The Awesomeness of Dollar Tree!

I have discovered the awesomeness of the Dollar Tree! Before being introduced to the DIYers of the blogosphere, I was less than impressed with the Dollar Tree, because I was looking for things that didn't need any work. I was looking for something that looked great and was quality and just generally awesome in a store that sold things for a dollar! What was I thinking! But now that I follow a bunch of blogs that take something that is less than great and make it something awesome (with usually not much more than a can of spray paint) I went into the dollar tree this weekend with fresh eyes! And I found some good stuff! One of those things was the non-slip drawer liners. I had no idea they sold drawer liners at the dollar store! And I had no idea the difference they would make!

Our master bathroom drawers are full of stuff that we use everyday! I actually organized them a couple of weeks ago to cut down on the clutter and hopefully make the drawers look like civilized people used them, but when we would open or close the drawer, the stuff would move everywhere and mess up the organization that I worked so hard on! Here's what they looked like:

They don't really look like someone took an hour and a half out of their day to organize them do they? **sigh** But not to worry! Enter these lovely dollar tree finds!

Those little white bowls are so cute and perfect! I thought I was going to have to get some tiny pot holders (six for a dollar at Dollar Tree!) but then I found these! They were a dollar a piece, but I wouldn't have to spray paint them and they have cute little designs around the rim!

So with about 20 minutes of taking everything out of the drawers, cutting the drawer liner to size, and deciding where to put everything back in the drawers, I had bathroom drawers that don't make me cringe when I open them! YAY! Here's how they look now!

As you can see, I only had use of two of those cute white bowls, so I have three left over to do some more organizing with! Yay!

And I had a little bit left over in my drawer liner roll, so I put it to good use! My kitchen drawer, which I organized with a shoe organizer was also having some problems with stuff moving around when I would open it. I didn't have enough liner left to cover the whole kitchen drawer, but I had enough to do what I needed! Here's the before and after :)

Before:

After!

I'm now realizing that the drawer liner is not centered on the rolling pin (funny how you notice things in pictures that you don't notice in real life), so I will be fixing that momentarily (yes, I am that OCD lol).

So how about you guys? Have y'all hit up the dollar store lately and found stuff that you loved? Or have y'all spent hours on organizing drawers only to have them look hideous as soon as you open and close them like twice?

Super Fun Hairstyles!

I don't usually do a weekend post, but I also don't usually post about hairstyles so I figured what the heck! :) I found this grrrreat blog called My Yellow Sandbox (of course I found it through Pinterest lol). But Abby (that's the girl who writes the blog) has been doing a challenge; 30 hairstyles in 30 days! It's amazing. They're so easy and so cute! I've done quite a few of the hairstyles she's done but I haven't taken any pictures until I did the knot ponytail last night! But I'm going to be continuing to try pretty much all the hairstyles she's done so I'll update you with my personal tips! Look at some of these hairstyles she's done!

I've actually done three of the four above (although the hair bow was just for fun so I could show Blake)! And I can't wait to try the fourth one (I just need a fancy occasion to wear it to!) She has video tutorials for almost all of her hairstyles, so if you want to try something fun and different head on over there!

Here was my take on the knot ponytail!

Okay, crappy picture I know...but believe it or not it had the best lighting out of all the pictures! (even the five that my husband took!)

And here's how it looks from the front:

And from the side!

In Abby's version, you take part of your hair back and tie it off with an elastic, then you knot your hair around that top part (make sure you do your knot how she says to or it looks reallllly weird....trust me, I know from experience lol) and then you break your elastic holding the top part of your hair together. In my version, I tied off the top part of my hair with an elastic, but I didn't do it really tightly. I didn't even double it over, it was just enough to hold my hair together, and because of that I didn't have to break one of my elastics! Yay! Now I also have suuuuper thick hair so that may not work for everyone, but you should give it a try!

So head on over to My Yellow Sandbox and get to trying some super fun and easy hairstyles! I think tomorrow I'm going to try the Becky Wannabe or maybe the Braided Bun! I'll let you guys know how it goes! And y'all let me know if you try some of these!

I Have Made A List!

My mind has been going ninety to nothing here lately with all the DIY ideas that I have rummaging around in my head thanks to the fantastic blogs that I follow and Pinterest! I have made a list and checked it twice have put the things in order of what I want to tackle. I love lists, don't you? There is no greater feeling than crossing something you have done off of your list! Anyways, I'm going to share with you some of the things I have been looking at doing and maybe you can tackle some of them and tell me how they go! :)

One of the things that's on my short term list is this little guy! We have WalMart sacks coming out of our ears and falling out of our pantry which makes it look super gross. So I'm on a mission to make this! The only thing is...we don't drink coffee, so I'm either going to buy a coffee can and give all the coffee to my mom or ask around to see if anyone has an extra coffee can laying around!

 {Found here}

This is one of those "Why didn't I think of that" things! It's so simple and would save us sooo much time! This is definitely on my list! But again, I have to find these things, because the bread that we buy has the twisty wire kind and not these kind....looks like I'll be hitting up my mom again ;)

 {Found here}

I haven't quite figured out how to do these...but they are pretty much totally awesome so I'm going to figure it out! I may get some white cardstock and cut into it with my exacto knife and mount it to a canvas frame? Idk but I'll figure it out eventually (probably with the help of google).

 {Found here}

This I just want mainly because it is so cute! I loved the Mother's Day gifts we gave our moms and I would like to have something where we could write cute stuff to each other too! Or regular stuff like "don't forget to take out the trash" or something along those lines :) But it's cute scrapbook paper and a frame! Doesn't get much more simple than that! :)

 {Found here}

And we definitely need a dry erase calendar! We could buy some from Wal-Mart or Target, but this just looks so much more fancy! We'll see what we actually do when we start comparing prices (how much will it be to print it and buy the frame as opposed to just buying a calendar from somewhere).

 {Found here}

I reallllly want to have some awesome jewelry organization going on in my life! When I moved out of my mom's house, I left my jewelry armoire behind and wow do I miss that thing! Luckily, my mom is willing to bring it halfway! So once I get that back and hopefully get a dresser soon, I'll be able to make cute stuff like this to house all of my jewelry! Right now all my jewelry is either in a plastic bin, a makeup bag, or a walmart sack....so I wear like three different pieces of jewelry...it's so sad!

{Found here}

In my head I'm picturing something along these lines on top of the dresser, but a bit more modern and organized :)

{Found here}

I also really want to frame the mirror in our master bathroom! I think it makes the whole bathroom look more expensive and fancy and I'm pretty sure home buyers like framed mirrors! So I'll probably get some crown molding and glue and talk the hubby into doing this with me!

 {Found here}

This headboard rocks my socks! It's pallet wood stuck together and then the brilliant people who made this painted that love on there. It's so pretty! I want it!!!

 {Found here}

I have also inherited a love of maps from the folks over at Young House Love and I just love these little heart maps!! We could frame our wedding location or our house address or where we honeymooned! The possibilities are endless and suuuper cute! :)

 {Found here}

More hearts, and I'm pretty sure there's no way that Blake would let me do this because it's so girly, but it could be done so cheaply! Just take an old book from the thrift store or a book that means something to you, cut it up into hearts and tape it to the wall and color one red! Oh it would be sooo cute!

{Found here}

This is just perfect for our office! I love all the cheesy sayings we could put up (like the "you are my type" pictured below). And we basically live on our computers so this would be very fitting to our lifestyles!

 {Found here}

Leave it to Martha to do something so simple that is so awesome! She put velcro on a kitchen towel that hangs from the stove so that it wouldn't fall off! I am definitely doing this when I get a new kitchen towel (right now we just have a filler one, but I want one that is really bright and cheery like our button monograms!)

 {Found here}

This is awesome and would be so great for us! It's laundry baskets that you can fold your clean clothes and separate them by room and then take each laundry basket to whatever room instead of having to haul stuff a little at a time! It does require some actual building though, but it isn't that crazy, so I think I could do it! I also think I could find something that would fit this size at a yard sale or something, but laundry baskets are pretty wide so...Idk! I'm up for a challenge (especially if it means spending time with the hubby pants!)

 {Found here}

This is awesome! It's a piece of sheet metal attached to the back of a cabinet and canisters with magnets glued to them, so you can always find what you need quickly! I don't have anywhere that I could do this, but if I did I would definitely do it! It's just so handy!

 {Found here}

These I love for outside above the patio table. They would cast a really romantic glow I think :)

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This is what I want for the nook that I can't figure out what to do with. I really want a bench with a shelf underneath so we could sit down and take our shoes off or whatever and it would look custom and awesome. Blake doesn't think it's a good idea because if new home buyers don't like it, it's kinda permanent, so I probably won't do this, but I like it!

 {Found here}

Now this puppy I am in love with! The thing I wasn't in love with? The price! If I'm going to DIY something it needs to be worth the money I'm saving! This version calls for these certain orbs that are $18 for the small ones and over $20 for the large ones! That's just not cool in my book. But it looks awesome!

{Found here}

This one on the other hand, calls for orbs that are $1.95 for the small ones and $3.95 for the large ones! Now that's more like it! I'll definitely be trying this out soon....well actually I may have to wait because I'm not sure prospective home buyers would like this....and I would want to take it with me not leave it with the house! So I'll just have to decide what to do :) But I know this is in my future sometime! (btw, the cheaper orbs are from here)

 {Found here}

This is another DIY lighting project I want to try! We have a small light above our sink in the kitchen and it is just the regular light fixture that comes with a new house, but I really like these made of twine and a ball and glue...I'm considering doing this in this house, but I'm also considering waiting due to the reasons above...this wouldn't be as big of a financial investment and probably not a time investment either so I may do it anyway!

{Found here}

These I just love! Sherry over at young house love recently put up a tutorial about how to attach prints to canvas, so I could definitely do this! These photos are so quaint and sweet...usually I'm all about contrast and abstract and cityscapes, but this appeals to me for some reason and I may just put it somewhere in our house!

{Found here}

I'm wanting some roman shades in our laundry room! I was going to do some fake ones like the ones from centsational girl, but then these don't seem to hard, so I may give these a try!

{Found here}

This is more lighting ideas...they look kinda girly so I don't know if Blake will go for them, but I think they look awesome!

{Found here}

These I want somewhere near our entry way (maybe instead of the bench, I'll put up a shelf and put these on top!). They are so springy! And super cheap! They're just thumbtacks pushed into Styrofoam balls and spray painted! So so cute!

{Found here}

I'm picturing some toilet paper art around the chevron paintings in the dining room! Not something this big, but I like the idea that I could make something this epic with toilet paper rolls!

{Found here}

I've also considered something like this around those chevron prints...love the tone on tone words!

{Found here}

If I had spare boards laying around, I would do this tomorrow! I loooove this!

{Found here}

I thought this was so cute for a wedding gift!

{Found here}

I think this would be so cute in the laundry room! I would paint the clothespins a different color, but it's so easy and fitting for a laundry room, I couldn't resist!!

{Found here}

I'm not really sure how exactly I would do this but I'm thinking something with christmas lights....just have to figure out how to get power to them without a gross cord showing!

{Found here}

I like this for a table runner for our dining room table! Well...something similar...this requires sewing and since I can't sew, I'll have to make this my own but I like it!

{Found here}

 I think I'm going to do this in our bathroom drawers! I recently organized them, but now there's stuff sliding all over the place in the drawers when we go to close them or open them, so it's making everything look unorganized again. I'll probably hit up a thrift store, find some bowls like this and put some felt down to keep everything still!

{Found here}

I'm realizing how much lighting I have in this post....whoa. But they're so cute and simple!! This is book pages cut to be round on the end glued to a paper lantern! How simple is that??

{Found here}

And finally, I'm thinking something along these lines for above the TV in our living room! I love the saying, but it also ties into a cinematic feel which I've come to find that we both like!

{Found here}

So there you have it! A million pictures full of fantastic ideas! Do you see now why my mind is running around like a chicken with its head cut off?? But not to worry because I made a list! Hope you all have a great weekend!!! :)

Songs of the Week!

Hey loves!

Here are the songs of the week for this week!

1. Captives Come Home by Run Kid Run which you can hear here or below!
2. Closer by Philmont which you can hear here or below!
3. Through Your Eyes by Worth Dying For featuring Trevor McNevan which you can hear here or below!

What do you guys think?

Shoe Organizer = Kitchen Organizer!

I found the most brilliant idea on Pinterest!!! I was so excited when I saw it (and still kinda am....). It's from Better Homes and Gardens (aka the organization gods) and it looks like this:

A shoe organizer made into a kitchen stuff holder! I just about died at this brilliant idea, because I have been trying to figure out a way to organize one of my drawers in the kitchen. We don't have a lot of drawer or cabinet space in our house. We have two drawers to be exact, one we use for utensils, the other we use for the rest of everything. It's pretty annoying to have to almost squish your hand to get the drawer to close! And I thought about giving stuff away that we don't use, but I would love to use the stuff that we don't use if we ever had people over, so I didn't want to give it away and then need it later on when we entertain more often! But this is what I'm talking about with our drawer:

We even outgrew that and had this ugly thing taking up valuable cabinet space below!

So once I saw this shoe organizer idea, I was like "hey! I need to go to Wal-Mart, wanna come?" Once I got back home with my $5.77 piece of heaven, I put it up on the closet door with the hooks it comes with.  Here's how it looked before the stuff was in it:

And here it is once I put everything in there that would fit and that I didn't need to get to quickly:

I didn't use all the pockets, so that leaves room for more stuff (and who doesn't love buying new, cute kitchen utensils?? Oh...am I the only one....well this is awkward....) ;) 

I also put some velcro dots on the back of the organizer to keep it from swinging all over the place (which it did before I velcroed it) I only put two (one on each side towards the bottom half of the organizer) and it's holding great!

My only issue with it so far is the gross door hooks it uses:

Okay, they aren't gross but I don't really like them...like at all. Better Homes and Gardens had the idea of putting screws in the top of your door and then tying ribbon around them to hang the shoe organizer, but so far the hubs hasn't gone for that idea....but I'm working on him ;)

Anywho, this is what that super cheap idea did to my icky drawer:

Made it organized!! YAY! I just kept the trivets and oven mitt in the drawer because I usually need to get to those quickly (as my oven is beeping at me and I'm trying not to burn whatever I'm attempting to cook). The measuring cups I kept in the drawer because I thought it would be difficult to see which sizes I needed in a pocket, even if they are clear. And the rolling pin just didn't fit. As for the random wires, metal key thingies, and garage door opener...I have no idea what to do with those so until I figure that out, they'll stay in the back, out of the way!

Oh! And I took out everything out of this cutlery holder and put most of it in the shoe/kitchen organizer and I put the knives in our utensil drawer.So now I can give this thing away! Yay! More cabinet room!

The only thing left for me to do is find some cute labels and put a label where everything should go (in case I'm not the one putting up dishes or I don't do dishes for like a month and all the things that are supposed to be in the pockets to tell me where to put their friends aren't there...not that that would ever happen) ;)

So what do you guys think? Have you done any organizing in the name of I-almost-squished-my-hand-trying-to-get-that-drawer-closed?