It's Battle Time

My evil nemesis has returned...

Flat Surface Clutterer Dude

{or something like that}

After a week of this, I'm done. Today I'm fighting back!

I'm sure for most people this is nothing, but I've failed to do my 'Reset' drill each night, so I'm dealing with little piles everywhere as a consequence. Flat surfaces all over our place aren't safe. It gets worse in my bedroom. I don't function well with spaces like this, so I'm taking some time to fix it once I get the little man on the bus.

It's Reset Time!

I Love My Husband's Job

Actually, I just love the perks. Remember when I posted about my 'R' collection? Well this is how it looked in the middle of last year.

Since then, Mr. Scrap Yard Man that I'm married to has been dutifully on the hunt for more R's, along with many friends and family members. Needless to say, my collection has grown quite a bit and includes many one of a kind objects. After an hour of rearranging, a lost battle with a hammer, and plenty of times saying 'Give it back to me dude', I'm happy to say the R's are up!

Can you guess where the main piece came from? I love my husband. He found that sucker at work and absolutely made my day. I plan to paint it white sometime soon, just to help quiet it down a bit. I've been dying to get it up along with the many other additions and am now thrilled with it. Let me know if you find any fun and creative R's! I'm always on the lookout for more!

The Truth Behind Closet Doors

You know what makes me happy? Before & After pictures.

What makes me really happy? When they're improvements in my own home.

Scary Before:

The Not-So-Scary After:

Yea!

Chain Reaction

Craigslist--->Chartreuse & Co.--->Donna with Livingston Decor--->Flea Market Style Magazine--->Linda Crispell

It's incredible to think of just this one example of how my regular Craigslist visits helped me find a new love. Linda Crispell is that new love! I found a feature in the Flea Market Style Magazine about her, and the picture shown was similar to this one...

The vintage gumball machines are what hooked me. Hours later after going through her entire blog twice, I've got inspiration coming out of my ears! She has so many collections that you're sure to find at least one that makes you rush out to the nearest Flea Market. I'm especially loving her kitchen collections.

{Vintage Lifesaver Candy Display turned Cupcake Decoration Display}

{Jars filled with Pez dispensers, Ribbon Candy, Jawbreakers and More!}

I'm constantly playing around with all of my candy decorating supplies, so seeing this just gets the ideas flowing. I've finally hunkered down and snagged myself a wonderful cabinet this past weekend at Chartreuse & Co. One of my favorite vendors put this beauty on sale back in December I think, and I've been thinking about it since. It was a pretty stinkin' good deal, $198 down to $98, and I couldn't resist. This is what I've been using.....

This little cabinet has been wonderful, but I've been wanting something a bit bigger to hold my baking pans too. Our little kitchen is crowded enough, so the more I can move out, the better. Crazy to think that at one point I only had this little kitchen cabinet for all my chocolates/sprinkles/etc. So anyway, here's the wonderful new cabinet...

I know what you're thinking. 'An old wardrobe? There's not enough storage!' Well, at the moment there isn't. I'll be adding shelves to the right side, along with repainting the whole thing. I'm thinking a white coat on the outside and then a fun spring green on the inside. Hmmm, maybe green and white stripes inside. Who knows. I'd love some kind of 'Wow' affect. It's definitely going to take a few weeks to make this happen, so for now I'm kind of using both cabinets. I'm loving the new find though! It makes me happy every time I walk to the kitchen!

Have a wonderful week!

*Bloomingville

It's been so long since I've posted something 'real' on here, and I've finally figured out why. It all really comes down to the storage bins in our apartment. Before the creation of *Snickety Snacks* I would go through all of the storage boxes and bins in our home at least 4 times a year, reorganizing things to keep, purging what we don't need, and finding happy homes for the things we love but never use. I've learned that the best way for me to stay up on the deep clean is by keeping it in a rotation. I usually start with the Kitchen, move to the Bathroom, then the Dude's room, random closets, and I leave the best/worst for last. Our bedroom is a constant thorn, and the closet is the worst, but the end result is always beautiful and leaves me happy and ready to focus on new tasks. As grateful as I've been for the constant stream of orders and the increasing popularity, it's left me no extra time to get back to my purging routine, which has been totally depressing for me. The last few weeks have been horrible on a personal level because no matter what I do, I visualize going through everything and can't shake the need to get to it. It's the o.c.d. Brittanie inside screaming at me to FOCUS & CLEAN!

Thankfully, our corner of the world was hit with about 2 1/2 feet of snow this past weekend, keeping my husband at home and leaving me with plenty of uninterrupted time to hit the main problems. I'll be posting the huge changes once I can get my camera hooked up to my pc, but for now I'll just say that it's incredible how much better I feel. I guess getting rid of 3 bags of trash/junk, 5 bags of donation items and two 30 gallon bins of baby clothes will definitely change a mood. Now I'm able to see the creative ideas and inspirational images again without feeling lost. I love it!

Decor8 has perfect timing! On the day when I'm ready and open for happy thoughts, she posts all about *Bloomingville, a Danish brand that can be found in Germany(of course, all the good ones involve crossing an ocean). The colors are bright and comfy, and the flowers everywhere just make me want to hug my computer screen. See what I mean?

That last image hit pretty hard in a great way. I can't see all of what's written on it, but I'm pretty sure it's "The great thing about working from home is that you can fashion your surrounding to suit your way of life." I never really looked at all my various jobs as working from home. I'm trying now to keep better control over my surroundings and to appreciate how flexible I've made things(wow, that was a total contradiction. yikes). I love that I can rearrange furniture at a moment's notice without things being too weird. I love that our couches aren't off limits for our little dude, which leads to pillow fights, forts, and homemade slides. I'm trying to let the little things slide, like the brown, pink, white, orange and yellow colored chocolate melts that have been smeared across our couches(just smile if you come over and see them). I'm doing what I can to not let outside things affect me too much, even though 2 1/2/ feet of snow knocked out some things I was looking forward too. I'm still in a mental place where I'm starting 3 or 4 sentences at once, but I think that with my surroundings better taken care of, I'm really taking care of myself. I'm back!

kinda

*Cupcake Saturday*

I've become somewhat of a sprinkle collector, and I love it! The only downside is that I didn't have a uniform way to organize them, and given all the different containers, it was something that irked me big time. Thank you Michael's for the solution! In their scrap booking section I found the perfect sized plastic containers that have solved my problem. Take a look-see.

The two different sizes are ideal. Smaller ones are mostly for the solid colors, which makes sorting the varying styles easy, and the large jars work for those times when I just have to get a bunch of one type. The two large ones are the right are my favorites right now. Pink pigs with yellow jimmies and then black, brown and white cows. Too cute! I couldn't resist getting them.

So that's a little bit of what I've got going on. This little doorless cabinet also holds some of my ceramic cupcakes, baking cups, and standing on top are some pictures are the perfect color inspiration. How do you organize your sprinkles and such?

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Oh it totally was. I'm learning how much fun it can be when you just have a mellow laid back birthday. I'm all for making a bigger hoopla out of everyone else's birthdays, but give me a basic dinner, the movie Coraline and some incredible gifts and I'm all set. Here are some of the things I have now, thanks to my loving family who know me too well.....

{Adorable Porcelain Plate Set}

{Another Cupcake Picture To Add To My Collection Along With Some 'So Yummy I Could Eat Them' Candle Holders}

{This Set Makes Me Want To Throw Some Milk In The Pitcher Just So I Could Pour It Over 1/4 Cup of Cereal In A Cute Polka Dot Or Striped Bowl}

{I Really Think This Measuring Spoon Set Is Too Cute To Use. Good Thing Andrew Got Me Another Usable Set Of M. Spoons And Cups!}

{I Posted About Some Cupcake Holder Like This That I Found At The Chartreuse Tag Sale, But This One Trumps All. It's The Length Of My Arm, Made Of Glass, And Can Hold 3 Or 4 Cupcakes. Perfection}

Ok, this next thing absolutely took my breath away. The few people who have been to our apartment might have seen the still growing Cupcake collection I have, and I think I finally have one to center it all around. Behold.....The Giant Cupcake......

Yeah, that's my hand holding it on the left. This thing is ginormous. We might be painting it a different color, but even if we don't it will still be phenomenal. Along with these I have much needed wooden spoons, another mixing bowl w/ lid, the movie Coraline, 2 pairs of argyle socks, a great sign from Nicole that says 'The Ghostess With The Mostess'(freakin' awesome), and a candy card from Molly and her daughter that almost made me cry. Totally cute. It has been a wonderful day. I'm so grateful for friends and family that have taken even just a few minutes to let me know I matter to them. Thank you so much Mom and Dad! I loved that I was borned!

I'm In Love, Love, Love with Chartreuse!

Ok, not the color, but Chatreuse & Co. They are my new happy thought. Here's why. So I'm crusin' through craigslist trying to find something interesting and there's nothing to be found. Out of boredom I click on a post that says "Vintage Tag Sale". Now, the ad wasn't exactly spectacular, but luckily they had a Shutterfly account with additional pictures. The part that sealed the deal with that the pictures had prices. Ever see amazing things online but once you get to the store they end up wanting $675 for a tiny side table? Yeah, I hate that. So to sum up a bit, I talked my sister and Mom into going and after a 25 minute rainy drive, we find the place. We all walked in the front door and our jaws dropped. This place is incredible. The "Oh my goodness, I love this!" comments started right away and continued for an hour and we walked through the huge 2 level barn type setup. Along with furniture(which is amazing) the place in covered in every kind of home accessory you could want. Vibrant colors, rustic wood finds, shabby chic style, shiny glamorous, and of course Halloween. My face hurts from all the smiling. Here are some of the things I loved. I couldn't take a ton of pictures because I didn't remember until the last 10 minutes that I had my camera. Even still, here's a nice large chunk of pictures.

{Glass Cupcake Holders-If I'd known the cupcake candle was a part of the price I'd have snatched one up}

{The lamp is cute, but I really love the chair}

{The owner Virginia giving a class on decorating a table in a bunch of different ways. My Mom grabbed three of the candle stick holders she used as soon as the class was over. Awesome}

{I can definitely see myself having Sweet Dreams in this setup}

{"Fright Night" was in a section mostly dedicated to the more classic Halloween decor. Yea glitter!}

{The day I make my own pastries is the day I get this for my place. I love signage}

{Even more glitter associated with Halloween. Loved these little skull @ $3 each}

{Yes, I would love to have this too-You starting to see how fun this place is yet?}

{All kinds of mirrors-The place was full of them}

Now, for the loot that I got. I actually bought the least out of the three of us. Weird.

So, another 'R' to go in my collection, a green shelf thing($18) that originally was going to hold my ceramic cupcakes, but that has been replaces by the lighter green shelf thing on the left(an early b-day gift from my momma). I think I'm gonna paint both a bright white. Hmmm, choices. I also got two vintage plates($6 each) which I think will be perfect for displaying cupcakes and such. I love the muted colors. Any this beautiful thing isn't officially mine yet, but it will be in a few days. THANKS NAWNIE!This little phrase is the reason I started my cupcake collection, and I'm so thrilled to have it. I especially love the color!

So, that's what I did over the weekend. Fun huh? They're opening back up on the weekend of Nov. 6th. Anyone want to come? I'll be going back for sure. I can't wait to see all the new things they'll have!

{You can find more info about Chartreuse & Co. on their website}

A Happier Kitchen

After months and months of stepping over a baby gate to get into our kitchen I now love sliding back and forth over the invisible line between the un-dining room and my new favorite room in our home. Here's the kitchen setup we had before, when we were minus two cabinets thanks to all of the kitty stuff.

To make things worse, next to the litter box cabinet we had a giant kitty tree that I couldn't stand. Not exactly the best bunch of things to have in the kitchen of all places, but with a little dude wandering around, none of these things could be accessible to him. Well, this baking kick has inspired a change. Getting rid of the cats isn't an option(unless anyone wants to take them, pleeeease?) so I asked my wise-as-a-smarty-owl Momma what she would do. Her advice was to throw it all in the bathroom. Well that wasn't an option in my mind, but I got me thinking about other rooms. After hours of baby-proofing the kitchen, scrubbing and disinfecting cabinets, and confusing the cats, all of the kitty junk is situated in the hallway closet. Yeaaaa! It left a bunch of room for some awesome reorganizing. Let me introduce you to 'my' cabinet.....

It's oh so pretty in my mind. I like being able to see everything. Moving things around also reminded me that I have the Giant Cupcake Pan from Wilton, and thanks to my aunt's incredible brains, I've got a new solution to making the end result look edible instead of slathered in frosting. Perfect timing to get some extra room. My sprinkles and such cabinet is getting a bit full. I blame it on Little Bits for having too many awesome sprinkles. Along with my strong like for that place, I ventured out today with my Momma and Katie to a new place called Cakes Plus. Thank goodness I took a second look at the store reviews online because I didn't realize they were more than a bakery. That place made me so happy! I loaded up on goodies.

So many Merckens chocolates at the bottom there. And if these sprinkles here don't make you smile, please look at them again. I love the name for them too(my favorite Charlie Brown character).

Little Pigs!! No clue what I'm gonna use them for, but they were too cute to pass up. Plus Katie talked me into getting them :) Right before checking out, my two road trip buddies saw these....I snagged the green and pink one, and I know it'll fit perfectly in my growing cupcake collection. I've got to stop procrastinating and get that up. Hmmmm, that could be a perfect project for my next Cupcake Saturday post. Thanks for checking out my craziness! Have an amazing day!