there, it now serves as a hallway stand and is the main dumping ground for EVERYTHING as we walk in the door. We originally just painted it white, but with such high traffic, the top was getting very scratched.

At Home Depot, we grabbed two 'square foot' sheets of glass tiles for about $15 each. We figured out the layout, cut to size and then transferred our "design" to the floor.

We also bought pre mixed Adhesive & Grout (about $9) and a notched trowel (about $4). We have lots of grout left over which we'll be using when we tile our kitchen back splash.
We also bought a log plastic rail/ edge that is meant to give the whole project a clean edge, but we ditched it because we thought it looked funny.

First, we slapped on the grout, then spread it out evenly.

Then we placed the tiles on top. We had already cut, measured and figured out the placement of the tiles, so we just transferred our design from the floor to the table top.

More grout, more tiles...

Then we pressed down on the tiles firmly so they would take hold on the grout.

We then let it sit for a week because we were busy working. We only needed to let it sit for 24 hours though...

The following weekend, hubby went back and covered all the tiles in grout, making sure to fill in the gaps between each tile.

We then let it sit for a few hours then grabbed a wet sponge and rubbed the grout off the top of the tiles.

The tiles then appeared through, nice and shiny.

And here is our (almost) finished masterpiece (we went back and fixed up a few of the imperfections you can see here - gaps in the edges etc.). I am no longer afraid that I am going to scratch the top of the furniture; these tiles are taking a beating and they are holding up very well. I think it also adds a bit of pizazz to the front entrance and makes the piece look a little bit less like a nightstand.

For a first attempt at tiling, I am pretty proud of our efforts and *think* we might be able to tackle the back splash ourselves when we renovate our kitchen.

Decorating Cans with Scrapbooking Embellishments

2012-06-16T21:20:00.004-06:00

I recently made a few updates to my craft supply containers and thought I'd share, as a follow up to my Decorating Mason Jars post.

I had saved some leftover cans with pull-top lids from the recycling. I love these types of cans because I don't have to use a can opener and (best of all) it means I can REUSE them and not worry about jagged edges around the top lip. I

We also finished a tin of cocoa and although the "tins" are cardboard, they also have clean edges and they wash out well enough to be reused for craft storage purposes.

Now, I am not into scrap booking - I don't have the money, space or patience for that kind of hobby. But I do love paper crafts and some of the cute things made for scrap booking... such as this adhesive turquoise scrap booking edging found on a trip to the dollar store.

I spray painted the cans white and used some leftover wall paint for the cocoa tin (Benjamin Moore's Waterfall).
The scrap booking edging was very easy to apply to the two small cans. Then I used the white non-stick backing from it to decorate the cocoa tin, which was a tad trickier; I stuck it down with Mod Podge.

While I had the paintbrush out to paint the cocoa tin, I also grabbed a few glass items I had lying around. I did a coat on the inside, then a coat of Mod Podge to seal it.

I also recently bought a big paper cutter which I used to make some craft supply labels. Note particularly fancy, but I love it.

So those are my recent, though meager, craft attempts. Lately we have been spending a LOT of time planning our kitchen renovations, which hasn't left much time for anything else!

Happy crafting!

Cheap Dog Toy

2012-05-21T20:40:00.000-06:00

Here's something I whipped up for Molly last week when she was driving me nuts (I was super busy and she was clearly bored). She loves new toys but, unfortunately, dog toys are so EXPENSIVE which I think is ridiculous, because she rips them to shreds and then tires of them a few days later. What a waste!

This is my upcycled version, using one of her favourite tennis balls and an old sock that lost its elasticity during the winter. I slipped the ball into the sock and nestled it into the hell of the sock. Then I tied two knots either side to keep the ball in place. It bounces when we throw it, it's a great tug-o-war toy and I have the other sock to slip the tennis ball into when she finally rips this one apart.

It's similar to the sweater sleeve + soda bottle toy I made a while ago (which she still adores). Any old clothing that the thrift store refuses or throws into land fill could be reused this way.

Basically, she loves old clothing tied around something hard. I could just shove any of her preexisting hard chew toys into a sock and wait a few days for her to fish it out.

What else could I shove into a sock/ sweater sleeve? I'd love your opinions/ feedback!!!

Bunting Wrapping Idea

2012-03-19T19:29:00.000-06:00

My MIL is coming to visit next weekend and to save on postage in May for Mother's Day, I have her pressie all ready to give her.

I am a big fan of bunting at the moment and this was the best I could come up with in 5 minutes :)

Happy crafting!

Pillow Case Box

2012-03-18T17:51:00.000-06:00

I ditched school work today in favour of some crafting :)

Here is my creation; A fabric box made using an old pillow case and some cardboard!

I started with a plain white pillow case from the thrift store. We live in a tourist town, so lots of plain white hotel linens end up at the thrift store. Woo-hoo!

I trimmed off the band at the open end of the pillow case and later used it as a handle on the box.

I then sat the pillow case on the counter to create a flat base. I rolled down the top part so that I could see the corners. It's exactly how I made the tiny fabric box in this post.

I then marked straight lines across the corners...

Difficult to see the pencil marks, but they're there!

Then I sewed along the pencil lines.

The triangular flaps were long enough to sew together, so I did :)

Here you can see the box standing up, but it has no support.

Inside of the box...

(note: this is a great time to attach a handle to the box. The band I cut off at the beginning worked well - but I forgot to take photos of this step! I also should have ironed it, but didn't realize how crinkled the finished box would look.)

To give it some support, I used some cardboard I had lying around.

I made a box shape using the cardboard...

... Then stretched the pillow case around it...

... Then shoved the base to the bottom and hid all the rough edges.

I glued the excess pillow case (the raw edge from taking off the band) back up inside the box. I then glued the base of the box around the bottom edge to keep everything in place.

Here it is looking tidy-ish:

Ta-da!

The bottom of the box:

Inside the box:

I saw some similar boxes at Home Hardware for $7 each, but this one took me 25 minutes to make and cost me $1.50.

And because it is plain white, it's a blank canvas to decorate. Flowers, accent fabrics, labels... the possibilities are endless. How would you decorate it?

Happy crafting!

Shamrock Accessories

2012-03-17T21:24:00.003-06:00

Apologies for the long delay between posts - I am officially back at school, doing my Master of Education degree (part-time and externally) but still working full time. All spare "crafting" time has simply disappeared from my schedule... a small compromise for a better education, I suppose.

But, given that I still work with children in a creative environment, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do something for St Patrick's Day.

Here are my 5-minute Shamrock Accessories :)

I used:
Green string
A tiny scrap of fabric
A safety pin
A headband
My glue gun

I wrapped the yarn around two fingers to form two diagonally opposite leaves then tied them in the middle.

I repeated the same to create the other two leaves and bound them to the other leaves.

The loose ends were tied together.

I wish I had photos to demonstrate, but my fingers were (literally) tied up.

I used hot glue to attach a safety pin to the back and covered it with a tiny scrap of fabric so the glue had something to attach to.

For the headband, I just tied the loose ends around the band. No glue necessary.

And there you have my St Paddy's Day accessories. I wore the headband and attached the pin to my green sweater. It took me a total of 5 minutes and fully intend to use them again next year :)

Happy crafting!

No-measuring Fabric Boxes

2012-02-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

I am sure I am not the first to figure this out, but after lots of experimentation at my sewing machine today, I have an awesome box pattern to show you. It involves only 4 seams and a hem. I have used this pattern before, actually, when I made my sewing machine cover.

Actually, I don't know if I can call it a pattern. There are no measurements involved. I read a blog post lately where someone said they 'eyeballed it', so I guess that's what I did today too.

And before I start, I need to mention that I am terrible at sewing. But, because every cloud has a silver lining, I am awesome with a quick unpick. And I am not going to let my faults stop me from sharing this with you.

First of all, you need to make a little pillow-case like sack. If you can do this without instructions, skip to step 3. Or, just grab a pillow case!

1. Grab a strip of fabric. Cut the long edges with pinking shears and roll and iron the short edges.

2. Fold in half lengthways and sew up the side seams. Hem the top edge.

3. Not sure how to describe step 3, so I'll let the picture do the talking. With the bag still inside out, sit it like this:

4. Next, you are going to sew over the corners you created (the red lines in the picture below). This is the 'eyeballing' part that I mentioned before.

5. Once you have sewn the corners, flip the box inside out to make sure they are in the right place.

Looking at the bottom, you can see the 4 seams that you have created:

6. If you're satisfied with it, then go ahead and chop off the corners.

And viola! You have a box!

I also used this method to make a little denim box using the leg of some old jeans. And I am sure there are other ways to use this very simple method. I was wondering if a pillow case would be the correct size to make a crate liner? Or if I could jazz up an old cardboard box by actually measuring it... Time will tell!!!

Happy crafting!

Sewn Storage

2012-02-21T22:11:00.001-07:00

I have been messing around with my sewing machine quite a lot today. It took me ages to achieve something, but I had a few scraps of fabric and a very full recycling bag.

These are my creations:

Right now my creations are all taking up residence in the bathroom, but it's a temporary home. Still not sure where/how I should use them.

But for now, I am off to bed. I will have tutorials up tomorrow :)

Vitamin Bottle Labels

2012-02-21T14:07:00.002-07:00

I have an incredibly intolerant immune system and find myself taking daily vitamins as a preventative measure... they don't work. Or, rather, I don't remember to take them as often as I should. If they are in a cupboard, they are out of sight and out of mind. If they are on the counter, they look ugly and I resent them for being there.

So, I decided to pretty them up a bit so they can stay in plain view and perhaps I will remember to take them.

This is what I am up against... 3 different brands with different bottle colours and sizes.

The big brown Echinacea bottle had to go. Too ugly. I switched it out with another vitamin bottle we recently finished. I then printed off some labels I made which you can download for free here (I am slowly discovering Photoshop). I have left it as a Word document so you can write on them using your favourite font.

I wrote the name of the vitamin, the daily dosage and there's a space at the side to write the brand name, incase you ever need to Google more info for it. They are just taped on as a removable cuff, so if you need to get to the information underneath, you can just slide the label off.

So, here they are out on the counter. It's not the best solution in the world because the bottles still don't match, but I intend to slowly collect matching bottles over time.

Neck Tie turned Cable Tamer

2012-02-20T21:21:00.002-07:00

I am not sure what to call this invention... so I have dubbed it a cable tamer.

Here is the problem:

The appliance is super close to the power outlet, so I don't need the 3' cable that comes with it. It's puddling on the floor, collecting dust and dog hair. So, creativity to the rescue.

I have seen this done with a toilet paper roll on Pinterest, but have devised my own 'laundry-proof/ fabric' design so that as it gets dirty (and it will, being so close to the ~~dog~~ floor) I can toss it in the washing machine.

I wanted a neutral colour that would blend in with the cable and I had just the thing - one of hubby's old neck ties.

I had previously shoved a tp roll onto all the cables and knew that it was a good fit, so I found the point at which the tp roll and the neck tie were the same size.

I then chopped out that section, discarded the innards (who knew there was so much stuff inside a neck tie???) then hemmed both ends.

I then went back and shoved the excess cord into it. The whole process took about 5 minutes.

Problem solved.

Hallway Mirror Dry Erase Board

2012-02-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

I have seen loads of cute dry-erase boards on Pinterest, made with frames and scrapbooking paper. They are oh-so-adorable and designed to match your chosen colour scheme, but I thought I'd show you my much cheaper and less time-consuming version. You probably already have everything you need already in the house. And this version takes about 1 minute. No joke.

Here's what you need to do:

Step 1: Find a dry erase marker.
Step 2: Write on your hallway mirror.

We don't have much space around here (have I mentioned our apartment is only 660 square feet?) so wall space is a luxury. I simply don't have enough wall space to hang another framed glass surface. So we use our entrance hallway mirror instead.

It is one of the last things we see as we leave our apartment, so it's great for shopping lists and errands (return library books!!!).

Here is the hallway and you can see the mirror on the right:

I'd love to hear your tips and secrets for having an organized home with little (or no) budget.

On a completely different note, I have been stalking LOADS of other blogs lately and am discovering 'Linky Parties' whereby everyone just shows off everyone else's blog posts using an external host. Neat idea. I have seen a bazillion different crafts (and I thought Pinterest was time consuming!) and I love sharing ideas. What an amazing and productive blogging community we have out there.

In celebration of the parties I have been linking up at, I have added another tab up the top to feature all of their buttons. Take a peek!!!

Have fun!

Kitchen Needing TLC

2012-02-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

I recently realized that I have not shown photos of our kitchen on my blog. I think it's possibly because it's the major downfall of our apartment. It is titchy, poorly designed and we hacked away at part of it to allow more storage space, but the whole thing desperately needs a renovation.

I am hoping that out there is the blogosphere, someone has suggestions on how to make this space more functional. PLEASE comment if you have any suggestions... I am open to all ideas!!!

Pros:

1. We have a lot of counter space.

2. We have high ceilings.

3.We have all 4 standard appliances (fridge, stove/oven, microwave & dishwasher)

Cons:
1. We have no pantry.
2. There is very little storage space under the main counter top.
3. The fridge sticks out like a sore thumb.
4. The opening to the kitchen acts as a bottle neck. No more than 2 people can be in there at the same time. The fridge and dishwasher cannot be opened at the same time, and if they do, the kitchen holds all people hostage. No one enters and no one escapes.
4. There is a very awkward "corner" to work around, making a back splash difficult to pull off.

See the grey curtain in the bottom right hand corner? That was inaccessible dead space. The counter wall used to stretch the whole length. So we hacked at it and discovered about 9 cubic feet of space (YAY!!!). We installed a shelf and it now holds bulk food (dog food included). But... the pipe is still visible (photos will come one day) and it's very much a "home hack job" out of desperation for more storage space. We need to put a real door on it, but it's too difficult to match the laminate cabinet pattern so we're waiting to see if we will renovate.

Here is the awkward corner I was telling you about. The tiles at the moment stop then start again as you move around the bend, but we would like a full back splash... just not sure how to do it.

The cabinet knobs were all (once) blue glass. But, every single one of them was chipped or cracked. We switched them for chrome handles, but the ones on the drawers are still the original handles (we also need to change them, but they need different sized screws. It's on our To Do list).

In the photo below, you can see how the "dead space" was inaccessible. Who does that to a kitchen? Honestly???

I have looked at a million 'small' kitchens on Houzz.com, looking for inspiration. But their definition of a 'small kitchen' is somewhat akin to the size of my entire apartment. Also they suggest drawing attention to the windows and to use natural light to open up the space. Our kitchen is smack bang in the middle of our house. No windows.

We would love a white/grey/turquoise tiled back splash with white cabinets, a granite counter top and stainless steel appliances (wouldn't we all!!!)... but we don't live in Fantasyland.

This isn't our Forever Home so we don't plan on spending too much time or money on it, but we want to increase the resell value of our home in whatever small way we can. So, fill me with ideas!

No-Mess Painting with Feathers

2012-02-14T21:21:00.002-07:00

Most of my students love painting with things that aren't paintbrushes. Lettuce. Pipecleaners. Ribbons. Oddly-shaped pieces of cardboard. You get the idea. The only problem with painting with flexible objects is the mess involved. My kids invariably end up with a squished piece of something that's too difficult to maneuver, and paint all over their hands. Some of the kids love it but some of them also hate it. Lets face it; not every child loves getting messy. When a 'I'm-not-touching-that' sort of child sees the other kids getting paint up to their elbows, they opt out of the activity and miss out on some great learning experiences.

Seeing as we recently did a unit on animals, I thought it might be neat to paint with feathers. After a quick rummage through our craft cupboard, I found a great way to limit the mess - clip a clothes pin to the base of it.

I did my trial run with two children who dislike dirty hands and it worked!

They had a great time making tiger stripes with the feathers and didn't get much paint on themselves at all.

It has now made me think of all the other objects we could clip between a peg and use to paint; ribbons, yarn, pom-poms, scraps of felt or fabric.

I'll give it a go and let you know if it works...

Displaying Art that doesn't Match

2012-02-12T20:29:00.001-07:00

I love pictures that match. I love the look of three pictures, all relating to one theme, hanging vertically on a wall, all in matching frames.

But I don't love it when we have only one wall and the 'picture sets' don't match.

Here's what I was up against:

I have two 'groups of people' photos in nice matching wooden frames:

I have three very different scenic paintings of different orientations in matching grey frames (dollar store), but not matching mats:

And I have three scenic paintings of Australian bushland in matching black RIBBA frames from IKEA:

How the heck do I hang them all one wall?

Well, it took a lot of creativity, then some hopeless despair, then a flip through the IKEA catalog to come up with this genius idea:

We just placed the pictures haphazard all over the place then called it 'organized chaos'. The picture rails are the only thing attached, so it's a lot less damage to the walls and as we get bored with certain pictures, we can easily switch them out for other works of art.

Problem solved.

Multipurpose Room

2012-02-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

I recently posted about my craft desk and organizing the spare room closet, but I realized I haven't posted about the spare room in quite a while. So here are some recent photos.

This is hubby's office and he works from home. We knew he'd be working from home before we set up this space, so we had to make sure it would function smoothly for his business AND could also be a guest room if need be.

*Despite where we live, guests are few and far between so they get an inflatable mattress on the floor. I'd love a Murphy Bed to flop out of the wall, but alas; we have higher priorities.

The tall cabinet on the left and the two mounted to the wall are IKEA kitchen cabinets. The one on the far left stores all of our Costco bulk purchases (toilet paper etc.) The desk is an IKEA desk.

Previously, the ceiling light was a horrible flushmount thing that just created a yellow glare around the room. We replaced it with this wonderful ceiling fan thing.

Instead of a guest book at our wedding, we had everyone write a message on a picture mat, which now frames a wedding photo taken on Whitehaven Beach. It's the picture hanging above Hubby's computer. Not sure if he likes staring at wedding wishes all day, but he hasn't complained yet! :D

We don't have a television, but we use the iMac to watch movies and stream TV shows.

Oh and there's my craft desk, of course. I like that Hubby gets his masculine work area and I get my uber-feminine craft desk but they still complement each other.

The other end of the room has the chair that we reupholstered (before Molly claimed it), an antique school desk that I LOVE and glass shelves. It's also where our big junk closet is.

We used to have everything here stored on a bookcase. When we got puppy, we decided to put everything up higher... especially plants. These shelves are a discontinued item from IKEA.

They hold all of our books (we are largely a paper-free house) with our re-purposed license plate book end, a silver box we received as a wedding gift (originally a recipe box, but redundant now that we use the Recipe Box app on the iPad), my paper mache E, and a few pictures and knick knacks.

So there you have it; Our spare room/ office/ craft room/ floor-space-for-guests.

Candy-Free Valentine's Gifts for Kids

2012-02-12T16:30:00.000-07:00

Valentine's Day never meant anything to me growing up. News reporters would comment on the number of roses sold and they might feature a few love stories with people getting engaged or an elderly couple talking about their secret to marriage. A few teachers at school might be sent flowers from their husbands, but it meant nothing to the kids. I didn't really have a problem with it.

Last year was my first Valentine's Day with Canadian children and it was a bit of a culture shock. First of all, it's commercial. There are cartoon Valentine's kits of every sort - Cars, Princesses, Toy Story. All you have to do is write your child's name on each pre-written card. And secondly, everyone participates. The kids had LOADS of candy. It was a tad overwhelming and I felt under prepared.

But not this year!!!

Thanks to this blog, I was able to create something cute to give to my kids that DIDN'T involve candy.

I purchased a 64 pack of Crayola crayons (about $7) and I already had the cello bags. I then used Photoshop to create the little bag tops.

It would have been lovely to just print the free ones from the blog, but seeing as our printer is running low on Cyan ink, I re-did it all with pink stripes instead and used a free rainbow graphic I found online.

Seeing as I was doing it all by scratch anyway, I printed the kids names on each one.

So there you have it. Candy-free Valentine's gifts for 18 children DONE.

Junk Cupboard Organization

2012-02-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

We've already mentioned that our condo is petite. Actually, I think that the Apartment Therapy 'Small Cool' competition would classify it as Little. But only just. If we didn't have our patio, it would fall into the Tiny category. təˈmātō, təˈmätō. Call it what you will, it's not large.

And with a piece of real estate such as this, we don't have the same storage options as others. We don't have a linen closet or a pantry and our laundry is merely a cupboard.

We do, however, have the luxury of a spare room, which has... a closet! Hooray!
Seeing as it's our primary storage space, it needs to be organized. We also had to find ways to get stuff in and out as easily as possible, because it's inconveniently shaped like a funnel. The door is far smaller than the space it conceals, so only rarely used items are stored up high (camping equipment, suitcases etc.)

It originally just had the shelf/ clothes rail, but we've since added some other smart storage solutions; both store bought and home made.

All of the stuff that you see on the left was originally stacked in a big pile. Not helpful when you want to access the item at the bottom. And around here, Murphy's other law states that the box that you want is ALWAYS at the bottom. *Groan*. We bought these invididual Rubbermaid shelves at Canadian Tire for $10 a shelf. They were 2" too wide for the cupboard, so we had to saw off the excess on each shelf. An hour later, our problem was solved. Yippee!

The blue and green boxes up the top are from the dollar store. Seeing as I live with another human and we like to use the same stuff, I have labelled what's in the boxes and pegged it to the box. It's not fancy or pretty writing, but it's easy to see and might save us some time when hunting for stuff around the house.

The hooks that hold the broom and swiffer came with the place and were attached to a wall (who puts their cleaning stuff in plain sight?), but one of them was broken. Instead of tossing them, we moved them into the cupboard and I wrapped rubber bands around the one with broken ends. It is now so strong, it can hold a Wet Jet Swiffer.

I have stolen someone's Pinterest idea with my wrapping paper storage. I think they suggested you attach it to a low ceiling with cable ties or something. Seeing as we have 9' ceilings, I think the cupboard is more practical and I just tied some yarn around the clothes rail. I also used the widely-pinned idea of using a toilet paper roll to secure wrapping paper. Genius.

This next idea, however, is my own. Previously, my wrapping paper had been standing in the corner with some venetian blinds, scraps of wood and curtain rods. Every time I reached for the ironing board (which, thankfully, is rarely), everything came crashing down. Now, the wrapping paper is up high and all of these other stick-like objects are corralled in a big cardboard packing tube.

It also stands up on its own, so it's much easier to shove out of the way.

Oh and in this shot, you can see our new dining room chairs (collapsible) and the extension leaf from our new dining table. Very versatile dining set for a small space. But more on that another day...

So there you have my storage problems solved. I'd love to hear other solutions/ suggestions on how to organize junk.

Photos Featuring an Accent Colour Grouped Together

2012-02-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share a bit of artwork on display in our place. It's nothing fancy and I find myself looking at it so often that I take it for granted, but I remember being so proud of it when we first put it up.

We found the frames at a garage sale for $1 (can I get a woot!?) then spray painted them white.

We then printed a whole bunch of our favourite photos that feature our favourite colour; turquoise. Some are portraits and some are scenic.

They all have that greenish-blue colour somewhere in them, to tie the artwork into the accent colour in the living room.This is the opposite wall...

I'm still super proud of it but seeing as I can stare right through it, I can now understand why people have their artwork on rotation throughout the year. Perhaps something to consider...

Dry Rice Saves a Soggy Flash Drive

2012-02-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

The flash drive I use to store and transfer all my work documents is super clean now, after it went for a ride in the washing machine in one of my pockets.

Woops.

But...

I had once heard that if your Blackberry goes for a swim, you should pull it apart and submerge all the pieces in dry rice for a day or two, to fully dry it out. Then it should be good to go again.

We figured it was worth a shot with my flash drive...

So, here's a tiny bowl with a little bit of rice.

Then I completely covered it up and left it for 48 hours. Not sure if it needed that long, but I didn't want to risk shoving something soggy into my USB port.

And I am pleased to say it worked! Hooray! All my files are exactly where I left them and are now backed up.

I realize that a flash drive is not a superbly complex machine so I wonder if this method could actually save a Blackberry... but it's worth a shot.

Craft Desk Tour

2012-02-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

Since my first post about my craft desk, you can tell that I am smitten with it. I don't need to mention again how much I love it... but I will.

This time, though, I am sharing the INSIDE photos with you. Hooray!

So, here it is from the outside. LOVE.

And here it is open...

(When I flicked back and forwards between the two photos on my camera, it looked like my desk was barfing it's guts out... tee-hee...)

The shelves above hold a lot of my smaller supplies - sewing supplies, paints, brushes, markers, ribbons, fimo etc. And seeing as they are glass, they have to be tidy and look decent. We love turquoise/ tiffany blue and it's featured quite prominently in our apartment, so I have continued the theme into my craft desk.

The surfaces inside were painted with high gloss Feather Gray from Benjamin Moore. Anything I spill on it (a regular occurrence), wipes off easily.

The box with a bow around it was featured here, the stationery holder with the paper flower was featured here and the sewing machine cover was feature here. Oh and lets not forget about the recently added thread spool/bobbin storage, on the doors.

The drawers below are not as organized and they house a lot of stuff that hubby has tried to throw away (who would throw out old shorts with an awesome print?) but it's the first place I look when I have a crazy idea that needs an oddly shaped piece or a certain type of ribbon etc.

Happy crafting!