Finally! I can find their homework!

The routine has been the same since the beginning  of the school year.  Home from school, empty the backpacks, look at the papers, pile papers on the wet bar.  What was that?  You were supposed to turn in a form today?  YIKES!!  Where did that go?  Followed by frantic shuffling of papers and, more often than not, a last minute filling out of said form.

Not anymore!

I have a new solution!  I found this idea on Pinterest, and I LOVED the look of it!  Message boards for the kids!

To make these, I first did my layout on the computer, then bought supplies and cut the paper.

These are in a 16x20 black poster frame.

For the back ground, I used a 12x12 piece of colored cardstock that I cut into strips and glued onto the backing that came in the frame.  Next time, I will use poster board, but this was due to a shopping goof on my part, and I didn't want to go back to the store.

In the upper left corner is a 4.5"x6.5" piece of colored cardstock in a a darker shade than the background. This is topped with a 4"x6" black and white photograph.

The upper right corner is a 4.5"x8.5" piece of colored cardstock in the same color as the upper left.  On top of that is a 4"x8" black and white patterned piece, topped with a 3.5"x7.5" patterned piece in the same color as the background.  On top of that is the kid's name.  (By the way, I did all my cutting on the Cricut.)

The left side has a 6.5"x8" box with the days of the week.  Under that is a 6.5"x6.5" calendar, with the days labeled but no numbers and no month.

The right side has an 8.5"x11" page that I patterned on a diagonal.  Directly under that is a 8.5"x4" piece, also patterned on the diagonal.  Over the seam, I added an 8.5"x1" black strip and a 2.5" disc, just for decoration.

I glued all of these pieces onto the backing included with the frame, and framed it up.  Then I purchased some silver magnetic clips to put on the outside.  The magnet wasn't necessary, but I couldn't find anything I liked that wasn't magnetic.  I used hot glue to attach the clips over the top center of the 8.5"x11" piece.  Then I attached a circle cut to fit in the indent in the clip out of the black and white pattern and topped that with the kids' initials.

Using a wet erase marker, I can write on the frame! The day of the week section is for keeping track of playgroups this week, t-shirt day at preschool, homework that needs turned in, etc.  The monthly calendar has the schedule for the month.  The clip I can use to hold forms, homework, calendars from school.  In my youngest's case, his potty sticker chart.  At the bottom under the form area, I can write any notes that I need to keep track of.

So far, I feel SO much more organized!  Hopefully that is the end of the mad dash for filling out papers!

Thank You, Cricut!

Have I mentioned before how much I love playing with my Cricut?

One of the new crafts I wanted to try this year was card making.  I'll be honest, it's a little harder than I thought it might be.  I'm still working out my technique, but each one I do gets better.  As a Christmas gift, I received the "Create a Critter" cartridge for my Cricut.  I love all the cute little animals and "accessories" to go with them!  This will be a great cartridge when I eventually get around to scrapbooking for my 3 kids!  Especially for trips to the zoo, circus, baby pictures, etc.  But, it has also made some really cute thank you cards that I am mailing out from Christmas.  A little late, I know - it took me some time to get them all made!

I did learn a few things:
1 - bigger is better!!  First, it's much easier to glue on the big pieces than the little pieces.  Sticky, sticky, sticky!!  Second, the little pieces don't always cut as cleanly as the big pieces.  Third, even when I planned it out on the computer and thought it looked too big, the actual cards came out a little smaller than I thought they would.

2 - Decorating the inside is just as important as the outside!  The first two I made, ("Merci" and "So Dear of You" below) just aren't as decorative.  Sure, they took less paper and less time, but the last two I did are just a lot more fun!!

I would love to hear from some card making pros... what sort of adhesives do you like to use?  Particularly for little teeny pieces?  If you have a fave, comment below, and I'll give it a try!

Here are the cards I have made.  Hope you like them!!

My First Cricut Project = Gift Tags!

I have finally entered the world of Cricut.  Why didn't I do this sooner?!?!  I LOVE this thing!  And I don't even have one of the new, fancy models.  A friend of mine was going to sell her Cricut "Personal Electronic Cutter" (one of the old models) at a garage sale.  So, I told her I'd buy it from her instead.  So, for $15 I got a Cricut.  It doesn't do the big shapes, but really for what I'm probably going to do with it, I don't need anything big right now.  If I decide I want something bigger and fancier some time in the future, I can always upgrade.  The only downside to buying it used is that it came with no cartridges.  But, Cricut has an online design room that comes with a few really basic shapes, so I was at least able to try it out.

For my very first Cricut project, I decided I'd make some gift tags for all of those Christmas presents I have to wrap anyway.  So I made four different designs.  None of them were hard, and I only bought a couple pieces of paper.  Most of what I used was scrap card stock (or glittery red foam) that I had on hand from other projects.

I made this one using just white card stock for the scalloped oval, and red glitter foam for the Christmas tree.

The next one I cut a fancy doodad (I'm sure there's a name for it, but I don't know it) out of white card stock, and cut a small tree in that.  I cut a slightly larger doodad out of dark green card stock and used that as the backing.

I took the little tiny tree and attached it to a circle of light green card stock that I cut by using the "O" of the basic (free) font.  It was the inside of the O.  There is no circle in the free shapes, so it was the best option I had.  Then I attached that to a snowflake patterned rectangle.

I still had the actual O itself in the green card stock, so I attached that to a scalloped circle cut out of red card stock.  I added another scalloped circle cut out of "Merry Christmas" paper to that (to cover up the hole in the O).  I think this one is my favorite.

I'm hoping to get some real cartridges for Christmas and then I'll be able to have fun playing with cards and other projects.  Next year, maybe I'll do something a bit more creative with the gift tags, but for my first projects, I think they are pretty good!