Lamination

It seems like birthday party season is upon us. My refrigerator is covered with invitations to toddler birthday parties. So I’ve started making my own gift tags that are reusable and that the moms adore – they’re backpack nametags that tie on perfectly to each kid’s gift bag.

To make them, I use the following steps: ...read more

Being a mom means being a worrier sometimes. Worst case scenarios are always rushing through my mind. I’ve heard about the campaign to add an emergency contact to your cell phone directory under the label “ICE,” which stands for “In Case of Emergency.”  So, if you are ever in an accident (heaven forbid), the emergency personnel will be able to easily locate someone on your behalf.

I did this, but then I took it one step further. What if the cell phone isn’t with me or is damaged? What about my child, who doesn’t carry a cell phone? What if the emergency personnel don’t know how to work my phone? (Even I can’t figure it out half the time!) ...read more

Have you ever noticed when you travel that everyone else seems to have a suitcase just like yours? They all look like giant black boxes coming off the conveyor belts. Some of us tie colorful ribbon to the handle or use a bright-colored luggage tag. I have done both, only to find myself trying to remember the color of the ribbon. And then there was this one time when the contact card from my luggage tag went missing altogether! I figured it must have fallen out somewhere in transit. ...read more

As you may have gathered from my bio, I am the self-proclaimed organization guru of the group. To my credit, I have taken numerous personality tests that reveal I am innately detail-oriented and organized. I have found over the years that one way to keep New Year’s resolutions (and organize my time) is to use a weekly or monthly schedule.

For example, last year I committed to becoming more active and signed up for a series of running classes. With each class, I received a monthly schedule with my running and strength training assignments detailed by day. I put this up on my refrigerator so that it was front and center – serving as a daily reminder of what I needed to do. By the time I finished the 18 weeks of training, I reduced my run time per mile by four minutes and was able to run for longer distances. ...read more

 How’s this for an easy and creative table-setting idea that also keeps your kids occupied? Give each of your children some construction paper and art supplies (stamps, markers, and paint all work well, but don’t use crayons) and let them create some holiday-themed artwork to use as placemats. They can even create designs specific for each guest, and the placemat can double as a seating assignment as well. (Or if you’re really short on time and don’t want the mess of an art project, just dig out some of their old artwork from past holidays and use that instead.)

You can take the artwork down to your nearest FedEx Office location and laminate it yourself. The laminating machine has very specific instructions next to it, making it easy to do it yourself. It took me less than five minutes to do eight pieces of artwork and it was pretty inexpensive. Each 8.5x11 sheet cost less than $2. ...read more

Now that the holidays are over, I’ve got about a half dozen rolls of holiday paper taking up space in my already-crowded hall closet. Instead of storing it until this time next year I’ve come up with some ways to use it all year round. I admit many seem to involve lamination, but if you have any you think I’ve missed (lamination or no!), please leave it in the comments section for us to check out. ...read more

My son has been coming home from pre-school for the last few weeks laden down with arts and crafts projects – everything from Thanksgiving handprint-turkeys to Christmas count-down calendars.  I saw this great article on the Examiner Web site I just had to share for all the parents out there battling this issue too!  Check it out here. She’s got five great ideas, and I have at least one more to share. ...read more