How to Organize Your CDs and DVDs

How many CDs and DVDs do you have? Why not toss out old media you don’t watch and organize the rest of your collection?

Swap Items

I used to use a site called Swap where you can build or get rid if of your DVD or CD collection. I pretty much got all the DVDs I own now from swapping them. Amazon also works well for selling or finding CDs and DVDs. You basically just pay for shipping for used items if you find them cheap enough.

Find Gems

Are you looking for rare items or autographed memorabilia? Check out Discogs for music fans where you can find rare CDs and vinyl. I have found some good deals off eBay. I have sold some autographed CDs there also and able to make some pretty good money.

Arrange Your Collection

If you have too many discs, I like this idea from Hi Sugarplum. Store CDs and DVDs in sleeves out of their case and put them in a wire basket with alphabetical tabs.

CDs or DVDs are great to display also. Pick your favorite items or autographed copies to frame or display. I have an old autographed Michelle Branch album sleeve from a CD in a photo frame. The album sleeve is opened up so you see all the artwork in the frame. A shelf is also is great for holding CDs. In my old bedroom, I glued down blank CDs to the bottom of a shelf and arranged my music CDs on the top of the shelf.

Let me know in the comments your favorite CD or DVD in your collection. 

A Beautiful Mess Happy Handmade Home Review

I received the A Beautiful Mess Happy Handmade Book as a gift a little while back. Since I did a review of the A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea book, I thought I would do a review of this book. 

This book is written from the creators of the A Beautiful Mess blog. It has a lot of good ideas and inspiration for painting, crafting and decorating a handmade home. 

The book is broken up by different rooms you can decorate including living rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, bedrooms, studio spaces, outdoor spaces, playrooms and small spaces. Crafts include quotable wall art, cloth napkins for a dinner party and flea market chair. Even if you don't have a whole space to decorate, it is easy to try out any of the crafts. 

This book have me a lot of good ideas like te photo idea book. It is very similar to their blog so it may not be worth a purchase if you already read their blog. I like having things in book form though and I enjoyed this book. 

What books have you been reading? 

Autism Awareness: Sponge Painting Tutorial

We decided to paint my brother’s old bedroom in our house. My brother, Teddy, has autism. Since it is Autism Awareness Month, I thought I would post a tutorial on sponge painting a bedroom wall since that is the technique we used on his bedroom. Sponge painting is easy to do and if you are painting with someone with autism, they can help out.

Supplies: 

• Latex Wall Paint: Get at least two shades of wall paint. You can do three or even four of five shades of you wish. I think having the same color in different shades works well. We used blue paint for my brother’s room. Blue is also one of the official autism awareness colors. You may want to try out paint chips before buying paint.
• Latex Glaze: Get latex glaze, not oil based glaze, which will thin latex paint. It also gives it a translucent look.
• Paint Tray: Use a paint tray to hold your paint.
• Sponge: Use a natural sea sponge which will give you a textured pattern. You may also get a smaller sponge or different size sponges if you are using a lot of shades of paint.
• Paint Roller: Use a paint roller or paintbrush if you need to paint a base color.
• Scouring Pads (optional): This is optional, but you may wish to get a synthetic scouring pad.
• Other Items: You may need other items as needed such as masking tape and measuring cups.

Instructions:

1. Let’s get started. Start by painting the base coat on the wall.

2. Mix the next layer of paint you want to use with the latex glaze.

3. Dip a large sponge in the paint and glaze mixture. Blot off most of the paint in the paint tray so it doesn’t drip. Start testing the sponge paint in a small area. See how the color looks. If you like the look, keep sponge painting with this technique on the rest of the wall.

4. Repeat this step with the next color. Use a smaller sponge for additional layers. Keep going until you get all the colors you want.

5. When paint is just dry to the touch, you may use a scouring pad to scour areas. This will get rid of any drips or blotches you don’t want.

We also wanted to go with a storybook theme for the room so we added storybook related items such as stuffed animal characters (like the Cat in the Hat stuffed animal pictured in the first photo). I like the way the bedroom turned out overall. The blue colors reminds me of the ocean and I think it really brightened up the room.

Have you ever used the sponge painting technique? Let me know in the comments if you try out this tutorial.