{ Nesting } - Organization Overload

It's less than two months now until little man's scheduled arrival.  And when I say scheduled, I mean really scheduled since, unless I go into labor early, I have a c-section date already on the calendar (due to my previous c-section with Miss M.).  Anyway, I have since realized that there are 5000 things I want to get done before this little angels arrival and SO little time to get it all done.

Recently I went slightly crazy organizing the house.  I think my good friend, Lara, thought I had lost my mind when I was showing her all the insides of my cabinets.  Do any of you get crazy-organized before a baby arrives?  I have done this each and every time during all three pregnancies now.  I think it's my last ditch effort to have total control over my life until chaos ensues with life and a newborn.

I love feeling organized and I am feeling pretty good about the state of our house right now.  Here are just a few things I've been up to with my home organization.........

The Kitchen

Kitchen Cabinets:  I only did a little organizing in the kitchen cabinets, but I love having things placed in containers.  I think it makes the cabinets so much more pleasing to the eye.  I also think you can store so much more when you get rid of the bulky boxes.

Kitchen Drawers:  Ok, you might find this crazy, but I measured all of my cabinets, shelves, drawers, ect., before I went shopping for any containers.  I wanted to make sure I got the perfect fit and didn't over-buy or under-buy.  I headed to the dollar store (Dollar Tree) in my area for all these different drawer containers.  I find they have a great selection of organizing supplies, some even come in sets of three, and for $1.00, you can't beat it!

Corner Kitchen Cabinet:  This cabinet has always been a little awkward.  It's really deep and in the corner of our kitchen.  Things have tended to get lost towards the back.  I found these two shelves in my in-laws basement that they were using and I think they make the cabinet feel so much larger.  I've always loved having our cereal in these plastic containers.  It makes it easy to see how much is left and keeps it fresh longer.

Spices: I keep the majority of my spices in the double-tiered, lazy-susan pictured in one of the earlier cabinet photos.  But for the spices I reach for frequently, I keep them stored in this rack that is attached to our kitchen walls.  We found this one at IKEA several years ago and it has been great!

I keep all my cooking utensils in this tall white container (to the left) and our oven mitts in one of my favorite white woven stone bowls.  I always have a cookbook out and we keep our olive oil and white balsamic vinegar on the counter as well.

Kitchen Hutch:  This is one of my favorite additions to our kitchen - the hutch.  I bought this about four years ago from the JC Penny catalog.  It was not a very expensive piece, but it has provided us with so much additional storage that it was well-worth whatever the price was back then!

We keep our pasta stored in plastic and glass containers on the main shelf.  Baby bibs are concealed in that brown box and the little silver platter on top is a great catch-all for hair ties and little things that just end up out of place.  Our dinner plates are kept here and are easy to access.  I added a hook to the side of the hutch to hang all of our aprons (the girls each have one and I have one as well).

I keep some things we use less frequently in the bottom cabinet of the hutch.  I've got our salad serving bowls, decorative plate chargers, ramekins, creme brulee dishes, individual casserole dishes as well as some cocktail napkins and paper plates.

The Downstairs Bathroom

Downstairs Medicine Cabinet:  I kind of feel like we are getting personal here, showing you the inside of our medicine cabinet, but we're all friends, right?  Again, I got these sets of three little baskets from the dollar store as well as the one long basket.  Total cost of organization - $3.00 - totally worth it!

The Family Room

Media Storage:  I've stored all of our movies under our entertainment center.  I know it's hard to believe, but yes we still have a VHS player, therefore, we still have VHS movies.  Don't worry, we're not totally in the stone-age......we have DVD and all that other stuff too.  But if you are in the market for movies, I'm telling you, they are practically giving away VHS tapes at your local thrift stores.

I purchased these plastic bins at Wal-Mart and they fit the VHS movies perfectly.  We already had the photo storage boxes which work great for DVD, video games and VHS.  The one wicker-basket are pretty much all my husband's movies and the rest are all kiddo movies.

Someday when I'm being really organized, I'll use our DVD burner and burn all the VHS onto DVD, but who knows when that day will come.

Side-Board Storage: This is where my OCD measuring came in handy before I went shopping.  I found these three baskets at TJ Maxx and if I wouldn't have measured, I probably would have only bought two because they looked so big in the store.  But I pulled out my handy "Notepad Holder" and saw that three would fit exactly in our side-board.  We keep diapers and wipes in one basket and right now the other two are pretty open.  It's always good to have additional storage for the future so we're not constantly having to try to figure out where to put things.

Dining Room

Corner Hutch: I love this little corner built-in, in our dining room.  It's very reminiscent of the 1930's-1940's (which was when our house was built) and is original to the house.  I keep all our non-everyday glassware in here arranged by type.  I also keep some special occasion dishes on the bottom shelf as well.  It the bottom cabinet, I've stored our margarita glasses as well as some other special occasion tableware.

So that's what I've been up to lately........nesting, BIG time!  I'm trying to take full advantage of this amazing energy burst because I know it will soon be disappearing and I will be heading into the "I'm done being pregnant mode" during my final month.  I'll soon be showing your our "Nautical" themed nursery. It's not quite finished yet, but it's coming along.

What kind of crazy nesting activity have you all gone through?  Anyone else go organizationally crazy?

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Vintage Inspired Craft Room Organization

My mother-in-law has a great art studio in her home.  It is large, gets lots of natural light and she has so many neat supplies such as buttons, vintage linens, lace, fabrics, glitter, glues, pens, paints and the list goes on and on.

For this past Christmas I wanted to make her a few things for her studio.  Most of these items were for storing her large collection of different trinkets that she uses on her Art Dolls.  I found these great vintage labels HERE and had fun turning these into pretty organizational supplies.

With the new year upon us, I bet a lot of us are in an organizational mood, so why not make it fun with vintage inspired craft room organization!?!

I made my mother-in-law a canvas sign for her craft room.  My girls call her "GiGi" which stands for Grandma Glitter.  My mother-in-law has a serious thing for all things glittery!

I painted the canvas a bone-white.  Then I altered this (click here) graphic to customize it with her information using Picasa.  I fit the image to page, printed it on my home computer, cut it out and mod podged it to the canvas.

These are store-bought heavy cardboard boxes that I found at Joann's.  I mod podged the circle graphics to the top and then mod podged a blank label on the side.  I chose to leave the label blank so she can label them as she wishes.  Click here to get the free graphics.

These are some fun apothecary jars that I simply mod podged labels onto as well.  I thought she could use these to display some of her most treasured buttons.  Click here to get the free graphics.

So here's Gigi's craft room organization set.  I think she really liked it and I can't wait to see that sign hanging in her studio.  Happy organizing! Pin It

Fabric Organizers

Back in August I posted about my new sewing studio.  Since then I have had quite a few people emailing about the fabric organizers I use so I thought it was time to give you the scoop on my favorite sewing organization tool of all time!  With Christmas around the corner, these would make a fun gift for anyone you know who is a true fabric lover or a fun gift for you from your husband or family (just forward them this post and say "hint, hint").

The organizers come in two sizes - large and small.  The majority of mine are large; however I do have about 25 of the small ones for smaller pieces of fabric and trims.


Here is how they work.......

You pop open the two tabs and place then end of your fabric underneath and lock them back into place.

Then you wrap your fabric around the organizer, pulling nice and tight for a snug fit.

This is what one yard of fabric looks like after you have wrapped it around your organizer.  The organizers hold up to five yards of fabric each.

I secure the ends of my fabric with two straight pins and then place them on my fabric shelves.

Here is some of my trim on the smaller organizers.  I find these to be really nice for ribbons because it prevents them from getting any creases and they are easy to see when you are designing.

 Here are some of my smaller organizers behind my little trim basket.

My fabric use to take up so much space, but since I've been using my organizers, it fits nicely on two large shelves.  And I have a LOT of fabric!!

I considered making some of these organizers when I needed to order more, but I found the cost of making them would have been as much, if not more, than buying them.  I love how light-weight the organizer is - fabric can be really heavy, so the organizer itself doesn't add any weight to the shelves.  If you try to make your own organizers be sure to not use any material that will hurt or damage your fabric.

Here is one of the shelves in my studio filled with neatly organized fabric.

Now while you may not have the shelf space for all of your fabric, you can certainly fit these easily into large plastic storage containers.  Then you can slide them under a bed or in a closet if need be.

Being able to see all of my fabric neatly organized inspires me to create.  So if your fabric stash has gotten overwhelming and is inhibiting your creativity, I highly recommend you get some of these organizers and get organized!!  You'll be glad you did!

Click HERE to order your fabric organizers.

Cottage Mama's Note:  I have no affiliation with this company, I just think they have a truly great product!

To view my past studio reveal click HERE.

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The Cottage Mama Studio

I find seeing others creative spaces to be so inspiring, don't you?  It's neat to take a peak into someone else's world.  Not everyone is able to have a craft room or studio, but it doesn't have to be much, even an armoire or closet that is all your own can do the trick.

Lately, I have been very busy with my handmade children's clothing business, The Cottage Mama.  I am preparing to launch my fall line as well as a few new items that I think will round-out The Cottage Mama.  I feel so blessed to have my own little corner of the cottage and I thought you might like to take a peak into where The Cottage Mama creates.

So here it is - The Cottage Mama Studio.  This is a small room with french doors off of our dining room.  This is what it looks like as you enter from the dining room.

Here is another angle looking into the studio.  I don't love the chair I currently have, but it works for now.  I'm dying to get something more vintage looking.  I do, however, love that this chair has wheels - it makes it very easy to move from the computer to my sewing machines.

These are two very long tables that come together in the corner.  I love them.  They are from IKEA and were very affordable.  They are a great height for me and the white looks very clean in this room.

What sewing machine and serger do I use?  Well, here they are.  They are nothing fancy, but I love them.  Both are Brother machines which I think are incredibly user-friendly.  My sewing machine is a Brother CS 6000i and my serger is a Brother 1034D.  I would highly recommend both of these machines!

I have both of my pedals labeled just so there is no confusion between my serger and sewing machine.  I also just love my label maker and use any opportunity to label things.

This large galvanized, metal container is filled with trim, piping and bias tape.  Some new and some vintage.  I ended up at a fabric store that was trying to get rid of old stock and these were all 5 for $1.00 - it was a super-deal and a very exciting day!!

I keep my cutting mat (the yellow piece on the table) out at all times since I am usually cutting patterns daily.  This mat fits perfectly and is 36" wide, which is perfect for an entire yard of fabric.

In the corner I have a bunch of my trim (i.e. piping and rick rack) that I use frequently in this fun tiered metal basket.  I got this in the kitchen section of a local home store and thought it would be perfect for the studio.

Underneath the two long tables I have these great metal baskets that slide in and out.  I got these at IKEA too, but they were found in the closet department.  They had something very similar in the office department, but the ones in the closet department were much more inexpensive.

In the bottom two drawers I keep scraps from fabrics that I am currently working with.  That way if I need to grab some fabric for a button or a fabric yo-yo, I have it right there next to my machines.

In the drawer, second from the top, I keep all of my vintage linens that are waiting to be turned into something.  I have many pillowcases that will someday become dresses and lots of hankies.  I find most of these linens at antique stores and my Grandma Ethel has sent me some wonderful linens as well.

I keep the things that I reach for most often in the top drawer.  My sewing scissors, a variety of thread, my clothing labels.  I keep the matching thread to my clothing labels in the same bag.  That way when I need to sew on a label, the thread is right there.

Also, I made myself a little hand-sewing kit and covered button kit.  The hand-sewing kit is great because I can just grab it and take it in the other room to easily sew on buttons or whatever else.  It contains thread, a little pair of scissors, and hand-sewing needles.  The covered button kit has all of the pieces I need to make fabric covered buttons in all sizes.  Both of these little kits definitely make life easier.

The other sliding bins are filled mainly with shipping and packaging supplies.  I have large spools of grosgrain ribbon, teal tissue paper, clear plastic bags, twine, ect.......all for making sure The Cottage Mama packages arrive in style.

This is my cricut expression.  I keep this stored underneath the tables and pull it out whenever necessary.  I don't use it too often, so I didn't feel it needed to be on top.  I need to do more with this great machine, so I think I will be coming up with a few projects for this one soon!

On the other end of the long table is my computer.  I use a Mac and I love it!!  I use to be a PC user, but my husband is in advertising and got us a Mac when we needed a new computer.  I really think, "once you go mac, you never go back".

On the right side of the computer are most of my supplies.  My father-in-law built me these shelves and I think they are so wonderful (thanks Jeff)!  I love being able to see what I have to work with and it is inspiring on a daily basis.  It definitely helps me in developing some of my designs and just looks so pretty.

All of my fabric is arranged by color.  I thought about arranging it by collection or designer, but I think this is much more pleasing to the eye.  It also helps me to see coordinates from other lines that may work together.

Most of my cotton fabric is stored on these fabric organizers.  I have seen and heard of some DIY versions of these, but personally these are my favorite.  They have tabs that secure the fabric, they are very light-weight and they keep the fabric from becoming wrinkled.  Each one can hold up to six yards of fabric.  You would not have believed how much room my fabric was taking up before I discovered these organizers - it was a mess!

There are two different sized organizers - large and small.  The small is perfect for storing different trim and smaller pieces of fabric.

So, what's in my stash? Lots of things.......mostly girly stuff (after all, I'm a Mama to two little ladies).  I've got Art Gallery "Sugar", Art Gallery "Girly Girl", Heather Bailey "Nicey Jane" and "Freshcut", Anna Maria Horner "Garden Party", Amy Butler "Love" and "Midwest Modern", Sandi Henderson "Meadowsweet", Riley Blake "Wheels" and "All-Star", a little Alexander Henry, Tina Givens, Jennifer Paganelli, David Walker, Tanya Whelan, some Japanese imports and a bunch more!

I've got about 25 yards of Art Gallery's new "Paradise" (August release) and 40+ yards of Amy Butler's new "Soul Blossom" (September release) that should be arriving sometime in the next month - wooohooo - can't wait!

In the red boxes, I keep my interfacing, fusible fleece and oil cloth.  I use interfacing quite a bit so this is handy to have close by.

On the shelf above the fabric I store my buttons.  I use fabric covered buttons on almost every garment.  So here I have them arranged by size.  I just use little tags from the office supply store to label each jar.  Also the lids are the same ones I made in this tutorial.

On the other end of the shelf, I have some other supplies.  Glue, size labels, blank note cards, and lots of trim.  If you are ever at your local fabric store, just ask them if they have any empty trim holders - they are always happy to give me the empty ones.

I also keep my tags ready to hang on my garments.  It's so much easier to thread a ton of them all at one time, that way I can just grab one when I need it.

Way at the top of my shelves I keep some blue vintage jars that I just love.  These jars were given to me by my Grandma Peggy.  The wire baskets below are meant for produce storage, but I thought they worked just great to store scraps that I use less frequently.  I try to keep more bold scraps (reds, yellows, orange, bright green and blue) in one and pastels in the other.

This little room already had a deep closet, so I use these shelves to store things I don't need all of the time.  I have a whole box of knit fabric, some of my chenille and minky.  Also things like some of my serger thread, craft supplies, scrapbooking supplies, iron, hole punch, kids art supplies, spray adhesive.......and the list goes on and on....... are all stored in these shelves.

Above these shelves I have three embroidery hoops with fabric pieces from designer Heather Bailey's "Nicey Jane" fabric line.

On the wall next to the deep shelves is my thread rack, ironing board, and white boards (I use these for taking pictures).  Hopefully my father-in-law is going to help me install an ironing board that folds down from the wall.  I think this will save a lot of space and be more practical than this giant one.

Here is some of my thread that is all arranged by color.  To be honest, I haven't really found one thread to be better than another - I use both Gutermann and Coats and Clarks.

I store some of my spools of ribbon on a pants hanger that is hung on the door knob of one of the french doors.

And one of the best things that was installed in my studio was this baby gate.  It enables me to keep all of my sewing supplies out (machines, rotary cutters, scissors, pins) and use my hot iron without having to worry about my girls getting hurt.

I hope you enjoyed this little peak inside my studio.  I don't have a huge space, but it's a space I can call my own, and for that I feel very blessed.

Here are a few of the new pieces that have been completed for fall:

Fall Knot Dress

Modern Little Lady Coat

Swing Dress

Pretty Bird Dress and Ruffle Pants

Boy Knee Patch Pants

Henrietta Apron Skirt

Cottage Mama's Note:  There will be many more fall items to come!  A few of these items have been listed in my etsy shop, The Cottage Mama. If you have any questions about anything you've seen in my studio, please feel free to leave me a comment or email (thecottagemama@gmail.com).  Thanks so much for reading!

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