Quick and Easy Rewards Chart

I am pleased to announce that I am done with school for the semester! Only two classes left until I finally get my degree.

That being said, I apologize for the lack of posts on here lately. After school wrapped up for the year, I went a little craft mad. I currently have eight new projects to share with you. It's just a matter of getting the posts typed up. Without further ado, here is one of them.

Making a Quick and Easy Rewards Chart

I found a really cute idea for rewards on Pinterest that was designed for a classroom.The basic premise was to have a reward for the class, which would be earned over time. The students would earn letters, which they could affix to the chart to spell out the name of their reward. Check out the original post on An Educator's Life here.

Okay, so I don't have a full class. I have one almost first-grader and a three-year-old, but I loved the idea. Not wanting to spend any money on a rewards chart that might not work, I got out the paper and markers to make a super cheap version.

Materials (per chart)

• 1 12 x 18" sheet of paper
• 4 sheets lined paper (or graph or copy)
• 1 permanent marker
• glue stick
• colored markers

1. Brainstorm reward ideas. 

You'll need about 15-18 per chart. We came up with some pretty neat ideas.

Educational Outings: Science Museum, Art Museum, Children's Museum, Zoo,  Airplane Park, Nature Park, Botanical Gardens
Free But Fun: chair tent in the living room, playtime on the top bunk (which is still off-limits until the little one is a bit older), Rose Garden
Parties: tea party, painting party
Treats: favorite fast food, smoothie date, sushi dinner, apple pie, cheesecake
New Stuff: outfit, shoes, sketchbook, Matchbox Car, playdough, book, Playmobil toys
Just for Fun: summer movie program, movie date, carriage ride 

Wording is important here. The longer the name of the reward, the more effort it will take to earn. For example, if a trip to the zoo would be very cheap and easy for your family to accomplish, just spell out "zoo". If your zoo is expensive and/or difficult to get to, you might write "zoological park". I knew our oldest really wanted a couple of new movies, so I spelled out "Rise of the Guardians" and "Hotel Transylvania".

2. Make the rewards boxes.

Now, to write the rewards for the charts. I just did mine freehand since this was an experiment to see if the girls would respond well to this type of reward system. On lined paper, I drew square boxes and wrote the name of the reward with capital letters, one per box. To make life easier on myself, I used a black permanent marker for all of one girl's letters and a blue permanent marker for the other one.

You'll need two identical sets of letters, one for the reward chart and one to draw out of a bag. I made a second set by laying a blank sheet of paper on top of the first, tracing the same boxes, and writing in the same rewards. 

For the rewards I would be pasting on the chart, I let the kids decorate their own. (The second set needs to be either left plain white or colored differently enough to distinguish when the reward has been earned). The three-year-old used three markers in each hand and scribbled all over the papers. The six-year-old meticulously colored each of her rewards with a different color. After they were finished, I cut out the rewards in blocks of words and pasted them to the large piece of paper. I had the girls organize their charts by priority. What they wanted to earn first went at the top of the chart. Then I added some decorative flourishes.

3. Make the letters to be earned. 

To make the letters to be earned, I cut apart the second (uncolored) set of letters. Each letter should occupy its own square. With luck, the squares will be the same size as the ones on the chart. Discard any blank boxes, such as those between letters.

Note: this picture is of the six-year-old's letters, not the three-year-old's. They are written in black, not blue. It prevents any confusion if there happens to be a random letter on the floor.

4. As letters are earned, paste them on the chart. 

So let's say the three-year-old puts away her laundry. She gets to pull a letter from her baggie. Then she matches it up and glues it onto a matching letter on her chart. When she has earned all the letters in the word, she gets the reward. At first I thought this would only work with the six-year-old, but the three-year-old is surprising me with both her desire to earn letters and her ability to match the letters she earns with the words on the chart.

5. As rewards are redeemed, mark them off the chart. 

Our preferred method has been to write the date in large numbers and letters over the name of the reward (which I had not yet done at the time of the pictures on the left). That way, the kids see when they earned that reward and when I fulfilled my promise to give it to them. Although right now, the three-year-old has earned three rewards that I have not yet been able to do with her.

So there you have it. It's cheap and easy, but seems to be working well for us.

Making a TARDIS Jewelry Box with Wood Panels

I haven't been posting lately because a.) I'm completely swamped with school and b.) all my craft time has been dedicated to a new custom order request. I'm pretty excited about this one and I'm sharing it with you today.

I apologize in advance, this is not a tutorial with the level of detail you might expect from my blog. Since I was trying out some new techniques, I decided to skip most of the step-by-step photos as they do take more time. Don't worry, though, I have learned a lot from this project and already have plans to ramp it up to the next level (more on that later).

TARDIS Jewelry Box with Wood Panels

Picking the Panel Materials

At first I thought I would be buying a thin sheet of balsa or other overlay wood and using a saw to meticulously cut the pieces down to size. Then I wandered over to the wood crafts section and discovered the myriad of precut wooden sticks available. Most are the same thickness. Check out the pics below for all the sizes.

And conveniently, the 2nd stick down in the top photo was the right width for the door panel crossbars. Voila!

Finding TARDIS Blue

Then it was on to picking the right TARDIS blue. I really loved the Americana True Blue I used for my other 2 TARDIS projects, but it didn't look right in pictures. I am thoroughly convinced TARDIS blue is the most difficult color to accurately photograph. I tried a couple of darker blues, but they looked too purple. Finally I decided to go back to True Blue and go for accuracy in person rather than in photos. When I walk in my friends' house, I can spot the TARDIS in the room almost immediately because the blue catches my eye. Next time (which I hope will be mine to keep), I want to try distressing the exterior like I did on the Distressed Gift Box.

Assembling the Panels

So here comes the tedious part. Basically, measure, cut, try it on the doors. Then get frustrated with the fit. Pry off half of what you put on. Cut new pieces. Accidentally crush a delicate window made of toothpicks. Re-glue tiny window. You get the idea. Spending hours fiddling with little pieces...and loving it (to quote Maxwell Smart).

Window and Door Assembly

The picture above shows the unpainted window mullions. To get them exactly right, I glued them directly onto the template I used for my cardstock panels. The assembly was very similar to the other two TARDIS projects which you can check out here or here.

Trim and Paint

If you look back to the various stick sizes photograph, you'll notice the longest sticks are pretty wide. In order to get the right length, I had to glue on extra and carefully trim it off. Then for some sanding and touch up painting (including the little narrow bits of the door panels). If you're wondering why there are white plastic toothpicks in the photo, I was thinking of using them for the window panels, but I couldn't get them to hold together and I fortunately found the wooden ones instead.

Interior

I didn't change much on the interior of this one from the other wooden one. In the photo below, the light bulb is jutting more in to the interior than it does in the final version.

Finishing Details

At this point, it was nearing completion and I was on a roll. So no pictures of the last few steps, sorry. I will tell you the drama of the light and casing, however. I had the auto bulb already, but had no idea how to adapt the casing from my previous TARDIS. On that one, I used a little bit of card stock to make a small box for it. For this one, I struggled for days trying to figure out how to replicate that one piece while making it sturdy enough to match the rest of the box. Then my sister came over to paint. She happened to have a mini canvas in her kit which I immediately seized. So that is what you see on the top of this TARDIS.

I also replaced the latch system. My other sister, who owns TARDIS 2, says the latch system on hers sticks and makes it hard to open. And by latch system, I mean a small piece of wood that holds the box shut with pressure. For this one, I upgraded the latch to a brass latch that matches the hinges. I also find some mini hooks which allowed me to put more hooks in the box (6 small rather than 2 large). With a box like this, some of the latch screws may poke in to the interior of the box. I used my trusty Dremel to file down the ends for safety and painted over them.

And without further ado, here it is! Okay, one more further ado. Remember my complaint about the color not photographing well? These pictures are all of the same box. That's what you get when you try to photograph something with a chameleon circuit, working or not.

The Door Panel

The Top

New Latch

The Back

The Interior

So What's Next?

Well, at the moment, house cleaning, home schooling, and completing my school projects. In terms of a TARDIS 4.0, doing one with a beacon that lights up, maybe adding the iconic sound when you open the door, installing glass in the windows and painting the back of the door panels like the back of the actual TARDIS doors, maybe making a plinth. Who knows? Coincidentally, all three of my TARDIS projects have been completed in April, so maybe by next April I'll have a TARDIS 4.0 tutorial up for you. Thanks for reading.

Canvas Painting Party

I'm sure all of you have seen those amazing birthday parties on Pinterest and other places where everything looks perfect. The favors are adorable, the cake looks professional, even the kids are photogenic. You know the ones. I'm sure, given the right budget, amount of time, and a professional team of house cleaners, I could throw one of those parties. Until that day arrives, I will continue to approach birthday parties with my same formula.

1. A theme, kinda keeps things together. This year was Cake and Canvas, a clever parody of the Coffee and Canvas classes I teach at our church.

2. Something homemade. This year, it was these cool canvases. For the younger daughter's birthday a couple years ago, I made owl treat bags out of fabric.

3. Save a year, splurge a year. The older daughter (I seriously need clever nicknames for these two kids) got to have a ceramics-painting party at a studio last year followed up by a tea party with the cups the girls painted. This year, an inexpensive home party.

4. Buy as little licensed merchandise as possible. For our Hello Kitty party, we bought Hello Kitty plates, cups, and a tablecloth. We made a Hello Kitty pinata. Everything else was purchased in coordinating colors.

5. Try to have something cool as a party favor. For this party, we bought plastic cups that look like crayons. We filled each cup with two paintbrushes and enough candy for the brushes to stand up. The kids got to use their new brushes to paint and took them (and their painting) home after. Did I get a picture? No, sorry.

6. I'm sure this won't count as any sort of tip, but if you have a friend who is an aspiring baker and offers you a cake instead of a gift, take her up on it! I am so blessed to have an amazing friend who bakes the girls' cakes for me. They always turn out so well. Again, no picture. But this year's cake was a palette with different colored icing globs of "paint" on it.

Prepping Paint Boards for a "Canvas" Party 

The irony of this "Cake and Canvas" party is that we didn't actually use canvas at all. The kids painted on thin plywood panels that we tacked to our fence. Here's what we did ( and by we, I mean my amazing man. I helped a little and took pictures). 

Here's What You'll Need:

• 1- 4' x 8'  plywood underlay board, approx. 1/4" thick. I believe ours was around $10. 
• Saw
• Kilz 2 Latex primer
• Paint Roller
• Hammer
• Nails

1. Cut the boards. 

Cutting the board in half lengthwise, then cutting the halves into 18" wide segments will yield 10 18" x 24" boards. Or, you can leave the last two segments longer and have 8 18" x 24" boards and 2 24" x 24" boards.

2. Sand and Primer the Boards. 

If you're feeling like an over-achiever, you can even use some wood putty to fill in any imperfections. Use a paint roller and apply 1-2 coats of latex primer. Even the birthday girl stepped in to help on this one.

Note: your boards may begin to warp. If so, after they are dry, stack them and place a weight on top to counteract the warp.

3. Tack the Boards to Your Fence. 

We used small nails, but you could use a staple gun (in theory, that is, haven't tried it).

P. S. This party was on a very warm day in November, in case you were wondering. I've got a few other posts from last year I'm still working on. 

4. Set up the Paint Refill/Handwashing Station. 

As they arrived, each kid was given two paintbrushes in his/her treat cup. We also provided palettes by cutting thumb holes in foam plates. (I had wanted to make berets, too, but ran out of time). Then we loaded up the palettes with 3-4 colors of tempera paint for each kid. We have a plastic picnic table that served well for our paint refill station. The hand-washing station consisted of a large plastic tub filled with warm soapy water. It came in handy since each child finished his/her painting at a different time. Those who were finished could wash their hands and go play. Here's the birthday girl herself playing in the bubbles. Look closely and you might be able to spot a couple of the party favors.

5. Enjoy Your Guests' Creativity. 

The kids had a blast decorating their paintings. We had a couple canvas left over, so my sister and I tried our hand at splatter painting. So fun. After the painting was finished, we went inside for cake, ice cream, and presents. By then, the paintings were pretty much dry. As the guests left, we pulled their art off the fence, removed any tacks, and sent it home.

But wait, you're not done yet! We discovered something pretty nifty about these little boards. See the above painting? While it might look like an abstract interpretation of earthworms and purple yarn, it's actually a prime example of the birthday girl playing with the paint rather than painting. Which was fine. She had fun, which was the goal, but she wasn't happy with her art. So, on to round 2, if you want. I'll demonstrate with mine.

6. Rinse/Scrub/Rinse for a Clean Canvas. 

Since we used non-toxic tempera paint, we were able to rinse it off outside. Then we took a scrub brush to get off most of the paint. Another rinse, and the globs of paint were gone. Yes, I did feel like a painting executioner. Some of the color remained, but it was much lighter than before.

Before

During

After

 

 

 

7. And Paint Again! 

I'm sure you would be able to repeat the process a few times before the canvas was too stained to paint over. Even then, you could switch to acrylic for the last round and make the painting permanent. 

Step by Step Dolphin Painting

I've been wanting to do a step by step painting tutorial for a while now, but I decided to rot my brain on video games rather than craft over Christmas break. :) After a relaxing evening of painting with my amazing man, here's a fresh tutorial for you.

Dolphin Painting- Step by Step

Here's What You'll Need:

• 8 x 10" pre-stretched canvas
• pencil
• 1" wide brush
• detail brushes
• toothbrush
• water cup
• acrylic paint
• White
• Orange (or Orange Yellow, which is technically what mine was)
• Cadmium Yellow
• Bahama Blue (or some light turquoise)
• Desert Turquoise (dark turquoise)
• Phthalocyanine Blue (dark blue)
• Black (a tiny bit, or use a permanent marker)

Optional, but recommended

• Easel
• Apron
• Palette
• Hair Dryer

1. Sketch your dolphin and horizon line. 

I made my horizon just below the middle of the canvas. To sketch a dolphin, make the large banana shape first. Then add a longer nose, the flippers, and the tail. Don't worry about the tail too much, we'll be covering it up later.

2. Lay out your paint. 

Acrylic is know for its fast-drying qualities. While there are palettes available that keep your paint moist, I don't happen to have one yet. So to keep my paints from drying out, I only place what I need on the palette. Start out with white, orange, and cadmium yellow.

3. Sky- layer one. 

For the first layer of sky, blend the white and orange to make a pale orange color. Using a wide brush, paint the entire sky. Try to avoid covering the dolphin completely.

 4. Sky- layer two. 

While the first layer is still wet, apply a thin layer of orange (unmixed) to the edges of the sky. Don't paint the area where your sun will be. Rinse and dry the large brush.

5. Clouds.

Use a medium-sized brush to put in some clouds with more orange.

6. Sun and highlights.

Using a fine-tip brush, apply a mix of white and yellow to the edges of the clouds. The areas closest to the sun should have more white, the areas farthest away should have more yellow or no highlights at all. Make the sun using a blend of yellow and white. Then paint yellow and white radiating from the sun. Use your large, dry brush to blend the sun rays (and the edges of the clouds, if you wish). Ignore the blue streak in the picture, I got a little ahead of myself!

7. Add blue paint to your palette. 

8. Paint the water- layer one. 

Using your large brush, paint the entire water with a layer of phthalocyanine blue. Mine is upside down so I could paint the bottom edge of the canvas. If you are not planning on framing your piece, you might want to paint the edges as well.

9. Paint the water- layer two. 

While the first layer is still wet, load your large brush with both turquoise. Turn the brush so the wide part is parallel to the long edges. Paint from side to side to simulate gentle waves.

 10. Dry it! 

Now is a good time to get out that hair dryer, if you have one. Otherwise, wait for the blue and orange to be somewhat dry before proceeding.

11. Dolphin- layer one and sun reflection. 

Using your fine tip brush, make horizontal lines below the sun to look like sunlight reflecting off the water. If your lines get too wide, you can cover them back up with some of the turquoise colors.

For the dolphin, use the fine tip brush to fill in the top fin, the tail, and the lower fin on the right. Paint a thin line along the bottom of the dolphin's belly. Paint a thick line along the dolphin's back.

12. Dolphin- layer two. 

Use the darker turquoise and lay in a wide stripe along the dolphin's body just below the thick dark blue. Then layer in the lighter turquoise. Finally, use white to make the lighter parts.  For the nose, use the light turquoise to fill in. Then make a line for the mouth and the forehead shadow with the dark turquoise. Fill in the lower left fin and most of the lower right fin with dark turquoise.  Use your black paint or marker to add the eye.

13. Sea spray. 

I think this is the most fun part. Load up your toothbrush with white paint. Carefully run your thumbnail along the brush to make a controlled splatter. You might want to practice on paper before putting your spray on the canvas. You can retouch the sky or ocean with more paint or blend in the extra spray with a large dry brush if necessary.

And you're done! 

So long and thanks for all the fish. :)