I've had a couple of requests for instructions on how to make a homemade job chart (see post below). Since I made this up, my instructions won't be perfect and I don't have pictures for every step, so I apologize in advance.
1. I purchased a hanging wooden board from our craft store Sierra's. This particular board came with six slats of wood horizontally fastened to two boards that can only be seen from the back.
2. I also purchased two sheets of square scrapbook paper that were reversible. I did this so I could do one pattern for the background on the wood and the other pattern for the stars. Then they could match! The wooden stars, embellishments, and magnets also came from the craft store. The wooden stars came in a package of about 100. I didn't use them all.
3a. Next, I cut the scrapbook paper with a paper cutter and then mod podged the pieces to the wood. (One coat to get them to stick and another coat on top to give it a nice slick feel). The neat thing about the slat board is that the pattern progressed but there were breaks between the slats. I think the pattern turned out nicely.
3b. I simply cut slits in the paper where the wire was.
4. Next I mod podged the stars to the other sheet of scrapbook paper. (Make sure you glue the stars on the side you don't want to show). Then I used tiny/eyebrow/mustache scissors to cut around the stars. I initially tried to trace a star and make a pattern, but it didn't work as well. Doing it this way allowed the paper to fit perfectly on every star.
5. Next, I mod podged a magnet to the back of each star. I started out using big magnets, but then the big magnets were out of stock and so the remainder of my magnets were of a smaller circumference. I found them both to work satisfactorily. The bigger magnets were a little less strong because the smaller ones were made of ceramic.
6. Mod podging the magnets to the board came next. I used all ceramic small ones for this. A WORD OF CAUTION: Make sure all of your magnets are glued on the same way otherwise the stars will repel. I tried very hard to get them all right, but alas, perfection is never possible is it? One magnet that is glued to my board is on the wrong way. I haven't quite decided what to do about that yet.
7. Next, I painted the magnets with an acrylic coat of off white so that the black wouldn't clash with my scrapbook paper.
8. Finally, I pressed a gold shiny stamp pad on every magnet on the board to give it a pretty sheen. This step isn't necessary, but it did add to the final result.
9. I noticed soon after I stamped the magnets that my fingers were rubbing off the gold sheen. So I just sprayed the whole thing with a clear acrylic sealer to solve that dilemma.
10. This last step is also optional. I bought some jewel and pearl embellishments from the craft store. With these, I just peeled them off and stuck them where I wanted them.
Left Side Pearl Embellishment (the Right Side matches)
Top jewel embellishment
Bottom pearl/jewel embellishment
11. I know I said there were only ten steps, but here's one more if you care to know about how I did the jobs. I realized that I probably won't need to keep the little make your bed star on there forever, so I didn't want to attach it permanently. I found some clip-art off of Microsoft Word online and printed these in color. Then I laminated them with my nifty $26 dollar laminator that I have been in love with the past few months, and taped them onto the stars. Ideally, velcro may work best. I still need to get some just in case the tape takes off some of the finish on the stars. But anyway, that way you can reuse the same stars and just change out the jobs.
Side Notes: I did 8 magnets across each wood slat. One for the large job star and 7 for the smaller stars. In theory, Easton is supposed to do each job once a day, but since he's too little to understand that he only gets one star, I just let him put a star up every time he completes a job.
Therefore, I needed 96 magnets, 42 smaller stars, and 6 larger stars.
You can make any changes to better fit your situation. But this is definitely an inexpensive, meant-to-last sort of project that is really fun! I think I spent about $25 dollars on the the whole thing. (I guess I already had the mod podge and the acrylic sealer). Add those on if you don't have those things and you'll probably spend just over $30.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
