FHE Conducting Chart - FREEBIE

I recently attended a class at my church that talked about spending more quality time with your family.  I came home reenergized and refocused my priorities in a few areas that needed some fine tuning.  One area that I have been working hard at is Family Home Evening.  "Family home evening is a special time set aside each week that brings family members together and strengthens their love for each other, helps them draw closer to Heavenly Father, and encourages them to live righteously."  (credit HERE)  My efforts in the past have been minimal to say the least.  So after attending my class, I came home a set a new goal about holding FHE regularly in my home.  To help me with planning, I made this chart.  I have found that I am more prepared and it helps me keep things moving smoothly - a huge must with little ones involved.  The chart has also become the kids conducting chart.  I let the kids conduct get them more involved.

I printed the chart on white card stock, trimmed the edges, mounted on black card stock and finally laminated.  Since I laminated my chart, it becomes reusable every week.  Just make sure you have a dry erase marker around.  I hang it on my fridge after FHE is over to give me a daily reminder of my new family goal.

Click HERE to download your FREEBIE!

I have a small favor to ask in return if you download the FHE chart {wink wink} - become a follower!   I told you the favor was small :) 

I used Just So Scrappy Happy Days kit to create this file!

INSPIRE - TEACHER APPRECIATION GIFT

Even though I am a digital girl, I still enjoy an occasional crafting day that does not involve my computer.  Today was that kind of crafting day.  I needed to make my daughter's gift for Teacher Appreciation Week.  I am grateful for our Kindergarten teacher this year and definitely wanted to thank her for all that she has done for my daughter.  I hope that this gift will keep her inspiration going in years to come as she continues to teach and inspire her little "Kinder Kids."

This gift was simple and fast to make, and cost me under $5.00 since all I had to buy was the glass block.  Yeah!!! 

Items Needed

• Rectangle Glass Block (got mine at Lowe's for $4.29)
• Cricut (or similar type cutting machine)
• Vinyl (cut letters at 1 1/2 inches high)
• Ribbon (pick 2 coordinating pieces, each with a different widths .)

To assemble, simply cut out the lettering and attach to the glass block.  Then tie the coordinating ribbons around the edge of the block.  That's it - Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezey!!! 

Easter Game Bundle - NEW RELEASE

My thoughts have turned to Easter this week.  If you follow my blog regularly, then you know that Holidays are BIG in my family.  I am a little behind in my celebration planning, but I am not too concerned.  I like to keep my family celebrations simple. 

I just finished creating some fun family Easter themed games that would be a great addition to any Easter Egg hunt you may already have planned.  This game bundle includes 2 games and BONUS coloring page. 

The first game in this bundle is the Easter version of Don't Eat Pete.  This game is one of my family's favorite.  It is fun for any age.  If you have never played before, the rules are simple.  First you need to have a bowl of candy.  We usually use M&M's, but for Easter we will use Starburst Jelly Beans.  Place one candy in each square of the game board. Send the first child (or adult) away from the game board, then have the remaining children choose which candy will be "Pete" for the round. Have the first child come back and begin picking candy from the game board. As soon as the child tries to pick "Pete" everyone yells "Don't Eat Pete!"  The child keeps all the candy picked up before trying to get Pete. Refill the game board and play again.

This bundle also includes a Pin the Tail on Peter Cottontail.  I decided that I wanted to make my tails look fluffy so I glued some cotton balls on them.  I think the fluffy version of the tails is SO CUTE.  

This game is comes in an 8x10 for easy printing at home or a 16x20 for printing on a poster at Staples or Office Max. 

Here is how I made my fluffy tails.  First I printed, trimmed and laminated my tails.  Then it only took about 10 minutes to finish adding the fluff.   I took cotton balls and cut them into fourths.  Then I used the glue shown in the picture and covered the whole surface area.  Finally, I started placing the cotton ball quarters onto the glue.  I used about 7 per tail. 

TO PURCHASE THIS FILE - CLICK HERE

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Tatertots and Jello

I Heart Digital Scrap Booking

I started scrapbooking when I was 12 years old.  Back in the day, I scraped 8.5 x 11 pages and and used bright neon paper.  I get a good laugh at myself when I looked through my first scrapbook.  I continued scraping until I graduated from high school, but fell a few months short of finishing my senior year scrapbook :(  The main reasons I stopped scraping was time, money and creative burn out.  As I got married and started having kids, I really wanted to get back into the habit of scrapbooking, but time and money were still an issue.

In 2008 a friend introduced me to Photoshop Elements (PSE).  I saw the layouts that she was creating and I knew I wanted to start using the program.  My hubby gave me the program for Mother's Day that year and I was so excited to get started.  I loaded the program, downloaded my first digital kit and was ready to create.  I sat down at my computer but had no idea where to start.  After many failed attempts, I gave up. 

After a few months, I was ready to try again.  I watched what seemed like hundreds of PSE YouTube tutorials and slowly I started to get the hang of it.  Then I recruited my friend to show me the ropes and watched her create a layout.  Finally, I knew just enough to start creating. 

Here is the very first layout I created.  I started out small with each page until I learned and more. 

Now, my pages look more like this.  Here is my most recent layout for my little guy to help celebrate his first year of life.

To make sure that I utilize my time and creative juices more effectively, I limit my scrapbooking.  I scrap one 2-page layout that highlights our year as a family and one 2-page layout for each of my 3 kids for their birthday.  By the time my kids grow up and leave for college, they will have have fun family and self history to take with them along their journeys.   Well, that's my goal anyways!!!

I want to be able to "pay it forward" what I have learned.  I can remember feeling lost and overwhelmed when I wanted to get started.  So you will start seeing more posts of my scrapbook layouts that include tips that I have learned over the years to help you all get started.

The Golden Ticket Reward System - NEW RELEASE

My sister in law called me about a month ago with this great idea for a new "rewards system."   She wanted to be able to give her kids a  reward for good behavior.  She asked me if I would create some kind of "coupon" to give to her kids and wanted one that was a little more special, "like a golden ticket."   What a PERFECT idea!!!  I couldn't wait to get started for her sake and mine.  I wanted to use this system in my house as well.  This system's concept is easy:  the kids do something good or kind for someone in the family and they get a reward ticket in return.

I created 4 different color designs so each child in the family could choose their own tickets, in addition to the GOLDEN TICKET. 

This system is easy.  Once you have printed, trimmed and laminated the tickets, simply use a Sharpie marker to write the reward.  When the ticket has been cashed in, simply wipe clean with some window cleaner and be on the look out for some more good behavior. 

My hubby and I have decided to keep the rewards simple.  Here are a few we are using

• Stay up 15 minutes late
• 1 extra dessert
• 1 more book to read at bedtime
• Manicure
• 15 minutes of Mommy/Daddy play
• Date to the Movie Theater - Golden Ticket
• Dinner Date with Mommy/Daddy - Golden Ticket

The ideas are endless and can be adapted to each child's likes and needs. 

To get your GOLDEN TICKET REWARD SYSTEM - click HERE

A special THANKS to Just So Scrappy and her digital kits!!!

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Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We celebrated our Valentine's Day a little early by having our Family Valentine's Dinner last night.  My hubby works late on Mondays and we didn't want him to miss out on all the fun.  It was so awesome to see my kids eyes light up when they saw the table.  Just a few simple embellishments went along way to make my table look so festive. 

I used the hearts from my "Heart Attach" game, along with silk rose petals and blue Sweet Tart candies.  I loved having the pop of blue on the table.

We finished off the night playing, Don't Eat Val, Valentine Tic Tac Toe and Find the Heart Attach.  I was the big loser for the night.  I got schooled in Don't Eat Val and got beat a time or two by my 4 year old in Tic Tac Toe.  However, unlike my kids, winning was not the most important thing to me last night - it was seeing the smiles on my family's faces.

Want to have the same fun my family did?  - click HERE

Valentine Gift Tag - You Melt My Heart

 Valentine's Day is fast approaching, but I have one more gift idea for you.  This gift tag can go with so many ideas, but here are a few I came up with this afternoon.

Give a container full of chocolate candies.  Who wouldn't love chocolate on Valentine's Day and chocolate "Melts" 

I also made some heart shaped Rice Krispy treats.  After I molded the hearts using the Wilton 6-Cavity Silicone Heart Mold Pan, I sprinkled colored Wilton Candy Melts over the top with a fork and topped with Valentine colored sprinkles. 

Finally, using Wilton Candy Melts, I made free form hearts shaped suckers.  After I melted the candy melts, using a large spoon, I made a heart shapes over small sucker sticks.  And once again sprinkled with Valentine colored sprinkles. 

I went with something different today and used toile to attach the tag to all my gifts. 

Click HERE to download this FREEBIE

Tatertots and Jello