Our playroom/craft space in disarray (and it usually stays that way)

I’ve obviously been MIA. Not because I haven’t been crafting (although very little) and attempting to simplify, or because I don’t have lots of ideas I would love to share.

But honestly, these last couple of months have been extremely challenging….in still trying to establish a sense of home in a new city, in closing on a house and all that goes with that (financial, packing, transition, work on the new house), and then the move itself. And on top of that, the excitement and exhaustion of a new pregnancy (and the horrible sickness that comes along with that for me) while chasing a very busy toddler around.

Needless to say, this place is not a priority. I’ve just been trying to make it through the day. As one friend gently encouraged me - LAUNDRY AND FOOD - THESE are the only things that I really need to make happen for my family (and honestly, those are hard enough right now). Thankfully, the morning sickness is subsiding a bit and I am accomplishing slightly more in my day.

the family room - a family really does LIVE here.

So, for the forseeable future, you probably won’t see anything new here. I may share some of my projects on my family’s blog when I get the chance. Right now though simplifying for me means NOT spending so much time trying to simplify. It means leaving things undone and being okay with that. It means living in imperfection and rejoicing in the fact that THIS is real life. Who knows, perhaps I’ll be back here in the future. Thanks for everyone who has read and commented and encouraged me.

Okay. So it’s a play kitchen for my son, but it still only cost $12 to make.

I saw this fun idea for a cardboard kitchen in Disney’s Family Fun magazine and decided a variation would make the perfect first birthday gift for my little guy. Over several weeks I saved several items from the recycling bin - boxes, plastic bottle caps, a plastic soap dispenser pump, and corks - to outfit the kitchen. With $12 worth of green duct tape, I assembled the kitchen for our mini-chef.

Here is my supply list:

• 3 boxes of the same size, plus 1  smaller
• 3 rolls of green duct tape
• 2 corks (for cabinet pulls)
• 7 caps of various sizes (for the stove, and sink)
• 2 small paper plates (for the stovetop burners)
• 1 plastic bowl with lip (for sink)
• 1 plastic soap dispenser pump (for the faucet)
• 1 plastic handle (for the refrigerator door)
• stickers (for magnets on the fridge)
• 2 wire cooling racks (for inside the oven, and the fridge)
• nuts & bolts & zip ties for assembly

The process over a couple of weeks…

• I first cut out all necessary areas from my 3 matching boxes - the oven and cabinet door and hole for the sink.
• Next I edged all the corners and sealing the boxes with the duct tape, and attached the shelves with duct tape.

• On the bottom of two small paper plates I drew burner coils with a permanent markers. They were affixed with craft glue to the top of the stove, as was the plastic window on the oven door.

• I used craft glue around the rim of the sink to secure it in place, and also the pump faucet, and cork door pulls.

• Using zip ties, I attached one wire cooling wrap in both the oven and the refrigerator.
• The knobs were all attached by drilling a hole in each cap and attaching with a nut and bolt. I decided where each cap would be used after I had saved up a number of them. I had the most white juice and soda caps, so used those for the stove, and one large laundry detergent cap for the oven door. I happened to have one blue and one red cap that I used for cold and hot water on the sink.

• The finishing touches were a grocery list of the little guy’s fave foods, plus some family photos on the fridge, and some child-sized dishes, collander, and loaf pan. The salt and pepper shakers were made by my dad as a kid at camp (so cool, huh?). I also saved empty food containers of items that the munchkin eats - oatmeal, yogurt, hummus, teething biscuits, an egg carton.

This was very fun to make and also good developmentally for a one year old to practice opening and closing the doors, playing chef, and turning the oven and sink knobs.

Call me old-fashioned, but I still love snail mail. Don’t we all need a little joy in the mailbox amidst the bills and junk? I try to write letters every now and then just because, but birthdays are what keep me connected with my mailbox.

So, how do I remember to send out birthday cards? Since becoming a mom, this is just the type of thing that can easily fall off my radar, but I’ve found that keeping ONE calendar for everything in my life is crucial. I use Google Calendar for everything - shared with my husband - so we can keep track of work commitments, family commitments, travel, doctor appointments….and birthdays! It’s easy to read because each category has a color, and it’s something I look at every day.

From bellacardco

• The first of each month I look at all of the birthdays coming up.
• I then pull out birthday cards from my stash for that month (this is another tip - keep a stash of birthday/anniversary/tahnk you/blank cards so that you’re always prepared. Whether it’s a drawer in your office or a shoebox in your closet, stock up at the local card shop when you have a coupon or when boxed blank cards go on sale).
• I address and stamp them all at once.
• Sometimes I write birthday messages all at once and send them out right away. Other times I pull one off the top and write a note to a friend in the morning, saving the rest for another morning or evening. Remembering a friend or family member is such a pleasant way to start or end the day!

This is something you can keep track of with a paper calendar as well, as well as the home management notebook approach, as shown here.

In a perfect world, everything in my house would be perfectly organized all the time. But, I’m actually finding alot of freedom in letting go of that perfection. Yet another way that I’m letting go, is throwing pajamas, unfolded, into the drawer. I kind of love my hidden mess.

So, like I shared about my new-non-sorting habit, and the fact that I sometimes have a less than nutritious breakfast, I share this:

If it doesn’t matter if it stays wrinkled, then don’t bother folding it. Save yourself a few minutes to do something else.

Thoughts?

Okay, we need to move on from Christmas, but first I wanted to share the verdict on how my gift-giving criteria for Christmas 2010 worked out.

Last summer, while perusing a farmer’s market I had an idea. I was surrounded by beautiful handmade wares from local artists, and yummy foods, veggies, jams, and breads supplied by local farmer’s. I asked my hubby what he thought of gifting local and homemade finds for Christmas, and he agreed it would be a fun challenge. The general idea was to give baskets filled with items supporting local farmer’s and artisans.

From there, I decided it would be a fun challenge to come up with a few criteria for gift-giving across the board. In November I shared my criteria for Christmas 2010 gifts. We loved gathering and making goodies, being creative with our wrapping and presentation, and, not breaking the bank in the process.

And, since everyone loves a good list, here is a rundown of our gift-giving.

• Gift baskets for parents and extended family members featuring homemade jam, lavender sachets and bundles, locally made salsa, goat’s milk soap, local honey, homemade paper photo albums for the grandparents, handmade ornaments, chocolate and baskets from Ten Thousand Villages.

• A repurposed cosmetic bag of stamping supplies for a young cousin, full of scrap papers, envelopes, unused stamps from a crafting declutter, plus some new in pads.
• Several unique finds on etsy, like these, this, these, and a handmade stocking for our little guy.

• Handmade magnetic “paper” dolls for our niece.
• A book by a local author for our nephew.
• A handmade family picture book for our almost-one-year-old.

I was so excited to buy almost everything within our criteria, but I did “fail” on our two nephews (ages 6 and 10) despite lots of time researching and brainstorming! In the end, I bought them a toy that will hopefully at least keep them running around and getting lots of exercise! All in all, I had a great time putting together gifts for family. I hope some of these ideas might be inspiration for you next Christmas, or even in the meantime for birthdays, anniversaries, Mother’s Day, or a hostess gift.

Happy New Year!

I didn’t have a chance to share our homemade Christmas gift for our little guy. I got this idea after reading a friend’s blog quite awhile back, and decided this Christmas would be the perfect time to make this. Knowing that our son would be showered with lots of fun toys for his first Christmas, we went VERY simple and made this little family picture book that he could flip through.

It includes photos of himself, mommy and daddy, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, great-grands, a picture of mommy and daddy’s wedding day, and the house where he first lived.

Each page contains a photo, then words explaining the people in the photo (My Family: Mommy, Daddy, Me…or My Great-Grandpa loved to Garden, etc).

I wasn’t sure if he would really “get” it, but he seems to really like to flip through. Very sweet for me and fun for him.

source: i'm an organizing junkie

Love it, and this only inspires me more. Hadn’t tried the vinegar trick, but I’ll give that a try.

It’s a wrap!

Christmas has come and gone, and I have a new stash of ribbon and bags and paper from the gifts I received to be used through 2011. Yay!

So, how did I make out on my no-new-wrapping challenge? Not too bad. I did end up borrowing some used tissue paper from my mom, but otherwise, nothing new!

Here are a few of our gifties for family all ready to go under the tree.

wrapped and ready

With wrapping paper, cellophane wrap, gift bags and ribbons I already had on hand, plus some baskets and containers from flea markets every gift was wrapped in a pretty way, just the way I like it. Some unconventional items I used were brown grocery bags already printed with ornaments, stripey fabric for bows, a pink plastic table cloth for a young cousin’s gift, and gift tags made from last year’s Christmas cards.

As I mentioned in my challenge, my goal is to avoid buying new wrapping supplies for 2011. I confess I have already broken my own rule. I bought some handmade paper in an after Christmas sale that I can use for wrapping, scrapbooking or card-making. I’ll call it a splurge for myself because I’m a sucker for pretty paper. And a splurge every now and then is okay in my book.

Coming soon is the verdict on my gift-giving criteria.

Now that Christmas has come and gone, I’m thinking ahead to a slower January and rest. I’m learning baby step by baby step to pace myself. Despite all the many ideas running through my head, I want to live in the moment.

While I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, I guess you could say my daily hope for myself is to live right now. To soak up the simplest bits of my day - the hilarious faces my son makes and his excitement when he learns something new; spontaneous plans with my husband; sharing a weeknight meal with my parents; a phone conversation with a friend. Those are the moments that fill me up - not checking things off the to-do list (which never ends).

Stay tuned as I continue to learn how to simplify in 2011. From simple gift ideas, to simplifying my cleaning and organization process, to being intentional with family time, to incorporating healthy habits for myself, family and the earth. I’m excited to continue this journey with you!

I wanted to make a sentimental ornament with my 11 month old’s thumbprint. This is what I finally came up with, inspired by these magnets.

All it took was a bottle cap, small piece of ribbon, two cardstock circles, and green ink. I love the simplicity and that it literally took me ten minutes to make four. The hardest part was the thumbprint from a sqirmy toddler to make the tree.

These will make perfect stocking stuffers for the grandparents, plus one for me too.