Thank you Pinterest

Sooo... our nephew's birthday is next week. Where in the world did the last 4 years go? I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday... Such a tiny little thing, and now he's a tall, sweet, talkative almost 4year old who is ALL BOY! Loves cars, trains, and his newest venture of DINOSAURS!!!

So, when I went to Target to get wrapping for his present and I couldn't find an "affordable" plain boy bag or one with dinosaurs... by affordable, I mean something under $3.00. I know $3 doesn't seem like that big of deal, but to me, it was. I finally settled on a "PLANES" bag with "Dusty" on it (since my son wouldn't stop saying, "Dusty, Dusty!" Then, I turned... and the spotlights came on shining on the end cap (where all the clearance stuff is "stuffed.") Okay, spotlights didn't really come on, but some plain brown paper attracted my attention because it was $0.75... Yep! Less than a dollar... AND it would wrap more than one present. Then my wheels got turning... How could I make this personalized for my nephew? An idea that I had seen on Pinterest popped in my head and I knew it was perfect... Especially for the price!!!!!

When I got home from the store, got my little guy down for a nap, I set to work. Here are my supplies...

                       

        

It took me a sharpie, paper, ribbon, crayons and 30 minutes to make THIS!

What 4 year old wouldn't want to color his own wrapping paper?!?!?!?!

So all I did was take the paper and I started drawing. Then, I wrapped his gift (with the least amount of tape possible), added ribbon and crayons. So for a fraction of $0.75 cents, I created my own interactive wrapping paper.

Okay... NOT an original idea.... but I made it my own.

Then I started getting creative! Although a child is the primary ideal recipient, why not wrap other things with other themes for adults?!? i would love it if I received this and would probably take the time to color my paper and save it!

Here are a few ideas to get you started! The best suggestion I have is to just have fun and use your creativity! (also if you need ideas for fonts, you can easily google fonts or look at my favorite website ... www.dafont.com.)

My First Recorded Creation!

So... here it is. I love creating. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm the first person to find a new use for something old and useless. In fact, my husband thinks I'm crazy because I am a HOARDER of containers. I always save used containers, like the plastic nut containers... or let's just say any container I can get my hands on. My latest obsession is boxes. Being a mom of a toddler, we get boxes pretty often, my favorite being diaper and wipes boxes. Once we've collected four or five with no purpose for them, my husband starts looking at me like, "Babe, it's about time to get rid of these things." So, I FINALLY found a purpose!

So, let me give you a little background. My husband and I live in a small rented condo with our 19 month old son. We moved here when our little guy was 3 months old. Let's just say, life is a little different for us now. Babies do come with a lot of "equipment," but at least when they are babies, it all stays where you put it, even if you have a rocker, a bouncer, a swing, etc. Now, with a very vivacious, spunky, never-stops-for-a-minute toddler, our place gets quite "unorganized" constantly! The older he gets, the more toys he gets. Instead of the big sit to stand mirror that he loved when he was six months old, now we have matchbox cars and choo choo trains coming out of our ears. So, we needed a solution. When he was younger, we had a rug with his toys pushed up nicely against the window that were easy to clean up. Now... not so much. I've been on a mission to find a toy box to put all of them in, but we're on a rather tight budget. So, I finally got smart and decided to make my own. This started with a new fascination with trains. He just received his first BRIO train track and many trains to go with it. These ended up EVERYWHERE. I decided that I would make him a little train box to keep them in. So I didn't take pictures while I made them, but I do have the finished product.  I took the simple box that the trains were shipped in, some flannel, and a glue gun. I used those three simple things to cover the box.

This turned out so well, that I decided to make a few more boxes (using those sturdy diaper and wipe boxes from Costco!) for his bigger toys and here we have it! An organized toddler corner.

Next time I save another box, I'll post a how-to!