Nail Polish

There is just something about women and nail polish. Personally, I have an obsession with nail polish, specifically the OPI brand. I love the shades and the color selection is wonderful. For many women like me, its a fun item to collect, but storing them can be quite a challenge. You can just throw all of your nail polishes in a box, it ruins the brush. Nail polishes last the longest when they are stored upright. While some beauty companies sell boxes for nail polish storage, they can be pretty expensive.This is where creativity comes into play.

I am sure most women have a spice rack in their kitchen. Well I bet not many have thought to use a spice rack for their nail polishes. It is the PERFECT solution. I have included pictures below of the spice rack that I use for my nail polish. It was a very ugly brown wood but a simple primer and coat of white paint made it look brand new. Another crafty tick is that you can take scrapbook paper and mount in on the back of the shelves. I have been wanting to add this touch to my own rack, but it has just taken me longer than I thought to find a paper that I like. I know this might sound lame, but I honestly love my spice rack turned nail polish rack. Its perfect for storing all of my colors and if you are slightly OCD like me, it's fun to color code them. Having this rack allows me to see all my colors and also helps them last longer. If nail polish is you obsession, I highly recommend making a rack!!

Photo Books!

If you love photography and photo gifts then this will be perfect for you! I am a huge believe in personal gifts! They are much more sentimental and are full of memories. I am constantly exploring www.shutterfly.com. It is an online photo sharing website. It is also very simple to use. You simple create an account, upload your photos, and then begin creating one of a kind photo gifts. You can create photo cards, invitations, canvas prints, photo books and much more.
Photo books are my personal favorite. I have made well over two dozen of them for friends, family, and even myself. They are simple, adorable, and the finished product is a book full of memories that will last forever. You can make them in a variety of sizes and styles. They come in both paperback and hardcover styles too! Most recently, I made one for my boyfriend Kevin for our 1 year anniversary. I went with a more simple approach and chose 10 photos from the past year of our relationship. I started at the beginning with our trip to Big Bear when we first started dating and ended with my sorority formal which was right before our 1 year anniversary. On one page of the layout was the photo and on the opposite page I was able to type a few sentences about this photo and why it was special to me. Shutterfly also lets you create front and back covers, a personalized spine, and this layout even had a table of contents which gave a snapshot of each photo that would be used in the book.I have included screen shots of the book below so you can get an idea of just how cute and special these books can be.

I encourage all of you to browse Shutterfly and see for yourself how awesome this photo sharing website is!

52 Things I Love About You

In need of a gift for your significant other? Take the personal route and make them a "52 Things I Love About You Book". It's simple, easy, and super personal.

What you will need:
A deck of cards
A 3-hole punch
2 Binder Rings
Cardstock
Blank address labels 

You start by taking a deck of cards (hence the 52 aspect) and hole punch them using the 3-hole punch. You make two holes on each card on the left side. (As shown below) You want to make sure the holes in each card are even or else they wont line up correctly when you put them all together. Once you have all of the cards hole punched you get to move on to coming up with 52 things. I started by making a list on paper and then once I had 52 things, I moved to the computer. I decided it would be easy to download the address making template and type 1 thing into each label space. That way I could just un-peel the label and stick it on the card. You could always write each thing out onto the card, but for those like me who hate their handwriting, I decided to type them.
Once you type all 52 things you love out, then you put the blank labels in the printer and print them out. (It really is very simple). From there, You can start assembling the pages. I started by putting the cards into the binder rings. From there I began sticking the labels onto each card.

After you have all of the pages finished, you can begin to get creative with the cover. I made the book pictured below for my boyfriend Kevin Serocke, hence the K & S. I Started with a piece of card stock and cut it out to fit the card. Then I added a piece of trip I bought at a local craft store and cut it to go along the binging. I used scrabble pieces for the K & S and attached them to the card stock with hot glue.

They whole project took me about 3 hours, but then again I took a few breaks. Although it took a while, seeing the look on Kevin's face as he was reading what I loved about him made all the time worth it. He could not get over how thoughtful of a gift it was and promised me it would be something he would treasure forever.

So ladies, if you are in need of a thoughtful gift, I would HIGHLY recommend making this! Its totally worth it!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog everyone! Ready, Set, Craft is a do it yourself blog. We all spend hours upon hours on Pinterest looking at crafts and re-pinning all sorts of pictures. We always think we will do all the cute things we see but it reality it doesn't happen. Well I am going to do them for you and provide you with step by step instructions! Be sure to follow this blog and look for fun do it yourself crafts soon!