I hope you have been enjoying our week of Outdoor Fun!  If you are just joining us you can catch up here and here!  Today I am going to share a fun tutorial with you and an awesome giveaway!

Only a few more days until summer vacation starts here and I can not wait!  I am so ready for a more relaxed routine, no school papers to sort through at the end of the day and the extra time I get to spend with the kiddos!  With that said, summer also brings on a little bit of anxiety for me.  I need to keep some kind of routine around here or we get a little nuts!

This is where our Summer Fun board comes into play.  A few weeks ago I asked my boys to list all of the things they would like to do this summer.  They mentioned things like the zoo, skate park, roller blading, library, pool, and rock climbing (hey a kid can dream right?).  My goal is to have our mornings run on a schedule and our afternoons for free time.  This way we can get the things we have to do (work, chores, reading practice, etc.) out of the way early so that we can goof off the rest of the day!  If the boys accomplish all of their “to-do’s” then they get rewarded by getting to do something off of their summer bucket list.  Each day of the week will be something different, and I will determine what that is in advance (to avoid fighting over who gets to pick what we do).  Plus they can not see what is in the pocket until it is time to pull the activity stick so there will be a little element of surprise that will make this even more fun!

Sounds fun right?   Here is how you can make one to!

Supplies:

• board or scrap piece of wood (mine measured 15″x15″)
• Vinyl that spells the words “summer fun” (you can cut with a vinyl cutter or with an X- Acto knife and stencil)
• library pockets or small envelopes (I found mine at a teachers supply store but I have seen similar items at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s)
• Paint brush
• Two colors of paint in contrasting colors
• Sand paper
• Paint Marker
• Glue dots or tacky glue
• Letter stickers (optional)
• Craft sticks

Allow the base coat of paint to dry thoroughly and then following the vinyl manufactures directions, add the vinyl letters to the board.

Paint color number 2 directly over the base color.

Nice huh?

I liked the way the stencil turned out but I felt like it needed something to make the words pop a little bit.  Nothing that a little orange paint marker couldn’t solve.  I simply outlined all of the words to give them a little extra umph!

The overall look I was going for with this design was that of an old beach sign.  In order to “weather” the colors a bit I roughed up the entire board with a piece of sandpaper.  This helped to bring out the undercoat of paint and soften the orange paint.

Last but not least add your activity sticks.  These can be as simple or as elaborate as you like.  I simply labeled each stick with a different activity using my paint marker.  You could also have your kids paint each stick a different color or Mode Podge them with cute fabric or scrapbook paper!

That’s all you need to create this simple activity board that will provide hours of fun and many wonderful summer memories!

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