bugaboo, mini, mr & me

Showing posts with label organize. Show all posts

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Oh, hello bandwagon. Again.

Everyone's doing it.

Oh, you know what I'm talking about. The "summer bucket list". And it seems the most popular method is popsicle sticks. It's funny, I saw one or two posts like this last summer, so a few weeks ago I sat the kids down so we could make ours together. And then suddenly, everyone and their monkey's uncle is posting popsicle stick bucket lists. Great minds think alike.

If you haven't seen them, and you want to make them you'll need:

popsicle sticks

sharpies

washi tape

containers to hold them

Get your popsicle sticks.

Write down things you want to do or places you want to go with sharpies. Write on one end of the stick.

Let your "big kid" help because he can write now. And read. Weird.

Take a little washi tape and wrap it around the opposite end of the stick.

Place them in your containers.

So our popsicle sticks are a little different in that they're our daily "to-do's" and not a bucket list, per se. I didn't want to give us so many activities and things to do that we didn't accomplish any of them, but I wanted to give us some motivation to do more than run through the sprinkler, which is the majority of our summer time outside. I thought if I had it written down, in a way that was fun for the kids, we'd be more likely to actually DO some things. So this is low key. It's not a "things we must do before summer dies" and rather a "good ideas for things we should do sometime." There are three categories:

field trips

activities/crafts

extra chores

Each category has it's own washi tape design - blue chevron for chores, bikes for field trips and funky triangles for crafts and such. The idea is that if they want to pick out of field trips or crafts, they first have to pick something from chores. If they do the extra chores without complaining, they earn allowance for each one. The chores are all extra things - things they aren't EXPECTED to do everyday. They don't get paid for those. I know, we're so mean.
They also have to pick a chore if they are mean or rude or disrespectful to other family members. We'll see how that goes.

I used the Ombre Yarn-Wrapped Vases from yesterday for the containers. Very cheery.

And put them in plain site on our little kitchen command station thingy that isn't very commanding. It's more like a kitchen request station. Or a kitchen soft-spoken station.

Whatever. We'll put that on the "Things I say I need to do but will likely never get to" list.

You've likely seen a bunch of round-ups of summer activities and things, so I will refrain from adding mine. But if you want to see what's on our list and get more ideas, go check out my pinterest board: "kid"-ing around (crafts etc.)

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*

Thursday, June 5, 2014

This one should have been first. Whoops.

Today's project, like yesterday's, is 2 years old. Just getting that out there right away so there's no question. Yep. It's old. And yes, we have stopped using this method. BUT. It DID work for some time. So even though it's not sparkling new or even hanging on our wall anymore, I wanted to share:

It should also be noted that after sharing the velcro daily schedule yesterday, I realized this one should have come first because I took much better and more detailed photos for a more instructive tutorial. I guess that's the price you pay for waiting 2 years to post something - you forget the flow of you were originally going for.

Anyway. Let's get on with it.

And now, for the more photographic tutorial:

1. Print off the free printables at the end of the post. Cut them to the size you'd like (to fit on your mini clipboards.)

2. Cut a piece of contact paper double the size and

3. place your chart on it.

4. Fold the contact paper up and over the chart. Smooth it down nicely. Don't worry if the edges are rumpled since you'll trim it.

5. Trim it. (see, told ya)

6. Voila!

7. Do this with all the chore charts and one extra blank (or in my case chevron patterned) card stock piece.

8. Cut strips of the rough side of the velcro to fit vertically on the chart. You'll need anywhere from two-four per chore chart.
9. Use hot glue to secure your velcro. Make sure to spread the hot glue to the edges of the velcro pieces.
10. Hot glue another strip of velcro next to the first in the same column.
11. Then do the next column.
12. I placed two pieces of velcro down each column to accommodate the amount of chore pieces he MAY need to stick on. Depending on how many chores you have for your kids, you may only need one per column.
13. Clip the chart on the mini clipboard.

14. Cut your chore circle card stock into strips so you can use your punch more easily.
15. Using your circle punch, punch out each chore circle.
16. I had double because each kid gets the same chores.
17. Lay the circles on a piece of contact paper (facing up).
18. Place another sheet of contact paper on top, face down.
19. Cut the circles out with a scissors.
20. Cut small pieces of the fuzzy side of the velcro.
21. Hot glue them to the back of each circle.

22. On the extra piece of card stock (the one that's blank, without columns) glue several pieces of rough side of velcro horizontally.
23. This is where the chore circles are "stored" until they are in use on one of the charts.

Now you just place the chores that need to be done that day on the "to do" side of the chart.
Your child can move them over to the done side on their own!

Oh, yes, 24. Use the wall fastener of your choice to hang the mini clipboards on the wall. Cat not necessary.

The reason I liked this system was that it was simple and cheap to make (seriously, it cost me $3 for the clipboards. And like a buck something for the wall velcro stuff. I already had the normal velcro and hot glue) Also, it's easy for the kids to understand and for them to have accountability over. Plus the "little pieces" are bright and "fun" to move around - it's like a game for the kids. They want to do their chores because it means they get to "win" the "game". How many times can I use "quotes" in this "tutorial"?

So, here's the chevron background I made in case you want to use it for your storage card.

And here's a chore chart minus the names, since I bet your kids aren't named Ezra and Zoe. Unless they are. In which case, how cool is that?

And here are the chore circles I used. These are all chores that a 3-6 year old can easily do - some with a little help. I used free clipart for the pictures in the backgrounds.

At our house, there are regular chores (the things you have to be in charge of just because you're part of the family and we work together) and there are extra chores (The things that aren't really your personal responsibility, so if you do them you get a little pocket change.) I made chore circles for each kind and the ones below are the extra things the kids can do to earn an allowance.

If you aren't sure where to start when it comes to having your kids do chores, I recently did a post for tipsaholic.com that offers 10 fun suggestions for chores your small kids can do! Start early and they may even ENJOY the work! Of course, I'm all talk, but, you know...

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

2 years slipped by unnoticed...

You know how bad I am at posting the kids' birthdays up here? Like two years late kind of bad? Well, it appears I've decided not to reserve that for birthday posts anymore. Ha.

See, a long while ago, I decided I needed a little something like a "kitchen command center" to keep us on track during the day, record our chores and our weekly to-do's, sort our mail and hold our "family binder", maybe a little storage, that kind of thing. But there were some issues.

I have only one wall in the kitchen/dining area. One. And it's like a quarter of a wall because it's between the counter/cupboards and the patio door. Also, I didn't want to spend any money on it because I wasn't entirely certain it would stay there (and not just because I knew we were going to be painting these walls.) Also, I really want hardwood floors through my dining/kitchen/living room, but I'm stuck with these ucky grayish brownish tiles that look like their perpetually stained even when I clean them with a toothbrush - but that's neither here nor there. This photo just reminded me of that, since you can see it in the corner.

So, anyway, I had to brainstorm. I wanted this to be something that was easy to change, that the kids would like, that they'd be able to handle on their own if they wanted to, that kind of thing. After looking on pinterest and thinking a whole lot, I finally came up with:

(Yep, ok. I see the date there. Here's the deal. I was waiting to post this until I finished the WHOLE kitchen command center. I got partway through. And then it just sat. It never fully got finished. And then I changed it to something totally different anyway. And finally I saw these photos waiting to be posted and I figured I should do that before like, TWO WHOLE YEARS had past. And then I edited these photos and realized, whoa. Has it really been two whole years?? And apparently, yes, it has. So now you know the whole story. And we shall not mention my procrastination problem for the rest of this post, agreed? Thank you.)

Here's a close up in case you missed the date on which this was completed.

To make this daily schedule chart, you'll need:
the printables at the end of the post
clear contact paper laminate
velcro tape
hot glue gun
clipboard
something to stick it all to the wall
something to store your parts in

First, let me address the contact paper thing. I would LOVE a laminator. Love it. Alas I don't have one. So I use contact paper when I want something to last. Usually. Sometimes I ask my mom to laminate. Anyway, this time I used the Contact paper that was clear LAMINATE. Not just clear. I didn't know if there would be a difference, but after I used it I was pretty sure it worked much better. I don't know. You tell me. Onward!

Print out the printables. Use a scissors or a circle punch to punch out the activities and a scissors to cut out the months and days.

1. Cover the chart with contact paper. When working with contact paper I've found it's easiest to go from top corner diagonally to bottom corner, moving slowly and pressing down with one hand as you go.
2. Place the circle pieces and small rectangles on the contact paper, cover them and cut them out.
3. Hot glue long pieces of velcro - two pieces vertically next to the times and one piece horizontally under the title.
4. Hot glue small pieces of the opposite side of velcro to the back of the circles and rectangles.
5. Figure out how to put it on the wall. I wanted something non permanent, but not a command strip since those things always fall off.
6. And put it up!

I used jars to store the pieces. I found this awesome metal milk bottle holder thingy in great shape at the thrift store. I fell in love. The end.

It's a super simple fix and the kids love pulling the pieces off and figuring out where to put all of them.

The printables are below. I made one with the times on it and one that's blank so you can fill in your own times (since I doubt your schedule is identical to this one).
The picture activities are pretty self-explanatory. The cleaning supplies are for chores, the food items for going grocery shopping. The pen and pencil are for "school work" which we practice at home. There's two with books - one with the kids reading and one for me to read to them. I found a picture of a car like mine and that's for "field trips" or outings. The swing set is for playing in the backyard, not to be confused with the park picture. The kid with the microphone is singing time, because they love it when we all sing together. And the gold star is "free choice time." They're all free clipart.

(and though they look gray, they're actually white.)

Hopefully this will help you arrange your summer days!

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*

Friday, March 14, 2014

Back when it was warm...

I did this spray paint project.

Because we all know you can't spray paint when it's under like 50 degrees. And in Wisconsin, that's like 96% of the time. Which only leaves 4% of the year available to spray paint every single project you want to get done. It's impossible. That's one of my biggest beefs with this state, actually.
Anyway. I received a filing cabinet for free from my mom. Not one to turn my nose up at storage options, I nabbed it up. It was the typical beige of an office filing cabinet and unremarkable in every way.
It was, however, in really good shape, aside from being reeeeheeeeally dusty and kind of scuffed up. So I decided that I would indeed use this filing cabinet on the main floor of my house and not in the basement as I had originally thought.
See, though my "craft room" is in the dungeon, I often craft with my kids. Or when my kids are drawing or doing homework. Which means that I use the dining room table more often than my craft room. So I needed some storage for those craft items I use all the time, kid craft items, decor items I use in photographs, and drawing stuff for the kids - all stuff that was kind of just floating around the house randomly with no home before.
Enter: filing cabinet storage. I decided to use it as a set of drawers, a dresser, if you will, instead of for, well, filing.
Behold:

1. First things first, I took all the drawers out.

2. As I mentioned, it was a little dirty. So step 2 was giving it a goof dusting and scrub down with clorox wipes. Look! I made some money doing this project!

3. No picture here, but I disassembled the front of the drawers. I first had to take the plastic part on the back of the front piece off. It was slightly tricky, but not bad. Then I unscrewed the handles off and used a paint can opener to pop off the label frame thingies. I managed to do it all without breaking anything, which was pretty stellar.

4. I spray painted the front of the drawers with Krylon's Ocean Breeze.

5. I spray painted the body of the cabinet with Krylon's Bright White.

I should mention that even though I didn't break apart the drawers, I did manage to mangle the lock. Because I'm a little prone to doofus-ism, I accidentally locked the top drawer closed. The filing cabinet did NOT come with a key, and I couldn't figure out a way to open the drawer without smashing the lock in. Crap. That's the one part of this project I'm not happy about.

After I painted it blue and white I thought I was done. But as I looked at it, I realized it was boring. And that didn't sit well.

I decided it needed stripes.

I got some of the super low stick painters tape for delicate surfaces, since I was applying it to spray painted metal.

I taped two drawers with horizontal stripes and two drawers with vertical stripes. Then I sprayed them white.
Upon peeling the tape up off of the drawers, it was super apparent that the low stick tape was still much too sticky - i.e. I pulled off bits of blue paint everywhere.

And then I got mad and let the project sit for a while. When mr saw it he said, "Huh. I usually don't like distressed furniture, but that looks pretty cool."
Um. Yes. Distressed. I totally did that on purpose. Mm-hm.
If mr. was on board, so was I. So I gave the whole thing a quick once over with clear spray. Then I sanded a bit here and there to really seal the deal that it WAS in fact DISTRESSED and not just a total fail.

I used a pencil to outline lightly where the label frames went, then painted rectangles of chalkboard paint on each drawer. Then I put them all back together.

Ta-da!

We had just moved that big black shelf from the living room to the dining room - the distressed filing cabinet fit right in the corner. Before you ask, the answer is no - I haven't actually staged the shelf yet. Or even gotten enough crates and baskets for everything. One thing at a time, people.