Category Archives: etc.

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Friday’s Fabulous 5 – Perfect DIYs for the Weekend

January 16, 2015

A few of my favorite bloggers have some really great DIYs that you could tackle this weekend.
Be sure to head of to their bloggers and leave them a little comment love. 
Heart Glasses // Faux Open Shelving
Leather Loop Keychain
Color Dipped Hangers // Mylar Containers
Like most weekends, I’m hoping to have a SUPER productive weekend.  I have so many things on my to-do list, I’m hoping to shorten it a bit.  Tuesday I head to Salt Lake City for Alt Summit. Sometime this weekend I need to pick out my most stylish outfits and pack a suitcase.  I’m excited to connect with other creative folks.  Have a great weekend friends.

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AIM – my goal for 2015

January 14, 2015

Last year I followed my dad’s lead and decided on a word for the year. Simplify was my word for 2014.  I’m not sure if I truly embraced the word in my everyday life, but I definitely thought about it more and tried to take baby steps to keeping life in perspective.

This year I am feeling energized and ready to take some big leaps.  I always have dreams and ideas, but this year I want to set some concrete goals and really AIM for those specific things. As a creative person, I tend to jump from one good idea to another.  I want this year to be more planned out so I can take specific steps to reach my goals. That doesn’t mean I’m going to lose spontaneity. There will be some risk taking if I want to reach my end goals. No more excuses, if my personal and professional dreams are going to become a reality, it’s going to have to be me who does it.  I’ve always said I’m one of those folks who will “Die Trying!”, I just want my efforts to be more methodical and organized. Maybe I won’t see the results I want at the end of the year, but I don’t want to live with regrets.  Our life here on earth is so short.  I want to use every possible minute wisely.

I know that I am so blessed and live a life full of love, provision and opportunity because of Jesus Christ. I want my life to reflect my gratitude and love for my Savior. I can do nothing without Him.


Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your hear, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 


Thanks for joining me on this journey. Have you set some goals for 2015?  I’d love to hear where you hope 2015 will take you.

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Top 10 for 2014

January 9, 2015

I thought it would be a good idea to look back at what has been popular on my site this year (you can check out the top 10 for 2014 here).  This week I’m trying to look ahead to 2015 and create content that my readers really want to see.  I am so grateful for the tiny bit of success I’ve seen this year, it’s really thanks to you, my loyal readers who come back week after week to see what I’m up to.  As I plan for 2015, I’d love your input. I think I will be putting together a little reader survey shortly.  I hope you’ll take a second to fill it out for me. Or, just leave me a comment below letting me know what you like, don’t like and what you’d like to see more of on O+P. 
I hope your year is off to a great start.  I can’t believe how fast January is flying by. It’s going to be a GREAT year! 
3. Coral and Kelly Green Home Office

DIY / etc.

A New Year and A New Closet

January 5, 2015

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Newell Rubbermaid, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #HomeFreeLowes http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV
Now that’s how you start the new year, A SUPER ORGANIZED closet!!!  Living in a small 1920’s bungalow, maximizing your storage spaces is a MUST. The tiny closet in Dylan’s room is home to a whole bunch of Lego, Dylan’s clothes and my sewing machine and sewing stuff.  I was so tired of temporary plastic storage drawers and having to dig my sewing machine out of a corner on the floor of the closet.  I’ve had those custom closet companies come out and give me an estimate on how much it would be to add shelving to this closet.  The last quote I got was over $900 – ouch.  But, can you believe that I (all by myself, me!) installed this amazing Rubbermaid HomeFree Closet System in just a few hours and for about $200?  
I fit everything back in this closet and more.  And now we can actually get to all the stuff. This closet might just be my new favorite room in the house. 

This is so embarrassing. I can’t believe I’m showing you my mess. But, this is an really what my son’s closet looked like just a couple days ago. Yikes!  Our house has small closets with regular doors on them, so a lot of the usable space is tucked into the two sides of the closet. The original shelves and hanging rails were just not providing enough storage. I had purchased many plastic drawer thingys trying to help the issue, but you just couldn’t easily access everything in that tiny closet.

Before I could install the Rubbermaid HomeFree Closet System, I needed to remove the existing shelves and patch a few holes. I bought a little jar of spackle thinking I would just need to cover a few screw and nail holes. Nope, I had to go back to Lowes for 3/8″ dry wall, mud and tape. After a day of patching, mudding sanding, repeating, and then finally painting the closet at 11pm, I was finally ready to install the new Rubbermaid HomeFree series.

Now, if you know anything about the lath and plaster walls that come with an almost 100 year old house, then you know that they are a huge pain in the rear. These houses don’t have the usual studs that are found in newer homes, so attaching the rail system to old house’s walls can be a bit tricky. You are going to need different anchors then the ones provided with the kit.  Other then that, everything you need is in the kit.

This HomeFree system is so easy to install, once you attach the top rail to the wall, you simply hang the vertical rails from the top rail and then secure them to the wall.

There is NO cutting of any of the rails, shelves, or rods. You can fit this closet system in any odd shaped closet, like mine, with ease. All the pieces overlap to give you a perfect, 100% customizable fit.

Once the rails are in place, you simply clip in all the brackets and shelves.  I added some extra pieces to the 6 Foot Adjustable Mount Wire Shelving Kit, like these White Wood 3 Shelf Units, Upright Extensions, and a couple extra shelves. I wanted to use every inch of this tiny closet.

The shelves all lock into place with a simple flip of a button. 

 And now to fill the closet!

Everything has a home and a specific place.  I even added hooks for hats and school backpacks to get things up off the floor.

I shopped at Lowes for everyday low pricing on Rubbermaid and home solutions including the HomeFree Closet System. For more information about these products be sure to check them out on Facebook. 
Do you have a problem area in your home that needs tackling? Maybe a closet or laundry room that needs to organizational help. If this closet system can work in our tiny, old closets, I guarantee they’ll work in yours.  

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2015 Calendar Tea Towels

December 31, 2014

Well, the new year is just about here.  Time for a new calendar to help keep our home organized and up to date. I’ve always loved vintage calendar tea towels. I have one from the year I was born, made into a curtain for Riley, our vintage trailer. This year I ordered a couple pieces of fabric from Spoonflower to make into towels.  They have an amazing selection of designs for 2015. Here are a few of my faves. One of them will be making an appearance in my kitchen very soon.
Ship // Pyrex
Butterflies // Fruit

Thanks for staying with me while I took this much needed break from blogging. I’ve had some great quality time with my family and I feel ready to take on the 2015. I sure hope you’ve had a Very Merry Christmas and here’s to a Happy New Year!

If you need a good NYE treat recipe, you might like these Sparkling Cider Cupcakes. It’s a family friendly take on Champaign Cupcakes.

DIY / etc.

Decorate a Christmas Tree for Just $10

December 20, 2014

Yep! I decorated this whole tree for just $10! I made 3 different ornaments and even a topper for just a few bucks and I think this tree looks pretty great.  You don’t have to go into debt just to have a nicely decorated tree in your home.  
I kept with my Swedish inspired Christmas and made more salt dough dala horses and painted them metallic gold.  I whole batch of salt dough costs less then $2 to make.  I also made simple white paper stars.  Just cut out a classic star shape and then crease the star from the center of each point to create a 3Dish look.  And the final ornament was just a piece of cute gingham ribbon cut in a V at the bottom and hot glued down at the top for a string.  A hung all the ornaments from the same fun black and white baker’s twine.  The star topper is just a larger version of the star ornaments.  I used a 12×12″ piece of glittery gold scrapbook paper for this.  
Your Christmas tree should reflect your personality and taste, so customize your look by cutting salt dough ornaments in shapes that mean something to you and add a splash of color and pattern with any 2″ wide ribbon.
  
Here’s what I spent:
$2 – Salt Dough
$2.50 Spool of Ribbon
$1 – Glittery Gold Scrapbook Paper
$1 – 4 Sheets White Card Stock
$2 – Black and White Baker’s Twine
$1.50 – 1/2 yard of Fabric
Total = $10

This cute No. 2 Pencil Christmas Tree from Treetopia is the perfect tree for a small space. I’m telling you guys, for a fake tree, this one is really good. The branches are full and life like with lots of texture and color variation.  This is an unlit version.  I decided I liked the look of no lights on this tree.  It allowed the ornaments to stand out and not be cluttered with bulbs.  Next year I may add a few strings of lights, but for now I’m happy with it the way it is.
And I tree isn’t fully decorated without a tree skirt, I made a baby one for this skinny tree out of a 1/2 yard of fabric I had.  I’m pretty “mad for plaid” lately.  I can’t get enough of buffalo check and ginghams. 

Thank you Treetopia for providing the tree.  And thank you to my readers for supporting the companies that make this blog possible. 

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Thrifting Thursday – Caroling Vases

December 18, 2014

This week I hit the Christmas vase jackpot at my local thrift store.  I just can’t get over how cute this little pair of carolers (that’s what I’m calling them) are. 
I paid quite a bit for thrift store prices, $15 for the pair.  But, to be honest, I would have happily paid more. I’m going to have so much fun pulling these out every Christmas.
The bottoms are marked “Margaret”, I googled it, but came up with nothing. So, if you have an idea when these were made or where, I’d love to know.  Even if they are of no value at all, I still LOVE them. 

What a handsome couple the make with some simple ever greens in them.

I really haven’t been thrifting all month.  I sure glad I stopped at my favorite thrift store this morning.  Have you found any treasures lately?  

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14 days of LOVE – Cricut Explore Giveaway!

December 11, 2014

Yep, you read that right, today I’m giving away Cricut Explore Machine!!!!!  I’m a huge Cricut fan. I had a Cricut way before I was a blogger. I use it often and for so many different things. And no, I’m not a scrapbooker, my Cricut helps me DIY with polished, professional results every time.

I love giving gifts that have a little personal touch to them.  I cut simple His and Hers out of white vinyl (this is the permanent stuff, I buy it from a local sign company), and then stuck them on insulated thermoses that I found at IKEA.  I think this is a pretty fun gift to give a couple you love. 
I’m giving you a couple ways to enter.  Fill out the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to US residents only.

 We sure hope you have enjoyed this Holiday edition of 14 Days of LOVE. We love our readers, thank you for faithfully following through good posts and bad. Your support is what keeps us going.

DIY / etc.

Colorado Blue Spruce Potted Christmas Tree

December 8, 2014

If I have the choice, it’s always for a live Christmas tree.  Nothing beats the smell and look of a real one. But, when we lived in Papua New Guinea and Yemen, a little fake one had to make do, but honestly, it’s just not the same.

Since we hope this little guy will be apart of our family Christmas’s for many years to come, we decided to name him. Please meet ‘Bruce the Spruce’.  I told you last week that I’d share a little more about our Christmas tree this year and how we are caring for it. We decided to try a potted Christmas tree.  The hope is that we will get to use the same tree for a few years in a row.  Each Christmas we will bring the tree inside, but the rest of the year, it will live outside in a shady part of our yard.  It was not easy to find a live evergreen here in Bakersfield.  But, the only nursery in town to carry some had a couple varieties of Colorado Blue Spruce. I love the color of it’s needles.  They are a gorgeous silvery, muted green.

I bought the tree in what they call “Ball and Burlap”, which just means the root ball in contained in burlap.  This tree is a 4-5 ft. tree and cost about $70, which isn’t much more then a cut tree in Southern California.

I found a large enough pot and Home Depot for just $14.99, it’s black plastic, but the price was right and I think it looks pretty sharp.  I really didn’t want a ceramic pot that would just add more weight to this already VERY heavy tree.  With both Lon and I and the help of a skateboard, we barely got it in the house. That root ball is like solid cement.

Keep reading for potting and care instructions.

Ok, so here’s a little instruction on potting and caring. First, find a large enough pot for the tree. Peel back the burlap around the base of the trunk to expose the soil, but don’t remove the burlap from the sides and base of the ball. Place the root ball in the pot and fill in the pot with good potting soil. Water the tree with ice, this will help keep the tree cooler while it’s inside and allow it to be watered over time. I’ve found that the first couple of days the tree took about 4 cups ice everyday, and now that the tree is 3 1/2 weeks in the hour, it seems to only be needing about 4 cups of ice every other day. The folks at my local nursery said to just watch if the tree starting dropping a lot of needles. Sometimes this can mean that the tree is too warm or needs more water.  So far, Bruce is happy. Fingers crossed that we can keep him alive. 

I decorated the tree with some of my old favorites and added the mini pendant ornaments and a few new pieces from The Land of Nod.

What kind of tree do you have this year? Are you a live or fake tree family?

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Friday’s Fabulous 5 – Modern Christmas Cheer

December 6, 2014

Have you decorated your home for Christmas yet?  I’m just about done, but it’s always nice to find new inspiration.  I’m sharing 5 modern, fresh Christmas ideas from some of my favorite bloggers.  

I hope you have a great weekend.  We were supposed to go camping with Lon’s ecology club, but Olivia ended up getting really sick.  So I’ve been home all day and have accomplished hardly anything at all.  But, the weekend is young.  I’m looking forward to having a couple days at home with my kiddos, sick or not.