$3.33 Ransom Toy Bin

My poor neglected blog! Well I have been crafting, but not taking pictures and blogging! BUT I did make something last night that I just couldn't wait to share!

Voila! My ransom toy bin! This is my latest attempt to help my kids clean up their stuff.

$3 bin (it's the big one!)
reusable sandwich bag (3 for $1)
Printed labels (you could write it out by hand if you want)

I "collect" at night after the kids go to bed and I keep track of what I collected and when (more on that in a min) I think this is the best win-win because they have a relevant consequence and we get some chores done! There is one small "catch" though -- I keep track of what I collect because they only have 1 week to earn their toys back or they go to DI (or in most cases will get stored in the garage) If they don't miss them that much then they probably don't need it. The chores range from very simple (rolling up the vacuum cord) to a little bigger chores for "big ticket" items that I collected.




So that's it! What do you guys do to help your kids clean up?

$4 whiteboard (makeover)

okay it took a little longer than promised but here it is ... a new post! nothing earth-shattering, but I thought it was a cute makeover!
I picked this up at DI for $3! What I liked about it more than other white boards is that it's sold wood around it!
(this is a picture of the back to give you an idea of what the border was like)
All I did was put a fresh coat of paint on it and it looks much better! (I think :) I also got a big pack of notepads at the dollar store and put a strip of magnetic tape ...

There ya go! $4 makeover! Hmmm... should I add stain?


I'm linking up!

 

I Will Be Back!

My poor little blog! I know I don't have a mass following, but I still like to keep it fresh ... if not just for myself!

I know everyone is a little "keep calm ..." -ed out but don't you love this one? I have never seen it before today and I wanted to post it because that's part of why I've been "absent" ... we are revamping the way we do homeschool and it's higher up on the priority list than crafting. BUT I do have something fun I will post this weekend!

Thanks for those of you who do visit my little blog :)

Here it is ... My Christmas Jar Guest Post!

Here is my guest post from yesterday you can find over at Blissful and Domestic!


Hello Everyone! I'm Jennifer from Dainty Posies and I am SO excited to be here at Blissful and Domestic! Thank you, Danielle for letting me guest post!

I love all of Danielle's ideas to save money so I thought I would share a cute Christmas craft that costs very little! So here it is ....

A multi-purpose Christmas Jar! I recently read the book Christmas Jars and I LOVED it! So naturally I wanted our family to start our own Christmas Jar and this is what I threw together! Here's how to make your own! All you need is:

a jar (I used spaghetti but you can use ANY kind you want)
twine
bells (mine are medium sized)
lace (or ribbon)
spray paint (I used oil rubbed bronze)
burlap

First things first: spray painting your bells is totally optional! I saw a lot of cute Christmas bells that would have worked great but I had it in my head to do oil rubbed bronze so I went with that :)
-After I spray painted the bells I strung the together on the twin like this so they would group together:

-It's really just the beginning of how you tie your shoe but pulled tight
-Set aside and then wrap your burlap and lace around the jar
 -Last, wrap your bells around the jar and tie in back
Drop a tea light in there aaaaaand you're finished! Easy peasy! This would also be cute with Christmas ribbon but I just wanted to keep it simple :)

 I can't wait to start using this for our Christmas Jar change! Thanks, again to Danielle for letting me share this with everyone! If you get a chance, hop on over to Dainty Posies and visit me! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Sneak Peek ...

Hello Everyone! Are you ready for Christmas? Here's a sneak peek at my guest post over at Blissful and Domestic next Sunday!

Can you tell what it's going to be?

I'M STILL HERE!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm so sorry for my absence - we have had some medical issues with one of our children and so I have taken some "time off" from crafting - but I will be back in full swing this week and will even be guest posting next month at one of my FAVORITE blogs Blissful and Domestic! So please come back and visit later this week!

Screen TIme Money

Sometimes despite my best efforts, we can fall into the habit of a little too much screen time. So I thought if I could make keeping track of screen time a little more fun for the kids it might stick better! I found these super cute screen time money printables here and I'm excited to give them a try! All I did was cut them out and then laminate them (and then cut them again :)

You can print them in blue, green, pink, silver, or just black and white depending on how many kids you have - that way it's easy to keep track of everyone's tickets :) I haven't ironed out the details of how to distribute them (do I give them out, do the kids earn them, etc) but I'm excited to make keeping track of screen time a little more fun!

I'm linking up!