This strawberry sauce recipe is really easy, I challenge you to screw it up. It’s super tasty on pancakes or ice-cream. Perfect for Valentine’s Day, no?

Find my recipe and the free printable labels over on Polka Dot Bride today.

I still love the organic texture and colour provides by this set of wicker baskets on top of the kitchen cupboards. However, continually having to answer The Man’s queries about ‘Which basket has the pie weights again?’ was getting old… especially since half the time I couldn’t remember myself.

So I said to myself: ‘Self, get some labels already.’

And get some labels I did.

But before we get to the label close-up, we need to back up a bit.

The lack of labels were not the only the wrong with this scenario. Neat as they may have looked, there was a whoole lotta mess goin’ on within those woven sides.

Eek! This is supposed to be our storage for picnic and party gear, mostly disposable stuff. We sort of just threw everything in there (sometimes, quite literally, we would throw a pack of napkins up there instead of taking the basket down) with no real regard to organisation.

What do you do if everything is in a complete jumble? Take everything out and start again.

I sorted everything out and grouped them with similar items. A few things found other homes, like the Thermos set (in the black bag) I moved to a lower cupboard and some of the cheaper serviettes I donated to The Man’s class party box for school. Given that we have had KFC maybe twice in five years I figured the refresher towellettes were probably past their prime.

Here’s what they look like now:

The first box now contains nothing but disposable gear for picnics.

The second box contains items for parties, such as cocktail napkins and reusable plastic wine glasses (we actually have a huge stash of wine glasses so we only need to resort to plastic for the really big parties).

The other two boxes held various baking equipment and supplies, as well as an ice bucket (boxed, at left).

Why did I have half of the cupcake wrappers in one box and the rest in another? And why did I have two lonely food colourings in the lower pantry while the rest of the stash was in an overhead basket?

Who knows! But it was time to sort out once and for all.

I brought the almost-empty second clear box up and used that to organise the packets of sprinkles, while the larger one now contains (from top) gel piping tubes, food colouring and food flavouring. Oh, and the ice bucket now lives in a cupboard with the cocktail shaker and spirits. Here it is all back in the boxes:

Now, back to those labels!

I had these cute chalkboard pegs from Emerald & Ella on hand from a recent photo shoot (used as place cards) and knew they would be perfect for labelling baskets too. They work a treat! If I ever change up my storage (which, let’s face it, is only a matter of time) I can just wipe off and write on the new label.

Every room needs a bit of black, don’t you agree? And I know you agree that every room could use a bit more organisation too!

Does anyone else use the top of cupboards for storage or do you prefer to keep everything behind closed doors?

Let’s wrap up (no pun intended) birthday month here at Atypical Type A with part 2 of the free printable gift tag roundup. (Here’s part 1 if you missed it.)

Draw Pilgrim

Creature Comforts

Eat Drink Chic

Good Gravy

Vale Design via Papercrave

Daily Suze

Little Paper Dog

Domestifluff | Carte Blanche Invitations via Love Obsess Inspire

Creature Comforts for Simply Modern Mom

Check out examples of my work or drop me a line to enquire or place your order.

FINAL CHANCE!

Today is the LAST DAY of my birthday sale so if you need wedding stationery, get on it now!

Pretty up your parcels with some of these gorgeous gift tags.

Eat Drink Chic

Creature Comforts

Fog & Thistle via How About Orange

Kellie Medivitz via Creature Comforts

Eat Drink Chic

Doecdoe via How About Orange | Papercrave

Laylock

Love vs Design

Smitten Blog Designs

Whisker Graphics

Martha Stewart

There were too many to squeeze into one post, so keep your eyes out for part 2 soon!

Check out examples of my work or drop me a line to enquire or place your order.

Who doesn’t love bubbles?! These cuties match the Laundromat wedding invitations I told you about yesterday, but they would go down a treat at a kids’ party too.

Just download the labels, print onto adhesive-backed paper, trim and stick onto store-bought bubble bottles. Good clean fun for everyone!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be doing a series of guest posts for Made, Polka Dot Bride’s recently launched DIY section. Ms Polka is collating tutorials and freebies as a fantastic resource for the crafty bride.

First up today are the free labels I created for our engagement party, then keep an eye out over the coming weeks for future projects. I’ll see you over there!

I hope you liked the cake buffet that I showed you this morning. As promised, I am providing the scalloped labels as a free download.

Instructions:
1. Download the font and PDF template.
2. Type in the names of your sweet treats.
3. Print on thick, textured cardstock (I used 300gsm watercolour paper).
4. Punch out circles using a craft punch (I used Friskars 2″ / 5cm scalloped circle punch).
5. Attach to ribbon using double-sided tape, or insert into holder.

Alternatives:
Use as gift tags (punch a small hole and thread through string or ribbon)
Use as favour labels (print onto adhesive paper instead of cardstock)

No idea what I’m talking about? Get up to speed with the cake buffet and invitations.

Did you spot the little red labels in this post post last week? They are all yours, free free free!

I can picture them on envelopes, storage boxes and gifts.

Click here to download them now