Holiday Card Keepsake Book

I absolutely love receiving holiday cards. I enjoy reading the stories our friends and families share about their year. The picture cards are so great because you get a peek at what people near and far enjoyed in the past year and how much the kids grew up and changed. I have always saved the cards we received until last season. I didn't have a creative way to store them or a neat way to display them. So I got rid of all of them. I am so bummed now that I found this simple, amazing idea on Pinterest!

Starting this year I am making a Holiday Card Keepsake Book. I will make it at the end of the season and include all of the cards for that year. We just received a Happy New Year card this week so I want to make sure to do it late enough to include all of the cards. My plan will be to put out the books in December with our holiday decor so we can look back through the years. I am so excited to start this new tradition!

Supplies Needed:

-  card stock - any color or pattern you choose

- metal rings - I found mine at Target

- scissors and a hole punch

- stickers, markers, embellishments to decorate your cover

- Glue Dots - LOVE these - found mine at the craft store

I decided to use only pictures and picture cards in my book. You may want to include letters and non photo cards also. Just depends on your preference.

I sorted my cards by size and then did a pattern of picking up one card of each size and repeating until I had used all of the photos.

After I had my cards stacked I made a template with two holes and went through and punched each photo using the template to ensure the holes were the same distance on all of the cards.

I decided I am going to put our family card for the year as page 1 of each book. It will be fun to look at our cards as the little ones grow and change each year.

I made a front and back cover out of card stock. I made my covers slightly bigger than the biggest cards. I wanted the year on the front cover and I used some fun ornament stickers to add some flair. You could also incorporate your family card on the cover for each year. Whatever works for you.

Happy Memory Making!

Pinterest Favorites - New Years Eve Style

Happy New Years Eve! This last Pinterest favorites post is in honor of the fabulous way we end each year. Celebrations, time with friends and loved ones and of course a little shimmer. See below for details on these NYE inspired pins.

- Earrings - I am loving this style of earring right now. Bigger than a stud but not a hoop or a dangle. But it still packs a lot of punch. And gold is so warm for the holidays. Perfect!
- 2012 - This is a great, festive idea. Wrap tinsel around cardboard numbers (or letters for another holiday).
- Cell Phone Case - This shimmery case is perfect for a night out on the town celebrating the new year. Plus it won't get lost among the rest of the phones - this one sparkles all on its own.
- Sparklers - I don't think you can see a sparkler and not think celebration. They are a staple on the 4th of July, more and more people are using them at their weddings and now NYE - what a perfect way to light up the night!
- Champagne Bubbles and Dancing on the Table - A traditional NYE isn't complete without a little bubbly. And sometimes the bubbles can lead you to do things you wouldn't normally do. Like dancing on the tables. Let loose and have fun!
- A Festive Toast or two - Whether your night involves living it up on the town or movies at home snuggled up on the couch, a toast to reminisce the special moments of 2011 or one to dream and wish about 2012 is always in order.
- The Dress - If you are ringing in 2012 out on the town, a fabulous dress is always a must. And this sparkly number is a hit!
- The Shoes - Need I say anything about these shoes? FABULOUS!

Hope this inspired your night!

Happy Celebrating!



Organizing Kids Art Supplies

Our kids love doing art projects and crafts and we have started quite a collection of art supplies.  I constantly find myself pulling a set of crayons out of the box, moving them to a container it is easy for the kids to use and when they are done, moving the crayons back to their original box. Not a very practical system. I needed a way to organize everything so it was easy to use and also in a contained, organized location. A way we could just grab and go. I wanted to eliminate the shuffling back and forth. Our nanny suggested Ikea and some of their storage solutions. Off we went!

This is what I started with - all shapes and sizes of crayons, markers, window crayons and markers, dry erase crayons and markers, colored pencils, finger paints and watercolors.

At Ikea I purchased these drawer storage organizers. 6 drawer organizers.

 Here are the drawer organizers opened.

I also purchased these mini storage bins with snap tops. I bought two packs. 

I put like items in the small boxes - regular crayons, large and jumbo crayons, dry erase crayons and window markers.

 Larger items like the paint tubes and bottles and animal crayons went in the bins on their own along with markers and colored pencils. All of the drawer organizers fit in one clear bin I also purchased at Ikea. The large clear bin fits easily under the bed.

Now we can pull out one container at a time and we are ready to craft. My kids aren't old enough to have open access to their art supplies. When they are older we will have to come up with a solution where they can easily get to the supplies on their own. But for the next few years, this should work out just fine!

Happy Organizing!

Organizing Kids Toys

If you have children, you understand the never ending process of trying to organize and store their toys. I am always in search of new ways to keep the toys together and keep my house looking somewhat tidy. I decided to do a complete redo of our toy storage the day after Christmas. Our little ones received lots of wonderful new toys for their birthday and Christmas and we needed a place to put them.

Operation Twin Town & Twin Gym was under way! A little history - we renamed our family room Twin Town shortly after they arrived and we realized our home would never be the same with the amount of stuff these little people required. A year later they claimed another room and that was named Twin Gym because of the foam mats, ball pit and slide. With two rooms to organize it was double the work but double the satisfaction when it was complete! 

My Top Three Tips for Organizing Kids Toys:

1. Keep toys easily accessible for the little ones. This way they can get the most out of their toys. Store toys in bins that are low and easy to reach. Same goes for books so they can reach them and read as much as they want.

2. Keep like items together. This gives the little ones a sense of order. They know when they pull out the doll bin, it will have all dolls and doll accessories. Or the train bin has all of the trains and train tracks. Plus it makes clean up a breeze!

3. Go through toys frequently and move out toys they no longer play with. It will be help keep things de cluttered and easier to play with because they won't have to weed through the items they no longer are interested in.

Twin Town Storage - You can purchase the storage container on the left at Target and Fred Meyer/Kroger. And you can usually find sales on the colored bins. The organizer on the right is from Target. My husband anchors the shelving into the wall so it cannot tip over on the kids.

I love having books easily accessible for them. They have another shelf in their room filled with books. I have always been an avid reader and we hope to instill that trait in them too.

There are a few shelves under our TV in the armoir and I use every bit of shelf space I can. These bins are from Container Store.

Twin Gym Storage - same shelf unit as in the other room. See below for more on the puzzle racks.

 These are pictures of some of the bins we have. Some items are easily grouped - cars, blocks, stuffed animals, trains and train tracks, pots and pans and cooking utensils. Other groups are a bit more random - view masters with cell phones and cameras, all Leap Frog items, small character figurines, etc.

Under the TV I have two bins filled with all of their musical toys. It makes it easy to pull out one type of toy and have a musical play time. Or pull out all of the play food and they play at their table and kitchen set.

Also, if you have small items like the little board books in the upper right corner of the collage, put them in their own container. It helps keep them together and it is easier to store that way.

I have seen a version of puzzle racks like this for sale from Melissa and Doug. These were from my scrap booking days. Not to say I have officially retired from scrap booking, it is just my need for 12 x 12 paper is not as important as it used to be. I felt like the kids weren't getting as much use out of their puzzles as they could be. They were in bins under their beds and were hardly ever touched. This way they are organized and easy to see and play with. I got these racks 10 years ago on EBay from a woman who was selling her scrap booking store. Here is a link to a place you can buy the Melissa and Doug racks.

I remove all of the puzzle pieces from each puzzle and put them in zip pouches. We store all of the pouches in one of our colored bins. I found the pouches at Office Max. This helps so we don't lose puzzle pieces and it makes it easy to grab a few puzzles and pouches and put them in the suitcase for travel or take them on the road with us.

Hope this gives you a little inspiration for your toy organization. If you have any great toy organizing tips, leave a comment. I would love to hear them! I am always looking for new ideas.

Happy Organizing!

Reindeer Kisses

I made Elf Kisses in early December. You can see the recipe here. They were tasty but didn't end up looking exactly as I hoped. This recipe was the perfect solution to my issues with the way the Elf kisses looked. Reindeer Kisses. Another simple and delicious treat!

Ingredients:

Square pretzels - they look like a small grid

Rolos

*M&M's - I used the mint holiday version.

* The mint M&M's were perfect for two reasons - neither of which I knew when I purchased. It was pure luck! These M&M's are a little fuller, not as full as peanut one but bigger than a regular. The size was perfect. And the hint of mint really made the treat.

- Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

- Unwrap all Rolos and place on pretzels on a cookie sheet

- put in oven on the top rack for 3 minutes

- remove from oven

- place an M&M on each Rolo and push down slightly. The M&M fits perfectly on the top of the Rolo

- place entire cookie sheet in the fridge to cool down.

- Enjoy!

Yum!

I am going to make these for Valentine's Day with red, white and pink candy. Versatile, simple treat!

Happy Baking!

Welcome Back!

I am back! The holidays got a hold of me for the last few weeks. Between everything Christmas and our twins turning 2 right before Christmas, we have been busy. I think everyone gets that way at this time of year. The hustle and bustle of the season sucked me in this year. Next year one of my goals will be to SLOW down and make things more relaxing (we will see if that happens).

We did have a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to enjoying the upcoming long weekend. I hope your holiday was special and meaningful too. I have one more holiday treat I am going to blog about and then I am shifting gears - organization! One of my favorite hobbies!

Best wishes to a fabulous 2012. Let's make it a fabulous year!

Attempting to Duplicate the TJ Pretzel Slims

These are my favorite new Trader Joe's item. They are fabulous! I think this is the first year they have had these. It is WAY to easy to eat a lot of these. After we had finished two bags at our house and it was still early December, I decided I would attempt to make my own version.

I bought the three ingredients - deli style thin pretzels, peppermint and white chocolate chips.

I melted the chocolate in the microwave, dipped both sides of the pretzel in the chocolate and then sprinkled with crushed peppermint.

Mine didn't look as pretty as theirs but they tasted pretty similar. And they were easy to make!

Happy Baking!