I decided on the Variety Stash because of the different sized pockets.  When it arrived I was so impressed by the quality of the plastic pockets.  I was ecstatic when I hung it up and I was able to close the closet door.

I hung up the Variety Stash in my hallway closet door because I wanted it to be a catch-all for the miscellanous things I’m always looking for.  I have some headbands that are too big to put with my new jewelry holder.  I put some cuff bracelets in the little pockets at the top that I can’t stash anywhere else.  I put our umbrellas and sunblock in the vertical pockets.  The best is that I put my cameras in there so that I never have to ask anyone if they’ve seen my camera.

I left some of the pockets empty because I wanted to be sure I had room for stuff I didn’t think of.

Christy Designs makes several different over the door organizers that are fantastic.  She has The Mini Stash which is shorter in length when you only need to store a few things and don’t want it hanging down as long.  There’s the Sportsman’s Organizer which is great in your garage for gardening and sports equipment.  It’s made of a super durable canvas with mesh pockets.  The Organizer Gear Pocket is much like the Sportsman’s Organizer and I’m considering getting one for our garage.  It hangs right on the wall and it’s portable.  There’s more over the door organizer, but I figure you understand how these products work. 

If you’re looking for a great out of the way place to organize many of those items that get lost or have no special place in your home I highly recommend the Christy Designs over the door organizers.

You may remember my post about My Wall of Organization, and as promised I am highlighting another product on my wall.  This review is of the Orange Circle Studio Do It All Mom Calendar.  The calendar does in fact live up to it’s name of being able to do it all.

As always prettiness factor is right up there with usefulness for me.  This wall calendar has it all.  It has 4 rows for each child’s schedule to be separate.  The biggest row is for my [and R's] appointments.  I have never had a family wall calendar before and honestly I wish I had.  It’s nice that I can put things on there and my husband can actually see what’s going on, especially since he’s home with the kids right now. The top cover has a magnet the width of the calender so it easily sticks to a refrigerator.  It has a great pen holder and believe it or not a pen to go in it.

One of the best parts of this calendar I admit are the stickers.  Yes, I am that juvenile.  I am giddy about stickers.  They really do help though. Visually they tell me right away what is going on whether a school meeting or a doctor appointment for any one of us.

One more itty bitty teeny tiny thing: they have a Do It All Mom Organizer.  I know that’s not itty bitty, but I wanted to tell  you I have that too.  It has all of the same features of the calendar, but you can take it with you wherever you go.  It fits greatly in my purse or diaper bag, which is great for when I’m out and about.

My obsession with organizers lives on my friends, and the Do It All Mom Organizer is a great addition to my collection.

Ashley Campbell posted on PetaPixel the cutest easiest photo holder out of wooden thread spools.  Please believe me that when you see this tutorial you will say to yourself that you can do that.  Even those who do not feel crafty at all can do this fantastically cute simple photo holder.  Let’s be honest who doesn’t need another cute photo holder?

I’m in the midst of making a jewelry holder (I will be sharing as soon as it’s done) so of course when I saw Chris Gardner’s How To: Make a Jewelry Organizer From a Second Hand Table on Curbly I was intrigued.  I love a project that upcycles, and frankly this extremely easy upcycle is a fantastic idea.  Not only that it really is beautiful.

I don’t really know why I clicked on the DIY: Tissue Number Birthday Sign on Hostess With The Mostess, but as soon as I did I knew that I was going to make this for my daughter’s 2nd birthday in February.  Yes, I am already planning her birthday.  It looks like it will take some time for me to make, but it’s so stinkin’ adorable I’m going to have to start doing it in December.

I’m a lover of chalkboard paint and fabric.  Kristin St. Clair of Martha Stewart’s The Crafts Dept posted Chalkboard Flag Banner and I love the idea.  You’ll never have to buy another holiday banner.  You can just reuse this one for everything.  It’s super cute and will look so original at any party.

Today’s post will be a list of items you should have on hand to create a homework station.  There are many containers you can use and I’ll give you some suggestions, but in general if your child is elementary school age as mine are, it’s important to make it easy for them to complete their homework by having supplies ready for them to complete their homework easily.

Most of you had to buy school supplies for your child, but I know a lot of schools now make those supplies classrom community.  What happens when your child comes home to do their homework?  Do you want them to be scrambling around looking for supplies they may need?  It’s harder on you and them.  If you have the supplies all in one place or better yet you have them in one container they can grab it and begin their homework.

My suggestions for containers are as follows: a paint bucket (stay tuned tomorrow for a how to make this simple craft work for homework).  My favorite is a Stuff Bucket.  Staples is having a sale on plastic containers in different sizes I got one that is long enough for the ruler.  Another simple one is just to buy an extra pencil case. 

I’ll admit I’m using all of the above, but that’s because I love the office products so I’m a little bit much.  Do not feel you must follow my lead.

Here’s my list of homework essentials:

crayons

pencils

ruler

erasers

markers

scissors

glue

tape

pens – for the older children, I do suggest 1 for the younger kids in case you need to sign any paperwork to go back to school

Paper – I have 2 kinds: plain computer paper for drawings and the special lined paper for the early years, but if the kids are older using notebook paper I would have that available.  I put the loose paper not in a pad in a folder.

What was I missing?  What would you add to help make doing homework easy?

What about Bob you ask?  Let me tell you.  Bob’s Your Uncle (a brand) makes a Multi Task Journal that is a great way to keep your life in one place.  OK maybe not your life but a lot of information you need in one place.

It is a spiral bound notebook that is 8″ x 11″.  There are five different sections of this great notebook, that are color coded to easily find what you are looking for.  The colors surround each page like a border, which makes it really chic looking.

The first section[orange] is a to-do/checklist.  The second section [red] is a quick calendar that has one week per page.  It has enough room to fit 2-3 appointments per day.  The third [fuschia]has 12 pages for keeping track of yearly events like birthdays and anniversaries.  The fourth section [green] is graph paper.  The fifth section [brown] is sketch paper which is basically a blank sheet.

I decided when the Multi Task Journal arrived that I would use it to keep my to-do list in the first section.  Each page can hold one month’s worth of to-dos which is really nice.  The rest of the book quickly became my blog notebook.  I use the calendar to keep track a week in advance of what I intend to post.  It is wonderful to be able to plan ahead for my writing.  I used the graph paper to actually do a bubble chart for a recent trip to New York.  I had so much going on I needed to get it all out of my head.  I hadn’t done a bubble chart since grade school, but you know what it was awesome.  The sketch pad I actually use to write a list of writing ideas I come up with.  It’s nice when I have an idea to pull the Multi Task Journal out and just write it down.

In the end I’m really enjoying the Multi Task Journal and feel like it would really help someone who really need everything in one place.  Now you can get this wonderful item in Fashionably Organized Finds.

The wonderful Alana of Domestically Challenged and Mommy ADD asked me to do an interview about organizing.  Of course I jumped at the chance to feel like I actually know something and agreed.  Since then Alana has become a great friend, and better yet she’s has GREAT tips on all things I need help on.  You know that whole being a good mom bit.

So head over to Domestically Challenged and show Alana some love, of course you’d be giving me love too.

Baer Home Design is doing a week of getting organized posts.  Oh how I love this.  Tackling that Pile of Paperwork, Bills and Just Plain Stuff written by Lisa could not have come a better time for me.  If you look at yesterday’s post about the room I need to organize the most you’ll understand why I love this post.  These tips have gotten me thinking about actually tackling something I’ve ignored for WAY too long.  I hope you get some great tips from it too.

What kid wants a regular old binder pouch for their pens and pencils when the could have Binder Pouch like the one in Sew, Mama Sew?  Anna from Noodlehead did a tutorial for Sew Mama Sew that is easy to follow and gets your child ready to organized all of those little items needed for everyday at school in a unique and chic way.

Fresh Crush has a DIY Purse Organizer! that is after my own heart.  I am forever looking for new ways to organize my purse, and quite frankly this tutorial is absolutely genius.  I am not only impressed by this design, but I’m now adding it to my never ending list of things to make that I don’t have time to get to.  I’m really excited about this one you should definitely check it out.

Image via Wikipedia

I have to admit that my office/laundry room is a sty.  I’m thankful that I have a door to shut it out.  Lately though it’s been driving me crazy, which is the cycle of my organization.  First I ignore, then I let it bother me for a while and then I get into a mad frenzy of organizing.  I’m on step 2 heading closer to step 3.  I have been on step 1 for about 8 months, so it’s time to come to the reality that it won’t get better.  I promise to post pictures of before and after when I do get to step 3.

My question to you though: What’s your I-can’t-stand-to-look-at-it-room/space?  Do you continue to let it get bad or will you eventually tackle it?  Are you like me and close the door on it, or is it in the wide open?

Hi everyone…I’m Liz from Sunny Bug.

…a little about me:

~ I’m living my dream as I launch my own Sunny Bug craft & baking business.

~ I LOVE to bake & decorate cupcakes, cookies & and bite-size brownie desserts.

~I can almost always be found making something…I sew, scrapbook, and design different crafts for Sunny Bug.

As a crafter, I’ve always had delusions visions of having a big beautiful space to work in. My space would be a studio with big open windows, vintage finds, antique furniture, shelving units and labeled bins holding all of my supplies.

{sigh…one can dream, right?}

The reality is my “craft space” was the kitchen table, the floor surrounding the table, and the kitchen counter tops. The space was not conducive of creativity…

…and then the day came when we decided to organize our multi-purpose room. After a trip to Lowes and two big wall-unit organizers later, I started to see a small glimmer of hope…I was starting to see some wall and floor space.

Ok, so I wasn’t going to have a big open studio, but I had a space and I was determined to make it work. I needed furniture…

I also needed someone to help translate my vision…that would be my husband. When my craft space was completed…I was in LOVE. This would be the space where all of the creative stuff would happen.

I also wanted to add some special elements to really make my space MINE.

I love vintage jewelry…I added these for inspiration.

I found this knob at Michaels in the $1 section of the store. I added some fun fabric for the chair cushion to match

The corkboard is a necessity to keep all of the ideas organized. I made these cute pushpins from flat glass beads and thumbtacks

I love this drawer! I keep all of the little sewing things in vintage china saucers and bowls and I lined the drawers with pretty scrapbook paper

Inside the cabinets houses all of the craft & sewing supplies. Fabric & felt is put away in plastic bins, other supplies are kept in the drawer unit and labeled, and all craft/baking business paperwork is filed away

My craft space is sometimes shared by the kiddos…all of their supplies are organized and ready to use when they want to make their masterpieces

My space is not big, but I think it’s beautiful {and it’s organized!}. Thanks so much for letting me share my craft space!

Plan the routes from one party to another.   While I may share cabs with others going from one place to another, I like to be able to also handle it on my own.  I’m not afraid of the Subway system, so I figure why not know what trains to take when travelling.  I don’t want to be standing on the platform wondering which train etc. 

I was tipped off to 2 great sites that will help me do that in advance.  MTA‘s website has a trip planner, which will tell you what trains or buses to take at what time.  For an even more detailed route you can check out Hop Stop which is a mapping system that tells you street by street directions, walking, walking to the subway or walking to the bus.  It even calculates the cost and travel time if you decide to take a taxi.  For those of you with iPhones they have an app that you can get and use it while on the go.

I’m labeling everything tonight.  I’m going to have so many things the whole time, I want to be sure not only that I can find it but that someone can contact me if they find my things.

Putting phone numbers of people I want to meet up with in my phone.  Most likely I’ll be texting them where I am so we can meet up along the way.

The big packing adventure.  I have started to pack and laid out a ton of stuff to put in my bag.  You may have seen my spreadsheet I did last week for the stuff I wanted to pack.  As is my usual I have now decided on changing about 1/3 of it.  Not only that, but I’m bringing extra items in case I change my mind while at BlogHer. 

Laying out stuff for my husband.  My kids are going to stay with my mother Saturday night so that R can get a little reprieve.  I am going to pack their bags for that sleep over to reduce R’s stress.  He’ll have a lot to do and think about while I’m gone I’m trying to be sure to minimize his frustrations.  I am also going to lay out the boys’ outfits for Friday, because they both have specific outfits for Friday at camp.  I know many of you you are thinking why can’t R do it himself?  The truth is he can and he’ll be telling me that I don’t need to do this, but I want to do it for him.  I want to help the best I can.

I will do the last of the laundry for the house tonight.  R actually said to me on Sunday “you know I can do the laundry while you’re gone?”  I know he can and would, but why not get it done ahead of time?

Charging all of the batteries tonight.  I want to make sure that I don’t get somewhere and realize I have a dead battery.

One hint I’ll make: if you have an electric toothbrush, as I do, open it and turn the battery inside out.  This way it won’t accidently turn on while in flight.  I would do the same for any battery operated items that could possibly turn on while in flight.  Believe me you don’t want to get somewhere and realize your battery is dead because it was on the whole flight.