Sunday, May 26, 2013

Grocery List {Printable}

I live by lists!  I have already created and posted a few of the ones that I have made to keep myself organized, but none of them have been used as much as this one!  I can't go to the grocery store without a list...otherwise, I end up getting things that I don't need and not getting the things that I do need.  I am sure you know what I am talking about, as I think that most people find themselves in this same situation.
 
Each Sunday, I go to the grocery store and get the things that I need for dinner and lunch for the following week and anything other household items that I might need to restock.  I typically buy the same things over and over again and so my list ends up looking the same week after week.  I decided that it was silly for me to create the same list each week and wanted to make a checklist printable so that I can just check what items I need for the week and as I run out of things or if I think of something throughout the week I can just add it to my list. 
 
I have used this week after week since I created it and it has become a staple in my weekly routine.  I printed off a small version of this and put it in my planner so that it is with me always.
 
My list has things on it that I buy frequently so that I don't have to add the same things each week, but I wanted to make it useful for others as well and I realize that not everyone wants to buy what I like to get at the store and so I created a blank grocery list form that is editable in Abode so that you can create your own customizable grocery list.  You can save your list to print off again and again and can change your list as your eating habits change or as you get more familiar with the things that you buy most often.
 
The links below will allow you to download PDF files for printing and the blank forms can be edited to create your own personal lists and allow you to change, update and reprint your list in just a few minutes!
 
 
I used the Sahlin Studio This Carefree Day scrapbooking kit and Sweet Shoppe Designs A Spoonful of Sugar to design my grocery list printables. You can download these kits for free personal use here:
 
Here are the links to some of the other planning printables that I have created:

 

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Activity Planning {Printable}

A few months ago I created some party planning printables to use for some birthday parties and an anniversary party that I was planning all at the same time to try and keep myself a little more organized.  I hate being unorganized and it really stresses me out and so I do what I can to keep myself on track.
 
I use a lot of lists...to do lists, grocery lists, shopping lists, packing lists...any kind of list that you can think of.  This is the only way that I can stay sane when I have more than one thing going on at a time.  And that is ALWAYS! 
 
I created a standard format so that I will always have something to make my list on that already has a little structure and gets me going on the right track from the start.  This has been a major help for me and since I know that I am not the only one that has a million and one things going on at all times I want to share these lists for anyone else needing a little structure to use as well.
 
Below is my latest set of planning worksheets created for some Easter and spring activities that I helped my mom with at her church.  This is very similar to the party planning lists that I created several months ago, but has a little different list of items and categories to use.  Every person and every event has different needs and so having more than one format makes it easy for me to pick which one I want to use.
 
The links below will allow you to download PDF files that can be edited to create your own personal lists.  You can also type directly onto these forms in Adobe Acrobat so that your list is readable to everyone who may be helping you and you can change, update and reprint your list in just a few minutes!

 
 
I used the Shabby Princess Promise free scrapbooking kit to design my activity planning worksheets.  You can download this kit for free personal use here:
 
Here are the links to some of the other planning printables that I have created: 

Friday, May 3, 2013

DIY Door Vinyl

Well Hello There!  Good Morning Everyone! 
 
It is Friday morning, the sun is shining, and though it is a bit cold outside for May, I am already having a great morning so I wanted to say Hello to everyone before I begin my day.
 
When people come to my front door I want it to be welcoming, and I want it to be cute of course.  I saw the cutest picture of a red door with vinyl on the front of it and thought "I don't want to pay for that when I can do it myself".  I have a Cricut machine and I have some vinyl already so why not make it myself?  I never even thought of using vinyl word art on the front door, but what a super cute idea!  I don't have a red door and I sure don't want to paint it, but I thought that white vinyl on my brown door would be okay and so that is what I did. 
 
Every time I am in the front yard and I see my front door it makes me smile and I hope that each person that comes to my front door does too.  Yet again, another simple DIY project for my home that makes such a big impact by inviting people to come to my door.
 
It doesn't matter if your door is painted or what it is made of.  Wood, metal, glass...any material will work for this project.  That is the beauty of vinyl!  This is such an easy project that I want to share how I did this so that anyone else with the right tools can do this too! 
DIY Door Vinyl
You will need:
  • vinyl in whatever color you choose
  • Cricut (or other similar machine)
Since I am using a Cricut to cut my vinyl I use the Cricut Craft Room software.  It is a free software that connects directly to your machine so that you can design your image on the computer and see what they look like and how they fit onto your paper before printing.  This is great for using different size letters and for saving paper by adjusting how your letters fit onto the paper before you start cutting.
 
You can also use the software to 'weld' your letters together to make them connect as one word rather than having each letter cut separately and then trying to put them together later.  Yikes!
 
I would have liked to have a different font, but this is the only cursive font that I have already and so I used it for this project.  I measured the surface of my door that I wanted to put this word on and then created my image.  This is what it looked like on my screen before I printed.  I created the word and then lined it up the best I could on the page so that I don't waste too much of the vinyl.  Hey, this stuff isn't cheap!
I then cut the correct size vinyl to fit my entire word without a lot of leftovers and placed it on the mat where I need it to print the image.
 You might have noticed that some of my letters have weird overlapping tails on them when I showed you my computer screen image.  Well, you are right...there is nothing that I can do about that on the screen because that is the way the font is designed.  But there is something that I can do about it now that I have my word cut out. 
 
When I was creating my image, I made sure to place my letters so that once I printed it out, I would be able to cut off the extra tails of the letters that I didn't want and still make it look like a 'normal' cursive written word. 
 
I peeled off the vinyl outside of the word so that I could see the word itself better on the background and then cut the extra tails off.  This is what it ended up looking like after I took my scissors to it.  Much easier to do than it sounds I assure you!
For the final step...putting it on the door.  This part too is much easier than it seems, especially if you choose a short word like "Hello".  Before I did this, I made sure to clean the door really well AND made sure that is was dried completely so that I would have no issues with my vinyl sticking. 
 
I then started placing it on there and lining up one letter at a time, but not pressing down hard until I make sure that the entire word was where I wanted it.  I did have to unpeel it a few times to get it lined up correctly and make sure that no bubbles were present, but again, it was much easier than it sounds and since I didn't press hard, it didn't affect the stickiness of my vinyl AT ALL.
  
Once I had it placed exactly where I wanted it I went back and rubbed on it to make sure it was stuck on there good and with no wrinkles in the vinyl.

This was such a fun project and turned out to be much easier than I had imagined and that always makes me feel happy and accomplished!

Make sure you tell someone "Hello" today, just in case they don't come to your front door! 
 
Here is a picture of the one that was for sale on Etsy.  I love the red door here, but wasn't willing to paint mine.  And I like the period at the end.  Hehe  You could pick another word too, such as welcome...or even in another language!