the big clean.

This is one of those posts I hate to do.  Why?  Because it's kind of totally embarrassing.  But I also did some MAJOR organizing and cleaning and it was so impressive I had to post about it.  Hey, ya gotta take the good with the bad I guess, just please, don't judge me!  This is the before and after of our computer/craft/overflow room.  Sometimes the overflow part takes precedent as you can see.  It's definitely frustrating, our house isn't huge and there's not a ton of storage.  Add in the fact that I'm somewhat of a hoarder and there lies the problems.  

SO here are the before pics:

 Pretty bad/sad huh?  Half of this mess I contribute to the fact that Max and the cat go in here and wreak havoc.  But when there's not junk everywhere to destroy, there's no havoc to wreak I suppose!

Here are the afters, ahhhhh, it's like a sigh of relief.  

It could never be totally clutter free, I mean it is a storage room for some things(Josh's work clothes, toys Max hasn't grown into yet, my craft stuff - I have a lot.)  But this is about as good as it gets!  Oh, and the hoarder inside of me is proud because I threw out A LOT of stuff, and that's pretty much unheard of for me.  This was a super productive weekend around our house, Max's birthday party(it's at our house!) is in less than two weeks, so we've got lots of projects/cleaning up to do!

How is your weekend?  Doing anything productive??

DIY t-shirt bags

I pinned this a while ago and absolutely LOVED the idea of it.  Not just for produce either(which was what the Pin labeled these as), I think it's such a cute bag, period.  So I made some.  Guess what?  I looooove them.  I want to make more.  I actually considered going and buying some t-shirts in colors I liked just for these bags.  I didn't do that though, I realized that would be a little crazy.

 Take an old t shirt, flip it inside out and cut out this shape(kind of like a 'U'), as big or little as you'd like.  Go from the bottom up, that way if you want to keep the hem that's around the waist of the shirt you can.  Some I kept on, some I cut off.  Next, stitch around the three sides to make your bag shape.  Next step is your holes.  I traced mine with pen first.  Make sure you do your handle first, then a few inches down start your holes.  I staggered the slits too by the way!

Now it's time to snip, snip, snip.  Snip all your slits!

 When you're done snipping stretch your bag out so the holes form.  I washed mine after I was done so they would curl just a bit and also to get all of the fabric crumbs off.  

 Here I am modeling a bag of bananas, HA!

 Another larger one, this one is more of a tote size.

All of the colors and sizes I made.  I love the ones that happen to have some t-shirt logo still on them, gives it some extra coolness.

Double Trouble!

I've got two big cleanups going on tonight.

One was a simple, one time cleanup.  The second is a cleanup that I find myself doing way too often.

Round One - My first piece of vintage Pyrex

This is probably close to 40ish years of baked on who knows what.  This dish is from my great grandma(she's 91!).  She recently moved and gave it to me.  This isn't technically my first piece of vintage Pyrex.  I have a few small, plain pieces.  This is the first piece of my "collection".  The real deal.  One with bright colors and cool patterns.  

Here she is all cleaned up.

WHAT a beaut!  A little elbow grease & a magic eraser(those things seriously ARE magic)

Round Two - The Kitchen

I have a big problem in the kitchen.  The counters are constantly cluttered & the kitchen is always covered with important things junk.  Half of this is our fault - we put the junk & clutter there.  Half of it is not our fault.  Our kitchen is ridiculously small with practically no storage space.  

 Cell phone, cords, mail/magazines, medicine, pens, gloves, a hat for Max that needs returned, and a bunch of other very random things, none of which belong on the kitchen table.

 Here we have a bunch of clean dishes that need put away and more cords.  Don't ask me why we have so many cords.

And last but not least, snacks that need put away, tea that needs put away, and clean dishes that need put away.  The reason these dishes aren't put away is because they are stored above the fridge and they're a pain to get to their spot.  Okay, enough excuses.  

The end result, all nice & neat.

 Up-cycled an old basket for the table items(because I'm sorry, but some things just have to stay on the table!!).  Spruced it up with a little fabric sash.

My kitchen is typically not this neat, but not as messy at the before pics.  So if i can keep a happy medium, I'm okay with that.