Lucky Labels

Happy Monday Everyone!

Let me tell you about a vice I've had for many years now: MAGAZINES. Flipping through the pages is simply addicting. If you lose me in a bookstore, you'll know I'll be at the magazine section. When flights get delayed, I won't be the first to complain, as long as there's a news stand at the airport carrying all those glossy covers. If you visit me at home, you'll find stacks of magazines and even if they're in neat piles, I must admit, they're invading the area designated as "free space".

So here I am in magazine rehab, learning to let go of my favorite reading material. But letting go is never easy therefore blah to Tada! is my easy way out.

Here are my old copies of Lucky Magazine. It's a style and shopping magazine that I used as inspiration for different looks using the clothes that I already own.

I love that there's a page full of "Yes" and "Maybe" stickers to mark the pages that inspired me. Now that I'm passing on these magazines, I'm saving the stickers.

Tada! I'll use them to mark cookbooks & recipes I want to try.

This saves me from using little bits of torn-up paper that can easy fall off when I turn the pages.

See you again tomorrow for another magazine project!

Tiny Thoughts

We're saying farewell to another week and bidding the "back to school" week on my blog goodbye. We've made a lot of useful things for the home and office using basic school supplies. Today, let's play around with these index cards:

If you can't stop by an office supply store,
you can easily get these at the supermarket or drugstore.

You can get the white ones;
I happen to like these assorted vibrant colors.
Here's how they go from blah to Tada!:

Decorate it and tuck it in a loved one's current read.

She'll be bowled over by your sweet note.

Or your can make a little card &
envelope for a favorite friend.

Tell her how much you appreciate her friendship.

Then secretly put it inside her purse.
Won't it be exciting when she discovers it?

And for your little one -- a surprise in his
or her lunchbox.

Fashion the index cards into a little lunch box.

Then add an encouraging note inside.
What a boost to the spirits this will be!

Thanks so much for visiting me this week.
Have a fabulous weekend!

It's Take-Out Tonight

There are nights when I'm too exhausted or just not in the mood to cook dinner. Thank goodness for take-out and restaurants that deliver! Maybe you're like me who has a bunch of these delivery menus holding on tightly to the magnet on the fridge door:

Not very cool especially if they're sliding off or
piling up on the kitchen counter.

Since we're in "back to school" mode on my blog this week,
I got this plastic envelope at my neighborhood
office supply store.

It's a simple but sturdy envelope...just a tad too plain.

Blah to Tada! time!

I added this decorative strip to the spine.

It provides a festive touch and tells anyone what's inside.

There's a pocket inside where I wrote down my
favorite restaurants that deliver straight to my door.

Tada! My menus now have a home, freeing the kitchen of clutter!

Cilp On, Clip Off

It's all about "back to school" this week and even if I'm not a student, a quick trip to the office supply store is always fun treat. I found these binder clips and just felt the urge to jazz them up:

Yup, you got it -- blah to Tada!

It's a project I found in blogland. I've seen a lot of bloggers make this simple transformation of wrapping cloth or paper around the base of these binder clips with just a little bit of glue. Isn't the result fantastic?

Bills, bank statements, letters...it will make organizing these items easier and not to mention, much, much prettier!

Thanks for visiting me today. Hope to see you again tomorrow!

My Many Manuals

This week on blah to Tada!, we're using some common school supplies to organize our home and office.

Does this look familiar? It's a stack of instruction manuals from the electronics and appliances we've purchased through the years. Okay, many of us don't really read them so they're either stuck in the box or stashed away somewhere where they can never be found (especially when we need them). Why not gather them together in a central location?

Like in this binder perhaps?

Just add clear sleeves and insert an instruction manual in each slot.

That way, when you need to troubleshoot,
the manual is easy to find.

Store receipts and warranty cards as well,
in case you need to replace your machines.

Easy-peasy blah to Tada! organization!

Too Cool for School

Happy Monday Everyone!

It's the end of September and how quickly time flies! Children, teenagers and many adults are back in school and I can't help thinking about my days as a student. One of my favorite things to do was to go shopping for school supplies -- fresh pens, new erasers and blank notebooks, ready to be filled with notes, numbers and doodles. Oh, the promise of new beginnings!

When the new school season begins, I must say that I get quite excited. Okay, so I'm not a student, but I love perusing the "back to school" aisles of Target, Staples and Office Warehouse. Not only are there many good deals, you can use many of these items at home or in the office. Take for example this mini clipboard:

Just plain and shall we say, a bit blah.

By simply adding a sheet of scrapbook paper
(mounted with white glue & a layer of Modge Podge)...

Tada! A cute & colorful clipboard for
To Do Lists and Reminders.

See you again tomorrow!

Techie Tada!

Hey, hey, hooray...it's finally Friday!

For the past two weeks, it was all about this bag of scrap -- a cool find from a New York City flea market. I think it's a purchase that just keeps on giving and I did my darn best to milk it dry.

The first thing I did was to segregate
the contents by color.

These, paired with other materials that I bought or already had in my possession, were then turned into accessories like a belt, hair clip, shoe clips, necklaces, necklaces and more necklaces!

Well, there are a lot more beads left so I'm making another accessory.

Something for our everyday technology.

I made a pouch from a piece of felt and decorated the flap
with these black beads.

Tada! A cool case for any MP3 player,
digital camera or mobile phone.

As for the rest of the beads, I'll use them in future blah to Tada! projects. Meanwhile, I wish you an awesome weekend!

The Golden Key

If you love magazines as much as I do, you may have seen the latest ad of Tiffany & Co. featuring these Tiffany Keys:

I'm not sure if you can read the text, but I really love the lines "A promise of adventure" and "A secret kept". Sigh! These are gorgeous, especially the diamond-studded ones. To resist the urge to shop, I think I'll craft instead.

With Tiffany keys as inspiration, I'm turning this old key and a bunch of stuff from the bag of scrap from blah to Tada!.

An embellished key for me...

...until I'm ready to purchase my Tiffany Key!

Wrist-y Business

Eight days and counting and I haven't used up the
goodies from my bag of scrap.

Good thing I still find inspiration to turn
them from blah to Tada!.

Tiny beads from the bag of scrap PLUS beads that I've
had for several years now (ignored & unused)...

PLUS scrap felt from the bib necklace & hair clip
I made last week (we have a no waste policy here!)...

...EQUALS this fascinating cuff!

I sewed the beads by hand on the piece of felt topped with a piece of tulle (or you can use a clean garlic sack). The purple flower at the center is a vintage brooch I bought at a London flea market. I can easily detach it if I want to use it separately.

To close the ends, I sewed on this bright blue ribbon.

Tada! A modern wrist corsage you can wear anytime.
Because you know, a little wrist action never hurt anybody.

Bead-Dazzled!

Thanks for visiting my blog on this lovely Tuesday! I'm still using up the little treasures in my bag of scrap. If you've ever made jewelry, I think you'll agree that some materials happen to dictate what they want to be. Like these beads for instance:

Together they seemed to unite, share one voice and say, "Turn us into a necklace!"

So I played fairy godmother and granted them their wish!

By stringing the bag of scrap beads and more beads from my collection together, I now have this unique, bohemian necklace!

See you tomorrow for another blah to Tada! project.