$10 and 10 Minutes Bow Organization

I need to admit something- my five year old has well over 100 bows. We have big bows, tiny bows, solid bows, animal prints, polka dots, made to match one outfit, big flowers, little flowers, pinwheel and curly qs, over the top bows, and dainty ones. And, I'm out of storage and sometimes still can't find the right shade of pink! Are you with me on this?

We have used this cute little dress form to hold bows since before Abby was born. I love it, but we have filled it and I can't find bows in it. So, I needed another option.

Money is tight and a project like this is annoying and not budgeted, so I racked my brain for an easy way to hold her bows and make them more visible. Enter the over the door coat rack!

To each of the hooks, I simply tied in a really tight knot a long piece of ribbon. I made it match her bathroom but should have used cheap white ribbon- it is all covered up with BOWS! 

Voila! After donating a gallon baggie full, selling a lot of 30 on Facebook, I am left with this pile!

They are semi organized- flowers, fabric flowers, solid colors, giant, poofs, multi-colored, etc. It is so much easier to grab a bow... $10 and 10 minutes later!

IKEA Expedit Toy Labels

A friend recently gave us a white Expedit from IKEA as her kids had really outgrown toys. I was thrilled to have it and get Abby's playroom to a happier place. We had so many toys bins in her room and her closet and I loved the idea of everything fitting in one piece of furniture. We bought 10 cloth baskets are Target for about $5 each and I spent nap time getting her playroom organized!

I like that the space is still fun and colorful and it is easy for her to pull down a basket and play and easy for her to clean it up, too! I looked all over Pinterest and there are so many cute option for organizing toys and general stuff with an Expedit. In the end, I used what I had, a label maker, and put stickers directly on the shelves. This means nothing gets ripped off the basket handle and it means that the baskets have to stay in this order because the shelves determine the placement. Abby is loving it and within an afternoon memorized each basket's right spot. I think having five different colors is also really helpful.  

Here are some of the other options I found and many include free printables!

from Life on Paper Co

from Notable Nest

from Be Simply Organized

from Bubble and Bobbins

from Life at Number 91

I think the key to these working is to include a picture if your child is unable to read. So many cute labels with actual photos of the toys or clip art from online. Abby can't read, but with only 10 bins and her knowing her letters, we were able to get away without using pictures.

I also think laminating is smart. My girlfriend Alison is amazed that I don't own a laminator. I can imagine it would be helpful in so many ways!

Chalk is also great because you can easily change out what the label says if you will be changing out your bins.

Happy Organizing!

Colorful Kid's Art Display for Under $20

My daughter is 4.5 and she loves to do art. She makes pictures at home, at school, at church, anywhere. She always finds them all to be treasures and wants them on display. I used to display her art in my kitchen on an old shutter, but we recently converted her room into her playroom and moved her into the guest bedroom for sleeping. It allowed me to make her play room all about her and that meant having a big art display.

My thoughts going into the project- I need to be able to change her art easily, I want to display at least 10 pictures at a time, it can't cost me much money, and I wanted it be be fun and colorful.

To make this all happen, I knew I wanted clothespins and decided to use inexpensive hooks and ribbon for my display. Washi tape on the clothespins brought in more color and pattern. I simply taped the front of each clothespin and cut off the excess.

I did three rows or hooks and ribbon and each one was 14" higher than the next. The bottom row was 36" off the ground. To be honest, I didn't measure the distance between the hooks horizontally, I just centered it on the wall. My guess is that they are about 5 feet apart.

What do you think? Super easy and pretty cute! We have had fun filling her wall and I don't have anxiety about where to put the next piece of art she brings home! Plus, the hooks on the end have come in handy for the items intended to be on a doorknob. They are great for holding art, too!

Homemade Laminate Floor Cleaner

I have a little secret to tell you- my beautiful hardwood floors have looked like this in my formal dining room for 3 months. I have tried everything and they just haven't gotten better. When we had a puppy (for 3 months or so) he liked this room the best. It was his own personal restroom and I cleaned these floors more than twice a day. And, that led to build up. And, since I can't put water on them I just left them all streaky and sticky and hoped a plan would come to me.

Well, the no entertaining time has come to an end and I have girls coming over and they can't walk in this room on my streaky floors. Pinterest to the rescue! I searched around and found a homemade floor cleaner that didn't require a trip to the store.

After one good mopping with my Swifter on dry and my new floor cleaner in a spray bottle, I am in business with nice floors again!

Here are the ingredients, along with water. Super easy. Items you likely have on hand. Super inexpensive. Smells great. 

 I whipped up a little label for my old Oxyclean spray bottle and included the recipe for future reference.

Hooray for Pinterest success and thanks for Beckman stories for the recipe!

Resolutions 2013: Creating a Cohesive Collage

When we reworked our living room to bring more calm to the space, I decided to make some changes in my foyer. I have two gallery arches in the space that had been painted a darker khaki, but I never liked it. 

You can see it is too yellow and too close in color to the wall color.

While painting behind the TV, I went ahead and added brown the the gallery arches in the foyer.

The arches are so much more prominent now and the colors of the crosses really showcase better on my new brown- Joshua's Tree by Behr.

With my new Crate & Barrel Olin Brown runner, I love my new entry.

Now it was time to tackle the long wall in my foyer. It is 11' long and 10' high. You can imagine how daunting that can be! This wall has held a number of things, most recently a large cross, mirror and three black shelves to hold photos. It hasn't been cohesive enough for me. I decided to build one LARGE collage using the artwork I had taken down in my dining room, living room, and bedroom as I simplified those spaces. I had over 20 pieces of art- all different shapes and sizes to use on my wall. The cohesiveness comes from the colors in the art- all of it is black framed with elements of white, red and khaki. 

I stacked the art by size- large, medium, and small in my formal dining room. Once I had cleared the foyer wall and prepped it with caulk and touch up paint, I began bringing the large pieces into the foyer and laying them on the ground where they would correlate with the wall. I then added in medium and small pieces. I added in the odd shaped pieces last- like the A, M, cross and circle on the top left.

I then hung them in "columns" starting on the right side of the wall and working my way left. The goal was the literally lift them as they were on the tile onto the wall. I used a black Sharpie, level, and my hammer and nails. The whole project took about 2 hours.

I love the way in turned out- it is full and cohesive!

If you are taking on a big collage, here are a few extra tips I found online:

Use scrap paper to place your "art" on the wall first

Lots of options for the layout of your collage

Using tape to mark art with two holes

Happy Hanging!

See more 2013 resolutions here.

Resolution 2013: Get Organized with Apps

My iPhone is slowly becoming a bigger part of my life. It is always with me, so the more I have on it that manages my life, the better! If you are hoping 2013 is the year you become more organized, have you thought about how your phone can help? I recently found two great apps for organizing my family!

While at a MOPS meeting recently, another Mom mentioned the free Cozi app and with her simple explanation I was sold. Your family (spouse, grandparents, older kids) all have the apps on their phones and share the same information. The Cozi app includes a family calendar, to do list, shopping list and more! Each person in your family is given a color to keep it all organized within the app. 

So many times I have had to remind my husband of family activities- don't forget we are going here tonight... remember, I won't be home tomorrow because of this, etc. With Cozi, I entered activities so that he can see our schedules when making work commitments or wondering what we are doing this weekend.

With the shopping list feature, I can continuously jot down things we need as I think of them and if he happens to stop at Target to get me flowers, he can grab more gallon size baggies and vitamins :) It works both ways because I am always at Target and it would be great to see he is out of contact solution and AA batteries! 

My daughter is 4 and she comes home with art every day! I display it for a few weeks on the large shutter in our kitchen and then when it gets full I often throw it away. She has been known to pull art out of the trash because it is "special". I love her art work and keep everything with special meaning or hand and foot prints, but I can't keep it all. Enter Artkive!

With this app, you take a picture of your child's artwork on your phone and following their directions tag it with their name, age and the date of the artwork. When you are ready, you can use the app's software to turn their art into a book, coffee mug for Grandpa or mousepad for Dad. How smart is that!

The app costs $2.99 is an only on iOS (iPhone/iPad) for now. Their website says an Android version is coming this year.

I know iPhones today can be such a distraction, but they can also enhance family life! I recommend both of these apps from my own use to help you get more organized in 2013! For more resolutions, click on the Resolutions 2013 button on the left.

Resolution 2013: Get Organized Around the House

I like to think of myself as pretty organized, but there are definitely areas of my life that have a hidden junk drawer! Remember that episode of Friends where they discover Monica's junk closet and she is mortified? ha! I can relate! 

Here are a couple of favorite organizing tips I found online and a few from the annals of Your Little Birdie.

Batteries are all over my kitchen junk drawer! I love using these inexpensive thread or tackle boxes for batteries. Just see what fits best in each compartment, label them and restock as needed.

I own lots of jewelry! I have it in my closet hanging on 3M Command hooks, in a dresser drawer and in my own jewelry armoire. I wish I had seen this sweet display when I was organizing my earrings. Draw pulls and knobs work great to hang earrings. Watch for them 50% off at Hobby Lobby and stock up! 

I hate when my scoop necked tops fall off the hangers and I end up with hangers that look empty, but have shirts hanging half on and half off. Those shirts end up falling off and getting wrinkled. It is a sick cycle! I own about 20 of the felted hangers, but they are too expensive to redo my whole closet. Look at this clever idea! Genius! 

Show hangers are perfect for organizing craft supplies! Mine holds tulle, tape, wooden blocks, glue sticks, loose twine, magnets, sequin and rhinestones. If you are a crafter, I highly recommend a shoe holder!

I keep my recipes well organized in two cute and inexpensive photo boxes from Hobby Lobby. I have recently added a large three ring binder with dividers for all of the recipes I am printing off of Pinterest! I bought the binder and dividers at Target and keep a three hole punch handy by my printer. My dividers include Beef, Chicken, Pork, Apps/Snacks, Drinks, Desserts, Crockpot and Other. It works great!

This time last year I was going crazy trying to decide how to best store Christmas cards from years past. I decided on a blessing ring approach and it has worked well for 2011 and 2012! See more details here. 

Hopefully these tips will help you in an area of your home where you want to get organized! For more 2013 resolution posts, click on the button on the left. Happy New Year!

Resolution 2013: Waste Less Groceries

This month I am dedicating all of my posts to common New Year's Resolutions! 

One of my resolutions this year is to eat the food we buy. I hate having the trash can full of food from cleaning out the fridge, pantry and freezer before grocery shopping. We have done so much better about not eating out in 2012 and I want to be even smarter with my groceries in 2013.

One of the ways I plan to do that, is by knowing exactly what I put into our second freezer. We have an old refrigerator/freezer in the garage and while the fridge is mostly drinks, I rarely look in the freezer. I plan to use it to store more leftovers in 2013. Thus, I needed a little cheat sheet to place on the freezer door.

Get your free copy here.  

Now, when I make a big serving and decide to freezer half of it for a future meal, I'll know just what I have on hand and what container to look for. I plan to list things like, "Red-Round" for my red lidded round tupperware" or "baggie w/label" for items wrapped in foil and placed in a baggie. 

When we eat the meal, we'll just draw a line through the meal and know that it isn't in the freezer anymore. I've unfortunately thrown out a few meals because I just don't remember what is in the freezer or how long it has been sitting in the back.

With this free printable, you should get more organized and save money by eating more of what you buy! See more 2013 resolutions here!

Annual Blessing Ring

I have always wondered what is the best way to store my Christmas cards and any sweet notes I receive throughout the year. Last year, I placed many of them in an album, but I didn't like the finished product and cards with photos on the inside or back were lost in the book. I think I found the right answer... a blessing ring.

Blessing rings are common for major occasions- 40th birthday, wedding, baby showers, etc. but I decided to make a ring for each year. This would include all of the cards I receive during the year- birth announcements, birthday cards, Mother's Day, etc. and would end with Christmas cards. I would make our Christmas cards the first card on the ring annually.

This is the basic ring you purchase- $1.47 at Hobby Lobby in the jewelry aisle. Super inexpensive.

Here is my 2011 ring with Christmas cards including ours on the front. I didn't do a good job saving cards during the year, but plan to in 2012. I also plan to add some various ribbons between layers of card just tied in simple knots with long tails to make the ring more fun.

I recommend buying a ring and a hole punch this month and keeping them handy. You can add cards as you receive them and stay organized!