Charging station for gadgets

No big Tuesday post this week - Molly's kiddos have been sick with strep so here is a project from my house I thought I would share!

I have no real place to keep cell phones, camera batteries, etc. charging. I had it on a counter, a desk...it was always a nightmare!! So, here is what I came up with after seeing so many cool charging stations at PB or online. I decided to convert the drawer in my front all hutch into a charging station. It is our junk/key/wallet/coin drawer anyway so I figured it would work out well.

Here is the hutch in my front hallway. It is Ethan Allen, was my Grandmother's and I inherited it about 7 years ago. I don't have a dining room so here it sits and I make the best of it. (Still has my Valentine Pennant Banner on it - I love it - it makes me happy!)

The drawer on the left usually looks like this.

It's a nice piece of furniture - dove tailed and everything. :)

Pulled out hutch to make sure there is indeed an outlet behind it so said brilliant plan will work. Why do I find purple feathers from feather boas EVERYWHERE?

Use a paddle bit, drill a hole through the back of the hutch that will fit the cord of a power strip. My bit wasn't quite big enough, that is why the hole is ugly.

Drill a hole in the back of the drawer as well and thread power strip power cord thru.

Run the power cord out the back and plug into wall outlet. I acutally needed to use an extension cord for the power strip because the existing cord wasn't long enough for what I needed. I did this all without going out to buy anything new and used what I had.

Plug in cell phones, battery chargers, MP3 players, whatever. Don't look too closely to see what kind of cool phone we have - they are both about to die and need to be replaced and it has not been a huge priority. The only thing we have that doesn't charge here is an iPod because that plugs into the computer, right? (Note the vacuum - I made a big sawdust mess.)

Happy Valentine's Day

Felt inspired to be a little fancy on Friday.

Needed a few Valentine's for friends and I felt like trying to make my own version of a fancy cupcake. I am a novice at icing a sophisticated cupcake so bear with me. I love this recipe: Darn Good Chocolate Cake (a triple chocolate cake that I like to make as cupcakes - yields about 3 dozen, this time I made two doz. and a heart shape cake for our family dinner tomorrow.) Iced it with pale pink butter cream/cream cheese frosting and just a dash of sprinkles. I found these darling silver boxes at Dollar Tree that fits two cupcakes nicely. Tie with a pretty ribbon and tag...so sweet!

Have a great weekend with your sweeties!

Will you be mine?

Officially Tuesday

Project #13
"Be Mine" Valentine's Day Pennant Banner

Our inspiration:
Images courtesy of Moda Bakeshop and Martha Stewart

The triangle pockets, the darling yo-yo's, the eclectic mix of fabrics, the super sweet paper medallions all inspired me to make a...

"Be Mine" paper flag and medallion pennant banner

(Who doesn't love a pennant banner?)

This was to be a:

no cost (times are tight, you know - use our stash)
no sew (babies are sleeping in sewing room)
actually finish it on one Tuesday (because sometimes these drag on...)
before the holiday is over (yup - it happens...life gets in the way)

Project.

We are again using our silver glittery letters from Wal-Mart. For those of you keeping count, we have used 3 packs (about $4 each) of glitter letters between the two of us and made:
2 Tis The Season banners/garlands
2 Happy Birthday! banners/garlands
and today, 2 "Be Mine" banners

(and have lots of leftovers)

We had to get a little creative and do some delicate micro surgery on the letters...
(F + L = E and K was chopped to become an I)


Sort through your mountainous stash of scrapbook and craft papers. You know you have one. Pull anything that may work in your color scheme. Not everything will make the cut but it's nice to have options!

To make the medallions:
(Molly said she would rather me teach her the medallions than watch the Martha Stewart tutorial on the website from her show. Last year Molly got to attend a taping of her show - she said she was , well, a little Martha. So, here is your tutorial. )

Trim a piece of 12x12 paper to strips of 1.5" x 12" I used a scallop rotary cutting tool on one edge, straight trim on other edge. (From the Martha line at Michael's - the irony...) Not necessary but creates a darling edge and makes the folding easier.

Accordion fold and make into a tiny "lampshade." Secure ends with glue.

Flatten the "lampshade" and dot the center with a (generous) dot of glue. Weigh it down a bit while it dries. We started with Elmer's but moved on to Elaine's quick grab tacky glue. The Elmer's would work fine but needed to be held a little longer while it dries.

At this point embellish as you wish. We added a 1" circle to the center - this is where we would eventually add the glittery letters - the letters needed something to help them pop.

For our flags:
We cut triangle banner flags 6" wide by 8" tall/long. Does that make sense?
Cut 3/4" strips of paper for tails to hang below the medallion and pieces to embellish your flags - we cut a 2" strips of our pattern papers with the scallop cutter and 1" strips of glitter paper to layer on the flag.

Now comes the fun (or sometimes nerve racking part) of mixing and matching medallions, flags, and layering strips of paper to create the perfect "imperfect" randomness.

Assemble and trim all the final pieces. We used an adhesive runner thingy for the layered papers and a hot glue gun for the medallion pieces and letters.


String together and hang where all your special Valentines will see and know they are loved! I used a slot punch and 1/2 inch twill tape (any ribbon or cord will do) to string my flags.

I just love to imagine the possibilities with this cute pennant banner and sweet medallions. Birthday banner? Child's name? Classroom? Center embellishments - buttons, flowers, seasonal iconic images. And the tails - you could add names or sentiments or holiday phrases. Go nuts!

And you know we need to show you what we ate for lunch today:

Fried eggs on wheat toast, oranges and tangeloes, and orange juice.

PS: We had hoped to have this be a totally one day project but it took a little longer than we planned, of course, life got in the way again! (a very sick baby K...urgent care, sleepless night, all that fun stuff) But, here it is on Wednesday and it is done!

(Does the sometimes seem strange and small, like not on purpose? I cannot correct it. Oh well...)

Taming the kiddo clutter

Wendy at the Shabby Nest is having a
Taming the Kid Clutter Linky Party!
And who doesn't love a blog linky party? I will have to say I lurk and check out everyone else's ideas but this is the first time we have linked any of our projects and it is just in time for the Grand Re-opening (is that even the right phrase? Re-launch?) of our Tuesdays blog. These aren't official Tuesday projects but are some that we felt would fit the party.

I would never profess to having tamed the clutter beast on the whole (far from it) but I think I have conquered in a couple of key areas. Art Supplies and Hair Accessories. If you live in a household with 3 daughters, the before mentioned items seem to multiply like rabbits. I was pulling my hair out to keep track of everything and keep it neat. My kids couldn't manage the previous systems and it was always just a big fight. So, I decided we needed to take care of these things in plain sight and not worry about being unsightly. I think out in the open is OK if it is executed well.

Hair Accessories
I have a very small bathroom that serves as my guest bath and my kids bathroom. It has next to no storage. I had tried and tried to keep everything under the counter with bins and rubbermaid drawers but it was just such a pain to see what we needed and get it put away. I could do it, but the kids were bad and I want them to be successful at keeping order...at least try.

Seriously. Not even a drawer. Barely better than a pedestal sink.

This idea came from She Does Hair and works perfectly for me. It is a clear over the door shoe holder - I got it at Wal-Mart. I sorted hair ribbons and accessories by color and keep them in a ziplock bag so I can pull a bag of the color I need. Several pockets hold sprays and gels and detangler, another for brushes and combs. I have one pocket just for large hair elastics and one for basic hair clips. My oldest goes to a uniform school so I have two sections full of Red and Blue that is easy to reach. The bottom sections hold assorted scarves and headbands. The green box is a small craft organizer that holds the tiny ouchless rubberbands and bobbypins. (Oh yes...and the hooded towels hung at kid height behind the door. )

This is how I decided to store all the pretties - the flowers, boutique clips, that sort of thing. We have a lot of these. (And this isn't even all of them - I think some are in their bedroom.) It is a 1" ribbon with a piece of 1" elastic sewn to either end creating a stretchy circle of ribbon that is slipped over the medicine cabinet door. Then we can keep the pretty clips neatly stored and ready at a glance.

Here is a view of the inside to explain the elastic concept. A couple other things I noticed when I took this picture: 1. I have a couple of out of season clips (these happen to be Halloween) attached to the inside. 2. There are some post-it notes with hair styles written on them. These are actually a couple of years old from when my daughter was in Kindergarten and wanted her hair done the same way every day and I quickly jotted down some styles and made her pick a new one every day to add some variety to life. We don't really need them anymore (There used to be 15 or so) but I think a list of favorite styles would be a nice addition.

Art Supplies
I don't know about your kids but mine seem to live at the kitchen table coloring and drawing. We had seperate bins/boxes/tubs etc. for the various implements and it was just out of control. So, I decided we needed to do this easier. This is a scrapbook supply tote that I picked up at Joann's for about $8 with my coupon. I used Target Dollar Spot buckets to hold assorted supplies and filled the outside pockets with additional tools - scissors, glue, glue sticks, ruler, etc. (This is actually what I gave my nephew, Molly's oldest, for Christmas and he loves it.)

This sits out during homework time and one of the outside pockets is the perfect size for phonogram flashcards that we (used to) use every day with my older daughter and are starting to use again with my 5 year old.

6 months after setting up this tote, it is still working for us. This is usually out on the table but this is where it gets put away at the end of the day. My kitchen is small but it was worth it to me to clear one shelf of a cabinet to keep all their art supplies. (I think there are a couple cheerios on the floor. Keeping it real...)

Thanks for visiting!! Check back in with us to see what us Sisters have been up to - we just posted two projects before this post after a little hiatus. We get together once a week or so to work on craft projects together, make jam, bake, whatever inspires us. We aren't that original but try to give our own spin to the projects we find around blog land. We took a little time off during the holidays but are back in the saddle again. Welcome!

Oh, and say a prayer for our 18 year old cousin Neil who is in critical condition following a car accident in New Jersey January 23, 2009. We just adore this dude and his mom and sister are avid followers (it is currently a small exclusive club) of our Tuesdays blog! Thank you so much!

Look What I Made!

Project #12

"Look What I Made"
I needed a couple of gifts for nieces and this so perfectly fit the bill! A great place to hang little masterpieces that is also very cute, indeed!

Start with a piece of 1"x6" cut to about 24" long. (The length could really vary depending on where/how you will use it. Truth be told, I used some scraps I already had cut in the garage that might have been shy of 24". ) Paint a base color, I chose white. Select several pieces of heavy-weight scrapbook paper decorate the board. I chose 5 coordinating pieces from my stash, trimmed and tore to size.

Lay out all the pieces and decide you love it, break out the handy dandy modge podge and do some modge podging. At this point, decide if you are an underneath or underneath and and top modge-podger. I made two. I tried both ways. It really is a matter of personal preference and the amount of top-coat protection you think it needs. Pick up a set of mini binder clips (I got mine on the scrapbook/paper crafting embellishment aisles of Michael's, about $5 for a pack of 24 or or so.) These will be nailed on using tiny brad nails.

The binder clips will probably have a larger hole than the nail head so you need to help it stay put. A little scrap of ribbon/trim/ric-rac will work perfectly to help. Tie a short piece, about 4-5" around the nail - this creates a knot that is larger than the hole in the clip.

Finish tying all ribbons, sand edges to distress. Happy accident - the scrap board I used was painted a dark red color before I painted it white. When I sanded the edges, bits of the red were exposed along with raw wood. I love how the tiny bits of red added another dimension. Whenever sanding edges of a piece of wood you can always go back and add a touch of stain or ink or whatever to the exposed wood to enhance the depth.

Attach chipboard letters to spell "Look what I made" or "look what I did". The chipboard letter set I was using (this one happened to come from Joann's) did not have enough "D's" to spell "Did" so I decided to do "Made" instead. I think either works fine. To hang this guy: drill a 1/4" hole in each corner and string a large width grosgrain ribborn thru (from the back to the front) and knot the end.


Here is the final piece hanging in my niece's bedroom in Atlanta. Hard to tell - it was a very quick, un-composed shot, but I could not have nailed the colors/patterns better if I shopped for days for the papers I used and not just used some out of my stash!


Giving credit where credit is due, my girlfriend Maddy made this and it served as my inspiration. Seriously, the possibilities are endless. Make it your own. Match to your kitchen/playroom/hallway/boys room...whatever works for you, wherever you plan to use it.

No yummy lunch to report - more of a "hurry and get this done" kind of project! It was a solo project. I missed Molly, actually.

Finally... Another Project!

It has been a while... but we have been busy working on a couple of great projects! Hopefully we will not have another hiatus for quite some time. I am pretty much all moved into my new house and we are both done travelling for a while so we should have more projects in the coming weeks.

Project #11
Tis the Season Banner, (and why not a Happy Birthday one while we're at it?)

First we gathered small boxes of varying sizes - good boxes included ornament, cream cheese, and jello boxes.Lightly spray paint boxes with white spray paint on the front so that color does not show through wrapping paper when wrapped.

Wrap boxes in solid color wrapping paper. We used white for our Christmas banner and lime green for our birthday banner.

Make tags for each letter in the phrase. We (Meredith) have found some great chipboard letters in the scrap booking department of Walmart. We chose sparkly silver for this project. Cut tags to an appropriate size for the boxes. Ours were about 2 inches by 3 inches. Use a few solid cardstocks, choose some coordinating patterns and sparkly cardstock for layering on the tags. We decided to round the corners with a corner rounder.

Choose a variety of ribbons to coordinate with your tag colors

Punch a hole in the top of each tag and wrap ribbon around each box, while tying the tag to the top of the box to look like a cute present.

String all presents together with a ribbon or rope by sliding the ribbon/rope under the ribbon of the present.

Hang from a banister or anything other place in your house

Tis the Season Banner
Happy Birthday Banner

Lunch today included leftovers from the Super Bowl Party - Frito Pie, Veggie Pizza, Shrimp, Soda, chips, you get the idea...