Special DISNEY craft

Hello to the Blogger World,

I know it has been sometime since I've been on here...but after my Sick-bruary coma, I'm excited to March forward and get crafty for the coming Spring and some upcoming Disney trips :-)

before I get back to regular schedule posting, I have been invited to be a guest blogger on violetimperfection

My Disney friend Leslie is having a Special DISNEY week on her blog YAY!

I offered to do a simple Disney craft. I got started by thinking about what do I have in my craft room (you know I like to reuse and re purpose), what would be something fun and unique, and of course checked out some inspiration on Pinterest ;-)

I have a plethora of these

and a have a collection of frames waiting to be used. Hmmm?

I found this great idea on Pinterest scrappingthemagic.com art-with-park-maps

and was able to  complete this craft in less than and hour and as in my guest blog's title I'm all about "imperfection" so if its not lined up just right and however it turns out...the point of CRAFTING is to bring some MAGIC and JOY into your home and life :-) I hope you agree.

Before I get to the craft, here are some fun Disney questions and answers to get to know how my Disney brain ticks...

1) When was your first Disney trip?

I went as a kid, when my family in the mid 1980's. It was a big deal trip, we even flew! Stayed off site, before I even knew what that meant at a Ramada Inn and we went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot (besides some other unmentionable theme parks in the Orlando area). I remember the now gone World of Motion Ride being my favorite attraction. I still have a few souvies from that trip too.

2) If you could have any Disney attraction in your backyard what would it be and why?

The tea cups...LOL

I love to laugh and have a good time and this ride always delivers, besides who wouldn't want one of those cups in their backyard, purple and green please.

3) What is the one Disney food that you must have on a trip?

Believe it or not, this "food" really is a newer addition to my Disney obsession...a Dole Whip Float please. Vanilla and Pineapple. YUM!

4) What is your best Disney tip or advice?

Truly enjoy the little and special spontaneous moments that happen there...I'm an avid planner, but never let the itinerary or schedule over rule the day. From special character meet and greets, pin trading, or just plan talking with a Cast Member...those end up being some of my favorite moments.

Now back to the maps and a frame:

You saw my maps and here is a simple white 8 x 10 frame from Target and piece of card stock

I started by taking the fake photo out of the frame and folded into 16 equal rectangles

 then I made a small template out of a piece of card stock

I used this to trace out the image from my maps and times guides

once I had them all traced out, I cut them with a small paper cutter and arranged them on the fake photo template

 then I transferred them to the piece of card stock trimmed to fit in the frame

I had to hand trim a few of the rectangles to fit better. Then I outlined each piece with a black flair pen

Here is a look at the finished project:

Not only is it neat to look at but serves as a mini trip down memory lane from several past trips to WDW. I had another matching frame, so decided to make one more:

After my eldest daughter saw my map art, she pulled out her collection and is inspired to do a map project herself!

Some other map craft ideas are:

* using as a decorative cover to an old box or bin to keep your Disney trip stuff in

* cut maps to fit the outside of a 3 ring binder to have as a trip planner, journal, etc

* use in your scrapbook layouts

* create coasters with them

the ideas are endless....Happy Crafting and thanks for reading, Julie

This is not the February I ordered...

( editing note: using blogger app so photos are in order but not in the text...)

February is suppose to be getting close to the end of Winter not the start of it...but here in Chicago, Mother Nature can't quite make up her mind, a week ago we had 3 of the 4 seasons in a matter of days and NOW the snow comes...ugh well at least my daughter was able to finally play outside and make this sweet snowman

(snowman picture)

My original pinispiration goals were to keep up with my Magic Mondays and Fix-it Fridays plus the overall goal was focusing on making better and healthier choices for myself in terms of snacks and excercise ...I wanted to be doing this

Getting fit:

(exercising picture)

And making healthier snack/lunch choices

But unfortunately I've been sick

( kleenex picture)

And dealing with other household illness like the cashew attack on my youngest, don't worry she's ok now and I have a new accessory in my purse...her epi pen.

( Naomi-Ruth in hospital picture)

Hoping to get on the right track soon, so hang in there with me.

Thanks, Julie

Fix-It: Home Command Central: operation fridge information

Here is the conclusion to our home's new Command central area....the fridge information highway :-)

Reminder of how it looked before:

a bit messy, disorganized and items on fridge that really were not in use or helping with home function (ie the chore chart...its under those notes)

To start any fix-up project...you need two things:

A Clean Slate

and some inspiration, mine came from pinterest (but of course)

 thecardswedrew.com fridge-reorganization

 achievingcreativeorder.blogspot kitchen-command-center

 notjustahousewife. command-center

bhg.com/decorating/storage/organization

My Finished Project:

it may not look as fancy or a cute as my inspiration photos above, but so far it is working out quite nicely! I want to expand the area to the walls on either side of our Laundry room. I have some boards up, but now i have new plans to make this how entry way work better for all of us.

 After pulling everything off, sorting into piles, and deciding want i needed to be on the fridge; I basically added another magnetic file/paper holder (found at Target), a magnetic flip sorter, a magnetic list maker, some pictures and inspirational/happy thoughts.

The flip chart holds our basic master weekly calendar, a family chore chart and the "What's Cooking?" for dinner. plus room for a few other items. I found the various printables on pinterest...it truly is amazing what other people have come up and share their ideas for you to implement into your daily lives :-)

The two magnetic file holders are split into 4 sections:

take-out menus

school/activity calendars

phone books (school, clubs, church)

chore/practice charts

***Note I will share more on these cool charts I found on freeprintablebehaviorcharts in another post, but lets say so far the kids and Mom like them!

Well get busy and get organized.

thanks for reading, Julie



Fix-It: Home Command Central: Binders

As I hinted in my previous post, one of the bigger re-organization jobs has been 2 fold: creating some improved work areas for myself and the kids, plus a Home Command central space.

I got busy looking over many pins for inspiration and found some great printables along the way.

I needed a new system. so I began a complete overhaul and have been using and re using my new finds and inspired ideas from pinterest.

The Home Command Center:

as seen in the above picture of the side of our refrigerator...who doesn't use their fridge as the go to area for information of your home? well we do...and it has been a sore spot for awhile now trying to figure a better way to utilize that space and the area directly around it and our back door, which for the most part is the main coming and going area in our home for our family.



Matt and I chat of these grand remodeling plans of re using this back area space to make a proper mudroom, etc....but well you needs FUNDS for that...and funds just aren't part of this equation right now. So what do I do?

we have limited space

we have limited funds

and a lot of mess and disarray

which may not cause stress to my family but it does to me and well if Mama ain't happy than no one is...


somehow I "conned" Matt into helping me set up a "new" organization desk/work area in our family room and well it's moving along.


Emptying the desk shared by both the kids and I was like an archaeological dig and it took over the dinning room table for a good week as I sorted and looked on pinterest for new ideas of how to organize all of this "stuff"

I  decided I needed a new way to sort, file and keep track of everything from finances to meal planning and family time...

this is my temporary "desk" area until I have shelves installed over my new desk area. I sorted through my current system and condensed and reused the storage items I had around the house already. Plus the added bonus of a surplus of white binders I had stored up.

I decided on a system of 3 main binders:

Finances

Home/Family Life

Get Creative



I also have 6 paper organizers for items that don't quite fit in the binders' system.

A "to-do" file

A general school file

and one file per child

I have tweaked and moved things around a bit over the last weeks as i get used to using a new system. In the end to make life not just organized and more efficiently functioning I want it to look pretty too. So I plan to do something like this:

as seen from this pin/blog:  iheartorganizing

here's a peek into each of my binders and where i found the printables on pinterest:

Finances

it has 5 sections:

savings, with pocket pages to keep gift cards, lists, saving plans for trips, camp, etc

Budget and Bills,  with a general monthly bill list, a working budget spreadsheet, pocket pages for bills, payments, etc

the budget sheet was found here: simple-dimples organization-binders

Monthly Calendar (of expenses/income), this has a calendar to fill in when items are due and pay dates; a register or track your spending sheets, and pocket pages for receipts

the register pages was found from the same blog link above

this one I found while searching for something else, and I think i like this format a bit better...will be trying this one February. Found here: yourway-spending-worksheet

The last two sections are for misc receipts and any credit card purchases made. Plus an area for any other documents, notes that pertain to bills and finances and websites for billers.

Home/Family Life binder

 this Binder has 8 sections

Important appointments/reminders pocket page:

Meal Planning, which includes a pocket page for recipes to try (from magazines, friends, etc)

 my master meal list and chart to fill in new recipes to try again

weekly evening calender so i can plan out the weeks meals accordingly

the Next section is for Chores/Cleaning:

I have a pocket page for chore/cleaning instruction cards that i give to the kids when we play the "House Game" on most Saturday mornings. I have created a section with cleaning schedule samples and blank sheets for me to fill in as I come up with a better schedule than just the random cleaning spurts or the "we have company tonight....AHHH!"

The GREAT "To-DO!" section:

   

Pocket pages above (self explaining) and then one of the best pins (IMHO) the Things to do list:

I printed and then made multiple copies of.  I pull a new sheet out each week (the goal is to do it Sunday afternoons) and begin filling it out. It stays on a clip board in plain site for me to keep track of what I'd like to and am suppose to get done during the week ahead, from laundry to Disney planning....

I then have two sections for Finish It Friday's (what didnt i do and now prioritize that out) and Action plans for trouble spot areas in the home/outside that we want to tackle.

the last section is for Family Time:

I have a calendar printed so I can keep track of weekend and Friday night activities so I can set aside some intentional time for us to do things as a family or just Matt and I

the pocket pages in this section hold Family Night cards, and other items to help inspire fun :-)

Get Creative Binder

this binder hasn't received much use yet...but I have fun plans for this binder to help keep me organized for crafting, gift-giving, holidays, scrapbooking and blogging....stay tuned to see more.

Here are the links to the printables I have used for my binders:

weekly Menu planner: artsyfartsymama-get-organized-printable

Things to do list: www.apairofpears.com

various printables from Simplify Life (link is to a blog about Sunday planning and offers many links to printables): printables c/o designfinch

Printable calndars: todayscreativeblog

Fill in Weekly chore chart: my3monsters-housekeeping

Chore cards for Kids: organicfamilies.blogspot-chore-cards

I hope I inspired you to get organized, please stay tuned for the final installment of this Home Command Central remake as we get back to the Fridge information disarray....

thanks for reading, Julie