Car Organization and Shopping with {MY FAVORITE} Thirty-One Bags

I wanted to share how I use Thirty-One Bags to organize my car. I have these bags for everything these days, and will show other ways I use them soon. Today is all about my car, and grocery shopping. Take a look!


Here is my shopping cart loaded into one "Fresh Market Thermal" bag.


This is the trunk of my small SUV with the third row up (notice its not a very large space). I have a Large Utility Tote to catch my smaller bags and items I take in the house after my errands. I keep this and the Fresh Market Thermal together in the trunk and use them daily. This keeps my car from having junk thrown about, and from spilling groceries (the Large Utility Tote holds paper bags upright or can be used to catch plastic bags and unbagged items as I have done today). Both fit even in a small trunk space!


Here is the 2nd row of seats, where my 2 children usually sit. They each have a Thirty One Beauty Bag being used to store their car fun items, and the diaper caddy (which just stays in the car until I need to refill it) sits between them.


My 8 year olds bag has books, puzzle books, colored pencils, a clip board, and her trinkets.


My 2 year olds bag has coloring books, touch and feel books, a doodle pad, a wooden magnetic puzzle, crayons and a clipboard. They don't strap down at the bottom so they can reach for their bag and pull it towards them to reach everything inside of it.


This Keep it Caddy by Thirty-One is the perfect diaper caddy! Inside I have a Thirty-One large thermal pouch where I keep snacks. Even when its fairly hot the chocolate z-bars don't melt! So its perfect to keep snacks the right temperature while in the car right there in my diaper caddy for easy access. Below are a couple photos of items I keep in my caddy.



Lets look back at the trunk space again. Here it is without any bags. It opens up and there you will find... MORE BAGS!


Another Large Utility Tote JUST IN CASE I NEED A HUGE BAG!! Maybe for a costco trip or muddy kids stuff. Did I mention these wash very easily and are thick and durable material?! Well, they are!


Under that flattened bag I keep another utility bag with emergency supplies (jumper cables, bungee cords, towels, and water).


This picture is to prove that my weak muscles and my 5'2" body can in fact carry these HEAVY, fully loaded bags when I need to take the items from the car to the house. The people at the registers can never believe I WANT them to pack that thermal FULL because of how HEAVY it gets. But I am the kind of person who will carry 10 plastic bags dangling off each finger just to avoid the dreaded second trip in the house. I prefer the one easy to carry heavy bag over the 10 very hard to carry heavy bags that break.


Fully loaded, ready to unload! And after 1 hour, the items are ICE COLD. No signs of melting or moisture on the milk containers at all!


Here's what I bought today. It all fit nice and neat, and there was room to spare!

I hope this helps some of you out there see that you CAN organize your car when you have kids and a busy on the go life. I don't sell these bags if you want to shop from my wonderful consultant, just leave a reply below.

2014 Project Life {WEEK 21 + Mother's Day}

Week 21 was all about exploring the Pacific Science center, riding bikes, and Mother's Day. THINGS I LOVE: Pacific Science Center membership, Studio Calico's monthly PL kit, and Write Now Journals.

I recently found a great Mother's Day idea that I put to use this year. I bought myself a beautiful journal, and asked my family to write in it each year for all occasions (Mother's Day, Valentines Day, Birthdays, our Anniversary, any holiday!) I wanted to choose my own journal, one because I am picky, and two because there is a particular brand of journals I use which I order from Amazon and my husband is not very big on the whole online ordering thing. I am so glad I started this!! What they wrote in the journal was so much more amazing and deep than the quick writings on some randomly purchased card (not that cards aren't also cute and meaningful). Tory pressed Ashlyn's (who is only 2) hand-prints into the journal as well (until she can write messages herself she can paint and draw etc in my journal). Tory liked this idea so much he asked for a Father's journal! So I picked up this one for him.

{WEEK 21}

Both cards on this page are from Studio Calico's May PL kit.

Stamping with an ombre stamp pad on the title card, sequins, and Thickers.

Alpha outline stamps, shaded in with a "Jade Green" copic marker. Asterisk stickers from Studio Calico's May PL kit. I REALLY like Studio Calico's kits!

Using enamel and brackets.

Took this very amazing shot of a butterfly at Seattle's Pacific Science Center's butterfly exhibit reaching out and sensing Ashlyn's tiny finger. I am quite surprised at some of the clear and beautiful shots I can get out of my $99 Canon 330HS. The white rub-on alphas are perfect and from from Studio Calico's May PL kit.

I decided to make Mother's Day a separate insert. I try to make holidays and special days pop from the weekly layout by adding an insert.

2014 Project Life {WEEK 14} + Zulily

Week 14 was all about the girls. I used more of my Take Ten Kit and a fun technique tuesday geotag stamp, as well as some perler bead enamel dots. This week my daughter cut her own hair so I made a point of including it as one of the "OMG" moments of the week. The highlight of the week was the girls photoshoot with Zulily. It was so fun! If you haven't heard of Zulily, its a really amazing website that offers huge discounts on designer and boutique clothing and goods for children and adults. You can find deals on popular brands like Toms if you check often, because everyday they add thousands of items. I love their clothes and was so super excited to get my girls in for a photoshoot there. You can see my daughters on the site this week :)

{WEEK 14}

Fun stamping and using the Take Ten Kit cards. LOVE THIS KIT!

My little Zulily model!

My other little Zulily model!

2014 Project Life {WEEK 13} + Foodies + Take Ten Kit

Foodie, anyone? We LOVE FOOD!!! We love to try food and explore, so one of my husband and my favorite things to do on a kid-free day is to choose an area in Seattle and go on a tasting tour of our own. We go to 3 places (more or less) and share ONE thing (maybe two if it's small/cheap) from each place. This weekend we explored (not for the first time) the U-District and Wallingford. We had burgers, tacos, and gelato. This week I also happened to wake up to breakfast in bed, and enjoyed some wine when I had some alone time one night. Therefore, this was the perfect week to make a "Foodie" themed layout. I started out with the supplies from my Take Ten kit, which had foodie inspired cards this month. I added more blues and oranges based on the cute little dinnerware card from my kit. I REALLY love my Take Ten kit. I subscribe to Gossamer Blue and Studio Calico which are both $20 per month. Take Ten Kits are only $10 per month and offer a lot for the price. Easily enough to do a few layouts! I love that I can accent my stash and other kits with these exclusive cards and the coordinating items that come in the kit. I used a lot of the kit in Week 14 also.

{WEEK 13}

This card from the Take Ten Kit inspired my layout. I layered some washi and a cute embellishment to make this card.

I created a sequence from morning to evening, of our food tasting adventure. I used two pockets and joined the adventure with a thin strip of washi and then stamped all over both photos with my SC "NomNom" stamp.

The April 2014 Take Ten Kit. I highly recommended this kit. The customer service is amazing and the kit is an excellent value.

This layout was so fun to create!

Little Passports educational kit club for Kids

I recently signed Emily up for a monthly kit club that sends out a package of educational materials focusing on one country per month. We have received 2 months (Brazil and Japan) so far and I have to say I LOVE it. True, I could print out things myself each month, but I would forget and it would become another great idea that is buried in the household to-dos. With the kit, every month Emily looks for her package in the mail, then happily tears it open and gets to work right away doing the crosswords and activities that come in the kit. When shes finished, she goes online with her unique code and reads all about that months country. We covered an old journal in kraft paper and staple in each months worksheets/postcards. Emily uses the journal each month to record additional things shes learned or to doodle something she found in her research. (We are huge fans of journaling in our home).

Click HERE to start a membership for the little learner in your life.

Cute box that comes with your subscription with tags to add each month for the country you visit

Little passport book comes with the kit with stickers to add each month for the country you visit

Giant world map comes with the kit with stickers to add each month for the country you visit

Emily's journal with Japan worksheets stapled in

Emily's notes about Japan in her journal after going online with her unique code

Origami papers and sushi eraser comes with the Japan kit

I love their "Monthly Plan" which is only $13.95/month including shipping, and you can cancel ANYTIME.
Little Passports also offers annual plans and has both the World Edition (what we have) and a US Edition to choose from (or get both!).