Heather Ann Melzer

Christmas BINGO!

I've had the idea for this set in the works for so long and I finally made it happen this year. We host both sides of our family for Christmas Eve and we always try to have a fun activity/game to play. This year, we're all going to play Christmas BINGO and we've been collecting fun little prizes for the winners all week long. I love that this is a game that everyone from Jack to the grandparents can play together :)

This set includes 10 BINGO cards, 1 blank BINGO card (that you can customize with your own images/text), a set of printable calling cards, a sheet of printable candy game pieces, and a printable .PDF to make it super easy. I've also included a .png candy piece in case you'd like to scrap with the bingo cards - how fun!

To play: Print and cut out game cards and calling cards. Place calling cards in a bag and draw them one at a time. Call out each card and have each player mark their cards with the included game chips (or pennies, gumdrops, buttons, Hershey Kisses, or M&M's)!

Only $2.99 for a limited time!

Make Christmas fun!

Wall Calendar Kit v.2010

My new Wall Calendar Kit has arrived for 2010, and I'm so excited about the possibilities with this set. It includes 4 flattened calendar options (2 with photo options and 2 without). It also includes the text-only calendar file and the background templates separately, so you can add color, digital paper, or fun elements to fully customize your wall calendars. I love that you can create very different versions for everyone on your gift-getting list.

Calendars are sized at 11x14", which makes them easy find a great frame for :) You can also upload them to Shutterfly for quick printing here.

As always, this is a photographer-friendly product (which means that photographers may sell this product to their customers as long as they only receive a flat photo/calendar file). What a great gift this would make for clients, too!

Thanks for hanging in there with me as I finished up the last of my calendar products. I'm feeling the crunch more than ever this year, so I'm afraid I won't have time to create a new gift tag set :(  I do hope to have a fun activity-related product up soon, though - something I've been wanting to do for a few xmas' now.

I'm off to finish Magic Reindeer goodies for the kids' classmates, wrap teacher gifts, and try to get our xmas cards off the dining room table and into the postman's hands. I'm going to continue to ignore the 5 foot high pile of presents in my closet until this weekend, though ;) I think I need to start drinking egg nog!

Calendar Toppers Vol. 3 are here!

Calendar Toppers Vol. 3 includes (13) 8.5x11" .png month files and one cover page.  Just drop your photos behind the quick pages and upload to create one-of-a-kind calendars or photobooks!

I'm super excited to use these templates to make an photobook as a quick Year in Review album for 2009.

Here is the alternate page that's included in the set and an image of what it will look like when you upload to Shutterfly for printing:

 

Vol. 3 is currently on sale for a limited time and so are Shutterfly's calendars - buy one and each additional is 20% off!  They also have FREE Standard Shipping on orders of $50 or more with code: SHIP50

I ordered our holiday cards from them last Monday and had my cards in just a few days - now, if I could just find time to address and mail them! Anyone else feeling totally behind?  Deep breath...

Wall Calendars are up next!

2010 Calendar Kit has arrived!

It's hard to believe that Gina and I have collaborated on this annual kit for the past 6 years. How time flies! We're particularly excited about this year's kit because it includes Quick Templates for each month (plus an alternate for July). Just drop your photo(s) behind the template and print - it's that easy!  Or use the included frames and elements to put your pages together in your own custom way.

The 2010 Calendar Kit is intro priced at $5.99 through Tuesday, December 14th and you can view a sample page for each month HERE.

You still have almost 2 weeks to print and bind your pages - wahoo! Most office supply stores will spiral bind them for under $5, or you can hole punch them and hang with ribbon. Or hang them from a cool wooden pant hanger - so cute, right? The possibilities are endless.

2010 Calendar Toppers and Wall Calendars should be up by tomorrow - back to the workshop I go! ;)

The Present Game

I'm so sorry that I've been MIA this week. I've been working on finishing up calendar products and work has been so unbelievably busy.  I'm also going to be in the office several times before Christmas for all day meetings, and we got dumped with a ton of snow this week - so, it's full force crazy around here. Gina and I should have our 2010 full page calendars up by this weekend and my calendar toppers should be up by then as well. For those of you that have been waiting, I'm truly sorry for the delay. Being sick the entire month of November really threw my schedule for a loop.  Resolution #1 for 2010: Work on xmas in July! :)

We've been keeping up with our "Spirit Box" activities and we're all having so much fun with it. It really has helped us focus on what's most important during this crazy month. I haven't had time to download pics and journal yet, but I will share our activity from last night - playing "The Present Game" (as seen in this month's Family Fun).

A very creative mom came up with this idea after she noticed her son and daughter were getting a serious case of the "gimmies" - moving from one present to the next without acknowledging the giver and giving proper thanks. So, last night we followed her lead and gave each of the girls an empty bag. We told them to go around the house and find something to put it in to give to the other. Then, when one received the gift, they immediately had to say "thank you" and then say something nice about the gift once they opened it. Saying thank you took a couple of rounds to get, but the more difficult part was finding something unique to say about each item instead of just "I love it so much and will play with it a lot". Tom and I ended up gifting a sock (ha) and picture frame to each other to give them an example, and then it was easier for them to come up with something on their own. I was so proud when Katie opened her gift (a stuffed penguin) and said, "He's so soft and cute. I can't wait to cuddle with him at bedtime!" She's a natural, I think.

We had a really long conversation about gratefulness and we intend to play The Present Game several more time before Christmas. My only concern now is that their reactions might seem completely staged, but I think that's better than ripping gifts apart without showing any gratitude at all, right? Something tells me that when they see the reactions to their comments on Christmas, it will make more more sense. At least I hope.

A favorite pastime

 

We switched out last night's gift wrapping activity (since I wasn't prepared) for coloring, based on an awesome suggestion from my friend, Emily (thanks, Em!). The pages were printing when Kenzie came home from school yesterday and she was SO excited. The girls color almost everyday anyway, but I usually use that time to catch up on other things. Not last night - I joined in the fun and remembered why it's always been one of my favorite things to do. We had tons of time to chat, and I told the girls about how when Tom and I started dating, I would color up at their family's cabin...

Ha!

Tonight's activity is watching the movie "Elf" - yeay! It's an annual tradition around this time of year. I've been reading through movie quotes and cracking up all day today. Here are some of my favorites:

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Alert security…
I like to whisper, too.

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At least you have a daddy, some one just rolled me up one day.

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Buddy the Elf! What’s your favorite color?

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It’s just like Santa’s workshop! Except it smells like mushrooms, and everyone looks like they want to hurt me.

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You’re not Santa!

Yes, I am.

No, you’re not.

Yes, I am.

Well then if you are, what song did I sing to you on your birthday last year?

Uhhh…Happy Birthday?

DANG IT.

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You’re sitting on a throne of lies!

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I didn’t know you had elves working here!

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Does Santa know you left the workshop?

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Did you have to borrow a reindeer to get down here?

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He must be a South Pole elf.

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We can’t just throw him out in the snow.

Why not? He loves the snow. He’s told me 15 times!

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Have you seen these toilets?! There ginormous!

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I thought maybe we could make gingerbread houses, and eat cookie dough, and go ice skating, and maybe even hold hands.

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I traveled through the seven levels of the candy cane forest… scaled the mountains of swirly twirly gum drops… then came through the Lincoln Tunnel.

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I’m a human…raised by humans.

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I’m sorry for wrecking your board meeting, and for cramming those eleven Christmas cookies in the VCR.

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Do you like sugar?
Is sugar in syrup?
Yeahhh...
Then, YES!

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There’s one thing… Your father is on the naughty list.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

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SON OF A NUTCRACKER!

IN STOCK!

http://www.fao.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3895797

Thanks to my brother-in-law, Mike, for this awesome find!  You ROCK!

Paper snowflakes

 

How fun! I can't believe I've never done this before :) It was a little difficult for the kids to fold and then cut through that many sheets of paper, but with a little help, Kenzie and Devin did great. I started by trimming 8.5x11 paper down to 8.5x8.5, then we followed the folding instructions and cut, cut, cut. Everyone ended up with a pile of snowflakes to take home and I hung ours with double-sided tape in our dining room windows today. I love how it looks from the inside and out. Yeay for Spirit Day 2!

I've decided to upload my pictures and journaling to my photo-a-day blog so that I can easily create the mini album for this month when I get the time (hopefully sooner than later), although work is even busier than before, so finding time to breath is going to be difficult this month.

Today's spirit prompt is to "wrap gifts by the tree", but I don't have my wrapping supplies or wrap strategy planned out yet, so we may need to pull a switcharoo. It may flurry tonight, so "watching the snow fall" may work out perfectly - we'll just have to wait and see.

The Spirit Box

After much debate over what to call our advent/calendar/activity prompt/drawer thingie, "Spirit Box" seemed to make the most sense. I went through each of the activities with Kenzie yesterday afternoon and she was really excited about some (making a holiday craft, cutting paper snowflakes) and not as enthused about others (addressing cards, sharing our favorite holiday memories). After I explained that doing all of the crafty things up front would make the month unexciting for her, she was a little more receptive to storytime last night. I read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas in front of the Christmas tree. After the initial fight over who got to sit where (goodness), we had a nice little read.

Tonight, my family is coming over, so we chose an activity we could all enjoy together - making paper snowflakes. I found some good instructions here and here.

And this is just the coolest thing ever.

Christmas spirit

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Aside from Tom and I being sick as dogs, we had a great long weekend. We still managed to get up at 4am on Friday to see a half mile long long outside Target at 4:50am. We spent a good 40 minutes checking out there and then spent over an hour waiting in line at Old Navy. I got just about all of the doorbusters I was after, except for those elusive hamsters - grrrr. I'm actually having alot of fun bidding for them on Ebay now. I've snagged a few accessories for only a few dollars over the regular prices, but the hamsters are still way more than I'm willing to spend, especially with them going in and out of stock at TRU and Walmart.com. I'm pretty relentless persistent, so I'm hopeful that I'll land some soon :)

After another Target run on Saturday to get some more sale toys that I didn't dare try to find on Friday (I grab doorbusters and run), we put the tree up and finally finished all of the indoor/outdoor decorations on Sunday. The house has officially been christmas'd - whew! Now I can finish up some product, work on holiday cards, finish shopping, and take some time to enjoy the season.

Holiday Spirit Advent Project

December always seems to fly by, so this year I've decided to try and do something holiday-ish every day until Christmas. Today I'm going to print 25 daily prompts and put them in my Making Memories advent box. You can also use matchboxes, a shadox box, mini envelopes, a pretty jar, small boxes, make one with paper windows, or sew one. Karen Foster also makes a blank countdown calendar you can decorate yourself.

Some of the prompts I got from this list that Ali posted on her blog, and some I made up based on things I know we'll do this month. I can always switch them around or make new ones as plans change or things get really hectic - flexibility is key with this, I think.

1. Watch a holiday TV special
2. Make a holiday craft
3. Watch Elf
4. Assemble/address holiday cards with music and cocoa
5. Wrap gifts by the tree
6. Read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
7. Have lunch with Santa
8. Bake/decorate cookies
9. Make pinecone elves
10. Take a drive and look at holiday lights
11. Donate toys to a family in need
12. Cut out paper snowflakes
13. Go ice skating
14. Deliver baked goods to friends
15. Make breakfast for dinner and eat in our pajamas
16. Take a ride in a horse-drawn carriage
17. Write down the 10 best memories from the past year
18. Attend a holiday concert
19. Take a family photo
20. Watch the snow fall
21. Share your favorite holiday memories with your kids
22. Go sledding
23. Have a candlelit dinner
24. Leave cookies/milk for Santa
25. Enjoy giving as much as receiving

I'm planning on taking a picture of each of the holiday experiences and creating a mini album with them. I'm thinking either #12 or #6 for today. I also need to decorate my advent box, so I better get on that. Anyone else doing something similar? It would be fun to share!