Peek at the Week

This is the second week in a row that I've managed to post my Peek at the Week – ‘A’ for improvement! Well, what’s been happening this week?
I've been having some troubles with my laptop and decided I would try to fix these problems myself – given that I'm a PC technical whizz etc!!  I have two internal hard drives and these were both almost full and had been glaring RED at me for weeks.  For any IT specialists, I advise that you skip this section – bahaha!
*PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME*  
I removed every program that had lain redundant for 6 months to clear up some space. (Of course, I needed one of said programs today and had to re-download and re-install!)
I utilized 2 external hard drives and a dinky 32GB pen drive and removed all my pictures and documents to these fabulous portable devices.  I kept checking what was taking up most storage space and realised it was loads of folders called ‘Program Files’.  Patting myself on the back for cleverly working out what was taking up my storage, I swiftly removed everything to my pen drive and deleted all the folders – UH - OH!  I was so pleased to see both internal drives showing green and thought whoohoo – everything’s so much faster now!  I closed down, happy in the knowledge that I had solved a problem – hahahahahahah!  Later that day.......why won’t this load?  Honey, why won’t this program load?  Luckily (after much panicking!) I realised what I had done wrong and was able to retrieve what I needed from the trash! (For some reason it wouldn't work when I tried to use what I had transferred to the pen drive). I hope I am not the only person who would do something this stupid!    I also decided it was important to look inside my laptop, as it seemed the fan was struggling and making funny noises.  This is also not recommended if you have sausage fingers like me – thirty tiny screws later and lots of %$$^$%^&%$&^%$&^, I almost got the lid off, only to find it was still attached by wiring!!  Back to finding the TINY screws and putting them all back in – well, that was a fun hour I will never get back!  The moral of the story is ring someone who knows and get them to do it!!  Back to square one......
I haven’t created anything new for TpT this week, as I really needed to go back to my earliest creations and check them - *RED FACE* -  at the time I did not know how clever PPT was and was using Word and Publisher to create and then using an AWFUL free program to save everything in PDF format.  Unbeknownst to me, the formatting of my wonderful creations was mucked up and I hadn't checked!  *HANGS HEAD IN SHAME*  I am so glad those kindly souls did not mark me down at the time.  If you have bought any of the following from me, please go back and re-download, with my sincere apologies!

  Speaking of Powerpoint, I thought you might find the following mini tutorial useful.  I am totally addicted to clip art and often find myself buying it because it looks cute, not because I need it.  I have tons of papers and when buying I have been guilty of not reading the relevant information.  Like me, I am sure you have loads of papers in ‘scrapbook’ size, i.e. square, instead of ‘letter’ size (8.5” x 11”) for your TpT creations.  Mostly this is not a huge problem, as the papers can be easily resized.  However if your paper has an object on it or something circular, of course it looks totally out of shape.  Many of my papers have lain redundant because I didn't know what to do to solve the problem – perhaps I was absent for POLKA DOTS 101 and everybody else knows, but just in case, I thought I would share with you what I found out.  The following is pic heavy – be warned!
Pic 1: So, you've inserted your paper and realise you need to resize.

Pic 2: ......and this happens!  Wonky polka dots!  Remove your paper and start with a clear slide.
The solution (in most case) lies below!

Pic 3: .....Go to 'insert', 'shapes' and 'rectangle'

 Pic 4: .....and draw yourself a snazzy rectangle.

Pic 5: .....click on 'format'.....

Pic 6: .....select 'no outline' and you will have this:

Pic 7: .....you won't see that there is no outline immediately as we still have to deal with the 'fill' problem.  Make sure the slide is selected, click on 'format', 'shape fill' scroll down to 'picture'.

Pic 8: .....find your file and insert the paper you wish to use.

Pic 9:  You can see in the pic below, it now looks like it did originally - out of shape, but remember we have encased the paper in a shape, so we can format it.  Right click on the paper, scroll down to 'format picture'.

Pic 10:  Select 'fill'.

 Pic 11: Check the box 'tile this picture as texture' and you will see your paper change shape!

Pic 12:  Ta-da!  Now your paper looks as it should and it is the correct size for your document - magic!  Although this takes some time to read through, formatting your paper is done in a matter of seconds, once you get the hang of it!

I would love to know if this mini tutorial has helped you or was I the only person left in the dark?!!
My lovely friend, Samantha over at Ms. Smarty Pants is having a giveaway - there is a $50 TpT certificate up for grabs! Just click on the pic below to check out her blog post.

Lastly, a little freebie.  While I was giving myself a mini break, I was playing around with some BRIGHT papers!  Just right click and save as:

Leaving you with best wishes for the week ahead!

Peek at the Week!

Well, finally, after all these weeks, I manage to get my Sunday Peek at the Week posted on Sunday!!
Starting off with some great news - remember our Teacher Appreciation giveaway?  Well, we have winners!  I hope you all had fun taking part and felt truly appreciated! We don't have a Teacher Appreciation Week here, so I can only imagine what it's like!  Anyway, to the winners.....

Huge congratulations to the winners - emails should be on their way!  Thanks to everyone for taking part and joining in the fun!  Did you notice the number of entries? - all the ones!  Thanks to everyone for all your lovely comments!
I hope you all had fun at the TpT sale.  I must admit I have a serious addiction to clip art and bought a ton!  I have yet to work out what to do with some of them - I bought them because they were cute - haha!  (You can tell I'm not a business woman!)
I have been trying hard to make better use of my time and have managed to create some new products that you might be interested in.  The first one is really intended for some end of year fun - just click on first pic to investigate!

An example of one of the board games!

The next had me pulling my hair out!  It took me ages to try and create 6 word sentences to include all the Dolch First Grade Sight Vocabulary - some of the sentences were quite strange to begin with - I lost count of how many drafts I went through - I'm sure my first graders could have made a better fist of it!  However I got there in the end and was very satisfied with how the pack turned out. There is a matching workbook for writing out the sentences once the flashcards have been sorted into the correct order. Just click on the first pic to investigate.

Thinking ahead to the next school year, I've been working hard on Room Themes and am happy to report I have my second theme finished and posted on TpT.  I really enjoyed the clip art I used on this one - very cute!  My Room Themes include editable files and I have a load of ideas for more!  Looking forward to a busy summer!  Just click on the pic.

My dear friend Cyndie is having a giveaway on her blog.  She has 3 wonderful prizes on offer to celebrate a blogging milestone.  Just click on her button to check out it out.

  

I particularly like this prize!

A couple of little freebies for you! I started creating fonts ages ago, but have yet to finish off a bundle.  I did manage to get one finished and uploaded on TpT - you may want to add it to your stash!  Just click on the pic to download it from TpT.

...and a couple of papers for you, just right click and save as....

So, I think that's my round up of the previous week.  Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.  I'm sure bodies and brains are quite exhausted my now, so I'm leaving you with a burst of energy and fun!  Enjoy!    

Thanks to Christi at Mrs. Fultz's Corner for the cute blinky!

Teacher Appreciation Sale!

I hope you all had a fun time on our Teacher Appreciation blog hop yesterday!  Let me tell you - we were pretty excited too!  I hope you enjoyed all the freebies you grabbed on the way and entered the rafflecopter for a chance to win one of the wonderful prizes on offer!
This evening I wanted to remind you of the Teacher Appreciation Sale taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.  I've already transferred my wishlist to my cart - what about you?!  All items in my store will be 20% off and with TpT's discount, that makes a total of 28% savings - wow!

I wanted to let you know about a special offer I am trying out at my TpT store for this sale.

I have selected some items that you might find of interest below.  Just click on the pics to investigate further.

Some of the poster sets are my best selling items!

This is a selection of some of my newest items,  larger units and bundled packs.   My newest and biggest Room Theme is included!

This is just a small sample of my clip art collection  (one of which was featured in Sunday's TpT Newsletter  (go me - lol!),  plus two of my very best sellers!
Don't forget to check out my selection of FREEBIES - you never know what you might find!
Now what are you waiting for? Go enjoy the big sale and treat yourself - don't forget the Promo Code TAD13!

Teacher Appreciation Extravaganza!

To celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, myself and some wonderful bloggy friends have linked up to bring you an extravaganza like no other!  

This is HUGE and long in the planning!  

We're offering you a freebie on each of our blogs and a chance to win some 

AH-MAZING prizes! 

In amongst the 'bouncing balls' are two Rafflecopters for you to enter!

I am Blog Stop #8

The three prizes are as follows:

Prize #1:  Pamper Yourself!

$100 Spa Finder 
$20 Starbucks 
$10 Old Navy 
$15 Bath and Body Works 
$10 Barnes & Noble 
$10 Barnes & Noble 
$15 ITunes 
$10 Target 
$10 Amazon 
$10 TPT 
$10 Kohl's 
$10 Chilli's/Macaroni Grill/On the Border/Maggiano Restaurant 

Prize #2:  Spend Your Summer Worry Free!

Get ready for back to school with a custom made 

room theme of your choice.

and a back to school pack from each of our stores.

Prize #3:  New Ideas for Your Classroom!

Choose 1 digital item up to the value of $10 from each TPT store.

Just click on the pic below to grab my freebie gift to you!   Some fun and games for teachers and students with tired brains and summer countdown fever!

I created this freebie with fun in mind and hope you get loads of enjoyment from the games!
Once you've collected my freebie, just follow the bouncing ball to the next stop and collect your next great Teacher Appreciation freebie.
If you are interested in adding to your collection of end of year games, I also have a freebie on facebook.  This fun game reviews the names of the shapes for first grade.  As an extra challenge you could ask your students to name one property of each shape.  Link below.

Facebook Freebie

More big news!  TpT is having a Teacher Appreciation Sale on Tuesday May 7th and Wednesday May 8th.  Everything in my store will be 20% off.   Use the Promo Code TAD13.   With TpTs discount that makes a  total of 28% savings!  Click the pic to visit my store.