My first ever

Well howdy!!  No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I have just been busy working on lots of projects around the house.  Things that have been put off for months, if not even years lol.

I started off last week by pressure washing the entire house, 3 decks and the driveway.  It was crazy and took me a few days but it looks so nice and besides, what else do you do in 90+ degree weather right?  Yes call me crazy.

Since I've been laid off work for the past 2 months, and enjoying it I might add lol, I've also got a lot organized.  My hubby had this little computer desk for one of his play computers (he works at Microsoft and is always writing scripts) but it was getting too dusty as the cat box is in the same room, or should I say it was.  He moved it into one of the other rooms and he gave me the cart so I can move it where I want when I'm crafting.  I thought that was a great idea too so off to the store I went to get more storage.  You can never have enough containers right?  Out came the label maker :)

This was one of my little projects.  I had a wood shelf and wanted to give it more of the "beach washed" look and I love how it turned out :)

 

I have also been creating lots of frames as I am in the process of trying to get some masters and inventory built up so I can open an Etsy store.  This one I made for a friend of mine who just had a precious little girl.  She loved it :)

 

There is so much more but I will save that for another posts and then you'll just have to stop back to see what I'm up too lol.

 

Hope you're having a wonderful week so far and remember ~ happy crafting!!

 

xo ~ Laura

Power Outage

First off, wishing all the wonderful and special Dad's a very Happy Father's Day!!  Today I really have been missing Dad.  They say the first holiday's without them are the toughest and I think that is true.

This morning I woke up about 7:45 a.m. (oh yes I love the weekends) only to find out the power was out.  Well thank goodness Larry had gotten up a little earlier and we at least had a fresh pot of coffee.  So I instantly thought this is definitely putting a crimp in my plans for Father's Day as I had a nice breakfast planned for him but that didn't happen.  So what exciting things did we do while we were without power for 9 hours?  Well I got the house cleaned up and then Larry reminded me I could always go clean up my craft room that I'd been neglecting lol. When he gives me that cute grin with his dimples showing I can't really resist lol.   I thought oh nice......well I suppose.

So off I went and decided to pull EVERYTHING out of the closet and corners where things were stashed and this is how I started it all off.  Now be prepared.........WARNING!!!  THIS IS NOT PRETTY!!!  lol

So off to  organizing I went.  I had already bought a bunch of plastic totes but hadn't done anything with them so after 3 straight hours, my closet and craft room looks much better.  I'm excited to not have to sit there thinking....now where did I put that?  Does that ever happen to you????  Please tell me it does :)

Up on the top shelf and all labeled :)  Even have a few empty ones and room for more if I need :)

The totes down below.  Love these as if I need to bring them out they are on wheels so perfect!!

And now I can walk again in my craft room!!  Yay!!  It needs to stay this way now lol.

So then 2 of the kids came over with their spouses and 2 of the grandkids to give Larry some gifts and I was able to sit down and visit with them for awhile.  Carissa was sweet as she had called and I had told her that our power was out and so she walked in with 2 coffees for us :)  Yay!!  Hey, you can never have to much coffee here on the weekends at our house.  After they left I was famished from really not eating all day due to the change of plans (stupid power.....still don't know what happened and probably won't) so I decided to make  up for not doing breakfast.  This was Larry's special Father's Day dinner.  Yummmm!!!  I devoured mine before he finished which is really unusual.  I told you I was hungry!!  hahahahaha

I have tomorrow off as I have my last day of Jury Duty.  Hoping it was like a few weeks ago and nothing planned for the docket as I could use another day to just relax and have some fun.  I have a few more craft projects I want to finish and start so here's hoping!!

Have a wonderful evening and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Kitchen Organizing ~ Part III

Happy Sunday!!

I bet by now you are wondering, how much organizing is she having to do in her kitchen lol.  Trust me, I have so much storage in my kitchen so there was a lot to do but I am now finished!!  Wow, that feels so good :)

We have a very large lazy susan which I love but haven't tackled it in quiet some time and something decided to leak and it wasn't pretty and I kind of ignored it.  I know.....shame on me but you know the feeling, you get busy and say oh ya, I have to get to that and then you forget and it is a vicious cycle.  Well it is for me lol.  So here is a shot before:

I pulled everything out, scrubbed down everything and then started to put things in containers and placing things back in.  Mind you this took me almost 2 hours to do!!  That tells you how bad it really was.  Now I even have extra room in there :)

Well that's it for me today.  Hmmmmm wonder what bug will bite me next for organizing????  Guess you'll just have to wait and see huh.

Have a fabulous day and happy crafting!!

Today's quote: "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."

xo ~ Laura

Kitchen Organizing ~ Part II

Happy Wednesday!!

I hope that you are having a fabulous week so far.  I know I am feeling very satisfied right now and am proud that I am finally getting everything cleaned out and organized.  I can't even begin to explain how happy I am right now!!!  So this time I did remember to take some before shots!!  Yay me :)

So here is a shot of my utensil draw before.  No dividers or anything.  Just shoved in there.  You know the kind right??? You know the kind of drawer, when you open it too fast it will jar something and then you have to try to get it to lay down to finish opening it.  You do know what I'm talking about don't you???  Or am I the only one :)

Here it is after I finished cleaning it all out and getting rid of things I definitely didn't need anymore.  Ahhhhh much better huh :)

I finally finished the other side of my cupboard where my spices sit.  The "sick" meds are on the opposite side of my spices but it is all better now. 

And last but not least for today, one of my junk drawers.  YES, I said "one" of my junk drawers!!  I confess, it is a bad habit of both me and the hubs but no more lol.  Here is a before shot...........not too bad right??

And then after.  Wow...what a difference!!

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

Today's quote:  "Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible. "

xo ~ Laura

Kitchen Organizing ~ Part I

Howdy!!

Oh can you say I'm on a roll!!  So far I have 2 boxes packed up and ready to take over to Goodwill.  I found things I haven't used in almost 9 years so feels so good to get it out of the cubboards and let someone else utilize them.

So I started with the pantry.  Let me tell you this one was a chore.  Darn it.... I forgot to take the before but let me give you a visual.  Things were stacked on top of things, sideways and all over the place where it was almost impossible to see what I had in there.  This past year was a whirl wind for us with all of my parents issues they were having so to put it out of site, it just got shoved in there behind closed doors.  I know...... bad habit but no more.  Everything will have the proper place now so I can find things.

Here is the after shot of my pantry and now I can see everything and it looks so nice :)

Next stop, the cupboard where all my baking items were.  Once again, things that were just collecting dust so out they came and into the give away box. 

Now that is much better don't you think!!  Well trust me, even though I forgot the before pics it is much much better!!!  lol  See what happens when I get on a mission.  I forget to show everyone how bad it really was!!

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

Linking up to:

Today's quote:  "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

xo ~ Laura

Bathroom Organizing

Hi there and Happy Monday!!

Well I have jumped on the bandwagon for the cleaning and organizing!!  I had originally said I was starting with the closets but got side tracked, as usual but hey, at least I'm cleaning things out and organizing things right?  :)

I first decided to hit Carissa's old bathroom as so many things were left there after she moved out in May 2010 and I just hadn't gotten around to it so this started everything!!  I forgot to take the before shots but trust me, I got one full garbage bag full of junk out of it and this is my final results and I am so happy with it!! 

Boy, that feels great and now I can keep it that way :)

I ended up getting a text after finishing this room and just had to share it with you!!  My youngest and her fiance went fishing up on the penisula this weekend, Steelhead and this is what I received from Brandon.

Here she is with her catch and she is with the guide, helping her hold this baby!! She actually caught 2 of them today and lost 2 so not bad.  This pretty one is a 14 lb one but they had to release it as it was tribal and you can't keep those.   Not bad for the first time Steelhead fishing huh :)  I'm proud of her...... brings back a lot of memories when I used to go fishing with Dad :)

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

Today's quote:  "I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside."

xo ~ Laura

My weekend project :)

Howdy!!

Well here is my first larger project regarding organizing. I have gone back and forth about posting pictures but I know I'm not the only one with closets like this as I've seen some of your posts so I'm being honest.....yes they are a mess and I admit it lol.   I am tackling the smallest closet first lol.  Trust me, if you could see my other closets you'd understand.  Baby steps right????

I also have almost finished a stepping stone that I am making for my son and daughter-in-law as they had to put one of their kitty's down Dec 31st and they have her in their backyard and asked me if I'd make something for her.  So the only thing I have left to do is seal it because it will be outside.

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

Today's quote:  Giving is the secret of a healthy life. Not necessarily money, but whatever a person has of encouragement, sympathy and understanding.

xo ~ Laura

Organizing

Happy Thursday!

I have posted over the past few days that I have been trying to organize some things.  Well let me tell you that it hasn't been easy and it's been a lot of hard work but it's paying off.

I am kind of embarrassed to show you these pictures but I'm sure all of you have been there at one time or another.  lol  I had to pull a lot of things out, then go through them little by little and now I can create new storage spaces to keep things organized as I don't want to have to do this again anytime soon :)  Does this mean that I'm done??? Oh no... still more areas to go through.  But that is another day's project...hahahaha

So here is a picture of how my craft room was before I started...... yikes!!  A bomb went off :)  It really looks worse than it was but still.

And here it is all cleaned and vacuumed and organized again.  Whew!!  Now I can actually sit in my chair again and not break my neck walking in there.  :)

This is in our family room area, we don't really use it right now as we are going to be pulling the carpet and laying new flooring once I get a new job so we've gotten rid of most of the items in here as we gave a lot to Carissa when she moved so that helps.  Just more room for me to create :)  This is stuff I pulled out of all the nooks and crannys and the other items that my hubby puts in here for me to deal with.  Go figure ;)

And this is the same corner all cleaned up now.  Wow... when I stand back I had a few ideas of what I can do in here in the meantime before remodeling it.....Baaawwwaaaahhh!!  :))))))

Wow I feel so much better now and now you know that I'm just little ole me....being open and honest on how I have to organize and clean too.  lol

Also one more exciting thing for me!!  Well you too.... I am almost at a milestone of 50 followers and I will have a giveaway when I hit that!!  Yay!!  Hopefully it won't be too long till that happens because I'm VERY excited on what I'm doing.  I can give you this little hint, it's from homemade and recycled items.  OK... here is a hint.  You'll just have to wait to see the final product when I hit 50!!  Hmmmm just thought of something.  My birthday is the 8th and I'm hitting the BIG 50 so how appropriate is this :)  lol

I'm linking up to the following blogs today.  Hop on over and check them out :)

Well better get cracking as I see 50 in the very near future :)  Have a great day!!

xo ~ Laura