{hello friday}

I don't know about you, but I've been singing "Happy" all day today...I'm so excited for the weekend!

My hubby has tonight off of work and we are going to relax with a yummy dinner and let the boys play outside in the gorgeous weather. Summer is treating us well so far. :)

It has been a good week for clearing things out both physically and mentally. We got new carpet at work so I had to clean my office out completely, which turned out to be the best thing ever. I rearranged my furniture and brought in some new decorative pieces. It is like a new space and I feel so much clearer headed now when I'm there. I'll share some photos when I get it all finished. 

I brought this fake succulent planter from home and put it in the window next to my desk. I love the simplicity of it, and am already enjoying sitting right next to this view!

 I also started purging and organizing the boys toys with some help from some new storage containers...

I grabbed an under-the-bed box for all of their cars, green totes for their legos, and the drawer unit is holding miscellaneous block sets and games...

I still need to tackle the other side of their playroom, but yay for one clean corner! 

I also ordered a bookshelf for all of their craft supplies...it is due to arrive today! I have to admit that I had a slight breakdown early in the week because their toys and craft supplies were in such a mess and all over the house. I was CRANKY. :( 

I bought these storage pieces out of desperation and am SO glad I did. I am making a promise to myself that I won't let it get this bad again. 

In another keeping-it-real mom moment, I enjoyed a krispy kreme while I cooked dinner the other night...

How's that for an appetizer? ;) 

And we were out of milk so the mac-n-cheese got a dose of half-n-half. I might just make it like that from now on. Sooo good!

In other yummy food news...these are BBQ nachos...

Holy crap they are delicious. If you live near Richmond, Indiana, you need to order them from the Firehouse BBQ and Blues. You can thank me later. Their BBQ sauce is what sends them over the top. Now I'm drooling.

In boy related news, this one usually gets up 1-2 hours before his brother now that school is out, so we enjoyed a little one-on-one craft time Sunday morning...

That is a paper plate and straw dinosaur if you were wondering.

And this one...

Can you tell he is a bit of a ham? Just a bit. 

Of course I also did some doodling this past week. 

I worked on a new blog header...

Another nature doodle...

And a special one inspired by this book... 

I'll definitely be blogging more about that later. 

It has really been a great week. Going into the weekend with a clear head and a full heart. How was your week?

XO,

{washi tape blog planner}

A few weeks ago, I discovered Beckie's free blog planner printables over at Infarrantly Creative. I did a little happy dance in my desk chair because I've been looking for a blog planner and it is so hard to find one that fits how a blogger thinks {or at least how I think...;)}

So using Beckie's printables and some fun scrapbooking supplies, here is what I came up with!

So fun, right? It makes planning my blog so much more exciting and I'm actually staying more organized because of it.

So how did I put it together?

I printed off the weekly planning pages...

Source

...which have the perfect places to plan my posts/projects, and jot down to do lists and stats.

And the monthly calendar pages...

Source

Then I bound them together using the handy binding machine we have at my office.

For the cover, I used a piece of woodgrain scrapbook paper, and for the back I used a simple manila file folder cut down to size. Then I gathered some supplies from my scrapbooking stash...

The hubby took the boys out for a few hours {heaven!}, so I fixed myself an iced coffee and got to decorating...

This washi tape is so cute, right?! It is from the K&Co Smash line and I found it at our local Joann store. I used it to outline the edges of the font and back covers, and to attach a cute "M" on the front.

Then on the inside, I attached a pocket {another Smash product} to hold a pen, stickers, and any other random items I might need a place for...

And then I got to work filling out my first weekly page!

Thanks so much to Beckie for offering this free printable...it is exactly what I needed to keep my blog organized and growing!

{orla inspired jewelry box}

On my most recent thrifting adventure to Goodwill, I scored not only some great clothes, but also a perfect vintage faux bois filed box...

Yep...$2.99 later and it was all mine. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it at first, but I knew it had tons of potential.

After doing a lot of purging and organizing of my wardrobe and accessories, I realized that I needed a better place to store my rings and bracelets, so this cute little box was the perfect solution. After a date with some contact paper, scrapbook paper, and a few other accessories, I came up with this...

So fun, right?

I love Orla Kiely, especially this iconic pattern of hers...

And when I noticed a roll of white contact paper sitting in our laundry room, I had a bit of a lightbulb crafting moment. I cut out some stems and leaves...

And adhered them to the front of the box...

Super simple...and since contact paper is removable I was able to move them around until I had the arrangement I liked.

Then I added some happiness to the inside, starting with a favorite piece of scrapbook paper {what's better than clouds and dandelions?!}

And to add an extra splash of color and inspiration,  I grabbed a couple magnet clips and attached a sweet card from a blog friend inside the lid...

I love how the colors in the card and the scrapbook paper bring so much life to this little box...

Then I added my jewelry! I tucked in a vintage dish for my rings, and used the divider to hang some of my bracelets...

I hated to cover up all of that pretty paper but I have quite a few bracelets in there now. It is the perfect storage solution for all of these small accessories.

What do you think? Have you transformed a thrifted find into a great storage/organization piece? I'd love to hear about it!

Linking up with...

{pinterest knock-off}

dfWell lookie here I actually have a crafty project to share today!

Let me add a disclaimer from the start though...I shamelessly stole this idea from Jamie of The Letter 4 blog.

I pinned it. I copied it. I'm not ashamed. :)

And yes, it is yet another jewelry holder. You might remember that I already created one here and here. And yes...I still had more jewelry to organize. Lots of necklaces and bracelets that were calling an old hat rack in our laundry room home.

That needed to change. So when I saw this cute and simple project...

Source: theletter4.com via Mandy on Pinterest

I knew I had to make it. Because I had a hanger. And burlap. Can you say free jewelry organizer? Sweet!

I did make one little mistake in my design that you will see at the end...but I'm still really happy with how it turned out. Here's a quick play by play of the project...

I started out with my hanger, a piece of burlap that I measured to fit the width of the hanger and the length I wanted {16"x20"}, some fun green yarn, and a thick plastic needle...

Then I used my yarn to attach the burlap to the hanger...

And also to make two handy pockets at the bottom...

And voila!

But there was one teeny tiny problem.

I forgot that in Jamie's original version, she hung the burlap from the top of the hanger so the necklaces could be hung from the bottom part...

Source

When I realized this I kind of felt like I did when my recent newborn basket knitting project turned into nothing more than a hat for me...

Doh!

Buuuut I was determined to make lemons into lemonade so I hung it anyway. And it actually works great! It is a perfect sound barrier between my necklaces and the hard wood door {the clanging of them against the door isn't quite what you want at 7 am with a sleeping hubby still in bed}, and I found a cute hanger of the boys' to hang my necklaces on.

And I love the little pockets for my bracelets...

The ones that didn't fit went into the little cubby below. I know my jewelry is happy to be out of the laundry room, and I feel good about completing one of the bajillion Pinterest ideas I've been loving. Everybody wins!

And thanks so much Jamie for the inspiration!

Linking up with...