Tag: printable ♥

Uncategorized

insta march & april's free calendar ♥

Raising up Rubies3 Comments

hello april!
did you download & print your free march calendar last month? i had so much fun with mine!


use it to mark off your bible reading, 
to use on your bible journaling pages or right in your planner! 

♥ download april’s free calendar right here ♥
march was a full month! a busy etsy shop, lots of birthdays and some fun trips


my girl AmyJ. made these doll sized stickers to use on my packages
my happy mail just got waaaay more fun 🙂


that too legit sign is my new favorite :: from here


i added tons of new things to my etsy shop this past month!
including these NEW laminated, adhesive bible tabs ♥



watch this video here to see how i used washi tape to decorate the bible tab pages of my bible


a few new necklace designs were added as well with matching bible journaling cards

not sure what to do with my journaling cards?? 
check out these pictures ♥


i made this necklace for my best girl’s birthday
i love these lyrics from big daddy weave :: you can listen to the song here
this necklace is available for purchase in the shop here

these planner & bible journaling JUMBO paper clips are a NEW addition to the shop too!!
i kinda love them. they’re my favorite.


did a little cleaning & re-organizing in my studio this month
it’s hard to believe i mod podged dress patterns onto this table top almost 5 years ago!


this girl.
she was just little. she’s an official teenager now and taller than me 
and does my hair better than i do it.
cue gray hair.


yeah. this was them like two seconds ago.
exxxxactly.
old.


new kicks and melting snow = happiness
(until it snowed again)
(which it did)
(and it’s in the forecast again for this weekend)
(go away winter. it’s april)


march is my birthday month 🙂
which means sprinkles. of course.


aaaaand trips to joanns for rainbow fabrics
cause what’s more fun than joanns & rainbow fabrics during your birthday month??
not much.


more sprinkles … 🙂


my hubby got me an instax camera for my birthday! i was so excited about it i went right to michaels and got all the heidi swap accessories to make it pretty ♥


a snapshot of my worktable on shipping orders day


by bestie covered her new interleaved esv journaling bible in fabric tape!
it looks soooo cute. i wanna do this next.


my stitiching the states pattern & kits are still for sale in my etsy shop
take a peek inside the #stitchingthestates hash tag on instagram to see some works-in-progress!
this makes my heart so happy ♥ to see all of you making beautiful maps with this pattern


i opened up a beautiful packages from my friend Becky over at Cleanmama
she makes the most beautiful household & cleaning products. 

finally took down my winter decor to welcome spring.

there’s no IKEA here in upstate NY
so we took a 2-day trip down to pittsburg and spent over 8 hours in there! ha. 
we had a blast.
because also : #birthdaymonth

we also have no krispy kreme here either 😦
so we ate lots of donuts too.




ikea rocks.


pictures from some crafty insta-friends
of goodies purchased from my shop!
love all the happiness here
from @octobertraci

and love how my journaling cards were paired with a cute little journal ♥
from @lemonystitch



can’t wait to see how you use your april calendar!
much love ♥


Uncategorized

free mini march calendar

Raising up Rubies2 Comments
hello!
just popping in with a little freebie for the month of March ♥
bible journaling has been a part of my week lately & i’ve actually been faithful to my planner!
i liked the idea that i’d seen of posting a picture at the beginning of each month to break up your instagram feed, and decided to make my own image … hopefully i can keep up with it every month and share it on here with you ♥

download to your computer here
 and print as many as you’d like to stick in your planner, bible or for your fridge.
much love
Uncategorized

a play restaurant kit in a box ♥

Raising up Rubies8 Comments


my youngest had 2 birthday parties to go to this past saturday 
and we recently printed & laminated this cutest ever play restaurant kit (so cute i die) from my dear friend AmyJ’s etsy shop. she recently opened a separate store just for kids printables, and really there’s so much in there that you’ll just want to make & play with and you’ll be sad you’re a grown up. i’m serious.

so i had the idea to print out sets for birthday presents and to put everything in a sort of kit so the recipients would have everything they needed to play. aren’t the menus cute?! 


here’s some info about everything i bought and used 🙂
– the yummy food restaurant kit 
(can be purchased here)


i’ll explain a little about how i laminated the printables. you can use them just as printed on paper but if laminated they can be used over and over with dry erase markers. this little scotch laminator is available at so many stores. i bought this at joanns for $25 after using my coupon and i think i saw it at target in the back to school section last week for a reasonable price as well. the laminating pouches came in a pack of 50 at target for $13 or so. reasonable i think, since we use the laminator for a lot of other things …
so you’ll see below i laminated some as whole sheets and some i cut before laminating. it turns out that just laminating everything and then cutting later with a paper trimmer was easiest and worked the best. for the coins in the kit i punched them out with a one inch circle punch and then laminated them in a pouch, then cut around each coin. time consuming yes, but i coerced my girls to do it for me while they watched a movie 🙂

-storage bin 
(i bought this one type but with half the depth from target and everything fit perfectly)


-play food (in toy section at target) & kiddie plastic plates, cups & silverware 
(in kitchen section at target and only .79 cents each!)


 -a small three drawer organizer (target)
-pack of dry erasers (not pictured)
for this little organizer box i printed an extra menu from Amy’s kit and cut the name to fit into the top of the box like you see here.


these drawer labels were not part of the kit, i just whipped em up in publisher and printed them out and laminated. then used hot glue to attach




-you’ll need large rubber bands or long cord for the name tags


 -play apron (we got one at joanns and decorated it a little bit)





and i think that’s everything! we put everything in the storage bin as shown and wrapped a ribbon around the whole thing. they were a huge hit! if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments, and i’ll do my best to answer them 🙂


much love ♥
Uncategorized

free print – journaling cards

Raising up Rubies3 Comments
happy sunday
♥
just a quick pop in here to share these journaling cards i made last week 
with some super cute clip art my bloggy bestie sent me
the cards were inspired by the new First5 app
from Lysa Terkeurst and proverbs31 ministries



 it’s an app designed for us busy ladies who have a desire to start their morning in the right direction by devoting the first 5 minutes of the day to Jesus with a short devo. the app is going through the book of John with an optional workbook that you can purchase on the website if you want to spend additional time and go more in depth. just starting it within this past week I’m already learning so much and i really wanted to share it with you. if you’re following along with the app or going through the workbook tell me what you’re learning too i want to know! and if you haven’t downloaded the app yet go do it now! you’ll be so encouraged!


you can put them in your bible, journal or maybe even tape them to the mirror in the ladies room while you’re out & about 🙂 i hope they encourage you and the people around you this week!
much love
Uncategorized

AmyJ comes to NY … and a free printable ♥

Raising up Rubies3 Comments

she’s here! AmyJ!
my best bloggy buddy is here … really here in New York
like at my house. like in my craft room.
not that i’m excited or anything



we’re shopping, eating, shopping …..and eating.
oh and talking. lots of talking … and laughing!
aaaaand she’s been teaching me a little bit of her design magic.

{download here}
we had fun making this free printable just for you 🙂
it’s a combination of my journal doodling & Amy’s pattern making
isn’t it pretty?!


tomorrow we’ll hit a bunch of thrift stores and maybe some garage sales in between
so exciting!
Uncategorized

an easy way to meal plan for one year with free printables ♥

Raising up Rubies28 Comments



it sounds crazy i know.
but it’s not! trust me!
i’ve been working on this project probably for at least a year.
oh not because it took that long to finish … just because i’m a slacker.
along with the fact that i was going back & forth between making my own printables for this whole system, and what i was coming up with just wasn’t to my liking.
so i mentioned last week that i teamed up with my bestie AmyJ. for this project
SHE designed, created and cutified a whole new meal planning kit for me …
and even more exciting, we have a few free printables here today just to get you started!
so exicted.

i’m going to keep it as simple as possible and break it down into a few easy steps.
the most time consuming part might be filling out the monthly calendars but i finished mine over the course of a few evenings (watching shark tank) (i’m obsessed)
i really hope you love this whole set-up! 
let’s get started …





how will meal planning work for you? is a year too much to think about?
would you rather just tackle a week or a month at a time to start?
planning for 12 months is a little extra work, but worth it when you’re done!
and it’s really all about repeating & rotating meals you make now and leaving space to try new recipes later. either way Amy’s kit allows you to plan with the weekly calendar…
and if you decide to plan monthly, that calendar is a free print at the end of this post.






what you’ll use for supplies is up to you … but Amy’s kit makes it all so simple 
aaaaaand way cute. like way. 


a binder & page protectors are the necessities, but i also used a few other things …
stick on tabs 
(these were Martha Stewart from Staples)
a couple clipboards
(dollar bins at target)

any recipe cards or page markers 

to make finding & organizing your dinner or make ahead recipes easier
(Amy’s cute recipe cards come in her meal planning kit)

start by filling out a master meal list & a new recipes to try list.


so basically your master meal list consists of all the things you make for dinner currently
… family favorites, quick & easy meals, really anything that you cook for your family on a regular basis.  
i filled mine out in groups by meat & category … for instance:
beef, chicken, pasta, misc/quick meals


the new recipe list is just simply that 🙂
any recipe you’ve been wanting to try, those magazine clippings stuffed in a file somewhere, 
all those recipes you pinned on pinterest… yeah those.
all that … write it down on the recipes to try list.
don’t forget to source it … in case you’re like me and can’t find a certain recipe among the seventeen thousand pins you pinned to your meal board.
cookbook page numbers, magazine volume numbers … whatever 
… however you keep your stuff
if you just jot down where it came from you’ll be able to track it down faster.










if you’re planning for the year, 
print out 12 copies of the free month at a glance calendar at the end of this post
along with the shopping list & the week at a glance page (from the meal plan kit)


i put the calendars each in their own page protector along with 2 shopping lists
(i grocery shop every other week, if you shop weekly print 4 for each month)
and 4 week at a glance planning pages
(i use these to copy down what the “week in meals” looks like
and i put it up on the fridge for my family to see … i’ll get to that in a minute)


don’t forget to fill out the sticky tabs for all 12 months 
and attach them at the end of each page protector



to fill out your meals for the whole year, use your master meal list and just start with January … 
fill in most of the days of the month with the meals you currently make.
i like to make it easy by keeping certain days for certain meals, for example…


mondays – chicken
tuesday – beef
wednesday quick & easy/misc.
thursday – leftovers (yay!)
fridays – pasta


that’s why keeping the master list separated by type makes it easier to rotate the meals as you fill in the days … you can see that my calendar has a few blank spaces, i left those open for trying new recipes and don’t forget to leave space for when those new recipes become a part of the master meal list… as the months pass i’ll look back at the additions to the master meal list and slowly fill in those blanks.


make sense?


you can fill in all 12 months or just do a few at a time every so often…
 whatever works best for you.
this is the most time consuming part, but like i mentioned before 
it took me maybe a total of 1-2 hours to fill all the calendars in with dates and meals






sunday afternoon is usually the time i like to sit down and take a look at our week
cut coupons, plan meals and such … i’ll just grab a weekly meal planning sheet from behind my monthly calendar, fill in what is on the menu … and make adjustments from there based on what’s going on that week … church, practice, birthdays … whatever.
but it’s nice to have it already laid out in front of me, 
i just have to fill in blanks and do some tweaking.




plus my family really likes knowing what’s on the menu!
 i also jot down quick things for breakfast & lunch 
which helps to eliminate arguing over what they have for breakfast in the morning)


by the way a few of my favorite things about Amy’s pages are …
the encouraging verses at the bottom of each page
(cause God knows i need encouragement when it comes to dinner time)
the cutest clipart in the history of the world times infinity in every corner
aaaand a spot to write down what you should be baking during the week.
cause it’s no secret i love to bake. well really i just love cookies.
so go fill this space out right now.
bake something.
do it.



last thing to do!
fill those page protectors with all the recipes you have clipped, cut or printed on paper 
and put them in the back of the binder behind your calendars.
when it’s time to cook dinner, check your calendar and flip to the back for easy access to your recipes 
(i keep only dinner or stock up in the freezer recipes back here, 
baking and other recipes are in a separate binder)

i actually took it a step further and created a template in publisher for recipes from the web that we decide are keepers.  i hate having things printed from the internet with all the mumble jumble and random ads & images in my recipe inventory … it’s not pretty 🙂
i take a few minutes to copy & paste the text with the main image along with the source into my template and i add a space for my own notes about the recipe.
but that’s an optional step. if you’re crazy like me.
problems. yeah i know.








Amy’s kit comes with pantry & freezer inventory lists to help keep track of what’s in the back of those hard to see spaces in the kitchen … and will help avoid the dreaded missing ingredient issue just as you’re about to start dinner
i put them on clipboards and hung the pantry one on the inside of the door
the freezer list is in my basement near my big box freezer which holds bulk purchases from sam’s club or extra freezer meals if i cook a few ahead of time




i also like to keep my cookbooks on display.
they’re within reach and double as cute decor in a wire basket
right?
right.



you can tab the pages of the recipes you make most often
then just grab it off the shelf and flip through your tabs for easy access




well, i think that’s it!
information overload i know!
funny thing about all this, is that i do not enjoy cooking … at all
 baking yes … cooking, no.
but i’m very very italian so i love to eat
and those two things don’t go together so well


so having any sort of plan in place, makes me feel like being prepared and cooking dinner most of the week is something i can accomplish … happily. with no curse words.


Amy also whipped up this super cute binder cover for you!
you can slide it into the front of your blank binder or inside of a page protector
i just love this so much 




{click on the images to download the files}

{click on the images to download the files}

aren’t they so sweet?! enjoy them!
i plan to do a follow-up post about my coupon binder and how i use Amy’s planner printables
as well as a little info about that pantry inventory list and how i organize my pantry!


if you have any questions just leave them in the comments 
i’ll do my best to answer them quickly ♥
happy planning!




linking up here!

Uncategorized

a guest post and free printables from AmyJ ♥

Raising up Rubies8 Comments
hey all!
just taking bit of a break from all the hustle & bustle of life
between being under the weather 
(let’s not even talk about the never-ending winter 
that seems to be sticking around like i don’t know what)
and just wanting to regroup & restart, a breather is doing me some good.

but today is the best day ever.
my bloggy (and now real life!) bestie AmyJ. is guest posting here on my little blog.
which is so amazing to me since most of what you see here was designed by her hands
i’m always amazed at how God can take something as little as a blog or instagram or whatever and use it to bond us together with not just people, but kindred spirits.
 that we would have never crossed paths with in the “real” every day of life. 

i’m so blessed by it. i’m so blessed by Amy …
she is open, honest, caring, beautiful (inside & out) and loves Jesus somethin fierce.
 and i’m so excited to show you what she’s been cookin’ up the past few weeks…
when i first read this post i eeeked & squeeeaked the whole way through

grab a cup a somethin and eeek & squeeeak along with me!



Let me introduce myself to you…  I’m wife to a bearded pastor, mamma to 5, illustrator and graphic designer, and Jaime’s bestie!  See Jaime and I share a common creative wavelength… it’s kinda creepy.

So I wanted to share some party ideas and a couple free printables with you today!

Okay, I have to admit something to you… I was going to show you a garland and some little woodland critter puppets and call it a day.  BUT my hubs was like, “You should do a woodland party! And make cupcakes!”  (I think he just wanted cupcakes.)  And then it kind of exploded.  So some how I ended up doing a full out mock version of a party we are apparently going to have for real in a month for two of my girls.  oy.  But hey!  It was fun and now I don’t have to do all the work in a month!

THE DECOR… girly, vintage, woodland style!

 



THE FOOD…cupcakes and strawberry marshmallow mushrooms!




THE FAVORS… woodland critter puppets and mini notebooks!




THE CUTE (soon-to-be) BIRTHDAY GIRL! … Lucy Lou… yes, that’s a gnome hat. he, he.




THE FREE PRINTABLES! … ’cause what’s a party without something to take home?!

Okay, so I also must tell you… that these crazy cute little woodland critter graphics that you see everywhere, are IN MY ETSY STORE!  I know… awesome, right!?  That means that you can make all this stuff too! 






This is the invite I plan to use for the real party in a month… 
I made this blank version, below, for you! 
You can use it to make your own invites, signs, or even thank you notes!


* Just click on the image and save the .PNG file to your computer! 
You can use it just like a photo image… 

Then I also have some place cards for you!


**Please remember these printables are for personal use only.  May not be used for profit of any kind.  Files may not be distributed. Enjoy!


Okay… I’ve used up enough of Jaime’s blog space, y’all.  Time to say goodbye.  
But hey!  Come on over to my blog and say hi!  And don’t forget to go pick up some of your own woodland animal clip art in my store… and then get crazy creative 🙂

Blessings… 🙂

kay. don’t lie.
you eeeeeek.
i know you did! and those printables …
thank you sweet Amy!

guys the other thing is, if you haven’t been to her blog already
you need to hop over and see … it just got a super sweet makeover 
and everything is so fun to look at 
i’m like a kid in a candy shop when i’m there


that little phone. i die.
kay i’ll stop.

but really, while you’re over there, spend some time in her home … 
you’ll find so much inspiration in every little space

i love looking at her pictures
it’s easy to see we are like minded … we love our families, we love our homes
and expressing our creativity in every room ♥
i love it when friends inspire & challenge you
to try new things. to think outside the box
dont’ you?

stop by Amy’s blog and say hi for me today 🙂
and make sure you pour another cup cause you’ll be there for a bit.

so about next week!
i’m super excited to finally finish and post about this menu plan thing 
that i’ve been workin on for like 10 years 
(kay not really, but it’s been forever)
(it’s just dragging on and on)
(and it’s really not complicated so i have no idea why)

but all that to say that AmyJ. and i put our heads together to bring you a whole set of printables & a simple plan to keep meal planning easy
and more importantly super cute ♥

and she has the printables in her shop now if you want to get a head start!
they are to adorable & affordable to say no to



 … and next week we’ll have a few freebies for ya 
cause we really love & appreciate you guys. 
like a lot. 
yeah.
i’m so excited about this!
(can you tell)
see you next week!

Uncategorized

makers gonna make … a free print ♥

Raising up Rubies14 Comments


got to thinkin’ about my post the other day.
and how a creative soul just needs to make things
it’s at the heart of who we are.




and i love this saying so much
and i found a place to hang my bunting 🙂
so i had to make a print to go with it.




i made two and couldn’t decide which i liked better
so it’s up to you! click on the link to download one or the other
or both. yeah. i’d do both too.


download here
download here

enjoy!
and go make some stuff peeps.
♥

Uncategorized

game night! … in a bucket ♥

Raising up Rubies14 Comments


a few projects around the house are still in full swing this week!
but i wanted to stop and share this fun gift i put together 
for a wedding shower i was invited to.
see i’m not your typical go to the store print off the registry 
buy six towels & a matching soap dispenser kinda girl 🙂
i figure the happy couple-to-be will get enough of that old lady boring stuff
and instead they’d rather have something different & fun!
(well at least i’d rather get this gift)
(much more than the soap dispenser)

this is kinda along the same lines as the baby bath caddy that i made up a few months ago
cept this is a great gift idea, not only for newlyweds, but for a bunch of different events.

round up a few things to get this bucket-o-fun started…






air poppers are reasonably priced, 
and the popcorn tastes so much better than the fake microwave stuff right?!
(especially with all that healthy butter & salt)

i also took it right out of the box, so it would fit better
i’m not fond of boxes & bags when it comes to making a gift pretty
i almost always take everything out of it’s packaging 
before i pack it into an open gift like this
(i did tuck the manual and a gift receipt right behind everything once i was done)
(so don’t freak out)
(all you original box lovers out there)







there’s not much to explain when it comes to putting this together
all these supplies were found at Target
and the beverage tub was even clearanced out for the summer.






a few packs of card games would be neat to throw into the bucket too,
drink mixes … candy … anything you think you’d want to eat while playing games 🙂






on a side note, i have a special spot in my heart for the sunday comics. 
as in the funny papers.
when i was a kid i’d get so excited about getting sunday’s paper
because that was the paper that had the “color” comics … i’d read them once 
then come back and read them a couple more times … weird huh?
and now i like to use them for everything
 for wrapping Christmas presents and boxes that get sent in the mail
… i just know that someday i’m gonna think of an ingenious idea 
for my stash of funny papers
just you wait and see…

ok, back to the bucket.
crumple up some comic paper and add a few pieces to the bottom of the bucket 
this way everything has a little bit of height.






grab some ribbon and tie it around 
(i used a piece of masking tape to secure the ribbon on the underside of the bucket)
aaaand if you like my tag, it’s a free printable here for you to use!
🙂







just click on the image to download & save, then print on heavy card-stock






how cute to spend a fun evening home together as newlyweds 
popping popcorn and playing twister 😉 heehee


linking up here:
A Crafty Soiree ♥ Yesterday on Tuesday
Whatever you Want Wednesday ♥ Free Pretty Things for You
live laugh linky ♥ live laugh Rowe
Party Time ♥ the 36th Avenue
Weekend Wrap-Up Party ♥ Tatertots & Jello
Sundae Scoop ♥ i heart naptime
Party Junk ♥ Funky Junk Interiors
Junkin’ Joe ♥ the Cottage Market
Funky Junk ♥ Funky Junk’s Party Junk
Uncategorized

summer in a jar … ♥

Raising up Rubies28 Comments


it’s officially summer here 🙂
school is over and we’re excited for some fun stuff ahead

last week i wanted to come up with a few small teacher gifts for the girls to bring on the last day of school … 
and i’ve been on a “gift in a jar” kick this year
so i figured i’d end the year with one more last hoo-rah 🙂

these were for teachers & school staff
but they can be for anyone!
a summer birthday party gift or a friend pick-me-up present






i tried to find things that were all the same color
the neon orange & pink together really made it look like a little bit of summer bottled up in there 🙂






i found everything at Target … mostly in the travel section 
except for the gum and the drink mixes
everything fit in there quite nicely…






with just enough room on top for the poofy bath thingy … whatever those are called






whipped up a little label and punched it out with a big round scalloped punch



which you can download and print here!






i put the hand sanitizers on the outside just because that pink was so pretty i didn’t want to hide it! 
and there ya go! sum. sum. summertime in a jar! 
heehee 🙂


linking up here:
A Crafty Soiree ♥ Yesterday on Tuesday
Whatever you Want Wednesday ♥ Free Pretty Things for You
live laugh linky ♥ live laugh Rowe
Party Time ♥ the 36th Avenue
Weekend Wrap-Up Party ♥ Tatertots & Jello
Sundae Scoop ♥ i heart naptime
Party Junk ♥ Funky Junk Interiors
Junkin’ Joe ♥ the Cottage Market