creating: checking off projects around the house

I have been wanting to tackle a few tiny projects for awhile now, and this last week I finally got around to them.  I have a few projects that I have been using to bring green into our living room, like here and here, and here.  We had this basket at the end of our couch and Eden has been using it as a stool to stand on.  I felt like it looked  a little out of place, so we fixed it right up:

Before:

After:

 

 (I know, the grainiest pictures ever, and it doesn't help that I can't get people to stand still and Wallace and Grommit was on so no one wanted to be in the photo. Oh well...)

It's funny how easy and fast this project was and what a difference it feels like it made.
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The next project is going to sound like I'm trying to get live at Downton Abbey:  I cleaned my silver trays.
I know, of all the things to do with my time, but I thrifted these babies for under 5 bucks at a garage sale (for both) and a few times for showers I have gone to pull them out and realized that they are so tarnished, I would go with something else.

 Thanks to Pinterest, I got the recipe to clean them:
1. line my sink with foil.
2. combine 1/2 cup salt with 1/2 cup baking soda
3. fill the sink with HOT water
4. let sit for 30 minutes

I was a little skeptical...

Here are the finished products:

I am so excited for the next time I want to use them and I know how to clean them in the future!
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Then the final project: organizing our family scrapbooks.
I really want to have our photos out where we can access them easily and have an organized system.
Here is is:

 

It was nice to check those little projects off the list!
I'm off to work on a secret project for the kiddos...
I can't wait to show it to you!