More than just Cross Stitchin': Accessorize and Organize

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Accessorize and Organize

Accessories: Can't live without them!

Do you love shopping for purses, scarves and necklaces as much as I do? You don't have to take your clothes off to try on a scarf and you don't get 'static hair' when you try out a purse. Finding that 'oh-so-right' necklace that matches your favourite outfit brings such a feeling of accomplishment! The reason I love these accessories so much is because they always FIT!!

Pear-shaped women, such as myself, would rather stick needles in their eyes than shop for pants. For me - Nothing can spoil a mood faster than trying on pants. I'm either in tears or ready to go postal on someone. (Now for anyone asking themselves..."I wonder if she is eating chips as she's writing this", the answer is NO. ....I already finished them...and I'm onto the chocolate now.)

Just teasing.

Everyone knows you eat the chocolate with the chips!

Let's get back to the necklaces and scarves. Besides the fact that they are wonderful accessories, they are especially helpful to the pear-shaped woman. Why? Because it draws the onlookers eyes UP and away from the hip area. Needless to say, I have many scarves and necklaces. The problem is... How to Organize them ALL.

Once - on one of my trips to IKEA, I discovered a scarf holder that has 7 rows of circles to hold the scarves. Perfect for those types of scarves that don't matter if they wrinkle. However, most of mine look better without the wrinkles (just like my face) so I opted to look for something else. Recently, I found some velvet covered hangers at the dollar store that have multiple rungs - these work out perfect for my freshly pressed scarves and Pashminas (confession: I DO love to iron.) Added advantage - they don't slide off the hanger. Today... while purging my closet and unable to part with my many scarves - I discovered that I DO need the IKEA scarf holder after all. Good thing I'm making a trip to IKEA this weekend !! Start the car... start the car !!!!

As for my necklaces, they were either tossed into and tangled up in a basket; OR hung up with - and tangled amongst the car keys on the key holder. But, alas, I finally found something to organize my necklaces to keep them from tangling. I noticed at my friend Joanne's house that she had a necklace or two dangling from a wall hanging that was hanging above her vanity. So I searched for something 'just right' to hang on the wall and keep the necklaces separate from one another. Voila.

I love it. It's on the wall at the top of the stairs just outside my bedroom. Handy for me as I'm walking out of my room to start my day, and yet decorative enough to catch your eye. My niece came for a visit one day this summer and it caught her eye immediately, and as she was walking by she decided to accessorize herself. She loved this idea and said she was going to do the same thing at home.

Happy shopping ladies.
Bonnie

2 comments:

Chantelle said...: Love this post Bonnie! I too am a great lover of scarves and necklaces. I did not know about this scarf organizer from Ikea, but I like it. We have a decorative ladder that I put a lot of mine on - the rest are rolled up in a drawer. The only thing that bothers me about the drawer is that I can't see them and I sometimes forget about the great selection I have. Creases or wrinkles? No problem - I absolutely HATE ironing and would never dream of ironing a scarf, lol!
Love the necklace idea. I bought one of those mini mannequin in a dress things (I don't know how else to explain it, haha - do you know what I mean?) that are meant just for necklaces; however it's all filled up so I'm going to steal your idea next! :)

Currently I'm trying to find a solution for all of my big rings - anoather favourite accessory of mine!; November 6, 2011 at 9:43 PM
Syd said...: Thanks for sharing your organizing ideas. I'm going to have to find one of those hangers for scarves. I too am hooked on accessories and hate buying pants.; November 7, 2011 at 8:59 AM

Charlie Brown

Growing up, I had a pet monkey named Charlie Brown. Actually, he belonged to my sister and he came to live with us in 1966. You were actually allowed to have monkeys as pets then and if you can beleive it, he was ordered from an ad in the back of a magazine. Charlie Brown was a squirrel monkey (just like the ones in the Telus commericials).

Everyone in school loved when it was my turn for 'show and tell'. You will see in some of the photos (if the slide show downloads for me...) that he used to wear diapers. Eventually, he learned how to take them off. We had a rope strung across the kitchen from end to the other. We kept a piece of papertowel on the floor at the end of one rope and that's where he did his business. His rope provided many hours of entertainment. At bedtime, if mom and dad were not home when it was bedtime, he would sit on his roap and cry out until they returned.

If I was crying, Dad would put him up to my face to lick away my tears. He would dangle from my hair and lick from one eye to the next. It alwyays made me stop crying. He would play outside and every once in awhile he would swing from tree to tree and end up down the street at the neighbours.

Often you would find the monkey lying in the cast iron pan on the stove. The pilot light from the gas stove provided him a warm and comfy spot. He would also sit on top of the lamp shade for warmth, and if you ever heard a 'pop' - you knew he peed on the lightbulb. It happens...

Charlie Brown used to sit on the wall phone.... until it rang. That was always funny. He brought many years of amusement to us all and I miss him and his antics.

Bonnie

Warm hearts ... and warm toes!

Well since we are talking winter, let's talk about warm hearts ... and warm toes.

A few years ago at Christmas we had a gift exchange. Ironically, both Anita and myself had the exact same idea for a present. We always open our gift bags at the same time, and it was really hard for me to keep a straight face when I saw that Anita had had the same gift idea as me and while she explained that she thought slippers would be a good idea, that way we could carry them in our bag with us at all times. Anita had knit slipppers for everyone and made a little draw-string pouch, with our names embroidered on it, to keep the socks in.

Then they all opened my gift bag and we burst out laughing. I knew how much everyone loved snowmen, so I had stitched faces on white slippers and added a carrot button for the nose. Well we weren't finished with the laughter because I thought we should get a picture with our slippers on. So then we were all sitting on the floor trying to get different positions in order to get everyone in the picture at the same time. We tried sitting up against the wall and taking the picture of our toes all pointing up to the ceiling and then I said, nooooo - that will show the snowman's face upside down. Someone said... (and I won't say who...) "Good point, let's think of something else. What if we lay on our back with our feet in the air - you know... like if our feet were ON the ceiling"

Well then the faces would still be upside down wouldn't they. Spontanious Laughter.

We had to think of something else. It was decided that we would just stand toe to toe in a huddle and we would take the picture from above in order to get everyone in the picture. Sounded like a good plan right?

Well... not if you have a protruding belly and/or big boobs. After the inital light-headedness subsided from sucking in our bellies, we had to deal with the shadow from the boobs.

So we stood in our huddle, adjusting, wiggling and laughing with our arms around each other while we tried not to tip over. It was about that moment when Anita's daughter walked in on us, which of course added to the laughter when we saw the look on her face.

Finally the photo was taken and our toes are doubly warm.

Bonnie

It all started with a tea towel...

Quite some time ago when I was perusing the Dollarama, I came across the cutest autumn tea towel with a teddy bear dressed up like a scarecrow. It immediately reminded me of Jody and I thought 'I'm going to get that for her', and then I thought... why not get one for everybody? And so I did and it was a hit.

From that point on, it's no surprise to any of us if there just happens to be an occasional 'mini gift' exchange on Cross Stitch night. Once when Jody hosted in February, she gave us all a tiny picture frame with a 1" x 1" opening. I had no idea what to do with mine, but Tracey knew immediately. Because it was Valentines day, Tracey stitched a heart.

Mine sat for a good number of months before I could figure out what I could stitch in such a tiny area and not copy Tracey's idea. And then one day it hit me; Jody loves snowmen. I would do a snowman in the frame that Jody gave me. But.... do they make snowman patterns for less than 1" x 1"? I couldn't be bothered looking, so I winged it. And voila! A happy smiley snowman face. I think it took longer to write this posting than it did to stitch that happy face.

We'll have to get a picture of Tracey's heart posted after her renovations are complete as I expect it's packed away for now.

p.s. I wasn't allowed to Blog today unless I cleaned my house. It's half cleaned; consider this half a blog.
Bonnie

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Accessorize and Organize

2 comments:

Christmas 2016