With the post In Honor Of The Napkin written by Karen of Sew Many Ways will give you a glimpse into what a DIY genius she is.  These projects are just so innovative I don’t even know the words to say how blown away I am.  I promise you keep scrolling down through the whole post and you will continue to have to pick your jaw off of the floor.

From to time I come across a project that makes me say to myself “why didn’t I think of that?”  I found the Easy Ziplog Bag Tote on SCJohnson website.  It was written by Cathe of Just Something I Made.  She gives great instructions that are easy to follow.  I also love this project because it takes a very small amount of money to make the tote.

I have stacks and stacks of newspapers.  This is not a confession of my hoarding tendencies, so please don’t stop reading.  I keep them to donate to my kids’ schools for projects etc.  For me that is the best way to recycle the newspapers until I found How to Make Gift Bags From Newspapers by Jessica of How About Orange.  Reading this tutorial has me excited for the next birthday present I have to wrap.

If you have a rattan laundry basket that just feels blah, Angry Julie Monday has just the answer for you in her post Painting a Rattan Laundry Hamper.  Laundry hampers might be the most important part of the bedroom.  I know you’ll say the bed, but without the hamper where would you put all of your dirty clothes?  I know you could throw them on the floor, but that just disgusting.  Angry Julie’s wonderful and easy to follow tutorial allows anyone to turn their rattan laundry basket into a matching piece of decor for any room.

If you are a wine enthusiast such as myself, you often wonder what to do with all of the cool wine corks you pull out from the bottles.  Usually I throw them away.  I know many people who collect them.  For all of you who collect those corks Lisa at Baer Home Design has A Cool Way To Use All Of Those Wine Corks.  I loved her idea of using it as a backsplash. It can be used as a bulletin board and look fantastic.

I hope you enjoy these 2 projects, and let me know if you try them.  I’d love to see your finished project.

I looked on many websites, went to many different stores and either found what I wanted for an out of the question price, or found my price point, but not a color I was interested in.

My next thought was that I needed to make it myself.  I went back to square one and thought cheap, but could be altered.  I checked Ikea on line and found what I was looking for in the Ribba Frame Series.

Here’s how to make your own photo gallery wall for a very doable price.  You need very little crafty experience:

Get whatever sizes you would like in the Ribba Frame series or any other store that has sizing and frame styles you really like.  I really recommend varying the sizes this makes it more visually stunning.

Buy a paint in whatever color you would like.  I went to Lowe’s and bought a quart of the Olympic Brand no VOC paint.  No VOC paints is something I always get.  I highly recommend getting a no VOC paint for your safety, and the safety of your family.  For more information on home painting and VOC’s you can read here.  While getting your paint you should get a no VOC primer.

Buy sanding paper or a sponge in a fine grit and rubbing alcohol.  I recommend 3M All Purpose Sanding Sponge for sanding.

Begin by taking out the glass and all of the insides of the frames, set those aside in a safe place.  Sand all sides of the frames.  You don’t need to remove the finish entirely you just need to remove the sheen of the finish.  Sanding each frame allows the primer to stick to the frame.

Once you are done sanding take a rag and rub all of the sides with rubbing alcohol.  This will remove the fine dust sticking to the frames from the sanding.

Once the rubbing alcohol has dried (takes about 5 minutes) paint the bottom side and all 4 sides, not the top, with primer.  Wait about 2-4 hours for this to dry.  Flip the frames over after you have waited and prime the top.  Let all of this dry for about 24 hours from when you began the bottom.

Put the frames upside down again and paint the backs and all 4 sides with the paint color you chose.  Wait about 6 hours this time before flipping again to do the top.  Again, wait another 24 hours.

You may need 2-3 coats to get the desired saturation of color.  In the end you’ll be happy you did more coats then leaving it one coat.

Once everything has dried you can put the photos in the frames.

Hanging the pictures and getting them exactly the way you want them to look takes time and precision, but believe me you’ll be happy you did it “right” the first time.  You will need an extra set of hands for this part.  You will need a level, tape measure and pencil.

Measure from the ceiling how far down you want to go.  This will be the top of your frames.  Once you have decided draw a line all the way across from edge of the wall left to right.  Use your level to keep this line straight all of the way through.

Now measure from that line how far down you’d like the frames to go.  This should be where you want the bottom of your frames.  Repeat the line across as you did on the top.

Begin hanging pictures left to right.  Example if in that frame you created you only one 8″x10″ on the left you hang that first.  Now decide how far from the the right side of that frame you would like the next frame(s) and keep that spacing in between all the way to the right.  Also keep the spacing from the left on the wall to the left of the first frame.  You’ll want to keep that same measurement on the right to the right side of the last frame.

If you are doing floor to ceiling then be sure again to keep the same distance from the floor to the bottom of the frame as the ceiling to the top of the frame.

Look below and you will see how measurements as described above work out to make the gallery look professionally done.

If you have any questions feel free to comment below and I’ll help you out.  Although this project is labor intensive the end result is wonderful, and makes you really proud of the work you put into it.

I’ve been trying to figure a new way to store my necklaces with hooks etc.  I’ve gone through many different ideas, and I can’t settle on one yet.  However, I have found a lot of inspiration from Gail Grady at A Fresh Start with her post Organizing With Hooks…They Will Hook You In.  She has a ton of fantastic ideas that use different kinds of hooks.  I am in complete awe of all of the ideas, and ways you can use hooks.

The writers of DIYIdeas have enumerated the many uses for a pegboard.  We’ve all seen these inexpensive board and wondered what to do with them.  I didn’t even realize there were so many different pegboards in general.  I was really impressed with the clear lucite one.  I can totally see using that for holding my hand embroidery supplies.

You will hear this a lot from me: HGTV is my all time favorite channel.  I watch that channel whenever I can and whenever there isn’t anything else to watch.  You can count on HGTV to have something to watch.  I watch it so much that E says it’s his favorite channel too.  E loves to watch House Hunters, J loves Battle on the Block and of course R likes Holmes on Homes (so does my dad).  Why am I telling you this?  Their website has a wonderful craft section.  There’s even a section to upload pictures and directions from your own craft project.  It’s so wonderful to see the creativity that is everywhere.  I found this cute and easy to make Cookie Sheet Calendar.  If you are a scrapper this should be super easy to make because you already have most of the supplies needed.

In organizing everything in your life I have to say that scheduling me time is so important.  Every mom, no matter if they work at home, work out of home or are a full time mom needs to schedule time for themselves.

Here are some of my tips for different ways to get in some me time:

-manicure and pedicure – this might be one of the simplest luxuries you can give yourself.  I promise that when you walk out of the salon you will feel rejuvination.  It doesn’t take more then 2 hours (that would be extreme).

Image by DavidQuick via Flickr

- schedule a lunch/night out with your friends – being around other women without your children can really do a lot for just feeling intelligent.  My one recommendation is to really keep the discussion about your children down to a minimum.  The reason is not only that others may not want to hear it all of the time, but you need to have a conversation that doesn’t include them.  This goes a long way to helping you feel like your own person.

Image by kalebdf via Flickr

- grab a book or magazine and go to a local coffee shop and order a drink sit and lose yourself in the book or magazine

- go to a movie by yourself

- shopping – even if you don’t spend any money just window shopping can be fun.

If your husband is unable to relieve you then hire a baby-sitter.  If you can’t afford a baby-sitter, see if a friend can help you out.  Trade days with another mom so she can get some me time.  If you belong to a mom’s group suggest to the group that you all give each other me time by sitting for someone else’s kids.

Put the me time in your calendar.  Make a date with yourself.  Doing this is something that not only you need, you’ll see that you will come back rejuvinated and ready for family life.  I suggest you schedule this once a month, but in the end any me time you get is enough.

Craftzine is an incredible blog that I just love to read.  I want to make EVERYTHING they post.  When I saw the Counter Made From Books I was so enthralled.  I am a huge book lover.  Huge is an understatement to be honest.  I believe in recycling books and seeing this amazing counter completely made of books I just fell in love.  I really do wish I had somewhere to make it.

This item I am posting is in honor of my oldest son, J, who learned how to play chess this year and loves it.  I found this DIY Chess End Table on Centsational Girl while looking at another item (posted below).   He’s been hanging out at my parents house this week before camp starts next week.  Yesterday R picked him up and he said that J was playing chess with my dad.  I loved hearing that.  The table is a great project, and I think I’m going to send a link to my dad to see if he’d help me make it for J.  My dad and I have made a ton of projects like this one, so it should be too hard.

I have this weird obsession with memo boards, magnetic boards, cork boards etc.  I found another one that I have to share with you.  Like the others I post or will post I believe this is just beautiful.  The Custom Memo Board on Centsational Girl is exactly what I want to make for my entry way when we are done building the built-ins.

I hope you enjoy these projects as much as I do.  Until next Wednesday…

Image by S Migol via Flickr

Recently a teacher at J’s school said to me that she rarely checks her e-mail because it’s so overwhelming with all of the e-mails she has.  I told her that she inspired me to give tips on how to organize your e-mail.

1. Unsubscribe to Newsletters

We all sign up for newsletters etc. to keep in touch or get the best coupons.  However, it clutters your inbox.  Be honest with yourself.  Do you actually read those e-mails?  If not, then go to the bottom of each e-mail and press the unsubscribe prompt.  I bet you’ll cut your incoming e-mails by 50%.  By no means do I think you should stop all of them, but if you don’t read them why receive them.

2. Set Up Folders

Think of all of the common e-mails you receive that you would like to keep.  Make a folder for it.  I have one labeled Shopping Receipts.  I do quite a bit of on-line shopping I keep all of the order confirmations and shipping e-mails in that folder.  Every 6 months I go through and delete from the bottom up receipts that I do not need anymore.  I have folders for bills, J’s school and receipts I need to keep for my taxes.  I even have a generic Inbox Saved for those e-mails I don’t want to get rid of but do not need to crowd my Inbox.  If you speak a lot to a specific friend then make a folder for them.

3. Delete, delete, delete

I cannot express enough how important it is to go into your e-mail at least once a day and delete all of the stuff you aren’t going to read.  In one fell swoop you’ll probably delete about 10 e-mails.  That’s 10 less then you had in your e-mail when you opened it.  In addition if you have e-mail chains with friends just keep the most recent e-mail you received and delete the rest.  Most of the time the whole conversation is still in that one e-mail.

4. Download the Pictures

If you’re like me and receive pictures in your e-mail from family and friends, once you look at them you don’t want to delete them, but you don’t look at them either.  I download the pictures onto my computer, and then delete the e-mail.  If you don’t like the idea of downloading them then make a separate folder, (see #2 above) so that those e-mails are not in your Inbox.

5. Consolidate

If you have more then one e-mail account filter all of them through one e-mail.  I have a gmail and a yahoo account.  My yahoo is years old and I need to keep it.  I  just have all of my e-mails from the yahoo account sent to my gmail account.  This makes it easy for me to  read all of my e-mails in one place.  Gmail even identifies which account the e-mail came to.

6. Sent Folder

One neglected folder is your sent folder.  Often times you want to keep the items you send to others.  Every few months I recommend you go through your sent e-mails and move them to the corresponding folders you created (see #2 above).  This will ensure you have track of the messages you sent.  Whatever sent e-mails you don’t want to keep delete them right away and then you will have another place where there is a sense of order.

Most important thing is that once you do all of the above keeping on top of your e-mails will be a lot more manageable.

Car Caddy Tutorials by Karen of Sew Many Things is a great idea for making a simple drink holder in your car hold more then just a drink. The original idea came from her Tool Time Tuesday in April of 2009.  I keep thinking that it would be great for the backseat for the kids to put their stuff in.

Ashley of Give Me The Simple Life posted a great bag/coat rack in Bags Welcome Here.  I don’t have anywhere to currently hang sweaters/jackets/purses when I get in the door, and this would be a great way to fix that problem.

Nicole and Candace of The Crafty Sisters have the most beautiful Family Tree Shadow Box.  I know it’s not organization per se, but how many times have you vowed to yourself you’ll do a family tree for your children.  This gorgeous project has me inspired to get working on my family tree.  On top of all of being a gorgeous project it has one #1 in Martha Stewart’s CSI Project.  Even if you don’t actually do this project you need to head over to The Crafty Sisters just to check it out.

I am a huge home fragrance fan.  I love to light candles and burn natural oils in my house.  However, since having kids I’ve come to do it less and less because I’m so afraid of the fire hazard.  I try to keep things really high up but then of course that still scares me.

Just last week my younger brother was telling me about the building right next door to him had a fire.  I asked how it started and he said it was from a guy who left a candle burning on his coffee table.  He was home, but by the time he realized it, his whole condo was engulfed in flames.  It also damaged the condo next door.  I can’t imagine what it would be like to loose your home to a fire, let alone a fire that was started by a candle.  His story confirmed to me why I have to stop lighting candles in my home.

I was happy after hearing that story to try the Scentsy plug-in system.  The system burns scented wax by the heat of a lightbulb.  I plugged it in (away from the baby’s reach), and waited for the aroma to waft into my home.

The funny thing is that I told my husband that I got this new plug in, and I was so excited to try it out.  20 minutes later he sees the red color (I got it in Luau) plugged into the wall and he says “what is that”?  I just rolled my eyes and shook my head.  Anyone else have a husband who doesnt really hear them?  Then he said it smells nice.  For a man who doesn’t really notice much I was really happy to hear him say that.

I got the plug-in, but Scentsy makes full and mid-size warmers.  One package of Scentsy brick has 10 little squares.  Each square lasts about 2-3 hours.

The Scentsy plug-in is the size of a large night light and has an on/off switch.  The top is concave and you just place the brick in there.  The scent squareis the size of a small ice cube.

Taryn at Scentsy has generously offered one Scentsy plug-in system to give away to a Fashionably Organized reader.

To win this prize please comment below with what scent(s) you would pick.  The winner will be picked at random by random.org.  Ends Sunday June 20th at 5 PM PST.

For bonus entries:

- go to the Fashionably Organized Facebook page and “Like” me

- go to my Twitter page (@FashOrganized), and become a follower

- go to Who Needs Wicks Twitter Page (@whoneedswicks) and become a follower

- go to Twitter and post about this giveaway as many times as you would like

For each of the above, post separate comments to increase your chances of winning.

Envirosax are a bag that rolls up and have a strap that snaps around it.  They are great for when you want to have just a few bags that hold a lot.  They appeal to my fashionable side because they come in beautiful colors and patterns.  They hold the equivalent of 2.5 plastic grocery bags.  They are a super sturdy nylon bag.  I’ve put 3 bottles of wine and a 1/2 gallon of milk in one bag with no problem.  They even have some wonderful patterned kids sized ones.  I have one all rolled up for J in his backpack so that he can put his Karate uniform when he’s done with Karate.  When I take the Envirosax bag I get a lot of compliments from the checkers asking where I got them, which always makes me smile.  The one downfall I feel is that they are very hard to roll back up.  Even after having them for over 3 years I can’t seem to roll them up right.

Monde Ami makes a very inexpensive canvas bag called the Takoda.  I bought these originally for my husband to keep in his car.  He does all of the grocery shopping and these looked to me to be the same size as the brown bags he was getting before we started carrying our own bags.  It is made out of canvas and has a plastic bottom [insert] .  The bottom of the bag is the best feature because it makes it easier to get your items in the bag.  In the end these bags did not work for us because they were not as sturdy as the Envirosax.  They are also not as compact.  However, the price of $1.50 each makes them a very desireable choice.

I had bought the Chico Bags for gifts for the teachers one year, and they wound up not coming in time.  Over time I gifted them to several different people.  I kept one for myself.   I loved the idea of a bag that had it’s own pouch.  It’s great to have a really easy way to put them away.  Another inexpensive alternative made them extremely desirable.  The rope of the pouch has a caribiner which is nice if you want to hook them to the inside of your purse.  I have also connected one to the back of my stroller so I didn’t have to remember it was there.  I love reusable bags, but I’m not one to spend a lot of money on one.  The draw back is that the little pouch is not attached to the bag, so it makes it really easy to lose.  But the size of them in their pouch is unbeatable.

I was given the Flip & Tumble 24-7 Shopper Bag as a gift.  This bag actually rolls into itself.  Yes you read that correctly.  The pouch is connected on the inside and you just shove the bag in there and then flip the lid so to speak.  You know how you fold socks together?  That’s how you use the the Flip & Tumble.  The inside of the one shoulder strap has a little piece of felt so that the bag doesn’t slide off of your shoulder.  It is all around genius.  I have yet to find a fault with this bag and I’ve had it for some time.  This is the bag that is at the bottom of my purse.  It can be squished every which way and it comes out just fine.  I also have the shopper bag and it is somewhat like the Envirosax where you have to roll it up but the thing that keeps it rolled up is a piece of elastic.  This makes it easier to fold it up for some reason.  They come in beautiful colors and patterns.  All around a wonderful shopping bag.

In the end the organization of your groceries can be daunting at time.  All I can recommend is make it easy for you to use a bag such as the ones above.  The easier they are the more likely you are to use them.