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26 x 27

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It’s that time of year again! Annual bucket lists! This is my fourth year making an annual bucket list. You know, despite my lack of ever completing a list, I love the fact that these lists are something that I aspire to complete every year. Though they’ve proven so difficult for me, I love that I keep coming back and trying again.

One of my very best friends has also written an annual bucket list, so I’m optimistic that with our encouragement of each other, we’re both set to have very exciting years!

Without further ado… here’s twenty-six things I would like to do before I turn twenty-seven.

  1. Complete a Whole30 – Done!
  2. Use my bullet journal daily
  3. Blog twice a week
  4. Pay off my credit cards (again…)
  5. Make budget envelopes – Done!
  6. Switch to a cash budget
  7. File my first business taxes
  8. Go paddleboarding
  9. Go on a hike in the mountains
  10. Catch up on photoshoot editing
    • Sage’s smash cake
    • Paxton’s newborn shoot
    • Michelle and Aby
    • Ashley, Declan and Bridgette
  11. Take a photography class/workshop
  12. Make Anthony’s photobook(s)
  13. Finish Paris photobook
  14. Implement the miracle morning
  15. Go on a trip somewhere Explore Vancouver with Noakesy
  16. Read 12 books
  17. Find 6 blogs I really like
  18. Tile the laundry room
  19. Join the gym (and actually go 2-3 times a week)
  20. Find a church I like attending
  21. Listen to a sermon on podcast once a week
  22. Plan and save for mom’s 50th birthday adventure in Europe
  23. Try one new craft medium
  24. Finish mom’s christmas cross-stitch stocking
  25. Do 3 new things in Edmonton
  26. to be determined…

DIY: closet organizer.

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Have you ever looked at the cost of a closet organizer? My goodness! They can get quite pricey. And though I am quite fond of building out awesome organizers on the IKEA online PAX builder, I’m just not quite ready to dish out six or nine hundos on a wardrobe.

My room is quite tiny, and unfortunately doubles as my office. Space is very limited. I had my dresser in the bottom of my closet previously, and it just wasn’t working. It was an old dresser I got from my sister and had refinished, but the drawers were all falling out and it was just too tall for the space it was in.

With the expensive store-bought organizers out of the question, I set off to Home Depot with my sister to see if I could build my own!

I wanted the shelving unit to fit the cube bins from IKEA, so with those dimensions in mind, I set to work. Initially I was going to use a big 4×8 sheet of white melamine and just get it cut down to the sizes I needed, but then we found these awesome pre-measured white shelving pieces that were the proper width, and would only be about a dollar more per piece. Plus – they had a finished edge as well, so despite the little added cost, that’s what we got! Here’s the finished product:

a closet organizer with tall hanging space on the left, a vertical shelf with 6 sections in the middle, and two hanging sections on the right.

I had some drawer units on my shelves for my work space, but I wasn’t happy with how my supplies were fitting, so I swapped them out and put the drawers in my closet. With my closet going quite higher than the door frame, top storage options were limited. I knew I wanted to use photoboxes, so thankfully clearance wasn’t too big of a problem.

Finally, trying to maximize as much usable space as possible in the wood bins and not spend any money in the process, I created a divider out of some cardboard and just wrapped it in some nice wrapping paper I had on hand.

Total Cost – Closet Organizer Unit:

2 – 30″-48″ Expandable Closet Rods – $12/each
1 – 18″ – 30″ Expandable Closet Rod – $10
3 – 5/8″ x 15 3/4″ x 96″ Melamine Shelving – $13/each
1 – 5/8″ x 11 3/4″ x 96″ Melamine Shelving – $10
8 – 3/4″ Furniture brace – $1/each

Total Cost – Accessories:

2 – BRANÄS Basket – $12.99/each
2 – KALLAX Insert with 2 drawers – $20/each

This project was so much fun! I’m sure I could have got a wire closet organizer for about the same price, but I despise those wire shelving units. This unit is exactly what I wanted, and looks great too!

So – what do you think!? I’d love to hear about your closet organizing escapades as well. Share in the comments!

25 x 26

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Well — I’m at it again. For me, these annual bucket lists are a testament to the old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” I’ve made two previous lists and unfortunately only made little dents in them. This year, sitting in the gardens outside Les Jardins du Luxembourg in France I wrote my third annual bucket list.

25 is my year ladies and gentlemen. I will succeed! I think the key to this one is I actually wrote it around my birthday… not 6 months into the year!

Without further ado, here’s 25 things I want to accomplish before I turn 26!

  1. Make and follow a monthly budget
  2. Live in France for a month – Done!
  3. Hang a gallery wall
  4. Read 12 books
  5. Sketch once a week, even if it sucks
  6. Make homemade bread
  7. Paint a painting – Done!
  8. Vote for the first time in the Federal Election – Done!
  9. Design 3 wedding suites
  10. Float down the Pembina River
  11. Start a seasonal capsule wardrobe
  12. Try 3 new foods
  13. Plant a vegetable garden
  14. Pay off all my credit cards
  15. Create a Paris travel book
  16. Finish decorating + organizing my bedroom/office
  17. Try three new cookie recipes
  18. Tile the kitchen backsplash – Done
  19. Document each week in Project Life
  20. Try 6 new dinner recipes
    1. homemade enchiladas
    2. spicy beef satay pho
  21. Finish a crocheted blanket
  22. Attend a letterpress workshop
  23. Finally learn a song on the piano
  24. Try 5 new restaurants
    1. the cheesecake cafe
    2. MEAT
    3. Thang Long Vietnemese Cuisine
    4. JOEY South Common
  25. To be determined…

Gold tape & calendars.

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In this last year I’ve learned that I am very much a tangible touch kind of person. Digital to do lists are never functional for me. I need to write it down. Physically check off the boxes. I’ve learned that the same goes for Calendars. I hate having to open up an app just to see what day of the week the 17th is.

I’ve been thinking of putting up a small 2015 calendar on my wall as like a year-at-a-glance kind of view. The idea mainly came so I could keep track of which week my project life album was on. A 2015 calendar – seems like there would be quite a few stellar freebies online, right? So I set out to save myself some time, only to find that many people release monthly printable freebies. That doesn’t help me when I want to be able to see the whole year. Nothing too complicated, no space needed for planning, journalling, or adding in any important dates.

I had a vision in mind. Simple. Square-ish. Black and white. After a little searching and not much luck, I almost gave up and started to make my own. But then – I found this amazing freebie that has every month from Cristina, over at Cautiously Obsessed. It was exactly what I was looking for! So I printed it out, 2 months on a page and cut them down to size (I probably would have left a little more space around each month, had I not already cut one month out to the size they are).

12 months printed on individual papers and taped to the wall with gold tape

To add just the perfect sparkle, I cut some gold glitter tape into small strips and added them to the top. I have to confess, I am obsessed with this glitter tape. It’s the Recollections brand from Michaels (I got it on sale for like a dollar! Score!). Granted, it’s not the strongest tape. I use it mainly for decoration, I would never use it to actually seal something.

I figure I’ve saved myself about an hour of fiddling around in Illustrator – not to mention I now have an awesome year at a glance on my wall!

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