Tag: Printable

Printable Gratitude Advent Calendar

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

It’s December 1st and the holiday season is officially underway.  Today’s the day that many people break out their advent calendars and start the countdown to Christmas. Inspired by other advent calendars and the need to instill gratitude and giving thanks for my kids, I created a Gratitude and Giving Thanks Advent Printable Calendar.

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I recognize that there are so many wonderful calendars floating around promoting kindness and the importance of the holiday season. I wanted to create something that would give my kids ownership for their actions. While I absolutely believe in the importance of acts of random kindness, I think showing gratitude and giving thanks is of equal importance.

We’ve done every kind of toy and candy calendar out there, but in my house, I think the significance of Advent got clouded by all the milk chocolate and daily gifts of tiny Legos. Gratitude is an extremely vital virtue that seems to be an afterthought in our age of entitlement. I curated acts of gratitude that can be done with the whole family throughout the entire holiday season.

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I researched various organizations that are kid-friendly or that can help achieve the end result as described in the calendar. For the red underlined items I will provide the links to the organization’s website for addresses below. I think showing gratitude is a relevant act for the whole year, but for this calendar, I filled in suggestions until the end of the month.

If you’d like to print out this calendar, click here for a larger PDF of the file above. Feel free to share this printable!

Links
December 1: The Gift of the Magi
December 3: Give a Book
December 9: Big Brothers and Big Sisters
December 10: Kids That Do Good
December 12: Holiday for Heroes 

I will be cutting out each day of the calendar to tuck into my kids’ Advent Calendar, right next to their little morsels of candy. I hope you join us on this journey of showing gratitude throughout the holiday season. If you do, be sure to share on Instagram and use #givethanksgiveback

While researching for this calendar, I found this especially thoughtful quote that moves me on so many levels.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.  – Melody Beattie

Happy Holidays! 

Free Thank You Printable: You’re The Balm

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

School just ended and we had so many things to celebrate with our wonderful teachers. Littles had a lot of help with his transition into preschool. I was so grateful that these wonderful educators always take such great care of my boy. I felt we could go a bit further than a gift card or generic card. So, I combined some fairly inexpensive beauty items that I absolutely love with a catchy phrase, and voilá!

 I made a super easy thank you gift that conveyed my thanks for multiple teachers and aides who took care of my special needs preschooler all day.

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For this gift, I bought multiple flavors of EOS lip balm and lotions. I then bagged and added a ribbon and a tag. I really think the tag turned out super cute for something I whipped up in just a few minutes. End result: You’re the Balm thank you gifts! EOS balm and lotions can be found at Target and Bed Bath and Beyond. And when they’re on sale or if you have a coupon, it makes them that much sweeter.

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I noticed that there’s a few new flavors and loved being able to incorporate them into my gift. I definitely want to try the tangerine medicated lip balms for myself. As for the lotions? I can’t get over the easy to grab and portable packaging. The scents are fresh and sweet; the only thing about these lotions is that I’d love to see even more scents!

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And these You’re the Balm thank you gifts can be used beyond teacher gifts! I shared the printable on Facebook and my friend used it for her friend’s bachelorette and bridesmaid’s gifts. When it comes to giving small beauty gifts to show your gratitude, the possibilities are endless. And because I’m all about sharing the love, please download the printable here! If you do use it, don’t forget to Pin it or comment below or on Facebook and tell me how you used it!

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Preschool Non-Candy Valentines: Twistable Crayons + Free Printable

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

At my house, we have approximately 17 tons of candy leftover from all of the various holidays. With Valentine’s Day class parties looming, I knew I wanted to do a non-candy treat for the preschooler’s class party. But other than candy, the only other options seem to be plastic tchotchkes, and who needs any more tiny plastic toys?

I opted to do a more practical Valentine’s treat: twistable crayons.

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When checking out the discount store for something else a few weeks ago, I spotted these packs of twistable crayons on the clearance rack for less than $1. For my older guy, these crayons were like currency in Kindergarten. Biggie was also known to trade crayons with his best buddies. They did so much coloring, these Twistables were a fun change. For preschoolers, many of whom can barely hold regular crayons without breaking or dropping them, these packs of twistable crayons seem like such a fun alternative to candy and toys.

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Since the personalized candy bag tag is so hot on the DIY circuit, I knew I wanted to do something along that vein. But, again, these packs of crayons were such a find because creating the Valentine card/tag would be so easy. 

 

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First, I measured the inner label in the crayon pack. I considered making a label that would cover both sides, but knew that would be redundant. I opted to create a tag just for the front. The front label measured about 2.5 x 4, which is just about the same size as a classic valentine’s day card. 

 

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Next, I headed to Picmonkey to create a “pun”ny card to slide over the front label. Since the crayons are all about color, I went with “You brighten my day, Valentine!” And as a play on the twistable crayon, I created a tag that says: “You’re a twist above the rest, Valentine!”

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Since Littles doesn’t write anything other than circles yet, I had big brother help me personalize the crayon packs with some name tags. We punched out red card stock and wrote the kids’ names in silver Sharpie and slipped it into the back. We closed the pack and sealed it with a decorative V-day-themed washi tape. Names are blurred out to protect the innocent <3

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Since my guy’s preschool class is rather small, as in less than 10 kids, buying one of those Valentines class packs with 25 cards would be a waste. So, I’m very happy with the way these crayon packs turned out. Instead of candy or tiny toys, we have crayons that my preschooler’s classmates will (hopefully) use again and again!

Hurray for practical goodies!

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And since Valentine’s Day is all about sharing the love, I thought I’d share the tags with you. I grouped the 12 tags together for you to download and print for your personal use. The tags are about 2.5 x 4 in. and would be perfect for a pack of crayons, markers or anything colorful!  p.s. I eyeballed measurements, so the layouts and sizes are wonky. Of course it is…

Enjoy this freebie! If you use this, I’d love to see how your projects turned out. Make sure to Pin or share on IG and tag me! I’m jenrab on all social media outlets.

Dream as Big as the Sea: Free Whale Nursery Printable

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

When life gets a little foggy, I can’t help but to get creative. So, I designed this fun whale nursery printable.

My creative juices were flowing especially heavy as I was set to attend a friend’s baby shower this morning. Even though I’d already bought a basket full of baby goodies from her registry, (from Tommee Tippee, no less!) I felt that her basket was missing a personal touch. I noticed that my friend’s nursery had a nautical theme, with vintage whales as a prominent motif. Given her husband’s love of fishing and their mutual appreciation for the band Phish, their choice for a theme for their baby boy’s nursery was so sweet. 

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Coincidentally, just a few years ago, I remember pinning quite a few whale-themed ideas for my littler guy’s nursery and changing space. My ideas never quite came into fruition, but nevertheless, I love the idea of whales in a nursery. So much can be done for accent colors: grays, greens and all those beautiful shades of blue.

As I brainstormed ideas for my friend’s gift, I wanted to make a personalized print featuring whales and a relevant quote. Because my friend’s husband is an avid reader, I wanted to include a literary quote of some sort. I tried to think of a Herman Melville quote from Moby Dick, but everything seemed too heavy for a baby’s nursery. So, I chose a simple, yet bold statement applicable to any and everyone: Dream as Big as the Sea. Simple and straightforward.

 

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I zeroed in on the flow of the text and contrast of the whales.  The waves are subtle, yet significant as the statement itself. I printed this out on some shimmery paper that I had leftover from another project and framed it in a Pottery Barn frame that I was saving for something perfect.  

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I loved the way this print turned out—so much so, I wanted to share it with you. I appreciate free printables and how accessible they’ve become because of the Googles and Pinterest, this is my way of paying it forward. So, if you’re able to use this free whale nursery printable or gift it to someone, let me know! Share in the comments below or “pin” it for others to enjoy too!

Download the PDF for the free whale nursery printable below. Enjoy!

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Last Day of Kindergarten Survey Printable

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

It’s the last day of Kindergarten for my Big Boy, and what an exciting day it is!  The school where Biggie attends has been our extended family for the past two years—two important years where we’ve grown, learned and sought comfort.  We may be transitioning to our public school next year, so I wanted to do some special things to help us remember these first formidable years.

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Kindergarten is such a special time.  For many, it’s the first formal year of school.  For others, it’s a new beginning in a brand new place.  For us, it was another year at the same school, where Biggie attended transitional Kindergarten.  Nevertheless, graduating Kindergarten is a big deal for the littlest guys.  It’s a time when kids begin to learn how to read, spell and write.  At 5 and 6 years old, these guys often say the funniest things.  So, when I saw a friend on Face Book post this cool gift from one of her students, I thought I’d recreate it for my own use.  

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 I compiled several easy questions for my Kindergartener to answer and complete himself.  This Last Day of School Kindergarten Survey is a great way for teachers to not only remember kids, but also a special way for them to see how far they’ve come!  It’s an easy add-on gift for kids to give teachers, especially if your class does a group gift.  Some people frame it, I just printed it out on card stock and used wash tape to attach a picture.  

 

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 As mentioned, I didn’t create the questions myself, I just edited them for my own use AND designed this fun printable.  The survey can be easily edited for any grade. In Pic Monkey, just create an overlay on the grade and rewrite the text.  Anyway, since I had so much fun creating this Kindergarten Survey, I thought I’d share the it.  

To download the 8×11.5 PDF, just go here.  This is free to use for personal use.  If you use it and take a pic, send me a shout and tag me on Instagram.

The Lego Movie is an Awesome Hit + Valentine’s Day Printables

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Not surprisingly, The Lego Movie did smashingly well at the box office this weekend.  It took the top spot and had glowing reviews to boot.

 

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One of the best write ups I read today, in fact, was from CNN via EW.com whose headline caught my eye:  “Is the Lego Movie Really That Good?”  I asked myself the same question and read on:

 

Based on the ubiquitous lock-block toy and licensed with many of pop-culture’s most ubiquitous heroes, “The LEGO Movie” is a sly Trojan horse of a movie. “Using the building-block world of LEGO to parody the creeping conformity of our world, ‘The LEGO Movie’ proves even more biting than ‘WALL-E,’ because it has the sauciness to send up its own rise-of-a-hero story line,” writes EW’s Owen Gleiberman.

 

Combine the beloved building blocks, personified—rather, animated with mini figures—and throw in comedic timing, sauciness and you get family fun at the theater.   This movie, in my opinion, seemed like a perfect formula for success:  Everyone loves Lego, many of us are enduring cabin fever in the tundra that is our winter and this older kid bracket is an untapped (boy) market in the movies right now.

 

Considering how obsessed we are with Warner Brother’s Lego Marvel video game, I have no doubt that we’ll love this movie just as much.  We were actually focused on another movie this weekend, but we’ve got Lego Movie on our docket to come.  In the meantime, I’ve been loving reading the reviews from traditional outlets, as well as from my friends.

 

And, in case you have Valentine’s on your mind like we do this week, how rad are these Lego Movie Valentines from Warner Brothers?  

 

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Click on the above image to head to the full version of the Lego Movie Printables AND other versions as well.  I know these are promos for the movie, but how perfect are these for Lego lovers and movie enthusiasts alike?