Personalized Bath Towels

Five kids sharing one bathroom means, desperate need for organization! I had been using a color towel system (see here) that was working great, but I wanted something a little more personal and fun. Here is what I came up with. I am just loving how the towels turned out. I also love that my kids are enjoying hanging up their own towels and no one is left guessing whose towel is whose.

 Here is a quick tutorial of what I did. If you are left with questions, please message me, or email me and I will do my best to clarify.

The first thing you want to do is locate your tag. It will need to be on the bottom and the back. Lay your towel down and measure the top part of your towel. My towels had a clear band of stitching, at the top. Just above that, I measured the width and length. I then measured that same width and length for my fabric adding extra for a 1/4inch seam all the way around.

Notice just bellow my fabric is the stitching on the towel. I wanted to place my fabric directly above the stitching.

I first pinned and ironed my seam. I did a 1/4inch seam all the way around my fabric. Then I pinned my fabric to my towel.

 Using a straight stitch, I sewed the fabric onto the towel.
Now time for the monogram! I used my word processor to print out the font I wanted for my monogram. It is best to use a bold font.

I used liquid stitch to hold the fabric monogram in place on the towel. I then used an applique stitch on my sewing machine and sewed the monogram onto the towel.
I chose to place my monogram at the opposite, top corner of my towel. That way when the towel wraps around the monogram shows. 









 Because towels need to hang up to dry, I decided they NEEDED an easy hang loop! Here is a quick how I did it picture. 

The loop once pinned on (to the backside of the towel) should measure about 4". I folded my towel in half to find the exact center and pinned it on there. Using a straight stitch I sewed back and forth a few times just to reinforce the loop, since it will be holding the weight of the towel.

Are they not just lovely? It really is a simple project for a great result! Hope you have fun personalizing your towels!

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Contact Paper Labels

I love labels! I love all those great vinyl labels available today, but the price just soars out of my budget.  Sadly I am not among the fortunate to own a Silhouette vinyl adhesive cutter do-hickey machine.  However, fortunately for me, my creative, frugal juices started flowing and I came up with my own solution for making "vinyl" labels.
Here is a quick tutorial of what I came up with. The labels I used, I created using gimp but the Internet (Pinterest too) is FULL of free printables you could take advantage of. 

I also used this method on other labels that I found out there on Pinterest while searching free printables. I cut these labels up and applied them to gift bags. Makes for a fun personalized way to say, "You are special to me!"
If you don't already, follow me on Pinterest and you can find these labels on my Printables board.
Hope you have fun sticking Contact Paper labels all over your home like I have.

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Maintenance Monday

Maintenance Monday is something new we are trying out around our Created Home. So far I am loving this simple addition to my kids regular daily chores. With a family of seven my daily upkeep of our home just keeps increasing. It dawned on me, along with the work increase so is the age increase of my kids. Translation... they are capable of doing more to help out. Oh happy day!

I am using my classroom chalkboard to write the job for each child. Each Monday may have different maintenance needs, so a chalkboard works out great.

Even my three year old gets in on the fun. She often comes to me during the week and asks me if she can feather dust. Oh and another fun dusting tip for little hands. Use an old sock. They simply place it on their hand and wipe away. You can let them decorate the top of the sock to make it even more fun.

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A Messy Situation

Warning this post is not suitable for perfect homemakers with perfect kids. The images you are about to see may be disturbing to most moms. 

 Welcome to our unfinished basement. Our basement that has been once, twice... now three times organized and has taken on different purposes (see post here). Our basement that used to be a home to some of our friends (see post here ) as they were saving money for an apartment. With them lived two cats... cats that later I discovered I am BIG time allergic to. Leaving me unable to venture down into my basement the whole nine months of my pregnancy for possibility of a horrible Asthma attack. After our friends moved out I decided to turn the basement into a playroom. Brilliant idea... except all this happened days after finding out I was expecting and then realizing I could not go down there. So as I said, I had not been down there in a long while but, obviously someone was going down into the basement... because this is NOT how I left it.
I put my mom detective skills to use and I found those responsible for this messy situation.

Their sentence... two days of clean up and a lecture first from mom and then from dad. They said they were really sorry for what they had done. Even the part when they ripped apart a Styrofoam cooler into tiny, tiny little pieces. You can see evidence of that in photo one and two.

 I love plastic bis! I have toys sorted by kind or by what is fun to pair together in play. I came up with this system many years ago and it works really well. It helps a child play with a toy the way intended as well as keep them from getting overwhelmed by so many toys all at once. Also trading out the bins is like Christmas all over again. I used Word and printed out labels using different fonts. I then used packing tape to attach the labels I made with printer paper. The tape completely covers the paper keeping it protected.

 I now store the bins behind a gate to remind the kids of our house rule. One toy out at a time. To get a new bin of toys everything must be cleaned up first.

A tidy play space helps encourage imagination! Not to mention keeps a child out of trouble with the authorities!

Parties I am linking to:

At The Picket Fence
The Shabby Nest
My Repurposed Life
Designer Garden      
Tatertots and Jello
Just A Girl Blog
Remodelaholic
Stuff and Nonsense
French Country Cottage
The Charm of Home
Serenity Now

 Organizing Made Fun
Home Savvy
Between Naps on the Porch
The DIY Home Sweet Home Project
Organize With Sandy

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