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Saturday, June 29, 2013

Switching to BlogLovin'--Google Reader Disappears July 1st!

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5220011/?claim=8jppqpwpun6">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Hi folks!
Just a reminder that Google Reader is heading for that big Recycle Bin in the sky on July 1st! It will be no more... :-(  There is another way to get all of your bloggy reads in one place though, and it is called Bloglovin'. It is super easy to create an account and import all of the current blogs you are following into your new account. The setup of the site is awesome as well...much more user friendly if you ask me! So if you haven't made the change already, remember to do it soon so you don't lose all of your connections!


Have a Spectacular Sunday!
Randi

Friday, June 28, 2013

Snap It Up Saturday! Happy Birthday Bundle!

Hello Friends!
I'm sorry to say that I missed last week's Snap it Up Saturday Post. We have been so busy around here that I just didn't have the time to get it together. We spent the weekend traveling and running all over the place and this week has been much of the same. But now we are back to normal, and this week's bundle is a biggie!

Last Wednesday, my daughter and I made our pilgrimage to the great state of Louisiana. I am originally from New Orleans and my brother still lives in North Louisiana (Rayville)  where my grandparents previously lived. I hadn't seen him or my nieces and nephews in two years. How could I have stayed away any longer? After a great visit, and a fiasco with a bad tire, we finally made our way out to the saddest place in the state. The cemetery where my dad is buried. It has been ten years but it still just tears me up inside knowing he's not here anymore. My little one grabbed the iPad as we were leaving and snapped a few shots of the landscape. It's such a beautiful and peaceful area out there, I just can't bear to stay more than a few minutes at a time. I just sat down and took a look at a few of them and I thought I would share one.

Yep, that's corn as far as the eye can see and not a mountain in sight. A stark contrast to the landscape here in North Georgia.

Saturday, we made a speedy trip back home...on a spare tire and made it back late that evening. Then I had to prepare for another trip...this one being a whole lot more fun! My husband and I headed south to Atlanta for a concert--Brad Paisley to be exact! We bought each other tickets for Mother's/Father's Day. We had decent seats but boy did we get a surprise. Right when Brad Paisley hit the stage, a security guard approached us and handed us TWO PIT PASSES!! Free of Charge! They found out my birthday was this week...I wonder how? So we ended up FRONT ROW and it was fantastic! Oh yes...this girl touched Brad Paisley's boot!  Here's a snappy of just how close we got.


And then even more fun..My birthday landed today and I turned 30. Ugh...the decade that was my 20s is now past. But I have to say, I did accomplish a lot. College, marriage, teaching, a new baby, and so many more events have decorated the past ten years, so I can't wait to see what the next ten bring.

And now that you have gotten to hear me ramble a bit, it is time for your Birthday gift! Yep, I'm giving you one too! A larger set than normal, I'm trying to make up for missing last week. This is a set of 10 fun borders for use in your commercial documents, all bright and cheery, and waiting for your cover pages. I hope you like them!


Click on the image above to Snap Them Up!
As always, thank you for following and showing your support both here and in my TPT store. 
Have a great weekend!
Randi

Happy Birthday To Me! And a Sale for you!


That's right folks...It's my birthday! I wasn't too excited about turning thirty and so far the day has been kind of blah (my husband works third shift) but I'm happy to have made it this far. A big chocolate cake is sitting on the kitchen counter and I'm fixing to go have a serious talk with it. :-)
My daughter and I have been hard at work lately (she tells me what to draw) creating some clipart collections that I think turned out fairly well. I tend to work a bit on the silly side. Since I love drawing and I'm in the birthday present kind of mood, I'm giving you all a gift! A SALE! I sifted through my entire store and have put all of my clipart products on sale for the next 24 hours! I hope you will stop in and see some of my most recent additions! Here are a couple of previews of some of the newest.





Have a great weekend everyone!

Randi

Saturday, June 15, 2013

800 Follower Sale-abration! Your chance to stock up!

Hey Everybody!
It's that time of year. I'm sneaking up on my 30th birthday and not really feeling it so far. I'm far more excited about something that happened in my TPT store yesterday! I finally rolled over to 800 followers! I'm super excited that there are that many of you that put your trust in me and my products. I absolutely love teaching and I also love creating one-of-a-kind resources for my students and other teachers as well. As a big THANK YOU to all of my followers, I am throwing a big sale this weekend! Starting tomorrow, all of my products will be marked at 20% off  until Tuesday! I hope you all will take a minute to pop in and stock up on items that you may need for your classroom. 

Click the image to visit my store.

And once again, THANK YOU!
Have a great week everyone!
Randi

Snap It Up Saturday! Fun Font Freebie!

Hello everyone!
Week Two of summer vacation is here and I am LOVING it! I have gotten so much done here at home that I think I might actually get caught up! I've been cleaning out and decluttering the house, working on some TPT projects, and feeding my newest addiction! FONT-MAKING! You can tell from this week's freebie that I have gone a little overboard.

I love fonts! I just hate having to credit for every single thing, but I still do.. I downloaded an awesome app for my iPad called iFontmaker. It is super easy to use and well worth the couple of bucks that I spent on it. Starting right after breakfast the other day, I went to work! And you'll notice my font titles are all breakfast related. It was the only thing on my mind at the time.  This week's Snap it Up Saturday post is a set of 19 (YES 19) fonts that I created. They are commercial use and only require a linkback to my TPT store.


Click image above for download.

I really hope you like them. There might be one or two in there that you'll be able to use. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Randi

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Snap It Up Saturday! Random Doodles Clipart

Hello friends!
It has been the busiest and most tiring day. I am currently tearing apart and redoing my home office and everything in it seems to be in the floor. Oh well, I'll get to it sooner or later. This week I thought I would share just a few of the things that somehow spill out of my brain and into clipart form. I've always been a doodler, just ask my high school teachers. My notes pages were beautifully decorated during all of that time I spent in class. And I'm still that way! I can't count the number of times I've been asked a question during a meeting only to look like a deer in headlights due to the fact that I was drawing instead of listening. 
Hence, this week's Random Doodles collection is a mixture things. I hope you will find at least one of them useful. 

Click on the picture to download!

I hope all you you have a wonderful weekend! Now I'm off to rest up for a big weekend of my own!
Best wishes,
Randi

Thursday, June 6, 2013

The Worst Home Office Ever! Help!

Well, well, well....I love being at home for the summer. Staying up late, sleeping late, eating when you feel like it, and going to the bathroom anytime you want...It's just great! Being a teacher is tough on you but sometimes I think staying at home might be a little tougher...on the psyche that is.

Case in point, my home office. I spend a lot of time here at the old desk working and blogging, hunting for teaching ideas, and creating products for my TPT store. It has never really bothered me but since staying home, it has really started to irk me. My office has become a dumping ground  for junk, sewing junk, craft supplies, just whatever. It really, really, really needs a makeover. And I'm getting ready to do just that.
Just look at this horrendous workspace!

Note: This is my office AFTER taking two truckloads of stuff to the landfill. Granted, only one truckload came from my office. But still, it was ridiculous. 

Hello, 1970's microwave stand. Would you like a home in my office? Sure...just sit over there next to the DEEP FREEZER! UGH! That little guy is definitely going to find a new home. 

Oh, and Hi There! Fifteen year old Walmart Special Computer desk that cannot be moved without running the risk of losing a finger or toe, or two. Yeah, you've got to go too. I can't stand you anymore.. I need a workspace, not a safety hazard!


 And check out my awesome friend, the 1960s-esque table lamp that is surely a rare and vintage antique originally used in some nameless black and white film. I tried to dress it up with a new shade..but nope...It's going too.

Ah, and my favorite pieces in the room. Walmart special...$29.99 particle board  bookshelf with it's mismatched twin sitting over there in the corner. Cram packed with crap I rarely use but can't bring myself to throw away. I'll get you my pretty...and your ugly twin too....(insert devious cackle here). 
 Oh yeah, I've lived in my house five years...and still haven't hung curtains. :-)

As far as the wall color...It reminds me somewhat of that first diaper change after my daughter was born. Ewwwwwww... I don't think I have the time, energy, or money to repaint it but I'm thinking maybe I can make it work with some matching furniture, new drapery, and accessories. I'm thinking some Chevron might do the trick on that window. :-) What do you think?

So I'm replacing the desk, and hopefully the two bookshelves. My new L-shaped Espresso colored desk will arrive tomorrow, in all it's glory and I cannot wait! I'm not sure what else to do with it. I am not a decorator in any means whatsover. I tried with my daughter's room and it looks like a bubble gum machine exploded in there. It's just not in my DNA. Or maybe its the fact that we moved so often when I was a kid that we never really decorated for fear of the next move.



So I ask for your help dear readers, help me make my workspace a better one. On a teacher's budget, what else can I do to make this space a better workspace that meets my needs and satisfies my need for organization and matchy-matchy-ness. (is that a word?) I love ideas and I'd love to hear what you all do with your own workspace. I plan on revealing the loveliness once I get it all finished up and maybe I can share some ideas with you as well!

Help a sister out!
Randi

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

A Perfectly Personalized Planner for TPT Sellers

Well friends...Summer has hit and sometimes I find myself a bit bored..So I work on a TPT product or two, then pop over to Pinterest, and then I jump on Facebook and prowl the posts for a bit. A couple of days ago, I ran across a post that nearly knocked me out of my chair. A brilliant lady, whom I will call MissMathDork had posted a picture of a planner that she had created specifically for those folks who sell materials on TeachersPayTeachers. I'm not usually a materials buyer..I make most of them myself, but I HAD to have this planner. She even customizes them specifically for each buyer.  Well, needless to say, I snapped that baby up in a heartbeat and she went to work. And holy smokes, she is fast! I bought it one night and had it emailed to me the next. Then a quick sendoff to the office supply store and BAM! I had my planner. It is absolutely the best product I have EVER purchased on TPT. I thought I would share some of her fabulous work with you all!

I love, love, love lime green and black together. In a perfect world, my classroom would be those colors, my home office would be those colors, maybe even my car. I sent her my color choices and a graphic that I had whipped up on the computer and she came up with these little pieces  of fabulousity right here! They are the front and back covers for my planner.

LOVE! This planner is also designed to use as a year-long calendar. So right after the cover came all of my wonderful calendar pages. Notice that they are two page spreads--I cannot imagine the amount of formatting that it took for all of this.. Look at all of that room to write! No more desktop cluttering calendar for me!


Next in line comes my most favorite part! The Stats Pages! I am most definitely a number geek and like tracking my TPT sales, graphing the highs and lows, and all that jazz. I love that she included pages for both the weekly stats (for a full year) and the monthly stats as well! I will most definitely be loving these pages!


The rest of the book is just for me to write down my ramblings. There are pages for Notes (staff meetings probably for me), Product ideas, and pages to write down my ideas for bloggy posts like this one. 


As we say here in the south, "Ain't it purty?" I love the colors, the design, and everything about it. The custom download is only $10.00 in her store right now, but I think the regular price may be around $12.99. It is very simple to get your own and the communication between buyer and seller is fantastic! You can print it out yourself, or do like I did and send it off to Office Depot for printing and binding. I did splurge and went full color on the pages, and I had a clear front and back put on for durability, but I do not regret it whatsoever. This planner is awesome!

If you are considering purchase one of those store bought planners to use for tracking and organizing your next year, I would have to tell you to STOP! Don't Do It! Pop over to her store ASAP and order one of these. There's nothing like having something made especially to your own liking. You will not be disappointed! 

Click the image below to visit her store, and get YOURS today!

Make sure you check out her other products as well! Her store is fantastic!
Have a great week!
Randi


Saturday, June 1, 2013

Snap It Saturday! Some Funny Friends for Summer Fun!

Sheesh! I didn't think I'd get home in time to get this week's Snap It Up Saturday post written up. School is out my friends! My little one and I spent the entire day attending a cheerleading camp at a nearby school and the day just got away from me! This week, since it's summer, and everyone is seeking out the company of some good friends and family, I thought I would share a little of my friendly family with everyone. In my TPT store, I carry a series of graphics called "Funny Friends". They have been pretty popular due to the wide range of applications that they have. I've seen them on cover pages, inside about me books, and even on some REALLY popular products. I even use one or two every now and again. This new set I'll call Funny Friends Freebie and they are all ready for you. In this set you get eight image files--the color and blackline version of each image in the picture. I hope you like them!



If you like this set and would like to have more of them for your products, please visit my store. I have six sets available for purchase. Below are some previews of those as well.








And as always, have a great summer and don't forget to check back next weekend! I'll be sharing some more clipart love!
Until then,
Randi @ TeachesThirdinGeorgia