Washi Week 2017

My 13yo LOVES LOVES LOOOOOOVES washi tape! She has quite the collection! It comes in so many cute colors and designs! A lot of people have never even heard of washi tape and they don't know what to do with it. Well, she uses it quite a bit, so I thought we could dedicate an entire week on the blog to washi tape crafts. I am letting her do some guest posting to keep her busy help me out. Every day this week she will have a post about washi tape, so prepare to be inspired!!!

UPDATE: You can see each post by clicking on the images below!

 

Stuffed Bunny Ear Transplant

Summer vacation is rough!!! I (laughably) thought it might be easier this year because I actually downsized from being with 20 kids all day to just 5. Hahahahaha! Dealing with 5 of my own kids is entirely different. They aren't used to being with each other all day so they need to reestablish the pecking order. It is taking longer than usual with the hormones raging in this house these days (oh, just a sample of what is to come, I know!) Now we have a heat wave and my car is in the garage. It has been quite the week! So, if you are wondering where I have been, I am probably hiding- locked in my bedroom and curled up in the fetal position with a bag of chocolate chips.

OK. Not really.

I have ice cream.

Every now and then I get ambitious/drink extra coffee and try do something fun. Last week we went on our planned shopping excursion, but it took until 2pm or so to get them to clean their rooms so we could leave. Our first stop was the thrift store for a very specific purpose- bunny ears. The kids are waking up right now so I am going to let my 9yo do a little guest posting and tell you about it!

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I have a stuffed bunny named Twinkle Toes. It is a Beanie Boo that has the same birthday as me. My aunts' dog chewed off my bunnies' ears. They don't make these bunnies anymore so we couldn't get a new one. My mom and I decided to go to the thrift store to find new ears. I found the perfect bunny. It's ears were backwards! We all went home and mom washed the bunny. A few days later, my mom seam ripped what was left of the ears on Twinkle Toes. She also cut the ears off of the 2nd bunny. She sewed the ears on Twinkle Toes. We even added a pink flower! AGAIN, MOM SAVES THE DAY!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for posting for me today, Lydia! I am happy that I could fix your bunny for you!

Field Trip Bag

The past few weeks have been pretty much a blur. Between sports, work, gardening, farming, etc. we seem to be crazy busy all of the time! I am pretty much in survival mode. When that happens, the first things to go are sewing and blogging. I have some things I plan on sharing with you, but I rarely fire up the old laptop or pause long enough to gather my thoughts. This is the season we are in right now and it is exhausting. About a month ago my oldest daughter went on her class field trip. At 9pm the night before the trip, she came to me with fabric she picked out and wanted to make a drawstring bag to use the next day. I am crazy; so we did.

A month later I got to benefit from that late night sewing. Last week I went on THREE field trips! (I am still tired!) Of course my daughter let me borrow her bag and it was pretty handy.

I found a tutorial HERE that we roughly followed. I used fusible fleece and it is a bit thick, so next time I will stick to interfacing. We also added pockets inside to hold deodorant, etc. when she uses it for gym class. The drawstrings are made from some extra clothesline that was in our basement. I would also make the loops a bit wider and shorter next time.

I may not blog again until school is out for the year, but I am still here and I have a lot to blog about whenever I am able to make time to write.

Kitchen Drawer Organizing

May is a crazy busy month for me! We have 4 different sports teams going right now so we are always on the go. I really don't have time for extra cleaning and organizing, but I know that I need to make it a priority because, let's face it, when the kids are home from school for the summer it will only get worse. Kathi Lipp is running a 10 day "Spring Fling" challenge over on her blog and I decided to join in. The first room was the same place where I always start- the kitchen. Since I organized and decluttered a lot back in January, it was not too bad. I got rid of some things that we aren't really using and some things that are in poor condition. If I find I really do need to replace them later, I will, but I would bet that we can made do. One area that I have decent organization is my drawers. Unfortunately, it is my 11yo's job to unload the dishwasher and she doesn't put things away correctly. We need some more lessons on that. I won't let them graduate to another job until they have learned to master the currently assigned chore. (Everyone really hates unloading the dishwasher.) I focused on decluttering and straightening the drawers today. So, this is what my drawers look like when things are put in the proper places (and to be fair there are some things in the dishwasher waiting to be washed).

Please excuse my terrible pictures; the lighting in my kitchen is really bad, especially on dreary days like today. 

I was given this handy tray for utensils. My rolling pin fits nicely beside it so that is where I keep it.

The drawer doesn't pull out all the way, but behind the tray I have a bag with extra utensils for when we host large gatherings, which is never, and the toddler and baby utensils in an old storage container that didn't have a lid.

Next I have the larger utensils that I use for cooking and serving. I use a tray from the Dollar Tree (came in a 3-pack) to hold the spatulas and create a sort of divider. This drawer is usually the messiest, but I didn't want all of those bulky items in a container on my counter anymore.

My kitchen gadget drawer is nicely organized with dollar store bins. Someone in the Spring Fling facebook group showed that she decluttered her vegetable peelers. Well, I had five but we use them all when we are canning and I put the girls to work. I still parted with two that were worn out so either I get more or we take shifts. LOL

Last stop is the junk drawer. Most of our junk is in baskets around the house (which I plan on revisiting soon) so it really just holds some miscellaneous items and extra things.

I feel like I am off to a good start, even if I got rid of a lot of small items.

 Other posts that you may find helpful...

8 Tips that Help Me Declutter

Kitchen Decluttering and Organizing

Kitchen Organization for Lunchbox Stuff