Hirst

What kid doesn't like cutting up paper, peeling off stickers, or stamping? Students of any age and ability level love every opportunity to work with art supplies. For this school year, try channeling some of your child's creative energy into scrapbooking and paper crafts. Scrapbooking is a great way to spend time with your children, share a favorite hobby, and reinforce skills learned in school without them realizing it.

Typically, we think of scrapbooking as a way to preserve memories and tell stories through the use of photographs. However, with the variety of supplies and tools available in todays scrapbook market, the possibilities are endless. Below is a list of ideas that will allow your young scholar use imagination and develop their academic skills. These projects may be especially useful for kids with special needs.

1. At any grade and ability level, students must learn vocabulary words whether they are matching pictures, spelling words, or learning definitions. Unique vocabulary cards can be a breeze to make, especially with die cutting tools in shapes of circles, tags, stars, and more. Each set of words can be on a different color of cardstock or in a different shape; then, use a D-Ring and hole punch to clip them together.

2. Kids need notebooks for every subject. Why not start the year by decorating the front of the notebooks using colorful patterned papers and stickers? Its not a guarantee, but your child is less likely to lose something that they have invested time in making- and if they do misplace it, a decorated notebook is much easier to find in the lost and found stack!

3.Do you dread helping your child with their poster board project? Ask the teacher if the project can be modified. Rather than completing a project on poster board which may be too big of a space, they might complete several pages in an 12 by 12 album to display their knowledge of the topic. Ask your local scrapbook store about ways to make unique stickers- this way you can take any topic and make stickers from clip art or die cuts.

4. Celebrate success all throughout the year. Use an album with at least 10 pages- one for each month of the school year. Together, you and your child can decide what important lesson, event, or accomplishment to highlight on the page. Take pictures of completed projects, good test scores, friendships made, positive notes from the teachers, or school events. Important Tip: Leave a space for your kids to journal; it will be interesting to watch how their handwriting changes from August to May!

By: Kelly Standridge, Ed S. Kelly lives with her daughter, Condaleeza, in metro Atlanta. She is a co-owner of Scrap Chic Boutique, located at 906 W College Ave in Decatur, GA 30030. She has been a special education teacher for 10 years and holds an EdS in Teacher Leadership. Visit http://www.scrapchicboutique.com for a list classes and events on our calendar. The ideas presented can be modified for specific needs or learning outcomes. For specific questions, you can e-mail info@scrapchicboutique.com or see the calendar of events at http://www.scrapchicboutique.com Learning is about remembering- use scrapbooking to engage your child in The Art of Remembering- the results will last a lifetime.

Just Starting with a green drink? If you are juicing that's one way to drink greens. The other is to purchase greens which you mix with water, then the question comes up for a "taste good" and "feel good" greens, and of course how do you decide?

Once you find a great greens and commit to hydrating, you are taking the first step to pH balance, alkalizing and optimal health. You will also want to consider an alkalizing catalyst to add to your water, raising the pH of the green drink, which will help you accomplish your goals.

This segment is about "how to drink a greendrink" and "why we should drink a greendrink".The process outlined below will help you increase your hydration to the levels you only thought you could. It's a lot easier to drink when you are thirsty, and following the protocol seems to inspire hydration levels that work well for many of us, so read on and find your path. Plus you can always call us with questions.

Drinking greens is really our best way to make up the difference in what our body requires (nutritionally) and because we mix greens in water, we are improving our levels of hydration. Let's face it we can all eat perfect and still not receive enough nutrition, especially at a cellular level where we need it. So then the question comes, which "greens"? Not all greens or green drinks are alike, your green drink plays a major role in meeting your nutritional needs and while ingredients are key, so is processing and energy derived from the greens, the enzyme values.

The following instructions would apply to any greendrink, however keep in mind not all greendrinks are alike. Some may have ingredients that are not conducive to pH Balance. Vitamins and minerals from food co-factor one another, meaning they work synergistically, and one cannot work without the other (which is why it is difficult to receive nutrition from many OTC products), and many just plain taste bad. For the long haul you should discriminate and select a greendrink that has everything you need, tastes great and most importantly, becomes the difference between your diet and what your body requires.

Whenever you begin a greendrink, which consists of pure water mixed with greens and optimally an alkalizer, always remember it takes time for your body to adjust to absorbing new levels of nutrition, begin with small amounts and increase a little every three days until you get up to the recommended amount - no matter how many bottles you drink a day.

You don't have to force yourself to drink, here is what works for me and many pHBB members: Starting with a quart size drinking bottle:

Begin with of the full dosage of the greens and usually you can begin with full dosage of the alkalizer.

Every 3 days add a little more green and in time you will be at the full amount, and feeling more energized each day.

Practice Approach: My suggestion is to make a bottle upon rising, and drink it over 30 minutes to 2 hours

Make your second bottle an hour after lunch, drinking it over 30 minutes to 2 hours.

In the evening, about an hour after dinner until bedtime, drink water with alkalizer and fresh lemon or lime juice.

If you practice this way, within 3 days to a week you should become dry mouthed, wanting more to drink. It's a natural way to increase hydration, I've seen people go to 6-8 quarts a day, and back to down to a normal level. This is giving your brain what it needs, then your brain signal back to you that your body wants to re-hydrate, or exchange your body water! Naturally increasing your level of hydration - This is Great News!

Remember you are at least 70% water (just like the earth) and your water needs to be exchanged with pure water on a regular basis. A quart a day for every 30-50 pounds depending on your health. Alkalized water and delivering nutrition at a cellular level is the single most important step you can make toward a healthier tomorrow. Other supplements should be taken "less more often" versus "more less often", i.e., a small amount going in frequently will give you more consistent results.

pH Body Balance recommends InnerLight SuperGreens with Prime pH (which raises the pH of the water) because the way the vegetables, leaves, grasses, and sprouts were selected according to body need and because they are micro-ionized, to me that means recharged back to the raw state of high mgHz value, and the Prime pH has a negative charge which in my opinion causes a compounding process of alkalinity. The SuperGreens are 49 different vegetations charged back to like raw or better (at 250 mgHz through micro ionization) with the most amazing bio availability, delivering nutrition at a cellular level PLUS a very light taste, tastes like green tea! For a quick change up I add ginger juice when it's cool outside, and in the summer, fresh lemon or lime juice.

Adding fresh lemon or lime is nature's miracle, use it whenever you can, making fresh lemonade with Astraya Stevia is an incredible tasting lemonade and natural cleanser. Omega 3,6,9 oils also are an essential for good health. Using cold pressed oils with fresh lemon or lime for dressings and sauces is a passive way to great health. Fresh lemon and lime is acidic, however post digestively leave a high alkaline ash.

If you prefer taking greens in a capsule, here's an optimal protocol that works for me:

Add your alkalizer to water and take the capsules in the middle of your water bottle, i.e., drink half of your alkalized water and take your green capsules.

To me this simulates drinking a greendrink, meaning you are still hydrating and the water before and the water behind your capsules will perpetuate the greens into your system more readily that tossing them back with a little water.

You can also add lemon to your water, key is to take the capsules 1/2 way through the bottle and be consistent as in the schedule above so that your body and brain takeover and naturally increase your levels of hydration

Maraline Krey is CEO, BioGro Products LLC, and Senior National Director at InnerLight Incorporated; both are Health Based Nutritional Products Companies with a pH Body Balance focus.

In addition, Maraline is passionate about pure water, is a Nutritional Products Specialist, recognized pH Body Balance Coach, Guest Speaks at a variety of health focused events, can be heard on live radio and web radio, Author of various health articles, and is working on her first book. You can hear her most recent health focused discussion on Web Radio at http://www.pHBodyBalance.com

Even with modern technology like email and cell phones, printed invitations have remained the most common way to let people know about your upcoming party and will continue to remain popular due to the timeless rules of party etiquette. Invitations can be a major cost, especially for large parties, like weddings and some baby showers. However, with a little creativity and time, you can make your own printable invitations, even if you have no artistic skills.

1. The first step is designing your card. You can use a simple word processor like Microsoft Word and if you want, you can go to the Adobe's website at http://createpdf.adobe.com to convert your file into a pdf file. Select the proper dimensions and print out a sample on some plain white paper just to make sure it is the right size.

2. Next, you will want to find the proper card stock to print out your invitations on. Your local office supply store will have these and you can purchase them inexpensively there.

3. Use the word processor to insert text boxes with the words you want on your invitation. Play around with the fonts and text color.

4. There are many sites that offer free clip art and pictures that you can use for your invitations. Just do a search for "free clip art" on the search engines and you will find many sites that provide these services for free. Browse through and download the pictures you want and then insert them into your card at the desired location.

5. If you use a background image, make sure it does not obscure the text on the card. Ideally, background images should be watermarked. Most word processors will allow you to select background images and make them watermarks. Another alternative is to click on all the text boxes and give them solid colored backgrounds.

6. Need a catchy poem or verse? Once again, you can search the internet for related verses. For example, if I am making baby shower invitations, then I can search for "baby shower poem" or "baby verse" and any other related phrases.

7. Save the master copy of the finished card and print out a sample copy on plain paper to see what it will look like. If it looks good, then you can start personalizing each card and printing it out on card stock.

8. If you do not have a color printer, then create a personalized copy for each guest and save it as a separate file on a disk. Take the disk to your local print shop and have them print out a invitation for each guest. Some print shops may even print out the invitations for you if you give them the guest list and template. A print shop will cost more than printing them out yourself, but probably less than buying invitations from somewhere else. Plus the product should look very professional and they may even have the right card stock available. Additionally, print shops can do engraved invitations as well, which are good for upscale occasions like weddings.

Some other guidelines include try to stick to a central theme, don't try to use too many pictures and colors, and compare your card to others at card stores to get a feel for what a good invitation should look like. Remember that most invitations are simple and have just a few graphics and maybe one verse. As you can see, there are infinite possibilities when creating your own party invitations and not only is it a fun project, but will also save you money.

About the Author - Criss White is a professional web writer on baby and new mother topics for baby and pregnancy websites. For baby shower supplies, information, and more baby related articles by this author, visit My Baby Shower Favors (http://www.mybabyshowerfavors.com).

Note: If you find this article useful, you may reprint it on your website, e-zine, or in your newsletter as long as the credits above remain in tact and the hyperlinks stay active.