Closet Revitalization

Well I have been away for a little while but I haven't been doing nothing. One thing I have been working on is organizing my closets. I love looking at other peoples organization pictures so that is why I am sharing mine. My hall closet was a disaster I didn't take a before picture so you will just have to trust me. Here is a picture of the new and improved closet:
The pictures are not the greatest but I goal is to have anyone that opens the closet to clearly know where everything is. My parents often stay over night and this is where extra blankets, pillows, toiletries are stored. I would like guests to feel comfortable getting what they need, as well as have my husband clearly see where everything is so he doesn't have to ask me continually, yay! I think that I need to have labels perhaps another project in the future.

I have been doing other things but I will post about them later.

Grocery Games

Grocery store trips are not always the funnest, especially when your child is screaming louder than the loudspeaker at the store. One way to have a better trip for you and them is to keep them entertained. These are some things that I thought of to keep kids busy while you are gathering the much needed grocery items.

Grocery Store Bingo- Make a bingo card with pictures of basic grocery store items for example milk, bread, cheese, apples, meat etc. Print out two copies of the bingo sheet, laminate both of sheets of paper, cut out one of the sheets into square, then attach Velcro to the square in the bingo sheet and also the ones you cut out, attach an envelope to the back of the bingo card with the extra Velcro pictures in it. Then the next time you are at the store you have a game you can play as you are shopping, Yowza!

Very Own Grocery List- After your grocery list has already been completed take a few items, preferably ones that will be in different aisles, and make another grocery list just for your child. As you come to that aisle while shopping the child is responsible for finding that item carefully putting it in the cart, and marking it off their checklist. If you would like to kick this up a notch and your child is older, they could also be responsible for paying for it at the checkout.

Tasty Treasure Hunt- Before going to the grocery store draw a simple map of the store you are going to. If you need help with this many stores have a store map when you get there. Then write out a clue for some of the items of your grocery list. Your child gets to be the captain and tell you where you are going next. When they figure out a clue give them another one. Obviously just do one per aisle or you are going to be their for a long time. The treasure at the end could be some kind of treat for the family. I have some suggestions of clues below to give you an idea.

Shiver me timbers this is sure cold but goes great with chocolate syrup= ice cream
Yummy, Yummy in Dad's tummy this is his favorite food= Whatever is his favorite food
This rhymes with red, bed, and said= bread
Can't have cookies with out this cold drink= milk
Squiggly wiggly something that looks like worms= pasta

Seeing Shelves

I get a thrill from seeing a shelf with all the trinkets, treasures, and projects that have come into one display that looks perfectly put together. Does anyone out there in cyberland get joy out of such a simple thing? I decided that there possibly could be so I would share two of my shelf displays with you.

Because I get such a thrill out of shelves and displays I often change them seasonally so this was the summer shelf look. I just wanted something fresh, clean and simple I found the plates at a thrift store for .50 cents, the pot for 1.00, and was given the ivy, candles, and ribbon. I say I ended up doing pretty good.

This one is also from the summer.I found some things my mom wasn't using in a box down in the basement and then put it together with some things I had laying around. I ended up really liking how it ended up turning out.

Picture Perfect Display

I had this really barnwood frame just 'hangin' out in a closet and really thought it needed to be out of the closet and on the wall. This is what I did, first I found some chunky ribbon and then pinned it to the frame. Next I got some clothpins and glued some scrapbook paper to them, then clipped the clothespins to the ribbon and found some cute bees that were just 'hangin' out to. Barnwood frame+ chunky ribbon+bees+clothespins=Picture Perfect Display

Nursery Camping Container

For some reason the only theme my husband and I could agree on for my sons room was a camping/ woodland theme. I brainstormed different projects some happened and some didn't this is one that did. Introducing the Camping Container...

I found the container at a local thrift store, then I found some cute camping themed paper, I cut out the pieces I wanted, glued them to the side, added the ribbon and label, and POW you have a cute camping container.

Baby Basket

When my son was born my mom and mother-in-law took turns baby sitting while I was at work. One day after I came home I asked my mom how it went and she said it went great, but she really didn't know what babies this age (0-6mo) were supposed to play with. After this I did some research and found some age appropriate games for him to play. I typed up all the ideas and then put a bunch of toys he would like in a basket in our living room so we would have something close to grab when he was awake and wanted to play.

The basket included some books, childrens music, a puppet, a bright cloth (to practice tracking with their eyes), ribbons tied to a stick (tracking), rattle, and a towel (roll the towel up put it under their stomachs to practice rolling and tummy time). The pieces of paper have other games to play with the baby.

Making this got me thinking of what a great baby shower gift this would be, especially for a new first time mom. I know I would have loved it.

Game Clipboards

Our family happens to be game people, the thrill of buying park place, killing Miss Scarlet, and conquering the world, happen rather often. However, one more thing that happens often is trying to find something to write scores on so one day on a trip to my local thrift store I saw a small clipboard for .75 cents and found my solution. Although, it needed a little bit of a makeover brown ho-hum to cute and sassy.

This is how the transformation occurred: I first found to sheets of coordinating scrapbook paper, next I traced around the clipboard and cut it out, then I painted the edges and the top part around the clip, then I used glue to adhere the paper to the clipboard, and last I tied ribbon to the clip and wrapped it around a pen. Yowza! its looks rather sassy if I do say so myself.