Laundry Room Before and After

So here is my embarrassing before picture.  The builders put in the shelf on top (I'm not a huge fan).  I had my hubby add the shelf above the washer and dryer and I helped my dad build the awesome folding table.  Basically it was a mess.

 After: Its so clean :)  The stuff on the top shelf is extra cleaning supplies, its so high that I keep my back up stuff up there.  I am thinking some cute storage boxes with labels.  I still need something for the wall but I can't decide what so I left it blank.  Vinyl, frames?  thoughts? 

So my table is my favorite thing in this room.  I absolutely LOVE it.  I had a terrible habit of folding clothes on my couch after they sat there for days.  This helps eliminate that problem.  I try to fold and put everything away right after each load but as you can tell from the before picture that doesn't always happen.  The top of the table is actually left over flooring we had.

 green basket holds lost socks because lets be honest my cute board doesn't come close to holding all of them.  Some cute pictures.

 Printable from here (I love this quote) in a frame Livy painted when she was 1.  The green tin hold my laundry soap and dryer sheets.  My grandma made the little bowl and it will be great for loose change and whatever else I find in pockets.

 Sock board and I changed my old board above with this printable.  I printed it on pattern paper and glued it right over the old one.

So I am not finshed yet but it looks so much better. 

New home printable

 

When I saw this canvas I knew I wanted one.  I can't paint so I a printable is the next best thing right?  I still love hers more but I do like how it turned out.  If you want one click on it, save, and print.  If it doesn't work, email me and I'll send you a copy.

Clean up made easy

okay at least a little bit easier.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to become more organized (our home, schedule, etc.)  If any of you know me or have followed me for a while probably know this is going to take a miracle for me to accomplish.  I am hoping as I go along I will find a system that works for me (someone who is not naturally organized, can't keep her house clean, and thinks schedules and plans aren't very fun).  I am sure none of you can relate :)  but hopefully there will be a trick or tip that you find useful and of course please share you ideas with me. 

So here is the first thing I have done that I absolutely love.  It makes cleaning up so quick and easy.

Here's my supplies:a laundry basket, a grocery sack, and a small bucket (or whatever you have around your house)

Pick a room to start in.  toss all of the trash in the grocery sack, all of the little items such as buttons, crayons, legos,etc. into the little bucket, and everything that doesn't belong in that room in the laundry basket.  Straighten up the rest of the room (if you are like me there probably isn't a whole lot left to do).  If you basket is pretty full its time to empty it.  I glance to see what I have in there and then do a circle around my house stopping at each room and dropping off what belongs in there.  Then carry your supplies to the next room. 

This may not seem like much but it eliminates the multiple trips in and out of the room.  I often get distracted on these little trips and start cleaning other spots or doing something else and the end result is nothing really gets finished.  This system keeps me focused and  rooms get finished.  It also eliminates little piles that I would normally worry about later by being able to toss them into the laundry basket or garbage keeps everything under control.

1st week sharing Time Ideas for january

I have Sharing time this month (15 min. lesson for all of the children 3-11 in our church).  There are a lot of great resources but I thought I would share what I have planned as well.  These also would work great for FHE.

Theme: God is my Heavenly Father. He knows and loves me.

 Sharing Time Ideas from the 2013 Primary Outline
IDENTIFY THE DOCTRINE (playing a guessing game): Tell the children that you are thinking of someone who loves us, knows each of us, helps us, and lives far away. Ask them to guess who you are thinking of (Heavenly Father).Discuss our relationship with Heavenly Father. Invite the children to repeat together “God is my Heavenly Father. He knows and loves me.”

ENCOURAGE UNDERSTANDING (reading scriptures): Divide the children into groups. Have each group read Enos 1:5, Moses 1:6, and Joseph Smith—History 1:17 and discuss how the Lord addresses each prophet. Ask the children, “If Heavenly Father visited you, what would He call you?” Bear testimony that God knows each of us by name.

ENCOURAGE APPLICATION (singing songs): Have the children stand in a circle and pass around several items that represent God’s love for His children as they sing “I am a Child of God” (CS, 2–3) or “I Know My Father Lives” (CS, 5). Items could include scriptures, a picture of the sacrament, a piece of fruit, or a picture of a family. Randomly stop the singing and have the children holding an item share one way they know God loves them. Repeat as time allows.

I plan to play the guessing game above.  Then expand with the idea that Heavenly Father knows our names, our likes, dislikes, where we live, etc.  and then ask how do we know Heavenly Father loves us.

I am going to share this video

 

As they draw and color this page.

To Finish I'll either end up sharing what is on the handout here OR I really liked this quote from President Uchtdorf talk found HERE. (found through Sophia's Primary Ideas) "My dear brothers and sisters, it may be true that man is nothing in comparison to the greatness of the universe. At times we may even feel insignificant, invisible, alone, or forgotten. But always remember—you matter to Him! Brothers and sisters, the most powerful Being in the universe is the Father of your spirit. He knows you. He loves you with a perfect love.
God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him.

Don't eat Rudolph? (free printable)

This is a holiday version of the classic Don't Eat Pete game.  If you've never played here's a quick how to:  Print off the board game.  Place one piece of candy (m&m's, Cheerios, or whatever you have) on each of the reindeer.  Send one person to out of the room and quietly decided which of the reindeer is going to be Rudolph for that round.  Lets say you pick the one in the center.  Have the person come back into the room and eat one of the pieces of candy off each reindeer UNTIL they pick up the one chose as Rudolph (in this case the one in the center).  When they pick up this candy everyone yells "Don't eat Rudolph!" and their turn ends.  Add candy to the ones taken on the last turn and play as many times as you want picking a new Rudolph each time. 

To print click on the image and save picture to your computer or click on the image copy it and paste in a word document.  If you are have trouble getting it to work please contact me and I will email it to you.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

I played this with my preschool class today and they loved it!

Find an updated version here.

Scrappy Skirt

Today I'm going to show you the scrappy skirt.  Its perfect for all of those small pieces of fabric you have laying around.  Its so quick and fun and the possibilities are endless.

I thought it would be fun to let me little one help out and pick her favorite fabric for her new skirt.  Well that can be pretty tough...

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but so fun!

she decided on 5 but we narrowed it down to 3 and 1 solid color. 

First cut your solid color to the the width of your skirt-I did selvage to selvage for my little 4 year old or another way I like to make my skirts is measure the waist and then double it.    It gives it a fun twirly effect that any little girls loves. Make make the solid color as long as you want -don't forget to add about an inch for casing and seam.

 Next decide how wide you want your panels and then decide how many you will need to meet the width of your skirt-don't forget to calculate seam allowance.   Mine are about 6" wide and I cut six. add about 1 inch to the length for top and bottom seam. 

Alternate your patterned fabric and sew right sides together to make one long row

 

 you should have something like this.

 next sew your solid color to the bottom of your panels right sides together. 

Now fold your skirt in half right sides together and sew the two end panels together to create a long tube. 

Hem the bottom of your skirt and make a casing, add elastic to skirt. (I forgot to take pictures on a couple of steps but I have a similar skirt here-with better pictures and a little more detail if you want to check it out.)

Here's the finished skirt!

Patriotic pillows

I love to decorate for holiday's but I don't really have the budget or the storage space to go all out for every singe one.  My solution pillows and pillow covers.  They are quick to make, inexpensive, can be made for any theme, easy to change any time, and they are pretty easy to store. 

The Fourth of July is coming up and I needed some decorations so I pulled out some red, white, and blue fabric scraps and went to work. I had just enough to make an adorable patchwork pillow.  If you can sew a straight line you can make this! add a little stuffing and it's ready to go.

With the left over scraps from the first pillow I was able to make a cute bunting design to add to this envelop style pillow cover.  Again minimal sewing, an old pillow, and a clever way to make the perfect letters (quick and easy of course!) completes this pillow. 

First I cut a few triangles for the corner

 On my computer I sized and printed out the words

 pin it under your fabric

 use a sharpie and start tracing the letters and coloring it in.  (you can also use paint or a paint pen)

 don't forget to draw the line behind your bunting.

 sew your bunting, and the back of your pillow (either envelope style or you can stuff it)

With the basics of these two pillow styles and your choice of fabric, makes decorating for any room or holiday easy and fun!