two straight lines

I seem to be the Minister of Things lately.  All summer, and now fall, I find myself cleaning out, donating, freecycling, packing, putting away.  Repeat.  I am a big fan of systems, and try to come up with them whenever I notice things accumulating too quickly.  Which is, well, constantly.

I wanted to share one thing I came up with recently that has been working pretty well.  Everyone who has a baby knows that there are rarely moments when both hands are free, and at least for me, that means a lot of times I have a hard time carrying things around the house, particularly large things like a laundry basket.  A few months back I bought four of these Umbra Crunch Baskets. (Remember the Crunch Cans from Lucie's nursery?) I like them because you can carry them with one hand, and they hold a reasonable amount of stuff. 

Next I devised a way to monogram them without sewing.  If I had the time or the brainpower I'd give you a proper tutorial, but for now, hopefully some simple directions will get you monogramming hampers, tote bags, notebooks.  Anything that can sit still for a few minutes is suitable for monogramming, in my opinion.

1) Print out a letter (on paper) the size that you would like it to be on you Crunch Basket/Can.

2) Cut it out.

3) Find a scrap of pretty fabric as large as the letter.

4) Apply double sided adhesive such as Therm O Web PeelnStick Adhesive to the back side of the fabric, leaving the paper backing still attached.

5) Lay the letter on paper backing IN REVERSE and trace it with a pencil.

6) Carefully cut out the letter.

7) Peel away the paper backing and apply to your Crunch Basket/Can.

Tip: I found that using a letter that had multiple pieces made the application easier.

My original intent was to monogram one of these for each family member for laundry, and I do use them that way sometimes.  But my favorite use so far is to place one on each floor of our home, and  deposit things that need to find their way back to the other floor.  Then, when I find the time, I carry the basket to the other floor and put the items away.  I am thinking of writing the words "up" and "down" and them with the same technique.

Hope this makes your day a little neater!

I recently picked up this tabouret to keep next to Elliot's desk for all of his "must-have handy" items.  Our previous solution, a buffet down the hall filled with clementine crates, has worked really well and we're still using it, but there was a constant pile of scissors, crayons, stickers, etc. next to his desk.  The topmost drawer is just "stuff."  You all know how much stuff four year olds carry with them.  This has been great, and has added to his self-sufficiency, always a bonus!

Thanks to all of you who have emailed me lately saying that you miss my posts, you're so sweet!  And I miss my posts too.  Someday soon, I hope to be myself again.  With time to myself, that is.  We are under agreement on a new home (I have a Dutch door in my kitchen!!) and now we will start to show our current home.  Any takers?  No, really;)

See you soon.