inspiration workshop with gussy sews: ORGANIZATION!

This week's prompt is {ORGANIZATION}:
The new year is a great time to declutter and ORGANIZE to tackle the year ahead. Which is why we thought ORGANIZATION would make a great prompt for February. Maybe you already have a share worthy system in place? Maybe you've seen out in the inter-webs the perfect way to ORGANIZE your office or your kids playroom? Or maybe it's a cool device or shelf system to ORGANIZE things just so. Staying ORGANIZED is personal, so share what inspires you to organize your life. Feel free to use your own images, or images you find, just be sure to give appropriate photo credit if you use someone else's photo.

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OH, how wonderful this inspiration workshop will be for me! i'm SLIGHTLY obsessive compulsive. ;)

i used to be way worse, trust me. i've mellowed out a bit now that i'm married to my very much NOT ocd husband. but i still love to organize pretty much everything in sight....in fact, i even have an entire pinterest board dedicated to "ocd goodness" which pretty much consists of anything and everything organized. sigh...it's beautiful!


here are a few organization tips that i'm hoping to use when we've got everything moved into our new house....

Source: creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com via Catie on Pinterest

these DIY balsa wood drawer dividers are awesome for so many reasons. 

1. they remind me of studio in design school. 

2. they are pretty dang cheap. and 

3. they are such an EASY way to organize anything EXACTLY the way you want it to be!

Source: craftaholicsanonymous.net via Catie on Pinterest

i am in love with this craft organizer. jars make me smile and the twine upside down twine holders are genius. this would be a simple upgrade to any crafting space, large or small.

Source: blogs.babble.com via Catie on Pinterest

jen over at tater tots and jello wrote some great organization ideas, tips and DIY projects for the bathroom over at the new home ec. she has such fabulous ideas that make organization look so PRETTY! ;)

while you are over there, make sure to check out her 15 kitchen tips as well. you won't regret it!

Source: diynetwork.com via Catie on Pinterest

speaking of kitchens, i've been drooling over this organized kitchen for ages. i'm pretty sure i've shown you this one before, but it's TOTALLY WORTH REPEATING! it's that stinkin' awesome!

Source: thepaintedhive.blogspot.com via Catie on Pinterest

another swoon worthy organization tip are these definition labels. what's not to love about them?

fonts: good. words: good. organization: GOOD.

all together: GOOOOOOOD!

does that remind anyone of this?

ross: "it tastes like feet!"

Joey: "i like it!"

ross:"are you kidding?"

joey: "what's not to like? custard, good. jam, good. meat, goooooooood!"


oh, joey, you get me every time.

join us for inspiration workshop!

monday update

happy monday, everyone!

how was your weekend? do anything fun?

kyle and i drove out west with my in-law's to his grandfather's 80th birthday party this weekend. it was a short trip, less than 24 hours, but it was still a good time. i think any time spent with family is a good time!! *wink*

since we left a little early on friday afternoon, i took a day off work and enjoyed some solitude in the house while kyle went into work. i spent the morning doing laundry, catching up on some house cleaning (i'm the worst at this) and finally getting around to printing and photographing a few of my printables for my shop.

and of course i made a target run! it's just not a good week without a target run. ;)

anywhooskies...

i LOVE how they turned out! i didn't get to use my "good" camera for these...since...um....my battery is dead and i couldn't find the charger. no worries, i found it after to took some with my little point and shoot camera. not too bad for a little point and shoot if i do say so myself!

printable calendar - only $3!!

be(you)tiful printable poster

this one is my favorite!! i left it in the frame and hung it up in my studio as a little reminder to love myself when i need it. ;)

you're my favorite reason poster

i love how you can see my guest bed in the frame. that's the bed i mentioned in my IW post last week!

you make me happy poster

i hope everyone's week is off to a great start!

happy monday!

7 pretty things on a sunday

today i'm linking up with 7 lovely ladies for 7 pretty things on a sunday...

[1] i'm adoring these sparkly bow flats from elle japan.
[2] this outfit from fine and feathered is adorable. i need those boots!
[3] WHAT!?!? a mattifying top coat? awesome!
[4] one of my favorite sayings. ever.
[5] how gorgeous is this art from jill ricci?
[6] house of smiths shows us that even a pantry can be pretty!
[7] i can't get over how cute this kitchen is with the DP bottles all along the top of the cabinets. retro goodness everywhere!

are you linking up?

inspiration workshop with Gussy Sews

inspiration workshop is BACK!

hip hip, hooray!!

This week's prompt is {BEDROOMS}:
It's the New Year! And what a great time to be inspired by your living space. Whether you live alone or have a family, BEDROOMS are the space people spend most of their time and often decorate to make their own. Whether your space is comfortable, modern or kitchy, it needs to be inspired to be you. Feel free to share your BEDROOM space, or BEDROOM spaces that inspire you. Maybe it's a really amazing bed frame, night table, or the coziest bed linens you've ever seen. Or a baby's nursery, a child's bedroom or guest room. Share what inspires you for a BEDROOM space. Remember, if you use someone else's photo be sure to give proper photo credit :}

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we have three bedrooms in our new house (i promise, i'll get around to doing a photo tour tab soon...fingers crossed!) and i have never had such a hard time finding STUFF to put in a room! they look so naked right now, every room needs to be "dressed" i suppose and i needed a kick in the butt to find some inspiration. so, here goes nothing!

Source: google.com via Catie on Pinterest

my craft room is in the same room as one of our guest beds. i am extremely lucky to have had the pleasure of growing up in an old iron bed very similar to this one. the problem is, 3-year-old catie decided to "decorate" her bed with some crayons. there are also quite a few chips in the paint and the knobs were all sprayed a really bright brass, so i'm hoping this summer sometime to clean it as well as i can and spray paint the entire thing. i'm thinking possibly a fun color? we'll see how that project progresses!

i love everything about the photo, the casual quilt draped and the gorgeous bed. love it all.

Source: nattybydesign.blogspot.com via Catie on Pinterest

our master bed is in this really odd little bump out in the room. our bed JUUUUUUST fits inside it. which means we have no room for bed side tables. for a reader like myself, this is unacceptable. i've been looking for ideas all over pinterest on how to solve this problem. so far, my favorite shelves are these.

Source: sawdustandembryos.com via Catie on Pinterest

are you pro headboard or against them at all costs? i think my husband would rather slit his wrists than have a headboard on the bed, he's THAT against them. i'm hoping something like this upholstered headboard from sawdust and embryos will win him over.

Source: coastalliving.com via Catie on Pinterest

in addition to our two guest bedrooms (slash craft room) we have a semi-finished attic. semi finished meaning there are stairs up to it and someone went a little cray cray with the sponge painting and the wall paper. and there are random holes in the drywall. that birds somehow get through.

but that's neither here nor there.

i'd love to be able to do something similar to this in the "wings" of the attic, what kid wouldn't want a fun attic to have sleepovers in?

the bonus is i might stay sane during a future sleepover. (HAH!)

Source: etsy.com via Catie on Pinterest

i have an unadulterated love for all things scrabble. (anyone want to play words with friends!?!?!) and these pillows are going to have to go somewhere in my house.

like, yesterday.

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Catie on Pinterest

and while we're on the subject of pillows, i had to share these pillows. they made me giggle for about ten minutes straight.

my husband, a non-shaver in the winter months, did not find them that funny.

men.

i'm linking up with:

weekend update - the shop!

just a few updates i wanted to share here on le olde blog...

i've officially gotten up off my rump (or on it, seeing as how it required a lot of computer time...) and updated my etsy shop!  i cleaned out the christmas printables and updated with a few new ones...

a couple of printable mini desktop calendars...

a few that just make me happy to think about...

and added my very first wedding invitation suite!  i'm still working on a few other wedding invites to get listed, but i'm very excited to be offering these printable and customizable wedding invite suites for brides-to-be that want something a little different, but just aren't quite sure how to achieve it.

this wedding suite is aptly named after a very brave girl named sarah, who hired me simply by word of mouth.  many thanks to my friend megan mcgraw (check out her design blog...like candy for the eyes!) who was sarah's matron of honor and gave sarah my information, which made these true labor of love invites come to life!

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in addition to updating the shop, we worked hard yesterday getting our rental house closer and closer to ready to list!  it's been exciting to see the progress and i'm happy to be actually putting some paint on the walls in the next couple of weeks!  we also moved a few things from the wichita house out to our new house and now we're enjoying a lazy sunday watching football and napping (that would be kyle...) and i'm working on a few new printables for the shop, catching up on my ever expanding google reader list, reading a favorite book (harry potter and the deathly hallows) and checking my favorite celebrity tweets.  ;)

happy weekend, everyone!

vlogging bandwagon

i bet you all thought i was going to post my dialect vlong...didn't you?  a couple of girls i still follow from my weddingbee obsession have done it and i really want to.  but, i seem to have come down with a cold, so i guess you'll just have to wait!  maybe i'll be back to normal tomorrow...

instead, i'm going to post a picture of my kitchen wall, because i'm still in love with it.  sorry, facebook friends, i've already posted a few things about my kitchen...you'll live.

 

here's the new wall!  sorry, no before picture, but just imagine a huge yellow wall and those two small framed prints (you can't see them in the image, but they are route 66 painting prints) and....well...that was it.  i got the white floating shelves on the clearance spot at target about 8 months ago and finally whined enough that kyle put them up for me.  thanks, hubby!  everything else i already had, but it had been waiting for the shelves to be put up.  I LOVE IT!  for now i just have some milk glass that i don't really love on the shelves (kyle thinks we should test the "strength" before i put anything up there i don't want to break) well, that and all my good milk glass is still out in kyle's dad's shed.  under his boat.  i'm sure he loves that.

does anyone else think that that nasty putty colored lower half of the wall is just screaming to be painted white?  no?!?!  just me?  damn.

also of note in this picture: the recipe sorter from my 50s housewife themed bachelorette party (thanks, erin!), the vintage pyrex (it's an obsession of mine) was a bridal shower present and the three handmade pot holders hanging from the nail on the door into the pantry.  two crocheted from my "aunt" alice's funeral and one was hand stitched by my boss.  i have a matching apron she made me, too!  in my wedding colors!  it's so nice to have crafty coworkers, they make me neat stuff.

 

i also got my seeds started!  i have lemon basil, cilantro, tomatoes, cucumber and curly parsley.  i love them in these custard cups i found at a thrift store for a buck fifty for all four!  the one at the end i already had from college, no clue where it came from, probably goodwill.  :)

 

a better view.  as you can see, i had to sort them by container color.  it had to be symetrical.  i'm such a nerd. all of these seed kits were from the target dollar section marked down to 50 cents.  i bought them out of most of the stuff and gave half of what i bought to my mom!  the instructions say to only plant 5-10 seeds per min pot, so i reserved the rest to throw in the garden this year and we'll see which does better.  all of the sudden i'm wishing for summer.  probably has something to do with my empty produce basket hanging in the picture.

and one final thing, hopefully you'll see my photography skills improve soon...kyle is getting me a dslr camera for my birthday!  we're waiting to find *JUST* the right deal, but i'm hoping that is soon.  anyone have any recommendations?  i'm leaning towards a canon rebel right now, because a lot of my favorite craft bloggers use a rebel and they have amazing photographs.  (clearly, i know it's not just the camera that takes the photos, i will be practicing and possibly taking a class to get a little bit better.)  kyle's leaving for slovakia for work at the end of the month and it would be great to be able to play around with it while he's gone to keep my mind busy with other things!

*note - i think i'm just going to start posting house updates on this blog from now on, we just don't do enough to have an entire blog just for that.  maybe someday when we have 15 rentals and a house in the country, but for now, half a rental and a messy house in the city just isn't cutting it.  :)

**second note - so maybe tomorrow i'll get around to posting my sketchup model of the renovations we have planned?  maybe...we'll see.  not sure i'm ready to throw that one out into the universe in case for some reason it doesn't come true.  i would be sad.

crafty goodness

i just might die if i don't make one of these real soon...

DIE I TELL YOU!

(i don't know why it wouldn't let me copy the image from the other link, but i totally have those same ornaments from the dollar tree and just might have to sacrafice some of them.  because shucky durns...then we'd have to redo the WHOLE tree!)

(and PLEASE, someone tell me if they find oranments like the top image somewhere cheaper than world market, i love the older style ornaments like those, so retro in an AWESOME way!)

random friday...once again!

sorry for the lack of posts this week...i've been super busy with IIDA, a professional organization i'm in.


the wichita city center, which i'm a committee member of, had a large fundraising event last night!  i'm pretty sure that it went well, but i'm SOOOOO exhausted!  it was a masquerade/trivia night/dance/gala thing.  anyway.  i have some great pictures, but i'm too lazy to upload them right now.  so, i guess you'll just have to wait!  :)

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we finally hung some pictures up in the house!  it's starting to look like home, instead of just some place we sleep every night.  the boxes are slowly being unpacked...mostly because we haven't been able to get up on the roof.


this unfortunately will be changed because we'll be getting back up on the roof tomorrow morning.  boo.


that's probably a good thing though, the sooner it gets done, the sooner i don't have to get up on there any longer.

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we've narrowed down our halloween costume!  and no, i'm not going to tell you what it is...but i will give you a clue!


i bought a skirt very similar to this one today at old navy (holla, $4.50!!  it's 50% extra off of all women's clearance and i had a 10% the entire sale coupon from the website.)  it's part of my costume.  

let the guessing begin!

finally friday!

it's another random friday post!

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i had a really good day at work today.  no reason really, but just was a good day.  we did find out we got a pretty awesome new project that i'm pretty sure i'll be working on, so i'm pumped about that.  all i've been doing lately is answering questions on project i have that are already under construction.  not that that is a bad thing, i just am getting kind of bored with doing the same stuff over and over again.

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we are finally starting to get stuff put away in the house.  which is awesome.  except we have a TON of stuff.  we have everything that we actually need out and in the open, now it's on to all the stuff that we don't need.  but, we bought this bookcase.  well...we bought ANOTHER bookcase that matches one that we already bought at target.  so now we have two that match and sit right next to each other in the office.  pretty sweet.  i'm loving it.  i do need get stuff put on it, but at least kyle got it all put together.  i'm loving it.


it looks like this:

only it's much more red looking in real life.  it matches our floors.  


i.  love.  it.

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it's getting close to halloween.  and i'm freaking loving it.  my mom let me go through all her decorations and take some of them.  at least, the ones she could bear to part with.  :)  so kyle and i decorated the other day.  half way anyway.  the house is all ready, but not the outside.  i want to make these adorable spiders i saw in the the all you magazine.  (if you don't get this magazine, you should.  it's got awesome coupons and has really awesome craft ideas in it!  you can get it pretty cheap on amazon.)

so, i'm going to make this spider.  how cute is he?  and you use pipe insulation...which i totally have access to! score!

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we are watching the new show "dollhouse."  whoa.  weird.

and we are thinking about going to a movie tonight!  we haven't been out of the house in forever.  stupid roof.

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you know what else is awesome about halloween?  carmel apple suckers.

'nuff said.

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i'd better stop blogging now...i have a baby shower to go to tomorrow and i'm not done assembling the gift!  better get on it!  and while i'm at it, i'd better finish my parents anniversary present...which was august 11th...

oops.  sorry, mom and dad.

whoopsiedoodle

it's been over a week since my last post. FAIL!

but tonight i just HAD to tell you about how much i heart target.  seriously, i could live there.  love it.

i found some cute little halloween dodads in the dollar aisle, they hold tealight candles.  a ghost, a witch hat and a jack o' lantern.  and i also got some treat bags. i'm going to fill them up and only give them to the awesome people at work. *evil laugh* no, seriously though, i'll just give them to people that know my name. which is...not that many. :)

kind of annoying, because i think i'm a pretty awesome person.  people should want to know me.  or at least what the heck my name is.

i also got some good stuff for decroating the house on clearance, which i'm super excited to start doing once the roof is done!  that and unpacking. 

yeah, we haven't unpacked everything, what of it?

just couldn't resist...

so, i have to admit something...i'm a bit of a christmas freak. and this year, i went a little overboard. i mean, not like WAY overboard, because let's face it, interior designers don't make as much as people think they do. i can pretty much barely live on what i make with student loans, bills, etc.

anyway, i digress. i actually went a little overboard this year because i FINALLY HAD AN EXCUSE! :)

i debated for about two days over where to put my christmas decorations up, kyle's apartment or mine. we were going to be there more often leading up to christmas, but the week of, we'll be at mine. so i thought on it and finally came to the decision that i would put them all up at kyle's. i love my decorations up there, they are purple and white (of course...go to www.ksu.edu and you'll see why...) and they are mostly my mom's old stuff. and then some other stuff i had from when i was younger including an angel cheeks nativity scene like this one.

SO CUTE! and from my mom's store (an ace hardware.)

and then his mom called. and gave me the BEST NEWS! she replaced her old christmas tree and wanted to know if kyle wanted it! but i had already put mine up at his house...so I GOT IT! YAY! so i'm working on getting the decorations for it, i'm looking for lime green and red ornaments, so everyone let me know where i can get them (preferably inexpensively) and i'd love you forever! i have green and red lights up already, with a star topper that i got at target tonight on sale ($11 instead of $12.99!)

so anyway, while i'm working on the tree and getting pictures up of it, here's some other small things i've done around my tiny apartment...

my middle name is joy, so i collect christmas items that are joy. (i'll just warn you now...there are a lot that say joy!)

this one is above my bedroom door. i actually made these out of left over tiles (like bathroom tiles) from a project at work. we had them as samples from an elementary school project, but didn't need them anymore. i already had the puffy paint, so these puppies were free! best part is, the paint peels off and i can reuse them another way!

my kitchen is already red, and i found these little gems at kmart (i went in for chapstick...came out with twenty dollars in christmas decorations...) the striped one i already had, the polka dot one says cheer, noel, merry and joy. the other one is what caught my eye, it's got a joy dot in the middle!

i couldn't get pictures of the outside decorations because it was dark outside, but i got cute vinyl polka dot placemats with joy, cheer and jingle written on them, but i stuck them up with water to my windows and they are backlight with my snowflake lights (also from the ace store.)

i had both of these already, too. the santa hat is a hand-me-down from mom and the believe iron piece is something i always have up (i got it at a dillon's marketplace for $10). it reminds me to believe in myself every day, but here, it's to remind me of the big RED guy!

on to the table! as you can see here, my dining room is 50s, so i already had the enamelware bowl, but i filled it with christmas bulbs (again, from my mom's ace). the plates and the little pails are from the dollar tree (just picked them up today!) so are the plastic cranberries in the noel tin, the joy tin is filled with andes mints, another fav of mine! (a trick if you are cheap like me...i didn't get enough cranberries or mines to fill the whole bucket, so i put tissue paper in them to look full...) [excuse the cat mess in the background.]


love this one, it's also from my mom's ace, the other side says nice! i love the polka dots.

more of the tiles i got from work with a spring of the fake cranberries! this greets you when you walk in the door. the little snowman i already had, he's from my mom's store from ages ago.

these adorable tea light candle holders are also from mom's store. i got tea light candles at dollar tree...20 for a buck! the green box is from the origin's face products i got, i just loved the color. and i put the christmas ribbon on it. the vase i made in ceramics forever ago and it's always in that spot, but i put some of the cranberries in it to add to the holiday decor!

and finally my favorite! i saw something really similar to this five years ago in hobby lobby and my mom has been looking forever for some for me, but we could never find any. she saw them at the ace show and ordered these just for me! i LOVE them and have a feeling that they will be up all year! the cranberries helped pop the letters from the books.

hope you enjoyed my little christmas tour!