Giveaway Reminder

Remember, only ONE MORE DAY to enter our first giveaway.  Al you have to do is become a follower or tell us that you already are...easy, peasy!  :)  The giveaway will close tomorrow, Thursday, Aug. 19 at 8:00 am EST.  A customized banner would add some definite flair to your next celebration!!!

An Organized Classroom

If you’re a teacher- you have probably already started back to school or getting ready to start. If you are anything like the FBU girls, you feel like you cannot get organized enough! I know there are a lot of you teachers out there that feel the same way, so hopefully some of these tips will help.

·         3 reasons to: LABEL everything!

o   (1)You may or may not have an assistant, but if you do- labeling everything not only helps your assistant, but it helps you. It helps the assistant already know where things belong before having to interrupt you to find out where you need things to go.

o   (2) If you need to be absent for any reason, the substitute teacher can come right into your classroom and not have any problems finding anything!

o   (3) It saves you A LOT of time. I try to stay super organized at school! When you have 18-20 of everything coming in at once, it makes a big difference to already have a designated spot for it to go.

§  You may think that labels are too expensive and they are time consuming, but trust me. Once you label- you’ll never turn back. Also- if you put labels on your wish list, parents are always willing to pitch in!

·         Organize Electronic files

o   When working on the computer, it is very tempting to place files just wherever you can put them. The key is to remember where you put them so next year you can find them quickly and revise them to use them again.

§  You can do this by organizing all your files in years you are teaching. Ex. This year everything you make you would place in a folder labeled “2010-2011.” Inside that folder you can make subfolders according to whatever your needs may be.

§  CLIPART! I spent many hours this summer organizing my clipart. When I get clipart I’ve been so bad about saving it with whatever name it comes with. This is a HUGE mistake. Change the name to whatever you will remember. Such as- if the clipart is a girl holding an apple, save it as “Girl with apple.” This makes it much easier when trying to find that certain clipart you’ve been looking for. 

{FBU's First Giveaway} Customized Printable Banner

Happy Monday everyone!!!  To start off our week, we have decided to host our very first giveaway!  You have the chance to win your very own custom banner (made by Moo Moo's & Tutus Party Designs).  It will be a PDF banner sent to your email address & ready to be printed at home.  It will be completely customizable (your words, your shape, your colors).  Take a look at some sample banners!

CUTESY SEUSSY 

ONCE UPON A PRINCESS

POSH PICNIC

SUPER POWERS

{Here's how to enter to win your banner!}

1.  Become a follower of Frogs, Bees, & Under the Seas.

2.  Leave a comment on this post & tell us the next occasion you will be celebrating.

3. That's it ~ you're entered!

A winner will be chosen using random.org on Thursday, August 19 at 8:00 EST.    

Theme Thursday

It is time to head back to the classroom.  Right now, all around the world, teachers and students are preparing for a new school year.  As a teacher, I know how much time it takes to get ready for a new school year.  Here are a few tips to help you stay on top of things during this crazy time of year.

1.  Make themed lists.  Instead of making a huge "To Do" list, make smaller lists according to the tasks.  For example, have a "To Print" list, and "To Buy" list, a "Throw Away" list, a "To Make List", etc.  This will help you to not feel overwhelmed with one super long list!

2.  Sort work into two groups "School" and "Home".  Anything that can be done at home by you or someone else place in a basket,  and then everything that needs to be done at school put in another basket.  This way you are not wasting time at school doing something that could be done at home. Coloring, cutting, and gluing are great at home items!

    

   Okay now that you are organized and ready to go, lets talk about the students.  I like to give my students a little "welcome to class" gift.  There are lots of different options you can do.  You can put a couple cookies in a Ziploc bag, and then use our awesome "Welcome Back to School" bag topper.  This year, I did a bag of goldfish crackers and an apple juice box for each student.  I put them in a black paper bag and then added a gift tag.  A simple gift that looks FABULOUS! 

Welcome Back to School, Everyone!  Be sure to check out our freebies!  They will add a special touch to any back to school treat!

{Featured Party} Cereal Bar

Our first FBU featured party is a Cereal Bar & comes from Kristi of The Purple Pug!  She is a fellow party designer & makes such cute & glittery party goods!  She hosted a sleepover at her house for her kiddos & it looks like SO MUCH FUN!!!  I love the twist on the candy buffet (& much healthier too)!  Take a look at the pics below and then hop over to her blog to see more party goodness!

cereal served in sand pails (so festive & summery)

fresh orange ready for the sipping 

centerpiece is cute paper flowers arranged in a milk carton

the most adorable milk jugs I have ever seen (even with bling) :)

i heart the personalized spoons! 

the garland made with fruit loops (what else?)

Printable Grocery List

Using a printable grocery list is one of the quickest ways to outline your grocery shopping list week after week. You generate this master grocery list once and then use it as a form that is personalized to your families' distinctive tastes and needs.

To do this look at your receipts and past grocery lists for quite a few weeks or months. You will start to see a pattern of what you purchased for your family week after week, or consistently every couple of weeks, for example.

Next, organize this list of staples and frequently purchased items into a list which correspond with the aisles of your grocery store. This allows you to go straight down your list without having to backtrack through the store for an overlooked item on the list that was a few aisles back.

Then, once you have used this form list for a while, and tweaked it to fit your family and life well, make lots of photocopies of it, one to use each week, and slip them into your household notebook (check back next week for more on this).

Each week, put one of the printable grocery lists on your fridge to fill out all week long, and finish once you do your meal planning for the week, and then take the completed grocery list with you to the grocery store when you do your shopping.

However, if you don't have time to create your own, or you need a little motivation, I have created a grocery list template that you can use each week as a form to get you through the aisles quickly and easily

WE ARE OPEN!!!

Hello & welcome to Frogs, Bees, & Under the Seas Events & More! 

First things first, WE NEED FOLLOWERS!  So, to celebrate our Grand Opening, we would like to give you a free download.  To all of you amazing teachers out there (in a school or at home), we made some oh-so-cute Back to School circle tags (for cupcake toppers, gift tags, & more) and some treat-bag toppers that fit 6.5" sandwich or snack baggies!  Need a welcome gift for your kiddos, put some treats in a bag, top it with our toppers, & you're done {easy peasy}!

Circle Tags

treat bag toppers

Download the circle tags.

Download the treat bag toppers. 

So, if you like our new little blog & our freebie, please, please, please become a follower {we're not afraid to beg}!  We promise to fill our blog with teaching ideas, organizational tips, sensational party planning tips, and craft tutorials.  You don't want to miss it!