Christmas Cards

It's that time of year again, time to put the tree up, unpack the Nativity, make some hot chocolate and stay up late watching Christmas movies. Well, as a mom that last part doesn't always happen, but Christmas is here! Now, I will say I'm one that doesn't start decorating or doing anything Christmas like until after Thanksgiving, but when it comes to getting our Christmas cards ready I make an exception. I need time to take our photo, print them and pass them out. Plus my goal is to have it done by Thanksgiving so I can pass them out to family and save on stamps.  Remember every little bit helps.  

Christmas cards can be costly. It's one of those things that I love to do, but it's hard to draw the line on who to send them to and so the cost just keeps going up. One year a friend of mine told me she made her own and gets them printed as a photo. That just blew my mind.  Make them yourself?  Why hadn't I thought of that?  I have a digital scrapbooking program it'd be easy to create my own!  Don't have a digital scrapbooking program?  No problem, my friend creates her on a word document on her computer. Yep, it's that simple. She adds a couple pictures, changes the background, adds something festive, then saves it as a pdf and then to a jpeg and voila! Her Christmas card is done! 

Did you know that you can print 4x6 prints for under $0.20 cents at Walmart, $0.09 cents for home delivery or $0.15 cents for site to store. Or for $0.15 cents through Shutterfly, or $0.09 cents through Snapfish?  Plus, if you plan a little in advance they usually have sales going on to save even more. 

If you do have a scrapbooking program you can jazz up your Christmas card a little more, but really it's amazing what you can do with just the paint option on the computer.  Another option would be to edit the photo in publisher if you have it.  That'd be a step up from paint, but without having to buy a scrapbooking program if you don't plan to scrapbook.   

So if you were looking for an alternative to spending so much on those Christmas cards this year, hopefully this helped!


Here's ours from last year

Merry Christmas!! 

contacts vs. glasses

I've worn glasses since I was 5.  I also don't have the best vision, in fact when I wear glasses my eyes get twice as big as they really are.  Because of this, as I got older, I couldn't wait to get contacts.  My parents let me get contacts when I started high school, and I have worn them ever since.  Now, I will wear my glasses from time to time and as I've gotten older I've not worried about how they change my eyes as much as I use to.  Side note, college is a great way time to help you grow.  

 

Recently I've tried to start wearing my glasses more, as in 3-4 days a week and my contacts less to save some money.  Doing this I can get just a 6 month pack and make it last a year.  So save some money and sport those glasses!!  If I can do it, anyone can! 

Gifts in a jar

I love Pinterest and all the ideas on different gifts you can do in a jar.  While mason jars aren't necessarily expensive, a way to save even more on these gifts is to re-use glass jars you have.  Remember my post on Organization in General, well this is a similar concept, only this time you are using the jars as gift holders.  I have made many jar gifts using old spaghetti, salsa, and even pickle jars.

Things you will need for all: 
jars of all sorts
spray paint or acrylic paints
paint brushes
paper (to decorate) 
tape

Here are some additional items for specific jars: 

Father's Day
Additional items:
computer
printer
cold laminator or packaging tape
Father's Day labels from Martha Stewart

Baby shower gift
Additional items: (optional) 
small animals 
hot glue sticks
hot glue gun

Bridal Shower
Additional items to go in jar: 
nail clippers 
mini hair spray
travel klennex pack 
needle and white thread 
lip gloss or chap stick 
travel deodorant 
a small note 
anything else you might need as a bride the day of the wedding. 

For each jar you start the same.

1. Wash the jar in warm soapy water.
2. Fill jar half way with vinegar and shake (this helps eliminate any smell from what the jar use to hold). 
3. Wash again to rinse out the vinegar & help remove any of the label that didn't remove the 1st time. 
4. Paint the lid the color of your choice. (If you are making one for a baby shower and want to attach a little animal, hot glue it to the lid first.  Then spray paint all together.)

I always start with white when hand painting, whether it's for primer or final color.  I also do about 2 coats in addition to the 1st coat of white.  Make sure you let the paint fully dry before you add another layer or it will peel off the 1st layer.  

5. Add the paper by taping it together in the back.
6. You can then add anything extra you want.  On these I just printed off the words on my computer and attached them with tape.  These jars are for my guests.  

Here are what they contain if you are interested: 

Brush: travel toothbrush & toothpaste.  
Relax: nail clippers, nail file and some hand cream. 
Wash: hotel bottle of shampoo, conditioner and lotion.  

This post includes affiliate links, which means if you click on the link I get a portion of any sales at NO COST to you.  See my disclosure page for more details. 

Preschool-Stay at Home Part 4

Since staying at home, I've noticed I've been able to apply my teaching skills to helping my littles learn, which has been really fun for me.  I loved teaching and to be able to teach my own girls more at home is such a joy.

As the school year approaches, I try to structure the day with a little more set aside learning time.  This year we are reviewing our letters and numbers, just as we did last year.  If you want to see my set-up for last year you can check it out here.  Also this year, I'm adding learning about time.  Now, I know A is only 3, but, we've already started a little and she is catching on so fast + she loves it.  I chose to start learning to tell time for two reasons.  1., it will help tie in with number recognition and 2. I can schedule our day around the clock (with some unstructured time in there too) and that way A knows exactly what we're doing and when.   My goal is that this will help with fits over wanting to do something when she wants to.  In the past we've had a schedule which has helped with that, but this year I wanted to take it a step further and have her learn to recognize the time as well.

So I made these clocks and really they were so easy to make.  Here's what you'll need:

Materials:

Paper of your choice
Markers
Circle to trace ( I used a glass plate)
A list of times you want to make clocks for

1. Trace circle on the paper of your choice:

2. Number clock:  I start with 12, 3, 6, & 9.  Then I go in and fill in the ones in-between.  This helps me get them more even.  The best part about this though, is as long as the numbers are in the right place, it doesn't have to be perfect.

3. If you are planning to make multiple clocks, you can trace additional clocks, just make sure to line up the circle. 

4. Mark the center:

5. Mark the time with the arrows: Make sure the small hand and large hand are noticeably small and large, you want it to be easy for your preschooler to recognize which one is which.

6. Label what the clock is for: (Lunch time, Walk time, Snack time, Letter/Number time, Picking up Daddy time).

7. Cut out clock and if you want the name:  Or you can write the name on the color paper too.  Glue onto colored construction or card stock paper.
     ***You could skip this part and have the clock and title on one page and not cut it out.  I just really like color and so wanted to include that somehow.*** 

I also like to coordinate things in some way so I chose color.  I didn't buy any paper, I just used what we had and made it work.  Here's how ours are organized: 
Bright Pink: A or J or friends specific (Pick-up Daddy or friend(s) arrives/goes home). 
Pink: Free play 
Green: Food (lunch, dinner or snack time)
Grey: Quiet time (books, TV,  pick-up toys or nap time activities)
Orange: Activities (Letter/Number time, crafts, special toys or outings) 

8. Then, hole punch each clock and tie with string, twine or ribbon:
      ***You could also just tape them up one at a time too.***

9. Finally, designate a spot where your clocks will be:  I have ours right by the large clock in our dining room.  I just added a command hook and then I just flip through the clocks as the day goes on.  Although, I may be switching this clock out for one that has more "normal" looking numbers. 

And there you go, you have your own clocks for different activities.  I love this because I can add or take away clocks as need be.  Plus, I can just flip the pages as opposed to writing the times down each time.