My biggest problem is budget (there’s no way that I can afford an organization system any time soon), but I wanted to organize my clothes somehow. I was inspired by clothing stores that often have tags markers indicating a shift in size right near the rod. I decided to make tags for my closet to organize my hanging items by type.  If you like the idea, I have a template that you can download to make similar tags for your hangers!

First: let’s look at my ugly closet.

Oh how embarrassing. See, my closet really needed help! Sweaters, tanks, and dress shirts mingle with pants, dresses and tees. What a mess! By making tags on pant hangers, I’m able to keep my clothing sorted into proper categories.

What You’ll Need

• tag template (click on the image to the right to download the full version)
• pant hangers (you’ll need one hanger per tag)
• card stock or another thick paper that can go through your printer
• scissors
• clear tape
• printer
• permanent marker

Decide on an Organization System

First, decide how you want to organize your clothes. I decided to only store my tops in my closet, but you may also need tags for slacks, jeans, leggings, etc. This is what I used:

• Dresses
• Tank Tops
• Cardigans
• Sweaters
• Skirts
• Black Shirts
• White Shirts
• Brown Shirts
• Red Shirts
• Orange Shirts
• Yellow Shirts
• Green Shirts
• Blue Shirts
• Purple Shirts

My fiance argued that there was no need to colour tag my shirts, but I’m the kind of person that if I don’t label it, I won’t keep up with keeping my clothes sorted by colour. So there we go.

The template I made allows you to put three tags per 8.5×11 piece of paper, so calculate how many copies you need to print onto the card stock to organize your clothing.

Purge. Seriously. Look at Your Clothes.

Take everything out of your closet and decide whether or not you will ever actually wear that item again. I had so much stuff in my closet that I hadn’t worn for years but kept for sentimental reasons. I folded these items and stored them in a clear plastic tote so that they were no longer bogging down the closet. You don’t necessarily have to throw the clothing out if you have separation issues like me (woe, maybe one day I can fit in that cute skirt again?), but try to donate unwanted clothes that are in good condition to charity.

Let’s Make It!

Print out the tags on 8.5×11 inch paper in the colour of your choice.* With a permanent marker, write the labels on your tags. With the side with what looks like a bite taken out of it facing the top, write the first three labels, then flip the paper around so the other bite mark is out and write the labels that match. You should have two rows of text, one right side up, one upside down. See the picture below for details.

*You’ll notice that my template does not use the scalloped circle. I got the scalloped circle from Images by Heather M. As it’s for personal use only, I could not include it on the template. You can easily add her beautiful scalloped design to your projects using a program like Photoshop. You can also tint the circle another colour using Photoshop to match your personal decore.
Take your scissors and cut along the solid lines.

When you’re done, fold the paper in half so that the two bite marks are together. If you have a cat, she may want to chill out with your handy work:

Now it’s time to attach them to your pant hangers! Slip the hanger between the folded paper and align the bite mark with the round hook of the hanger. With tape, seal the seam along the vertical cut, along the loop of the hook, and finally with a small piece of tape, tack the paper behind the hook so that the paper does not fall off.

You should create a nice little stack. Voila!

My closet is still nothing like any of those beautiful closets I linked to above, but at the very least, it’s functional and I can easily find those tank tops that sneakily slip between two sweaters, never to be found again.

Nap time for Diamond and the newest addition to our family, Yoda. (They're sleeping on top of the outline of my novel Automatons.)

2011 was pretty momentous for me. Most notably, I am engaged! Justin proposed to me, and of course I said yes. Smile-smile time! A few months later, we moved out together into our own apartment. I love having our own place together. I feel like we are a married couple already. We decorated our apartment. We adopted two beautiful, playful kittens to keep our older cat lively. We commute to-and-from our respective work places every weekday. Life is good.

I’m trying to concentrate on putting my life goals into order. I’m nearly done my editing program at George Brown College. The program was wonderful. Most of the professors are in the field, so it was great learning from them. I’m nearing the end of my first editorial work placement, then I have six weeks at a second one. Once that’s done, I’ll have my certificate in editing on top of my English Studies university degree. I’m pretty psyched to update my resume.

My immediate goal, once I finish up my internships, is to land myself a new job in the editing field, even if that means temporarily working in the sales department of a publishing house to get my foot in the door.

My long-term goal is to pitch my completed novel Automatons to potential publishers while continuing to write my current work-in-progress novel This Wonderful Machine.

I’m happy with 2011. I hope I’m just as happy with 2012.

How has your 2012 been so far?

I purchased the machine from Michaels during a sale. Normally, it costs $399 CAD but it was on for $129, one day only. I purchased it on the spot.

The box does not say what is included in the kit, so I didn’t buy any extras. I didn’t want to be stuck with duplicate accessories at full price. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with much: it includes one emulsion sheet, one transparency, one bottle of ink…basically, if you make a mistake, you’re kind of screwed until you can get back to the craft store and get more supplies. Which is what happened to me. I definitely recommend buying an additional emulsion sheet and remover at least, because adhering the emulsion is the hardest part of the Yudu process.

I like the Yudu a lot, but my review is probably going to sound pretty negative. There are many improvements that could be made.

The Machine

The Yudu machine is huge. HUGE. I was expecting it to be somewhat large, as it had to be big enough to hold the screen, but it seriously takes up some major real estate. It’s approximately 26″x17″x8″. There was no way that it was going to fit on my craft desk. I had to clear off a wide, low bookcase in the bedroom to fit it and place it sideways. Even then, I can’t keep it there because I can’t open the dryer door. I have to move the machine onto the floor every time I use it. This is no issue if you have a lot of space, but my apartment is crammed. I wish the dryer door was width-wise instead of length-wise and that the buttons were on the long side of the machine.

The Instructions

The instructions leave much to be desired. First, the DVD. I figured this would be the best way to go because I could play the instructions and pause it with the remote as I did each step. I would not recommend this. You really need to supplement it with the instruction manual. In addition, you want to supplement the instruction manual with the FAQs on the website. Really, I think that having to search for everything is poor. A really well executed instruction manual should be all you need, and the DVD should have the same instructions as the manual.

The Emulsion Sheets

The emulsion sheets are slightly smaller than the screens. You need to tape over the unused portion of the screen. Is this badly designed, or is there a reason for this? I’m not sure. I’ve read a lot of blogs online that suggest using liquid emulsion for a more cost-efficient screen.

You really need to get your screen wet for the emulsion sheet to adhere properly. In the DVD, the instructor doesn’t look like she sprays that towel very much. You can always squeegee off excess water. It was too late for me to pull off the emulsion sheet on my first try, so I tried to dab it on the back with water like she shows on the DVD. This resulted in my emulsion pulling through the screen (slightly green wet paper towel).

After adhering the emulsion steps, be sure that your emulsion is completely dry. If it’s not dry, the clear plastic film will not come off easily and the emulsion may crackle. Just put it back in the dryer for a few more cycles. When you wash out the emulsion, it needs to be completely dry or else when you rub it with the sponge it was peel off.

The following photo is very embarrassing…but hey, why not share my disaster with the internet?

This is what happens when A) you don’t get your screen wet enough causing the emulsion not to adhere to the screen so you rub the back with a wet towel, and B) what happens when you try to pull the plastic off too soon. Haha, learn from me!

I didn’t buy any emulsion remover so I just figured I’d go with it. I knew it was a lost cause until I got more supplies, but oh well.

The Transparencies

The Yudu transparencies have a nice coating which makes your prints super-black. I needed a bigger design so I pieced together two regular 3M transparencies.

You can put multiple designs on one screen, then cover up unwanted designs with clear tape while you are inking them. Works great!

The Ink

The kit only came with one bottle of black ink. It seemed to work well, but I’m looking into other screen printing inks because the Yudu brand seems far too expensive to stock up on.

What Is Not Included

Two features of the Yudu which are not included are the emulsion remover and the registration guide. The emulsion remover lets you reuse your screen by taking off the layer of emulsion. I can understand why they don’t include it because you might not need to reuse your screen since the kit doesn’t even come with a second emulsion film sheet. The registration guide, however, seems pretty basic. It’s a clear grid that’s placed on the glass to help you line up your design. It seems like this could have easily just be printed on the glass to start with, and it is a silly additional expense.

Overall

I think there are aspects of the machine that could have been done better. Mostly, I think the instructions are to blame for many issues I had with my first screen printing experience.

Considering how badly I screwed up my screen, the ampersand turned out pretty cool looking despite the unintentional vintage vibe.

Yesterday, I picked up some additional supplies: more emulsion sheets, emulsion remover, and three coloured inks. My screw ups taught me a lot about what not to do, so I’m fairly confident that it’ll be better next time. I’m so excited to try out the Yudu again tomorrow on my day off! Wish me luck – I think I’ll need it!

I’ve never really had a matching bed set before, but I fell in love with this set from Walmart of all places. I like the modern print and the little birdy pillow is a cute touch. I have a bedframe from IKEA which is supposed to be used with just a mattress rather than a boxspring set. Because of this, I couldn’t use a traditional gathered bedskirt that comes with most bed sets. This one is perfect since the bedskirt is flat style that can be tucked into the frame.

Mostly, we bought it because it matches our cat. Haha!

This was my last major purchase that I’ve made recently. I’m trying to put myself into a low-spending high-saving budget so that Justin and I can work towards getting a place of our own.

My biggest spending problem is craft supplies! I always want more even though I have more than enough to last me for years. I should just focus on finishing what I’ve started. My goals:

• Finish my Moda Christmas quilt. I’ve sewn about half of the squares into rows. So basically, everything still needs to be done.
• Start sewing my ambitious tiny-square quilt. I’m following a tutorial from a magazine and have everything cut out…but I’m scared to start!
• Finish the green and pink baby blanket for Kristy’s baby…who thankfully isn’t born yet, because I was late making this for the baby shower. Whoops…
• Start sewing the Super Mario quilt. It’s all cut out too. I love cutting out the fabric the best, as you can tell from my to-do list.

When will I find the time? I don’t know. I have way too many hobbies on top of work and school.

It’s been a while since I last blogged. It’s been so long that I’m not sure exactly where to start!

My two part-time jobs finally become one full-time job. Since I started, I’ve received two raises and, finally, benefits. Yay, discount glasses and drugs! I’m pretty happy with where I am financially, although I’m not settling. I enrolled in a part-time college program to become an editor. I hope this will utilize my English degree well! Last semester was pretty tough because of the amount of hours, plus the commute to school was long. I only have one class this semester, so it’s a lot easier to cope with the stress.

I’ve been struggling to figure out what I’m doing with my portfolio. This blog is too casual, while Thought Bubble Art is too commercial. I wanted a place where I could send people to look at my work without bombarding them with price tags. So…

pange.ca is born!

Please check it out!

• Friday: Received my promise ring. <3 Happiness! I got the call while I was at work so Justin and I went to the jewelry store to pick it up when I was done. It’s so beautiful! It’s a white gold band, simple and pretty. It was surprisingly difficult to find something without any detailing on it.
• Saturday: I went to Casinorama with Justin and Dave where I watched everyone else play and didn’t risk anything myself, haha. Watched Justin rake in a $1020 jackpot on the slots. :O Stayed overnight with the winnings!
• Sunday: Went to Toronto with Justin for an impromtu outing. I bought myself a fancy but tiny little keyboard so my keyboard and mouse can finally both live and fit together on the pull-out shelf in perfect harmony. Getting used to only have one CTRL key on the right is a challenge! I didn’t realize how much I used that key until I started using the computer beyond basic internet-applications. </geeky-talk >

I made an appointment with a bra fitting place downtown and bought some great pieces with my vacation pay. Poor Justin had to sit and wait for two hours while I tried on lots of stuff to get the right fit. (My body is really weird to fit.) I was so happy that I was fit with Freya bras. I absolutely love that brand and at the last place, the girl was certain that their styles wouldn’t fit me. We tried on a few sizes at that original boutique and she told me they wouldn’t work. At this boutique, the girl was very patient and found the correct size for me. Typical appointments are 45 minutes but she spent two hours with me. I bought Freya Pollyanna and Freya Estelle. It’s a little more expensive than buying from the online shops, but the personal attention to fit makes it worth it!

We ended the day by going out for dinner to a Korean restaurant and it was so delicious! I got chicken bibim bop which was great but huge! I had to take most of it home with me, hehe. It was the perfect end of the day.

<3

You know, this lovely lady:

The fabric adaptation is super cute, with Rosie toting a rotary cutter in her emblematic fist. Instead of “We Can Do It!”, it’s “We Can Quilt It!” The fabric I bought was an all over pattern with small circular “Keep on Quilting” motifs. I was aimlessly surfing fabric stores online for general pink fabrics to match. My original plan was to simply fussy cut the Rosies and make nine patches out of coordinating prints. But, I stumbled across Rosie panels that I didn’t even know existed!

I ended up buying a bit more than I was originally going to, but I figured if I was going to pay the shipping charge, I might as well get my flat rate’s worth.  I bought a bunch of pink fabrics plus two different Rosie panels. I also have a black and white quilt that I’ve been dreaming of for a while that I bought some things for.  I hope eQuilter is fast, because I’m pumped to start cutting!

P.S: I quit my part time job and started full time at the day care. Less stress, more money, and more time to sew! Hooray!

Right now I’m waiting for Justin to come home from work so he can take me to the doctor’s.  Hooray!

Last Tuesday I stayed home and quilted, and this is what I got done:  (I haven’t had a chance to update, except on my flickr, haha)

The final image shows my second photoshop design for the quilt.   I like to do a quick mock up either on paper or photoshop.  I deviated from the original photoshop quilt layout a bit. The structure is the same, but I decided against the small brick appliques for now, and got rid of the satin-stitch linear embellishments.  I bought the backing fabric the other day after work, and yikes: of course, I had to pick the most expensive fabric from the quilt as the backing, yargh!  Luckily it was 50% off!

I don’t have an iron while I’m sewing at my boyfriend’s place, so excuse the wrinkles! I’m too addicted to quilting right now to not sew because of that reason, so I just have to deal with it for now.

I ordered four green fabrics, plus a random pink one. I was paying $10 for shipping regardless, so I figured that I might as well get something else too! Fat Quarter Shop’s cuts were perfect. I wish I had ordered more! My first time online fabric shopping was a success! Only two of the four green fabrics actually match the quilt, but I will use the other two in other projects. I’ve already cut out all the rectangles from the fabric and I want to sew-sew-sew!

The kitties love that I have fabric everywhere.

In other news, I’ve been playing World of Warcraft a lot lately. I’ve finally gotten to Dalaran so I have been doing the daily cooking quests! I’m a little addicted to the professions in the game…

Since I haven’t blogged in half a year, I’m not really sure what to say. I’ve finally got a new job at a daycare which I start next week. I’m looking forward to it, but I’m going to be keeping both jobs for at least a while. I’m going to be starting at 9am in the morning until early afternoon, then travel by bus to my other job and work until 9pm. It’s probably going to be a little insane, but I like to keep busy, and I really want to save lots of money right now. More and more expenses just keep adding up.

On a brighter note, here is a quilt that I finished on December 24th. It was a Christmas present for my boyfriend’s mom, and I was a big stressful mess nearing the end of it. I was really worried I wouldn’t get it done in time!

Her living room is painted burgundy with tan couches and floral accents, so I tried to pick colours that would work in the room to use as a TV cuddling blanket. I machine stitched the binding because I was running short on time, but I actually like the look of it a lot and will probably machine stitch rather than hand stitch my binding from this point forward. Hooray!

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

I want to be there to hold my mom’s hand.

I talked to my mom about coming too. The day they’re going is on one of the days where I don’t have an exam, so I looked at the bus schedules and worked out a potential plan. I knew I didn’t have enough money though, because it’s a $125 round trip, and I would still have to pay another $15 or so to get from Yorkdale to Oshawa. (I can’t remember how much that bus costs.)

My mom didn’t like the idea because of the cost and said that she would think about it. I was a little shocked because yes, it’s a little expensive, but it would allow me to visit Nanny and be home for Easter, two important occasions. This would be the first year I didn’t celebrate Easter without my family either, just because of the way my exam schedule fell.

I talked to my dad next and reiterated my idea, and he instantly said yes. He definitely took less persuasion! In fact, he told me not to bother about both buses because he would come to pick me up.

I’m so happy that I’m going to be going home! I feel silly because I barely felt homesick the last few years, but all I’ve been thinking for the past few months is that I want to go home. I want to be done school. I want to get a job doing something potentially more than minimum wage, but if not, that’s okay too. (I must sound like a broken record with my blog posts, but this is what I’m feeling, so I can’t help but say it again.)

There are twenty days until I move home, two essays to complete, and three exams to write. As long as I pass everything (which I’m not really worried about), all my requirements should be filled. Huzzah!

My final class today reminds me of being in highschool. All my other classes are still serious sessions even on the last day, but my professor for Scandalous Life is bringing in Dangerous Liaisons (1988), and we are just going to have a casual lecture on the difference between Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Dangerous Liaisons. Sounds fun to me! I may pack a small bag of popcorn. That will be a nice casual way to finish the year.

Anyway, long story short. My friend Jessie, who is also an avid packratter, was telling me about the awesome new features of PackRat and I should check it out. I logged into PackRat for the first time in weeks. I was surprised to see that they have a new menu bar functionality. I thought, oh, this is a nice new streamlined look. The top bar said something about there being new features that I needed to upgrade to. Since I’d been gone for so long, this seemed plausible. It’s also similar to how WordPress makes you upgrade your database tables with each update. I went for it…

and got this message:

I was absolutely shocked! I could believe the message though, because my boyfriend also has a PackRat account (which he signed up on of his own accord) and I use his pack to store things. He will also buy me things with his credits on it. I knew it would look bad if they were truly analysing my data for the change over.

I was on MSN with Jessie and our conversation was something like this:

Me: *copy and paste of the message above* OMG O_O I’ve been banned!
Jessie: oh no! contact them
Me: Woe is me, how could this happen, etc.
Jessie: (who obviously already knows it’s a fools joke) Click on the contact button!

And then, of course, I do, and I discover it’s all a trick. I’m an April Fool. They got me!

After he picked me up from school yesterday, we went home and watched Fight Club. I absolutely love this movie and we’ve both seen it before. We actually fell asleep in each other’s arms watching it and it was an extremely refreshing nap! We woke up about seven PM and he had to start his four hour drive him.

I miss him already but I’m nearing the home stretch now. It’s March 31st now, and there are 22 days until I’m done school. My list of things to do is very small now:

• Censorship Essay
• Canadian Literature Creative Writing Assignment
• Exams x 3

I feel good about it! I only have my censorship paper due this week, so I’m spending every spare moment until Friday working on it. I’m writing an essay about Facebook’s censorship practices and the paranoia that comes with it. If anyone who stumbled across this entry happens to have any stories about being suspended or banned from Facebook, or had any of their content removed, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

I currently have five and a half pages written out of eight.  It’s not even that long of a paper and I surely have enough to write about to fill the space.  I’m just stubborn I guess!  I have seven hours to finish it so I have plenty of time still.  Workworkwork.

I’m really excited for tomorrow!  My boyfriend is coming to visit me!  I’ve really been missing him a lot since it’s been over a month since I’ve last seen him.  He’s bringing his Super Nintendo so we’re going to relive the past.   Hopefully I can practice my Super Mario World skills.  I’m a bit better at the SMW controls than the Super Mario Brothers 1 controls!  When I was last at his place we played SMB1 and I was embarrassingly bad.  I always fell into pits, or lava, or was killed by the easy goombas of all things.

Knowing that he is coming gives me something to work towards!  I’ll finish my work today so that I can have a nice weekend.  ♥

No picture evidence because I’m lazy right now.   I’m reading Clara Callan by Richard B. Wright.  I absolutely love it so far.  It’s the story of two sisters, an elder one who lives in a small village in Canada as a school teacher and a younger one who lives in New York USA working in the exciting radio business.  It’s set in the 1930s and the novel is written in a series of letters and diary entries.   Saying much more would spoil it.  I’m only 100 pages in so far (it’s about 400 pages), but it’s really interesting.

I wish I had started reading it earlier.  I actually wasn’t even planning to read it.  It’s for one of my courses and there’s a small 1% quiz on it, but other than that, there’s no exam or essay on it.  Considering the work that I have to do on other things worth 25% or more, I was going to skip it.  I started reading it last night as I was trying to sleep and could not put it down until it was about 1am and I knew I’d have to sleep, hehe.  Whoops.

Unfortunately the quiz is today and there’s no way I can finish the book by 2pm.  But I’m planning to read as far as I can and see what happens at the quiz.

Randomly:  I think it’s interesting to see how people go about creating their designs, so I decided to show my process for designing the graphics Frozen Flower’s layout.  I actually meant to post this a while ago, but it never saw the light of day:

I had a lot of fun with this design because most of the work actually happened before I got to the computer stages. I hand drew this layout over a short period of days, working on it in the short 10 minute gaps waiting for classes to start or the coffee breaks in the middle of three hour lectures.  For the flowers, I used my own photography as a guide while drawing them.

I want to start using my own drawings and photography for design rather than using anime or video game pictures.  As much as I love those topics, it’s hard, because really, it’s somewhat illegal (though many claim “fair use” and a lot of these companies see it as free publicity).  Though the design and coding is mine, the graphic base belongs to the companies and artists that make those images.  I want the code, the design, the everything to be created by me.  But, my main site Magitek Designs relies on those subjects, so I’m somewhat conflicted.  I think if I didn’t make anime or video game layouts anymore ever, I would loseWeight Exercise visitors, maybe.  I’m not sure!  Unless any companies complain about my use of their images, I’m probably okay.  I think about these things a lot even though I’ve been concentrating on school more than working on my sites.

I’ve been itching to make WordPress templates!  And I’ve also been itching to put together this new PHP idea for the Series section of Magitek Designs.  I’m looking forward to summer to be able to work on these projects!

29 days until home.  ^_^