Organizing with Repurposed Packaging - 1 Item 10 Different Ways

 

 

I use repurposed packaging to organize around my house all the time.  It's earth-friendly, free, doesn't make me feel guilty with I don't like it and recycle it, and the only limit is your imagination.

 

 

 

I started with an empty cotton swab box.

 

 

 

 

 

I trimmed off the edge.  If you find you have sharp points left, you can trim them with nail clippers.

 

 

 

 

Your imagination and organizing needs are the only limits.  Here are 10 ways I've used this same box in my home.

 

 

In the kitchen....

 

 

...for chip clips

 

 

 

 

 

...for spices

 

 

 

 

 

...for measuring cups and spoons

 

 

 

 

 

...for hot cereal packets

 

 

 

 

 

...for lunch snacks.

 

 

 

 

 

In the office...

 

 

...in the junk drawer to hold loose items

 

 

 

 

 

...to hold note pads and pens by the phone.

 

 

 

 

 

In the bathroom...

 

 

...to hold brushes and combs.

 

 

 

 

 

In the dresser...

 

 

...to hold socks.

 

 

 

 

In the toy room...

 

 

...to hold small toys.

 

 

 

What ways can you think to use free, earth-friendly repurposed packaging to organize your home?

CD Envelope Cookie Wrappers

It's end-of-the-year party time at schools all around the country. Can you hear the kids cheering?

Here's a quick and easy way to wrap cookies to take all those parties.

 



Let me start by confessing that I'm a bit of a germaphobe.  It gives me the heebie jeebies to think about 30 kids' grubby little hands grabbing cookies off a plate at a party.  Not that your or my  child's hands would be grubby, of course.

 

Then about a month ago my 10-year old, T., had to take cookies in for a cultural project on Italy.  We baked pizzelle cookies.  An e-mail from the teacher the day before the project told us that parents were not allowed to bring the food into the classroom, the students had to carry their own food in.  (Don't ask me why.  I didn't make the rules)  I could just see T. juggling his backpack and a box of cookies.... and dropping the cookies or bustin' them all up jostling them into school.

 

The easy solution was to wrap each cookie in wax paper and then slip them into a CD envelope.  T. wrote "pizzelle" on each envelope since it was a learning-about-Italian-culture cookie not a fun cookie. (wink) 

 

For a fun party, you could easily decorate the envelope with stickers or rubber stamp designs on it.  The sky's the limit when it comes to decorating a plain while envelope.

 

 

It was so easy for T. to carry the cookies in to school this way and none of the cookies got broken or germy on the way.  Whew.

 



 

We're Moving Again and #CB2NovogratzBrazilSweepstakes

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of CB2 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's official.  We're moving again this summer.  This time we're just moving across town, so that should be easy. Ha!

 I'm excited to organize new spaces, but our new house has rooms that we don't have furniture for, like a craft room for me yea! and a basement. Buying new furniture seems daunting.  I'm happy that CB2 and the Novogratzs (have you seen their amazing, colorful, quirky designs?  I love them)  have teamed up to provide a new furniture collection just for me.  I love the bold colors and simple lines of the furniture.  There's also those famous Novogratz playful touches to add if you want.

CB2 and Novogratz Collection

The new furniture collection is inspired by the Novogratzs' vacation home in Brazil.  To celebrate the release of the collection this month,  you can enter to win the CB2 and Novogratz Brazil Giveaway. The winner and 3 friends (Hey, C., J., K,, S.,  Mom, Dad, brother, I'd love to go to Brazil with you!)  could win a trip to Trancoso, Brazil to stay a week at the Novogratz vacation home.  I could use that trip after moving this summer!  But I'd be just as thrilled to be one of the 10 lucky winners receiving a CB2 $100 gift card and a personally signed copy of the book "Home by Novogratz."  The sweepstakes runs from May 2nd through June 3rd.  Run, don't walk, to enter {here} on Facebook.

CB2 and Novogratz Brasil Sweepstakes

 

I've already picked out the Dupla Credenza and Soneca Pendant Lamp for my craft room. I'm inspired by the simple lines and the bold colors.

 

Oh, and since I should think about the rest of the family, too (can you tell I'm excited about the craft room?!) I think the Botao Sectional would be perfect for the basement.  Those bright colors will make sure our basement is never dark and depressing.  On top of being cheerful, it looks super comfy.  I'm really hoping that our new house becomes the hang out spot for my kids and their friends.  This couch would definitely encourage that.

 

So, I'm off now to enter the sweepstakes and dream

 

 

Our Moveable Garden

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Because we move every couple of years with the military, we've never really put much effort into our gardens. We maintain whatever comes with the house, but never put our own mark on the garden. 

 

Last year my son, T., had a wonderful teacher, Mr. C.,  that shared his passion for the environment with his students.  Mr. C. gave each student a sapling last May to plant in their yards.  T. also dug up a tree while on a nature hike with Mr. C. in an area that was about to be bulldozed to make way for the construction of a new school.  So thanks to Mr. C. we ended up with two trees to care for and move with us.

 

  

Last year we planted these precious baby trees in large pots so that we can move them with us where ever we go next.

 

 

The pots were functional but kinda boring.  Miracle-Gro's The Gro Project encouraged us to care for our earth-friendly green trees (pun intended) in a special way.

After exploring Miracle-Gro's The Gro Project for inspiration The Gro Project, this spring we decided we wanted to decorate the pots and take care of our plants in preparation for spring and summer growth. 

T. and I headed over to Miracle Gro's Pinterest page to get some ideas. fun garden projects.  There were some really great projects there, we really liked the Toyarium idea, but we'll  keep that one in mind for another day and smaller plants.

 

We decided to start by decorating our existing pots.  We grabbed some wrapping paper and a pineapple image that we really like {source}.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We mod podged (isn't mod podge a verb?) the back of the paper.

 

 

We used the lip of the plant pot to position our paper and then used the Mod Podge to seal the outside of the images, paying particular attention to the sides of the paper.

 

 

T's happy with the way his pot turned out.

 

 

And I'm happy with how my pot turned out (the pink paper adds a fun touch without being too, too  much).

 

Now that we have fun decorated pots, it was time to take care of feeding our precious trees.  I headed over to the Mircale-Gro webpage to find the right plant food for my baby trees. Miracle-Gro  I'm going to try the Shake n' Feed All-purpose Plant Food because we do have problems with weeds growing in these pots. Shake’n Feed All Purpose Plant Food   We want to feed these baby trees AND prevent those pesky weeds.

 T. and I are pleased with our Moveable Garden and happy that we can be good stewards caring for our baby trees. (Mr. C. would be proud).

Be sure to follow the Miracle-Gro Pinterest page so you can see T. and I share our Moveable Garden project and all the other great ideas there.   Also be sure to check out Miracle-Gro online yourself for their expert tips for gardens and garden problems.  The great resources helped us determine the right plant food to get for our babies, and Miracle-Gro can help you do the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Farm Animal Book Huggers

 

A couple of weeks ago I shared my Felt Flower Book Hugger Bookmarks. {here}  Originally I was inspired by Nancy at Do Small Thing with Love.  She has an easy to follow tutorial (complete with a pattern) {here} on how to make a Cow Book Hugger.

 

 

 

One night when I needed a distraction from the stress of house hunting I whipped up my own Cow Book Hugger.

 

 

This is going to be a "just because" gift for my college roommate, B.  She grew up on a dairy farm and I always had such a wonderful time visiting her family on the farm.

 

 

 

 

I was so pleased with how the cow book hugger turned out (and I still needed to be distracted from the stress of house hunting) that I decided to make a pig book hugger.

 

 

 

 

 

You don't need a pattern, just cut an oval for the head, a smaller oval for the snout, 2 smaller circles for eyes, and 4 total triangles for the ears. 

 

 

The pig looks a little crazed, but it makes me smile.  It looks like how I was feeling when I made it.

 

 

 

 

Next time I'm stressed I plan on making a chicken to add to the farm.  But for now, I really like these two guys.