So I’ve been running into a couple of minor snags in my system lately. Â First, you all know that I “borrowed” a corner of Kole’s room for my scrap space…
and then I “borrowed” a few of his drawers to hold all of my Project Life supplies…
making his room a perfect place to work on my Project Life Albums.
All of that would have worked wonderfully – except for…
 {Minor Snag #1}
The napping baby. Â I can’t work on the PL albums in my scrap space while Kole is napping and of course, that is the only time I can work on the PL albums.
Because of this, as you all know, my kitchen table has been looking a tad messy lately.
{Minor Snag #2}
The messy pile of school work. Â There wasn’t enough room in my PL drawer to hold all of the girls’ school work I want to eventually put in their albums. Â AND because their work was just in a big unorganized pile, it was taking too much of my precious “baby is napping I can finally get something done time” to organize everything.
{Minor Snag #3}Â
My homework drawer that used to look like this…
has lately been looking like this. Â Too many papers and workbooks for one little kitchen drawer and it was becoming hard to keep track of things.
So as you know, I treated myself to a little St. Patrick’s Day trip to Target and Staples to pick up some organizers.
I bought this green crate to hold all of the girls school work/memorabilia that I might include in their PL albums. Â After adding all of their work I still had plenty of room, so I also used this for extra school stuff from my overflowing homework drawer. Â I created three tabs (A for Addison, E for Ellie, and S for school stuff). Â I divided the folders into seasons (spring 2010, fall 2011, etc.) Â because I usually do about a season at a time when I work on these books. Â This will be so easy to stay organized! Â Addison brought home a beautiful self portrait from pre-school today and I just slipped in into her “spring 2011” slot and it will be there waiting for me when it’s time to work on that section of her Project Life album. Â I’m hoping to stay caught up enough that I only have about a years worth of work in this crate at a time. Â Then I’ll just write new tabs for the new seasons as needed. Â The folders in the back are for school stuff we are always working on like Ellie’s journal and spelling pages.
 Now that all of the paper has its own home, I can just keep workbooks and supplies in my homework drawer.  I’m so happy to see it looking like this again!
Next, I decorated a PL journaling card to put on my cute little green portable caddy…
and turned it into a place to hold a all of my PL supplies. Â (I just knew I bought those blinged out green letter stickers for a reason!)
It’s the perfect size for all of my journaling cards and scissors and pens. Â Love it!
I’m going to keep these somewhere in my kitchen (in a cupboard or the bottom of my pantry) so I have easy access to them. Â Working on my Project Life albums while Kole is napping will now be a much easier task!
Minor snags are solved and all is right in the world again. Â :)
xoxo, Erin
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You’re awesome! Just when I think there is no way to organize something…you prove me wrong :))
oh, i love all the organization- and in green, too! that picture of kole napping is adorable. and yes- one day we will have to meet up at disneyland- that would be SO fun! i bet our girls would get along so well. :-)
I am slowly being drawn in to the idea of trying to do the Project Life like you are!! I love it!!!
LOVE this Erin what a great way to store the artwork I am definitely going to borrow this : ) Also love the PL caddy- makes life so much easier to have it all together.
I started using an organizer like that for my daughter’s artwork too. And whaddya know? It’s green!
You have such good ideas.
Wow, I’m amazed at your ability to solve problems and make everything right in the world again. :) And make it so pretty. :)
I felt such joy seeing one of your drawers unorganized!!!!! :)
But then you went and organized it again.
I’m not doing so well with the 40 bags thing. Life is getting in the way.
I love what you did with those little organizers. I would never think of that if I saw those things in a store. That’s why people like me hire people like you. :)
I knew it! I knew there would be a great organization post with those items. This sounds like a great system to keep up with your PL books. I like the idea of having the papers organized and ready to put in the book. Way to beat those snags :)
Stop it with your adorableness and your organization. Brilliant! Hope this helps you stay on top of the multitude of albums you are tackling and allows you take advantage of sleeping baby time! Love it!!
I Erinized 5 cups of mixed up writing utensils last night. But after seeing your photos, school supply drawer is in need. I know exactly which one too. Thanks again!
wow, that’s great! You are going to be rocking when you have time to work on your PL book!
That caddy is so perfect! I am in serious need of some PL organization… love your crafting spot, and the canvas of your husband and kids! Sooo cute.
I love the Project Life caddy! I think I’ll have to snag this idea…that way I can keep my stuff somewhat organized. Thanks for the tip!!
I love your ideas to keep on top of it. I just got a cute green file holder at Target for 2.00 on clearance and I think the girls PL stuff is going to be perfect for it…thanks for the great idea! Now I just have to get 2008-10 caught up!
This is really inspiring. I have two daughters (7 & 4) I am homeschooling, and have been tackling the clutter spots in our home. I just found your blog and am glad I did.
Your organizational posts are my favorites. (Just to counteract your sister-?-‘s opinion.)
The crate idea is perfect–my daughter brings home SO much stuff from school (she’s 2) and I just tuck it in a basket that is always full.
I guess I need to go buy more supplies. :)
Love the word “Erinized”!
Seriously…you are amazing! I am totally changing my “school work” system….Looking forward to Erinizing this weekend!
great ideas!
I need to make a system for mine. RIght now I have all the girls stuff in bins organized by year of school. but it’s hard to see what is what. so I may do albums eventually!
tara
Is there nothing she can’t do folks?! I give up when the snags arise or at least get distracted but something less snaggy.
Will you come organize me?
Also, I LOVE your handwriting.
your organizational skills & ideas are top notch! i love what you did with your “green goodies”. ;)
You are too funny!
that is simply lovely.
and love your boys shirt…we use to live in s.d.
~j
What a beautiful solution! I am very inspired and hope to use some of your ideas very soon!
Truly, this is very inspiring. Thank you for taking the time to share all that you did!
LOVE this! The colors, the organizing, the real life account… thanks for sharing!
Oh how I love freshly organized papers, desktops, and drawers. I just bought two big accordion file folders last week (one for each kid) Then labeled the tabs for each year of school (PreK – Senior Year of High School) and have been putting all of the keepsake papers in there. So much easier than trying to make scrapbooks – I was 4 years behind on my oldest daughter’s scrapbooks! : ) This system is so much easier. Now I can focus on annual family albums instead.
Fondly,
pink and green mama,
MaryLea
Love the little bin! I found a similar wooden bin at the thrift store and hope it works. If not, guess I get to go shopping. :-) I will e cleaning out a huge storage area in my sonks closet this weekend and will have boxes and boxes of school work to go through. Your file system will be a huge help I think, especially since my son is in high school. Yep, lots of school papers.
I love your Project Life organization, especially journaling cards, etc. Great job!
I just ran across your blog and love it! I’m currently in organization mode around here and found lots of great tips on your blog. I’m a scrapbooker too and one of my biggest things I stress about is all of the school papers and memorbilia and how to keep them organized so I know where to find them when I’m working on my scrapbooks. I’m definitely going to adopt the file crate idea.
One question I have for you regarding your crate – how did you create the green tabs for each child and how did you attach them inside?
Hi Vicki!
Thanks so much! I’m thrilled my ideas are helping you get organized! Such a good feeling, isn’t it!? The green tabs were so easy to make. I just cut some rectangles out of scrapbook paper I had on hand, stuck a sticker on the top of each one with the beginning letters of my kids’ names, and then attached them to their first file folder with some tape. So simple! Hope that helps!
So nice to “meet” you. :)
Hello, I just found your blog and have fallen in love with your organizing style for your kids artwork and school! I have 3 boys and I have been looking for a way to organize schoolwork and art and find time to work on a scrapbook for each of them. Your project life books look amazing! Cant wait to keep finding great inspiration! Thank you!!! Erika
I’m so happy my posts are helping you Erika! Thanks for your sweet comment! :)
Erin,
What is project life? You have a bin for “project life cards. How do I learn more about it?
Hi Rebecca!
Check out this link:
http://www.beckyhiggins.com/products/
You will LOVE learning about Project Life!
Where did you get the green caddy that you are using for Project Life? I would love to have one like that for my Project Life cards.
Hi Marty! I bought it at Target. :)