My $3 Home Office Makeover

After reading 6 Tips for Designing a Cheery Home Workspace, I looked at my "home office" and realized I need some color and organization on my desk.  Although I don't actually work from home, as a full-time graduate student, I spend a lot of time writing and reading at my desk.

When I took a hard look at my desk, I realized how little workspace I actually had.

 

As you can see, it is lacking color, organization, and my post-it notes hanging on the wall are not exactly classy.  But I don't have money to spend on revamping my work area, so I decided to see what I could do with what I already had.

The first stage was de-cluttering.  I took the non-essential items off of my desk and into the rolling cart I have next to my desk (from my teaching days).

The rest of my papers went into my desk drawers, which were also cleaned out and reorganized.     

Next, some color was needed.  I started by looking for colorful things that I already had on my desk that I use as more prominent centerpieces.

After cleaning up my desk, moving things off, and pulling a few more colorful items that I had around the house, I came up with this:

 The last step was where my $3 renovation came in.  I purchased two black frames from the Dollar Tree, filled them with two inspirational quotes from Pinterest, and hung them up with picture hanging supplies that I also got from the Dollar store.  All together, this is what I came up with!

I'm enjoying my clean, organized, and colorful desk already!

Simple Giving Gift Ideas

This year for Christmas, I decided to give only handmade (or thrifted) items.  I did this mostly out of panic, at first, thinking I would be embarrassed with how modest our gifts would be because of our budget.  So I figured I could give more, and more meaningful, gifts if I could be creative.  Once I discovered how many fun and easy ideas there were out there for DIY gifts, I realized I could have fun along the way and personalize my gifts in a way I hadn't been able to in years past.

I wish that I would've taken more pictures of the gifts I made this year!  Somehow in the Christmas rush, I forgot all about pictures for later... I did find a few, which I'll share with you, and try my best to describe and link to any other sources that I used.

 

From Left:

• Vanilla Coffee Syrup: A big hit this year! (and unbelievably easy!)  Check out the original recipe at A Beautiful Mess.  I used a combination of my own, reused bottles and cute oil and vinegar bottles from Dollar Tree that I covered with my own labels and brown paper.

• Vanilla Almond Sugar Skin Scrub: A great scrub for winter skin after washing dishes, being outside, and for really any other reason!  I found the original recipe at RadMegan, and adapted it a little by adding both almond and vanilla extracts.  I also made a Pumpkin Pie version (with canola oil and pumpkin pie spice) for my sister.  It smelled so good that I had to gift a little to myself too!

• My friend Kensey's homemade Peppermint Vanilla Skin Scrub: I'm guessing this could easily be made by adapting the above recipe with peppermint extract instead.

• Apple Butter: This was the easiest apple butter recipe I have ever come across!  It is from Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook, a resource for tons of crockpot recipes in one book. The recipe calls for 7 cups applesauce (unsweetened) + 2-3 cups sugar (and then I just added as I tasted it, since I like it sweet!) + 2 tsp. cinnamon + 1 tsp. nutmeg + 1/4 tsp. allspice (or ginger if you don't have allspice).  Again, you can add the spices to taste.  Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker on high for 8-10 hours.  For the last hour, take the lid off and stir occasionally.  It will smell so good, so start in the morning and you'll have the whole day to let it cook and have your home smell amazing!  Ladle into jars and refrigerate. (Makes 2+ pints)

Peppermint Sugar Skin Scrub - Made by my friend Kensey

My own vanilla almond sugar skin scrub

Homemade Granola

•   Homemade Granola: This is my favorite thing to gift!  We had brown bags of granola that I baked for favors at our wedding, so it always has a spot close to my heart.  There are so many good recipes out there, but here are a few of my favorites: 
• From Cooking Light: Classic, Easy Granola
• From Joy of Baking: Granola with Dried Fruit and Maple Syrup
• From the "Recipe Doctor" (my favorite recipe!!): Coffee Granola (also called Cinnamon Dolce Granola)
• Other Things that I wish I had time to make but didn't this year: 
• Flavored Hot Chocolate Mix
• Ornament for Newlyweds
• Burnt Sugar Toffee

Christmas may be past, but it's never too early to start planning for next year! Most of these would be great birthday, housewarming, and just because gifts.  Not only will they not break your budget, but your friends and family will feel the love each time they use/enjoy your handmade gifts!

{My First Sewing Attempt!}

The Before

The After

Today I finally pulled out my brand new sewing machine (a gift from my mom this year for Christmas!) and sat down to conquer my very first sewing attempt - curtains.  A few days ... or maybe more like weeks... ago, I showed the wide open window we have in our living room.  I love the big old windows we have in our apartment, but they can certainly be a little exposing when you're stumbling around in your pajamas in the morning... So my first attempt at my sewing machine was to sew a curtain for our living room window.  I am not domestic at heart, and although I love artistic endeavors, I rarely am very good at them without either some major help or copying them from someone else's design.  Sad, but true...



So, with that in mind, I'll show you my first attempt - not great, a little shorter than I intended, and quite a bit crooked, but I'm excited just because I threaded my machine (on my own!), made it work (on my own!), and sewed a curtain (on my own!).  For me - that's a big deal!  I'll take this little victory for today.