Monday, May 24, 2010

Childrens Homework, Calender and Information Board


We have a very long hallway in our house and I thought it would be the perfect place to display artwork, good grades, and such. I started off by marking off the space and painting the area a shade lighter than the wall. I then put a vinyl boarder surrounding the area. I cut the boarder with my Creative Memories wavy trimmer ( I dont' think they make it any more.) I then added a calender which is just some great 12x12 scrapbook paper I found a few years ago at Hobby Lobby. I covered the calender in clear contact paper to make a dry-erase surface. I left a small boarder of contact paper around the calender to adhere it to the wall. Every month I just print out a Month title and use my trusty glue stick to put it on.
Underneath I ran some jute rope and hang important artwork, amazing tests and other essential items that need to be on display


On my son's side, I used chalkboard vinyl (from Oh My Crafts- great site!) for him to write his Spelling Words and Bible Verse each week. On my daughter side are chalk board flowers (a gift from my SIL who sells Uppercase Living Products.)

Friday, May 21, 2010

Booking IT!


I was wasting time the other day looking around on the internet (yes, I know, its a horrible habit and you would never do such a thing) and saw an amazing deal on a book binding tool- I'm sure you probably know which one I am talking about- you buy their cover, their machine and voila! you have a book. Well, as I started reading reviews and Must HAVE product lists, I started thinking, "I can do this"- a phrase that send fear through the heart of my husband. So, here it is, you too can bind a book, make it personal, and I bet it won't even cost you anything. I am certain you already have all of these supplies.

Start off with some paper. Any paper you like will do. I have used plain printer paper that I have printed cute initials on, but for this book I used some paper that was left over from homeschooling last year. It has a vintage feel. Cut it in half-or to whatever size you would like your book. For these directions you paper will need to end up about 8 inches by 4 1/4.
Now you will need a sheet of 12X12 lightweight chipboard. Measure about 1/4 over the width of your paper and score. Measure and score again for the debth of your stack of paper- ie if your stack of paper to put inside is 1 cm- measure and score 1cm after the last score line. Now all you have to do is make 2 final cuts so the total width and height is about 1/4 inch longer than your paper. This allows for a good lip around the paper.
Now pick out the paper you would like for the outer cover. If you are using a pattern, make sure you take a good look before starting so that you have exactly the perfect placement for the front of your book.
Generously cover one side of your cover with glue- I love just a trusty glue stick. Make sure to ONLY do the front of back cover first. You need to do one side, then crease the paper (especially if you are using a thick paper) before appling glue to the other side.
Now, make a few cuts so that you can wrap the remainig paper around to finish the cover.
At this point (if I am not using flocked or glittered paper) I like to add a good layer of Mod Podge - well because everything is better with Mod Podge. I like to use the Matte finish for this type of project. It gives the book a little extra protection from 5 year olds also.

Then apply a generous amount of silicon glue to the edge of the paper you cut earlier- be careful for paper cuts-ouch! Place the paper inside the cover, close and wait for the glue to dry. After the glue has dried, flip through the book just to make sure every page is secure. You may need to apply a little more glue between a few pages.
The last step is just to embellish however your little heart desires, and then either enjoy or enjoying giving as a wonderful gift! I'm sure the book binding machine works really well, but anything that requires specific items is a bit of a problem where I live, so this is an anywhere, anytime option. let me know how it works for you!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Comments

Ok, so I have heard from a few of you that the comments section is not working so well. With all of my vast computer knowledge I have attempted to fix this (ie, I changed a few things and then changed them back and then... well, you get the picture). If you wouldn't mind trying to leave a comment here that would be great, just so I know if it is working. I tried from this end, but that doesn't always mean something.

thanks,
Tracy

The Big Countdown!


My daughter LOVES, needs to, has a passion for counting things down. She like to know "how many days until....." fill in the blank. It can be days until someone is coming to visit, days until we are going somewhere, days since we last went somewhere.... well, you get the picture. I have to admit I stole this idea from an UpperCase Living catalog for a Birthday Countdown. This countdown board, however, is very versatile and can be used for whatever fits her fancy that day.
I used a metal tray I bought at a Dollar Tree before we left (yes, I actually planned ahead and brought a few supplies). I covered the inner surface with paper and then cut out these super cute numbers- both from a Love Elsie paper pack. The numbers took a while to cut out by hand, but I think they really fit the project well. I used some Chalkboard Vinyl just under the title board so we can fill in the theme for that particular countdown. I glued a magnet to a large button for her to use to mark off each day. The button gets moved from number to number. Make sure you use a fairly strong magnet especially if you have more than one layer of paper!
This particular countdown was for my husbands (her Papai's return from the states. He was just recently there for 2 1/2 weeks at a training course.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Some Days Life.....

One more note pad stack I made. This one uses Impervious and LoKinger Dingsbums fonts. They read:
Some days life..... is a circus
is a roller coaster
makes you feel like a sucker
is perfect
needs a little lift
is a big ball of gas
has its own rhythm
takes you for a spin
requires professional assistance
is sweet
is ARR-right
is Out of this world


You can download it HERE

Friday, May 14, 2010

Bird Note Pad


Ok, so another note pad set I made. This one if for my friend Amy for Mother's Day. She had to work on Mother's Day because her husband had to work on Mother's Day because my husband is in the States for 2 weeks at a training course- did you follow all of that? You can download the cute bird notes HERE. There are 2 pages using Kfon font(6 total) in a light blue and red. I really love this color combination right now!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Just the Right Thing...


I have been looking for months for just the right thing to put up on this coat rack. I tried everything- after staring at the empty spot for several weeks, I had an idea. I had this plastic serving tray I bought at a local store (plastic stuff is very big here). I painted the back with this deep red acrylic paint and then cut the M and leaves out of vinyl. I think it turned out very well considering it only cost me about $3.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Bathroom Reading


When I repainted my kids bathroom I wanted to add something a little special. I painted this frame on the wall, and then every month I change out the saying and pictures in vinyl. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of Christmas, but it was a cute little nativity scene.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Inspired Note Pads

Ok, so this post at HOW DOES SHE? has inspired me- or rather I have become obsessed with note pads. Alison at HDS? took her paper to an office supply store and had it cut and glued together to make cute little note pads. Well.... since we don't have said store, I went out on my own. We do have access to this amazing silicon glue that worked very well to "pad" the paper together. I printed off a design (don't worry,the silly animal print here isn't what I put in the pretty notepad), cut it to the correct size and simply applied the glue to the edges of the paper. Then I used large binder clips to hold it until it dried. I made the covers out of just plain scrapbooking paper. Give it a try. You can download the funny animal design HERE. I used DB Animal Occasion font.