my favorite summer container

You can find these oversized buckets anywhere. I generally shop Wal-Mart simply because it's hard to beat their price. As of recently I have seen them in some super fun colors. Not your ordinary tote, lots more character and just enough personality that they can add to your ambiance. Consider filling it with ice to chill drinks at a bbq or summer picnic. Great for water relays, filling with water balloons, or storing balls or other outside toys that have no place to call home. I keep two of them in my garage: one for balls and one for frisbees, jump ropes, water guns etc. Easy enough for the kids to pull around and definitely easy enough for them to do a quick clean up. That's always nice:) I also use a smaller version in my kids' closets for their shoes. Each child has a bucket of their own. Sooo much nicer than shoes all over the closet and bedroom floor. In the picture of my boys closet the baskets on the shelf hold their socks. Good-bye chaotic sock drawer.

plastic sack organizer

Looking for a way to contain all of your plastic grocery sacks? Many are moving to the reusable grocery sacks which we use once and a while also but we still use the plastic sacks for bathroom garbage sacks and many other things around the house. This little organizer is not a new idea but I thought I would share it anyway. Here is what you need.

cloth napkin or dish towel

8 in. of 1/4 in. elastic

safety pin

10 in. strip of ribbon

I started with a cloth napkin I found on clearance on day but you could also use a dish towel which would create a little longer organizer. I folded it is half and cut it about 7 in away from the folded edge. Measure and mark elastic at about 8 inches.

Attach safety pin to elastic and thread through the existing hem of the napkin or towel.

Pull in through until you see your mark of 8 inches and then sew up the side creating a tube.

Turn it ride side out and attach your ribbon to the top.

Stuff it with sacks in the top, and hang it up in your pantry. I found this and some other kitchen organizing tip from Martha here.

quick tip for today

Just thought we would share a quick tip for today. Whenever I have an orange or any other citrus I put a couple pieces of the peel in our kitchen sink disposal to clean it and give it a nice fresh smell.

I never thought of freezing them so you have them on hand all of the time. I read this is some magazine the other day at the library but I can't remember which one.

Anyway I put some in a baggie and through them in the freezer. They work great!! I don't really like to eat grapefruit but it is one of my favorite smells, good thing my husband likes it.

we LOVE birthdays

Is there anyone under that hat???

We LOVE birthdays at our house. Who doesn't? I bought this birthday hat at the dollar store a few years ago and it has become a great tradition at our house. This hat is always waiting for you at breakfast when you wake up on your birthday morning and it can be worn where ever and as much as you would like only on that their day. (We found one at Oriental Trading Co. in primary colors for Dad so he would have to wear a pink one.)

Family traditions are what make fun memories even if they are simple like this.

The other birthday traditions that our girls love are:

*Choose the menu for the day; breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My mom did this when I was little and I loved it.

*Other family members pick up your jobs for the day.

*You can stay in your pajamas all day if you would like.

Here was the outfit of choice for this year. Great for dancing!!!

oops, how to get stickies off your iron

Ironing Dryer Sheets

I am sure I am not the only one that has made this mistake so I thought I would share. I was working on a project and while using iron-on-interfacing I did not cover it with the paper completely. Needless to say I had a big mess and one sticky iron plate. So what do I do when I have a problem like this, right google it. I read that you can purchase and expensive iron plate cleaner or you can just iron dryer sheets.

I put an old towel under the dryer sheet, set the iron on to a pretty hot setting, and started ironing. It did take a a few sheets but it is now as good as new. Quick tip that I am sure I may need again in the future.

password keeper

Do you have a hard time remembering passwords and login names for all of the shopping, bills, registrations, emails, etc. I know that this was becoming a problem at our house. We started writing them on a paper by the computer but were running out of room quickly. We found that an address book worked great for this. I found this one at a dollar store. You just jot down your login and password under the alphabetical letter that is applies to. A is for Amazon, B is for Barnes and Noble, C is for Chase and so on. I hope this helps with the missing passwords at your house.

pickles to petals

Yes these use to be full of PICKLES. Our family loves pickles and on a pretty regular basis we buy this huge jar of pickles from Sam's Club, which are pretty inexpensive. These jars are nice big 1 gallon glass jars that I can't just throw away. A few of them sat in my pantry for a while until I thought of this idea. I needed a container for ribbon scraps and flowers petals.

I washed them good and then tore off the label. I found of piece of scrap paper and made labels and then glued them on with Mod Podge. I didn't keep the lid but if you wanted to I found a cute way to cover it with paper here. Here is what they ended up looking like.

a new pocket for polly

Before

The New Pocket

Have you noticed the many fun projects and toys are made with this clear plastic vinyl? Seeing so many, I also started to notice how many small items are packaged in it: socks, underpants, and many others. I bought these little mesh bags at the dollar store and I was about to throw the package away when I had this idea.

I covered the cardboard insert with scrapbook paper and then added a little handle with a hole punch and some ribbon. I thought that this would work great for all those little Polly Pockets, Playmobils, Legos, and any other treasure your little ones want to tote around.

skirt to sundress

I have recently seen so many great re-purposing ideas out there. I found a great tutorial on Make It and Love It for a cute sundress made from a men's dress shirt. After looking at this I decided to try it with a skirt I had. I love the pattern but every time I tried it on I didn't love the fit soooo... it became a sundress.
I cut off a strip from the top to make straps, gathered the top with some elastic, and sewed the straps on. I did not have enough fabric to make the cute flower like on the other one so I just stacked some flowers together, added a button, and then attached it to the dress with a bar pin. (I will post a tutorial on these flowers soon along with the many way that you can use them.)

foaming hand soap

Everyone once and a while I venture in to Bath and Body Works to get some of their foaming hand soap. I love these soaps but we go through them quickly and they can add up fast when they may not be a necessity in your budget.

I love the foaming soap especially with little ones. No more soggy soap bars and no more sticky liquid soap left all over the sink. When the soap is gone I just refill the container half way up with liquid hand soap( from the big refill jugs), and the other half with water.
Shake it up good to mix it and give it a few pumps. It doesn't smell as good as the original but it sure saves on $$ and messes.