Laundry sorting trick: Sock keepers

Sometimes there are simple things that make a job quite a bit easier.

This is one of them:

One of the things I strongly dislike about folding and sorting laundry, 

is matching socks and figure out who they belong to.

I would spend quite a bit of time holding up socks to see if they were the same length, 

and once I had paired them all, trying to figure out which child was the owner.

A few months ago I read about something that could help to eliminate this chore:

Give each child their own laundry bag, let them put their worn socks in it.

Then just wash the whole thing, throw it in the dryer like that,

and hand it back to them to be sorted. 

I used cheap laundry bags, and sewed a strip of patterned fabric along the zipper so that my girls would know which one belongs to them.

The result?

After 3 months of doing this

(yep, I am a slow blogger)

I have to say:

it works GREAT!

For them it's easy to put their worn socks in the bag every night,

and after laundry they just match up their socks and put it in their own drawer.

Should have done this YEARS ago!

Now, go make your own sock keepers :)

Shared at: Sugar Bee Crafts.

Easy, healthy & delicious berry smoothie

I came up with this recipe on one of these days where I felt I needed something fast, easy and healthy.

It makes one serving, as pictured, and I really like it..

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup cranberry juice (100% juice)

* 1/2 cup Greek vanilla yogurt

* 1/2 cup strawberries (I used fresh)

* 1/3 cup raspberries (I used frozen)

Put it all in the blender & blend till smooth.

Enjoy!

Shared at Tatertots and Jello and Sugar Bee Crafts.

Loved

Happy Valentine's Day!

Free Chalkboard Valentine Printables

I really like the chalkboard art I've seen everywhere lately.

A few weeks ago I found this great tutorial on making your own chalkboard printables.

I gave it a try, and happened to find my attempts again today.

So I thought I'd share :)

They could be used as a card or home decor.

And the following one is a variation on this printable I created last year.

And as always: for personal use only please...

Shared at Todays Creative Blog.

Valentine Pencil Flags - Easy handmade Valentines (Free printable)

Do you need a fast and easy, but cute Valentine?

You've come to the right place!

The colorful text on these flags wishes you a Happy Valentine's Day,

while on the back there is room for the giver to write their names.

They're fast to make, and your kids can help, or they could even do it.

You can use Valentine pencils, or any other kind of pencil would work.

We picked plain ones for the boys and patterned ones for the girls...

Below you see the sheet you're going to print out.

One page makes 11 flags.

You can print on regular printer paper, 

colored cardstock, or scrapbook paper...

Click HERE to download the PDF document.

Use a paper trimmer or scissors to cut the page in strips, 

as pictured below.

Let your child fill in his or her name at this point, before they are attached to the pencils.

Use a glue stick to put glue on the strip. 

You don't need to put it on the whole strip, but make sure to put it a little further than the center of the strip. 

(So I mean more than half of the strip has glue on it.)

Hmmm, does that make sense?

This will make sure that the flag stays in place.

Cut out a little triangle.

And that is all!

Simple, right?!

My girls are excited to give these to their classmates on Valentine's day!

Enjoy!

Shared at Tatertots and Jello and Todays Creative Blog.

Easy and affordable gallery wall

We updated our hallway upstairs with a pretty rug.

Our current wall decor didn't match the rug,

so I started thinking about an easy way to change it.

I came up with this gallery wall using simple black & white pictures of our children.

It was very cheap, fast and easy...

So I will share what I did.

First, I selected some pictures of my girls that I really like.

They were all taken in different settings, and they were wearing different colors,

so I changed the pictures to black and white for a more uniform look.

I also took pictures of their hands.

Then, I got some frames at the $ store:

11 by 14 document frames for the large pictures, and 5 by 7 frames for the small ones.

Since I wanted to add some color,

I used Picasa to do that:

1. Create a picture collage in Picasa (option: Picture pile)
2. Pick the right size (for me 11 by 14)
3. Pick "solid color" for your background and select a color.
4. Add the picture of your choice: you can drag it to the right position and resize it if necessary.

I saved it and added their names (in the same color as the background) on top of the picture.

Then I just had the whole picture printed. No need to mat the picture, since that is already a part of the picture. 

A very easy way to customize the colors with your decor. 

The added names add to the customized look...

Simple, right?!

I hung the pictures, but something wasn't quite right yet:

I didn't like how everything was centered around the thermostat, so to distract from it, 

I used some vinyl and my Silhouette Cameo to create this little owl.

Now the thermostat isn't the center of attention anymore :)