Apr 29, 2011

Family Friday: Toy Organization

We have been battling with the craziness that comes with children and toys, you all know what I mean. Piles and piles of toys, toddlers who don't want to pick up their mounds of toys, toys that just get pulled out not to be played with but just to be left on the floor, toys that never get played with, toys that are lost under the mounds of other toys...you get what I'm talking about right!

Well I started out getting rid of anything broken, and toys I noticed he would pull out and not play with.
This still left me with a lot! My next move was to delegate tubs to specific toys, and groups of things he plays with. We only allowed him to have two tubs out at a time, the only problem was if he had the car tub and the animal tub I would end up with two tubs half full of cars and animals.
This gave me my next idea...
I figured out what I wanted in each tub, and made a label for each tub, with picture (because Sam cant read yet) and the words to help him associate the picture with the words. I made two of each label one for the lid and one for the end of the tub. I laminated each card and used adhesive Velcro to attach the card to the tub.
So far it has really helped with toys being put away where they go. When Sam has to many toys out instead of overwhelming him with telling him to just clean up I give him one task like find all the cars and put them in the tub with the picture of a car.
I still have a long way to go with all the toys and he still has WAY more than he needs...so...

What are some things you have found successful with managing the battle with the toys, what has worked, what hasn't?

Here are the labels I made.

Toy Lables

Apr 27, 2011

Headless Chickens

And the chicken said "where's my head!?!"

Ever heard the expression I feel life I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off? not really sure where it came from, and I know it normally means you are doing lots of things but not accomplishing much; I have been doing tons but also accomplishing TONS the problem is I feel like my list is never shrinking!

I am not complaining I would never give up anything I am doing, its just all falling around the same time and I am finding it hard to accomplish everything I would like to (sounds like a problem most moms have).

Currently I am working on a collage course on Teaching Elementary Children in the Outdoors, finishing up projects for family members, accepting and working on Etsy orders, working on homeschooling with Sam (I can't believe how fast he is learning!), preparing for our move to Utah in July, preparing for our beach trip next week, starting back to work part-time, and I am sure I left things off, like the most important, raising my boys, and building a stronger relationship with my husband (which is a must after having a baby!).

All these things have put my blog towards the bottom of my list, and feeling guilty about all my new readers not having anything to read! I promise to get things going as soon as I can, but it will be a couple weeks before I get constant posts going again. I will keep the linky parties going, and what I can get done I will.

Now after my complaining here are some cute picture from our Easter weekend, I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter.

We hide our eggs around the house, Sam really enjoyed finding them and putting them all in his basket, but fore some reason he was afraid the Easter Bunny would come back and take them....
Colten cute as ever
I love those deep blue eyes!


Apr 24, 2011

Sharing Monday 5

We had an amazing turn out last week! If you haven't checked out the links you should! I had a hard time picking a top two so I did three!


The Chocolate Muffin Tree shared her marbled naturally decorated eggs they look so cute and I so want to try this with Sam!!
Jam Hands shared these amazing chocolate gooey butter cookie, any cookie that has chocolate cake mix, and brick of cream cheese, and chocolate chips in it sound like heaven to me!
Domestic Deadline has a great tutorial on how to make a dress out of a men's dress shirt, it looks so cute I really want to make one!



Now on to the party....

Chocolate Drool and Kisses





 party guidelines
  1. I would first love for you to follow my blog (but you don't have too, I wont delete you). I love followers. Plus it makes my day!
  2. Link up your crafts, recipes, home decor, kid projects, tips pretty much anything you have done that you want to share!! {Multiple links to different posts are great!} Please don't link up your shop I have a linky party on Saturday for that!
  3. Link back here by grabbing my button above or on my sidebar and posting it either in your post or somewhere on your blog to let others know you've joined

Apr 23, 2011

Etsy Saturday Swap 4

Due to the small turn out for the Etsy Saturday Swap I am going to switch this linky party to a monthly party. So after this party the next Etsy swap will be May 7th.

We had two shops join in last week and they both have beautiful items for sale.

B is for Boy shared her matching tie and belt set for toddlers as well as her travel bibs that she sales.
The bibs are not only super cute but are so useful you put your package of wipes and utensils in the pockets, and it folds up to fit perfectly in your diaper bag! Plus look at her super cute label!



Orangies Attic shared some beautiful flower wall hangings, she has all sorts of  vintage and recycled shabby chic decor, something for just about any home!

I am in love with the color of this pitcher!



Swap Guidelines
  1. To link up, I would first love for you to follow my blog. I love followers. Plus it makes my day!
  2. Link up something you have for sale in your shop.
  3. Spread the word! Grab my button on my sidebar and posting it somewhere on your blog to let others know you've joined the party! The more the word gets out the more people who will see your shop! If you post about the party on your blog let me know so I can put a featured by button on my side bar from your blog.
  4. Then find at least one other shop and favorite it or add them to your circle!
  5. If you have been featured on the linky swap I would love it if you would grab my featured button!


Apr 22, 2011

Family Friday: Birthday Cupcakes

We celebrated my brothers birthday the other weekend, and I was asked to make cupcakes.
He asked for chocolate cupcakes with vanilla butter cream frosting with crushed butterfingers mixed in.
And filled with a mixture of vanilla butter cream and caramel 
Lets just say it was heavenly!
Yummm....

Apr 21, 2011

Crafty Thursday: Birds Nest Wreath

Using the eggs I posted about last week I made this quick and easy wreath.
What you need:
Eggs
Grape vine wreath
Moss
Hot glue gun
Just figure out how you want to nests and eggs to look and use LOTS of hot glue to attach them.
Here is how mine turned out.

Apr 20, 2011

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

So I have been neglecting my blog this week. Between, starting working again part-time, having class last weekend, orders, making gifts/crafts for family, keeping my house clean and taking care of my family I have been a bit busy! Today I have found a little bit of time so I thought I would share our fun trip to the park with you!
Someone had left shovels and pails at the sand pit so Sam had a blast!



Colten was great, he ended up falling asleep for most of it making it so I could play with Sam.
Our park added a new rope climbing thing and new slide which Sam LOVES.
So hopefully things will slow down a bit soon so I can get back to posting regularly!
If you haven't checked out my linky parties you should we have had a great turn out to the Sharing Monday party, and we have a few new shops that have joined the Etsy Saturday Swap. They are both still open if you want to join in too!

Apr 17, 2011

Sharing Monday #4

What a great turn out last week!
Here are my top two,
Creative "Try"als shared her beautiful Spring Mantel I am in love with her Spring sign with the mossy letters!


Dishes and Socks shared her Lamp Revamp, this is her before picture (which I didn't think the lamp looked to bad as it was...) but you have to go check out her after picture, it turned out so cute, and was so simple to do!

 
Now on to the party....

Chocolate Drool and Kisses





 party guidelines
  1. I would first love for you to follow my blog (but you don't have too, I wont delete you). I love followers. Plus it makes my day!
  2. Link up your crafts, recipes, home decor, kid projects, tips pretty much anything you have done that you want to share!! {Multiple links to different posts are great!} Please don't link up your shop I have a linky party on Saturday for that!
  3. Link back here by grabbing my button above or on my sidebar and posting it either in your post or somewhere on your blog to let others know you've joined

Apr 15, 2011

Etsy Saturday Swap #3

We had a REALLY small turn out last week, so hopefully more will join in the fun! Help spread the word so we can get more people checking out our shops!
Here are my favorites from last week:

Girl In Air shared these unique Domed Dime Earrings, it was hard to see in the thumbnail picture, but those are actual dimes turned into cute earrings!
She has lots more jewelry for sale on at her shop, but I was really in love with all her different hats! I had a hard time picking my favorite to share...
But these Newborn Sock Monkey Hats are SO cute!





You will also find her Wine Blooms that you can use to dress up a bottle of wine, sparkling cider if your a non-drinker like me or even dress up a gift bag!

Swap Guidelines
  1. To link up, I would first love for you to follow my blog. I love followers. Plus it makes my day!
  2. Link up something you have for sale in your shop.
  3. Spread the word! Grab my button on my sidebar and posting it somewhere on your blog to let others know you've joined the party! The more the word gets out the more people who will see your shop! If you post about the party on your blog let me know so I can put a featured by button on my side bar from your blog.
  4. Then find at least one other shop and favorite it or add them to your circle!
  5. If you have been featured on the linky swap I would love it if you would grab my featured button!


Family Friday: Decorating Cupcakes

I made cupcakes the other week and had several left over, Sam loves helping in the kitchen so I figured we could have a fun decorating day!
He had a hard time squeezing the frosting out so I helped squeeze while he moved it around.

His favorite thing was putting on all the sprinkles, he felt he needed to hand place each one!

They turned out really cute in a messy kind of way! He also loved eating them!!

Apr 14, 2011

Crafty Thursday: Earthy Eggs

So for my birds nest and an up coming craft I wanted eggs to decorate with, but I wanted something a little more earthy looking, I tried to just paint plastic eggs...that didn't work. So I got the idea to use Mod Podge to glue tissue paper to the eggs and then paint over!
Drying after Mod Podging (is that a word...) the tissue paper on. I used a box and toothpicks to hold my eggs so they wouldn't stick to my table.
Then blending different colors, white, yellow, brown, light blue, and light green to make earthy tones and painted! When dry I added a little bit of water to brown and splattered the eggs.
After drying I realized the eggs were a matte finish, and I was wanting more of a glossy one.
So I added more Mod Podge and let dry and they turned out glossy and beautiful! Stay tuned, next week I will show you how I used them!

Apr 12, 2011

The Versatile Blogger Award




I was awarded the Versatile Blogger Award by Laci at Home Grown Happiness!  Thank you for for the great honor! I didn't even know this ward existed!

First here are 7 things that you may not know about me:

1.  I am the 5th child in a family with 6th children.
2.  I met my husband online and we married after dating for 6 months
3.  I threw disc and shot in track for two years in high school
4.  Orange is my favorite color!
5.  I donate my extra milk that my baby doesn't eat to babies that need it.
6.  I don't like to follow recipes, measure ingredients or follow patterns when I cook and sew; I like to just make it up as I go
7.  One of my favorite things is playing card games with my family

Now to the  15 bloggers that I feel are worth of such an award:

Love Laughter and Decor

Billie Monster





To accept the award, there are several steps:

•Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.

•Tell us seven things about yourself

•Award fifteen recently discovered new bloggers (mine aren't all new...but I tried)

•Contact these bloggers and let them know they’ve received their award.