Showing posts with label Our Take on Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Our Take on Life. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The S.I.P Project

Hello All!
I was writing a guest post for an awesome blog all about service today so I didn't have time to post here, sorry! But it was for a good reason and sometimes it's good to step away from your own projects and help out someone else's!
The post for The S.I.P. Project that I did will be up next Tuesday and I will be sure to put a link up to it when it is published, until then go check it out and get inspired to do something for someone else!
 
Happy Wednesday!
 
 
 


Saturday, August 31, 2013

Show and Tell Saturday: Cheap and Easy Decor

We love to decorate for the Holidays, but store bought decorations can be so expensive! DIY supplies can be expensive! We went a few years without really decorating much because we couldn't afford it. Or that's what we thought. The past few years we have decided that we are going to find ways to decorate the house for various holidays without having to shell out a ton of dough. Will you ever see our house in a magazine because of our decorations? Heavens, no. Are some of the decorations slightly cheesy? Yes. But we found it is way more fun to have cheap and cheesy decorations and to add some festivity to the house than it is to just wallow in our poor pity and not do anything at all. So...I know the major holiday season is still a little ways off, but it'll come fast. I'll show you some of the things we've done for each season around the house, and some of our plans for future cheap seasonal decor.

Autumn:
Our biggest "trick" when decorating for Autumn is to try and incorporate nature into our decor. Autumn is so full of great colors and textures. Take a walk in your neighborhood and see what you have around you. This can work in rural or urban surroundings. Pick up leaves, nuts,dry and dead flowers, grass, twigs, rocks, etc. You can put these in bowls, vases, on wreaths, topiaries, etc. With the rocks you can even pick up boring ol' gravel pieces and paint them (solid colors or designs) to fill a vase or bowl. A few years ago I went out in my front yard to gather acorns to put in a bowl and found that the animals had beat me to them. But, there were still a ton of the acorn "shell" tops left, so I gathered those up, along with a bucket full of yucca pods. Luckily I already had 2 Styrofoam balls on hand (I don't remember why), and so I glued the acorn shells and the yucca pods to the balls to make a topiary and a yucca ball. I love the color and naturey touch they add to the house, especially during the fall.  

Use nature items (gourds, leaves, rocks, etc.) as name "cards" for a fun autumny dinner. 


Halloween:
My husband's favorite holiday is Halloween. I'm not a huge fan of gruesome Halloween decorations, or the overly cheesy Walmart decorations, so the past 2 years I've worked hard to come up with our own style of Halloween decor. 
 From bottom to top:
Bloody Candles: Pinspired Project (see next picture).
Dried Corn: WalMart
Troll (by the corn): Gift from my brother-in-law from his time in Norway.
 Black and White Photos: Photos my Great-Grandfather (Em's Grandfather) took.
Quidditch Photo: Personal photo project. 
Boots: From a local thrift/antique/consignment store. 
Framed Leaf: Melted Crayon Project
Yucca Ball: DIY
Metal Kaleidoscope: Gift from a friend. 

To make these we lit a red taper candle and let it drip on the white candle, turning the white candle as needed.  

I found these boots at a local thrift/antique/consignment shop and had to have them as they were only $10. They are way to small for my feet but I knew they'd make a fun fall/Halloween centerpiece and/or decoration. 

 From left to right:
Witch's wreath (there hanging on the wall on the left of the piano...click the link to see it better...it was made from items we all usually throw away): DIY from previous year 
Mummy head topiary and Ghost: DIY from previous year 
Necktie Garland: DIY from previous year
Leaves: Walmart. I put them in an orange vase we found in the house when we moved in. The vase is being held up in a bowl we got for our wedding by 4 dried ears of corn. 
Halloween Silhouettes hung on a ribbon with clothes pins: DIY from previous year. These always get comments from visitors and they were so much fun and so easy to make! We keep these in a folder during the year so they don't get munched in the Halloween box. 

And then last year in the Dining Room was my Batmobile. Hehe...I'm so punny. 

Thanksgiving:
We actually haven't really done anything specific for Thanksgiving yet. I want to. Maybe this year? These are a few ideas I have on my Thanksgiving Pinterest board:
http://www.freshlychopped.blogspot.com/
I love the look of the leaves and clothespins. This would work great for just regular fall/autumn decor as well. To make it Thanksgiving decor each leaf could have things we're thankful for written on them in gold or black ink.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourhomebasedmom/8173548067/in/photostream
I like the quote more than the decor in this one. This could be written on a table runner, a chalk board, done up in a cool font in Word and printed out, etc.

Christmas/Winter
Our Christmas and Winter decor is all the same thing in our house. I always feel like we have a ton of Christmas decor, but then when we go to pull it out I find that we don't. Most of it is from my single days and our first year of marriage...so most of it is kinda corny and cheap. I've been working on getting a few more items made, but I haven't gotten very far yet this year (my goal was to make 5 decorations by September...I have one last one to finish up today to reach that goal). 

Tin Can Luminaries:
http://madebymarquette.blogspot.com/2011/08/tin-can-luminaries.html (this link shows step by step how I made these). 
I made about 10 of these for our 5th Anniversary dance that we held. I still have most of them kicking around. At the time I made them I used ribbons in our wedding colors to decorate the cans with, and I've just used them like that for Christmas decor, but I think this year I'm going to pull those off and use some Christmas ribbon, maybe some burlap (small amounts...I'm not a burlap-a-holic), maybe some mistletoe or pine clippings. We fill these with beans or rice for sturdiness and then add a candle (real or battery operated). We have a drawer in our kitchen where we store extra cans to use for projects like this.

Christmas/winter nature decor:
The blog this originated from is no longer online. 
We go and cut our own Christmas tree each year (we live where it's free to get a permit and the National Forest is just down the road), and it always needs a little bit of trimming up once we bring it home. Before we've just chucked the trimmed branches out in the yard but this year I think I'll save one or two and do something like this.

Wood bucket Christmas Tree stand:
We happened on this tradition completely by accident (you can read about that here). We needed to improvise a tree stand and after looking around the yard found these wood planter buckets that previous tenants had left. With the help of bricks, a no. 10 tin can, and gravel, we were able to rig up our own free tree stand. It's now tradition to use that bucket. Okay...we've only done it for 2 years now, but as long as that bucket holds up...we're going to use it as our tree stand. 

DIY paper ornaments:
http://madebymarquette.blogspot.com/2012/12/new-years-tree.html
We made these for New Years with metallic wrapping paper we bought in the after Christmas sales. But I remember making these as kids for our Christmas tree. My grandparents made these out of newspaper for their Christmas tree when they were newlyweds and broke. These look neat out of pretty paper, regular paper, newspaper, etc.

The Rest of the Year:
I'm really bad about doing any special decorations for the rest of the year. My house stays pretty much the same from when we take down the Christmas decor (anywhere from January to the end of March, lol) until we pull out the Autumn decor. I don't know why I don't decorate the rest of the year...it would be fun. I guess the rest of the year I usually just work on "regular" stuff for the house. Even during the "rest of the year" though, we keep our decorating as simple and cheap as we can. Most of what we have in our house are things that friends or family were giving away, things we found super cheap at the thrift store, and things we made. You don't have to spend a ton of money to be able to decorate. You don't have to be super artsy or crafty to create things for your living space. Don't know where to start? Start with pictures and photos. Hang them on your wall, put them on your book shelves, set them on your tables. Hang snapshots next to "formal" portraits. Find art pieces you like at your local thrift store (you can find gems amid the tigers painted on velvet, adorned with glitter and rabbit paws). Print photos your grandparents took. Write or print out a favorite quote or verse and frame it (we have some super cheap frames that I put around the house that we switch out contents when I find a new verse that inspires me, or something that I find beautiful). Don't worry about having the magazine or Pinterest perfect home. Use magazines and Pinterest as idea starters if you want, but don't think that your home has to look like that or it's not a home. Those rooms in those "manufactured" pictures were most likely only that way for as long as it took to take the picture. What makes a room feel light and loved is you. Live in it. Let it be yours. Let it have a pile of clutter...most of us do. Don't feel like you have to be Martha Stewart or a Kardashian in order to create or afford a beautiful home. It's your home, not theirs after all.


Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Paper Crafts and Observing Spaces

Occasionally (read: every other day) you look at the clock happy with your accomplishments of the day just to realize that it's 8 PM and it was your day to blog. And you haven't. Well poop.
 
Today is obviously one of those days. In my defense I finished a project I have had on my list for the better part of 6 weeks or so.
You will get to see it for next week's Show-and-Tell Saturday!
 
Well we got this fun little post by Cena that I thought was different, fun, and creative. I really like her writing too, it really brought the story to life! Check it out!
 
Paper Crafts
The Pinspirations
 
 
 
 
 
(Some of her links wouldn't load, but you get the jist!)
 
These were all her inspiration for a few of her fun paper creations she made for a play going on in her community, check out her versions!
 
The Pin-Wins!
 



 
 So Cena made all these for the local theatre she participates in and had some good reminders to share with us that might help you skip some of the troubles that she had, check it out!
 
"While I would classify this as a 'pin win', I DID trip and fall into several common Pinterest 'pitfalls' along the way.
I'm involved heavily in local theatre. One of the things I find myself doing time and time again is props for shows. As a creative endeavor it is FANTASTIC! It's part shopping, part treasure hunt, and part crafting adventure. It seems every show has it's own unique challenges and quirky props. I've made everything from 20 nativity Jesus ornaments out of salt dough, to a Hitler baby doll (don't ask), to fake suppositories made of white chocolate (really don't ask).
My latest foray in props centered heavily around paper. I turned to Pinterest for instructions for paper flowers and other papery inspiration. I found tons!
 
Now, as for my mistakes (and there were several):
 
Mistake #1: Underestimating the amount of time required for the craft.
 
I am SO guilty of this one. Unfortunately, due to the nature of plays I had a pretty strong deadline. And while I'm sure that we can all agree that deadlines can be very motivating they are also incredibly stressful and not really the best thing for creativity.  I was foolhardy enough to take on this project while I was already stage managing the show. Between work and rehearsals I had very little time to work on the props. As a consequence I ended up alone in a dark echoing theatre at 11 at night gluing bits of newspaper to a roasting pan. I'm sure there's the potential for a horror movie in there somewhere.
 
Mistake #2: Failing to show the proper respect for the hot glue gun.
 
It's a very useful tool. I love it. It has a fearsome wrath. I really don't suggest using one while wearing shorts. I now have the scar to prove it.
First there's the drip, followed by the searing burn- then you've grabbed it with your fingers. Which isn't really a terribly good idea is it? You go to rub it off and- ABORT ABORT! Do NOT rub it on this shirt, you like this shirt! So instead you end up frantically rubbing your fingers together and stretching them apart madly. A motion that might remind one of a demented crab. Respect the glue gun.
 
Mistake #3: Failure to think about your space.
 
A pin can be wonderful, beautiful, amazing, and still not work with your space . It could match nothing you own, it might have pointy bits that don't agree with small children, or in my case, it might require a ten foot ceiling. I saw the much pinned lamp with the paper lamp shade and it was perfect. Fit the paper theme, fit the line in the play "A house made of paper?",  just perfect. I made a pattern, made a bajillion tiny houses, tore a  lamp shade apart so I could use the metal hoops for a framework (very therapeutic), and hung it in the theatre with its delightfully high ceiling.  After the show was over the lamp needed a new home and I was determined to keep it. So now I hit my head on it regularly. On the plus side it is made of paper so it's considerably less traumatic than other head on collisions. "
 
I like your writing style Cena, very playful and yet still informative!! And all of your paper crafts turned out wonderfully!! You're theatre company is lucky to have you on hand! One thing in particular about your e-mail really spoke to me though, "Failure To Think About Space".
I think she makes a really good point here, sometimes the Pinstrosity itself isn't the craft. It's how the craft doesn't fit with anything else you have, or doesn't do what you were hoping it would in a certain space, or as a gift etc. Many a time I have bought something at a yard sale or thrift store just to bring it home and realize it really doesn't mesh and back into the secondhand kingdom it goes. Such is life, just make the best of it eh? Sometimes it doesn't work and a bow, or a new paint job will do the trick...sometimes not. I feel that that is the best lesson we see here. Not all the things we create will mesh with our space, or meet their intentions, AND THAT IS OK!!!!! And when this happens, go with the flow, it's just a craft, it's just a pin, and there will ALWAYS be more.
Breath in, breath out, relax, and move on :)
 
Happy (late) Wednesday!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Happy 4th of July!!

Marquette texted me this morning that the lightning storm last night knocked out their internet and asked me to get up a little update. That same storm had me up at 3ish this morning and then sleeping with my fingers in my ears. Boo for lightning, happy for the rain though!!!
We are both with family today, and at some point will probably be with each other celebrating our beautiful country's Independence Day!
We hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July that is full of friends family and celebrating our nation's birthday!
And if you're a reader who isn't from around our neck of the woods (err...country, lol) we hope you have an awesome Thursday!!
Much love,
The Pinstrositeers




Monday, May 27, 2013

Mix It Up Monday: Memorial Day

I find it only fitting to pay tribute this day to our great country and the brave men and women who have fought to make it that way.
 
Thank you does not seem to suffice for all that has been done for our country, but I will say it anyways.
 
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts to the brave men and women who have, and are currently serving our country.
Also thank you to the many loved ones of our service men and women who have also sacrificed that our great country might be free.
 
May God bless this great country.
Please everyone have a great day with family and friends and be safe!
 
Love, The Pinstrositeers
 
P.S. If anyone is interested in writing to our soldiers, here is a link to a website that specializes in just that. I have participated in the program and would highly recommend it. I am sure these letters are really meaningful and welcome to those who are currently serving away from home.
 
 
 


Thursday, April 18, 2013

Lessons Learned Through Pinstrosities


Most of us have learned valuable lessons through Pinterest and our Pinstrosities. 

Kelli learned that these 2-ingredient lemon bars need a pan bigger than a 9x13:

Shannon learned that this "17 Ways to Never Have a Bad Hair Day Again" list needs a different name:

Amy learned not to walk down the street on a hot day to deliver banana split bites to a neighbor:
I think the bananas needed to be a little shorter too...

Abigail learned that the tip she saw on Pinterest about substituting mayo for eggs doesn't work in every recipe:


And Rachael learned that not all "DIY Cleaners" pins on Pinterest are safe:

"My name is Rachael and I am a military wife living in Georgia. My husband is currently deployed and I am a stay at home mom for the time being so I am a huge pinterest lover. Well, most of my projects come out great! However, last night I rescued a chihuahua from a really bad situation and after bathing it and putting it in the kitchen with my other dog I realized it had worms (icky) so I decided even though it was 2 am, I needed to disinfect my kitchen floor and separate the dogs. I had pinned a post for super disinfectant mop solution some time ago so I decided to pull it up. The recipe called for a gallon of water 1 cup of vinegar, 1 cup of bleach, and 2 tbsp of dawn dish soap. Excited to try this new thing I got out my mop bucket, products and mixing cups. I poured it all in the bucket and as soon as I added the bleach, a white cloud of chemicals started rising out of my mop bucket. I freaked and went to move my dogs out of the way and she knocked over the bucket. So I sopped it all up and proceeded to call poison control because my eyes were burning and some got on my feet and it was burning and my whole house had an awful smell. I was told to open all the windows in my home, run fans and get myself and the two dogs and my toddler out of the house immediately. By this time is was three am. I woke up my two year old and me and the two dogs and her sat outside from 3-4 am in the freezing cold waiting for the fumes to dissipate. I tried to find the pin to attach it, but it has been deleted due to my actions of reporting it! My family got a good laugh and I'm trying to find the humor in the awful night, lol. I love your site and blog. Thanks for bringing lots of smiles to my face during the hard third deployment."


And then sometimes we have lessons that we learn completely free and clear of Pinterest. They end up being more of Lifestrosities. We had a recent one in our house. I had a huge chunk of work to do one week and was barely staying afloat, so my sweet husband worked on cleaning the house for me. I was in the zone and not paying much attention as he was straightening the kitchen and loading the dishwasher. It wasn't until I saw something white moving across the floor than I looked over and chuckled. 

Cameron learned that when you're out of dishwasher detergent...you can't pour in regular dish soap. 

Teehee...he hadn't noticed yet. I grabbed the camera and snapped a photo just before he turned and discovered the adventure pouring out of the dishwasher. Poor guy had no idea this would happen. Here he was thinking he was the most awesome husband in the world as he cleaned the kitchen and rocked out to The Pogues, only to look up and discover the never ending spew of bubbles. So what do you do at this point? You mop. And Mop. And Mop. And Mop. Our floor is cleaner than it's been in a long time! 


It took 3 full runs of the dishwasher before it quit looking like this inside:

We laughed about this all day. And that brings me to my final "lesson learned" of the day. Don't let these "life lessons" (be they Pinstrosities or Lifestrosities) get you mad or down. Life is too full of stress and dumb things to be mad all the time. I'm glad we have the bubble mess as a funny memory to look back on rather than one where we got mad and made a huge deal over nothing. Life happens. There will be ups and downs. Just breathe (well...unless you're Rachael...then breathe once you're out of the fuming house), smile, take a picture, and try to find something funny or good about the situation. As Eleanor Hodgman Porter wrote in her book Polyanna, "You see, when you're hunting for the glad things, you sort of forget the other kind." Find the glad in life. It'll make thing much more bearable. 


Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Get Your Mojo Back

Em here, so school is in full on panic mode. The semester is already half over and it's going to be crunch time soon. This last one has been one for the books! When I have a lot going on at school I tend to not feel very creative when it comes to writing for blog land and get discouraged when I feel writers block.
 
I suspect that this feeling comes to many of us when we are in the midst of something we usually love but feel less than creative about currently.
This is me right now.
About the blog.
I am sure you have noticed that I haven't been writing as much, and how much of a Super Woman Marquette is. I really don't know how she does it all.
 When I am writing and reading for assignments at school all the time it can be hard to find the motivation to write for fun here on the blog. School can take the pleasure out of it and I usually have someone telling me what to write about which is hard to not have here on the blog. Lately my brain has had NO idea what to write about because I have literally zero requirements given to me by someone! What a novel idea! Writing whatever you want?! It doesn't have to be on APA style?! No literary sources needed?! Shouldn't I be jumping on this opportunity?
I should!
But my brain hurts! And I am tired and want to do literally ANYTHING but write.
 
How do I get back my creative mojo?!
 
I am sure we have all been here. This can happen with anything really, cooking, crafting, doing our hair/makeup, gardening, workouts, or even blog writing.
So how do we get our Mojo back?!
How do we get out of the rut?!
One thing that can be hard is having TOO many resources. It's hard to focus on one thing, one topic, one specific task. Case in point: Pinterest.
 
 
 
Pinterest is a seemingly endless supply of creative ideas. But for some of us (myself included) it can be a little daunting. When I do a search on Pinterest for something in particular I tend to not find exactly what I am looking for, or I end up finding WAY too much and then I tend to get discouraged, bombarded, and overwhelmed. All of the sudden I feel the need to cook a homegrown, organic, home cooked, eight course meal that is both  pleasing to the eye, the waste line and nutritious in under thirty minutes. Anyone been there with me? It sucks.
How to fix this:
-Make your searches more refined.
Say you are looking for a garden bench. Try searching for garden bench and then try something more specific, like purple garden bench, or DIY garden furniture, or barn wood garden benches. That way you aren't overwhelmed with every garden bench under the sun staring you in the face, you just see the ones that suite your purpose.
-Be realistic.
For this I would just be more picky about how you organize your pins. Are you really going to paint your living room 15 different colors? Probably not. Does it inspire you and make you smile? Yes! Is there anything wrong with pinning things like this? No.
I would pins things like this to a Smiles board, or Creative Inspiration board, that way you have it when you need it. But for your boards with actual projects pin things to this board that you can actually see having in your home. I have the problem that when I look at my unorganized boards I  get sidetracked from what I would actually use and switch to "Man I wish didn't live in an apartment so I could all this cool stuff." This negativity dampens my creative mood and things tend to just go down from there. Perhaps I am the only one who sees things like this but I am hoping this can be helpful to someone.
 
For whatever it is that you are stuck on, go back to the beginning. In my case I should go back to the first few months of Pinstrosity when I would write ALL the time. I couldn't get enough! I was so excited and enthusiastic! I wanted to write about it all! This may help you see how far you have come and help you to appreciate your own work and gain some confidence.
Going back to where it all began often gives me the fresh eyes I once had that enables me to do my work now.
 
Often playing hooky makes me miss it. If I am having a day where I can tell I am just NOT going to get a post in that day, it makes me crave it! You always want what you can't have.
Having a hard time getting into your workouts?
Take a day or two off. You aren't going to get fat I promise. When I skip a workout lately I feel icky and sluggish. It is just that much more of a push to get my butt off the couch the next day. You don't even have to break the routine all together, go for a walk instead of weight training, go swimming instead of running. Break the routine and you may see why it's been such a drag lately.
 
Sometimes all we need to get out of a rut is a small change, change your music, change your color scheme your working with, instead of baking try cooking or go vegetarian for a few days, challenge yourself. I feel that quite often we get bored with things that were once our favorite activities if we aren't being challenged in someway. Find a way to take it up a notch.
 
Take time for yourself.
I think this is the most important. We as people are generally WAY too busy all of the time. Take a chill day, or a chill 15 minutes. Read a book, take a bath, heck take a nap! It's good for your health, it's good for your sanity and it may be just what you need to break a rut.
 
 
I know this post wasn't a Pinstrosity but maybe it can help prevent some Pinstrosities and get your creative juices flowing.
Thinking of ways to get my mojo back was a fun break from the usual for me and should do the trick in getting me back on track.
Happy Wednesday Pinstrosipeeps!
 
 
 


Saturday, March 2, 2013

Spring Cleaning

It's March! It's March! It's March!! I'm slightly excited. Okay, I'm really excited. February is a rough month...it's cold, it's busy, and cloudy. At least that's how it is here. I think that's why February is the shortest month, to get us all through it. I'm excited for the oncoming warmth and bliss. While I'm excited for the warmth, it also means that it is time to get serious about getting my house in order and getting reorganized. That's a daunting task to me this year. I feel a little overwhelmed. But I'm finding some things that are giving me some ideas to help with the spring cleaning and getting motivated to jump into this project and I thought I'd share some of them with you. 

First off, Martha Stewart. Now, don't let those to words scare you off. She has some really neat daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal checklists that seem quite doable. These are definitely on my list of things to try out. 
Six Things to Do Every Day
http://www.marthastewart.com/274764/cleaning-checklists/@center/276998/organizing-checklists

Another cleaning list I found that looks pretty doable is this 30 minutes a week deep cleaning schedule:
30 minutes per week house cleaning schedule
http://www.thecountrychiccottage.net/2013/01/30-minutes-per-week-house-cleaning.html

Our house is in desperate need of a deep clean and I'm hoping those two schedules will help me get that done. I also found these pins that give some great tips on how to get specific items cleaned:

http://www.crunchybetty.com/clean-your-drains-with-baking-soda-and-vinegar-surprise
And natural cleaners are highly popular right now. Here's a great post with 2 recipes for some great natural cleaners:
http://missabigailshopechest.blogspot.com/2011/10/home-ec-lesson-natural-cleaners.html
And the fridge. Isn't that always one of the worst jobs when it gets time to deep clean the kitchen? I hate  it. But I did find an awesome idea that will help me out next time. After I clean the fridge this time I think I'm going to make me some of these awesome fridge mats. Just pull the mat out and clean it rather than having to climb into the fridge and awkwardly balance in the half squat position while trying to scrub the shelves. 
http://www.itsanorganizedchaos.com/tutorials/day-3-the-coolest-spot-in-the-house-just-became-even-cooler-fridge-coasters-tutorial/

In addition to wanting to get the house clean, I want to get organized and put together. I need to get the house where there is a specific place for everything. Right now we have a lot of floaters. Items without homes. But the problem is...we don't really have homes for them. There are a lot of things we need to get rid of, but there are the things we want/need to keep. We just need to create homes for those items. One idea I found will help give new homes to items and it will help free up our seating issue in the living room:

select cabinets to fit window seat area
http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-build-window-seat-from-wall-cabinets/index.html
I would love to have window seats. That'd by so handy and warm and fun. This is definitely on my to do list for this spring. 

There's a great idea on Miss Abigail's Hope Chest about creating a Homemaking File Box. 
http://missabigailshopechest.blogspot.com/2011/09/homemaking-file-box.html
At first I thought, "Hey! I should just make a Homemaking File Box Pinterest board!" but as I've thought on it I've realized reasons why having a physical box might actually be good. Right now I have full access to the internet at home, but that hasn't always been the case and it may not always be the case in the future, so it would be good to have it all handy and in place. Another thing is that with the Pinterest board, the pins would just be scattered all over the board and I've have to search through them all for the pin I want. With the file box I would know exactly which folder to look in for "Removing stains" or "Planning a Menu".

I've also decided lately that I want to learn to cook with fresh herbs and to have my own little herb garden, but I didn't want to use up counter space. They wouldn't survive outside either (we'll see if I can even keep them alive inside...I don't have a good history with plants). I did find this idea for a hanging herb garden and I love it. 
dremel_plant_rod_1
http://www.houseofhepworths.com/2011/08/18/kitchen-rail-turned-hanging-planter/
This would kill two birds with one stone. I'd have my herb garden, but then I'd also be fulfilling number 3 on this list I'm trying to incorporate in my home:
And then there's the decorating. I have so many ideas for how I want to decorate out home. I like a mixture of styles honestly. I'm kind of a shaker/arts and crafts/cottage/county/classic/naturalist kind of girl. Now I know, some of those styles contradict each other a little bit, but I'm slowly finding a way to make them work. Once I get the house clean, I want to try to decorate a little more. I've gotten some good ideas from this little gem from an earlier post we did:
Creative Ways To Decorate Small Space
http://www.lincolnapts.com/Apartments/module/blog/action/view_content/?p=542
Here are a few of the things I want to do in my attempt to decorate my home:

The Wall Vases:
http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2012/02/wine-bottle-wall-vase.html

061710wallvase-01_rect540
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/5-favorite-wall-vases-119729
A framed pin cushion (which I'd hang on the wall right by my sewing desk):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/made_in_monty/4471670922/

Photos in Pie and Cake Tins for the awkward space between the tops of the cupboards and the roof:
http://homerestyleruk.blogspot.com/2011/10/bake-your-cake-hang-tin-on-wall.html
Pillow Cases:
http://www.honeybearlane.com/2012/01/ten-minute-pillow-cases.html
Embellished Dish Towels:
Tn_IMG_1008 copy
http://sweetwater.typepad.com/makelifesweet/2011/09/the-fair.html

So I know those are huge projects or ideas, but it's the little touches that can really give a good pop I think. We'll see at least. What plans do you have for Spring Cleaning and decorating? We'd love to see what you've got planned!