Earth Month: Recycle That!

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Mary

Do you recycle at home? I grew up doing it, so the habit has stuck and it would never even occur to me to toss paper in the trash. Recycling can be a tough habit to develop though, especially if you aren’t used to it.

If you’re just getting started:

Grab a bin and put it near where you look through mail or read the paper. Throw paper recycling in there when you are done.
Put a small extra garbage can (with bag) under the sink. You can drop cans and bottles in there easily.
I like having them separate because it gets sloppy and messy looking if you mix flat and round things.

Recycling old news?

Expand your recycling horizons. Do you recycle…

Batteries? In Chicago, all Walgreens accept batteries for recycling.
In the bathrrom? Shampoo bottles and toilet paper rolls are just as recyclable as their kitchen/office counterparts.
Printer/copier toner cartridges? Staples pays $2 per cartridge…and carries the super cute Martha Stewart Organizing line.
Gift wrap/paper towels/toilet paper/tissues? I hope not…none of these are recyclable, even if they are unused and totally clean. The paper isn’t good enough quality to use for anything else.

What’s your best recycling tip? Do you recycle at home? Learn anything you didn’t know here?

Just in Case Cards

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Mary

Sometimes I have a cool embellishment I want to use, or I come across a paper when I’m looking for something else and an idea just comes. Or I just have to try something cool I saw (probably on Pinterest).

If someone gets a new dog?

The dots went with the cool paper. I could write anything in there…hi, thanks, birthday

I made this for my dad for Fathers Day. Then I remembered he never wears button downs. Oops. Still a cool card though…

Do you make anything for no good reason than it came to you?

Earth Month: Bring your own Bags

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Mary

In my real life, I’m a teacher. I also sponsor the school Green Team and try to make my school greener. (I annoy the heck out of plenty of people but that means) I’m pretty good at it, too. My old school was the second-LEAST environmentally friendly in the district (thats what happens when you’re built in the ’60s) but my new school is LEED gold (what happens when you’re built in 2010) (other things that happen if you are built in 2010 is there are no VCRs or TVs in the whole building).

ANYHOW.

I spend plenty of time thinking about what people can do to be greener, and I’ll be sharing one quick thing every Monday this month.

Up first:

Reusable bags.

I always bring bags to the grocery store–they’re stored in my front hall closet, and I keep several in my car for impromptu trips. I’m a small-purse girl, but I have several bags that go into tiny little pouches–they fit in a pocket or a tiny purse, and I’m ready for whatever I need to tote around. Many stores in my area also give you 5-10 cents off for every bag you bring too. They also carry a lot more and are far more comfortable to carry.

Try thinking outside the bag, too. I wrapped my sister’s birthday gift in a reusable bag as part of her gift. If the gift is fairly square, it isn’t too tough to pull taut and use some tape to secure it. Wrap it up with a ribbon, and you’ve just added a great little bonus on to your gift!

Do you bring bags with you on errands? Any tips to help remember them? Does your grocery store give you an incentive for using them?

New Apartment: Bathroom

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Lesley

Practically speaking, the first room I needed ready to go was the bathroom. There were some considerations I needed to work around. Here’s the before:

Here’s the current:

I had to take down the cabinet over the sink because it was a little too scuffed, and since it was made of particle board, I couldn’t paint it. I replaced it with an Ikea mirror that uses a hinged mount – the perfect solution since the tiled part of the wall sticks out. It was also an oddly sized space for a mirror and this square one fit. (It looks a little high in the picture, but it’s really that the light fixture is oddly low. We hung the mirror at a height so normal-height people could use it.) I added two floating shelves with baskets above the toilet for a little extra storage within arms reach when I’m at the sink.

Since I’m working with these odd cabinets in the shower (which are nice because of all the storage), I had to mount the shower curtain rod at ceiling height. I had to order an extra long shower curtain, so my options were limited, but I like the ruffled white curtain (with white fabric liner) – it adds some texture and feminity to my really linear bathroom.

We also painted the bathroom. Funny story – I had a ton of samples from the paint store and kept holding them up on the wall, and this one was the instant hit with me and my mom – and then I realized it was the exact same color I had painted my bedroom upstairs. So I just used my leftover paint from that room.

And lastly, my pictures. I took the messed up framed butterflies from my hallway and cut them down to square size with a utility knife. Then I fit them in these extra-deep square frames from Ikea.

New Apartment: The before tour

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Lesley

I’m all moved in to my new place. It was a lot of work: new paint, moving of heavy objects, things into boxes and cupboards and bags. I’m still getting things sorted out, but I thought I’d give a preview of what I’m working with.

Her’s the first bedroom: tannish walls, old taupe-y paint, no closet doors. Brand new carpeting though, so bonus!

The bathroom needed a really good scrub down, but there are decent bones. In the shower, hidden behind the door in this picture, is a massive double-decker storage closet. The medicine cabinet is unfortunately made of particle board and badly in need of painting or replacing.

The office. Again, tan and taupe, with no closet doors. And a big ol’ radiator in an inconvenient spot.

The kitchen had bright red paint (very patchy in person), old green countertops, and really nice new appliances and cupboards.

Plus a ton of storage! Those are pull-out shelves in the tall pantry.

Plus there was a bonus banquet made from some extra upper cupboards. You can see in this photo that the one on the left is damaged – apparently cupboards aren’t made to withstand the weight of someone sitting on them.

The living room was actually a decent shade of green and has giant windows and french doors. Unfortunately, as you can see on the left in this photo, there were some chips in the wall, so the room had to be repainted.

Another shot of the living room, showing off the chips and the row of pretty stained glass windows.

The back hallway, with another huge closet (this time with doors).

Here you can see my front door in the little foyer and one wall of the dining room. Both were a bright, vivid teal – but there were lots of scuffs from bicycles.

Another view of the dining room, showing the built-in buffet and large bay window.And another view of the living room, looking into the dining room with a tiny sliver of the kitchen. Very bright!

As you can see, this place has great bones, but really needed some love in the form of cleaning and painting. I can’t wait to show you some progress.

Happy Anniversary, Mother!

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Mary

Today is the 30th Anniversary of the Day Mother Broke Her Tailbone. Or, I suppose, the day Mother’s tailbone got broken. By sister. Getting born…in a snowstorm, incidentally. Sister hates birthdays, so my mother sent an email asking what we should do for the 30th anniversary of her broken tailbone instead. Sneaky.

Personally, I’m celebrating with a gift. My family isn’t very in to “stuff” and my sister is especially nomadic (likely moving to California this summer), so if I don’t come up with something good, I don’t do it at all.

My sister enjoys photography (I have one of her photos in my dining room, and hope to use more someday), but thats about all she has on her walls. I wanted to come up with some art for her (because apparently that‘s my thing these days) but I don’t like just breaking out a rerun of something I’ve already done.

My favorite piece is my Birthday Art, which my best friend wants me to re-make for him.

And when I wanted to make something cool for Boyfriend, my take on that matched his rug (and used his nephew’s artwork).

So what now? I only want to use artwork if it’s got some meaning behind it, so that’s out. What else?

MAPS.

I have an obsession with maps. One of my most popular project was my Map-Lined Drawer.

Between my Craft Ideas and Things for My Wall Pinterest boards, I have seven different map pins. Things like…

Then I saw this post (before or after I pinned it on Pinterest? Who knows.) So pretty. So easy*. I could use the different places my sister has lived, or places she’s visited. It would look cool and add some meaningful art.

Watercolor maps. From this awesome map to image site.

These are two of the (many) places she’s lived. I popped them in to two Ikea shadowbox frames and we were good to go.

I thought about doing something similar to the inspiration images above, but my sister is very much not a heart person…and making them too small made it tough to see the detail. We went out for dinner over the weekend to celebrate, and my dad was convinced I bought them. Win!

Are you obsessed with maps too? Can you figure out the two locations shown above?

Sweet(er) Dreams of a New Bedroom

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Mary

It’s time for a makeover. My bedroom was the first room to come together…nine years ago. Three apartments ago. And its time for a change.

Meet purple. The purple was a good idea nine years ago. My furniture has a lot going on, so I knew I wanted to keep it simple and thought a solid color would be best. I finally got a headboard a year or so ago. It doesn’t read quite right in this photo but it is a sage-y green/gray.

This room is not bright at all. It faces North, and if you look at the picture you can see that the window has something just beyond it–the window opens on to the porch, so natural light is tough to get in here.

The furniture is old. I got it when I was 16, from my grandmother. The art was a hand me down from Dad. He brought over all his rejects so I had things on the wall. I can’t decide what (if anything) on the dresser I like.

The vanity had doors once. And see that bench? Its upholstered with horsehair. It’s having a horsehair baby out the bottom and needs to be reupholstered. The shape looks easy, but I’m guessing switching out horsehair for cushion is a job best left to professionals.

See the horsehair pooching out the bottom of the bench? The curtains need to be rehung too…higher and wider.

But mostly…all. that. purple. The pillows are actually from my VERY first apartment, when I was a junior in college. It was a whole theme they went with…it involved a set of purple sheets and a sheet of green sheets. Also my mother and I sponge painted a dresser. We were awesome like that. I don’t think I have pictures, but I kind of wish I did.

While I still like purple, it isn’t fitting in too well with the other rooms in my house, especially the hallway. The bedroom is just off the teal hallway, and the rest of the house is more blues and greens. Since I only have four rooms (+ 2 hallways + a small porch + bathroom) I want to keep it cohesive. Plus its time for a change. The quilt is starting to get little tears–no complaints here, it has seen plenty of use over almost ten years–and the comforter cover has a rip and some small stains.

I got those two pictures from a street vendor when I went to NYC. The colors are green and purple. Look at that consistency.

So it’s time for a change. I’m just not sure to what.

Things that aren’t changing:

The furniture placement
The furniture itself (headboard, vanity, dresser)

Things that are changing:

Curtains
Quilt & comforter cover
Throw pillows

The rest is up for grabs. A rug? Could be nice. New art? A change in wall color? Who knows.

I’m having a tough time finding inspiration with such heavy dark furniture, but I’m not in a huge hurry. I think I can work a pattern in somewhere, and I like the ideas of blues and greens. That’s most of what I’ve got right now.

Thoughts? Know where I can find some pictures with dark bedroom furniture? I love mine, I just can’t find any pictures with dark furniture for ideas.

Pork Apple Cheddar Meatballs

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Mary

This is one of my go-to dinner recipes, found during the year I had a subscription to EveryDay with Rachael Ray.

Pork, Apple & Cheddar Meatballs

They’re oh-so-good, and pretty quick and easy too.

Ingredients

1 pound ground pork (my local grocery has it already packaged in a casing)

1 cup coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 small, tart apple, such as granny smith, peeled and grated

1/2 small onion, grated

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1 egg, beaten

Salt and pepper

1 12 ounce package egg noodles

4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

Directions

Preheat the broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and grease with butter. (I spray mine with my magical oil sprayer)
In a large mixing bowl, combine the pork, cheese, breadcrumbs, apple, onion, 3 tablespoons parsley, the egg, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. (This is: everything but the noodles, butter and some of the parsley.)
Mix it up with your hands. Ew, squishy.
Shape into 16 meatballs and arrange on the baking sheet. Broil the meatballs until golden and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a pot of boiling, salted water, cook the noodles until al dente. Drain, then return to the pot and toss with the butter and remaining 5 tablespoons parsley; season with salt and pepper. Divide the noodles among 4 plates; top with 4 meatballs each.

Bonus points if you make extra and have lunch for the next day!

Dinners, Crafts and Games

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Mary

When I was looking for my condo, I really wanted a dining room. My specific request was “a real place to put my table” but what I was hoping for was an actual dining room, not just a good sized corner for the table or an eat-in kitchen.

DIning Room Full

This was exactly what I wanted. When I first moved in, the dining room had a table & four chairs, an armchair in the corner and two bookcases. It was a little…sparse. It was also really beige. The walls are a perfectly acceptable neutral, but pair that with several wood bookcases, a wood table & chairs, bare wood floors…you get the picture. I wanted curtains to really soften it up, but I didn’t want just one color. I searched for ages for the right patterned fabric, and my mom sewed the curtains for me.

The background is neutral, so it goes well with the walls (and new chairs), but brings in lots of color and movement. They have several shades of blue and green, with a little teal and yellow mixed in. Plenty of colors to play off of, like the green tablecloth I picked up on clearance at Target.

I got a china cabinet hand me down later, and then got my big break on an old original buffet living in the basement. Lesley and I decided to paint it a dark blue to tie in to the navy in the curtains (which was a little trial and error–oops).

I finally hung my birthday artwork and I got a matching frame to hang some new art (a photo my sister took on a hike in Tahoe). Along with the old china cabinet, these two provide tons of storage! This is also the room where I craft, and I have a lot of supplies that live in there. Adding all that storage from the buffet gave me a lot more space to store my supplies–and keeping them convenient makes it easier to use them. Its definitely still a work in progress, but I’m refining how and where I store things and I’ll get there eventually.

The Birthday artwork is definitely the focal point in the room–I love all of the color it brings in. My best friend has requested I make him one as well, and that seems like a fun wedding project (he just got engaged).

I just added the two new upholstered chairs–I was going back and forth on whether to get neutral or something fun/colorful/printed and how much to spend (high quality that I’ll be able to use in the future? Something cheaper that can be a fun accent for now?). I’ve been playing princess and the pea with chairs for months now, and haven’t found anything I totally loved–and $300 for a chair is a little ridiculous. When we went to Ikea on our post-Christmas shopping trip I sat on these–and they’re good! They’re less than $100 each, so two of these came right out of my Christmas money and the neutral cover ties in to the background on the curtains. The finish on the legs is even a pretty decent match to my table.

How many types of chairs do you have around your dining room table?

Aw, Thanks (again)

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Mary

Just dropping in to show a few more card designs. My mantra is generally to keep it pretty simple, and I’m loving trying out new writing styles–a lot of scrapbooking letter stickers are just too big for cards.

Keeping it basic with a contrasting paper offset, rounded corners and hand-lettered thank you

Three strips of washi tape from Target and done!

Martha Stewart candy stickers have a little dimensional but are flat enough to mail. The lettering is on a shape I cut with my Cuttlebug.

Which is your favorite?