Giveaway!!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! Scroll down to my April 24th blog post and leave a comment for your chance to win!

Is There Anything Better than A Giggling Baby?

They capture the pure essence of innocence. Babies have no idea of the nature of the world and they are totally consumed in living in the moment. What better way to express this than uncontrollable giggling? Have you laughed today?  Just find a giggling baby on you tube!!

My first giveaway - Happy Mother's Day!

Your chance to win!

In honor of Mother's Day, I am giving away this fabulous scrapbook collection.  It is the Vintage Scrapbook Box Kit by Remember When by Colorbok.  It includes 377 pieces and makes up to 20 pages.  Included is a 12x12 Postbound Album, 10 - 12x12 Page Protectors, 20 - 12x12 Patterned Papers, 30 - Accent Stickers, 18 - Journaling Stickers, and 298 - Alphabet Stickers

How do you win?  You have three separate ways to win. Each way gives you an additional chance!
1. Leave me a comment below - Simple!!
2. Get another entry by becoming a follower and then leaving me a comment telling me that you did it; if you are already a follower, just leave me a comment telling me that!
3. If you have a blog or a website, put up a link to this contest and then leave me a comment with the url to your link!
All simple ways to increase your chances of winning!

This giveaway will go on until midnight central time on Monday, May 3rd....  Good Luck!!

Daily Deals on Household Items!

Here are some more fun daily deals.  If you would like to see more of the daily deals look down on the left column and click on daily deals in the topic cloud.  These are websites that you can check daily, if you like, they feature a new and special deal every day!
Update (2/2015):  Sorry, it appears none of these links are working anymore.

Organize.com's Deal of the Day
Happy Home's Kitchen or Household Item a Day
Wrapable's Daily Deal
Orange Onion's Deal of the Day

Enjoy!

Pen - Pencil - Marker Storage Ideas - Blog Hop!

Pen - Pencil - Marker Storage Ideas

I have so many ideas when it comes to storage of pens, pencils, and markers!  I hope some of these ideas can help you transform your space and make things more convenient for you.  There are some things to take into consideration when deciding what will work for you.

I believe the main issues are:

Displayed vs. Put Away ~ (Do you work better when your area is free from clutter or do you feel that everything must be visible?)

Vertical vs. Horizontal ~ (Do you believe that pens work better if stored horizontally or vertically? - some manufacturers are specific)
Quantity ~ (A cup full or a file cabinet full)
Portability ~ (Do you travel to crops or with friends often, or do you work at home?)

You don't need to spend a lot of money to make a really attractive storage solution.  Some of the best ideas are dollar store finds or reuse ideas!

I believe that everything looks better if it is containerized... so, if you decide to use cups or vases or glass jars, you may want to containerize them further such as with a basket, box, old drawer, or tray (such as a dresser tray or serving tray) - This also makes your entire collection much more portable!

Just walk through your home or a dollar store...any container has the potential to hold your writing utensils...

Think about paint, paper, fabric, decoupage, trim, stamp, splatter, play with a cut-off cereal box, cups, shoe boxes, sauce jars or cans, plastic bins, or vases.

How about taking a variety of garage sale vases and plant pots and spray painting them all the same matching color and putting them on a mirrored tray - now fill with colorful markers!!

Ikea has a fabulous set that includes a rod with hanging buckets that works fabulously.

Even a brochure holder can be used to containerize your pens, pencils, or markers!

You can even make a pen holder from old diskettes!

Large cookie jars and canisters make a dramatic statement filled with colorful markers or highlighters or colored pencils.

 

How about using a TV remote caddy, mini-paint cans or various Chinese carry-out boxes?  Or a sock compartment from a dresser?  

 

 

Or a silverware drawer organizer?  Or a picnic table silverware caddy?

I was lucky!  I found a store pen display rack at my local scrapbook store when they were going out of business.  I covered the top and bottom with some of my favorite scrapbooking papers.  I stamped "PLAY" on it and wah-lah!!

There are many different plastic organizers that can be used.  Think clear plastic shoe boxes, Rubbermaid containers, and plastic bins.

 

Baskets, photo boxes, pencil cases, and cigar boxes make great horizontal storage.

Wonderful details on how Trudee from split coast stampers stores her Copic markers along with great ideas on how to keep track of your colors is available on her blog.

 

Any wine rack makes a great storage for pens, pencils, and markers; Just add glasses or cans instead of wine bottles!

Cubes, office rotary spinners, and Office Supply sources are general multipurpose ideas. 

Acrylic or plastic drawers always work well.  

Rolling Carts with Mini-Drawers are excellent options if you have many, many writing utensils.

Isn't this a gorgeous and innovative idea?  Kristen Troyer has a fabulous idea made from pvc pipe that her father helped create!

Tami McBeath shows off the Color Cubbie; a new solution by a friend.

 

Artbin has a bunch of really neat storage solutions.

What if you have a lot of pens!  Maybe you need to store them in a file cabinet, file box, or entire drawer!

Mister art has a zip up pencil pouch that is fun and expandable!

Dick Blick has a very reasonably priced solution here.

           

This spinning tray from mister art could be a lot of fun to fill and bright red too!

Expandable Copic Marker Rack – How fun... collect away!!

        

How simple is this idea from re-nest?

Even a dishwasher rack for silverware can be painted and used!  Outta this funk shows you how!

I like these 12x12 storage boxes - they hold a lot and my goal is to fill each with different things.  Different embellishments etc.  I actually like the snap closure ones better but this gives you an idea.  They are clear, portable, and stack well!

More Ideas:
Do you remember the vase that I decorated for valentines day?  This makes a cool pencil holder!

A fabric/canvas/nylon roll-up storage system is convenient and portable.  These typically have slots for individual items.

You could easily use a 6 pack beer or wine cooler package; use the way it is or recover with your special designs.

Sometimes the original cases are the best and you just want to store them all in a drawer.

A bunch of used grocery store sauce bottles inside of a basket!  You could tie ribbons around these to make them cute!

Most large scrapbooking totes have great marker organizers built in with the elastic that holds them individually.

A tackle box or tool box that you already have might be just what you want.

Even an old mismatched shoe or boot can hold some miscellaneous items!

Any number of similar sized objects, like paint cans, cups, or tin cans can be glued together and stacked on their sides for horizontal storage!

I found a square bucket with ice cream and not having seen a square one before, really felt that it had to be purchased! For storage reasons of course, but I did eat the ice cream too! It would work nicely!

Various boxes - cereal boxes, pasta boxes, cookie boxes, etc... can be taken and cut off at the appropriate height and taped together, spray painted or wrapped with your favorite scrapbooking or wrapping paper and used for pen storage.  These could be used for horizontal or vertical storage depending on the boxes you choose.

Cups are a traditional pencil cup solution.  You could use the plastic dollar store cups that you actually get a few for a dollar and they are colorful.  The traditional  coffee mugs can be used, it's a great way to display any that are sentimental.

If you have a bulletin board near your desk, you can pin a carpenter pouch or sewn dishtowel to the bottom of the board and fill it up.

Metal wall vases make cute containers for a few pens or pencils that you want to hang near by an area.  Maybe next to your phone or door.

This blog post is part of an organizational blog hop for scrapbooking supplies!  Please continue on to the other participants and leave a comment at each one (including here!) and let us know what you think! Thanks for visiting and being a part of our blog hop!

Photograph Storage - Leanne

Embellishment Storage - Jo

Ribbon & Fiber Storage - Shellie

Stamp Storage - Wendy K.

Ink Pad Storage - Ramona

Pen & Pencil Storage - Jeanne M.  **YOU ARE HERE**

Sticker, Die Cuts and Rub-On Storage -Amanda

Tools Storage and Paper Storage - Mary