Simple Cloth Diaper Storage Solution

I've been using cloth diapers for almost two years. Over a year of that has been exclusive use, meaning we have no disposable diapers in our home at all. It took me awhile to embrace the idea that cloth was even an option, much less that it was something I could maintain all the time. To be honest, though, now that I've been doing it for so long, I can't imagine any other way.

If you're on the fence about using cloth, you probably have a lot of questions. Beyond the madness of figuring out which brand or which style of diapers will suit your family (we're partial to AppleCheeks around here!), you may have concerns about the practicality of using these diapers. It was a long time before I figured out a great storage solution. For several months, I had diaper shells, inserts, and wipes tossed on just about every surface in my house. It was crazy. Ultimately, though, I was over-thinking the process. I didn't need a lot of fancy storage containers. I just needed something that was practical.

With my AppleCheeks pocket diapers, I do my best to stuff them as soon as they are clean - so they are prepped and ready for diaper changes. I don't always succeed at this, so there are still sometimes piles of diaper pieces all over my couch, but generally speaking, this is how they end up. All diapers that are ready to go are stuffed and placed into this basket in my living room. I thought about keeping them in our Nintendo nursery, but we're not back there very often and it's easiest to just have them accessible in the main area of our home.

Any diapers that are "extra" sit in front of the basket. I don't have enough inserts to stuff all my covers with each load of laundry, but I want to rotate their use. So I leave the extras in plain sight and strive to use them first the next time I stuff diapers.

We use cloth wipes exclusively as well, and these are stored in a small basket on the piano, also in the main room of our home. The kids can reach them, which is sometimes helpful and sometimes not, as you can imagine.

We keep bedtime diapers (also pre-stuffed) on the dresser in the nursery, so we don't have to scramble for them when it's time to get everyone ready to bed.

Aside from this, I have one small bin for cloth diapers in the nursery. It contains a few extra pieces and accessories such as swim diapers that aren't used very often, but I don't want them put away in storage. Our dirty diaper pail is in the kitchen, right by the trash can. We just drop diapers there and wash them every 2-3 days.

And that's my entire cloth storage solution! How do you store cloth diapers in your home?

Easy Ribbon Storage Solution: Wire Hangers

I am a ribbon hoarder.

It's not a joke. I have hundreds of thousands of yards of ribbon in my house. Between birthday parties and my Etsy shop, I constantly have a ribbon project (or twelve) in progress. It didn't take long for me to realize that I needed a ribbon storage solution. I had boxes and bins overflowing with ribbons of all colors and widths in every crevice of my house. It was getting out of hand. So many crafting supplies are awkwardly sized and present difficulty in storing them in a manageable fashion. I'm excited to share my ribbon storage solution with you - it is so easy!

Goodbye, giant piles of boxes of ribbons and trim! Hello, lovely organized collection of useful supplies in my craft closet!

You may have some old wire hangers lying around, but if not you can try calling a dry cleaner to see if they have extras. I've been given stacks of them several times - for free!

Just untwist the top and you'll be able to thread spools of ribbon onto the hanger!

It's a little bit tricky to re-twist the hanger back together once you have filled it with spools, but with a little practice, it becomes much easier.

I'm actually not willing to show you just how many ribbon-filled hangers I have throughout my house. It's pretty safe to say that I will not run out of ribbon for many years...maybe ever.

Do you have a ribbon storage solution? What do you think of this idea?

I won't lie: it gets to be a tangled up mess if you let all the ribbons become unrolled at once. It's best to secure the ends with tape or a pin to keep the ends from trailing all your crafting area.

That's it! My super simple ribbon storage solution...hope you love it as much as I do!

What's Under My Couch? {volume I}

Oh, hi there, readers.

I always find it so ridiculous amusing when I sit down to blog and realize, oh it's been three days since I've written content? But I've been so busy online, how did that happen?! This week, it's been a combination of strongly promoting the trendy infant headbands in my shop, cheering for the Kansas City Royals, "catching up" on email (there are 104 messages in my inbox right now - CRY), and generally just being a mom. You know. Running around outside like a lunatic at dusk to wear off some energy pre-bedtime (it didn't work, they were up so many times last night I lost track).

Oh and I cleaned out my kid's craft stash, which had overtaken my entire laundry room. It's slightly back in control now. Slightly.

I have a full week's worth of posts sitting here in draft mode, plus more in my brain, but instead of working on any of those, I decided to write something far more random:

What's Under My Couch? Volume I.

Meet my couch!

Wall Art featured in this post, waaaaay back at the beginning of this blog adventure.

It's kind of a pathetic little thing. The cushions don't stay in place and the center piece of the sectional is in our garage because we can't get in the living room if it's being utilized. The pillows are lumpy and I'm not even sure at this point how many times I have cleaned crackers or soda or pee out of this beast. But, it keeps on giving us a place to sit. It also provides a high surface for Lincoln to jump off in repeated attempts to break his neck - but I digress.

The point is: it's a lovely little couch, and it was given to me for free, so it's not like I have any room to complain. Love you, couch. 

Today's story is about what's lurking under the couch. Because, you see, even though it looks like it touches the floor in front, it doesn't. There is a narrow little crevice all along the front edge which seems to attract things like a fly to molasses on a sweat-inducing South Carolina day. Every now and then, we decide to lift it up and see what treasures our children have tried to permanently remove from their toy collection. Tonight's haul was especially impressive - thus, I felt it worthy to share. You can thank my exhaustion for thinking this is valid entertainment for anyone besides myself.

So, what did I find under the couch?

• 11 books, 4 of which are from the library, 1 of which is EXTREMELY overdue and accruing fines. 
• 1 plate, 1 spoon, 1 fried egg, 1 vanilla cookie, 1 McDonald's cup lid from our play kitchen.
• 1 plastic toy credit card. 
• 3 crayons. 
• Envelope from a recent birthday party invitation.
• Tire from a broken car we no longer have.
•  1 Cheerio (not Cheerio brand - it's sprouted).
• Rectangle block that's been missing from our shape puzzle.
• Plastic pink bracelet.
• "Toy School" script, from when I was reading plays this summer to find new material for my students. 

I think this could be a great blogger link-up post series. Am I right?? I can't be the only mom with random stuff under her furniture. I dare you to go look under something RIGHT NOW and come back to leave me a comment of what you found - no matter how ridiculous. Ready? GO!

Currently // October 6, 2014

Happy Monday, friends! I'm trying to have an intentional/productive day over here, but I woke up to a child jumping on my face and then headbutting me...so I didn't get off to the best start. I'd probably feel a little more motivated if the cold/cough/ick I've had for three straight weeks now would just clear up and die, too.

However, I'm also trying to minimize whining and complaining because they are not exactly preferred or attractive tendencies in anyone - so let's get on with the day, shall we?

 Thinking //

...that I need a much better daily routine. Or, a routine at all. I just don't know how to establish this when my kids are up five times a night. Being exhausted all the time does not bode well for productivity, and just the thought of getting up even earlier makes my head hurt.

...that I'd love to be a vendor at a craft show, but I can barely get my Etsy shop stocked with new items more often than a few times a year. Putting together enough stuff for a show sounds like crazy talk.

...that I need to purge some STUFF. My.house.is.a.mess. And by mess I mean complete-and-utter-ridiculous-disaster-of-things-piled-everywhere. I'm past the point of "I can't deal with it anymore" to "I don't want to deal with it anymore," which means now I might actually do something about it. Great logic, right?

Listening //


...to Lincoln eating crunchy cereal while watching the new Octonauts movie I found at the library. Yep - my kids watch TV so I can blog. Addie is still asleep, after having been up several times in the night.

...to the beautiful sound of my dryer running in the basement. It's fixed after about three weeks of downtime. Hallelujah! And it only cost $32 for a part, vs. buying an entire new dryer.

Doing //

...a LOT of blog work today, I hope. I have a full week of posts lined up, plus need to do some prep for kid craft ideas floating around in my head, and start working on my Holiday Gift Guide (email  me if you want to be featured - directorjewelsATgmailDOTcom).

...preschool this week, after an unexpected couple of weeks off. Between living at my parents' house for three days due to curb reconstruction and all of us being sick and the mega piles of laundry in every crevice, I have not been motivated to make school happen. Going to get back on track this week.

...massive housework and organization. Somewhere in my head, I'm believing that it has to look worse before it can look better, but this is what a good room in my house looks like right now:

Thankful for //

...my now-working dryer and husband who spent all of his free time for the last week dealing with it. The poor contraption is going to run literally all day today.

...crisp, fall air and thunderstorms. I'm way beyond tired of heat and mugginess.

What's up with you? What are your goals for the week? Linking up at Hannah's Joyful Life.

Easy Storage + Organization with Clever Crates {Free for Fall Giveaway Hop}

Disclosure: I received a set of Clever Crates for review, but no other compensation was received and all opinions expressed are my own.

 

Welcome to the It's a Free for Fall Giveaway Hop, hosted by the Blogging Mamas Network.

Fall is finally here - yay! Now, if only the weather would cooperate and cool down right away for me - that would be awesome. I've joined with a bunch of other amazing bloggers to bring you a fall-themed giveaway hop. Each blogger in the hop has a prize for you worth at least $25, so don't forget to hop around to them all in the linky at the bottom of this post.

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably have noticed that I talk a lot about how I am always working on organizing my house. This is partially because I have too much stuff and too many projects. So I'm really excited to tell you about a recent find that has made my organization just a little bit easier: Clever Crates.

These crates, ranging in size from 35 lb capacity to 132 lb capacity, are an easy way to organize and transport household items. They have a unique lightweight and collapsible lift, pop and pack design - so when these containers are not in use, they fold down and can fit in tight spaces. That is my kind of organizing tool.

At first, I thought this design seemed too good to be true. I've never found a folding crate that actually seems sturdy enough to hold anything of significance, but these crates have been given my stamp of approval. Made from durable, reusable, sustainable and recyclable material, these crates are easy to clean, easy to use, and easy to store. In my house of toddlers, that's definitely a win. I'm forever forgetting to bring my reusable bags to the grocery store, and I love the idea of using Clever Crates for this task - they would easily fit underneath a cart and stay out of the way while grocery shopping.

So far, our primary use for the Clever Crate is storage in our home. We're keeping some of our preschool supplies in one of the small baskets (makes it easy to transport from room to room), and I have used my large crate for current sewing projects and supplies. These projects were formerly thrown all over my kitchen table, so this is a definite improvement.

The Clever Crates are available in a variety of colors. They range from $9.99 - $19.99 (depending on size) and are available online here or at some North American retailers.

Sewing organization for the win!

Don't just take it from me, though. Take a peek at this video - you can see the Clever Crates in action. The video is actually what convinced me to give them a try!


How would you use a Clever Crate?

Giveaway

One Director Jewels reader will win a set of 3 Clever Crates baskets! This giveaway will end on October 8 at 11:59pm EST. This giveaway is open to US readers only.

To enter the giveaway, follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter form below (you may need Javascript enabled to see the form and it may take a moment to load)! Once you complete the first entry, the other options will open up so that you can complete them as well. All of the "extra entries" are optional - you can do just one, or as many as you want! Winners will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Once you've entered this giveaway, make sure you hop around to all the other participating blogs for more chances to win accessories for your stash!








Disclosure: So Easy Being Green, Viva Veltoro, the Blogging Mamas Network, and the Free for Fall participating bloggers are not responsible for sponsors who do not fulfill prize obligations. I received a set of Clever Crates for review, but no other compensation was received and all opinions expressed are my own. For more information, you can read my Giveaway Policy and my Disclosure Policy.

Small Business Success with Organization by Office365 from GoDaddy {Giveaway}

This post brought to you by GoDaddy. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

I operate three businesses out of my house: this blog, my drama classes, and my Etsy shop. Sometimes, I think I'm brilliant. Most of the time, I think I'm crazy. Small business ownership is challenging, stressful, fun, and maddening all at the same time.

There are a few things that are especially important to me as the proprietor of my varying enterprises. I want to be sure that each of my brands has its own unique style - but where I have some crossover, I also like for them to be unified. Keeping track of business expenses, sales, sponsors, and more is almost a full time job by itself, so it's crucial to stay organized. Thankfully, organization has always been one of my strong suits (if you saw how many different folders I have to store old emails in, you would probably be shocked) - but even I am challenged in this area sometimes.

I like to sort and answer email on my phone in the morning before my kids wake up and climb off of me to start their day. Email is the only project I typically tackle from my mobile - most of my files are either saved on my laptop or my desktop, so I have to wait until I am at a physical computer to deal with other projects. However, I think that may be changing because I just learned about Office 365 from GoDaddy. Why should this software change my productivity strategy, you ask? It is pretty fantastic because it allows a business owner to access Word, Excel or PowerPoint files, email, contacts, and more from any linked device - and it saves all the changes everywhere! It's like having a business headquartered in the Cloud. Amazing.



I don't have any business employees (yet), but if the day comes, the Collaboration and Online Meeting Solutions offered by Office 365 will certainly be useful. It has the capability to allow multiple users to view and edit a document at the same time. It's like a real life brainstorming session! And another great thing about this software is that there is no advanced IT knowledge required. I set up my account quickly on my own, but Office 365 from GoDaddy is designed for small businesses that don't have IT departments and help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Maybe you already have a small business - or maybe you're thinking of starting one. Either way, here are my top three "must-have" items for running a small business!

1. An Idea - A Really Good One. Businesses succeed when they are able to generate something for their consumers that no one else can make. I am proud of the unique, handmade, one-of-a-kind items for sale in my Etsy shop. I'm thrilled when I can create online content that someone else finds inspiring. But of my three businesses, the most successful is my drama program - which has been running for over ten years now. It's never marketed outside word-of-mouth and continues to grow each year. My business model for the classes are unlike anything I've seen elsewhere, and I believe that's the key to its success.

2. A Computer and a Designated Work Time/Place. When you are first starting out, find the time to sit down and make some goals for your business. While this can be done via a device, I find it easier to have some dedicated work time with a real computer to make sure you know where your business is headed before you jump in headlong. Time set aside just to work on your business model may be difficult to come by if you're a stay/work-at-home mom like I am, but it can be done and it's so worth it.

3. Organization. Regardless of what you are doing or writing or selling, at some point you have to make sure all your ducks are in a row - or you'll have a serious nightmare next tax season. Do yourself a favor and keep track of every business expense and every hour that you work. This is where Office 365 from GoDaddy comes in handy. I can add a Hobby Lobby craft supply receipt to my Etsy spreadsheet immediately after I make the purchase via my mobile, and find it there when I go to balance my accounts later. I can tell you from years of experience that this is more convenient than having a huge pile of receipts to sort through when you've forgotten what half of your purchases were. Please make sure you're keeping business receipts for tax purposes - but ease your organization by entering them ASAP!

What features of Office 365 from GoDaddy would help you most in your small business?

Giveaway

One Director Jewels reader will win a 1-year Office 365 GoDaddy Business Essentials plan, and 1-year .COM, .NET or .ORG domain name registration! This giveaway will end on May 12 at 11:59pm CST. This giveaway is open to US readers only. Winner will be emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or prize will be forfeited.

To enter the giveaway, follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter form below (you may need Javascript enabled to see the form and it may take a moment to load)! Once you complete the first entry, the other options will open up so that you can complete them as well. All of the "extra entries" are optional - you can do just one, or as many as you want! Winners will be contacted by email. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
All views expressed are my own. For more information, you can read my Giveaway Policy and my Disclosure Policy.

Back to School & Toddler Learning Activities with Duck Tape®

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart. All opinions are 100% mine.

Pencils, crayons, backpacks and brand new notebooks waiting to be filled up with newly-learned things - ahhh, how wonderful. My kids may not be old enough for school yet, but that doesn't mean I want to miss out on all the fun that comes at back to school time.

My hubby and I plan to homeschool our kids, and we talk about it all the time! Andrew is even more excited than me - he has lists of books for them to read, places that we will visit, and skills they need to know. I know that I will get more into the planning process once we are a little closer to Pre-K - right now, I have enough on my plate just trying to keep up with laundry!

When I do start planning, though, I think the most fun will be coming up with crafts and activities for our kids to do. And if I know anything about the way things work in our house, a lot of those projects will involve Duck Tape®.

I've been a fan of this amazing stuff since I was 15, when my friends and I put together a reasonably realistic-looking pipe organ with toilet paper rolls and Duck Tape®. Oh yes. It was awesome. These days, I use Duck Tape® to tag my hangers at consignment sales, to label props for my drama students, and to decorate packages that I send in the mail. You'd better believe that we will buy Duck Tape at Walmart - it will be a staple on our homeschool shopping list! Every time I shop at Walmart, I stop to admire all of the pretty varieties of tape. I think I need them all!

In the spirit of back to school, I wanted to give Lincoln a new task that would help him work on his fine motor skills - preparation for when he learns to write! So I got out a trusty roll of Duck Tape® and in just a few minutes, created a purple road that stretches all around our living room and kitchen!

Lincoln was pretty wowed by my awesome mom creativity, and has been playing with the track non-stop! We've already come up with a variety of educational ways to use this project. In addition to helping with fine motor skills by pushing cars along the track, we've been working on balance (think of it as a really crazy tightrope)! The only color I had on hand when I made the track was purple, but next time we visit Walmart, I plan to purchase several more. Color recognition is a big deal at our house right now!

It would be really simple to add additional elements of fun and learning to this project. Next time I make a Duck Tape® track, I think I will create several shapes from different colors of tape, and string them together with a neutral color like black or white. You could even make a Duck Tape® alphabet! This sort of game is perfect for my two and a half year old, and even the baby has had a blast crawling along the tape track.

Thanks to Duck Tape®, we're having all kinds of toddler learning fun! Do you love Duck Tape® as much as me? Make sure you are following @TheDuckBrand on Twitter to see all the latest updates and offers!

DIY Fat Quarter Hanging Clothespin Bag Sewing Tutorial

I decided a couple months ago that I wanted to give cloth diapering a try. If you cloth diaper, you're probably thinking - what's wrong with you that it took 2.5 years to consider this? If you don't, you're probably thinking why mess with what's obviously worked thus far? I've been doing a test-drive on some cloth diapers for several weeks now, and I think I am hooked. That, however, is a post for another day.

While researching cloth, I learned that one way to preserve the life of your diapers (and reduce your overall diapering cost even more) is to avoid using the dryer whenever possible. The sun is magic when it comes to lifting stains, and everything seems fresher when air-dried. So I bought a package of clothesline, strung it up on my deck - we're high-tech around here - and started using it to hang up my clean diapers.

And within about three minutes, I was super annoyed with clothespins.

There is nowhere to put them that is safe from a child's reach, and the last thing I needed was to fish a clothespin spring out of someone's mouth. I needed a solution and I didn't feel like purchasing one and waiting for it to arrive - so I decided to just make one! If you aren't the crafty type, this one looks nice!

Since I haven't sewn much of anything since I made our Christmas stockings, I found it exciting to dig around in my craft room. I didn't have a pattern and wanted to whip up something quickly. I have a little obsession with buying fat quarters because they seem to be available in the cutest fabrics - so I pulled one out of my stash and set to work.

DIY Fat Quarter Hanging Clothespin Bag Sewing Tutorial

Supplies Needed:
-Fat Quarter
-Lining Fabric (14"x21")
-Trim (if desired)
-Clothesline or other cord to use as drawstring
-Scissors
-Sewing Machine
-Thread

Note: I used 1/2" seams on this project.

1. Unfold fat quarter and press flat. Mine measured at about 18.5"x21.5".

2. Cut fat quarter to approximately 14" x 21". Cut a piece of lining fabric in the same size. Set aside the remaining 4.5" x 21" strip.

3. Fold with right sides together (making the size approximately 14" by 10.5") and stitch the 14" open side and bottom together. Do this with both the fat quarter fabric and lining fabric. Turn right sides out, trim seams, press.

4. With wrong wides together, insert lining into fabric, matching seams. Pin along upper edge, baste.

5. If desired, add trim to one side of 4.5" x 21" strip. This is the top edge of the bag. It will be folded in half, so you want the trim on just the outside. Make sure to pin at least 1/2" from the edge to avoid catching the trim in the seam.

6. Fold under the untrimmed edge of the 4.5" x 21" strip and stitch a very small hem. 

7. Fold the long side of the strip in half, making it approximately 4.5" x 10.5". Stitch edge together, leaving a 1" gap on the trim side (this is where the drawstring will be inserted).

8. With right sides together, match seams and pin strip onto bag. The trimmed edge should be the edge that is pinned. Baste.

9. Unfold strip so that all right sides are facing out. Fold the untrimmed half of the strip down inside the bag, covering the seam. Slip-stitch strip in place.

10. Cut long piece of clothesline. Use safety pin to thread through casing, tie knot, then thread the knot into casing. This should enable you to use the clothesline in something of a drawstring fashion.

I actually made mine slightly different - I did not leave a gap in the side seam of the trim piece. Instead, I left two gaps when slip-stitching and ran the clothesline through both holes. This gives me a great drawstring feature, but I don't love that I can sometimes see the raw edges, and that the bag hangs a little funny since the clothesline runs from the inside of the bag. I'm not sure if any of that makes sense - but all of it to say, if I made another one, it would be in the fashion described in the steps above!

So that's it! This project probably took me about two or three hours to complete - but my time is always divided! If I had been able to just sit down and sew from start to finish, I'm guessing it would have taken an hour, maybe an hour and a half.

Do you use a clothesline? What's your clothespin solution? Let me know if you make a bag of your own!

The Lost Art of Scrapbooking {Sigh}

Yesterday was National Scrapbooking Day.

I've known about this holiday for several years.

I feel like maybe once I actually spent the whole day scrapping!

Not this year.

Nope, this week, both of my kids have been teething.  Epic, terrible, awful teething.  As a result, I've been up almost every hour almost every night.  Everything has been moved to the back burner while I try to get through the days on no sleep.  Fun! 

So when I realized that it was National Scrapbooking Day, I didn't even entertain the thought of being able to work on an album.  Instead, I took some photos of the mess that is my current scrapbook "organization."

In the main room of our basement (where the TV is), there's this huge pile of binders and photos and cards for Project Life.  The blue binder is part two of 2012; the yellow is part one of 2013.  There are about twenty photos in this year's album so far.  No journaling.  So far behind, but I am going to catch up.

This is my scrapbook room.  It used to be solely dedicated to scrapbooking.  Now it also contains a kid's craft table, treadmill, TV, and everything else that doesn't fit anywhere else in the house.  I've actually been in the midst of a major revamp for about...two years.

The closet is literally overflowing.  Papers, stickers, albums, books, cards, ribbon...  I love crafting way too much, and I have supplies everywhere.

Those paper towers are full.  Completely full.  I wish I were kidding.

Random "Equal Rights 4 Women" sign is a prop 
from Schoolhouse Rock Live!, which we did in 2008.

This big bookshelf houses some of my photo albums, more books, Project Life albums, patterns and other randomness.  I have an obsession with those plastic totes, if you can't tell.  They're super handy for stashing all sorts of supplies!

The thing is - the room actually looks pretty good right now.  Now, if my little ones ever decide to be asleep at the same time, I might be able to finish the last few piles and have a room that inspires me.  I'm so excited to have the kid's craft table in there - when the babies are old enough to enjoy drawing and painting and stamping and hey, even just coloring (without eating the crayons), we are going to have so much fun!

And maybe one day, I'll celebrate National Scrapbooking Day again.  I think next year... I'll at least try to make a single scrapbook layout.  Baby steps, right?