Melissa Runcie | Madabella

Just Window Shopping...

We JUST purchased some baskets for the girls bedroom as I showed a couple posts ago, but I am LOVING The MacBeth Collection tins and totes and bins....I love all the office supplies, and the FILE FOLDERS...oh goodness - definitely JUST window shopping!

And since I am JUST wishin' and hopin' - here are the bins I would buy for the girls room (of course, pink!)...

Just look at all the PATTERN possibilities! This alone makes me what to go out and organize everything in bins and buckets!

Image from The MacBeth Collection website.

And speaking of organizing and the girls...one of the ways I organize my daughter's MANY art projects is through an online "art gallery". I wish I was the genius that came up with the idea...but it was Heather Ann Melzer who inspired me to do this. My daughter just loves it - that she can pick out her favorite drawings and keep them online! (And I don't feel guilty for not keeping every single one!!! I hope I can always cultivate a love for the arts in my children!

Back In July...

I started a monthly cooking club after my girlfriends and I went out on our own for some dinner (sans the kids and hubs!) and realized that we just don't do it often enough! In my world, life and work simply get in the way of spending quality time with friends. It grew into a time of fellowship and searching to be godly women through God's word in the midst of all the craziness that the world feeds us every day!

And that is when "Soul Food" began - purposed as a way to nourish both the body and the soul, this has allowed me to realize that I could actually ENJOY cooking, although I don't always have time for it.

I finally finished posting our recipes and some of the stories we have learned along the way -as we feed our bodies and our souls! Tonight we will attempt Ethiopian food (although I've lost my recipes from my friend! Yikes!) - but if you LOVE cooking, I think you might enjoy the Soul Food blog! I will also be adding in our weekly meal plans every now and then. Check it out and feel free to send me some of your favorite recipes to try! 

More Creative Organizing

So the little kidlets that run around this house are 3 and 5....I think that is a good age to begin to establish chores, right?  I don't really know...but what I DO know is I NEED HELP! The girls  helped me clean out their closet today...I have been avoiding it for a LONG time and I was talking to them about teamwork...and "assembly lines"...which didn't really sound fun until I promised a couple dollars! But the good news - was they did it themselves...together....see:

Well, as part of the "organizing flame" that has been ignited in me this month, I made this chore chart. (Click to view larger) I'm hoping that we can all stick to this...trying to make it all as simple as possible so it is easy.  (And YES - you read that right - EATING is part of this little system...they are the pickiest eaters and it's a constant struggle.) I'm not exactly sure at this point how this chart will coincide with a reward system...but at least I have a pretty chart to hang!

For now, I just print out a copy, put it in a frame without the glass and hung it at the kids level. Soon, I will laminate this and stick to magnet sheets so they can just put magnets when they finish a chore...at least that is what I think I'm going to do. I will test it out for a couple of weeks and see what works.

I am VERY interested if you happen to have some kind of chore system for your kiddos. What works for you??? This is somewhat of an experiment, so I'm still searching for ideas.

A Few Projects

It seems like forever since I shared any layouts that I've done, so I thought I'd post some of my projects.

Now - I am TOTALLY out of the Christmas mode...BUT I did PROMISE myself that I would create some holiday layouts. Pardon the poor photography, but here's a few pictures of my layouts. I think having great paper to work with makes the world of difference in jump starting my "creative process." I managed to do a record breaking 3 layouts in just a few days! There are so many times that I just sit and stare at the paper, desperately waiting for something magical to happen! But alas, it never does!

This is my attempt at not being so linear! So I added a circle!

I was completely inspired to used these leftover letters from my JOY banner from the fabulously talented Candice Carpenter. Also like that I was able to pull from my heaping pile of scraps to add to the new paper line...And of course, I just adore this picture...when you kinda just say, get together girls and this happens...a sweet and tender moment of my little one holding on to sister!

Had to get in a multi-photo layout!

This is one of the shadow boxes I did for the mother of the women in the picture. I hope she liked it! I know (or I should say, I think), I have a distinct style of scrapbooking... but I always try to envision it in the home of who will receive it and what their style or colors might be like...so this was very much an attempt to capture that with the subdued colors and "homey" feel. Not sure if that's what I accomplished - but nonetheless what I was going for.

Another project (of which I only had time to scan the inside cover) was this 6x6 mini album. I have 2 more to do that are essentially duplicates, so maybe I'll get to share the pages. But I tried to give myself a small amount of options and repeated a lot of elements throughout this 20 pager...which I was able to finish in a short amount of time. So when I finish the other 2, I will share the very simple formula - which is not new - but perhaps a motivating reminder if you are trying to get something done quickly!