Storing Easter Eggs

Reposting because this came in handy when I
started to gather all of my Easter decorations.
**********
from April 2014
Are you storing up all of your Easter stuff?

I store my fragile decoupaged and doodled

 eggs in...what else, and egg carton.
You did save your egg cartons...right?

Seems the obvious choice. Styrofoam or

cardboard give the best protection.

I save egg cartons for storing small

delicate Christmas ornaments too.

Cheers!

Links: Facebook, Dwellings,
Under The Table and Dreaming,
The Girl Creative,
Between Naps on The Porch

Tips for Storing Small Appliances

Here's my solution for "finding" more space to 

store all my small appliances. Plus, a great tip

on managing those loose dangly cords. 

I'll share that at the end

The top shelf in a kitchen cabinet is where I

 store all my small appliances: 2 waffle irons, 

regular and heart shaped, a George Forman 

small grill, a crepe pan (the kind you dip

 into the batter), a knife sharpener, and 

a sandwich maker.  I like that I can see 

them all and therefore use them. 

Notice the cord problem. 

I'm going to fix that too. 

The stuff was just stacked up there willy-nilly.

I do not do willy-nilly well, so what I decided 

was needed was another shelf.

As you can see I'm obsessed with turntables. 

I found this one at Walmart and it expands

to fit perfectly. Sofie thought that was a 

genius idea. 

 Everything off the top shelf. 

I keep an IKEA 2-step stool in the kitchen. 

It gets me to any shelf. 

 Now my little BIG tip! Here's my immersion 

hand blender. Notice the cord is out of control.

Also notice the tiny butterfly clips. I get those

whoever I buy orchids and naturally I save 

them. And naturally I keep those saved clips

 in one of my tennis cans. 

Well, they came in handy. 

Viola! Yes, just clip the cord onto

itself. it's fast, easy, and holds

the cord in place.

 I have enough of those little clips for all 

the appliances. 

 Secure the cords.

 When I unwind I just keep the clip on the cord

 so it doesn't get lost. Use and just

clip it together again. So easy! 

 If you have little girls, or little doggies, you 

probably have these clips already. I'm sure 

you can buy a bag at a dollar store or Walmart.

 or steal one off your orchid plant. 

 I put everything back in the cabinet, 

and had no dangling messy cords. 

Now I even have extra room. 

They are so much easier to get out and

the chance of getting bonked on the head

has been greatly reduced. 

Cheers!

Links: Between Naps On The Porch

Organize The Car Trunk With A Shelf

Everything you have in your car's trunk will

be so much easier to find with this one
simple addition...a shelf!

My "before and after" trunk.

The back of my car was a mess!

The usual suspects; bags of things to return, 

extra shopping bags, all my "just-in-case" 
stuff. I was rummaging through it all every
time I needed to get something. It was time
to find a better way that worked for me and 

finally get that trunk organized.

First I needed to completely empty all
the stuff out of the trunk.

Here's what went back in...first try.

My car trunk duffel, and a large bag of

stuff to return. I don't go shopping that

often, so they can stay there for way too long. 

In the duffle were my extra shopping bags, a 

first aid kit, a couple of tennis cans; one with
 extra trash bags (for the car and the dog) the
other one stored a plastic picnic tablecloth,
 (for those impromptu car trip lunches), a pair
of old sneakers and flip flops for emergencies,
a beach towel and blanket. Beach
emergencies are common in South Florida.
An extra dog leash and water bowl for our
 Sofie can also come in handy if you ever
 find a stray. 

That arrangement didn't solve my "rummage"
problem. I decided adding a shelf would be a
good solution. I repurposed an old closet shelf
we had stored in the attic and Larry cut it to
 size (46") using a hack saw. It fit nicely
using the wheel ledges as support. If you
 don't have that you can build a support out
 of wood scraps. I used the extra wood
support at the back end.

You can see the end of the shelf resting 

on the inside wheel's ledge. 

It's important that you cover the raw edge 

of the shelf with these rubber end caps so 

they don't scratch the car's interior. 

I had some saved in a jar in the 

utility room. Jars rule!

The top shelf has easy-to-grab shopping
totes, wine bags, insulated bags. Underneath
the shelf are the return bags and duffle. 

The shelf isn't attached so it can be removed

 whenever needed. The lip at the end of the 

shelf keeps things from sliding off. 

Plenty of room for groceries or my

ready-to-go beach bag.
Works for me!

Cheers!

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Links: Between Naps On The Porch

DIY Scarf Hanger

This is a great way to organize
 all your scarves for easy access.

All you need is a hanger, 

pretty wood or bamboo will do.

I used a pack of cheap-o shower curtain
 rings I'd been saving for some reason.
Yes, they were stored in a tennis can. 

How else would I have found them?

Then in minutes I gathered my small pile of

 scarves and looped them through. 

Easy access!

If you have a lot of scarves you can do
separate hangers for spring/summer
 and fall/winter, or by color group.

Cheers!

Links: Between Naps On The Porch,
Anderson & Grant, Rattlebridge Farm,

Share Your Style, The Charm of Home,

How To Save Your Christmas Photo Cards

I love getting Christmas photo cards from
family and friends, but what to do with them 

after they're taken off the fridge?
They are too cute to pack-up. 

I take a picture of each card using my iphone.

I categorize them in my photos library

the next time I sync it to my Mac computer

 as Christmas Cards 2014. 

I can see the changes in everyone 

from year to year.

This works with school photos or any photos 

you want to add to your photo library.

You can tag the photos (add names) if

you want to search a particular person

at a later date.

You'll have all the options in your

computer's photo library.

You can even just capture part of a photo.

Below is a close-up shot of photo  #5 .

Now a great thing I like to do is to use 

the photos to fill in any profile pics

 in my phone's contact page.

Below are screen shots of my phone

as I did this. Hope it helps.

Here's John (info have been changed to

protect the innocent) with no profile

pic. See the add photo in the circle?

Go to the edit mode and tap that circle.

You'll have the option of choosing a

photo in your phone; like the ones

you've just taken, or just taking

another one now....take or choose.

I took a close-up of 'Joe'

moved it to center and 

tapped 'use photo'

Now I see 'Joe' when he calls

or when I bring up his contact

info on my phone. 

Everyone in my phone has a photo,

even businesses. Why? Because

it's fun and easy. Let me know if you

have any questions. 

Cheers!

links: Facebook, Coastal Charm,
Dwellings, Between Naps On The Porch,
Savvy Southern Style