Even though it’s hard to accept, summer is nearly behind us and the days when our family needs to be more structured and organized with their time are fast approaching.  I used to be so good at that – juggling all the necessary “mom” hats and staying focused.  The older I get, the more their seems to be to organize, though, (or maybe it’s just another attack of menopausal Jello brains!).  But, believing that every word He breathes is truth, I know that the Lord will never give me more than I can handle, with His help.  “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. – Phillipians 4:13″.  I LOVE that verse.  It always calms my spirit to remember that I’m not being asked to figure it all out and do it in my own steam.  If I’m called to do something, it is through Christ’s help that I will accomplish it.  I decided to ask Him to develop my focus in the areas where I was falling short.  I needed to quit just plowing through and trying to do anything and everything as fast as I could, as often as I was asked, and start letting the Lord show me the best way to organize my time, (Yes, letting.  Isn’t it funny that we forget He doesn’t force us to do anything?  We have to consciously and willingly give over our burdens and struggles to Him.) my family’s schedule for home and school and balance it with time for blogging, outside activity and a date night or two (remember those? to keep our marriage strong and us on the same track. )  What started developing in my mind was a calendar system that was large enough not to be overlooked and to have space enough to write EVERYTHING.  It is still an evolving project and after I have shown you how I made it, I will share my plans for expanding it.  The key to being able to be flexible within a plan is to first have a plan.  Just doing whatever comes up, willy nilly, is not being flexible.  It’s being burned out!

My finished scheduler/organizer board.

So I decided to get my Cricut Craft Cutter out of the box it’s been in since we moved and put it to good use on this project.  (Remember, I shared my last Cricut projects with you, HERE.)  Using it and an Elmer’s Tri-Fold Board, I was convinced that the organizer tool being laid on my heart was going to be a cinch to create.  I was right!  The end result was fantastic!  I’m so excited to put it to good use.   I hope this project can inspire you to invest in the best uses of your time for you and your own family.

The first thing I needed to do was visit my local Wal-Mart and get the Elmer’s Tri-Fold Board and a few more items on my list.  You can view my ThisMoment slideshow about the shopping trip, HERE.  Here’s how I assembled the Schedule Board/Organizer for our family, when I got back home.

Materials Used

• Elmer’s Tri-fold Board
• Elmer’s Dual Tip Glue Pen
• Cricuit Expressions Craft Cutter
• Cricut Cartridges: A Walk in My Garden; Plantin’ School Box; Tags, Bags, Boxes and More and Animal Kingdom
• various cardstock scraps, sheets and supplies I had on hand
• sticky-backed velcro dots and strips
• self-stick laminating pockets
• clear contact paper

Directions:

1. I laminated my Elmer’s Tri-Fold Board with clear Contact paper.  This board is going to get USED and handled.  I wanted to protect it from sticky fingerprints and give it even more strength.  It will be easy to wipe clean, now, if it does get smudged up.
   

   Covering the Elmer's Tri-Fold Board with contact paper. I had to do two full-width strips and then a narrow strip across the top.

   2.  The next thing I did was make the Month Title Strips.  To cut the shapes I used a pad of long cardstock sheets that I had.  They were 12″x24″ and several different pastel colors.  I loaded a green sheet into my Cricut Craft Cutter, used my Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge and cut these strips.

   

   I cut these title strips from green cardstock on my Cricut. I cut several from other colors, as well. I glued a green strip onto a slightly larger gold strip to create a "frame".

2. To cut the letters for the Title Strip, I used some glitter paper I had on hand and my Plantin’ Schoolbox Cricut cartridge.  I also cut slightly larger black letters to add a “shadow” to my glittered letters.
   

   I cut the letters for the month name from colored glitter cardstock and black cardstock. The black was cut slightly larger to create a shadow.

   

   I glued the glitter letters on top of the black letters to create a shadow and help them "stand out".

   

   Here is the finished title strip. I covered it, front and back, with clear contact paper. This will make it durable and help to keep it clean, since it will be getting handled regularly. You can see I decorated it with some flowers. Those were cut with the A Walk in My Garden Cricut cartridge. I will make a different title strip for each month, decorated for the common season or holidays of that month, and be able to interchange them as the months change. One project with unlimited usefulness! I love that.

3. For the Days of the Week, I used my Animal Kingdom cartridge to cut 14 small rectangles — 6 gold and 6 peach.   I used the Plantin’ School Book cartridge to cut black letters.  I glued the gold rectangles onto the peach and then centered the black letters onto the gold rectangles.
   

   Creating the days of the week was pretty simple. I glued the two rectangles together so that the peach created a shadow, behind the gold.

   

   I glued the black letters to the rectangles. These Day Titles probably won't get moved around much, but I still laminated them in the end, to keep them clean and increase durability.

4. Next, I wanted to create individual “cards” that would represent each date on our calendar.  I used the Tags, Bags Boxes and More cartridge in my Cricut and created the cards, then I cut the same pattern on the Cricut’s “window” setting and cut frames just slightly smaller than the cards.  I used different pastel shades of cardstock to create the “cards”.
   

   Inserting cartridge into my Cricut Expressions craft cutter.

    

   

   I cut the card and frame from contrasting papers, to give them a little "pop".

   

   I glued the frames to the cards and added a number to the top of each one. I made enough to have 31 days.

   

   I had these self-sealing laminating pouches in my craft tub and they worked perfectly for protecting the cards. The added bonus is that they can be written on with a dry erase marker and then wiped clean, again.

   

   I needed to lay out all the cards and establish some sort of random pattern before numbering and laminating them, so I would be pleased with the final "look".

   

   Laminating the cards is easy. Lay it face down on the clear plastic. Then peel away the backing and lay the sticky side over the back. Press and rub the back to make sure there are no air bubbles and the edges have sealed. Then trim away the excess. I DID try using contact paper for this step, however, dry erase marker did not erase from it as cleanly, so the self-sealing laminating pouches were the best solution.

    

   

   See how easily the writing erases. Perfect! This calendar/schedule board will last for years!

    

    

5.  Sticky-backed velcro strips to hang everything on the board were my next steps in this process.  I want to be able to move the numbers around as the months change, as well as remove and replace the cards to write on or erase them.  I added one strip to hang the Month names on and five strips to hang the numbered cards from.  Once the strips were attached to the board, the Month and Day names and the individual date cards each got their own velcro strip on the back and everything was put into place.
   

   The Month Name strip will hang from the top velcro strip

   

   These five strips of velcro are to hang the numbered date cards from. I realized after sticking these down that I left out a row for the day names, so I added an extra strip directly above and below the top strip (They are actually touching). So, it ended up being one very wide velcro strip that the day names and the first row of numbered date cards attach to.

6. I wanted the two side panels to be used for 1) the kids’ school assignments (Since we homeschool, this would be especially helpful.), 2)  the kids’ chore assignments 3)  my blogging schedule and 4)  a personal schedule.  These side panels are still a work in progress, with the ideas swirling and congealing in my mind.  In the meantime, I wanted to create name title cards for each of the kids and give you an idea of how the side panels can be used.
7. To create the kid’s name titles, I used my Plantin’ School Books cartridge to cut out the letters and shadows for the letters, for each of their names.  Then I used the A Walk in my Garden Cartridge to cut a large flower border to put Larissa’s name on and the Plantin’ School Books cartridge to cut a big zigzag to put behind Michael’s name.  I added a dark brown border around Michael’s completed name.  Both name tags were covered in clear contact paper and had velcro strips added to the back.
   

   Larissa's name tag before being covered with clear contact paper.

   

   Michael's name mounted on the zigzag. I also added a brown border behind that, before I covered it with clear contact paper.

8. I typed up an assignment sheet and a chore chart/ special activities sheet for each child, covered them in clear contact paper (This is how I found out dry erase doesn’t work on contact paper.) and mounted them onto the velcro strips I had placed on the two side panels of the Elmer’s Tri-Fold board.

I absolutely love the way this schedule/organizer turned out.  It is reusable for as long as we want, because everything is laminated and easy to wipe down, not to mention extra sturdy.  Each month, I can simply change out the month name strip and replace it with the next one, since they are all mounted with velcro.  The numbered date cards will be easy to shift, as the month changes, on their handy velcro strips and I can erase and re-write our appointments and important dates on them as they arise.

The side panels are still evolving in my mind, but you have an idea of what you can do, now.  Elmer’s Tri Fold Board was perfect for this project!

My finished board. This was an especially easy DIY project to complete using Elmer's Tri-Fold Board and my Cricut Craft Cutter.

A close-up of the side panel.

A close-up of the center panel with the fully moveable, changeable calendar.

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This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Elmer’s #gluenglitter #collectivebias.  As always, views and opinions about the products used are wholly my own.