Organizing the Kitchen Pantry

Pantry before organizing.

 

 

For some reason the kitchen pantry in any house always seems to get unorganized and messy. When I took the picture above I had been very busy out of the house for 3 weeks and the pantry just got out of control. After one day at home and devoting my 2 hour kitchen cleaning spree this is how my pantry looks today.

 

 

 

 Organized, clean and filled. But for the past 20 years I have kept my kitchen pantry filled with all my cooking needs, cleaned and organized except for these 3 weeks I was so busy. My secret in keeping it nicely arranged is that every Monday morning from 5am to 7am, I devote all that time to cleaning my kitchen well. I not only clean the entire kitchen but I also clean well the pantry, restocking it and organizing it. The pantry gets refilled with food from my year supply of food that I have in my food storage.

 

Here is my gluten free specialty flours, some sugars and grains that are well kept in a netted shoe hanger on the side wall. These hangers are not only made to house shoes, but they are also great for small items in the bathroom and the inside of the bedroom doors. They house nicely socks, scarfs and gloves. In my kitchen pantry they house nicely my small cooking items.  

 

Glass jars can keep pasta, rice and grains from going bad. I purchased these tall glass jars at Goodwill for .50 cents and $1.00...great buys.

 

In my kitchen my glass jars house my granola and brown sugar.

 

 

 



 

Organizing the kitchen pantry helps keep all your food items at your reach and easy to find.

Have a great week.

 

 



Great Ideas To Light Up Your Yard

I love to dress and light up the yard. Its all part of the yard decor. Here are some inexpensive frugalicious ideas I think are fabulous...check them out.

 

1. Paint your flower pots with glow in the dark paint. This paint will glow in the dark and this paint can be found in any specialty paint store near you. It will give light to your yard after dark.

 

 

 

An old hanging lamp purchased at any thrift store can be spray painted for about $1.00 or $2 dollars, then arranged beautifully in your yard with some ivy to make a stunning classy statement.

 

An old birdhouse with cactus plants planted in them is great...especiallyfor those plants that do not need very much care...stunning.

Having a party, cut up some glow sticks and insert them into the balloons before blowing them up... lighting up any yard with drama and festivity.

 

 

This really cool and cheap to make, I think its great idea for a yard wedding....Take some large plaric bottles and glue with plastic glue cut up white plastec spoons., add some electricity to the bottle and hang in the yard.  

 

 

Also if you add white Christmas lights under the cake and bride table it will light up those important areas at any wedding.

 

Colorfully painted clear candle cups found at any dollar store can bring much color to any yard party. 

 

This is a great idea...get a few empty tuna cans, spray paint them in gold, silver or copper, then glue some fabric around the edges to mtch the paint, then tie a string to them and hang them up with candles in them...it is beautiful. You will love it.



Ideas For Beautiful Yards...Part 1

 

Spring is here and everyone is sprucing up their landscaping. Here are some great ideas to inspire your in your yard. I hope you enjoy them.

 

Using inexpensive empty coffee cans...great for herbs.

 

 

Metal washing basins are great for more herb planting.

 

Building a deck area, how about putting in a scrabble board out of colorful tiles.

 

Creative people can build anything...you have to love this barrel train for your flowers.

 

Nice large old wooden sconces  and a shelf is lovely by the garage wall.

 

Empty quart paint cans are great when you hang them with colorful ribbons to match your house creating frugalicious bird feeders. 

 

Old or new wagons are fabulous for planting flower plants, cactus or herbs.

 

Don't forget to plant the bulbs for next Spring.

 

And, an old car that can be an eye sore can be creatively painted by you and after planting some flowers in it, it can become a beautiful piece of art.

 

Next week...part 2 of yard decorating.



How to Paint Bottles

 

 

 

Here is one of my favorite, SIMPLE Craft/Decor tips…

How to Tint Bottles and Jars with Mod Podge, Water, and Food Coloring!

My sweet hubby started his new job today after having a month off….

although his time off was some of the best days EVER for our family,

without a doubt he was ready to jump back into the “real” world!

Why!?!? Here’s one reason: his sweet wife sent him on errands like this…

Honey, would you mind going to this address to pick

up a box on a random front porch {aka, a Freecycle pick up}?!

Usually, he rolls with it, but picking up a box of used beer bottles totally weirded him out! A cycle through the dishwasher and a bit of goop be gone for the labels and I was ready to craft!

You can use any jar for this tutorial! Mason jars used to come in all kinds of pretty colors: blue, green, and amber – I love that I can duplicate this look real easily!

Microwave 3 Tablespoons of water for 30 seconds, then add a lot of gel food color and dissolved FULLY. Next, add 1/2 cup of modpodge to the blended food coloring. And again, mix REALLY well. At this point, you can add more color for a more vibrant color, just be sure that you mix it really well If there are any air bubbles wait for them to subside before pouring into the bottle. The color on your bottle will be reflective once dry and not seem as deep as when it is in your measuring cup! I used a whole LOT of color as you can see below. {I think the gel food color tubes work BEST.}

Mix the mod podge solution with a regular spoon or knife. The beauty of working with water soluble glue is that clean up is a breeze! {Big B was a huge help with this project and he stayed totally clean!} Pour some of the mod podge into your bottle….swirl it around to cover the entire glass on the inside…then pour the excess back into your mod podge mixture.

Start with your lightest color, then deepen your color with

progressive bottles so that you can have varied shades of blue bottles.

Put a piece of aluminum foil on a plate then cover with

several paper towels and allow the bottles to drain for a five minutes.

I wanted a contrast color, too so I added yellow mod podge to one of my bottles.

After the bottles drain on the counter upside-down for like, 5 minutes,I set it on the counter, upright and wait about 5 more minutes, allowing the extra paint that did not drip out to settle on the bottom. Jars and bottles with a flat edge along the bottom will work the best for this technique. The bottom of my bottles have a little excess modpodge. If you try to tilt the jar again and pour it out, you’ll end up with streaks along the sides of the bottle. For me it wasn’t a big deal…but I added a pic so you can see if it’s something that would work for you. Here’s a pic so you can see what I mean…

Place them in the oven on a low rack, being careful not to tilt them while moving them. Set the oven to it’s lowest temperature and place the jars on a low rack in the oven. I set my oven to 170 degrees and left them in the oven for 20+ minutes, until dry—transparent. (Make sure the excess on the bottom has fully dried, too, before tilting the bottle). {Use a hot pad when you remove the bottles, they will be hot!}

Remove from the oven and cool. Remove the gummy texture from the top of the bottles. If you prefer a darker color, do it again in the same jar…just be sure to cool the bottle first. If you need to use the bottles/jar for something new, soak the jar overnight with a few drops of dish soap and lots of hot water. The longer you let it soak, the easier it will be to clean.

And here they are complete…not perfect…but totally adorable!

I L.O.V.E. these bottles inside my newly painted crate!

Next Post: where I’m placing this cute crate with bottles!

Click here to see where this beauty will go in my house!

 

 



A Plate Wall Hanger Becomes a Magazine Rack

 

Plate wall hangers are not only good to hang plates but they are great for hanging magazine.

I do a lot of genealogy, scrap-booking and decorating, so through time magazines on these subjects begin to accumulate because you use them so much. You can't toss them out but you do need to find them a comfortable home where they are accessible to you when you need them. I truly wanted to hang them but I also wanted to make them become part of the office decor.

Two years ago I entered our local Goodwill and I came across this large plate hanger for $1 dollar that drew my attention right away. Its all black iron which matched all the black picture frames in the office walls.

So I bought it, I then put it in the closet until I could figure out how to hang my magazines from it. One night as I thought deeply on this subject in the darkness of the night before bed; I thought I could tie some cream satin ribbons into bows to soften the look of the black iron and at the same time hold tightly the magazines from falling. The next morning I created this...and it has been on the wall beautifully for a year now.

Each pile of magazines are inserted where the plate would go...then they are tightly bowed to hold them in place.

#1

#2

 

#3

The top part has an all leather weaved folder that holds my computer cd's.



 

Beautifully organized in one compartment...a pretty sight for the eyes to see for only $1...that's pretty frugalicious.