Bread Crumbs

Front Closet Refresh This probably seems like a boring post, but I'm super excited about it. My front closet while great has just sorta bugged me since we moved in two years ago. I've tried to redo it so many times and nothing really worked. Thanks to the MOPS Magazine and an article on, "Aesthetics of Joy" it gave me a creative boost. The article is an interview of Ingrid Fetell Lee who created the website The Aesthetics of Joy . Ingrid gives some fun and creative ideas on how to add joy into your home. Follow along to find out what tip I used in my house! Before Let's get the ugly before picture done and over with. See ugly and boring. A little dirty looking with little to no storage. This is where our shoes, coats, and bookbags live. We also had board games at the top, but they were becoming too much so I moved some downstairs to the basement.  What I was wanting was a bright, fresh closet with ample storage. What I got was that and JOY! After First step was ne...

So if you all are like me then you pin all kinds of things to   Pinterest   but rarely do them. I love to clean and went crazy pinning a whole bunch of tips but never got around to trying them until the other day. I don't know if I just never noticed how gross my microwave got or that it just happened recently, but man was I embarrassed at how dirty it had gotten. That got me thing that I remember pinning something awhile back that one of my friends said worked wonders for her. Here are some before pictures. Yes, that is how bad my microwave got before I noticed. I am completely embarrassed by that fact as I love a clean house. Apparently my microwave was neglected in the last year or so. I used this wonderful cleaning and shine tip from One Good Thing by Jillee .  It takes three easy steps and products you already have in your home. You need a microwave safe bowl or if you have 2-cup measuring cup that would work too. I used a bowl as I didn't hav...

Winter this year has been terrible. It's snowed a ton and just been plain freezing for the last two months so we haven't been able to get out much. The play dates we go on have been great as had the library, but I've been trying to come up with other ways to keep her entertained and learning at the same time on those days we are stuck inside the house. After browsing around Pinterest one morning I found this  Fun Toddler Activity  pin that I pinned awhile back. I happened to have tons of extra cardboard boxes from the holidays o I thought I would give it a try. Supplies: Cardboard Box Markers (though you can probably use crayons or colored pencils as well) Balls or Toys that are solid color X-ACTO Knife or Scissors Packing Tape The first thing I did was try to find a cup or mug that was big enough for the balls we have to fit through them. Once I found that the canister from my food processor was the perfect size I went through my markers to see if I had...

My sweet little girl turned one on December 12th. I still can't believe it has been a year. I thought my pregnancy went by fast but this first year went even faster. On December 7th we celebrated Lexi birthday with our immediate family with a Pretty in Pink birthday celebration. My idea behind it was that I didn't want to spend a crazy amount on her party since she won't remember any of it. Everyone told me that the first birthday is more for the parents and family anyways. I totally agree and after looking at various themes I liked the idea of Pretty in Pink.  Decorations My decoration ideas came from Pinterest and were simple and inexpensive. I got all of the supplies at the Dollar Tree and I had the scrap booking paper on hand already.  Her birthday banner I made using scrap booking paper and the computer. My husband printed out the letters and we cut them out and pasted them to the circles I cut out. I used the food processor canister for the size of the circl...

I finally got a night to start and even better finish crafting!!! Lexi is going to be a Bumblebee for Halloween and it came with this hat that has antennas on it. Well Lexi's head is way too big for it. So with the help of Pinterest I found a way to make my own from a blog I follow called Living Well Spending Less . She is amazing and has really great recipes, crafts, and tips. After stopping by Jo-Ann Fabrics to pick up my supplies this was very easy to make. Here is what you'll need to get started: Black Elastic Headband Pipe Cleaners Pom Poms Hot Glue Gun I couldn't find black elastic headband so I bought black elastic necklaces instead.  The first thing I did was make sure the black elastic fit her head. Once that was done I wrap one black pipe cleaner in half around the elastic headband. I did the same thing about 3 inches or so from the first one so I had two antennas. At the very top I folded the ends down so they stayed together. After that I took my hot ...