Bag Tags!

Melodi starts Junior Preschool tomorrow, and this mama is getting everything in order to send her off.  We purchased a backpack a few weeks ago, and found a lunchbox online.  Since I don't know if Melodi will continue to use them or if they will be passed down to Erica I didn't want to take a marker or paints to either one.  Today I used 30-60 minutes to quickly create nametags for her backpack and lunchbox.

I printed off two pieces with her name on them and two with my phone number.  All the paper was from my scrap pile!  The flowered and orange paper is the same paper, just double sided.  I used flower stickers to embellish.  The stickers came from the same Girls Birthday page kit as the paper.  My crop-o-dile came in useful to punch three small holes in the laminate.  Then I got to play with how to tie the ribbon on so that the tag can be attached to a bag.

I love quick, easy, free projects!

Schoolwork Display

Update (4 September 2012):  It's on the wall!  I chose to put it in the playroom above her toy cubby-shelf thing.  It was even motivation to get the playroom picked up so that I could take a picture.

My oldest starts Junior Preschool on Tuesday!  I can't believe that I'm sending Melodi, my two-and-a-half-year-old, off to school two days a week.  With preschool comes cute little art projects to enjoy, and with the start of school Pinterest has been teaming with beginning of school projects to do.

Here is the finished project, inspired by several pins that were rolling around in my head.  The artwork is my own, the "Melodi" was my first cut using Design Studio after getting my Cricut almost two years ago, and the alphabet pages are the contributions I made to an alphabet book swap on the Cricut Community Message Board.

How I Re-Purposed the Frame (inspiration 1, inspiration 2, there may have been more that I saw but didn't pin)

Raise frame on pushpins (inspiration), sand and paint.  Sand and paint some more.  Cut cork.  Adhere cork to glass from the frame using spray adhesive.  Trim cork.  Adhere second cork layer (wanted it thicker than a single layer).

Set cork/glass into frame.  Tap finishing nails into frame and bend over.  Add enough to secure firmly.

 

How I Made My Clothes Pin Push Pins

Take apart push pins and paint (inspiration) at the same time as the frame.  Put pins back together.  Hot glue the push pins to the clothes pins (inspiration).  Hot glue buttons to clothes pins.

I love how this project turned out, so now to figure out where to hang it and wait for Melodi to bring home her first piece of artwork from Junior Preschool. 

Family Painting Time

I was finishing up my glove box folders and Melodi was wanting to do something with me.  On trips to the craft store sometimes I pick up little things for Melodi so I had some wooden shapes to paint.  I pulled out three and let Melodi pick the one she wanted to paint, she then assigned me one and my husband one, so her little project turned into family painting time.

Melodi did pretty well for the first time painting.  Sure she got it all over herself (almost right at the beginning) and mixed the colors (only once she got bored), but we had fun and got to spend time as a family.  The first part she had to paint was the inside of her basket, not sure why, but that's what she wanted to paint.  We'll see if it ever drys, as there is quite a puddle inside.

 

Glove Box Clean Out

Sometimes the most simple projects take a little bit of time.  But, what can I expect, with an active two and a half year old and a nursing three month old.  I think this is probably the quickest project I've completed after finding it on Pinterest, but since we got the registration renewed on the car yesterday the state of paperwork in the glove box was at the top of my mind.

This car documents folder by Elementary Organization had been pinned by one of the people I follow.  First I started by creating my list of documents, but I didn't feel like digging out the documents in the middle of the night.  I knew I had some of the folders laying around, and I came across them as my husband I and worked to clean out the office, making this a FREE project.  Yesterday after I got the girls down for a nap I emptied out my glove box, took my draft document list, and sat down to sort through the paperwork.  I made a number of changes based on what I had and the order I wanted stuff in.  When my husband got home he brought me everything in his glove box.  Then the girls were up and I was off to try to corral them, at least a little bit. 

This morning I was finally able to finish up the project.  I printed revised lists, changed found some matting paper, and attached the "table of contents" to the folder using packing tape.  Finally, I added the stickers to the tabs and using my matching Sharpies to write the numbers (I would suggest writing on the stickers before putting them onto the tabs).

The final step to this project is going through the extra stuff that was in my husbands glove box.  It's amazing how much more stuff he had in his than I had in mine, but considering that we've had that car for two more years which included two moves and a extended road trip, it really isn't surprising.

Next I hope to make another folder like this to corral the paperwork that comes from a military move.

Busy Bag Storage: Gallon Ziplocks

When I started putting busy bags together the first ones I did were the felt board pieces.  With so many little pieces I needed a storage solution right away.  Looking around the house at what I had and wanting some uniformity in storing the various activities I decided to use gallon ziplock bags and a Homz plastic hanging folder tub that I have had for 6+ years.