A Simple Allowance System for Kids

July 20, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

Allowance System for Kids

Teaching my daughter to give back to those in need is very important to me. I want to raise her to be kind and understand that sometimes people need help and if we can help them, we should. Recently Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company asked me to share how I’m teaching my kiddo to give back to the community.

On the playground the moms and I often chat about what we do to “reward” our kids good behavior. Three years ago, when my daughter was 3, I had a good jar and naughty jar system to help me get her to listen (please put your pajamas on when I ask, please). Eventually she grew out of caring about the rocks and realized money is pretty amazing, so I changed up our reward system. Our new system has a “Fun” jar, “Bank” jar, “Donation” jar, and “Allowance” jar.

The “Fun” jar can be used however she wants! When we first started the money jars she wanted to use her fun money to take us out to lunch (very sweet), but she’s since changed her mind and likes to use that money to buy toys, or cool bug eating plants.
The “Bank” jar is the money that goes directly into her savings account. We set up a savings account in an actual bank and when that jar is full, we deposit the coins in there.
The “Donation” jar is used to give back to our community. My daughter gets to choose where the money goes, as long as it helps someone. Once we bought toys for kids, and another time we bought food for a local food drive.
The “Allowance” jar is like the bank. This is where my husband and I dump our change and we grab money from here for my daughter’s allowance. When she cleans her room, or makes her bed each day during the week: we grab a small handful of coins and she spreads them evenly between the “Fun”, “Bank”, and “Donation” jars.

It takes her a couple months to really fill these jars up and I’m always surprised by how much money is actually in those tiny jars. If my kiddo isn’t listening we do threaten to take away some allowance (we would only take from the “Fun” jar), but we’ve never really had to take any away.

If you love this allowance system, feel free to download these free printables I made for you! You can print them, cut them out, tape them to some popsicle sticks, and attach to your allowance jars. Download the blue here. Download the pink here.

From July 11th – July 31st you can check out the Jewelers Mutual “Band Together” campaign to help them decide how to disperse a $2 million record-breaking donation by voting for one of the following nonprofits: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Habitat for Humanity, and Feeding America or Food Banks Canada. The cause that receives the most votes by the end of July will receive a $1 million donation from Jewelers Mutual. The runner-up will receive $700,000 and $300,000 will go to the third-place winner. That’s an amazing donation for all three causes and on top of that voters will be entered for a chance to win weekly jewelry prizes from STACKED New York. Each week, one lucky winner will receive a set of 3 stacking bands ($450 retail value). You can vote daily to increase your chances of winning! It’s easy to vote, check it out!

What do you do to teach your kid how to help their community?

– Chelsey

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P.S. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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Categories: about me, Crafts and DIYs for the Kids, diy

DIY LEGO Planter Project – fun to make with kids!

July 19, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

I really love watching my oldest daughter grow up and turn into a human. She has her own opinions (that she shares with us A LOT) and her creativity grows everyday! Sometimes I just sit back and look at her and think, “How did she come up with that?” Anything related to creativity and art she is into, and that makes it so fun for me because I’m the also into those things. So, when I was sent a box of LEGO® Classic and challenged to use “out of the box thinking”, I knew we could do this. The Upright Citizens Brigade teamed up with LEGO to encourage kids, parents and families to “don’t think” and let your creative juices flow.

I opened up our box of bricks and told my daughter to just start building a tower and a creative idea would come to her eventually. This was a “warm up exercise” tip the Upright Citizens Brigade gave to get the creative juices flowing, and it worked! The tower building lead to her deconstructing the tower and organizing the bricks by color in a muffin tin. She was frustrated that she couldn’t find the exact color she wanted and this was her solution (she loves organization).

Once all of her bricks were organized by color, she was ready to go. Another tip the Upright Citizens Brigade gave was to “Build your world”. I told my kiddo to look around the house and see if there was anything in the home she might want to build. It didn’t take long for her to tell me she just had to build a planter. She’s recently been very into growing plants (she spent her allowance on this Venus Flytrap a couple months ago) and she thought it would be fun to make her own planter with these bricks! Don’t worry, we didn’t plant the succulents directly into the LEGO planters. They are just dropped in so we can play with the LEGO bricks again later.

SO, that big long story brings us to today’s DIY that is brought to you by, my daughter.

DIY LEGO Planter Project

Supplies needed:

LEGO Classic bricks
Small planters (we used baby food jars)
Dirt
Succulent plants

Directions:

STEP 1: Separate the LEGO colors in a muffin tin. This will help you pick out the colors easily while you build!

STEP 2: Measure the small planters you’ll be planting the succulents in. This will give you an idea for how big of a hole you need for the LEGO planter.

STEP 3: Begin to add the bricks around the edge of the planter and leave enough space to fit the planter into the hole.

STEP 4: Drop your planted plant into the LEGO planter, and you’re done! When you’re ready to play with these bricks again you can just take the plant out and tear apart the LEGO planter.

To get a better idea of how we built our planters, check out this video we made!

If you need a good laugh, you can also check out this funny 60 second video of the Upright Citizen Brigade building with LEGO Classic bricks.

LEGO Classic gives builders a “no instructions necessary” building experience providing inspiration that highlights the possibilities of open-ended building to inspire endless play. Ten sets, ranging from $16.99 to $59.99, make the perfect solution for gift-givers or for families looking to add to an existing LEGO collection or inspire their child to try building.

What will you build?

– Chelsey

P.S. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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Categories: Crafts and DIYs for the Kids, diy

Coat Rack Makeover for $15!

July 12, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

Coat Rack Makeover for $15!

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m on a mission to makeover our front entry. I’ve already added some artwork and a cupboard shoe rack, but I still have more work to do. On my front entryway makeover to do list: paint the door, paint the walls, tear out the ugly pink tile (it’s the worst and was installed OVER hardwood flooring), and add a coat rack. Removing the tile and painting the walls and door will have to wait for a while, but I can add a coat rack. We don’t have much room in the entry and I needed a coat rack that can fit on the wall right behind the door. I didn’t want to spend too much on the coat rack and that left me with some plain and boring racks to choose from. Eventually I found this little inexpensive plain white wall coat rack and decided to make it over! I have a TON of spray paint, so it was right in my budget.

I think the coat rack turned out great, so I shared the whole DIY on the Better Homes and Gardens blog. Did you notice two of the hooks are yellow and the rest are gold? I’m hoping those two little yellow hooks will help remind my 6-year-old to hang up her coats… instead of throwing them on the ground EVERY time she comes in the house. Every time.

Supplies needed for this coat rack makeover:

inexpensive wall coat rack (I found this one on Amazon and love it)
primer spray paint
spray paint colors (I went with yellow and gold)
clear acrylic spray

To check out the full DIY, head on over to the Better Homes and Gardens blog!

Final cost: $15 for the coat rack. I already owned all the other supplies to create this project.

I want to see what you’re crafting! You can share a link to what you’ve made in the comments below, or tag me on Instagram with a photo (my user name is @thepapermama).

– Chelsey

P.S. I am a paid contributor for the Better Homes and Gardens blog.

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Tags: paint

Categories: BHG, diy, For The Home, paper mama house

Pretty Gemstone Soap DIY!

July 1, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

DIY Gemstone Soap!

One of my favorite trends right now: gemstone everything! People are crafting anything they can find into these sparkly creations. So, a couple weeks ago I picked up a gem soap making kit from Michaels and I thought it might be a fun project for my daughter and I to work on together. The kit worked fine, but the soap wasn’t exactly what we were hoping to get. It was hard to get the color to really swirl throughout the soap. We wanted more swirls! Ha! We ended up heading BACK to Michaels and picked up a whole bunch of soap making supplies to try again, our way.

Our DIY Gemstone Soaps turned out so cute! It was definitely a lot more work to create these cuties without a kit, but worth it in the end. My daughter helped with most of it (I did all of the soap melting since that was too hot) and she’s excited to give these away as surprise gifts to her friends. What do you think? Cute?

Supplies:

Clear glycerin soap
Goats milk soap
Soap coloring
fragrance (I used peppermint)
Microwave safe dish or measuring cup
Large plastic cups
Small plastic cups
Knife

Directions:

Step 1: We’ll start the whole process by coloring our soap! Set out about 6 of the small plastic cups. Chop up about 6 one inch cubes of the clear glycerin soap and place them in your microwave safe dish (I like using a measuring cup because it’s easier to pour the soap). Follow the melting directions for the soap. When it’s melted pour the soap into the small cups. While the soap is still in liquid form, add the soap coloring to each cup. The more color you add, the darker the soap will get. I’d suggest creating one dark, one medium, and one light color for the glycerin soap. Let the soap cool for at least 30 minutes.

Repeat this process with the goats milk soap and the same color.

Step 2: When the soaps have cooled pop them out of the small plastic cups. Chop them up and mix together.

Step 4: Drop the chopped up soaps into a large plastic cup and a small cup (this is so you can get a couple different sizes of soap).

Step 5: Chop up about 5 one inch cubes of the clear glycerin, add to the microwave safe dish, and melt. Pour the melted glycerin into the cups with the chopped up soap. This will start to melt your colored soap! Let this cool for at least an hour. Note: if you want the soap to melt together just a little bit more, pop the cup in the microwave for a very short amount of time. If it goes too long the cup will melt and you will have a mess. Don’t do that.

Step 6: Pop the soaps out of the plastic cups. You might need scissors to cut the large plastic cup. CAREFULLY use a knife to cut the soap. Just randomly cut edges into the soap.

When you’re done cutting the edges, your soap should look something like this:

Repeat all those steps again for each different color!

Be sure to check out all of the other Michaels Makers DIY trend ideas on the Michaels blog.

An InLinkz Link-up

– Chelsey

P.S. I was provided with a Michaels gift card to create this post for you. From tie-dyeing to lettering to tassels, pom poms and even unicorns, Michaels has everything you need for the latest and hottest DIY trends!

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Categories: diy, For The Home

Summer Fun Storage Bucket

June 30, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

Summer Fun Storage Bucket

In our back room you’ll find a cardboard box full of little summer toys. We have open storage in our back room, so I would prefer to store stuff in cute storage (cardboard boxes weren’t cutting it in the cute storage category). That is why I created this Summer Fun Storage Bucket to hold the jump ropes, chalk, bubbles, shovels, and all the other tiny things that my daughter plays with outside. I’m very happy with the final result and I’m already planning to make a “Hello, Winter” bucket to store gloves, ear muffs, and other small winter items.

This summer bucket would also make a very adorable gift for any kiddo. We have a couple of kid birthday parties to head to this summer, and I think this would make the perfect gift with all the goodies inside.

Supplies:

Photo Paper
Empty paint bucket (you can find them at Lowes)
Spray paint (color is your choice)
Clear acrylic spray paint
Hot glue
⅛” thick Latigo Lace leather strip
Free Hello Summer Printable
Goodies to put in your summer bucket (jump rope, chalk, shovel, bubbles, and other summer fun items)

Directions:

STEP 1: Carefully pop out the handle from the paint bucket. Clean any dirt or grease off of the outside of the paint bucket.

STEP 2: In a well ventilated space (preferably outdoors) and wearing a mask, spray the paint onto the the outside of the bucket (following the paint can directions). Let the paint dry for 24 hours before handling.

STEP 3: Print out the Hello Summer Printable out onto the HP Photo Paper. Cut one of the ovals out. When the paint can is completely dry, use the hot glue to adhere the cut out Hello Summer oval onto the front of the bucket. Optional: If you’re worried about the Hello Summer printout getting wet, this would be the time you apply a couple of layers of the acrylic sealer spray to your bucket and Hello Summer image. This will protect it from water.

STEP 4: Grab the leather strip and the bucket handle. Warm up the hot glue gun.

A. Put a tiny dot of hot glue at the end of the leather strip and glue it to the handle. Start wrapping the leather around the handle, adding dots of glue to the leather every couple of leather wraps.

B. Continue wrapping and glueing the leather onto the handle until it’s about 1 – 2 inches from each end. Note: I had two different colors of leather, so I chose to put the darker leather at the ends.

C. Carefully pop the bucket handle back into place.

Add all of your summer fun toys to the bucket and you’re done!

– Chelsey

P.S. I am a paid contributor for the HP Create site.

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Tags: printable, summer

Categories: Crafts and DIYs for the Kids, diy, HP

8 Pretty Porch Makeovers!

June 27, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

Trend: 8 Pretty Porch Makeovers!

When you think of living spaces your mind probably goes right to a living room or a family room, but we can’t forget about our outdoor living spaces! When the weather is nicer a porch is the best spot to sit and hang out with friends and family. If your porch is dull and messy no one will want to hang out there. I gathered 8 before and after porch ideas to inspire some pretty porch makeovers!

1) I really love how this painted deck turned out. Love it. Found on Young House Love.

2) Some paint, decorations, and a cute bench really make this front porch so much more welcoming. Found on Garage Sales R Us.

3) The transformation of this porch is fantastic! I love the bright colors and tile. Found on Tater Tots and Jello.

4) This porch REALLY changed when they removed the wrought iron and installed some lovely columns. Found on Balancing Home.

To check out the full list of before and afters, head on over to the Better Homes and Gardens blog.

I want to see what you’re crafting! You can share a link to what you’ve made in the comments below, or tag me on Instagram with a photo (my user name is @thepapermama).

– Chelsey

P.S. I am a paid contributor for the Better Homes and Gardens blog.

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Categories: BHG, favorite blogs

Five Friday Favorites: Ice Cream DIYs

June 17, 2016 | Posted by Chelsey

image via Sarah Hearts

Today’s Five Friday Favorites are all about ice cream. Let’s get ready for this hot weather with some cool sweet treats. Below I’ve shared three recipes, a neat trick to color your ice cream cone, and party decor! Enjoy!

1) Have you seen those edible color sprays? Try them out on tasty swirled cone. Found on Paper & Stitch.

2) Make these cute ice cream balloons on a stick for your summer party! Found on Oh Happy Day.

3) Check out this yummy looking Pina Colada ice cream recipe. It comes with free printable ice cream cone cover. Found on Sarah Hearts.

4) A couple years ago I made these banana ice creams to give my daughter a healthier summer treat and she loved them! Check out the recipes here.

5) Make your ice cream totally awesome with this galaxy ice cream recipe! Found on Some of This and Some of That.

I want to see what you’re crafting! You can share a link to what you’ve made in the comments below, or tag me on Instagram with a photo (my user name is @thepapermama).

– Chelsey

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Categories: favorite, favorite blogs