Chalkboard T-shirts

Since moving to Wyoming this January, I haven't had a chance to play with my brand new Cricut machine until today- So I decided to do some freezer paper stencils which are so easy with an electronic cutting machine. The other day I came across some clearance chalkboard paint for 72 cents and thought, why not try making a shirt with it? I was a little dubious of the results, but I gave it a try.... And got some terrific results! :) I am quite pleased with how they turned out! :)

The baby's shirt wipes clean every time I pick him up and he drools a fair amount, so in hindsight, I am not sure a baby shirt is a great idea- but it's cute and it matches his big brother. Plus it cost next to nothing to make, so I am not worried about it! I made the pants too, out of an old shirt I had that I no longer wear.
Easiest pants to make ever! I got the instructions from here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNBmfHlWD6I . Easy peasy- and Lincoln is LOOOONG and skinny so either his pants fall off his bum or they are high-watered. These seem to be really comfy and they fit.
So there you have it. These are my two greatest creations! (The boys, not the shirts)

Leprechaun Trap!

This was an easy craft that Hudson and I put together with the stuff we had laying around the house.

Here's what you need:

An empty jam jar

Toothpicks

Drinking Straws

Ribbon

glue stick

paper

Green felt

acrylic paint

Gold curling ribbon

We cut up the felt and put it in the jam jar to pad the leprechaun's fall. Hudson didn't want him to get hurt. You could use crumpled strips of paper for this if you wanted... We glued the ribbons on so it looked like the end of the rainbow and put curled bits of gold ribbon inside- to trick the leprechaun into thinking it was REAL gold- because we KNOW that leprechauns love gold! We also glued signs on the trap to reassure him that it wasn't a trap, just in case. We needed a ladder for him to get in, so we poked toothpicks through two drinking straws (was easier than I thought, they just slide right through the plastic) and painted it blue. Later today, Hudson will look inside and there will be a Gold one dollar coin inside- left behind by the craft little spirte that got away!

Allowance with training wheels...

We have had this magnetic chore chart from Mellisa and Doug for a little while, but Hudson would just play with it- but I wanted to use it. He's five now and started showing an interest in paying tithing, but without any income, how do we teach it? I wanted to start giving him an allowance, but was not sure if he was ready for it- so I came up with this system.

For every magnet "sticker" he will get 1 "Bean" (which is a glass jewel thingy from the craft isle at Wal Mart). Beans have value- and can earn 7 a day from doing his chores- things that he's expected to do anyway- but if he does them on his own or the first time he gets a sticker. On saturday morning we trade all the stickers for beans that he gets to put in his jar. (We are going to decorate it) He can trade the beans at any time for these rewards that we discussed together and decided on.
He will have to learn that if he wants a new video game- he'll need to save the beans. He can get 49 beans a week- which is worth about $5 - but he doesn't just get the $5 unless he trades the beans for it- which he probably won't do. And if he has a time out for any reason he'll lose 5 beans. We already had this happen this week and he figured out really quickly that he doesn't want that to happen...

So we'll try this for a while and see how it works. I think the best part is that he's excited about it- he got to choose the rewards and the consequences- so he feels invested.