Love Those Labels!

Everything in its place!

 Labels are a great way to keep your closet organized. Remember the basic wardrobe we explored in an earlier post?

If you'd like labels that correspond to the Lucky magazine article as well as labels for other closet items, click on "Closet labels" below.

Save the file and print the labels on card stock. Cut them out and glue them to your hangers and storage boxes. Nice job!  


Click here for Closet labels.

Labeled boxes look better than messy stacks any day!

Jewelry Frame

A jewelry frame is great because

• It's functional as well as decorative.

• It allows you to view all jewelry at once and quickly make your selection. 

• It helps you identify and weed out the jewelry you no longer use or like.

The 6 easy steps to make one of your own
1) Remove the glass from the frame you choose.
2) Cut a piece of heavy cardboard to fit the frame.
3) Cover the board with your choice of fabric. I used duct tape to attach a scrap of black velvet to the cardboard.
4) Fit the board into the frame. You may need to add more cardboard backing to get a tight fit. Secure backing to the frame with duct tape (greatest invention ever).
5) Measure and cut a piece of wrapping paper to cover the back.  I used household glue to attach this to the back.
6) Attach hardware and hang the frame. Hang jewelry with straight pins or thumbtacks.

                                                                    Admire your creativity!

Closet Creation: Fewer Clothes, More Attitude

I decided to go ahead and clear out the clothes that did not fit into one of the four seasonal sets. If this seems too drastic, you may wish to move the extra clothes to another closet or storage space. Once you live through the different seasons and try the ensembles, it should be easier for you to determine which clothes you no longer need.

Once I cleared things out, I got inspired to give my closet a new look.

Check out the before and after!

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

Clothing Essentials Challenge - Shopping & Trial Run

• Step 3: Once you've looked through your closet, determine if there are gaps you want to fill. Shop carefully!

• Step 4: Try several of the outfit ensembles suggested by the magazine/video article to see how your essentials work together. Last week, while on vacation in a warmer climate, I tried out my spring essentials. 

 
 
 

If all goes well, the next logical step is...

• Step 5: Remove all other clothes from the closet.

Yikes.

 

Clothing Essentials Challenge - Shop Your Closet

• Step 2: The article focuses on a look for spring, so start with your spring clothing. With the list in hand, look through your clothes. It helps to select the scarf, blazer, and a coordinating pair of pants or skirt first. Stay with colors that flatter you and clothes that fit well. I used ivory and navy pieces rather than the suggested white and black. Make sure you choose clothes you love enough to wear for three months!

          Go through the same process to select the basics for your summer, fall, and winter 
          wardrobes. Selecting pieces for fall and winter is a bit more challenging since the article  
          features clothing suitable for warm weather only. For example, I substituted a camel  
          colored wool jacket for the leather biker jacket, long sleeve knit tops for the tanks, and  
          corduroy pants for the shorts. 

          At this point, you have 

• grouped together key pieces of clothing for each season
• identified clothes that do not fit into the four groups and
• identified essential items you lack. 

        

Clothing Essentials Challenge

I love the ideas from the becomingminimalist blog. It suggests ways we can have more in life even as we own less stuff. 

I found the post about cleaning out clothes, however, to be tricky to carry out (see becomingminimalist). 

Even after weeding through, you'll notice that my closet still looks maximum. 

How do we pare down our clothes closets so that we still look "put together"? 

Here's the first step to meet this creative challenge:  

• Step 1: We need a practical guide to help us. Check out this great article from the March edition of Lucky magazine. The article shows you 90 looks (both work and casual) that you can create using a few essential pieces. Take a look at the video on the online magazine - Luckymag.com. 

Buy the magazine or watch the video and make a list of the essentials. We'll use it as a guide only. You want to create a look that's all your own!

Make a Wallboard Organizer

It feels good to have a place to keep things in order!

These wall boards are easy to make from cardboard. (Like those moving boxes in the basement!)

To make your own:

• Determine the size board you want and cut two pieces of cardboard to that size. Two makes the board thick enough to handle thumbtacks and pins.
• Tape the pieces together using duct tape.
• Cover board with fabric (I used canvas and burlap). Use duct tape or a staple gun to attach fabric to board. 
• Hang the board: For the smaller board, I used upholstery tacks to attach ribbon to the back of the board. I hung it from an over-the-door wreath hanger. I used a staple gun to attach three hooks to the back of the large board. These hang on three upholstery tacks nailed in the wall.
• Get organized!  You may want to make labels for the different tasks that need your attention. 

Sassy Labels for Baking Ingredients

Tonight I printed labels for my baking ingredients.