Sweet Shoppe Designs – The Sweetest Digital Scrapbooking Site on the Web

Hi all! Shawna here and still fumbling over how to get into the swing of things with the school year upon us.

I’ve been counting the days ‘till I could have a little distance and a little peace and quiet in my very little house this school year, somehow I’ve managed to still be completely overwhelmed with the hubbub that comes with the start of school and activities. Getting everyone up and ready, lunches, clean clothes and homework – not to mention all the “extras” appointments, activities, youth group, sports – it is more than someone with my organizational skills can handle. No one told me I needed to have my degree in administration in order to manage three children in school and plus little one in tow.

Several months ago I posted on my personal blog about my issues with keeping up with schedules and appointments, and since then I have been on a quest to find a calendar that would work for me. I just don’t think like everyone else, and when i have a tiny little square to represent days and weeks, i think it all just seems… unimportant… also, the whole concept of a calendar just seems too boring to me. Can’t I just follow my whim and fly by the seat of my pants over here?

…umm no. Apparently I can not. The universe has spoken and it says I need to get my stuff together…

Well, in come pinterest (the best invention ever!) and this absolutely brilliant idea:

This spoke to me right off the bat when I saw it. It is big and clear and hard to miss, plus it seriously looks FUN! Sometimes I think everything on Pinterest seems like a personal challenge – I could TOTALLY make that… and I’m all about diving in head first so we took this calendar idea and ran with it over at the Clingerman house.

Since I have no huge bulletin board wall (although how awesome would that be!?!) I couldn’t just tape the squares out, instead I just went online and found 12 by 12 cork squares and bought enough to layout 5 weeks worth (yep 35 tiles!). Then I just hung them on the wall with the double sided tape followed by one teensy nail in each square (because we all know how reliable double sided tape is!). After that I made 31 date circles and printed out each day of the week…. For the month title I’ve done different things, but right now I have my regular sized family digi-scrap calendar hanging up right on there too so that you can see the month and my adorable kiddos in the layout – here is what it looks like in action:

Bare in mind, we live in a very small house, so this type of wall real-estate is not easy to come by – but it is worth it! I absolutely love it, it is really big and really fun and REALLY hard to miss! The brilliant part about The Super Calendar is that we can just pin appointment cards, fliers, even bills, right to the date they belong on. The boys have been able to pin the info from school that comes home, and EVERYONE can see what the game plan for the day is. Here’s a closer look at a few days:

In addition to papers/fliers/etc. that come home, I printed out a bunch of little strips for regularly occurring things, in addition I have a bunch of sticky notes and some sharpies on the counter to jot down anything as it comes up. I will even print out emails with event info and cut up the church calendar – anything to just make it quick and easy and to keep it all in one place. No more running around looking for where I put the directions to something that starts in five minutes – I just stick it right into the day I’ll need it! I also have a small file sorter on the counter next to The Super Calendar – I have a folder for each month of the year, so if i get information for something in a future month, it goes straight into that month’s folder.

Its funny, because in a way this makes our schedule seem rather consuming. Our super calendar is right next to our table so it stares us down while we eat – and I can’t quite face the day with the blissful ignorance that I lived in in the past. But the truth of it is, whether I want to face it or not, those days are still there and they are still just as filled even if I’m not looking at them head on. Having a family IS downright consuming, there’s no way to change that! Life isn’t really simple anymore for our clan, as they grow up the boys have a different set of needs, and here is my way of trying desperately to meet them head on.

Oh, and 1 more thing! Earlier this week I wanted to be a part of sharing some “Lunch Box Blessings” with my customers and blog readers, but I wasn’t able to – SO here’s a great chance to give them out. Along with several SSD designers I put together these easy to print little cards that you can put in your kiddos’ lunches to let them know you love them even when they are away at school.

Here are the ones I’ve made for you:

There are 4 designs and you can use them with the sentiment already included or use the blank one and write your own!! Simply download (click the image!), print, and cut out. After you’ve got mine make sure you have the others. I know you can still pick up the ones from Libby, Meg, Darcy, Melissa, Allie and then make sure to visit this thread to pick up the ones from Julie and to see what other designers might still have theirs up for you to snag.

Well, thats what I’ve got for you. Hope you can laugh at my scheduling troubles, be inspired by my crazy solution, and enjoy this little goodie – here’s to all of us finding a way to stay sane and to a GREAT year!