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Wishing everyone a Happy Easter from A Handmade Story! 🐰
1 Peter 1:3 – “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
#happy #Easter #Easter #easter2023 #spring #april8th #ahandmadestory
Happy Week of Lent! Easter is less than a week away. Here on A Handmade Story, I would like to share some Easter basket ideas for kids. 🐰
Every year for Easter, I prepare Easter baskets for the kids and an Easter egg hunt. I remember, as a young child going to church on Easter with my parents and siblings. We would wake up Easter morning with an Easter basket from the Easter bunny, and then later, we would do an Easter Egg hunt. Usually, Easter holidays were with our extended family. I had such fun memories as a child during Easter. Every year, my siblings and I would use the same Easter basket from the previous year. My parents still own our childhood Easter baskets. We used these three matching baskets for the Easter Bunny and our Easter Egg hunt. Now, I decorate my parent’s house for Easter and will use our old Easter baskets as decor in their home.
When I do Easter baskets for the kids, I usually try to reuse the same baskets from the previous year. This year, the holiday is a bit different, so I had to go out and buy baskets. My sister does not want to be saving Easter Baskets in her home, so she always gives them back to me. I also reuse the Easter grass and plastic eggs from the previous year.
Everything seen in the basket is stuff I bought at Target and Dollar Tree and one item found at a thrift store. When buying; items to go inside the Easter baskets, I like to make things easy for myself. I do not spend over a dollar for each item. It gets too expensive when you start buying items for the basket that cost two dollars or more. I usually try to coordinate all the kid’s baskets with purchasing similar Easter stuff. Each kid will get one chocolate Easter Bunny every year in their basket. Then I buy gifts based on the kid’s ages. Usually, I try to get each kid all the same kind of Easter gifts. You will see similarities in each Easter basket. For each basket, I like to keep the budget low every year. Baskets can be expensive at big box stores, so I avoid buying them there. Then buying goodies to go inside the basket can also get; expensive. I was shocked at the prices at the big boxed store for baskets. As a child, guessing my parents did not spend much on Easter baskets or grass back in the 1980s. I do have to say that Easter grass in the 1980s was way better than the stuff you get today. It looked like grass and not basket-filling. I do not overspend on Easter baskets because they only get used once a year. Inside the basket, I like to get the kids stuff that they will want to use or play with.
These two baskets are for my nine-year-old niece and my seven-year-old nephew. Both the kids now do a lot of writing for fun when they do creative projects at home. I figured the kids could always use some pencils and a notepad. My niece loves cool things like erasers. My nephew loves to do crafts. Both of them got a dream catcher for their bedroom. Their basket was simple. At Dollar Tree, you could get a pack of pencils and a pack of notepads and split them among the kids. That is the one thing; I love that Dollar Tree will do during the holidays. Take advantage of that if you see stuff like at the Dollar Tree.
Insides the baskets:
Chocolate Bunny- Dollar Tree
Pencils- Dollar Tree
Note Pads- Dollar Tree
Dr. Seuss Erasers- Dollar Tree
Dinosaur Stain Glass- Dollar Tree
Rainbow Dream Catcher- Dollar Tree
Blue Dream Catcher- Sack's Thrift Store
These two baskets are for my two-year-old niece and our family friend’s little boy, who is three years old. For each Easter basket, I bought kid stuff appropriate for a two and three-year-old. Inside the kids, baskets; were a chocolate bunny, toys, and a pencil. Who doesn’t love to draw at ages two and three? My niece loves boy toys like dinosaurs. Since the kids are little, they could each use a pair of sunglasses and some toys for their bath time. I believe I bought the rubber duckies at Target in their bullseye section around Valentine’s Day that I knew the two kids would love in their Easter basket. A great way to save money is to think ahead when buying gifts.
Inside the baskets:
Chocolate Bunny- Dollar Tree
Pencils- Dollar Tree
Dinosaurs- Dollar Tree
Bath Crayons- Target Bullseye
Sunglasses- Target Bullseye
Rubber Duckies- Target Bullseye
For the Easter Egg hunt, I like to fill the eggs with candy and coins. I always make it simple, so I am not spending an exuberant amount of money on candy. The kids all have piggy banks. Why not give them money for their piggy bank? Why not clear out your coins during Easter time? As a kid, I loved getting coins in my plastic Easter Eggs. When I go to fill the eggs, I do not put the candy and money coins together. The money coins go in a separate egg.
How much I spent on Easter:
Baskets- Dollar Tree $1.25 x 4= $5.00
Pencils- Dollar Tree $1.25
Note Pads- Dollar Tree $1.25
Easter Candy- Dollar Tree $1.25 x 4= $5.00
Chocolate Bunny- Dollar Tree $1.25 X 4= $5.00
Dr. Seuss Erasers- Dollar Tree $1.25
Dinosaur Stain Glass- Dollar Tree $1.25
Dinosaur- Dollar Tree $1.25 x 2= $2.5
Rainbow Dream Catcher- Dollar Tree $1.25
Blue Dream Catcher- Sack's Thrift Store 50.
Easter Eggs- Target $1.00 x 3= $3.00
Easter Grass- Target $1.00 x 2= $2.00
(I only ended up using two packages of grass for the four baskets.)
Bath Chalk- $1.00 x 2= $2.00
Sunglasses- Target $1.00 x 2= $2.00
Grand Total= $33.25
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17
“Easter is the only time when it’s perfectly safe to put all of your eggs in one basket.”- Evan Esar
#kids #happyeaster #easterbunny #easteregghunt #candy #easter #lent #easterbaskets #dollartree #target #sacksthriftstore #ahandmadestory
In my latest blog post last week, I did a pantry makeover on my parent’s pantry. Here is where you can find this pantry makeover post. When I decided to makeover my parent’s pantry, I decided to upcycle their oatmeal container. I had done this project in the past with an oatmeal container; I had in my kitchen in my own home. The oatmeal container was boring, and it needed a little sprucing up. This project anyone can do, even if they have zero crafty experience. The project costs $1.25. If you own an oatmeal container and want to spruce it up, then; try this project. My parents like to buy oatmeal for various things. Sometimes, my mom has oatmeal for breakfast, and when I am visiting, I sometimes enjoy having oatmeal. My dad likes to have oatmeal for baking. When I was making over my parent’s pantry and de-cluttering it, I wanted everything in the cabinet to look nice. I got this bright idea to cover the oatmeal container in this dollar tree wallpaper sheet. Then I decided to label the container. I wanted my parents to refill the container when it got low on oatmeal.
Growing up, I loved to upcycle a bunch of different things. I was upcycling stuff long before it was popular and before the internet existed. I used to save aluminum cans. I would wrap wrapping paper around the aluminum can. I would glue scraps of wrapping paper to the can to make pencil holders. I will share a photo of one my brother upcycled years ago in the 1990s. I got him to do the project too.
Below is a picture of the pencil holder my brother made when he was a kid. He drew the picture. This pencil holder and all the pencils inside of the holder is at my parents house.
Here the picture:
Upcycling was something I loved doing growing up. I loved saving scraps of construction paper from old-school projects that would eventually end up in the trash. I always liked using scraps of wrapping paper for different craft projects, especially when it came to upcycling cans to make pencil holders. I always make pencil holders for people in my family as gifts. Upcycling is still something I enjoy doing all the time. Growing up, I continued to do upcycling projects.
These are the wallpaper sheets from The Dollar Tree. They come in different styles and colors. The oatmeal container is not that attractive looking, and it needs an upcycle.
On the backside of the wallpaper is a line. Fold the wallpaper on that line. What is good about this wallpaper is that it is the perfect size for this upcycle project.
Now you are going to cut that strip of wallpaper off.
As you can see in the photo, this sheet of wallpaper will be the perfect size for this project when you turn the sheet of paper horizontally.
Now, it’s time to take the backing off the wallpaper. First, I placed the wallpaper on the front of the oatmeal container. I didn’t empty the oatmeal when I did this project. If you want to make this easier on yourself, empty the oatmeal into a large bowl.
Next, it’s time to trace a circle around the oatmeal lid.
In this photo, I decided to cover the entire oatmeal container lid. Unfortunately, my plan did not go the way I wanted it. I had to make a new circle. Trace a circle around the oatmeal lid, and then cut out that circle. Since the oatmeal container has a lip, I could not cover the entire; container lid with the wallpaper. Only; the center of the oatmeal lid; was covered with wallpaper. I ended up using; a razor blade to carefully cut out the center circle of the wallpaper. I took the backing off the wallpaper and stuck it to the middle of the oatmeal lid. Then, I took my fingernail and pressed the paper down around the center lip of the container so I could make an outline I could use to cut with a razor blade.
Now, this is what the container looks like. Much better than before. Would you agree? Now, we can label this container.
Lastly, it is time to label the oatmeal container. I got these labels from Amazon. They are great and stick perfectly to the container.
Now, you can enjoy refilling the container with oatmeal. I created a similar project; several years ago and used the container to store all my hair scrunchies and bows. I glued a artificial flower on top of the lid. I don’t have a photo of this a since, I am away from home putting this post together.
Supplies Used:
Dollar Tree Wallpaper.
Here is one that is similar:
Gold Woven Geometric Removable Wallpaper, 16x11-in.
Chalkboard Labels
Cost for the project:
$1.25
$5.47
Total:
$6.74 plus tax
I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use. – Mother Teresa
Reduce, Reuse & Recycle!
#ahandmadestory #reducereuserecycle #oatmealcontainer #upcycleproject #dollartree #amazon #diy #easyproject #craft
Do you struggle with a pantry that looks like a hot mess? Are you tired of opening your pantry and struggling to find where items are located? Do you struggle with how to organize? Organizing spaces is something that I enjoy doing. Organization can make our lives simpler. It also helps us to feel less stressed out. Have you ever seen shows on television or on YouTube that are strictly for organizing? I like to organize spaces that fit my personal needs. When I organize, it does not have to be perfect. As long as the space functions, the way I want it, that is all that matters to me. I once heard someone on YouTube say something like “do what works for you” when it came to organizing. I can’t remember the exact words or what video I heard that in. When organizing your space, do what is practical and realistic for your own needs. It’s your personal space and it should reflect and function the way you want it.
Over the weekend, my parents decided to take a weekend trip. This was a project I had planned out for a while. Their original plans got canceled, so they took the opportunity to get away for the weekend. They needed a house sitter to watch over their property and feed their animals. While they were gone, I wanted to surprise them with a pantry makeover. This plan I had for a few months. I was tired of looking at their pantry because it was messy. I also could never find what I was looking for.
How I planned this pantry makeover:
1. First, measure the inside of your cabinets to determine how much space you have.
2. Next, take a look into your cabinet to see what types of organizational products will be needed; for organizing your cabinet; or pantry. I used baskets and jars. Look at the food items in your pantry to determine which items should go in baskets and inside the jars.
3. When looking for jars, containers, and baskets, check places like your local thrift stores first. Bring a tape measure with you so you can see if these items will fit into your pantry. My parents have adjustable shelves. I still had to measure everything first to make sure they would fit properly in the pantry before I actually bought the items. I see containers and jars all the time at the thrift store for super cheap, so check their first. You don’t have to buy matching containers either. Buy things that will work for your lifestyle needs and your space. For this project, I got super lucky and found all the jars at the thrift store. I did not have good luck finding the correct baskets at the thrift store. If you don’t have any good luck at the thrift store, finding containers or jars, you can check stores like Amazon, Target, Walmart, TJ Maxx, and other big box stores for glass jars and baskets. I loathe plastic containers for organizing food. I will admit that in my home, I have plastic bins for storing holiday items, but when it comes to food storage I believe baskets are the better option. Plastic is very toxic to our health. We all have been exposed to plastic in our lives. We all have particles of plastic in our bodies. We do not even know it, which is a bit scary. For health reasons, I stay away from plastic bins when storing food. Also, I find that plastic bins look cheap. When organizing a cabinet, baskets look nicer and will hold up over time. Plastic, over some time, will bend out of shape. Plastic will also melt and releases toxic chemicals into the planet. Plus, plastic gets dirty and is hard to clean. Baskets are the better option, especially for our health. Baskets go on sale, so look out for those sales in the stores.
4. Next, start organizing everything by category. I started taking stuff out of the cabinet and gathering “like” items together. I moved all the pasta and placed them in one central zone. Then, I arranged all the soups and placed them in another central zone. I put all the snack items together. Then all the random food items were stuck in one area and handled last. I did that for every item in the pantry. If you have anything old sitting in the cabinet, be sure to toss it.
5. If you already own some containers and jars in your cabinet, take out food items and wash out those containers and jars. If you already have a few baskets in your pantry cabinet, take them out too, and clean them out. If you purchased new containers and jars, make sure to wash them first before you go to put your dried goods in them.
6. Next, I cleaned out my cabinets of all the gunk stuck on the inside of the walls and shelves. With soap and water, make sure to wash and dry the surfaces in the cabinet.
7. Then, I ended up turning two of the shelves upside down. It was sagging from the amount of weight on it. Turning the shelf upside down will reshape the shelf, and flatten it out.
8. Now is the time to think about how you want to organize the cabinets. I like to make everything in the cabinet easy to access. I like to zone each area of the cabinet. For instance, I kept all the pasta and sauces near each other. I had the snacks in one spot where my parents could easily reach them. I did not want to crowd the cabinets. Therefore, the snacks and crackers baskets were not on the same shelf. All the canned food I like to keep on the bottom shelf. It is the heaviest of the items on the shelf, therefore makes the most sense in my parent’s pantry to be on the bottom shelf. If you have too much-canned food items or extra food, consider designating another space or a cabinet in your garage for those items. That is what my parents do.
9. Now, it is time to organize your baskets and jars. My parents had a lot of different types of nuts in bags. The only nuts that they had the most of were peanuts. All the peanuts went into one container. The rest of the other bags of nuts went into the basket. The same went for the raisins. They went in a container. All the other excess nuts, chocolate, and other odd snack foods also went into the basket. For the glass jars, I liked to store pasta inside of them. For the pasta that was used frequently, I decided to put it into glass jars. The new pasta they bought to try out, stayed in its original box. Now, my parents already had a lot of glass jars and containers to store their dried goods. I took everything out of every container and glass jar they had and placed them in bowls. I washed every container and jar they owned. I also rearranged every jar and container. For instance, my parents buy cornmeal to use for making pizza. It is so the crust does not stick to the pizza brick. I put the cornmeal into a smaller container. The container it was in was too big. Now, that empty larger container could store something else like pasta. When I was recently at the thrift store, I got lucky and found great jars for organizing my parent’s dried goods. They needed more glass jars because they did not have enough to work with. Anything that came in a smaller package that I knew my parents would frequently use when cooking went into a smaller container. All the larger items used frequently went into a larger container.
10. Lastly, all the jars and baskets got labeled. I made it so my parents could remember what goes in each container, glass jar, and basket. I highly recommend you label everything. Labeling your items will help you to stay organized.
11. Now, it is time to enjoy your space! Remember to always keep your pantry clean and organized. You will thank yourself later when you love knowing where everything is in the pantry. Plus, you will enjoy feeling less stressed out, knowing you worked hard to make your space look nice. I always say “less is more”. I think it’s such a true statement. When you struggle with having a small space to work with, always remember to condense the items you have. Make sure the items go into containers, jars and baskets. When you organize this way, your more likely to use see the food you have and actually use it.
Here is how the pantry makeover started: WARNING, the first picture is something we can relate too! Funny, that my dad thought this was pantry was organized. My mom, on the other hand knew it bothered her. Help is on the way…
Here is a picture of my parent’s pantry before starting this project. It was fun organizing this pantry but also a lot of work.
Their pantry was a hot mess and I could not find anything in it. Stuff was shoved in random places on each shelf. Who knew what hidden gems were in this cabinet?
Before beginning this project, I accessed what organizational items I would need before starting the project. A few weeks prior to doing the project, I had purchased some of my items online.
Here are the items I ended up buying for the pantry:
I bought all these baskets online. I got the baskets from Target and Walmart. I went searching online for the right size baskets that fit the measurements of the pantry. These baskets all fit in the space perfectly.
These are the jars that I found at a local thrift store. I got lucky because two of the jars already had labels on them. For all the smaller jars, I paid $26. The large spaghetti jar was $15.
Now, it was time for the fun part… taking out all the items in the pantry and organizing them. The first thing I started doing in this pantry was I started taking stuff out and categorizing it. As you can see in this photo above, I put all the cans of tuna together, all the beans together and mixed fruit. When going through your can food, see if anything is old and needs to be tossed. I found a leaking can of green beans. The can was rusted! Who knows how old it was!
Next, I took out all the dry goods from the containers and jars that my parents had in the pantry so they could get washed. Plus, I wanted to reorganize what was in my parents containers and jars.
I ended up putting all the tea and coffee together. That got organized into a basket. I took out all the coffee in each bag and placed it inside of a coffee jar they already had. The goal is to condense your items so you have more space to work with.
My parents had a lot of baking items. Most of them got condensed into a jar. For flours and sugars, putting them into jars is best because leaving them in the original package is messy.
My parents actually own a few plastic canisters. I may not like plastic for storing food but I wanted to utilized as much of what they already owned in that space. They were a gift my dad got years ago from a family member for Christmas. These snacks went into a container. My mom likes to have bars on hand for when she thinks she will be out all day and needs a snack to hold her over. I was able to get all her snacks into the container.
My parents have a lot of nuts and raisins. The raisins went into their canister. All the smaller bags of nuts were put into a basket. My parents buy a lot of peanuts. The peanuts went into a canister as well.
Most of their beans went into a jar. They always have them on hand. My mom likes to make split pea soup so she always keeps split peas on hand.
I gathered all the pasta together. They are going into jars. I bought a large spaghetti jar from the thrift store, that is perfect for the lasagna noodles.
I also gathered all the coasters. These will go into a basket. I took the Holland America Line coasters out of the cardboard so I could fit them into the small basket. The key is to condense your items so you can make space in your pantry.
This is the pantry all cleaned out. Now, it’s time to wash the inside of the cabinets. All the shelves were pretty yucky looking. Some of the sugars and flour had leaked out of the bags they were in. I also turned a few of the shelves upside down. They were sagging from so much weight on them. By turning the shelf upside down, it gives the shelf a chance to straighten out. I like doing this all the time with shelves. Overtime, shelves tend to sag, even if you have one made of wood.
These jars in the above photo, my parents already had. All the jars I bought for this project were put in the dishwasher. I did not think to put my parents jars and containers in the dishwasher. They all got washed by hand.
All the containers and jars that my parents already owned got hand washed. I made sure to wash and dry them good. The only jar, I did not empty was the brown sugar. It was so packed in that jar and it was just easiest to wipe down the outside of that jar. My mom had a tapioca recipe on one of the glass jar lids. I kept the recipe on the lid and I stuck the tapioca back in that jar after it was clean.
Now, it’s time to start placing the items in the pantry. I am playing around with where I think things should go. I was also waiting for the new amazon order for another can organizer. I originally bought a cute can organizer that was too big for the space. Measure and look at your space before buying a can organizer. Most can organizers shelves are at an angle. Some of the products on Amazon show the angle length for the shelf. This organizer only showed the width, the length and the height. It did not account for the fact that the shelf itself is at an angle. There is a lip on most of these can organizers. Most of the listings on Amazon showed the length of that angled part of the shelf. Unfortunately, the item I bought did not list that angle length in the item description. When I tried to place the item in the pantry, the door would not close. The lip from the shelf stood out too far. Make sure to check the item measurements for that angled part of the shelf. Therefore, at the last minute I was buying another can organizer with Amazon Prime. This organizer actually fit inside the pantry. Do make sure to measure your space and to check that the item you buy has all the correct measurements.
Now, I am still trying to figure out a good placement for everything. The key is to place things in such away that it’s all easy to access. Overcrowding a shelf, will simply make things in the pantry look cluttered.
I put all the baking supplies together. Like items always go together when organizing a space. Coming soon is a blog post showing how I transformed the boring oatmeal container into what you see in the photo above.
I placed all the rice together. Now, my parents can easily find their rice.
Beans and all other items went into this section too. I didn’t want to crowd the shelf. The snack basket was next to the snacks in the containers. It the only placement that made the most sense.
I reorganized my parents can food items. Some of the doubles went into the garage cabinet where they store extra food items. Any old surprises found in cans or jars were tossed out. I did find a few items that had to go.
Items that came in boxes like crackers or jello or individual packages like tea all got placed in baskets. All the tiny bags of nuts and chocolate were also placed in a basket too.
The last thing I did in the pantry makeover was I labeled all the baskets, containers and jars. It makes it so much easier when everything is labeled. My parents can easily find what they are looking for. Plus, it keeps my parents accountable for keeping the space clean and organized. Everything in the pantry should all have a home.
Here is the finished pantry. The last thing I did in this pantry was I labeled all the containers, jars and baskets. One basket was not labeled because the food in that basket is not something my parents eat often. These were foods my mom wanted to try.
Cost for the project
Baskets:
Braided Seagrass Crate- Brightroom Basket- $15.00
Home & Garden Woven Natural Basket- $17.14
Wicker Baskets Storage- $14.99
Can Organizer:
3 Tier Can Organizer Rack,Can Organizer- $13.99
Labels:
Crafter’s Square Chalkboard Tag Clothespins- $1.25
Chalkboard Labels- $5.50
Jars:
Jars all came from Alphabet Soup- $26
Spaghetti Jar was from Sax Thrift Store- $15.00
Total Cost:
$98.87
Do you like to organize? Do you have a kitchen project you want to tackle? Leave a comment below! I would love to know your thoughts.
“A place for everything, everything in its place”.”–
“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” – Albert Einstein
#kitchenpantryorganization #kitchencabinetorganization #kitchen #organization #baskets #jars #thriftstoreshopping #budgetshopping #clutter #declutter #Amazon #Target #Walmart #ahandmadestory
