Pintastic Upcycled Organization

Since it's the beginning of the year organization is on a lot of people's minds. Because of this I've seen a ton of great pins lately. 

Source: Mom's Crafty Space via Victoria on Pinterest

I'm in love with this crayon organizer. And I never would have guessed what the containers are... small fruit cans! I 'm definitely keeping an eye out for the 50 calorie cans so I can make one of these.

Source: Joyful Homemaking via Victoria on Pinterest

This is one of those things that makes me kick myself for not thinking of it. I always save these little things off bread, but never know what to use them for.

My boyfriend and I are avid gamers. We have all current game systems, a few old ones, and our PC is connected to the TV. Needless to say all the cords behind the TV are a mess. Next time I get back there I'm definitely doing this to keep track of which cord is which.

Source: Then She Made via Victoria on Pinterest

I'm so excited to do this. I don't normally have cans of soda around the house, but I got a case today, and can't wait to empty it out and re-use it. I've got limited pantry space, and am always reorganizing to make things fit perfectly. This is going to be such a big help.

Source: the nest effect on iheart organizing via Victoria on Pinterest

I currently have 5 or 6 magazine subscriptions. So I have huge stacks of magazines all over the place and need something to do with them. I love these magazine holders that can be made out of cereal boxes or old priority mail boxes. 

Source: Apartment 528 via Victoria on Pinterest

When digging through a bunch of old usb cords the other day I remembered this pin. I untangled all the cords and put them each into their own toilet paper roll. This will be such a time saver in the future. (Why is it that no matter how neatly you store cords they all end up knotted together?)

Apartment 528 showed a great way to use velcro and make them adjustable, but I'm too lazy for that, and mine will be just fine in the full tubes. I do love how these are covered. I may do that in the future, but since my cords are just in the attic I'm not too worried about that either.

Anyone else feeling inspired to get up and use some "trash" to get your house in order? I have a whole board on Pinterest just for organization if you're interested. :)

*sigh*

So it's not even a full week into NaBloPoMo, and I'm not getting a blog up today. This excuse post doesn't count. I'm a bit disappointed in myself, but I'll be back tomorrow.

Today I enjoyed the amazing 65 degree day here in middle Tennessee. I don't know what the weather is like anywhere else, but it's been crazy warm lately around here. I hate the winter, so I've been enjoying these few days of mild temperatures. Today my boyfriend and I took my 6 year old brother to the park. We all wore ourselves out, and had so much fun, so I'm not too upset with myself for not getting a real blog up.

Garlic Parmesan Knots

This was my second time making these. 

I liked them the first time, but changed them up a little bit, and they were much better this time.

You actually only need butter OR oil, not both.

One of my favorite things in trying new recipes is when I have nearly everything on hand already. I had to buy the can of biscuits, but everything was already in my cabinet or fridge.

The original recipe only calls for the garlic powder, canola oil, grated parmesan (the stuff in the green can), and some dried herbs. I like adding in some ground red pepper for a little spice, and I can't stand the parmesan in the can, so I have to use something a little more real. 

The shape of these is almost so simple that you can't even guess how it's done. All you do is roll out your biscuit and tie it into a knot. Tuck your ends around the back and you're done. 

Now, this is another place I differed from the original version. The recipe calls for you to bake now, before adding any of the other stuff, but when I did that I felt that the end result was too dry on the inside and greasy on the outside.
This time I mixed all the ingredients into some melted butter and brushed it pretty generously over the dough before baking. I think it definitely improved them.

Bake as directed on the biscuit package. 

I added a bit more butter and parmesan cheese after taking them out, but that was mostly for the looks, and you could get away with skipping it at this point, since they've cooked with everything on them already.

I was very pleased with how these turned out this time. Brushing the butter on first made them a bit more moist and fluffy. Last time I made them they were even better heated up the next day, so I'm looking forward to eating them tomorrow!

Here's the pin I originally got the recipe from:

Source: Real Mom Kitchen via Victoria on Pinterest

Sakura Kirigami

I've been super busy all day, so my blog today is really short. I just wanted to share this kirigami flower I made. 

Kirigami is origami that involves cutting paper. I've always been fascinated by origami, but never been very skilled at it. When I found this tutorial from Omiyage blogs I knew I had to try it though.

Source: Omiyage Blogs via Victoria on Pinterest

Those flowers are too pretty to pass up! I've practiced a few different ways of cutting them, but the shape it shows on Omiyage's tutorial is still my favorite so far.

I've been using plain printer paper until I got a little better at it, but wanted to try one a bit larger with some leftover tissue paper today. First thing I cut it into a square and folded it into somewhat of a cone shape that is necessary for making the 5 pointed flower. There is a fantastic PDF tutorial here of the right way to fold it. 

This is what mine looked like once I folded it. Not very pretty, because the tissue paper was hard to work with. The top points aren't that important, as long as everything underneath those is lining up well, so I was good to go.

Instead of paper snowflakes where you usually take out minimal amounts of paper, these require you to cut nearly the whole thing apart leaving just a small section. I actually didn't get a picture of this part, because the thin paper wouldn't cooperate, but you can see some better examples here on the Omiyage page. 

After cutting it out be very careful when opening it, because even with thicker paper it's pretty flimsy. I love the way my tissue paper one turned out. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I'm already itching to make plenty more to go with it!

Pintastic Lists!

I LOVE LISTS. My boyfriend would probably say I love them a little too much. We've learned to agree to disagree about that, haha!

I make lists before I start any semi-major project, whether that be crafting, cooking a large meal, or cleaning the house. Oftentimes I have rough drafts of lists before making the actual list. Those usually include multiple colors, and different styles all on the same page. I admit, it's a bit ridiculous. It's totally worth it in the end though. I love having something to give me short goals to check off, and if the list itself looks fantastic when I check it then even better!

My facebook status on Sunday was: "looking at tons of different lists on Pinterest. i'm in nerd heaven. ♥"

Pinterest never fails me. I was in an organizational mood, and started searching for lists, and of course got so many great results. People make lists for everything! I made a board just for my favorites, and I'm going to share some of them with you now. 

Source: life's a journal via Victoria on  Pinterest

This is my favorite out of all that I looked at. This is the one that actually got me looking for lists to begin with. It's perfect, because I'm trying to get better organized with the start of the new year. I edited it in Picnik to include some of the things I do everyday, and printed it off 4 to a page. I'm trying to use it everyday, and it's already helping me stay on top of small tasks that I usually forget if I don't write them down. 

Source: Creating Keepsakes via Victoria on Pinterest

I love these kind of lists. I've seen 10 Photos for baby's first day and 10 Photos for your wedding day and all kinds of cute reminders of good photo opportunities that you'll cherish for years to come. 

Some of my favorite highlights from this particular list are kids bundled up to go outside in January, umbrellas and rain boots in April, and family members turning on Christmas lights in November.

Source: Organic Families via Victoria on Pinterest

This is something I'm keeping in mind for the future. I don't have any kids yet, and am not planning on that changing anytime soon, but I still love the ability to pin things on Pinterest that I can look back to when my situation changes. 

This set of lists was created by a mom of 6 children who'd struggled with many other job charts. She finally had some success after coming up with these. Each kid has a different room every week and on Saturdays she hands out the cards and they all get to work. They earn points for completed tasks, and can trade those points in after some accumulation for various rewards.

I think this is a great plan, and definitely plan to implement something like this with my future children.

Source: Amazon via Victoria on Pinterest

These are some of the most common types of lists. I like things like this, but never find it very practical for me. There's always so much on the pre-printed lists that I don't ever use or need, so it just feels overwhelming to me. 

I know they're great for other people though, and I've thought of creating my own customized with things I do actually use. For now I'll just stick with my multi-color handwritten lists. lol.

I'm going to leave you with a more humorous list that I found. I feel like most of these really are true, and I even laughed at loud at a couple of them. Hope you enjoy it as well. :)

Source: stillshesings.tumblr.com via Victoria on Pinterest

Glass Bottle Cutting

Source: Crafty Scrappy Happy via Victoria on Pinterest

Something I've seen pinned and re-pinned a lot is a project using yarn and fingernail polish remover to turn glass bottles into candle holders. 

I get nervous about things involving fire, but one afternoon I decided to try it (with my boyfriend on hand to supervise of course). I was disappointed with my how it turned out, but I'm planning to try again soon, and hopefully I'll be able to share better results with you.

I love projects that only call for things I've got around the house. It took less than 2 minutes to gather all the items I needed, and I was ready to go. 

The entire project probably didn't take more than 5 minutes itself. 

The first step is to wrap the yarn 5 - 6 times around the bottle and tie it, so you've got the proper size. Then the yarn is dipped in the nail polish remover and slipped back on the bottle. This is where I made my first mistake. I was nervous about the nail polish remover being on the bottle closer to where I was going to be holding it, so I tried to rinse it off, but my yarn got wet and when I tried to light it the fire just wouldn't catch.

So I took off the yarn and started fresh. This time I wiped the bottle down with a dry paper towel instead of trying to rinse it.

Now it's the fun (and completely nerve-wracking) part. Holding the bottle by one end, light the yarn. It should ignite pretty easily, since it's soaked in the polish remover. The flames do get decently big at this point, but nothing to worry about. I made sure to hold it over the sink of cold water just to be safe, but didn't have any problems.

This is where I think I messed up the project. You're supposed to rotate the flame for around 20 seconds. I held it for long enough, but had trouble rotating it well, so it didn't seem to heat the bottle evenly. After rotating you immediately immerse the bottle in the sink of cold water. You'll hear a cracking sound, but it's just the bottle separating at the point where it got heated. 

I'd expected it to be right on the yarn, but it was actually about an inch up, which made sense when I thought about it, but didn't cross my mind in time to make sure to get it even.

This is the best picture I got to show how jagged it is. One side is almost completely smooth and straight, but the other half is pretty uneven. I definitely think not rotating it well was my problem. 

I'm anxious to try this again now that I know how to hopefully do it right. 

Has anyone else tried this? Were you more successful than I was? 

Happy 2012!

It's a new year, and everyone knows that means a plethora of resolutions being set (and subsequently broken). I typically don't do the whole resolution thing, but this year I'm going to try it out. I've only got a few for now, but I may add on in the next few days if I've got any more ideas.

1. Do 100 Jumping Jacks EVERYDAY
   This won't take long to do, and it will be a great stepping stone on the path of me getting in shape. Even on the busiest days I can fit them in while watching TV or making dinner.
   
   
2. Write at least 250 blog posts by the end of the year
   This may seem a bit ambitious, but it's only around 20 posts a month, so I've got plenty of time for breaks in there. Especially since I'm participating in Blogher's NaBloPoMo this month, so if all goes as planned I'll have 31 posts finished in the first month.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Complete Couch to 5K
   I've been interested in this program for a long time, but always get distracted before starting it. I'm hoping that writing it here will help me stay on track this time.
   
   

   

   Source: healthful.tumblr.com via Victoria on Pinterest

   
   
4. Read at least 6 NON-FICTION books
   I read plenty of fiction books, but non-fiction is something I've never given much of a chance, so I'm going to try to change that this year. 
   
   

What are your resolutions this year? What are you planning to do to keep motivated when life inevitably gets in the way?