Fashion meets Home...

I'm always amazed at how fashion and home decor are so connected and Valentine's Day is no exception.
With Heart Day just around the corner I've spotted many home decor and fashion items that are not only pretty but also functional.  Here are a few that I've found.

Heart Mug..

Via West Elm

A Heart sweater...

Via Forever 21

Heart Bowl...

Via West Elm

Heart Shoes...


Via C Wonder (on sale!)

Beautiful DYI...

Via I Heart Organizing

Cookie Cutter...

Via Crate and Barrel

Heart Outfit...

Via The Pink Peonies

Je T'aime...

Via Etsy by Honey Pie Design

How lovely items, no?  Are you ready for Valentine's Day?


Thanks for reading!

xo,
Marcela

How I wash my makeup brushes...

Experts say we should wash our make up brushes once a week.  I have to admit I'm (very) bad about following their advice.  Instead I will wash them once... in awhile!
My brushes didn't look that bad so it didn't seem urgent to do it.  Since I hadn't cleaned them 'in awhile' I decided to do so this weekend.

Let's look at them before their bath...

Not too bad, right?

I usually wash them and rinse them individually, but this time I soaked them in soapy water to see the real dirt in them...

 WOW, that's pretty bad!

Then I washed them the way I usually do and rinse them under running water.  

(Note:  I always put brushes facing down so the bristles don't open up)

Then I pressed them with paper towel to get the excess of water and lie them down on a clean paper towel to air dry...

And here are my clean brushes!

Much, much better!!

I can now use them safely.  Not just makeup free, but also free of germs!

How often do you wash your brushes?  Do you have a favorite product you use? I personally like Brush Conditioning Shampoo from Bare Minerals. I know there are a lot of brush-shampoo out there, which one do you like?

Hope you have a great week!

Thanks for reading!

xo,

Marcela 

Home Office...

Hello everyone!  Hope you all had a great weekend!  January is usually the month when we try to put our life back together after the Holidays -aka the organizing month.  It seems that this is the time we want to do it all.  Over the years I have learned that is better to start little by little so that way we see progress and get motivated for the next step.  I have to admit this is has been a slow process.  I'm the kind of person who likes to do it all at once.  In my attempt to do everything I soon realized there was too much to do.  It became overwhelming and I ended up doing nothing!  Then I got frustrated and waited until I got motivated again.  Why did I have to insist on doing it all at once!?  It is impossible to accomplish a huge job in a short amount of time!  After many failed projects I learned but it's an every day process.  

Well, this year I have debated about if I should start with the kitchen or home office. So I decided to follow Jen's challenge and I'm doing the office first. 

I've been searching for inspiration and here are some beautifully organized Home Offices of wonderful bloggers I admire...

How well this ikea shelves became an office!  Brilliant!

Via I Heart Organizing


Via Centsational Girl

Via Emily Clark

Via Ana Antunez


Via Elements of Style


 Via Made by Girl


Via Arianna Belle

So I put myself to work!  Please picture me doing all the hard work in a white shirt, gold skirt and high heel :D

Via Arianna Belle


Have you started your organizing projects yet?  What will you do first?

Have a beautiful week!

xo,
Marcela

Silver...

I saw these beautiful trays at a thrift store and loved them!  They were in great condition except they were very tarnish.

This was the condition I found them...

So I decided to give a try to some silver polishers and see which would work best...

I had to scrub a little on some more with certain products.  Let's see what happened:

1. Wright's Silver Cream:  I loved the way it works.  It comes with a sponge and is super easy to use.  Doesn't smell bad at all.

2. Eco's Earth Friendly:  This was surprisingly good!  I love the fact that is "green" and worked super fast. not much scrubbing, just a add some cream on a soft cloth and apply to the tray, rinse and voila!

3. Goddard's Silver Polish:  I have to admit that I was disappointed on this one.  I honestly thought this would be the easiest to work with and was just the opposite.  It required a lot of work and it smells so strong!

And this is the final result...

 

My conclusion:  The three cleaners did the job I was looking for, my trays look shiny and beautiful! But some of them took longer to get the jobe done and some were very strong and didn't smell good.

And the winner is...

This was absolutely my favorite, it has the two things I look for on a cleaner, Eco Friendly and Works and it smells soooo nice!!

I have to say that Wright's Silver Cream worked fantastic too, I would definitely choose that one too :)

Do you have a special way to clean your silver?  Please share your trick with us!

Thanks for reading!

xo,

Marcela

Organizing Christmas Decorations: Part 2

Hi everyone! Hope you all are having a great week so far!  I finally put my tree away on Sunday, so sad to let it go!

As I mentioned before I usually put ornaments in ziploc bags and sort them by color so that way I know exactly what is inside and how much I have... I've been tempted to leave them in their original packages but found they take too much space...

By accident, last year I bought Net-Style lights, at first I didn't like them but when it was time to put them away I loved them, just fold the net and put back in the original boxes!

I put everything that has to do with our Christmas tree in one box: ornaments, lights, tree skirt, etc. So that way, next Christmas I can grab this one box and start decorating our tree...

And I got other boxes for specific items.  One for Decorating-not tree related-items, table runners, etc...

 Another one for Presents: all sorts of tissue paper, ribbon, bags, etc...

 And one for Crafts: punch holes, glue, glitter, felt and everything to make pretty things...

And we are ready to put away in shelves.

'Til next time babies!!

Do you have a system to store your Christmas items?  Share yours with us!!

Thanks for reading!

xo,

Marcela

Organizing Christmas Decorations

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a great start of 2013!!  Now that the holidays are officially over is time to put everything back, meaning put our tree down :(  We usually do that on Jan 6th (King's day), so  I will start putting things away during the weekend!
Here are some great storage solutions I found on the web. I personally like to store most of my ornaments in ziploc bags, gallon and sandwich sizes depending on the size of the decorating item and then place them on a plastic bin.  I'll make sure to show you some pictures next week after I put my tree down!

This boxes from The Container Store are great for more delicate ornaments and love the fact that don't take much space.

Via The Container Store

Via Real Simple

What a great way to repurpose what you already have at home...

Via Martha Stewart

Via Real Simple

A special box for your wreath...

Via The Container Store

Via I Heart Organizing

I definitely need a gift wrapping station. This are great solutions..

Via The Container Store

Definitely this over the door storage is on my list this year!

Via I Heart Organizing

How do you store your ornaments and Christmas decorating items?  Do you put your tree down on a specific day?  Share your storage solutions with us!!

xo,
Marcela