shoeboxes

With the holidays approaching, I've been thinking alot lately about how my little family can help out some good causes.  A charity that immediately came to mind was Operation Christmas Child.  This is one that I've helped out before and I just love the idea of stuffing a shoebox full of love and goodies to send to a child who really needs it.  As a family, we decided to fill 2 shoeboxes...one for a boy and one for a girl, both in the 2-4 year age range.  We also decided to make our donation online so that we can follow our boxes to see where in the world they end up.  So the bean and I headed out to a few places to pick out the stuff to fill our boxes.

Here's what went into our boy's box:

Here's what went into our girl's box:

The bean even did some coloring to include in our boxes.  Sweet kid.
















Last week, we dropped off our boxes at a local church and they should soon be on their way to our "shoebox kids" as the bean so lovingly called them.  So excited to help such a great cause!  I can't imagine my kiddo having no presents to open on Christmas day.  Hopefully our boxes will spread a little cheer to some kids in need this Christmas season.

happy fall

It's official...fall is here!

Our Florida weather may not reflect the change in season, but today is the first day of fall.  And I am so excited!!  Fall is by far my favorite time of year.  I've been wasting...err...investing a lot of time on Pinterest lately looking at all the fun fall crafts and getting inspired.  I've already started a little bit of fall decorating around the house.  And I am so excited to start working on the bean's Halloween costume.  He is going to be Buddy from Dinosaur Train...so, so cute!  Can't wait!  I'm also looking forward to our church's pumpkin patch and Trick-or-Trunk event.  Always so much fun.

To me, fall is all about cuddling up with your favorite people, drinking yummy hot cocoa.  It's all about putting on your coziest, most comfortable sweaters and watching the leaves change colors (although, not so much here in Florida).  It's a great time to think about all our blessings and to give thanks for all the past year has brought us.  And when I think about where we were last year (that's us in the picture below) and where we will be this time next year (2 kids...eek!) I do feel really blessed.  I really do have have the best little family ever and I am so, so thankful.

Happy first day of fall, everyone!

our family do's

As part of my recent spring cleaning spree, I've been adding and updating a few decorative touches here and there around the house.  For the longest time, there has been one HUGE blank wall in my living room and I had no idea what to do with.  Should we hang photos there?  Artwork?  I was at a loss.  Then hubby and I talked about creating some art together to hang there.  We felt excited and creative.  We even bought canvases and paint.  We even hung those canvases on the wall in hopes that we would be inspired to create something awesome.  But then we got stuck and couldn't agree on what we wanted.  So for months, six blank white canvases hung on that wall...staring at me every time I walked in the room...mocking me.

I scoured Pinterest (imagine that) and found alot of great ideas.  The one that stood out to me was a sort of "house rules" turned art kind of thing.  With the bean becoming more and more a participating member of our family team and learning more about right and wrong, I thought introducing some family rules would be a good idea.  And what better way to start than to display it right on the wall of the room that we spend the most time in together.  But I didn't want it to be too "rule-y" if that makes sense.  I didn't want to hang a list of don'ts in our living room.  I didn't really want him to constantly see a list of things he wasn't allowed to do.  Instead, I wanted to list out the things that our family does...the values and traits that I want us all to have.  What I came up with is really more of a family pact or covenant.  It's our family do's.

Here's how I made it happen:

• First, I came up with our list of do's.  These are some of the most important things I want to encourage the bean to do and be.  I laid everything out the way I wanted it in Word and then printed it on six different pages.
• Then the hubby and I decided on paint colors.  This was easy...we just went with colors that we already have in our house.
• I painted the canvases green as the background color.

• I then traced my printed words onto each canvas using carbon paper.  This took a while because I'm a perfectionist and didn't want to have to do a lot of touch-up painting to cover up any errant lines that I made.
• Then came the task of filling in the traced letters with brown paint.  I'm going to be honest...this took forever.  I think it took me about 8 hours or so (spread out over a few days) to paint in all the letters.  I used the stiffest, tiniest paintbrush I could find and just went to work.  Again, I didn't want to have to do alot of touch-up at the end to fix any mistakes, so I took my time to make sure I stayed inside the lines.  I did have to do a little touching up with green paint at the end, but it didn't take long at all.

I love the finished product.  Up close it's not exactly perfect...it definitely has a hand-painted look to it.  But to me it's really the words that matter most anyway.  I love seeing our family covenant when I walk in the room instead of that big blank wall.  It just makes me smile.

the chore train

The bean is totally into trains right now.  Surprisingly, he is also really into helping us out around the house.  That's right...my toddler likes to do chores.  I know, I know...I am a very blessed mama!  It kind of happened by accident, really.   He started helping clean up his toys at a pretty young age.  Then I realized that he loved to put away his shoes at the end of the day.  Then, I decided that if he could ransack my Tupperware cabinet and pull out every piece of plastic ware I have (one of his favorite past times for a while), he was probably capable of putting it all away when he was done, too.  And lo and behold, he not only could do it, but he LOVES doing it!  You should see his face light up when I unload the dishwasher and hand him a stack of clean Tupperware for him to put away.  And it is so cool to see him so proud of himself once the job is done.

So, I figured we needed a chore chart.  And don't get me wrong...I don't expect my twenty month old to do chores at this point.  I'm not forcing him to do any chores that are beyond his developmental level at this point.  That being said, he LOVES helping out around the house and I know that the time will come when he is expected to do chores.  So, I figure why not go ahead and get him used to the idea of a chore chart and keep him excited about making a contribution to our home's upkeep?  And at this point, it really serves just as a kind of fun visual of the jobs he has done throughout the day.  I didn't add any additional chores above and beyond what he already likes to do anyway.  I just listed out the six or so chores that he already does and then started thinking about how I wanted to display the chart.

After scouring Pinterest for ideas and not really finding a design I was crazy about, I came across these wood train shapes at Hobby Lobby.

They came in a pack of 8 (2 engines and 6 train cars) for around $2.   I just painted them the colors I wanted.  Then I traced chore icons and text onto the train cars using carbon paper and painted over the lines in white paint.  My little man doesn't read yet, so I went with simple, graphic icons rather than words.   I sealed them with a couple coats of Mod Podge and then stuck magnets on the back.  Then they went right on the fridge.  Done!

Here are the chores that we have so far...put away toys, throw away trash, check the mail, put away shoes, put away Tupperware, help feed the dog, help feed the cat, help mom with special jobs.  That last one is for any extra tasks that he helps out with...like yesterday, he helped me out by handing me water bottles to put in the fridge.  I also have a few extra blank train cars so that we can add chores as he gets older.  Each day, we line up the chores to be done next to the "to do" engine. When the bean finishes a chore, we move that car to the "all done" engine. So far it's been a hit. And hopefully it will help him stay receptive to the idea of doing chores later down the road!

diy sensory table

What a beautiful day today.  The weather is GORGEOUS.  And (go figure) I feel like garbage...doing my best to fight off the beginnings of a cold.  So, we're taking it easy and not leaving the house today.  Instead of running our usual out-of-the-house errands, the bean and I are hanging out on the back patio playing with our sensory table.  This was a diy project of ours about a month ago.  So far it's been a big hit and I'm hoping to get alot of use out of it this summer.

Keep reading to see how we made it.  To call this a "tutorial" would be a bit of a stretch.  We didn't really have to do much.  It was really just taking stock of what we already had, thinking about what we wanted our sensory table to have, and figuring out the easiest way to put it all together.  And of course, I also searched Pinterest for diy sensory tables and found a lot of inspiration.

We took part of a plastic shelving unit that we've had for ages (seriously, this thing has moved with us a few times and has always served us well) and flipped it upside down.  The underside of the shelf has a lip on it and a raised channel running down the middle.  I figured this would be perfect for holding the bins I was planning on using.  The bins don't fit perfectly in the grid...they kind of tilt outward a little, which is perfect because it allows the kiddo a better reach.  And the lip around the edge keeps the bean from just pulling the bins off onto the ground.

Then I bought a few plastic shoebox bins to hold everything.  One has dry rice.  Another has dry beans.   I also use one to hold our digging and scooping toys.  This summer, we will fill another of the bins with water when we do water play.  You could also use sand, dry corn, whatever.  And the bins are great because when we are done playing, I just put the lids on and store them on the bottom shelf of our table.

Perfect!  And like I said, the bean loves it.   He also likes to help clean up when we're done playing!  Clean up with the sensory table is a breeze...all the rice and beans fall through grid of the shelves and we just sweep it up.  Easy...just the way I like my projects!

taming my ribbon & fabric stash

My latest organizational undertaking has been to clean out and organize my craft closet.  Eventually, I will be moving some of my crafty stuff (along with our desk) from the guest room to our master bedroom...but that's another post.  

A big part of the clutter in my craft closet was my ribbon and fabric stash.  I am definitely a packrat and have accumulated a lot of ribbon and fabric over the years.  And my previous "system" for organizing it was to stuff all the fabric into a box and to stack the ribbon spools in the back of a cabinet.  It was really more of a mess than anything else.  And it resulted in me forgetting what I had (since I couldn't see it all at a glance) and in what I had being all crumpled, wrinkled, and somewhat unusable.  My first step was to pare down my ribbon and fabric collection.  This was tough, but I ended up getting rid of quite a bit. Then, I worked on the best way to store my remaining ribbon and fabric.

So here is my new ribbon storage:

I found these great wire mesh baskets (they measure about 12" x 16") on clearance at Walmart for $3.  I love a good clearance.  And I got rid of the ribbon spools.  Well, most of them.  There are a couple of full, unopened spools in the front of the basket, as well as full spools of holiday curling ribbon in the bottom.  I took all the rest of my ribbon and wrapped it around rectangles of thick card stock.  I cut the card stock to fit into the basket so I could sort of "file" all the ribbon in there.  It's now (loosely) organized by color and pattern and I can see everything that I have.  Much better.

I also picked up these narrow plastic baskets at Target (2 for $1).  And they fit perfectly across the basket and will be good for holding odds and ends.  This one holds a couple of spools of jewelry wire.

As you can see above, I organized my fabric the same way.  Mesh basket + neatly folded fabric and felt + plastic basket for odds and ends = awesome.

tactile alphabet

I have so many projects that I'd like to do for the bean.  It seems like every time I go on Pinterest I find something else to add to the list.  Making the bean a set of sandpaper letters has been on my to-do list for a while now.  Even though I think he is still far from being able to actually read and spell with these letters, he loves books and we read throughout the day.  So, I think it would be great to go ahead and get him acquainted with the alphabet and to give him something tactile to use in his learning.

I would LOVE to have a set of these really nice Montessori sandpaper letters, but the price is a little steep for my taste.  So I started thinking about how I could (cheaply) make them myself.  I came across this post at innerchildfun.com and thought it was a great alternative.  Here is my version:

I used these adhesive felt letter stickers and these small wooden cards that I got from Hobby Lobby (love that place!!).

The cards measure about 2" x 4" and came in packs of four for about $1.50 a pack.  I gave the edges a light sanding before sticking on the letters.  I did use a couple of tiny dabs of superglue on the back of each letter, just to make sure they don't peel off.

And that was it!  I love the way they look. The size is perfect for little hands and I think they will end up being really durable.  I'm going to store them in a cute little black drawstring bag that I have in my craft stash (I think I got it with a set of pillowcases at some point??).  Oh...and BONUS...I have enough letter (and number) stickers left over to make another set.  I would like to make a lowercase set, too eventually.  I'll have to keep an eye out for lowercase letter stickers.  But for the time being, these are exactly what I wanted!  

organizing the bling

I've been on an organizing and cleaning kick lately.  Spring cleaning, I guess?  I'd like to think that I keep a pretty neat and organized house, but life happens.  And every now and then stuff piles up and in order to maintain my sanity, I have to get things reorganized back under control.

My latest project was reorganizing my jewelry and hair stuff.  My old "system" was to throw it all in a drawer and forget about it.  And admittedly, that did work for a while...mostly because once I shut that drawer, I didn't have to look at it.  So it was easy to forget what a mess it was in there.  Unfortunately, that meant that it was also easy to forget what jewelry I had to start with.  Then while browsing on Pinterest, I came across a brilliant solution.  A DIY jewelry organizer made from a cutlery tray...genius.

Here is my version:

Just like the inspiration post, I started with a bamboo cutlery tray (I picked mine up at Walmart for around $8).  But instead of screw-in cup hooks, I used plastic adhesive hooks.  I was so afraid that the screws would split the wood, so the adhesive hooks worked well.  Then I just spray painted the whole thing white.  I added sawtooth hangers to the back and hung it up on the wall.  Easy!  The hardest part was waiting for the paint to dry in between coats.  I'm not the most patient person.

It's great for my jewelry and the two hooks I added in the bottom compartment are great for holding my hair elastics and headbands.  I'm still looking for a cute tiny little tray or cup to hold my earrings and rings (instead of the little cardboard boxes you see in the photo...that's all I had at the time).  But for now, it serves it's purpose.  And it freed up the drawer that I was using before.  Bonus!!  Now I can hide some other stuff away in there.