Saturday, February 11, 2012

Giving Flipboard a Try!

I was reading another yet another "simplify your life" article but this time, I think I found something that truly will make a difference for me!  In the February issue of Health, I discovered the customized reading app, Flipboard.  It works like a personal magazine that centralizes articles and images from your social networks, news sources and other content that you can pick from Flipboard's resources.  I've been able to streamline information on my iPhone from my various news apps and social network sites so I don't have to jump from app to app anymore.  I think that this might be just as addictive as Pinterest!

My Flipboard

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Personalized Valentines for Kids

Two of my favorite things are Martha Stewart's Living and Pinterest.  Taking ideas from both, I created these valentines for my children's kindergarten and first grade classes.

From this:

To this:


How I did it:
For photos, I had a few foam hearts in our craft-bin and took a picture of each child holding it over their heart. During photo editing, I added a border around each photo.  I created a 3" x 5" portrait Word document, inserted a two column table at the bottom half of the page.  In the right column, I inserted the photo.  In the left column, I typed the Valentine's Day message.

Supplies:

  • 3" x 5" plain index cards (no lines)
  • Color printer
  • 3" x 4" clear plastic baggies - I found these at an office supply store
  • 3 bags of miniature candy (we used 2 per packet and made 48 packets)
  • stapler
The kids counted, placed the candy in each baggy and sealed them.  I printed each card, folded and stapled them to each baggy.  This was an easy project with no mess, clippings or cuttings!
These valentines are the perfect size for kindergarten and first graders.  I LOVE how these turned out and prefer them over the licensed character cards, stickers and tattoos (are kids
really that into those things anyway)?