Lotus Flowers for my Beautiful Friend

Last week I mentioned a new craft I was working on, well, ta-da!

Stemmed Fabric Lotus Flowers.

Because I discovered it is not that easy to buy a real lotus flower.  

One of my dearest friends just opened up her very own yoga studio.  Six years ago I met her, and began taking yoga classes out of her home.  And I am so incredibly proud of her!  I wanted to send her flowers for the occasion.  I really wanted to send her lotus flowers.  You know, the real kind.

Then I googled it and found out that it would be a bit complicated to do that.  I went to bed that night with an idea of making a lotus flower.  The next day when I went to buy fabric, I loved so many that I made a dozen lotus flowers!

I just love how each one takes a different shape.  

I will post a tutorial next week if you want to make these...

Organizing Paper Clutter. I Made a Binder.

Here's the skinny on the Household Binder: GREAT, great, great tool to stay organized!!  Until now, I thought these binders were mostly used to help you keep a clean house.  But, helloooo, you can CUSTOMIZE it to your own needs!  See how I did that...

I have seen many, many, many of these "Household Management Binders" over the past few years of reading mom and craft blogs.  At Organized Home, they are called Household Notebooks and you should hop over there to get the whats, whys, and hows about making one!  They also have a ton of free printable pages.

Anyhoo...Seems that these binders are the thing to have in your house. Preferably the kitchen. And while I have thought about making them in the past, I just never thought they addressed my needs. A typical binder is divided into sections such as: babysitter info (don't have a sitter and don't go anywhere), budget (I use Quicken for that), emergency phone numbers (um, iPhone), menu planning and grocery lists (already have a system for those), to do lists (I already make a zillion of those!), and then several sections for cleaning (crickets, crickets).

I have this calendar in the back cover.

I needed a solution to the my piles of papers in the kitchen (and my bedroom dresser, but I don't want to get ahead of myself!).  See, I didn't need help with a budget, or emergency contact numbers, or a cleaning schedule.

This is me:   

I get papers from school and I never know where to put them. So I make a pile for school papers. Then I get something in the mail that I need to keep, and it goes in another pile. Coupons get stuck in a drawer, then I forget about them. Important papers go on the fridge. I have *lots* of important papers.  One pile might be things to get done today. Another pile is for things that can wait 'til next week. So, piles all over my kitchen. Then my husband comes home and mushes all my piles into one big- but neat- pile. He thinks he is helping, but he just messed up my system! Which means, digging through the really big pile to find everything and re-sorting it all later.

I have tried folders. But too messy.

OK, that's all I have tried. : )

So these home management binders really got me thinking...I could apply this same concept to my paper mess!  Check. It:

Here are my categories:

I Bought Supplies.

1.5" Binder

2 packs of pocket dividers

document protectors

3-ring pocket thing that I have not really used for anything yet.

After using this book for a couple of weeks, I also need a zipper pouch for my coupons.

I Selected Categories.

My binder might be the only one without a section for cleaning- HA!

I started by jotting down the categories I thought I might use. I set up my binder and followed these preliminary categories for a few weeks before committing to a set of categories that I know will work for me. I committed to them when I busted out the label maker and printed the labels.

This binder (just Up&Up brand) is very cool, because it has two pockets in the front and back covers.

~~ I use the front cover to stow little "now" things- receipts, to-do lists, etc.

~~ The back cover holds things that need no attention- just need filed.  (Mail, paid bills, or receipts) They are in the back and I will never look at them until I go to empty the pockets.

And the Binder Pocket (by Up&Up) might be useful for the coupons

Notice, no cleaning schedule???
Not that I don't need to clean. Ha! I need to clean. But seriously, I am not going to, let's say, wipe down my doors every Thursday, or dust on Mondays. Heck, I can't even commit to cleaning the kitchen floor on a regular basis. My method is, when it needs cleaned, I clean it. I tend to clean the kids bathroom in parts. One day I get the toilet, when I notice that someone peed on the seat. Next day the sink because it is covered in spit. And when I notice the bathtub has a ring of dirt around it, I clean it real quick before I give the kids a bath. See? It gets done. Just not on a set schedule.

So that's my new system. I have always been pretty good about going through the mail and immediately sorting the "recycle" from the "pay/keep". I also flip through catalogs and toss them into the recycle right then or same day. I just needed a system (and not piles everywhere) of the important papers.

I feel so organized now. I said "feel". No, I really am better organized now : )

Linking here:

{Get Organized!} School Lunches

If I don't do this soon, I will cry.

Source: here @ Echoes of Laughter

Source here @ IHeart Organizing

How smart is this?!  My kids are just now starting to ask for school lunch, but it is only about 50% of the time.  Which is fine with me.  I do enjoy the break from packing lunches, too.  I make the lunches the night before and so this idea would help make that process even faster.  I could have all the baby carrots in baggies ready to grab.  However, things like apples that brown, will still need to be cut up the night before.  Even so, there is even the option of asking the kids to "pack" their own lunch if I make it this easy.

And speaking of kids lunches...I need to get some new tricks in this department.  My 6yr old "claims" to dislike peanut butter and any bread that is brown (wheat).  Ok.  Great.  I will try and work within those narrow guidelines.  And my 4yr old asked me (again) today for a butterfly sandwich.  An assignment which I have already failed once.

I spent some time here at Laptop Lunches to find some better ideas.  I do think presenting the food in these cute bento boxes could also help raise my kids' interest in eating the lunch.  I did find four "anti-sandwhich lunches" to start with:

1.  Crunch and Munch
I think this whole lunch might be a hit with both kids.  Might sub out the tomatoes for red pepper or carrots. I believe there is a spinach dip in that foil section.

 2.  Pizza With Pizazz
No one in this family will deny pizza, so this should work perfectly!  I will need another idea for the soup (will be cold).  I could probably leave it out entirely because I am feeding young kids with small bellies.




3.  It's A Wrap
I could use any fruit or veggie on hand.  Changing the bread to a fun wrap sandwich might boost the enthusiasm about lunch.  And opting for pretzel "nuggets" vs. the traditional twist might be novel as well!





4.  Breakfast for Lunch
We eat breakfast for dinner A LOT, so why not for lunch!??!  I should have thought of this long ago.  Again, my kids should eat all of this.

Do you have any suggestions for my anti-sandwich kids?  I would love to hear them! 

Leave me a comment/link.  If I get a bunch, I will do a post of all the anti-sandwhich ideas here on my blog!

Between naptime and school pick up...

And just as I was getting ready to write a new post, the little man wakes up.  Darn it!  But I guess since I am here I will chat for a minute.  I have not forgotten about you, little crafty blog and my hundred or so readers, I am just flying solo right now while my husband is out of town and I haven't been able to squeeze in the blog.

I know many of you probably manage just fine when the hubby's gone, but I am pretty certain I barely get by even when he is here.  I know, I only have 3 kids and I don't homeschool or run an etsy shop (at least for the past year) so I am sure you are wondering what my problem is on why I can't find time to craft and blog.  I am wondering the same thing!  ha!  Hang on now, I am not looking for pity, I am just telling ya that I am still here.  Not complaining, just babbling.  We are doing laundry, and homework, going to the gym and soccer practices, and potty training (which is going like textbook- or better!!).  And I have learned that an hour is not enough time for me to get everybody bathed and ready for bed and teeth brushed and stories read each night.  Do I really need to start getting the kids ready for bed at 6:30?  And I know that my youngest is going to get out of bed 15 times before finally staying there.  And if I stand up in his doorway, it will speed up the falling asleep time.  And I won't get to the kitchen to pack lunches until 9:30.  Doesn't Supernanny say the bedtime routine should be much shorter than that?  I agree.  I must be doing something wrong.  And I know that there is plenty of time from 10pm to ?? to make stuff, but I am just so exhausted that my eyes barely stay open.  You don't want me operating a sewing machine or glue gun when I can't see straight. 

I did finish my project for my friend, took pics, and can't wait to share!  

Also an update on that butterfly sandwich...she hated it and told me I made it wrong.  I only own one cookie cutter, a very small heart.  I had to turn the butterfly into a few small heart sandwiches. Maybe I need a butterfly cookie cutter?

Gotta get the kids from school.  Such a loud part of my day.

   

Butterfly Sandwich + Potty Train + Features = a bunch of Whatever

I just made a butterfly sandwich.

I don't even know if I made it correctly. I thought about taking a picture, but you would just make fun. It was one of those, "you really need to use your imagination" kind of things. My daughter asked me specifically for a butterfly sandwich in her lunch tomorrow. I had to ask her what that was. She described that is was a sandwich in the shape of a butterfly. She said I didn't have to worry about the head. (How kind.) I just cut the bread in a couple of triangles and stuck some toothpicks in a sugar snap pea to make antennae and also to hold the butterfly together. I don't know. Maybe she'll fall for it. Obviously some awesome mom to one of her lucky classmates knows all about these sandwiches. I will have to find out who she is, I guess.

I did not make this.  I found it here. 

Other than that, I started potty training my son, Henry. He is two. He has been running around in his underwear much of this week. You can see he is a Thomas the Train fan. He refers to this process as the Potty Train.



Hey by the way, did you notice my sidebar? Over there ---------> (and up near the top...)


Three more blogs that have featured a craft from my blog!
Can.you.believe.it? I can't!


It was funny, last night I was scrolling through a blog and I was like, "Hey that's Stella's arm!"
I saw the picture but it didn't click in my head right away what my photo was doing elsewhere!
Very cool.

I do have a few new projects that I want to make. Picked up some supplies today, in fact! Me and Mr. Potty Train ran some errands. He suffered through a trip to Hobby Lobby and Hancock Fabrics. He paid me back at naptime. However, these new projects will have to wait. I just started a new-new project today- it was something that I envisioned in my head and now am trying to bring it to reality. So far so good. I can't say what it is though. It is going to be a gift so I can't blow the surprise! I smell my glue gun heating up...that's all I can say!