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If you don't already have the painterly app Brushstroke, keep reading to find out how you can win one of ten FREE copies I have to give away. If you already have Brushstroke, be sure to update it to take advantage of all the new features.  Here's what's been added:

• New painting styles, color palettes, and canvases
• Swipe to adjust painting detail and color
• Optimized for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
• iOS 8 and 64-bit support
• Ship and share previously saved paintings
• Ship framed prints and posters
• Details and price breakdowns for shipped products
• Manual exposure and camera improvements
• Visual quality improvements
• New adjustments
• Crop your paintings
• Undo, redo, and reset
• Landscape support on iPad
• Move and scale your signature
• Bug fixes and other improvements







To create a painterly image load your image and select a brushstroke style found by tapping the paintbrush icon. Slide your finger from left to right across your device's screen to adjust the color or detail of the style. Next on to the color style (indicated by the painter's palette). Tapping the easel icon will bring up a selection of canvas styles. The slider icon reveals editing tools to adjust Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Density, Vibrance, Exposure, Shadows, Highlights, Temperature, Thickness (of the Brushstroke) and Sharpness. Tap the "a" icon on the far right to add your signature to the piece. Brushstroke even connects you with direct access for ordering prints of your artwork directly from the app.

There are so many unique styles to choose from with this new release and the addition of the ability to make adjustments within a style increases the possible combinations. If you check out my app recipes on Instagram, you'll find that I use Brushstroke a lot on my painterly edits. Think outside the box and combine your images rendered with Brushstroke with the results from other apps for a really original creation!

Here are two quick pieces I created using only Brushstroke's latest version. 

St. Louis in the Fall

Luna

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I am excited to welcome back my superfab contributing team in 2014, and also introduce you to the newest member, Beth! 

It is no secret that I have been dragging my feet when it comes to using my gadgets and technology for organizational purposes.  I love to organize.  I love technology.  Really I should marry the two right?

Considering I have little experience utilizing technology to better my life, yet that is the way the world is essentially moving, I invited Beth to join the IHeart Organizing team.  She loves to make use of her gadgets to streamline her day to day lifestyle, and I am beyond excited to have her here sharing all of her tips and favorite apps with us.

Beth is a wife, mom, freelance writer and PR/Marketing Consultant.  You can find her sharing her sharing her awesomeness at The Little Magpie, The Food Adventuress, Magpie Marketing and Arkansas Life.  And now IHeart Organizing as well!  Today, she is here to chat about apps that help her on her quest to live a paperless life.  So please, give a warm IHeart Organizing welcome to the darling Beth!




Hey there, organizers!   I'm Beth, and I'm delighted to join the IHeart Organizing lineup this year.  Like so many of you, I'm on a constant quest to better organize my life so that I have time for the things that really matter.

As the years go by, it becomes increasingly obvious to me that the areas of my life that are controlled and organized bring me the most pleasure (or, the highest ratio of days that include feet propped up in the bubble bath, reading a good book, hiking with my family or enjoying a glass of wine with my husband).  Conversely, the areas of my life that consistently feel chaotic, disorganized and behind the eight ball are the top contributors to my stress.

So, suffice it to say that I've been an enthusiastic reader of IHeart Organizing for quite some time.  However, there is one area of my organizing style that's just a little bit different from many of the posts I've read here at IHeart: while I adore organized cuteness, binders, labels, mason jars and gallery walls as much as the next gal, I'm also a big fan of organizing with technology!

In fact, I'm going to just say this out loud: I am on an obsessive, multi-year quest to eliminate useless paper from my life.   I want less junk in my mailbox, fewer paper stacks on my desk and a shortage of decade-old magazines gathering dust on my shelves (despite my affliction with vintage and the fact that I actually contribute frequently to magazines)!  Anyone with me?

Excellent.  Allow me to share a few amazing tools that you just might need in your life.  And please: keep posting those gorgeous projects with labels, mason jars and gallery walls... even the organizing app lovers like me are drooling over them!  Without further ado, here are a few tools to eliminate scraps of paper from your life, focusing on three of the most common sources.

Paper Culprit #1 - Small Humans

While I love seeing special pieces of art and keeping up with my kids and their progress at school, I feel absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of paper that education institutions generate… it just never ends.  Hope springs eternal in my heart that this will change in my lifetime, but for now, I have implemented coping mechanisms.

Everyone has different degrees of sentimental feelings. I do love keeping a select few pieces of my kids’ art, but most of the worksheets and quick drawings head quickly to the recycling bin. We used to use family binders - one per kid per school year.  Regardless of whether you have an adorable binder, box or portfolio for physically keeping your kids’ artwork, I strongly suggest scanning it.  The digital versions can be used for craft projects or just archiving, and you can even take a photo of the child proudly holding up their work.  Even worksheets are fun to save because there are always some humorous responses!


The best tool in my book for this task is Artkive.  You’ll be able to set up a “folder” for each kid and then file work by age, grade and other details.  Plus, the Artkive shop is specifically set up for printing gifts such as a book of artwork for grandparents and other items to preserve all those masterpieces. You can also automatically share their creations with family members or to social media.

Last year, we even took photos of our oldest daughter’s end of year project for the Reach program - so fun!

Artkive is available for iOS and Android (free). Alternative: Art My Kid Made, which I am digging for its compatibility with Evernote (more on that soon!) - iOS (free).

Paper Culprit #2 - The Quest for Food

While there are a lot of papers that enter our lives and are worth keeping (I loved the greeting card organizer in the link party post earlier this week), there are approximately a million more that are completely irrelevant: and frankly, I would rather they never existed in my house at all!  High on that list are grocery lists - I don’t even want cute ones hanging around!

Plus, it’s very common for me to be out near a store and find a pocket of time - while the list is still hanging on the fridge. So, this was another great area of my life to go digital.   My absolute favorite (after trying many options) is Ziplist - it syncs across my Macbook, iPad and iPhone so that I (or family members) can sit down near the kitchen and add dozens of items while planning meals for the week, or just quickly add items on the fly into my phone.


If you’ve thought about going the digital route with your grocery list, now is the time to let your inner nerd/über-organizer flag fly high. Ziplist gets lots of bonus points because I can add items by store and even sort them by the appropriate aisle.  That means I can keep separate shopping lists within the app for the grocery store, hardware/home store, even articles of clothing or vintage items I’ve been on the lookout for (which always escape my mind when I’m standing in the actual store).

Two great examples of the power of an electronic versus paper grocery list:

Vacation:  On our last beach vacation, we stayed in some lovely state park cabins and fell in love.  However, their version of “fully stocked” and mine were very different (I consider dish soap, chopped garlic and salt & pepper essential).  So when I made a list before heading to the {pricey!!} grocery store to stock up, I made it a permanent list in my collection and titled it Vacay.  In a few short months when we head to that sweet cabin again, I’ll know exactly which basics are worth picking up more cheaply here at home and packing along with us.

Holidays:  Normally, I work from a consistent list of our traditional holiday recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I shop as far in advance for those grocery items as possible.   This year, a combination of chaotic work projects and inclement weather had me dropping by a grocery store on the fly.   If that window had presented itself and I were a paper list keeper, I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of it - but instead, I just pulled up my standard Thanksgiving ingredient list, skipped the items I knew I had in the pantry and knocked it out in an hour.  Victory!

The Ziplist website also prompts you for items you might need based on past purchases, and there is a downloadable recipe clipper for your browser.

Ziplist is available for iOS and Android (free). Alternatives: Our Groceries - iOS, Android (free), Buy Me A Pie - iOS, Android (free), Out Of Milk - iOS, Android (free), Grocery IQ - iOS, Android (free).

Paper Culprit #3 - The Daily Grind

Here's another confession: I need a checklist for everything.  I mean, everything.  Without the ability to check things off every morning, I would wander the barren landscape of my home seeking coffee and a little direction. I kid you not... my brain does not have the capacity to remember the simple things such as take vitamin, start laundry and unload dishwasher.  Seriously.

Laugh if you may, but I know there are more of you out there like me!  I want to get up, look at a checklist and start marking things off so that I don't end up in my PJs (I work from home) with my teeth unbrushed and staring off into space when my husband comes home at 5 o'clock.  Enter the Routines app by Coopla:


It's genius because it keeps all of these paltry tasks out of your actual to-do list with errands and tasks that are less consistent and predictable (drop dry-cleaning, pick up supplies for a kid's school project).  Add the things that you do - or want to do - every morning, afternoon, evening, weekly on Mondays and even monthly (sharpen knives) or annually (optometrist appointment).

I've even got my zones set up in the monthly section, keeping me on top of deep cleaning the kitchen during the first week of the month, living spaces - second week, bathrooms - third week, bedrooms - fourth week, other spaces (only needed a few times a year) - fifth week.  This ensures that the whole house is tackled by the end of each month.

Best of all, you can force your tasks to clear at midnight so that you've got a beautiful, clean new list of tasks to tackle again tomorrow... and who doesn't love to check things off?   {Me, ME! I love to check things off!!}

The Routines app by Coopla is available for iOS ($2.99). Note: tasks are not synced across devices; however, most users tend to grab one particular device to cruise through daily chores, so this is not a huge issue. Alternative: HomeRoutines for iOS - works well with FlyLady systems.  To ensure you don’t get a bunch of to do/task apps, search your app marketplace for “home routines” or “daily chores.”



"I’m Beth, a freelance writer and PR/marketing consultant living in a 1905 house in northwest Arkansas that could have starred in the 80's film The Money Pit.  Fortunately, I'm married to a man capable of tackling everything from plumbing and electrical disasters to reincarnating hardwood floors, and he keeps the place livable for us and our two daughters, Sophie and Ainsley.  Like so many others, I vacillate between incredibly organized {see: my alphabetized spice rack and neat living room} and embarrassingly disastrous {see: my closet and The Room We Do Not Enter}.  I have an affliction with words and ideas, so I churn out the excess at The Little Magpie and The Food Adventuress and through my business, Magpie Marketing in addition to writing about food, wine, travel and the treasures of my home state for publications such as Arkansas Life.  I love emerging technology and you'll find me first in line to try new apps and gadgets.  I'll share the best tools to keep your life on track here at IHeart Organizing!  

What is IFTTT?  It's a service that allows you to create connections using the statement: IF This Then That, where THIS is the trigger and THAT is the action. It's made my life just a bit easier. I'm not the only one who likes it. Here's What PC Mag had to say about it:

"If this, then that'—shorten that little tag line to ifttt, and you've got one of the best apps on the market. This amazingly simple yet powerful iPhone app can automate just about anything you'd want to do in your digital life, from backing up photos on Facebook to sending you text message reminders of upcoming appointments."

You can create your own recipes or choose from the thousands already created by users at IFTTT.com. There's also an IFTTT app. Here are just a few ideas showing some of the recipes you can use with IFTTT.





Some of the recipes I use include:

IF I post a photo to Instagram, Then post that same photo to my Flickr account.
IF I publish a new blog post, Then Tweet it out to my Twitter followers.
IF I post a photo to Instagram, Then upload it to my Dropbox account.

It's that easy with IFTTT.

I would love to hear about your favorite IFTTT recipes in the comments!

Next, using Handy Photo I added more pixels to the left of the figure with the Magic Crop tool.
After some quick tuning in Snapseed, I brought the image back into Sketch Club and darkened the background.

Finally, using the LensLight app, I added some rays shining into the scene.

I See Sap People © Geri Centonze

Apps Mentioned:

Sketch Club
Snapseed
Handy Photo
LensLight

Add to Flipboard Magazine.

This week's giveaway is another one of those that are especially near and dear to my heart.  Not only is the company sponsoring this week's giveaway locally grown {to me that is}, the start up story is especially inspirational for a small business gal like myself.  Introducing madesmart!


Madesmart is based in St. Paul, Minnesota and they work hard at creating organizational items that encompass style, function, quality and affordability.  Um, yes please!

And they also believe that if they can create beautifully designed and useful products, that they can in turn make the act of getting organized enjoyable and fun.  I can fist pump to that!


Bonus points that madesmart actually rhymes with iheart.

In 1990, Devee dreamed up “the Junk Drawer Organizer®” and it was the first of its kind that lucky for us, became very successful. That success moved Devee into an amazing career and super cool new category of storage and organization. Today, her company now has over 300 unique products that are offered in most major retailers (like Target and The Container Store!).  See, inspiring!  I couldn't be happier for her success!

So, now that you have some information as to why I personally heart madesmart, here is what they will be giving away to one lucky iHeart Organizing reader this week!  A complete kitchen storage pack!




2-Tier Organizers: A stacking system that works in all areas of the home. This system makes the most out of the vertical space we have throughout the abode. Each basket slides easily on each tray and their handles allow for easy transport.








Clear Stackable Cabinet Shelves: These stackable shelves help maximize your vertical space. They feature rubber feet to keep things in place and they fold flat when not in use.








Fridge/Pantry Collection: These versatile bins store items efficiently in the fridge or pantry. Features include durable, high-quality plastic; rounded corners for easy cleaning; non-slip handles for moving and dry erase labeling area. Its nonslip lining rubber feet keeps things in place. BPA free and food safe.




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck everyone!  IHeart Organizing official giveaway entry rules can always be found here.

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Welcome to the final week of our big  "Wait-No-More" Organizing Challenge. To recap, I am focusing on four main areas of our life that need a lot of organizational help. Instead of biting off more than I can chew all at once (and subsequently becoming quite overwhelmed), I am tackling one space each week.  We took so much time focusing on the kitchen/living room for the first half of the year, that the rest of our home began to suffer severely.  Having certain areas of our lives on the fritz has added to a little renovation burnout.  So, I told my hubby to take a little break and I have been working hard to take back neglected bits of our home and life!

• Time Management
• Automobiles
• Master Bathroom
• Master Bedroom Closet

And many of you are joining in and working on a few of your own spaces, which I totally love! For this week's organizational challenge, I am focusing on our master bedroom closet.  Here is my inspiration....


If that room looks familiar, it is because that is our master bedroom closet.  The awkward layout of our lower level didn't allow the space to be considered a bedroom (due to lack of a window), so we turned it into a large dressing room.  We could have done a giant wall-to-wall closet, but A) it would have cost us a fortune and B) we just don't have that much to store, nor do we want that much to store.  Since we initially divided our belongings between two armoires, a dresser and some open shelving, we have been very happy with our current situation.  Boy-oh-boy, it sure does clean up nicely!  This week I hope to get it back to that fabulous condition.


Although the room fits all of our belongings, and functions well in general, we have done a poor job keeping it tidy and have lost control of the space.  Well, I guess I can take credit for most of this one too... What happens behind Bryan's closet doors, stays behind Bryan's closet doors.  That is one of my favorite benefits of having two separate armories; I have no clue how organized or unorganized his closet is. #happywife

But an organized system only works if I work to maintain it.  Of course, the goal is to create easy-to-maintain set-ups, but sometimes lack of time, effort and motivation get in the way.


I have quite a few problem areas happening around the room.  First, the typical unused clothing problem.  It has been over a year since I have done a good closet purge, and inevitably I have some work to do in that department.  But this time, I really want to go the less is more route.  I hope to come up with a variety of outfit creations that I love, using a few key favorite pieces, and really simplify the amount of clothes that I own.  Having too many items to select from causes me to become overwhelmed and I end up wearing the same things anyway.  And the other half of the items become ignored/forgotten.

How much one should have or keep can become a touchy subject.  There is no right or wrong amount of clothing to own.  We all live different lifestyles and have different passions and if you love clothes, I say hooray!  I have no judgement towards those who live out of a giant walk-in closet filled with the latest and greatest trends or someone who has their wardrobe narrowed down to a single drawer.  You are the only one who can decide how much it makes sense for you to have.  That really goes with anything in life right?

When it comes to purging and letting go, I don't typically have too hard of a time saying goodbye to unused things that take up space or that no longer make me happy, because I know the end benefit is worth it.  Occasionally, I can even sell items and come out ahead.  But I tend to struggle more with clothing (just as I did with certain types of toiletries).  Some articles of clothing can be expensive, so even though they ended up being ill fitting or have gone out of style or have become damaged at some point, I am pretty good about making excuses to hold on to something.  In fact, during this process I found multiple shirts that I forgot I owned as well as a shirt and a dress that I have been making excuses to keep for about 3 years (yet still haven't worn).  Selling clothing can be time consuming, tedious and hard to reap much reward.  I prefer to donate, but that is when I become a bit more strict about pieces I let go of.  And although it may sound weird, I don't like not knowing where that donated clothing is going.  I would like to know that someone in need is benefiting from it, or that it is truly being passed on and receiving new life.  The unfortunate fact is that many common donation facilities only use about 10% of the clothing that is donated and the remainder becomes extra work, waste and has alternative impacts to the process.

That said, I am going to sort ruthlessly and not worry right away about what the outcome of the clothing will be.  I am just going to ask myself important questions and make decisions accordingly:

• Does the item still fit?
• Is the item comfortable?
• Is the item damaged?
• How often is the item worn?
• How versatile is the item/How many outfits can I create with the item?
• Do I have the space to store the item?

 I am not going to ask myself:

• How much did this item initially cost me?
• Does the item have a sentimental attachment?
• What am I going to do with this item once I let go of it?
• Will there be a need for this item three years from now?
• Will the item fit better if I change my exercise and diet routine?

Because at the end of the day, those last five questions are all ways to make excuses to hold on to something that I no longer need.  Once I have my keep pile narrowed down, then I will decide how to handle the items that didn't make the cut:

• Sell on eBay
• Sell on local garage sale websites/Craigslist
• Sell at a garage sale
• Sell to a consignment shop
• Sell to Thred-Up or Poshmark
• Use damaged items as cleaning rags
• Use damaged items as stuffing for pet bedding
• Donate to charity
• Donate to a shelter, church or crisis center
• Donate to Dress for Success
• Pass on to friends/family who wear similar sizes
• Have a clothing swap party

Feel free to leave additional suggestions in the comments below as well.


Every time I go through these sorting and purging sessions, I become that much more aware of any purchasing mistakes I have made and it helps me become better with my intentional shopping.

A reader previously joked about her "chairdrobe", and I loved it so much that I designated this pile in our closet my "benchdrobe".


Because I knew I had a closet clean-out lingering in the near future, I started tossing my clean clothes into piles on my bench vs. hanging them up.  It was helpful in me realizing what I don't wear very often (the items still hanging in my closet), but has been a nightmare to find anything I am looking for each day.  Time to get my closet back in order.

Other areas that need some love are my jewelry nook....


My makeup vanity...


And my travel/toiletry drawer.


OK, fiiiiine.  All of my drawers....



So, let's take a quick look at my plan of attack.


There are some things we have implemented that are working:

• The amount of available storage
• Jewelry display/holders (I just need to actually use them)
• Drawer dividers in vanity
• A hook for setting out outfits
• Sweater storage boxes
• Shoe storage shelves
• Accessory storage (belts, swimwear, handbags, tall boots, etc...)

And a few things that are not:

• Outfit planning/selection process
• Make-up bag
• Vanity set-up
• Travel/toiletry drawer
• Clothing drawers
• Scarf storage
• Too many articles of clothing
• Laziness - I have not been great about putting things back where they belong

I took my jewelry off of the jewelry board to test it out in the kitchen, and the necklaces became a tangled ball and I never took the time to re-hang them.  I rarely use my vanity any longer because of poor lighting, the wrong mirror setup, storage and access to it after I am done in our bathroom.  My makeup has since been tossed around and broken in a cosmetic bag while other items are still in the drawer.  I love adding scarves to my outfits and have outgrown our previous drawer divider system.  My travel/toiletry drawer is just a random dumping ground and no longer speeds up my packing process.  And again, I need to streamline my morning outfit selecting process and pare down my closet in general.  Quite a few little problems have all equated to one big master bedroom closet disaster.  And being that the closet is the first space I see in the morning and one of the last I lay eyes on in the evening, it is time for a change.


Just like all of my organizing projects, all surfaces that were problematic were given a blank slate.


Everything was wiped down and vacuumed and ready for a re-do.


Majority of this project will be about letting go and making the most of the items we already have.  No painting this time around either, although, I do hope to update the vanity area using this as inspiration.

(via)

However, instead of lamps I am leaning toward some sconces with adequate lighting.  I also found a mirror on Craigslist I am hoping to score to keep the budget down, and if I can sell mine, then I may even break even or come out ahead.

Because we use both our master closet and bathroom for getting ready in the morning and at bedtime, we also plan to install a door connecting the two spaces (creating a true ensuite).


Here is our door inspiration:

( 1 | 2 )

We also have a door to install for our coat closet upstairs and hope to get them done at the same time.  With two door installations on the agenda, I am not sure this piece of the project will make my Friday reveal, but it is just around the corner and I simply can't wait for the impact that change will make.

With the upcoming holiday weekend, our week has also become jam packed with entertaining and activities.  That means this challenge has me on an extremely tight deadline.  And I have a feeling that I have hours upon hours of clothing sorting ahead of me, because each article is getting touched assessed and noted.  Time to start a new Netflix series.  Any suggestions?


You can find all of the challenge details in this post here, and also download some FREE project planning printables to help you get started!

Susan Tuttle has long been an artist, photographer and author I admire so you can imagine my delight when she asked if I would like to be featured as part of her Tap-In series at Susan Tuttle Photography! Today the post went live and I am thoroughly delighted to see it online. Susan's questions made me examine why I create and what part creativity plays in my life. Please click on the image below to read the article. A special thank you to Susan - what a fabulous way to end my year!

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