Simple Must-Haves: Box of Pens

I purchased an inexpensive box of 50 pens from Target that I keep for showers and parties only.  Not only do I not have to scramble to get enough pens when hosting an event that involves games or writing, but the ink is consistent if writing on something to give the guest of honor.  At the end of each party I just have to collect them, put them back in the box, and they're ready to go for the next event!

Utensil Holder Swap

I was unhappy with my plastic Utensil holder in the kitchen.  It was way too small to hold everything, would tip over and the black plastic looked cheap.  So I moved it to the bathroom and it now holds my hair bushes and hand mirror and works great!

I keep it right inside the door under the cupboard.  It's so easy to toss them in there so they don't sit out on the counter all day like they used to!

I used one of my white ceramic planters from Ikea to serve as my new utensil holder.  It's large enough to hold everything, doesn't tip over, and the shiny white ceramic looks good enough to set out on the counter!

DIY Earring Holder

 This DIY Earring holder works great for keeping all of my earrings that aren't studs. I love how it displays them so I remember what I have and don't just wear silver hoops with everything!

I started with a hallow frame.  This one game inside of a picture frame I used for my Scrabble art, sort of like a mat, so I had it lying around.  I measured my earrings so I had the spacing correct and marked where I wanted the stings to go.  I planned it so shorter earrings would go on top and longer earrings on the bottom.

I placed strings across the back side and held them tight to create tension while securing with hot glue.  I used some thin, grey, twine-like string that I already had.

 The finished product sets on my dresser and  leans against the wall  so the earrings can hang.

DIY Bedroom Rug

When I couldn't find a rug to match my bedroom, I decided to paint one after seeing it done on-line.  My duvet cover is very textured, so I wanted something more flat, with a design, but not a busy design that would compete with the duvet.  I decided on thick stripes and used some leftover grey paint from the walls.  It dried a little darker than the walls which I love, as it matches without matching exactly.

 I started with an inexpensive rug from Ikea which is no longer sold (sad because I wanted to make another rug for my living room).  I taped off the stripes using painters tape. I started small incase I needed to change them, then taped across the entire rug.

Although the stripes ended up being even, the tape doesn't appear that way since I placed the tape on either the inside or outside of my line so the tape would lay completely on the areas that would remain white, leaving the entire area for the grey stripe exposed (the larger stripes below).

I applied three coats of paint with a small roller which was almost a quart of paint. I used placed plastic garbage bags underneath so if paint soaked through it wouldn't get on my floor.  After the paint dried, I removed the tape and sprayed the entire rug with scotch-guard to protect the white areas from getting dirty.

Here is the finished product! I love how it completes the room:

Before                                              After

Pasta Gift Basket

My Mom LOVES pasta, so I thought she would enjoy a pasta themed gift basket for her birthday!  I decided to use all Giada De Laurentiis for Target items, since the products seemed interesting and the colors in the packaging would make for a cute basket!

Here's what I included:

Giada Items:

Organic Fusilli Col Buco Pasta

Organic Orzo Pasta

Herb Focaccia Bread Mix

Herb and Lemon Dipping Oil

Raspberry Vinagrette

Pepper & Eggplant Tomato Spread

Creamy Tomato Pasta Sauce

Marsala Simmer Sauce

Other items:

Sparkling Mineral Water

White Wine

Red Wine

Napkins

Paper Straws

Toblerone Bar

Ferrero Rocher Chocolates

All of the items except the wine were purchased at Target. I put it all together in a white beverage tub (also from Target), which was large enough and also something I knew my Mom would use.  The 'CHEERS' banner was made using my Cricut and scraps of paper.

Simple Must-Haves: Basket of Coozies

We put together this basket of coozies which we keep on the top of our fridge.  When we have company, there are plenty for everyone to choose their own which helps keeps track of who's drink is who's! It's easy to take out onto the deck in the summer, and fun to collect!

Custom Deck Step

 When we were building our deck last summer I wanted it to have character but not be cluttered with typical 'Deck Junk'. I decided to add more artistic detail by wood bruning a suttle message into the bottom stair backer.  I thought 'Go Gophers' with the Minnesota 'M' was perfect!

I started by printing out a template.  I got the Minnesota 'M's from Google images and typed out the 'Go Gophers' in the size and font I liked.

On the back side of the printed paper, I rubbed oil pastels along the outline of the image/text.

After the oil pastels were on the paper I layed them out on the board and taped in place.

Next I traced the outline of the images/text by pressing firmly, which transfered the oil pastels on the back side to the surface of the wood like this (I later switched to blue pastels since orange didn't show up well):

After the image was transferred onto the board, I traced the lines with a wood burner which both darkened the line and indented it, resulting in this:

It's hard to see the design in photos, but here are some shots of the finished board installed!

Funny 30th Anniversary Gift

Our friends recently celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary. I had seen thirty beers given for a 30th birthday, one for each year of their life.  Since our friends love beer, I thought we could do the same for each year of marriage!

We made labels for each year's beer that listed the anniversary, year they celebrated that anniversary, the traditional anniversary gift (paper, linens, cotton, silver, etc.), and something that had to do with the traditional gift that year (so we were being traditional and not just giving them beer ;-) )

Some were straight forward, some were personal jokes, others we tried to make funny like the ones above.

Simple Must-Haves: White Square Paper Plates

I am in love with white square plates. They always look fancy, work with any season, and the plain white background tends to make the food look more tasty! This creates a struggle when I have to bring food to an event, because I want the food to be presented well, but I don't always want to go through the hassle of getting a plate back from the host. I was very excited to find these Chinet white square plates at the grocery store, which I now always have in my cupboard and use for bringing food to parties!  They are the perfect solution!

Holiday Decor Mother's Day Gift

 I like giving gifts that I know will get used, so I thought this would be a nice Mother's Day gift.  For both my Mom and Mother In-law, I gave them a frame that matched their decor, frame stand, and a packet of subway posters for each season which also included a neutral print for off-seasons.  It was fairly inexpensive, and now they have some fun decor for each season that doesn't take up any storage space or effort to set out and clean around!! I printed all of the subway posters from Eighteen25 which can be found here.  Below are some of the prints I included.