Getting it Together - Glove Storage & Organization DIY

Tis' the season, people, tis' the season!

Cold weather is moving in quickly and it won't be long before we'll be adding more layers to ward off the chill. One of my fav chilly weather accessories are gloves! I love them for adding something to my wintertime personal style, I have various types from fingerless to half cuts to elbow length. Only problem was the storage situation...

I kept them tucked into a multi pocket organizer, which limited visibility. And this contraption was upstairs in my closet, while my coats were downstairs in my coat closet. Needless to say, that didn't help with getting out of the door on time in the mornings.

Here's my easy DIY hack that I pulled together to resolve all of that:

Clockwise from top left: Blush and Gray Elbow Length Gloves: The Limited - sold out (similar)
Black Half Gloves: eBay (exact match)
Cream Pearl Fingerless Gloves: received as gift (no match available but these are super cute)
Black Quilted Fingerless Gloves: Forever 21 (similar)

First, I added a Command Hook to the inside door of the cabinet closet in my laundry room. If I have never sang my love and adoration for Command Hooks, insert it [here] because I seriously loooooooove them! They are seriously like the best thing evuh!!

For supplies, I found this belt ring at Ross Dress for Less for a $1.99 (you can find relatively similar belt rings at Dollar General for a few dollars).

And I ordered some Ikea curtain clips from Amazon for less than $10, since we unfortunately don't have a store locally.

I just slid the foam piece off of the belt ring, leaving me with a single chrome loop.

I line each pair of the gloves up where the tags are on the inside and put the clips there to prevent and/or hide any possible indentations that may get left behind. and then just slide the clip rings on to the hook.

This way things are orderly and I can easily see what I have, plus my coats are right there for easy decision making.

For storing unused clips, I use this little capped jar that I found at H&M a while back and it takes up negligible space on the shelf, but keeps them right within reach.

I'd love to hear how you store your winter essentials!

Getting it Together - Home Organization Day 2

My closet is one of those places that stays relatively tidy. Relatively being the operative word, but I do generally try to maintain some consistent order in there. However, THIS was driving me bonkers...

I have fewer pants than anything else (more on that later) and I generally dislike plastic hangers, I use them occasionally, but have an affection for the thin velvet hangers. This little area designated for my pants just wasn't working, it felt cumbersome to get them in and out without bumping into my bracelets. I didn't want to move them because I don't seem to wear pants as often as skirts and dresses.

And these saggy, tangley plastic hangers just caused the pants to slide around and not lie flush against each other. Now, despite my love for velvet hangers, I hate the way my pants clutched the fabric when trying to remove them and that corner area just didn't seem provide ample room for the full size hanger.

Left: Unsorted                                                                    Right: Sorted by Color

I finally got the idea to use kid size velvet hangers, so I purchased a set of 24 from Target for about $20 (I had a $10 gift card). Their more petite size allowed for better maneuverability in the smaller wall space and eliminated tangle and sliding issues. Sorting by color doesn't appear to make a lot of difference with this section, but I just personally prefer it because it makes getting dressed easier for me.

With this little experiment I also discovered two things:

1. I used up every hanger in the pack, so I had more pants than I realized. (I even had to purge a few pairs)
2. I loved the clean, unified look of all of the hangers being the same color and now I want to make sure all my hangers look like that!

I'm still on a organizing kick (when time permits) so I'd love to hear any tips and tricks you might have!

Getting it Together - Home Organization Day 1

So, what have I NOT have time to do as of late?

1. Take blog photos

2. Edit already taken blog photos (reason #2 why this is not a style post)

3. Write blog posts

4. Manicure my nails

5. Give myself a decent facial

6. Brush my dog (and when I finally do, it's not pleasurable for either of us)

7. Anything fun

Those things, for the most part, are definitely all about me; but that's because work, school and family get the overwhelming majority of my time. Then comes sleep. Precious, dreamless sleep. 

So, I won't lie and say that I have felt any less than frazzled some days, but I'm trying to manage.... What I have found though, is that when my brain feels over crowded with schedules, lists and deadlines, I begin to feel a serious urge to bring some order to things.

And my laundry room was not helping with my mental chaos... Every time I walked in there, my brain went on the fritz.

So, with less than a $20 dollar investment, I literally brought myself some peace of mind...

I already had the large chalkboard labels, I purchased the hang tags and oversized clothes pins from the Target Dollar Spot, and at Dollar Tree I picked up several baskets and a chalkboard marker. And now, I feel a little piece of happy every time I walk in. *contented sigh*

And I immediately felt like I wanted to put my entire life into little blue bins. Since I could not, I moved on to the kitchen and organized the top of the refrigerator and my freestanding cabinet. Getting rid of the clutter became almost therapeutic.

Are any of you guys organization junkies?? Because I seriously think that I could become one!

The EASIEST DIY Kate Spade Inspired Necklace

Typical girly girl here! Things with bows make me swoon, but sometimes the associated price tags with those things do not. So I've got a quick down and dirty post inspired by the Swoon Inducing Extraordinaire, Kate Spade, who we know is all about that bow life.

So here are some of Kate's bow adorned necklaces:

And for my nifty inspired version the only things you'll need are:

A strand of pearls (I suggest a basic long version that can be looped 2 - 3 times)

Bow brooch 

Et voila!

Told ya it was EASY!

One little tip that I have is that to keep my brooch from flopping around through the day, I actually run the pin through a seam on my blouse before clasping the pearls in. This ensures that it will lay flat through the day. 

Diva DIY - Quick & Easy Storage Caddy

I know I haven't shown many pictures or done a tour yet of my closet project, but I PROMISE I'm gonna!! I'd say one of the biggest challenges with that is keeping it tidy enough until I finally get a window of time photograph/film. Sounds simple, but when I'm in and out of there 80% of the week, it's super easy for it to suddenly look like a cyclone has come through. It also doesn't help that the access to the attic is in there, so my recent roof repair efforts required some moving and disassembling of my set up. I'd say that's actually the most frustrating of all, because I'm forced to keep things "a mess" until all the repairs are done.

But I digress....

So even though I'd say that the majority of my closet is complete, I'm still working on minor aspects - adding pictures and other decorative details, and especially storage options. That area has its own design element centered on white, gold and pink. So I like everything to compliment that theme as best as possible. 

I recently managed to move my small white dresser chest out of my bedroom and into my closet. It holds all of my lingerie, some foldable clothing pieces and layering tees. But I found that I wasn't thrilled with the look of the functional storage on top. Replacing it required that it still be functional (obviously), that it blended with the decor and that it was cheap.

Here's what I used:
Target Dollar Spot Storage Caddy ($3)
Target Gold Heart Stickers ($2)
(2) Acrylic Containers (part of a larger acrylic beauty set found at Marshall's)
(2) Cardboard sleeves (I used old boxes from beauty products)
X-Acto knife

Cute and easy peasy, right?!

I do have to say that the day after uploading this video I felt compelled to make some minor tweaks to the finished product, I removed the stickers from the top area and lined the inside front storage compartments, I just liked that finished look a little better...

I'm thinking of sharing more of my fashion and home projects in the future, I'd love to hear about any DIYs you'd be interested in!

Does It Work? - Sephora Nail Protector First Impressions

I probably like the pampering of a salon grade manicure better than anyone else I know. However, when it's time to double down on the budget, that treat is the first thing to go. So when it comes to at-home manis, unless you have seriously steady hands or are ambidextrous, painting your own nails can sometimes be a tad shaky.

There are tons of DIYs and other tips and tricks from the at-home nail art gurus out on the web. And though the idea of peeling away a latex-like barrier might sound intriguing, I'm typically more interested in the quickest method possible.

I tend to do my manicures on Sunday evenings, shortly before bedtime, so glue peeling might add too many additional minutes. My right hand is the dominant hand, so my left hand typically looks great. Switch that around and occasionally things can get a little hairy...

During a late night Sephora shopping expedition, I ran into the Sephora Nail Protector and decided to try it out, despite mixed reviews. I've actually had it for a while and never used it until today.

Here's the condensed version of my first trial run...

It took me about 10 minutes to actually complete my fingers. I wasn't using a base coat, though I usually do, and I applied a top coat off camera.

I have to say, given its simplistic look, it actually worked quite well. In my rush 10 minute job, the only polish I managed to get on the skin was when I tried to not knock the polish bottle over and inadvertently painted past the cuticle.

The Nail Protector has a little curved lip, which I think actually helps guide you since your nail bed is then tilted in a slightly upward position. What I actually found most challenging was constantly maneuvering the protector and nail polish bottle around to keep it within reach while trying not to bump into it. I think that would likely get easier the more I used the protector. One other awkward thing was when it came time to paint my thumbs, you may have noticed in the clip that I had to shift to the end of the table in order to do them. I happened to be standing in the clip, but may find it a bit more difficult to do sitting down.

It says that this can also be used for pedicures...but I'm not sure I buy that one. Overall, I wasn't put off. This manicure will unlikely last a week, so I'm going to try again in a few days. For about $7, I didn't consider it to be a waste at all. I think it's a nifty little tool to have with your polish collection.

Overall grade: B-