Need a teacher gift???

Got this idea from Traci at amazing mae.

Traci is actually a good friend and neighbor of mine, how lucky am I!

She made personalized stationary for her kid's teachers using PSE. I totally copied her and made these. I love how they turned out (I blurred the last names).

So easy and so beautiful!

Thanks Traci.

Now I'm going to make some for myself!

Worth getting up early

I'm not a garage sale shopper for many reasons:

1. Everyone knows to get the good stuff you have to be there early, no thank you. Saturday is the ONLY day I get to sleep in past 6:30am.

2. I have enough STUFF, I don't need someone else's stuff TOO.

3. My hubby often works Saturdays. Garage sale shopping with four kids in tow = not fun.

Well, recently I made an exception since it was a neighborhood yard sale just down the street. I packed up all of the kiddos and we went shopping and oh the bargains we found. But one in particular... this one:

I saw her from the street and tried to guess the price, $40 maybe $30. I finally got out of my car and literally choked on my own saliva when I read the sticker on the front. Any guesses???

Would you believe the lady was selling this beauty for $5.00!

Silly lady,

doesn't she know what a little paint and new hardware can do...

No more sleeping in on Saturdays for me my friends.

Picture Matching Book

So easy, you CAN do this!

This is another project Melissa and I worked on while she was visiting me in Kentucky. I saw something like it over 8 years ago and it has taken me this long to make one for my kids.

This is GREAT for keeping kids quiet and entertained during church, in waiting rooms, in the car etc.

All you do is:

1. print doubles of the pictures you want to use.

2. Take one of the doubles and cut out the head of the person.

3. Then, laminate both the full picture (I laminated 2 different pictures back to back to save room) and the "head".

4. Buy some clear round velcro and attach it to your full photo and the back of the "head" so that you can stick the head back on the body.

I love this because we don't live near our family so it helps my kiddos remember what everyoe looks like. If your kids are old enough to read you could write the names on the picture too.

5. Once you've got all of your photos ready just punch a hole in the corner and add them all to a ring.

6. You'll also want to add a thick envelope to the ring and put some velcro on the envelope so you can open and close it and store the "heads" inside.

WaLaa! Your kids will LoVe matching the pictures of the people they love most.

What the heck it the 30 meal plan?

If you are new to nannygoat and you are wondering what we are talking about, 30 meal plan, huh?!

Well, if you want to make dinnertime a breeze, grocery shopping more efficient, save money, AND have your kids love EVERYTHING you make for dinner... then you want to check out the 30 meal plan.

It is ALL about simplifying and making life (specifically dinnertime) pleasant... is that possible?!

Now, if you LIKE dinnertime chaos including you searching through cupboards and flipping through endless recipes TRYING to come up with SoMEThiNg to eat all while your children are screaming at each other (due to low blood sugar of coarse) and begging for treats then you DO NOT want to do the 30 meal plan... enjoy your anarchy.

But, if you like peace and happiness and yummy food then JoIn In!
Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Recipes

recipe box tutorial

30 Meals: Step 4, Final Step :)

Okay my "30 meals" friends, I hope you are working on your 30 meals and your master ingredients list and hopefully you are starting to reap the rewards of all of your hard work.

I know I am and I am seriously LOVING IT!

So, this is the final step.

Step 4: Create a Binder to keep yourself organized.

Inside my binder I have several sheet protectors which I am using as pockets. I just took a sharpie (because I'm fancy like that) and wrote on the front of each of the sheet protectors. This is what I have so far:

1. Recipes to add to my 30 meals. (btw your 30 meals may eventually be 34 meals... nothing wrong with that).

2. Recipes I want to try. Now, don't put just any recipe in here! You worked hard to simplify so don't go making things crazy again. But, if your bff goes on and on about a meal that her family gobbled up with lots of "mmmmmm", and "yummy", and "mom you are the best cook ever!" then you should definitely add that recipe to this pocket and try it out.

3. Special Occasion Recipes. In this pocket you would put special recipes you make just a few times a year (ex. Holidays, summer salads, winter soups etc.)

4. Side dishes. Eventually I will type these up and put them on their own ring but for now my funeral potatoes and vegetable recipes etc. will be found in this pocket.

5. Desserts. Again, eventually I will take all of my FAVORITE desserts and type them up and add them to their own ring (might need 2 or 3 rings, lol) but for now they go in this pocket.

6. Breads/ Appetizers/ drinks

7. Other Recipes. This pocket is for those recipes that didn't make it to the top 30, maybe the kids nixed it but the adults loved it so you don't want to just throw it away...but maybe you should just throw it away... think about it.

The beautiful thing is once I've gone through all my recipes and divided them among the pockets I can finally THROW AWAY all of those recipes that are crowding up my cupboards, YAY!

(If you want to print off this cover page for your binder just download it here.)

WARNING: The 30 Meal plan is ALL ABOUT SIMPLIFYING. This Binder is for your FAVORITE recipes (unless they are recipes you want to try but even then be realistic. Are you REALLY going to try it?). If you put ALL of your recipes in this binder it will explode at the seams and be a HUGE mess. If you have millions of recipes you want to keep then you'll need to use another method.

Feedback:

Any thoughts/ suggestions on this step?

Is the 30 Meal Plan working for you?

We want to hear your thoughts!

Weekend Crafting

I finally found some time (midnight- augh) to finish up some really random crafts I started.

Problem:

A cute cheap outfit (I found at Old Navy for like $3.00) with a message written across the front that I didn't love!

Solution:

A cute cheap outfit with flowers that I do love!

While I was making flowers, I decided she needed a giant flower!
I am loving to applique these days!!

This cute red chair sits up entirely to straight, it needed a pillow!

(a friend made the cute quilt on the back, not me!)
I have wanted to make a little cozy thing for a while now. This is what I came up with using stuff I already had hanging around my craft room!




She seems to like it!

It tastes good too!

The Power of the Mind

I know, kind of a deep title for a craft blog but it's so true! The mind is a powerful thing.

I am a big believer in the power of ones thoughts. When I find myself thinking negatively my actions always follow (apathy, frustration, impatience etc.) and visa-versa.

I've found in my life if I tell myself I am capable, smart, strong etc. I become those things. It is not "the secret" it's the truth and really I think it's, in a way, showing my Heavenly Father gratitude for the body/ mind He has given me by being positive with myself.

I recently found myself saying "I can't" A LOT. "I can't make bread" or "I can't sew" or "I can't keep up with 4 kids!!!"

I tell my kids all the time "you become what you think" and here I was "thinking" that I was incapable. So it hit me one day, I CAN do those things. I may not be GOOD at them but the only way to get good at them is to keep doing it!

I know, I know, this is totally elementary. Like I said, I tell my kids this ALL OF THE TIME. But, do you ever find yourself saying "I can't" almost like you were made out of a different mold;

"I'm not crafty", "I can't cook", "I have no patience"(a favorite of mine), "I can't lose weight" and on and on.

Made these the other day for the first time ever:

I CAN make bread and I CAN sew!

(the bread was kinda dry and luckily you can't see the seam where I accidentally measured the fabric wrong... I didn't say I CAN do it perfectly. lol)

The power of positive thinking my friends. believe it

.....I CAN handle 4 kids. I CAN handle 4 kids. I CAN handle 4 kids.....

Thanks

Thanks for ALL of the great advice!

I'm going to ask for advice more often! :)

Sleep-lover needs advice

My baby is 5 months old now...

I'm thinking it's time to put him in the room I decorated for him almost a year ago.

Problem is that he has a 2 year old brother he has to share the room with and I'm worried that they will be waking each other up throughout the night and I really like to sleep... I also like happy, well-rested little boys... I'm nervous.

So, I am asking for advice.

I know I'm not the first person to put a baby in a room with a toddler. Any tips/ tricks?

Please.

Mr Linky is having issues

Apparently some of you guys can no longer see mr linky on our recipe swap post (thanks for the heads up Lindsey) and so you can't get to those yummy recipes... don't panic ( I would totally be panicking because I've already bought the ingredients to make those recipes!)

I'm going to just list/ link them below. Here they are:

Kristy Staker a touch of country Laura Michelle

Pixeltrash (Tami) Amy Martinez Katrine

Keri Jessica Carrie Lisa

Kari @ Ucreate Jeanie Crystal Kristine

Heather @ Cookie Mondays Brassy Apple

Stephanie btw I made this one on Sunday, SO easy and my fam loved it (we served it on rice wrapped up in a flour tortilla with ranch, mmmm)

Priscilla Marin Summer Sarah

Katie J Natalie

Did I miss anybody????

There you go. Anybody else tried any of these recipes? What do you like so far?

Sneeze!

I heart my

Refrigerator Box Tutorial

The verdict is in... You guys want a tutorial for the refrigerator box Kathryn and I made.

We say...

Ask and you shall receive!

On a single piece of cardboard without any bends or folds, cut a rectangle out 13in x 7in.

Then also make 4 more cuts as see on the above diagram in pink.

You can see those cuts above. Next you will want to fold along the dotted green lines.


Use a boning tool (I don't have one so I used the rounded end of my sissors:)) to rub along the green dotted lines to make folding easier.

Now it can bend easily.

This is the trickiest part... peel off the 1st two layers (if you are looking at the side with the measurments written on it) so that you are left only with the one layer as seen above.

These are the two layers you just peeled off... STOP peeling at the dotted line!

Now cut that off at the dotted line.

Now do that for all 4 corners.

Now is time to assemble the box.

I just use a glue stick to cover the corners. Start with 2 that are across from each other.

Fold the side up and press the flaps firmly onto the the main section.

Now repeat for the other side.

There you have it.

Now just Mod Podge your favorite scrap book paper over it, add some magnets to the back and you have yourself a super cute and personalized fridge box to store your delicious recipes you are going to use for the week!!

If you are not up to making your own fridge box (totally understandable),

Carrie said that she found some magnetic containers here that look like they would work perfectly.

I also found some here that might work.

We wanted to give a big THANK YOU to you, our readers, who have given us some great ideas and tips on how to make the 30 meals even better and again for sharing all of your great recipes with us!!!