Affordable acrylic storage

Since cleaning up my closet, I now have a craving for bright clear lucite trays and boxes for storing my growing jewelry stash. Above is an acrylic tray from Stacks and Stacks, recently featured in Real Simple.

Two options above from The Container Store: Stacking Acrylic Trays ($5 to $12) and Shallow Trays ($8 to $13)

IKEA has a new line of acrylic storage called Godmorgon, which ranges from $8 to $15 and includes these neat drawer dividers.



Then there are small compartment trays like this one at Stacks and Stacks for $18. One of my favorites - cb2's format tray for $35.00. Just think of the joolz you could spread out in here.

Tomorrow I'll show you my 100% free DIY acrylic storage.

Closet Therapy: Maintain your weight

It's summer and we are done with fooling around cleaning the closets. So this will be my last post of closet therapy this year. Previous posts here. More next year.

Many personal organization experts advise getting rid of clothes that are too tight. I say, no! Do not give up on yourself that way! Keep the threads and lose the weight. (There are exceptions. If you last wore the item at age 19 and you have since pushed out three kids, then some expectations need resetting.)

If you gained five pounds over the winter and your spring clothes don't fit, lose the five pounds. Or next year it will be 10 pounds. Deal with the matter while it can still be addressed with a short-term wacky diet like a juice cleanse.

I have this man to thank for a net loss of three pounds last month. This is Michael Kors, not Karl Lagerfeld. (Karl looks more like Dracula.) Michael made a tomato red sheath dress, which I found in a thrift store last year and could not wear this year without the assistance of special undergarments. Three pounds did the job. Thank you Michael.

Since I did not follow my own advice last year, I have a few more pound to go. And a grey sheath dress very similar to this one is getting me there. During the witching hour (any time after 6 p.m. when the nacho chips start calling my name) I go into my closet and try on this dress. At the rate I'm going, I'll get into it by November.

What to buy at CSN Stores?

Thanks to Struggling to be Stylish, I am the winner of a $75 gift certificate to CSN Stores, my first giveaway win ever. I won on May 5 and have yet to buy anything. That is because CSN Stores has approximately 50 kajillion items for sale.

If I add another $25, I could purchase the pillow of my dreams, pictured above, Thomas Paul's Sea Life Shell Pillow in charcoal. This is very much like, but even better than, The Most Beautiful Pillow Ever Made, which I posted about a year and a half ago.

But, being an optimizer rather than a satisficer, I cannot possibly be content with my first choice. Also, I need another throw pillow like I need a hole in the head.

What I could use is a hip clothes hamper, better lighting, a dining room table and maybe a neat little rug. I came up dry on the hamper. But the lighting and my ongoing quest for some kind of cool swing-arm lamp or sconce was another story.

Below is my short list, all less than $200 at CSN Stores:

Kenroy Home Mint Height Adjustable Torchiere in Antique Brass ($160)

Adesso Architect Floor Lamp ($132)

Light Source Santino Swing Arm Wall Lamp ($87)

Kenroy Home Theta One Light Swing Arm Wall Lamp ($90)

Kenroy Home Metro Swing Arm Wall Lamp ($90)

Kenroy Home Frye Swing Arm Wall Lamp ($99)

Grandrich Adjustable Floor Lamp ($80)

Kenry Home Theta One Light Floor Lamp ($135)

Light Source Damek Floor Lamp ($137)

Fangio Adjustable Floor Lamp ($105)

Stein World Desk and Floor Lamp in restored brass ($209)

Fangio Adjustable Floor Lamp in black ($105)

Kenroy Home Hydra One Light Floor Lamp in brushed steel ($108)

Kenroy Home Sweep Floor Lamp in Gloss White ($153)

Fangio Swing Arm Floor Lamp ($145)

Kenroy Home Reeler One Light Floor Lamp in Oiled Bronze ($117)

Robert Abbey Real Simple Floor Lamp in matte black ($200)

DIY Wednesday: Make an easy (yawn) envelope pillow

This will show you how to make a basic, easy envelope pillow, which is boring but . . . ever so useful. Make one, and next week we will do something totally unique with it.

An envelope cover allows you to make a removeable cover without using a zipper and is my new best friend since I lost my sewing machine zipper foot somewhere in the early '80s.

At its simplest, an envelope pillow cover requires only two seams.

Here's a felt one from Ruffles And Stuff. Cut a long rectangle of fabric. Fold and fold. Sew.

Here's a fabric one from DIY Maven. She folded under two edges to make a quick hem.

Now mine. I'll show you how to make a regular hem, which is a bit more work, but considering the fabulousness that we will be putting on the front of this cover next week, you want to have the option.

I will use measurements to create a pillow cover for a 24" pillow. Here's the formula for creating a pillow cover of any size:

• Cut a rectangle of fabric


• The width should be the width of your pillow plus 2"


• The length should be double the length of your pillow plus 8"


• The fold lines should be half the length of the pillow plus 3", measuring from the edge toward the center of the pillow.

For our 24" pillow, cut a rectangle of fabric 26" wide and 56" long.

We will hem the two short sides of the rectangle with a double hem. Fold the end over toward the wrong side of the fabric 1/2 inches and iron. Fold in again another 1/2" and iron. Sew along this seam.

Do the same on the other short end of the rectangle.

Lay your rectangle flat with the right side of the fabric facing up. Measure from the end in toward the center 15" inches and fold over. Do the same on the other end. Your fabric will overlap about three inches.

Sew up the two side seams with a one-inch seam allowance. Trim the excess seam allowance.

Turn the pillow cover right-side out and insert pillow.

p.s. Don't forget the lace jewelry holder giveaway.

Talk about a magazine stash

From here via Design for Mankind via Craft. Makes my pile look positively modest.

Weekend

A beeeyoootiful 50th anniversary party. Gorgeous evening. Pretty dresses. Sailboats on Huntington Bay. Many lovely orvey dorveys. Filet mignon. This cake. And . . . the three foot chocolate fountain. Too sick full by then to dip more than five items. Sigh.

Graduation Giveaway: Lace frame jewelry holder

June is the month for graduation parties, and Bromeliad Living will be giving away a lace frame jewelry holder that you can gift to your favorite girl graduate (or keep for yourself. I won't tell.)

The DIY tutorial for this project was inspired by Urban Outfitter's Sepia Lace Frame Jewelry Holder, (pictured above) which originally retailed for $48. I gave that one away but have since made another just for all you lovely readers (or one of you, at least.)

To enter the giveaway, just be a follower and leave a comment below. Due to shipping and size and all that, I am limiting this one to U.S. residents only with a huge apology to the rest of the planet.