Electronics cords - Organized!

I am sure that I first saw this idea somewhere else, I just don't know where. 
Anyway, my kids are always looking for the cords to recharge their electronics.  You know, there are different cords for the Kindle, the nook, the MP3 players, the iPod, each camera.  Why, WHY does there need to be so many different shapes and sizes?!?
One day while sitting at my desk after getting up the look for a cord for the THIRD time, I decided to change our lives forever! 
I gathered up all of the different cords I could find.  I then used my handy dandy label maker to make identifying labels for each one.  For some reason, the kids can't tell exactly which cord they are looking for.  Then, I found the self stick velcro I had recently purchased from Joann's.  I put a long piece of the "hook" part on my desk door and put a small piece of the "loop" portion on the back of each and every cord we use.  I also exanded it into all of my USB thumb drives.  Now I (and the kids) know where to find each of the cords we need - that is, if they put them back where they are supposed to go which is rarely.

It is very hard to see the velcro that is stuck on the door because I was able to find it in clear.  I'm really happy with the fact that it doesn't show up very much.

Now you can kind of see the velcro stuck to the door.  Also, I didn't put a tag on my iPod cord because I am the only one that uses it and I can tell it from the others.  Duh.

I even put the Nook outlet charging adapter there so we will (in theory) always find the cord and adapter together.  That is, if they are put away together.  Does anyone else have this problem?

Now you can see the loop part of the velcro that is on the back of each of the USB cords and thumb drives. 

Teeny tiny kitchen cabinets

So I have a small kitchen.  Very small.  For a family of 6.  At least that's the way I feel.  My counter space is virtually non existent and the cabinets are so small that I have to turn my dutch oven sideways to get it in and out of the cabinet.  We keep the crock pot and griddle on the floor in front of the microwave (that's convenient and looks GREAT!)
So, needless to say, with very little space, I have lots of storage problems.  BUT, I recently solved one of them.  On a trip to Ikea (love it!) I found these great little baskets to hang on the door.  I had been looking for something like them for quite a while but couldn't find one that Coupon Boy would agree to paying for.  These were inexpensive and JUST WHAT WE NEEDED!!!
This isn't an earth shattering revelation but I am glad I've got these.


They fit on my doors and actually still enabled me to shut the doors.  See, I had purchased several other options and they were all either too big for the door or, if they actually fit on the door they stuck out too far to get the door closed.

These don't stick out too far at all and fit many more lids in them.  We just had leftovers for dinner last night so all the other lids are in the dishwasher.

This one holds my smaller lids and can actually hold 2 rows of them.  Double the storage!!!

Yep!  That is the full width of my cabinets.  AND, I only have 4 of these on the bottom. 

Scrapbook Calendar

So, since we have HUGE plans for December that are going to take our attention away from Christmas, I decided it is now time for me to start making my annual Christmas Calendar gifts that I make for my Mom and my In-Laws.  My Mom's is not actually a calendar, it is just a year in review but my In-Laws really like having an entire calendar to put on the wall and write their plans on. 
While trying to find pictures for the 2 different calendars, I ended up looking at the pix from last years calendar and though I would share my wonderful creations with you. 
Now, just to warn you, I have a Cricut and am not afraid to use it.  I use it tons on this project.  In fact, that is how I get the grid for each of the months.  (I use my designers calendar cartridge.) 
When all of the pages are done, I take it to Staples and have them put the spiral binding on.  It costs only a few dollars and makes it easy for my In-Laws to hang it and use it all year long.  Enjoy!


So, this is the very exciting cover of my calendar.  I'm not exactly sure why is says 2011.  I thought this was the calendar I made last year which would mean it is for 2012.  Oh well! 
Anyway, I used my cricut to cut a huge tree, Christmas balls and the numbers and stars which are cut from foil paper and then had each of the kids write their names on one of the balls.  I stuck them on with my xyron sticker maker and decorated it with a few rhinestones.

This is just a close up of the page so that you can see more of the details. 



I try to always make sure that I put the month on the page with the pictures.  That way when they break it down and put it in their scrapbook, they can always see what month it was even though they won't be able to see the calendar.





This year I found some awesome stickers available on Amazon that saves me TONS of time.  Last year I actually took the time to cricut cut each and every one of the date numbers. 
 





Once again, I LOVE my Cricut!!  Designers Calendar for the month and Everyday Paper Dolls for the car and flag.



I just loved how the colors worked together on the page.  Very Eastery.

This was my least favorite page.  I just couldn't get everything to work together on this one. 

 

I just loved how this one looked when it was done.  I used this teal blue glitter paper as accents here and there.  I even put small squares of it on the calendar page.  (The one w/o the pix.)  I just looked so summery and really reminded me of pool water.

 

Pine trees courtesy of Cricut.

Beautiful simplicity. 

This one was quite inspired.  I'm just not sure if the outcome was worth all of the time.  I again used my cricut to cut out the soccer ball (which ended up looking like a goth beach ball), top edge of the grass, the net, sun and clouds.  I then cut out a bunch of pix of The Two Bigs playing soccer and tried to make it look like everyone was playing together.  I thought the use of the grass paper was sheer genius!
 

So, since I make the calendar in December, I don't have any current Christmas pictures to use so I went with pix from past years so that the grandparents could get a quick look back in time. 

I highlighted the years and pictures with a bit of some gold holographic paper.  I thought it all worked well together.

This is the back, not much to get excited about but then again, it's the back.  What did ya wnat?



 

I take all of the extra pictures I have left over from this project and make a small scrapbook for my Grandma.  She just loves to have pictures and does not get many anymore since we all have digital cameras and don't have as many left over pictures as we did with film cameras.
Well, I hope I inspired you to take time to make a calendar for someone (or yourself) this year.  Just be warned that it takes a lot of time.  That's why I am starting this week.