Cricut & Front Entrance!

Mama got a new toy! I've been saving up my money and finally got enough over Christmas to get myself something special ;) Spoiled myself with a Cricut Expressions 2!! 

Tonight I got it out and did a project for my front entrance with some vinyl I purchased! I opened the craft room and created the design I wanted to use.

Lined everything up and got cutting

 Object cut!

I applied the transfer tape and took it over to the area I wanted it and applied it where I wanted it!

I also made this up for the front door! lol We've been getting a lot of religious knocks on the door lately so Im hoping this will politely tell them not to knock ;) Jaime wants to me to add "Unless you're selling cookies" lol

And just for the update on the front entrance, I also worked on getting our calendar in order, as well as using my label maker to make my weekly list work better! Looks much cleaner and I like it more!

Much nicer & more functional! Its coming along!! (yes bottom still needs another coat of paint, I know!)

Front Entrance pt 2.

So a small update for the Front Entrance Way! I bought a Calendar and a white board/cork board to keep track of the kids week! I still need to do another coat of white paint and do some touch ups but its hugely improved and Im thrilled with how its working to keep the kids organized!

How did this happen!

Yesterday while I was trying to prepare a meal I had to dig through my casserole dishes to get to the one I needed. I stopped and looked around and thought, wait how did this happen! What a mess!  So it was put on my to-do list for today! Must fix up this cupboards!

So while Lemon napped today I set out! They started like this:

Supposed to be my tupperware cupboard 

Eek! What a mess!

And now my after photos:

This is going to be so much easier to get to! I even finally put my lid organizer to work! lol I bought it months ago and it had nothing in it all this time! Now I feel much better that Ill be able to just reach in and get what I need, without making an even bigger mess!

Next up - My lazy Susan and Pantry! But my little miss is now awake, so they'll have to wait! Stay tuned!

Reorganizing toys...

After Christmas I noticed that we had all these new toys and no where to put them, especially toys for Lemon! We had to make room for her stuff too! During the day I watch my 3.5 year old nephew (hes 5 weeks younger than Bear) so I have 3 boys, who have 3 different things they're into, so purging toys has been difficult lately. I look at things and thing, well Button doesnt play with this, but Bear and Seth do, etc... So in order to accomodate 3 boys toys, plus a little lady's toys, I had to brinig the shelf from the boys room down to the living and brought more toys down here. Its going to keep their room more clean as well cause they have less toys up there to mess up with.
Boxing day sales brought good sales, Zellers had a 50% off coupon which I clipped and managed to pick up a shelf on sale for $39, with taxes I paid $25 and saved $45!! Sadly they only had white so I got it for the boys room, it works! I still need to purchase some baskets for the shelf in the boys room, but for now, this will do...
So here is the boys room new set up!

Now for the livingroom, its still a work in progress... I need to get some new pictures printed for the wall above here. I'd love to get all new baskets that match better, but ya, thats a long shot right now to save money ;) These unmatched ones will do for now!

Every Monday...

I swear every Monday I come upstairs to clean this:

I dont know what it is about their room that they keep dumping everything out but its getting old and annoying. I know its Bear, he does this either when I think hes asleep at night or if he wakes up early in the morning before Button... Need to work on it with him apparently cause he makessuch a huge mess and I end up having to try and fix it... we really need to work on taking 1 toy out at a time then cleaning it up...

Favorite Organizer!

Cube storage is quickly becoming my favourite storage organizer!! I now have 3 storage systems, one in the livingroom, one in the boys room and one in the nursery!

They're available in a few different colours, as are the baskets you can get to organize with. My first few baskets I got a Zellers, but have since discovered the Martha Steward ones at Home Depot, which I prefer for their sturdiness and they have a label on the front so you can label your baskets (especially helpful to help my husband find and organize the toys!)

Heres a shot from the boys room (old pic when I first set it up) each basket has something different in them (Animals in red, Blocks in green, Lego in Blue, etc...)

I decided since Little Lady's room is smaller than the boys room I would buy the 6 cube one for her room, these are the Martha Stewart baskets (I have them in the livingroom too). For her I was able to put shoes in one, socks & tights in another and hats & headbands in another, with the labels I labelled each one so when/if Jaime is going to get her dressed he knows where to find these things. She only has a couple toys so far so I'm going to put a couple in there for now, and use the top to display a couple photos once shes here!

Purge Purge Purge!

Spent this afternoon purging upstairs... Im not done yet but this is a GREAT beginning! I went through our bedroom and some of Button;s room. Getting rid of a bunch of toys, books, picture frames, etc we dont need or use anymore! This entire tupperware container is FULL of stuff, as is the wicker basket... I need to drive them down to Salvation Army tonight, alone with a garbage bag full of clothes we dont need anymore (dropped another one off yesterday!).

Feeling great about all this clutter being gone! Please excuse the location of this picture lol I had to hide the items in the bathroom until bedtime so Button doesnt freak out about some of the toys (which he no longer plays with but you know the second he sees them leaving he will want ;))

Clutter Rehab - Tips so far...

I'm now about half way through Clutter Rehab book! She has awesome tips, heres a couple I really like and plan to implement right away:

1. Have a daily walkabout - With the kids, walk around and find things room to room that dont belong in that room and return them to their rightful place.

2. Never leave a room empty handed - Good way to put stuff away and avoid clutter, make sure you have something to put away everytime you leave a room!

3. Take Pictures of Sentimental things - To avoid saving things you're never going to use but are still attached to for sentimental reasons, take a picture of it to keep the memory of it. I think this will be a great idea for Kids art projects! Instead of keeping all the art the kids do, I think I will take pictures of them (save some ;)) and make a nice photobook for artwork they've done!

4. Create a backpack station - A problem in our home! We need a station for backpacks & coats so theyre not just throw on the floor making a mess! She says "Having defined areas for stuff in your home provides clear direction as to where things belong and need to be stored". I think this is especially important with children to teach them how to put things where they belong. I play on making a backpack/coat station this week!

5. Use Hook's for kids coats instead of hangers - To go with the backpack station. Makes sense! Kids can easily hang their coats on the hook!

6. Menu Plan and Make a list for the grocery store- Saves money & time! I already do this most weeks ;) Just need to get more consistent!

7. Have a central Calendar - Gonna get a new, bigger calendar to put by the front entrance so we can record all activities on it (as well as my Ipod touch ;)). This way everyone knows where everyone needs to be!

8. Colour Code the kids (and us too!) - Something I learned about a year ago that I thought was VERY interesting idea! I need to give it another go. Every family member has a colour, then has items in the home in those colours (ex. Tooth brush, towels, face cloths, etc...) so theres never any confusion as to what belongs to who. Makes cleaning up easier cause if you see a Yellow towel on the floor, you know that towel belongs to ___... I a crazy household with soon to be 5 people, I'm gonna try this out!!

So those are just some of the great tips Im learning from Laura! Cant wait to continue reading!

New Book!

Last night I went to Chapters and purchased a new book that's out. Im gonna start reading it tonight at work! It's written by one of my favorite blogs owner, Organized Junkie's Laura Wittmann and its called Clutter Rehab!



Looking forward to applying all the tips I learn from it to our home! Ill let you all know how its going!