This is the birthday dress I came up with since True was having a Fluttershy My Little Pony party for her 8th birthday (a peek at it here). I bought yellow fabric to make one like I sketched in this post (and actually started cutting and sewing it), but as I was making it, I wasn’t feeling it, so I switched to sewing a simple shift dress from this vintage bed sheet I had. It had yellow and butterflies like Fluttershy, and then I made her a pink bow to go in her hair, and it made the perfect 8th birthday dress for my biggest girl.

She loved it and pretty much had it on all weekend (when she wasn’t wearing her bathing suit). Also, on her birthday wish list were these checkered slip-on Vans, so she was super excited when she opened the box to see she received them. She declared them her new favorite shoes, although this wasn’t her favorite birthday present; the winner present of the weekend was a planner! Yup, my 8 year old girl asked for a planner for her birthday. She’s already started writing in it and marking dates. I think I have a type-A personality on my hands.

And if you want to learn how to sew (or want a few sewing projects to add to your to-do list), don’t forget to pre-order my book, Let’s Sew Together. Sewing can be intimidating, but I’m telling you it isn’t. It’s so much fun and it’s even more fun to do for and with your kiddos!

There’s so much to share about my trip to Singapore that I don’t even know where to start. I’ll try to break it up so you don’t get too much at once, but there were so many good memories made, friendships formed, delicious food devoured, and many places explored that I honestly don’t know where to start, so I’m starting with the airport… ha!

Ben and I haven’t flown out of the country since our honeymoon to Fiji (though we but did go on a cruise to Mexico a few years ago), so we were kind of anxious about the long flight and what to expect. My idea of being comfortable is a long loose dress, so that’s what I chose to wear (there and back), I had my denim shirt for when it got cool in the plane, wore glasses (switched out contact for glasses right before boarding), and went minimal make-up (just eyebrows filled and lipgloss). Also, pretty much the whole trip I tried to adapt the #messyhairdontcare attitude because my hair just didn’t know what to do in the humidity! My best hair day was the day we left.

Leaving the girls was kind of hard (Soul had such a sad face!) since this was our longest trip away from them (previous to this would be this SF trip for four days), but we are so thankful that my parents were able to get the week off to be with them, and the bookend weekends were spent with Uncle John and Auntie Linda. Once there, I didn’t really get homesick nor did I get separation anxiety from the girls, but towards the end of our week, I found myself looking at pictures of the girls on my phone more and more. We did manage to FaceTime once, but I was always texting with the BFF to see how they were doing.

We had a layover in Tokyo going to and from Singapore, so we grabbed sushi both times. Now, I don’t know how great their sushi is compared to actually being in Tokyo, but hey, it’s as close as we were going to get for now, so why not?! The first time was just a ready made take away pack of sashimi, but on the way home we had a longer layover, so we actually sat at the sushi bar and had fun ordering things we’ve never tried. I’m sure the airport sushi prices are hiked up, but we figured this was going to our anniversary dinner “out,” so we splurged a little. Our anniversary isn’t until this Wednesday, but we kind of made the trip our way to celebrate it, just like we did with our New Mexico hike last year.

Well, the flights didn’t end up being too bad, I slept all the way to Tokyo (11 hours) and most of the leg to Singapore (7 hours), and felt well rested when I got there. On the way home was a bit more challenging to sleep from Tokyo to LAX, but we were energized knowing we were going to see the girls really soon. We also took sleeping pills to help manage sleep times (to get our bodies adjusted to the time in Singapore), so that helped a bit, at least for me, I definitely got more sleep than Ben. He still can’t believe how much I slept.

Normally, I’ve been sharing a “Camp Home” project on Mondays, but last week I didn’t want to do any projects, so that will have to wait until another day this week. The girls were asking me all week, “When can we do projects again?” so that’s what today is for.

Well, since Covid hit in March, our guest room had been upside down (you might have seen it if you follow me on ig @rubyellenbratcher). There were still holiday boxes, and then the racks that held my craft stuff broke, so everything was just toppled onto each other. Then, I had various craft styling projects due, so I would just go in, take what I need, and then leave things lying around. The guest room got so out of hand that you could barely walk inside. It was an eyesore and giving me mess stress, but I didn’t even know where to start.

Thankfully, The Container Store’s most recent project was working with their new Virtual In-Home Design service  and turning my crazy craft closet into an organized craft closet with Elfa Space. When I had my first virtual consultation, I was trying to find time to clean the room before I showed someone online what it looked like, but I never found the time, so the designer saw my crazy mess in all it’s glory. 

I told him what I needed and he came up with the plan. We had a couple back and forths on switching out sizing of shelves, but once we finalized everything, everything was listed out and I placed my order. I didn’t have to figure out what pieces I need for my shelves because he did all the planning for me. 

For now, the shelves are in our guest room/office closet. It’s where I keep all my craft stuff. Well, some of it anyway. I’m so glad that the Elfa system is customizable and adjustable. Should we move ever move, I’d like to set it up as a bookshelf. I went with the Elfa Décor system with the 12″ depth. I love how you can adjust the rows however you like; we can adjust it as our needs change.

We installed it ourselves. You simply attach the horizontal bar to the wall, and from there, the vertical bars hook in. Then, I attached each shelf on after I figured out what placement would work. Getting it up on the wall was the easy part, now going through and organizing the craft mess took a few days. Thankfully, these Hyacinth Natural Baskets (I got them in different sizes) helped organize and group like items together. We got a paper sorter to keep all our different types of papers organized, and I also used the 20 Drawer Small Stackable Craft Organizer to hold all our jewelry beads. Now, everything has a place, so when things get messy, it’s much easier to clean it all up.

I love the way my craft closet looks and the closet became a more functional space with the added Elfa Décor shelves. Since everything has been organized, I cleaned up the rest of the room, and now the guest room/office has been such a peaceful place to retreat to. With my husband still working from home, he now has a place to work from. It definitely beats him working on the couch, dining table, or kitchen island like he had been the last several months. 

This post is in partnership with The Container Store as one of their Brand Ambassadors. The opinions and text are all mine. I appreciate the time you spend in this space, the support you give me, and the brands I partner with.

Big family. Homeschooling. That means home all the time, especially right now, and we eat 3 meals a day at home, so the pantry gets in disarray quite easily. Then, throw in 4 girls who love to bake, things get to be quite upside down in an instant. Working with The Container Store on this month’s organization challenge, I was happy to be given the chance to tackle our kitchen pantry.

The last few years, we only buy exactly what we need when grocery shopping, so it helps eliminate a lot of things that get wasted or forgotten in our pantry. Also, we spent a few months eating through whatever was taking up space in there, which was a lot of legumes and beans, so even though we’ve always wanted a big walk-in pantry, we probably wouldn’t even be able to fill it!

Some pantry game changers are the Hyacinth Baskets. It helps us group some similar items together. We have cookies and chips at the very top (out of reach), baskets with baking stuff that’s in a spot that easily accessible, as well as pasta. At the bottom, our rice, vinegar, and brown paper bags are neatly put away in the baskets.

I also didn’t know how much a Lazy Susan can create more space. It makes it easier to keep bottles organized. Instead of moving things around to get something at the back, I just spin it around to access what I need.

The Prokeepers Baker Storage Set was perfect for organizing some of our baking supplies. I love seeing the clear containers labeled; it look so pretty. The iDesign Linus Pantry Bins also keep some smaller items grouped together, and we can see what’s inside. My favorite organizational tool of all of them are the Black Bin Clip Labels on the baskets. I love labeling things and this is such a pretty way to identify the contents of each basket. Makes the pantry feel a little bit more fancy.

The Container Store had just the things we needed to help maximize our pantry space and get the things in our kitchen much more efficient. Items are much easier to access and put away now. Yes to more space and clean spaces! Take advantage of the Kitchen and Pantry sale is running from now through April 5^th.

This post is in partnership with The Container Store as one of their Brand Ambassadors. The opinions and text are all mine. I appreciate the time you spend in this space, the support you give me, and the brands I partner with.