Organization for scrapbooking scrap paper

I love scrapbooking but I have to say that the worst part is organizing all of the little bits that are cut off of the sheets of expensive paper. I spend half of my time trying to find white or cream-coloured scraps for journaling! So, I finally got so fed up that I made a connection between my empty poly expanding file organizer and my scraps: why not organize the scraps in the expanding file organizer?

There are 13 tabs in my paper organizer. I took a quick look at my paper scrap collection and came up with these categories:

1. White
2. Cream
3. Yellow and Beige
4. Red
5. Pink and Purple
6. Blue
7. Green
8. Brown
9. Black
10. Other: for all of the aqua, orange, grey and other colours that were not included
11. Embellishments
12. (and 13) Patterned: there were actually two pockets here so I organized it by the paper kits and the scrap pieces of patterned paper 

Then, it was a matter of organizing the paper scraps into the expanding file once I relabeled it according to the above categories. 

To this:

It took me about an hour to sift through my piles of paper scraps and organize them into these categories. Now I can get scrapbooking!

I hope my adventures in craft organization inspire you to do something similar! It's always great to bring order to chaos and get to work crafting instead of organizing the craft!

Roasted garlic-infused chicken broth

If you are sick, the first thing that you think about is making hot chicken soup. Well, that's exactly what we did but I loaded up the chicken broth with roasted garlic. This stuff was so good that it will become a staple in our home!

Ingredients:

• 1 head garlic
• 1 900mL carton sodium-reduced chicken broth

Directions:
Cut the top off of the garlic head to expose the cloves inside and take off any loose peelings. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Once it is done, remove it from the oven.

I poured the carton of chicken broth into a medium-sized bowl then put on an oven mitt. I picked up the bulb of roasted garlic and squeezed the garlic into the bowl of broth. Anything that didn't come out easily, I used a knife to get it out.

Once all of the garlic was in the broth, I mashed it down with a potato masher to get all of the flavor out. 

Then, I got a strainer and poured the broth into my chicken and rice soup. It's as simple as that!

How to cover a scrapbook with T-shirts

This is my university scrapbook. I got this kit for Christmas one year and I wasn't going to let it sit there because I didn't like the cover. I kind of decided a long time ago that I was going to cover it with something then I realized that I still had two of my old t-shirts from university.

 (before)

 (after)

Then I got this idea: use the T-shirts to cover the scrapbook. Brilliant! You'll have to pardon the lack of tutorial photos though as I did this project before I started this blog.

For this project, I used two old T-shirts, matching thread (in this case, purple and white), a sewing machine, scissors, and the scrapbook that needs to be covered. A measuring tape and white or blue dressmakers pencil also came in very handy.

Cutting:

As I mentioned, please pardon the lack of photos for this part. What I did was measure the height and width of the scrapbook then put those measurements on the front and back of each T-shirt, marking the edges with the dressmaker's pencil. Then, I cut out 4 squares with at least 1 cm seam allowance on all sides.

Sewing:

As there was screen printing on the front and back of both T-shirts, I decided to have the white shirt on the outside cover and the purple shirt on the inside cover. I wanted to keep the print facing out. 

I pieced together the two white pieces for the outside cover and pinned them together on the wrong side where the seam for the spine would be and sewed them up on the sewing machine.

Next, I took the two pieces of the purple shirt (which will be the inside) and I pieced it onto the white shirt to see where the seams would be. I then pinned the seam facing the inside spine and sewed it down with matching thread on the sewing machine. For one piece this was the far right side, for the other one it was the far left.

Then came the easy part. I turned both the white and purple shirt pieces inside out and pinned the front cover pieces on the wrong side up the seam with 1 cm seam allowance. I sewed this up on the sewing machine then did the same with the other two pieces. I now had a white outer cover and purple inner cover.

Again, I apologize for the lack of photos for this tutorial but I do have another scrapbook to cover and I will take pictures of that one.

Estimated time for this project: about 1 hour.

Notes:

• This is really easy when you use measurements of the scrapbook that needs to be covered. 
• If you want to serge any edges that is fine too, notably the edges of the white shirt around the spine. 
• This cover is washable as the T-shirts were washable. 

Ideas:

• The possibilities for this are endless. Use your kids' old t-shirts to cover a small scrapbook for them, use your favorite t-shirts from high school to cover a high school scrapbook, etc. If you get t-shirts from a conference or camping trip that you want to remember, use them to cover the scrapbook. 
• You could even take a white t-shirt, paint it or stencil it then use it to cover a scrapbook. 
• You can dye fabric and use it to cover a scrapbook.

Guilt-free Rewards for a Job Well Done

One of my problems with it comes to weight loss is struggling with the idea of rewarding myself for a job well done. It could be that I finally finished a long, arduous project or that I finally did 4 workouts this week. The first thing that I think is: I should reward myself, time for a Coke. Or, a chocolate bar. Or ice cream. 

Well, that just damaged the good chore that I finished. So, I took some time to make a list of guilt-free rewards to give myself for a job well done. I know I am not the only person thinking about this so I will share it with you.

Some of these options require finances but some are also free. What you could do is while you are working towards a goal, decide on the reward that you want to give yourself. Then put aside money for it while you are working towards the goal. For example, as a reward to myself for finishing a large project at work I can save money on the side to get my hair done at the salon. Once the goal is reached, then I can go for a morning of pampering and not worry about the finances.

• A long bubble bath with a yummy scent and candles, perhaps my favorite music in the background
• A mug of steaming hot apple cider or a hot chocolate with marshmellows (the diet kind)
• One uninterrupted evening of doing an activity that I secretly love (like writing)
• Talking on the phone with a best friend or on Skype
• Throw a party with all of your friends -- perhaps a pot luck, movie night, etc.
• One uninterrupted evening (or afternoon) of starting and finishing a project
• Watching a new movie at home. This could mean renting it then giving it the full new movie treatment (for me, this is turning out the lights, stopping all projects and just watching a new movie). 
• Going out to the theatre to see a new movie with friends (or with my husband)
• Have a nice meal at a new restaurant
• One uninterrupted evening of browsing my favorite websites
• Buying and reading a new magazine
• One evening of planning an upcoming event (like Christmas) and planning all of the items that I want to make to decorate the house or give as gifts
• If it's summer, one afternoon sitting and tanning under the sun with a nice book or great music
• Signing up for a class in a topic that I want to learn about (like yoga, knitting, or a language of choice)
• Crossing an activity off of the bucket list (skydiving, rockclimbing, running a 5K, etc.)
• Digging out the old "To Do" list and tackling one of the older ones that you've always said will never get done (ex. organizing the filing cabinet). 
• Reading a new book (or, one of your old favorites)
• Take on a new knitting project or spend an evening knitting
• Take the dog out for a walk in a new area (or put on rollerblades and run with the dog) or to the park
• Learn a new hobby from a friend (or teach a friend how to do one of your hobbies, if they are interested)
• Have a game evening on the Wii, Xbox or whatever you have with the family. See who will win. 
• Return to a hobby that you love but haven't done for a long time (for me, that would be genealogy or cross-stitching)
• Try a new recipe out of a magazine for supper
• Spend an afternoon at the local bookstore -- not buying anything -- but sitting with a coffee, paging through some books to see what is new and checking out the ones that you've always wanted. 
• Spend a lazy afternoon on the couch doing a hobby, snuggling with the kids and the pets
• Watch a movie that was your childhood favorite (perhaps even introduce it to your kids or your husband)
• Trying something new with your significant other (I don't think that I need to elaborate on this one)
• Go for a massage or spa treatment. 
• If you are a woman, try a new makeover on yourself or go and get one at Sephora or another store with that option. 
• Go to bed early or sleep in. Get your significant other involved in this to make sure that you are able to sleep in (or go to bed early) without any distractions. 
• Spend an evening researching a topic that interests you but you've never had time to think about it (like a historical event, a famous person, etc.)
• Get your hair done with color, highlights or a perm. Ask for the full treatment with the scalp massage and special conditioners that most salons do for free and enjoy the trip.

Stopping static electricity in the winter

We have a problem in this apartment once the snow begins falling: static electricity. We pet the cat and we pass a static shock or when we sit down on the couch. It drives me crazy! So, we looked up ways to get rid of it. That's when we learned that it is caused from a lack of humidity in the apartment, most likely because we closed the windows and it's cold outside.

So, this is what we do come December until about March or April.

We heat up a pot of water on medium heat and add 2 cinnamon sticks and whatever else I have in the house. Great additions are anise pods, nutmeg, orange peels (or any citrus peels), apple peels and dried herbs. The house smells fantastic and this eliminates the static shock.

Notes:

• Do not forget about the pot of boiling water!!! I did that with my copper Dutch oven only to find it completely ruined. Fill it with water every hour or so. Sometimes I put a kitchen timer on for an hour to remind me to come and refill the pot.

• The water will turn darker with the addition of spices like cinnamon, anise and nutmeg. That's why the water in my pot is dark brown in the picture. Nothing is wrong with it, it's just been boiling down brown spices.
• This does eliminate most of the static in our apartment. We have an 800 sq. foot apartment and this works for almost every room. For a larger space or greater effect, you may need an actual humidifier.

How to reuse a planter

Has your plant died recently? Or, perhaps you have planters lying around the house or garage just waiting for spring. Well, here are some ideas on what to do with those planters during the off-season -- or any time of the year.  

1. Use it to hold vegetables in the fridge: despite what your planter is made out of (plastic, terracota, ceramic, porcelain, etc.) it can go in the fridge. Clean it, and use it to store items like apples, oranges, onions, potatoes, peppers and such. It actually helps you to organize your fridge.

   
2. Use it to store cat or dog toys: every night, pick up the toys off of the floor and put them in the planter. Put the planter up high to store the toys and when you want them again, simply take it down and start tossing them around.

   
3. Use it to display ornaments for Christmas: fill a cleaned planter with ornaments, pinecones or leftover garland and wrap a long ribbon around it, tied with a bow. Display as a table centrepiece or on a night table. 

4. Use it as a transfer vessel: if you store potatoes, onions, pears, apples or anything else in another room, you need to put them into something to bring them to the kitchen. Clean a planter and use it as the transfer vessel. 

5. Use it in your home organization: if you have a shed or a storage room, use it to store smaller items like tennis balls, paint brushes, tools and/or nails, cleaning cloths, etc. This is a bonus if your planter is meant to mount on the wall.  

6. Use it to hold crafty or office items: this could be sewing thread, yarn, knitting needles, small bolts of fabric, embroidery floss, etc. It would be great for holding office supplies or scrapbooking supplies as well. Display it on your desk so that you items are within reach.  

7. Use it to hold scraps of yarn: put the leftover bits of yarn in here for whenever you need a small amount to hold stitches or other uses.  

8. Use it to hold small sports equipment in the summer: when you take the kids out to the park, use the planter to hold the baseballs, tennis balls, badminton birdies or other small items so that you don't loose them.


9. Use it to hold fabric handkerchiefs: once you have a collection of fabric handkerchiefs you need to put them somewhere. Decorate the planter with a ribbon, clean the inside and store them all rolled up in here. Take one out whenever you need one.

10. Use it to hold your keys or electronics by the door: everyday when you get home, put your keys, iPod, cell phone or other daily items here so that you always know where they are. Put the planter on a stand by the door and make a habit of always putting the items here. If you have a key ring, it's still perfect for the electronics. It's also great for holding gloves and scarves in the winter time.

Ice Cream vs. Frozen pudding

Whenever I crave ice cream, this is what I do:

That is frozen pudding. It doesn't matter what kind (I have tried nearly all of them from the grocery store) but if you add them to the freezer overnight and eat them whenever you have an ice cream craving, you could save at least 100-200 calories. And it's still a frozen, cold treat.

10 things to do with crayons

After perusing Etsy, one of my favorite websites, and the internet I found tons of cool things to do with leftover or new crayons. I found this very interesting as I know many people who have jars of leftover crayons that just sit around. Here is some inspiration of what to do with those crayons (and, a post that I intend to tuck away for when I have children of my own).

1. Upcycle them: melt them all together in moulds so that you get rainbow crayons like this. It will definitely use up the crayon stash and lead to really cool variegated colored masterpieces.
2. Crayon art: on Etsy, I found melted crayon art in blue/green, rainbow, neon, and more. I really like this one.
3. Crayon wreath: what a wonderful Christmas idea for kids! Check this one out!
4. Reform them: there are so many great ideas. All you need is the molds and then you can do it yourself (here is a post on homemade by Jill that shows you how). Or, go on Etsy to find some in the shapes of robots, race cars, lego pieces, teapots, fortune cookies, cupcakes and so much more. 
5. Crayon clock: here is one from Etsy although you can probably figure out how to make it.
6. Framed crayon letters: you can glue crayons together and form them in the shape of a letter like this one then frame it.
7. Make a crayon roll: you can make a crayon roll so that the kids can take their crayons with them without them going everywhere.
8. Crayon party favors: remold crayons according to the theme of the party and give them to little guests in bags as party favors.
9. Cookie crayons: this crafter made crayons that look like Oreo cookies! What a great idea!
10. Crayon candles: if you can reform them into new crayons, you can also form them into candles with a wick. Here is a question on Yahoo! that explains this.

Organizing Kitchen Tools

My husband had a brilliant idea awhile ago when we couldn't use a towel bar in our new place. Then he got so frustrated sifting through the kitchen drawers that he got this idea:

This is our rack in the kitchen for our kitchen tools. For this project, you will need a towel rack (single or double), S-hooks from a hardware store and a drill. The towel rack should come with the screws for fixing it to the wall. A stud finder and a level are very helpful as well. 

To install the towel bar, find a location in your kitchen to hang it. It should be the area where you prepare food. In our kitchen, the towel bar is over the cabinet with our butcher blocks. In our old apartment, we put the towel bar over our stove.

Use a stud finder to find the studs in your kitchen wall where you want to put the towel bar. This may or may not change the desired location for the towel bar. Once you have found a stud, move the towel bar into position. It's good to have two people at this point, one to hold the towel bar into position and the other to screw it into place. Hold the towel bar level and screw the first side into the wall. Move to the other end, hold it level and screw it into the wall.

Now you are ready to "decorate" your towel bar! The S-hooks hold up any kitchen tool with a hole in the bottom which we found was practically everything except for pastry cutters and chopsticks. Once you are done, enjoy your towel rack (and your empty drawers). You'll never complain about finding anything again -- we've done this for over 6 years and I've never had a problem.

Estimated time for this project: about 15 minutes to unpack, measure and screw into the wall. It may take about 30 minutes to add the kitchen tools on S-hooks.

Notes:

• My husband came up with this idea when we were students and it was so cheap to organize! The S-hooks cost about 3 dollars and the towel bar about $10. 
• The S-hook for the pasta spoon had to be enlarged so that we could hang it. You may find that you have to pull an S-hook to enlarge it for those tools that have larger handles.

Brown Sugar Macaroni

Wait, brown sugar and macaroni in the same sentence? You guys probably think that I am nuts but stay with me. I bet you have clumpy brown sugar and you feel like you are hacking into stone with chisels every time that you want brown sugar, right? Did you know that adding macaroni to your brown sugar loosens it up completely? Really.

Here is a project on how to do that.

You're probably still thinking that I am nuts but stay with me. Just don't take this advice literally. When my husband found out about this trick, this is what he did:

So, I spent half an hour this morning taking the macaroni out with a slotted spoon. I wasn't impressed.

What I did is I made a little cheesecloth bag for the macaroni. For this, you will need cheesecloth (about 6 by 6 inches), white thread, a small sewing needle, scissors, 1/4 cup dry, uncooked macaroni and some clumpy brown sugar.

To start, I folded the cheesecloth over so that it was two layers thick. I unrolled a section that was about 6 by 6 inches then I folded it over to see how big of a "baggie" I needed then I cut like so:

I cut a little off of the top as well as I didn't need a baggie that tall:

Now I have a little baggie that is about 3 inches by 3 inches (with the fabric folded over). I took out the needle and thread and started to sew. You can't do a straight stitch on cheesecloth though because it is so holey so I did a zigzag stitch. I folded down the top edge of the baggie and did the zigzag stitch by hand so that I didn't have a rough edge on the top:

Once the top was done, I placed the ends together and started stitching them together. Here is more detail on the zigzag stitch that I did. I highlighted the stitches in blue so that you can see them numbers indicating the order of the stitches:

So, I stitched it up on the sides and the bottom until the baggie was done. I turned it inside out to hide the rough edges.

Then, I went to the kitchen and added the macaroni with a spoon.

I dug a hole in my brown sugar canister for the baggie and dropped it in like so:

Voila! Done.

Estimated time for this project: about 30 minutes. This was mostly in the hand-sewing.

Notes: 

• This really does work! Adding macaroni to brown sugar was a brilliant idea that came from my sisters-in-law so I credit them. 
• You can close off the baggie if you'd like. I didn't so that it would have a stronger effect. 
• Double-threading really helps to secure the sewing. I didn't learn this until I reached the bottom of the bag so if you make this, I recommend double-threading before sewing. 
• I hate hand-sewing. Really. That's why I have a sewing machine.

Ingenious toy for a cat who likes to wrestle (and bite)

We got a little kitten who wasn't done growing up yet so he liked to wrestle around and bite our toes, arms, fingers, etc. We didn't want to teach him that it was alright to bite us so I researched solutions on the internet. I found an ingenious idea for a stuffed sock toy and I immediately made a few. Here is how it is done:

Start with an orphaned sock and something to stuff it with (in my case, that would be leftover scraps from sewing projects).

Stuff the sock with the scraps. You will need enough to fill it like a real foot.

Then simply tie the sock off.

We had three of these and they all became our kitten's favorite toys. At the time, it was almost the same size as he was so he could wrestle with it like little kittens play. He loved it when we pulled at the toy to make it seem alive or when we threw it down the hall. Believe it or not, he would bring it back to us in his mouth so we had a tug of war with him.

Now that our little pumpkin is fully grown, it is still his favorite toy. He doesn't try to bite us either: whenever he's having a frisky moment he goes for the sock. You can probably train older cats with a toy like this to stop biting and wrestling with your arms and legs.

Estimated time for this project: seriously, 5-10 minutes.

Ideas:

• You can stuff the sock with other orphaned socks, old t-shirt fabric, old facecloths or kitchen towels or whatever scraps you don't want to throw out. 
• You could also toss a noisy toy in the toe of the sock before knotting it up. This makes it more interesting. Catnip is another idea.