Feeling a little...normal?

As my three week winter break comes to a close, I feel like I'm just now feeling like myself! I want to just sit and create. I want to paint, draw, build, clean, and blog. Wait wait wait...did I say clean? Cuz that's not me. I don't know why it has taken almost three weeks to decompress, but I'm glad to feel...normal. 

Too bad school starts back on Monday. I'm nowhere near being ready. I've managed to stay away from my classroom like it's infested with bees. Oh wait, that was my classroom last year. Seriously. A hive of bees. In my classroom. During class. Did you know they "wake up" around 10am in my town? Yeah, I didn't either.

But now, all I want to think about is Valentine's Day and the cutesy clip art I've created. I'm also working on some President's Day clip art. *insert shameless plug here*  

I use Art Studio to create the clip art and found some great resources about drawing caricatures. I'm not super comfortable with it yet, but I'm hoping to learn more and then maybe post something on here about how to use it. We'll see how that goes. 

Anyway, enjoy the remainder of your winter break! I know I will!

Thanks for the Giveaway!*

Things I'm thankful for this year:

• My husband found a job after being unemployed for the past four months.
• My family is alive and well.
• We have a fireplace. This is both beautiful to sit in front of, but also helps keep the PG&E bill down.
• My son is still young enough to want to snuggle with me each night.
• Having a family who cares even when times are rough.
• Rain. We need it, even though it makes everyday life trickier.
• My car that is in working order (not perfect, but it runs).
• Night lights. They scare away monsters and allow me not to trip over our black cat.
• My cat. He makes snuggling in front of a fire even more cozy.
• My couch that has recliners (on each end) for my tired feet.
• Wonderful friends. They make me laugh, cry tears of joy, and bring a smile to my face no matter where in the country they live.
• My home. I fell in love with it the day we walked in. We've lived here for a little over a year and it feels like I've always lived here.
• My backyard. It has beautiful trees, a patio area, birds, and my son's toys that I love watching him play with.
• My husband. He cooks, he cleans, he helps raise our amazing son, makes me laugh every day, and is such a caring man. I LOVE that guy!

There is just so much to be thankful for, even when times are tough. This has been the most difficult year I've had in a loooooong time. It truly makes me appreciate the good times. 

*This Giveaway is currently closed

How To Make a Border Using PowerPoint (Mac)

So the newest rage among my teacher friends is to create borders using PowerPoint. HOWEVER, it seems to be a hidden secret because most people want to sell them online. So I did a tiny bit of research today and discovered the newest rage is pretty simple!

1. Open PowerPoint to a new presentation. Make sure you don't have a background, it's just a plain old white template.

2. Delete any words/text boxes you have. This will make it easier to work with.

3. Click on the "Insert" tab at the top.

4. Scroll down to "shapes". Choose a rectangle.

5. Make the rectangle almost as large as the slide.

6. Click on the "Insert" tab at the top again.

7. Make another rectangle, but slightly smaller than first (inside of the first rectangle).

8. Click on the inside (smaller) rectangle to highlight it. Then where it shows a fill bucket, click it and click on the color white.

9. Click on the area between the two rectangles (should look the start of a border).

10. Where it says, "Fill" (should be the same place as the bucket), click on that. Then click on "Fill Effects".

11.  Click on "Pattern". Choose a pattern. I chose a checkerboard pattern for this.

12. To change the color, click where you have clicked on the pattern, choose "Change background color" and pick your color.

Rather than creating a whole bunch of slides independently, to save you time, click on your slide then choose the "Insert" tab and choose "duplicate slide". Another slide should pop up. To have a different color slide (for selling purposes, say), start at step 9 and continue the process. This will save you a TON of time!

Play around with it, you can even choose a photo you have taken and use it instead of the already created patterns! Enjoy!