Functional and Fashionable Storage Solutions for Playsets

When you spend your days chasing after your little angels or sending them outside when you need some "mommy time," you barely have a minute to pick up their toys and toss them in a bucket, let alone time to worry about what that bucket looks like. But that doesn't mean you don't care how it looks!

With a little bit of creativity and planning on the front end, you can ensure their storage containers are not only functional but also fashionable and in line with the rest of your home décor ñ and you can make many of them yourself! Here are a few suggestions for DIY storage containers and a few tips on how to keep it all organized over the long haul.

Indoor Décor Options

One of the easiest ways to organize (and also the easiest on the eyes) is to color-code your storage.

Start by choosing items in the same color family as the rest of the room. Begin by looking for ready-made storage units – baskets, buckets, boxes or other containers – that will fit within the room's overall décor.

Although you can easily find storage bins and tubs in every primary color known to man (fire engine red, cobalt blue, Kelly green, sunshine yellow...you get the idea), it may not be the best fit for a room decked out in neutrals or pastel tones – or for a kid over the age of 4.

Whether you choose complementary containers or identical containers in complementary colors, the idea is the same: you're going for an overall cohesive look and full integration with the rest of the room.

When you can't find what you're looking for, make it! If you go this route, you have more flexibility with the "function" aspect of the item – choose solid pieces that serve the purpose you want and don't worry about how they look...because all of that will change anyway!

Fabric

If you have designed custom linens/bedding or window treatments or covered a piece of furniture, consider using a remnant of that fabric to create a stand-alone tote or to cover a bucket or a small trash bin. This way, you have found a use for that leftover swatch of fabric and your room has a 100% cohesive and 100% coordinating child-sized storage container. Win-win!

Simple DIY Project Idea: Cover a wood box with fabric 
Make sure it's washable and easily removable for cleaning, sanitizing and even disinfecting (who hasn't been faced with a contagious outbreak of dreaded lice or chickenpox at least once?).

Paint

With paint, you are able to create your own custom colors or patterns at a fraction of the cost of fabric or purchasing a completed storage unit. Just make sure the paint is washable (latex – not oil based) and non-toxic and that you paint in a properly ventilated area with plenty of drying time before you need to use your containers.

Simple DIY Project Idea: Paint a bookcase 
A bookcase is always a great way to utilize wall space and as long as it's firmly attached to the wall so that little bodies working on balance won't be able to pull it down. Bookcases are also great for getting toys and books off of the ground and cutting down on the look of floor clutter throughout the room.

Take it Outside!

You have even more latitude when it comes to choosing storage containers that will "live" outside – all you need to do is keep several key points in mind:

• Make sure your containers are waterproof and weather proof;
• Choose items that can be power-washed, scrubbed and/or disinfected easily;
• Don't use materials that will rust, rot or melt: If you know the bin will sit out in the sun in the exact same spot day after day, don't choose one that is made of plastic or rubber (unless you are looking for that lovely 'burning rubber' smell!);
• Avoid using containers that will cut, pinch or harm your children: no sharp edges, no chains, no ropes or wires that could get tangled, poke or shock your kids;
• Beware of items that will retain heat and potentially burn your little guys!

Overall Organization Tips

• Color-coding is your friend! Consider separating colored bins based on what they hold: toys in one color, books in another, stuffed animals in another, etc.;
• Make sure heavier items are stored near the ground and never perched on top of something else to help ensure nothing heavy falls on your child;
• Label containers on the side when they are stacked or stored on shelves to make it easy to identify the contents without having to pull them out.

Those are just a few of the options at your disposal to dispose of the mess around your child's play set at the end of the day! What other types of items have you repurposed into storage containers for your kids?

Jay Harris is a Home Depot sales associate in the Chicago suburbs and a writer for the Home Depot website. Jay's interests in outdoor living include providing advice to parents on children's playsets, ranging from wooden swing sets to playsets.

Chocolate Mint Profiteroles

This Memorial Day Weekend, enjoy a more sophisticated spin on the classic ice cream sandwich by  serving up some delectable Chocolate Mint Profiteroles, by “Top Chef” judge Gail Simmons. This easy-to-make snack features a variety of ice cream flavors sandwiched between flaky puff pastry, resulting in a treat that is guaranteed to be a hit all summer long!

Chocolate Mint Profiteroles

Prep: 15 minutes

Bake: 15 minutes

Cool: 10 minutes

Makes: 12 servings

Ingredients

All-purpose flour

1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed

1 cup chocolate chip mint, chocolate or vanilla ice cream

Chocolate sauce

 8 peppermint-flavored hard candies, crushed

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Sprinkle the flour on the work surface. Unfold the pastry sheet on the work surface. Using a round cutter, cut the pastry sheet into 12 (2-inch) circles. Place the pastry circles onto the baking sheet.

3. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Split each pastry into 2 layers, making 24 in all.

4. Spoon 1 tablespoon ice cream on each bottom pastry half. Top with the top pastry halves. Drizzle the pastries with the chocolate sauce and sprinkle with the crushed candies. Serve immediately.

Recipe Courtesy of Gail Simmons

Manage the Chaos of Family Life with LivingTree

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of  LivingTree.

Let's face it — As parents we know too well the daily chaos of coordinating our family schedules. Coordinating our own schedules between spouses, among all the events in our kid’ lives (class schedules, school events,  game schedules, field trips, ballet, swim meets- It can get a bit hectic.

For those of us needing a way to tame the chaos, a new platform called LivingTree has just launched. LivingTree offers a web and mobile (iOS and Android) service, a cutting-edge system that aims to make it easy for busy parents to organize things with one another, coordinate and share the most important moments of their children’s lives with loves ones, as well as enabling the organizations that are helping teach our children (teachers/schools, coaches/leagues, etc) to more effectively communicate and coordinate with us parents - all in one safe, and integrated place. Sounds cool, huh?

LivingTree’s offering is focused on three key functions:

Organization. LivingTree makes it easy to organize the everyday chaos. The LivingTree shared calendaring system keeps spouses on the same page to ensure personal events, family events, and events for each child in your family are organized and communicated efficiently. The platform is designed to automatically integrate the children’s classes, teams, schools, and leagues for easy coordination of the classroom or school events, parent teacher conferences, volunteer opportunities and commitments, or a season’s practice/games, etc. When locations or other details are changed (by a parent, a coach, or teacher) the calendar updates in real time, and all spouses or co-parents are automatically notified on their mobile devices. The LivingTree shared calendaring system also supports subscription to other calendar types like Outlook, Apple Cal, Google Calendar, etc.

Engagement.  LivingTree simplifies communication between all the people participating in our children’s daily development. LivingTree’s “Conversations” provides tools for parents, extended families, youth leaders and organizations to privately share posts, photos, media, files, and converse in the context of our children’s lives. LivingTree aggregates all conversations into one secure place, providing a quick and easy way to converse with schools, teachers, leagues, coaches, etc.  No more emails, reply-alls, or series of websites. 

Sharing and Remembering.  LivingTree’s “Memories” feature offers parents an easy (yet private) way to chronicle the lives of their children.  Quickly post a set of photos or media to a “Memory Mix” per child, and share it with other extended family members.  It not only helps you capture the important moments and experiences, but instantly arranges them in the way you want to remember them. For example, chronicle the changing interests of one child— construction, superheroes, marine biology—while showing the steadfast interest of another—Shelby sings her heart out, age 3 to 15. And when connected to a child’s classroom or team, users get instant access to other photos or media the teachers, coaches or other parents have shared privately into the class or team – grab any of those, and chronicle for future posterity.

Finally, a secure and private way to coordinate our lives all in one place. To check out LivingTree and sign up for a free account, visit: www.livingtree.com.

Frugal Shopping: Six Ways to Save at the Grocery Store

Grocery trips can save money, as long as you plan the right way! Here are six tactics to meeting your budget and saving money when out on food-buying trips!

1. Ban Unplanned Trips: Casual, spur-of-the-moment grocery store visits are trouble. You are more likely to buy only one or two items, which makes it easier to make unnecessary, extra purchases, and the tiny shopping trips like this can also waste gas and driving time. You are also more likely to be hungry on an unplanned shopping trip, which can also encourage unnecessary purchases without regard to current budgets. To save money, make every visit to your food store of choice a planned one. Plan out a careful list of what, precisely, your kitchen needs, and do not deviate from it. For best practices, only visit the grocery store a couple times each month.

2. Compare Stores: Prices differ significantly between grocery stores – and not always across the board. One of the wisest ways to shop for food is to compare stores located close to your home for prices (if the stores have in-depth websites, you may not even need to visit in person). Pick two or three places to visit based on their prices. Some stores with have especially good deals on fruit and vegetables, while other will have great prices for milk, eggs, and meat. Making a couple of stops – especially if you plan carefully, can often help save a lot of money compared to buying everything at one store.

3. Watch the Sales: Grocery stores are famous for their multitude of coupons, promotions, and sales. If you get the newspaper, take some time to note sales and incorporate discounted – but necessary – items into your shopping list. Searching grocery websites for deals advertised online is also a great way to spot potential savings. This strategy works especially well for products that you do not need immediately but can delay on stocking up until an ideal sale occurs and helps out your budget.

4. Believe in Store Brands: Most grocery stores offer both the big, well-known brands and their own, lesser-known store brand options. The primary difference between the two is marketing and price. The big brands invest more in marketing, and have higher prices. But if you can find a store brand version of the same product, it will probably be of similar quality, but less expensive. This is a great way to buy any sort of packaged good, from coffee and cereal to toilet paper and cleaning supplies. Instead of grabbing at the flashy, easy-to-reach option, stop a minute and search the shelves for the store brand. It may look drab, but it will save money.

5. Use Grocery List Apps: If you have a smartphone, consider downloading a grocery list app. Not only do these apps make it easy to plan a list that you always have with you, they can also link you up with the best grocery deals or advice. Apps like OurGroceries help spouses coordinate their grocery list needs, while Grocery IQ helps you plan a list then add items to with real retail prices included to help you plan out costs. Grocery Gadget, Shopping List, and many other apps offer similar services for no more than a few dollars.

6. Bulk Usually Works: Buying bulk is often a good way to save money. However, it does not always work – sometimes buying in bulk will cost you even more than buying smaller quantities. Follow two general rules when you buy in bulk at places like Costco: First, only buy bulk products that your family will actually use, and second, compare price-per-product between bulk items and the single product available at alternative locations. This helps you find out what savings buying in large quantities will really offer.

Robert Langdon is a professional blogger that writes for GreatDeals.com. Great Deals offers thousands of deals at hundreds of retailers across the web.

What's Next: A Quick Look at the Coolest Upcoming Smartphones

Who doesn’t like toys? We all like toys. If we didn’t like to have the coolest most fun toys then the phone in your pocket would still be a boring old phone able to do nothing but make boring old phone calls. But the fact of the matter is that practically since the leap of the cell phone into the consumer marketplace with the debut of Snake and Tetris in the old school phones, people have made on thing clear – We like toys and the devices with the most cool and most high tech toys are the ones that people will want the most.

So take heart grown up kids with money for toys, 2013 is a banner year for cool smartphones that will keep you entertained and as delighted as a kid at Christmas surrounded by new stuff. Updates to existing smartphone lines as well the introduction of a couple of new players in the field will keep you entertained. Here’s a quick look at the coolest new upcoming smartphone soon to be flowing digital goodness in a hand near you.

Samsung Galaxy S4

The latest and greatest in the Galaxy flagship series boasts a 5 inch Super Amoled 1080p screen with an eye busting 441 pixels per inch. It’s running Google’s latest 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system with a ultra zippy quad core processor and 2GB of ram. The 13-megapixel rear and 2.1-megapixel front cameras are sure to please even the most dedicated shutterbugs. On board storage has three large options clocking in at 16GB, 32GB or 64 GB. Naturally, if you want more storage you can add a microSD card. The Galaxy S4 will land in the US by Mid Summer.

Motorola X

X marks the spot where the highly anticipated first phone from the new Google owned Motorola lands. The X phone (It just sounds so cool, doesn’t it?) is slated to debut sometime this year. Recently, someone was good enough to leak the specs online so here’s what we know. The X will sport a 16 megapixel camera, a 4.7inch, 1080p screen a front camera with a whopping 5 MP and a 2.3 GHz quad core processor. It’s also rumored to be the first phone to run the Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie operating system.

Microsoft surface phone

With the release of Windows 8 and the ultra cool Microsoft built Surface Tablet it was just a matter of time before Microsoft jumped into the smartphone making game. It’s on its way. Not too much is known about the phone which Microsoft is testing with a number of Asian manufacturers but the scuttlebutt says the screen will probably be 5 inches of high def wonderment and at least a quad core beast under the hood if not an 8 core. Look for it in late 2013 / Early 2014.

Apple iPhone 5S/iPhone 6

No one is expecting much change for the Apple iPhone 5S/ iPhone 6, so does it really qualify as one of the newest hottest smartphones of 2013? The answer is a simple yes and no. If you’re a hard core iPhone/ Apple user it is the only available new phone for you which makes it’s the latest and the greatest. But simply put, if your not a hard core Apple fan this phone isn’t going to wow you in any way. All indications are the new iPhone will still sport the same old 4 inch screen of its predecessors along with an upgraded camera and software package. It’s not the market defining, ground breaking smartphone of the mid 2000s, but if you’re dedicated to the Apple brand it’s the next best thing.

Sony Nexus

Sony has finally released the specs of their long awaited next gen Nexus and by all indications this is a smartphone worth waiting for. 5 inch screen, a 13 MP rear camera with the ability to take HD snapshots and video the Nexus will also run the Android 5 key lime pie. What’s most intriguing about this phone are the battery life rumors which are saying the Nexus will have a battery backup of 500 hours on standby and last up to 2 days without a charge. Is this possible? Stay tuned. If it is true, our days of feverishly looking for a charger station for our smartphones may be numbered.

Scott Johnson is a tech blogger who writes on behalf of companies such as Protectyourbubble.com smartphone insurer, a popular company that insures gadgets people can’t live without.

Still Looking for the Perfect Gift for Mom? Consider the 10 Inch Paris Fry Pan from GreenPan

Still looking for the perfect Mother's Day Gift for Mom? Still stumped for ideas? No worries! We're here to help you find the perfect gift for Mom! There's still time to get mom the perfect gift! Does mom love to cook? Does mom want something easy and fun, that's healthy AND green? The GreenPan 10 inch Paris Fry Pan will most definitely help mom cook healthier meals with delectation and enjoyment. And, this beautiful fry pan would make the perfect accent to any mom's kitchen. This amazing fry pan is super easy-to clean, which means care and maintenance is effortless.

We received an fry pan in exchange for this post!

Made with Thermolon non-stick technology the patented mineral-based non-stick coating, the GreenPan is extremely easy-to cook with and it's much better for the environment. So, not only will mom be getting a super-fabulous new cooking tool, she'll also be getting something that's better for her family and the environment. How awesome, right?

Is the GreenPan truly eco-friendly? Of course! There's no PTFE in the coating, so no PFOA can be released into the environment. Also, less energy is used in the application of the Thermolon coatings onto the GreenPan product itself. Plus, GreenPan uses recycled stainless steel for the handles and recycled materials in the aluminum. 

Most importantly, the GreenPan is compatible with any cooktop, which will allow mom to use it with any new or existing appliance. With proper care and maintenance, the GreenPan 10 inch Paris Fry Pan should last for years but only time will tell, right? 

GreenPan is great for the Mom in your life because:

• The Thermolon ceramic coating doesn’t use any toxic chemicals or persistent pollutants
• Made with ergonomic oven-safe stainless steel handles for ease and comfort
• Made with healthy ceramic non-stick coating, making cleaning a breeze
• Provides the perfect heat distribution allowing even cooking and excellent browning
• Contemporary designed cookware for easy cleaning
• Thermolon technology acts as an insulator that retains heat, moisture and flavors
• She needs modern updated cookware that she would never purchase herself
• She is an amazing mom and she deserves the best 

For more information or to purchase this fry pan, please visit http://www.green-pan.us/

Disclosure: I received a GreenPan 10 inch Paris Fry Pan in exchange for this post. The words and opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own. Please visit their website for product information! As with any product, please do your own research before purchasing, just because we like/love the products featured on Mama of 3 Munchkins, don't mean you will.