More Sweet Crafty Things!

That would be the technical term for what you are about to see. Ha!

This post isn't about baking, but more home organization. It's really what I've been up to lately. Blame it on Pinterest! I'm pretty proud of these things, so I wanted to share them with you. Better yet, I actually did these things myself, so I know absolutely anyone can do them! And you can probably do it better than me!


1. DIY Cake Plate

First up IS related to baking. Yay! This is a little DIY cake stand. There are tons of tutorials out there for doing this. I found a silver candle holder at Goodwill for $.99 and a little china plate with a silver rim and tiny little flowers around the edge. The plate was also only $.99 at Goodwill! Just lightly sand and clean both the top of the candle holder and the bottom center of the plate, then attach with epoxy. The whole project cost me only $2.00!

This cake plate is small, but would be perfect for a 4-inch cake, for a cupcake, or for some cookies.

The candle stick I found was in good shape and already the color I wanted, but you could also paint one. Look for one that is sturdy, has a little weight to it, and is in good shape so that it can support both the plate and a cake.

Pay attention to the plate, too, to make sure it is food safe. Some of the "chargers" you can buy really cheap are NOT food safe, so be careful about that if you will be using the stand for actual food.

2. Coat Rack

Here is perhaps my favorite project. I got the idea on Pinterest (sorry, but I don't remember who or where!) of taking drawer fronts and turning them into cute coat hooks. The ones I saw were shabby chic, maybe a little rustic, with cute little knobs. I love that, but it's not really the style of my house. So, when I found some really sleek, red, shiny drawer fronts in the "handy" section of Ikea for $.50 each, I grabbed them! I found some modern-looking hooks at Ikea, too, for around $5.00 for 4 hooks.

Here they are up on the wall. Sorry for the picture quality. The drawer fronts are really shiny and there are windows on the opposite wall, so it was hard to get rid of the glare! In this picture, I only have coats on the kids' rack.

Now a close-up of the higher rack.

I really love how these turned out! I attached the drawer fronts to the walls by sinking a hole through the front and using anchors into the drywall. I then attached the hooks and used the end hooks to cover the holes used to anchor the rack to the wall. Depending on the hooks you choose, you might not be able to do it this way, but it worked really well for me.


3. Easy Centerpiece

Can you tell what that is?

If you guessed a butterfly, you are right! It's an origami butterfly. I saw these one day and decided that I could probably make them. Here are the instructions I followed if you want to give it a try. These are seriously easy to master. My 6-year-old helped me and made several of these all by himself. It was such a fun thing for us to do together!

The idea to put them in a tall vase is not originally mine. My mother-in-law has some swans (I think) in a tall vase at her house. The paper they are made from makes it such a pretty decor item. And it is simple. And inexpensive! I used scrapbook paper cut down to 6X6 squares. Make sure you do NOT get the cardstock, though. I tried using some of that first, because I already had it on hand, and it couldn't hold up to all of the folding.


4. DIY Art

I have lived in my house for 6 years now. It is embarrassing how many spaces are still undecorated. Empty walls. Blank space.

This has led to my current Pinterest obsession with DIY art. I love it! I don't have to spend a fortune to put something I really love on my walls and fill those blank spaces with loads of personality!

If you have done any of this, I would love to see it too!

Here are a couple of things I have done.

The first is my favorite.

I started with the three prints. They were a gift to me from my sister and, I believe, were hand-painted in China. My sister and her husband traveled there to pick up their beautiful daughter. These prints have a lot of sentimental value, too! They have been in their little plastic sleeves for two years now. I did not know what to do with them, but I knew they certainly deserved better than sitting unseen on a bookshelf.

I was at Ikea one day and saw this white frame. It was the perfect size to hold all three prints. I thought about putting them on a mat, cut to size, but decided that would be too difficult for me to do on my own and more than I wanted to spend to have someone do it for me. With the help of my mother-in-law, I decided to use archival-quality paper as a backdrop for the prints instead of using a cut mat. I chose black paper so that the little paintings and the colors in them would really pop. I love the way it turned out!

One tip I learned from my mother-in-law (she is really great at this kind of thing, as you may notice from my repeated mentions of her!) I will share with you. If you do this, cut little pieces of cardboard or foamcore board and place them in the corners of the glass inside the frame. They should not be seen through the front but will serve to hold the prints or paintings away from the glass of the frame. This simple and inexpensive trick will save your prized pieces by keeping them from sticking to the glass.

On to the second piece of art I made. A paper "flower."

I had some fun with this one! I spotted this frame at Michael's one day. It was an "oops" custom frame, made for someone but for some reason not sold. The frame was in perfect condition and was only $8.00! I now regret not snatching up the others I saw there that day! The only issue with it was the size. It was an off-size and normal, non-custom canvasses would not fit.

Now, I have been taught how to make a custom canvas and I confess it isn't that difficult. But I didn't want to do it. There. My laziness is revealed!

As a "cheat" I went across the store and bought a piece of 1/2-inch foamcore board. This is the same foamcore I use to make cake boards, so I work with it a lot. I cut it down to the size of the frame using my trusty exacto knife and just pushed it into the back. Fits like a glove! Yay me!

To make the picture, I cut leaf shapes out of several different pieces of scrapbook paper. It doesn't matter whether you use the card stock or regular paper for this project. Cut several different sizes and one round piece for the center of the flower. Once you have a ton of pieces cut, lay them out onto the foamcore to find the arrangement you like the best. Once you have it the way that you would like, start gluing each piece down one by one, being careful to keep them in the same spot. I used a glue stick, but it didn't work quite like I'd hoped. Hot glue would be better or you could probably even use those scrapbooking glue dots.

After you have all of the "petals" and everything glued down, brush over the entire thing (take it out of the frame for this part!) with mod podge. I used a foam brush for this and it went on really well. Let it dry, put it back in the frame and you have custom wall art!

Again, this isn't my original idea (though the way I put it together is original to me). Here is where the idea came from. She has a wonderful tutorial on it, too! Isn't hers beautiful? I love the dark background!


5. T.P. Trick

While admittedly not as glamorous as the other things, I love this idea! What, you didn't think the others were glamorous? Shame!

Anyway, this is what I did with a large empty oatmeal container, some wrapping paper, and toilet paper rolls.

The container is pretty big. Look for the very large containers of oatmeal in the grocery store. It's the perfect size for two large rolls of toilet paper. I removed the label, cleaned out the inside with a dry cloth (not with water - it is cardboard after all), and glued wrapping paper to the outside. Use a glue stick or another glue that won't warp your paper or you will see the lines.

Pretty clever, huh? Just say yes. It will make me feel good! :)

Here it is on my bathroom shelf.

Well, that is probably about all you can take for now! Another long post filled with ideas. I'm sure you are all more clever than me and can take these ideas and run with them. Or maybe you have your own fab ideas. If so, please share!

Thanks for stopping by!

Projects

I have been busy lately! But not all with cake or baked goods. I have been reorganizing my kitchen. I emptied all of my cabinets and shifted everything around to make my kitchen more usable and comfortable for me. After all, I spend A LOT of time there and it is my favorite room of the house. It's where all the magic happens!

And that is why I'm sharing some of it here. I figure you all like to bake (or at least like to read about baking) and so maybe some of the tips and tricks I tried will help you too!

This was a big job. While I had cabinets and drawers empty, I also completely cleaned them. It is so nice to have that done!

My kitchen has a lot of cabinet space, but half of the space in them is unusable for me because I am so short. I can only reach to the second shelf in the upper cabinets without a stool. So, I want the things I need most on the first two shelves so that I don't have to get out the step stool for every little thing. I also wanted to avoid running all over my kitchen and around my island, which is right in the center, for every project. So, I created "stations" in my kitchen. For example, I have a baking station. It is basically the island, which has three small drawers and two cabinets. I put all of my baking ingredients in the larger of the two cabinets, along with a set of mixing bowls and liquid measuring cups. In the remaining cabinet, I have baking pans - my most-used cake pans, cooking sheets, and cooling racks. The drawers contain baking utensils like measuring cups and spoons, some spatulas, a rolling pin, silpat mat and my candy thermometer. In another is my plastic wrap, parchment paper, foil, and wax paper. Now when I bake, I can reach everything I need from one spot! It's perfect!

I also have a cooking station with my oils, spices, canned goods and other most-often-used pantry ingredients, and my pots and pans. I have another set of mixing bowls here, along with the utensils that I use most often for cooking. This is all right by the stove. I have noticed already how this type of organization will make my life in the kitchen easier.

So, here are some projects that I tackled when doing all of this. To create more easily accessible space for myself, I hung some smaller things on the insides of the cabinet doors. My spices used to be all jumbled together in a big drawer. Now they hang in little plastic bins on the inside of the cabinet that contains my cooking oils.

The spices themselves are in little clear plastic containers that I found on clearance at Target a year or so ago. When I get new spices, I decant them into these little containers and store any extra in its original jar on the highest shelf in that same cabinet. The bins that you see hanging on the door are actually silverware dividers that I found for $3.99 each at Bed, Bath & Beyond. I attached them to the door using Command strips. Genius, right? Yes, thank you! :) Because the spices in their new containers are so light, the strips hold them up beautifully and I don't have to worry about trying to screw anything into the thin wood of the cabinet door. I labelled each jar with my low-tech labeling system. That would be a pen and some tape. I should have printed off fancy labels on fancy clear paper, but that seemed like too much trouble. I know. Martha would be so disappointed in me!

I also have my extracts in little baskets secured to a door in my baking area with Command hooks.

I needed a deeper basket for these taller items, so the plastic silverware dividers would not work. I found these baskets with the bathroom items at Meijer. It was $4.00 and came with suction cups attached. I simply pulled off the suction cups and used the little holes for my hooks. Storing my extracts this way also makes them all easier to see, so I remember what I've got!

I used to store my main baking/cooking utensils like whisks, spatulas and wooden spoons in a large jar next to my stove. I had the idea to hang them to save some counter space and make them look much cooler. I bought an inexpensive towel bar at Target and some shower curtain hooks. I hung the towel bar on the bottom of one of the upper cabinets by the stove. Each hook has one or more items hanging on it.

I really love how this project turned out! My fab Mother-in-Law gave me her whisk collection and now I have a great place to display it!

Another counter-space-saving project has to do with fruit. We try to always have lots of apples, bananas and other fruit in the house, which I love. What I did not love was having a big fruit bowl in my way on my counter all the time. I found an oval bread basket at Target and decided to hang it on the wall. It worked! I originally had it hanging with Command hooks, but the full basket was a little too much for the little things. So, I went and got a couple of thin bathroom robe/towel hooks and used those instead. They are attached with drywall anchors, so this basket isn't going anywhere!

Here are some pics of a couple of other things I did:

Our most-used mugs are now hanging with, you guessed it, Command hooks! They are hanging right above the coffee maker on the bottom of the upper cabinet. Very convenient!

Our island has an overhang, but there isn't enough room in that spot for stools or anything, so it has been pretty useless space. I want to eventually build shelves custom for that space, but to try out the idea, I bought these little rolling bathroom cabinets at Walmart ($20 each). In these cabinets, I have the kids' snacks and other snacks, like the bars my husband takes to work with him everyday. I found the red chevron bins at Target. They hold the kids' cups so they can now get their own drinks of water when they are thirsty. Here's to some independence for those kiddos! I love it!

The "curtains" are tea towels I found at Target (can you tell red is my accent color?). I bought two small tension rods, "hemmed" the ends of the towels with no-sew, no-iron hemming tape and hung them on the bars. Don't they look great?

I have so many more projects to share with you! But it will have to wait until another time. What's that they say? Leave them wanting more. I'm sure you all (well, the four of you who actually read my blog anyway!) are so fascinated by all of this that you can't wait for more! :) I have more cake projects to share, too. So stay tuned!