Job Chart!

I am just getting this one in under the wire.

Week #10, "J" week...

My kids are like every other normal kid--they don't really like chores, but they do like getting paid. I have tried to come up with some encouraging (actually CUTE) way to display a "chore chart." My girls have begged for one. They have created their own (but it wasn't cute enough for me) and my son could care less.

One day, I stumbled across this great idea at Shannon Makes Stuff and it was exactly what I had been waiting for:

Visit her blog on the above link for a great tutorial on her version.

I live about 45 minutes from a Hobby Lobby or Michaels and I tend to get a little impatient once I get something in my head. (Who me, no.....never impatient)

Anyway, I REALLY wanted to get this done so I picked up the little tin cups at Walmart and I already had the button magnets to glue to the back. Then I started scouring my local Peddler's Mall for at least a 10" by 10" frame. Then I ran across this little beauty:

It was 12" by 12" and it was already metal! One less thing I had to buy for it! And, I think the tray was about $4. I was so excited!!!

I proceeded to spray paint her the same color as "Bluebell". Yeah, spray painting again, I'm sure you all are SOOOOO shocked.

(Complete disclosure, I went through 5 cans of spray paint in one day this week!)

I found some cute scrapbook paper to line the back with and then I started cutting paper to put inside the cute little cups.

I am missing two cups because I couldn't find the last two magnets.

Yes, I am one of THOSE people who loses EVERYTHING! I can't find my cellphone about 3 days out of 7. It drives my friends nuts.

This 12x12 will hold 5 rows of 5 tin cups. Inside each cup I put a "chore" on a slip of paper, along with the money they can earn for the chore. I have 3 kids so each kid gets a row and each kid has a different pattern of paper. I have two extra rows that I use for "extra" chores. The kids have the option to earn more money by doing a chore on one of these rows.

This squirt is my youngest daughter. She was totally pumped about this chart. I think she woke up at like 5am to do one of her chores. No joke.

Once I got the tray upstaires, the blue was a little too bright for my room. I just took it outside (the scrapbook paper is not glued down--too impatient to wait for the glue to dry. The magnets hold it on!) and lightly sprayed over it with Heirloom White so some of the blue shows through.

Here is the final product sitting on my kitchen counter and all filled up with the chores and the cash:

Thanks Shannon for your inspiration!

For my family, each chore is worth $1. I thought it would be fun to fill it with change as well as dollar bills. It is cute, but the change makes the cups too heavy for the magnets. Next week I will probably just use the bills.

Next week is "K" week and I have some more great knock offs ( I just need to get some permission from the owners before I talk about them!)

Linking up to:

Come by and take a look!

D is for DVD

Okay folks, I'll admit it. I have stunk it up pretty bad this week with the "D" projects. So many things I could blame it on: testing at school, 2 night classes, 2 migranes, but isn't that just the way things go? Today; however, is a wonderful day. We have a "fake" snow day! I call it fake because the weather man got everyone freaked out about a possible 10 inches of snow and as of 10am we have ZERO.

Sidenote; I live in Kentucky. In the area of the famous "Ice Storm of '09" And ironically, this recent weather forecastt came on the year anniversary of that weather event. If you don't know about it, in a nutshell we are talking no power, no water for like 2 weeks.

I'm not complaining about having this fake snow day. I rather love it. I get to catch up on laundry and baking and decorating and sewing and cleaning and, of course, blogging.

So, thanks to the fake snow day, I am finally bringing you the first blog of "D" week in:

I love movies. I could watch certain ones over and over (The Notebook-when I want to bawl my eyes out-You've Got Mail, AIr Force One, The Rock). I have three kids who love movies. WE HAVE ALOT OF MOVIES. I am going to ask you to not judge me here, but I let my kids watch a movie before they go to sleep at night.

The problem comes when the movies are all over the house and stored in different bedrooms. My 5 year old is alseep in bed and my 9 year old wants a movie out of his room. I needed a central location for them.

On a weekly jaunt to one of my favorite thrift stores, I came across this:

It also had doors on it. Hubby got the doors off before I could get the "before" picture. (Yes, he has since learned to take a picture before he touches anything.) I KNOW this looks rough, but it was the perfect depth for the little nook I wanted to place it in. You should have seen the look hubby gave me when I asked him to "rough it up so I could paint it." He said, "Uh, I think that is already taken care of." I didn't care, I saw the potential.

I spray painted it, with several coats of paint. Then I finally bought some Rustoleum white paint and I will tell you I will NEVER use another brand again.

Confession: There was a point that I thought it wasn't going to work out. Actually several points. 1) when the paint WOULD NOT cover this thing 2) When the panel on the doors didn't come out the way I thought they would (I had planned on putting fabric in where the panels were). There were some scary moments with this little sucker.

I figured out the door delimma by stapling my fabric to poster board and slipping it into the groves left by the panels:

It turned out just like I pictured it would! I was so relieved, er I mean glad. Hubby was surprised I pulled it off. I couldn't believe I stuck it out.

I am ADHD on decorating projects. I start out meticulous and gung ho, then I get all "I want this done" and messy.

I am still looking for a basket to slide in the where the drawer was, but here she is in her place and hiding all those movies:

Thanks for stopping by. I may get one or two more "D" projects squeezed in on my fake vacation. Check back for parties I've linked to and projects I've shared!

Update: 1:09pm and it finally started snowing!
Linked to:


Thrifty Decor Chick Before and After Party --if you haven't seen her, she's GREAT!

2nd Installment---GIMME A B!

A bad day thrift shopping.

I had one on Saturday. I had THE PERFECT day planned. The closest big town is Paducah and I just knew they would have some lovely cast offs waiting for me to scoop up (insert hand rubbing, evil laugh here

Hubby and I drove all the way to Paducah (45 minutes), went to Salvation Army, Goodwill and Tuesday Morning and it was a total bust.

Yeah, you heard me. NADA. First of all Salvation Army was closed as was Tuesday Morning---WH-A-A-A-T??? (Hubby said good thing it isn't called "Saturday Morning" or it would be false advertising-yeah I gave him that look too. Don't mess with a girl on a bad thrift shopping day).

Thank goodness for Hobby Lobby, good old Hobby Lobby. You won't let me down.

I have read about and seen so many cute things people have bought for NOTHING at Goodwill. It makes me jealous.

I covet your Goodwills. Mine stinks. Really, well not literally, but it is really a sad place. Tons of clothes but no good stuff. I would dig through mound of stuff for cute things for my house, but I just can't dig through racks and racks of clothes. My ADD kicks in and I just can't focus.

In my town's defense, before we had Goodwill, we had (and still have) "Angel's Attic." It is a local thrift store that the proceeds support a local free health clinic. What I think has happened is people are trying to support Angel's Attic more than Goodwill. So honestly, Angel's Attic will come to a thrifting girl's rescue on occasion. We don't have a Salvation Army so I can't gripe about that.

Thank goodness where I live we have two "antique malls" that are part junk store, part cute boutique. People rent booths and sell all kinds of junk, er I mean, treasures. But man, have I found some cute things. I am telling you this because not everyone has a great Goodwill, but you may have a neat little "hole in the wall" store that looks weird from the outside, but get a buddy, get some courage and go inside. You never know what treasures await you.

Here are my favorite finds from my local "junk stores"

Snowflake (75 cents)--I hot glued it to a mirror on my mantle

Odd architectural thing ($11)

Christmas trees ($15 for the pair, they had a sticker on the bottom with the original price of $75)

Picture of some unknown kid with a dog (but it reminds me of my youngest daughter and our dog) ($5)

Black bench ($45)--yes this one was pricey, but this thing is about six feet long and thick and chunky. I love it in my foyer!

Cruel-work pictures ($7.50 for 2)

Amazing wood framed mirror--note the detail ($30)

White terrarium thing ($5)

Shadow Box ($6)--you'll have to hear more about this on another addition of Decorating A-Z--maybe that will make you come back!

Wire Terrarium/Apothacary Thing ($12)

Yeah, some of the things are a little more expensive than what should be considered for a "thrift store." But another thing you need to know about me is that I am not very patient to wait for things to be marked down. Plus, as you know, at a thrift store if you see it, buy it or it won't be there tomorrow!

I guess the lesson is that "the grass is always greener on the other side." Or maybe more like, "the grass on your side isn't as bad as you think." Aw, heck, I don't know the lesson, I just need to learn to appreciate what I have in my own town. These stores have been pretty good to me!

Don't forget (when the weather warms up) to hit yard sales and auctions. I love auctions! Maybe one day I'll show you my "stubborn-I'm-not-going-to-let-you-win-it-you-strange-man-chair." But we need to get to know each other a little bit better before I reveal that vindicitive side of me.

I'm not sure who I can link this up to yet, but keep checking back I'll try to find something fun! I am still trying to educate myself on the mclinky, party thing. I really want to include you guys on the Decorating A-Z. Thanks for looking!