Floral Pen Bouquet

 Hello Readers. Fall is coming soon. It might not feel like it weather-wise but it's coming. That means schools are back in session, home activities are going to pick up, and even your office might get busier. I wanted to stop people (My kids!) from stealing the pens on my desk. It is hard to walk away with a pen that has a big flower on top.  

 Make a floral bouquet and keep your pens where they need to be. On your desk.

You will need some artificial flowers, some floral tape and some pens or pencils. Either is fine so 

whatever you need to keep handy on your desk is fine. 

 

You can usually find floral tape where you find artificial flowers. I found mine at Dollar Tree. 

I unrolled my floral tape, it is green and has some self adhesive on it. You will feel it when you unroll it.  

 Any color or variety of artificial flowers will work so you can choose whatever decorates your space the best. You could change them with the seasons too. I found these flowers at Dollar Tree too.

I cut my flowers off the bunch but left about 3 inches of stem attached. A little less or a little more is fine. It's not brain surgery. You don't need to measure, you can just estimate and it will all work out fine. 

 I held the stem of the flower against my pencil/pen. Any pen or pencil is fine... red, green, old, new. Whatever you like or have on hand. 

 

I started wrapping the pencil and the flower together tightly with the tape. I wrapped from the top and moved down. I over lapped the tape on itself to cover the pencil and flower stem and cover them. 

 

I wrapped the pencil and stem all the way down the stem of the flower. I did not want the cut stem to show or stick out. When I covered the stem completely, I wrapped the tape back up to the top. 

 

I cut the tape. It was fully wrapped now. I made sure to smooth out the tape so it was smooth and wrapped tight around the pencil. 
 

To make the tape super secure, you can add a dot of hot glue. This will keep the tape in place long term. That might help if your space or desk is a high traffic area. Like the family calendar, office sign-in area, client check in, reception, or just Mom's desk. Kids seem to take a pen, use a pen and never return the pen. Spouses do this too. 

 

I really like how these look in a simple cup or mug. The best part is that no one can walk away with a big flower on their pen without realizing it. It won't fit in their pocket easily and they will return the pen after they use it. Thanks for reading along, and happy fall y'all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make a Cookbook Knife Holder

 Hello Readers. I wanted as knife holder so I could get my kitchen knives out of my kitchen drawer. The knives would bang against each other and other utensils too. There must be a better way to store my knives right? Let's make something fun and useful. And cute! Let's make a knife holder out of cookbooks. (This will be twice as handy because it will get my cookbooks close to where I am cooking too.)

The knives are handy and ready to use. And no books were harmed in the making of this knife holder.

The first thing you need to do is gather some of your cookbooks. You can also borrow some from your friends, your parents, steal some from grandma, or go buy some cookbooks for yourself. I like to look at thrift stores, there are always a lot of cookbooks there. Used bookstores are great places to get books for less too. 

  

When you have your cookbooks gathered together you are ready to go on to the next steps.  

 

I took all of the paper dust jackets off my books. You don't have to do this but I liked how they looked without the covers. They just seemed more cohesive without the extra cover art. But yours might have a really fabulous cover so do whatever you think looks the best. 

 

I arranged my books with the tallest in the middle and the shortest on the outsides. It made a slight pyramid shape that looked really nice. 

 

I wanted to tie the books together. They need to stay closed to hold the knives so I found some natural looking twine or cord. You can use any kind of ribbon or string that you have and any color would work so use whatever you like. You can match your kitchen or use something for the season or upcoming holidays. 
 

I used 2 pieces of cord, I wrapped it around the set of books and tied a simple knot in front. You can tie a big bow if you want, I wanted the books to be the focus so I kept it simple for now.

 

You can set you books right on the counter if you want. I like this basket-tray. (It keeps my cutting boards from falling over.) I slide the knives in between the pages of the books. I put the largest knives in the largest books and the smaller knives in the smaller books. If you have a lot of knives you can add a couple more books to hold them. If you only have a few knives, you can use less books. Make a set-up that works for you and your kitchen. 

 

Having the cutting boards and knives right next to each other is really nice and handy. Will this make me the next Julia Child? No, it's not going to work miracles. Will this make me a slightly better cook? I can't promise anything, but we'll see what happens. 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

Maximize Closet Space

 Hello Readers. There is never enough closet space, or at least it seems like that to me. I really wanted to make the most of my little closet. I think we all want to get the most from our space so let me show you how I organized to get the most out of my closet space. 

 I couldn't make the closet larger so I had to maximize the space I did have. 

 

 

When the seasons change and you need to wear different (Heavier or lighter.) clothes, it's a great time to clean up the closet. My closet is not that big so I really need to keep it neat and I wanted to try to make the most of the space I had. I also couldn't afford an expensive closet makeover so I tried to be as cheap as I could. 

The first thing I did was bring my jackets to the front. In summer I put the jackets in the back of my closet but it is colder now. I am going to need them easy to access so they went in front.  

 

I want more room available so I decided to put some summer stuff away. I got a plastic tub/tote and labeled it so I would know what was in there. Keeping my summer items in the tote will protect them and keep them dust free all winter.

 

 I gathered the summer items that I knew I wouldn't need. I wouldn't need any swimsuits, or summer shoes and bags. They can go up on a high shelf out of the way. 

 

I put the tote up on my highest shelf but I can always get something out if I need to. Sometimes the shelves can be too high to reach easily. So...

 

I keep a step-stool in my closet at all times to help me reach the high shelves. It helps when I change over season to season but also helps me reach things without having to go down to the storage room to find a stool. I like this one because it has a handle to hold on to when I use it. It keeps me from falling off the stool and breaking my neck. 

 

I also put my warm sweaters in front and used this plastic tote on it's side to keep them neat. The pile of sweaters would fall over if the tote didn't keep the piled upright. I wanted to stack them up high to use that space as much as possible. 

 

Next to the sweaters is an old shoe box where I could put extra hangers. I wanted a place to put them to keep them all together in one place when they were not in use. When I do laundry and need to hang up clothes the hangers will be ready to grab. 

 

My next step was to create a place to hang my scarves. It's cold in the morning, I am going to want to grab a scarf. This is designed to go on the back of a door but I had another idea. 

 

 I hung this from the front of the upper shelf. It stays on securely and I can use it to hang scarves above my sweaters. Its a great use of that open space.

 

I put the scarves on the rack and it's great to be able to see them all and grab them easily.

 

I turned to focus on the other side of the closet. There is a set of shelves that I like to use for shoes and belts. The belts hang on the tips of the vertical poles of the shelves them selves. I didn't need to do anything, just use the architecture of the shelves themselves. I also wanted to fit in as many shoes as possible on these shelves and use all the space. I came up with another shoe box idea. 

 

The shelves are taller than they need to be for shoes. There is more space in there that can be used.

 

I cut one of the long sides off a shoe box to open it up. 

 

I used the shoe box like a little shelf. 

 

One pair of shoes can go under the box and one pair of shoes can go on top of the box. It is a much better use of the space. 

 

I hope that you can use some of these ideas to get and stay organized and maximize your space. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Hang Up the Stuffed Animals

 Hello Readers. If you have children in your house then you probably have stuffed animals. And there is never just 1 or 2, they seem to multiply. There are so many. They are everywhere and don't look neat or tidy at all. We can't get rid of them so let's find a way to store and display them neatly.

Let's hang up and store the stuffed animals in a neat way. 

All of our stuffed animals lived in a pile on this chair. They also lived on the floor because they didn't stay on the chair. We love them so they had to stay close by but this mess looked bad and made the chair useless for humans. We could do better than this. 

We needed some cord or string or even thin rope. I chose this because it was in my sewing stash but it was also a little bumpy. I don't think smooth cording or satin ribbon would work well for this project. It would be too slippery.

You can use something simple like this jute cord. It is very inexpensive too. 

I put the cording across the top of the bookcase. You could also use a dresser for this project but the taller the piece of furniture, the more stuffed animals you an hang up.

 

 I wanted the cording to go over the top of the bookcase and hang all the way down off the bookcase on both sides.

The next thing you need is a few dozen clips of some kind. These cheap clothes pins would be great. 

 

You could also use something more fun and colorful if you want.

 

I clipped one end of the cording to a soft container. This was going to anchor the cord on this side of the bookcase. 

 

This is a good place for the stuffies that are heavy, large or favorites that will be played with or slept with often. 

 

The other end of the cord needed something to anchor it too. On this side I used a large bear. He is heavy enough to hold the cord. I clipped the cord to his ear. 

 

I made sure to get the cording and part of the stuffed animal in the clip. The clip really needs to hold on to both.

 

I started clipping all our stuffed friends to the corThe. 

 

 I clipped the stuffed animals on both sides of the bookcase. I liked this storage method because the stuffed friends are visible and unharmed in this clips. The bookcase or dresser you use will be unharmed too. 

 

My child liked this set up. They could see the stuffed animals but the stuffies were not in a mess on the floor anymore. My youngest child is 10 so I don't need to worry about him hurting himself with the cord or the clips. (*This is not a good storage idea if you have an active baby or toddler that will hurt them selves with string or cord or might climb tall bookcases or dressers. You know your child, as always use your best judgement and caution.) Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***- These stuffed animals are still in a semi orderly arrangement thanks to this.