Allowance Chart

Remember our cookie sheet chore chart?  My husband and I decided that it needed something to go along with it, a chart to keep track of chores on a weekly basis.  The cookie sheet chart is perfect for assigning chores, serving as a visual reminder for what needs to be done, and keeping track of which chores have/have not been completed.  It lacks a long term record, though, for what has been done throughout the week.  We are going to be instituting an allowance for our children, something that they can earn for completing all of their daily chores for an entire week.  So I created a new chart that will record when all of the chores from the cookie sheet chart are finished each day, allowing us to know if all chores have been done every day of the week.

I snagged this sign from my son's school rummage sale last spring.  I just covered it with paper and Mod Podge, then used a set of hooks and clips that I had lying around from Ikea.  The two little bees and beehive are stamps from Stampin' Up.

When they reach "HIVE SWEET HIVE, " they get their allowance!

I'm linking up to:

Guest Project: Karen's Explosion Album

I am so excited to be featuring my friend Karen's project today.  Karen is an extremely talented Stampin' Up demonstrator.  Karen hosts a monthly scrapbooking class, as well as a monthly technique class for card-making.  Today, though, Karen is going to be showing us how to make a Photo Explosion Album. This album is simple to make, but looks really nice and holds a good number of pictures.  I'm so excited, so let's get started!

Supplies

2 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" pieces of chipboard (or cardboard)

2 6" x 6" pieces of decorative scrapbook paper or card stock (for the front and back covers)

3 10" x 10" sheets of cardstock (this will make the actual album)

1 18" length of ribbon

Metal Buckle

Cardstock cut to the same size and shape as the buckle

2 Brads

2 Velcro Dots

Glue Gun

Double Sided Tape

Cardstock, stamps, and embellishments for the cover and interior

**Supplies in italics are for a buckle embellishment on the cover.  You can also close the album using only ribbon.

The Cover

Place double sided tape around the edges of a piece of chipboard.  

Center the chipboard, tape side UP, on the wrong side of your cover.

Fold in the corners first, and then use a bone folder to fold in the sides between the corners.

This is how it should look when you're done.

Repeat for the back cover.

The Inside Pages

Fold the 10" x 10" cardstock in half.  

Open, and fold in half again the other direction.  Open.  (It should look like the photo below.)

Fold along one diagonal.  Open.  

Turn your cardstock over, and push the center of the cardstock down.

You now have four squares on your cardstock.  Two squares have a diagonal fold and two do not.  Fold the diagonal squares down, one side at a time, until you have a square.

Repeat on each sheet of 10" x 10" cardstock (three total).

Assemble the Album

Place one sheet so that the diagonals point up, the next sheet with the diagonals pointing down, and the third sheet with diagonals pointing up.

Take the center sheet and overlap each non-diagonal square with a non-diagonal square on the other sheet.  Use double sided tape to adhere them together.

Lay your back cover face down.  Tape your ribbon to the back of the right (as in right and left) side of your cover so that it will wrap across the front like this:

Lay your back cover face down.  Tape the remaining non-diagonal square of the third page to the wrong side of the back cover.

Tape the non-diagonal square of the first page to the wrong side of the front cover, checking that your cover is facing the proper direction.

To create the buckle-look on the front cover: Place brads through the holes on the buckle.  Use a glue gun to seal the back of the brad, then trim the brad to fit.

Wrap the ribbon around the album, leaving some extra slack (album with be thicker once filled with photos), to determine where the buckle will be placed.

Place the buckle in its correct position on the ribbon.  With the ribbon in the middle, use a glue gun to glue the buckle to its matching cardstock.

This step should be done AFTER you have filled the album with photos.  (You have to know how big the album will be to determine where the velcro should be placed.)

Affix a velcro dot to the front of the album, in the location that the buckle will sit.  Affix another glue dot to the back of the buckle.  This is how you'll latch your album closed.

Fantastic--Your album is assembled!

This is the fun part.  Add pictures, embellishments, and journaling to both the front and back side of the album.
You can use the following technique to trim and fit your photos:
Cut a 5" x 5" square, then fold it along the diagonal.  Cut into two triangles.  Use the triangles as a guide for determining where to cut photos.

Here are some finished photos of Karen's album:

Karen, thank you so much for sharing this amazing project!  I truly appreciate all of the time that you put into making it so wonderful.

If you are interested in learning more about Stampin' Up or would like to purchase supplies to make this project, you can contact Karen here.

Technique Night!

Last night I attended a Technique Card Making Class for Stampin' Up.  I absolutely love going to these classes, although I can't decide whether I love making the cards or just getting out of the house during bedtime more.  We made three amazing cards last night, so I thought that I would share them with you.

I also want to introduce you to my Stampin' Up demonstrator, Karen Clark.  I'm so excited to tell you that Karen is going to be doing some guest blogging for me in June!  We're still trying to work out the dates, but I think that we're going to put together a tutorial for a Vacation Explosion Album!  She's amazing, so you should be very excited!

Here are the cards we made last night:

This was made using a stencil and sponges

This was stamped with white craft ink, colored with watercolor pencils, then given some extra "pop" with a white gel pen.

Wow, right?  The petals are made with the butterfly punch (which I ordered last night!).  We used ink from the reinkers to dye the petals.

Do you love stamping as much as I do?

Cabinet Door to Picture Holder

Remember this trip?  During that IKEA run, I picked up a couple of white cabinet doors.  At the time, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them.  I had seen a bunch of DIY projects using cabinet doors floating around blogland, but didn't have one pinned down.  Once I got home, the cabinet door and I stared at each other for a long time (several times).  I literally had no idea what I wanted to do with it.  Then one night, I just started working.  And suddenly, I had created a picture holder that had become one of my favorite creations ever.  I still haven't decided how to hang it one the wall--I'm up for suggestions!  I can't wait to show you!

I used stamps on the sides and the the bottom.  I wanted to used stamps for the top too, but couldn't find anything just right.  So instead, I used my Silhouette to cut vinyl, and laid that along either side of the photo clip.  I just glued the clip to the cabinet door.  I like it because I'll be able to swap out the photos so easily.  

I couldn't be happier.  And guess what?  This cabinet door cost me $2.  Sweet!