#thankfulthursday

Happy last day of October, Happy Halloween and happy it's almost Friday.

Welcome to...

#thankfulthursday

While reading through the entries in my Blog Reader yesterday, I came across a post about orphaned photos. Why yes, I do have a stack of those. And the lovely idea of giving those photos a home gave me an idea. 

halloween treat bags + a "boo"tiful banner

Who says a Mommy can't enjoy a little crafting time with some googly eyes?

You might remember those ghostly shapes from Victoria's treat bag project. I liked it so much I drew it again 5 times on cardstock, cut them out, punched holes and used some baker's twine to string them over the mantle. The googly eyes make them even more fun and it made Isabella so happy to see them hanging there when she got home from school. Thankfully Smoky hasn't found a way to jump up and attack them!

And this photo of the spaghetti and salsa jar jack-o-lanters has been pinned so many times, who would have thought?

This new treat bag idea popped into my head the other day and I thought it would be fun for the girls to write a big, bold B with a Sharpie marker and then to glue on the googly eyes!

Add your treats and a pencil or lollipop {to tie the baker's twine to} to the tall glassine bag or short glassine bag and you have an adorable last-minute, no printer or download needed Halloween treat bag. 

MORE FUN GOODIES FOR YOU

You might want to print this for next Halloween.

Or add this to your Project Life album.

Maybe download and trim these if you have the time.

Use your scrapbooking supplies, kraft bags and tags for these cute treat bags.

Happy Boo to You treat bag toppers are fun, too.

right now | september 2013

It happens.
I forgot to share my September right now list.

september  |  9.26.13

feeling

energetic + accomplished + on track.

on the to do list

finish painting the house! ugh!

my guilty pleasure
having a little "me" money to splurge on a few goodies.

favorites

seeing all the changes in the yard that the fall season brings.

dreaming about

"everything in its place"

grateful for

my girls. they are smart, resilient, caring, loud, fun and loved.

And it just so happens I'm still dreaming about everything it its place. Sigh.

Download your page template here. 
Here's the post where I share how I created my mini book.

right now archives

january  february  march  april  may  june  july  august  september  october  november  december

sew much?

I worked on a large order for a customer over the weekend and several of these cards were part of the sale. Well, actually, it was this version without the doily, but I made a few of these while I was at it.

What's not to love about kraft paper, map pages, glassine bags and machine stitching using my Mom's vintage Singer sewing machine? Use it for a greeting card or as a mini album to document a special occasion. 

I shared this photo on Instagram and just felt like I should share it here, too. Just in case you were interested. Find them here.

I'll be adding a hoilday version soon, too.

a hug

Thanks for stopping in!

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be happy| freebie friday

I'm playing along with a daily Filofax challenge {#planneraddictspotd on Instagram} and today's prompt is quote. There are so many good ones, some of which I've shared on Sunday Photos, but how to choose just one, right?

Instead of  choosing, I designed a printable reminder for myself to be happy. Be happy with the now you are living and don't worry about what needs to be done or what hasn't been done. Just be happy. Be grateful. Grateful for everything. Grateful for the smallest of things that others may not have the luxary of having themselves. It's the simple things in life that are the most valuable. To me. Be caring. Caring with my choice of words. Caring with my actions. And care with an open heart.

Great reminders of my One Little Word from years ago and good words to add to my planner, too.

Your download will have one sized for a Filofax Personal, a Filofax Pocket and a 4x6 to slip into a frame, use in your Project Life albums or add to a mini book or scrapbook layout.

#thankfulthursday

By now, most of you know that I create Gratitude Journals. I sell them in my Etsy shop, and my version of the Gratitude Journal has been pinned to Pinterest thousands and thousands and thousands of times. It seems we are all on a quest to recognize, remember and record the small moments that are really the big moments, those things that we might take for granted if it were not four our grateful, thankful hearts. And I think we're all better for that.

#thankfulthursday

All this got me to thinking. Why not take a moment each Thursday to take a photo of something that has made me be grateful for this day. I take so many photos in a day, so why not snap a pic of something I am grateful for as well? 

I invite you to drop by here on the blog each 4th Thursday of the month, you know because Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November each year here in the US. I'll share my photos for the month and a little something else...but you'll have to be here to find out what that little something else is.

I'm taking a photo today, of something I'm particularly gratful for, and sharing it to Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #thankfulthursday. 

Will you join me?

EDITED TO ADD | Here's my #thankfulthursday contribution for today. Read the story here.

boo to you challenge | the twinery

I'm not sure the 5th graders in Isabella's class will be all that interested in cute treat bags but I do think Victoria's 2nd grade class will be thrilled with a fun treat bag, especially if they have googly eyes!

ENTER the CHALLENGE

The newest challenge at The Twinery has begun and our designers are sure to have plenty of "boo"tiful projects, so be sure to drop in each day so you won't miss any of the inspiration.

PROJECT SUPPLIES

• To create the treat bags and gift tag you see above, you'll need Solid Charcoal + Solid Mandarin baker's  twine from The Twinery.

• You can find the glassine bags, kraft bags and other fun crafting supplies in my Etsy shop...and don't forget the googly eyes, found in most hobby + craft stores. 
• A selection of border punches, corner punches and a hole punch as well as a bit of washi tape and cardstock from your stash.

I never tire at how a bit of baker's twine can up the cuteness factor of a project. It is like the buttercream frosting on a vanilla cupcake. Yep, THAT good! Grab a set of kraft bags for your next project!

DOWNLOAD

Download your treat bag topper and shipping tag printable...there's still plenty of time to do treat bags for two classrooms full of spunky kids. Trust me. 

THE PRIZE

Click Here to link up your projects The Twinery.

halloween treat bags

If you've been using your Halloween Countdown Calendar {find the download here}, you know that there are only 10 more days until Halloween. I wish it would be here already because I am eating way too many Sour Patch Kids. 

While the girls were on Fall Break two weeks ago, we came up with a plan to decorate these canvas bags I've had in my stash for a while, but I found them at Hobby Lobby if you're interested.

STEPS

1. I began by drawing a ghost and a pumpkin and cut them out.
2. For the ghost, we used the actual shape and placed it on the canvas bag and sprayed it with Mr. Huey's so that everything but the ghost was orange and the ghost remained the natural canvas color of the bag. 
3. The pumpkin bag used the negative shape {remember to cover your stem as well, and was also sprayed with Mr. Huey's. The stem was then covered up as was the the pumpkin shape, and misted with another color.
4. Outline the shapes with Sharpie markers and add the all important googly eyes to give your bags the extra spookiness they deserve!

Isabella was not pleased with the results of her drawing the jack-o-lantern's mouth, but we're sticking with it. Isabella did not want my advice or input, so there you go. Victoria loves her bag, but for all fairness, she did have a bit more guidance with Mommy as her co-pilot.

NEWS

I have another Halloween project and a free download tomorrow featuring baker's twine from The Twinery!

monuments

repost and hashtag to win

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably already know that I'm giving away a Gratitude Journal. Click here to find out how you can enter to win. And good luck. 

buy your Gratitude Journal here

71 more days

There are 71 days until Christmas.

Yes, I just said that.

I'm working on getting together a December Daily album to list in the shop. Actually, my goal is to list more than one option to document your holiday stories from mini albums to paper and embellishment packs to add to your own stash of pretty paper. If you have any ideas about what you're looking for, leave me a comment or e-mail me {click on yellow envelope in the sidebar} and I'll try to incorporate that into the design or work on creating a custom mini book for you and your family.

While we're on that subject, what would be your ideal December Daily mini album size? Or sizes?

And now for your viewing pleasure:

Combination Smash Book album slash Holiday Greeting Card, this type of project is one of my favorites. I have so much fun picking the papers, the goodies to include and the bits and baubles for the embellishment pack.

BUY IT NOW

And a companion composition book with 100 empty pages to fill with memories, plans, activities, menu plans, funny things the kids say, holiday recipes and more, more, more. There's a shipping tag ties with baker's twine from The Twinery, a hand stamped and hand punched Holly Jolly tag which you could add to the white shipping tag on the front cover {or not}, 3 punched tabs for you to add your own personalized sections and a white label tag.

I call this pattern Dancing Santa. I'm so silly.

BUY IT NOW

And another composition notebook with more fun paper. And more fun goodies in the embellishment pack with another shipping tag on the front to personalize and embellish the way that suits you.

BUY IT NOW

Here are some holiday prints that might interest you and how about these colorful gift tags?

BUY IT NOW

Use the coupon code ILOVEITALL for a 15% discount on your purchases. 

nashville parthenon

meal planning | download for your {filofax} planner

I've had the idea of meal planning on my To Do list for a while, but have not taken that first step. Well, yesterday I did. It was a baby step, as in all I did was fill in a few meal ideas from items we already had in the fridge. I got the nudge from a Facebook group I am a member of, Planner Addicts, or I probably would still not have a system in place.

With after-school activities, basketball practices, TeamKids at the Church and any and everything else, it was time for me to take control of the 4:30 pm question to myself each evening, "What am I going to cook for dinner?"

I've designed this jotter so that you can still see the dates at the top and the Filofax name at the bottom of the Personal sized {and probably Compact, too} pages. Once you download, I have a few directions on the sheet for you.

Ideally, I would like to overhaul my recipe collection to have a smaller collection of recipe books contain our favorite and most used recipes in binders instead of me culling through each cook book to find the recipe ingredients and instructions. 

Baby steps, yes, but at least I have a plan in place for now, knowing that there's hope for more organized meal planning in our future. Stay tuned for recipe cards sized to fit in a half size binder from Target that are so, so cute, which shall take my meal planning to the next level.

NOTES
Download your Meal Planning Jotter
Use the coupon code DOWNLOADS for a 20% discount in my shop.
Read my Filofax posts.  |  More free printables.

5 on the 5th | october 2013

I was kind of giddy when I searched the hashtag #5onthe5th on Instagram and saw that a couple of my friends were taking part in the fun! Thanks @mnkware, @crystalcapturesmemories, @akabubba, @soniapraca and @jenlevin for sharing your awesome photos and peeks into your 5th of October.

1  |  Crepes for breakfast. It's a weekend morning favorite. Four of us like Nutella in the middle of our crepes, but Victoria is the hold out, she prefers Strawberry jam spread all the way to the edge. 

2  |  A steaming cup of coffee while we relax after breakfast. And a few of my favorite things: mug from my Sweetie, hand loomed mug rug from Isabella, pottery the girls created over the summer at a Pottery Class they took and an old iron from my Oma {the German word for Granny}. 

3  |  Second coat going on in our still-not-finished-house-painting project. This is the wall of windows behind the row of black tool chests in my Studio, which used to be our Sun Room. We're at about 90% complete. Finally. Just the trim work on a few windows {we have over 25 windows} and we can sit back and say, "Aaaaah!" Yep, I have to wear my reading glasses for any kind of detail work, reading, working on the computer. Grrr.

4  |  Love this photo...ladders out, Mr. wRight painting, the girls playing ball with Scout {he is finally feeling better} and me behind the camera capturing a sweet moment in our lovely life!

5  |  We NEVER watch television during meals, but Tennessee was playing against Georgia and we didn't want to miss the action. UT lost, but played a good game with a first year Coach. We happen to think our new Coach is a very good guy. We even saw one of Zach's friends on TV. They attended preK together and graduated from the same High School and she's engaged to another of Zach's friends.

If you're new to the blog and want to know more about 5 on the 5th, read this blog post. 

5 on the 5th 2013 Archives

January | February | March | April |  May  | June | July | August | September | October | November | December 

here's your sign

Probably more than a year ago, I purchased two signs from one of the daily deal sites. They have laid around and been moved around and I finally got tired of that.

CHALKBOARD FAMILY NAME SIGN

Yesterday afternoon, while Gordon was working on his Scout and the girls were up on the mountain in their secret hideaway after having returned from Nana Day {an every Sunday occurrence}, I had the bright idea to use my can of chalkboard spray paint.

After several light coats on the front, I followed the directions on the back of the can. Sort of. And it turned out just fine anyway! Who has the patience to wait 24 hours anyway?

And a few ways I came up with to decorate our new family name chalkboard sign.

Originally, Gordon wanted to display the sign in his office downstairs. Okay, I guess I'll let him swipe off the chalk...if he wants to.

WASHI TAPE BUSINESS NAME SIGN

For my shop name sign, I used washi tape to embellish and cutify! I've these four letters covered with washi tape for about a month and then got no further. Enough of that, I thought. Our afternoon was lovely and warm, so I headed outside with my collection of tap, all of these are from My Mind's Eye I believe, and the rest of my "tools."

Enough of that, I thought. Our afternoon was lovely and warm, so I headed outside with my collection of tap, all of these are from My Mind's Eye I believe, and the rest of my "tools."

NOTES
Here's another washi tape letter craft project.
Find the CREATIVITY art print in my shop.
Read more about the button bowl.
All washi tape is from My Mind's Eye.

Have fun crafting today, I'll be working on making more Gratitude Journals...I'm so thankful for the business, I appreciate you!

true

created with the InstaQuote app

are you ready?

It's the 5th of the month, so that means it's time for...

If you'd like me to e-mail you this image so you can use it in your Project Life album, on a layout or a blog post, just contact me by clicking on the yellow envelope icon in the sidebar and I'll get it out to you! 

Want to play along on Instagram? Use the #5onthe5th #iloveitallblog hashtags so I can stop by to see what you've captured!

Have a beautiful day!

Thanks for stopping in!

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filofax planner challenge | days 24 - 30

I finished the 30 Day Planner Addicts Photo Challenge {go me!} for September and here are the rest of my Instagram pics. It's always fun to do a challenge, at least for me, because it makes me stop to think about things in a different way. Different as in the way to stage a photo, interpret the theme and to think of alternate meanings of the themes.

Day 24 | Brand New

My brand new yellow Personal size Finsbury Filofax arrived today! A bit stiffer than the Pocket size and, of course, larger. It will take some getting used to because my Pocket slipped inside my purse so nicely, this size takes a bit more room and time to fit it in.

Day 25 | Pockets

My Personal size Filofax did not come with a plastic pocket like the Pocket size did, so I made my own out of vellum. I forgot that I said I would do a tutorial for this, so I need to add that to my Blogging To Do list.

Day 26  | Pen Case

I mostly use my mechanical pencil to write notes and lists, but have a few pens which I keep in an old Coach makeup tote I used back in the day when I was a working Mom {Marketing Director and Assistant Vice President for a bank}.

I'm not super impressed with the Pilot Frixion pens and highlighters, although they are all the rage in the Filofax world, but I do happen to think that Pentel Clic Eraser is about the best invention ever.

Day 27 | Planner Charm

I'm not really a planner charm kind of girl, but am also not one to let something stand in my way. So, I've added a key chain fob handmade by Hazel, a customer and friend from South Africa.

Day 28 | On the Shelf

I began this challenge with a yellow Filofax Pocket Finsbury and quickly found out that I needed more space to write. So, now there's a big sister and a little sister!

Day 29 | Love

I never added a photo of the kids to my planner, so I picked this one. Still one of my all time favorites, even thought it's back from 2008 when we went to Aruba. Oh, if they could just stay little forever. I miss them at that age, but they're especially wonderful right now, too! I'll have to add a photo of Zach to the back of this photo.

Day 30 | Open

Listing my blog posts, appointments, after-school activities and the all-important Fall TV schedule. A little washi tape never hurt anything and Post-It notes are a "good thing," as Martha says.

If you're a planner nut, join the Planner Addicts challenge from theABFOL blog for October, there's still time to catch up. My friend Kate invited me to play along with her, and the thousands of other fans out there, in the @fatmumslim October challenge. So, two photo challenges for October...busy, busy.

Find Days 1 - 9 here.
Find Days 10 - 23 here.