Thanks ladies for joining my party!

I just wanted to say Thank You to some lovely ladies, who helped me kick off my new party.


Amaze me August


If you haven't already, please check out their blogs. They are all very sweet, and very talented.

Check out Ami over at Ali Lilly, she has tons of great ideas, recipes, and jewelry. She is doing a great giveaway to one lucky reader, celebrating her 100th follower although she will soon have to change that to reaching 200 very soon, lol. 

And here is her AMAZING bracelet she is giving away..... so hurry on over to her blog, and enter to win. I think you only have until the 1st to enter, so get to it, and show her your support. 


Thanks again AMI for all  your support, and encouragement. :)


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When I saw this lemonade stand, I just fell in love. Christie over at 
Three Pixie Lane designed this sweet thing. Man how I would seriously love to have one of those laying around all summer. 
Make sure to check out her blog for some fun island living, as she has tons of great pictures, and posts about island life. She has a great eye for detail, and it shows in her blog style. You will enjoy this for sure. 


Thanks for sharing Christie!!

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Another great link up was this Necklace Display by Christina over at Christina's Adventures. She had an aha moment and this is the result. Hmm, I need to get me one of those moments more often, and hopefully I can get my jewelry organized already. 


Thanks Christina for linking up, and you guys make sure to check out how she did it, she even to improvise ghetto style at one point, gotta love when that happens, and it does all the time around here. 

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Ok guys have you seen Lindys blog yet? Its very cool, and she is a sweetheart, with incredible taste in decor and she is an amazing artist, you should see some of her paintings, LOVELY!

Her blog Lindy Cottage Hill is so much fun, and boy does she have some incredible ideas for transforming or creating things. 

This awesome girls bedroom she linked up is adorable, but what caught my eye was these little tie backs she swears she made from soda cans,,, I can't wait to see the tutorial on that!!! Can you hear me Lindy, tutorial please :)

Thanks so much for linking up and all your sweetness!

and the amazing tie back, hello tell me these are not the CUTEST!

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On to another wonderful blog House of Grace. She is on a mission to rid the world of bad chemicals, and of course to help us get organized, and be healthy, and pretty and all things lovely. She is so cute, and I really enjoy her blog. She also hosts a wonderful party as well, so please check out her blog for wonderful ideas and tips on all aspects of life. 


Here's her take on an organized junk drawer, looks good hugh?

Thanks Grace for joining my party!

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Ok, another jewelry organizer, but check this thing out. It's so fun, and I LOVE the yellow frame, even the chicken wire looks funky, and those cute buttons Gabrielle made are pretty cool. The complete tutorial is over at her blog http://icraftatbeewisebags.blogspot.com/2010/08/jewelry-organizer.html. She has a bunch of fun things going on. Plus she is way into reducing, reusing, and recycling. My kind of gal. She has so many talents, and is also a great cook, and writes too. Do make sure to check out all the things that Gabrielle has to offer, her blog is pretty amazing. 

Thanks again, Gabrielle!

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For my last little shout out, I want to say thank you to Billie over at her new blog Billie Monster. I am still assuming this is her name,, he he. Her blog is so totally funky, and different, its very refreshing to me. I enjoyed all her posts, and pictures, and blog design, and you name it. She has really great taste in fabric, and colors. She is fun, and you should really take a peek already. 

You would not believe the not so awesome lamps these used to be, before the makeover. Have fun checking her out!!




Ladies, THANK YOU so much for joining my party, and I really hope you will come back often. 


Hope all of you were able to take a peek at these awesome blogs, and share the love. 

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Check back tomorrow as my party comes to an end, and I am trying really hard to get my list complete. I do think I will not finish some of the things, but looking back at the past 2 weeks, I was able to complete more than usual, and all of you have made it happen. Simply knowing I challenged myself, and all of you, was enough to get up and do it. Thanks for reading, and all your encouragement. See you tomorrow!



As always ENJOY!

Special requests, or mad love always welcome:)
http://www.blogger.com/bellabeforeandafter@gmail.com

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Making a bed for my Flowers!

When we moved in our first home, I was as inexperienced as can be in all things that had to do with taking care of a home. Living in an apartment is very different that living in a home. Here we had the freedom to do anything, but we also had to DO everything. There was no call to the landlord about leaky faucets, or unkept lawns. Here if we wanted it to be maintained, we either did it ourselves, or payed someone to do it. Being the I can do it myself kind of gal, and having a mother who was more than willing to help, I was lucky enough to get my garden in pretty good shape, without hiring anyone.

I was about 6 months pregnant when we got our home, and the middle of hot humid Ga summer. Not either of those things kept me from making this house look like a home, even if it was just the beginning. Almost 7 years later and I'm still very much working on it, but here's some pics I found of one of my first garden projects. I hate to think I never took pics of the garden when we first moved in, but that was before I had a digital camera, and there is no way I got around to looking through all those old photos.

**I've linked this up to NOT JUST A HOUSEWIFE on 7/23/2011**

One of the beauties that will come from this garden. Much later of course, for now lets start at the beginning. 

When I was going through my pics, I kept thinking how could I not have a before pic, and I still  haven't found one, but this is as close to it as you're going to get right now. This pic was taken just after a year of moving in. The summer before  I had worked on getting all the shrubs out, and removing grass, so I could extend the design of my flower bed. I also got a start on planting some perineals, and I had that grey border in for about the whole year. I was simply not happy with  the low flower bed, and wanted something that would stand out. Plus every time it rained my entire flower bed would get destroyed, ,and I really hated that. This was my second first day of school pic, which of course turned into a tradition. This was Big B's 1st day of 1st grade August 2005.

So a whole year passes from the picture taken above, and it is now July 2006.My mom shared some plants from here garden. Most of the day lilles, and the hydrangea bush in the left corner, came from her garden. Along with some of the hydrangeas on the left side of the house. The trees, and roses came from Home Depot. This pic shows my garden bed already made for the most part. I brought it down further down the sidewalk, and created the shape. Before it was just a rectangle in front of the window, and nothing but shrubs. Notice my lovely Green shutters, and front door. I don't know what the previous homeowners had with the green, but it was everywhere.

This also shows a tree I had planted in the front, by my mailbox. Nothing fancy, literally just dug a hole, and thats it. As I got wiser though I realized thats not the best way to plant a tree, especially when it's on a downhill slope and water doesn't get to it very well. While this particular tree didn't stay, I did end up planting something else there. You can also see my two different bricks, as I wasn't sure what I would like. I had the grey for about 2 year now, and was playing around with maybe going with red. 

I also made a flower bed on both sides of the house. This was not there before, and it made a huge difference.  This also took forever as I had to remove grass, and I put down weed barrier stuff. 

The other side of the house. My lawn was so torn up when we moved in. It's taken years to kind of get it in order. I guess it also didn't help that I was trying to cut it with a cheap mower I got from a yard sale. I hated mowing the lawn, especially this hill. It was thw worst. I also wanted to cover up that ugly air conditioner, and utiltity boxes. My plants are so small in this pic. The mums are no longer a part of my garden, but everything else is still there, in different spots.

My front walkway looks pretty horrible. Aparranttly I was having a really hard time figuring out what I wanted to do with the border. Hmm, grey or red, grey or red? It was a mess, and I wanted it over with. I still have my little turtle and pig!!

Before I simply went crazy, I decided that I couldn't proceed until I saw what this might look like. I tried drawing the planter, but it just didn't give me the right idea. I think I used paint or something to sketch out a design. It's pretty funny, but it did give me the visual I needed. 

Another idea I had. Notice how I really wanted my shutters black. Much later I finally got around to doing that. Also I had a lot of pretty flowers in mind. Looks pretty good doesn't it?

Oh yeah look at that lawn. I wish,,, lol. I think I didn't finish putting all my lovely flowers in this one, but you get the idea.

Don't be confused, but all the pics so far are taken July 2006. After playing around with the red border, and having had the grey I knew it just wasn't what I wanted. So after much hard work, and bribing my brother to help, we were able to get this pretty nifty wall up. Just enough to make it a raised flower bed. Now I really was starting to like it. Just like in my sketches I did get some trellisis and some beautiful yellow climbing roses, but I quickly realized that those roses just weren't my thing. Too much hard work. The knockout roses I planted the year before on the other hand are awesome. No maintenance required. I wanted a very low maintenance garden, and that's what I got.

Just another view of my newly raised flower bed. It took the entire day to do this, but considering we had no idea what we were doing, I do think it turned out pretty good. The laundry basket is filled with plants that need to be transplanted again, as I had to take most of them out and replant after adding about 6 inches of soil. Also I got lucky at Lowes and found some great perinials on clearance, for like $1.00 or so, and grabbed them all up. Those things are awesome and come back year after year. Most of my garden is planted with perinials, and the few annuals just for some extra color.

So fast forward another year, and we are in the summer of 2007, lol. My sketches came in handy, as I got pretty darn close to what I had in mind. I even have the trellis/circle design (how cool I was able to find one thing to intigrate both my ideas. Also got a bird bath, but unfortunately didn't use it for that. Instead it's just a plant holder. The fall before I got a bunch of bulbs that were marked on clearance of course. So I picked up a bunch, and this was their first appearance. Woo hoo, My roses have like doubled in size, and you can see that there's not much color except for the bulbs. Spring had just started and my garden would have just started blooming again. Grass is dormant, but it's a BEAUTIFUL spring day and my kids have taken advantage of the weather, and decided to play in the sprinklers. 

My weeping crabapple tree is blooming, and this is actually what is still there now. 

Looks like it's time to re mulch. If it weren't for the blooming bulbs, there would not be much going on right now. 

I put cracked flagstone throughout the garden simply because I liked the way it looked, and it really helped when I walked in there, as I didn't get all muddy. 

Oh you can barely see the tree by the mailbox, but its no longer just a hole in the ground. I made a pretty round planter for that too. That rosemary was planted the previous year, and it was like 4 inches tall, let me tell you, if you want an herb, that is easy to grow, and doesn't die, then plant this. That thing grew so big, that I ended up taking it out the following year I think. Do you see those lovely flowering bulbs? They smell sooooo good, every time you walked past them you could smell them It was wonderful.

After five months of summer, this is what my garden looked like. See how nicely everything grew in, and DO YOU SEE that rosemary? Im telling you it would have grown in a tree, if I let it. So this vine you see invading my rose, was really bothering me. It grew like crazy, literally cut it down, and 2 days later again, it was climbing up the rose bush. Then I didn't get around to removing it for a few days, and noticed it had the loveliest flowers that bloomed in the mornings. Thus the name MORNING GLORY. I have no idea where it came from, but it took refuge in my garden and no matter what it came back every year after this. I was struggling with removing it, so decided to take some pics to remember it. 

Isn't that beautiful?

Perfect rose. 

Morning Glory!

This was another school morning pic. Not sure what the reason was, as it was mid November, but non the less, another look at that garden. Check out how much it grew in one season! Oh and I finally painted my shutters and front door black. Doesn't it look so much better, especially with the black mulch, and white brick. I really love it. 

Just thought you'd like to see one more pic. Its December now, and hello, can you see the size of that rose bush. Remember when I planted them and they were only like 2 feet tall, not even as tall as that flag. Now look at it. I trimmed those bad boys down this spring. I was scarred to death, that I was going to do it wrong, and they would die. Nothing of the sort happened, and they grew ever so beautifully. I looked everywhere to find some recent pics of my garden this summer. As of right now, can't find any. Truth be told I neglected my garden really bad, so it's no wonder. As soon as I get around to fixing it up a bit, I will post some more pics. Oh those trees that I had by the garage, died on me. Can't figure it out, I guess they were too high maintenance for me. So temporarilly replaced with planters, and annuals. Works for now, but I really want more there. We'll have to see what I come up with. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Thanks for checking out my garden, and don't forget there's still time to enter my NEW linky party.
Amaze me August where you can share any and all projects, recipes, diy projects you have been working on. Me I'm focusing on getting my home organized so I can start working on some projects.


As always ENJOY!

Special requests, or mad love always welcome:)
http://www.blogger.com/bellabeforeandafter@gmail.com

I am linking this up to the following parties. Please check them out for more great ideas, and thanks for hosting ladies. I really appreciate it!

remodelaholics anonymous
chic on a shoestring decorating

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Pantry Makeover Part TWO

**Edited** I have linked this up to A Bowl Full of Lemons.

This is an old pantry makeover, and while I work on my new one, this is what I am sharing!!

Yesterday I gave you guys a quick peek at my work in progress, and last night I think I pretty much finished organizing my pantry. At least it's acceptable and so much roomier than before. Now don't expect incredible before and after pictures, because my Pantry/Laundry room is SUPER small, I could barely take a decent picture to do my makeover justice.

You will also get an idea of what I usually have on hand to whip up meals with. I rarely buy pre made food, so if you want eat in this house, you either cook it from scratch or eat a bowl of cereal. jk.

I've become very creative in my inventions and can usually come up with something, so no need to panic. If you've ever had the pleasure of coming to eat at my home, you will know that you will probably NEVER eat the same thing twice, (well not exactly the same thing). I'm always adjusting my meals, according to what I have on hand. Which is the beauty of having some basic staples in your pantry.

My favorite thing to add to almost anything, and it's cheap, and full of protein and fiber, and what is there not to love about it, BEANS. They are my friend.

Ok so lets see this pantry already, you say, I say right this way!!

Before and After
I know it doesn't look like much, but trust me when I say, it made a HUGE difference. I can actually walk in my pantry
now, granted it's literally just stepping win there, but before I was leaning over all the stuff on the floor,
ad always moving it out of my way if I needed to get to the bottom shelf. I even created so much room, that I still
have empty shelf space, and I eliminated an entire shelf, so I could bring in my big pots, out of my kitchen. :)

Before the inside storage of my door in the pantry. Those yogurt containers store extra batteries. Yes I know its a pathetic attempt at organizing, but I did this a LONG time ago, and so far it's served it's purpose. I also had those containers storing small quantities of rice and lentils, for a LONG time too, way before I started just using my
rubber band method. Spices from the 3rd shelf were removed too add to my spice cabinet.

After I put candy and chocolate on the top. Remember my HUGE candy container,  now it's all in that SMALL metal tin. At least I have a good use for it now. More room on second shelf to get more couscous. I normally do not buy pre-seasoned rice, or pasta kits. BUT I love garlic couscous. :)
The bottom half stores cream of wheat a breakfast STAPLE in our home. My kids love it. Of course top ramen, and on the bottom I have lemon poppy muffin, and various other special flours. 

Remember this from yesterday, that wall was completely unused. After cutting a door organizer  that was all torn up on the bottom this is what I did. 

I know you are probably thinking, you are so weird Bella.  That looks so tacky, and I agree it might, but you would not believe how useful it is. I simply hooked the clips to the small nail, and walla they are up out of the way, and more storage space for me. The pouches are perfect for all our opened cereal, crackers, chips etc. Notice how EVERYTHING is rubberbanded. I love this system of storing things. Granted cute little containers, all labeled, look completely CUTE, and I often think I would like that. But if you know anything about me, it should be that I HATE to spend money on things that I don't really find necessary. Also, I really wish I could not buy any more plastic or non renewable things, but since I already had everything for this, I recycled it. Now it has a second life, and  Im happy. 

Other side of the small pantry, lol, After pic is on the left.
I added another strip of that nifty door organizer here, and now I can add yet more extra snacks, like 100% fruit leather, or organic cereal bars :).....I've also added syrup with pancake mix. That bottle is also from forever ago, and found it while cleaning out my pantry. I bought bulk from sams, but since have been getting REAL maple syrup. Not to waste it though I suppose we can finish it off before going back to my other expensive stuff (but dang its soooo much better).

This wall was naked when I bought my home. I realized VERY quick that I needed more space, so I added these bad boys up real fast. The right side houses all my beloved Indian staples. (right side in both pics, remember I had to break it up for lack of space to take a proper pic). Misc stuff on the left, basically extra things, I just out there. No method at all. 

After pretty amazing. Yet more door organizers, cut in two, and I have way more use out of that wall. (I ended up cutting 2 organizers, which was an incredible solution to my problem of finding a place for everything that makes sense. The bottom pics are actually the top of the shelfs (sorry but I still am learning how to make collages easily as this was soooo time consuming as it was and it still didn't turn out the way I wanted). So all of my Indian stuff is still on the right, and now I have opened bags in the pouches to the right, while the pouches to the left now are home to all our nuts, and dried fruit. Yes this is what we snack on, no junk food here. :) I also put all my past bottles here, along with all extra condiment bottles, and pasta right below the sauce. On the very bottom, I have all my organic chicken, and veggie stock. Always good to add to anything for some yummy flavor, or make a quick soup. If you guys have a TRADER JOES near by, these are so cheap there, probably cheaper than regular, non organic stuff at the store. 

Ha Ha, pretty crazy hugh. This is my laundry area. Right in my pantry. I know lovely design, these home builders had.
It was a wreck to say the least. I had that top shelf overflowing with junk, and my dryer was full of stuff too on top.

Wow much better hugh. By putting those things in the proper spots, for the most part I  was able to clean it. I took lids to old storage containers that I didn't need (a green one, and white) and placed them in between my makeshift shelves. Which by the way were not there when I moved in. I attached 4 of the hanging shelves from home depot, with little hooks, and instant storage. I didn't want to deal with screws, or anything. This was the fastest thing I came up with. I used to have a trash can between my washing machine and dryer so I needed to come up with a really ghetto way of putting trash. Yeah, the bottom to one of my door organizers, this was the only one not torn, well after clipping it to the wall, and placing a bag in it, GUESS what, it serves its purpose, and thats what Im all about. I also attached that small organizer to the wall, for all things small. Perfect! Now I have towel storage too,,, yeay,,, much needed. Oh also you will notice my battery storage yogurt containers, yeah they are on the top shelf of my medicine, first aid shelf. 

Just a peak in the boxes, I put paint stuff in with extra pens, and I'll deal with that later. Oh check out my kitchen area, this was dumping ground for all things, that did not belong in the pantry anymore. Remember those white storage container, I can't believe I actually thought those were ever a good idea. Man what a difference without them. 

Quick peak under my kitchen sink. What in the world do you store under a kitchen sink. With all those pipes, its no wonder I managed anything at all. Gosh I really need to put some contact paper on the bottom, or something. Yuck. Btw, that is cascade my hubby bought ( he is still learning to make better choices at the store). I really am trying to not buy things that are harmful to the environment. It's a process for sure, but at least I've been on that path for a while now, always trying to make better choices every day.
All my trays, and towels were moved to their new homes in the pantry, and I put small appliances, under there instead. Another problem solved. 

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I've even added my grocery list here, that I made like 2 years ago. Hopefully I can somehow use this too.  At least I can EASILY see what I have now, no doubt about it. 

I really hoped you got an idea of how my pantry makeover went. I know I had a ton of pics, but I can't help it. I am so glad I go this done, and am REALLY happy with how it turned out, even all my ghetto inventions. The fact that I didn't spend an extra penny on organizing this place is awesome and I couldn't be happier. Now for future project purposes, I would like to make it more esthetically pleasing, buy painting, and wrapping my yogurt containers, so they look better. But for now, everything has a purpose, and my pantry is CLEAN!!!

If you enjoyed seeing this, please consider following me up above with google follower, or even subscribing your email. Also for all you bloggers, I have a party going on called  Amaze me August, its new, and I would love for you too link up anything you'd like. There are no rules to this party, except you should LINK back here, and be my friend. Read more about it by clicking on the link above. It's ongoing until the end of the month, so get your groove on, and Amaze me already!! 



As always ENJOY!

Special requests, or mad love always welcome:)
bellabeforeandafter@gmail.com

I am linking this post to the following, check them out for even more AMAZING projects.

Bargain Hunting with Laurie
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Remodelaholic
Fireflies and Jellybeans

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