Organize My Life! (or at least all my daughter's hair accessories)

This one is my favorite so far

Anyone that is friends with me on Facebook has seen all the cute hairstyles I have done on Tasha's hair over the last year or so. What they haven't seen is the massive amounts of hair accessories that have taken over my bathroom (mine included!). All that girly-ness has been grating on Riker, although he has kept it to himself for the most part. Luckily, he doesn't spend that much time in the bathroom, so the 3 cupboards, a drawer and a medicine cabinet filled with all of my magic tools, gels and sprays doesn't have THAT much time to irritate him... until it adds up...

So...

I decided that I was going to buy Tasha an accessory organizer. They have been all over Pinterest, but I was too lazy to make some cute, fabric/batting/ribbon board. I found one at Walmart the other day, but wasn't really impressed by it. Plus it cost $10! Seriously, I know I could make one for less than that (but how to do it and still be lazy? lol).

Here's my inspiration:

Here's what I came up with:

It wasn't nearly large enough to hold ALL of our accessories, but then again, I still haven't figured out the best way to include all of the little clipies and rubber bands we usually use. Either way, this gets most of the bulk out of my bathroom.

I only spent $3 on this to buy the white knobs. The rest I did using supplies I already had laying around. Want to see?

Here we go!

I started with a shelf from an old broken bookcase (yes I have a pile of shelves in my garage) which I had spray painted to match Tasha's dresser
a 2 pack of cabinet knobs
two coordinating ribbons at least 3/4" wide.
sticky velcro
scissors
hot glue gun
sharpie

For fun, I drew a bunch of scrolls on the board with a sharpie. I think they turned out really great, but you can't really see them once you put all the ribbon on.

You attach 3 or 4 strips of ribbon to one half of the board, wrapping the ends over the edges and gluing them in back ONLY. Attach the knobs to the opposite side of the board. I added an additional strip of ribbon to the knob half, but in loops for the headbands. Because Tasha has so many elastic headbands, I cut the top ribbon and attached sticky velcro to both sides.

There you have it. Not the most detailed tutorial, but I didn't take a lot of pictures in the FIFTEEN minutes that it took me to make this. Hopefully it gets the job done!

Scrappy Saturday- Girl's bed canopy

Yar is currently obsessed with Tinkerbell and fairies. However, I don't want to succumb to the craziness that comes with buying decorations from a certain conglomerate company. You buy the comforter, the girl wants the sheets. You buy the sheets, she wants the wall decals. You buy the wall decals... you get the idea. So, I decided to go more with a floral theme, since Tink is always flying around in the flowers right? Needless to say, Yar was not happy with the fact that I wasn't going to go out and buy every single Tinkerbell thing ever made (yes, she even threw out the "my MOTHER decorated my room with Tinkerbell." Well, great. Now you already have a Tinkerbell room, so you can explore other options...). Even after seeing all the hard work I put into her room and how cute it turned out, she's still not entirely convinced (I'm sure that has to do with her void issues, which is a whole other story).

Anyway, I made these cute tissue paper flowers that I think were supposed to be dahlias, but turned out more like peonies. I hung them from the ceiling with fishing wire and thumb tacks. The bedding was from my younger sister, who is now married and has more "marriage friendly" bedding (what guy in their right mind would sleep on multi-colored floral bedding? Willingly mind you), and was kind enough to donate to the cause. I also put up a cute curtain that has multi-colored polka dots (yes there are a lot of colors and shapes in this room!) and some vinyl stickers in pink and green circles. It still seemed to be missing something. I figured that a canopy over the bed would add a touch of whimsy. Besides, I had wanted one for years as a kid (truth be told, I still want one...). Here's what I came up with:

So, I grabbed 4 old sheer curtains that I wasn't using anymore, but didn't have the heart to toss and started brainstorming. It wound up being SO simple. Before my husband tossed it out, I pulled the front frame off of our oscillating fan that died last week. I could have used a wreath form, and probably should have just due to the time it took to remove the stupid fan frame, but it was late at night and I was in craft mode (must... complete... craft...). I snipped the wire to allow for threading the curtains on and then wrapped the frame in ribbon to help the curtains not catch on anything. I put the curtains on and hot glued the ends of the frame back together. I then put two ribbons across the frame in a cross (between each curtain) and hung it up! Easy peasy! Aside from the fan frame, I think this project took all of 15 minutes. 20 if you count the ribbon wrapping. You could easily buy fabric instead. I just wanted to use up what I already had on hand.

Scrappy Saturday - Dress Form

I have a confession to make: I am obsessed with upcycling right now. My poor husband probably thinks that I have gone crazy. I have dug through our closet I for anything that is outdated, ill-fitting, or otherwise shoved into the back of the closet. (I have a huge box of "supplies" now)

The only problem is that I don't always have the time or ability (I wear Geordi in a Moby wrap most of the time I am crafting) to fit my new creations on myself. So, during my obsessive hunting of DIY blogs, I came across a tutorial for making a custom dress form of duct tape. (Hooray for cheap alternatives!!) So I convinced Riker to let me go crazy and buy tons of duct tape, and then talked him into being my helper (lots of bribing him with back rubs).

I went the route of using cellophane and, as a piece of advice for anyone who chooses to do it, make sure the room is COLD. I wrapped myself up in the middle of the night when it was 73° and had the fan on and I was DRENCHED in sweat by the time I cut the thing off. But it was well worth it. For a minimal cost, I have an awesome dress form made just for me! Check it out:

That's right my friends. That bad boy is made out of DUCT TAPE! I bought a bunch of cheap tape because the tutorial didn't really specify how much to get. I wound up using 3 rolls of 40 yard grey tape and wrapped myself in 4 layers (I still think I should have done 5, but it was late) and 3 rolls of decorative tape to cover the finished product (totally optional as it is much pricier than grey, but looks SO much better! Plus, it helped keep the cheapy grey tape taped together, as it was having difficulty along the back seam once it was stuffed). I also used 3 old pillows to stuff it. Total cost? $15 including tax. WAY more affordable than the $100 adjustable form my sister bought years ago. (Another note: when the directions say wrap the mid-section snugly, they mean SNUG. I didn't do it tight enough and it shows. My belly doesnt really poke out that much).

So now I have a second me (if only it could clean the house too...) and, I have to admit, it is a little weird to see exactly how my body looks. Riker, on the other hand, says it looks really good and is begging me to make a leopard print bodysuit. Hmm...

Topic Headlines

Okay, here we go...

I am planning on trying to post on a daily basis, although with 4 kids, our busy schedules, and all of the court nonsense we are juggling, that may not always prove to be possible. We shall see how it goes. Thanks to Blogger putting out an app for my phone, it may be a little more reasonable, but who knows.

Since I have just a wide variety of things rolling around in my brain right now, and since this blog is an attempt to maintain my sanity, I figured that I would attempt to organize a few of those things into weekly topics. That way, I can spend some time on each thing that interests me without getting stuck in any one thing for too long. Good idea right? I sure hope so :)

So, my idea for topic headlines is as follows:

Monday- Miscellaneous Monday
As the name suggest, I can post about whatever I want without having to categorize it. That way, if I feel that I should spend more time on a topic this week, I have an extra day. Or if I feel like writing about something totally off topic, I can do that too.

Tuesday- Tasty Tuesday
I LOVE cooking, but don't always have a chance to do something fun every day (yes, my kids eat mac and cheese out of a box on occasion). This will be my chance post about all the fun and tasty things I have tried in the last week (or will try).

Wednesday-Weighty Wednesday
I am trying to get my health on track and need a weekly accountability day (weigh in, update, confession :O, etc). Also an opportunity to share things I have learned and struggle with.

Thursday-The Project (I tried to find a title that started with a T, but this was the best I could come up with)
A week-by-week project of loving an individual on purpose and with a plan (I will explain more on my first Project post)

Friday- Family Friday
I believe that my family is THE most important thing in my life, even if it is not the easiest. I want to be able to share what I have learned about building relationships within my family as I have an interesting family dynamic. Look forward to posts about spouses, ex-spouses, biological children, step children, siblings, parents, in-laws, all kinds of fun things!

Saturday-Scrappy Saturday
I love crafts (almost as much as cooking). I love working with my hands and having the satisfaction of creating something myself (part of the reason I love having babies). This is my day to post about any project I am working on from sewing, knitting and crochet, to scrapbooking and home improvement.

Sunday-Spiritual Sunday
I put Sunday as the last day because I want this day to be a relaxation from the rest of the week of craziness. This is the day I am most looking forward to. Watch for posts regarding my study and learning of the gospel and my testimony of my Savior and how it all fits into my everyday life.

Well, if any of you are reading (and I ever wind up keeping up with this schedule), I hope that you find a topic that interests you. I know that I am looking forward to next year when I can go back and read through my own posts and reminisce about what I've done this year.

So, on to posting!!