Monday, April 5, 2010

Family Night Board (FHE)

Here's the board that we use for family night (FHE). It helps us rotate through to know who is doing what and cuts down on the fighting. Ironic.


I don't have any "production" pictures, but it was pretty simple to throw together. Here's a list of the supplies that I used:

12 x 12 pine frame
12 x 12 sheet metal
2" tiles (that really aren't 2". I never could figure out the way men measure their supplies - you know, how a 2 x 4 really isn't "2 x 4"? Whatever...)
strip magnets
hot glue
vinyl cut outs for words
black paint
clear paint or top coat paint
sand paper


I used coupons for the frames and sheet metal. The sheet metal I just picked up from the craft store and it was already the size I needed. I loved it because the magnets will stick right to it!

Paint your frame black. After it dries, give the edges a light sanding for some personalization. Give the whole thing a once-over with your top coat to seal it in.

Put your sheet metal in, so you know how much room you have to work with for your words. Depending on how many names you have, you can make the tasks larger or smaller, add a few or leave some out. We had to "make some up" so that we all had something to do. In the past, we did not have "Scripture" on our list, but now that our numbers are larger, I added that. Just do what works for your family.

You need to cut the vinyl to fit your space, or order it from your favorite vinyl source. You could also use stickers. If you need help with the vinyl, let me know. Add the names to your tiles, then hot glue the magnets to the tiles and you are good to go! I used 3 strips of magnet across the back of each tile. I wanted to be super safe. Now the only thing my kids fight over is who gets to rotate the names each Monday night!

Friday, April 2, 2010

2 of 2 New Projects

OK, here's another one for today... (truthfully, I forgot to list it in the last post.) I was at the dollar store yesterday, while hubby waited in the car. I just had to run in for ONE thing, (don't tell him...) and I found these babies: (Sorry for the fuzzy picture, but that is the least of these buckets problems right now, if you know what I mean.)


I know, I know... they are hideous. I thought so to. (um, I hope you aren't secretly in love with them because, I would really be embarrassed.) So anyway, I bought 3 of them. I am slowly learning to see the potential in things. I tried to look past the horrid orange and yellow flowers and see what they could become. (Again, not so much my style, I'm more of a black and white kind of a girl.) So... with a little Goof-Off... (hooray for the good stuff)... read on...



you get this:

then with a little more of the good stuff, you get this:

Keep at it just a bit longer, add your vinyl numbers, and then you get cuteness!

1 of 2 New Projects

Here's 2 new projects... I have so many projects that are half way done, I hope to have many posts coming soon!

First, here's some Easter eggs for you.

I was making these, intending to give these babies a dunk in some great color, and then peel the "stickers" off for a negative effect, but after I got going, I loved the black/white effect and decided to stop.

Here's what I did.

After hard-boiling my eggs (of coarse) I cut my vinyl to my desired size. This may take some trial and error. The first size was way too small. I tried 1" first. It will all depend on the size of your eggs. We have our own chickens and I've been saving the white eggs for weeks. (We have white and brown laying chickens - only 2 white and a lot of brown, so it has been a bit of a chore...) Our white eggs are HUGE! So I had to go back and change my vinyl to inches.

Tape the vinyl on your egg where you think you want it to go and make sure it is in the right place. (It's inside the tape so the egg won't roll off the counter) :-)


Then go at it, rubbing the vinyl onto the egg. Then Viola! I struggled with how I wanted to display the eggs, knowing that I couldn't hold all of them in my hand like this... but finally settled on those cute little candle holders. I picked them up at the dollar store.


Happy Easter! (Stay tuned!)