Washi Tape Cord Organization Idea

Power cords. Coaxial cords.  USB cords. Printer cords.  Charger cords.  

Cords, cords, cords!

Cords are one of those little things in life that drive me absolutely BONKERS.  I hate them.  My dream is that one day everything will be wireless.  Won't that make decorating and prettifying our homes so much easier? 

Well, since my dream has not yet been realized, we still need to deal with these little buggers.  My problem right now is that I have a ton of devices which use the USB... my Silhouette, my large vinyl machine, and two external hard drives (thank goodness my printer is wireless!) to be exact.  I was sick and tired of pulling up the cord and then following it all the way to the device to see if it was the one I needed.  

Since organization is at its best when it's aesthetically pleasing too (and I'm constantly looking for ways to work washi tape into my life), I decided to make some cute little washi tape flag labels for the ends of my cords.  Now there's no investigation work needed when trying to plug something into my computer!  

I've now added at least 2 minutes of free time to my day.  Plus, look!  Cute little washi tape flags! :)

Bathroom Ledges

This past weekend I decided to do a few things that I had been putting off for months... and I mean MONTHS.  Things like "clean out the laundry room so I can walk in there again" and "go through Brynn's closet and rid it of all the clothes in there that are too small (she is six... I seriously had 2T stuff in there-- why??)."  I had just been like an ostrich putting its head in the ground with these projects that needed to be done.  Walk in, do what I had to do, walk out.

Well, I at least knocked two of those projects off my list!  And this is how the trickle down theory works... as part of my laundry room clean up, I was finally sick and tired of seeing these floating picture ledges I had built leaning up against the wall and doing nothing!  Guess how long ago I built them... go ahead... guess.  ONE YEAR AGO.  Can you believe it?  Just before I started blogging myself, I was obsessed with all the DIY blogs out there.  So I started on doing something about my boring half bath on the main level.

Here, have a gander:

Pitiful, I know.  And that patch job over there on the right?  Yeah, someone may have bent down and knocked the toilet paper holder off the wall with her butt.  It was me.  This bathroom was like this for a good five years.  Thank goodness for DIY blogs!

I had just seen this tutorial on Sweet Pickin's about framing out a builder's mirror and I went for it!  It was so easy!  I didn't even have my compound miter saw then so I just used a miter box and a hand saw.  Totally doable and it made a HUGE difference in the space.

I also painted the whole place a sagey green (I may redo that in a nice grey at some point).  Here was the after of the first phase.

(sorry for the iPhone pics, my fixed 50mm lens could not capture it all in that tiny space)

That blank wall opposite the mirror was screaming for me to do something.  I came across these plans on Ana White for "10 Dollar Ledges"... again, no power tools were involved.  Just me and a hand saw.  I worked up a bit of a sweat cutting the wood but I did it!  

So I built three ledges a YEAR ago and they had been leaning up against a wall in my laundry room ever since. ::sigh::

Thank goodness I cleaned out the laundry room which made me have to find a place for those shelves.    This is starting to sound like a "If you Give A Mouse A Cookie" kind of a thing.  

Now, to hang the ledges I decided on the good ole french cleat.  Totally easy way of doing it.  I simply attached one part of the bracket system to the wall (making sure they were level and to hit at least one stud), 

and attached the other part of the bracket to the back of my ledge

and then hooked the two brackets together!

Eek!  So exciting to have another area to decorate!  

I started running around the house and gathering all the pictures I had in white frames and anything else I thought might work.  Of course my white frame from the Orange Blossom Shop got involved!  I think it makes the whole thing.

(quick reminder of what it looked like before)

 I grabbed some stuff I had used in my summer mantel last year, took a frame off of my magnetic command center and put some of Brynn's artwork in a spray painted frame.

I bought nothing for this and the only thing I didn't immediately have on hand is that fun chevron board that says "WASH YOUR HANDS love, Mom"  I made that specifically for this after playing around with the accessories and realizing I needed something with a little zing in there (I added it to my shop if you're wanting one too!).  The good news is my 12yo came out of the bathroom the next day drying his hands on his shorts and said "Hey Mom, your love note worked."  Ha!  

So, it may have taken over a year to get this project done but I'm so happy with how it turned out!  I keep making up excuses to go in there or walk by.  Styling shelves is way too much fun. I have a feeling I'll be tinkering, adding, and taking away stuff from these ledges indefinitely.  

Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog, Flamingo Toes, Thrifty Decor Chick

Family Heritage Mantel

Right now I have very few stresses in my life, honestly.  I have no babies and no teenagers.  That should tell you all you need to know.

I do, however, stress about what's up on my mantel. 

"Stress" might be a bit of an overstatement, but I do consider it.  Considerably.

So this awkward time here betwixt Easter and the 4th of July had me baffled.  Would I need to figure out some kind of "everyday" look rather than a holiday?  Wha??  

See.  Stress. :)

THANK GOODNESS I met and became best friends with the cute girls from Orange Blossom Shop at SNAP!  I then tricked them into sending me a couple of their so-cute-I-can-hardly-stand-it frames!   I was dying to use one somewhere ASAP so this became the starting point to my new Family Heritage Mantel.  I guess this could be for this upcoming Memorial Day?  It's a stretch but let's say yes!

A couple of things I love about the frames they have... firstly, adorable shapes, tons of sizes, fun colors, etc.  Secondly, they have the most amazing finish on them.  I know this, because we compared Etsy shop notes at SNAP!, but they have them sprayed with a super high quality paint and, believe me, it is obvious.  The front and back are gorgeous.  Plus they are routed out in the back for your photo and have a nice non-reflective piece of plexiglass as well.

And then perfectly distressed?   I should say so!    I love this aqua blue, don't you?  They also send me a white one which you can sure as heck bet is going to be on my 4th of July mantel. I can't wait!  Go check them out if you get a chance HERE.  I promise they have paid me nothing to say any of this.  I am just loving the look and quality of their frames and I adore Shauna and Courtney!

Anyway, so I knew I wanted to use my new blue frame.  I started walking around my house looking for things that might go along with it.  I've had this fun family tree at the top of my stairs for a while now and decided it needed a place of prominence for a bit.   I got it at my family reunion auction (that deserves a whole post in and of itself) a couple of years ago.  I sent my cousin-in-law (who had donated it to the auction) all of my and my husband's family information and she filled it all in and sent it to me.  I LOVE IT!

Some final touches to my "Family Heritage Mantel" were to print off photos of my great maternal grandparents, David and Minnie,  and put them in matching frames.  I also went and got some flowers from Hobby Lobby (50% off right now!).  I was kind of wanting a wildflower look... you know, like Laura Ingalls Wilder could have gathered them up from that field she runs through at the beginning of each episode.

The fun thing is the kids, of course, asked who those people were in the frames.  It started a discussion about how we were related to them, where they were born and when.  I don't know about you but that isn't a normal topic for the Anderson household!  It was a nice break from sports, Harry Potter and why haven't we gotten a new puppy yet.  :)



Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick

Teacher Appreciation: You Take The Cake!

Last week I shared a couple of the things I did for my kids' school for Teacher Appreciation week.  You can find those ideas HERE and HERE.

I will now share with you what I did for the final two days of the week.

First up, we made these You Take the Cake! Cupcakes.

I begged asked my friend Ann (of Cupcake Tasting Party fame) to make 100 cupcakes for me.  I am not kidding when I say she makes the most amazing buttercream frosting I have ever tasted.  I'm not even a big frosting person and I dream about this stuff on a weekly basis.  Someday I'll have her do a tutorial for my blog but I will warn you, the recipe requires a kitchen scale, "listening for noises" and overall gut feelings.  Yeah,  it's one of those kinds.  Which is why it's so good.

Sorry, I'm getting off topic here... the point is, Ann made 100 cupcakes and we packaged them up as cute as we could!  I had seen this cup/cellophane idea on Pinterest and thought it was genius.  We added a cute tag and some washi tape cut into a cute flag shape and I was happy as a clam.

(You can download the You Take the Cake! tag HERE as well as any of the other tags I've created for this year's Teacher Appreciation Week)

Here they are all in the back of my car. The teachers LOVED them, btw.

(Hints: I precut all of the cellophane squares the night before as well as punched out all the tags.  Also, washi tape isn't exactly known for its extreme stickiness.  We had to twist tie the cellophane at the top first and then put the tape over it.  I was hoping to avoid that but the washi tape would come apart after an hour or so if we didn't.)

So the cupcakes were Friday, but on Thursday we had given them these adorable little pillow boxes:

I had ordered plain white pillow boxes from Uline  HERE and then cut the "Thank you!" out of some grey vinyl and applied one to each box.  The Landee's Law of Baker's Twine that "Everything is cuter with baker's twine on it" applied!

We then filled them with... what else?  A variety of chocolate goodies.

And that wraps up this year's Teacher Appreciation Week for Landee!  

I am actually very glad for this assignment in the PTO.  If you have a chance to sign up to do it I highly recommend it!  The teachers are so appreciative of your efforts and it's totally done on your own time.  Plus, you get some of your friends to come over and help you assemble it all and it's a fun day of chatting and partying all while making others feel appreciated.  Can't get better than that!

Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day from Landee & crew!

I am grateful for all of you out there just doing the best you can.  Let's stick together and support each other as we all try to make a better life for us and our children.

"By small & simple things are great things brought to pass."

Alma 37:6

We can do it! 

Hope you have a wonderful & relaxing day.

Teacher Appreciation: Day 2

Waaaaaay, way, way back in 2010 (that was before I was in my late 30s you guys!), I came across a post on a little blog called eighteen25... maybe you've heard of it?  Ha!  I kid, I kid... of COURSE you've heard of it.  And if not then I'm sad for you and you're in for a long day/night of perusing their entire blog.  Once you start you won't stop.  Trust me.

Anyway, I digress... the point is, I remember seeing this post HERE and thinking it was just about the cutest thing I had ever seen!  Ever since then I have been waiting for a chance to work it into something I was doing.  Well, my friends, that day is today.  It had Teacher Appreciation Week written all over it.

Right?  

Here are the supplies I used:

In Landee's Perfect World (also the name of a theme park I'm developing) I would have figured out a way to keep the blue crinkle stuff at the bottom and somehow blow up the bags and seal them so they would look like little fish bowls.  But both of those things eluded me.  ::sigh::  Still... dang cute.

I also needed almost 100 of these babies so I needed to rework the tag from the one the girls at eighteen25 had created.  Below are the tags for you to download, cut apart and attach if you so desire!  I made two different versions... one for an entire school and one for just one teacher, depending on your needs (note: If I were making this for just my child's teacher I would probably layer tons of swedish fish & blue stuff in a cute mason jar, attach the tag with a ribbon and boom! be done).

Right click, save & print the images below.

Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick

Teacher Appreciation: You Blow Us Away!

As I've mentioned before I am the "Teacher Appreciation Person" (not the official name, I'm guessing) for the PTO at my kids' school.  This means that several times throughout the year I make a little something for each of the 96 teachers and staff members there.  This usually coincides with a holiday (see my Fall one here).    It also means that I need to so a little something for EACH DAY of Teacher Appreciation Week which, at our school, starts today.

The next few posts will be me sharing what I did.  I realize most of you won't be needing to make 96 things but perhaps it will inspire you to think of something for your child's teacher.  You can also use these ideas as "thank yous" for anyone!

Now, without further ado, my first contribution this week:

It's fun.  It's cheerful.  It expresses appreciation.  It can be put together on an assembly line.  Check, check, check and check!

I'm thinking you can probably break it down and figure out what I used but just in case here are the supplies:

• clear party favor bags
• variety of bubble gum (got this all in the candy aisle of WalCrap)
• twine or ribbon to tie the bag closed
• tag punch (or just cut the tags into rectangles)
• printed tags which I've supplied below

Right click, save and print these tags onto an 8.5x11 piece of cardstock.

Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick

Mother's Day

I just wanted to do a quick post to let you know that:

 a) I'm not dead.  I just have my cute niece here for 10 days while my SIL and her husband are off galavanting around Jerusalem!  Oh, and did I mention she is 2 and in a body cast?  She had hip displacia (her hips were not in their sockets when she was born).  So needless to say, projects are a little bit on the back burner right now. 

And b) We've added a couple of boards to the Etsy shop for Mother's Day!  If you're stumped on what to get Mom or your sweet MIL this year,  what about sentiments which are almost guaranteed to make her get all teary-eyed?  And at $18, I'm guessing it's in the budget.  :)

See listing here:   Mother's Day-- The Only Thing Better

See listing here: Mother's Day-- God Couldn't Be Everywhere

P.S. Lots of different colors available.

P.S.S. Order by Sunday, May 6th to ensure delivery by Mother's Day!