Wise Words Journal

I've just added this new journal to my Etsy Shop. I'm calling it my Wise Words Journal. It's a place where you can pass along advice to your children, write down your favorite quotes or even document your favorite quotes from your favorite books.

It makes a great gift!

I added the owl to represent wisdom.

I also added lots of ribbon to the rings to dress them up.

There are 21 pages just ready to be filled up with wise words.

I used various paper edgers to give the pages a layered look.

And don't forget.....

Use coupon code FREESHIP2016 to receive free shipping on all orders.

Texas Rangers Clipboard

I took a break from journal making to work on something for my school nurse (I'm an art teacher). She asked me to make this for her probably about 6 months ago....a clipboard decorated in honor of her favorite professional baseball team, the Texas Rangers. I'd been gathering the materials for a while but finally found the time to create it...love summer break!

So here it is...front and back.

Front

Back

I found the clipboard at Hobby Lobby. It was $4 but less with a coupon.

They also had some cute baseball and rustic looking papers that I bought as well.

I found the Texas Rangers duct tape at Joann's.

This is one project where I just didn't know when to stop. It just didn't feel finished.

So I kept adding and adding.

The final step was to Modge Podge the front and back to make it more durable. I used a ring used for making my journals to hold the metal clip up so I could Modge Podge underneath it and allow it to dry without messing up the finish.

Now back to my journal making.

And don't forget to visit my Etsy Shop, Kaminski's Creations.

Use coupon code FREESHIP2016 to receive free shipping on all orders.

Decorative Wine Glass Tutorial

I was watching the Today show the other morning and saw Tori Spelling promoting her new movie....something about mom and danger. But I was more interested in the craft that she demonstrated, "How to embellish wine glasses with finger nail polish".

So I had to give it a try.

I grabbed two stemless wine glasses in the cabinet, 2 glass bowls and some nail polish (and some toothpicks).

Fill the bowls with water. I used cold...not sure if it matters.

Drizzle on the nail polish. I used 3 colors.

Use the toothpick to swirl it and move the colors around.

Dip the wine glass in. All of this needs to be done quickly. And viola. Easy peasy. Or so I thought.

When it came time to clean the glass bowls from the nail polish, it was a pain. And not to mention the excess nail polish in the sink. I used nail polish remover to get rid of it, but it was still a pain.

So I got this brilliant idea of using Styrofoam, disposable bowls so I could just dump the mess in a trash bag.

BIG mistake. The nail polish sank to the bottom and ate through the bowl and the water started leaking everywhere, along with the nail polish.

So we got the glass bowls back out and finished the rest of the wine glasses.

They turned out pretty cute but a little clumpy. I'm wondering if it's because we used nail polish that we already had and who knows how old they are? If I were to do this again, I'd use new nail polish and try cheap metal baking trays (the disposable kind).

I also don't know how they are going to do when I wash them by hand...definitely not putting them in the dishwasher.

Keepsake Suitcase

This is one of my all time favorite projects. You'll need a suitcase, paint, paper, glue and a ton of memories! Here the link for the complete tutorial Keepsake Suitcase. If you're looking to find a creative way to use a suitcase or to just treasure your child, this is the perfect labor of love.

I refurbished this old suitcase for free into a keepsake suitcase that I can give my daughter when she walks out that door for college.

Father's Day Card Tutorial

Here's a tutorial I made from 2 years ago for a cute Father's Day Card.

And don't forget to visit my Etsy Shop, Kaminski's Creations.

Use coupon code FREESHIP2016 to receive free shipping on all orders.

Chore Buckets

Chores....
This is something I've been meaning to address with my daughter for a while. But life gets busy, parents get tired and in the end taking the easy way out and doing it myself was just, well,  easier.
But then I ran across this article on Facebook. I asked for input from my friends on what they have their kids doing for chores. And to my surprise, kids that are younger than Sophia are doing way more than I could ever dream for Sophia to do.

A friend showed me this pic below

(website), and I knew that this summer would be the summer of Chores! Time for a change. No excuses. Time for this mom to be consistent.

I wanted to keep it simple. So I started with 2 black labels and 2 buckets. One bucket for daily chores (to be done everyday). One for weekly chores (to be done once a week). The weekly ones can be done at any time during the week.

Then I added the popsicle sticks with the chores. Our daily ones are: feed the cats, feed the dogs, scoop the cat litter, pick up your room, and pick out clothes for the next day (this last one is more for during the school year). Our weekly ones are: vacuum the living room, sweep the kitchen, mop the kitchen (I might take this one out of the jar...might be a little unrealistic), fold laundry, put away laundry, dust living room, and load dishwasher.

As she does them, she takes the stick out and sets it beside the bucket.

The only difference is that I didn't put screen time minutes on the sticks like my inspiration. I feel like these are things that should be expected to contribute to the family.

After talking to Sophia about it and explaining the concept, she asked if she could get paid to scoop the litter and feed the cats "because it's really gross". So I decided she could get $1 a week for doing 3 of the chores all week long, everyday: scooping the cat litter, feeding the cats and keeping her room clean (she is the messiest little girl). So that would a total of $3 a week if she does those all week.

Here are pics of the original Chore Chart I created for her when she was around 3. I had good intentions and a good plan. But the consistency wasn't there.

I updated the Chore Chart to make it look cuter. Cause that's really important. :)

So we'll see how this new system works. I think the biggest factor will be the consistency part. Wish me luck!


And don't forget to visit my Etsy Shop, Kaminski's Creations.

Use coupon code FREESHIP2016 to receive free shipping on all orders.