The Clipboard Paper-by-Date Organizer

I work in an office by myself, and I spend a lot of time organizing myself and my thoughts so I can get stuff done.  It's so hard to stay motivated while I'm running my own department!

I get a lot of fliers, job openings, events, etc. that I need to keep organized so I can address them on different days.  I came up with this tab system to keep me straight.

Back to Life: an old Clipboard (notes written on it place it circa 1992)

Also need: Microsoft Excel, colored pen, sticky tabs, tape

1) First, I went into Excel and created a chart with 31 rows and resized them so they fit a whole piece of paper.  I right-justified the contents (1, 2, 3, etc.), then stretched them out so the cell was as wide as the paper.  I printed it and taped it to the back of the clipboard.

2) Next, I drew a long line in color about an inch from the edge.  I guess this could have been done in Excel, but I'm set to black and white to save money on ink. 

3) To use it, I just line my paper up with the top of the grid and the bright orange line.

4) Write the date on your tab...

5) and stick it to the flier on the cell that corresponds with the day of the month.

6) Voila!  All tabbed, from first of the month to last of the month, from top to bottom.

I like this.  Let me know if you tried it, or how it turned out.  I'm sure there are a ton of ways to use this organizing system!

Susan Homemaker

The Shadowbox Key Hanger

We thought this turned out pretty awesome!

Grandpa Pete had many key hangers in the house.  (All done himself!  Pete was the original West High Do It Yourselfer.)  But, as it goes with refurbing, everything was taken down for painting.  We've been careful to keep the walls nice, so we use 3M Contact strips to stick everything from towel hooks to pirate ships to the walls.  Why not use them for keys?

On second thought, boring white hooks by the door didn't seem so great.  I got an idea.

I measured where four hooks would hang within this old mirror frame and marked it on the back of a piece of pretty paper.  I cut out spaces for the hooks and trimmed it to fit the frame, then taped the paper to the wall with Scotch tape and penciled each hole.

Next, I removed the tape and stuck on the hooks.  The paper fit snugly around the hooks and hid the unsightly cheater strips!  I didn't adhere the paper so I could change it out easily for holidays. To finish it, I hung a gold frame sideways around it (with Contact strips, of course).  Ta da!

Yeah, so its a little crooked.  Thank goodness for resticky!

Susan Homemaker

The Grandparents Jewelry Organizer

I've seen dozens of variations for this kind of diy project, but I thought I'd see what I had around the house to bring back to life - and ended up making one heck of a heirloom on the process!

I started with an old wooden frame that I found in our downstairs rec room.  It had some sort of old photo of mine safety inspections that used to hang in my boyfriend's grandfather's office.  The glass went into my "purgatory" box (not yet upcycled materials).

I hot glued window screen onto the back, and put picture hanging wire at intervals across.  I let this dry, then decided I didn't like it plain and transparent.  So, I went around the house in search of textures.  And found just what I needed!

I had this old tan knit cardigan that used to belong to Grandma Eileen.  Perfect!  So after I just flattened it out and glued it on, then trimmed off the excess. (Now, don't go cutting before you glue it on.  It'll come all unraveled!)

I finished this at the kitchen table in the time that it took my gentleman to fix me dinner.  He was pretty surprised when I wrapped up my mess!

This was the first of a flood of things I've done since I found pintrest.  More to come!

Susan Homemaker