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Back to School with Emily Press Labels

I’m so excited to welcome you to Back to School week at Simple as That! I’ve teamed up with some of my favorite brands to bring you fun + useful tips to make the transition back to school an easy one!

Back to school is an exciting time of year and though it’s met with anticipation, it can also get a little overwhelming as we ease back into regular routines and try to get everything done that we need to to prepare for the school year ahead. 
But, back to school time doesn’t have to equal crazy and this week I’ll be sharing some ways to help keep things simple and stress-free.

My kids started school a couple weeks ago and after conquering the back to school shopping, the first thing we did was get to work organizing and labelling all their new gear! We used labels from Emily Press to keep track of all the kids school supplies. Using their cute, personalized labels on their clothing, backpacks, food containers and supplies gives me an added sense of security that all those school supplies I just paid for won’t get misplaced! 🙂 

Emily Press has original label designs with personality and a modern look that suit a wide range of ages.  My kids had a lot of fun picking out their labels and there truly was something for each of them – from my preschooler all the way up to my picky tween!

We labelled everything that will go to and from school along with the supplies that stay in their classroom and I know that those labels aren’t going anywhere! They’ve already been put to the test, especially the labels I used on their lunch boxes and water bottles. They’ve been through the dishwasher multiple times and they’re no worse for wear!

We used the First Class School Pack of labels which includes 12 waterproof Shoe labels, 40 dishwasher safe Slim labels and 48 peel & stick clothing labels that are laundry safe.

Emily Press Pencil labels are another great option to label all the markers, pens, pencils and art brushes for school. Their award-winning Preschool shoe labels are so great! They have the cutest designs and they are perfect for helping little ones get their shoes on the right feet!


We really loved labelling all our school supplies with Emily Press labels this year! It made things so quick and easy and the kids had a lot of fun sticking them to all their new supplies! It’s definitely a fun memory we’ll have of getting ready for school here in Arizona!

Enter to Win Back to School Labels from Emily Press: 

Today Emily Press is giving away a set of personalized First Class School Labels and a set of Pencil labels valued $56.00!  US and Canada entries are welcome! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Emily Press is also offering a discount code to all Simple as That readers! Get 10% off site wide  using the code SIMPLE10 at checkout! The discount is available until August 30, 2013.

Need ideas for packing healthy school lunches? Struggle with keeping on top of homework and school papers? I’ve got you covered! Check back all week long for more simple back to school solutions every day PLUS more fun giveaways like this one!

I received First Class Labels sets from Emily Press for review purposes. 
All opinions expressed in this post are my own. See full disclosure here.

Simple Back to School Solutions at Simple as That

I’m thrilled to announce a week long Back to School event that will be happening
August 18th – 25th right here at Simple as That!

Get ready for seven days filled with back to school inspiration on everything from school photos to easy lunch making! The best part? It’s all aimed at helping you keep things simple and
stress-free this school year!

I’ve teamed up with a few of my favorite brands to bring you some amazing giveaways + simple DIY projects along with quick tips + ideas on simplifying for the new school year.
It’s going to be a blast, so tune in this Sunday to join the fun!
Here’s a little sneak peek at what to expect! 
Be sure to follow me on facebook, twitter and instagram for all the latest!

I’m so pleased to have partnered with the following brands for this event: 

shop // blog // facebook // twitter // pinterest

Back to School Week at Simple as That

I’ve been working behind the scenes on a little something that I’m SO excited to finally share with you! 
I’ve partnered with some of my favorite brands to bring you a week long event filled with back to school inspiration! It’s all about keeping things simple + stress-free this school year and I’ll be revealing more about what’s to come this weekend, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, make sure you swing by my Back to School Pinterest board where I’m sharing my favorite back to school finds from around the web…you may just catch a peek at what’s coming up next week! 🙂 😉


I’m also excited to announce the winner of the Grammar Free Journaling workshop at Big Picture Classes!

According to random.org the winner is Keathe! 
Congrats!! Shoot me an email at cooper{dot}rr@gmail{dot}com to claim your prize!

Grammar Free Journaling: Win a Spot in Class!

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My friend Angie Lucas is running her Grammar-Free Journaling workshop at Big Picture Classes beginning August 15th. Cost for the workshop is $35.00 and you can enter today to win a FREE spot in class! Scroll down to read more about this fun + useful workshop!

How to Win a FREE spot in the Grammar-Free
Journaling Workshop:

Simply leave a comment on this blog post telling me one Summer memory you need to get journaled or scrapbooked ASAP!  

Class Description:

Who’s teaching this class? Hi, I’m Angie Lucas, word nerd extraordinaire, and I’ll be your Grammar-Free Journaling instructor.

Is “grammar-free journaling” a thing, or did Angie Lucas make it up? Okay, okay, I made it up. The idea is to tell truly compelling stories in creative new formats using the fewest words possible—and to stress less about paragraph flow, sentence structure, transitions, and the rules of writing.

 What does Angie Lucas have against grammar? Absolutely nothing! I’m willing to bet that I love grammar even more than you do. But just in case you don’t like it, I’ll show you 12 useful strategies for skipping the grammar altogether.

Who is this “Angie Lucas” anyway? I’m the new Editorial Director at Big Picture Classes, a professional writer and editor since 1998, the founder of Ella Publishing Co., the former managing editor at Simple Scrapbooksmagazine, and an average pianist (which is not at all relevant to this workshop).
Read the rest of the description + view a short intro video here.

Good luck with the giveaway everyone! It will close Sunday at 12am MST. 
A winner will be announced Monday!

Big Picture Classes always has such amazing workshops, here are a couple more that are coming up that totally caught my eye:

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Simple Ways to Organize Kids Craft Supplies

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” –Maya Angelou

The kids and I do a fair amount of crafting together and one of the questions I get asked most often by friends and blog readers is how I organize the kids craft supplies.

We don’t have a fancy system, just some stackable plastic drawers where all the kids craft supplies are kept in a closet in our office/craft room. If it doesn’t fit in these drawers, we don’t keep it + we don’t buy more supplies until there’s room in the drawers to store them. This helps keep the clutter to a minimum and helps motivate us to use up what we have!

This quick insta-video gives you a peek at my craft space along with the storage drawers for the kids supplies. As with any organizational system I’ve tried to put in place, it’s the simplest ones that seem to stick. I feel like our crafty stash organization is as simple as it gets. The drawers are clearly labelled and some have removable containers to help keep things in place and to make it easy to take out a certain set of supplies for a particular craft project. The kids know where to find things + exactly where to put things back when they’re done with them.


We have a drawer for stamps + ink, one for paint + paint supplies, one for misc. craft goodies like foam shapes, feathers, pipe cleaners etc. We also have a drawer for papers, one for pencils/erasers/glue/scissors, one for crayons/markers/pencil crayons and one for stickers.

 
One thing I’ve found that is really handy for storing supplies inside our craft drawers are these plastic 4×6 photo containers. They’re the perfect size for crayons, pip squeak markers and other miscellaneous supplies. I use them on the go for taking crayons to church or in the car and also to store card games. I really love these containers – they make it simple and easy to grab things when the kids want to sit and color for a few minutes.


**ETA if the link to the photo containers above is out of stock I found some here as well. If you’re in Canada you may be able to find similar containers at your local Dollarama.
 
Most of our family crafting takes place at the kitchen table, but in my craft room we also have a small child’s ikea table with two chairs where the kids can color, paint, etc. It’s such a nice addition to our craft room and it allows me to get things done while my kids are getting creative. They’re right with me and we can chat and interact together as we work.
 

Don’t forget that now is the best time of year to stock up on all those kids crafting essentials like gluesticks, markers, crayons, construction paper, etc while the prices are cheap! Our craft drawers are all restocked and we can’t wait to get crafting this new school year! You can check out some of our craft projects through the years here.

Save up to $20 with Kiwi Crate's Back to School Sale! shop now ››

If you’re looking for ways to organize your child’s finished art projects you can visit this post
for a few ideas!
Have you found a great way to conquer your kids craft stash clutter? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments! 🙂

Back to School Inspiration on Pinterest

If you follow Simple as That on Pinterest you may have noticed I’ve been pinning Back to School ideas like a fool these days. My kiddos start back on Monday and we’ve been busy getting ready for the big day at their new school. They’re all really excited to meet their teachers and make some new friends! When do your kids head back to school or have they already?
Here are just a few of my favorite Back to School pins that I’ve pinned to my new Back to School Pinboard, you’ll find all the links to the pins and original posts below. Enjoy!

I’ll be adding more pins to my Back to School Pinterest board throughout the month of August! You can follow along and find all kinds of simple inspiration for the new school year right here.

Save up to $20 with Kiwi Crate's Back to School Sale! shop now ››

Fifth + Frolic and Vintage Travel Project Life Kits Available Exclusively at Michael’s

I recently had the opportunity to work with some darling new Project Life kits that will be available exclusively at Michaels Stores. The Fifth & Frolic and Vintage Travel kits are currently in stock at some Michaels stores already, but will be available at all locations in the US and Canada by August 2nd! 
 I created the page above documenting my youngest daughters birth using the Fifth & Frolic Edition by Dear Lizzy. Isn’t it so soft and pretty? I really enjoyed using this kit – it was perfect for a baby page but could easily fit with a variety of themes.

Here’s a sampling of some of the cards that are included the kit. I just love the color combos!

I created the next page about our caving trip last Summer using the Vintage Travel edition
from Crate Paper.

This kit is gorgeous! I love how the color combos are a bit more masculine – but its still got some polkadots – you can never go wrong with polka dots! 🙂

I love travel themed anything and this kit is no exception. It would work great for a quick road trip or any travel inspired project you have in the works.

Here’s just a small sampling of some of the cards in the Vintage Travel edition. 
There’s so many exciting things happening with Project Life, if you missed it, be sure to stop by Becky Higgin’s blog for all the announcements on the latest products that are coming soon!
Visit Becky’s Facebook page and instagram feed to see even more sneak peeks at what’s inside these exclusive Project Life kits for Michaels!
If you’d like to see more pages from my Project Life albums you can find my past
Project Life posts here. 

Summer Lovin Templates + Journaling|Filler Cards

It feels like our Summer here in Arizona has flown by – the kids start back to school next Monday and I can hardly believe it! We’re definitely not used to heading back to school this early. We were able to pack a whole lot of fun into our short Summer + made some incredible memories together as a family this year! Memories that I’m excited to document in our 2013 Project Life album.

I’ve designed some Summer themed journaling + filler cards as well as some fun photo templates to help record our favorite Summer memories. Scroll down for previews from my new Summer Lovin’ collection, examples of how I’ve used the products in my own Project Life® album PLUS details on a little bonus freebie available for a limited time when you purchase the entire Summer Lovin’ collection!

All the journaling + filler cards in the set are pictured above and they can be purchased here.
Included in the set are:
(4) 4X6 title, filler + journaling cards
(8) 3X4 filler + journaling cards
Purchase includes ready to print PDF files along with individual jpegs of each card. 
All items are for personal use only.

I put together a two page spread using some of the cards from the set + I’m really loving all the bright, sunshine-y colours!

You can add your journaling in PS/PSE like I did and then print your cards at your favorite photo lab or print them out at home on white cardstock and add your journaling by hand. 
I’ve also designed a set of instagram inspired photo templates that go along with the filler + journaling cards but can be customized however you’d like to be used with ANY photos, not just Summer ones. There are 10 templates in total in the set and I’ve included some examples of what you can do with them below.
SUMMER LOVIN’ PHOTO COLLAGE TEMPLATES
Template No. 1 – This template comes in 6×6 and 12×12 sizes with room for 8 photos. It fits in the Design E 6×6 photo pocket pages from Becky Higgins. The 12×12 template works great in the 12 x 12 Page Protectors.
Template No. 2 – This template is size 8×10 and is perfect for adding to a frame to hang in your home or slipping into a  vertical 8×10 8 x 10 Page Protectors – Vertical page protector. 
Template No. 3 – This template is size 4×6 so fits great into any Project Life. It fits 6 photos and can be used as is or rotated horizontally to fit any pocket page that you might be using.
Template No. 4 – This template is size 6×12 and fits in Becky Higgins 6 x 12 Page Protectors. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite sizes to work with….I love the unconventional size and how they add a bit of variety to my PL album! Fill up this collage with 8 photos or alternate photos with coloured text blocks like I did.
Template No. 5  – This square template comes in both 6×6 and 12×12 sizes and is made to fit 16 photos. Fits in the 6×6 or 12×12 page protectors or can even be framed in the 12×12 size. Wouldn’t it be fun to have some of your favorite Summer photos displayed in your home year round?
Template No. 6 – This template comes in 4×4 and 6×6 sizes. There are lots of new Project Life plastics coming soon that accomodate the 4×4 size and I can’t wait to incorporate them into my albums!

Template No. 7 – This is an 8×10 template. It can be used in a frame or tucked into an 8×10 page protector. I don’t know about you, but I love the eclectic feel of adding a few different sized pages into my albums vs. having all 12×12’s.

Template No. 8 – The last one is a little 3×4 template that fits 9 photos with spot for text or a title along the top. I love this little template and can’t wait to use it in some of my Project Life® pages.

SUMMER LOVIN’ PHOTO OVERLAYS
I’ve also designed a fun little set of photo overlays to go with this collection. The Summer Lovin’ overlays are pictured below and are a fun way to accent your 3×4 and 4×6 photos. The overlay set contains 6 editable PNG files.
My Summer Lovin’ Collection is now available in the Simple as That Digital Shop. Items can be purchased individually or all together.
SPECIAL OFFER 
Purchase the Summer Lovin’ Template + Journaling/Filler card collection before August 5th and receive the Summer Lovin’ Overlays set FREE! No need to add the overlays to your cart, they will automatically be sent to you when you purchase the collection.
I hope you’ve all had a fabulous Summer! As always, if you use any of my products I’d love to see what you create with them! Shoot me an email at cooper{dot}rr{at}gmail.com with a link or photo of your latest project!
If you’d like the chance to win the entire Summer Lovin’ Collection head over to the Simple as That Facebook page and leave me a comment on this post telling me one of your favorite things about Summer.

A Simple Birthday Tradition & Project Life Tip

A few years ago I started a little birthday tradition of jotting down a list of things I was grateful for that corresponded in number to the age I was turning. This is the third year I’ve done it and its become one of the things I look forward to most about my birthday.
This year I decided to put my list together in the form of a Project Life page and I can’t wait to add a new one of these to my album each July!

The supplies I used for this page are: Project Life Jade Edition // 1.5″ Circle Punch // American Crafts Pen // Fabric Tape // Plier Stapler // My Favorite Design A Pocket Pages

The Jade Edition has quickly become one of my favorites. I loved mixing in a few items from my stash + using the digi papers to create my own custom cards. For those of you that have asked, I do print some of my PL cards off at home on matte white cardstock, but  I currently print my photos at Costco. I’m in the market for a new printer – I’m really not impressed with the one we’ve got – so if you have any recommendations I’m all ears! 🙂

>> PROJECT LIFE QUICK TIP <<
Here’s a quick tip when working with color photos in your layouts, especially photos from different events that don’t necessarily have the same color tones. If you’d like them all to have a cohesive look + to coordinate with page elements then you can try doing a little color tweaking in PS or PSE.
On the photos for this layout I applied a faded, vintage wash to all of them giving them all a similar tone that really went well with the colors of the PL cards I chose to use. If you don’t want to use actions you can open up your photo, go to the IMAGE menu, seclect ADJUSTMENTS and then play around with the HUE/SATURATION or the COLOR BALANCE to tweak your photos. If you have a photo that really stands out like a sore thumb from the rest you can always try switching it to B/W.
I’ve got a few fun things in the works so please excuse the slow blogging these days. I’m excited to share with you how I’ll be documenting our Summer…here’s a little peek at what’s in store!  More details coming to the blog next week!

Wednesday What-nots

I’ve got some fun things coming to the blog soon. In the meantime I wanted to share a few quick tidbits of inspiration.
I came accross this quote on Pinterest some time ago and I loved it so much I had to create a little visual to place on my fridge where I can see it everyday! The original quote is taken from this book.
I absolutely love this post at 3 Things for Mom on Giving the Gift of Boredom.
Minimalist Parenting: I can’t wait to get my hands on this book!
My girls would love to make these, so simple + sweet.
Have a fabulous Wednesday everyone! See you back here soon.

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