I had this.
I wanted things more spread out. So I built this.
It was just 4 pieces of wood making a square on the back and the pegboard on the front. I had my lovely little boys help me sand and paint it too.
Then I moved everything back onto it.
And kept adding.
Ta da!
I finally got around to making this little fellow for my growing accessories collection.
I picked up the plaque at Michael’s, it’s just one of those plain wood ones. Then I screwed in some hooks here and there, painted it a fun colour and stapled some baker’s twine to the back!
Nail in wall and voila!
This post was originally posted over at Meremade as part of her September Back to School posts. My opinion may be biased but it’s a pretty handy idea and so I’m sharing it here.
Now that it’s back to school time things are a little busier in our house. I’m a teacher and with 1 in SK and having to get the kids out the door and over to the sitter I can use some help. This year I work in the mornings and not being a morning person doesn’t help when I have to get 3 people ready and out the door.
I usually lay out all of our clothes the night before and now I’ve come up with a handy little DIY that can help us all do it for the whole school week!
You will need:
Fabric for the tote bodies (you will be cutting 10 8×8 pieces)
Contrasting fabric for cutting the letters (I used a charm pack I had lying around)
Ribbon for the handles
Heat and Bond (really helpful but not necessary)
The first step is to cut your letters. I was planning on getting all fancy and cutting mine with my Cricut but I decided to just give it a go and do it by hand. Once I saw the size of my letters I decided that 8×8 would be a good size for the tote bags. I have 2 little boys so I’m only tossing some socks and underwear in there. If you have girls and might be including hair accessories or tights you may want to make your totes a tad bigger.
Cut your 8×8 tote pieces, set aside. Cut Heat and Bond as backing for your letters. This product saves a lot of time and allows you to just iron on your letters rather than having to sew them all around. If you like the look of stitching on top you can still do that of course, the Heat and Bond just makes extra sure those letters aren’t fraying or budging!
Iron the letters onto the bag tote front pieces. So 5 will get letters, 5 will stay blank.
Now you’ve got 10 squares of tote worthy fabric. We need to hem the top edge. So turn the fabric down to make a little hem, I did about 1/2 inch, press and sew.
At this point you could make yourself handles using coordinating fabric but I looked up and my ribbon collection was staring back at me so I choose to go to the easy route. Attach the ribbon slightly off center on the tote pieces. So sew it left of the center line on one piece and right of the center line on the other. If you lay it all out it will look like mine.
So you’ve created a loop to hang over the hanger.
Place the tote pieces right sides together and stitch around the 3 raw edges. And you are done!
If you happen to have some of those hangers from the store lying around you can use those to hang a top and bottom and then slip a handy little tote with the right day of the week on it over the hanger, fill with needed accessories, in my case socks, underwear and a diaper.
Hang in a handy spot (like on my linen closet door) and you’re ready to go!
Oh and keep the empty ones in a safe place. This picture is moments after Nate saying ‘Thanks Mom’ and wandering off with the Tuesday-Friday totes.
Posted in DIY, kid fun, sewing, tutorial-ish
Tagged back to school, DIY, organization, tutorial
I’ve been looking for a way to organize myself a little shipping area. I found the answer in an unlikely piece. Well I suppose it is a mail organizer to begin with but it was pretty yucky.
So I painted it.
Then, after wondering how I could cover the painted cork with metal to make use of my awesome fun magnets, I decided to just use some cork scrapbook paper stuff I had and stick that overtop of the dark cork.
Then I hung it up and attached the things I need! Apologies for the poor lighting situation, again that basement workspace. I really need to keep working on my kids about those bunk beds.
I still struggle with my packaging style. There’s just so many fun things and ideas that I can’t settle on what exactly I want to do. But I have started using up a pile of these “Hello” name tag labels that were left on the ‘take me’ table at school. I write the addresses on them. I use washi tape to stick the corners of the envelopes down, just to make sure they stay closed. I usually wrap the order in kraft tissue paper and then either tie it with baker’s twine and attach a tag or stick it shut with one of my MOO stickers.
At the top I filled in the little heart with some fabric and turned it into a little pin cushion and then I use those on the cork board. Hanging from the bottom are MOO stickers and envelopes that have already been return address stamped and have an address label attached. Just add ink!
Not bad for a thrifty find.
Posted in fun finds, repurposing
Tagged mail, organization, packaging, restyle, shipping, thrift
Thanks to Mollie mentioning Yozocraft I popped over and fell in love with most of the stuff there. Including this
My tapes are in a little tin bucket I got for $1.50. That holder is way prettier. Of course I’d need some more desk organization items to match it, like this
Oh and this too
Click the images to be whisked away to their shop.
