See? Totally tough yet Valentinesy at the same time.

Jack was very insistent that his favorite characters be included so I had to wrack my brain to come up with Valentines slogans.  Do you know how hard it is to come up with something lovey-dovey that goes with the evil Darth Maul?  My personal favorite is Obi Wan’s message – ‘Ken-o-bi’ My Valentine?  Ewan McGregor never looked so good.

Although the valentines themselves are pretty cool, we wanted to take it one step further by adding a little chocolate. Jack voted for Reeses Peanut Butter cups & Rolos (because they’re sorta spaceship shaped).  We added all his favorite Star Wars headshots to give the treats an the extra-special touch. FYI: They’re cut with a 3/4″ circle punch.

Most of you long-time readers know the drill for making these cute, strike that, macho circles.  If you’re new here, you can see a quick tutorial by visiting my girlier valentine printable here.  FYI: the baggie size I used is 3″x4″.  I found a huge pack of them in WalMart’s craft section for about $2.

I’ll add the printables for both the baggie toppers and the headshot circles below (click the file name, not the images).  I hope you all enjoy them.  Feel free to share them on your blogs and social network pages.  I just ask that you don’t post the actual file on your site – please link back to this post for the download.  Thanks, everyone and may the force be with you!

Download: Star Wars Valentine Printable

I’m linking up to these great blogs this week…

Well, hundreds of you downloaded it during the free week and dozens more have ordered it from my Etsy store over the past few months.  Since you all went out and bought 3/4″ & 2″ punches to create your cute jars I thought I’d whip up a Halloween version to help you put those punches to work.

The steps are the same as the Thank You gift jar but I’ll give a quick review for those of you who missed it the first time around…

Step 1: Gather Supplies & Crop

Print the file on heavy, white cardstock and then trim (you can find the file at the bottom of this post).  I like to use a 3/4″ circle punch, a 2″ fiskars punch and a simple straight edge cutter.

Step 2: Punch Circles

Turn over your 3/4″ punch and center it over a circle.  I designed the circles to be a bit bigger than 3/4″ to give you a little wiggle room in your cropping.

Step 3: Glue Dots to Hershey Kisses

I loved the vibrant purple color of the dark chocolate kiss wrappers but you could use any type (the little circles are the perfect size for Rolos or Reese’s PB cups as well).  Also, I prefer to use glue dots but a glue stick works in a pinch.

Step 4: Punch Large Circles

This part is totally optional, of course.  You could stop here and just toss the kisses in a cute Halloween bowl and munch away.  However, if you’re looking to add a little fanciness to your container you’ll want to keep going.  I found my 2″ punch at Michaels (if you want to get one, be sure to visit their website and print off a 40% off coupon first).  Again, I made the circles a bit bigger than 2″ to allow for a little wiggle room during cropping.

Step 5:  Jazz It Up

Add a hole to the 2″ circle with a standard hole punch and string it on a thin ribbon.  Tie it on to your favorite container.

Wouldn’t that be cute a Halloween party favor?  Or even as a sweet surprise tucked into your kids’ lunch boxes?  I added a tiny notecard to the file as well, just in case you wanted to give them as gifts to friends, teachers or neighbors.  I was going to add it to my store but since you guys love Halloween as much as I do I thought I’d post it for free.  Enjoy!  Here’s the file…

Download: Halloween Kiss Circles

*A little note: Please feel free to blog, tweet, facebook or email all your friends about this idea (in fact, I hope you do).  I just ask that you link directly to this post in your message – please don’t post the actual printable file on your sites.  Thank you!

The pink message on the jar reads “Because a little chocolate is the best way to say farewell to a very long day.  Thanks for all you do!”  Isn’t that cute?  So simple and so sweet at the same time.  And at less than $4 per jar, you can make enough for all the great teachers in your life.  You can even customize it for each teacher by adding a gift card or heartfelt note from your kids.  Want to make one…or a bunch?  Here’s the tutorial.

Step 1: Gather Supplies

- Small Canning Jar
- 30+ Hershey Kisses
- MeckMom Thank You Gift Printable printed on heavy white cardstock (you can find it at the bottom of this post)
- Glue Dots
- 3/4″ Circle Punch
- 2″ Circle Punch (you could you scissors too, but I like the perfect circles the Fiskars punch makes)
- Paper trimmer or scissors
- Ribbon

Step 2: Cut Strips and Punch Circles

Use your paper trimmer to cut the small circles into long strips.  Turn over your 3/4″ punch and center it over a circle.  I designed the circles to be a bit bigger than 3/4″ to give you a little wiggle room in your cropping.

Step 3: Adhere Dots to Kisses

I found the easiest method was to lay out a long tape of glue dots and then press the kiss circles onto the tape.  From there, just peel your circles off the tape and pop them onto the base of the kisses.

Step 4: Toss Your Kisses Into the Jar

I used a half-pint canning jar because I liked the silver lid (and because it looked tough enough to survive a trip to school in my kids’ backpacks).  You can find them in the canning section of WalMart for around $8 per pack of 12.

Step 5: Crop Your Topper, Tag and Notecard

Using scissors or a 2″ circle punch cut out two of the larger circles (again I designed them a bit bigger than 2″ to make for easier cropping).  Use a few glue dots to attach one large Thank You circle to the jar lid.  Use a cute ribbon (adhered with glue dots) to attach the large circle note to the jar.  Use your straight-edge cutter to cut out the coordinating notecard.  Fold along the dotted line.

That’s it!  See?  I told you it was easy.  I love this little printable.  It has so many uses.  I think I may make up a few extras to keep on hand for the next time I need a thoughtful way to say thank you in a hurry.

In honor of teachers everywhere I’m offering this printable free on my site for the next seven days.  After that, it will go up for sale with my other great printables in the MeckMom Etsy store.  So grab it while you can.

My only request is that you post a comment about who you plan to thank with your little jar of chocolaty goodness. Gratitude is good for the soul so give a shout out to a generous person in your life and add a comment below.

*A little note: Please feel free to blog, tweet, facebook or email all your friends about this idea.  I just ask that you link directly to this post in your message – please don’t post the actual printable file on your sites.  Thank you!

*The seven-day free download period has expired. Of course you can still order this cute printable for only $3.95 in my Etsy shop.

Once your payment clears I’ll email the file directly to you (usually within 2 hours).  Feel free to print it as many times as you’d like.  I just ask that you don’t share the file or sell the finished product to others.  Thanks!

I’m joining a few Linky Parties this week…

First off, I made a weekly breakdown of my tasks. Similar to my “Mom Game Plan” mentioned in a previous post, this weekly list of to-do’s really helps me focus. I break down the 4 weeks before Christmas (I just finished week 1) into 4 work weeks:

Week 1: Decorate and Plan
In this week I focus on making a plan. I plan out my gift list, my budget, and my calendar. I also get the house ready for Christmas…inside and out.

Week 2: Shopping Phase 1
During this week, I focus on buying, wrapping and shipping all extended family and non-family presents. This includes things like neighborhood gifts, gifts for Grandma’s and Grandpa’s, teacher gifts, etc. I also create and send my digital Christmas cards this week.

Week 3: Shopping Phase 2
During this week I focus on buying and wrapping all immediate family gifts. This includes Santa presents, stocking stuffers, etc. I also use this week to make any freezable food ahead of time and make or buy the Christmas PJs.

Week 4: Deliver and Celebrate
This is crunch week. In this week our family delivers all the gifts to neighbors and teachers. I also finish up any wrapping and get the Christmas Eve supplies together.

I’ve also got a Christmas gift planner on my website for you. It’s amazing how many gifts there are to keep track of. Rather than impulse buy and scramble for ideas, I use this gift planner to help me keep everything straight. It also helps me keep track of which presents are wrapped and which have been shipped. You can find this handy file on my website as well.

As much as I hate to do it, I have to set up a budget for my Christmas spending. Tallying up all the gifts, decorations, party supplies, and food expenses can be really daunting; but I’ve found that if my husband and I work together to set a limit and then breakdown that limit into the various categories listed on my sheet, we save ourselves from the horrible post-Christmas financial drought. I posted both a blank version and a sample version on my site.

I can’t promise these files will make your Christmas preparations stress-free. However, getting you game plan down on paper, planning out your gifts, and making a budget should help you reach New Year’s with your sanity still intact. You can find the free file downloads below. Just thought I’d pass it on.

It breaks down the normal clean up into the most common tasks (make your bed, pick up toys, pick up books, etc.) The chart has two columns, To Do and Done. When we go in to the room, I have them pull off all the jobs (they’re velcroed on to a piece of laminated cardstock). Then we look at the room and figure out which of the jobs need to go in the To Do column and which can go in the Done column. They place the To Do jobs in the order that they think will be the easiest. Then they get to work. When they finish the first job, they move it to the done column and then move on to the next To Do. When their To Do list is empty, they come and get me for a final check.

It’s also really handy to use throughout the week. If I notice a big mess in their room, I’ll shift a couple of the jobs over to the To Do column. Whenever they want to do something special like earn TV time or computer time, I ask them if they’re To Do column is clear. If it’s not, they know just what to do to take care of it…without my interaction.

The best advantage of this chart is that my kids can now do this mostly on their own. They’ve figured out that if they can break a job down into tiny pieces, they can do a lot more without help. This chart just provides the tools they need to do just that…no nagging required. Just thought I’d pass it on.  You can find the free file downloads for this chart below.  Both the boy chart and the girl chart are included in the file.

Download: Kids Room Cleaning Chart Base
Download: Kids Room Cleaning Chart Icons 

On it I’ve got lists for my three most common stores (Sam’s/Costco, Grocery, WalMart/Target). I list my most common items by category (ie produce, dairy, houseware, etc.). I’ve left one or two blank spots under each category for those random items you only need now and then. I left the WalMart/Target store list blank because my list changes constantly for those stores. I printed 15 of each, cropped them and then stapled them to a piece of laminated cardstock. Each season, I adjust the lists a little to accomodate the changes in our menus.

The most convenient advantage of this list is that it stays on my cupboard where everyone in the family can find it. When I find that I’m out of something, I just have to open the cupboard door and check the box on my list. When it’s grocery day, I just grab the top list, jot down a rough menu for the week on the back and check off any additional items I might need. It’s quick, it’s simple and it’s something everyone in the family can use.  Just thought I’d pass it on.  You can find the free file download below.