Snack Holders

Another item from Pin Land. . .

And another item for the big drive across country!  My kids are a little old for this (at least a couple of them may be), but they liked it anyway.  The good thing about them being older is that the contents DID NOT end up on the floor of the van.  We had tons of snacks, but I wanted the kids to have access to some without me having to dish them out from the front seat.  I also tried to keep their items a little healthier than just candy.

First at Micheal's 40% off sale I purchased beading storage boxes.  Yes, it is worth paying extra money for removable dividers.  At first I thought I would need the big boxes - that is a lot of snacks, even for across country!  As you can see mine had two rows with five sections in them.  Plenty of treats.  Not to mention I had more of just about everything so I could fill them up if needed (I only needed to fill them up for the return home).  Here is what the three looked like.  The boy is picky and won't eat any nuts.  His is the least healthy.

I dug out my vinyl, circut, and gypsy (because on the gypsy you can design multiple cuts at once).  I decided to pick a cute shape and cut the letters out of it.  I also knew it would be easier to apply to the boxes (since I have yet to purchase the transfer paper).  Each kid picked out a color from what I had on hand.  Some had just their name cut out and some had their name and the word snacks.  As I'm thinking about it now if you just put their name they can use them for other things (like those pesky barbie shoes that end up all over the place - we use one of the big boxes for this very purpose).

Fill with snacks that your kids will eat.  It is great to keep in the diaper bag so you always have a variety. Or in the car for when you are gone longer than planned. Or maybe even in your desk at work.  If you have larger snacks just remove the dividers to make a little extra room.  Hmmm, I wonder where I put my extra dividers at?  Might need to find a home to store those.
  
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Another Travel Post - Personal Hygiene Holder

Have you seen these on Pinterest?

I was thinking it would be a good idea to have.  I can't name how many times my kids have taken their stuff to a sleepover and left it or forgotten to put it back.  I thought this would be a good thing to have not only for our trip, but for future sleepovers.  I love the idea that if the toothbrush is still wet that it is in something that can not only let it dry, but is washable.

Here is what I did to make them.
Buy a 12x12 wash cloth.  You can get 2 for $1 at the dollar store.  That is what I started with to try it out.  When it worked I used a couple I already had at home.  The picture above sews every 3 inches.  I decided I didn't need a 3 inch section for my toothbrush and made some modifications.

For my son I sewed up the edges first.  

From the left edge I sewed another vertical line 2 inches away (this is huge for a toothbrush,  you can go much smaller if you wanted), then I gave another 3 inches for toothpaste, and the next section was 4 inches for deodorant.  This left 3 inches for a comb.  I used a small comb for him so that it fit in the pocket and didn't extend to get dirty from the wet toothbrush.

For my daughters I took a small piece of ribbon.  I sewd velcro on the ends so it could form a loop.  I took the middle and sewed it onto the edge of the washcloth:

Then I basically followed the same as for the boy. I used a tail comb for the girls so that the comb part fit in the pocket and didn't extend to get dirty from the wet toothbrush (the tail did, but that shouldn't get in their hair or can be easily cleaned before use).
After that I attached the ribbon.  Since the pockets aren't snug I pictured everything sliding out so I made another change here too.  I sewed ribbon on the edge at the middle and at the top.  The middle ribbon is 2 feet (I did smaller on the boys and it is a little harder to tie) and 18 inches on the top.  I just did a straight seam with the wrong side down facing the outside.  

I also heat sealed my ribbon so it wouldn't fray.  To do this just run the edge of the ribbon quickly through a flame (candle or lighter).  Then just roll it up and tie the ribbons.  

After this trip they will be used for sleepovers.  Everything they need will all be ready to go.  And when it gets wet or dirty, just throw it in the laundry!  Gotta love that!

Now that I have traveled here is what I have learned: you can make the sections smaller.  If you add more sections you made need to add length to the ribbon closures because they will be adding stuff and that will make it thicker when rolled.  My girls found all sorts of things to add and could have used more pockets.  My oldest ended up putting her comb behind her toothbrush (not sure if it stayed clean that way because she uses a brush most the time and probably could have left the comb out) and put some perfume where in the pocket.  My youngest doesn't wear deodorant so she used the pockets for perfume and body glitter.  To think at first I was wondering what to put in all the pockets, the girls figured it out for me.  I LOVE the loop to hold elastics.  That was very handy.





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Car Organization

More travel posts.  We have traveled a few times across country and one of the things that I hate the most is the mess!  Every time the doors open stuff falls out.  Coloring books, crayons or pencils scattered across the floor, headphones to the DVD player - you get the picture.  To help combat that problem I searched for ideas online.  I found this tutorial to make an organizer on the back of your van seats.  As you learned in this post, I don't sew.  Apparently I'm not too bad at it because these projects have turned out.  If I can do it so can you!

The post has great instructions, but I will tell you about the few changes I made on mine.  The seats in my car aren't as wide as the tutorials so I made them a little more narrow.  It ended up being about 16 inches wide and the same length.  
The top of my seat aren't as deep either so I added another row of pockets.  This top row is only 3 inches tall (with 2 inches between each row). I sewed it in half so each pocket is 8 inches wide.  I haven't figured what will go here yet, but some ideas are pencils, sunglasses (or glasses case since they will be doing a lot of sleeping), or glow in the dark bracelets.  My second row has 3 pockets instead of 4.  I didn't think much could fit in 2 inches so I eliminated that one.  I made one 7 inches (for a project I'm hoping to get done), one 5 inches, and one 4 inches.  The bottom row of pockets has one at 10 inches and one at 6. 
I also added a Velcro loop on one side to hold the headphones and two button holes on the other side to attach carrabiners.  This is just an extra option to hold things in cases: DS, cameras, PSP, etc.  Their pillows already hold their iPod touch, or in my daughter's case my old iPhone that doesn't have service but still has games.
Post coming soon on an item I'm making to be stored in the little pockets :).

Travel Activity Books

How do you keep children entertained in a car for days on end? Hopefully I found some helps. I stumbled across this wonderful site: Prepared Not Scared. She has some absolutely wonderful stuff (most of which I have yet to discover, but I will take the time in the future to read more)! But for my purposes today I'm going to share her road trip items. She did a beautiful job!

I decided to go with the 4x6 book. I know a lot if people are using these in an 8.5x11 binder, but I wanted something smaller that will store easier in the car. I purchased some inexpensive photo books from Dollar General, printed out her creations, cut them out, and slid them in the books. I let each cold pick out their favorite color car for the cover. 
I haven't done it yet but my plan is to attached the tic-tac-toe game to a sheet of adhesive magnet. I would have it done, but I purchased the wrong kind of magnet (one you print directly on).  I don't think it is strong enough to attract magnets. I also plan adhered the tokens to magnets. I will put them in a snack sized Ziploc bag and stuck them in an extra pocket in the back. I figured it would be easier to retrieve them without ripping the pages if they were in a bag.
There are extra pages in the book. I could search for more games, but I'm thinking that I may have some of of the pictures from our trip printed while we are there and they can look at them on the way back home.
To find the printables go to her travel post here.  For some reason the link to the multiple games in the 4x6 size only shows one game.  If you go here you can find all the travel printables.  Or you can get to them by going to the travel post and at the top right clicking on Folder Three.

Seat Belt (Travel) Pillow

We will be doing across country trip so I have been busy scouring the internet (and Pinterest) for ideas.  I've found many.  This post is the seat belt pillow.  The first thing you should know is that I found it here: Living Life and Loving Every Second.  Since I don't sew I'm not going to attempt to redo her tutorial.  And since I don't sew and I made one three, I know you can too (seriously, I can count how many things I have made before this project on one hand).  I will tell you what I changed in case you like my adaptions.
I let the kids pick out some soft material they wanted a pillow out of.  Next I cut it out, but instead of two pieces I cut one 12 x 26ish (it may have been a little bit longer - I didn't measure exact, but it was at least 26 inches).  I also cut out a piece 5x7 to create a pocket to hold a iTouch or iPod.

This piece I laid right side up and folded the top down twice.  I didn't sew it, but if I do it again I would sew it down.  I folded the other sides back 1/4 inch and pinned them to the bottom of the pillow.  I sewed it on using a zig-zag stitch.  

Instead of using ribbon I wanted Velcro tabs.  I made one pillow with three and then decided to make the other two with four: I cut eight strips of material out of cotton 3 x 3.5.  I ironed them in half (so I had a crease) and ironed 1/4 inch fold on one short end. I sewed 2 inch Velcro towards one end (the one that wasn't ironed, but leaving room for it to be stitched together).  I folded it in half, wrong sides out and sewed the short end (not ironed) and the long side.  Flip in inside out and pin it on the pillow.  

Sew them onto the pillow (see picture for example, but don't look too closely because my stitching isn't the best).  After the tabs are on, fold the pillow in half - right sides together - and pin.  Sew along around the outside leaving room to stuff it.  Stuff it and hand sew it closed.  I used the ladder stitch I found via YouTube.  Now it is good to go.  My daughter tested it out (in that picture it wasn't stitched closed yet because we were testing the stuffing level) and she liked it so much I may have to make me one too!

If you have questions, let me know.