Map Heart Frame

I saw this idea and thought it was the cutest thing. My in-laws anniversary is on the 30th and they were hauling off our carpet for us, so I thought this would be cute for them!

Where I got the Idea: Queen B - Creative Me
Time: 90 minutes
Supplies: 6 sheets of card stock (5 are off white and 1 is yellow for the accent)
Sewing pins
Heart stencil
Pencil
Scissors
Masking Tape
Long Frame
Pen & someone with nice hand writing

Instructions:

This was a Friday afternoon decision to do this project, so on my way home from work I went to Marshall's to find a frame. This one was $13, had I spent some time looking for other frames I probably could have found one for less. 

1. Prep: I found the address to the 5 places that were meaningful to my in-laws: where they met, where they were married, where they lived for 15 years, where they loved traveling, and the house they love now. I found the address on mapquest and printed them on the card stock. I tried to be clever, save paper, and use one side for each...with mapquest's headers & footers that didn't actually work.

2. Cut Stencils: I went to look for a heart punch at Joanns. First, they were all smaller than I wanted. Second...wow! $18!??! Seriously!? So I grabbed a stencil set that was $5 (still hated spending $5 for it). I traced the stencil with a pen (because I'm lazy and there wasn't a pencil in my immediate vicinity).  I did this for all of the locations. You MAY want to get an extra few sheets of card stock. One of the locations was zoomed out a little bit too far, I wish I had zoomed in, but I just had enough card stock (and wasn't making yet ANOTHER trip to the store).

Note: I had initially hoped to paint the back of the frame yellow, but since it was a long frame, I wanted to use the back of the insert (you know the one with the fake pictures on it). There was still too much white on the frame, so Alex said cut a heart out behind it...so we did!

3. Yellow Hearts - I cut a plethora of yellow hearts (okay maybe not a plethora, but as many as I could squeeze out of the 8x11 sheet of card stock I had left). I thought about doing a patterned design, but this is the one that looked the best. I just rolled a piece of masking tape to hold them in place. It gave the hearts a little bit of dimension...or as much as you can in a frame.

4. Pins - I was worried that the pins were going to be too thick. I used all red sewing pins and put a pin where the actual location was. Because the pins obviously stuck through the back of the board, I just folded them over and taped the back. 

5.  Labels - Alex has really ridiculously nice handwriting. It's actually the only reason I married him (kidding). So I made him write the we met. we married. we lived. we traveled. we loved. This was his "fun" handwriting.

Ultimately, I thought they turned out great. My in-laws were touched. It was a quick project. I am looking forward to having enough history with Alex to make one of my own. All though we could

 do just a UGA one....we met. we cheered. we lived. we loved. we lost?...

Penny Years

For whatever reason I got this idea in my head to do something with pennies for my little brother's birthday. I think you can come up with plenty to do with pennies. This was my idea!

Where I got the idea: Myself

Time: A few days to find the pennies, but the actual project took 45 minutes

Shopping List:
Penny from every year
Krazy Glue
Flat Frame
Colored Paper
Black Fine Point Sharpie

Instructions:
1. Prep: Finding a penny for every year was pretty easy. Then again he was born in 1989. I actually think if you had a few weeks you could do this for numerous ages. I thought about doing one for special occasions - years our parents born, year he was born, year people met, year graduated college...I think you can end up doing a lot of creative things with it.  

2. Glue: Arrange the pennies in chronological order around the frame. This is important, because Krazy Glue dries those suckers on there fast & tight. I messed up the corner of the frame. I didn't have enough pennies to cover the entire frame (I used 5x7). Fortunately, I spaced them out and said there was room for two more for his 24th & 25th birthdays! :) Go Me!

3. Frame: I thought it was clever to use the phrase: "Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck!" I changed the day to year (since I used a penny for each year...). I thought printing it would be a little too impersonal, so I tried freehand calligraphy  my best pretty cursive (which isn't THAT great...). I practiced about 4 times before getting my spacing just right..and it still looks just "eh".

All in all, I think he really liked it. He thought it was nice, and then realized it was a penny from each year he's been alive. I got him two other things as well, but I thought this was nice & sentimental and didn't cost really anything to do!

UGA Organizational Board Revisted

Okay so here are some additional things I want to mention about the Org. Board!

1. You may want to consider stronger adhesive for the paper mache box. Ours falls down, so Alex just used some super glue and glued that sucker onto the box.

2. Because certain members of my family needed this pointed out, you are using glass picture frames so they become dry erase! :) If you didn't see it before...EXPO is the way to go!

3. Leave enough space between the date of chores & the first chore. That way you can write the month name in there and the seasonal group. The daily is easy to erase every day. I haven't decided if I'm going to write the week on there yet. However, this will keep you from cheating & checking off things that you didn't actually do!

4. I think in order for this not to become wall art, you need to customize it. You need to write down things you are actually going to do. I have mop floors & vacuum once a day...yeah...that hasn't happened. The entire list isn't filled of these things, which would mean I'd ignore the list. However, having one or two that I constantly have to stare at as not marked off, is great. I actually do think about vacuuming every day. I'm about two weeks off from actually starting it. The other thing is the Menu..I'm not a dinner planner for the week. However, I am trying to force myself to do it. We'll see...

UGA Organizational Board

This was a lot of work, but I think it turned out great!

Who I got the idea from: Girl Loves Glam

Time: 5+ hours

Shopping List:

19x31 Piece of Plywood

2 8x10 Frames

2 5x6 Frames

2 Large Clips

3 Frame Hooks

2 8x10 pieces of Colored Card Stock

3 Packages of Command Strips

1 Paper Mache Box

Black Paint & foam paint brush

Hot Glue Gun

Scrapbook Kit

Dry Erase Markers

Nails & a Hammer

Instructions:

1. Paint Plywood: I had my Dad cut me a piece of plywood. I think mine is actually 19x30. The exact size fits to your needs. Then I painted the plywood & the paper mache box. I put two coats on and let dry overnight (this is why it took so long). 

2. Frames: Hot Glue the glass to the inside of the frames.  

3. Print Offs: Print out the lists that you want. I made my own, because I wanted them UGA themed, and I'm a bit of a freak. I also wanted to use the same font - I used Kristen. The original website had links to what she did. 

Calendar: I used a table in Microsoft Word word. I left extra space at the top so I could write the name of the month. I then printed on Red Card Stock I got from Hobby Lobby. Then I put this into one of the 8x10 frames.

 
To Do List: I changed Microsoft Word's page size to 5x7, printed it on white paper & put it into one of the 5x7 frames.  


Scrapbook Kit: I had a scrapbook kit I never used that was UGA themed. I used boards & stickers from that kit to add color to the lists. 

 


Chore List: I knew I wanted a quarterly list, but seasonal fit better so it was named seasonal. I think the important thing to remember with this type of list is make sure you put down what you're going to do. If you're not going to vacuum every day, don't put it down. You won't want to see that on the list and you'll ignore doing it.

 
  
Menu:  The menu was easy enough. Again word and 5x7. I would suggest starting the week on Sunday or Monday depending on your schedule. I do my shopping on Sunday Morning so it was best for me to put Sunday first.  If in your mind you run Monday-Sunday, then put Monday first.

4.  Command Strips: Put command strips on the back of each of the frames (I used 4 for the big frames, 2 for the 5x7s, 3 for the paper mache box, & one for each of the clips). 

5. Picture Frame Hangers: I used the tooth hangers, because that's what the original post had. I was clearly not thinking and spent quite a bit of time putting them on the back of the board upside down. This was the hardest part, because the stupid little screws wouldn't go into the plywood. I don't really have a better suggestion other than patience & a glass of wine. Be sure the strips are level...if not then you have to make the nails in the wall uneven so that the whole thing is even.

6. Organize: Lay out the frames & clips on the board how you want them. Then peal off the command strips to put each piece on the board.

7. Hang: Hang up your frame! I used three nails, because I was sure it was coming off the wall. So far it's held up after 2 days!

Notes: Use Expo Dry Erase Markers. I bought ones with an eraser on the top. They weren't as good as Expo.  If you don't plan out a menu...don't put it on there. If you know you won't use an item, then don't bother putting it on there.