My Creative Blog [Search results for Free Printable] 

Since we have a little time off before our next episode (the last episode before baby arrives!), I've been spending some time getting the nursery ready. It's funny- this pregnancy has flown by and up until now, I haven't even begun to prepare for it! Of course, we always try to redecorate rooms on the cheap and one of my favorite ways to do this is by using free printables. And I wouldn't be a good blog friend if I didn't share my absolute fav finds with you! So, here are 12 of the most adorable, trendy and fun printables I could find.

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1. Ooh Moon 2. Balancing Home
So, this first Noah's Ark print is so stinkin' cute! Ooh Moon is really cool because you can sign up for an alert when a new printable is available and you have 24 hours to print it out. The Love Shines Here print would fit equally as well in a kitchen or playroom as in a nursery!

3. Feed Your Soul 4. Balancing Home
Feed Your Soul is a free art program that has real artists contribute original prints that are downloadable and printable. There are tons of fun options, so make sure you browse around to find your favorite! This Blast Off print is simple and fun and perfect for a little boy's room.

5. The DIY Village 6. Feed Your Soul
Matt and Jacque from the DIY Village are gearing up for the arrival of their first child and created this simple printable that speaks volumes. I love that you can customize it by coloring it in to match your room decor! Number 6 is another Feed Your Soul masterpiece (Pretty sure you'll see this one in a gallery wall in my baby's room!)

7. Trendy Peas 8. I Rock So What
Ummm, I'm sorry, but isn't that fox the cutest little thing? I don't know if you remember, but I mentioned that I was really hoping to incorporate forest animals, namely sneaky little foxes, in our baby's nursery, so I was thrilled to find this printable! And you can't go wrong with this whale printable- it would look especially perfect in a nautical room of any kind.

9. Tried and True 10. Eighteen Twenty-Five
Watercolor prints are in so in right now, and this World Smiled print incorporates that trend a bit. I absolutely love the sentiment, because doesn't every parent feel that way about their baby?! Leave it to Eighteen Twenty-Five to come up with a graphic printable in about a million pretty colors. They have tons of subway art printables too, so snoop around a bit when you hop over there.

11. On To Baby I'm a big fan of any printable that you can customize and so this monogram print that comes in a bunch of colors is right up my alley. We're not revealing any baby names yet (not that we've settled on one or anything!), so you'll have to just wait until our nursery reveal to see what we chose.: )

12. I Rock So What

This.is.truth. The end.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And for those of you who are willing to shell out a couple bucks, I found these too-sweet-to-pass-up printables on Etsy. While these aren't free, they're all less than $10 each, so you're still getting a pretty darn good bargain!

1. Bon Temps Beignet

2. Printable Wisdom

3. Prints and Printables

Again with the foxes! Love, love, love this set of 3.

4. Plum Street Prints

Plum Street Prints had so many fabulous printables that I had trouble choosing just one to showcase! For some reason, I am really drawn to the simple designs these days.

Well, that's about it. Now I just have the difficult job of choosing which ones to print and hang in the baby's room. Where are your go-to sources for free printables? Do share!!

You guys have been so good to us lately! You've dealt with all the blog switcheroo craziness and we thought we should thank you for it! Well, technically Canvas People are the ones doing the generous giving, but we're sharing the love with you! They run this deal from time to time, and this time around we get to share it with you!

Canvas People are offering a Free 8x10 to every EC2 reader! (or if you're more the large print type you can get $40 off of your order)

To get your free canvas, click HERE One of my very first blog posts ever was about a canvas gallery I ordered through Canvas People. Remember this?

So the question now is What to Print?? Pictures or a Printable? Don't worry, we've rounded up an awesome collection of free, legit prints that you can use on your canvas. How's that for exciting?
. To download them, follow them using the links provided to their source sites, save the image to your computer and upload it to Canvas People using the link above.
This would look great in a master bedroom or bath.Download the I love us printable.

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via East Coast Creative on Pinterest The school year is almost over, make one of these on canvas for one of your kiddo's teachers Download the Teacher Appreciation printable 16x20

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via East Coast Creative on Pinterest
We love the colors in this one!Download the Room in Our Hearts printable

Source: simpleasthatblog.com via East Coast Creative on Pinterest

Love isn't just for the month of February! Download the fairytale printable

Source: simpleasthatblog.com via East Coast Creative on Pinterest
Jess has an obsession with coral, so this would be perfect. Comes in tons of colors!Download the What I Love printable

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via East Coast Creative on Pinterest
And my personal favorite is one I made from a quote I saw. Download Straight Gangsta printable

You know by now that our favorite online paper store is Moo & Puppy. I made this monogram printable to put on a canvas, but I was thinking of making one for each of my kids' teachers. All you need to do is 1-visit moo and puppy2- choose your paper pack- you get like 8 papers for $3.00 (what a deal!) 3- Use picmonkey.com to add a background shape and letter4. Use this link to get your free canvas!

Ooh, and we just found a few more adorable printables (comes in lots of colors!) from Paper Coterie that are perfect for Mother's Day, and every other day for that matter! Download Love printables

We hope you have a great weekend and have fun choosing what to print! Aren't FREE things awesome? We sure think so! Enjoy!

While looking for fun, free art for my new gallery wall, I discovered a few great places to print beautiful art, typography and even maps! And I just couldn't keep all the goods from you, so get your pen and paper ready (oh, wait, does anybody do that anymore? Get your Pinterest pinner ready, then!), for some awesome, free stuff!
1. Sprik Space

I mentioned that I printed off these two adorable prints from Sprik Space for my gallery wall, but these aren't the only ones Aimee has! Be sure to go on over and take a look at her super cute printables- and tell her we sent you.
2. The Graphics Fairy

Ok, admittedly, you have to do some digging on this site to find the hidden gems like this vintage french label, or this gorgeous peacock print. But luckily, all the printables are categorized, so if you know what you're looking for, you're in luck!
3. Feed Your Soul: The Free Art Project

I think this site is my favorite yet for free printable art. Don't ask me why I put it third on my list- it's late and I'm tired, so leave me alone.; ) The art is quirky and clever and definitely a touch modern. They have a few prints that would be perfect for a nursery or children's room, but I would put a whole bunch of them up in my house. Listen to what Jane says her reason for starting this site is: "I love art and I know you do too. I also know that when people start to tighten up the purse strings they tend not spend money on things that aren’t necessary for survival, things like books, magazines and art. But, art is important for your soul. It helps rejuvenate, it’s thought-provoking, offers inspiration and can generally brighten an otherwise dreary day among other things." Well said, Jane, and we thank you from the bottom of our art-loving hearts.
4. New York City Public Library

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Did you know that the New York Public Library has a digital gallery of over 700,000 images taken from their vast collections? I found this old print of Pennsylvania from 1830 with just a simple search.Browse to your heart's content and I'm sure you'll find a inspiration for art.
5. Leanne's Printable Quotes

This is not a site that regularly features free printables (at least not to my knowledge), but in this post there are several simple designs that would make great cards (for Valentine's Day, maybe?), art prints, or anything else you can think of.
Where's your favorite place to get free printables? I shared mine with you- now it's your turn!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I can't stop looking at the Hymn & Folk Song collection by Red Letter Words! Today I'm smitten with this:

I sing this regularly to my kids and so it these prints make me happy. I love the set of three prints- something a bit different than the norm!

I'm serious when I say that I think one of the best things about blogging and the internet is free printables! They add so much character to your home without having to spend lots of money. Thank you to all you who provide little ol' me with free stuff for my home! I've talked about a few different places you can find free printables here, but I decided that for my open shelves in the kitchen I wanted something specific and custom-matched to my color scheme. What's a DIYer to do? Why, make one herself!

I wanted to create something that was meaningful to me, but that also had some connection to eating and the kitchen. While searching around, I came across 1 Corinthians 10:31 and knew that it was perfect for this!

I found a pattern that I loved by Moo & Puppy (it's the morrocan trellis pattern that comes in a bajillion colors), uploaded it to Picnik and went to town. Why doesn't everyone buy digital paper? Seriously, there are SO many uses for it and it's so darn cheap! Plus, you can get 15% off if you use the code RHBC15. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Anyway, back to the printables. I have three identical frames in the kitchen that I spray-painted turquoise, and needed to fill them with something. I made this one using a great Julia Child saying…

…and printed this beautiful peacock from The Graphics Fairy!

Three cheap thrift store frames + free printables = one happy girl! And since I'm so happy, I decided to share the love. Free Eat, Drink, Glory of God Printable

It's a 5 x 7 print and you can choose from three different colors: mustard yellow, turquoise and lime green.

Click here to Download Printables I'm excited to finish accessorizing my open shelves, but you got a little glimpse today of how they're shaping up. What do you think?
Have you ever made your own printable? Do share! 

Today's the day! The 2012 Summer Olympics are here. The other day I told you about how I've been getting my kids all geared up for the games. The thing they're most excited about is tracking medals! I made a printable for them and won some major Mom-Points!

You can download the FREE printable HERE!
Here's ours all set and ready to go! What we did was let each kiddo choose a country that was theirs to track. We put the printable into a frame and then we can use a dry erase marker to update the count each day. Fingers crossed that they don't get all cranky and start fighting over whose country has the most medals!

The older two kids drew the flags for the younger ones and I have to say I was impressed!

And just in case you're curious, Here are some 2008 stats… Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total 1

China (CHN) 51 21 28 100 2

United States (USA) 36 38 36 110 3

Russia (RUS) 23 21 29 73 4

Great Britain (GBR) 19 13 15 47 5

Germany (GER) 16 10 15 41 Source

I kind of encouraged the kids to pic countries that have historically done well (so they have lots to track). We didn't put the US on our chart because we're all cheering for USA, we didn't want 3 kiddos being anti-USA!
I hope your kids enjoy this printable as much as mine have! GO USA!

Last year, I took a little risk here on the blog and got personal… really personal… I shared my idea for the Best Valentine's Day Gift Ever! I guess you guys liked it, because it was our most popular post of 2012- you dirty dogs! Ha! Have no fear, this year I have another idea that's a lot less prep and will still keep your man saying…

Let's recap really quickly…

Check out this post for all the details and the full tutorial, but basically you're going to use a bed sheet as a game board and pull off the most incredible surprise ever. Trust me ladies, you will win major points with this one. I can't tell you how many letter I've gotten from readers that had the best time with this project! Husbands are huge fans of The Game of Love!

This year, we're introducing the Game of Love Travel Version!

You don't actually have to be traveling to play this version, but it's perfect to take on the road. However, even at home sometimes you need a little"spice" and don't have time to DIY an entire game board sheet (definitely find the time to make it at some point though!).
Here's how you prep your game… #1 Print out a bunch of our free printable cards. Download free printable cards HERE

#2 On each card you'll write some kind of fun bedroom activity. Make some nice and others a bit more naughty. You'll want some variety in your cards. If you need ideas for your cards you can check out The Original Game of Love Post and click on any of the pictures to enlarge and read my game board squares *blush*, but be creative and remember that your husband will appreciate the effort you're putting in! #3 Put all of the cards in a bag or container

Here's how you play… It's kind of like let's make a deal. Your hubs will choose a card out of the bag (without peeking), read the card and determine if he wants to PLAY or PASS. Here's the catch… he can only choose 5 total cards to PLAY and once a card is PASSED you can't get it back! Oh Snap! It's super fun to see which activities he can't resist and which ones he's willing to pass on in hope of something even better! I'd recommend putting about 15 card options in your bag, but you can definitely do any number you'd like- you guys are pretty wild; ) You can play one of two ways, either do all the wheeling and dealing at the beginning and then get to business or do one card and activity at a time. Jess prefers having Kev make all his decisions up front. Either way is fun!
We're pretty sure this Game of Love Travel Version will be a huge hit! We hope it gives you the second year in a row of the Perfect Valentine's Gift! Who knows, it might also make your hubs want to plan more weekends away so you can bring your game along!
Being married is hard work and with so many marriages falling apart these days, it can never hurt to go the extra mile to let your man know you love him! So here's to another successful Valentine's Day and here's to women that aren't afraid to have a little fun with their hubs! Good luck and let us know how it goes! We loved hearing all your success stories from last year!

So, are you going to play the Original or Travel version this year? Linking up to: I Heart Naptime

We've been looking forward to our fall kickoff for weeks and it's been as awesome as we hoped it would be! Honestly, we have the best.readers.ever! We so appreciate all of your support and feedback on our projects this week! If you missed them, here's what we were up to this week…Jess' Fireplace Makeover & My Foyer Update

So, to start this fall off right, we've partnered with Canvas People again to bring you FREE canvas! Use THIS LINK for your Freebie!

We love that Canvas People offers our readers these awesome deals. Right now their website is offering 25% off, but nope, our readers get an 8x10 for FREE or 50% off! SCORE! And, off course we wouldn't just give you a Freebie without some inspiration! Idea # 1- Back to School Canvas Did you see Jess' daughter's 1st Day of Preschool Pic? (Umm, cutest thing ever!) We were talking about Canvas People and she decided to get this picture on canvas and begin a tradition of getting a canvas at the beginning of every school year and putting them in her upstairs hallway.

My kiddos start school next week and I'm hoping to snap a pic even half as cute at this one! Idea # 2- Shut the Front Door Canvas

Not ready to write it in massive letters on the wall, but sorta think it's funny? We'll I'm hooking you up with a Shut the Front Door printable that you can have printed on a canvas. Download 8x10 jpeg HERE

Idea # 3 Fall Leaf Graphic Art How cool will these babies look grouped together? I am ordering these three ASAP! Of course we used our favorite digital paper from Moo and Puppy and we're sharing the downloads with you for free! Download Graphic Art Print 8x10 jpegs Birch Maple Oak

Idea # 4 Fun Fall Prints Just some random cuties that might work in your fall decor… I really love the 8x10 canvas on a mantle or shelf etc. It's the perfect size to get creative with and use in a less traditional"hang it on the wall" way! Download Autumn 8x10 jpeg HERE

Download Falling for You 8x10 jpeg HERE

Idea # 5 Print a Good Old Fashioned Picture I love this picture of me and some of my best gal pals. So often I'm printing pics of my kids or family etc, but these girls are so important to me! I think I'm going to get a canvas of this pic for my office. My posse on canvas… doesn't get much better than that! (And yes, we're a gangsta posse.)

We hope you're as excited about fall and FREE Canvases as we are! We're so glad to be back with our A-Game on! Can't wait to bring you even more fun projects that we have planned for the next few months! Enjoy your Free Canvas and don't forget to use This Link to get the Freebie Deal! Linking up to: Tutorials & Tips

Believe it or not, my kids are pretty rough on our house… We're pretty laid back parents and our kids do a lot of ball playing, wrestling, and just being kids in our house. I love this pic that Salvatori Photography took for us- this is SO our life!

The one problem I was having was that they kept breaking everything on my family room gallery. Frames would fall and break, glass was cracked a few times from footballs- it was getting old! So, I decided to create a Kid-Friendly Gallery Wall!

Everything on the wall is either plastic, paper, or wood and there's NO glass on anything! I'm writing this post a while after completing this project, so I can tell you that we've made it over 3 months without one break!! Woohoo!
You might remember seeing a peek of this wall during Creating with the Stars- my knock-off round project was in the gallery… You can check out that tutorial here.

Here are a few more pics of the gallery and then I'll show you how I made the awesome vintage camera prints!

Now let's chat about the vintage camera prints- I love them SO much! I think they have just the right blend of vintage appeal and classy style. I got the FREE download here- gotta love an awesome, free printable! Thanks Design Editor!

I headed to staples and had them printed as 2"x3" engineer prints. They cost me about $5 bucks each. Since I knew I didn't want to frame them with a glass frame, I thought about just taping them right up on the wall… my hubs mentioned he thought it might look a tad cheapo, so I kept thinking… then it hit me- Washi Tape! I had ordered some from Consumer Crafts a while back (they have a great selection and super cheap prices).

I simply used one long piece for each side, stayed right at the edge, and folded the excess onto the back. It took me about 5 minutes max!

I think it was the perfect touch to give the paper is more finished look!

I used command strips to hang them on the wall- it was perhaps the easiest and cheapest DIY with an awesome impact on the family room!

Later this week I'm going to share how I go about creating a gallery wall- I think some people feel it can be a tad overwhelming if you let it, so I'll kind of show you how it all went down here at the Mangin pad!
What do you think of my huge, almost-free pics? And am I the only one whose kids rough up their home decor?

Good morning, everyone! It's very rare to meet other blogging duos in this blogland, so when we met Ashley and Whitney of Shanty-2-Chic at Haven last summer, we were thrilled! True story: when we were checking in to the hotel in Atlanta, we were told they didn't have a room for us. So we were sitting like total dorks in the lobby (we were even dressed in scrubby outfits!), waiting for a room, when two gorgeous, personable, cheerful girls entered the lobby. We were clueless as to who they were (what? Were we living under a rock?), but it turns out they were the Shanty girls! These two are the sweetest and prettiest women you'll ever see wielding power tools. Super-talented, down-to-earth. and uber-wecoming to the two of us newbie bloggers. If you haven't been to their site, please do so immediately (after reading about their awesome project!) and you won't be disappointed. Enjoy!
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Hey guys! We are the Shanty Sisters, and we are so excited to be blog swapping with the ECC girls today! We had the pleasure of meeting them in Georgia last year, and we hit it off from the start! They are sweet girls, and we love that they are a blogging duo just like us!; -)

With Christmas just around the corner, we thought it would be fun to share a quick DIY gift idea! I love photo gifts. This is a super simple, cheap and cute way to display photos. It cost me under $3 a piece to make these… Woohoo! It makes a great gift for friends and family. Here is how mine turned out…

And, here is how I made it!

For those of you that don’t have a saw… This is one you need to have. You can EASILY cut this project and so many others on our site using this. Cheap and easy… Promise! That’s a stocking stuffer gals! Come on… You will thank me! This is a perfect ‘craft’ saw, and you would be shocked at how many projects you can do with it! You can also have the hardware store cut the wood for you. HD has a handsaw just like this one in the wood section at all times.

That's it for the building part! Now you are ready for the printable! I made a few printables for this project. Today I am sharing the 'So Very Blessed' printable. To print it, just click the photo below. Once it opens, just click print from your top browser bar. I printed mine on cream colored cardstock. I like the weight of cardstock paper for this project, and you can get it super cheap at any craft store.

I chose to use upholstery tacks to hold my paper in place. These can be found at any craft or hardware store. They are really cheap and cute. They are also really easy to remove by using a small screwdriver under the head of the nail. This makes changing out your printable really easy!

Your final step is adding photos! I like to print my photos out on photo paper at home. This saves me lots of money, and keeps me from dragging my 5 kiddos to Walmart to pick up photos… Win win! I cut my photos out, put them on the display and I was DONE. So quick, so cheap, but still so cute! My kind of project! And… Did I mention I made these babies for under $3 a piece?? Just making sure! Today I shared the 'So Very Blessed' Printable, but be sure to come visit Ash and I over at Shanty2Chic where I will be sharing the other 3 printables for this project! Here are a few more shots…

A little bit more about the Shanty Sisters…

We are 2 sisters sharing how we transform our homes on a budget! With 8 kiddos between the two of us, we put every naptime to good use; -)! From building projects like this $65 farmhouse table…

To transforming things like this $15 mirror made from a Walmart mirror…

And even offering free printables like our latest free alphabet banner!

We would love for you to come check us out anytime at our site, Shanty-2-Chic.com!

You can also follow us on Facebook! And keep up with all of our posts by following us on Pinterest!

Thanks so much again for having us girls! We are honored; -)!! ~Whitney & Ashley
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seriously, isn't that adorable?! We love us some cheap projects and this is one of the best ideas we've seen this year! Thanks so much for being here, girls!

Are you looking for the link party for your Creating with the Stars submission? Yay! We're thrilled to have you! Click here or use the button below to link up. Submissions are now open until February 21st. If you want to read more about the contest and all that it entails, click here.

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We've had some just for adults Valentine's Day ideas on the blog (here and here), but today we're keeping it PG! (I always give Jess a heart attack when I venture into PG-13 land! lol) With 4 kids this year I had 79 valentines to prepare. Thanks to Pinterest, I spent some 1:1 time with each kiddo, browsing for ideas, and then making each of their cards. I gave them each the option to buy, but they were feeling crafty I guess.
Kira went with Arrows and Pencils with kind of a Brave theme. We got the free printables here.

Callen wanted Superheros…and again we found a Free Printable! (noticing a trend here?!?)

Little Bit Funky blog has an awesome tutorial using felt with these printables.
Did you notice that I didn't perfectly coordinate paper or add extra fancy ribbon? I've made it a goal that kid projects (even if being blogged) don't get bogged down by mommy details. It's all about the fun and that boy sure looks like he's having fun! hahah! He actually said,"Mom, look how happy I am… {INSERT CHEESY SMILE}. See, that happy!" My kids kill me.

Kaden is 8 and it's one of those ages where you have to decide if Valentines are cool or lame. Thanks to Minecraft, he decided they were cool!

We just made them together using Google Images and two Minecraft Fonts (find them here and here). Sweet"Cool", Simple, & fun for me and my guy to make together!

Last, but not least was Kenzie… at almost 11, valentines are almost a thing of the past, but since school still does them, they had to be Epic (at least in her mind). Eric and I don't let the kids have Facebook accounts or anything, but we did let Kenz get an Instagram account (set to private). You might see her commenting on my pictures 24-7: ) Anyhow, Instagram is very cool in her class this year, so we made Instagram Valentine's… but wait, there's more… we also added a scratch off element! Booyah! (Haha, sorry, I got a tad excited)

I'll warn you… all these pics were taken with my phone, that's another part of kid crafting,"No annoying Mom pictures"…
Here's how we made them… We started off with a picture Kenzie took on Instagram (Fried Egg A-la-Kenzie). Using my I phone, I took a screen shot.

We saved the picture and pulled it into Picmonkey where we covered the eggs with a little Valentine's note. We put a few different comments in the area below the picture…

We printed our design out on plain computer paper. Kenz liked the scratch off idea we saw on Pinterest, so… we added that too! First, take a clear (or white if you don't have clear- we didn't) crayon and color over the area to scratch off.

Then we mixed together silver paint and dish washing soap. We used about 2 parts paint to one part soap. Then you just paint it over the colored area. (Let it dry a full 24 hours before moving them around. They need to really cure, so they don't wipe off too easily)

Blogger mommy might have suggested we make the scratch off area in a fun shape or something, but plain old mommy bit her tongue: )
We attached the Instagram print onto cardstock- and of course, we did it in happy face fashion…

And then it occurred to me that most 5th graders don't carry coins, so we used a little washi to attach a penny on the back of each card. Kenz and I both liked this little touch!

It took us about an hour to make all 27 pretty awesome Instagram-Scratch-Off Valentines. It might be the last year we get to make them together (who knows what middle school will bring), so it was an hour very well spent!

So, 79 Valentines later, I had one really fun afternoon of crafting with my kids and 4 sets of pretty cool Valentines. What kind of cards are your kids giving this year?

I can't believe Father's Day is next weekend. I have nothing planned yet (ugh! Slacker wife!) so, I thought I'd share some Father's Day Gift ideas that I found throughout blog land. Now, I have to warn you that my hubs isn't into ties, golf, or the TV remote and I found SO MANY project ideas like that, so if you want that stuff look on Pinterest. These are just ones that I thought were really cool and that I'd actually try myself.
Free Printable Props from Paper Coteriefind them HEREI know my kids would have a blast taking pictures with these props! Even if we didn't print them out, we could show dad a silly slideshow!

Wall of Surprises from Oh Happy Day find the tutorial HERE
This idea is my favorite and I think that we'll be trying it out next weekend. I was thinking that each of the kids could pick one activity they'd like to do with Daddy and we'll do them throughout the day. We might even include a few clues leading to our big present!

Personalized Book from Paper Coterie Use this link and the code DADSDAY to get 60% off!

I love how this book can combine pictures, printed words, and kids drawings & writing. My hubs isn't a big fan of crafts (I mean he likes the ones my kids make) but he LOVES photo books and things written from our kids. This is on my to do list tonight.

Scrabble Frame from Just Another Day in Paradise find the tutorial HERE This project has been on Pinterest since it started and I still love it just as much. I love the simplicity, but how it instantly grabs your attention.

Father's Day Photo Collage from Positively Splendidfind the tutorial and downloads HEREThis is really creative and cute. If I have time before next weekend we might give it a whirl!

The font wasn't totally my style, so I threw together another image that I'll use for the writing. Feel free to save as and use it too! Amy's tutorial uses Picasa, but I'm loving PicMonkey's collage tool and will probably use that for mine.

I hope this little Round-up got your wheels turning. What do you have planned for the fathers in your life?

One of the things we're most grateful for is our friends. We've talked about them a lot here on the ol' blog, but we try really hard as a group to stay connected and do fun things (we all went to see the premiere of Breaking Dawn together yesterday!). Last year I (Jess) started what will hopefully become an annual tradition with oour girlfriends: a Favorite Things Party! What is that, you ask? We made a little video to tell you all about it…

Basically, you ask your closest gal pals to purchase their favorite thing for under $10- one for each girl coming to the party. Then, dress it up with some fabulous wrapping paper and come bearing your gifts, and of course, your favorite appetizer (or dessert, but I'm partial to apps, so because it's my party, that's what we do. ha!) Here's a peek at last year's gift from myself and Monica:

Last year, I threw the party together at the last minute, but because I want it to be a special night for our friends, I decided to create some invitations. Chalkboard typography is THE biggest thing on Pinterest right now, so I decided to hop right on board the bandwagon. I kinda love it.

I also made a blank template so you can add your own information.
Download it here:

I made the entire invitation in Picasa with the following FREE fonts: 1. Bergamot Ornaments 2. KG Makes You Stronger 3. Handy George 4. Kraft Nine 5. Peach Sundress
Ideas for Appetizers/Desserts/Drinks:
My favorite part of the favorite things party is the food, of course!
I'm crazy about seafood and this party gives me a good reason to sample these Crab-filled Crescent Wontons.

I'm going to give this recipe for homemade hot chocolate in the crockpot a try, for sure:

And then it would be really fun to dress up that hot chocolate with lots of yummy fixin's (yes, all of the sudden, I'm Southern.)

Hot Chocolate Bar
And ohmygoodness, my friends might just receive this Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark as their present AND dessert. Ha!

Ideas for Wrapping:
Monica's favorite part is the wrapping. Did you know that in addition to an obssession with socks, she's also abnormally passionate about wrapping paper?
I'm already ahead of the game (Monica) for my wrapping this year thanks to The Plaid Barn. It's a daily deal type site that I'm addicted to! Honestly, I have to do the whole wants vs. needs thing to resist buying a deal every day! However, this wrapping deal was too good to pass up. It has bags, wooden tags, stickers, clips, and everything I'll need to make sure I have the cutest packaged presents. Mwhahah! (Slightly competitive BFFs, but totally kidding!) I got 45 pieces for $7.42! Major SCORE!

Click HERE to get the Holiday Packaging Kit holiday wrap pack or to see what other goodies they have for sale today!

Here are a few other fun wrapping ideas we found for ya!


Typographic Gift Wrap

Gift Wrap Envelope (For the record, we do not endorse the buying of the wrapping paper used for that envelope.)

We can't wait for the Favorite Things Party next month! After we have it, we'll reveal what our 2012 favs were and share some fun pictures from our night!
So, are you ready to host a Favorite Things Party? We'd love to hear if you're thinking of planning one now too!

I know for many summer is well underway, but my kids just got out of school last week and I still have a week left. So, I might be a little behind the eight ball on this, but we finally sat down this weekend and created our summer bucket list. This year I wanted to do something fun and visible, so that it would be a daily reminder of all the fun things we have planned!

I decided to put together a pennant banner that I could print out quickly and easily. After designing the template, the whole thing took me about 10 minutes to put together! Score!
I used this template, which you can download for free HERE.

Then, in Picasa I added the words using this font (which you can get HERE)

To put the banner together, I just hot glued the pennants onto grosgrain ribbon and then added some buttons at the ends for a little added detail.

I just used regular computer paper, but I would recommend using a heavier card stock so that the light doesn't shine through. These pictures were nearly impossible to take with all the back light.

Here's what's on our Bucket List for Summer of 2012: Family Bike Trip Newport Beach with our Cousins Phillies Game Camping Outdoor Movie Night Sleepover with Friends Tubing Down the Delaware Dorney Park See Fireworks Bonfire Family Bike Trip

I'm pretty happy with our cute summer bucket list and I'm super excited for all the fun things we have planned!

What's on your family's summer bucket list?

Jess and I have both been mentioning the long project lists we have for our hubbies. I will clarify that we're both super hands on and helpful with our DIY projects, but we're both blessed with husbands that are willing to help us carry out our crazy ideas and projects.
I found this cute FREE printable and thought I'd share it with you today.

Vale Designs I've already printed out a few this morning and can't wait to see Eric's super huge smile when he sees his Honey-Dew list looking all cute! Just for the record, it will be more of an eye-roll, but I will ignore it and pretend that he loved it!: )
You can click HERE for this fun, free download.
So, let me know if your hubs is super excited about the adorable Honey-Dew list you've got for him!: )

Monica here! You know me as the blogger that has a super big farmhouse table and makes her husband take all sorts of weird bloggy pictures for posts.

But, did you know that I'm actually a high school English teacher?
Yup, Mrs. Mangin by day, blogger by night! I have a little quiz for you…

Yes, it's the sad truth! After elementary, it's all downhill… Middle school is hit or miss, but by high school you're lucky if you get a,"Have a good summer" from a parent. Of course I'm generalizing, but it's pretty widespread. Here are my thoughts on the issue (and this is as a mom, not a teacher). I entrust my kids to someone for 7 hours a day… that's a really long time! Yes, it's their job to teach their students, but giving extra encouraging words when a kiddo might be having a rough day, or taking time to talk to a high schooler about their love of punk music, etc. is going beyond the job description and truly playing a role in a child's life. For that reason, I always want to be thanking my kids' teachers and encouraging them as educators. This doesn't end when my kids no longer need help tying their shoes… if anything, when my kids are teens, I want to be encouraging their teachers even more. From what I've heard, the teen years can be a bit of a challenge! So I've got a few Back to School Teacher Gift ideas for you, and don't you forget the high school teachers (honestly, you just might make their day/week/year)

Simple, School-Themed Flowers I'm no florist, but I'm pretty sure these are just some mums and yellow ball thingies. You could even pick some wildflowers. We have tons of black eyed susans around this summer. Pile in some dollar store letter magnets… add mason jar… add ribbon… voila!

Source: None via The Real Housewives on Pinterest
Smooth Year Lotion Ok, this idea comes from a blog with a hysterical name…"Oops, I CRAFT my Pants" HAHA! I honestly laughed right out loud when I read it! Well, she gives a great tutorial and FREE PRINTABLE labels to turn Bath & Body Works lotion into a cute lil' gift.

Source: oopsicraftmypants.net via The Real Housewives on Pinterest
The Legendary Diaper Cake ( Ok, the fact that the best title I could come up with was"Legendary Diaper Cake" has convinced me that I'm far too tired to finish this blog post…"Legendary Diaper Cake""Who says that??" Weak Sauce, if you ask me! So, this blogger is going to bed… it's been a very long day of 4 kids, teaching professional development for the high school staff from 8-4, doing a complementary staging job to help a missionary couple we know, and getting home at 10:30pm… So, you'll have to wait till I wake up refreshed to finish!)
**** Enter Dream Sequence Music****
Well Good Morning! It is I, the refreshed blogger who was up way too late, but got a good night's sleep!
So, let's get back to business!
Diaper Cake with a School Spin
Everyone associates a diaper cake with baby showers (Hello, Captain Obvious), but now we can add a school spin and make it into a rockin' teacher gift. The awesome part about this gift is that all of these supplies are on sale at Target and Walmart for about 99 cents or less! Glue sticks can get pricey, but you can substitute anything you want! I'm pretty sure this gift would be proudly placed in the teachers' lounge and some might even say it's"Legendary!" (hehe)

Source: designdazzle.blogspot.com via The Real Housewives on Pinterest
Back to the Grind This is what my kiddos are giving their teachers this year. We'll just bring them to"Meet the Teacher Night" this Thursday. Did I mention I've been sorta swamped lately? Well that's why it's sorta simple and no frills, but that's also kinda nice because anyone could throw this together in 5 mins! Coffee Tumbler… Ribbon, Giftcard… Cute Printable on Envelope… voila!

31 Reasons I Love School Last year, we gave Kenzie's teacher a Thermal Lunch Tote from 31 Gifts and she LOVED it! I called one of my BFFs, Mandy, a 31 Gifts guru and asked her what she'd recommend. Of course she had awesome ideas, and my favorite was the Mini Organizing Tote filled with supplies and a list that you an your child come up with for 31 Reasons you're excited for a great school year. How cute is this? I love that you can get it personalized for your teacher. If you're thinking of something from 31, click the 31 logo on the sidebar you'll get 15% off your order, which is the special in August (Even if your kids start school really soon, you could still get one in time for Back to School Night I'm sure)

So, whatever you do, even if you can't pull together a"Back to School" gift, a note, or email just saying"Thanks" and"Have a great year" would mean a lot… I know Mrs. Mangin would adore that.

P.S. Don't forget to VOTE for the CBS Blog of the Year Today!

Before you read this post, click PLAY on the music below to set the mood…

We can't even believe that the end of summer is approaching. We're basically in denial. Since we're going to cram as much awesomeness into these last few weeks as we can, we thought we'd better organize our plan of attack. Thanks to Emily at Jones Design Company we had a fabulous free printable to use. So yes, two dorky bloggers just sat together and wrote these out, but now we're going to share them with you…

Jess' Must-do-ASAP List

Monica's Must-do-ASAP List

Excuse our chicken scratch handwriting… Do you remember back in high school when having cool handwriting was a big deal? Yeah, I (Monica) never had cute girl handwriting- Jess did!

So now we want to know what you have planned for the last days of summer? Thanks to Jones Design Company, you can click HERE to download the printable. Fill it out and then post it to the Real Housewives of BC Facebook page HERE. It'll be super fun to see what you're all up to in the next few weeks!
(Oh, and we'll look sorta dumb if no one posts it to Facebook, so be a blog pal and just think… you get to show off your cool handwriting!)

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for reasons to have a party, so why not celebrate the return of school?! Whether or not your kids need some encouragement to get back in the swing of things, or you just can't wait to send your kids back to school (hooray for me time!), a party is definitely in order.
Back to School Breakfast Party You could plan a party just for your kids, or, if you're up for it, invite the neighbors, or the families whose kids ride on the bus with your own kids for a quick and easy breakfast before school, ala Katie Brown.
1. Set the table. Make going back to school something to look forward to with an awesome tablespread. I love the vibrant colors and cute centerpiece with apples, a clipboard and cute printable. So easy!

Source: 6dukes.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest
Go the extra mile for your kids with namecards at their seats, a little gift on their plate, and fun details like this lined-paper utensil holder. Adorable! And there's no way they won't feel special and loved after that!

Source: tipjunkie.com via Kim on Pinterest
2. Choose your menu wisely. Remember to pick food items that will give them energy to get them through until lunch.

Source: katiebrownblog.com via Jessica on Pinterest
A bagel buffet could include peanut butter and jelly, granola, raisins and banana, just to name a few.

Source: katiebrownblog.com via Jessica on Pinterest
Set out cereal in cute containers (you better believe sand pails and beach accessories are on sale now. Use them!)

Source: katiebrownblog.com via Stephanie on Pinterest
Fruit kabobs couldn't be easier and are so healthy!

3. Send them off with a treat and a little encouragement!
This is so cute and you can get the FREE Smartie Pants Printable to make it even easier.

Source: bethproudfoot.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Brown Baggin’ It

Source: onecharmingparty.com via Laura on Pinterest
There are a million ways you can spice up your kid's lunch bags to make them a little more fun. How about these adorable School Lunch Labels?

Source: littlelovely.typepad.com via The Paper Chick on Pinterest
Or these Back to School Lunch Printables by Little.Lovely.

Source: tothemoonandback143.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest
And don't just stop at decorating their lunch bags. Actually pack healthy foods in a fun way for them, too. To the Moon and Back has tons of suggestions for Awesome School Lunch Ideas. And how great is that lunch box?

Source: itswrittenonthewalls.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest
Or simply add a little love note to your kids to tell them how proud you are of them and how much you love them. (Click on the links below each picture to be taken to the site for the free printables.)

Bring on the Dessert!

Spoil your kids with an after-school treat, or wait until after dinner to celebrate the first day of school. It only happens once a year, people, so bring out the big guns!: )

Source: bettycrocker.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: womansday.com via Erin on Pinterest
Mmm… cake pops.

Shawni, of the blog 71 Toes, has a Traditional First Day of School Cookie Chat after school where she sits down and talks with each of her five kids (yes, five!) about their first day. It's such a great idea to start this tradition when they are young so it's something they can look forward to each year, and a way you can easily connect with your kids. Because really, who doesn't love cookies?

Source: iammommy.typepad.com via Kiwi on Pinterest
According to the NY Times, these are the best chocolate chip cookies ever. Sadly, I can't vouch for the validity of this statement, but maybe one of you are willing to put that recipe to the test for an after-school cookie chat. (And please, by all means, feel free to send us a batch so we can"taste-test" these so-called best cookies ever.)

Let your kids know they're special with a little extra love this year.
Back to School never was sweeter!

Have you voted today? Please take a minute to do so- we will love you forever!

I can't even tell you how stuffed I am right now. I couldn't eat another bite if you paid me! We had Thanksgiving with some of our close friends and it was awesome. We're so thankful to be blessed with such amazing friends. I didn't go crazy with decor, but I did a few cute little things that I thought you might like to see… My kiddos helped me make"really fancy" centerpieces for the kids' table… Craftin' it old school my friends…

Who doesn't love a paper plate turkey? My favorite part is that we made these before 9am Saturday!
I wanted the kids' table to be fun (so that the adults might actually get to sit down and eat), so my younger two helped me make placemats.

I made the little name cards on Picnik and then snagged a free printable from Pinterest (I pinned it if you want it), added a piece of construction paper, tied up the utensils and voila! Remember, this was quick and easy, not fancy schmancy, but the kids loved it and had a blast!

Look at all those happy kiddos!

Since the kids had a fun table, I had to do a little something for the adults. Using the same method we shared on 69 News, I just printed out some little cards. Under the"Thankful" I listed the people at Thanksgiving. If you wanted to use these as place cards, you could just circle the name of the person.

Since Jess shared a fail (turned awesome) yesterday… I'll share a fail (turned umm… still fail!) today. So, I was inspired by this jute runner, but forgot to get jute, so I figured I'd use my kids' craft paper and do the same thing… umm, not so much…

I measured out the paper, I had the hubs help me fold it (then I mentioned he was in the picture, and this is the cheeseball pose I got. Nice one babe), I started cutting on the lines and was reminded that I'm a lefty in a right handed world (and my perfectionist husband couldn't stand the sight) so Eric cut. I started weaving, but guess what? The paper was all rolly and wouldn't stay put and needed tape every two inches. UGH. I gave up halfway through, trimmed what I had done, plopped a huge gourd on it and had a good laugh with Jess over it!

Lame table runner or not, we had an amazing time together! Now, ready for a dining room update? Well, thanks to an awful cold, I've been worthless the past few days. Today, about 4 hours before 20 people arrived for thanksgiving Eric and I used our lunch breaks to paint the bottom half. (I love the days he works from home!)

We love chalklines. Honestly, I won't paint a line without one! Since we're using a chair rail we didn't have to be neat with the top line (just in case you thought we were sloppy!)

I'm so thrilled with the color. It's Antique Silver, from Olympic (but I got it color matched in Valspar).

We still need to paint the area between the moulding, but that can wait until after I've wallpapered. It arrived in the mail and I can't wait to put it up!! I called in the big guns for that job. My father in law is coming this week to lend a hand. There are just some things that I know better than to do with the hubs!
So there you have it. Thanksgiving # 1 and at least some progess on the dining room. I'm hoping that my next update will have the room almost done!

PS… Did I mention that we deep fried our first turkey? It was amazing, but I'll point out that it's never a good sign when someone is lighting the gas and has the directions in hand. We were clueless, but in the end, it was worth all the craziness!

Occasionally, Jess and I do or see a project that is deserving of the"Try this Now" title. The project needs to be super simple to execute and have a major awesomeness factor. We know it's easy to have an ever-growing DIY list, but these babies are projects that you should try right away. We've started a page on the blog where we'll catalog these super-simple projects, including today's Family Valentine's Idea. So be on the lookout for our fun Try this Now logo. TRY THIS NOW PAGE

I was browsing the Target dollar bins and spotted these cute mini mailboxes. We have a little over a month before Valentine's Day, so I decided that we were going to create a little family mail center!

Here's the plan… we set these mailboxes in the family room with a stack of blank notes where anyone can leave a note for the kids and they can leave notes for each other. We're encouraging them to write something nice to one of their siblings each day.
Of course I wouldn't leave you hanging without free printable notes of your own! You can download the ones I created HERE.

I printed them on plain,old computer paper, but I think they're pretty cute!

I had bought one mail box for each kiddo and some Valentine's stickers. I pulled out some washi tape and a bunch of Sharpie markers.

After dinner last night, the kids went to town decorating. They were really into it!

The best part wasn't the decorating though… it was seeing how excited they were to write each other notes! Kira is really sweet and put so much effort into her brother's note.

Here are a few of the notes that are going to be read this morning…

Kaden is honestly the best big brother on the planet!

He actually wrote 2 notes for Cal!

I'm really excited about the next month and how excited my kiddos are to send each other thoughtful notes. We're not a super touchy-feely family, so this is one way we can do Valentine's Day on our terms!

Are you ready to Try This Now? Will your family be getting a Valentine's Mail Center?
Linking up to: I Heart Naptime

I (Jess) have coached a Varsity tennis team at my alma mater for the past four years and have developed some awesome relationships with the girls on the team. This past season, the girls who I started coaching when they were freshmen became seniors and are now graduating in just a few short weeks! I knew I wanted to give something special for each of them, but since there are six seniors, I didn't want the gift to cost too much (hey- I've got my limits!: ) Take a look at what I came up with!

Isn't that sweet? This phrase is my absolute favorite. I love that this gift is a small token that they can take to college that will remind them to believe in themselves and encourage them to accomplish anything they want. Here's why this gift is so inexpensive: I got these frames at the dollar store!

They were originally a bronzey-gold tone which I hated, but the style and the ornate details just called to me. With just a little spray paint, these babies look totally different- stylish and cute and perfect for a dorm room!

I created these adorable printables in a mint, coral and gray color scheme that my girls will love! You can download each version below.

Download She Believed Version 1 HERE

Download She Believed Version 2 HERE I popped the printables in the frames and then squealed a little bit. They are so sweet and I'm hoping the girls will smile and remember me when they look at it!

Added bonus: if the frame happens to break as a result of some late-night dorm pillow fights, it's no big deal! Hehe.; )

I'm such a fool for gifts under $10! What do you usually give out to the graduates in your life?