DIY Home Organizing Binder/Home Management Binder! Part 1 of 2

The more time I spend on house projects and crafts with the kids, the less time I have for all the other little stuff. Home management binder, to the rescue!! The idea for this is to keep all my little stuff, ideas, dates, and little stuff I need in  one place and completely organized for easy access and efficiency.

So, to show you how I created my binder, I am doing a 2 part post and this first post is part 1. Part 1 is the outside of the binder and part 2 will be the inside! Keep a lookout fora  future post on part 2, where I show you all the printables and goodies I stuffed inside!

This binder is super easy and affordable to make, and to personalize! Now, you can get a basic black, 1" binder at Walmart for .97 cents, as pictured here. I made a few binders for other people so I decided to make them a bit more fun and personal.

 The roll of Quick Cover is simply a self-adhesive "shelf liner" or basically a patterned contact paper. It has a coat paper that your remove and you can stick the print where you want it. I got this roll at Dollar Tree for $1!

I cut a rectangle shaped piece for the front of the binder....

 And a smaller strip piece for the side...and then stuck both to the binder using adhesive side.

 I printed out title pages for the front of the binders and small labeling strips for the sides. I just did this whole thing in word, and picked out clip art that I liked, base don who the binder was for and what I thought they would like. You can personalize this in ANY way... use any colors, objects, pictures, whatever you like!

 Notice the right side title says "task & reward book".... Yes, you can make a binder for the little ones if you want and they can stay organized too! (This one is for my 12 yr old sister, and the binder offers chore sheet, reward system, consequence page AND boredom bursting activities!)

 I used Mod Podge (matte) and a foam brush to glue and seal the title page onto the shelf liner. I did only the back and then waited 5 full minutes. Then I coated the front of the title page 5 times, allowing a 20 minute drying in between each coat. (VERY important to let the coats drying in between, and a full 15-20 mins!)

 I did use the first 2 coats over the title page and the last 3 I did over the entire front cover, to help seal the liner in as well. Because I used the matte finish, it gave the front a wood, almost grainy type finish. But not in a bad way! It has a nice texture when you touch it and it definitely feels solid and sealed. I don't feel seams, and so I know it will last and everything will stay stuck on! :-)

*Note* I used regular printer paper for my title pages and it did create a few small bumps because the paper is thin, but the bumps were mostly able to be smoothed out. Another alternative, which I should have done, would be to print on cardstock!

So in all, these binders came out really cool, they are personalized for the people they are going to AND the cover is solid. You can stick this in a bookcase without worry of the front coming off, and the side labels help to find it fast!

What do you think of this binder? Would you make something like this for yourself? Keep a look out for my next post on all the stuff I put in the binder to help organize my house and life and things I found to help with these binders I made for family that may be useful! That post will be SUPER informative!!

Until next time! :-)
Cre8tiveKtina

DIY Kid's Towel "Rack" using Command Hooks

You can only go into the bathroom so many times and see towels everywhere before you get fed up! Anyone who has kids will probably know that feeling. All 3 of my kids seem to forget that our towel rack even exists! Honestly, I am lucky if it even stays in the bathroom...sometimes I find them down the hall, in a bedroom, or wherever they randomly tossed it after drying themselves. It gets almost ridiculous, especially since none of my children are babies anymore.

I decided that something had to be done to make it easier, more efficient, more practical for the kids, AND maybe even a bit prettier. And I came up with a quick and easy solution! My newest favorite product right now is the 3MM Command Hooks. They come in all different styles and sizes to hang all different things without hurting your walls or busting out any tools. I have no problem using a drill or hammer but honestly, my life is easier when jobs can get done without them.

But the hooks alone in the bathroom are rather dull...Efficient, easy, and practical (as I wanted) but not really any excitement. So my solution? I grabbed 3 thin wood plaques from Walmart for .97 cents each. They were just plain with a light wood color, but I saw potential! I painted each plaque with a different color, using acrylic paint. I used a light pink, dark pink, and a vibrant blue to lay a colored base on each plaque.

Then I used one of my best and favorite resources.. Google! And I looked up letters in different fonts. I printed each child's initial in a larger size and cut it out and used it as a stencil. My letters were A, L, and J. Both my daughters names begin with A but my middle daughter (Alexandria) goes by Lex or Lexi and we didn't want any confusion with the same letters so we used L for her instead of A. Each letter was colored in using different colors to stand out on the base color. After the letters were in place, I used some glitter and went over the girls' initials with it because most girl loves things that sparkle! Even with the letters, I still felt they need some type of accent or pop so I added a little picture on each plaque. I painted flowers for my first daughter, a butterfly for my second daughter, and a car for my son.

I made sure to measure and mark so the plaques were an equal distance apart from each other and all at the same height. Once I had the plaques on the wall, I mounted the Command hooks right below them. The best part about this, besides how adorable the plaques, is that each kid is excited to have their own hook AND they can easily reach it. Now they are excited to put their towels up, they admire their initial and know which hook is theirs. There is no fighting about it and it even adds a nice pop of color to the bathroom!

What do you guys think? Have you used these Command hooks in your bathroom or house yet? How about the personalized plaques, cool right?! Anymore ideas on how or where to use them? I will have additional posts on places I stuck these nifty hooks! :-)

 Are these cute and practical or what?! :-)


-Cre8tiveKtina
xoxo