Labeling - my favorite ways to label

I have been hard at work organizing my scrap room! Have I ever told you I LOVE to label things??? Well I do and my scrap room is my favorite place to do a labeling project. If you are a scraper you know how messy things get when your scrapping. I sometimes have to stop and clean up a bit before I can continue working on a page. 

I like to have a place for all my scrapbooking supplies and have them at my finger tips. I use several different types of storage bins to keep my supplies organized. But what good is a bin with scrapbooking supplies in them if there is no label on the outside of the bin telling me what goodies are inside. 

I have a few favorite ways to label. 

1. My favorite is Washi tape and my label maker. I use this type of labeling for file folders, but also used it in my re-organizing of my scrap room.

2. Making my own and laminating. Sometime I need a "tough" label, or a label that can get messy and would need to be wiped off. I love to make my labels in Photoshop and use all the neat fonts out there. However, for Christmas I got a Silhouette and something tells me that I will be playing with that the next time I need to make a label! 

3. My other favorite way to label is with chalkboard labels. I love to use these on containers that the contents in the container might change. I am constantly organizing. Sometimes my "OMG this is an awesome organizing idea" ends up flopping after living with the idea in action. Being able to wipe the label and write a new label makes those not so great ideas disappear!

What ways do you label? I would love for you to share your ideas. I am always looking for new ideas.

Wine Bottles

Anyone that knows me, knows I like a good glass of wine! So I usually have an empty bottle or two sitting around. I received a chalkboard painted bottle for a gift from a friend. I keep it in my wine themed kitchen on the counter and love to write messages on my bottle. At Christmas I wrote Ho! Ho! Ho! at Easter a Happy Easter wish and when it is a family members birthday I write a birthday wish on it. There were many times I wish I had two more bottles to split the message up on 3 bottles. That's when I began to collect the empty bottles over the winter. As spring was approaching I got my bottles ready by removing all the labels.

I soaked them in hot water and used a razor blade to scrape off the all paper. Any left over residue I used a little Goo Gone to clean the bottles off. I then set them aside to dry and wait for warmer weather to spray paint them.

Here in Chicago we had a slow go from winter temps to spring temps. Actually I think summer is hear now but we had some unseasonable low temps. When the weather finally warmed up a bit to paint we had terrible winds. No good for spray painting! Finally I had a nice, warm, non-windy day and got all the bottles primed and painted! 

I added two extra bottles to my existing one on the counter and plan to make a count down till our Florida vacation on it. 

The next thing I wanted to do with the bottles was add some to my upper cabinet for wine decor in my kitchen. I first thought I would write one letter on each bottle of our last name. Well that would take 7 bottles and really who thinks our last name is decor let alone fits in my wine themed kitchen! So I decided with 4 bottles each one spelling out Vino. Much better!! I first tried to write with my chalk pen but did not like the results. I then tried with regular chalk and decided it is just my handwriting that I am not happy with. So I had to come up with another way to spell out vino on the bottles. I was cleaning up my scrap room and came across my vinyl.......light bulb! I immediately pulled out my cricket, found a font I liked and cut my letters out.

I loved how they came out! I gave them a home on top of my cabinet and can't wait to add some lighting!

Do you have any interesting things you have made with wine bottles? I would love to see them. Please leave me a link in the comments!

Chalkboard Painted Herb Pot

Spring is finally here in Chicago and the flowers are starting to arrive in stores. The problem in Chicago is our weather is crazy. Right now it is 70 degrees outside but they are predicting a chance of snow on Friday! Since our weather is unpredictable in the spring I have to grow several herbs and flowers inside until the weather is more predictable. I knew I needed to start growing my basil right away. I love basil and cook with it all the time, all summer long! But I also knew it would live on my kitchen counter for awhile so I wanted a planter with style. I looked in the stores but of course any planter I liked the cost was too much for me. I had an old terra cotta pot in my storage room so I decided to give it a new look with chalkboard paint.

I then grabbed my favorite chalk pen, dirt and picked up some sweet basil seeds in the store. I wrote basil on my pot with my chalk pen so I would know what was growing in it. 

My youngest son helped me pour the dirt, dump the seeds and give it some water. Wa la ~ a cute pot of basil that can live on my kitchen counter! I love it!

Easter Decorating

I love the colors of Easter/Spring and after a long, grey winter I love to decorate for Easter/Spring. With a new house I have been having a lot of fun decorating for each holiday. Here are some of my favorite Easter set ups in my home. Let's start with my mantel. This has become my favorite area to decorate because I did not have a mantel in my old home. My candle jars are my favorite decorating piece in my house! No matter what I am decorating for I can always find themed items to place inside them. 

Here is my dinning room table. I love to do simple 

tablescapes for the holidays on it.

Our kitchen table holds this simple bunny with eggs. I used an old cake stand I had laying around to give it some height.

My wine bar is dressed up for Easter too. I love to use items, like these sparkly eggs to dress up an existing areas.

In my kitchen I add little bunnies in the my everyday decor. My chalkboard wine bottle always has a special greeting!

Our family room has a little touch of Easter too. I love my subway art! I used a piece that I bought from a Willow House party to hold eggs. I then added some grass and a few bunny friends finish this area off.

I picked these cute and sparkly eggs up at Hobby Lobby last year and they are through out my house as well.

Other items that I nestle into my existing decor is jars of eggs and a few dangling eggs on our guest bathroom towels.

 

Happy Organizing! Decorating!