40 bags in 40 days UPDATE

I'm doing the 40 bags in 40 days challenge: see more info here

 

whitehouseblackshutters 40-bags-in-40-days-2014

 

This is my first update since I began on the starting day of Wednesday March 5th

 

 JMM-40-bags-in-40-days-challenge

So far so good, I even got ahead of myself!

I didn't think to take progress pictures of everything leaving the house...but I will try to from now on.

Over the course of the last 9 days in the challenge.

1)  I have cleared out small and winter dresses from my girls' closet- some went into storage and some donated.

2-3) sorted through old and current baby/toddler toys and equipment - a huge pile went to our church's new satelite location, and some broken items were pitched.

4) finished cleaning up and sorting out my son's closet. We pitched, donated, and packed up a few mementoes to be saved.

5) I worked through the existing piles in the basement for donation, garbage, and storage ( mainly clothes for my youngest)

6) went through toys that were stored and decided on what really needed to be kept for sentimental purposes.

7-8) computer files and photos were condensed, trashed, and re organized

9) today's task was kids school papers, which were overflowing and piling up in various spots.

I pulled them all out and put in one spot

Then sorted through to a keep pile and a recycle pile. The keep pile will definitely get another once through before the end of the year.

40 bags in 40 days challenge

It has been awhile since I have been able to post and keep up with weekly blog/pinterst ideas. I'm sure this llllooooooonnnnnggggg Winter that has been plaguing us all has something to do with it.

Thankfully the other day I saw several of friends posting links to the 40 bags in 40 days Challange.

 I'm IN!

What a better way to flush out junk, misc stuff, old files, movies, toys, clothes, etc. Anything is game!

Plus hopefully at the end of those 40 days, SPRING will finally be here.

You can check out more information about the woman behind this crazy but great idea in several places

@whbsblog #40BAGSIN40DAYS

Facebook.com/whitehouseblackshutters

You can even print out a handy chart to organize and see your success. Here is a picture of my proposed schedule:

I left the last 4 days blank in hopes these days will be used for outside stuff or for other areas I determine later.

I took some pre pictures as well of a few of my targeted areas or sore spots

My son's closet

Top shelf in our front hall closet

Kids school papers

Top of the fridge

The overflowing bins full of pencils, crayons and markers

Overflowing piles of stuff that I'm half way through sorting in the basement

Piles, bags and bins of memorabilia 

Old videos...there is more.

Well happy bagging!

Thanks for reading (see below for direct links to updates),

Julie

 

40-bags-in-40-days-update. #1

Simple Organizing: idea 1) magazine clutter

Is one of your resolutions for 2014, to be more organized?

I feel that is always on my list and I actually like be organized so finding clever and more efficient ways to do this is my ongoing resolution.

Keeping it simple and easy is best. You don't need to tackle huge re organization projects, start simple like organizing that overflowing magazine and catalog basket:

My Mother always has a huge collection of magazines that she will pass on to me to look at. I especially like the simple realistic decorating magazines with LOTS of pictures. If you are Nything like me, I will tear out pages of pictures, recipes, etc that I want to save and reference later. 

One super simple way of doing this is using Pinterest. What's Pinterest? I like to describe it as an electronic bottomless magazine basket.

This morning while I sipped my coffee I went through the pile and tore out several pages:

From there I used my iPad camera app and took individual pictures of the items I liked and pinned them to various boards I have on my Pinterest page. Such as this cool collectible antique train schedule:

I pined this in home inspiration/crafting. This would be a neat and not that hard to make with a board,chalkboard  paint and permanent marker...so we'll see if I do this later in the year ;-)

From looking through the magazines, tearing pages and uploading to Pinterest, it took maybe 1/2 hour.

Alternative idea:

So what if you don't have a Pinterest account or have no interest? Or you don't have a convienent way upload photos to an idevice or computer.

Pick up or reuse a 3 ring binder and buy sheet protectors from the dollar store. As you tear your magazine pages to reference later you can slide them into the page protectors ( even several pages). 

Have fun organizing this new year!

Thanks for reading Julie 

MAGIC Monday ( a day late): Mummy Lights

Today's Magic Monday craft is so easy and fun you could even do with your kids!

Lets's dress up some empty canning jars Halloween style!

Supplies you'll need:

Empty canning jars, various sizes

Battery operated tea lights

Googling eyes ( could use different sizes or colors too)

A box of gauze bandage roll. I was able to cover 3 big and 3 med jars with one roll.

Also not pictured, some tape regular and double sided or photo splits

The HOW TO:

Unravel and unfold the gauze roll

Attach one end to the jar with a piece of tape. I used masking as didn't have any clear on hand.

For the smaller jars I cut the gauze in half

Wrap the gauze around a few times, but not too thick otherwise the light won't flicker through as well. Cut off desired length and press down. The gauze will stick together

 Next are the eyes, I used photo splits to attach to the jars

Add the "candle" and you are all set!

Here's my inspiration for this simple craft found on Pinterest:

http://blog.myweddingreceptionideas.com/2012/10/halloween-party-decorations-ideas.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MyWeddingReceptionIdeascomBlog+%28My+Wedding+Reception+Ideas.com+Blog%29

Enjoy! And thanks for reading, Julie

MAGIC Monday...tasty fall treat

Today my family and I shared a special and quite easy fall treat as we shared this nice day "off"

Inspired by many pins on Pinterest about MINI CARAMEL APPLE BITES, we decided to give it a try.

I saw some that used a melon scooper, or just cut apples into chunks, we opted to do spears.

I also read reviews and ideas of caramel not sticking to the juicy inside of the apple. Which found was true. We created a mini caramel apple bits to eat right away, so that didn't much matter to us, but I could see how if you were making these for a party, it might not look so appealing.

A simple how to:

We blanched our apple slices in ice cold water for several minutes as we melted caramels and I also had a hand some dipping chocolate. 

I dug out a variety a toppings, all nut free for our house and whatever I had on hand. We used different sugars, coconut flakes and sprinkles. 

I prepared the dipping and sprinkling area with some parchment paper and we used cupcake wrappers to hold our apple slices in.

Toothpicks were used as the apple holders and we go to it! All I can say is YUMMY!

Have some fall fun this week, thanks for reading and ENJOY! Julie

MAGIC Monday: a Halloween Memory Window

It's October and time to bring out the pumpkins, fall colors, trick or treat candy bowl and more...

I especially love looking back at Halloweens and seasons past's pictures of my children dressed up, enjoying the pumpkin patch, or taking a walk in the fallen leaves.

Here is a super cute way to showcase those memories:

A Memory Window!

My husband curb picked this great window and I get to use it again for Halloween. Even if you don't have a window pane, how about decorate a simple poster board and hang it up as you get in the Halloween Spirit of dress up and fun?

Enjoy! Julie

All you need are photos, some fall or Halloween themed card stock and tape!

Arrange your photos

And there you have it!

Wordless Wednesday: Post Disney Magic!

Happy October all!

Are you enjoying the tease of fall weather yet? Or the tasty favors of fall? I personally love FALL! It's my favorite season and I'm looking forward to sharing some fall things with you all this month. 

But first a wonderful picture that captures all that Disney Magic from my special Mommy and Daughter trip to Walt Disney World two weeks ago...