Nannygoat in Top 10 tutorials for 2009

I'm so excited!

Our Funky Bow Holder tutorial was one of

Ucreate's TOP 10 Tutorials for 2009!!!

How cool is that?! Go here to check out the others.

Thanks Kari!

Displaying Christmas Cards

Am I the only one who has to decorate a mantel with a Ginormous TV in the middle of it??? It's kind of distracting don't you think?!

I love to hang our stockings from the staircase and display all of our Christmas cards from the mantel. All you need is a long piece of string and tiny clothespins.

I love to look at the mantel and see so many faces I love and miss.

Make your own christmas cards quick and easy

Every year I have grand plans of getting a professional photo taken of our family in the fall and then using those lovely photos for our Christmas cards but it seems like every year things get crazy (or I'm pregnant and we don't need any pictures of THAT) and it just doesn't happen. Well, this year it "didn't happen" again and last week I had to come up with something quick.

I thought I'd share with you what I did just in case you are in a similar situation... it's not too late to get a great Christmas card out.

First I bought a Santa hat from The Dollar store then I found the spot in my house with the most natural light. We are lucky to have a lot of big windows in our home so natural light is easy to come by. I created a back drop with a white sheet and took pictures (turn OFF the flash on your camera... you will get much better pictures with natural light and no flash) of each of my kids wearing the Santa hat.

The pictures looked something like this:

Then I used this tutorial for selective colorization.

Now you can just take this photo to Costco (or snapfish or whatever) and use one of their cards OR you can easily create your own card using photoshop/ elements like I did.

I LOVE this site for FREE digital scrapbooking kits and she just posted a beautiful Christmas kit you could use for your card. When your all done just print them out at your photo store (I paid 13 cents for each card, WAHOO!).

BTW- If you are wanting to learn more about how to use your digital camera or how to take better pictures (who doesn't want to take better pictures?!) my dad has a great photography blog in fact it's The World's Best Photography Blog . ;)

He used to own a photography studio now he just shares his expertise and photos on this blog.

Check out 10 Cool Features of your Digital Camera you Should Learn and Use. He goes into detail about each feature and has a lot of photos to illustrate!

Scrunchy Scarf

Melissa and I saw these scarves at Hope Studios and HAD to make some.

Melissa wearing her scarf in Utah.

Me wearing my scarf in Kentucky.

These are sooooo easy and inexpensive to make. I made mine a little longer than the tutorial suggested ( I did 108 inches long or 3 yards instead of the 72 inches or 2 yards that the tutorial suggests).

I bought 3 yards of the jersey knit (I used my 40%off coupon and so I paid $7.00 for 3 yards) and I made 5 scarfs out of it!!! I'm going to JoAnns tomorrow to get some more fabric and elastic thread. For that price I can make one for all the ladies on my list!

Save the Date STEP 2

If you don't know what the heck we are talking about and you need to catch up just read this intro to our "Save the Date" organizer and then check out STEP 1 here.


Disclaimer: If you WANT to have excuses for missing special days (i.e. birthdays, anniversaries, holidays) you DO NOT want to make this "Save the Date" binder. You will no longer have an excuse and everyone will know you are just lazy.

(I'm still struggling with this idea myself... I like having an excuse as lame as it may be.)

Of course if you make these as gifts then they will have no excuse for missing YOUR birthday! ;)

Now for Step 2:

This page goes behind each monthly divider. Just write the names of your loved ones next to their birth date so at a glance you know all the birthdays in June for example.





Download and then print 1 of these (for February- 29 days) here.

Download and then print 4 of these (for Sept, April, June, and November- 30 days) here.

Download and then print 7 of these (Jan, March, May, July, Aug, Oct, and Dec- 31 days) here.



Next is the AWESOME info sheet so fill in each section with the info for each person with a birthday that month. This makes everything so easy. No more excuses for missing birthdays.
Download the Information sheet here.


Here is the holiday page great for keeping track of traditions, recipes, and new ideas you want to try the coming year. Put one of thse pages under every month with a Holiday you celebrate.

Download holiday page here.



These Christmas pages will help you keep track of who you are giving to, what the budget is, ideas you have, and what you purchased. Oh, and it is a reat place to jot down where you hid the presents so you don't forget!

Download the Giving-to list here.

Download the individual gift list here.



Put this birthday page under the months of your husband and children's birthdays so you can plan in greater detail.

Download Birthday list here.

Finally an Anniversary page to help you and your spouse plan ahead and don't forget the babysitter!

Download the anniversary page here.

THAT'S IT! You are going to be so organized you won't know what to do with all that extra time (I have some laundry I could use some help with). :)

For step 3 I will take pictures of my binder and show you how I put it all together.

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Save the Date STEP 1

All right, here are the first few downloads to start your "Save the Date" binder. You need a 1inch 3 ring binder to put all of these files in.

Download Binder Cover here.


Now you need the month tabs.
Download January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December.


(This is how we did our month dividers but you can obviously make different ones if you don't like these. )

When you print them out (on card stock) they will look like this:

You need to measure over 8 1/2 inches and then cut around the month tab like this:



I rounded the corners on my tabs.



Laminating the monthly dividers is optional.


Then punch holes into the pages to fit into the binder.
January through September punch holes to fit in the top 2 rings like this:


October through December punch holes to fit into the bottom 2 ring like this:

And there you have it. Step 1 complete!!!

We've never used the file sharing before so let us know if it all works please! :) Thanks

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Save the Date Intro.

It's the Christmas season.

It can be so hectic, overwhelming, and expensive!

Our families are stepping back this year and focusing on simplifying, spending less, and feeling the meaning of Christmas more.

For that reason nannygoat wants to share ideas with you for Christmas that will be simple, inexpensive, and meaningful.

First, we have to get organized. This binder is something Melissa and I came up with a few weeks ago after we had this conversation:

K: "What should we get mom for Christmas this year?"

M:"I don't know. What did we give her last year?"

K: "I can't remember... has she mentioned anything she might like in conversation over the last... ummm... year??"

Our conversation then led to how we have dropped the ball on birthdays this year too and next year we want to do better at sending a card or calling or emailing or at least doing SOMETHING on everyones birthday.

So we started brainstorming and came up with something that I think will change my life forever :) and of course we want to share this idea with you!

This is great for getting yourself organized and it is a PERFECT gift idea to give to someone you love. It will bless their lives and like we said this season we are focusing on meaningful, simple, and inexpensive ideas.

(sorry to my friends who have been waiting for me to post this for weeks)

This is the binder cover.
We will have the files for you to download all of this in later posts. This is just a preview.

A tab for every month with a list of birthdays and holidays for that month along with extra pages full of information to help you remember everything.

Now some of my favorite pages.

THIS is what makes this organizer different and what I am so excited about!
Fill out these sheets with all the information you need to remember your loved ones special dates. It includes all the ways you can get a hold of your loved one (address, phone #, email, facebook, etc) to tell them "Happy Birthday". Oh, and when you BFF mentions to you that she loves that thing she saw at the store today hurry and write it down under "gift ideas" so when her birthday or Christmas comes along you know exactly what to get her!

This page is great for this time of year to keep track of who is getting what. I also write on it where I am hiding stuff so I don't forget that gift I bought on sale in July that is tucked deep under my bed and also how much I've spent on each child.

Just make sure the kids don't get a hold of this information! We also have a page for Christmas exchanges like with family, friends, neighbors etc. so you can keep track of who is on your list and you don't forget teachers, bus drivers, mailman etc.

I LOVE this page. I have it under every month that has a holiday and it reminds me of what traditions we do and any new ideas we may want to try for that Holiday. My family is young so we are still trying out new traditions. Some traditions stick and some don't and this way I can keep track.

THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO SHARE.
I'm so excited about this. It is just what we need and we hope it helps you too!
We will post the files and detailed instruction soon so stay tuned!

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