A Little Bit About Me

I just finished this little project for "New Faces of TpT" e-book. Hopefully they choose mine. But if not I thought I'd share it here anyways. :) Here's a little bit about me and my store.  

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

Every 4th of July, since I can remember, my family has done a barbeque with the whole extended family on my Dad's side. It's a day full of fun games, crazy people, and delicious food! And this year did not disappoint!

When my cousin and his adorable wife placed these delicious, Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers on the pot luck table, the whole tray was gone in a matter of minutes!!

Who could withstand the crunchy bacon, garlic and lime cream cheese, and spicy, fresh jalapeno?! And the fact that they are baked and not fried makes them a healthier alternative to regular jalapeno poppers!

Are you excited yet? You should be! Because once you realize how easy the recipe is you'll want to make them for every potluck (or chill at home snack) you go to!!

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers 

1 - 1 1/2  Cream Cheese (8 oz)- room temperature

2 cloves of garlic- minced

juice of 1/2 lime

15 jalapenos-halved and seeded

15 pieces bacon (cut in half) 

tooth picks

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl mix first three ingredients well. 

3. Spoon cream cheese mixture into jalapeno halves. 

4. Wrap bacon around stuffed jalapenos and secure with a tooth pick.

5. Place on cookie sheet then bake on middle rack for 20 minutes.

6. After 20 minutes broil poppers on high for 5 minutes (leave cookie sheet on middle rack).

 

Ta-Da!! They are done!! And so, so, write-home-to-yo-mama good!

So now your all set for next time you need to impress all your friends (or crazy extended family ;)). Don't worry, I got your back.

Why and How to Secure Your pdf--Mac version

If you're on Teachers Pay Teachers or another site that sells worksheets, documents, etc, you've most likely been told to "secure and flatten" your projects, especially if you are using pictures or clip art created by another person. As a clip artist, I specifically require my images to be secured in my terms of use. Let me go over why.

**PC users, don't worry, I didn't forget you! There is a link to a great tutorial for you at the end of this post**


1st- A pdf does NOT mean an image or piece of work is secured or flattened! Check out one of your unsecured/unflattened pdf and right click on an image or word.

Notice how it becomes highlighted and the word "copy" comes up? That's bad. That means if someone downloads your work, they can copy anything from off your document they want to. And it means if you are using another person's clip art, pictures, etc, you are most likely in violation of their terms of use. Yikes!

2nd- Even if you flatten your pdf, an unsecured pdf still can lead to trouble. Here I have a "flattened" pdf (I saved it as a .png first, and then converted it to a pdf). But if I take this image and put it into a program like Adobe illustrator or Powerpoint...

It'll open right up and the user can create things over my pdf. They can change my hard work and possibly even credit it as their own! (Oh, no you didn't!)


So lets teach you how to secure your pdfs! And luckily for Mac users it's quite simple. (Yay Mac!)

1. Open your project in Preview (or just double click. Default settings are to open in Preview).

2. Click File, Print (don't worry we are not really going to print it).

3. A print window will open. In the bottom left corner, click on the blue arrow next to "PDF."

4. An options scroll will open. Click on "Save as PDF."

5. Next, a "Save As" window will open. In the bottom, middle is a button that says "Security Options," click on it.

6. Click on the box that says "Require password to copy text, images and other content" (Note: Only this box! Don't Click on the box to "Require a password to open document" or "Require password to print document." That could lead to major trouble if you want to sell your work!). Put in your password and verify it (retype the password), then click okay.

7. Now click save. (Note: if you saved the pdf with the same name as your previous pdf, it'll ask if you want to replace the original, it's up to you if you want to or not. I usually do, because I don't want a bunch of similar pdf's cluttering up my computer)

8. Your done! You can check to see if it worked by opening your document and right clicking. When you do this there should be no option to copy.

And if you try to put it into Power Point, or another program, you'll get an awesome message similar to this!

Yay! Now go, young grasshopper, and secure all of your documents! You will be happy knowing that your documents are secure, and your clip artist, photographers, etc, will thank you!

If you are working on PC, the 3am Teacher has a fantastic tutorial for you!


Now that you know how to secure your files, I totally trust you ;), so head on over to my TPT store and pick up some fun clip art for your projects!

Lately

Hey all!

Sorry I've been MIA lately. I'm trying to beef up my clip art so I can start making some new products using my clip art...it's a crazy cycle. ;)

I've just barely finished this School Supplies Clip Art set, and mostly I'm in love! So darn cute!

These Alphabet Kids Clip Art make me so happy. They are silly and fun and I love them! 

This Ballerina Frames Clip Art came from the Alphabet Kids. Originally I was going to add them, but they just didn't seem to fit in. So I turned them into brightly colored frames and couldn't be happier! 

Seriously it's a horribly amazing addiction that I love! So fun being creative and see it come out so well! One of the funnest parts? I just made my first sale on at my TPT store! I made a total of $1.50! Woo! But still, I called my mom jumping up and down. I guess I'm easily excited, but I love my products and it made me so happy that someone else loved them enough to purchase them! 

Next week I have a fun teacher appreciation card FREEBIE I am working on, so make sure to check back then. As for me, I think I'll go work on some more clip art...

Don't forget, as May is coming up, that I got a wee bit excited and my May Calendar is already up!! Check it out!

LDS General Conference Notes Page

I know I'm running a bit late on this, but I whipped up a quick page to take notes on for the LDS conference, April 2015! And I thought I would share.

Get it HERE

If you're not sure what LDS general conference is check it out HERE. It's a conference where all Latter-Day Saints gather (either at the conference building, through television, internet, ect.) and listen to uplifting messages from prophets of God. It happens once every six months for six, two hour sessions. It's one of my favorite times of the year. So if you are LDS or not, and looking to be uplifted, go check it out! 

May Calendar FREEBIE!

Don't beat me for putting this out too early... I know it's just the beginning of April, but some of us like to be prepared!! And I finished it early. I waited, like, a whole 3 days before I posted it, so I used some self control...but I just couldn't wait to have this adorable calendar out there!!

Alright, two ways to get this beauty

Numero Uno-- Go to my TPT store and download it. This is the way that, if you love me, you'll go. This way I can see how many people have downloaded it and that makes me all sorts of happy.

But I get that not everyone wants to start up an account. Lame. Which brings me to numero uno two...or something like that, go to HERE and just print it off. Ya punk. 

Speaking of my TPT store, if you see the adorable clipart on my calendar and you say to yourself, "Oh my heart!! I must have that adorable clipart!" (Which I know you all are) Then you can go to links below and get it! Yay, your heart!

 Robot Clipart

Flower Garden Clipart

Silly Skunk Writing Prompt

I've been working on some Woodland Animal Page Toppers the last few days, and I have to tell you, I am IN LOVE with them! I love their cute little faces and colors.

 My husband saw them and started cracking up then asked me, "Why do they all look like they have concussions?" Ah, the life of being married to a pre-med student.

But aren't they cute?

They are. And they don't have concussions.

I wanted to spread the love and create something fun and silly with them so I created this Silly Skunk Writing Prompt (Free at my TPT store).

So your kids, or you, or your crazy, pre-med husband can get your creative juices flowing and write a hilarious/scary/sad (but hopefully not sad) story about some skunks. Now get to it. 

P.S. If you (or kids/husband/whatever) take a picture and send it to me! I'd love to read it! 

April 2015 Calendar FREEBIE

So...it was my anniversary last week. My husband and I always go on a date and hang out together, but we usually don't buy any gifts. Well, that morning I got on the computer to find an adorable page up on a new design program that my husband bought me!! I was so excited! I'm moving up in the world ;)

Now all of my FREEBIEs and other fun stuff will be in 300dpi and done in vector, so they'll all have crisp lines and bright colors! So exciting! I've been playing on it all week (my husband may have buyers remorse after he realizes all I want to do all day is design ;)).

So here is April's adorable calendar

Get it from here

Also, (more exciting news) I've opened a Teachers Pay Teachers store, so if you like the clip art and images I use, you can head to My Store and buy them!! Or pick up some more FREEBIES!  

 

L is for Leprechaun coloring page

My 5 year old and I do a rotational "letter group" with some of the other moms from our neighborhood. Every week all the kids go over to one of the houses where one mom teaches about an assigned letter.

We have loved it! It give my son the social interaction that he wants and gives me a little break! I also love preparing for it, but have gotten frustrated when I couldn't find worksheets or coloring pages with the topics I wanted to do.

 It make me happy that now I can make my own. It takes a bit of time, but it so fun to do and lets me work on my creative side! Hence how this little leprechaun came to life just in time for St. Patty's Day!

Find this fun little coloring page for preschool or anybody who loves to color (like my 7 and 9 year old) HERE !

Leprechaun Mad Lib FREEBIE

Are you excited it's March? I sure am! It finally got up to 40 degrees here in little town, Iowa! Hooray! One day I'm going to talk about something other than the weather... until then here's a little mad lib to brighten your day! (Ha, see what I did there?)

Great for a little older kids (I'd say 2nd grade up) to help them work on their parts of speech, and they get a fun, silly story out of it! My kids had a "crazy" pot filled with "pink" "hammers!" So goofy! 

Leprechaun Mad Lib

Once again this is a freebie, but please make sure to check out my terms of use for any questions! 

Note- I realized that the picture has a few grammatical errors, but the link should have those ironed out!  

  

Feasting on the Word of God Printable Freebie

I love this quote by Elder Richard G. Scott. Our lesson on Sunday is based on his talk.

I'm hoping that by having it somewhere in my house I will be better at "feasting on the words of God," instead of just occasionally tasting when I have time. I made it a bit smaller too so that you can cut or fold it and put it in your scriptures. 

Print yours out here. 

Enjoy! 

March 2015 Calendar Freebie

March. This year I love March. Mostly because of those 4 little words on the 20th. First Day of Spring!! Living in the midwest the last couple of years have been brutal and this year wasn't any better. I'm so ready for Spring!

I was talking...okay mostly complaining, to my nine-year-old about the cold, and asked him how in the world it could be so, so cold. Without missing a beat he replied, "I blame the groundhog." I laughed at that harder than I should have and then agreed. When in doubt, blame the cold on the groundhog.

Hopefully warm spring weather comes soon!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9qDj_ZvfeRTT2hMR3U2Z2RCZXc/view?usp=sharing

February Calendar Freebie

So this calendar is late. Like super late. As in we're almost half way through the month and I'm just getting posted. But it's cute. So the cuteness makes up for the lateness, right?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9qDj_ZvfeRTUWZJOVFVUmhaeGM/view?usp=sharing

I'm working on March right now so I can have it out a bit earlier. Like only a week into March instead of half way. 

Free Valentine Printables

Hey all,
I wanted to share with you these cute black and white valentines! I'm never sure what to do for my kids at Valentines. Half the time they want to make their own. Half the time they want to buy Disney's fairies or Spiderman Valentines. So this time I made these cute Valentines so I didn't have to worry about any of that...We still ended up buying the store ones...and making some of our own. My daughter wants all three. Her classmates and teacher are going to love us ;).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9qDj_ZvfeRTYzNZRHJodU1VMWc/view?usp=sharing

I'm still just new at this (as you can tell by the blog), so I don't have any of my copyright info up, so just use them for whatever...it's cool. Unless you make a bizzillion dollars off them or something. Then send me a cut of it. :)