Command Hooks... How did I ever live without you?

Within the last few months, I have found several different uses for those little 3M Command hooks you can find at Walmart & Target.

My original plan was to purchase a set, so I could hang up a chalkboard I made from a metal square I found at Hobby Lobby & chalkboard spray paint. I wanted to hang one up on the front door, that I could write little Christmas/winter sayings on throughout the season.

Very simple (which is the way I tend to like things), but pretty. It looked very nice at the center of our door with all of our Christmas cards from friends around it.

Since I had purchased a package of 4 hooks (with 8 adhesive strips), I now had 3 hooks left to put up somewhere. I had been wanting some kind of wall hooks for my kids to hang their own coats up on for quite some time now(something at their level). But I wasn't to thrilled about having it right at the front door for everyone to see (I like things to be as clean/simple as possible). So I had the idea to put the 3 hooks on the inside of our front closet door. This ended up working out perfectly! The three hooks are just inside the door (which makes me happy), right at their height level so they are now able to hang up their own coats!! And since the hooks are put up using the adhesive strips, there was no damage to the door (which is a good thing since we live in an apt) and when we are ready to move they will come right down without leaving any residue! This was the perfect solution for our coat problem, and I have to say it has been working perfectly!

So now I've used all the hooks in my package, but I still have 4 extra adhesive strips left over.. no problem! Thanks to Pinterest.com, I've had no problem coming up with a few ideas on how to use them. Using a wooden magazine holder (or I suppose you could use a sturdy plastic one), and 2 Command adhesive strips I was able to create a spot under my bathroom sink (just inside the door) to put all my daily hair tools (blow dryer, straightener, brushes). This was a great solution for me, mainly because I loathe cords strung all over the place!

Using the last 2 adhesive strips & two empty plastic peanut containers (thanks to my hubby), I came up with a quick and easy storage solution for our new silverware. We were able to pick up some nice new silverware the day after Thanksgiving at a great price. But due to our space limitations in our apartment, I was having a hard time finding a somewhere to put them. Since these will be our "nice dinner, special occasion, holiday" silverware (not everyday), they didn't need to be in a drawer. Just somewhere accessible for when I did need it. So going along with the "inside the door" phase I'm currently going through. I decided to put it in one of our lower kitchen cabinets. I put these up quickly (so I could show you a picture) and I still need to put up the third one that hold the knifes, but here it is so you can get the idea. I still need to remove the original labels from the containers, and I'm thinking about adding a small chalkboard oval onto the front of them (using a stencil and chalkboard paint).

Again, nothing spectacular but very helpful for my everyday life!

So there you have it, a few helpful organizational ideas using 3M Command Hooks.
Thanks for stopping by!

Melody

I Love my "LOVE" banner!

(click on images to enlarge)
I recently posted on Facebook that Pinterest.com has given me an unhealthy love for wooden pallets, burlap, mason jars & rosettes. After reading my posts, a friend (and former co-worker) whom i haven't seen in years generously mailed me a box filled with burlap and other beautiful remnants of fabric! I was thrilled to say the least!

After thanking her profusely, I quickly decided i needed to go back over to Pinterest and see what all i could make with my new Burlap. After spending way too much time online (Pinterest is known to do that to people), i found four ideas that i knew I'd like to try right away:

• a burlap table runner


• burlap place mats


• a burlap wreath


• a burlap LOVE banner

Today i created my very own LOVE banner, based on this picture below.

I didn't have any of the beautiful white ribbon, so i went ahead and used some of my red holiday ribbon i had originally used to wrap up my children's Christmas presents.

I love the simplicity of it! And the fact that I can remove each pennant and change the saying for future holidays/events is an added bonus.

Thanks again Shannon for the burlap and other fabrics! I'll be sure to put them to good use.

Here is a list of materials i used:

• Burlap (cut into pennant sized pieces)


• ribbon for the ends


• foam letters to stamp ( i recommend using cheap foam stamps for this project)


• white acrylic paint


• twine


• a standard stapler

*Tip* I attached the pennants by folding over the top edge and stapling the twine in between the top pieces. By doing this i can easily slide the pennants on and off making it easy to change up my banner!

And as promised, here are a few pictures of my T Shirt rug (still in progress). As you can see this will project will probably take some time. I suppose I'll just have to spend more nights watching movies or listening to music so that i can get this finished by the end of the month.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Melody

Banana Split Bites? Yes, Please!

I have been compiling a list of things i'd like to make for Dylan's birthday party coming up in March. Her theme is a "Strawberry Shortcake Baking Birthday Party! Although i'm not a huge fan of cooking, i love to bake! Especially fun yummy treats for a party, so this theme is right up my alley.

Once we narrowed down the theme (she kept going back and forth between the Strawberry Shortcake birthday party and a Tangled themed party), I decided to start working on projects.

I decided i would try these Banana Split Bites this week. So after picking everything up at the store (except for the cherries i forgot to get), the kids and i decided to get started this afternoon.
Banana Split Bites!


They turned out great! They were a bit messy to make but definetly worth it! I didn't have time to take a picture of the ones we made (we had to eat them instantly, they looked way too yummy!) But they did look very similar to the ones pictured above.

You can visit the original link to the Banana Split Bites by Bakers Royale HERE

The only tip i would add, would be to maybe use chocolate chips instead of chocolate Almond bark to dip the bananas in. I used Almond bark, and although it did harden quickly, it got a bit lumpy since the bananas were moist.

These will definetly be making an appearance at Dylan's upcoming birthday party in March, (probably followed by an even quicker disappering act)


Melody :)

I'm back! Did you miss me?

After being away from the blogger world for awhile now, i've decided it was time for me to get back into the swing of things. So one of my New Years goals this year, was to revamp my blogspot page and attempt to post at least once a week. Not guarenteeing anything, but at least this post is a start!

It's been quite awhile since my last post (wow, last post was in 2009), and since then a lot of things have happened. I'm not going to list everything ( i realize you have a life too), but a few of the highlights would be:

• I am currently working as a freelance photographer, photographing everything from newborns to weddings. This has been quite a learning process (and i'm still at the beginning) but i'm really enjoying it :)




• We have been actively looking to purchase our first home! Not sure if we will have to wait until the end of summer before we are able to purchase, but none the less i am currently creating new projects that will some day help create our new house into our home.
  



• My husband Troy and I celebrated our 10year wedding anniversary in May of 2011! Our kids are growing constantly before our eyes. Zaine turned 8 in October, Dylan (our little girl), will be 7 in March and Jackson our youngest, turned 4 in September. I can't imagine life without any of them! They really do complete me :)

Well now that you're pretty much caught up, i thought i would leave you with one more thing :) One of my newest obssessions is a website called Pinterest.com. If you haven't heard of it before, i'm sure you will soon! One of my other New Years goals is to cross an item off my Pinterest bucket list each week (whether it's creating a project, trying out a new recipe or simply doing a fun new activity with the kids that i've found on Pinterest)

Until i've incorporated my own little Pinterest savings (extra envelope for those who are familiar with the Dave Ramsey Finacial Peace University system), i'm trying to create things/plan activities that are either free, using items i already have, or under $5. So this week my goal is to create this floor mat that i found on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/pin/204984220509074482/
I'm using old work tshirts of Troy's that he no longer wears that are still in decent condition. Last night i started cutting a few into strips while watching Fraiser on Netflix (have i mentioned my love for Netflix before?) I'm planning on cutting up some more strips tonight and then plan to attach them to a mesh grid either tonight or tomorrow (if i can find a grid when i'm out this afternoon). This is a great project that should cost around $2 or $3 that i can work on when i'm relaxing just watching tv or a movie.

Although i know this won't turn out as cute as it would if i was cutting up white bath towels, but i'm sure it will still turn out cute! And i'll be sure to post some pictures within the next few days.

Until then, thanks for checking out my newest blog post :)

Melody :)