Toy Organization

I did a guest blog post over at The Pocket Source yesterday on TOY ORGANIZATION. This was my second of three guest posts on organization I'm doing for them. The Pocket Source is a great community. Sign up for a free membership to participate on their blog, groups and gallery. I'm currently on their Creative Team which is so much fun.

Toys. Toys. Toys. With 3 kids age 6 and under, we have a variety of toys in our house. And sometimes, they come with lots of parts. Currently, my three share a big room that has a small walk-in closet. When we first moved in, we fitted this closet with extra deep shelves (special order from Home Depot). I got rid of the hanging space, but fortunately I have plenty of that in my master bedroom closet to hang their nicer dress clothes. Almost all of their clothes are in dressers in their room.

After installing shelves, here are my recommended steps for making a functioning toy closet:

1. Purge as much as you can. Donate, sell, just get it out.

2. Sort what you are keeping. 

3. Evaluate size of containers you need for each item. I highly recommend The Container Store clear boxes with lids The best  part of that store is you can order online for drive-up pick-up. Napping kid in the car? No worries, they bring it out. 

4. Get labels. I am using chalk labels. These are great because you can erase and use them again and again.

5. Organize your boxes on the shelves.

I've had this system for awhile now and it has grown/evolved as I went. Lids are key, and various sizes make it more efficient. I try to purge toys at every birthday and Christmas. Because my chalk labels are reusable, I can move items around in boxes that suit them and re-label them as our needs change.

I also have some Land of Nod Strapping Cube Bins that I keep things in. As well as a couple of Room Essentials collapsible fabric storage bins that sit on the floor. One for dolls and one for stuffed animals.

We keep all the kid board games in this closet, too. Note the binder on the same shelf. We keep most instructions in this binder, so they don't get lost.

LABEL LOVE. I have two types of labels that I use in this closet: the chalk labels for the clear bin system that I already mentioned and these clip-on labels pictured below. These are name tag badges. I cut a piece of cardstock to size and then I wrapped them in washi tape. After that, I got out my handy labeler and printed black on white. I use black on clear for a lot of other things, but for this case black on white shows up no matter what the pattern background. I can clip these to both types of bins that I use.

And I had to include a photo of my bin of organizing goodies (mainly labels) that I grabbed to complete this project. It is my way of always finding this stuff when I need it. It makes me laugh to think I've gone so far as to organize my organizing stuff. (Don't be fooled though, I still have a lot of chaos at my house, too)

Thanks for reading my post today. Find my Facebook Page for Pocket Pages inspiration, the occasional organizing post and more. www.facebook.com/paintedladiesjournal or Instagram

Holly Genc

www,paintedladiesjournal.com

OUR 2015 GOALS (Project Life Related)

Holly, here.  Luly and I want to kick things off with a post on this year's goals. I've been thinking about how to get more of my Project Life albums done. The simple answer is I need to be more efficient. This is THE YEAR FOR REORGANIZATION AND STREAMLINING. I have three main goals I'm striving to implement to make this happen.

1. REORGANIZE MY STASH. I've been scrapbooking for many years (since 6th grade, but more seriously for the last 15 years). Project Life style scrapbooks started in 2011. But, guess what, I still have most of the stash from traditional scrapbooking. Sound familiar? What do you do? My newest idea is to organize my stash by PROJECT versus by embellishment type. It needs to be mobile, so I can pick up a "Project Box", an album and the corresponding pictures to go to a crop. I have many other projects in my to-do-list besides my annual book. (Wedding, several vacations, 2 1/2 baby books, school albums, etc.). I can't wait to implement this and update the blog with how I tackle this.

The majority of my supplies (and currently many other things) are in these two pieces from IKEA.

2.  CATCH-UP & STAY THERE. So, I got a little behind, as in none of 2014 is done, nor 2015. I've always been one to jump in with current and work backward when this happens, since those memories are freshest. In this case, I've decided to go month-by-month simultaneously. (Jan 2014/Jan 2015, etc). Then, I'll be back on track by the end of the year (what will I do with all my time only doing one annual book? I'll think of something.) 

Doing TWO simultaneous albums this year, 2014 AND 2015

3. PRE-PLANNING. I typically try to do some rough pre-planning so that I'm not printing all the thousands of pictures that I take of my kiddos. In order to accomplish Goal #2, pre-planning is going to be so important. I take a few approaches with this. Keeping track is key. I use a printed book with dates/notes for current memories I want to jot down while they are fresh. I use a sketchbook to draw out my older layouts with less notes. And I also use the ProjectLife App for those times that I'm waiting (doctor's, etc) and have my phone handy. I'll be sharing more of this process in another post.

PL :Planner Book bound with the Zutter.

And now to Luly....

So my goals are different than Holly's since my life is very different than Holly's at the moment. However, no matter where you are in your life the best way to be able to get to your scrapping goals is to WRITE them out.  I don't know about you, but seeing them in black and white keeps me very accountable!

My goals this year, which go hand in hand with the Ali Edwards One Little Word class that I am taking (hurry you can still register until February 28th! Find it here.) is to FINISH a lot of my outstanding projects.  They have been weighing down my creativity and causing me guilt.  Scrapping is NOT about guilt!  It is about enjoying the process and the outcomes of your crafty life.

1. Continue to document weekly(ish) with Pocket Style Digi scrap layouts. I did paper based Project Life starting in Dec 2011 - Dec 2013.  In 2014, I went all digi and I haven't looked back.  2015, I will try my hand at printing in a book - style to be decided.  Maybe Shutterfly or Adorama.  Much more to come on that as I research the options and best way to organize!

2015 Week 6&7 - Just Jaimee Son kit at The Digital Press

2. Christmas Card Album - I've collected all the photo Christmas cards I have received since 1990 - that is a long time, people!!  I will use the Becky Higgins Project Life app to document simply and then print in a Shutterfly book.  This goes hand in hand with my other goal for the year - Purge. It will be great to get rid of 99% of these cards.

2013 Christmas cards - compiled in Becky Higgins Project Life app.

3. Since I've gone to all digi I need to PURGE my paper supplies.  I will never make that many cards - EVER!! This is going to be hard, as I am a huge sentimentalist - I can remember where I got almost every piece of paper - but someone else will love it just as much as I do (or at least I can tell myself that!).

Come back and join us as we tell you all about our journey and how we are able to keep up with our scrapping goals in 2015.


Holly & Luly

Welcome to the Painted Ladies Journal

We are excited to start a new blog that covers many topics, but our main point of interest is pocket page scrapbooking. Luly and Holly have been scrapbooking together for over 15 years, since they met in the world of architecture. Luly has converted to all digital. Holly does mostly physical pocket style pages, but is also starting some hybrid albums. This blog is a creative outlet to share our craft, our ideas and tell our stories. Some of the other topics we will be covering include organizing (craft related and throughout the home), DIY Projects, Photography, being a Stay-at-Home-Mom, being a College Kid Working Mom and recipes.

The Name. Painted Ladies Journal. We met through our professional background, architecture. We chose the name as a nod to the great old Victorian homes. Painted Ladies Journal fit our crafty side, as well. Luly has been working on joining a creative team, and with that starting soon wanted to get her own blog started. Holly has been working on designing her own pocket page cards, also wanting to start up a blog to share her work and love of writing. We decided it would be a great thing to do together, supporting and bouncing ideas of one another.

Welcome and come back soon. We have a lot planned for this blog....