Journaling in a Doodle-y way

I have always loved the idea of journaling and I have tried to journal many different times in many different ways. To me, a writer, the blank page begs to be filled and that got daunting pretty quick if I felt like I didn’t have enough to fill a page. A while ago I found a way of journaling that works for me and I’ve been journaling for a year and a half now – woot!  I love looking at my journals and I look forward to journaling now too.

Here are a few things that help me out:

I break up the page with boxes. The borders can be simple or fancy, but I try to keep boxes close together and fit shapes together. I still want most of the page filled up with writing.

I add color with pens or colored pencils.

I emphasize words by changing the size of the letters or by underlining, adding color, or lines to draw attention. I also use arrows to show direction from one box to another if I need to continue a thought in another box.

I try writing in different styles (I’ve gotten better at this the more I’ve done it and I’ve even learned new ideas as I’ve gone too!)

I add doodles – sometimes they fit what is on the page, sometimes they are there just because I felt like it, sometimes I leave them off because I have a lot to say or don’t feel like doodling a picture.

Here’s a page before I write on it or add color. I have gotten more creative with my box borders – but I save these fancier ones for when I have a little more time. I also add a doodle in a corner frequently, because I like to doodle here and there (I pull my ideas off Pinterest when it comes to doodles). Maybe you aren’t a doodler.  Maybe color isn’t your thing – that’s okay. Maybe you love fancy borders or just want to keep it simple. Maybe you like lots of boxes or just a couple large boxes. That’s what make this so fun, it’s all up to what you like.  If you are a wannabe doodler like me, I will say that your doodles get better with practice!

As you can see from the page above, rather than trying to write everyday, I often write highlights from the week – this take the pressure off feeling like have to write a page of amazing when there is very little that happened that day.  If I have a really awesome exciting day, then I can fill the page. Sometimes I have a big story to tell, so I type it up and tape in an insert with Washi tape (because it is fun & colorful). Sometimes, since I like to do larger doodles once in a while, I’ll tape in a doodle insert.

Sometimes I do fold-out inserts by taping to the edge of the page rather than the inside (but I don’t do these as often)

What do I journal about? Well, from the above you have some idea – I journal a lot of different things.

I journal about daily life in my highlights.

I journal church or other notes.

I journal my scripture study.

Some people like to have separate journals for these, I like to have it thrown all into one place.

I also like to journal lists, because someday maybe someone will read these to learn more about me (like a great-great-grandchild who’s heard stories of crazy grandma J, heh). Here are 3 examples of list ranging from simple words scattered about, to several doodles, to one large doodle incorporating the list.  Or you could just make a simple list on your page – I like to get doodle-y with it, but someone else might not.

 

Well there you have it! A new discovery that has brought me 18 months of joy and hopefully a lot more to come.

Do you journal? I would love to hear about what works/ doesn’t work for you! Post your ideas in the comments!

A final doodle for you that I did in April to remember our Elizabeth who we affectionately called Lizard (or Lizard breath).

 

Family Chore/Job Center & Chalkboard Door

Some time ago I decided I needed to do something different for our chore charts. I wanted a job for hire board. I thought about checklists to help the kids remember the daily things they needed to do. I thought about regular rotating chore charts. It seemed like a lot of different charts to have to make. I looked all over pinterest and nothing stood out to me until I found this amazing idea. It seemed pretty involved as far as making it, but I loved the look and a lot of the ideas behind it – especially because it had all the charts I wanted in one place. I decided to see what Paul thought, since I would enlist him in building it, and he agreed. After a few months (mainly because we had so many other things demanding out attention that we kept shoving it aside) we finally got it completed today. I had a number of requests on Facebook for more details and some close-ups, so I obliged.

First off, here is what the whole thing looks like:

The ladder was not hard to build and Paul has a saw and  such, so I put him to work. He cut and sanded and painted. We have two pieces running along the back that we fixed the head board and all the smaller ladder boards on. I don’t really know dimensions – we just looked at the picture I found on pinterest and then we figured how big we wanted to make ours for the space where we wanted to put it.  I could have done it myself probably, but power saws and such make me nervous (I mean, good grief, look at what I did with a lawn mower and my toe in high school, lol).

Then I got to do the fun part.  I’ll start from the bottom up.

We talked about a bunch of ways we wanted to do the kids chore chart & checklists, and finally I decided I liked the clipboards the best for a number of reasons – namely they required the least amount of extra work.  These were plain brown boring ones I got at Staples for $2 a piece. I painted them to make them more interesting.  On the bottom is their daily checklist – it’s fixed permanently onto the clipboard. These are the things we expect of them daily simply because they are alive.  They are all pretty self explanatory except possibly “Your Stuff” which means to make sure your stuff is gathered and put away from around the house & “Observe” where we want them to observe 1 thing in the house that needs to be done and then do it without being asked. I laminated the cards so they can mark them off each day with a dry erase marker. If they complete their checklist for the day, they get to check the day off up above. Once a week I will give them a ticket for each day they completed their checklist.

The top card on the clipboard is the rotating chore job. They have 2 chores each week: a kitchen chore and a household chore. Those are laminated for durability and get moved each Sunday. On them I listed what I expected to be done daily & weekly in each chore area.

The next section of my board consists of a row of buckets. Target has adorable buckets for $1 I love color so I got colorful ones (and I might trade them out if other more colorful ones appear). You will find them in the $ section close to where you walk in. The buckets are utilitarian in purpose – that’s where we put the tickets they earn and store the dry erase markers for the kids to mark their checklists with.

Finally comes the upper section:

Just above the buckets is a little picture frame where I can write (in dry erase) the date of the next reward day (we will probably have one about once a month or so) and a list of what they can order with their tickets. We will probably change this up from time to time, but it’s a way to use incentives to motivate them. Then we have the Service bucket. Paul and I decided we wanted to have a spot where anyone could put in service they see needs to be done or would like to have done. The kids can pull out an act of service and complete it. Also in the service bucket is a dry erase marker & a regular pen (we though we might have an issue with ticket transference from one kid’s bucket to another, so the idea was proposed by our oldest to write names on the tickets so there can be no confusion). Finally is a little box where we keep help wanted chore cards and we might poke an eraser in there for chart cleaning, etc.

Across the top and above the little black box are our chore for hire cards. These are chores above and beyond what we would typically ask and are willing to pay for. We are pretty cheap parents and don’t pay much (mostly because we can’t afford to shell $10 out a kid each week, heh), but it gives them an opportunity to learn to work for a wage. We sat down and made a list of what chores we felt were above and beyond and the amount we were willing to pay and I made a set of cards. I’m sure I will add on to them as time goes and we think of more things. As we see or feel the need for certain jobs to be done we will clip them up – they are first come first serve and the child will bring us the card when they are finished. We will inspect and then pay them. Some people keep the money with the card – we don’t because #1 it can be a temptation to wander away with sticky fingers & #2 many jobs are under $1 or depend on how much is done (such as cupboard washing – we pay 10 cents a cupboard so it all depends on how many cupboards they wash). Finally, on the end is the roll of tickets. I think I mentioned earlier that these can be earned (1 each day) by completing the entire check list on the the clipboard.

At some point we will put some cute saying, quote or maybe just Chore Center in the black above the work for hire section, but I haven’t decided what I want there yet.

SO there you have it – our chore center largely copied from the one I found on Pinterest with a few things changed to fit our family personally. We screwed eye screws into the back and strung picture wire between them for hanging. When we put it up, we rearranged things to have our FHE chart, family clock, and blessings board (a really cute present from an awesome friend) all nearby.  It’s beside our front door and takes center stage in our living area to help us all remember to actively do our part in helping the home run smoothly.

Do you have a chore chart you love? How do you involve your kids in daily household doings? Share your success/fail (because we all have those too) stories in the comments!

I recently chalkboarded the door too, so it has become a center of family fun as well.  We did it with DIY chalkboard paint!

This was super easy and cheap to do. To make your own chalkboard paint in any color you want all you have to do is add 2 tablespoons of unsanded grout to 1 cup of paint and mix it really well. I chose a dark brown color (I felt black would be too dark) and since I was just doing 1 door, I bought a sample from Lowes for $3.50. Add the grout in just before you are ready to paint as it will gradually thicken and get clumpy after a time (a friend gave me her box when she was moving, but it’s not terribly expensive and lasts forever – so ask around if you know anyone who has grouted recently, or get a box to share because all of your friends will want to do this when they see your awesome door! lol).

Once your door is painted and completely dry, prep it by rubbing white chalk all over it in circular motions, then go back and erase it in circular motions and then voila you have an amazing chalkboard door that will be the hit of your home!

We celebrated our 18th anniversary on Monday! Woot! Robert was very proud of his “first boat ever, Mom!”.