Living a Colorful Life: My iPhone Apps

    

My iPhone caused a stir at a party last night. The revelers were surprised and delighted that I organize my phone apps by color. Though I had heard about this practice somewhere online months ago, it was new to them and they loved it. In fact, they made me promise to share it in the blog today. Voila! 

When I try to explain my life and blog, I usually default to the phrase, "I am driven by color and sugar." That seems to sum it up. A good friend even thinks I should add the hashtag #colorsugarribbon to all of my online posts make "finding delight in everyday life" a clearer concept. I think she may be onto something.

Anyhoo, last night as I was paging past my apps to find something to share, a friend looked down and said, "Wait a minute...are your apps by color?!" Everyone responded well to it, though many conceded that they didn't thing they could change from their current folder system. 

I arranged my apps by color last summer and I will never go back. It's too pretty! FYI, I do have my most important apps on the first page for speed (Google Maps, Camera, Instagram, Calendar), but the rest are as you see them here. It might seem frivolous...but it also might bring you delight. 

#colorcoded #instagramable #apps #colorsugarribbon #finddelight #beautyofeverydaylife #color #makersgonnamake #seattleblogger #iphone #iphoneographer #pin #momentsofdelight #creativejuices #creativelife

School Supplies: Driven By Color

I had to stop and show you this beautiful selection of solid color binders available at Target. I use binders filled with clear plastic sleeves to organize my magazine recipes and decorating or garden articles. I have used the same binders for years, but I am rethinking everything now that I have seen this selection. 

When I get back to Seattle, I am going to invest in a whole new set of of these binders to make my office shelf look tidy and professional. I need 8 or more, the question is, which color/colors should I use? Stay tuned...

October 2017:

Okay, by the time I flew back to Seattle, the oranges and yellows were sold out. I ended up buying various widths of the coral and solid white notebooks and I love it. I have them in our mudroom on the counter and each folder holds scores of magazine recipes in plastic 8x10 sleeves. I highly recommend managing your papers and ideas this way. Pinterest is fun but this is the kind of system that works for me.

My categories are:

Main Dish
Salads
Brunch & Appetizers
Baking
Betty Book (a melange of tips for the kitchen; folding napkins, making raspberry coulis)
Christmas
Candy Making
Garden
Crafts


#target #schoolsupplies #color #candycolors #colordriven #backtoschool

Scarf Management: A Super Simple Way to Pack Scarves

I have a serger and I love to buy silky fabric at the fabric store, serge the edges and have a new beautiful scarf to scrunch around my neck.  That said, I sometimes (sometimes? always) get carried away when I am "making" and I end up with a huge collection of scarves, all of which I want to bring with me on my trips. 

So "Scarf Management" has been on my mind. I was struck with this simple and effective packing system for scarves when I was getting ready for this last my trip to Seattle.  I was in my office and I came across this pale pink multi-pocket file folder (intended for papers) and thought: scarves!

It worked like a charm.  I folded each scarf into a medium size square and slide each right into the pocket.  No snagging, no becoming unfolded, no problem!

The next time you are packing for a trip, look on your desk to master scarf management!

Bonne Maman makes Beautiful Jam Jars turned Bead Organizers

Lucky for me, my best friend's husband devours a jar of Bonne Maman preserves every week! She knows that I like to paint jam jars, so she asked if I wanted her empty jars before they hit the recycling bin.  Do I?!

I asked her to save the lids for me too, as I knew they would make beautiful storage containers. These beautiful glass jars would be perfect as bead storage for my jewelry making!  

It feels so good to walk into my craft room and see the abundance of components neatly organized (and dust free) on my shelf.  Doesn't it look pretty?  Thank you, Kim, for helping me to up-cycle!

Sprinkle and Sugar Management

My blog is about finding delight in everyday life.  Celebrating the beauty of everyday moments. Embracing what you love, collecting what you want.  

I love a lot of things, but I tend to tell people that my life is driven by color and sugar.  No image will make that clearer than the one above.  My new genius invention...what I call "Sugar Management."

Do you love it!?!  It is every sprinkle I own, contained in individual clear boxes with lids.  I know, it makes my heart pound too.

You see, I have a lot of decorations and I use them liberally on cupcakes, cookies and the like.  I go on "field trips" with my friend Alison and we buy what we need for the upcoming holiday.  It is so fun, so reasonable and is the best collection ever.

Collection?  Yep, this counts.  Something that I have this much of and something that brings me this much delight surely counts as a collection. To me, this is art.

The road block for me was that the containers that they came in were of varying sizes and not at all appealing.  When I pull out my cookie decorations it should be as pretty as the sugar itself. Do you know what I mean?  The marginal packaging was standing in the way between me and the cute.  So I found a way to fix it.

Want to have your own system of sugar management?  I bought a collection of clear Amac boxes (this variety with a deep lid) and (this variety with a narrow lid) at the Container Store and I feel like a Sweet Genius.  

Perfect Purse Management

I was at the hairdresser one day and the ladies were all talking about how difficult it is to change purses all the time.  They said that they often stuck with one purse, not because they wanted to, but because that was how they would know they had what they needed with them.

I chimed in that I had a staging area for my purses in my bathroom linen closet and they said...what?  One of the girls asked me to blog about it so that they could see what I mean.  Voila! 

I told them that it started when I began my cigar box purse business.  I am known for the interesting fabric linings that I put in the cigar boxes and I was always opening my purse to show it off.   

When you are always opening your purse, you want the contents to be pretty. That's when I started collecting pretty pens, colorful notepads (to take orders/contact info), little tins of mints, and clear box wallets (I wish I could still sell these, but I can't find them anymore!).

Anyhoo, all of this led me to create a staging area where I stop, with the purse I am carrying that day, and load it with something from each compartment. My wallet and iPhone start the process.

From the back left in the photo above, I have:

• cute tissues
• Band-aids
• coin purses/powder compacts/mirrors
• hair bands/bobby pins
• hand sanitizer wipes
• a pen/calculator, key chains, little flashlights
• Vitamin C lozenges
• notepads
• mints
• allergy medicine, ear plugs, tums
• gum
• business cards
• a clear jar of lipsticks/glosses
• a jar of pens (just outside the photo)

We all have these items in our house and we all need them to make it through the day, why not put it all in one place?  I can't tell you how easy it has made my life.  And it is just part of one shelf in my bathroom linen closet.  The shelf above holds my cigar box purses and Delight totes.  Easy-peasy.

Do you think you'd like to have a staging area for your purses?