DIY Lego Minifigure Storage Shelves Tutorial

September 2, 2013 by 28 Comments
 
Do you have little person living with you that is obsessed with Legos?  I do!!  We love the Lego Minifigures at our house!!!  I wanted to find a way to display and store them.  I think this works well and it has lots of room so we can buy more Legos!!!!
Supplies:
3/4″ wood (pine, MDF, etc.)
Lego building board (available at Lego store or Lego online)
utility knife
paint
Quick Hold E-6000 glue (or similar)
nail gun
Begin by cutting the 3/4″ wood into 1 1/4″ strips.  You can make as long you want.  Mine are 23 3/4″ long because that is what looked best on the wall.
Next cut the Lego board.  Using a utility knife, cut the Lego board every “3 circles”. 
Once they are cut, bend them a little bit to break them apart.
Paint the boards.
Glue the Lego strips down.  I used one and a half of the Lego strips on each board.

 Once everything is dry, measure the wall for placement.  Using a nail gun, nail the boards into the wall, making sure to hit studs.  Patch the nail holes and touch up the paint where the patches are.

My son made me this “Keith Urban” minifigure.

We just bought our series 11 Lego Minifigures today.  These are mine!  50″s girl and pretzel girl!!

Amanda

Filed Under: DIY, organizing, paint, projects, tutorial, tutorials

Store-Ad Coupon Pouch {tutorial}

June 8, 2013 by 14 Comments
This is my purse.  Cute on the outside…..

 …the inside is a mess!!!  

 It is mostly store-ad coupons like Joann, Michaels, Kohls, Macy’s, etc.  Some of my friends clip the coupons and put them in a little coupon wallet.  For some reason, I like to save the entire ad.  Most of the ads are good for a few weeks and I can’t always remember what is on special.

 Yes, I know I can have all the coupons and ads I ever want on my phone.  Did you know you can use your phone coupons AND your store coupons?  So I will continue to have one foot on the cutting edge of technology and one foot back in ancient history of paper coupons!

For the past several years I have thought everyday, “I should sew something to keep all these papers organized in.”  I woke up this morning and decided today was the day!!  There are a lot of pouch tutorials out there.  Instead of finding one that would work I just created my own.  Here is how you can make one too!!

Materials:
1/3 yard outer fabric
1/3 yard lining fabric
44″ Therm O Web Heat n Bond fusible interfacing – light weight
hair elastic
button
trim (optional)

Begin by cutting your outer fabric and lining fabric 12 1/2″ x 21 1/2″

 I LOVE Therm O Web products!  I go through yards and yards of their fusible fleece.  For this project I decided to use a Heat n Bond fusible interfacing. (For more info on Therm O Web products & how to order click HERE.)  I wanted the pouch to be firmer.  Cut 2 pieces of your fusible interfacing 12 1/2″ x 21 1/2″.  Fuse them to the wrong side of your 2 pieces of fabric.

 Get a small plate or bowl and trace to round the top 2 corners of your main fabric.  Trim along your line.

 You can embellish this pouch any way you want.  You can top stitch fabric, ruffles, ric rac, etc on the main piece.  I choose to be speedy and added a piece of crochet lace to the center.

 Take the pony tail holder and sew it in half like this.  It only needs to stretch about an inch so you don’t need the whole thing.  I sewed it back and forth a few times to make sure it doesn’t pull out.

Trim the excess.  Make sure you trim so it looks like this:

 Now layer right sides together and pin.  I used a generous 1/4″ seam.  leave a 2″-3″ opening on the side to turn.

 Clip the rounded corners and the square corners.  Turn and press.

Fold the bottom half up 7 1/4″ and pin in place.  Top stitch around the pouch.

Sew your button on.

Fill with coupons & now you are ready to shop!!

OK – I really love this!  Can’t believe it took me so long to make one!  You can make this project in under 30 minutes 🙂

Here is a little peek into my purse and all my little pouches:

I also have a first aid kit that I forgot to photograph.  How many pouches do you have in your purse?

Amanda

Filed Under: crafts, organizing, sewing, tutorial, tutorials

Sprinkles, Sprinkles & More Sprinkles

February 26, 2013 by 3 Comments

 

Don’t laugh at me, but the state of my “Sprinkle” organization has been bothering me for quite some time.  I don’t have a fancy remodeled kitchen like in my dreams.  I have builder-grade cabinets from 1989 which I have painted twice.  Do any of you have this small little cabinet above the hood in your kitchen with the vent occupying most of the space?  This is what mine looked like:

Often times I would open the cabinet and sprinkles would actually fall onto my head.  (By the way I love sprinkles and I pride myself on having a selection fitting every holiday.)
 I emptied the contents to my counter:
 I have sprinkles in every possible container, tub, or shaker thing-a-ma-jig.  My friend gave me all these empty shaker bottles and I knew that was my answer.  All the sprinkles needed to fit into like-sized containers…and so the process (a day’s work) began.
 

 I emptied all my sprinkles into their own same-sized bottle and tossed the original packaging.

 The only problem was all the labels on the new containers were all different and I wasn’t going to spend a week removing them.  Enter in scrapbook paper and sticky strip.

 I cut a 2″ x 6″ strip out of paper that matched the sprinkles in the bottle.  I didn’t want all the bottles to look the same with fancy Martha Stewart labels.  I like that look, but when it comes to sprinkles I need to grab and go!  Color coded bottles were just the answer!  Green sprinkles get green paper, etc.

I went to the Avery label website and printed off custom labels to attach to each bottle.

 It is starting to look happy in here!!!

 I planned on returning my sprinkles to my double-decker Lazy Susan.  Only it needed a bit of sprucing up.  Enter in Washi Tape.  In a matter of seconds I transformed a very boring item into something bright and cheerful!

 Next, all the cupcake papers needed homes and one jar was not enough.  I could have bought all matching jars, but I didn’t want to make a trip to the store so I used what I had.  It works.

 (The inside of the cabinet is not the cutest – yes, that is the actual wall you see inside the cupboard – QUALITY!!)

 I grouped the sprinkles by color, then by holiday.  That should work for now.  It won’t make the cover of a magazine or anything, but it makes me feel happy when I peek in there…..and it makes me want to bake something yummy!!


Amanda

Filed Under: kitchen, organizing, projects

Cereal Keeper turned Car Trash Can

February 6, 2012 by 1 Comment


This little organizing idea just solved all my problems! I spend most of my day in the car with 3 children. The trash seems to take over the car – even when I have a designated trash sack. But now I have a trash can – just for the car! It is going into use TODAY!

I saw the idea on BHG.com. I bought a plastic cereal keeper and put a Target sack inside (a little vinyl lettering never hurt anyone either!) Then, when it is full (or too stinky) I can just pop the top, tie the handles and send one of the kids to the trash can! Yea!!!!

Filed Under: organizing

Cereal Keeper turned Car Trash Can

February 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment


This little organizing idea just solved all my problems! I spend most of my day in the car with 3 children. The trash seems to take over the car – even when I have a designated trash sack. But now I have a trash can – just for the car! It is going into use TODAY!

I saw the idea on BHG.com. I bought a plastic cereal keeper and put a Target sack inside (a little vinyl lettering never hurt anyone either!) Then, when it is full (or too stinky) I can just pop the top, tie the handles and send one of the kids to the trash can! Yea!!!!

Filed Under: organizing