Fabric Organization

For a while now, I've had my fabric organized by color in piles.  Piles of folded fabric, that eventually started falling over once the pile got too big.  Piles of fabric falling over, off the shelf, onto the floor and making a mess that made it impossible to easily find what I needed for a project.

But, then it dawned on me to create my own fabric bolts, just like in the store.  This would allow me to more easily see all of my fabric at a glance and have easier access to my fabric as well.  I would no longer need to move an entire pile just to pull out the piece of fabric all the way at the bottom of the pile.

Since we had yet to take out our recycling I set to work cutting up every piece of cardboard we had.  Using a utility knife I cut the cardboard into approximately 6"x10" pieces.  Most of my fabric would easily wrap around this size when folded over and would fit in the new location.  I used straight pins to keep the fabric on the bolt and stacked similar colors in plastic baskets I picked up at the Dollar Store.

I do have a pile of fabric that I have a lot more of, that wouldn't fit on those smaller bolts.  It's just folded and piled right now, but I think I'm going to create larger bolts for those.  Here are a few pics of my newly organized stash.  So far, this system is working for me.  How do you organize your fabric?

Book Organizer

My kids go through a lot of cereal, so a lot of cereal boxes go right into the recycling bins.  But not this week!  I decided to use a few to create book holders for the books my kids read.

My son has to read every night for homework so we have lots of easy readers laying around.  My daughter is beginning to show interest in reading, so we have a lot of phonics readers and handmade books around.  Unfortunately, the basket I was planning on using to hold the books hasn't quite been working.

So I took a few cereal boxes and cut them diagonally like a magazine holder.

Then using a combination of spray adhesive and tape, I attached some leftover wrapping paper to each one to make them look cool for the kiddos.

And added labels so the kids could easily find their books.

This was a quick and easy way to organize our books and didn't cost me a thing!

Learning Headquarters

With less than two weeks before the kids head back to school, I wanted to get our new Learning Headquarters set up with all the supplies the kids would need.  I wanted an area that would be centrally located in our home so that I could easily help with homework, even while I'm working on dinner or folding laundry.

I decided to use this spot in our living room.  It's near a half wall that separates our living room and kitchen.  Currently, only the kids' computer table has been utilizing this space, with plenty of extra space for a larger work table and a shelf to hold other supplies.

I started by moving in this old coffee table to use as the work table.  It was previously used as a craft table, but will definitely serve its purpose as a work table since my oldest starts with homework this school year.  On the table I have these colorful buckets that hold supplies that the kids might need like pencils, crayons, markers and other tools (like scissors, erasers and glue).  I got the buckets at Ikea for just a few dollars each.  They were actually flower pots, but I loved the bright colors, the fact that the supplies would be visible and easy for the kids to find, and the ease of being able to take out and put away the supplies.  I used scrapbooking adhesive letters to label each container.

I kept the computer table as well, since most of the computer games we have are educational and will offer good practice for both kids.  Some of their favorite computer games are Living Books, Jump Start, Reader Rabbit, and Type to Learn Jr.

With school starting, lots of toys are being rotated back to the kids' rooms, so one of our toy storage units was available.  This one had just enough space for other supplies. 

Two of the smaller totes are labeled for each child, where they can keep age/grade specific workbooks, flash cards, and their practice notebooks and journals.  The three larger totes are labeled for the three subjects Math, Reading and Science.  These totes have games, manipulatives and other activities related to those subjects inside. 

The last small tote is our sensory tote and will have items in it to go along with the season, the holidays or specific themes the kids might be studying in school.  Right now, our sensory box is all about summer and the beach.  The kids can use their senses to explore the objects and draw/write in their journal about them.

On the top of the shelf, I've dedicated one basket to small easy to read books, especially those books that the kids make in school.  They are great to keep out for rereading and sight word practice.

There is also another basket for word books.  We have a picture dictionary and other word books like Arthur's Really Useful Word Book and Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go.  These become a great resource to refer to as the kids begin writing - words, simple sentences and their own stories.

I'm hoping to utilize the shutters on the wall as well.  Currently they hold greeting cards for birthdays and the holidays.  But, I'm sure I could use them for something else when they are not in use.  Maybe for displaying invitations to school functions, tricky sight words that need practicing, spelling lists or the letter of the week.

If your little one is a big kid now and heading off to school, it's definitely important to make them a learning space all their own.  Whether it's a big space with a work table or a small space with supplies in a tote or basket, it will give them their own space to work, learn and be creative.

School Work Clothesline

School will be starting again before we know it, and that means kitchen counters and dining room tables will soon be inundated with papers, papers, and more papers!  Now is the time to start thinking about how you are going to organize and display your children's school work.

To help with the displaying of my children's work, I hung clotheslines.  I utilized one bare wall in my kitchen and devoted that space to displaying my children's school and art work.  I used small brass hooks and a piece of twine (you could use any kind of string or yarn) to create a clothesline.  I bought some colorful clothespins to use to display their work.

Fortunately, our wall space was large enough to hang two clotheslines, so I have enough room to display both kids' work.  I love how we filled up this bare wall, and I love to see their proud faces as we hang up new papers from school.  They also get involved by letting me know which of their papers they would like to display, and when the line is full which ones to take down so a new one can be added.

If your little one isn't in school yet, this is still a great way to hang up art projects and coloring pages that are completed at home or in daycare.