ormolu

hiking and teacher appreciation scrapbook

I have had a pretty busy week- I made mention earlier to some friends that I am basically volunteering more than I am working now. So- I have gotten a slight pay cut... 

We went for a hike yesterday after school with the girls for a try-it (Girl Scouts). I am not much of an outdoorsy type of person, I admit. So far in my life I have gone on two hikes (including this one) and both were on the same mountain...and both were with the same groups of people. I did have a lot of fun on both of them though, so this summer we are planning on doing some hiking. 

The best part of this hike was that it was short and at the end was a waterfall. I think the entire hike took an hour if even. Reiley loved the waterfall- as did the rest of the girls. We will probably head back to this hike sometime this summer. 

The remaining part of this week I have been gathering and planning for teacher appreciation week. I was volunteered to gather up notes from all of the children in the class and organize them in a nice presentation..."you have one week". So, given my week I had to come up with some sort of quick, easy formula and somehow get 24 kids to cooperate. In the end I think my percentage of cooperation turned out pretty good. Also, I had to go pretty cheap on this as there was not much in donations.

 

So, I headed to the office supply store and picked out  a pretty binder. Only, Reiley's teacher is a guy so I had to kinda pick out a pretty masculine binder. The office supply store has so many great binders it was difficult to not pick up an extra one for moi. 

Next, I decided on some basic paper and simple embellishments. I wanted the kids to really have control over this (which is not possible in a week)- so I had them do embellishments (which also saved me money and time). 

I sent each child home a journaling card to write a short note on and a tag to decorate. 

Here are the results: 

On the cardstock I typed each child's name to match the journaling card and tag. Then I went to school and took a 'cute' picture and a 'crazy/funny face' picture of each kid. The 'cute' photo went on the child's page. The 'crazy/funny' picture went on the opening page. 

The opening page was a lot of fun. I had each child hold a blank square of white paper. They totally thought I was a weirdo when I was doing this...I know they did. I told each kid to hold the paper up (as they kept flipping it over to see if there was anything on it) and make a crazy or funny face. I was surprised that some kids totally did not want to make crazy faces (those kids definitely don't have moms as scrapbookers). Then I resized all the photos in photoshop and typed in letters on the blank pages. I had to do a little math to get the right amount of squares in the space, figure out how many letters I needed to fill it up and finally make a sentence or words out of this. It turned out so cute! 

Finally, on the side, I attached a title for the binder (in case he gets several of these types of things over the years). 

Overall, it was the quickest scrapbook I have done, the easiest and the most scrapbooking I have done in a long time. A very long time. 

AND...if you have made it all the way through this you are very deserving of gaining those last few minutes back and saving some time yourself. So, download the pdf for the tags and journaling cards here: 

Download Journaling cards and tags

The colors on these match the other little cut out labels in the 'up for grabs' spot too! 

earth day

(*from Apple dictionary)

Even in her younger days, Reiley has always taken onto the philosophy of *love the earth* (although quite literal here). Here she was only but...three in a half years old and she would go around and hug trees. If she saw a tree- we would have to wait for her to go and hug it. Maybe it had to do with out neighborhood being fairly new and so the trees were quite small still. So, when she saw a big tree- she was right there. 

Tomorrow (because today we have a Girl Scout meeting) we are planning on celebrating by going to see Earth. Reiley is super excited about this because her favorite* (* for the moment) animal is in this movie...polar bears! 

I never have really done too much for earth day- I think my fondest memory was going to the zoo one year and they handed out 50 things kids can do to save the earth.  Really, I thought it was so cool I actually got something, like a book, for free. 

There was another book I liked when I was a kid- I think it was along the lines of 101 free things for kids- something like that. It listed things you could have sent to you from all over the nation by sending envelopes or letters requesting it. I was all hyped up about getting free things (kids don't have a lot of money you know). However, I don't think I ever received even half of the things I requested. I felt totally taken advantage of... 

Okay back on topic- 

But this earth day I wanted to do something in celebration of getting all the product in the shop green. 

But...I ran out of time to do what I truly wanted to do. 

It always works out that way doesn't it? 

So- I am going to share some earth day goodness

First- if you are thinking of some ways to do your part...

go here for 30 suggestions on ways to extend your earth day! 

Second- here is a cool link for some fun earth friendly type projects. I really like the button clock and the buckle frames. The tea cup candles are really fun too! 

But wait- there's more! 

If you act now you can get this free download :) 

for some fun printable earth day tags...

Download Love my earth 

I am most definitely using the tree hugger tag on a layout with that picture above. 

And here is a little trick if you want little tags (about half size)- print them off using the multiple pages selection (with the number two selected). Then you get some little bitty tags...

If you are pretty handy with photoshop or other editing software- you can use this as a template to create a layout as is- or print it off and create the layout on the print out. 

I did a quick example here- and I have some cute little buttons from the dollar spot at Target I am going to use to fill that top right space after printing it up. For this one I did the layout digitally but like I said, you could easily get the same effect by  printing the entire sheet off and using it as the backdrop for you layout. 

I basically imported the pdf (instead of cutting it up) and edited it in InDesign (or you could use Photoshop or even Word for that matter)- this includes covering some of the tag or words up with white blocks and typing over them, placing photos over some of the tags, and adding journaling blocks in other spots. 

Quick easy layout. 

 

Happy Earth Day!

labeling

There is a new freebie section on the blog (in the top bar) and that is where I am filing all the items that are *up for grabs*. 

I am hoping to add to it often :) 

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I love labels...I do, I do, I do! 

But I only like pretty labels. A few years ago I so badly wanted some vintage Dennison gummed labels and whenever I saw a box at the antique store I would open it up and sadly find it empty. They sell empty boxes of things you know. Then I was able to get my hands on a few from various locations online. However I have yet to use them because I they are too special to me. I love the look of them though...in their little containers. 

So, in order to save my labels for that special project I decided to come up with my own version that I can print and reprint...and on whatever medium I want- anytime! These little labels are perfect for scrapbooking projects of course...but they are also so wonderful for anywhere around the house. Think of labeling boxes, jars, files, folders...and so much more! 

I really like labels. 

Today I am going to share some with you! You are free to print them off as you like and label to your heart's desire. They would make great gift tags too! 

Here is the download: Download A la mode labels

Here is how I trimmed my labels...

Thank you Reiley for demonstrating the hole punch to cut the corners :) 

I did take my scissors and clean up the edges (at an angle) after using the hole punch. 

Enjoy!

handwriting font

and the best part...it was super easy and free! Go here to make your handwriting into a font. 

monday monday and a gift for you!

Okay, so this photo is a lie. It was actually taken on Thursday I think. But I just love it when the snow sticks to the trees like that. 

Today is all about wrapping up/finishing up Christmas things for me. I have been busy wrapping, crafting and need to start baking. All in all- it is fun...but I am so tired! 

And partially that tiredness is all my fault. On Friday we borrowed the season one disc set of "Heroes" from my dad (who borrowed it from someone at work) and we got sucked into watching a total of two discs yesterday! Each show is probably 45 minutes long and there are several on each disc. It was not enough either- because Reiley could not watch it with us (which was okay with her because she watched "Mamma Mia" for the second time and danced/ sang along to the sing along bonus feature) so when she went to bed we sat up watching another episode. 

I hate it when I get sucked into something like that...but can honestly admit I am waiting for tonight to start up disc 3. Then we were told we could borrow season 2 (when will it ever end!?) 

Anyway- it is a really good show that I did not even know about and I am not much of a T.V. buff so it is not often I watch anything at all or know of these things. 

So, in these last few days before Christmas I am running around picking up last minute gifts and thinking,"why did I not remember to get a present for so and so?!" I thought I was done. 

And after a full month of buying (for me anyway) toward the end you really might not want to spend anymore money (for me anyway). 

So, today I am giving you a gift! 

And this will be the Amusement Monday for today- free gift!

I am really so excited about this! 

I worked all last Friday on a calendar that I could give to my relatives and in case I was in need of any last minute gifts for people (and did not want to face the crowds!). 

Just click here: (and maybe leave a comment so I know someone is out there) 

Any comment will do (well any clean comment) be it a cookie recipe ( I still have to bake people!), let me know how you found my little blog, say hello to me, sing me a song- whatever. It all works. 

Okay, now you may: 

Download Ormolu calendar 09 

(it will take a second or so to load- be patient) 

And you are on your way to making a calendar for yourself or as a gift! 

And the file includes the wrap and a small guide for the user to set up the calendar. 

Print the pdf file up, use the guidelines to cut the calendar, slide it into a clear cd case and use the included packaging wrap and instruction guide. 

Then I am going to throw it (gently) into a brown lunchbag and put a bow and tag on it. 

Done. 

Now you have a gift - or if you have done all your shopping already- now you have a free desktop calendar. 

Or both. 

Just as a quick note- the file includes (in one print off) 

(1) calendar

(4) packaging wraps

(2) instructional guides

So- you might want to adjust the pages you need printed accordingly or you will end up with a massive amount of packaging wraps. ( I just did it to save paper) 

AND- I just checked it before I loaded it up here and I had accidently added in an extra day in April and June (I could use an extra day!) and two days in August were not printing up (so it evens out) but I fixed it so hopefully there are no more mistakes. If you catch one let me know (or else everyone is getting an inaccurate calendar and the world at large may be thrown off a day or two!)