By simple I mean both a classic scalloped heart, and that all you have to do is print** it out on a letter size sheet of card stock, cut it in half and fold it. wala. Besides, what better way to celebrate January 14th? Only a month guys . . .
The next couple of Fridays will be full of valentine cards/embellishments/cupcake toppers . . . it's going to be love-ly;)!
Get the simple valentine card here. (and please note: one of them, not pictured, is meant to have part of the heart cut off-I kind of like the asymmetrical look-but of course I changed it after the sun went down, hence the no picture)
Enjoy!
**If you're cards aren't centered right when printed see here.
Goals are important. So are sticker charts! I think they are great for bribing kids, focusing on the positive and keeping track of goals!
Here are two different sticker charts. We've been using a slightly altered sticker chart for the buddy for probably 8 months now (it has a personalized header that says the "buddy" is a good listener). It's been very helpful.
This first chart entitled "Sticker Chart" (I'm a creative genius, I know) has 10 rows of 10 squares for one broad goal or incentive. Great for children, or focusing in on one thing to make it a habit.
The second one, entitled "The Chart" (also genius)is geared to several (6) different items all at once each with one row of 10 squares. Great for a list of goals, or as a chore/responsibility chart for the kids, or whatever you're working towards and want to reward yourself for.
I need one to motivate me too. Never to old for a sticker chart! My top 3 goals?
1. Believe. Spend more time coming closer to my Savior and getting to know him personally.
2. Focus on helping the kids grow (aka-get the buddy potty trained, and the sweetie to sleep in her own bed all night long-among other things).
3. Spend less time on the computer-yes that means blogging. It's easy for me to get into the bad habit of crafting to blog about it instead of crafting for fun or as a useful endeavor. I want to keep the balance of crafting as part of my life, and blogging as a way to document it. I also want more mental time spent enjoying the moment and day rather than planning blogs or crafts in my head. Alas. I'm going to try not to blog more than three times a week, one of which will be the freebie friday. that's a doable realistic amount for me, without feeling like I'm crafting to blog.
I think this is going to be full of disclaimers. Seriously. That's what I get for waiting until Thursday night to figure out a Freebie for Friday. Ah, the stress, sometimes I get better results, sometimes not. It's good for me to be constantly figuring out something new though. I like that. Well, enough about that. Here it is: last minute bows, and last minute pillow (I get it confused with billow-see pdf) boxes for gift cards. Click here to print it.
First disclaimer: I realized after all the stores had closed, I was out of yellow ink. So while everything appears pink-the actual printable is green and RED. They match last weeks gift tags. Sorry about that. But here are the bows and gift card box: When folded the bows are a little over 2 inches, and the box fits a gift card-but you could use it for favors or small gifts too.
I've also created a little movie tutorial for folding the pinwheel bows because they are a little confusing for me to explain in type. Maybe I'm just a visual learner. Second disclaimer: I sound (and feel) like an idiot in this video. I know, everyone hates themselves on tape-me too. Sorry about that. I also apologize for the poor lighting, But hopefully the movie helps.
And a Third disclaimer: I didn't take any pictures of the gift card pillow box because it was half one color and half another (see first disclaimer ) but it's fun, and you'll like it. I promise :) Just make sure you use cardstock! Oh, and I think these little pinwheel bows would be so cute on top of a a cookie wrapped in plastic wrap or on a little gift, or as ties for little paper garland . . . Enjoy!
**Also, due to next Friday being Christmas Eve I won't be posting a freebie next Friday. I'll try to post one sometime between the 26 and 30, but won't again on New Years Eve. I will resume regular Friday postings on January 7th. And I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!
(this is the back side with a sticker over the white space. That's a fun way to use it too :)
I needed some Christmas tags this week. I wished I'd made these a little sooner- a sticky note cut in half hardly works well eh? Hopefully you can use them in some way: Get them here.
So I want to have the little buddy make hand made gifts for the grandparents. But I want it to be something useful, not something that will get tossed or forgotten, and something made by him, not me. Unless I come up with a better idea than this before we get around to it, this is what we will be doing . . . decorating a Calendar for the grandparents! Print your own here.
A few other fun ideas:
*Paste pictures on each page
for drawing prompts:
*draw a squiggly shape and have them make something out of it (that was always my favorite in elementary school)
*make a collage for each month using magazines, etc.
*do pictures of the family members who have birthdays in that month
* To finish i: staple it, put in a folder in page protectors, cerlox bind it, or even frame them.
I think this will be a great way to introduce time and calendars to the little buddy in a more formal way!
After gathering some great recipes the last couple of fattening days. I thought I would provide a way to write them all down nice and neat. I already posted the recipe cards, but this time they are better. THIS TIME YOU CAN TYPE YOUR RECIPE IN! The same is true for the dividers-you get to write in whatever you like! Then you can organize things you're way-with as many as you need. Fun fun.
They could also be fun put in a recipe box (modge podge an old one?) and given as a gift with your favorite recipes. Or just send a favorite Christmas recipe with the homemade goods as neighbor gifts. The possibilities.
Anywhoo. The only downer to making them editable is that I can't just link them up-scribd isn't a fan of editable fields apparently. Oh, and the other downer is you can't save the edits. That means you have to type it in and print it out immediately because it won't save what you typed. Alas.
So here are you're options: email me at yellowmum (at) gmail (dot) com and let me know what you want-the cards, the dividers, both . . . your Christmas wish list. (joking). I'll send them as soon as I can.
Or, don't worry about the neatly typed look and download the empty dividers here and recipe cards here and write them in by hand.
Sorry for the weirdo freebie. Email me so you can Enjoy!
A giveaway AND a freebie? How great is that? But this is no ordinary giveaway, after all, we've got less than a week until Thanksgiving! So, today we're doing a THANKFUL giveaway thanks to Sara, from the awesome etsy shop Simple Serendipity . Her great shop is full of gorgeous jewelry all under $5. A great option for Christmas, no? Seriously, go check out her shop! I think I'm grateful for this ring . . .
photos via simpleserendipity
Anyway, in the spirit of giving, rather than receiving, she's is giving away a $20 gift certificate to a person you're thankful for.
Me? I'm thankful for my best friend Alicia. We now live across the country from each other, but somehow she is always doing nice things to keep us close. She's the best and I'm so grateful to have her in my life!
To enter the person you're thankful for
1. Leave a comment letting me know who you are grateful for
2. To give your thankful nominee a second chance, go to her shopand comment on something you wouldn't mind getting yourself-or what you think your thankful nominee would like.
GIVEAWAY ENDS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25th.
Doesn't it feel good to think of someone else? I think so! Keep it rolling with . . . a little freebie for a little sweet girl in your life:
I think I will make a couple of these as Christmas presents this year. But I can't very well do spring clothes now can I? So, here are some winter clothes for us to enjoy! Click here to download.
Oh, and one note, I took these pictures before I made some changes-so the one you download will be different-similar, but just different colors-like a blue princess costume instead of pink. (I'm kind of fickle . . . and lazy). If I suddenly become un-lazy and take new pictures, I'll put them up.
I think this will be the last of the thanksgiving freebies. My mind has moved on to Christmas. Christmas. . . panic. . . excitement! I keep going back and forth. So much to do so little time. But, I'm THANKFUL for Thanksgiving between Halloween and Christmas.
So, put this little 2 inch square box at each guests table on Thanksgiving-or give them away as little gifts, or not . . .
side note: the color in these pictures is a little warm, but in the scribd its a little green (of course every printer prints different too! It'll be a surprise!)
First, a little reminder that today is the last day to enter my first ever giveaway. Tomorrow I will announce the winner!
Okay, so I needed some new bunting. This is what I settled on, I liked it enough I thought you might too. I will warn you it's a little bit of a DIY. It may take an hour or two to cut them out if you do a lot. It's worth it! oh, I've also seriously considered sewing a dark brown ribbon along the backs of all of them instead of using clothes pins to hang. Maybe I still will.
You could do lots of other things with these too: They could work as cards, artwork in a frame, or I suppose even for just coloring. I used plain colored card stock, but child's art work would be an awesome background! Or patterned paper. I would just recommend you use highly contrasting papers for the front and back.
okay a couple notes on the pdf (usually these things aren't issues-and I'm sure most of you don't need all the nitty gitty details of how to do it):
The out line- I don't like how a little bit of it may show up in your cut out if your not really careful. I solved that by laying a brown piece of paper (the one I planned to use) under my white "template." I still tried to cut on the outside of the line in case I end up using the template for something else. But, I realize that is more work. If you don't want to use a template, by all means, it's not necessary.
my printer, and most likely yours too will have a little margin around the edge it won't print on. Cut all the way to the edge anyway!
If you don't cut them in fourth first, DON'T connect the two open ends of the leaf. Just start where the line starts and follow it around. to the other end. When you cut them in fourths (with a ruler or paper cutter) It will automatically cut the rest of the leaf out.
Okay, this was my biggest problem: in illustrator (the program I designed them in) the are each 4.25 x 5.5 inches exactly. But for some reason when I print them out, they don't line up right. the maple leaf and two leaves don't go quite to the center, and the oak goes a little over. I haven't resolved it entirely. But I did fix the oak leaf so it doesn't go over. So don't follow the pattern here! Just cut the 11 inch side to 5.5 and the 8.5 inch side to 4.25. ignore the outlines on this one!
I cut a plain piece of white to go behind these. You could glue them, or not. I didn't. I liked the shadow it created. Using 3D squares between the 2 layers would do this nicely. If you're doing a card, you may want to cut them down a half inch on two of the sides to create a little border before gluing it to your card. . .
The one on the left is my template. The one on the right bottom is the only one I used. I will, of course keep the others for future uses though. . . The actual leaves might be fun as place cards for Thanksgiving. We'll see.
Then I decided I kind of liked it in my living room . . . sorry about the terrible lighting. It doesn't ever get good lighting here. Alas.
And last but not least . . . the printable itself:
You guys have had some really great ideas so far for freebie fridays, and I'm definitely going to use some of them. If you haven't yet entered my first giveaway, you can find it here. It ends next Friday, November 5th.
So, for today I've put together a little Turkey Day game to keep you, or the kids, busy while you wait for food :) But, for those of you who may not celebrate Thanksgiving, I've tried to stick kind of close to fall themes. You can download it here. (It's mainly dark brown, but it would print well in black and white if you don't want to use color).
The three year old buddy and I had fun playing it last night. He did fine for awhile but the 18 matches may have been a little much for his attention span. He was pretty excited about me pulling out the pennies though. He grabbed a hand full and said, "money, money, money" mimicking Ham on Toy Story. I had a good laugh. So if you're playing with preschoolers, I might recommend playing the opposite way: start blank and have them find the matching images and cover them with tokens. That seemed to work better for the buddy.
In other news, I've finally cleaned up my crafting space enough to dare show it to you! But, for your enjoyment, here is the "before" aka. regular look, I'll post the "after" on Monday. (and by "after" I mean the clean, spruced up, want-everyone-to-think-it-always-looks-this-good version).
I promise I didn't make it look worse than normal. I honestly went in and just took a picture. It's terrible, I know.
The little buddy LOVES squirrels. He likes to chase them whenever he sees them at the park. That's just about every time. It's fun to have them around. I didn't grow up in a place with large bushy tailed squirrels and so it's a bit of a novelty for me too. They're just kinda fun, and make me think of fall.
I thought I'd share some of the squirrel love with this 4 x 6 inch squirrel image and an oak leaf to boot! They're part of the forest animal silhouettes grouping. (The other 3 I'm selling through etsy- don't hate me). Perfect for framing in those glittery frames you've started, I'm thinking gold or green . . . of course I can't use the orange ones now that I said I would. Anyway, get the goods here.
For the turkey, rabbit, and deer check out my etsy shop! For those three type FreebieFriday in the notes to seller box and get a 30% discount. enjoy!
Oh, and in case you're wondering, I'm hosting the downloads through a different place, hence the different link destination.
I'd planned to do candy bar wrappers today. But they were boring. And, really, whose going to spend the time to cover all their candy bars with little Halloween sentiments? I wouldn't. So I bagged it and moved on. Hopefully these are more fun-they were more fun to make that's for sure. So here are four little Halloween activities for varying age levels.
Print them out, cut the page into fourths and you've got four little 4.25" x 5.5" activities. I tried them on the little buddy, he's almost 3 1/2, to see how much he could do:
the first one was pretty easy for him once he knew what to do
the second one he struggled figuring out the differences on the first two rows-not obvious enough-but he picked the "pumpkin" out of the skeletons very quickly. By the fourth row I'd lost his attention span, obviously.
the third activity was beyond him, as I suspected it would be. He had fun coloring it though!
I didn't even attempt the fourth one, the maze. I knew he wouldn't get how to do it, much less be able to figure it out. Maybe in a few years. In the mean time I'll have the hunny take a gander at it! Well, enjoy!
As a little side note update: google groups, which is currently hosting all my freebie friday downloads, has decided to stop hosting documents. This is the last one I will post through google groups. But I WILL still have a freebie friday.
All of this to simply say, the freebie friday's up through this one will still be available until the beginning of February. After that, all downloads previous to October 16 2010 will no longer be available for download.
Whats better than candy corn at Halloween? A candy corn themed party! (with a little chocolate thrown in of course:) Use this candy corn themed invite to get the party started!
Invitations are printable on a letter size sheet (I'd recommend cardstock). Invitations measure 5x7 with 2 per page. Enjoy!
And the Halloween Candy Corn Cupcake Toppers have arrived. Not planning on making cupcakes for Halloween? That's okay. There are so many fun things to do with them! Here are a few ideas:
tags stickers scrapbooking or card embellishments mini garland turn them into a matching or go-fish game buttons as seen on Whatever Dee Dee Wants.
As always they print on a letter size sheet. Three designs, twelve cupcake toppers on a page each approximately 2 inches across. Get your free Halloween Candy Corn Cupcake Toppers here.
If you have any other great ideas for using your cupcake toppers please share!
*If you're looking for more fun Halloween Cupcake Toppers, check out my shop. Mention candy corn in the notes to seller box and get a 20% discount through the end of October.
