FREE merry merry memory game!

As the days get closer keep 'm occupied with a rousing memory game! Download your free printable over at happy happy art collective and merry christmas!

the power of santa... freebie download!

if you've ever been around kids with less than 2 weeks to go before Christmas, you know what I'm talking about. Sheer pandemonium, chaos, Christmas crazies… need I go on? Desperate times call for desperate measures and there is no more powerful parental behavioral tool than the big man himself. Creepy as it may sound, they all know the song..."better watch out, better not cry, better not pout, I'm telling you why…" Use the power of Santa! Hang the chart and keep track of all the good stuff,  reward them with stickers and watch the tree get decorated as your sanity returns! Then leave the chart out for Santa to see while he eats your milk and cookies and maybe he will even leave his autograph! Head on over to happy happy art collective where you can download the files here!

keep track of good deeds with tally marks!

for every 3 tally marks, let 'em have a present or star sticker!

hopefully, by Christmas eve, their tree will look something like this!

get your freebie santa fortune teller!

Here's my contribution to happy happy art collective's 24 days of free holiday downloads. 

Head over there to get your freebie and see what Santa has in store for you this Christmas! 

(here's hoping it's not fruitcake…)

announcing 24 days of FREE happy happy holiday printables!

The artists of happy happy art collective will be having a free daily download, starting tomorrow December 1st! (crap… tomorrow is december 1st. how the heck did that happen?!) Anyway, make sure you bookmark our blog and like our Facebook page so you can be sure to keep up with the goodies!

free easter printable!

yup, you heard that right! The girls at happy happy art collective decided to make our April group project fun and free printables, just in time for spring! Head on over here to check out the goodies that Denise, Muffin and Lauren came up with!

For my piece, I decided I wanted to do some sort of activity type placemat. You've been there... it's easter dinner and old Uncle Joe is taking forever and a day to eat that fancy spring green salad that your kids all hate. They're getting antsy waiting for the ham (and bunny cake...keepin' it real, here) to arrive. This after getting super hyper with a bag of jelly beans and chocolate eggs in their system, right? What to do? Well, time to hand out the crayons and this fun placemat. When they're done finding the eggs, they can turn it over for some quality doodle time!

Growing up at my house, the old bunny gentleman was a rather heartless fellow. I'm sure most kids have an egg hunt or two to fill out the day, but the bunny that visited our house also hid the baskets! And hid them well. So well, it was not uncommon to still be searching looong after sundown. I can still picture my dad sitting in the living room, smoking his pipe (which he often did on Sundays) reading the paper, while thoroughly enjoying our angst and total misery as bedtime approached and we STILL had not found our baskets. Cruel, right? As the youngest of five, it was also common practice for my older brothers to rub it in, claiming that they had found mine hours ago, and couldn't believe how stupid I was for not having found it already. One of best places he ever used was in the waste basket. Yeah. Imagine this... your basket (somewhat hermetically sealed) in the bottom of the trash can with a "clean" liner on top. Kinda twisted, right? But the all-time winner, would have to be what he pulled on my oldest brother... the basket was tied to a string, dangled below his bedroom window on the back of the house. Who thinks like that??

Like all family traditions, I carried this one on with my own kids, much to the dismay of my husband. However, I usually cave and start giving hints by mid afternoon or when they start crying in utter frustration. Good Easter fun! 

Happy Easter!!

happy happy st. patrick's day!

Hey, it's not too late to give your favorite irish-loving cat-centric friend (and don't we all know at least one?)  some St. Patrick's day love! Get this freebie printable over at happy happy art collective!

need some last minute valentine help??

If you are stuck somewhere in the northeast like me, there is a veritable whiteout going on today! If you didn't happen to get to Target to pick up some Valentine's supplies, have no fear... head on over to happy happy art collective and down load our valentine printables! We have some super cute cards by Emily Balsey and Denise Holmes, a pretty print by Muffin Grayson and a kid's valentine card/craft by yours truly. Who needs Hallmark, ha! While you are there, check out out alphabet series that we just started as well as our group project of the month, an illustrated quote.