Kids need bins for all their crap
As an organized person who can’t stand visual clutter, our six-year-old daughter’s bedroom throat-punches me on a regular basis.
Every few months, I plunk myself down on her carpet and implement yet another “solution” that’s hopefully going to make it easier to keep her room clean.
Her bookcase was too small, so I swapped it for a larger cube system and added labelled bins for the books I wanted to keep separate — the rest can be shoved anywhere in the cubes. That worked well.
Her Barbie stuff was out of control, so I dragged in three massive storage totes that would allow her to dump everything inside when she was finished playing. That’s also worked well.
The trouble is that she has so many tiny toys, and nothing was working. I built adorable wooden ledges so she could line up her Shopkins in rows. That was too difficult to maintain, apparently.
I brought up clear plastic shoeboxes to store her Legos, My Little Ponies, Squishies and LOL Dolls, but she’d lose the lids and suddenly there were just empty clear bins and stuff all over the floor.
When I’d ask her to put everything away, she’d cry that it would “take forever” … and, yeah, it would at the rate she was moving.
“She just needs … crap bins!”
I exploded one day to my husband, annoyed by yet another attempt to keep her room reasonable. “She needs a bunch of bins where she can shove all her random crap, and I don’t even care what’s in there as long as it’s off her floor!”
It’s true. Adults have junk drawers and junk baskets and the freedom to put our crap wherever we want because we’re adults. Kids should have a place to quickly shove things — not everything, but some things — that don’t seem to have a place.
A vision started forming in my mind …
Continue reading in my weekly DIY column, My Handmade Home …
Yardzee! DIY Yahtzee for the yard
Our kids have been spending so much time out in the yard lately. It makes me so happy that I hardly mind that they keep slipping in mud and tracking it into the foyer.
I’ve been dreaming up lots of backyard activities for them, as I do at this point every year. We have some large projects coming up, hopefully, but I started with a simple one I expect is going to get a lot of use.
I give you … Yardzee!
Yup, it’s Yahtzee for the yard!
For full instructions, continue reading in my weekly DIY column, My Handmade Home …
FREE DOWNLOAD: Printable Yardzee score sheet for kids. (I had mine printed at the Staples Copy & Print Centre and had them laminated, too.)
Don’t forget to pin this idea for later, or to help other people find this project. Thanks!
A tale of two family rings
I was going through my jewelry box recently, while organizing my walk-in closet, and I was surprised by how many little treasures I found.
There were lots of baby teeth, mostly in unlabelled baggies (so I had no idea which kid they came from), a few carefully wrapped baby curls I’d snipped off my toddlers and a couple of vintage $2 bills saved by my husband’s parents back when he was a kid.
I smiled when I pulled out my gold daughter’s pride ring, which was given to me by my almost-stepsister back when I was a teenager. They were a big deal at the time — your birthstone set into a heart, plus the birthstones of your mom and dad.
I haven’t worn it since I was 16 or 17 because that’s when my husband (my boyfriend, back then) started giving me rings that took over the prime positions on my fourth fingers.
Then I had an idea …
Continue reading in my weekly parenting column, The Mom Scene …
Putting outdoor art to the test
Last spring, we built a pergola to go over the picnic table on our back deck.
It was a game-changer for me, as a pale indoorsy person who only appreciates a sunny day if I’m able to hide in the shade.
At some point over the summer, I decided to brighten up the inside of the pergola by hanging outdoor-friendly artwork I’d made from scrap wood — like a barn quilt and a few fun quotes.
Before I had a chance to show it to you, it was September and I’d switched my focus back to creating indoor projects.
This worked out well, though, because now I can report back on how the outdoor art lasted during the winter months.
What worked and what didn’t? How did I make the different pieces? Continue reading in my weekly DIY column, My Handmade Home, for the full scoop on my outdoor art!
Don’t forget to pin this idea for later!
DIY magnets three ways
I always liked crafting fridge magnets while I was growing up, but those were the days when everyone had a metal fridge door. Stainless steel appliances might look nice, but they’re no good for sticking up school papers with a ceramic watermelon or set of A-B-C magnets.
Our fridge might be limited to the few magnets we can stick to one side, but you might recall I just made a cool lace-covered magnetic board for my home office.
It was looking pretty sparse, but after a quick trip to the dollar store and the local craft store, I was able to make dozens of magnets for about $12 — with plenty of supplies left over.
This is an easy project to do on your own, but it’s also something you can do with kids — especially over March Break when the days start to feel endless! My son helped me with some of these magnets, and happily made a few to stick to the metal storage lockers up in his bedroom.
Continue reading in my weekly DIY column, My Handmade Home …
… or pin this post and come back to it later!
Interested in how I made the DIY magnetic board with pale pink lace? Here’s the full tutorial for it!
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