Today I am thankful for Pinterest.....

I'm not showing you one of completed 30 Days of Thankful pages today as I wanted to show you how I took a Pinterest pin and created washi tape and journaling card storage and organization.

The pin below is from the blog "A Bowl Full of Lemons".  If you are into organization, planners, office supplies, etc then you need to check out this blog.

I thought this was a really clever idea to use dowels and 3M Command hooks to create washi storage.  I then took it a step further......

 Office supplies you may already have on hand.

 3M Command Center General Purpose Wire Hooks

3 hooks per package

Holds 1/2 pound

(Disclaimer:  I am not a paid spokesperson for 3M/Command products)

 I already had the dowels so it was just a matter of attaching the hooks to the wall so that the dowel fit on the hooks properly.  Super easy.  Totally my style!  My washi tape looks really pitiful.  I have more. Somewhere. I have to track it down.  I had two rolls that were much bigger that did not fit on the dowel.

 Since I knew I would not need the second dowel for washi tape I came up with this idea.  I put the clips on the rings and slid them onto the dowels.

 I've got six on there to start with.

I plan to add more after I use this for awhile.  I 

find it helpful to live with something to see how it

works first and then add to it over time.  As you can

see I have a package of buttons clipped on, several different types of journaling cards and 2 stamp

sets that are an odd size and don't fit with the rest of my stamp storage.  I use them for my Project Life pages.

This dowel is next to the table where I work on my Project Life album and I think this will be a great way to put items out on display and  actually put them into my albums.

I also have to give credit to Big Picture Classes and their Organizing FUNdamentals class that I took earlier this year.  Thanks to that class (and Wendy & Aly, the instructors) I have an organized, albeit messy, craft room that I enjoy being in.  I think about space differently and how to use/repurpose things for organizational purposes.  If I hadn't taken Organizing FUNdamentals I probably would not have paid attention to the Pinterest pin at the top of this post.  

Do you enjoy Pinterest?  Have you made or completed projects that you have pinned?

Get your photos out on display

 I found this old ladder this past summer in an antique/junk store.  It started it's life as a farm ladder (probably to a hay loft) and was twice it's current size.  The photo above is after my husband sanded and spray-painted it black.  

 I took one of my fall layouts and my fall bucket list layout, put them in page protectors and using the 3M velcro strips (in photo above) and applied them to the spine of the page protector.  So the spine of the page protector runs along the rung of the ladder.  This allows me to use the open side of the page protector to change out the layouts with the season or occasion.

 I then attached the page protectors to the back of the rungs with the other half of the 3M velcro strip.  

 Here's the top half of the ladder.  It's so hard to get a good photo this time of year.  Even out in the natural light.  It's been grey and overcast most of the day.

And the bottom part of the ladder.  I don't have a lot of table or display space in my home so this works really well for me as I have a few spots where I can lean it against an empty wall space.  It might also end up in my craft room which was my original intent.
This is another Pinterest project that I adapted for this purpose.  I am also going to use this for photos in the future as well.  I have some favorite photos that I plan to enlarge to 12 x 12.  
How do you display your layouts and photos?  

Keeping things organized

I struggle with this every week!  This is about as good as my tables get when I'm actively working on projects.  If you look at the top photo of the previous post you'll see what it looked like after I finished the Organizing FUNdamentals class at Big Picture Classes in the spring.
Since then I've completed a Pinterest project - the yellow stand that my adhesives and corner rounders are sitting on.  Not sure yet if this is how I'm going to use these piece long term - getting a feel for how to use it best.  I love the extra yellow accent color it brings to my room.
I've also added the long divided piece I found at an antique store for all my ProjectLlife cards, washi tape, date stamps, etc.  All it needed was some cleaning up as it was already black on the outside and grey on the inside.  My walls are grey, furniture is white or black and storage containers and baskets are yellow.  I feel so happy when I walk into this room!
The yellow plastic bin on the right in the photo is where I keep my photos and memorabilia ready to go into my Project Life album which is laid out.  This is working pretty well for me.  I'm not current with my album (rarely am) because I'm out enjoying summer life and doing the things on my Summer Bucket List.  This happens every year and I'll get caught up in the fall and winter.
What are your tips for staying organized andkeeping projects moving along?
Watch for my next post...I'll be sharing some exciting news!