Plastic Drawer Up-Do

I've probably mentioned this a thousand times here on my blog, but I have limited space in my apartment which can be tricky. Living in a studio apartment has really constrained me from bringing in unnecessary items or things that would take up way too much room. One of the biggest issues I faced was figuring out where I would store all of my clothes. Even though I have a decent sized closet, I have limited space on the bar to hang clothes and my jeans & sweatshirts take up all of the shelving. But what about those undergarments of mine? I debated on bringing my dresser with me, but I realized that it was too big & bulky, and I just didn't have the room for it. I finally figured out a convenient way to store my bras and panties: buying a plastic 3-drawer storage unit. It worked perfectly! I had a drawer for each of my undergarment pieces. However, I quickly found out that not only was it unappealing to guests to be able to see into the drawers but it made me a bit uncomfortable and self conscious. I could always close my closet doors, but I don't like doing that; It seems to make the room look smaller and bland. Since I am renting an apartment I can't exactly paint the walls or even the closet doors, so I have to settle with everything being white/cream. On the other hand, since everything is organized and put away nicely, having the doors open isn't an eye-sore, but instead gives the room a bit more to look at, and gives you a sneak-peak into my style/personality.

To fix this problem I took to Pinterest.. of course! And looked for different bits of inspiration. I had a couple ideas in mind but wanted to see how other people tackled this DIY. With some sense of direction, I took to the craft store and wandered up and down their scrapbook paper section. I found a nice 80 sheet paper pad that fit my color scheme and had some fun pattern play. I also picked up a small bottle of mod podge and I suggest picking up a sponge brush if you don't already own one. I forgot a brush and didn't feel like making the trip back into town, so I just used anything I could find in my apartment; q-tips, napkins, paper towel... although I eventually ended up using my fingers.. Hey, I had to improvise and it worked!

First, I measured the front of the drawer and cut out 3 rectangles to fit into place. I drew the line on the back of the paper with a pencil, so if I needed to erase I could do so without ruining the pretty side. Once they were cut out I had the option of leaving them as in and 'glueing' them in place, however, I thought it would be fun and a bit more unique to label each one. I picked out some metallic colors from my cup of assorted pens and sharpies. Since this unit was specifically for my undergarments, I labeled one "Panties", one "Bras", and the last one "Socks". That way I knew what was in each drawer. Then, to add a bit more character I drew little bras, panties, and socks, on each sign.

Lastly, I just needed to glue them in place. At first I tried spreading the mod podge over the paper, but soon found that it was quite difficult and I feared that it would ruin the design, writing, and/or the actual paper. So, for the other two, I applied the mod podge on the inner part of the drawer and then carefully laid the paper on top, making sure the words were facing outwards and right-side up. and smoothed out any bubbles with my hand. This method was easier and gave better results, in my opinion.

This was a super easy and fun DIY and quite inexpensive as well. I think the most expensive item was the pad of paper, but I can always use the other sheets for more crafts & projects. The thing about these storage units, is you can use them for ANYTHING, and there are so many different ways you can give them a facelift. You can use spray paint, duct tape, washi tape, construction paper, etc. Just have fun with it and customize it to fit your personality!

Much Love! Xx

Winter Pinspiration

After doing an 'Autumn Pinspiration', I felt that it was only right to do one for winter. The weather so far hasn't been ideal; normally I enjoy the warmth and rain, but this is not like the Midwest at all. Over the weekend it got up to 60 degrees fahrenheit .. normally it's in the twenties this time of year, and this gloomy weather is bringing me down. I enjoy having snow throughout the month of December, so I'm hoping that Jack Frost will get it in gear and bring on the snow ASAP. Without further a do, here is what usually makes me happy this time of year, and hopefully this post will bring some Holiday cheer.

I have never gone ice skating, but I really want to; hopefully some of my friends will be up for it when I go back home. There's an ice skating rink that is located down town and is actually outside instead of in a hockey arena. They provide skates, for a fee of course, and I believe they sell hot chocolate; although I'm not 100% sure. It sounds like the best winter activity and I'm so excited to try it! I just hope the weather starts getting colder and snow starts falling from the sky ASAP! Wow - that is something you'll almost never hear from me! Other than ice skating, I enjoy being outside in the snow: making snowmen, building snow forts, having a snowball fight, tubing, driving around on the snowmobile trails etc.

All of the winter accessories that you get to pull out from your closet are always so exciting: scarves, mittens, that cute winter jacket, and of course knee high socks. I get cold quite fast during those brutal winter months that are drawing near, that some times I end up going out looking like Randy from "A Christmas Story", when his mother dressed him in his snow suit. . . not the prettiest sight, but at least I'm nice and toasty! (:

Sometimes I wish that I grew up in a small town that goes all out with their decorations. I think it just looks so lovely and festive. I've often heard stories from my mom that when she was younger the shops down town would decorate the square and Christmas lights would hang over the streets and walkways. In addition to the decorations, you'd be able to buy yourself a hot beverage, while you walk up and down the street popping into different shops or peering through shop windows to see Christmas toys and goodies [Much like in Christmas movies].

Growing up, my mom had the loveliest Christmas village that we would use to decorate above our kitchen cabinets, and let me tell you, at night when it was dark and that tiny village was light up in our kitchen, it was absolutely gorgeous and I wouldn't think of a better way to get you in the Christmas spirit. It was always a tradition to set it up together, but it took a lot of work and it was time consuming so I'd always imagine what it would be like to live in a place like that. There was an ice skating rink, a church, houses, and my favorite; a candy shop that made chocolate and/or fudge in the front window. Unfortunately, my mom now lives in an apartment and there is no place to put them, so they sit in a box in storage collecting dust. I hope someday in the near future I'll be able to bring them out and light them up at night like all those years ago. Just thinking about it brings warmth to my heart. 

So there you go, that is everything (for the most part) that represents what warms my soul throughout these chilly months. (:

What is your favorite Christmas tradition, or winter activity?

Much Love! Xx

Halloween Snacks & Decorations

Halloween is one of my top favorite holidays. Everything about it excites me, from the spooky and eerie atmosphere to the decorations and scary movies. I unfortunately have to work all afternoon on Halloween so I won't be able to do much baking or binge watching scary movies. Which is quite upsetting but I do get to dress up for work. I'm always bad at deciding what I want to be and now that I am a college student on a tight budget I don't have extra cash to spend on an extravagant costume. However, I do have some ideas of what I could be based on what I can pull from my wardrobe.

 What are you guys going to be for Halloween? And are you doing anything fun for the evening? 

Since my day is filled with work I decided to celebrate a couple days early. I spent the afternoon and evening decorating my table and filling it with snacks. 

Most of the decorations I picked up at the Dollar Tree to save some cash and I did grab a couple of items from Target which were a bit pricey but I can use them next year as well, and as I mentioned early I'm obsessed with Halloween so they will definitely be put to use! (: 

From the dollar tree I grabbed a bag of black webbing without the spiders to act as a table cloth. If you have a bigger table you'll probably need 2 or 3 bags, but I just have a small table so I could get away with 1 and stretching it. I also grabbed the glowing skull, plastic cups, a glowing tapered candle, and a pack of glowing tea-lights. I went earlier in the month to pick up some decorations for at work and found these really cool plastic skull goblets, but when I went back to grab stuff for at my apartment they were all sold out. I was super bummed but then found a black tinted wine glass that I could use instead. The last thing I picked up at the dollar tree was a plastic punch bowl to hold my beverage. 

At Target I picked up assorted baking essentials and treats for the caramel apples and a fun halloween themed cupcake holder (pictured below), but in my opinion you could probably get away with using it all year round. 

For the food I made 3 simple treats inspired from Pinterest, and a Punch that consists of Hawaiian fruit punch and a can of Minute Maid Lemonade.

 First I made these fun pudding cups that I colored depending on which cups I would be pouring the pudding into. I did green for the monster from Frankenstein, orange for my fun jack-o-lantern faces, and left some plain vanilla pudding for the ghost. 

FUN FACT: The monster isn't actually named Frankenstein, it was actually the scientist whose named Frankenstein but so many people think that Frankenstein is the creature that was brought to life. . . The more you know. (: 

I found these pudding cups super fun to make because you can draw anything you'd like on the plastic cups and make each one unique. I do recommend having these guys chill out over some ice to keep them cold. 

Next I made "vampire teeth" which consists of three ingredients: Apples, peanut butter, and mini marshmallows. I put quotation marks around 'vampire teeth' because I didn't actually include fangs, but you could easily squeeze a piece of candy corn between two marshmallows on either side. I frequently enjoy grabbing an apple and a jar of peanut butter as a quick snack so I think this was my favorite halloween treat that I made. All you do is slice up an apple, spread some peanut butter on one side of two slices and stick marshmallows around the edge to act as teeth. TA-DA! Quick, easy, AND delicious! 

Last but certainly not least, I had to incorporate the classic caramel apple! It's an iconic snack for Halloween, or fall in general. I decided to amp it up a bit by cutting the apple into chunks for bite size treats, and then laid out different choices for toppings. I decided to go for candy corns, mini marshmallows, white chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips, crushed up M&M candies, multigrain cheerios, and of course chopped up peanuts for all you classic caramel apple lovers. I found this super fun because you can mix and match any toppings you'd like! I bet there will be no two caramel apples alike at your party - unless you're plain Jane and stick to the classics, but hey that's okay too! (: 

I did make a video of how I made these fun treats and posted it on my youtube channel so if you want to check it out you can click here or click on the youtube logo in the side bar.  

I hope you enjoyed this post & I hope you have a happy and safe Halloween!

I'd like to know what kind of treats you must have on Halloween.. Let me know in the comments! (: 

Much love! Xx