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Math

ORGANIZE

Setting your vision and planning for 2015

Ready to make a resolution? I'm not. As 2014 comes to an end, I'm thinking about all the wonderful things that happened this year. I have to say 2014 is the best year yet as my daughter entered the world and changed my life.

This year, I am going to avoid the disappointment and dejection of January 12th rolling around and I have yet again, failed to stick to resolutions.

As the new year comes in, the only promise I can make is to be the best me I can be.

1. Meditate and think about what I truly want for myself.

2. Meditate and think about what I want for others in my life.

3. Backwards plan those things in action oriented goals. 

Setting Your Plan for the New Year
https://www.coursera.org/learn/togetherteacher

I took this course in October and it has really changed the way I prioritize and set goals for myself, my family and my business. 

This course emphasized being purposeful in your planning and planning action oriented tasks. Best of all, it is FREE and goes at your own pace. I have been recommending this course to all of my teacher friends and it has really made a difference in their lives. 

I modified one of the sheets to accomodate my lifestyle. Since then, I have been setting goals in manageable bite size pieces to complete my tasks. Below is an example of my week planning. 
Click below for the FREE template to kick your year off right by first changing your mindsets and then your to-do list. 

I think planning ahead and being purposeful is the true key to making a change in your life. The first step is making up your mind to do something different. Take the course, make a plan, change your life.


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Staff Appreciation: Get S'More Staff Like You



I love showing appreciation to people for all of the hard work they do! Nothing feels as good as being recognized, and I work with some pretty amazing people.

Every month, my team is tasked with coming up with something creative and cute for all of the staff within our organization. We began the year with pretty low moral and wanted to show our staff, specially our new hires, how much we appreciate them.

This month, we made mini bags of smores. One of my colleagues found the idea via pinterest. The idea came from an older post by www.gluesticksandtape.com.

The original file only had two labels per page, so I screen clipped it to make four fit onto a page.

Click the link for the original file


These came out so cute! I just know our staff will appreciate them!






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Have a Wonderful Break!

Miss Kanaya all ready for Christmas Break


Hope you enjoy yours!

Happy Holidays
Knowledge Mobile

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Link Within: Who Knew?

Did you know about link within?

I have been reading lots of blogs with the feature but had no idea what it is. As I was ready a fantastic blog post by Polka Dot Lesson Plans, about organizing homework completion when I noticed the small LinkWithin notation.

Small LinkWithin Notation
             Following the link, I found the website so easy to set up. I simply entered my email, blog page, my platform (blogger), and I was ready to go.


This was totally free and immediately added (What I feel) is a more professional quality to my blog.

If you want the widget, simply click the link! 


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These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things!

Christmas is around the corner, and the crafts are not far behind. Here are a few cute crafts that I think kids would love and seem perfect for those last few days before Winter Break. Follow the links to get the instructions for these wonderful winter wonders! (Too far with the W's, I know).

1. The Grinch
Make a Grinch Craft out of a paper plate. Fun Christmas Craft for kids and goes along great with Dr Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. From I Heart Crafty Things.

So so so cute! This would be great to make after reading "How The Grinch Stole Christmas". That last day before the holidays was always stressful to plan for, but this would have been a welcome activity!

2. Crafty Olaf
Adorable Olaf Sock Snowman Tutorial ~ Frozen fans are sure to love it!
Even though it wasn't my favorite (Aghast! The horror!), Olaf was definitely I highlight of the film. A sock, eyes, and cotton balls, are all you need to make him come to life!
3. Popsicle Sticks!
This would be a fun crafts for us all to do!!!! Golly Gee Willickers. I'm so ready for Christmas time.
Now I know what to do with my random box of 153 Popsicle sticks!

4. Cute Pine Cone Owls
Whoo-hooo is looking for a cute ornament tutorial? These felt and pinecone owls are a fun family craft that can be created with a few simple supplies and displayed in your home all year.
Where oh, where are my pine cones. Having moved to Nashville from Georgia, I am noticing a distinct lack of ready made pine cones. Growing up, we had mounds and mounds of pine cones that we would have rake up. I now want all of those pine cones back to create these cute crafts. I think kids would love to make these little owls and all you need is felt and pipe cleaners! Super cute!


5. Crafty Ornaments
Oh my...I think I found what the girls and I will be doing for a Christmas craft! Love these!!!

I love how cute these ornaments are!!! They are so festive and cute. I think I might substitute Christmas wrapping paper when making this craft with the kids at site.

Hope you love these as much as I did!

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Blog Design: Creating My Header

I was ready to do it. I was about to go ahead and pay for my blog redesign.

Going rates were anywhere from 100 to 150 for the custom headers and blog buttons. My co-worker mentioned to me that I am always making things, that she was surprised I wasn't doing it myself. I thought, "Hmm, why AREN'T I doing this myself?"

With that, I promptly began looking up how to deign your own blog header. In my search, I stumbled across a wonderful article by Something Swanky.



After reading the article and following her instructions, I joined picmonkey and was on my way to design my new header. 

I knew I wanted something bright, colorful, and that had arrows.  After playing around with the sodtware for a few hours (and I mean until 3 in the morning), I created an image that I was happy with.


After creating the image, the next challenge was creating the image maps to create the correct links to my work. Before this, I had never heard of image maps and the process of linking bits of an image to an actual link address. 



Once you get the hang of it, this was too easy. The key thing to remember is to know the pixels of your image. I ran into trouble when I adjusted the widths at the top of my blog and the links wouldn't go to the correct page.

After much trial and error, (at 3 am, mind you) I finally had the header and blog that I was proud of. While I have no problem paying people for their talents, I really appreciated learning how to do this for myself and adding a new skill to my toolkit. I might go ahead have the professional design later down the line, but right now, I'm happy :)

If you aren't so happy with your blog designs, head on over to Something Swanky to learn how put those images together. 

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Season's Greetings: My first graphics!!!

I love that I am finally learning how to use adobe illustrator! Last year, my honey bunny bought a 12 month subscription for the service. Knowing myself and my busy schedule, I would have activated it and let the year go by without every really using it.


For over $200, I wanted to make sure that I would be able to use it. 

After watching hours of tutorials and using the free trial, I finally activated it. One of my first projects was to create Christmas ornaments in order to prepare for the holiday season. 


I just love how they turned out! I had to go beyond green and red and incorporate my favorite bright blue and pink. When I was designing them,  I wanted to make them big enough to place math problems on and the corresponding answer. I will probably putting that on my to do list to create for next Christmas.

Any hoo, I loved making them and I hope you like them too!

Below is the link to the item in my store!


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First Friday Freebie!!!

Happy Friday Everyone!!!



 Because caring is sharing, I am giving this cute red circle border away to celebrate the first Friday of the month! I love learning how to design my own graphics and I am glad you can share in my learning!

Click the link below to keep it for your very own!



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Followers Envy Rears its Ugly Head

Being new to TPT, it's hard to know what matters. Is it the ratings? The number of followers you have? The visual appeal of your products?

I think that they all matter, but the hardest one for me to conceptualize is the followers. While I would want to ask for followers, just to increase the awareness of my products, being a follower actually seems like a major commitment. Once you follow someone, you are committing yourself to receiving constant updates and reminder emails about their products.

When I first joined, I went to the seller's forum and followed a couple of stores under the follow for follow boards. For the ones that I did join, I really did like the quality of the work they produce and the attractiveness of their covers. On the negative side, I found it to be intimidating from my seller's point of view. I found myself being critical of my work in comparison and (mildly) depressed over the quality of my covers. You know the voice you can't stop. It's not good enough. Look how great hers is. How is she posting so many? Work harder. Do better. Blah blah blah.

I had a long talk with my mentor about these thoughts and feelings, and she told me to look at as a blessing. I am part of a wonderful community of educators who are sharing our work to help others. I know my purpose is to help develop teachers' skills in teaching and aid them in their instructions.

As I did a couple of woo sahs, I calmed myself and remembered that the only person I really need to please is me. If I like it and think others will too, then I should just accept that as affirmation. I wouldn't have the need and desire to create these products if I wasn't meant for me and a part of my path.

At the end of the day, I am so happy for my 6 followers and the stores I follow. This whole thing is one step in process that I just have to keep working towards. (Deep breath out).

Now, (peeking around for others who have encountered the the same green eyed monster), how have you dealt with follower envy?

Please share because I am sure (or at least I hope...) that I am not alone! LOL.


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