5 A Day (Fruit + Veggie Checklist)

Want to keep up with the fruit + veggie intake you have on a daily basis? Print these cute babies out, laminate + check off daily. Wipe clean + repeat!

8 A Day (Water Checklist)

Like the 5 a Day above, this is for your water intake. To save on printing, laminate, check off daily, wipe clean at the end of the day + start all over!

Wind In The Willows Friend Portraits

This is a lovely idea for a children’s room, play room or maybe even a school room for those that are homeschooling. Print these critters out, use scrapbook paper for the background & frame. Have the kidlets help create these for their own rooms!

Bar-B-Cute! Cupcake Decor

Since it’s been heating up outdoors, many are probably grilling out more often. These are a great way to decorate those cupcakes and other treats for the occasion.

Grocery Staples Checklist

Create a grocery staples checklist to print out + keep inventory on what you have stocked up (or what you need to pick up on your next trip out)!

Glitter

Supplies:
1c salt
ziploc bag
food coloring
cookie sheet

Instructions:
Seperate salt into piles, and mix each pile with food coloring in a ziploc bag. Spread salt our on a cookie sheet and let dry. Store extra glitter in a tupperware container. Best of all glitter made fr
om salt can’t cut your eyes like regular store bought glitter.

Modeling Clay

Supplies:
1c. salt
2c. flour
1c. water
food coloring to tint

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together for about 5 minutes and then it is ready to use. To keep the clay from drying out you can store it in tuperware containers.

Chalk

Supplies:
1/2 c. plaster of paris
almost 1/4 c. water
powdered tempera paint
mixing bowl
an ice cube tray.

Instructions:
Mix the plaster of paris and most of the water together, add 1-2 tbs. of tempera paint and mix well. Add enough water to thicken mixture. Pour into ice cube tray and let dry, then just pop it out and it is ready to use.

Finger Paints

Supplies
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup water
1 bar hypo-allergenic soap
food stuff dyes

Procedure:
Grate bar of soap until it is in fine shreds. Melt with 1/2 cup water over med heat. In a bowl combine cornstarch, 1/2 cup water, and melted soap mixture. Stir to blend. Let mixture sit and thicken. Divide into as many separate bowls as you want colors (so for 6 colors, use 6 bowls) Stir in ‘colors”

For colors: Get creative…you can mix 1/4 cup fruit juices with 2 cups of water, or you can add the juice from canned beets (straight instead of water). For browns you can use tea, for yellow you can mix turmeric with a little bit of water to make a paste. Once your dough is prepared, you can kneed in the colors.

NOTE: For thicker consistency paint: Mix 1 packet of gelatin with 1/4 cup of water. Add to the cornstarch, water and melted soap mixture.

Play Dough

Supplies:
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of salt
1 cup cool water
2 Tbs oil
2 Tbs cream of tartar
Wax paper

Procedure:
Stir together flour, cream of tartar, salt and oil. Slowly mix in the water. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently until dough becomes stiff. Spread onto wax paper and let cool. Kneed dough with your hands until it reaches the desired consistency.

Note: You can add a few drops of color after you stir in the water (over the heat) to get colored dough. Get creative…you can mix 1/4 cup fruit juices with 2 cups of water, or you can add the juice from canned beets (straight instead of water). For browns you can use tea, for yellow you can mix turmeric with a little bit of water to make a paste. Once your dough is prepared, you can kneed in the colors.

I also got this idea from Lisa over at Moxie Blog which has a 3 sets of holiday printables up for download. This is a beautiful matching set that I came across a few weeks ago and plan to use myself. Lisa has a set of holiday cards & gift tags, pillow box and a pyramid box! You can find each of these linked in the sidebar of the blog at The Moxie Pear.

Living Locurto has quite a mix of holiday printables ranging from Sandwich Bag Toppers and Christmas CD Cover (for those Christmas “Mixtape” Gifts) to gift tags and thank you cards for all those gifts received this year.

I hope that this list will help you in your quest for finishing those holiday tasks without emptying your pockets!

Updated: I was notified of a few more links that I wanted to share with everyone as I want to make sure there is something for everyone’s needs/wants on this list.

Free Printable Wintry Holiday Tags – Domestifluff
Holiday Gingerbread Man Garland – Angry Chicken
Holiday Mailing Labels – Make, Do & Send
Cookie Labels – Tangarang
Gift Tags & More Gift Tags – Fresh Picked Whimsy
Pink & Green Tags & Red & Green Tags – Tricia Rennea
Christmas Gift Tags – Mushy

These 4th of July printables by Tweedled Designs is a collection of 8 files including party invitations, punchables (useful for stickers, cupcake toppers, favor tags, etc), party banner, straw flags, labels, mini notecards, treat bag toppers and plastic water bottle labels.

Posh Pixel Design Studio was generous enough to revamp their Memorial Day printable set just for the Fourth of July. The circle stickers and the mini party flags would be a great addition to the set above.

Skip to My Lou has the Patriotic Pinwheels printable and an Uncle Sam Hat Party Favor tutorial.

Family Fun has this cute Star Spangled Welcome Banner tutorial as well as many other great 4th of July crafts, recipes & game ideas.

ENJOY THE PRINTABLES! HAVE A FUN + SAFE FOURTH OF JULY!

1. #3 – Leslie Cole “All I can say about this is WOW!!!!! I have 3 young boys at home and I am constantly struggling for something healthy and nutritious, yet also delicious, that all 5 of us will eat. This would really help me stress less and spend more time loving on my family.”

2. #24 – Katie Lou “LOVE your blog! With kids with multipile food allergies out mealtime for sure takes some major planning!”

3. #1 – Mollie “Hey Gypsy! I don’t think that I’ve been to your blog before today, and I definitely didn’t know that we have so many common interests…

I would use this resource so much. My mom and I combine forces to plan and make the meals for 8 people, and we eat at home nearly every meal. We’re already doing pretty good, but the routine gets stale and this would be such nice way to get us going again!”

I will be contacting the winners shortly by email to discuss your prize.  Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to those who participated!

If you are interested in more about receiving a copy of your very own “200 Weeknight Dinners” eBook or the online meal planning system head on over to Menu In A Box.

PS: I know there was/is an issue with the correct time & date stamp on comments.  As of 9pm when I checked comments last night, most all comments were posted and were showing as 5/26 AM times.  I plan to fix this issue before the next giveaway so there are no questions/mishaps.

How many times a week do you ask yourself, What’s For Dinner? How much time a week are you planning out your family’s dinner meals, shopping lists and grocery shopping?

A lot! I know that I was spending more time than I wanted to in planning for our meals – probably just as much time or more as I did in cooking & eating them! Then a few months ago, I came across Menu In A Box. I won a free one year membership to the site by simply entering a giveaway on the blog. I was thrilled at the thought of it and trust me, it’s came in handy!

My favorite part of the membership was actually the free gift that came along with it, an e-book. Menu In a Box 200 Weeknight Dinners Budget & Family Friendly includes 40 weeks of meals along with shopping lists. All organized and ready to print for shopping and preparing your meals! You could add one night of leftovers and one night as a take-out or go out to eat and print a page from this ebook and you have an entire week planned in seconds!

Example of How to use 200 Weeknight Meals

If your family is easy to please in the meal department, you could print the lists off and use them in the order that they are. Everything, and I do mean everything, sounds great! I, however, have one child that eats everything in sight and one that is allergic to eggs as well as has some sensory issues (picky about way certain foods feel and/or look in his hands and/or mouth). While he seems to be doing a bit better lately with those sensory issues, I do usually have to make sure I have something else on hand that is most likely microwavable or quick to throw together like a sandwich. As there are 40 weeks to choose from, I have been known to skip through a few of them and print out ones in which everyone in the household is more likely to eat all or close to all the meals from that week. And others I have used a blank printable meal planner of my own and created the shopping list for a few of the meals from the e-book and a few of my own recipes. Since my children are toddler/preschool age, I’m sure they will out grow the picky stage and I’ll have more opportunity to use each and every one of the recipes!

Advantages of 200 Weeknight Dinners

Now here’s your chance to get a copy!

3 of my lucky readers will win a copy of 200 Weeknight Dinners!

Contest starts today May 20 and ends May 25 at 11PM EST

Winners will be announced on May 26th

You may visit Easy, Quick Dinners where you can find more information about this e-book.  

To enter this giveaway, Leave a comment below and tell us how this could help your household’s weeknight meal planning. For an extra entry (must have done the above first), Follow myself @LifeAsMama and Ruthie of Menu In A Box at @MenuInABox .  Tweet out the following, then comment below that you did so.

Win a Free E-Book, @MenuInABox’s 200 Weeknight Dinners | Enter: http://bit.ly/7JYiOT | via @LifeAsMama #MealPlanner #Giveaway

It’s that simple!

This All Purpose Treat Coupon from bablisme, is too cute. Better yet, it’s a printable and free! The obvious is to award your child and you can use these for anything whether it be school work completed correctly, chores completed on time, outstanding behavior/attitude, etc.

The Child Carseat Safety ID Card allows you to place contact and emergency information in one place and attach to your child’s carseat or booster seat.  The card contains areas to place a recent photo of your child as well as the child’s name height, weight, date of birth, emergency phone numbers and other contact information.  It also has a place for your approval for medical personel to treat your child even if you are not there or unable to speak at the time.

Eligibility:

1. Must have a mailing address in the USA.
2. Must complete # 1 of the “How to Enter”.  Others listed are for extra entries – but #1 is a must!

How To Enter:

1. Visit MyPreciousKid.com and tell us what your favorite product is. Must!
2. Follow @MyPreciousKid on Twitter
3. Follow @MommyPlayground on Twitter, then let me know in a comment (with your twitter link for verification)
4. Twitter about this giveaway and get 1 entry for every time you tweet it!  Let us know that you did in a comment with the status link.

Contest Deadline: Saturday, February 28, 2009

Winner will be announced: Sunday, March 1, 2009