Getting Organized

You would never know it walking into my house, but I love to organize. It's just that I can't seem to keep anything that way and I am a magnet for clutter. So... with the new year rolling in it seems like a great time to get back into the swing of things and get my house more organized and clean (maybe I have just hit that nesting stage of pregnancy). To be honest I have been trying to clean my house, but I get worn out almost immediately :) - so nothing every gets done and my house looks like a tornado hit. If, however, I ever get around to it here are some ideas I found that i liked the looks of. The first two I got off the 30 days website in my favorites and the last two came from onestepahead.com. The other ideas I can't remember where they came from it's been some time that they have been hanging out in my computer. oops :)

http://www.jcarolinecreative.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=JC&Screen=STORAGE_BASKETS
http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/show/1583

Peanut Butter Jars

I always love creative ways to recycle things around the house and especially ones that help with organization. http://myplumpudding.blogspot.com/2008/08/peanut-butter-jars-revised-edition.html

Alpha-block Ornaments

I think I have a set of alphabet blocks that I bought at Dollar Tree and I was planning on getting rid of them. Maybe I will keep them and make these cute blocks for our tree next year. Here is the site with the tutorial http://whowouldvethoughtit.blogspot.com/2008/10/christmas-ornaments.html

Seasonal Blocks

I found this idea off http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/ and thought it was so smart. I would love some of these...in fact I think I will make them...some day. :) Check them out -

Here are the 16 seasonal words the blocks make: Harvest, Welcome, Faith, Family, Spooky, Friends, Winter, Freedom, Blessed, Snow, Home, Hope, Monster, Mother, Dream, Easter

These are the letters that need to be placed on each block:

Block One: H Y E D

Block Two: A C R S

Block Three: R P E T
Block Four: V N L O

Block Five: E O M D
Block Six: S M K I

Block Seven: T F B W

When there is no Mantle

Of the 5 different homes I have lived in since I have been married only my current one has a fireplace mantle to hang stockings from. I think this is such a cute idea. Especially since another move is coming up for us and we may not have a mantle next year or the years after. I found this off TipJunkie along with other great ideas to hang stockings without a mantle.

Christmas Decor

Some cute items from The Land of Nod. (landofnod.com)

Turkey Pops!

This site is incredible to me. I love cake and love the idea of cake pops.
Look how cute these turkeys are!

http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/11/youll-want-to-gobble-these-right-up.html

More Turkeys

Here are some more Thanksgiving Turkey Craft Ideas.

Little Girl Dress

I thought this was a creative way to make a little girls dress. They are made by Lacey In The Sky Boutique. It looks like they have used T-shirts or Onsies for the top and then added the skirt with a ribbon. Very Cute!

Thnaksgiving Ideas

I thought this was a simple and cute Autumn place mat. The site has a tutorial as well. http://twinmommyproductions.blogspot.com/2007/10/patchwork-placemat-tutorial.html And look at this cute place setting card...http://www.shelleyhopps.com/mocha_memories/2008/10/pick-your-placecard.html

I also had to include some of the fun things found off of Family Fun.com. This site has so many cute ideas for kids and so many other things that parents can enjoy. Here are just a few that I saw and some that I have actually done in the past. I've done both this cornucopia and the Pilgrim hats for place settings for my family. They actually turned out pretty cute. I even found a way to curl the end of the sugar cone with hot steam. I looked for "Runt's" (I think that's what they are called) candy to fill the cones with , but no one had heard of them in Florida.

Just Found

http://jensedillo.blogspot.com/

I found this and thought it was cute....had to post it. :) (This really could be adapted to any holiday)

Thanksgiving Blessing Box & Other Ideas -

I am always looking for ideas to make Thanksgiving more meaningful. It seems it often gets overlooked. This idea was a creative one that will be fun as the kids get even older, but I think I might even try to implement it this year....we'll see. Here's the link http://shauna-naner.blogspot.com/2007/11/thanksgiving-family-tradition.html

Check out SugarDoodle.net random page...she has got some great thanksgiving ideas listed.

Some other fun ideas that I have collected are:
-Placing thank you notes to your family under the dinner plate for them to find before or after dinner
-Lay 5 grains of corn (or candy corn) on dinner plate and have everyone share thankful thoughts for each piece of corn.
-Make a Tablecloth that everyone can write something they are thankful for each year. Obviously reuse it each year. :)
-Do a thankful activity each day as you countdown to Thanksgiving (see post below) :)

-Kandi Chapman shared this idea on SugarDoodle.net : "We make a rice crispy shaped turkey and cut feathers out of construction paper taped to a toothpick - one for each person with their name on it. Then we go around the table and say what we're thankful for as we put our feather on the turkey. You could do this and afterward sing thanksgiving songs while you cut up the turkey for a treat. "

Thanksgiving Countdown

I finished my Thanksgiving Countdown Calender that I have been working on since last year...(well I started it last year, stopped and just picked it up again). I wanted to post a picture, but my computer is out of space and I haven't been able to download any photo's....so sad. So I will have to do that when I get things worked out, but I found a site where the girl had also copied the pottery barn countdown (hers is darling, mine is extremely simple) she created 30 thankful activities that I thought were fun so I wanted to include them here for reference. Here is her link http://angbrimwil.blogspot.com/2007/11/thankful-activities-for-calendar.html. So fun!

I love embroidered pillows!

These are some pillows I found off the Quilted Bear. http://www.quiltedbear.com/store/pc/index.html Some have cute sayings like the first one for Grandma - others I think are darling like the "I'm a child of God" pillow. So cute!

Easy Bag & Crayon Holder

I want to make a church bag for my kids and make it out of a very simple pattern....I remembered this site and idea. http://projectsforyournest.blogspot.com/search/label/handbags





I also want to make this crayon holder for their crayons - pretty cute.
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/

Finished Sacrament Books

Earlier I posted that I wanted to use all my nice programs to make a quiet book for church. I finally finished. I decided I better make it very simple or I never would. They have actually been a big hit - especially with my Aubrey. She loves to look at the pictures and we try to use them to get Jacob to think about the Savior during the Sacrament. These are the finished books...

I simply pasted the cover of the program to a colored sheet of card stock then used self laminate and punched holes and tied with ribbon. Super easy and simple. (I probably could of used some fun ribbon, but I just used what I had on hand and it worked. :) )

Halloween Count Down

Here is another possibility for a countdown calendar. I found the idea on http://www.makeandtakes.com/counting-down-to-halloween Here is her pic...

And here is our creation...

Special Plate

I thought this might be a good gift idea. I think they could get expensive, but I wonder if there is a way to make one....Hmmmm.

Car Organizers

We are always in need of something to entertain the kids even for short car rides. I need something like these car bags to keep toys. This will hopefully be something I will find time to make in the near future. :)
http://www.themayfly.com/weblog/2007/10/the_car_organizer_howto.html

Owl Chain

I happened past these cute owls and decided to include them and the site with the tutorial http://moonstitches.typepad.com/moonstitches/2007/11/zakka-style-owl.html

Ghost Pancakes

Something fun for the kids to enjoy!

The Blogger just used any batter mix and then place chocolate chips for eyes and mouth. (I wonder if raisins would work)...anyway, cute idea!

http://gourmetmomonthego.blogspot.com/2008/10/ghostly-pancakes.html#comments

Pottery Barn Fall Entrance

I have wanted to create a bench similar to this one for my entry way. Unfortunately I don't have my own entry way yet, but I am hanging onto the idea until I do. :)

Baby Booties,Bibs, and Bath Towels

I want to make a pair of booties for my little guy that is on the way. Last year sometime I found this pattern and site. http://www.newconceptions.com/patpdf/Footiespdf.pdf They look easy enough. We'll see how they turn out. :) Do you think it is possible to turn the above into something as cute as the pictures below. Don't you just love those booties!I also found this pattern for bibs...http://www.newconceptions.com/patpdf/bibspdf.pdf or this site for pullover bibs. http://www.breastfeeding123.com/free-pattern-to-sew-your-own-crew-neck-over-the-head-baby-bib/

These are cute towels from potterybarn kids.

Here is a site with a simple tutorial http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/11/hooded-bath-towels-for-kids.html