Pinterestmas 2014

This year I decided to make all my Christmas gifts for my nephew, 3 nieces, two brothers, and parents. Thanks to Pinterest I had a ton of inspiration, which actually stressed me out a bit. I'm planning on writing up more about all the gifts soon, but in the meantime, here are some pictures.

This advent calendar made completely of toilet paper rolls (along with the TP roll star) and tissue paper is where it all began. It's a la Price is Right punch game. Punch the tissue paper for the treat or small gift. Note for anyone interested in making this, not a lot of gifts are small enough to put into toilet paper rolls. I went with a lot of stamps and stickers.
Next came coasters made of more TP rolls. My brother lives in Eugene, hence the Duck logo. The other one is a bit hard to recognize, but it's the Seahawk's eye.
The Pièce de résistance was an "igloo" for two of my nieces. It's about 4 feet high and 4 feet wide. Due to transportation issues, I had to build it in two pieces and assemble it on location.
Next, my nephew has started watching Doctor Who (the best show on the planet!!) so I made him a hand-bound River Song journal and a Kindle/tablet holder complete with its own Tardis (the "painting" on both have much to be desired).

I made another hand-bound journal with a painted L for my niece Laine.

For her, I also made a jewelry holder as well as some jewelry made out of buttons. I love buttons!

For my other brother, I transferred a printed image onto canvas.
Finally, for my dad, I gave him a box of rocks...made into garden markers.

Clock painted on the wall

I recently cut the cord on my cable service (figuratively, of course). Before doing this, though, I purchased NHL Gamecenter so I could watch my hockey and got an indoor antenna so I could watch my football. However, I didn't think about the fact that getting rid of my cable box effectively got rid of the only clock I had in my living room. Surprisingly, this was more annoying than not watching live TV anymore.

I am, admittedly, obsessed with Pinterest. As of today, I have 4,026 pins. How many of those pins have I actually used, though? Probably less than 50. Lets assume I've done 50. That means I have a 1.24% conversion rate. :)

Losing my living room clock gave me an opportunity to increase that conversion rate to 1.26%. And so I did. Having first seen a wall clock on the Martha Stewart site, I knew now was the time to channel my inner MS.

I still want to find, or make, some cheap clock arms that are larger than the ones I used, but they work for now. The diameter of my clock (from the bottom of the 12 to the top of the 6) is about 29".

For some perspective of how large a 29" clock is, here it shown next to my 42" TV.



P.S. I'm hoping to add the method I used soon.

Grate Earring Holder/Art

I'm sure I'm not the only one that has a problem with earring storage. As of late I put them all in a little Express bag and stuffed it in my drawer. That was all fine and dandy until I was going to wear a pair and it took 5 minutes to just separate out the ones I wanted.

Then I saw this:



beautyriot.com

I love it! But has anyone else noticed that you can only buy really fancy cheese graters these days?! What happened to the $5 piece of crap, all metal cheese graters? They're all $25 for basically the same old grater with an elaborate rubber handle. In the end it's just going to scrape up your knuckles like any other cheese grater! I guess I'll have to stop by a thrift store one of these days and see if I can find an "old fashion" one.

In the meantime, I decided to alter this idea a bit and make mine a piece of wall art.

I got a $5.99 flat grater from Bed, Bath & Beyond and used Rust-Oleum spray paint in Colonial Red (Satin finish). I tied a bow at the top to hide the nail I used to hang it. That's it!

My mouth is oh so happy!

Which would you rather have on your counter or under your sink? A large mouthwash bottle (think Listerine) or a 23 ounce water bottle?

I don't know about you, but when I used the mouthwash cap to measure the necessary amount of stinging, yet tasty bad breath killer I found that the little bit of excess liquid left in the cap would run down the bottle, causing a sticky mess on my counter and on the side of the bottle for my hands the next time I grabbed it. I know it's minor, but because of this I hardly ever used it anymore. But from someone who likes their breath minty fresh, I wanted to use it.

My genius (if I may say so) came when I forgot my water bottle when going to the gym. All they had at the gym was Arrowhead, which isn't my favorite, but I like the Sport Cap when I'm doing my cardio. And then it hit me. This could work for my mouthwash problem. And it did!! I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier.

I know it's so simple, but man, my mouth is minty fresh day and night now. I love it! I don't have to measure anything. Just take a swig. I don't have a mess on my counter. And it's much smaller than the big bottle, which I now keep with my excess product stockpile. I know it won't revolutionize my life, but every time I take a swig a small part of me thinks I may just be able to bring order to my life after all.

Bra Organization

Does anyone else have a problem knowing where to keep all your bras? I know my brother does. Ha! Thank you...my first blog joke. Horrible? Yes. But that means there's nowhere to go but up!

After a few bra shopping sprees at Nordstrom, I found myself with too many bras to logically keep in my sock and underwear drawer. I also usually shower at night, so I ended up finding all my bras on my floor after a while. No, I'm not the cleanest person...but I'm getting better. :)

So, where to keep my bras? After seeing the picture below on Pinterest, it gave me an idea. Why don't I do something similar to this, just for my bras?

So, I went to Home Depot and got a simple 24" towel bar and installed it in my closet. The best place for me was near the door right under the light switch. Similar to the necklace towel bar, I got shower curtain double hooks, so I can hold double the bras. I can also hang my camisoles, which I wear to bed. It's perfect! The finished product looks like this (sorry for the horrible picture):

As you might be able to tell, I'm a big Betsy Johnson bra fan! Not only is this a great bra holder, it's also where I hang my bras to dry after washing. It's brilliant if I might say so myself!

Introduction

How many people have started a blog after seeing Julie & Julia? Well, I can tell you right now, this blog isn't going to be nearly as entertaining, well written, or as savory as that one. I'm just a single 30-something year old who feels like sharing some of her thoughts with someone. So why not share them with everyone?! Plus I can look back at this 5 to 10 years from now and be just as embarrassed as I am when I read my junior high and high school diaries. Has anyone done that, themselves, recently? It's those times that I really wish I had a undo button! Control+z. If only.

Like most women in the US, I am currently obsessed with Pinterest. I have hundreds of pins, but how many crafts have I actually done? How many recipes am I really going to attempt (and probably butcher)? When am I going to redecorate my condo to look like the flawlessly staged, angelically lit pictures covering my home decorating board? So, here I am, giving myself a place to share my escapades (Pinterest and non-Pinterest related) while motivating me to do more than just pin a picture on a fictional board. If anyone actually reads this I hope you enjoy yourself.

~Erin