Pinterest to Done! :: Chalkboard Daily Calendar

I am so excited to share with you the finished product of this project that I showed a sneak peak of this weekend!

 

This project has been one that I have slowly been working on here and there for about a month now. It all started with this amazing pin that a pinned over a year ago:

 

via

 

First things first: it had me at chalkboard.

 

Next, I loved the idea of using smaller squares for an entire week worth of planning.

 

Loved it, pinned it, and well....forgot about it :)

Lately, however, the kids have had so much going on (dr's appt's, practices, homework due, etc) that I really wanted to start writing all their stuff down in its own place. And that is where this came in!

 

We happened to have some cheap wood laying around from some of the misc projects we did in our family room, and even had some of the left over chalkboard paint as well. Since the project was practically free, there was really no reason NOT to do it, right??

 

 

1. First we cut out wood down to 6" squares.

2. Jason used our router along the edges to really make this piece look nice.

3. He drilled a hole in the back (center!) so that we could mount this flush against the wall.

 

Since we were using the cheap stuff on this project, he had to use wood putty to fill in some of the spaces.

 

Next, I primed it. When painting things like this, I like to prop it up underneath with something smaller so that the paint doesn't dry to the paper.

 

A few coats of black chalkboard later, we were looking good! The original pin used wooden letters for the days {which I really wanted to do!}, but I couldn't find any in a font that I liked at the craft store, so I chose some nice scrapbook letters instead.

 

I also purchased clips because I was obsessed with this pin:

via

 

I loved, loved, loved the idea of being able to just clip the invite right to the day it was going on. With three kids, we get a ton of birthday invitations, which usually clutters up our kitchen command center. Jason and I both agreed that the pin board would probably end up too messy, so we stuck with my original plan of the chalkboards; the clips were a compromise.

 

 

To add the clips, I measured the center of the top and marked it with a pencil. I just hot glued them on next.

 

And then they were done!

 

The boards are hung next to the kid's art display boards {which don't be surprised if you see a redo of that coming up!}:

 

The clips are small, so they don't take too much away from the chalkboard, but are surprisingly really strong.

 

Since the tiles only cover a week worth of stuff, I added a folder to the bins in the kitchen:

 

I toss all the time sensitive stuff in there and pull it out at the beginning of each week.

 

Oh, pinterest, where would I be with out you???

 

 

xo,

Rachel

 

 



Fall List :: A Place for Homework

 

Well, we officially have a first grader :)

 

 

 

Adorable, right??

 

Well, don't be fooled....this adorable little guy will be bringing no less than 3545652 pieces of paper/homework/artwork into this house this year alone :)

 

So. Onto the next thing on my list, and not a moment too soon!

I left you yesterday with this list:

{Check out how I redid our snacks and kitchen command center}

 

This is how our new system is going to work{that said, I am fully aware that as the year goes on, this may change}:

Once they get home from school {since our daughter is only starting part time preK, they will be coming home at different times}, they will hand me all the papers from their "take home folders". They do this anyway, so really it's just a matter of me not throwing the papers on our kitchen cabinet and forgetting about them. From there, they are separated into three piles:

 

The completed work/art is taken (and, of course, 'ooohed and ahhhed over') then clipped up into the magnet board we have in our hallway for their art.

 

 

That day's art and completed school work is hung by a clip, so that when daddy comes home, he knows where to look for their most current work. Each child has their own clip. Older work is moved to the rest of the magnet board, like this:

 

The forms that are meant for me, are divided into 2 catagories: stuff that needs action (fundraisers, etc) and information. I hold the places of both of these things in one of the hanging files I just added to our kitchen command center:

 

Things that need action or need to be returned to the school are placed in these folders:

{make these chalkboard labels with this tutorial}

 

Home work that still needs to be done will be placed on our magnet board until we sit down to do it together {soon, in our new and improved family room!!}

 

All the information (like the student handbook with numbers, etc) are placed in the binder that I keep in the file holder as well:

 

The rest of that binder is a whooooole other post in itself :)

 

 

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

 

 

xo,

Rachel

 

 

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