What have you been putting off ???

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I recently did a bit of a furniture shuffle, where I stole this ‘white’ expedit unit from hubby’s study and turned it on it’s side to use it in the entry of our home. It was practical, but it looked so bare on top. I didn’t want to leave it bare, knowing it would end up a dumping ground, so my lovely housemate and I tried to find items in our house that could be put together to form an attractive centrepiece. I’d recently bought these aqua candle glasses and feathers, and our lovely housemate had this white mirror we thought would look great. The only problem was we soon discovered that the ‘white’ mirror and ‘white’ expedit units were in fact different whites! They CLASHED! It was really obvious the unit was more of a cream colour.

Since we were trying to match the centrepiece in with the painting above the unit, we thought it would be a fun idea to paint the mirror frame to match, using only materials we already had at home. Hubby came up with the idea of putting a verse of some kind on the frame…. so we pondered how to do that also.

This is what we came up with….

Use masking tape to line the inside of the mirror (or glass) to stop paint from getting onto that surface.

(I’ve always watched them do this on Better Homes & Gardens in their projects – I felt so clever FINALLY being able to do this!)

Optional: use stickers to ‘write out’ the words you want on the frame. Press the edges down really firmly. You may want to test how your stickers go once they are wet with paint. Ours were a little hard to pull off.

Using a sponge, paint roughly over the frame, making sure you get all the edges/corners and the paint is roughly even. We ‘dabbed’ for a pretty effect and did only one coat so we had some of the white of the frame showing through.

Once the paint has dried, carefully pull off the letter stickers.

Pull off the masking tape.

DONE!  (Though I forgot to light the candles for this photo)

What do you think?? It didn’t cost us anything, and I love the way it matches now! 🙂

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What’s so unique about this chart:

It is so simple, it can be used by children young or old!

It has magnets to go on the fridge for easy keeping, but can be put into a handbag easily and taken with you where ever you go.

You do not need any additional stickers or pens to ‘fill it out’.

You can re-use it over and over again, changing the rewards and way to achieve the goal.

Age: approx 3+ years (dependant on child)

How this chart is used:

The character peg progresses forwards (or backwards) to gain reward at the end.

You can set whatever rules/incentives would work for your child (how we’ve used it is at the bottom of the instructions).

eg. move forward for good manners, backwards for demanding/tantrums

move forward each time child eats all their vegetables at dinner, with special dessert at end

move forward each day having a clean room, rearrange room at the end

move forward for doing chores without prompting, with outing at the end

Tools to make: 

Printout of Character and Milestones (eg. Fireman & 5 fires, Princess & 4 dragons)

Peg

Laminator & Pouch  (**substitute cardboard if you don’t have a laminator)

Scissors

Glue

Masking Tape

Thin magnet – cut into pieces

How to make:

In a word processor, use pictures to create a page that has a number of milestones in a row to progress through. On a seperate line include a picture of the character to progress through the chart. Each of the pictures should be about 3-4cm tall.

In the boy example above, I used five fires for the fireman to ‘fight’ to progress to the end. In the girl example below, there are four dragons for the princess to overcome to get to her castle. You could use a football player with balls to kick into the goals, or a ballet dancer with different moves to complete before the end. The possibilities are endless.

Print out the document, and laminate it.

(**Could glue paper onto cardboard if you don’t have a laminator)

Cut out the little figure.

Using either some rolled up masking tape or glue, stick the character onto one side of the peg.

Glue a strip of your magnet onto the other side of the peg and leave to dry.

Character peg is now finished.

Cut the main strip out.

Cut the remaining magnet into pieces and stick to the back of the main chart strip. This can be done using masking tape or glue (the magnets will work better using glue, but sticky tape is faster!).

Clip the beg onto the start and begin use! Ready, set, GO!

Our 3yo got to progress forward one ‘fire’ each time he used good manners without prompting. For using bad manners, tantrums or hurting his brother he would move back one ‘fire’. When he got to the end he was able to wear his new fireman jumper we bought for $8.00. The whole time we’ve been reinforcing to him how fireman are helpers and have good manners, so he can only wear the jumper when he uses his good manners. Once he’d earned the opportunity to wear the jumper he would have to take it off if he used bad manners and went backwards. For the past 3 days it has been working really well, so hoping it will continue!

Love it?

The concept of using pegs was from the “Perry Family Rules Chart” I’d seen at the Power of Mom’s retreat I went to.

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When I go to pack my dishwasher, its often (usually) the case that the top rack for mugs and glasses is full, and the bottom rack for plates and bowls is only half full. Why? Because we have used multiple cups, glasses and mugs thorughout the day… which all adds up! If the same happens in your household, here are a few ways to combat this:

1. Coloured or patterned cups. This works especially well with kids. It’s forever stuck in my head that my cup is yellow, my brother’s is blue and my sister’s is green. That’s the way it always was, one cup per day. We also had a backup set that were clear….

2. A small initial. If you have clear set or set of plastic cups that are all the same colour for kids, a small initital in permanent marker under the cup or on the bottom is a great way to distinguish who’s cup belongs to who. It’s very handy as well for mummy’s and daddy’s who find a cup lying around and no child wants to own up to who needs to put it away!

3. Coloured or different coasters. This one is my favourite, and is especially useful for drinking glasses that all match. If you don’t already have some, buy a cheap set of matching coasters that each have a slightly different design/picture and assign a coaster for each person in the house. When they’ve finished their drink they rinse it and return it to their coaster, which easily identifies which glass to grab next time you need a drink.

4. Different Spots. Similar to the coaster method, assign a different spot for each person to return their glass. My hubby often leaves his behind the tap in the kitchen, but I prefer to leave mine on the end of the bench where I can grab it when I walk past. This method can get confusing if people get lazy and leave them in other places, or if you have visitors over and all leave glasses sitting in the one spot!