Welcome Back, Teachers

Last year my kids and I decided we wanted to do something nice for their teachers on the first day of school. We decided to take them a fresh loaf of homemade bread with cinnamon honey butter. It was a small gesture to let the teachers know we appreciate them and were excited for school to start, and the teachers all seemed to enjoy and appreciate the bread.

We used a pretty ribbon to tie a plastic knife to the bag for the honey butter. 

Here are a few other food gifts I've given in the past that would also work well for teachers:

More bread, but this time wrapped in pretty paper and flowers.

This is a mini loaf of bread with a mini jar of jam. I decorated the top of the jar and put a ribbon around the lid.

You can't go wrong with cookies. I think they look especially yummy stacked in a cellophane bag. :)

Where did summer go?! I can't believe my kids are back in school. Have your kids started school yet?

Manic Monday

It's a great day at ScrapMatters today... the third Monday means great deals for you! I have three products on sale for 50% off, but today only. First up, I have my Artist Party Printables. When my daughter turned 5, we threw an "art party". It was one of her favorites, and if you want more details about it you can read about it on my blog here. Also on sale are some fun, printable lunch box notes. Great, little notes you can stick in your child's lunch, their backpack, slip one in their notebook... anywhere they'll find it! They're sure to put a smile on their face. Last, I have a bright, primary-colored kit called Happiness on sale. Perfect for scrapping those vacation memories. :)

Grab these great deals while you can... they won't last long!  Happy Monday!

Getting Kids to Help

I shared this simple idea via Instagram and Facebook last week and got a lot of response and questions, so I thought I'd also share it here. Post-It Notes are my way of getting my kids helping with our Saturday jobs:

I write down all the jobs that need to be done on individual Post-It notes (I usually use small square ones, but I was out so I just cut normal-sized ones in half for this week). I put all the jobs on the fridge, and my kids just keep picking and doing jobs until they're all gone. They can only pick one job at a time, so they can't get a new one until they finish the job they've already picked. This prevents kids from picking all the easiest jobs right at the beginning (yes, there have been some who have tried). Someone asked me if I color code them. Not really. If I have some I want done first (in case we have a busy day and run out of time or something), then I'll put them on different colors and say "yellow jobs first" or whatever color. That way I make sure the most-needed jobs definitely get done that week.

Does your family have "Saturday jobs"? Do you have one day of big jobs, or do you spread it out throughout the week? (Saturday jobs are our big weekly cleaning jobs, but we often do them on Friday afternoons if we don't have anything going on so we can take Saturday off.)

What systems work for you? (Always looking for new ideas to incorporate!)

Happy Friday + New Kit

Happy Friday! The kit I'm releasing today was originally part of the ScrapMatters' July Mixed Matters grab bags. So, if you missed it then you can grab it this weekend for 20% off. It's a fun kit called Pictures of Us filled with fun frames, camera elements, word bits, and more.

Have a great weekend!

New Project Life Templates

LOTS of new templates available at DigitalProjectLife.com this week. Here's one of them:

Credits: Project Life Template V; Project Life Kraft Edition

 

Boy Meets Girl Now Available

I teamed up with Sherry Ferguson to create this fun, versatile kit:

This is about my very favorite photo of my youngest, and this kit worked perfectly to showcase it:

Hope your summer is going well... mine is just busy, busy, busy (but fun)!

 

Crate Paper Maggie Holmes Collection

This great collection by Maggie Holmes is now available at ACDigitals.com and is on sale right now.

Credits: Crate Paper Maggie Holmes Collection