My First (maybe only) Online Craft Tutorial

Ok, y'all.  I love crafting.  If you know me at all you know that I love crafting.  Also, I am a sucker for a great online crafty tutorial (no big news there either, right?).  But I have yet to venture into the world of offering my own crafty tutorials on this little blog. At any given time I have about five or six ideas of crafty projects I could share in tutorial form, but I have refrained to do so for three reasons:

• There are just so many out there! Been on Pinterest much? I've often thought it would just be "white noise" to start sharing my own.  And really, how original are my ideas anyway?
• When I have a crafty idea and set to work creating, I rarely bother to stop and take pics of the individual steps or think it is worth it to take the time to write out instructions.
•  I am prone to immerse myself too much in projects and allow myself to use my creative outlets to avoid the mundane but important responsibilities of every day life. I want to avoid the temptation to let a new "hobby" of producing online craft tutorials take more of my time than is healthy and wise.

But tonight I have decided to break my online-craft-instruction-silence and share my first (and maybe only) tutorial on this blog. This project was just too delightful, quick, simple and sweet. I must share.

Who remembers doing "Shrinky Dinks" as a kid? I have fond memories of coloring in little images on flimsy plastic sheets and handing them over to my mom to place in a hot oven and watching them magically shrink down into sturdy little charms and trinkets.  Good times!  Except, I don't really recall what we ever did with the final projects. (Do you, Mom?) I am guessing not much before they eventually ended up getting thrown away.

Recently I got my hands on some blank sheets of "shrink film" and have been experimenting with creative ways to use them while enjoying all kinds of warm fuzzy childhood memories.  Also: I am constantly looking for ways to cherish Lucy and Collin's original artwork and preserve the especially sweet drawings without allowing the piles and piles they produce to take over our household. I decided to use shrink film to transform some of their most treasured drawings into these quirky keepsake Christmas ornaments and key chains.

Here are the supplies and tools I gathered:

• shrink film (my stash was given to me by a friend who was clearing out some of her craft supplies) I haven't found a place to purchase it locally, but it is available for online purchase at Amazon.
• sharpies in a variety of colors
• baking sheet
• standard sized hole punch
• scissors
• metal jump rings (found in the beading section of craft stores)
• metal key rings (also found in craft store beading sections
• bakers twine (or any yarn or thin ribbon works)
• metal spatula
• selection of children's drawings

While you can have your children (if you are comfortable with them using a permanent marker!) draw directly on the shrink film, I enjoyed the process of looking through and picking out some of my favorite of theirs that I had been holding onto for sometime. I just placed the shrink film over their drawings, matched the colors as best as I could and traced their drawings.  There was something sweet about the experience of tracing their artwork. It helped me enter into their little hearts and minds and I gained some insight into their creative processes while paying close attention to the details they deemed important.

 

 I made sure to write in each child's name and the year when I traced the drawings. When the tracing was complete, I just cut each image out and punched a hole in the top.

 

Next, I arranged them onto the baking sheet and placed them in the oven at 275 degrees.

I stayed close to the oven and kept watch while they were baking. After 3 minutes they had shrunk down quite a bit but I knew they weren't done because the edges were curled up and the images looked a bit distorted. Don't let the curled up edges make you think that it's not working right. 

After 3 MORE minutes I knew they were done because they were perfectly flat and the images were no longer distorted.  Just cute tiny little perfect versions of the originals. : )

 

They cooled off super fast and were ready to be turned into key chains and ornaments. For the key chains, simply attach the jump rings to the hole at the top of the finished little trinket.  I used my fingers, but would probably have been easier with pliers. Then just attach the metal key rings to the jump rings.  The jump rings aren't necessary, but I feel like the pieces hang better and look more appealing with the jump ring attached. For the ornaments I just threaded a length of red and white bakers twine through the hole and tied a bow.

Here's a look at one of the finished key chains next to the original drawing to give an idea of how much "shrinkage" occurs. There are a lot of fun family gift possibilities here.  I know a few grandparents, aunts, uncles and older cousins who would get a kick out of receiving these. They also make a great Father's Day or Mother's Day gift option. Make up a few for yourself or even for the little artists themselves to keep and treasure. 

Since this is my first time putting my own craft tutorial "out there" do me a favor and let me know if you decide to try it yourself.  And if so, do tell how it worked for you and if you modified it at all or ended up with a different final product. : ) Thanks for reading!

xoxo,

Creating Structure

Being the right-brained creative gal that I am, I have always tended to bristle at the idea of a schedule-driven life and home. I did eventually accept the fact that some degree of order is simply necessary to function well in life, but had to deal with the fact that creating order and structure wasn't a skill I came by naturally.

One of my goals for coming out of the "survival mode" our family has lived in for three years, was that I would be able to find a way to create routine in our home that would complement my personality rather than fight it. Taking inspiration from books, and talking with friends/family who are more skilled in this area than I am, I have incorporated some strategies that are making a difference for good in our family, and I thought I'd share one of those strategies today.

A visual scheduling system is tool often used for kids with special communication needs due to language disorders and delays. After receiving encouragement from Lucy's occupational therapist and speech-language pathologist, as well as from my sister who is a speech therapist in an elementary school, I decided to create a visual scheduling system for our family as a means to involve the kids in planning out our time and helping them know what to expect during the day.

I began by making a list of EVERYTHING I could think of that our family does, including at-home routines, errands, recreational activities, and social opportunities.  This was a lengthy process, but I came up with about forty things and I found a photographic image to represent each item.  I then opened up Microsoft Publisher and using the business card template, created a card for each of the items on my list that included text and the images. Then I used my Xyron Creative Station with the magnet-laminate cartridge to turn the cards into magnets.  They ended up looking like this:

I also made text-only magnets that represented "morning", "afternoon", and "evening" and the seven days of the week.

Then I went to a craft shop and purchased a small metal board that is often used by cross-stitchers to keep track of their patterns. I love this board because the size and weight makes it portable. The only drawback was that the edges were fairly sharp... a problem that was easily remedied with my stash of cute Japanese washi tape:

I was then ready to introduce the concept to the kids.  I decided that we would use the board three times a day.  In the morning at breakfast I would sit with the kids, and introduce the plan for the morning by lining up the magnets in the desired order.  It was important to me that we only did a section of the day at the time, so as not to overwhelm them with more information than they could handle. This is what a common morning looks like for us:

Then at lunchtime, we come together again with the board and plan out the afternoon.  The nice thing here is that in the afternoons, there is normally some flexibility for them to have some decision-making power.  In those cases, I decide on a group of activities that I approve of, present those options to the kids with the magnets and let them create their own afternoon schedule.  (This is also really helpful when we leave the kids with a sitter, because it gives them ideas of what we have available to do in our home and helps them to get their time together off to a good start.)

When Darin comes home from work and we are all sitting together at dinner, we can then plan the rest of our evening as a family and invite him into the flow we've had going that day. This really helps us all to finish our day well.

One of the things that I find helpful is that when one or both of the kids desire to stray from the routine, we can grab the board together and discuss it.  Sometimes we can't be flexible and we have to stick to the plan. In that event, the board is a visual aid to help them understand that.  Other times, we can be flexible and change things around, but first we physically add, remove or rearrange the magnets on the board to agree upon the changes.

Now that we have been using the board for a couple months, I find that we have some decent habits formed and we don't always have to use it for EVERY portion of EVERY day, but when things are starting to get a little chaotic, and we need to restore a sense of order, we pull out the board and magnets. Since they are familiar with the system, they have an easier time accepting and cooperating with my or Darin's intervention.

This is a tool that complements my personality because I was able to use my creativity in putting together the magnets and board, and it allows for the flexibility that I crave.  It also has helped foster a sense of peace within our household because it acknowledges the kids' desires for involvement in decision-making while still maintaining my and Darin's roles as parents.

What do you think? Have you discovered tools or strategies that help bring routine and order to your family's life while still acknowledging your unique personality?  I'd love to hear what has worked for you!

xoxo,