Daily Tip - Binders are your friend!

Husband and I have a lot of kitchen appliances.  If I'm looking for somebody to blame, it's either my brother (who has admitted to poking around in the kitchen to find out what we don't have in preparation for holiday gifts), or my step-mother-in-law (who loves to pass along new kitchen gadgets that she has found).  We have a drawer that was dedicated to all the various manuals and warranty information for said appliances.  Then, once the baby arrived, it started to fill with all the various manuals for his toys.  Upon opening the drawer the other day to add a few more bits of paper, I realized that it was at capacity.  Thus, time to find a solution. I think there is currently a little section of my brain that is dedicated to "things I've seen on Pinterest."  I haven't necessarily pinned all of those things, but I've spotted them while poking about.  This falls into that category.

I took one 3-ring binder, and one pack of heavy weight sheet protectors.  I gathered all of the manuals for the kitchen, baby items, and other household things.  Each one went into a sheet protector pocket with the corresponding warranty info, receipts, or any other related documents.  I didn't go so far as to alphabetize, but I did try to organize by type.  The binder filled really quickly, so I'm pretty sure I'll already have to start a new one shortly and will probably separate by type into different binders.  It's nice that I'll know where to find everything...for once.  Next up, the closet of doom (which is where boxes of random stuff go to die)?  Perhaps.

What you're favorite household organization tip?  I'm all ears!

Daily Tip - Pool noodle to the rescue

Owen has very rapidly become a mobile baby.  Gone are the days when I could leave him on his activity mat and go shower with the peace of mind that he'd be in the same place as I left him once I got out.  Of course, mobile baby means baby proofing everything.  We already switched our beloved coffee and side tables for a cheapish ottoman that he can bounce off/barf on without incident.  The second he started crawling though, I knew something had to be done with the bed frame of the spare bed that's in his room.  It has a nice exposed metal edge...right at eye level for an infant.

We discussed various options - bubble wrap, packing foam, etc.  Then, one day on Pinterest, I came across a picture of somebody who used a pool noodle as a bumper.  It was just crazy enough to work.  So, a trip to my favorite place (the dollar store) and $1 pool noodle later, and we have one fully babyproofed bed frame.  No more sharp pointy edges! 

 

As you can see, it's also baby-approved, non-toxic, and matches his room.  A win for sure.  Short of putting  him in a bubble, we know there will be bumps and bruises, but we figure it's best to minimize the possibility of scarring and/or losing an eye.

Daily Tip - Foaming soap!

Today I have a simple household tip to share, inspired by husband's complaint that the new soap I'd put in the kitchen wasn't lathering enough.  I'm not sure if he's  become accustomed to the foaming soaps that I'd picked up at Bath & Bodyworks, or if the dispenser for the soaps I'd grabbed at Bed Bath & Beyond ($1/each on clearance) just sucked.  Seeing as we still had the foaming soap dispenser, the answer was actually very easy! 

Pouring regular soap into the foaming soap dispenser on it's own won't work because the soap is too thick and will clog the dispenser.  All you need to do, however, is add water.  We put in a mixture of 1 part soap to 4 parts water, then gently mixed it together.  At first it wasn't mixed enough so the dispenser didn't want to foam properly, but I figured it was just because the soap was still somewhat settled at the bottom and was too thick.  We tipped the bottle back and forth a few times to mix it up again, and it was soon working perfectly. 

$0.20 vs. $3 for a container of soap.  When the other foaming soaps in the house run out, I think we'll continue to use this refill method.  Definitely a worthwhile savings! 

Daily Tip - Swatch this!

While wasting time on Pinterest, I happened across this pretty handy site - Design Seeds.  It is essentially an online palette book, which highlights different color combinations while showing the photographic inspiration for each collection of swatches.

Source: design-seeds.com via Natalie on Pinterest

In the never-ending world of home renovation, painting the walls is something we haven't actually gotten around to since moving in.  Yes, we're living in a world of rather boring off white right now - which I do plan on changing soon.  The palette to the left actually has the tones that I plan on using in our guest bathroom.  The paler green will be for the walls, the brown we will probably incorporate with coppery fixtures and framed artwork, the other colors shown in the counter tops and towels.

I love that I found this site for the obvious benefits with home decor, but it's also very inspiring from a crafter's perspective as well - whether making jewelry, quilting, knitting, or anything else with a strong design element and need for color.  I think that I can draw a lot of inspiration from the images that are presented, which I'm very excited about.  There are definitely some color combinations shown which I may not have come up with on my own.

There are literally hundreds of palettes on this website.  You can browse by theme (such as Spring, Nature, Vintage), or search by an individual color value, which then brings up corresponding themes.  I personally rather enjoy the "crafted" theme, which brings up all kinds of palettes inspired by crafty goodness...and will hopefully inspire some craftiness in return!  I highly recommend.

Daily Tip - Jewelry photography

When I started photographing jewelry for my shop, Crave Creation, I wanted a consistent clean background with as few shadows as possible.  I discovered that for earrings, this wasn't a big problem as they're quite light. I taped some thread across my lightbox, and was able to suspend the earrings to photograph.  However, necklaces were proving to be a bigger problem.  I wanted a way to photograph them that would show how they hang but the thread I was using for the earrings just wasn't going to be strong enough.

The answer?  Use a wire coat hanger!  I bent the "neck" of the coat hanger at a 90 degree angle so that it provided a base, and then I can use the rest of the hanger to drape the necklaces from.  That allows me to take a photograph from this....

...to this...

...or even something more like this (which shows more of the necklace length).

I can also use this for earrings as the wires are easily moved to whatever position you need them in.  I finally have a purpose for those dry cleaning hangers!

I found this tip while surfing the internet on a lunch break.  Unfortunately I've forgotten which site I found it on (as I'd love to give credit where due) but it was too good not to share.

Daily Tip - Simple earring storage

I'm going to admit that when it comes to earrings, I'm a bit of an addict.  While I like them, I've found that necklaces always end up feeling a bit like a noose that I'm inadvertently strangling myself with at some point during the day, and bracelets always seem to be clanking on something (probably on account of my desk job where I spend a lot of time typing).  Earrings on the other hand go in my ears and look so pretty but don't get in the way of anything I'm doing.  The problem for me has always been storage of my little dangling friends.

Recently, I was rummaging through my bookcase and realized that the answer was staring me in the face.  I have two metal mesh book ends that aren't currently in use which are perfect for earring storage on account of the little mesh holes.  Plus they match my minimalist decorating style!  So, next time you're in Office Depot and probably not thinking about jewelry, keep in mind that that pencil holder just might be what you need to keep your baubles neat and tidy.  :)