Feeling Green

¹green : Pronunciation:\ˈgrēn\ Function: adjective

Definition:

-tending to preserve environmental quality
(as by being recyclable,biodegradable, or nonpolluting)

- environmentally sound or beneficial.

Even though I am still getting over my cold the "green" I'm feeling isn't due to being sickly. Rather, I am feeling green in the sense that I made something useful entirely out of stuff I already had on hand. I was "environmentally friendly" in my creativity. :)

I don't know if this is true of all toddlers, but mine seems to have a bit of a hoarding streak in her. She doesn't want me to throw anything away that she has made, collected, found or received from anyone or anywhere. So, for awhile now there has been a growing pile on top of her bookcase of various papers, color sheets, rocks, stickers and crafts she's made in various locations. She even still has all the things she made at VBS back in the summer because every time I try to weed through anything she wants to keep it ALL!

Well, if you know me, you know she doesn't get this tendency from me (she does however come by the pile method honestly as her father does the exact same thing). I on the other hand, tend to constantly organize and reorganize things to the point of obsession (at least this is what my husband would probably say).

I decided I needed to come up with a way for Mara Kate to keep her precious items while at the same time not drive myself crazy by having to look at piles of what looks like trash (in my opinion) in her room.

So, I dug out all of my old scrap fabric from sewing projects finished years ago and actually put those scraps to great use!!!

This is what I came up with:

I made 6 pocket files like this one to use as sort of an organization system.

Here are some fabric scraps that I made into "label holders" on the front of each pocket.

Then I pinned the pockets together, overlapping slightly.

The finished project!
I sewed all six pockets together, making 2 tabs at the top of
the top pocket and made two button holes in each tab for hanging.

I'm not sure if you can read all the labels, but the bottom one is labeled "Rock Collection". Mara Kate LOVES rocks and likes to pick them up wherever we go. I think there are several in our car that haven't made it inside and several sitting around her room. Anyway, now she has a special pocket just for her rocks and maybe now I will stop secretly throwing them away when she isn't looking! ha! :)