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Giving Thanks Journaling and Filler Cards for Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Free printable Thanksgiving journaling and filler cards to help you document the moments you’re most grateful for! Watch for more freebies like this one, available on the fifth of every month!

This month we have some fun Thanksgiving themed journaling and filler cards! The link is below where you can download my three cards, then be sure to visit Crystal’s Blog and Kristina’s blog to download the rest! All cards are available in JPG and PDF format!

Click here to download my Thanksgiving Journaling + Filler Cards

If you complete a project using some of our #FreebiesOnTheFifth cards we’d LOVE to see! Share them on any one of our Facebook pages (Kristina on FB, Crystal on FB, Simple as That on FB), comment on this blog post with a link to your project or share with us on instagram using hashtag #FreebiesOnTheFifth. We’d love the chance to feature your beautiful creations on Pinterest or any of our other social media outlets!

For more FREE downloadable journaling and filler cards for pocket style scrapbooking, check out our past #FreebiesOnTheFifth posts:

St. Patrick’s Day Journaling and Filler Cards

Easter/Spring Journaling and Filler Cards

Mother’s Day Journaling and Filler Cards

Summertime Journaling and Filler Cards

July 4th Journaling and Filler Cards

Back to School Journaling and Filler Cards

Fall Journaling and Filler Cards

Halloween Journaling and Filler Cards

I’m Linked up here.

14 Festive Fonts for the Holidays

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Whether it’s for Christmas cards, your latest scrapbook page or other design project, these 14 fonts are sure to add a little bit of festive flair to your next design project! Scroll down for links to all of these 14 festive fonts for the holidays!

As a designer and font collector, each new season I go on the hunt for unique and fitting fonts to incorporate into my latest designs. I’ve been busy creating some fun things for Christmas and along the way I’ve collected some beautiful fonts that are perfect for the holidays! A couple in this list are paid fonts, but they’re my absolute favorites and are totally worth the investment in my opinion! I hope you enjoy these 14 Festive fonts for the holidays!

What do you use fonts for?

I use fonts all the time when I’m designing free printables and adding text to my photos. Fonts are one of the most fundamental design tools and they can add so much to whatever it is you’re creating!

I use Photoshop in all my design work, but I always recommend Photoshop Elements to those looking to start out in design and photo editing. It’s an amazing program! Another great option if you want to start creating with fonts is to try out PicMonkey. Picmonkey is a free online photo editor. You can use it to fix your photos, add beautiful filters and text and it’s really easy to use!

For more of my favorite font finds, check out these posts:

14 Fun Fonts for Summer

14 Fresh Fonts for Spring

18 Elegant Fonts for Easter

14 Favorite Dingbat Fonts

12 Best Fonts for Back to School

12 Fancy Fonts for Fall

I link up here.

The Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for the Little Artist

Monday, November 3, 2014

I’m so excited to team up with a fantastic group of fellow bloggers to bring you the Ultimate holiday gift guide blog hop! We’ve got over 400 gift ideas for your – from the budding photographer to the crafter to the little artist AND SO MUCH MORE! You’re sure to find some amazing ideas for everyone on your gift list this year and something for every budget! Scroll down to see our list of must haves for the little artist, enter our fun Kiwi Crate giveaway then check out the links to all 22 bloggers joining in this amazing holiday blog hop for the chance to win all kinds of prizes!

My kids and I love creating together so it will come as no surprise that art and craft supplies are on my gift list each Christmas. Today I’m rounding up 15 of our favorite finds for the little artist – items we use and love on a regular basis and others that I have on my kids gift lists for this year!

1. Kids art smock – First things first, art can get messy so we need a cute and functional art smock to keep things clean. You can go homemade with this tutorial or if you have a Frozen fan in the house (I’ve got two!) you might be interested in these Frozen themed art aprons.

2. Crayola Twistable Colored Pencils – These crayola twistable colored pencils are my kids favorite thing to color with lately and I love them too! Their finer point is great for coloring in detail and they color so smoothly. We keep well stocked on these – we use them at home, I keep them in my bag for coloring at church or at doctor’s appointments – they’re well loved at our house.

3. Mindware extreme Dot-to-Dots and Color by Numbers -We use and love the Mindware Color by Number books but have just discovered the Extreme Dot-to-Dots! I can’t wait to put a few of these in my kids stockings this year and try our hand at this fun Christmas Extreme dot-to-dot book together – I feel a new holiday tradition coming on!

4. Art Easel – The IKEA MÅLA art easel is a must have. We’ve gotten so much use out of our Easel, it’s a staple in our living room in fact. I painted ours a fun turquoise blue and my kids use it nearly everyday for doodling, practicing spelling words or playing family games.

5. Fun drawing/art apps – Take creativity on the go with these fun drawing apps. Crayola Color Studio, Drawing with Carl and Drawing Pad are just three that I found while browsing around that looked super fun!

6. Kiwi Crate – We really love Kiwi Crate art kits. As a mom, I love how they simplify craft time with the kiddos and the kids, well, they’re all about having fun + exploring with the activities contained inside each kit! Kiwi crates make an amazing gift that continues to delight throughout the year, not just during the holidays! Use coupon code SATB5OFF for $5 off your first crate with any new subscription!

7. Art Paper – When it comes to kids art, investing in some quality paper is never a bad thing. We’ve recently been using the Kid Made Modern mixed paper pads found at Target and been very pleased with them. I love that you get a variety of different weight paper in on package at an affordable price.

8. Spirograph Deluxe Kit – I remember playing with my spirograph kit for years and it’s been a hit with my kids too! In fact, this deluxe kit has been listed as one of Amazon’s top toys of 2014!

9. Perler Beads – Perler beads are a staple in our kids craft stash! They love up with their own unique designs but there are all kinds of fun templates out there for girls/boys alike! This is a great basic starter pack for kids wanting to try out Perler beads for the first time.

10. Multi-color Sharpies – We get great use out of regular old sharpies especially when doing coloring projects that involved surfaces other than paper. I’ve used sharpies on party plates, mugs and to create these fun pentangle art masterpieces. A stash of colorful sharpies is always good to have.

11. Art Books by Klutz – Some of my favorite kids art books are by Klutz. They inspire creativity in so many ways – crayon rubbings, fingerprint art, fashion drawing, Paper Folding (Star Wars Flyers) and many more!

12. Dollar Store Art Supplies – A great place to pick up inexpensive art and craft supplies for your little artist is the Dollar store. They carry a wide variety of products – we often stock up on popsicle sticks, paint brushes, stickers and organizers for our supplies at the dollar store!

13. Mr Sketch markers – I loved to color with these as a child and I’ve passed that smelly love on to my kids! Mr. Sketch markers are a must have for your art supply list and make a great, inexpensive stocking stuffer for kids old and young!

14. Gluesticks – another art/craft supply staple is gluesticks. We go through these like crazy so I buy them by the box on Amazon. These ones are great for everyday projects, I like this X-treme gluestick when we need something a little tougher.

15. Melissa and Doug Deluxe Art Set – We’re big fans of Melissa and Doug products, including their range of art supplies. This deluxe art kit is a great value and includes some of our Melissa and Doug favorites! We also love Melissa and Doug’s Jumbo Coloring Pads, Reusable Sticker pads and these Paint with Water books are perfect for mess-free painting!

More ideas for Kids Art

If your looking for a way to conquer the ever growing pile of kids art that is collecting in your home, here’s a post I did sharing some of my ideas on how to organize and display your child’s art work.

Here is a list of simple ways to organize kids art/craft supplies.

Well, that concludes our list of top 15 kids art and craft supplies! Be sure to check out the rest of the fun holiday gift ideas being shared in this jam-packed Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide! Follow the links below to find each bloggers unique gift guide and enter to win some amazing giveaways, including the one below from Kiwi Crate!

**This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Sarah Brandt YOU WON a 3-month subscription to Kiwi Crate! Shoot me an email at cooper(dot)rr(at)gmail.com to claim your prize. 🙂

Today Kiwi Crate is giving one lucky Simple as That reader a chance to win a free 3-month subscription ($60.00 value). Simply follow the prompts in the rafflecopter widget below to enter. Giveaway open to US and Canadian residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make Simple Christmas Gift Tags from Children’s Art

Sunday, November 2, 2014

I love crafting with my kids, especially during the holidays. Here is a simple, yet meaningful way to get creative together while tackling one of the things on your holiday to-do list — gift wrapping!

In our family, the holiday season is closely connected with crafting. I remember making ornaments with my mom as a child and I love sharing those same memories with my own children.

As much as the kids and I love a fun holiday craft project, in an effort to simplify this year, we decided to scale the crafting adventures back to a minimum.

We went back to the very basics. Armed with pencil and paper, we got to work creating some one of a kind gift tags.

The kids created some simple holiday art work, and with a little bit of technical know-how, I took their works of art and turned them into printable tags and cards.

My kids loved everything about this, from the drawing, to seeing their art on my computer screen, and then printing and attaching their tags to gifts for their teachers and friends. It was such a fun project to work on together.

How to turn your child’s art into gift tags:

1. Start with a simple line drawing. It can be done with pencil (darker lines work best) or a dark colored pen/marker.

2. When done, scan the artwork. You can also photograph the artwork if you don’t have access to a scanner – just make sure your image isn’t too dark. You can find some basic tips on photographing children’s artwork here.

3. Open the scanned or photographed art in a photo editing program. Try PicMonkey, or even use your favorite photo editing app on your phone. Simply email the scanned art to yourself, save to your camera roll, then edit with your favorite app. We’ll need to make some basic edits to the scanned art to make it printable.

4. First change the image to black and white. You’ll notice that the background might be a light grey instead of a nice bright white. This will show up when printed, so we need to adjust the brightness and contrast of the image. This will brighten the whites and darken the lines in the drawing. Play around until you’re satisfied with the results and you have a nice, light background.

5. Now you’re ready to create your tags or cards. Crop and resize the art, then print on white or kraft colored cardstock. Trim to the size and shape you’d like your final projects to be. Add some punched circles to finish off the tops of the tags, then hole punch and attach to your gifts.

Need more ideas for how to turn children’s art into one of a kind gifts? Check these out:

Create a frameable collage of your child’s art

Put your child’s art together in a book for loved ones to enjoy

Turn their drawing into a stuffed doll or toy

Turn their art into a beautiful calendar

More ideas of what to do with your child’s art

November 2014 Visiting Teaching Message

Friday, October 31, 2014

November’s Visiting Teaching message is yours to choose from any of the amazing General Conference talks! I had so many favourites and shared a whole bunch of printable quotes based on some of the messages shared.

CLICK HERE for links to download any of the quotes pictured above to share with your sisters.

If you enjoy these quotes please tell your friends where they can find them by sharing via Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter! Thank you so much!

Check out my February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September and October visiting teaching printables.

I link up with these fabulous blogs.

Tips for Capturing Spooky Silhouettes with your Phone

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Halloween might be all about the candy for my kiddos….but I’m more into the photos! There are so many fun moments to capture at Halloween, why not try your hand at a spooky silhouette? It’s easier than you think, using nothing but your phone!

Follow along with these quick tips and you’ll be capturing spooky silhouette photos of your little ghosts and goblins in a snap!

Tips for taking Spooky Silhouette Photos with Your Phone

1. The right place at the right time. First things first, you need to choose the right location and the right time of day to be able to shoot a silhouette. Find an area where your subject can stand that you won’t get distracting elements in the background or shoot from below to avoid background distractions. An elevated area like a hill works great. You also need to shoot when the sun is low in the sky, so early morning or just before sunset.

2. Get in position. To create a silhouette you need to position your subject so the light is behind them. As the photographer, you will be shooting towards the light source. Your background needs to be brighter than the subject in order for them to be in shadow.

3. Exposure. Typically, when snapping a photo you want to make sure your subject is exposed properly. When taking a silhouette it’s different – you want to make sure your background is exposed properly. To do this with your phone, simply tap the brightest spot on the screen and snap. With the bright background behind your subject exposed properly your subject will be left dark creating that spooky silhouette effect.

4. Getting a crisp silhouette. To get a crisp, clean silhouette pay special attention to how your subject is posing. Making sure their limbs are all visible is a good idea and to do this they may need to exaggerate their pose slightly. Move their arm a little more away from their body, separate their legs. If shooting multiple people have them spread out so they don’t run together in the silhouette.

5. Let’s focus. If your subject is moving, use burst mode by holding down your shutter button to capture the action. If you’re having difficulty getting focus, try a tripod and self timer – they’ll help eliminate any movement on your part. Lot’s of apps out there offer a timer option, I’ve used the Camera+ timer and it’s been great!

In low light keeping your phone really steady is key and to do this you may need a tripod. I recently purchased this Gorilla Pod to use with my phone and it’s been so great! I used it to take this image the other night and it would be helpful when silhouettes in low light too! It can attach to anywhere and is super light weight so can be taken along while hiking, etc. Right now it’s on sale for 40% off on Amazon. It’s regularly $29.97 and right now it’s only $16.74!! It would make such a great gift for the phone photographer on your Christmas gift list!

6. Editing. If you don’t get a silhouette that’s completely blacked out, it’s ok. You can leave it like that or add some depth/contrast with your favorite editing app. I used the PicTapGo app to edit the photos in this post. I applied a filter that added a slight haze to my images along with more depth and contrast to enhance the darkness of the silhouette and the colors in the sky.

That’s all there is to it! Have fun capturing some spooky silhouettes this Halloween!

Looking for more Halloween inspiration or photo tips? Be sure to check out these posts:

Tips for Taking Creative Costume Photos of your Kids

How to take Spooky Pumpkin Photos

5 Quick Tips for Taking Memorable Halloween Photos

Silly Spider Hairdo

Do it Yourself Katniss Everdeen Costume

25 Simple Do it Yourself Costume Ideas

Free Printable Halloween Journaling and Filler Cards

16 Spooky Fonts for Halloween

50 Fun Projects to Make with Fall Leaves

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Nothing says Fall like beautifully coloured, crunchy leaves! Have you ever used Fall leaves in a DIY project? What a perfect way to bring a touch of the outdoors into your home this season.

Today I’ve rounded up 50 of my favourite fun projects to make with Fall leaves. To see all 50 visit my Fun with Fall Leaves Pinterest Board! Who knew there were so many cool things you could do with leaves!

Before you begin your Fall leaf crafting, what a perfect excuse to head out as a family and enjoy a beautiful walk in nature while collecting unique leaves to use in your project. With the beautiful leaves you find, try your hand at making some of these fun Fall leaf projects!

Fall Leaf Lanterns | No Wooden Spoons

Fall Leaf Finger Puppets | Make and Takes

Fall Leaf Mask | Small + Friendly

Fall Leaf Book Page Bunting | Simple as That

Fall Leaf Pumpkins | BHG

Fall Leaf Photo Display | Tea on the Moon

For a list of all 50 projects to visit our Fun with Fall Leaves Pinterest Board!

Looking for even more Fall inspiration? Check out these past posts:

Free Printable Fall Quotes

Tips for Capturing Beautiful Fall Photos

14 Fancy Fonts for Fall

Fall Journaling and Filler Cards

Free Printable Fall Photo Checklist

Simple things Sunday Moving to Instagram

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Hello everyone. I’ve been putting this post together in my mind for weeks now and going back and forth on a hard, but necessary decision, to do away with our weekly Simple things Sunday photo link party here at Simple as That. I love this weekly meet-up and while I’m sad to see it end, it’s become necessary to simplify my commitments and move the Simple things Sunday link party exclusively to Instagram, starting this week.

I’ll be sharing my STS images on Instagram going forward and really hope you’ll join me over there! Just use hashtag #SimplethingsSunday and feel free to tag me in your photos with @rebecca_simpleasthat so I can see your weekly photos!

I’m so sorry for any of you that aren’t on Instagram! As I said, it was a hard decision, but one that I know I needed to make right now and I appreciate your understanding.

It’s my hope, that focusing the #SimplethingsSunday photo shares to Instagram will make it easier for me to connect and really get to know those of you that join us each week. I’ve felt like I was spread so thin these past months and always wished I could visit more of your blogs and comment on your photos!

We’ve got a great community of #STS members sharing on Instagram and I look forward to carrying on the weekly tradition of capturing life’s simple moments!

Best wishes, Rebecca

Capturing the Here and Now

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

I’m excited to welcome another special guest as part of our inspiring Simply Photography Series. Stephanie Bryan is a talented memory keeper and photographer and today she has some great insight into capturing life’s everyday details – here and now!

I have always had a love and passion for photography, but like most new moms, as soon as my sweet children were born, I couldn’t wait to pick up my camera and capture those precious little hands, toes and smiles. I had never really used any other camera than a basic point and shoot, so stumbling into the world of the DSLR was kind of scary at first. I purchased a very basic Canon Rebel T1i and a highly raved about (and fairly inexpensive) 50mm 1.8 lens and began my “picture-taking” journey. Over the years, I’ve taught myself the basics of photography and shooting in manual mode (still using my Canon Rebel & 50mm lens) and my love for photography has grown even more.

I love to capture and record memories of our everyday. Life tends to fly right by us and preserving these moments (both the good and the bad) is priceless. I’m one of those moms who typically always has a camera on hand, either my “big camera” or my iPhone, and I love being able to capture those little, mundane, everyday moments. Of course I love the “big” moments, but I really love the “small” ones. The ones that easily get overlooked. The ones that could drive you crazy if you pondered on them for too long (like the “second glass of spilled milk in 10 minutes” moment).

When I stop to capture these moments, I’m able to view them through the camera lens and take a step back from reality. It’s almost like a therapeutic experience where I get to appreciate life for what it is rather than getting all worked up about the messes and craziness.

I love recording the “here and now”. The toys, the messes, the clothes, the rooms, the hands. These things change so quickly that we can easily miss them if we blink!

While I do love to get beautiful shots of my family smiling, I really love capturing them in their natural, everyday settings. These photos tell so many more stories than just what is visible to the eye. When I take these photos, I try to be as inconspicuous as possible. I quickly grab my camera, check my settings and then snap a few photos. These moments, just like most, are over so quickly and capturing them as they happen is priceless!

Small details like handwriting, pictures, dishes and shoes may not seem like the “perfect photo” to some, but to me, it speaks volumes about our life and our everyday. Taking a quick photo over someones shoulder while they are reading birthday cards freezes that moment, that writing, those drawings in time!

Snapping a picture of those never-ending dirty dishes captures our here and now. Soon those plastic dishes and cups will disappear from the photo and will replaced with a new “now”.

And soon those little feet will refuse to ride in the front of the shopping cart. And legos and dinosaurs probably won’t be the “best thing ever” anymore. Our lives will change and our “everyday moments” will continue to change. Capturing these details keeps these memories with me forever. And that’s why I can’t stop taking photos.

Stephanie Bryan lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband and two children. She has a passion for photography and documenting those everyday moments and is a little bit obsessed with paper. You can follow along with Stephanie over on her blog, stephanie makes, or on Instagram where she shares glimpses of her life and paper projects.

15 Non-Candy Halloween Treat Alternatives

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

The holidays are so packed full of sweet treats! Take a sugar break with this collection of non-candy Halloween treat alternatives!

1. Halloween Pop-Up Toys

2. Halloween Magic Springs

3. Glow in the dark Vampire Fangs

4. Mini Halloween Play Dough

5. Halloween Pencil Toppers

6. Glow in the Dark Eye Ball Bouncy Balls

7. Monster Finger Puppets

8. Temporary Tattoos

9. Spider Rings

10. Funny Disguise Glasses

11. Pumpkin Balloons

12. Halloween Smencils

13. Crayola Limited Edition Halloween Crayons

14. Glow Stick Bracelets

15. Halloween Stickers

For more Halloween fun, check out these posts….

25+ Simple DIY Costume Ideas

DIY handmade costumes can be fun, but sometimes simplifying, means going with store-bought costumes. If there just isn’t time for DIY this year, here’s a fun roundup 25 Cute Halloween you can buy, from baby to tween and for almost every budget!