Updated Necklace Holder

It's been awhile since I shared any home decor type posts, so today I thought I would share a project I did a while back.

I posted in January 2011 this post about my necklace holder. It worked for a while in the beginning but when Boston started being a "boy" it didn't function the way I wanted it too.

For starters, it needed to be higher, way higher. He would pull on the necklaces and then pop off the pins. Scary enough... in the mouth went the pins (luckily no pins were swallowed).

The next issue didn't have anything to do with Boston, but I found as I purchased more necklaces, I didn't have anymore room and the board started to look crowded.

Back to the drawing board I went. When my dad was here for Thanksgiving, I got him to help me fix up my frame. I added one double wire across the top and another one towards the bottom. Creating two different levels for my necklaces.

I am loving this way better! Now the issue with Boston isn't full fixed. He still loved my necklaces and and broken too many while I am wearing them. Maybe this year Boston will get me a few new ones for Mother's Day (hint hint).

If you are wondering what I do with my other jewellery, I found these cute bowls from West Elm about a year ago (and my lovely mother-in-law brought them back from Arizona for me). I don't own a lot of bracelets and earrings, and with that said, these bowls are perfect for me. One for bracelets and one for earrings. Boston loves to take down the bowl with the bracelets and try them all on. I really hope he never breaks the bowl, I would probably cry!

How do you organize your jewellery? A few ladies at work were asking me for ideas. There are tons on Pinterest, but which ones do you use and find susccessful?

Meal Planner

I thought I would share my favorite free meal planner I use and love. I have tried many... I have made my own and even purchased some. But in the end the one from The Project Girl is my favorite. It is a weekly meal plan with a grocery list at the bottom.

If your interested you can go here to download a free PDF copy for yourself.

For years I used this one on and off. I made it about 3 years ago. It is laminated, which allowed me to use dry erase markers on it. But in the end, I came to realized I am not a one month ahead meal planner type of girl (oddly enough I love to plan my schedule and life months and some times years in advance).

My goal for the future is to take my recipe binder I created 6 or so years ago and turn it into a Fullmer family favorite recipe binder instead of pages and pages of recipes I've never tried. I love Pinterest as many of your do too and I am proud of myself for actually trying almost one new recipe a week! Sometimes even two, if I make a dessert on the weekends!

What do you guys use for a meal planner?

How about when you find a favorite recipe, do you save it into a binder, type it up on your computer, write in on index cards??

Laundry Room and Storage Room Organization

In the last month I was helping my friend get organized. It was a good little motivator for me and a realization that I actually really enjoy this and I have no excuse to not do it in my own home. Remember this post I did a LONG time ago were I said I was going to organizing my house. Well only 4 months later and I am finally half way done. I could go into my many excuses on why I have been slacking, but not every uplifting!


Let's have a refresher on the before...
Disclaimer (the room is tiny with no window, hard/impossible to get any good pictures)

Without any more fuss or delay, here is the finished Product!

Wait that's not it, maybe this is it?

I wish! I love the clean and simple approach with each rooms.. one day when we own our own house will I then design a room like the above, but until that day I am working with an old apartment that I cant change anything too.


ENOUGH dreaming here is how I tackled the room.
First, I got caught up on all the laundry and took all the recycling to the drop off.
Then I sat down and created a list of the areas and items I wanted stored in the room. I realized I had some great hidden storage areas I could use around the house and clear up some of the clutter. I took all the long, thin items (folding chairs, extra christmas wrap, ect) and placed under our bed. I then took all the items that I want to sell and placed ads online.


I next set up a bunch of my bins in the hallway for easy sorting.

I was using a huge clear bin for all my paints and home repairs/improvement items. I decided to split the contents into 3 small containers (paint, paint supplies, misc home repairs/improvement). It just made more sense especially when the huge container was full it was way too heavy.

On my top shelf I had a huge mess of my blankets and pillows. I thought about my biggest complaint about this area, that being if I wanted anything down from this pile, everything would come tumbling down with it. Simple solution was to use boxes and group similar items into the boxes. My husband was shocked that we had enough towels to fit into a big box. I explained to him that we don't have a linen closet and we only have 4 towels in the bathroom at any time. Plus we have two beach towels in the box. 
In the box labeled "Bedding" I used this idea I saw on Pinterest. It worked perfectly.

I love when I have all the same containers but I didn't want to spend much money on this project. I did buy a total of 4 small and 1 large clear bins everything else I already had and of course not ideal but I used boxes from our move to store some items. I personally like to use clear bins... I like to be able to see what is inside even if the bin is clearly labeled.

I am a huge recycler but sadly I was shocked when we moved to Regina how bad the recycling program is here. Thumbs up for the Alberta Government and their excellent recycling program. I don't recycle nearly as much as I did back home but I do recycle pop bottles, milk container and paper. 

On the bottom half of the recycling area I placed my tool box, sander and drill.


I have a bit of obsession for patterns, patterned fabric, patterned paper. Love it all. If you notice in the before pictures, there is a huge pile of fabric. I took all the small pieces and moved to display in my craft area (picture to come later in a different organization post) and everything else I stored in clear bins.

Here is the major problem corner before

After

This week I am focusing on adding some fun elements in the room. I am going to go through my 2 huge bin of home decor items and see what I can add to make the room more inviting.

Dinner Calendar

My goal ever since I got married was to learn how to cook better. But that really wasn't the problem, my goal should have been planning meals better. I lack a plan when it comes to dinner. I went to this RS stake thing a month ago and this lady taught this great class about family meal planning. She was an amazing organized mom. She had plenty of great tips, but the one that i took from it was a calendar for your monthly meal planning. SO i designed one for myself. This is my first week at planning, but i am doing so good... very proud of myself. And most of all Scott is amazed!

Here is the plan planner i created. I just put it on my fridge.

Close up...

The calendar is just laminated and i use these planning markers that come off with water.

A few things other things she mentioned with her weekly meal planning was; every week she had a seafood dinner, chicken dinner, vegetarian dinner (she said this saves money), ect. She also said that in the summer, ever Fridays is fruit salad and fresh bread dinner. And winter is homemade soup and fresh bread Fridays.

I love chicken, so that will be one meal a week, one will be beef (Scott likes beef), one will be vegetarian and one fish. And there will be left over days as well, since it is just Scott and I. Maybe when i am home with a baby one day, i will try the fresh beard Fridays!

QUESTION: Anyone with a MAC, do you know who to make the pictures you attach, link to a bigger page when clicked on? Mine wont go bigger if clicked on them. If i add pictures of my work PC they go bigger... but not with my MAC. HELP!