Gift Wrap Organization Ideas

I have a ton of gift wrapping supplies...and I like it that way. It means I don't really have to spend much time and money actually purchasing supplies and can instead, put together color coordinated, pretty packages. John has bugging me since pretty much November 18, 2012 to get my gift wrap out of his game room. It's been in long, shallow boxes but not all of them can fit together in a closet or under a bed.

I finally decided that the disorganized mess needed to be fixed! If you search Pinterest, there are a ton of extravagant, creative ways to store and organize gift wrap. While an entire gift wrapping wall or room sounds fantastic, I simply do not have the room or the time to put something like that together. So I went with a strategy focused on space available and simplicity of design.I ended up spending a bit more money on this project than I intended but I think the finished product is clean, simple and nice looking.

Here is the before storage. You can see everything's crammed into a bunch of boxes with no real rhyme or reason. And kept on the floor of my office and the game room.

Here is the space in the office closet that I chose for my storage station.

I purchased one skinny white laundry basket and two three-drawer storage carts from Walmart. $7 or $8 for the laundry basket and $20 each for the drawers. I wanted the skinny laundry basket for my rolls of wrapping paper. This way I didn't run into issues with some being too long to fit into the storage box and I can easily see the patterns I have. I've never seen a laundry basket this skinny but it was perfect for this project!

I would suggest categorizing your drawers ahead of time and then start sorting things based on those drawers. I knew I needed drawers for boxes, bags, tissue paper and then other miscellaneous items (tags, tape, scissors, etc). Another tip is to store the heavier items in the bottom drawers so the containers don't get top-heavy and fall over. I loaded the bottom drawer with boxes (both flat folded gift boxes and boxes of various sizes).

 As I organized, I realized I had way more bags than I thought so I sorted them into small, medium, large and extra large. The extra large bags did not fit into the drawers so I sandwiched them between the wrapping paper basket and the drawers.  Then I created one drawer for the large bags and a second for the small/medium bags.

Tall, skinny wine bottle bags on the right

Christmas bags on the right

Tissue paper was my biggest challenge. Again, I had way more of it than I'd thought. Don't tell anyone I said this, but I think I'm a bit of a packrat. I started by laying out the tissue paper by color and threw away the pieces that were ripped or balled up to the point of no return. It actually felt good to purge some of this stuff! Then I folded each color into a square and stacked into the next drawer. Solid colors on the left and patterned papers on the right.

Lexi decided to help organize the tissue paper all over the house

The top drawer consists of lots of ribbons and bows so that I can easily select one that goes along with the color and style of the package I create.

Here's the finished product! And of course one with Lexi posing. Can't wait to wrap my next gift!

Down with the old man, up with the new

It's the Monday after Easter and while I don't actually have an office to go to, I am still reluctant to "go" to work today. I hope everyone had a great Easter! It was bittersweet for me this year since it was the first time not celebrating with my family in North County.  But at the same time, I was able to attend an amazing church service and start some fun new traditions right here in San Dimas with the Kolbeck family.

We attended the CCV church service as we did last year. Because of the influx of people during the holiday, the services are held at Azusa Pacific University so they really make it a neat event. I volunteered during Saturday's service and couldn't wait to attend on Sunday. 

Each year they set up baptism pools and give everyone in the audience (that's hundreds of people!) a chance to give their life to Jesus, start fresh or simply recommit. John and I decided to take the plunge! Pat also wanted to make the commitment so together at the end of the service we approached the pools. The first person we came across was none other than Pastor Dane Johnson...the pastor who married us! We asked if he could also baptize us. It was an incredible experience and I'm so glad we were able to do it together as a married couple. I haven't been able to get Kenny Chesney's song "Baptism" out of my head since! God is good!

After church we headed to the Kolbeck's for some swimming, puppy playtime and family fun. Since we are all adults, we came up with our own egg hunt. We'd each filled five eggs ahead of time with anything we wanted, had a friend hide the eggs and off we went! It was so fun to be a bit competitive with each other and then see what goodies we each received. The treats ranged from chocolates and jelly beans to Chapstick and nail polish to bottles of wine. There was even a "golden" egg with $100!! 

As for John and I...the Easter bunny made a quick stop at our house too. Along with some other things, he left these adorable mason jar candle holders! I have them on our entry table for a rustic, springtime feel but hope to use them on our patio table soon.

What an Amazing Day

Congratulations on making it through another week! Today I'm hoping we can all stop and take a minute to reflect on what this Friday means...Good Friday.

Today is when we, as Christians, commemorate Jesus' death on the cross. Sometimes I wonder how we can call it Good Friday. How can such a brutal, hate-filled death be considered good?! But the fact is that this entire day happened for US. Jesus laid down His life for you and for me. Wow, what an act of love.

I've been listening to my Hillsong Pandora station all morning and the song "Jesus Paid It All" came on. How perfect for today. The lyrics say:
"Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow."

Take a minute out of your Easter preparations, candy eating, and egg coloring, and let that sink in. This is the essence of Good Friday. And hopefully that brings a smile to your face.

Ready for Summer!

The warm Southern California weather has arrived! It has consistently been 80 degrees or warmer here which means it's time to go outside and get some sun. I love to sit outside with a good book and a glass of iced tea. Or BBQ tri-tip and eat dinner on the patio. Or enjoy a glass of wine around the firepit. You get the idea...

We were perusing Target (affectionately pronounced Tar-jay) yesterday and came across some great lawn and garden finds! I, of course, wanted to buy one of everything but we exercised some self-control and decided we'd look for some bargains on those items we really want.

I'd love a couple chaise lounge patio chairs like this one so that I can more comfortably read AND tan at the same time.

http://www.target.com/p/room-essentials-nicollet-sling-patio-chaise-lounge-tan/-/A-14667220#prodSlot=medium_1_8 

Or a few of these cool lanterns for the patio table.

http://www.target.com/p/threshold-tall-rattan-solar-lantern-medium/-/A-14749768#prodSlot=medium_1_11http://www.target.com/p/threshold-tall-rattan-solar-lantern-medium/-/A-14749768#prodSlot=medium_1_11

But we settled on a couple tiki torches, which turned out to be a great little facelift! TWO torches for $7!! You can't beat it. We also got some citronella fuel and were on our merry way! Now if we could only keep the mosquitoes away so John will stay outside with me...

South Africa Recap - February 2014

YouTube Link: http://youtu.be/nPCa0HHT_zs

This video is much longer than the one from London. But that's because we were there for several more days and had many more adventures!! I've incorporated several different videos taken on my GoPro, iPhone and regular camera. They really help bring the entire experience to life. Hope you enjoy!

Music inspired by my experiences in South Africa:
1. Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) by Shakira - was the 2010 World Cup theme song
2. God Bless Africa by The Robben Island Singers
3. Circle of Life by Elton John - classic from The Lion King
4. Mama Africa by Akon - a more recent record
5. Africa by Toto - I had this song in my head the entire trip!
6. Hakuna Matata - just for fun :)