Gettin' Organized (with a little help from breakfast!)

My kids are big time into arts and crafts these days - wonder where they get that from?! They have a large activity table in their playroom which is PERFECT for their little projects, yet for some reason they are constantly turning the dining room table and/or kitchen island into their workspace.

And that's when they're just getting started. Usually you can't see one teeny tiny bit of wood from the table. And see that ginormous bin of crayons? Guess who has to lug that around whenever they want to color? That would be yours truly. It was starting to drive me a little batty, looking at scraps of paper and 900 crayons laying all over the house, and having to clear the table for every meal. I decided to make it my mission to get these supplies organized, in ONE spot, you know, to maybe entice them to keep their mess in the playroom. It occurred to me that they might be traveling upstairs to craft since this is what their table looked like downstairs:

I don't know, it's just a hunch. ;) I mean, what kid WOULDN'T want to pull up a seat here and do some coloring? Got me!

Then one morning, while I was having breakfast, a lightbulb went off. What I needed to pull this off was right in front of my face. Literally.

Ok, maybe not this, but the containers these come in. I'd been saving my coffee cans for a while, thinking they'd be perfect for something one of these days, and today was the day. I got my spray paint out (of course!), and chalkboard stickers (DOUBLE of course!;) and got to work.

Now those coffee cans are handy dandy holders for the crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc. etc.

After I spray painted them, the kids helped me with the chalboard stickers. I just used the fun scissors that have the funky edges, and they stuck them on there (which is why they aren't perfect, but that's kinda what makes them perfect to us;). I was going to stack them, pyramid fashion, kinda like this pic I found on Pinterest (source: bhg.com):

But remember, I mentioned the pain in the you-know-what it is when I'm in the middle of say, cooking dinner, and they scream for help to bring the humongous, heavy bin of crayons upstairs or downstairs, or outside or inside? Well, this way, even the 2 year old can handle carrying the can around.

See? They can grab whatever ones they need and get to work. And should they want to travel back upstairs, they grab the cans they need and I can just tell them to take them back down when they're done. Mommy's no longer needed!

Ok, addressing the paper issue now. They are ALWAYS grabbing paper from the printer in the office, instead of the enormous stack of paper they have - for drawing, imagine that! - so I tried to think of a way to centralize their paper, and not have to steal the printer's. Here's where the waffle part of my breakfast comes in.

I cut the top off a family size waffle box we had, and duct taped the seams, so it'd be stronger. Then I brushed the box with mod podge and sort of wrapped it like I would a gift, with some fun, colorful wrapping paper.

You guessed it. More chalkboard stickers, of course! If you've been a reader for a while, you shouldn't be the least bit surprised. So I made one that says 'paper,' and one that says 'working on' for projects/homemade books/coloring papers, etc. that they leave scattered about, but aren't finished yet. I admit, I chuck 90% of these papers that are left all over the house, but sometimes, they'll be working on something very special, and we have to get ready for school or go to bed, and instead of just leaving them out, they have a place to go.

I attached 4 of those Command hanging things (why can't I EVER think of what they're actually called?!) to the back, so they stay secure on the wall.

Note my lack of patience - the ripples are still on there because I wanted to get them up right away and they weren't 100% dry! The ripples do go away as soon as it's totally dry, and it looks nice and flat.

Caught a pic of one of my little artists in her spot coloring away...

Such a busy bee. That girls never stops.

Now, I have a sneaking suspicion this project will most likely be as successful as my attempt to organize their dress-up closet in the playroom.
What I envisioned it would always looks like in there:

And what it looks like 99.9% of the time in there:

Ah well. A mom can dream, can't she?

At least for the time being, there is less clutter on my dining room table, so all's well with the world....I'll let you know what it looks like tomorrow...;)