a few notes for the weekend

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July and I wish to all who celebrate, a wonderful & safe weekend! Share your favorite 4th of July traditions, or what you're doing different this year, in the comments section. I'd love to hear.

Before the long weekend, a few notes:

1. If you haven't checked my Recipes section lately, there are a couple of new ones.

2. Some of you wanted to know what sheet protectors I recommend, that go well with those that I included in the original School Years kit. I love these from C-Line. If anyone knows of a great online resource to buy these, post a comment for others to know about.



3. Some of you have asked about the albums I recommend. Lots of great ones out there, like the 3-ring albums from American Crafts. I personally use the ones from We R Memory Keepers for our family albums and our kids' albums (which contain pages and memorabilia pockets from my school kit). If anyone wants to post a comment about the 3-ring album they recommend, or where online to buy them, go for it.

4. This is what the stamped image (on both sides, since it's double-sided) looks like. It's a cute little caption, really. One allows you to fill in the date (don't forget the circle the day of the month!) and the other one is perfect for stamping on artwork or papers that you want to note the student's name & date. It's so easy to forget who did what and when!



5. The page examples on the KOTM site will not be included in the school expansion pack. But we'll leave them up on the site, so refer to that for ideas. There will be a little pamphlet included in the kit, showing a few of my own examples.

what's in the kit

I was feeling very pregnant today, so I'm not super fun in this video, but you'll get a good overview of what comes in the school expansion pack.



And the self-adhesive growth chart ...





If you wanted to keep it in the pocket over the years, just adhere paper to the back and fold it up. Or you can have it displayed all the time as you track your child's growth. Ours is in the play room.

samples using expansion kit stuff

Update: It's the evening of Day 2 for this kit and they're about half gone.

Okay - Look how fun. Jennifer Gallacher used some of the components from my School Expansion Pack to dress up this notebook and create a journal. Notice those clear tabs (with the stars) on the edge? Cute.



She also did this page.



Marilyn Healey did this one. See the metal clip? There are a bunch of those in the kit, as well as rectangular epoxy stickers that fit right on them. Of course everything else is from the kit too.



And Robyn Werlich did this page. That stamped image (a place to write name & date) is one of the 2 stamps in the kit. Actually, it's one wooden stamp, but it's double-sided.



Head over here and click on the green "see kit details" button and then the "idea gallery" tab to see more examples.

new KOTM on sale NOW

It's time!

Head over here to check out my newest kit and place your order. A friendly reminder - the nature of the Kit of the Month program is "when it's gone, it's gone" so do not put off ordering if you want this. As we've learned from past kits, sometimes they're gone in a few weeks or a few days. And sometimes they're gone within just hours.

Let me know if you have questions about this kit that I haven't already addressed and I'll be in touch again shortly with more information and pictures and all that good stuff.

In the meantime, here's a layout I did using stuff from this kit. Everything is from the kit, minus the pictures (of course) and the handprints. For those, I just painted Porter's hands with green acrylic paint, stamped them on white cardstock, allowed them to dry, then cut around and stuck them on the page.



Remember: Even though it's an expansion to my original school kit (February KOTM), it's not all school. There is so much stuff in this kit ... fun & versatile.

Happy shopping and Happy July!

Added note: For those of you who saw a glimpse of the Photo Folders kit (by Lisa) on the KOTM site, just wanted to let you know that it's not for sale yet. From the KOTM team: "Due to unforeseen production delays the Photo Folders kit will not be available in July. We apologize for this delay, but assure you that this is an awesome kit and will be worth the wait!"

on sale tomorrow

Well, hello there!

I'm back. David's youngest brother got married (now ALL of David's and my siblings are married) and the family reunion was great. We even had a little bit of time afterwards to recover and catch up. Got a couple of projects done around the house, including installing handles on all of our drawers and cupboards. In the whole house. Office, kitchen, bathrooms, everywhere. That feels good. And with that many handles, it feels even better that we got a smoking deal on eBay.



So tomorrow is the day. The day that my newest kit goes on sale. This is the expansion to the original school kit. If you haven't already read my June 9 and June 16 blog entries, that will answer some questions. And now, here are a few more helpful details:

What time, exactly, will the kits be available for sale?
July 1 at 9:00 am MST (11:00 Eastern and 8:00 Pacific)

Where to find more information and purchase the kit?
www.lisabearnson.com/kotm (this site will be updated in time for the launch of my kit)

How much does the kit cost?
$31.95

When will the kits ship?
July 10th

I'll be in touch again soon to *show* you all of the goodness that comes in this bad boy. Stay tuned. ; )

busy

I'm a little slow with blogging these days because I'm busy. Simple as that. Besides the usual with work, house, family, friends, baby-to-be and all that good stuff ... now it's family reunion time. And we're in charge.

So I'll be back, but be patient with me. In the meantime, I posted another recipe in the Recipes section. (I know ... it's been a while!)

Take care. : )