Organised Home Project 3 : The Kids Toys

Hello all, I hope you've had a great week. The kids toys was a project a lot of you wrote as being one of the main things you wanted to get organised and I was definitely one of them too! I am so not complaining about having lots of toys- we are very lucky that our children have so many to play with and also get given lovely toys by friends and family.  But the good thing is that having a bit of a sort out and donating a few toys to charities means you get to do something good while sorting out your own house!

This was the toy situation in our house...

* too many little bath toys that were taking me ages to pick up out of the bath every night (ok not every night, just when I could actually be bothered!)
*playhouse toys out of control

I think Every Single Toy was tipped on the floor that day!

*dress-ups all over the spare room floor most days
*paddling pool toys all over the lawn (the kids hardly played with them, Stella just threw them all out of the pool after getting in)
*toy storage containers and cupboards bulging with toys

Toy cupboard in the lounge

Plan of attack

1. I went through the dress ups and just kept 10 things in Amelie's room now and put the rest away

2. We had this neat road bath toy set with cars, trucks etc. Most nights Stella just tipped the entire bag into the bath and didn't even play with them! So I just chose 1 or 2 of each thing like 1 car, 1 truck etc and probably only kept a third of what was in there

3. I declucluttered heaps of the playhouse and paddling pool toys.

4. For the toys in the lounge and kitchen I made myself choose 10 toys to get rid of. 

5. I took all the toys and some of our books (not the kids books as I can't get rid of any of them!) and some other stuff to the Salvation Army shop.  Women's Refuge, Plunket or places like Bernardos are other great places you could possibly donate toys too.

A lot of stuff leaving our house yay!

The really amazing thing I have noticed since all this decluttering is that they are actually playing with the toys sooooo much more than before when they just tipped them all out and moved onto the next mess! And it is so much quicker to tidy up after they've gone to bed because firstly there's less toys and secondly there's more room in our storage places to throw them all!

Much better... well for now anyway!

And don't forget...having a tidy house and having an organised house are two very different things I think! My house is hardly ever 'tidy'- there are always toys and books all over the floor, things set up by Amelie using cushions/furniture,...and the day I can walk in a straight line from one place to another in our house without side-stepping something will be a miracle! I don't worry about picking anything up till both girls are in bed though unless I've got someone coming round, otherwise I would just spend my entire day following them around and picking stuff up! 

So here are some things I use for toy organising...
* Whenever I buy pillowcases or sheet sets I keep the plastic zip bags they come in- they are great for puzzles or other little things. I've also made some fabric puzzle bags too.

* In the lounge I've got a couple of storage containers that don't scream 'kids' even though there's kids stuff in them

Kids books in a little basket

 * I like using soft rubber buckets like the pink one below for toys. They fit heaps and they can squeeze into whatever space you have. They have heaps at Briscoes- I got this one for $8 on Sunday when they had their big sale. 

Kitchen toys and books

I also like Ezibuy for their storage containers -that's where I got these for Stella's room a few years ago.

* I re-use cute boxes to keep puzzles and little things together too- this spotty box had a set of toiletries in it

* I like using a trug type container for crafty stuff- easy to throw everything in when Stella throws it all over the floor (did I mention Stella has a throwing habit...) and with the handle it's easy to move around depending on where Amelie feels like drawing that day. 

Blue trug from The Warehouse

* Although I haven't tried it, I really like the idea of toy rotation where you bring out different toys each week. Of course, you need good out of sight storage for this to be able to work!

* I use bookcases for all the girl's books but I love this idea and want to make one for Amelie's room.

This is pretty amazing too!

* and finally, here is some drool worthy storage inspiration rounded up by Lil Magoolie.

Phew, that's another project done (for now!) and it really has made a difference to the overall feel of the house I think. I don't know much about feng shui but it really does feel like the house has a more positive energy and is somehow 'lighter' if you know what I mean!  Would love to hear any of your tips or storage ideas too.

It was so great to see the link up's and read all the comments last week thank you :) The winner of last weeks prize is Wendy.

This week's prize is two zippered bags for keeping puzzles and other little things together. Just link up with your organising pics, leave a comment telling us about some organising you've been up to, or let us know any tips or ideas you've got and you're in the draw.

Next weeks project is family photo's/memories. Some things I would like to get done are either print out and put all of 2010 in some albums (oh boy, thats a big job!) or make some books using Snapfish, make another DVD of the girls, print some family photo's to put in a collage type frame, delcutter my iphoto albums and print and frame some photo's of the girls for a wall in our hallway. A couple of these have been on my to-do list for over a year at least! The latter part of this week has gone a little pear shaped though -sick child, quick trip to Auckland needed (unrelated to sick child!)- and we've got a wedding next week so even if I get one of these done next week I'll be happy! Maybe you've got heaps of photo's to print out or put in albums as well, or you've been wanting to frame a few special photo's too.

Happy organising :)
Megan x
PS: If you are decluttering fabric or old clothes at the moment check out this website- Sarah would love to hear from you! http://www.sewitforward.co.cc/

my creative space: puzzle bags

This post should really be called "why I shouldn't start sewing late at night". I was having a relaxing evening after a hectic day but then did my usual thing of coming alive about 8:30pm and deciding to do some crafting.
My organising challenge this week is the kids toys so I thought it would be good to make up a few puzzle bags to keep puzzle pieces in and also keep little things like Barbie stuff and toy baby stuff. My original idea was to make them using clear plastic so it would be easy to see what was in the bags.

Attempt one

This one has oil cloth on the back, with fabric lining on the oil cloth side as I didn't like the look of the back of the oil cloth.  No overlocker so I cut the seams with my pinking shears. Looks marginally ok but pretty messy and tatty.

Attempt 2

I thought I'd try sort of appliquing a clear plastic window to some oil cloth for the front of the purse. Nightmare trying to keep the two layers together and also the plastic just kept sticking to the sewing machine while I was sewing.

Attempt 3

Changed from oil cloth to fabric that looks the same both sides. Looks absolutely terrible!

At this stage I'm nearly ready to call it quits but just can't bring myself to. Have a sit on the couch and then think of another way.

Attempt 4

I decided to try just attaching 2 pieces of clear plastic to a zip, then use bias binding to go around the edges. Attaching bias binding to clear plastic..... another nightmare.

Attempt 5

Completely gave up on using clear plastic, googled 'puzzle bag tutorial' and found this one. 

(I changed the instructions slightly by adding the zip to each end of the fabric without sewing a seam and unpicking it first like it says in the tutorial.)

Made the first one in about 10 minutes and loved it, even if you can't see what's inside.

So much for my "need to have an early night tonight" that I say every morning when I wake up...but it was worth it as I do really like them!

For more creative spaces without as many disasters I'm sure, click here

Thanks for visiting and hope to see you here tomorrow with my organising project number 3!

Megan

Organised Home Project 2: Craft space/home office

Morning all, I hope you've had a great week.  I had a very productive one getting this space in my home re-organised - it was number one on my 'must get sorted' to do list!  I love having this cupboard/nook for my craft space that can just be shut when I'm not using it.  Here's what it looked like when I first set it up back at the start of last year.

Here's my 'before' pic that I took just before Christmas

Out. of. control!!

And here's what it looks like now

Loving it!

Project duration: about 6 hours on and off, which includes the 3 hours I spent one evening sorting out all of my fabric

This was my plan of attack

1. I got my hubby to drill two holes in the first shelf so I could move the printer up onto it.  This has by far made the most difference in here as I've got so much more desk space now and can sew without banging into the printer all the time! He also drilled a hole in the desk for all the cords to go underneath instead of on the desk.

Our phone chargers peeking out of the hole instead of all over the desk

2. I sorted out all my fabric- I had fabric and old clothes I thought I'd use for fabric in the hot water cupboard, along the top of one couch, in the spare room bedside cabinets and drawers as well as more fabric in drawers and containers in my craft space. I dumped all of it in the lounge and gave myself the job of only putting it into one large plastic bin that sits under my desk, 2 drawers and a couple of smaller containers in my craft space.  This took a whole evening to do but it was such a good feeling having it all organised and seeing the 5 bags ready for the charity shop!

3. I gathered up my craft books and put them on a shelf with my crafty magazines. 

4. I re-sorted, contained and labelled craft supplies like a mad woman.

5. I did another huge job of going through my stack of magazines, ripping out the pages I'd marked, and putting them into some clearfiles I already had on the go. It was very satisfying seeing the huge pile of mags out with the recycling too! I had another pile of ripped out pages that had been sitting on a file tray on my desk for about 6 months so I filed them too- it was great seeing all the pages I'd marked and getting all sorts of ideas and inspiration for the year.

 6. Although it may not look like it,  I did actually sort my noticeboard by taking everything off it, keeping what I wanted, getting rid of some pics and adding some new ones. A great crafty project for your craft space or your home office is to make your own noticeboard- they are great for adding a bit of colour with a favourite fabric (not that you can see mine!) and are perfect for organising pictures, reminders and notes.

I made these button tacks by gluing buttons to flat thumbtacks

7. I found this little whiteboard in my spare room gift drawer that had been there for about 2 years so I put it on the wall to keep a track of the crafty projects I want/need to do.

There's my printer cord coming through the hole on the shelf- my hubby even put a little hook to keep it out of the way when not in use :)

And lastly I stuck this lovely page that I got out of the latest "Good" magazine on the wall

 

Phew, all done! It was great to do a really thorough job of it knowing that I was sharing it on here- it makes me feel much more accountable and want to do a really good job with it!

And now for some prizes...

Thank you so much for all your comments about the organising you want to get done this year.  Using the random number generator, the winner of the notebook and pen giveaway is Stella, congratulations!

Thank you also to everyone that commented or linked up with some pics of your organising projects this week- the winner of the 'Linen Cupboard Treats' prize is Meg with her before and after linen cupboard pics.
This week you can use the linky to show us an organising project you've been up to this week, whether it's your craft space, another project you've tackled or even a bit of deluttering (go on we love seeing organising pics!) or just leave a comment -one of you will win this weeks prize which is...

...one of my favourite organising tools, a little compartment organiser, with a few crafty essentials for your craft space.

Next week's project...The Kids Toys

Here's some tips to get you started...
-Sort them into piles/bags of 'keep', 'toss' 'sell' or 'giveaway'
-or use 'The rule of 10' when de-cluttering- for example, decide to keep only 10 baby toys and give away the rest, or vice versa, start with choosing 10 to giveaway- you'll be surprised once you get started how you or the kids will probably get on a roll and choose more than the 10!
Thanks for reading, see you next week and happy organising!
Megan x

My creative space: a little stitching

In my creative space today- this little art work I made last night for the wall. Made using a babushka feltie from here, some buttons and a little piece of turquoise upholstery fabric.  It was nice to do a bit of stitching again now that my craft space is back under control.

For more creative spaces, head over to Kirsty's here.
See you tomorrow with my before and after pics, hope to see some of yours too!
Megan x

a colour book

I love colour! My favourite colour combination at the moment is pink, yellow, grey and turquoise but I really love all colours and so many different colour combinations. I am trying to stick to just those four colours for my house spruce up but I find it really hard as I like so many different looks!

Anyway,  I thought today I'd share the Snapfish book I made for a christmas present for Amelie.  I made this one for Stella after seeing the idea on Angela's Striking Keys blog and then I had an idea for Amelie's one- I decided to go with a colour theme and made it "A Colour Book for Amelie".
I had heaps of fun gathering up bits and bobs around the house for each colour- crafty things, toys, and other bits and bobs and taking a photo of each colour collection.

 

Then I went through my iphoto folders (I have over 6,000 photos in my iphoto going back to when Amelie was born -another thing to add to my decluttering/organising list!) and found photo's of crafty things I had made for her over the year and also photo's of other things that would match up to some of the colours.  Here's some of the pages I made.

I really like having the craft photo's in there as it is so neat to see all of the things I made for her in a little book. Both books were a hit with the girls although Stella goes for Amelie's more than her own which is funny! 

Well, time for some more 'organising' now yay! My craft space is looking very different and I've just got a few more things to do.  Can't wait to share on Friday and hopefully see some of your 'before and after' pics too! Sarah, the creator of KiwiMummyBlogs and the cool blog Bobby Robin kindly made me a button for the challenge to put on the Kiwi Mummy Blogs site - thanks Sarah! She also wrote a great post about decluttering here. And Meg has some awesome before and after linen cupboard pics and tips here.

Thanks for visiting :)

Megan

By the way, I got given a tip from the Clip Cafe  the other day to use 'picnik'  to edit photo's to make blog buttons and add watermarks to photo's and the like.  I just used it today to add text to my colour photo's above- it was really easy to use so thanks heaps for the tip!