Baby Shower Gift Ideas

I just love babies. Seriously. My "little one" isn't so little at 18 months now and I'm starting to get that baby fever again. But we aren't ready to have any more children at this point, so I combat it by hosting baby showers and holding other mother's babies. Then I get go home and sleep through the night - usually.

The last shower I hosted was actually a little over a week ago and was unusual because it was for 3 mothers-to-be. We chose to do a "Display" shower to honor each mother and not bore our guests to death by opening a ton of presents, one by one. You can read more about this idea and other shower details here. When I was deciding what I would give each mother, I wanted to make sure that each display table was personal and easy to distinguish. I created what I thought was a very usable, personal and unique gift idea.

I gave each mother a diaper cake decorated in her nursery theme with a set of closet dividers.

Jungle Theme with Green and Brown

Pink and Brown


Classic Pooh with Yellow and Green

I looked for a number of pictures and how-to's on diaper cakes online. I found both rolled and smooth cakes, but decided that I liked the smooth cakes best. (Plus, once you read the directions the smooth ones take less time as well.) Ultimately, the best instructions I found were here. I probably spent 2 hours on the first cake, but they went pretty quickly after I figured out the process. You can buy as much or as little to go on your cake as you'd like, but I liked the simplicity of the ribbon with the coordinating stuffed animal best.

The second part of my gift was closet dividers. I can remember getting so many darling outfits for my son. He wore some of them only once or twice before outgrowing them. Luke wore a lot of his clothing even less than Mark. And it was mainly because I would put the same several outfits on him because I knew they fit and I knew where they were. If I'd had these in my closet I know they would have worn their clothes more. I found the general idea and and instructions for these here, then I made them my own.

I used 4 door hangers for each set. I deliberated what ages to use, but ultimately decided to use 3-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-18 months and 18-24 months. I decided not to do one for newborn or 0-3 because my boys never even wore newborn sizes (like a lot of babies) and I figured the 0-3 sizes could go before the first divider and allow me to add an extra size.

I added ribbon for two reasons. 1. It looks nicer, especially for a display shower. 2. Some closets don't have removable bars, so the only option is to tie the divider to the bar.

I used the same pattern on each set for simplicity. I thought the polka dots were cute and I was terrified that I would mess them up if I tried something else, frankly. I had so much to do leading up the shower that I didn't have time to paint them more than once. I liked the dots so I stuck with them. I'm sure they'd be even cuter with different patterns or colors.

I used Baby Cheapskate to help me find a good deal on diapers and used some coupons for a local craft store to make the divider supplies discounted. Altogether, the total cost of the gifts was less than I would have spent shopping each registry individually and much more personal.

What ideas do you have for giving baby gifts that are both personal and economical?

Kids' Crafts for Every Room

Sometimes we think that crafts can only be done in one location. At your house, that might be the playroom, the kitchen table, or at a desk. But the more crafts I do with my preschooler, the more I realize that there are projects that can be done in every room of the house! Here are a few of our favorite things to do in different rooms.

The Kitchen-

• make play-doh
• hand-print apron (Family Fun)
• create a kitchen out of a box (Family Fun)
• make bird seed biscuits (Celebrate Every Day)
• see what will sink or float (Preschool Daze)
• use boxes to make skyscrapers (Preschool Daze)
• cut sponges into shapes to use to paint- like these Christmas lights (No Time for Flashcards)
• make foam magnets for the fridge (No Time for Flashcards)
• salt art (No Time for Flash Cards)
• make a rainbow with glasses of milk (Makes and Takes)
• salt dough ornaments (Cobblestone Farms)
  

The Dining Room-

• make stencil place mats (Family Fun)
  
• play with your food (Family Fun)
• set up a pretend store (No Time for Flashcards & Celebrate Every Day)
  

The Bathroom-

• catamaran made from soda bottles (Family Fun)
• tub paint (Family Fun)
• sink the Titanic game (Family Fun)
• learn about taking care of your teeth (Celebrate Every Day)
• create animals with empty toilet paper rolls (like this tiger at DLTK)
• freeze a toy in water to make an iceberg (No Time for Flashcards)
• paint with Q-tips (Preschool Daze)
• splatter painting with an old tooth brush (Flip Flops and Applesauce)
  

The Living Room-

• uses for old magazines and catalogs (The Creative Homeschool)
• play post office with junk mail
• collect coins (Flip Flops and Apple Sauce)
  

The Laundry Room-

• simple shakers made with laundry detergent lids (Family Fun)
• use buttons to make a mosaic (No Time for Flashcards)
• work on fine motor skills with clothes pins
  
• stencil your own t-shirts (Impress Your Kids)
• "sew" with yarn (Impress Your Kids)
  

Shew- that's a lot of things to do! See, there is a craft for every room in the house! Enjoy!

This Week: Crafty Ladies

Our topic this week should really get your creative juices flowing! We are talking about crafts. From quilting to scrapbooking, there are way too many crafts to discuss them all in one week, but we will talk about some of our favorite projects. We hope to encourage and inspire you to try something new, or dust off a project you've had on hold!

Our guest post Friday is from Linda who blogs at Craft Apple. She is a quilter and pattern designer.

image source

Organizing Your Closets: Tackle Any Closet in 5 Steps

by Paula Constable, Stuff 2b Organized, LLC

Closets tend to be overlooked until.........nothing else can fit! Sometimes stuff gets shoved into closets because you're just not sure where else to go with it. You can have closets that are easy to access and contain seemingly more room than before.

Once again, I've taken the basic organizing principles and applied my STUFF System™ to show you how to get any closet (bedroom, linen, cleaning, home office, storage, entry way, etc) organized.

• Sort
• Take Out
• Utilize Your Space
• Fill Containers
• Follow-UP

First, clear everything out of the closet that you are working on. As you are pulling stuff out, Sort everything into piles and put like items together. When you sort, you are able to see how much you have of everything.

As you are sorting, Take Out the stuff you just don't need, use or want. Get rid of broken items, donated the unneeded, make a pile of the items that belong elsewhere in the house. Do you really need 12 sets of bed sheets? When was the last time you used that hand-held vacuum cleaner that doesn't really work that well anyway?

After you have sorted and taken out the stuff that doesn't belong in that closet, you are left with.....a big mess! OK, trust me, it gets easier after this point. You are left with the stuff that needs to go back into the closet in a way that will be easy for you to get what you need when you need it and easy to return items when you are finished with them.

You want to Utilize Your Space; in other words, make the most of what you have. Can shelving, hooks, or other closet components be added? How can the space be divided for your needs? I like to break my closets down into sections or zones. For example:

• One shelf for sweaters
• This end is for wrapping supplies
• This shelf if for all the master bedroom linens
• This shelf is for extra office supplies

The regularly accessed items should be kept at a convenient height for the users. For example, it makes sense to keep hooks for the kids' coats down low so they can hang up their own stuff after school.

It also helps to Fill Containers that are labeled to keep like items together, too. Some common items that work well stored in containers (baskets, boxes, bins, bags) are:

• Hats, mittens, and scarves
• Extra toiletry supplies
• First aid items
• Hair accessories
• Belts
• Seasoning packets

Stacking containers can help make the space in your closet more usable. By doing this, you are using every bit of your space. I also use containers or baskets inside drawers because it keeps like items together.

Once you space is organized, be sure to expect Follow-Up time. Maintaining your organized space is a necessity if you want it to continue to work for you. The more a space is used, the more maintenance it will need. Remove unused stuff on a regular basis put items back after you are done using them.

Paula Constable, The Organizing Expert for Moms, strives to help make daily lives easier and less stressful for busy families through hands-on organizing, teleclasses, and her blog, Organizing Tips and Thoughts for Moms. You can receive her 5 Must-Know Organizing Tips for Busy Moms and The Clutter-Free Gift Giving Guide when you sign up for her free newsletter at www.stuff2borganized.com.

A Tiny Step Forward

My son turned 6 months old yesterday. He got a tooth this week and started eating rice cereal. He is growing up too fast!! His closet, however, still has newborn clothes in it. It was time to put away all those clothes to make room for some that fit!

As you can see, we couldn't even walk in his closet. It used to look better, but around Christmas, everyone was coming and I needed to store some stuff fast, so it made its way into the bottom of his closet! I also had about 10 packs of diapers in there in sizes that he can't wear! My brother gave me all the baby clothes my nephew used to wear, so I had to figure out what to do with them too.

I had a couple of storage bins (leftover from other stuff) and put all of his outgrown clothes in them and stacked them in the hallway to go to the attic (since he hopefully won't be the only boy we have). I also filled up a zipper bag and box full of diapers (thanks to Walgreen deals and coupons we have a lot of NB, 1 and 2).
I had a lot of zippered plastic bags sitting around that we've gotten sheets, etc. in, so I thought I'd reuse those instead of buying something for storage. I put the clothes I've gotten for him on clearance or that were passed down to him in different sizes and stuck them in these bags. Then I labeled the front with the size. Easy! (We also pack in these when we travel.)
It ended up looking good with gifts and future clothes on the left and current clothes, diapers, and items to be used soon on the right!
Future areas to be cleaned:

*Garage

*Guest Closet

*My closets

*Crafting Area

The Great Purge of '09

Our house is out of control. We have now been in our house for 5 years! I can't believe it! But moving helps with ridding of unneeded things. Since we see no move in the next few years, we are in need of a purge.

How many of you have a catch all room? Yes, we do as well. Our house is small. About 1200 sq feet small. We have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, one small living room, and ZERO walk in closets. JD made an attic for storage when we moved in. He put the hole in the ceiling and the pull down ladder and then decked it so we could FILL IT UP! I love being married to a handy man!

But the attic is not an easy thing to access, especially for quickly picking up when company is on the way over. It is much easier to throw things in the guest room/office and close the door. Do I hear an Amen?

JD's Mom was heading to town for a week long stay and that determined where the Great Purge would begin. You got it, the guestroom! Who wants to stay in a room that looks like this:


Or this?


There was no easy solution. The closet was overflowing, therefore nothing else could be crammed in. I recently decided (after hearing a Mom friend talk about everything having a proper place in your house) that I didn't want to "tidy" up the office, but I wanted to make sure everything went to it's newly found home. We took a Saturday to do the majority of the putting up, garage sale boxing (about 5 full boxes), and throwing away of all the trash.

I am excited to say that the floor is now clean (vacuumed for the first time in who knows how many months),

the bed is made,


the closet is functional (out of site, out of mind--I didn't think to take a before picture),

and the desk and bookshelf are a little lighter!


Our home office has recently been stationed on the kitchen table, with printer there too. Who wants to work in that crazy place we called an office? The next step, now that we can walk into the room, is to move the computer to the desk and put the printer inside a drawer! I love that it will be hidden!

You have seen two of the worst rooms in my house this month. Yikes! This room obviously needs some decorating help as well, but I have a little something up my sleeve. I love trains, and my grandfather was an engineer. I have lots of train paraphernalia and black and white pictures. Maybe cheesy, but there is family history there. But there are other rooms that are higher on my priority list.

But, here is where I need help: We have a laptop that recently died on us. Won't even turn on. I would love to donate it to someone who will restore it and give it to someone who needs a computer, but can't afford one. Anyone know of an organization who will do something like this?

Be Merciless!

If you've been following our blog for a while you know that we've moved twice in the last year.  One of the things that I learned in that experience is that I really needed to work on being more organized.  We had so much stuff and there wasn't a lot of order to our home.  When we moved from Virginia to Connecticut we doubled the size of our house.  Sadly, our stuff just seemed to multiply to fill the space.  Our home in Georgia is somewhere in between those two homes and I, armed only with my label maker, am determined to change all that!  

I decided to document my challenge of the master closet.  I love our master bedroom and bath and wanted the closet to feel calm and like an extension of the space I already enjoy.  I think I had been waiting for a large chunk of time to do something major, like clean out a closet.  This experience taught me that as a mother of two boys under 4, that "large chunk" of time is an hour.  Take it or leave it.  So it took me about 5 weeks to finish, but I'm so glad I did.  The feeling I get walking into our closet is very different now.  

There were two main issues with our closet.  There were too many clothes in it and we weren't using the space or organizing tools effectively.  

It started with a merciless attack on our clothes (mainly mine.)  I have had a really hard time letting go of my pre-pregnancy clothes for the most part.  I'm not sure why, but I have held on to a number of things that I will never be able to wear with dignity again.  I'm okay with how I look as a mom and I think it's time to purge a bit.  So, I took several days to go through my clothes and get rid of a bag or two at a time.  

I mainly put clothes into 3 categories, using simple paper bags.  Cleaners or Repair.  Consignment.  Charity.  I sorted carefully through my clothing to find the pieces that were name brand, and not worn or damaged to go to an upscale consignment store.  The rest went to a local charity.  (Be sure and itemize anything you donate for your tax records.)

Altogether I have pulled at least 8-10 bags of clothes and shoes out of my closet.  If it didn't get worn this season it had to go.  My only exception was formal or semi-formal attire because we only get dressed up a couple times a year.  But I really tried to be merciless with the rest of my closet.  If it didn't get worn this past season, it didn't get to stay.  

The next thing I did was break out my label maker.  I had purchased all these bins to use above our hanging rack when we first moved last fall, but both my husband and I had simply thrown clothes up in them with no rhyme or reason.  It was messy and disorderly.  I looked at what we both had to organize and chose a bin for each category.  Then labeled the bins so that we could see what was in them.  I also moved an extra step stool into the closet to stay so that accessing them would be easy for me.  (Not really an issue for my 6'2" husband but I'm a whole foot shorter.)

Here are the results:

I think matching hangers are important to making a closet look orderly.  I really like the Huggable Hangers you can buy at Target.  I have been buying them a few packages at a time every time they go on sale.  Eventually I plan on replacing all of our hangers with them.  Until then, we also have white plastic.  (But NO WIRE HANGERS!  Sorry.  I couldn't resist!)

I tried to consider what gets worn the most.  My husband wears a uniform to work daily, so it made sense to create a place for that and the hats he wears most often.  By making it easy for him to put things in a proper place, he is much more likely to be interested in keeping the closet looking nice.  If it's too difficult for either of us, the organization won't last very long.

One of the only things I purchased for the closet redo was a large plastic bin for all of our extra baggage.  Our large suitcases are in the garage, but we needed a place for totes and backpacks and the smaller luggage that gets used for day outings or short trips.  It fit nicely in the back corner out of the way under some lesser worn clothing.  

Lastly, I tried to organize our clothing by type.  Short sleeve to long sleeve.  Clothes are easier to find when you know where to look.  Plus, they look more orderly which creates that feeling of calm I was trying to achieve.  I think I did it too.  Now I just have to do this to all the closets and the garage and the kitchen cabinets and...  

Do you see anything you think could help you to organize a space in your home?  

See any spots I've missed in my closet?  I'd love some input on making it even more organized!

Cleaning out the Shed

We moved into our new house in December. Then we spent the next few weeks visiting family for the holidays. By the time we were back "home" we were tired and it was cold. So, we unpacked the essentials and threw the rest in the shed. So choosing which part of my house needed the most attention was easy. Our spring cleaning had to start in the shed.

The first step was to get out all of the empty boxes. Then I could see what we really had in there: a washer and dryer, Christmas decorations, lumber left from the previous owners, baby stuff, Spring clothes, and our little sandbox. We also have an extra refrigerator you can't see in the picture. I found a leftover pizza slice in there- from December! Just be glad I didn't get a picture!

I took a lot of it out and moved it into the garage to organize. This way, I didn't have to wait on a really warm day to keep working. And I could do it while the boys were napping and just leave the door to the house open so I could hear them.
So what did we do with all that stuff? We just happen to be having a yard sale at church this weekend with the proceeds going to support our mission trips this year! So a load went to the church for the yard sale. The washer and dryer are going to be sold on Craig's List (check out this post on Money Saving Mom for tips on how to sell on Craig's List). We used the leftover wood to make our square foot garden. Some clothes went to Goodwill and more than one load just went in the trash (don't ask me why I've made NINE moves with the notes from my college philosophy class). I still have some organizing to do. While I was at it this week I got our spring clothes out. It's not quite warm enough to put up our sweaters yet, but I do need to store away the clothes the boys have out grown. And I may still have a stray Christmas decoration or two hiding around the house. But overall, I think I made good progress toward getting things more organized. I may give myself (and my label maker) a few days off!

This Week's Topic: Coming Clean

Spring has come so it's time for Clutter Awareness Week! This real holiday comes the week after Spring arrives to help you kick off your spring cleaning.

The Today's Housewife writers have tackled the most cluttered areas of our homes and have pictures to show our progress. Hopefully, we will inspire and encourage you to "come clean" too and celebrate Clutter Awareness Week with us!

Our guest post on Friday will be from Paula Constable, "The Organizing Expert for Busy Moms!" You can visit her site, Stuff 2b Organized. She will share great tips for getting your closets organized.

Thanks for Your Help!

We really appreciate all your help and advice this week! We have one more topic we need your help with. We are featured on Blog Coach this week and would LOVE if you would take a minute to click over and give advice on how we can improve the blog. It would be really helpful to get insight from some of our regular readers!

Click Blog Coach for the link! Thanks again!

Cloth Diaper Help!

I am cloth diapering our little guy. I previously tried this, but I decided to stop after I found out it was so much work! He is nursing and I've heard that breast-fed poops don't come out well. We also have a front-loading HE machine which I've heard uses less water making it not work so well for cloth diapers. His diapers still come out with stains on them.

I wash every other day since I only have 14 diapers. I rinse off all poopy diapers in our laundry sink in cold water and scrub them with an old dish brush. I pre-rinse them in a short cycle with no detergent, cold water and no spin so they will stay wet. Then I run a hot cycle with about 1 oz. of Country Save and a little drop of OxyClean for Baby with a cold rinse and an extra rinse. When I open the door, it sometimes still smells in the washer (although I haven't noticed a strong scent on the diapers). I then will throw them in the dryer if I need them soon or put them outside in the sun (on our unfinished chicken coop). Obviously the sun takes out the stains, but it's just one more step that I didn't anticipate.

Is there another way I should wash them? I've tried Allen's Naturally, but it was too sudsy. Is there something else I should use for an HE machine? Please help because I want to keep using them!

Update 3/19: Oh, I forgot to mention that I am using BG 3.0's. I also just thought of another question that I have--We are in need of a convertible car seat since our guy weighs more than 19 pounds at almost 6 months. What do you guys recommend? I've seen Britax for $200, but do we really need to spend that much? Thanks everyone!!

Here's a little video of our guy for your listening pleasure!

Bathroom Troubles

My problems do not involve any bodily funtions. PTL! My dilemma is the master bathroom is in need of a makeover. Petty, I know. But realtors will tell you that work to the kitchen and master bath will sell your home (not that we are planning to move). But I also want it to be a place I will enjoy. Unfortunately, we are on an extremely limited budget. The shower curtain, towels, mats will have to stay. And we will not be getting any new cabinets. I need help working with what I have.

This is the view when you walk into the room. Vanity to the left, door/wall to the right. To the right of the cross is a small cubbie. It used to have wire shelves (see storage with towels/sheets later) that I could put back up, but I don't want the wire look. I have thought about putting the shelves up with a baseboard on the front to give it a nice finished look.

I feel that there needs to be something over and on the back of the toilet. But with the cross there, is that too much? Should I move the cross to the wall directly across the wall from the toilet and leave the wall you see upon entering blank?

The vanity. I have a couple of pictures and a Willow Tree figurine. Don't you just love the knee space below. Does anyone still sit down to put on their makeup? How do I make that space more functional? Do I paint the cabinets? What color?


When standing with my back to the mirror the is what I see.


Close up of the shower curtain.

The "open" linen closet (to the left of the towel rack). These are the wire shelves I have. Like I mentioned earlier, should I put some sort of "front" on them to dress them up a bit?

What are your thoughts? How can I make this a more desirable room?