Vintage Ruler wall organizer

I was having trouble with papers all over my desk.  And I had a big blank wall right next to my desk.  Can you see where this is going?  Yes, a wall organizer was in order.  


I pulled out a vintage yard stick I picked up from Goodwill ages ago. I've had it for a long time and didn't know what to do with it.  So I decided to use it on my wall.  


First I cut it in half with my handy dandy miter box.


Then I drilled some small screws into each piece.


To hang the yard sticks on the wall, I used 3m velcro strips (amazon link).  


I then hung a binder flip from each screw.


It's so handy to have a place to hang papers, magazines and craft supplies.

Home Tour- Living Room

Now that my kids are back in school, I was finally able to keep my living room clean long enough to take some pictures of it for my home tour.  


The paint looks yellow in these pictures but it's actually a tannish color.  (It's been a few years since I painted it- hmmm maybe I need to think about changing the color!)  I did the board and batten about 3 years ago.  We got the leather couch, ottoman and chair and half about 8 years ago.  Wow- I can't believe our leather furniture is that old.  It's held up so well!!  It was definitely worth the investment!


This is the front entry to our house.  I did board and batten here too going all the way up the stairs.  


We bought this super inexpensive book shelf years ago at IKEA.  I added the thin wood to the shelves.  Since this is right inside our front door, I had to sacrifice the top shelf to a bowl for my husband's keys, tissues and phone.  The 2nd shelf is a good place for decorative items like chevron chalkboard frame.  The 3rd shelf holds our photo books and the bottom shelf has a basket for blankets.  Above the bookshelf is our framed Family: A Proclamation.



It's hard to tell in this photo but the drapes are tan and grey striped silk.  I got them at Lowes.  There are 4 panels here, 2 on each side.  It gives them a much fuller appearance.  The chevron pillow is from Homegoods.  The lamp is old, old.  I added some black ribbon to the top and bottom of the lamp shade. 


I have a collection of suitcases stacked on a trunk tucked back in the corner.  I've been collecting them for a really long time.  The clock above them is from Homegoods.  


On the gallery wall the left S is from a craft show, next to it is framed yellow fabric with an vintage gas station #5.  Next to that is our family picture with a beefed up frame.  Next to that is a Don't forget to be AWESOME sign I made with a hanger from a boutique in Utah.  On the end is a covered paper mache S and an arrow like this one.  

On my couch the pillows on the ends are from Target.  The yellow pillow is a long body pillow cover from Target that I folded and tucked to make a square pillow.  


This blue cabinet was once our kitchen hutch.  I took it a part, painted it and now it holds video game paraphernalia.  Above it is my collection of spools, a topiary from pottery barn, a vintage metal lock box that was my grandmother's, a yellow tin, an apothecary jar full of moss rocks and some vintage grain strainers.  The small yellow bird is from Target in the spring.  


I've had one of these chairs for a few years now.  Last year for Christmas I received a gift card and was able to find the matching one at Target.com.  The table is a painted craigslist find.  The lamp is from Walmart and the shade from Target.  Those french doors lead to my husband's office.  They are set to be removed since there is another entrance in the dining area.  


As much as I would like to not have it, here is our tv.  Since this is the only room in our house we have to put it, I make due and just try to pretend it's not here.   


The entertainment center is actually 2 bookcases pushed together with a painted piece of wood placed across the top.  The shelves hold baskets of scrapbooks and various electronics.  I added to curtains to hide video games and controllers.  I don't love this entertainment center and am working on a plan for a new one.  I'm thinking of custom building one myself.  


To the left of the tv is this darling stichery my friend made for me.  I love it so much!!!


Under the stichery are my collection of milk boxes.  


Here is one last look at the room from the other side.  

If you have any questions about anything in this room, please comment and I'll do my best to answer them! 


The past few weeks

Thank goodness it's Friday.  I'm exhausted.  The past few weeks have been so incredibly busy.  I have barely had time to catch my breath, let alone do anything crafty!!

 From packing tons of fun into our last week of summer to starting school this week- I'm pooped!!  I need a few days to recover and hopefully get some creating done!!  

 Here is a run-down of what we've been doing:


We spent a day at a local water park.  The other school districts in our area had already started school so it wasn't very crowded.  It was so much fun!  


My older kids and I have read the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan  (that's an Amazon affiliate link) and loved them.  We were super excited when the 2nd movie, the Sea Of Monsters to came out  and we saw it on opening day.  


One of the things on our summer bucket list was to make s'mores.  Since we don't have a fire pit we used our grill.  It worked perfectly!


We've had a really wet summer so that means our lawn has grown like crazy.  So we've been spending quite a bit of time (ok let's be honest, it's mostly been me out there) outside taking care of our yard.  I really like yard work and find it very relaxing!! 


Trying to get all 3 kids equipped with all of their school supplies has required many, many, MANY trips to the store.  No matter how much pre-planning and list making I do, there is always something that we miss and have to go back to get!


My big kids started their first day of middle school!  There has been quite a bit of locker drama and adjustments getting to their classes but I think after this week they will have the hang of it!


My little guy also started his first day of Kindergarten!  What a big day for him!!  We were both a little bit nervous but no tears were shed and he had a great day!!


This month in Young Women's we are talking about marriage and families.  So for our activity this week, the girls designed wedding gowns out of napkins and tape.  These girls were super creative and created some amazing gowns.  It was so fun!!!


So what have you guys been up to?  Are your kids back in school?

First Day of School Free Printables

It's Back To School time, are your kids starting school? I'm sure you're going to take pictures of them on that first day and you need printables.  Check out these  Free First Day of School Printables


First Day of School free printables with chalkboard background

ABC book page bunting for back to school

It's Back to School time! The summer went by so fast! I will miss the slower pace of our calendar being clear, the lazy days of staying up late and then sleeping in, swimming and lots and lots of playing. I will not miss my kids fighting all day, the "I'm bored's", and the endless cooking and cleaning that comes with all of these little people home all day! I love my kids, I really do, but I'm looking forward to a little bit of peace, time to work on projects and the house staying clean for longer than 10 minutes.

Back To School Blog Hop Collage

To celebrate school days, my blogging friends and I teamed up with a Back to School theme this month.

My project is a super simple A B C flag bunting!


I cut paper from an old dictionary down to into 2 inch strips. Then I cut a triangle from the bottom - no measuring- just free hand. I folded over the top edge and taped it onto a piece of bakers twine (amazon link)


Then I dug out and dusted off some letter rubber stamps that I haven't used forever. I stamped ABC's on each flag in red ink. After using them, I remembered that I love these stamps! I definitely need to use them more often!!


Then I just tied pieces of ribbon and ric rac to the bakers twine in between each flag.


And hung the bunting on my fave shelf/mantel.


Here are a couple more photos.



Wait, don't go yet, my blogging friends have some awesome projects to help you get excited and organized for back to school! Please stop by their blogs and take a peak!



Back to School Mantle by The Crafted Sparrow Churched up Backpacks by Maybe I Will

Back to School Wreath by Among the Young Flour-less Cookies by Hollyhocks & Honeybees

Portable Homework Station by The Benson Street ABC Book Page Bunting by me!!


Back to School ideas

My kids start back to school in 1 week from today.  (Where did the summer go?)

If you're nervous and not quite ready for your kids to be back in school, here are some ideas to help you get there.  


My most important tip is to have a school landing zone

Your kids will have a place to put all of their stuff when they get home and you'll love knowing where it all is! It took some gentle and not so gentle reminders from me for my kids to get into the habit of hanging their back packs and jackets on their hooks, but now it's a habit.  And now we won't have the dreaded morning rush around to find all of their things.  


If your kids will have lockers at school, personalized locker accessories
 would be a fun thing for you to make together!   I made these for my son last year.  My daughter will be going to middle school this year too and has been working on hers. 


My little one is starting Kindergarten this year.  We have full day Kindergarten here in TN, but that includes a rest time.  So he will need to use a nap mat.  Luckily we still have this one from last year he can use.  


I will still have 3 lunches to make and pack every day.  So I will definitely be using some of these ideas again. 
Monitoring 3 different outfits each morning can get old.  So I'll be doing using these hangers for each day of the week for my kids.  Picking out outfits on Sunday night and hanging them all in their closets will save us loads of time and energy on those VERY early school mornings!! 


You can also get excited about school by making a school ruler frame



and decorating your mantel in a school theme! That reminds me- I need still need to decorate my mantel for school this year!  



Best wishes to you for an exciting, well organized and successful school year!