To welcome the little ones

The other day I finished a project that's been whirling in my head for some time now. We occasionally have friends or missionary guests over to our place who have small children. Our book shelf in the dining area is full of children's books, but we also had toy cars and crayons on the shelf as well. I decided to look for baskets that we could put books and toys in, but that would also fit neatly under our coffee table. When the kids come over, they can pull out a basket and have a great time. 

I found these baskets at Joann's on clearance!  The two in the center are smaller than the other two. About a week ago, I wrote that I found some scrap booking tags at the fabric store to use for an organization project. The colorbok brand package contained over 80 tags in different colors and sizes. (and it was in the $1 scrap booking section at Joann's!) I wrote the following labels for each basket:  books, cars, games, and dolls & animals. If I ever decide to change the labels, I've got plenty of extras and it won't cost me another cent!  I used a calligraphy pen for the writing and embroidery floss to tie them on to the handles.

The "book" basket contains little golden books and some chubby board books for toddlers and young readers. The others contain matchbox cars, classic card games and stuffed dolls and toys. 

Here's a close-up of one of the tags. Before tying these on, I  glued another one of the same color and shape to the back side for durability. This Raggedy Ann doll was a recent find at the thrift store and the latest addition to the "dolls and animals" basket.  She was too cute to pass up. I'm so glad I found her.  She was one of my favorite story book characters when I was a kid.