Washi Tape Organization

I like washi tapes. I mean, who doesn't. Whenever I see cute ones at Target, Walgreens, Micheal's sometimes eBay, I buy them. Over the past year, I've accumulated a lot.

At first, I put them in the pink lid plastic jar to display on my craft shelf, cute but hard to reach the one I want to use. Then I got more than the jar can handle so I put the rest of them in a small fish bowl.

Every time I wanna use one particular washi tape, I needed to dump all them out, find the one and put them all back. Effect makes using washi tape less fun.

Last week, I saw this multi pant hanger in a thrift store. I recall that I saw people using this kind of hanger to organize ribbons from Pinterest. I thought, I could use this to solve my washi tape organizing problem.

I used the four upper swing arms to store small washi tape rolls.

Now I have the bottom arm and big washi tape rolls. I used my spare shower hooks.

Now I can easily access to my washi tape.

Happy Monday! Happy Organizing!

Recycle to Treasure - DIY Diaper box storage bin

All right, Easter fun is over and it's time to pack up all of the goodies.

As a mom of two, I constantly get things delivered to the house from Amazon and Target. Instead of throwing the cardboard boxes into the recycle bin, I like keeping some of them for storage.

The trick is to find the MATCH. When I found this pair-one box perfectly nests in the other, I got excited to turn them into lid and box for storing Easter goodies.

Well, the lid is slightly too big. Hey, we live in real live and I am totally ok with this.

Now,  with some vintage style wrapping paper I got from the thrift store and chalk label from Dollar Tree, the storage bin is done.

It's time to get organized now.

DIY jewelry "cupcake" stand--Pinterest idea tested

I've seen this idea of using Dollar Tree candle holders and plates to create a cupcake stand for organizing thousands of times in Pinterest and YouTube.  Finally I've gathered the materials and decided to give it a try.

Here are the material I used,
two candle holders, 2 plates and 1 bowl, all from the thrift store, total cost $3
E6000, from local Walmart
rubbing achohol, cloth wipe to clean everything before using the glue

The process is pretty straightforward. 

The only thing I want to mention is that try your best to center well before glue. From bottom to top.

Here is how I use the stand to organize my stuff.

Big thumb up on this Pinterest DIY idea. It is very easy and inexpensive.

Trash to Treasure -- DIY vanity tray from iPad box

I needed a tray to keep some loose items on my vanity table last weekend. When I was browsing Target website I came up with this idea of upcycle the iPad box.

I really like the quality of the boxes Apple products come in. They are white, easy to color. They are so sturdy. I used to box to keep all of my iPhone cases. I've been through some declutter process after my second daughter was born. I only use water proof + shock proof iPhone case now, so I gave all of my fancy cases to a friend. Now it is time to give this box a new look.

I've never had an easier craft project. Here is the box.

I used the white-out to cover the black(silver) letters.

And I chose one roll of washi tape. That was it.

Hey, I admit it is not a glamorous vanity tray but it is functional.

Do you keep your iPad box? What do you use it for? Leave me a comment if you have good ideas of upcycling these boxex.

Organization Monday - DIY hair clip organizer/display

Gather an old photo frame (not shown in the picture below) and some ribbons to start this project.

 For the clips, leave the ribbons slightly loose. My frame is actually pretty beaten up looking, so I used two coats of white acrylic paint to cover it up.

 For hair bands, these loops created using just dabs of hot glue work pretty well.

Organization Monday - DIY earring organization/display

With two thrifted photo frames, a embroider hoop and leftover cross stitch fabric, earring organization is achieved.

Crafting materials I used for this project:

Photo frames, $2, from local Goodwill

Embroider hoop, I already have one that's too small for my big project.

Acrylic paint in black, leftover from previous project

Cross stitch fabric,leftover from previous project

For under $5, I was able to display my earring and keep them organized. How fun and easy it is to pick out a pair to match my outfit of the day in the morning.

Organization Monday - homemade wine storage upgrade

My husband likes buying tons of cheap fruits and turn them into jam and wine. Recently, he made quite a few bottles of pineapple wine. It smells amazing, but as a 36 week pregnant lady I didn't get the chance to try any.

Anyway, he usually saves a few bottles for our family and brings most of them to group parties during holidays. The next holiday should be Labor Day (???). These bottles of wine will have to stay with us for a month and half. My hubby just store them in the cardboard box that comes with the wine bottle purchase and put the box in the corner of our dinning room. Last week, I just couldn't tolerant that anymore.

I would like to purchase something fancy, like a metal wire basket to store the wine bottles. Something vintage looking like this.

Picture from http://www.houzz.com/photos/25885805/Metal-Wire-Basket-Wine-Holder-3-Bottle-Home-Kitchen-Bar-Decor-industrial-wine-racks

It costs a lot of money. So I decided to make the storage functional and semi-beautiful.

First of all, I'd like to make a chalk label since it is so trendy now. Here is my inspiration from a ETSY shop.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/169435493/personalized-stickers-chalkboard-like?ref=market

Here is my much simpler version.

Chalk board labels and chalk pen (not shown in the picture above) are both from the Dollar Tree.

Next, instead of the cardboard box, I recycled a clear and sturdy filing box. The filing box is another organization story. I used this filing box for my family files-mine, my hubby's, my marriage, my work, my daughter, our investment, tax, etc. Then I realized I can actually fit all of theses file into one poly filing folder which takes way less space. Anyhow, the box ended up doing nothing in the house until now.

Now these wine bottles sit on the bottom of a shelf we have in the dinning room, not an eye-sore anymore.

Organization Monday - DIY necklace organizer

I've seen this kind of cork board necklace organizer everywhere in Pinterest. As my necklace grows this summer, I am in need of a organizer to keep them detangled and nicely displayed.

I found this cork board at Goodwill. It costs me $1.99. It looks new to me. It is a very nice piece of artwork for a girl's room. But we don't have a "Melissa" at home and do need a cheap cork board to start the project.

Materials needed:

cork board (Goodwill, $1.99)

fabric

push pins, staple gun

optional: painter's tape (Dollar Tree)

              white acrylic paint (Micheal's)

 I painted the frame white. Like I said, this step is totally optional. I just like it white. If you want paint the frame white, I recommend using spray paint. It will be much faster and the frame will look much better. I chose acrylic paint because I'm 32 week pregnant and can not stand the smell of spray paint.

Nest, staple the fabric onto the board.

Since I couldn't get the staple gun to secure the corners, I used clear push pins.

To protect the cork board from scratching the surface of my new dresser, I used some felt pads (Dollar Tree) to stick on the bottom of the board. 

You can use colorful pushpins to match your color theme. I just like the clear looking push pins.

 Here is the final look. The lighting in my bedroom is horrible.

Happy organizing.

Organization Monday - display kids art / greeting cards for under $5

I meant to fill up this empty wall with the greeting cards we receive for special occasions and artworks we get from the daycare every other week.

I did some research on Pinterest and figured out how to do this display for cheap.

Materials I used are, spare white yarn I already have, mini command hooks from Target and wall sticker from Dollar Tree.

Don't forget the mini clothespins from local craft store. I got mine from Jo-Ann Fabric.  I spotted some colorful mini clothespins in Target dollar spot for just $1 yesterday.

There you go. For under $5, I have this functional and beautiful (of course I'm biased because I did the work.) display wall.

Take a look at the Father's Day card. Isn't it the cutest?!