31 October 2014

31 Days: Holiday Planner 2014 Wrap Up & Link Up!



Good afternoon, friends! 
If you're just joining us, we've been spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. The beginning post (and a list of all posts from the month!) can be found here...

Can you believe we're on the last day?! I'm so sorry I left ya'll hanging with no post yesterday- pregnancy doctor appointments and such ended up running long and the day just got away from me! Just one of those days... But have no fear! TODAY I'll be sharing with you my binder, and we'll combine it with the link up party! You share yours, and I'll share mine! Sound like a deal? Great! I can't wait to see what ya'll have been working on :)

Let's start by doing a recap of all the fun this week! Most days have FREE printables that were offered, so make sure you check them ALL out! 

Day 30/31: Wrap Up & Linky Party!  *** you are HERE ***


If you want to see all of the FREE printables in one location, and a few extra freebies that I've posted on my blog in years past, check out the "Holiday Planner" link at the top of any blog page, or simply click the link below! 



So here's what my Holiday Planner 2014 ended up with in each section....
Autumn
  • Autumn Family Fun "bucket list" printable
  • Autumn Festivities printable
  • Autumn Homeschooling printable

Thanksgiving
  • Thanksgiving Festivities printable
  • Thanksgiving Menu Ideas
  • Thanksgiving Menu Plan
  • Thanksgiving Grocery List

Decor (for autumn)
  • Autumn Decor Ideas
  • lots of magazine tear outs for inspiration

Christmas
  • 3 Christmas Projects printables (found in "Extra Printables" post)... I printed out 3 copies, one each for CRAFTS to make, GIFTS to make, and DECOR to make! I also put a star (*) next to items that need to be done before Advent begins, like our Advent wreath needs to be assembled, the Jesse Tree ornaments need to be made (since I'm doing it like an "Advent" Jesse Tree where the wee one opens up a new envelope each day with the ornament for the day) etc. 
  • Christmas Family Fun "bucket list" printable
  • Christmas Festivities printable
  • Christmas Homeschooling

Advent
  • 2 Advent:Epiphany Calendars (found in "Extra Printables" post)- one keeps track of my Scripture study, Jesse Tree ornaments, and Nativity figures to add each day and the other tracks my Christmas Carol study, additional Scripture studies, and "Names of Jesus" study
  • Master Advent Planner printable
  • Jesse Tree paper ornament print outs for the wee one to color 
  • The "Names of Jesus" study print outs
  • "O Antiphons" study print outs
  • "Twelve Days of Christmas: the true meaning behind the song" study print outs
  • ... throughout I'll be adding in print outs for the Christmas Carol study as I do them each day, so I have them for reference in years to come!

Meals (for Christmas/Advent)
  • 6 Christmas Weekly Menus (found in "Extra Printables" post)- one for each week of the Advent through Epiphany season!
  • Christmas Eve Menu Ideas & Menu Plan printables
  • Christmas Day Menu Ideas & Menu Plan printables
  • Epiphany Menu Ideas & Menu Plan printables
  • Christmas Grocery List printable (one consolidated list for both Christmas Eve & Day meals)
  • Epiphany Grocery List printable

Decor (for Christmas/Advent)
  • Christmas Decor Ideas printable
  • lots of magazine tear outs for inspiration

Gifts
  • Christmas Card Tracker printable
  • 4 Christmas Gifting printable- one for each member of the family, and one for each side of our family (parents/siblings)
  • Christmas Gift Ledger printable
  • lots of magazine tear outs for DIY gift ideas

New Years
  • New Years Countdown Fun printable
  • New Years Festivities printable
  • New Years Menu Ideas & Meal Plan printables
  • New Years Grocery Shopping printable


Now I've shown you a little of what all goes into my Holiday Planner, now it's time for you to share what you've been working on!! I can't wait to see your planners :) Link up any posts or pictures- whether it's your whole binder or just one list that you've been working on, let's see it!

Just leave a comment below with your link! :)

Thank you SO much to everyone who has faithfully read, just stumbled upon for a post or two, or merely grabbed a printable here and there! I hope some of what I've shared over the past month you've found useful. I'll be continuing to share holiday-related posts (like my autumn mantle and wreath, themed lunches for the little one, Scripture study tools, and more!) in the upcoming months, so I hope you'll check back in and check them out ;)
Blessings
- Shauna

29 October 2014

31 Days: Extra Holiday Planner Printables!



Good afternoon, friends! 
I hope you're having a blessed day :) Welcome to today's FREE printables I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. If you are new to this 31 day series, check out my beginning post...

Can you believe we're almost done with this series? I definitely feel like this month flew by- what about you?? I hope you've enjoyed all the printables, book lists, and other fun holiday stuff that we've been sharing over the past month! I've found it really helpful, so I thought others might too :) Today I'm sharing printables that I've created throughout the month that either didn't fit in one of the previous categories or augment one of the previous categories! So let's get started!

Christmas Projects- I created this printable because I plan to make a LOT of goodies this Christmas- from family gifts to felt nativity to winter quiet book/busy bags and more! So this helps me keep a running list of what I have "To Make" as well as a shopping list of items "To Buy" (the latter is either supplies to make my "to make" list or a few gifts I still have left to buy, like a few books for our Advent Book Basket!).


Christmas Weekly Menu- This is to augment the monthly Christmas planner I shared earlier. Sometimes I find a weekly view more useful, so I created this printable! I can create a shopping list for each week's supplies, cut the lower part off, and hang up the week's menu in our family command center! I can never remember what I planned for dinner, so having the weekly menu plan posted is really helpful for me :)


Advent:Epiphany Calendar- This is another calendar that runs from the first Sunday of Advent through Epiphany! Really it's just an alternate version of the earlier one- I found myself needing more space to jot down notes, so I consolidated the holidays further towards the top of each day. Nothing special here, but useful, I found! 

That's about it for today. Check back tomorrow when I share what my planner looks like! I'm excited to have a link up party on Friday too! I hope you'll join in to share anything Holiday Planner related that you've been working on :)

28 October 2014

31 Days: New Years Menu Planners



Good afternoon, friends! 
I hope you're having a blessed day :) Welcome to today's FREE printable I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. If you are new to this 31 day series, check out my beginning post...

Today we're continuing with New Years-themed printables! At the bottom of the post is today's FREE blank printable bundle where you can fill in all of your ideas for New Year's Eve meals! There's a place to keep track of all your menu planning needs. Here's a rundown of what's included in the bundle, much the same as previous menu planning bundles!
  • New Years Menu Ideas: it's exciting to plan a big meal for the holidays, especially if you're hosting friends and family! As ideas for what to serve start swirling through your thoughts, jot them all down here- you can narrow down your choices and decide on a final plan as the big day approaches!
  • New Years Menu Plan: here's where you can write out your final meal plans for meals. This includes a place to write down which course the food is for (breakfast/lunch/dinner, appetizer, main dish, dessert, etc.), the recipe name, the source (Pinterest, cookbook name & page, family recipe), the time it takes to both prep and cook the dish, as well as any particular notes about that dish (double the recipe, etc.)
  • New Years Grocery List: as you finalize your menu plan, don't forget to write down all of the ingredients on this list- it will make heading to the grocery store so much easier!
Download the New Years Menu Planner Bundle HERE
(contains all three FREE printables in one file!)

27 October 2014

31 Days: New Year's Eve Festivities & Countdown Fun


(NOTE: this post contains affiliate links)

Good afternoon, friends! 
I hope you're having a blessed Monday :) Welcome to today's FREE printables I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. If you are new to this 31 day series, check out my beginning post...

Today we're diving into New Year's themed printables! There's two different lists I've included today. First up is a family Countdown Fun tracker! I'm excited that our wee one, though young, often can make it to midnight these days. So we'll be planning fun events all night long, though Murphy's Law dictates she'll probably fall asleep at like 8 o'clock that night instead hehe. The tracker includes each hour, a space to jot down what activity/gift you'll be doing, and then any notes you might have- perhaps supplies to buy, recipe, etc. Here's a sneak peak at our countdown list! Are you doing some sort of hourly countdown fun? What activities are you including? 




Next up is the New Years Festivities printable- plan out all your fun family activities you plan "To Do" around New Year's Eve! Include movies you might want to watch, books to read, etc. Also plan out any festive things you plan "To Make," such as fun napkin rings, a NYE wreath, a NYE-inspired mantle, etc. If you're looking for some ideas, feel free to check out my Holiday: New Years Eve board on Pinterest! Here's a few things that are on my lists (some you've already seen above!)...

26 October 2014

31 Days: Epiphany Menu Planners



Good afternoon, friends! 
I hope you're having a blessed Sunday :) Welcome to today's FREE printable I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. If you are new to this 31 day series, check out my beginning post...

Today we're continuing with Advent-themed printables and specifically today's is Epiphany-related!  Many people enjoy doing a big festive celebration on Epiphany, to symbolically celebrate the Wise Men arriving to bestow gifts on baby Jesus. If you're one of those families, then today's planners should be of great help! You can print out just one planner copy, or print out one for each meal of Epiphany day if you're celebrating all day long! Just like previous menu planner posts, today's planner bundle includes...
  • Epiphany Menu Ideas: it's exciting to plan a big meal for the holidays, especially if you're hosting friends and family! As ideas for what to serve start swirling through your thoughts, jot them all down here- you can narrow down your choices and decide on a final plan as the big day approaches!
  • Epiphany Menu Plan: here's where you can write out your final meal plans for Epiphany meals. This includes a place to write down which course the food is for (breakfast/lunch/dinner, appetizer, main dish, dessert, etc.), the recipe name, the source (Pinterest, cookbook name & page, family recipe), the time it takes to both prep and cook the dish, as well as any particular notes about that dish (double the recipe, etc.)
  • Epiphany Grocery List: as you finalize your menu plan, don't forget to write down all of the ingredients on this list- it will make heading to the grocery store so much easier!

Download the Epiphany Menu Planner Bundle HERE
(contains all three FREE printables in one file!)

25 October 2014

31 Days: Master Advent Planner



Good afternoon, friends! 
Happy weekend! Welcome to today's FREE printables I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. We're officially halfway through the series, but if you're dropping in for the first time, check out my beginning post...


Below is today's FREE blank printable bundle where you can keep track of ALL your Advent plans! This is probably the planner that I frequent the most during the holiday season. I call it my Master Advent Planner- it has daily areas to plan out everything you're going to do for every day from the beginning of Advent through Epiphany! Here's a few of the highlights...

  • Major holidays denoted- including each Sunday of Advent, the days of Christmastide, and more. Includes plenty of space to jot down any additional celebrations such as birthday or anniversaries
  • To Do area- including areas to denote what you're reading, crafting, watching, and baking
  • Notes section- convenient bulleted list area where you can easily check off each day's accomplished activities

I can't even begin to describe how useful this planner is for me, so you'll just have to check it out for yourself!! Let me know if you'd like an alternate version of this planner- perhaps a blank bulleted list for the To Do section, or any other dates included, etc. I'd love to make it for you!

24 October 2014

31 Days: Advent Calendar & bonus- party ideas!



Good afternoon, friends! 
Welcome to today's FREE printable I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. We're officially halfway through the series, but if you're dropping in for the first time, check out my beginning post...


Below is today's FREE blank printable where you can keep track of all your Advent season plans! Nothing too complicated about today's printable. It's simply a calendar that takes you from Advent through Epiphany. It's bound to be a busy season, so here's one place where you can keep track of everything! It also includes all the holidays that fall during this time!



Since this is such a short post today, I decided to include a bonus! During this season, you might be hosting a party- I know I love hosting, do you?? Below is a list of possible Christmas/Winter party "themes" in case you're stuck for ideas! Enjoy :)




23 October 2014

31 Days: Advent Scripture Planners



Good morning, friends! 
Welcome to today's FREE printables I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. We're officially halfway through the series, but if you're dropping in for the first time, check out my beginning post...


Below is today's FREE blank printable bundle where you can keep track of all your Advent and Christmastide/Epiphany Scripture studies! I'm personally very excited for today's printable because it's the first time our family will be doing a Scripture study through the Advent & Christmastide season! We'll also be doing the Jesse Tree activities through Advent, and I'll be doing a Christmas Carol study in December leading up to Christmas. SO exciting! Are you doing any studies this Advent/Epiphany?

I've included three versions of this planner so you can choose the one that best suits your needs! If you need another version, feel free to drop me a line and I'd be glad to send it over for ya! The first planner includes what I'm doing, so a column for Scripture, Jesse Tree, and Christmas Carol. The second version includes the Scripture column and the other two columns I've left blank so you can fill in other studies you may be taking part in. The third version is super simple, just a column for Scriptures and a column for Notes. Take your pick! I sure hope you find these useful :)

22 October 2014

31 Days: Christmas Card Tracker



Good morning, friends! 
Welcome to today's FREE printable I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. We're officially halfway through the series, but if you're dropping in for the first time, check out my beginning post...


Below is today's FREE blank printable where you can keep track of all your Christmas cards! I don't know about you, but I can never remember who I've sent Christmas cards to and who I've received them from... and I generally like to reciprocate if someone mails me a card as well. This is a super simple tracker, a From and a To column, along with an area to place an "X" next to whether or not you've already sent/received from that person. Nothing complicated, but I find it definitely helps during the crazy Christmas season!


Download your FREE printable here )


I've also included a bonus Christmas Card Tracker! This is another tracker I've used in past years and includes the below sections. So feel free to download both or just whichever one you'd find most useful in your Christmas Card adventures :)
  • Name
  • Address
  • Sent
  • Received


Download Christmas Card Tracker
 #2

21 October 2014

31 Days: Ornament Ledger



Good morning, friends! 
Welcome to today's FREE printable I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. We're officially halfway through the series, but if you're dropping in for the first time, check out my beginning post...


Below is today's FREE blank printable where you can keep track of all your Christmas ornaments and the story behind them! I'm a bit of a sentimental gal, so I love to essentially "scrapbook" our ornaments and record the meaning behind each one. Our anniversary is just after Christmas, so we have an "anniversary tree" as well where we get a new ornament every year- it's a great low-cost anniversary present that we pick out for ourselves each year :)

When you download the Ornament Ledger file, it has two pages- one includes the entry page that says "Ornament Ledger" along with 3 ledgers, and the second page is all blank ledgers. This way you can print out the second page as you accumulate new ornaments. You can either include this in one of your Christmas divider tabs, or cut out each ledger page individually and create a mini scrapbook album with them! Simple punch a hole or two in the corner(s) and bind them together using a binder ring or even some pretty ribbon! Make sure you make your binding easily undone so you can add future ledger pages to your album as you acquire more ornaments :)


Each ledger page is pretty straight forward, and includes...

  • Year- what year did you receive/buy the ornament
  • To- was it gifted to a particular family member (baby's first Christmas, etc)
  • From- who was it gifted from
  • Story- any story that goes behind the ornament (first ornament you picked out together after you were married, made out of your very first live Christmas tree, first ornament in your new home, etc.)
  • Blank Space- on the left-hand side there's a large blank area for you to include a photo of the ornament you're recording the story of


It's never too late to start recording the stories behind your precious ornaments! My mother passed down some of her ornaments to me, and I hope to pass them down to our wee ones, along with the pages of the Ledger that go with them so our children can know the story behind them as well. Do you have any really special ornaments in your collection?

20 October 2014

31 Days: Christmas Gift Trackers



Good afternoon, friends! 
Welcome to today's FREE printable I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. We're officially halfway through the series, but if you're dropping in for the first time, check out my beginning post...


Below is 2 FREE blank printables where you can keep track of all your gifting needs during the Christmas season! These printables could go in one of two places- the Christmas divider tab or the Christmas-related Gifting divider tab- depending on how you set up your own planner!

As I mentioned above, there are two great printables here for you today...
  • Christmas Gifting- as you start buying gifts or just starting coming up with ideas, jot them down on this planner! Includes a place to write down the person who you're gifting to, an overall budget for that person, what the gift idea is, the source (store, website, etc.), the cost of the gift or cost estimate, and then a place to check off once you've wrapped the gift and once you've gifted the gift! 
  • Christmas Gift Ledger- on Christmas morning, or once you get home from gift exchanges, simply jot down all the gifts your family has received- both who the gift was to and from, what the gift was, and then there's a spot to check off once you've written a "thank you" (TY) note!

I know I've found both of these printables to be SUPER useful during our holiday season. Do you think you too will be using these this year? I sure hope you find them as helpful as I have :)

Download your FREE Gift Tracker bundle here )
includes BOTH of the above lists in one handy file!


19 October 2014

31 Days: Christmas Eve & Day Menu Planners



Good afternoon, friends! 
I hope you're having a blessed Sunday :) Welcome to today's FREE printable I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. If you are new to this 31 day series, check out my beginning post...

Today we're continuing with Christmas-themed printables and today is bonus day! At the bottom of the post is not just one but FIVE (5) FREE blank printables where you can fill in all of your ideas for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day meals! There's a place to keep track of all your menu planning needs. I'll be printing out 2 or 3 of Christmas Eve & Day Menu Ideas & Plans- either one for breakfast/lunch and one for dinner, or one for each meal, just to make planning even easier! Since most people will be doing one grocery shopping trip for both Christmas Eve & Day, I only included one Grocery List, but feel free to print out 2 copies if you need!
  • Christmas EVE Menu Ideas: it's exciting to plan a big meal for the holidays, especially if you're hosting friends and family! As ideas for what to serve start swirling through your thoughts, jot them all down here- you can narrow down your choices and decide on a final plan as Christmas Eve approaches!
  • Christmas EVE Menu Plan: here's where you can write out your final meal plans for Christmas Eve meals. This includes a place to write down which course the food is for (breakfast/lunch/dinner, appetizer, main dish, dessert, etc.), the recipe name, the source (Pinterest, cookbook name & page, family recipe), the time it takes to both prep and cook the dish, as well as any particular notes about that dish (double the recipe, etc.)
  • Christmas DAY Menu Ideas: it's exciting to plan a big meal for the holidays, especially if you're hosting friends and family! As ideas for what to serve start swirling through your thoughts, jot them all down here- you can narrow down your choices and decide on a final plan as Christmas Day approaches!
  • Christmas DAY Menu Plan: here's where you can write out your final meal plans for Christmas Day meals. This includes a place to write down which course the food is for (breakfast/lunch/dinner, appetizer, main dish, dessert, etc.), the recipe name, the source (Pinterest, cookbook name & page, family recipe), the time it takes to both prep and cook the dish, as well as any particular notes about that dish (double the recipe, etc.)
  • Christmas Grocery List: as you finalize your menu plan, don't forget to write down all of the ingredients on this list- it will make heading to the grocery store so much easier!

Download the Christmas Menu Planner Bundle HERE
(contains all five FREE printables in one file!)

18 October 2014

31 Days: Christmas Season Meal Plan



Good evening, friends! 
Welcome to today's  FREE printables I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. If you are new to this 31 day series, check out my beginning post...

Today we're continuing with Christmas-themed printables and today is bonus day! At the bottom of the post is not just one but FOUR (4) FREE blank printables where you can fill in all of your ideas for meals during the entire Christmas season! There's a place to keep track of all your menu planning needs!

The Christmas Season Meal Plan takes you from the first Sunday of Advent through Epiphany, so there's plenty of room to plan out meals for not just Advent, but the entire holy season! There is a separate planning page for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a blank planner calendar page. There's also a section for NOTES at the bottom of each planner page!

Later in the series I'll be sharing printables specifically for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Epiphany- so on the breakfast, lunch, and dinner specific planners you'll note those days have a star to "see menu page" for those specific days. In case you don't need those specific day meal planners, I've also included the blank season meal plan as well!

Since our next little one is due right in the midst of the holiday season, this will be very helpful for our family to have all our meals planned out in advance! I can also make use of the Notes section at the bottom of each meal's planning page- useful if you're doing freezer cooking, doubling a batch, making a dish a day ahead of time perhaps for a big family meal, etc. 

I also plan on coordinating some (or all!) of our meals with the book, movie, and/or Jesse Tree activity we're doing each day. Here's a few examples of "themed" meals we'll be doing...

  • "snowman" pancakes with raisin buttons/face and a bacon scarf
  • veggie "trees" made from sugar snap peas for branches, cherry tomato "ornaments," pretzel sticks for the stump, and a star cut out of cheese for the top!
  • quesadillas cut into "snowflakes"
  • grilled cheese sandwiches cut into shapes of bells, stars, etc. using cookie cutters
  • round bowl of yogurt as an "ornament," decorated with fruit 

Download the Christmas Season Meal Plan Bundle HERE
(contains all four FREE printables in one file!)

17 October 2014

31 Days: Christmas Decor Tracker




Good afternoon, friends! 
Welcome to today's FREE printable I'm sharing for you to add to your Holiday Planner, if you'd like! We're spending the month preparing a Holiday Planner to help organize everything for the fall & winter holidays. If you are new to this 31 day series, check out my beginning post...

At the bottom of the post is a FREE blank printable where you can fill in all of your ideas for how to spruce up your home with festive Christmas Decor! Below is a list of ideas to get you started- many of these are ideas that I've used in my home in the past! Other ideas can readily be found on Pinterest of course, and magazines- check out my Holiday: Christmas or Holiday:Advent & Epiphany Pinterest boards for some ideas, if you'd like! This can either go in my Christmas section of my Holiday Planner or the Christmas-specific Decor section!


(2) Low-cost DIY Christmas Wreath (with tutorial!)
(3) Ribbon/Fabric Trees (with tutorial!)
(5) Christmas Card Display (with tutorial!)
(6) 12 Days of Christmas Calendar (with printable tutorial!)


Some simple Christmas decor ideas, many are DIY too....
  • framed paper punches (snowflakes, trees, ornaments, etc.)
  • framed 3-D Christmas tree, snowflake, etc.
  • yarn balls in festive Christmas colors
  • DIY Christmas wreath
  • Styrofoam balls wrapped in festive fabric
  • jars/vases filled with white beans, pinecones, festive peppermint candy, etc.
  • festive scented candles or Scentsy burner with Christmas scents (the latter is my personal choice!)
  • buntings or garlands made from festive fabric, plaid tartans, etc.
  • hang pinecones on ribbons from chandeliers, curtain rods, etc.
  • framed Christmas and/or Advent-themed printables
  • frame antique Christmas carol sheet music
  • frame quotes from classic Christmas movies, Christmas carols, or Scripture
  • fill an old lantern, vase, pottery, etc. with Christmas ornaments
  • pick up cardboard/wood letters to decorate & spell out "joy," "noel," etc.
  • make poinsettias, mistletoe, holly, etc. out of felt
  • string paper snowflakes on fishing line or festive twine