Announcing Pregnancy Book!

YES! I AM PREGNANT! This wasn't exactly my thought when I saw the word "pregnant" on my test, though. I was kind of stunned. Excited, but stunned. It wasn't exactly planned, you see.

Anyway, I debated for days how to tell my family my exciting news. I didn't want to do the old t-shirt thing, "I'm a big sister!" as my brother-in-law did that. And I didn't want to leave the test just lying around--I'm the only sister (out of five) who is remotely planning any more kids. Takes the fun out of it.

SO I MADE A BOOK! I wrote a little poem to announce it, and created a 20-page, 7x7 book on blurb.com. Cost me $12.95 plus shipping.  If you want to see the book, click here: I'm Grateful For...Pregnancy Announcement Book.

It was actually quite simple to make, once I wrote the poem. Did the whole thing in one afternoon. I used a kit called Family Moments from Lindsay Jane. I found pictures I already had the matched what I was saying. I kept it very simple. The idea was to tell both families at Thanksgiving dinner that I'd created this fun "thankful" book from my 20-month old daughter Afton--the poem is written from her point of view. And then have a surprise announcement at the end!

It was a very special "family moment" when I presented it. We went to Trevor's family first, and there were a lot of tears and excitement. This is grandchild #6, and none of his siblings are having another. Then at my family it was a total madhouse. This is grandchild #16, so I'm sure you can tell why! But what a fun way to do it! I printed one for each side of the family and they get to keep it. Now I'm wishing I had printed a third copy for me! But that's what I love about blurb--I can give out the URL and all my friends can see it too!

Anyway, if you want a copy of the poem I wrote, here it is:

I'm grateful for my family
And all those who love me so
I'm thankful for my parents
Who help me learn and grow

I'm grateful for the blue, blue skies
For parks and slides and swings
For flowers and fields and kitty-cats
For sweets and chocolate things

I'm thankful for the food I eat
The shelter over my head
For toys, binkis and storybooks
My shoes and clothes and bed

I'm grateful too, for Jesus
Who was the greatest of all
He lived and died for each of us
Even the very small

I'm grateful for my Grandma's
Who always show the way
And also for my Grandpa's
Who take the time to play

My cousins, uncles and my aunts
All around me, there to love
And another who is not yet here
But is waiting, up above

I don't quite understand, yet
What Mommy and Daddy mean
When they say July is special
There's someone new coming

"Big Sister" is a title
I've never had to hear
But I know I'll be most grateful
When our baby is finally here!

Black Friday Deals at Cherishbound

Hey all. Sorry I haven't updated for so long. I'm in a bit of a creative slump at the moment. I do have a project I've been working on, but I'll post that later this week. VERY exciting!

However, I did want to alert any of my readers who might be interested to a Black Friday sale at Cherishbound. If you've read a lot of my posts, you know that I print all my yearbooks at this company. They are just beautiful and so high quality! Anyway, here is the information on their exciting Black Friday deal!

FOR ONE DAY ONLY-

* 30% off selected products in our online store!

* FREE Storybook Series Upgrades!

* 50% Off Hardbinding Upgrades!

* FREE gifts with a cart charge of $150+


On November 26, 2010, submit your story books and enjoy some of the best deals of the year with your personal publishing.

Save 30% off selected Story Starters, Lifeprints, Chat Cards, Journals, and much more! Visit our online store on Black Friday to take advantage of all the deals!

FREE Storybook Series Upgrades! Create your own Storybook Series book from our most popular storybook designs for NO EXTRA DESIGNER FEE! You will save $14 on EVERY Storybook Series book! These books are pre-designed so that with or without photos, you can create a beautiful book in 30
minutes, and the corresponding Story Starter questions are already inside! (Choose from: All About Me, Tribute, Recipe, Love Story, Best Friend,Hero, Family Yearbook, Top 10, etc.) Just use the coupon code on the flier to save big!

Get 50% Off all hard binding upgrades... usually $17 for only $8.50. It's a GREAT time to create new books and order additional copies of your favorites! Use the coupon code found on the flier for these amazing savings!

Save your regular coupons for another day, because when your cart charges are $150+, (does not include tax/shipping charges) you will receive a FREE gift bag full of special Cherish Bound products and goodies! View the flier here.

Badge Making - Another Fun Project!

So, I mentioned in another post about how I have a badge making machine. I use Photoshop to make the badges all the time! So I thought it would be fun to do a post about it! I bought the machine at my junior high--I use it for a project I do each quarter with my 7th graders. I just made up the idea one day while in the shower (I swear the best ideas come in the shower) and now it's this fun project that my kids really love. In a nutshell, its this: I break the kids up into groups of 5, and each kid gets a job according to their personality type. (I have them take a little test.) Then they design badges, make them, figure out the "cost" in an Excel spreadsheet, and make advertisting posters. Then they go to the library, set up a table for each group, and another class comes and purchases the badges with "money" they've earned for good behavior in that class. Then the kids come back, calculate their winnings, and are awarded "money" for how much they made. Some groups make $500, other groups make over $10,000. It doesn't affect their grade, but w

hen we have an auction with candy and stuff, they get to buy all kinds of stuff! (If any teachers out there are interested in learning more about this project, a full explanation and all the materials can be found on my Teachers Pay Teacher's site, Mrs Funny Business.)

Anyway, that's the project I do, but really--that's not what this post is about! Although my students make badges, the design them in Print Shop, not Photoshop. Even if I had the program in my lab (which I don't, because they'd never pay to put it in a jr. high) I'd never try to teach this program to 12-year-olds! BUT, I make badges all the time, and I use Photoshop for it, OF COURSE. I make them to give away as rewards in my classes and stuff. And because it's SO addicting to make them! The machine is so easy to use!

Ok, first, I purchased the machine at http://www.badgeaminit.com/. They have several grades of machines--the cheapest one is only $30! But knowing that I would be making several thousand buttons a year, I bought the more expensive $400 machine. I have a 1 1/4" and a 2 1/4" machine. But I'm sure the smaller, less expensive ones are great. There's one for $60 I think, and one for $100. Then you buy the badge parts for it--either at Badge-a-Minut or at http://www.usabuttons.com/ I go there because my district has a contract with them. You can buy like 2000 buttons for only $100!

And then I go crazy! I created a template in Photoshop that has circles exactly the right size to fit in the machine. It took a few tries printing in order to get the right size. And then it's quite simple from there. I use fill techniques, actions, pictures from the internet, and I'm always looking up funny sayings online that I can put on my badges.

UPDATE: I also thought I'd add a little side note tying badges into scrapbooking. There is a great template from Atomic Cupcake that allows you to create a glossy-looking badge for your scrapbook pages. You can find it here.

Here is what they look like!