Organizing Baby Clothes

When have a little one, you can accumulate a lot of clothes, many of which they will only wear a few times because of how insanely fast they grow. But what do you with all the clothes once your kids have outgrown them? Get rid of them is probably the best option especially if you're not having anymore. But if you're planning on having more kids? No one wants to go buy all new clothes again when what you have right now are perfectly fine. But what are some good ways to organize them and put them away til then? Here's what I do:

I shed a little tear (not really, but I am a little sad) when Jordyn moves up a size in clothes. She's growing up was too fast. So is Dylan for that matter. We know that one day we want another child, but just not right now, so it pains to get rid of all of Jordyn's clothes when I know another one is in the future. So, packing up her clothes and putting them is what I need to do, so I can hang on to them for Baby #3.

I started out by washing all the clothes I'm going to pack away and sort them by size. For today, it's her 9 months clothes, and a very few 12 months. She's starting to outgrow her 12 months clothes but I can still squeeze another couple of wears out of most of them. LOL!

After sorting the clothes by size, I start with one size, 9 months, and begin to go through them. I pull out anything that is stained or with holes (there are not many because I am crazy about getting Jordyn's clothes dirty. Ask TJ. It drives him nuts. lol). Any that I do find, will either go in the trash or in with scrap fabrics to be cut up for projects later. This goes for outfits that I know Baby #3 won't wear. Maybe a few outfits I just wasn't a big fan of.

I also look for anything that has meaning or that I want to keep for Jordyn's hope chest (the one I have been trying to convince TJ to build since Jordyn was 7 weeks old. lol). Those items are usually the ones that describe her firsts: her first Halloween, Christmas, and so on. And sometimes I keep a favorite outfit that I had to buy her. In that instance, it's this oh-so-adorable sweater dress! It's one of my favorites and I wanted her to wear this dress in our family pictures last fall but TJ said, and I quote, "That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. It looks like a blanket my grandmother would make." First of all, is he implying that his grandmother makes ugly blankets, and second of all, he just has no taste. I mean, just look how cute she is in it.

At the same time, I'm sorting through the ones that are no good, that are forever keepers, I'm pairing up outfits too.  Do you see all these piles? It may look like chaos, but it's organized chaos and will come together beautifully. LOL!

Once the initial sorting for me is done, I put those forever keepers away in their temporary home (man, I need that hope chest built. I wonder if I just go buy the pieces, will that get him to build it quicker. hehe) and put the no good clothes either in my scrap pile or the trash. Now I take all the clothes that need to be packed away and sort them into the type of clothing. All pajamas go together, matching sets together, pants, you get the idea.

I then put everything into a space saving bag keeping all pajamas together, all pants together, and so on. When the bag is full, I used my vaccum to suck the air out and I just labeled the bag with the clothing size. I have a few sizes that share a bag, because I either didn't have enough of one size to fill a bag or I had too much for just one bag so I had to put extras in another bag. After sucking the air out, I put the bags in a plastic tote and away into the closet until the tote is full, where I label the tote with the clothing sizes and name of whose they were.

Now, TJ can put the clothes in the attic until it's time for Baby #3.

A few things I will note. I have set a time limit on how long we keep these clothes. If Baby #3 has not arrived by the time Jordyn is 3, then I will get of all the clothes. Styles and your taste change, so some of these styles may not work for you and/or the new baby. If the next one is not a girl, then the clothes will go as well. We know after the next one, there will be no more, so there's no point in hanging on to something we won't use. Some of my favorite reasons for organizing Jordyn's clothes they I have are:

1.  When Baby #3 comes, I will only need to pull out the bags that are neccessary for that time frame and will not have to go through all the clothes
2.   If Baby #3 begins to grow out one type of clothes (pants) but not the rest, then I can pull out only the pants and they will all be together.
3.  Do I know someone in need looking for specific clothing sizes? Fantastic! I don't have to go through everything to find the right sizes or items.
4.  If I decide to sell them on Craigslist, or a yard sale, I can pick out which sizes I want to sell right away.

Organizing is a way to help make things in life run smoother and faster, and while this took a little bit of time out of my day, it didn't take as long as you might think and will save me time later.

How do you organize your baby clothes? Share it with me. You can upload your pics and links (if you have a site) via email, the Flickr group, or on my Facebook page and you could end up on Show Me Saturday!

St Patrick's Day Wreath

Valentine's Day is over and the next holiday is right around the corner: St. Patrick's Day! Here, in Savannah, St. Patrick's Day is HUGE! We're talking one of the largest in the country. We're talking 400,000 visitors a year large! Every year they have a huge parade including pipe and drum teams from around the nation, marching bands, floats, military, and more. The city turns green! It's green everywhere from people, animals, foutains, and beer. Depending on what part of the route you're standing, you could be watching a 3 hour parade. The parade is so big and there are so many people, that the county has to close the schools for the day because the buses can't get downtown with all the people and activities going on.

Two years ago, some of my friends went down for St. Patrick's Day (this was when I lived in Beaufort, SC). We had a blast and you can definitely meet some interesting people. For us it was a day trip, and we were not able to stay and enjoy the crazy night of St. Patrick's Day drinking that follows the daytime, more family oriented festivities. I have experienced the crazy night time festivities but that was four years ago. Here are a few pictures from St. Patrick's Day 2010.

We do not know this leprechaun but we just had to have a picture with him

Me in my St Patty's Day gear!

 Even the horses get all dolled up.

 All the fountains in Savannah, and there's a good amount are dyed green. The used to dye the Savannah River green but the EPA got involved and so now the city is not allowed. 

OK, I guess that's enough for my trip (and apparent plug) about St. Patrick's Day in Savannah. The real reason you stopped by my blog today: a St. Patrick's Day craft. To help get in the St. Patrick's Day spirit, I decided a wreath would be the perfect project! I had seen this wreath over at The Idea Room and new I wanted to make a wreath like this. It was perfect for a St. Patrick's Day wreath. All I needed was green felt and a shamrock-shaped wreath form. I looked everywhere; in any store I thought would sell wreath forms, online, and even sent my mom in Atlanta looking and you know what we found: NOTHING! Big bummer.

After finally giving up, I decided it would still be cute if I made this wreath in the traditional (traditional sounds so much better than standard, don't ya think?) circle shape. So this what I set out to do. I will continue to search for a shamrock-shaped wreath form, or eventually try my hand at making my own.

Materials Needed

Foam Wreath Form

Green Felt (you can use any shade of green you feel is appropiate for St. Patrick's Day. I chose a Kelly Green, But I know some people feel a darker green is better. That choice is up to you. Also, it is probably more cost efficient to buy the felt by the yard. The fabric store by my house was closed when I went to by my supplies so I bought the pre-cut sheets instead, but next time I will definitely wait for the fabric store to open)
Scissors

Straight Pins
Circle Template (this can be anything: a cup, a jar, a can, a stencil, etc. I used a circle template that I already owned which made the process easier, but it's definitely not necessary. The link provides you with one very similar to what I have
Gold Ribbon

***Note: This can be a very time consuming project, so I chose to work on this after the kids went to bed to help complete this project faster. Pop in a movie, grab a glass if wine (or tea, coffee or whatever you want to drink) and get started

1.   I started out by using my circle template and creating TONS ( and I mean tons) of 3" circles. I don't know how many I created but it was a lot. I used a green washable marker so that lines could wash out and were less likely to be seen.

2.   After creating all my circles, I cut them out. This was definitely the most time consuming part.

3.   Now that all the circles were cut out, it was time to put them on the wreath. I began by folding a circle in half.

4.   Then I folded it in half again, so you have folded it into fourths

5.   I then stuck a straight pin through the tip of what no looks like a pie piece.

6.   Take your pin and circle and stick it into the foam wreath form, pushing all the way down.

7.   Repeat steps 4-7 for each individual circle, placing each pin close together so it fills in any holes and gaps. I did not put any on the back, but I did put them on the top and bottom. I figured it make it easier to hang on the door without all the puffiness on the back.

8.   After finishing the wreath, I took some gold ribbon, cut it the length I wanted and then attached to the back of the wreath with a few extra straight pins. You could also hot glue as well.

I LOVE how it turned out and I'm already wanting to make another for other holidays and/or shapes!

Have you made anything for St. Patrick's Day yet? How about any wreaths?  Share it with me. You can upload your pics and links (if you have a site) via email, the Flickr group, or on my Facebook page and you could end up on Show Me Saturday!

Organize It Friday: Grocery Bags

Paper, plastic or reusable? What do you choose? I try very hard to bring my reusable bags with me when I go shopping. Unfortunately, I forget them more than I remember them. I'm working really hard to remember them. One was I do that is by putting them back in the car and keeping them in the car so they are there when I get to the store. But since I have been forgetting them, we have been given TONS of plastic grocery bags. While I definitely know they aren't the most eco-friendly, and am working towards a goal of not using them, I still have them in my house and I do keep them to use a trash bags or a wet clothes bag.

I don't know about you, but my stash of grocery bags can get out of control. And then I saw this idea, where they were being stores in a baby wipes container. GENIUS! They can still be kept under the sink, but can be contained so they don't look so crazy. I love it! What makes this even better is that there is a way to make each bag comes out as you use one.

Materials Needed

Plastic grocery bags

Baby Wipes Container

1.   Close the container, but open the part the allows you to pull the wipes through.

2.   Insert one bag through the opening but leave the handles sticking out.

3.   Take your next bag and straighten it out slip the end of it through the handles of the inserted bag.

4.  Then push it down into the container, leaving the handles out for the next bag.

7. Repeat this until the container if full or until you run of bags.

Now you have condensed your bags into a container that is not so chaotic. And when you need to use one, just pull one out and another pops out a little waiting for the next time you need to use one. So simple and easy!

How do you organize your grocery bags? Share it with me. You can upload your pics and links (if you have a site) via email, the Flickr group, or on my Facebook page and you could end up on Show Me Saturday!

Make It Monday: Tissue Pom Poms

Oh, Martha Stewart, how I idolize you! OK, not completely but I do idolize her craftiness and home decor, just not the criminal activity. lol.

Browsing the Marta Stewart website, I found these tissue pom-poms. They are super cute and she shed some light on how easy they are to make. I immediately thought this would be a great decoration for Jordyn's birthday party.

Tana (you know the fabulous friend from this post and this post) was recruited to help me make these pom poms. She was the one suggested making a post about them (feeling frazzled about the party, it completely slipped my mind, so yet another HUGE thanks goes out to her)

Show Me Saturday: Dry Erase Board Tip

I began my pinterest venture when I heard you could search for recipes, craft projects and home decor ideas. Little did I know you could also find fabulous cleaning tips on pinterest among many other ideas.

A few weeks ago, I shared this project on my very first Show Me Saturday from my fabulous friend, Tana. Well she's back, but with cleaning tip. And idea that came to her from, where else, Pinterest (Tana is also the one who introduced me to Pinterest).

Organize It Friday: OrgJunkie's 29 Day Challenge

2012 has brought on brand new goals for me. One of the goals it to become more organized. It is definitely a work in progress for me and my entire family. I am quickly learning that if you don't get the family involved in helping that staying organized is extremely hard. My husband loves that I am in an organizing and getting rid of stuff kick. He doesn't help with the initial process mainly because he knows I like it, which is perfectly fine with me. The problem....he doesn't always help keep everything organized once it's done, which makes me often feel like I'm starting over. He's getting better but for him, he doesn't have the desire to organize, so it will naturally take him longer to get used to the systems I have put in place. I just need to be patient. LOL!

One area of our house that has not been organized since we moved in (and is NO fault to TJ's) is my craft room. I've never had a craft room before, so I've never had any furniture or storage for my craft room before. We are currently in the process of building a craft desk (be on the lookout for that post this month). That should be done soon in this week. And then the organization can begin! Nothing has really been taken out of boxes and what few items have just begin to pile up on my sewing desk and book shelf. I will definitely have more containers and storage items that I will need to pick up but my goal is to do organize the room with the smallest budget I can.

Make It Monday: XOXO Canvas

The Valentine's Bug has really hit. Last week I shared this with you. And this week, I have another Valentine's Day decor project. I first saw this post on Tatertots and Jello, which is a fantastic blog I follow. I loved the idea  of three canvas pieces coordinating into one.

I knew I wanted to do something Valentine's Day related and I knew I wanted to attach them together. Using Tatertos and Jello's post as my inspiration, I created a piece of art to fit my style.