Chalkboard paint and finally a look into that office supply drawer...

I have been saying that I wanted to paint my pantry doors since forever with chalkboard paint and I even bought the paint about 4 months ago. And it sat in the garage for the whole time. And I although paint isn't something that I'm afraid of trying, this project intimidated me a little mentally because I didn't want it to look bad. Or make my kitchen look less than what I wanted it to look like long term. I want to do some major changes to the space, but those plans are long term. And although the idea of the chalkboard walls/doors seems practical for our family, I just wanted it to feel classy or something. I can't really explain it, but I wanted it to be pinterest quality I guess. Well finally I decided to do it last week. And I absolutely need to do some touch ups to the paint job because I didn't follow directions and let it cure for a week (so the chalk pens I used originally on it have left a permanent staining) but here is a photo of it all painted and decorated for my seven year old's birthday.

Can I say that this is the second best small thing I have done to this builder grade spec home to make it feel more like my own. I have had a chalkboard/message board in our homes in the past and it finally is starting to feel like this is something that is truly my style. Ok the office is the first thing but I should say the first thing in the kitchen. Those walls are still builder beige, which is another project that I have planned on working on before 2014 is over. Hopefully I'll have the space completed by then.

I mentioned before in other posts about the top drawer of my desk being only office supplies. And honestly I had no intention on showing that drawer to anyone, but while on twopeas the topic was brought up and I thought why not show it. It isn't messy, there isn't anything wrong with a person having 20 packs of post it notes open in all shapes and sizes Right? LOL well if you use them in planners and on school binders and all things organizational, then yes it is absolutely perfect. So here is a photo of the drawer.

 I have to say that most of the items were purchased during school supply sales. Or at the 99cents only store while I was on my lunch break. That place is great to walk while trying to deal with stress at work. Well only if you spend less then $5 that is. And I didn't buy lunch each day (because I packed my lunch) but I would go and get a tea and check out the office supplies. And I could say that these are all the stash that I have but that would be a lie. There is still a front pantry closet of school supplies for the kids and then I have a small stash in my cabinet above my desk. I honestly have run out of post it notes so I try to stock up when I see them on sale or really cheap. I have to say that it doesn't take much for me to follow the organizer/planner/Filofax obsession since I already was a office/school supply/scrapbooking one.  And honestly it is kind of nice to know that there others out there that are just as nerdy and silly about paper, planners, and post-it notes as I am. I can remember buying my school supplies for high school with my Target paycheck and how I loved the fact that I got all that I needed, what my brothers and sisters needed and still had enough money and supplies left to donate some supplies to my best friend (as well as have over half my paycheck left). I love supplies but I especially love good deals! Well until next time. Smiles, Tracy

Planner update...

I promise that all my future posts won't be about my planner. Well not all of them. But I wanted to come and give some feed back for anyone that may be considering an ARC planner.

I still like the planner. Although I'm wondering about the wear on the covers. I have had my planner for a little over a month and a half and plastic cover is rounded now. And that is ok. But it is something that I think about when I look at my planner. I am not in love with the paper quality of the monthly calendar/weekly pages. They don't fall out but I feel that I must washi tape the edges because they aren't that strong feeling. Although not one page has ever fallen out.

I also have decided that whatever planner I get in the future must have 2 page per week and also notes too. I'm finding that I need more writing space (as I thought I would)and the only way to solve that issue is add a note page.

So I went to the thrift store recently and while in there just looking, I saw that there are several Franklin Covey planners there that look nice. They are all black, but still in really good shape. Two of them were $2.99 and another was $4.99. I decided to wait until I check a couple other stores because I would like a larger sized one if I'm going to use these again? I'm still debating because the rings bother me, but the more I use this planner, I realized that I still have the same issue with these rings. So really unless I'm going spiral bound for 2015, a ring is a ring is a ring. I have been doing a little more with the planner lately. I have started to stamp on pages now. And it is fun. I got to pull out stamps that I didn't even remember buying (there was a time while working fulltime that I was stressed so I'd go to M's for my lunch break). I also realized that if I purchased a planner it doesn't have to have lines because I have a ton of journaling line stamps. It is nice to actually use my supplies again even if it isn't for scrapbooking. Here is a photo.

Oh and the heart shaped small post it notes are diecut using my spellbinders dies. I was thinking about purchasing some heart shaped post it notes but most of the time the shape is off or is too big and this size is perfect. The actual lined paper is from the thrift store I got a pack of Franklin Covey and Daytimer lined notepaper for 25cents each. And I cut them down to fit into my planner. It is very thin, but that's ok for now.


I hoped to have completed my wall of Valentine's Day décor but since I am now preparing for my daughter's birthday I'm going to finish working on it after next weekend. Well I hope that everyone is having fun making crafty things no matter what the craft is. Smiles, Tracy

Valentine's Day already?

I can't believe that is has been a week since my birthday. But what I couldn't believe is that I went shopping and there was Valentine's day items out already. It was really without a beat that we moved from one holiday to the next around here. So this weekend I finally started packing up Christmas. Speaking of Christmas here is a photo of the family on Christmas Day at my Father & Mother in law's place.

 I wish that I could say that we had a great holiday well we we did have a great time after everyone got over the food poisoning that they had. It was truly a bad cause of it here.  We went to several Christmas parties in our neighborhood and none of them made us sick, but a neighbor came and gave us some cookies and my littlest one got into them. I honestly told my hubby to toss them because we didn't know the neighbors well enough to eat their food and the wife usually doesn't even speak to me or my kids at all when we speak and wave to them. So I asked him to toss the snacks. He didn't listen and he gave some to our youngest and he had some too. They both were sick within an hour (maybe more like 30 mins) and it was bad. Real bad. So my rule of tossing things like that will be honored because he now understands.

Well I went to several stores because I wanted to get some items for our mantel and get it decorated why I was motivated to do Valentine's Day because usually Christmas would be up until the end of the month and then I would just do Spring. Not Valentine's Day but because our anniversary is two days before I decided that the mantel this year needed to celebrate our day of love. I'm working on it...it is a process honestly. I really want it to look nice and somehow that in my mind includes a bunting, a couple of frames, photos and more. I'm excited because I haven't done much with photos of our wedding. And somehow I have been consumed with getting this mantel done. I have also been reorganizing my space. I have also been sucked into the washi tape world too. I do have to say that I never got the whole washi tape craze when it first started but using it on the edges of my planner pages makes it a necessity now.LOL.

But here is the start of the mantel that I'm working on. I realized something today. I have lost my picture taking skills. Photos that I have taken all seem to be blurred somewhat. I think I need to learn my new camera, but really I also think that I haven't been taking photos so I have lost a really good skill of not taking blurred photos.

I also see now that I need to finish painting and correct some paint issues. I think this is going to be cute and most items were things that I had around the house. I will add more photos of the finished product.

Happy New Years!!

I enjoyed our family's New years celebration this year. It was spent at home with our immediate family, snacking and listing to music. I also got to sneak off with the girls and we went to the office to craft a little. Well they came to paint and I came to work on my planner. And I accomplished a lot of more that I had planned on doing tonight/this morning.

So this is what I have completed so far, there isn't much done. But the cover is finished.

all the photos of each family member is added to their birthday month/actual day of their birthday.
And here are a couple inside pages as well. Not a lot going on, because if you can't tell from my scrapbooking style I'm a less is more kinda girl. But I do like cute stickers (on my planner only lol) and while working on this planner I'm realizing just what I'm going to change next year...well that is if I still love this style planner in December??

And of course I started my wishlist and supplies that I need to order for 2014. It wouldn't be my planner if it didn't have that section in it lol.