Decorating-Photo Boxes & Card Swaps

These are photo boxes. I have seen these at Hobby Lobby for something like $2 each on sale. These are great ways to organize and decorate...they are also great gift boxes, just add a bow and they get some functional packaging they can use later.

I actually do use one for photos, fancy that! The other one I use for cards, I have homemade cards that I keep in here and when I need a card for a birthday or birth or whatever...I go right to this box and sort through them.

I will even admit that I did not make all the homemade cards in my box...just because they are homemade doesn't mean they were made in my home! :) Card swaps are a good way to get a variety of cards. The conditions vary depending on how your group does it but you basically have 8 people and you get together once a month and you all make 8 of the same card. You can have a theme, like weddings, birthday, or Summer fun, or whatever and you get there and then everyone gets one of each of the cards. So, you come away from there with 8 different cards for an occasion. There are usually refreshments and lots of chatting and fun, you might even make one card while you are there that would highlight the next month's theme. Anyway...its fun and its also productive!

Organization Tools-Cork Board Jewelry Holder

Hello Everyone!
Sorry I missed a day of posting, I was watching the Republican Convention and honestly was getting really tired by the end of it...I was ready to go to bed at 10pm...which hardly ever happens! So, I guess I had a busy day yesterday and it caught up with me early....but it was nice to get some sleep! It will certainly be an interesting election year here in the good old US of A...bring on the debates so we can see what they really plan to do!

I saw this idea in Real Simple and I thought it was so basic and so easy, I immediately went out to buy one of these cork boards and some cute little thumb tacks. The idea is to use a cork board to organize your jewelry because then the necklaces and things will not get tangled and are in plain sight for choosing. It recomended a smaller cork board but when I looked, I found I could buy a smaller one for the same price as a nice big corkboard...so, being in Texas, I decided to GO BIG! I bought the bigger one and have started to organize it as a jewelry holder. One of the reasons I love this is because I love to wear scarves and necklaces, but my necklaces are always getting tangled! So, this way they can all be in their own space and it makes it nice for me to pick out which one to wear because I can see them so clearly. I mounted mine in my closet, so its right next to my clothes and easy to pick out what to wear with my outfits. At night, if I get my outfit ready for the next day, I just put the necklace around the coat hanger so the entire outfit is together. I love the visual aspect of this because I can see everything at once and not jumbled up in a box. This picture is a little sparse but you get the idea. I haven't put all my stuff up there yet but I think its such a basic idea and a great organization tool!

I think I will also maybe do something like this for my scarves and tack clothes pins on the corkboard and just clip my scarves in. That was they will not get too wrinkled in a drawer and are easy to see and choose which one will be the perfect match.

***I wanted to add this after thought...you could really decorate this up for a girls room and put one of those feather boas around it or some other girlie things and just hang it on the wall.***