Instant Gratification {including January's Birchbox}

After the tote that took me a week to make... today I was in the mood for a little instant gratification.  So... I took the pack of Mason jars that I had bought for future hostess gifts and spray painted them a pretty blue... {I believe it is Robin's Egg blue, which is one of my favorite colors}  This is after one coat.  I plan to add another coat but wanted to avoid the blue fingers for tomorrow.  

Did you know spray paint is really hard to get off your hands!?  Especially when spray painting glass jars -- it can be a bit tricky to get an even coat!  The key is to spray in one direction from about 8 inches away and allow to dry between coats.  Painting too close just blows the paint all around the jar.

Sidenote:  I always blog at night, since I am typically not home during the day... so sorry for all the dark unprofessional looking pictures!  Mastering our DSLR for indoor nighttime photography is one of my goals this year!  In the meantime, I love the Instagram iPhone app... I used the Amaro filter for the above photo.  And because I am already ready for spring, I brought my little birds back out for my window sill.  This post is all over the place tonight... sorry, but I am SO tired!  Can't. Focus.

Anyway... I am attempting to bring some color into our living areas after falling in love with THIS door from House of Smith's.  See below for a dark picture of our Roman Shades in the kitchen.  I am trying to bring that blue out (which looks more green in the photo) some more (hence the pining after their blue pantry door).

Any other ideas people have would be appreciated! :)

Just when I was happy to set out my new mason jar vases...

My other instant gratification came in the mail today!  My January Birchbox.  I forgot to cancel it last month after the kind of blah box... and I am glad I did because this one is right up my alley!  I was just thinking how I wanted a new eye cream, and wallah!  Here I got a really nice sample size in the mail.  The Re-Everything Eye Serum looks like it has some pretty winning ingredients to keep the wrinkles at bay.  I am also happy about my new night cream from Befine.  I bet tomorrow I will look like I am 18 again and people will think I got work done.  The Stila liner is really nice, and glides on smoothly AND it is about the size of a full-sized product!  The other items are a Juicy Couture perfume (which is closer to a scent I like-- but more of a "night time" scent to me), and a small packet of an unknown illegal substance.  Seriously... I think they sent me a packet of marijuana.  I better throw it away.  It is even called Witchcraft.  You can't tell from the photo above so I even took another just so you can see... its actually Granola packaged in green tinted wrapping.

I need a manicure.

And with that, I am off to bed!  I found some new sewing inspiration today that I am excited to share tomorrow :)

A jump start on my resolutions- Pantry Re-Do Phase One and DIY chalkboard project

It's that time of year... time to think of all the things I have been too lazy to do, and resolve to do them now that it is a new year.  The concept works well with my whole "I'll start tomorrow" thought process problem, AND bonus! New Years is on a Sunday, so it is a nice "beginning" of a new week as well.

So... on my resolution list is to get some of the closets in our house organized, and once I saw the awesome pantry re-do at House of Smiths, I decided it was time to get started.  It can be an early birthday present for the hubs.

Plus... just look at this disaster.  I am almost embarrassed to post this.

Yikes!

The first thing I did was make a trip to Home Goods for mason-like jars with hinged lids and baskets, and to Michael's for Chalkboard paint.  I was pleasantly surprised with the mason jar selection at Home Goods and the big jars were cheaper than Wal-Mart.

I was just going to do black chalkboard labels... but good 'ole Martha had a nice blue color that goes with the accents in my house that I am wanting to play up a little more.  I also bought reusable stencils to help me with making the boxes nice and straight... and will eventually use to stencil words onto the mason jars once I buy more paint.

All I did was section off the space with painters tape... and use a sponge brush to paint it on.  The directions call for 2 coats, and say to wait an hour between in order to dry.  And because I listened, I had to redo almost all of my jars.  Wait until the paint is COMPLETELY dry before adding the next coat, or it slips around on the glass and creates cracks.

I also recommend removing the tape right after your second coat... be careful when pulling it off, as the paint will peel off the glass if you aren't careful.  As you can see I had a little difficulty with the paint staying put... I used an exacto knife to scrape it off.

Here is what they look like when finished... not bad!

And a couple of close-ups...

Now onto my pantry... I took that disaster up top, and put it all on the counter.  I had my book out in case I got bored.

I used my jars for my bags of sugar, flour, salt, etc.  Much better than it spilling all over!  I organized my shelves for breakfasty stuff (coffee, oatmeal, cereal), baking, cooking, and canned/dry foods. 

Baking shelf

Cooking Shelf

Canned/Dry Goods shelf

 And here we are... SO much better!  Now I know where all my spices are, what canned goods I have, and can find things without making everything fall off the shelves.  I don't have the bottom 2 shelves done yet, because I have to clean out another closet for that stuff to go there :)  I think I will be adding an "Ava" shelf down there, so she can begin to be independent with snack time and snack choices.

I am excited to continue the project... just like House of Smith's, we are thinking to add a blue/teal door to give our kitchen a pop of color.  We will see how it all goes!

Happy New Years!  This is the year... I can make my resolutions come true!