Projects...

So life with 3 kids is pretty busy, just juggling the 3 kids and the general routine things like feeding them, dressing them and getting them to where they need to be, let alone trying to juggle all of their things... why do kids have so much stuff? I've finally come to accept that my house will never be show home perfect. I do love a tidy house and I try very hard to keep it tidy and clutter free, but I have come to the realisation that having kids doesn't help with this and that I'll have to wait until they leave home to have my show home tidy house of my dreams. I do have one rule when it comes to kids toys - I don't mind having them out in my lounge room, but that's only a small bucket full, and it must be able to be tidied up quickly. With that said, kids have a lot of stuff.... but I'm not talking about toys - I'm talking about those little bits and pieces they have, and the kinds of things that are to be shared between siblings and not their own special toys - things like puzzles etc.
I've had a couple of projects that I've been working on for the last couple of months. Finally I have got around to finishing them....

Anyway, our kids have a lot of games and little bits and pieces in boxes, and that are left lying around all over the floor for us to trip on and tidy up, and the boxes are ripping and looking a bit untidy. This was making me tired and a little bit annoyed, and I wanted to find a better solution for storing them.
We don't have a lot of space around here these days with 3 adults and 3 children and all their things taking up our house, and I hate things to be cluttered, so I thought I would make use of the space underneath our bench as a place to store the kids shared things.

Behold...

I waited for a special at The Warehouse and got two sets of these plastic drawers - without their wheels they fit perfectly under the bench and makes use of a space that we aren't using for anything else at the moment - this space is also easily accessible for the kids as the dining table is right beside these shelves, which is where the kids spend most of their time drawing or playing the games anyway.
In the one on the left it has our magnetic whiteboard and magnetic pictures and numbers, and also all of the kids games.
In the one on the right is a few 'learning' things, which i am slowly gathering more and more things as I find them. Things like pegboards, threading beads, Mr Potato head etc. Also in the bottom 2 drawers we have 2 floor puzzles, and a whole lot of other puzzles.
Everything is all nicely contained and the kids know where to put them all when they are finished.

But that is not all.... I did not stop there.... I didn't want everything dumped into the drawers only to get messed up again, so I needed a way to keep bits and pieces together. Thanks to Pinterest and this pin, I decided to have a go at making some storage bags. You see, my sewing machine and i are getting to know each other a little better this year... eek!

Anyway here are some of  the bags I made...

Found some cute fabric for cheap at spotlight and an off cut of that see through stuff and got to work - toy bags with a window - now the kids can see what they are choosing without having to tip everything out first. They were actually quite easy to make!

Also, who made the suggestion to store puzzles in delicates bags? YOU ARE A GENIUS! So quick and easy! thank you to the $2 shop... we now have nice tidy puzzles... LOVE!

So puzzle and bits and pieces now have storage... and thank you to The Warehouse again, because I saw these tiny little plastic storage bags (they came with a stationary item in each bag) and they are the perfect size for all of our tiny little puzzles and small magnetic story pieces... LOOK....

Awesome huh?

Remember how I said that my sewing machine and I are getting to know each other a bit better this year?
Thanks to a YouTube tutorial  I had a go at making a skirt for Little Miss Muffet....

Here she is wearing it... Isn't she delicious?

Just a simple skirt with an elastic waistband - took me all of about 20 minutes to make. I would like to make matching ones for the girls next, and am hoping to have a go at making some pj pants for the kids for winter.

And finally.... I have been wanting a wall map for The Lad's bedroom FOREVER, and couldn't find one that I liked, or it was going to be too expensive to get hold of one on a canvas from overseas. I was talking to my sister about this when she came to stay in February, and she told me you can get wall maps printed on canvas from Typo. So I had a look and found the one I liked but decided it would have to wait another few months as our budget didn't allow for any extras right now. Guess what? My beautiful sister ordered it and had it sent to our house with some other goodies - AWESOME, and now it's up in the Lad's bedroom.... It's definitely my favourite thing! One day my dream is to have a MASSIVE map on our dining room wall, but we will have to wait until we have our own house for that.

Doesn't it look good on his wall?

Close up...

Lots of crafty projects going on around here... have you been getting your craft on lately?