Project #1: A Fingerprint's Inspiration

The whole reason I got back into this blogging thing was because I became obsessed with following other people's creative blogs. It was completely inspiring. Something I am not. It was so refreshing to happen upon someone's blog one day, read about their DIY project, see their before and after photos, and want to get up and do it myself. It forced me to rethink/question a lot of my own ways of decorating. Having a home and time off this summer gave me a lot of time to reconsider how I wanted to design/decorate this home. Reading a stranger's blog gave me so many ideas and tips to consider. It also made me REALLY jealous that I'm not made of money. However, many of these women's blogs that I read are doing things on a serious budget just by thinking outside of the box and trying something different. It made me want to try.

That is why I've chosen to reconnect with the ol' alexandkatie blogspot. Plus I've been REALLY bored this summer. : )

I've been reading up on so many other people's projects and have tried my hand at a few things myself. I haven't put anything up on here yet because I've been working on it periodically throughout the summer. I think I'm ready to share my first project: organizational bins/tags.

If you know me, you'd know I'm a huge perfectionist. Slightly OCD. I can't stand when things aren't facing the same direction (like labels on shampoo/conditioner bottles or food items in my pantry, etc.), or when they're not lined up by height in the pantry, closets, refrigerator, or when they're not grouped into common categories. It drives me crazy. For some reason my crazy obsessions make sense to me, though. A couple weeks ago I stumbled across a fantastic blog featuring a redone entry way. I would kill to actually have a room like this in my house, but I used her photos to help me organize my closet instead. Now this woman is genius! Not only this blog entry is so inspiring, but everything she does with her house is beautifully done with a fresh twist on things. Plus, if I could choose a twin of how I want to decorate my house, she is EXACTLY what I want. So make sure you head on over to her website and check it out!

Here's my dilemma. I have a million scarves, hats, and gloves laying in a huge pile in my living room closet. It's an absolute mess and makes me want to cry every time I open my closet and see it. I needed something to organize these with that was appealing to the eye when you open the closet, which will get used a ton in the winter. I wanted to try out her chalkboard tags! It was super easy, quick, and unbelievably cheap--sign me up! I followed her very detailed tutorial and also kept record of my own to post. So here goes.

I purchased some chalkboard paint for around $6.00. This was the most expensive thing I had to get for this project! This paint comes in black and in green so you can play around with it! It creates the kind of paint that you can actually write on--with chalk! Go figure! I bought this thread for a tiny 50 cents from the local thrift store. 

You'll also need a ruler, something to cut with, and cardboard. Since we recently moved, I had boxes in my basement still and used those. You could really use any kind of cardboard you have laying around the house, though.

I cut out five of them to be about the same measurement.

I then took them outside and sprayed them with the chalkboard spray paint. Pretty painless. The worst part was doing it in 100 degree heat. 

Let them dry for 24 hours just to be on the safe side. 

In the blog I used for my inspiration, she used burlap for the backs of her tags, which I LOVE. However, I live in the tiniest area in the world and we don't have any sort of craft store or hobby store that's over 5' x 5' (sooooo annoying, makes me miss my stores in Batavia so bad!) within a 45 mile radius. So I had to improvise. I bought, for fifty cents, counted cross stitch backing to use instead. It had roughly the same look. So I measured those to be a little larger around than the tags themselves. 

I used double-sided scrapbooking tape to adhere the cardboard to the fabric. They also recommend that you use the side of the chalk and smear it over the entire part you used the paint on for the first time. This way the letters won't stick. 

Then I erased it and played around with what I wanted the words to look like. I hate my capital G's. 

The beauty of it is you can erase it and rewrite it as many times as you want being that it's a mini chalkboard!! : ) sooo cool!! You could do this project with absolutely anything! You could use circular cut outs of cardboard, whatever shape you want. You could back it with paper, too! Now I'm totally inspired with this chalkboard paint and have been looking up other things I could use it for! I even found a blogger who did an entire wall with it in her office! Absolutely stunning! Check out her amazing stuff over at Jones Design Company.

You can click Great Chalkboard Wall to see her full office remodel!

Back to reality...

I purchased three of these baskets for only $7 to organize each of my main categories into. There is the perfect amount of room in the closet to house all three baskets each bearing their own identification. Hopefully this will entice Alex to place his belongings into the correct basket! eek. 

Finished project #1

I know it's not that big of a deal but it makes me feel so much better knowing that this is organized and has a designated place. It's funny how the small things in life can make you so happy. : )