Sanity Savers Archives - Page 4 of 17

An Easy, Beautiful Christmas Ornament You Can Make With Your Kids

I made this using my Cricut Mini cutter, adhesive vinyl sheets, Mop ‘n Glo, glitter, clear glass ornaments, and ribbon.

Create a Zentangle Notebook (with free download)

Last year I bought my daughter, Elaina, a Zentangle book and some pens for Christmas. I bought myself a book, too, and discovered that I was zentangling when it was called doodling.

It turns out that doodling is good for you and produces some pretty cool looking art, too.

The problem was, I didn’t have any place to put my zentangles. I Googled for notebook templates so I could make my own notebook using my Zutter binder, but couldn’t find any. You know what they say about necessity! Microsoft Word to the rescue. I downloaded and installed this script font and block font for the initial. I then created a cover and inside page template, copied them onto acid-free cardstock, added an acetate cover and bound the book with silver coils. The finishing touch was some black and white ribbon I had lying around.

My daughter saw me making my notebook and begged me to make one for her, which I promptly did. We zentangled the front covers of our notebooks in pencil first and then used acid-free black marker to go over the design. The inside pages allow you to add four zentangles each.

If you need a gift for a kid or someone who’s at all crafty (not artistic, because no art skills are required), you’ll love a zentangle notebook. It’s fun to make and would make a great accompaniment to a zentangle book and pen set. If you don’t want to create this yourself or if you don’t have a binder, you could have it put together at an office store.

You can download the cover for the zentangle notebook here and the inside page template here. You will have to download and install the fonts referenced above to edit the cover. If you like this, I hope you’ll share it on Pinterest and Facebook. If you do Project Life, you may enjoy this post where I share free weekly cards. I will be linking subscribers to this year’s cards soon!

10 Family Christmas Photo Ideas

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Nine years ago I had the crazy idea that I could take my own family Christmas photo to send with our yearly Christmas card. My husband loved my first photo so much that he asked me to send them out as postcards to his customers–librarians. The response from friends, family, and librarians was so positive about not only the photo, but the short “letter” on the back of the postcards that the sending of the cards has become an annual event. People often tell me, “I can’t wait to see what your card will be this year!” It’s a lot of pressure, but honestly a lot of fun. I hope you get some creative inspiration you can use for taking your own family Christmas photos and will consider sending cards. I use Send Out Cards where I can have my postcards sent automatically to everyone on our list–a major time saver because we send over 300.

#1 The Imperfect Card

This was my first attempt at taking my own family Christmas photos for cards. People loved that my daughter is holding her shoe, that my little guy on the right is so happy and wiggly that he’s blurred, and that my Andy isn’t smiling on the left. On the back of the card, I listed the top ten comments we receive and our responses: 10. Are these all yours? (Yes, we collect them) 9. They all look alike (We used a home cloning kit) 8. What are their ages? (8, 6, 4, 2, and 11 months) 7. You finally got your girl. (No, it’s another boy. We just put bows in his hair.) 6. That girl doesn’t have a chance with all those brothers. (No chance to play alone!) 5. You must have the patience of a saint. (We’re just tired. If that’s patience, ok.) 4. Your kids are so well behaved. (Great! Can they come play at your house?) 3. I don’t know how you do it. (We’re glad. You probably wouldn’t approve.) 2. Are you done? (Would you believe us if we said yes?) 1. You really have your hands full (Yes, and our hearts, too).

#2 The Un-Christmas Card

What they didn’t know is what I had to go through to get this level of photo imperfection. While I didn’t send it out, I had fun doctoring up one of the shots for an Un-Christmas Card below.

#3 The Nativity Card

By far the fan favorite, this photo was taken just 11 days after our youngest was born. A friend gave me the idea. We used the shelter that a nursing home hadn’t finished setting up for their Nativity scene yet. On the back of the card, I used cast notes to describe what was going on in each child’s life.

#4 The Spell it Out Card

I bought matching pajamas for everyone and had everyone but the baby holding a wooden letter. I used a photo editing program to add the exclamation point and the word, Christmas. On the back of the card, I used M E R R Y ! as an acronym to describe the family news of the year.

#5 The Old-Fashioned Christmas Card

We had this taken while we were on vacation one summer. What you don’t know is that the baby was coming unglued during this process because he hadn’t had a nap!

#6 Family Portrait Card

We had our family picture taken professionally by Cindy’s Photo. I put a gold frame around this picture for the card and noted what everyone’s “profession” was on the back.

#7 The Family Tree Card

I had everyone dress in green and we tried to make it work with real Christmas lights, but I ended up editing the photo digitally to make it work. I shared the new things we “branched into” in 2009.

#8 The Real Life Card

This was a favorite of many. I took the picture on a fall hike without planning ahead at all. On the back of the card, I shared “real life” challenges we were having. The Scripture shares that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

#9 The Peace on Earth Card

I used red duct tape for each of the kids. The reflection from the flash was a bit of a problem, but it was a hit. I had people using the idea, which is just fine, because I got the idea from someone else! On the back of the card, I shared what each kid says all the time.

#10 The Brady Bunch Card

This was last year’s Christmas photo. I took everyone’s picture against a green backdrop. The family news on the back of the card was to be sung to the Brady Bunch tune.

Bonus #11 The TIME Card

On the back of this card I wrote how each family member spent his/her time. The photo is also by Cindy’s Photo.

Want to see this year’s card? Like the page on Facebook and you will!

Be sure to follow my Christmas Inspiration board on Pinterest for more great ideas.

How to Make Blogging a Business

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I had the pleasure of interviewing Jimmie Lanley for The Homeschool Sanity podcast. I continue to be inspired by what I learned from her about growing my blog and using Google+. Be sure to listen in if you’ve ever thought about blogging or using social media to build a business. Don’t worry about trying to write down the many helpful links she mentions. They’re in the show notes linked above!

You’ll appreciate her words of wisdom, even if you’ve been blogging for a while. Even better, she is offering free copies of a fantastic ebook for taking your blog to the next level to three readers. Scroll down to enter. Want to purchase the book instead? You can find it at iBlogTheBook.com.

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Big Christmas Shopping Spree Giveaway

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I hope you haven’t done all your shopping for Christmas all ready… if you have you may want to buy a big ticketed item for the whole family!

I’m so excited to bring to you, A Big Christmas Shopping Spree Giveway, where 3 readers will each win their own $250 Amazon Gift Card, to go on a shopping spree that they will never forget.

Let me introduce you to the wonderful sponsors of this amazing giveaway that you will not want to miss out on:

Here is how the Big Christmas Shopping Spree Giveaway works:

A big giveaway deserves big entry options – Between November 12th through November 18th, you can come back and register for as many options as you desire until you have entered all of them that you desire to enter.
Enter some entries more than once – You can add a new comment on a different blog every day, so visit more of the sponsors and leave a comment to have another entry! You can even tweet once a day for additional entries.
You must be 18 years old and living in the United States – The 3 winners will receive an Amazon Gift Card in the mail.
Winners will be verified – Each winner drawn will be verified that they entered the giveaway correctly.
Winners must provide mailing address within 48 hours of notification – To claim your prize, you only have 48 hours to provide your mailing address or a new winner will be drawn. No exceptions. Be sure to check your email on November 19th or 20th to be sure you don’t miss out on a shopping spree you will likely never forget!
Winners shop on Amazon – If you are one of the winners, you can shop online for all of those loved ones on your shopping list. All in time for Black Friday specials!

Now let’s get to the entry and one step closer to 3 people winning a $250 Amazon Gift Card for a Big Christmas Shopping Spree Giveaway:

Entry -Form

Black Friday Cash Giveaway

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I admit it. I LOVE shopping on Black Friday because of the sales. I do it from the comfort of home by shopping online. But you have to have money to save money, right? This week I will have two opportunities for you to win some Black Friday cash!

Several bloggers and I have come together to offer our readers a chance to win a $250 Amazon gift card or Paypal option they can use to take advantage of the fabulous deals on Black Friday.

Please visit our team:

We will be picking a random winner on November 21 at 12a. Winner will receive $250.00 in an Amazon gift card or by Paypal. Winner will be contacted via email and must respond within 24 hours or another winner will be chosen. All entries will be verified.

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NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to the owner of this Facebook page and not to Facebook.