ormolu

Summer Activity Jar Teacher Gifts

Tis the season for teacher appreciation (and more sneaks of the new lines)! ;) Though I homeschool, my boys actually have a number of teachers, primarily from the one-day-a-week school that they attend. They each have six different classes, though some of the teachers overlap. Faced with so many gifts, I’m always on the lookout for something unique, useful and (ahem) not too expensive. Having many friends who are public school teachers, themselves, I also know that the “typical” teacher mugs and tote bags and such aren’t really necessary (as they already have plenty, lol). So. I try to think in terms of things that will actually get used. I’ve done miniature terrariums, sets of personalized magnets, Amazon gift cards, shadow box décor with an educational quote, ninja-bread cookies and cutters (for the karate teachers), games, books, and more.

This year, I went for Summer Activity Jars. I’ve seen this online in a number of places but added my own little twist to make it a gift, rather than something just for yourself. Here’s what I came up with:

INSIDE THE JAR

-          Print, cut and fold summer activity ideas. Because I love you, here’s the list I used, tweaked slightly to remove specific local outings that probably won’t work for you. ;) Feel free to add more!

Download Summeractivityjarlist

-          Include a giftcard or two…with the accompanying activity idea stapled to it. I got small giftcards for ice cream (“Go out for ice cream.”) and to a local book store (“Read a good book.”). (I made my own little giftcard holder envelopes because the ones provided wouldn’t fit through the mouth of the jar…and because this way they color coordinated better, lol. I also liked that this way I could inconspicuously gift some teachers more than others.)

-          Have your child write a personal thank you note to the teacher. I printed out some Ormolu digital tags for each boy, had them write a little note and dropped those tags into the appropriate jars. I also printed tags for myself and wrote a personal note to each teacher.

THE JAR, ITSELF

-          Add letter stickers to one of the awesome new Bungalow little labels and attach everything to the jar. (I considered using the smooth mason jars to make this step easier, but found the openings to be too small for hands to easily reach into. Terrifically Tacky Tape works well, though, for attaching labels to regular mason jars.)

-          Wrap twine around the top and tie.

-          Make a little to/from label to hang from the twine. I used the fabulous Tag Sale "to/from" flair button attached to a fun little Tag Sale sale tag. (I mounted both on a slightly larger circle of cardstock so that I could punch a hole in that to string the twine through.)

And there you have it! So. What are you doing for teacher thank you's this year? (Seriously. I could use more ideas! I still have swim team coaches, karate instructors and archery coaches here, folks, lol!) 

(New items should be up in the shop in the next couple days...watch for it! You're gonna want it ALL!)

InLinkz.com

Journaling with a grid

I'm a very linear sort...in pretty much all aspects of my life. ;) I like clean lines and right angles and everything in its place. It comes as no surprise, then, that when I'm stumped on inspiration, I turn to grids.  In fact, when I initially posted about this field trip on my blog, I used a simple grid to include more photos. Because I dislike reinventing the wheel, I took that blog post and made it directly into a layout (using the exact same photos and journaling). Here's what I ended up with:

Starting from my grid of photos, I turned to Ormolu's awesome digital journaling tags. I mimicked the grid set up and used that for my journaling...coordinating the journaling for each picture on the corresponding tag. I like how it allowed me to include more specifics from my story and also appreciate how it keeps the journaling clear, leaving the viewer without confusion about which journaling goes with which picture. Fun!

(I created this layout, by the way, as a digital one and intend to print it out and include it in my album. I can already see spots, though, where I may actually add a few three-dimensional Ormolu products (like a flair button or fabric swatch) and make this into more of a hybrid layout. You could also just print out these journaling tags and include them directly on a paper layout.) 

So, have you done any journaling with a grid lately? ;)

- Amanda

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Merrymaker Advent tags

Hi everyone, Melanie here, back after a long break due to some family member health issues. It feels really great to get back into the swing of things, and I'm excitedly looking forward to Christmas, and all the chaos that is December!

So,  here's a funny background story about this layout. ( any Canadians reading this will probably sympathize with me about our oh-so-unreliable postal system & border customs ugh!)  I went a bit crazy and ordered ALL the new beautiful Christmas stuff from Ormolu about 2 or 3 weeks ago, and, as of this past Friday's mail, it was still not in my posession, much to my utter despair. I knew I really wanted to do a seasonal layout for this blog post, so I emailed Kaitlin yesterday, and she directed me to these Advent tags. They're a digital download, super cute, and easy to print out. They'd make a perfect addition as number tags in a December Daily, if you're still on the fence about doing one. Also great is that you can customize them to suit your project as far as colour and size go. Since I was short on time ( and because I procrastinated waiting for said package), I decided to use the tags on my layout here as titles, and just cut them down a bit. I also poked around in my stash  and found these Merry Memories Dots n' Spots I had bought for last year's DD, and added a few as accents and a journaling spot. I'm super happy to have this fave photo scrapped after almost 3 years, even though I had to edit it like crazy due to bad lighting.

I will hopefully be back later this week with some previews of my December Daily- my fingers are crossed that when I get home from work tonight, there'll be a package of Ormolu goodies sitting on my doorstep. :)

Happy Monday

 Melanie

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Especially for Release Day & Giveaway

I designed a set of coordinating digital/printable tags for each of the new flair buttons and especially for the release. So, through May 7th every set of flair buttons receives a free downloadable tag set. After that I will offer it as an additional cost when the flair buttons are purchased. The tag set that coordinates with the buttons will be sent by email immediately after purchasing. 

Each of the tags has a little circle that shows where to place a flair button. 

After all of your flair buttons are used you have a free set of tags you can use over and over again. Just fill in the little circle with a sticker or other type of embellishment. 

Each set has a different design- so if you order two sets you get two different downloads of coordinating tags. Some of the tags are perfect for gifts and even little lunch notes for kids. Very fun- I especially love the little logs and footprints on the TreeHugger tag set. 

Also I am doing a giveaway on Ali's blog this weekend. Head on over, check out the special offer and leave a comment for a chance to win. 

 

Canvas Tags

I mentioned the other day that I was going to try printing out the digital framed package tags on canvas and I did just that. My printer is super picky about accepting anything other than copy paper or photo paper but with a little bit of coaxing I was able to feed through a piece of sticky-back canvas. I purchased the 12"x12" sheets so I can trim them down and have left over scrap for other projects but they also have 8-1/2"x11" available. 

After cutting the tags out I used my fingernails to fray the edges a bit and punched a hole using my crop-a-dile.  

I am not sure how I will use the tags yet- I am thinking gift wrapping. Since the back is sticky I am thinking I will place a piece of coordinating fabric on the back or I could use it as a sticker. I think using some of the other tags as a canvas sticker will be pretty on a scrapbook layout. 

Digital Release!

I am so excited to be doing this! Early this year I discontinued several items and find that I am still getting some requests for them...but I really want to keep my stock somewhat low and fresh so I decided to transfer these files into digital files. Each file includes the PNG files and also a PDF that can be printed- super easy. If you don't know how to use the PNG files there is a lot of resources on the web- and you don't need Photoshop to recolor them. They can be recolored using Microsoft Word. The PDF's have crop marks or in the case of being a circle tag you will need to use the correct size of circle punch that is noted on the printed sheet. I find for printable sheets that I like them printed on photo paper best. It just keeps them bright and crisp. You can print them on cardstock, patterned paper or even canvas paper as well. 

Also, because of the design of some of the tags the PNG files might be sized a bit larger than the PDF files. Please be sure to read the description to see what size circle punch you will need to punch out the tags on the printable file. The PNG files can always be resized to be smaller. With the PDF you will want to make sure the settings on are set correctly (no scaling- or fit to page) for them to print out correctly. 

The PNGs for the number tags and the calendar tags can be recolored by using clipping masks. The rest of the tags are as seen in the previews. Hope that makes sense. If you have any questions you can always email me. 

I printed out these Framed Package Tags on a canvas paper- just to see how those would look. I like how they turned out and think they will look great on gifts. I will show that in an upcoming post soon. 

I am going to release all of these at $1 from now until the end of March. Come April they will go up to a regular price (which I have yet to decide). I am new to this so I want people to try them out and let me know what they think. I have a few digital releases in the make for other tags that will likely release with the new products release down the road but I want to get these out there for now so I can get some feedback. 

Please go check out the new items in the digital section of the shop and let me know what you think or if you have any questions. 

Also, thank you everyone for your support and feedback concerning the creative team call! I am getting more and more excited to do this and am writing down notes and getting an application ready to go. Look for that sometime in April. 

 

Two Things

2 is better than one: patterned papers & ribbon: paislee press & one little bird (storyteller and book of first kits); number tag: ormolu

Two things. Both of them related to this page. 

1. DIGITAL KITS: I have been working hard this past week on getting some of my retired tag sets into digital sets. I am working on the final bits and pieces of putting the new digital kits into the shop next week. Because I am mostly a paper person I have compiled each kit with a printable as well as the PNG files. You'll want to check them out when I release them because I am going to release them at a really awesome price (because this is my first big digital hoo-ha) but only for a limited time (which I haven't decided on yet). 

2. CREATIVE TEAM CALL: Also, after much thought and contemplation I am thinking about doing a creative team call. I know, that sounds like I am still thinking about it- cause I am. So if anybody has any thoughts on this please, please let me know what you think. This is something I have thought about over the last year or two but I just never have committed. I hope that having a creative team will help demonstrate uses for product better. I also hope that it will give my blog and website some extra *oomph*. What I am worried about is that I say, "Hey, I am having a creative team/ design team call- come apply!" and then zero, nothing, nada...zilch. Then I would feel like I was spot on with all the contemplation. But life is about taking chances, right? AND if this is the biggest chance I take this year- I am doing alright.  So, I am still working out the details but look for a post to come... sometime in April. THEN please apply...and tell all your friends to apply- because if nobody applies I will have to go begging people on the street- and I don't look good begging. 

More about the digital stuff though- I have not delved in very deep into the digital world myself- but I know there are some truly amazingly talented designers out there... and quite honestly I give them my money- and I don't even scrapbook digitally really! But they have such fun kits and it's kinda fun to scroll through them on my computer :) Really though, I use a lot of them for random projects- like framing cute little pictures and making little bookmarks for my daughter. So I decided as I was clearing out my files on my computer, backing them up and storing them away...never to be seen again- that I was not quite ready to part with some of my retired tags. So, I made them into digital versions so they can be used again and again by all. The page I did above shows one of the number tags- which will be great to have digital because it's something so versatile. A lot of the other designs I am releasing as digital have been purchased for weddings or parties. Printable tags for these occasions are great because you can print out how many you need and pay a low price.