Tidy Brown Wren, bringing order to your nest

If you've been following this blog for awhile, you're familiar with Monday Motivation. Monday Motivation was a prompt to help you clean and organize your home - one room/area at a time. By the end of the year, we had gone through the entire house (including the car) and purged, sorted, and organized. I've decided to include these posts, once a month, for those who want to continue through their home again. I'll be doing this in my home too. _______________________________________________________ originally posted in February 2011 We'll be breaking down the kitchen tasks into different categories: 1. Appliances 2. Cabinets 3. Drawers 4. Counters Today, we'll start with Appliances. First, the stove . 1. Take everything off of the stove. 2. Follow the manufacturer's directions to clean the oven/stove inside and out. Be sure to remove knobs, if possible, and clean the surface around them. I usually let them soak in the ...

When I was showing you my new sewing accessory , I was secretly keeping something from you.  I know, I'm so ashamed!  I was hiding my new honey pot.  But, in Tidy Brown Wren's world, it's not really a honey pot. . . It's a container. . . For string. . . Yes, my new honey pot string holder. To go with my collection Hmmm. . . I might have a small addiction to white containers.

So proud of our son, the Marine. He sure loves his God, his family, his church, and his country. My father-in-law gave us this flag and we have it in the garden by our front door.  He has one too, as well as an Army flag for another grandson.  Pop was in the Navy and my brother-in-law was in the Air Force.  Let's see, there's only Coast Guard left to cover.

Braving wind and temps in the 70's today, I finally got my new purses and bags photographed and listed in my Etsy shop .  Just joking. . . it was a beautiful day. I'm really excited about these new bags.  They were a lot of fun to make. This first one was made from an upcycled child's dress.  I cut the top part off and added an insert (to hold stuff) as well as some embellishments and a sturdy strap.  It would make a perfect ballet bag for some special little girl. This next bag was made from an upcycled child's skirt.  I love the hearts, especially so close to Valentine's Day.  Here's a fun purse for a grown up ballerina (or even a non-ballerina).  Fluffy and Festive. This purse has great flowy (is that a word?) fabric.  Orange is a hot color right now for accessorizing.  This bag comes with a special removable flower pin.  You'll have to check out   the listing to find out what I ma...

One of the rules I set for myself when I go thrifting is that I must find a use for each item I find.  I don't allow myself to hoard things just because they are a good deal.  Last week I showed off my latest thrifting finds and promised to share what I decided to do with the milk glass pedestal dish. I thought it would make a great holder for many of the small items I use next to my sewing machine. The small scallops around the dish are the perfect size to hold small scissors, seam rippers, and threading helpers ( because I'm old and can't see the silly needle slit to thread it - ack!).  The sweet heart fabric is a ballet bag I'm making for my Etsy shop .  I hope to have it photographed and listed tomorrow along with a few other bags.  I'm enjoying collecting the milk glass containers   to use as accessories on my studio work surface. I'm still using my grandma's old red tomato pin cushion.  My sewing machine wa...

I was supposed to be shopping for a bedside table.  Ahem. . . a bedside table. . . not dishes.  See, if I went to a regular furniture store instead of a thrift store, I wouldn't have this problem.   They don't sell dishes in furniture stores, but they also don't have very interesting bedside tables in furniture stores (at least not the ones I'm interested in).  Apparently I have a disease called "dish-itis".  I think it's contagious because some of my friends have it too.  Some of the fun things I found are an amber pitcher (to replace one I broke before Christmas), a mortar and pestle (to grind spices), a yellow glass tray (I think I'll use it in the bathroom to hold bottles), a milk glass pedestal dish (wait until Monday to see what I did with this cutie), a Villeroy and Boch rectangular tray (I need this to serve Stromboli on), and a handmade creamy floral vase (it matches the one I use on my spring mantel)....

It's amazing how God works through His people to get a job done. A few weeks ago at my Bible study, a friend mentioned that she and her husband were going to Honduras to help with an orphanage there.  She was asking us to donate small stuffed animals or "lovies" to take with her to the orphaned children.  My thoughts immediately went to a pile of fabric that a dear family friend had given me.  I hadn't been sure of what I would do with the fabrics. . . but now I knew.  White flannel on one side and children's cotton print on the other.   But what else could I add?  Silky tags on the corners.  Children love to rub silky things.  The purple ribbon came from wedding gifts my daughter and son-in-law had gotten last year - thank you Bed, Bath, and Beyond for adding plain purple ribbon to your gift wrapped packages.  I didn't even have to take your logo off of it. I had been told by my friend that the...