Count Your Many Blessings {Free Printable!}

Happy Sunday to you! I know it's not even Halloween yet, but I've already got Thanksgiving on my brain. I was searching for a cute printable to pop in my frame, and didn't find one I loved, so I decided to make my own. It's really not Thanksgiving specific; it could be used any time of year. I can even see it working great for St. Patrick's Day. Rainbows are definitely everyday decor around here, though. Anyway... here it is!



I used this kit by Elise Hansen from The Digi Files #45 (September 2012). If you're interested in digital scrapbooking, I highly recommend checking out The Daily Digi and signing up to get The Digi Files each month.


Now for the printable download links! I did it three ways, so choose the one that works best for you.


1. 8.5x11 - Use this one for printing at home and putting in a frame. Use 8.5x11 cardstock, and then trim the edges to fit your frame.


2. 8.5x11 with Rounded Corners - Use this one for printing at home and displaying without a frame. It has a white border around the edge with nice, rounded corners on the graphic background.


3. 8x10 - Use this one if you want to send it off to a photo lab for printing or if you have 8x10 paper at home and edge-to-edge print capabilities.

Enjoy! If you download it, I would love for you to leave me a comment. :)

Try again and ask a friend

I was thinking about my classroom expectations this morning, and decided to make this little poster for fun. In all honesty, I'm avoiding the real work that needs to be done to get ready for school to start again tomorrow. Eleven weeks until Spring Break. I just happen to know that. It's not like I'm counting down or anything... :)



Download a printable copy here. You know, in case you're a teacher and would have a use for this sort of thing. :)

Design Credits:
Green chalkboard background paper by Chelle's Creations (freebie available here).
Fonts are LD Fundamental, Clementine Sketch, and Galludet.

Changing Colors

Cameron is working on learning his colors. He knows blue really well, but forgets or gets mixed up with the others. I'm working on rearranging the boys' spaces, and today I moved the changing table into the closet. There's a shelf overhead, and I thought it would be the perfect spot for a color chart. Here's what it looks like:


And here's Cameron's view. :)


Maybe this will encourage him to be still on the changing table (maybe). I'm looking forward to the day we can put the changer away for good, but for now, it's a necessity. Why not do a little learning while he's on it!

I downloaded a free PDF creator the other day, and I've been having fun saving things as PDF's. I know, totally lame. But, it lets me share the color chart with you! Here you go: Color Poster

P.S. I haven't posted any family photos in forever. I think it's because I take so many pictures. It's a little overwhelming to try to go through all of them, choose my favorites, and write the stories to go with them. It's a lot easier to write about hanging something on a wall! ;) I'm hoping to back at it soon, though!

Buntings and banners and pennants, oh my!

"Bunting Galore" by Natalie Pascoe

I. Love. Buntings. (or pennants, or banners... whatever you choose to call them is fine with me). I love them all. I want them everywhere. I have three in my living room right now. It looks like we're throwing a birthday party every day, but I don't care. They make me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside... OK, enough.

By the way, did you know that "OK" was created in the 1830's as an abbreviation for "all correct." It was meant to be a joke. I wonder what else we say all the time that started out as pure nonsense. Like, duh! Anywhoo... Here is a little DIY banner (a.k.a pennant or bunting) that is currently decorating my mantel.

Here's how I made it:
(as if it's not obvious that I cut out triangle pieces of felt and strung them on a rope). Humor me, here, and act like you're taking notes so you can make one for yourself, OK?

I used a package of craft felt from Walmart (which I had purchased before school started to use as marker board erasers, but never got around to cutting it and taking it to school) and a bit of twine. Mine was the multi-stranded kind, but I just used one strand of it (much to David's shagrin). I did tie it in a nice knot when I was done with it so next time he tries to use it to tie something down, it doesn't completely unravel on him. ANYWAY... back to the tutorial.

I created a template for my happy little triangles in MS Publisher. You could use Photoshop or maybe even Word. Publisher is my favorite for creating shapes that are a specific size, though. I measured the space where I knew my bunting would go when it was finished, and then divided by the number of colors I wanted to use and ended up needing my triangles to be about 2 1/8 inches wide.

I know. I have a few perfectionist tendencies.

I also made the template with a bit of extra at the top to serve as the fold-over section. I wanted it to match up and not have to trim off extra, so I copied, pasted, and inverted my triangle to create the top angled lines. I know. I know. I'm working on it. Remember, humor me.

Here's a screen shot of the template.
I moved the whole thing up off the edge of the page because I wanted to print it on a piece of scrap cardstock, and I didn't need the top part.

And here's how it looked after I printed it out and then cut it out.

You are on the edge of your seat now, aren't you?


Next, I traced the template onto my first piece of felt using a Sharpie, and then I cut it out. Felt sort-of has a front and back side, so I picked which side I liked, and then tried to make sure I did it the same way each time. After I trimmed out all the triangles, I ended up with this cute little teensy-tiny mini banner of scraps.

I briefly thought about using it to decorate one of our Little People houses, but stopped myself. Back to the task at hand.


I got all the pieces cut out, lined up, and then it was time to hot glue them onto the twine. I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to use the twine (I had some string on hand also), so I was careful not to glue the felt TO the twine. After I glued each triangle, I made sure I could slide it up and down on the twine. This helped with getting them all arranged evenly also. No, I did not get out my ruler and measure, thank you very much.

Here they are all on the twine, and you can see how perfectly the folded over part matches up on the back side. I love that. Not as much as I love the bunting itself... but almost.

I tied a little loopy knot at each end (I was attempting a Bowline knot, but it ended up something else that still worked), and hung it up on my bulletin board using thumbtacks.

My mantel is very much a work in progress, but it's oh so much more fun now that it has a bunting!

If you read through this whole post, you definitely deserve a reward. I created a little poster the other day which sports one of my favorite verses and some digital goodies by Amanda Heimann (shared with permission), and it is yours for the taking. Happy bunting!
Just click on the link to download the 8x10 PDF. Download Here