Declutter, Plan & Prepare: March 2011

oops! Sorry about February totally forgot, actually not sure anything much got done in the delcuttering department during Feb anyway. Even this month I was only able to tackle a few small areas of decluttering, but every bit helps.

Third draw down in the kitchen, does everyone have one of these lol! A mess of kitchen odds and ends and way too many birthday cake candles.

Much better. Containers are from Howards Storage World, love that store.

Our games cupboard is a bugbear. It simply never stays tidy. Every six or so months I find myself having to reorganise this space. I keep seeing bloggers that have ditched the boxes from the games and are now storing them in ziplock bags, placed inside a container of some description.

The end result is always a clean, clutter free space. This makes me panicky, ridiculous I know, but cutting and throwing away the boxes of the games does; even though I have considered doing this for a couple of years now I have never been able to take the plunge.

This month I bit the bullet and headed out to KMart to pick up some baskets and large ziplock bags. I have a loooong way to go on this project.

Our top draw in the ensuite, another embarrassment, but one that was quickly remedied.

Yet again containers from Howards Storage World. These ones clip together but they don't stay together and often come apart, however they were alot less expensive than the ones I used in the kitchen draw.

That's it for this month of decluttering around the home. I've been working hard on upcoming units for the kids, finding resources etc.

I personally am just finishing off a seven day internal cleanse/juice fast and definitely feel a whole lot better for it.

What about you? Done any decluttering this past month?

Past decluttering posts:

The Impetus

January

Spring Fling - An Arty Crafty Party

For many of you Spring has arrived on your doorstep and I have seen some gorgeous spring crafts around of late so I felt it was only fitting for this week's theme to be - Spring!

Whilst a new theme is posted weekly all of the previous linky themes will remain open so you can always go back and add to them whenever you choose.

To find past Arty Crafty Party posts simply click on the button in the sidebar or visit this link. Which also has the button code for you to grab and the guidelines for participating in An Arty Crafty Party.

Looking forward to seeing all of those gorgeous spring time creations.

Multicultural Art: Chinese Dragons

We have a multicultural theme happening with our Art Classes currently, it's fabulous!

There are so many wonderful ideas and variations within the art experience, just by looking further afield.

So much to be learnt through a simple piece of art.

This week it was China and Chinese Dragons.

The artwork chosen to complete varies depending on the age group of the class so B and K's are very different, but both inspiring.

Upper primary: 8 - 12 years, hand drew theirs, outline with oil pastels and finished off with water colour.

Lower primary group created Chinese Dragon Egg Carton puppets. So simple but they look great and the kids can run around flying them through the air, like the dragons they have seen at during Chinese New Year celebrations.

Click on the image to enlarge and you should be able to figure it out if you wish to recreate. But basically it is half an egg carton, you place your hands in the cut open end for the puppet. The dragon's eyes are two egg holders cut from the carton and attached towards the back of the puppet.

His nose and flames/beard are hand drawn and cut from construction paper. In the example the flames were attached so they were flowing backwards but K wanted hers to head up.

The dragons' tale is simply a piece of tissue paper, cut to size and rounded at the end. With Oil Pastels draw scales and glue to the back of the carton. You place your hand under the tail and into the carton to use the puppet.

Once again, we are in for another great year of LHEN Art Classes.