Tag: Creative Child

Creating Custom Cards with Basic Invite (Sponsored Post)

I recently was asked to do a sponsored post for the company Basic Invite.

Writing sponsored posts is new territory for me.  Initially, I thought Basic Invite didn’t align with my mission here at “Outside the Box Learners” since I have an “education” blog and Basic Invite is a stationery company.

However, I perused the website and discovered that you can make your own cards from scratch (something my daughter has been wanting to do anyway), so I thought, sure why not?!

My daughter is an outside the box, creative kid and a huge part of the reason I started this blog, so I was excited to give her this opportunity.   She was delighted to be able to design cards that she would then get to actually use!  It was a pretty thrilling experience for her. 🙂

Creating Custom Designed Cards

Little Miss used Procreate (drawing app on the iPad- yes I know, a strange name, but a fabulous app) to make 5 designs that we uploaded to Basic Invite to create her own custom cards.

Some were notecard style (zero fold) while the others had a single fold.  They all had different finishes because I wanted to see what they looked and felt like.

The velvet finish was ah-maz-ing.  There was a slight upcharge so I would probably only choose that if I was ordering cards for something really special!

Here are the designs she came up with:

Easy and Pleasant Website Navigation

Confession:  I typically am the kind of person who gets my custom cards at Wal-Mart.

However, I would strongly consider using Basic Invite for custom Christmas Card or Birthday Invites in the future just because it was that pleasant an experience and I found their website to be aesthetically pleasing.

And although it would be slightly more moolah than Walmart or Shutterfly (the other place I typically get my cards), the price point was not unreasonable, especially considering the customization capabilities. They also deliver a quality product.

Customization Capabilities with Basic Invite

The extensive customization capabilities are what sets Basic Invite apart from other online stationery companies.

Besides being able to choose between different shapes and finishes on the cards, they have over 180 different colors to choose from, which pretty much covers any color you could think of.

And you can customize down to the tiniest of detail.  I had a lot of fun playing with this.  They also have 40 different colored envelopes to pick from.

Custom Invitations

Because I was writing this post, I wanted to experiment with other elements of their site so I could give more info to you.  Therefore, I created a birthday invitation from their designs.

This was easy and fun!  I picked out the style I liked and then I was able to click on all the different parts of the card and customize it with the exact colors I liked.

Personally, I’m a fan of bright colors for birthday invites so this is what I came up with!  You’ll also notice the polka dots on the back side which is also completely customizable by color and design (other options are collage, text, a single photo, etc.)

I opted for the shimmery red envelope here too (again, slight upcharge.)

Baby Shower Invitations

Baby shower invites are what they are currently featuring on their site, specifically baby boy shower invitations, monkey baby shower invitations, and baseball baby shower invitations. 

I’m not currently throwing any showers, but I imagined I was, and picked out one design and then customized it two different ways in order to show some of the customization capabilities

Like I said, the extensive customization is what sets Basic Invite apart from other stationery companies.

baby shower invitations

baby shower invitations

Other Features of Basic Invite

Besides the 40 different colors of envelopes to choose from, the envelopes are peel and seal.  They sealed up easily and also nice and tight.

Basic Invite has an address capturing service.  I can’t speak to its ease of use since I didn’t use it.  But it allows customers to share a link on various social media locations (facebook, Instagram, etc.) to request their family/friend’s address which is then stored on their Basic Invite account.

They also include recipient address printing at no additional cost for Christmas card orders.

While creating and ordering the cards, I noticed a chat window pop up if you needed help.  I did not need help, but it was nice to know it was there if I got stuck.

There was a printing mistake on one of the cards, and customer service was great to deal with.  Had to send a quick email and they got back to me within 30 mintues.  And I had my new card in 3 days. 🙂

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All in all, I think Basic Invite is perfect for people who want to be able to customize their cards to be exactly how they want them, down to the tiniest detail.  That is really their defining feature.

**Right now Basic Invite is offering 15% off with coupon code: 15FF51

 

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Taking the “Overwhelm” Out of Decluttering

Christmas is over.  The New Year is here.  And the “stuff” is now everywhere.  New toys, old toys.  New science kits, old science kits.  Boxes of new crafty items, boxes of old crafty items.   You get the idea.  STUFF EVERYWHERE.

I generally take some time BEFORE Christmas to pare down on the stuff, but just didn’t get around to it this year.

Decluttering overwhelms me.

Sometimes to the point where I…  Just.  Can’t.  Move.

It’s perfectionism.  I know I won’t be able to get all the decluttering done in the time I want to or to the extent I want to.  Or I think I’ll get rid of something and regret doing so or that I won’t get rid of something that I should.  And so, I just do nothing…..

Unfortunately, that extra stuff also overwhelms me.  (I’m easily overwhelmed, can you tell?!)  I also find that when there’s too much stuff around the kids play with less of it.  And when I get rid of the clutter they are free to play with what’s there.  They are overwhelmed by the clutter too but don’t verbalize it.

I have found that the best antidote to this state of ‘overwhelm’ is ACTION.  And when I get stuck in this rut of feeling frozen and don’t know where to start I use my tried and true trick…..

The 15 Minute Timer

I may not be able to organize my house in the next day, or week, or let’s be honest…month (c’mon I have busy kids!)  But I CAN set my timer for 15 minutes and do what I can.

Anybody can do 15 minutes of decluttering.  You don’t have to work fast, just do SOMETHING.  And it’s not like you’re committing to a day, or even an hour of de-cluttering.  It’s ONLY 15 minutes!

Often that 15 minutes will turn into hours of de-cluttering for me.  But even if it doesn’t I will still have STARTED and broken out of my “frozen with overwhelm”  funk.

Now to what I consider the hard part, the decision-making part, of decluttering.

DECISIONS: To Keep or NOT to Keep

I find this “decision” part of decluttering AGONIZING, and I really think this is what keeps me from doing it more often.  For each item I have to make a decision: Should it stay or go?

I created this chart to help with this process:

Getting Started on Decluttering

 

Having moved twice in the last 7 years has wisened me up a bit on knowing what to keep and what to donate.  During our last move, when I was packing up boxes, I realized I had been holding onto a few things for WAY too long.  So THE QUESTION I ask myself when deciding what to keep is: If I were to move tomorrow, would this item make the cut?  If YES, then great, it can stay put.  If not, then you have options…

The FIVE Categories I Use When Decluttering My House

I find it more empowering, and that I get more done when I have multiple categories when decluttering.

These are the FIVE categories I use:

  1. DONATE
  2. TRASH/RECYCLE
  3. SELL
  4. KEEP
  5. KEEP (box up and put in attic or basement) 

Regarding Category 5: This option isn’t the best, but if you struggle with indecision (ahem, points to self) or have a child that is STRESSED OUT at the idea of donating something, it’s a good intermediate step!  When we have boxed stuff up and put it away in the basement or attic, the items are generally not missed.  This has been a lifesaver for us in helping our creative child’s room not turn into a place of complete mayhem!  It just took us forever to figure out.  So let me save you some pain if you have a creative, sensitive child who can’t bear to say goodbye to anything.  Try category number 5!

Final Thoughts on Clutter

I find that if my surroundings are cluttered, my brain is more likely to be as well.  And when my surroundings are less cluttered my brain is less so too.  And when you’re a mom, especially if you’re a homeschool mom, you need all the extra brain space you can get! 😉

I hope you find these tips helpful in getting off to a more organized year!

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The rare occasion a list works for our ‘right-brained’ creative kid…

I am a list person.

Checking off boxes makes me happy.  There is even this super handy app called “Doit.im” that helps me keep my life in order. I get to check off boxes every day or very easily move them to another day.  I seriously think checking off boxes releases dopamine in my brain.  Kinda twisted, I know…  Unless maybe you’re a list checker yourself, then you get it!

I also happen to be the mom to an amazing young lady, who is NOT a list person.

A girl who is creative, non-linear, super right-brained, and definitely outside the box!  She is a huge part of the reason I don’t do a ton of homeschool planning, and why I plan backwards.  She doesn’t like to do things in any particular order and is often almost always thinking of something new to create.  I do print out weekly lists of the individual core things(math, writing, chores, piano practice) that need to be done each day, but usually I am cattle prodding a bit to make sure those things get done (besides piano, I usually don’t have to cattle prod her to get that completed).

But there’s a phenomenon that happens occasionally in our home.

And I can’t remember the first time it happened.  And I can’t quite figure out why it works so well.  It goes like this… I leave the house for a few hours and she is left in the care of my husband or my parents.  I leave her with a list to complete.   She doesn’t complain.   I come home 2 hours later.   The list is complete.  WHAT?!

I’m still trying to figure out WHY this works.

In fact, I almost look forward to days I have to leave for a bit because there is little to no battling.     I’m trying to figure out how to replicate this on our typical days.  But I think that’s part of it… me leaving for a few hours is not a typical day and she craves novelty and non-typical.

I have my other hypotheses…  Like maybe she loves being independent and this is foreshadowing of how she will do “in the real world”.   Or maybe it feels like it’s a ‘beat the clock’ type thing and there is a little fire under her tush once I leave the house.  Whatever it is, I welcome it!  Especially in our current season, where my 8-year-old is doing 9 months of Vision Therapy, and I occasionally leave my daughter with my mom or dad.  I can leave her with a list, and know it will get done!

Are you a list person or do you loathe them? How about your kids? If you’re not a list person, what motivates you to get stuff done?

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Why I Named My Blog ‘Outside the Box Learners’

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of starting a blog, at least for me,  is all the ideas of possible posts that come to you and then having to decide what to write about next.  Well… that and the logistics of creating a website!  But to think I originally thought I might not have enough to write about!  Ha!  This has been a fun adventure for me.  Re-discovering the joy I experience while writing has been amazing, and the fact that I get to fuse it with my everyday job of homeschooling my kids makes it even better!

My blog is still very young at this point.  Before I write any more posts, I wanted to address why I named my blog  ‘Outside the Box Learners’.  It actually was my first choice for a website name and was thrilled it was available!

Defining ‘Outside the Box’

Let’s start with a definition of ‘outside the box‘.   When I hear those words I think of anything that is not conventional, or anything different from the norm.  Not mainstream.

According to Dictionary.com, ‘outside the box’ is an idiom that means:

“in an innovative or unconventional manner; with a fresh perspective”

What is an ‘Outside the Box Learner’

This might more appropriately be stated who is an outside the box learner?  People are who’s, not what’s, after all!  Unless maybe you are a character in a Dr. Seuss book. 😉

Since we’ve already covered what ‘outside the box’ means, it should be clear what an ‘outside the box learner’ is, because we’re just tagging learner to our definition.   And thus we get: A learner who learns in an innovative or unconventional manner or a learner with a fresh perspective.

When I first got the bug to start a blog, I knew I wanted to write about my homeschooling experiences both of my son with dyspraxia and also my daughter who is gifted, especially in the creativity arena.  From the little research I did about ‘outside the box’ students, it was my guess that my daughter more readily fit the stereotype usually thought of when one hears the words ‘outside the box‘.

Outside the Box Learners Learn in Unconventional Ways

Being the analytical person I am, I really thought about those words ‘outside the box’, specifically how they mean unconventional and outside the norm.  I use unconventional methods to homeschool both my 8 and 10-year-old.

For my son, I frequently make modifications to help him succeed, specifically with handwriting, which is very hard for him.  He is very asynchronous in that his reading capabilities and handwriting capabilities are lightyears apart.  If he was in a regular classroom, he would not be your typical student.  I LOVE that I am able to meet him where he’s at and he doesn’t have to feel like he’s “less than” or just “can’t keep up” due to his difficulties with handwriting.   And he is able to maintain a love for learning!

My daughter is my creative child who definitely approaches things with a fresh perspective.  She is inventive and always thinking of something new to try (as I write this she’s making sushi, which she’s done before, but this time experimenting with new ingredients!).  She is in her happiest and most peace-filled state when she is creating something new.  Her mind is in a constant state of motion. She hates worksheets and anything conventional really and learns by doing and teaching.   In my opinion, she is a poster child for an “outside the box learner”.

Emphasis On Learners

Since I knew I would be writing a lot about my kids and our homeschool, I wanted to emphasize learners in my website name.  And really the whole reason I’ve come around to homeschooling the way I do is to meet their needs, which I talk about in this post: How We Became Outside the Box Learners.

They learn in unconventional ways, so I’ve come around to teaching in unconventional ways.

 

 

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How Planning Backwards Breathes Life into Our Homeschool

Planning backwards has revolutionized our homeschool and my sanity!  I first heard about it last school year and it was a like a lightbulb went on for me!  It has been a game-changer.

What IS planning backwards?

Planning backwards is simply writing down what we did each day, after the fact.  I still have a basic idea of what should be accomplished any given day or week, but I am not bound to that.

No more late nights planning

Ions ago, when I was a classroom teacher, my favorite part about the job was lesson planning.  I loved finding ways to engage my students and help them learn in a fun way.  This was pre-kids of course, and I had the opportunity and TIME to work 12 hour days and create awesome lesson plans.  Enter in real life – marriage, kids, sleepless nights, and homeschool.  Time is at a premium.

In the past, I have been known to stay up too late getting everything set up for our next school day or anything really.  Maybe I’m a little obsessive in that way…  Maybe.  I do this to set everyone up for success.  Rather than succeeding, however, these well laid out plans just frustrate my highly creative child. 

Also, late night planning is just not a sustainable practice (unless you are a high energy person… which I am NOT).

Leaves room for rabbit trails and other things

If you have especially curious kids, rabbit trails are inevitable!  By planning backwards, we can go on rabbit trails without feeling the guilt of going off course.   We can experience learning in a relaxed state and simply enjoy the rabbit trail!  And often times the BEST LEARNING happens in those rabbit trails.  When you are addressing kids’ natural questions their brain is like a sponge.  They are learning A LOT in those moments!

Planning backwards also allows more flexibility for going to the park, on a hike, or possibly even a last minute field trip.  You don’t feel like a slave to the schedule.

No checkboxes to worry about

Confession here… I am a card-carrying member of Box Checkers Anonymous.   When I have boxes to check, I am one motivated lady!  It helps me GET STUFF DONE.

However, that box-checking mentality does not work as well for our homeschool.  And removing the boxes to check off allows me to feel more relaxed and engaged with my kids’ learning.

I should mention there are a few things that absolutely need to be done each day.  For those items, I give the kids a daily schedule where they need to check things off when finished.

Could planning backwards be a game-changer for YOU?

Obviously, planning backwards is not necessary, or even best, for everyone.  However, if you are more right-brained or have a right-brained creative child, and need a method of homeschool planning that doesn’t feel so rigid or restrictive, backwards planning could be your answer!   It has definitely breathed more life and joy into our homeschool.

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