Divine Dads

This is one of my all time favorite sayings.  I think being a dad has got to be one of the hardest and most rewarding jobs there is.  Provider, protector, teacher, and on and on.  This saying is on a 12x12 piece of wood that has been routed and sanded on the edges.  This would be a great saying for a tile and we've even made it in a different layout that is 4"x36".  Happy Father's Day to all of those great dad's out there.

Chore Charts

These chore charts are one of my favorite things about this summer so far!  I love the slow down of not having to rush to be ready for school every morning, but let's face it will still need to get some work done around the house.  These are perfect for us!  Everyone one knows what's expected of them for the day and I can easily see how to organize what I need help with.

I decided on using frames so that I have the ability to write on the glass with dry erase markers.  I love rotating the chores and I didn't want to have to store cards or magnets that we weren't using on a particular day.  I decided on tall skinny ones because they fit perfect in my space.

 

Next I cut and pieced together 2 12x12 pieces of paper with tombo.

I antiqued the edges of the paper with black ink.

I used vinyl on the paper for the names so that they would be protected behind the glass from kids writing over them, etc.  I added one little embellishment by each name.

 

I debated about putting the everyday chores underneath the glass or on top of the glass.  I decided to put it on top of the glass just in case I wanted to change things up... like say someone quits the violin... I don't want to have to re-do the whole chore chart.  I'll just peel of practice violin and still be good to go.

My favorite part about this chore chart is writing the other chores that we rotate in dry erase marker.  So far the kids are loving this new arrangement.  (We'll see how long that lasts though:).  They check off their chores when they're done and my little guy even writes new ones on that I ask him to do (like put in a trash bag) if it's not written on there.

Balloon Sandals

My daughters saw these fun sandals online and wanted to make them. They were cheap, fun and easy to make!

We pick up your basic flip flops at Old Navy. They were two for $5.00 and had a ton of fun colors to choose from.

We picked up water balloons from Target and ended up using just under two packages of 50 count each for each set of sandals. The dollar store would be a great place to pick these up as well.

The key to making these is stretching the balloons out before you tie them on the sandals. Also you want to make sure that you alternate the way that you tie the balloons on.

We watched a movie while we made these and it did take us about the whole movie to make them so I wouldn't recommend this craft for a birthday party, but it was fun for a girls afternoon with each other.

Welcome Wreathe

I love how this Welcome wreathe and board turned out! It was definitely one of those projects that kept evolving. I originally intended on it being a Spring wreathe. Unfortunately Spring is so short in AZ and so I decided to make it into a Welcome sign and switch out the wreathes throughout the year. For the wreathe I cut out small circles out of felt. I folded them in quarters and then pinned each one on the wreathe.

I also stained the wood and the bead board and let the wood dry for 24 hours.

I put wood glue on the back of the bead board and put clamps on each of the corners and let it dry for 24 hours.

I put wire on the back of the board and tied the ribbon on the back of the wire.

Award Ribbons

I have to admit that this seemed like it was going to be one of the easiest crafts ever. After 3 extra trips to Hobby Lobby I knew I was dead wrong. So I just have to blog about it to share my tips to save you time and a few trips to the craft store.


So the concept itself is pretty simple. Acetate ribbon is perfect for making the award ribbons and it's not that expensive to get a huge roll of it, especially if it's on sale. So start by folding the ends of the ribbon diagonally so that it forms a triangle in the back. We also added a slip of paper that had the award name on the back so we could write down who was getting the ribbon once the scoring was completed if we wanted to.



We (I roped one of my friend into helping me with this little adventure) then used a little tombo on the back just to secure the ribbon a little better and then we added the brad.


Next I put the lettering on, which was the easiest part of this project.


Lastly I used embroidery floss to make the tassel part that you can hang the ribbon with. I would have liked to used some corded ribbon and frayed the end, but I could not find a big enough brad. Originally I bought a little bigger brad, but it was to "thick" for the ribbon, I think it was made to go through leather. I'm sure there is a place online to buy these or even a specialty scrapbook store, but I just didn't have the time to research that out.



In the end they turned out really nice, but I'm not sure that the savings is that great over ones that you actually buy if you consider the time that it takes.

Feather Boa Wreath

One of my friends made a white wreathe like this and I just had to make one for Valentine's Day. Thank you for the idea R. So all you need for this project is a foam wreath, 2 feather boas, a little ribbon and hot glue.



Start by hot gluing the feather boa to the back of the wreath by the rope.


Next wrap it around the wreath.
When you get to the end you should have half of the wreath filled and then hot glue it on the back



Repeat the process with the 2nd boa and that's it! In order to hang the wreathe I then glued a small piece of ribbon on the back of the boa to the actual foam.



I put a 3M hook on the mirror to hang it and that's it! This is one of the easiest crafts ever!

I'll be honest I really wanted to do it in red and hang it on my front door, but I thought the red boas had too much orange in them for me. So I settled on pink and I love it. I think it would be adorable in a little girl's room as well.

Tips on doing it a little cheaper: I used a 40% off coupon from Hobby Lobby on the wreathe and the Boa's were in the Valentine's section on a 30% off sale!

Conversation Hearts for the Wall

I'm super excited about these "conversation" hearts that I put up on the wall tonight for the family. I printed a heart for each member of the family and put them up on the wall. They are about 13". I also wrote everyone's name on their own heart.


Now everyone can be on the look out for nice things that they want to say to each other. A thank you, a sweet message, anything to promote gratitude, love and appreciation goes!


I decided against using chalk for this venture even though I know it could be easily erased and then you could write on the heart over and over again. I don't like the feel of writing with chalk so that's the biggest reason I didn't go that route. I printed the heart a little bigger so that we could write multiple messages without erasing.


We are trying out washable markers to see how it works out. I think a Sharpie would show up the best, but I'm trying to be realistic about what's best for the walls with a 5 year old in the mix!