Waiting for Upcycling for Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Gifts

Brightly colored gift bags waiting for upcycling into gifts for shoeboxes.  Images of one of the finished products, a Paper Pocket, and a link to instructions are below.  Many of the children around the world who receive shoeboxes full of gifts from Operation Christmas Child desperately need paper and pencils and other school supplies--it is often one of their favorite gifts. I thought repurposing gift bags to hold the paper would brighten their lives a little.

Paper Pocket Gift Bag Upcycling

Waiting to Play Leap Frog from an Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Gift

These Webkinz Bullfrogs are practicing their leap frog skills while waiting for a ride in a shoebox to a new home where they will be able to bring a smile (as wide as theirs) to a child in crisis.  Operation Christmas Child will be delivering them around Christmas time.

Check out other ideas of Filler Items for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes.
Also, Why We Always Include a Stuffed Animal in Our Shoeboxes.

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday.

I've Joined Pinterest to Organize My Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Links

I had well over 100 sites bookmarked that I wanted to visit again for packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  From blogs about Operation Christmas Child to crochet patterns to free printables.  I knew if I wanted to ever be able to find what I wanted to do in an efficient manner I needed to get organized.  So I decided I'd try Pinterest.  I love it!

I am very visual, so having an image of the project right there in front of me I can just click on it and find my way to the instructions.  And because they offer the ability to sort by numerous "boards" I am able to "file" away the projects or information by topic.

So I joined on Friday and was sick all weekend and Monday, but when I had the strength to be on the computer at all I turned my bookmarks into pins--it was so simple it was mindless, which was great because with my head feeling like it would explode my  mind was not too with it.  I have made 16 boards and have pinned 188 items already--all to do with filling shoe boxes (or organizing my stuff I use).

I'd love to have you stop by my Simply Shoeboxes Pinterest board see what I've pinned--maybe you'll find some inspiration.

I know I have a lot to learn about Pinterest, but so far I am enjoying it while organizing my Operation Christmas Child shoebox ideas.  Are you on Pinterest?  Do you enjoy it?  Do you find it helpful?

If you like to pin crafting ideas check our index right here on Simply Shoeboxes of Crafting for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes Tutorials.

Waiting to Become a Kid's Best Friend in an Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Gift

These are some Webkinz puppies waiting to be tucked into a shoe box and sent off on an adventure thru Operation Christmas Child to become a kid's best friend.

Check out other ideas of Filler Items for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes.
You can also read our post Why We Include a Stuffed Animal in Each of Our Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes if you are interested in learning more of our thoughts on this subject. 

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday.

Dreams of Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Stockpile Storage

My family has been discussing the advantages of moving closer to town for quite some time, but we really love our country living.  We also know that it won't be much longer before my mom needs to move in with us and this old farm house is not conducive for that arrangement.  Our church has grown so large that they offer "in home connection" groups for Bible Study and "connecting" personally with one another in smaller group settings and we have wanted to host one but our location and home are not a fit for that.  So for these three reasons we decided it was time to get serious about looking for a new house.  And of course room for Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing was a consideration.

Our plan was to make a list of must haves, give it to an agent and if they found a house with all the stipulations we would seriously consider it (the list, including a