When Life Gives You Grapefruits..

Posted on January 18, 2012 by jessa

Depending on who you ask, January can be the best time of the year in Arizona. It’s pleasantly sunny and in the mid 60s to 70s. So while the rest of the county is buried in snow, we are wearing t-shirts to the park. Now, I’m personally not sold on living in the desert. I like the cold. But there is something I do love about living here.. the citrus trees. I love the idea of walking outside and picking a grapefruit or orange off of a tree and eating it. It’s fantastic! I am fortunate enough to have generous neighbors with a Ruby Red grapefruit tree, that grows right behind my house.

As you can see, there are a lot of grapefruits on that tree. So for the next couple weeks, I’m challenging myself to come up with a variety of ways to use these grapefruits. So stay tuned for some refreshing goodness!

Crafting Organization – Guest Post

Posted on January 16, 2012 by jessa

Hi y’all! It’s been a little quiet around here the past week as I have been under the weather. But here to save the day is Susi from Design Shuffle, sharing some craft supply organization ideas..something I desperately need!

Hi, I’m Susi, a blogger for Design Shuffle, a wonderful site that brings together designers and design lovers from around the world to share projects and inspiration from their interior designs. I’m so happy to be visiting Sparkle today as a guest blogger. Getting organized is my number one priority for 2012, so I’m happy to share some of the tips and tricks I’ve found for crafting organization. Hope you enjoy! And Happy New Year!

Crafting Organization

A good trick for crafting organization is to leave no possible storage space overlooked. The back of a door or closet door is a great place for storage.

Crafting Organization

For a sewing or craft room, putting a pair of dressers back to back in the center of the space creates ample storage plus a large work surface.

Crafting Organization

If you aren’t lucky to have a crafting room, or you do different types of crafts in the same place, an armoire that’s already part of your interior design can be a great way to corral your supplies. Love the box for ribbon storage.

Crafting Organization

Think outside the box for cool ways to organize your crafting supplies. Clear plastic shoe holders can be great storage on a wall or door.

Crafting Organization

Classic peg board is a smart way to increase your vertical storage options in a closet, on a door, or on a wall.

Crafting Organization

Another clever use for something intended to store something besides crafting supplies: plastic bag holders from Ikea. You could get several and organize your paper, wallpaper or fabric by color.

Crafting Organization

Mason jars make great storage for all sorts of crafts. Add a chalkboard contact paper label to easily see what is in the jar.

Crafting Organization

This pretty craft room is full of clever tricks for organization and great decorating ideas. Love the tension rods to hold ribbons and paper above the desk. Images 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 †| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Organization makes all the difference in a home! Looking for more ideas? Head on over to Design Shuffle and find a surplus of inspiration from the best Boston interior designers, San Francisco interior designers and more!

Breakfast Egg Cups

Posted on January 4, 2012 by jessa

Here’s a palm-sized, protein packed breakfast for you! Baked By Joanna found this egg-cellent idea the other day and I tried it this morning. Eggs and thinly sliced meat (I used ham and turkey) baked in a muffin pan. Eat alone if you are low-carbbing it, or put it on toast for a ready-to-go breakfast. Recipe and instructions found at The Simple Delights.

Sparkly Resolutions

Posted on January 3, 2012 by jessa

Happy New Year folks!! I hope it’s gotten kicked off to an amazing start. How about those resolutions? Are you making them this year? It seems that I always have the same ones and do really good with them until March or so. I feel like everybody’s resolutions are the same, lose 5 pounds, get organized…etc, etc, blah, blah. Does anybody have any resolutions that are different or unique? I’ve heard that in order for resolutions to be successful you need to have a plan and really think them through…

Here are my resolutions and in no particular order of importance:

Become a more creative cook - The lovely Joanna at Baked By Joanna has started the #bake365 Project. So there will be new yummy inspiration coming out of her oven each day. Additionally, I plan on taking a cooking class. I really prefer to eat low-carb, but my family doesn’t, so I plan on finding ways to make food that will satisfy every tummy.

Create more storage space in my house - I don’t know where to even start with this. There is tons on pictures of creative storage ideas on Pinterest, so I’m going to find an idea and do it. No exceptions. Getting the Sparkletots to use the storage effectively, or at all, is a whole other issue.

Grow a vegetable garden - In Arizona you can grow vegetables year round. So why am I not doing it? Because I’m afraid. Gardening here is nothing like gardening in the Pacific Northwest where I grew up. Since I’ve moved here I have killed almost everything I’ve planted outside. Well, I’m going to get over my fear and get help. There are a ton of resources. The Arizona Cooperative Extension is a great wealth of information like this pamphlet here. If you have any tips on desert gardening, I totally welcome them! Hopefully I can keep my little basil plant (above) alive.

Learn to take better photos - I’m not going to lie. I have camera envy. When I’m out an about, on walks or at the zoo, I always see people with their fancy DSLRs and I think I stare just a little too long. I look down at my own little, yet very convenient point-and-shoot and sigh. I’d like one, but I feel guilty making it a priority. That being said, I am going to make every effort to learn how to take amazing photos with my point-and-shoot and even my iPhone (like this).

So there are four.. somewhat simple and very attainable. They just require a little motivation. Right?

Best of Sparkle 2011

Posted on December 31, 2011 by jessa

It’s almost 2012!!! Have you been enjoying the holidays? I wish you a belated Merry Christmas, by the way. I have been super busy the past couple of weeks, and not always in a good way. Too much work. Ugh. Anyhow, I am totally looking forward to trying to simplifying life in 2012. That’s my main resolution. What’s yours?

2011 has been a fun year here at chez Sparkle. There were a lot of fun projects, a couple of craft fails, but most turned out good enough to post on the blog. Here are some of my favorites from 2011..

Desk chair recovered in Sunbrella fabric

Colorful Magnet Board

Independence Day Starburst

Felted Craspedia

Vintage Inspired Hanging Chalkboard

Burlap Leaf Placemats

Felt Poinsettia Photo Frames

Frosted Winter Tree

Layered Ribbon Trees

and last but not least…

Falling Snowflake Canvas Art

So those are my absolute favorite projects I did this year. Am I going to be able to top those in 2012?? I hope so. I’m planning on more home improvement projects, gardening and outdoor living projects and some furniture updates. Plus, loads of crafts and holiday projects ( I love those!! ).

2012 is going to be a great year!!

Gift Wrapping Inspiration

Posted on December 20, 2011 by jessa

As much as I want to say that I am all ready for Christmas and my ~~wrapping~~ er shopping is done, I can’t. So instead, I’m procrastinating, buy finding creative ways to gift wrap the presents I don’t have yet. Take a look at what I’ve found..

Typographic Gift Wrap via Man Made DIY