Winter Blues Wednesday - It's a Party #151

Welcome to this week's Winter Blues Wednesday party.  

Last week's party was filled with so many awesome ideas and inspiration.  

Here are this week's features:

HOME DECOR:

Create shared the awesome coffee and tea station she has in her home.  Awesome!

Techies DIY Adventures transformed her laundry room by stenciling one of the walls.  What a huge difference a little paint can make.  

CRAFTY CREATIONS:

Lip Gloss and Lumber created this super cool tufted ottoman from a pallet!!  Great job.

FURNITURE TRANSFORMATIONS:

Painted Therapy shared tips and tricks to painting furniture pulls.  

TASTY TREATS:

Jodie Fitz shared a recipe for baked brie with pears and walnuts.  I can't wait to try this one.

If you were featured, please grab an "I've Been Featured" button (you can now find my buttons by clicking on the buttons tab right under my header).  Now let's get started with this week's party.  I can't wait to see what you have been up to.  Link up anything you have been working on...home decor, sewing, crafts, organizing, baking, recipes etc.   I will keep this link open through Friday.

<a border="0" href="http://www.diybydesign.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipw62ZdrKpNmaJdWF0-T8fM7RV9-cuZSxfrIWZ_j8O996HWzXChosS5wOVixR0OXFygAvhfK7VB34IUIgHiT38YyF7GxGTfXiPhdmuMMlhadOaxv_VUL8kw37m08BRwJqtn31mvleXUpzi/s128/18542134351.jpg" /></a>

A few rules:

1.  Please become a follower (if you already follow me on Google, I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers as well).  

2.  Please grab my party button above and display it either on your sidebar or somewhere in your post.  This way word can spread about the party.  The more people at the party, the more fun we will have.

3.  Please enter the link to your actual post, not just a link to your main blog page.

4. Please visit others who have linked up.   Everyone works hard on their projects and blogs...let's show each other some love by visiting each other.  Let's have some fun and hopefully make a few new friends along the way.

Ok...Let's Party

-Judy

Getting Organized

It's a new year and for me that usually means it's time to start re-organizing.  Over the year closets tend to get overfilled and messy.  With colder weather and being home a bit more, it gives me time to focus on cleaning out these messy closets.

 The guest room closet seems to be one of the biggest offenders.  I think that's where I throw anything that doesn't seem to have a home.  

 I found this unopened storage bag when I emptied out the closet which helped me move some of the things that aren't used very often up into the attic.

 After two bags of garbage and items being relocated, the closet looks so much better.

 After the guest room closet I moved on to my closet in the master bedroom

 I filled three bags with items for Goodwill and reorganized everything in the closet, trying to keep only those things I will actually wear.  

How about you?  Have you been organizing closets?

-Judy

2013 Year In Review

I always think it's fun to look back over the last year and remember some of the things I have accomplished.
I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.

JANUARY

I started last year off with updating the desk in my daughter's room using wrapping paper.  It's a simple idea for a great look that still looks great a year later.  

FEBRUARY

In February I shared a tutorial on how to create this DIY monogram letter.

MARCH

  In March I shared my new craft closet. As part of the basement renovation we did last year, I transformed my kids old toy closet into something way more useful...my super cool craft closet.

APRIL

 In April I shared our newly renovated basement.  We had a mold issue and the entire basement needed to be remediated.  It was unexpected and costly, but the end result was great.

MAY

In May I created this super cute pillow using embroidery.  

JUNE

In June I created this ipad pillow along with a full tutorial.  

JULY

In July I shared all the details of our wonderful family trip to Hawaii, including our stay at the Disney Aulani.

AUGUST

  In August I revealed the teen lounge space I created off of my son's room.  

SEPTEMBER

In September I reupholstered a Pottery Barn Teen craigslist chair.  

OCTOBER

In October I made my garage entry much more inviting by painting the door and the stairs.

NOVEMBER

  For Thanksgiving I created DIY Thanksgiving napkin rings/place cards.  

DECEMBER

For Christmas I created DIY Christmas stockings using materials I got at JoAnn's.  You can check out a full tutorial here.

I hope you enjoyed my 2013 year in review.  Looking forward to creating so much more in 2014!

  

-Judy

Winter Blues Wednesday - It's a Party #150

Welcome to this week's Winter Blues Wednesday party.  I hope it's warmer where you are than it is here.  The temperatures are well below zero here with the wind chill.  Brrrr!!

This is the thermometer we have hanging right outside of our kitchen window.  Yep-it's cold outside.  Hope you will stay warm inside and come and party with me tonight.
I can't wait to see what you have all been up to.   Link up anything you have been working on...home decor, sewing, crafts, organizing, baking, recipes etc.   I will keep this link open through Friday.

A few rules:

1.  Please become a follower (if you already follow me on Google, I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers as well).  

2.  Please grab my party button above and display it either on your sidebar or somewhere in your post.  This way word can spread about the party.  The more people at the party, the more fun we will have.

3.  Please enter the link to your actual post, not just a link to your main blog page.

4. Please visit others who have linked up.   Everyone works hard on their projects and blogs...let's show each other some love by visiting each other.  Let's have some fun and hopefully make a few new friends along the way.

Ok...Let's Party

-Judy

Simplify

My kids were on a two hour delay from school this morning due to the extremely low temperatures.  It read 5 degrees on my car this morning, but with the wind chill it is well below zero.  It's these cold days after the holidays that I just want to stay and be cozy at home.  Especially right after the holidays and after the holiday break, I long for things to be a bit simpler.  Before it's time to start decorating for Valentine's day and Easter, I just wanted a more simple decor around the house.

The family room looks huge now that the Christmas tree has been put away.

Last night I had a fire going to help keep the house feeling warm and cozy.

A simple, uncluttered mantle is what I need right now.

The same holds true in the dining room.  Simple.  I love the addition of my new Luminara candles.  These by far are the most real looking candles...especially in person.  Love the new blue color.  The dining room will most likely be the first big project of the new year, but more on that in the coming weeks.

Hope you all stay warm!

Don't forget to stop back later for my Winter Blues Wednesday party that opens tonight at 8pm EST.

Hope to see you there!

-Judy

A New Camera for a New Year and DIY Camera Case Tutorial

Happy New Year!  It feels like I have been away forever.  This was the first time in over ten years that we traveled during the Christmas break.  We went to Florida to visit with my mother in law for a few days and then spent the rest of the time at Universal Studios in Orlando.  By the way...it was not warm in Orlando.  Mostly in the 50's and mostly overcast or raining, but that didn't dampen our fun.  We had a great time.  We came home on Thursday just in time for the big snowstorm that hit the New York area.  Timing is everything, and ours was great because our flight home was completely uneventful and we actually landed early.  We were home by 4pm on Thursday and we spent the rest of the day taking down all of the Christmas decor.  As much as I love the holidays, there is nothing like the day you take down all of the decorations...the house feels huge.  I love that feeling.

 Christmas was wonderful.  One of my favorite gifts is the new camera my husband bought me.  I have really wanted to improve the quality of the photos I take for my blog and had tried using our "real" camera the last few months, but honestly, I am just not that good at it.  I spent hours reading the manual for that camera, and it would take me hours to just get mediocre photos.  I read tons of tutorials online as well and couldn't get the right settings no matter what I tried.  My old point and shoot camera was also an Olympus and was great for it's time, but it was over ten years old and it too was only taking mediocre photos.  So I asked for a new point and shoot camera for Christmas knowing my husband would do the appropriate research to get me the best camera for my needs.  He got me the Olympus SH-50 digital camera.  The coolest thing about this camera and why I am so happy with it already is it has anti-blur technology.  No more blurry photos.  No more fighting with the camera to focus.  Another one of it's awesome features is it is great at taking photos in poor light.  As a blogger you know that having the perfect light happens less often than we would all like, so I am very excited for this feature as well.  So far I love the camera.  I can't wait for a new year of blogging with it.

We left on December 27th for Florida, and with not much time available, I needed a case for my new camera.  So I decided to whip one up using scraps of fabric (isn't this what everyone does the night before their early morning flight??).   

 Actually, to be more specific, I used fabric samples that have been cut over the years, mostly from Calico Corners.  I love these fabrics, I just haven't found the right place in my home to use them yet.

I decided to use four different fabrics...mostly because I didn't have enough of any of them to not use so many.  But in the end I love the patchwork effect.  For the outside of the case I used an aqua and cream, heavy-weight fabric and matched it up with the blue and green floral for the flap.  For the inside I used a piece of pink basket-weave fabric the same dimensions as the houndstooth fabric and another piece of fabric the same dimensions as the flap fabric.  I was going to use batting in between the layers, but in the end the fabric I used was substantial enough that I didn't have to.  If I were using a lighter fabric, batting would have been a must.  I sewed a ribbon to the flap and then used it to close up the case.  The case was perfect because it protected my camera and it fit easily into my handbag.  

Can't wait to hear what you think about the camera case and the new photo quality.  

-Judy

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