Family Scrabble

My cousin got married last week & I always try to find/come up with a cool idea for a gift.  I don't have a lot of money to spend but want to give something that is unique, fun & memorable without having to break the bank.  So...I came up with this idea.  I think it is unique, at least I think so because I haven't seen it before.
When I first started trying to think of a gift I looked on-line, as I often do for ideas.  The first thing that came up is all the signs that are made for couples that have their last name on it & "est. 2011" date on them.  Then I found how a few people had put up saying on their walls using over sized Scrabble tiles.  So I thought why couldn't I come up with something to put the two ideas together.  Over the next week of playing with different variations I came up with this idea.  A Family Scrabble board w/ the "est." date in the middle of the board.  Then add their first names & as their family grew they could add the names of their children as they came along.  Cool, eh?  At least I thought so.
I started out with a 13x13 T-shirt display frame, you could use any size frame as long as it was some kind of a display frame for the depth & that would be big enough to fit all the names into it.   I got mine at Micheal's who had a great sale so they only cost me $4 each.  I then pulled out a 12x12 white piece of card stock, and drew lines to mimic the squares on the Scrabble board, spacing them 3/4 of an inch apart.  One thing I did wrong was make the squares, exactly square.  Scrabble tiles are 3/4" wide, but 3/4 & a tick high.  Does that make sense? I found this out after I had already glued the titles to the board & couldn't start over.
I got on line & looked up the happy couples wedding registry as well as the colors that where used on their invitation to pick out the color pallet.  I used a brown marker to draw the lines, then used pencil crayons to color in the squares to mimic the pattern on the Scrabble board.
Then I got on my computer and made up the "est." date to put on the middle of the board, playing with colors & fonts until I found the one I liked the best.  I used MicroSoft Power Point, but I'm sure you could use whatever program you are most comfortable with.  After printing it out on my color printer using regular paper & cutting it out, I glued the "est. 2011" in the center of the board. I just used a regular glue stick to do this.
I found I didn't like the way strokes in the pencil crayon looked, so I carefully erased each colored square until I could no longer see the strokes but still had the color.  It gave it a softer look, I think.  I then colored the inside of the frame backing with black marker as the 12x12 card stock didn't fit perfectly into the frame.  Once the marker was dried I glued the card stock to the frame backing, being careful to center it.
I didn't have time to order the scrabble tiles right from Hasbro so I just picked up a basic Scrabble game at Wal*mart, but if you have time you can order 3 different color tiles directly from Hasbro for around $6.50 (+shipping) per 100 tiles.  The trick is that this takes 8 to10 weeks, but this is by far the best way to go as it's more cost effective & the boxed game only has 1 "H" tile.  If you have need of more than one you're in trouble.  Luckily I didn't need more than one.

I then started playing with how to best put all the names together.  As I did I found the blank title & found that it solved the problem I was having to get their last name & "family" together.  I then went through all my stickers a & found a clear sticker of a heart that would fit nicely on the blank tile, which I put in between their last name & "family".  This made it come together to look so cute.  Then I used their full names to put into the game as I had a hard time building from the main line w/ just the names they went by, plus it would give them more to build off of latter.
After I had the tiles set the way I wanted I very carefully hot glued each title to the card stock game board.  Make sure that is where you want them, because once they are glued there is no getting them off.  This is when I found out that I made the squares too small, but I know for next time.
I cleaned the inside glass of the frame & dumped the extra titles into the frame.  That way as their family grows they can add the names of their children without having to find where they had put the extra titles, keeping everything together nicely.   I put the back on the frame and look over my work and really like the way the extra tiles looked at the bottom.
This idea would also be a great idea for your own home or as any kind of a gift.  It would be fun to work at fitting all the family members names in.  I think I might just have to do that with my own family.  I really like the way it turned out.  What do you think?  Let me know because I would love feed back on this idea.

Computer Desk Tops

I have found the cutest computer desk tops, as well as some very cool blog stuff.  Go check out Leelou-Blogs.  She has the cutest blog stuff, blog advice & tips.  I just downloaded Augusts Desktop background, which is free.  She has other free stuff or she will design a blog theme for you, which I can't afford but I really enjoy her free stuff.  Go check it out...

Long Time....

It has been FOREVER, I know.  My life has been crazy to say the least & I was just so busy trying to keep up that other things fell by the way side. 
So today I want to tell you about a new site I am trying out called "My Fitness Pal".  It helps you track the food you are eating, your exercise, water intake, etc. and the best part is that it is FREE!!  Plus it has a social side to it as well, kind of like Facebook for people who need support in their healthy life style changes. 
I just signed up as I have about 120 lbs. to loose and I need all the help I can get but can't afford to pay to join something like Weight Watchers. 
Check it out and tell me what you think.

The New Age of Scrapbooking

Once upon a time I scrapbooked.  Then I had children and tried but failed to continue to scrapbook.  I just couldn't accomplish anything because I always had little "helping hands" every time I tried.  So I put things away for the day that I could have some time to myself and/or my kids would be old enough to work on their own projects without getting into too much of a mess.  Needless to say I haven't found the time or space yet but time and technology has marched on.  Now they have all kinds of digital scrapbooking, which I LOVE by the way.  I find I can still be creative without all the cutting, pasting, embossing and sticking.  I mean you take all your pictures digitally why not scrapbook?  Then you can put them all together in a book to have printed and bound in a real book for less than it would cost you to buy all the embellishments, papers and cool toys they have for "old fashioned" scrapbooking.

There are millions of websites out there where you can buy all kinds of digital scrapbook embellishments, papers and alphabets.  I myself like free best but there are some great sets you can buy for just a couple of bucks.  That said I still like free and I just found two really cool websites with just that.

First is Shabby Princess.com.  They are all free downloads which come in kits or you can download just one part of the kits if you wish.  I download the whole thing because you never know when you might want something.  There are also free tutorials to help you get started as well.  Once there just click on downloads for the kits or tutorials for helps.

The next site I love is Jessica Sprague.com.  She has lots of kits to buy but she also has some free kits you can down load.  Just click on free stuff, then you can either pick free downloads or free tutorials.
This site is a verturial school for learning how to keep memories.  If there is anything you want to know how to do from photography to family history it's there.  Awsome site...go check it out as it is SO worth it.

Another thing I love is fonts.  My favorite site is 1001freefonts.com.  You can find any font you could ever want there all for free!! 

To put it all together I use Photoshop Elements 8, which I am still learning to use by the way, but I also use Microsoft Power Point.  I find it simpler to use sometimes I just need to remember to save my file both as a presentation so I can still make changes and as a .jpg file for printing or use on my blog. If anyone out there has any suggestions of another software they use that is both easy and fun to use please let me know.  I'm always interested in hearing of new and fun ways to scrapbook digitally.

Have fun and I hope you enjoy the new age of scrapbooking as much as I do.

My Favorite Time of Year

October is my favorite time of year!!  The temperatures get cooler, the fall colors are coming out and Halloween is just around the corner.  I love Halloween, I have always loved it.  I don't know why but it is just the most fun out of all the other holidays, at least it is to me.  So in honor of All Hallows Eve here are some fun project that I've found and am dying to try.  Dying, get it....(bad joke)
 Anyway, over at Oopsy-daisy they have this fun Halloween Matching Game.  I'm always trying to find things to keep my kids busy and entertained and this is a fun way to get them into the Halloween spirit.  I love the artwork that she found and am going to explore the website she got it from further for other holiday artwork.
 Next is the AWESOME Skull Candlesticks over at Sawdust and Paper Scraps.  This lady is SO talented and has some of the best ideas around.  I am so envious of all of her tools too.  Her website is definitely worth bookmarking and revisiting often.  Just look at how cool these candle sticks turned out.  It makes me want to run to my nearest thrift store right now. 
 Also on Sawdust and Paper Scraps she has her version of Halloween Subway Art.  I have a link in a past post for the Subway Art for Halloween from a different blog, but I really like this one.  It is not as bright (I don't do bright that well) and I love the little spiders she added.  Very cute!
Finally, over at Tatertots and Jello they have Creepy Specimen Art.  I have seen the Butterfly Art that is like it but I love the Halloween spin that she took.  I also like her instructions, very detailed and easy to follow.  I have always wondered where to find the right kind of frame for such projects and now I know.  Go check them out.  Tatertots and Jello is also a very cool blog worth bookmarking. 
After looking at all the fun stuff out there I am getting SO excited for Halloween to come.  I think I will get started decorating today as well as starting to gather stuff for these fun projects.  Happy Haunting!!

Getting into a Routine

It has been almost 2 weeks since my last post, I know I'm a slacker, but I have been trying to get organized.  Each school year causes change with trying to get into a routine to include homework, chores, bedtimes...the whole enchilada.  Each year is different because with it comes new teachers with different ways of doing things.  For example last year my son's homework was due every Friday, this year a BIG packet of homework is sent home at the 1st of the month and due at end of the month.  So I have been trying to find a way get into a good routine so we can accomplish everything and I found a great help from Abby at A Feathered Nest.  She has Job Jars for chores with pom poms, or puffys as she calls them, that can be earned and then cashed in for rewards.
So I took her idea and made it work for own family, which meant expanding it into daily, weekly and "as needed" chores that were appropriate for different age levels.  I took her idea of "other" ways to earn different colored puffys as Abby calls them (we adopted her terminology).  Different chores earn different colored puffys which can be collected to cash in for different rewards according to the color.  Does that make sense?  If not click on the image to get a up-close look at our Puffy Job Chart and it might make more sense.
Once I made up the chart I put it into a sheet protector, cut off the holes on the side and stick some magnets on the back so I could put it on our fridge.
Each child gets a jar (mason) to collect their puffys and then one big "bank" jar, that I bought at our local Wal*mart to keep all of those puffys to be earned.  I bought two 100 count packages of multicolored pom poms but am finding I need another package to have enough. I also found that I had to keep all jars on top of the fridge so as not to have little colored balls all over my house and to keep children from fighting over who's was who's.
I also needed help setting up a weekday routine but found so many ideas out there that I was almost overwhelmed with them all so... I took a little inspiration from about 20 different blogs and came up with an idea of my own.  A visual reminder of what our routine is, also posted on my fridge the same way as the puffy job chart.  It has helped to keep my kids on task and the pictures are a nice help for my kindergartner who is just learning to read.
The last thing that I needed was a way to discipline, without taking away rewards earned.  I've tried that...doesn't work and ends up backfiring on you.  After lots of thought and searching again I came up with my own idea.
My kids LOVE baseball and understand the concept of 3 strikes = your out.  So I applied that concept to a new discipline plan.  I will ask nicely once, ask again more firmly and finely they get a "strike", in the form of a special magnet on a very simple chart.  Once they get 3 strikes in one day, they get grounded to the house for one day, with no TV, video games or computer of any kind.  With this I've also added the option on their rewards chart of cashing in 20 puffys to earn a free pass, which let's them become un-grounded for one day, but they have to do A LOT of chores to earn enough for that.  At the end of each day the slate is wiped clean and we start anew.

My Fridge

So far, so good.  It has just taken a couple of weeks to implement, but of course we continue to adjust as needed for those things that don't work out.  Luckily I made room for those little adjustment under my "other ideas" list, for example they can earn puffy's under "doing the right thing" when they do something kind for someone else.  We will continue to learn and grow and I'm sure that future tweaks will be needed.  For now my kids know what is expected of them, the consequences of making wrong choices and how to redeem themselves.    I love when I can put in little hidden lessons that they don't know they are learning, and let me tell you, this has saved me so many days of stress/frustration from fighting with my kids.
Good luck with your own journey of trying to figure out what works best for your family and I hope that this gives you some inspiration.

Art Projects

So it's been a busy couple of weeks for me and my family with school starting, so I haven't had one moment to get to my self.  I love when school starts, just because I'm one of those people who likes the routine of it all. 
But today I wanted to post about some really cool art projects that I have found and would LOVE to try out.  I just don't know if I have enough wall space in my house for them all.

The first one is from Tatertots and Jello. She has so many wonderful examples of Subway art on her blog, but her latest is for Halloween.  Here is a picture of what it looks like along with the tutorial. (click here)  There are just so many different things you could do with Subway Art, I just know if I started I wouldn't be able to stop.

The next one is from The Pleated Poppy, a "Family Rules" canvas.  It's such a good idea to make something for the whole family to see and be reminded of what your family is all about.  I guess like making a family mantra while also having something pretty to put up on your wall. She also has links / examples of a whole bunch of other people that have taken the idea and made it their own here.  It's fun to see so many other takes on the same idea. To see how to make your own, clink here.

The 3rd one is from Lil' Luna, that she calls "All Good Things" but is a tutorial (click here) on a way to dress up silhouettes of your kids.  I think it is such a cute idea and pulls everything together so wonderfully.  This one I might actually get to do because I know just where I would put it in my home. 

And finally from Under the table & Dreaming, for some super cool Word/Wall Art.  It's a guest post from Amy at My 3 Monsters but I found the tutorial (click here)  is easier to follow here than on Amy's blog (sorry).  I thought this would be a wonderful idea for a wedding gift as well as wanting to do it myself.  Again I have a spot picked out I just have to get to it. 
If your like me you don't get it at first but if you look closely it's their last names with their "est." date.  Great conversational piece for any home.  Amy also points you toward a great photo stream on Flickr by Leo Reynolds where you can use the images for free with some restrictions. I will add the link to my side bar to make it easier for those who are interested. 
So four great ideas to add to my "I'll get to it someday" list.  Let me know if anyone tries any of them out and how it went.