Light The World for Yout

Light The World starts tomorrow, and I have been working all week on this Light The World Packet for Youth. I originally had thought to do just a couple of things to encourage my Young Women to participate. Then as I started creating, it just kind of took on a life of it's own.

When I started working on this there wasn't a program specifically for youth, and serving with and having my own youth, I decided it was a must. 

I am really happy with how this turned out and I really hope and wish that this packet is helpful to other parents, youth leaders, and youth themselves. I hope you will share it and use it.

Here is what the packet includes:

Light the World Calendar

Idea Sheet (Several ideas for each day.)

Scripture Cards

Printables (Coordinate with the stars on the idea sheet.)

                 - DIY Ornament

                 - Set of tags

                 - Sunshine Notes

                 - Memories of Mom and Dad

Here are a few sneak peeks--

I know it is the day before and some of you might see this after Light The World has already started. The good news is that you can start at any time.

Parents: You can download and print one set and go over it with your youth. Print tags, scripture cards, and calendar on cardstock. The rest can be printed on regular paper.

Leaders: You can download, print, and make copies. Same printing instructions as above. Assemble all the pieces in gallon resealable bags. Explain to the youth how to use it. You can even do several of the activities on the days they fall on youth nights.

I really hope you enjoy this and that it helps your youth get excited about this AMAZING way to celebrate Christmas.

Download Packet Here

Teacher Christmas Gift- Lunch Elf

Yesterday I posted on Instagram (@larissa_anotherday) about my Christmas teacher gift and I have had several people ask for the printable. So I decided to post about it and offer the printable.

This is an easy Christmas teacher gift, AND word on the street is that teachers LOVE it. Bring your favorite teachers lunch for a Christmas present. I have learned that one of the things that stress teachers out is having to figure out what is for lunch. I don't blame them. I wouldn't want to deal with it either.

So the Christmas Lunch Elf to the rescue.

Here is the run down.

First find out what their favorite lunch restaurant is (or just pick an sandwich type place). Then download and print off these Teacher Christmas Lunch Elf printable.

DOWNLOAD HERE

After you print out the Tag, print off a lunch menu from their restaurant and attach it to the back. One year I went to a sandwich place that had paper order forms already. This year I went online and was able to print off one for one restaurant, but I had to make one for the other restaurant.

I drop off the order form the day before early, so that I can get it back that afternoon. I am kind of lucky because the school secretary lives by me so she just brings them to me. Then the next day I go and pick up the lunches, add in a dessert and drink, and then I take it to them. 

This really is such an EASY teacher Christmas gift. The only planning is making sure restaurants are open in time to get the teachers their lunch, since often teachers have earlier lunches.

Now you are all set. This really is a teacher Christmas gift that can be given every year. 

My Classic Santa Christmas Tree

During the first Christmas in this house almost 4 years ago, it became a little apparent to me that we needed to redo our Christmas tree. The decorations I had done the previous year went with the decorations of our first house. Another factor was that we now had a fireplace in our main living space. In our first house, our family room didn't have a mantel to hang up our stockings.

And why does that matter?

Well I love our stockings. LOVE. Up until moving into this house I had never coordinated them with my Christmas decorations. Now I could. They are very classic, and a bit vintage like. They are in bright classic Christmas colors. They were lovingly knitted by my Grandma. Basically, they are perfect.

So my Christmas tree needed to match. I call it my Classic Santa Christmas Tree.

Every year I add just a few more decorations and switch out old ones. I chose to stay with classic colors. There is a lot of red and white with additions of green and blue.

This year, one of the new sets of ornaments are these plaster trees. I got them after Thanksgiving at Michaels. They were SUPER cheap. All I had to do to make them match the tree is to paint them. So easy.

There are a few things on my tree that I will be really sad the day they are too old to use. This gingham tree topper is one. I adore this. First, it is gingham. So glory be. Second, it coordinates with my tree perfectly and I searched for years to find it. So don't ever die gingham star!

This year I also added these vintage looking candy canes that I found at Target.

Another of my favorite ornament/filler to use is paper party products. Last year I started using these paper medallions.

This year I added these honeycomb balls. These especially are perfect fillers for blank spaces in my tree. I don't even hang them, I just shove them on in. I love the texture and dimension they add to my tree.

By this point, you might be questioning the fact that I call this a Santa tree. I promise there are Santas. These are from Target a few years ago.

I also have some vintage inspired ones.

This year I added these cuties. I found them in the Target dollar spot. They are actually gift card holders, but don't they make amazing ornaments. When I see stuff like this, I just have to grab it.

I love my tree. I don't plan on changing it at all for years and years. I know sometimes it is the "IN" thing to have a new tree every year, but I just can't seem to justify that. I also frankly don't want to. I love my tree. My kids have started telling me though that it might be getting too full of decorations. HA! TOO full?! What's that even mean???

Photo Magnet Gift & Magnet Board Roundup

The holidays are officially just around the corner. That means that it is time for gift giving. Meaningful and personal gifts are my favorite gifts to give to family members, especially grandmas and grandpas.

I especially love photo gifts. This season my go-to holiday photo gift stop is Walmart Photo. They have a crazy variety of photo products. They have holiday cards, same day canvas, same day calendars, photo books, ornaments, mugs, blankets, totes, and the list just keeps going.

One of my favorite holiday photo gifts are these photo magnets.

I was able to go through and pick some of my favorite moments of the year and some special photos of my kiddos that I know Grandma will appreciate. I ordered half in the 4x6 and the other half in 3x4. I ordered them online and had them shipped to my house. Just like that. The great thing about Walmart's holiday photo gifts is that they are also easy to order and pick up at the store.

They have great quality products. Sometimes photo magnets are super flimsy. Not these. They are sturdy and the photo quality is gorgeous.

They look so great laid out in a mosaic pattern on this cute magnet board.

I thought it would be fun to add a magnet board to this photo gift. That way Nana has a way to display her photos.

I packaged these photo magnets in a simple brown goody paper bag.

The really cool thing is that even in the bag the photos stuck to the magnet board. So all I had to do was tie some ribbon around the board and BAM I had a present all cute and ready to give.

Such cute and high quality photo magnets really should have a cute place to display them. I found my magnet board at Hobby Lobby and it was 50% off, so basically it was a steal. This would be a SUPER easy magnet board to DIY too.

If you are thinking about giving some super cute photo magnets for a holiday gift, then you are probably looking for some cute ideas for magnet boards.

Look no further, here is a roundup of some of my favorite DIY Magnet Boards.

Magnetic Chalkboard 

Large Wall Magnet Board

Large Framed Magnetic Board

Fabric Covered Magnet Board

Screen Magnetic Board

Sheet Metal Message Center

Drip Pan Magnetic Board

Magnetic Sheet for Stainless Steel Fridge

Give memories this holiday season. They really are the best gift to give. Walmart is a great source for giving photo gifts. Check them out. Get creative. 

Be sure to visit Walmart Photo's brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers' posts.

A Pinteresting Wednesday: Infographic Christmas Letter

I have been wanting to make an Infographic Christmas Letter for a while. I first saw them a couple of years ago. This year when The Hubs and I decided not to do Christmas cards, but to do a letter instead I figured it was the perfect opportunity to make one.

I searched around and finally settled on THIS design that I had pinned to my Christmas Board last year. I recreated the letter using PicMonkey.

It was a little bit of a labor of love. However, it was doable. I primarily used the shape cut out frame, choose own overlay, and geometric overlays to make everything you see.

I used three of my favorite fonts-- Thirsty Script Bold, Ostrich Sans Inline, and Egyptienne Light.

One of my favorite things about this letter is the individual circle pics (circle shape cut out over the photos) and the columns of information.

When I was all done making our Infographic Christmas Letter, I sent it to Staples to have them print them off. The quality is insane and I am so glad I choose to do that over printing them off myself.

Overall, I am happy we decided to do a letter this year. At first I was bummed we weren't going to do Christmas cards, but then when I started my creative juices flowing I really enjoyed making this letter. Now we will have to wait and see what I do next year.

I also should probably get these in the mail now. Ha! Here's to hoping they get where they are going before Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

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Santa Thank You Tags

This year for Christmas we have been trying to do a lot more little acts of service and kindness. There are so many people who serve us and deserve our thanks. A lot of them we really hadn't thanked. So we made a list of people we wanted to thank for Christmas.

One of those people was our Mailman.

I gathered up a few cute paper bags, some washi tape, and a gift card. I also made up these cute Santa Thank You Tags using PicMonkey. PicMonkey has some ridiculously cute holiday overlays. I have used them in our Garbage Man Thank You and for our Dear Santa Letter. Basically I can't get enough of all the holiday goodness.

paper bags: Zurchers Party Store

I also threw in a few pieces of chocolate, because well chocolate is always a good idea.

These Santa Thank You Tags are generic enough that they can be used to thank anyone. All you need to do is right click on the photo below and open it in a word document. Then print and cut out.

Now all we had to do was leave it for our Mailman for a little holiday cheer and thank you.

Who do you want to thank this year?

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Easy Paper Fan Ornament

Christmas ornaments can come from anything. I love these paper fans. They are inexpensive and come in lots of colors. They easily turn into Christmas ornaments too.

Seriously, how cute are these?

I love how they add whimsy to my Christmas tree.

I only used two things to make these Easy Paper Fan Ornaments- Mini paper fans and coordinating washi tape.

I picked up the mini paper fans at Zurchers Party Store. Then I raided my washi tape. This blue and white striped tape happens to be Duck Tape Washi tape that I grabbed from The Mart.

To make these ornaments, simply open the fan and tape closed with the washi tape.

See how ridiculously easy it is to make these. I actually have made another whole batch since this post. I think 10 mini paper fans is the perfect amount for my tree.

Now all I need are some tissue honey combs in red and green. Hehehe. Maybe next year.

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