Lego Storage Labels (Free Download) **Updated**

It's lego organizing time!

Do you have piles like this at home?

In a big mess.

And the kids can't find anything they're looking for.

Seriously, I took all these boxes out of the boys' closets.

Wouldn't it be nice if the Lego Maker People sold the legos in nice boxes that could be used as storage?

Of course they wouldn't do something so wonderful.

If they did, they would charge waaay too much for it.

I looked on the internet to find out how other people store legos.
Mostly, I just found grown up men who have huge, expensive storage systems.
While that level of organized is appealing to me,

it costs too much money and most importantly ...

the kids need to be able to put the legos away without my help.

I did find a cool website where you can design your own lego people and save the image.
This is a picture of me at work.

The website is called Reasonably Clever.

If you want to try, just go to the section called "Mini-Mizer."

They have different versions that do different things.

They even have a kid-safe one

(in case you don't want your kid making lego people that drink beer and smoke).

Here's a cute little skater dude I made.

I made a label for each lego storage drawer

using a lego font from TypeNow.

Printed them on card stock.

Cut them all apart.

I sprayed them with Preserve It! to protect them from busy, dirty hands.

This step is completely unnecessary.

Brief intermission to see a handsome fellow

who was following me around while I did this project.

Here's what I ended up with:

The legos are all sorted by color,

and each color has a drawer.

I didn't want to ruin the sets that weren't built yet,

so with the exception of the boxes on the top shelf

(which will be getting their own drawers soon),

the rest of the sets are in big plastic drawers in the other bedroom.

**I realize I spelled Gray incorrectly.  I fixed it.  I didn't feel like re-taking photos**

I glued them on with just a little bit of hot glue on each end.

Not a big pile anymore,

not too organized that they can't clean it themselves.

A while back, I found these little hampers at the Dollar Spot at Target.

They are perfect for dumping legos when the kids

are cleaning but don't have time to sort them back into the drawers.

Click below if you would like to download the label files.

If you use the MS Word version, you can alter them, but you will need to install the lego font to your computer if you want that specific font (the download file has the link to the website where you can download the lego font).

If you don't want to edit the labels, use the PDF version and you won't need to install any lego fonts.

I hope that's not too confusing.

Click Here to download the MS Word version.

Click Here to download the PDF version.

**Update**
I have put the downloads on a different host site.  The first one I used was requiring blog readers to register, and that's no good.  The new one should not require registration.
Sorry 'bout dat.

Have fun!

Linking up to:

We're Organized Wednesday at Organize Your Stuff Now

Helping Reluctant Writers

The man who can make hard things easy is the educator.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

How do you help your child with a school subject

that is particularly difficult for him or her?

I won't go into the sordid details, but let's just say that for two

of my children, writing is not a pleasant experience. 

For anyone within a 1 mile radius. 

 

So what do I do?

Trick them, of course.

Make it a game.

Make it fun.

Here is a game we played the other day:

It's called Let's Argue.

Basically, it's a debate on paper.

Pick a topic, and each person argues why their choice is better.

The topic could be the best reptile, favorite holiday, swimming or tennis, whatever.

My son and his friend wrote 5 arguments in favor of their favorite reptile.

You can have a judge declare a winner or forget the judge

(no judges at my house when 2 children are debating ...

only when it's adult-child debate in which case the adult loses).

My son had his started and finished within a grand total of 5 minutes

with no crying.

I must confess that his was the less wordy of the two examples I have here.

If you know my son, this is truly and utterly miraculous.

Now listen up, Mom (or Dad):

Don't get picky, don't criticize, don't correct spelling,

don't feel like you have to teach them everything about writing in one activity.

 

Just let it be fun. 

Kids who write and read a lot, eventually become better spellers.

I Promise.

I found this game in a book called Games for Writing by Peggy Kaye. 

 It is one of my favorite teaching books of ALL TIME.

There are others versions for learning, reading and math.

Enormously Big Bubbles

Today we made Big Bubbles.

The bubble juice:

1 gallon distilled water

(I didn't have a gallon of distilled water so I measured 16 cups of bottled water.)

1 cup Dawn Ultra dish soap

5 Tablespoons glycerin (found this in the pharmacy

section of the supermarket, by band aids and topical creams).

Mix it all up gently.

Don't make a bunch of bubbles.

I found a tutorial for the Bubble Wand on Rhonda's blog.

Basically, we took two dowels and put a screw ring (you know,

the screws with the little round loop) at the end of each one.

Cut two pieces of cotton string, thicker is better.

I happened to have really thick cotton cord in my sewing room.

One piece is 35 inches, the other is 70 inches.

Put a big washer on the 70 inch string and tie that to each screw ring.

Tie the short piece to each screw ring so it is above the long string.

If you want a photo tutorial, stop by Rhonda's.

Here's what it looks like:

You wouldn't believe how long these bubbles were!

We're talking the length of the driveway, people.

We made bubbles until it was too dark to make them.

It's therapeutic.

Bird Tower

I stopped by the thrift store today.   I'm not supposed to be spending money.  But I couldn't help myself.  I'm so glad I didn't listen to my money conscience.  Because this little birdie tower was waiting for me.

Any ideas for what I should put in it?  Shells.  Candles.  Fruit.  Limes would look great, but that might cost too much.

By the way, have you tried picnik.com?  You should.  It's like Photoshop, but doesn't require a semester-long $500 college course on how to use it.  You can use it for free.  You can pay to upgrade, but you can still do really cool stuff on the free version.  Check it out.

Are You Tired of Fruit Flies?

I sure am.

They could make a girl snap.

Landing in her food, flying up her nose, making her swat at the air and look like a fool.

This is what my drinks look like all summer:

A while back, I did a post on getting rid of them with vinegar.  That hasn't been working for me lately.  We had a LOT of them this year.  I was losing it.  Then, Wonderful Mr. Jones came up with this solution:

Yup, that's sand.  The flies are actually called Fungus Flies and they breed in the fungus that is in the wet dirt of your house plants (side note: Yuck! I have decided to stop gardening without gloves).  Get some sandbox sand from the hardware store and put 1/4 to 1/2 inches on top of the soil.

The water drains through the sand quickly and tricks the little buggers. 

Let me know if it works for you.

Berries for the Teachers

There are so many wonderful teachers and people at our school who take good care of my peeps.

I try to do a little something to thank them. Last year I made a paper cake. The kids enjoy delivering their thank you gifts and showing appreciation to everybody, which I really like.

This year we made strawberries. I downloaded the template from Scrap Orchard, printed it on scrap paper, cut, scored and threaded it all up with ribbon and buttons. **Update** I found the template free at Oriental Trading!

I filled them with pretzels dipped in white bark and red sprinkles. The little pretzel nubs work better than the twisty ones because they're so small. You could also fill them with candy. (Digression: Is it just me or are bags of miniature candy ridiculously expensive?!!)

The basket and gingham napkin were a little too girly for the mini-man, so I took them out of the basket and put them in a camo monster truck gift bag for delivery. Camo monster truck gift bags make everything better.

Sneak Peak of Bathroom Redo

I've been ridiculously busy lately, so of course I decide on a whim to completely remodel my kids' bathroom. Because that's how I roll. Strangely, I've actually been getting more done.

I'm not going to give you all the sordid details yet, but here are the colors I'm working with. Beachy white, "true turquoise" and "lime green."

A "before" picture, and repeat of the sneak peak picture for comparison.
The remainder of the project involves board and batten.

The most exciting part ... I completely removed the toilet BY MYSELF and put in new flooring BY MYSELF. That's all I'm gonna say.