DIY Fence Easels

If you are a teacher, homeschool mom, or home daycare provider you might be like me and get catalogs from school supply companies. I love those books. I look through them and day-dream about what I could get for my kids. One of the things that has always caught my eye was the fence easels. But those things are around $80 for ONE. And I mean one easel per kid. There was no way I could allow myself to spend that kind of money on it. 

I have been doing a lot of thinking since re-opening my home kidcare/preschool about what I could do with the back yard to make it more fun. I have been "window" shopping again online and in books. I found those easels again and my longing to have them increased. But as I looked them over I began to think in a whole new direction...

I can make those, or more precisely, my husband can help me make those. I printed out pictures of what I wanted, one of the single and one of the double just to see what we might need. I put the measurements on the paper so we could estimate how big they should be. Then off to Home*Depot we went.  

First thing we needed to look for was the backing to use for the boards. We were intending to make double easels. We found a large sheet of white panel board. John measured it and figured we could cut the board into four equal pieces and they would be long enough for three children to use per sheet. We asked the man that worked there to cut it. He was thrilled to do it. He actually ended up helping us come up with the things to hold it to the fence instead of having to make holes and finding hooks that would work. He found us large green clamps to put on each end and one in the middle. Plus right next to those were the small ones to hang the paper with. I was thrilled, they matched. 

We are able to use small sheets of paper or the larger ones. I have been so blessed because friends have saved used paper for me and we use the side that hasn't been used. This is one way we help save the resources God provides, our own way of recycling paper. 

We looked all over the place for something to use that would hold the paint while the children painted and had a really hard time. I had purchased these wire racks at Dollar*Tree a few years ago and thought we might be able to make them work. My husband was able to make it so easily. And they lift right off when it is time to bring everything inside.  

I found the Melissa & Doug Easel Accessory Set through Amazon* for under $27/each. They come with the four buckets for paint, four brushes, four bottles of paint, chalk pencil set (can be used on paper, or sidewalk, or chalk board), a large roll of drawing/paint paper, one dry erase marker and a dry erase eraser. I need to get more dry erase markers and will have to replace the paint as we use it. I purchased one for each easel. I got some cheap Artist Aprons to use until I can replace them with better quality. 

The shorter fence is perfect for younger children. The older children use the higher fence. These store very easily, too. They aren't bulky because the racks come off and stack on top of each other. The boards are stored standing up against the wall. I keep the clamps in a bag. My paints are stored on a shelf in the garage with other art supplies and outside toys. 

The kids love dry erase boards so this works out GREAT. No marker stink INSIDE the house and they get to have fun. They can draw pictures or even play Hangman, which is something the older kids love to do. 

Here is our supply list:

1-Thrifty White Panel Board (cut into 4 equal parts) $11.97

12-2"Spring Clamp Metal Heavy Duty (3 per board) $11.88

24-Mini Spring Clamp (6 per board, 2 per child) $8.88

4 wire baskets (1 per board) $4.00

Nuts and Bolts to attach the baskets with (he had them already)

Cost to make four easels for up to 12 children to use $36.73 plus tax (I saved myself OVER $900)

Here is another quick project I did. I took a oil pan and used Command Strips to stick it to my front door. We can use any magnets we want on the board. They make numbers and letters and even animals. We will be using this board for a lot of different projects with the kids.

The board itself I found at a auto supply store for $10. I had the Command Strips already. You can use Velcro strips if you have them. I just used what was available and I knew would work. 

Most magnetic boards that big are well over $25, if not closer to $40. So I saved quite a bit on that project, too. There are no sharp edges on it so it is totally safe for children to use. I got this idea (minus the way I hung it) from that great pin board! 

Until next time...blessings to you.

A Movie, Time Outside and Money Saving Adventures

Our weekends are always full of activity. Sometimes it is together as a family and other times we are in all different directions. This weekend, we were able to be together because we didn't have things pulling us elsewhere. 

John started off the day going to the men's prayer breakfast at a local doughnut shop. He only gets to go when work doesn't demand his presence. After that he picked us up and we headed to the mall to see a wonderful Christian movie that just came out on Friday. Courageous, The Movie! I knew it would be good because we have loved the other three movies that Sherwood Pictures has made. But I had no idea just how much better this movie was going to be than the others. I didn't realize how much I would laugh and how much I would cry. I didn't realize how much it would touch my heart in so many ways. I am praying that it will touch the hearts of the men in our lives in an even bigger way than it touches us women. This is about them. But it is also about us, his wife and kids. We are to support him as he strives to live the life God has called him to live. There is website to the many resources for you and your family. I am so grateful for these men who allow the Lord to give them a story to tell and for the church that they belong to that works together to bring it to the big screen to share with the world. May God bless them greatly!

After the movie we stopped at Braum's for a small lunch, since we were FULL of popcorn and soda from the movies. We went to Veteran's Park and walked around the trails. Jonathan rode his skateboard and Jennifer her scooter. Both had MAJOR crashes! But they are both fine and managed to keep having fun. We sat and talked after our walk around the park while the kids played. We have some things we are working on to downsize our lives, not just our stuff, and we rarely get the chance to talk face to face about them. The air was cool and even though there were people at the park it did not seem crowded and crazy. Everyone was having fun and enjoying a day outside in the cool temps after a long hot summer. 

As we downsize, we must fix up the house. We have many small, medium and large repairs that we MUST do in the shortest amount of time possible. I am working on a list and will do my best to set aside time each day to do something towards getting that list of things done. I am also committing to doing as much of it myself as I can or finding someone to help me to take some of the load off of my husband.  Another thing on my list is to get my scrapbooking and sewing projects done and out of the way. I have my photo's divided into different containers according to season or type of picture. I HAVE to get those containers empty. I also MUST go through everything and figure out what we are keeping and what we are not. THEN sell what we are NOT, figure out what I don't NEED for a long period of time and pack that away to reduce the amount of STUFF around the house. That will help with the home repairs and how the house looks. We need the house to "show" well.

We are also working on downsizing our monthly expenses. The thing I am working on right now is the grocery bill. I have found some great sites to help me with that. I have put their links on my sidebar link page if you are interested. One of the sites talked about saving money by planning your menus based on your weekly grocery purchases. Whatever you find on sale for the week, plan your meals around that. I am very excited about it. We have two more weeks before we get paid again so I am going to have to be VERY creative with our meals and what I can purchase. I am not going to be able to purchase non-food items until we get paid. Everything will have to go towards our meals. I will try to post at least one new recipe and/or meal idea each week. One of my big things is crockpot meals because of the time I spend each day teaching my children. I love to put a meal on to cook and then get back to what I am doing instead of spending hours in the kitchen and making a huge mess to clean up. 

Until next time...Blessings to you!

My "Professional Haircutting at home" Adventures

In May when I went to the Home School Book Fair in Arlington, I found a booth that wasn't there the year before. A home school mom of 8 who is also a professional hairdresser. She put this video together to teach how to do a professional precision haircut. It has 8 basic haircuts for men, women and children. The video is called Professional Haircutting at home: A Complete In-Home Course on Haircutting. 

I had all the supplies gathered up to do it, even professional sheers but I waited. I had many excuses but the real reason I didn't try it was fear of messing up. Finally, John said, "when are you going to cut my hair? I need a haircut." I wanted to start on Jennifer because her haircut is the easiest. So last weekend I cut Jennifer's hair. It turned out alright. I just cut about two inches off. She has a "all one length" haircut. Then next was my husband. I watched the two men's videos and then set out to do his hair. The neat thing is I have the TV on and I am watching the video as I cut and pause it when I need to. It took awhile to do his hair but the instructor took her time, too. I didn't take pictures of his before and after but it turned out pretty good, for a first time. And he didn't make fun of me or get mad at me, so it couldn't be THAT bad. 

I didn't use a round brush to curl her hair under when I dried it so some went up and some went down. In another week I will do a small trim to make sure I get the ends better. They are just a little off, I think. With practice I think I can get it right. That is the idea, anyway. Jennifer wants to know when she can do mine!

Jonathan is NOT going to let me do his hair because there isn't a video of HIS haircut, he says. He is right. There isn't. So for now, he will still get his hair done by our good friend, Cathy.

That was the big project for the weekend AND our latest attempt at saving money wherever we are able to cut corners (no pun intended) and do it ourselves. 

Until next time...Blessings to you!