Brit Kit Party

Have you heard of Brit + Co? I hadn’t until recently I found their iPhone app. It’s kind of like Pinterest, but not. You should look into it. They have this fun concept called Brit Kits, and it’s a craft kit that gets sent to your door that has everything you need to do a project (or two). Anyhow, as I was on the app, they said you could apply to be a hostess for a Brit Kit party. So just for kicks, I applied. I got picked for June! Woohoo! It was a Summer Soiree Kit, in all patriotic colors, so I went with patriotic decorating to get my butt in gear for the 4th. (that’s next week, people!)

I have this pretty sweet, vintage rope from my grandma in red, white, and blue. I hung it on our island my hubby built me with giant push pins in red, white, and blue.

I had some things set out for refreshments, which I provided a few, and other guests brought some treats too. This was before they had gotten here.

I have a cool, 3 divided tray so I put red, white, and blue napkins in it, then piled on treats and snacks in matching colors. I also had cookies, water and lemonade. I didn’t get a picture of the cups, but I used plastic cups and wrapped them with some patriotic washi tape from the party kit.

On the table, I had these mason jars holding the scissors, Sharpies, and some swirly pipe cleaners for fun. I got the idea for the mason jars here at It All Started with Paint. So what was in the kits?

It came in a cardboard box with a picture of the finished project on the outside.

The card had how-tos, and we got a pack of paper straws, lollipop sticks, 3 rolls of washi, some baker’s twine, 4 tiles, a foam brush, and some gloss varnish. It also came with a gift card for wine to make it a real party!

Here’s the table all laid out with kits for everyone, and just waiting for the guests to come! Once I explained what Brit Kits were and what the project was, everyone got down to work!

Most everyone had kids with them, but they played outside. A few came in and wanted to help though. And they could, they were easy projects!

I posted this picture on Instagram. It made 4 coasters, 6 fun straws, cupcake/whatever toppers with the lollipop sticks, and a cake bunting.

Here’s the people who stayed long enough for me to remember to take a picture holding up some of their projects. It was a really fun afternoon, and we’re trying to make this a new tradition!

Here’s my mason jars holding the straws, lollipop sticks, and cute bunting. I kinda love it

This was tons of fun, so go plan a girl’s craft night/day/afternoon whatever!

Chore Charts

They’re a necessary evil.  But, in my house, they make our days go a bit smoother.  Everyone knows what they need do before bedtime.

When my kids complain about their chores and call me mean, I just tell them, “I’m not mean!  I am teaching you life skills!  When you grow up and leave home you’ll thank me, because you will have had lots of practice doing {insert whatever they’re complaining about here}!”

For a long time, I used a chore chart like this:

When my boys finished their chores, they’d just wipe them off.  It works great!

Only….sometimes I forget to write their jobs down.  We also started an allowance system, where they get a nickel for every job they do without being asked.  That was getting hard to keep track of, especially since we were ERASING the chores as they were completed.

What to do?

Thanks to KidPointz I’ve got that one all figured out!  They have about a million different behavior/chore/exercise/homework/etc… charts to choose from. 

I chose four different designs from their behavior charts and filled them in with our chores.  (I only made four since Monkey is only two and doesn’t have chores.  Yet…) 

I laminated them so that they can mark their chores off with a dry erase marker.  Each chore is worth 5 points.  Five points=one nickel.  At the end of the week, they get the money they earned throughout the week.

You’ll also notice that these chore charts don’t have names on them.  I’ve numbered them 1-4, and each week we rotate charts.  This way, my kids get a variety of household chores!  Score!

This system has been working out really well for us.  My boys are loving the allowance.  I am loving the motivation they have to do their chores.  There’s also less fighting, because they know what they’re supposed to be doing.

You may be thinking “A nickel per job?  That’s it?!”  Don’t worry, it adds up, and their chores aren’t the only way they earn nickels.  They also earn them when I catch them doing good.  They can also lose them…

Whenever they want to cash in their nickels, I trade them for cash.  That way I’m not always running to the bank for nickels, and my boys aren’t carrying around 50 lbs. of change. 

If these chore charts don’t suit you, check these out:

Here’s a fun one Ash made a few months ago.

This Family Home Evening chart could easily be converted into a chore chart:

Anyway, there’s a few ideas.  What works for you and your family?

P.S.  KidPointz didn’t sponsor this post.  I’m just sharing the info and their site because it works for us.  Their charts are free, too!  Bonus!!

Containing my Crap

Happy Labor Day!! Have fun doing whatever you're doing! Here's a really quick, easy organization that I did for my patterns...Right now, I'm working on my craft/sewing table. Woohoo!! Post coming soon! You know all those paper patterns when you’re walking around your favorite craft/fabric store that you can rip off one and have it free? And you know how those patterns then get lost in the abyss that is your purse/craft room/sewing area (if it makes it that far?) Well, I decided to do something with those recently.

This is my pattern box. It’s overflowing. Something needs to be done, I realize it. This is just step 1. I grabbed out all of those free paper patterns first.

I got a binder from the DI.

Hey big spender…It was a planner, so it’s not a full binder size. It already had a bunch of lined paper and a few dividers in it, so I used the dividers as a guide to 3 hole punch my patterns, since they’re not typical size. I cut out some more dividers out of cardstock. Orange is what I had the most of. Whatever.

I decorated the binder with washi tape. Because I can.

Then, labeled those dividers, and stuck in my patterns.

So far, I’ve got things like pillows, Halloween, Christmas, kid crafts, décor tips, house things, crochet/knit, and apparel. With lots of space for more.

Speaking of washi tape, I’m developing quite the collection

(do you like my sewing machine cover? Love it!) Here it is by my box of patterns, on top of the patterns I got from my Grandma. See the 1/2” worth of lined paper in the pattern book? I’m thinking I’ll keep notes on patterns, alterations, etc., so I don’t have tons of paper floating all over. Nice.

One step closer to maintaining my hoard.

This little piggy…helped with chores?

Psst...Did you hear we're finally on Facebook? Come join the fun over there!
Maybe having a toddler ask for EVERYTHING at the store, or not wanting to pick up toys, or throwing fits when asked for 300+ time to do something sounds familiar? Well, I was getting tired of it, so I combined a bunch of ideas from Pinterest and came up with a solution, that so far (knock on wood) is working. First off, we had a family meeting to decide on family rules. The kidlets helped come up with them. I printed them up and put them in a thrifted frame.

Then, I came up with chores/jobs that I expect them to do every day, and some extra jobs they can do at their age.

I printed it up, and put it in a matching thrifted frame, and used washi tape to add a little bit of interest to it. Nothing too special, just simple for us. These frames came from the DI with Velcro on the back, so I used these Velcro strips from 3M. So far, I like them.

And hung them where all the family could see them, but it’s not the first thing other people see.

Next, I got a bunch of glass jars (does anyone else save them? No? Well here’s proof to my honey it's not just another hoard) I let the girls pick their colors from my acrylic paints (purple and pink, is anyone really surprised?) and made a few different jars. The first has a chalkboard label and a slit in the top (made a little safer with washi tape) for them to put their tithing in.

The next was just too freakin cute. I saw the idea on Pinterest and just changed it a bit. I cut out vinyl for their first letter of their name, and added cereal box ears, wooden bead legs, pipe cleaner tails, and washi tape snouts.

How adorable are those?!? They don’t have a slit in the top, so they just unscrew the snout to put their money in to save.

Now, all of my hubby’s and mine loose change goes in this jar. I used vinyl and a Cricut to cut out a mustache (from my mom’s cartridge she designed. She’s pretty awesome. It’s called Paper Doll Dress Up), and added the words “my stache” Hee hee, makes me smile whenever I see it

Finally, I got some empty Crystal Light containers, cut slits in the top, and added vinyl with their initial and the words “chore $”. Whenever they do things from the list, they get so much for doing the everyday jobs, and a little bit more for doing the extra jobs. I give them their change as soon as they do the job (from my mustache jar), and then they get to put it in their chore jar. If I have to ask them multiple times to do something, and/or end up doing it myself, they have to pay me the same amount. At the end of the week, we count their money and put some in tithing and the rest in the piggy bank. So far, my oldest has appreciated having a way to get money, and I’m sure once she’s able to buy her first thing, it will come together even more!

Memo…yeah, log that away!

You may remember when I posted here that I needed/wanted to make some sort of organization/memo board? Well, when I got a cork board for free, I decided to do just that.

It was kind of breaking, so I secured it all around with electrical tape. Maybe I’ll give up looking and just go buy more duct tape one of these days? I went to the DI and found these awesome frames that matched!!! For $2 total.
I laid them out in different ways on the board, figuring out what I wanted. (btw I thought the pictures were kinda cool, they’re birds made from real feathers. I’ll probably find out they were worth buttloads of money and I just took them apart. Oh well!)


Then started painting everything. I stained the cork board black, and painted the frames different colors of turquoise. I painted the priority mail envelopes gray. I printed off some chevron design paper in a gray and white color, and then started putting everything back together!

I screwed everything in from the back. Wow, dark pict. Sorry. Oh, I cut out the “his” and “hers” from my mom’s Cricut and Mod Podged it on. Cute, eh? My hubby’s is bulging with stuff he needs to find homes for. Mine, not as much.

I put chalkboard vinyl in the top frame (it’s hard to tell). It’s a countdown to daddy’s birthday right now. I hot glued some cabochons to the thumbtacks to make cute pins (from Pick Your Plum and Plaid Barn).

I wrote our summer fun list on the long frame, and a shopping list/to do list in the smaller frames. I hot glued some magnet clips below the summer list. Here’s a closer picture of that frame to show the ombre effect. Fun!

The calendar is something my sister made for us for Christmas. It inspired the color scheme. It’s a magnetic calendar that you just change the dates every month. I put some washi tape on the corners of the cork board, and on the envelopes to add some pizazz. And that’s my new memo board! It’s hung in our kitchen so groceries and things will hopefully not get forgotten.