24 UHeart Organizing: DIY State Inspired Cork Board

I haven't had a personal need to do any quick and crafty organizational projects for a few weeks, and it absolutely gives me a case of the sads!  I really enjoy doing 15-minute fun projects that bring me smiles with a side of organization.  Good thing Chelsea of Two-Twenty One blog is here to fill that void for me.  I am so smitten with her DIY state inspired cork board; it is such a versatile idea that is perfect for kitchens, craft rooms and kid's rooms.  Just think of all of the shapes you could create!  Here she is now to share how she whipped up this darling little craft out of cork.

Hey, iHeart readers! I thought I'd swing by today and share a fun state-inspired cork board DIY with you.

Now, I'm going to warn you, some states are going to be easier to execute than others-- I'm looking at you Wyoming and Colorado.

Any guesses where I'm from?

In case you're bad at geography, I'll give you a hint: Michael Jackson was born here.

To get started with your state cork board, do a quick Google image search for the outline of your state and cut it out.

Grab one or two 12" x 12" cork tiles. My state fit onto one tile so I only had to use one.

Cut out your state and trace it onto your cork tile. I used some of the fancy schmancy thumbtacks that I made to hold the state in place while I traced it.

Use an Xacto knife to cut out your state. I found that small stabbing motions worked best. I was able to use scissors on the straight cuts.

Trace and cut out another state.

Twins!

Note: I took a few artistic liberties with the southern portion of my state.

Glue those puppies together with some hot glue.

 

I used Command Brand picture hanging strips to mount my cork board to the side of my home office workstation. I love those things.

And here's the final product!

I can never find my postage stamps so I decided to tack them up on the cork board. I also added some photo booth photos I took with one of my blog buddies at a conference and a photo of my brother and me when we were little. I'm particularly fond of this photo because I look like an unimpressed mob boss in a foofy pink dress. My "I'm not a player, I just blog a lot" button that I made and passed out at a blog conference also made its way onto the cork board.

If you're interested in learning more about the organization on the side of my home office workstation, head over here.

Hey friends! I'm Chelsea from Two Twenty One! I'm a twenty-something living in Indiana with my husband, Brad, and our crazy mutt, Jack. My loves are photography, travel, DIY projects, baking, wine, sarcasm and my iPhone. The husband and I are attempting to make our home a little less cookie cutter and a lot more awesome. My little slice of the internet, Two Twenty One, is where I share my latest home improvement projects, furniture makeovers, crafts, recipes and home & seasonal decor ideas. I am beyond excited to join Jen and the rest of the IHeart Organizing team!

23 Uheart Organizing: Smart Storage for Small Toys

I think we can all high-five to organizational solutions that are inexpensive, quick, easy and effective.  That said, Chelsea deserves some major high fives and low fives and on-the-side fives!  She is stopping by today from her blog, Two-Twenty One, to share with us her brilliantly simple solution to all of those toddler toys that contain multiple pieces.  It leaves me wishing I would have done something similar when my boys were younger.  Here she is now to spill her secrets.

Today I wanted to stop by and show you guys how I'm organizing some of my son's toys; specifically toys with small pieces like puzzles.  Because there's nothing more annoying than trying to complete a puzzle and you're missing a piece.

My answer to the where'd-that-puzzle-piece-go conundrum? Mesh lingerie laundry bags. That's right. Lingerie bags aren't only for your unmentionables, friends.

I use two different sizes of zippered, mesh bags. These larger bags, which I purchased from Walmart, hold larger puzzles and the pieces well.

While these smaller mesh bags are perfect for smaller puzzles. Plus, I scored them from the dollar store - 3 for $1.

But I didn't stop at puzzles, I kept the mesh bag party going and used it for other toys with small pieces.

Now, I must also add that before I became a mom, I worked as an infant and toddler developmental therapist (DT). And the basis of the therapy I did was play therapy. So while using the bags and teaching your kiddos to clean up after themselves, you can also throw in some educational components. For toddlers, you can sing the "Clean Up" song, and teach words like "in" or "put in". The kiddos I worked with also loved when I would say "boom" every time we put a toy in the bag. And then you can say "zip" when you or your kiddo zips up the bag.

And instead of giving a child all the pieces at once, I would give them the puzzle board first and withhold the rest of the pieces. We would work on either signing or verbally saying "more" or "more, please".  Once the kiddo would sign or say "more" or "more please", I would give them one piece at a time.

While we're on the topic of mesh laundry bags, I also use one in our bathroom for Owen's bath toys and cup. I used a Command Brand bath hook to hang the bag on the side of the shower.

Now all of his toys can dry while staying out of the way.

I've seen other bath toy storage organizers for $13-$15. I'm happy to report that my solution cost less than $5.

Now, let's talk about bigger puzzles with more pieces. I picked up some pencil cases from the dollar store to organize those puzzle pieces.

And back to referencing my DT days, zippers are great for strengthening fine motor skills.

Plus, there's an added educational aspect because kiddos have to match the correct bag to the puzzle when grabbing the puzzle piece bags.

I store the puzzles and other toys in fabric bins in my son's nursery closet shelving system. I love using fabric bins because they're easy to grab, play with the toys inside, and then slide them back into the cubbies.

Hey friends! I'm Chelsea from Two Twenty One! I'm a twenty-something living in Indiana with my husband, Brad, and our crazy mutt, Jack. My loves are photography, travel, DIY projects, baking, wine, sarcasm and my iPhone. The husband and I are attempting to make our home a little less cookie cutter and a lot more awesome. My little slice of the internet, Two Twenty One, is where I share my latest home improvement projects, furniture makeovers, crafts, recipes and home & seasonal decor ideas. I am beyond excited to join Jen and the rest of the IHeart Organizing team!

27 UHeart Organizing: Sweet Baby Toy Storage

Chelsea has a way of making everyday items and processes look super fabulous, and baby supplies are no exception.  I always love checking in on her blog, Two Twenty One, for no-nonsense solutions to everything from laundry room storage to kitchen organization.  Now that sweet baby Owen has arrived, I get both a frequent baby fixin' and organizational eye candy.  We are long past diapers and bouncers in our home, so it is nice having Chelsea stop by to share her tips for stashing daily baby belongings.

Let's face it, typically, babies come with a lot of stuff-- whether it's stuff you buy or stuff you're given. So today I'm sharing some baby toy storage ideas.

I wanted to keep toy clutter at a minimum in my 7 month old son's nursery so I purchased an IKEA Kallax shelving unit to put in the closet. This allowed me to store and organize Owen's books and toys out of sight when the closet doors are closed. Plus, it made use of the space in the bottom of the closet. (For a full nursery source list, see here.)

As you can see, books and some toys are stored in the top cubbies and more toys are in the fabric bins (from The Land of Nod) that easily slide in and out of the bottom cubbies, making for easy clean up.

I put puzzles, which he won't be using for a while, in the bin to the far left.

Toys he can play with when he was younger and now are in the second to the left bin.

Bath toys and toys he can play with soon are in the second to the right bin.

And Owen's small stuffed animal collection is in the far right bin.

When Owen was younger, and not sitting up on his own, we would spent a lot of time holding him while sitting on the couch in our living room. So I put a basket of toys and books on our sofa table. This made the items easily accessible and organized at the same time.

Now that Owen is sitting up on his own and more mobile, we spend a lot of time playing on the floor with him. While I'd love a new coffee table with built-in storage, it's not really in our budget right now. Plus, I think coffee tables are the hardest pieces of furniture to shop for. So I make due with what we have for now, which is just a regular, four-legged coffee table (ahem) from my husband's college days.

Larger toys that wouldn't fit in a basket very well are also stored under the coffee table. It's not the most attractive solution, but it keeps them out of the way when they aren't in use and mostly hidden.

All of Owen's smaller toys are stored in a basket under the coffee table. When we want to get him a toy, we slide it out from under the table. And then we clean up for the night, we throw everything back in the basket and slide it under the table. This makes cleaning up exceptionally quick and easy. We also use the basket to support Owen's sit-to-stand walker-- placing the basket behind the walker so the walker doesn't shift when he's pulling up and pushing on it while playing. Yay for basket double duty.

And then there's the large toys that are hard to hide. We put those out of the way next to our dresser turned TV console.

I've determined that when it comes to books and smaller toys that bins and baskets are your friends. There's tons of options to fit with your home decor, and they allow for quick and easy clean up. I've also learned that having place for everything is important, like with Owen's nursery dresser.

If you're an expectant or new momma looking for inspiration, you can check out all of my baby and nursery related posts here!

Hey friends! I'm Chelsea from Two Twenty One! I'm a twenty-something living in Indiana with my husband, Brad, and our crazy mutt, Jack. My loves are photography, travel, DIY projects, baking, wine, sarcasm and my iPhone. The husband and I are attempting to make our home a little less cookie cutter and a lot more awesome. My little slice of the internet, Two Twenty One, is where I share my latest home improvement projects, furniture makeovers, crafts, recipes and home & seasonal decor ideas. I am beyond excited to join Jen and the rest of the IHeart Organizing team!

12 UHeart Organizing: Baby "Car" Go

I have always loved to organize, however, it seems as though I really found my organizing stride after my kidlets were born.  My beautiful friend and contributor, Chelsea, recently became a new mom herself, and has been organizing and sharing all of the goodness over on her blog Two Twenty One.  I have to admit that I have loved following along and reminiscing about the days of diaper bags and changing tables.  I am excited to have her here today, sharing a ten minute baby "car" go sanity saver she recently implemented.  Here she is now!

Since becoming a mom, I've learned that I need to be prepared for anything. Which is why I put together this baby car kit. It took me maybe 10 minutes to put the kit together.  While I always travel with a well stocked diaper bag whenever I take my little one, Owen, out and about, I wanted to be able to have some items in my car just in case. In case you're wondering, you can see what I keep in the diaper bag and how I organize it here.

I keep the car kit basket in the back of my car by my emergency road assistance kit and jumper cables. In case you couldn't tell, I like to be prepared when it comes to my car.

One thing that I keep in the car kit is a change of clothes for me, which includes yoga pants and a shirt, because you never know when a blow out or massive spit up attack will happen. I've always kept a change of clothes in my car because of my day job as an in-home early intervention developmental therapist. There's been a couple times that I've had to change my clothes in between therapy appointments. I won't go into details but I'm sure you can imagine the crazy things that happen with toddlers.
 

Another item I keep my in my car kit for me is nursing pads. Recently, on the way to run errands, I realized I didn't have my nursing pads in. I found myself digging in the glovebox of my car for fast food napkins to use as stand ins. Desperate times call for desperate measures, my friends. So I made sure to include a couple disposable nursing pads in the kit so I never have to repeat that experience. I also threw some extra pads in my purse cosmetic bag.

Here's the list of everything in the car kit:

• Diaper changing pad clutch
• Change of clothes for me
• Baby wipes
• Antibacterial wipes
• Baby blanket
• Change of clothes for baby (one piece outfit, socks, hat)
• Nursing pads
• Pacifiers

The diaper changing pad clutch comes with a pocket to store diapers and wipes, so I keep a couple diapers and a handful of wipes stored in there.

Since we're heading into winter, and Midwest winters can be brutal, I plan to put a couple blankets, bottled water, some snacks (for me), and hand warmers in the back of my car just case I should get stranded with my little one.

When it comes to putting together a baby or kid car kit in your car, use what works best for your kiddo and family. Just think about the things you would want to have on hand should you forget something or if your kiddo has an accident. And you don't have to be fancy with what you put the stuff in. I used a basket I had laying around but you could use any sort of container.

"Hey friends!  I'm Chelsea from Two Twenty One!  I'm a twenty-something living in Indiana with my husband, Brad, and our crazy mutt, Jack.  My loves are photography, travel, DIY projects, baking, wine, sarcasm and my iPhone.  The husband and I are attempting to make our home a little less cookie cutter and a lot more awesome.  My little slice of the internet, Two Twenty One, is where I share my latest home improvement projects, furniture makeovers, crafts, recipes and home & seasonal decor ideas.   I am beyond excited to join Jen and the rest of the IHeart Organizing team!"

9 UHeart Organizing: Delivering Crafty Clothing Dividers

Today is a very special day!  Contributor and friend, Chelsea of Two Twenty One Blog, is due with her very fist baby!  Let's all take a moment to send her happy and healthy delivery vibes.

To prepare for her sweet little boy, she whipped up some quick and easy clothing dividers.  She is here today to share all of the details, which anyone can easily re-create and use for babies, kiddos, teenagers or even as adults.

 

Today is my official due date.  It's crazy to think I could go into labor any minute and have my first kiddo (a boy) in my arms in the matter of hours.

In celebration of my due date, I thought I'd share a small nursery organization project with you guys-- baby closet dividers.  These are super simple and inexpensive to make.

Here's what you'll need to make the closet dividers:

• Wooden O's
• Scrapbook paper
• Number stickers
• Paint
• Mod Podge
• Foam brush
• Scissors
• Pencil

Our closet clothing rods are metal with a shelf attached to the top, so I needed to cut a space in the O's with a hack saw so I could slide the dividers onto the rod.  After I cut the dividers, I lightly sanded the jagged parts left by the saw.
 

If you have a rod that can be removed, you can just slide the O's on without needing to cut them.

Then, I spray painted the dividers.

You can use any paint you have handy-- spray paint, craft paint, latex.  It doesn't matter.

I grabbed my scrapbook paper, turned it over, and traced the dividers with a pencil.

Next, I cut the paper out with my scissors.

Then it was time for the Mod Podge to adhere the scrapbook paper cut-outs to the wooden dividers.  Make sure you lay your paper on top of the divider first to make sure it's lining up correctly.

After the paper was dry, I stuck the number stickers on.  And that's it!

I think I'll whip up some extra closet dividers and save them to give as baby shower gifts with my DIY burp cloths and applique onesies.

"Hey friends!  I'm Chelsea from Two Twenty One!  I'm a twenty-something living in Indiana with my husband, Brad, and our crazy mutt, Jack.  My loves are photography, travel, DIY projects, baking, wine, sarcasm and my iPhone.  The husband and I are attempting to make our home a little less cookie cutter and a lot more awesome.  My little slice of the internet, Two Twenty One, is where I share my latest home improvement projects, furniture makeovers, crafts, recipes and home & seasonal decor ideas.   I am beyond excited to join Jen and the rest of the IHeart Organizing team!"