Our Thoughtful & Easy-to-Organize Teacher's Gift Idea from the Whole Class . . . a Wall Calendar Filled with Students' Quotes!

This is my second year organizing classroom gifts for one of our children's teachers.  Somehow it always seems that there is one room that does not have a Room Parent, who usually takes on this and other important tasks.  Last year, another parent and I teamed up and we were floored at how difficult it was to arrange the Holiday gift.  More than half the parents did not provide contact information for the student directory, so we had to send home letters to the families without drawing attention from the teacher.  The participation was staggeringly low, even though we only asked for $5 per family to go towards both the gifts for the primary teacher and the assistant teacher.  I was shocked and a bit dismayed.  The experience was so difficult that the other parent and I agreed not to attempt organizing an end-of-the-year gift.  Instead, we came up with thoughtful gifts on our own for our children to present to their teachers.

This past Holiday, I was presented with the same problem.  There was no official room parent, so I stepped up to organize the classroom gift.  This time, things looked more promising.  Nearly all the parents had provided their email for the student directory, which was a good sign.  I had learned from past experience to make participating as easy on the parents as possible.  I even offered to take contributions with cash sent to school or via PayPal.  So, I came up with a teacher's gift idea that would make it easy on the parents and would be unique and super-thoughtful . . . a personalized wall calendar filled with quotes from the students about their favorite things.  This was easier to do than it sounds.  All you need is to know how to use Google Forms and Spreadsheets, have a basic graphics program where you can turn text into an image, and have a place that prints custom photo calendars, like Walgreens.


Tips for making a 'Favorite Things' Quotes Wall Calendar for a Teacher's Gift from the class . . . 

1.  Create a Google Form with clear instructions for the parents on how to interview their children and how to submit their children's responses in the blank fields.  I found it easier to use a fill-in-the-blank format for the questions.  Be sure to include a mandatory question asking for the child's name.  I offered a wide variety of interview questions, with some pertaining to certain times of the year, but, to make this low-stress on the parents and students, I only made two of them mandatory . . . what the child's favorite thing about their teacher is and what their favorite thing about 1st grade is.

2.  All the interview responses will automatically be collected in a Google Spreadsheet.  At this point, you should figure out how many quotes you would like to include per calendar page and decide if you would like to make a 12-month or an 18-month calendar.  Based on the responses I received and my wanting to include 4 quotes per page for a 12-month calendar, I figured out that each student should have 3 or 4 quotes included in the calendar.

3.  When making your images of the quotes, be sure to change the color of the quotes you've used in order to keep track of how many quotes you've used from each child and to avoid duplicates.  Be sure to make your image in a high resolution format (300 dpi).  If you don't have a graphics program, you can download Gimp for free.  You can make the quotes as simple as you'd like or use different fonts, colors, etc . . . I tried to be sure to include any seasonal quotes on the images to be used on the relevant months in the calendar.  I also made sure to include all the students' quotes about their favorite thing about their teacher and about their grade.  For any families who did not submit their children's quotes, the students' names were still printed on the front cover of the calendar with the rest of the class.

4.  Ordering your photo calendar should be pretty easy.  I used Walgreens Photo, which is extremely user-friendly.  All you need to do is choose the size and format for your calendar to get started.  Then you can choose a theme and customize each page of the calendar with your image, text, and different backgrounds.


For the classroom's Holiday gift, we included this calendar along with other goodies and a gift card in a gift basket.  The teacher was so touched while reading all the quotes that it brought tears to her eyes.

For the end-of-the-year gift this year, I will be making a design with all the student's names on it to print on a canvas tote bag for the teacher.  I think I will be using Walgreens Photo again.  I was pleased with the results last time, plus they always have coupons available on photo gifts and I was able to pick the finished product up at our local store.  Of course we'll be filling the tote with a gift card and other fun things for summer vacation.  Do you have any suggestions about what kinds of things we should include?

Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth Without Overindulging with a Trio of Cakeballz Ready-to-Eat Cake Balls!

Thank you to Cakeballz for providing complimentary cake balls samples for us to base this review upon.  All opinions expressed are my own.

If you have a sweet tooth like I do, then you will love Cakeballz. These bite-sized treats come in three delicious flavors . . . Red Velvet, Chocolate, and Birthday Cake, that are sure to satisfy any sugar craving. These mini cakes are perfectly sized and come in a package of three so you get all the deliciousness of fresh cake without all the guilt. Cakeballz are moist balls of cake covered in hard chocolate and sprinkles; and they are yummy!

I expected the Cakeballz to be good, but I had no idea they would be as tasty as they are! They were really fresh and moist and all three flavors tasted awesome. The chocolate and birthday cake flavors were my personal favorites, but my husband loved the red velvet. I wasn’t disappointed in any of them at all. A package of three is perfect to satisfy my craving without making me feel like I'm overindulging, plus I really am satisfied, so I don’t go out searching for more sweets once I’ve finished. These are also very handy for taking on-the-go or in lunchboxes because they are small and not messy. My kids loved them and have already asked when we can go buy more.

We really enjoyed trying these and I will undoubtedly be buying them in the future to snack on. You can find Cakeballz at many Walgreens stores nationwide. Visit their website at www.cakeballz.com to find a Walgreens that carries them near you.  You can also keep a lookout for Cakeballz coming to your local 7-Eleven stores in May!

The Top 5 Times I Truly Needed a Walgreens #HealthcareClinic for My Family! #shop #CollectiveBias

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for #CollectiveBias and its advertiser, Walgreens #HealthcareClinic.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Ever since my husband was diagnosed with high blood pressure months ago, I have been thinking about how much of my family's happiness depends on our wellness.  Being well allows us to care for and support each other, to enjoy the things in life that we love, and to always try our best in everything we do.  All those things can become difficult if even one member of the family isn't well and I think I took that for granted too often.  The few times I was reminded of this was when my husband or one of my children were ill or injured.  Looking back, if any of our local Massachusetts Walgreens housed a Healthcare Clinic, those instances would have been much less of an ordeal.  Unfortunately, the Healthcare Clinic Philadelphia is the closest one to us right now.  Hopefully, that will change in the future.

Walgreens Healthcare Clinics are open 7 days a week, including evenings and weekends.  Is it just me or does that seem to be when our children tend to need a healthcare professional most often?  As long as your child is at lest 18 months of age, he or she can be seen.  Yes, a Healthcare Clinic would be handy for getting my children's vaccinations, tracking my husband's high blood pressure, treating my year-round allergies, and getting all 5 of us our annual physicals, but what really stands out to me is all those times we had to go to the emergency room for non-emergency illnesses and injuries because our doctors' offices were closed for the day.

The top 5 times I needed a Walgreens Healthcare Clinic . . .

1.  High Fevers - Our 7 year old daughter has a mean front kick in Taekwondo, is a perfectionist when it comes to her artwork, and is an extremely messy eater.  She truly goes above and beyond with almost everything she does, including getting fevers.  She is an overachiever when it comes to fevers.  She rarely gets a 100.2, but rather her fevers often spike to over 104.  Once, she even made it over 105!  Of course, her fevers usually spike in the evening, so my husband and I would spend a worrisome evening wiping her down, having her drink cold water, piggybacking over-the-counter medicines, and so forth, always with the looming question: Do we need to take her to the emergency room to be seen by a professional?  If there had been a Walgreens Healthcare Clinic nearby, we would have taken her to be seen if her fever didn't lower significantly during the first hour or so.

2.  Mysterious Aches and Pains - Our 7 year old son is a complainer.  Although he is super-sweet and we could not love him more, he is not the trooper that his twin sister is.  If he is hungry, uncomfortable, too hot, too cold, or itchy, you will be sure to hear about it (multiple times).  One day, he was complaining that his leg hurt and informed me that could not participate in Taekwondo class.  He was limping and dragging himself on the floor like he was mortally wounded, even though I saw him walking just 30 seconds prior.  I knew he was being over-dramatic, but I was not sure to what extent he was exaggerating.  What if he had something like a hairline fracture in his leg?

The doctor's office was already closed, so I told our son that his Dad would have to come get him and take him to the hospital.  He did not change his tune, so after a trip to the emergency room, a round of x-rays, and several hundred dollars later, we found out that there is nothing seriously wrong with him.  The worse case was that he might be experiencing growing pains.  If we had a Walgreens Healthcare Clinic nearby, we would have taken him there to consult with a healthcare provider before taking him for x-rays.

3.  Flu Symptoms -You may or may not remember my complaining last year about how hard our family was being hit by the flu.  We lucked out in that nobody had to go to the hospital, but we were not so lucky the year prior.  Our oldest son, who was 8 at the time, caught the flu bug from one of his siblings and had been throwing up for an hour.  Again, we were faced with the question about whether our child was sick enough to go to the emergency room.  Eventually, it was clear that he was not getting better and we did rush him to the emergency room to be treated for dehydration.  If taking him to a Walgreens Healthcare Clinic had been an option, we would have taken him to see a healthcare professional right away because they will only take "non-emergency" cases.  Maybe we could have started our son on the road to recovery before his condition worsened as much as it did?

4.  Minor Cuts - If you ever have the pleasure of meeting my husband, ask to shake his hand.  While you're shaking his hand, be sure to checkout all the little (and not so little) scars he's incurred over the course of his life.  Although some of the scars appeared before my time, there are a few that formed after we met.  It is a standing joke between us about how we always subconsciously move to places that are less than a half mile away from a hospital.  My husband has cut his hands washing a drinking glass that suddenly broke right in his hands, chopping vegetables, and using his multi tool (which he uses for everything).

You'd think for an adult, it would be easier to know if the emergency room was required, but that is not always true.  There were times when my husband did not think his cuts were bad enough to warrant stitches, so he did not go to the E.R.  If there had been a Walgreens Healthcare Clinic nearby, he could have had his cuts sealed with skin adhesive instead of risking the possibility of getting an infection.

5.  Skin Infections or Spider-like Bites -  Speaking of infections and husbands, once my husband noticed a small irritation on the side of his shin.  He thought it was an ingrown hair, a tiny spider bite, or something minor like that.  Then the area began to turn red and started swelling.  He let it go and only took ibuprofen to fight the infection and the discomfort.  I told him to make an appointment to see his doctor, but he didn't listen (as husbands often fail to do).  Mainly, he did not want to miss time at work because he was worried that it would reflect poorly on him.  It was not until the pain increased significantly that he went to the emergency room to be seen one evening.

Because my husband waited so long, the infection grew into something serious.  He was in the hospital for 3 days and had to have surgery to remove the infected tissue.  If he could have gone to have his leg (with the tiny irritation) looked at after work one evening at a Walgreens Healthcare Clinic, it would never have escalated to a hospital stay and surgery.


As you can see, our family definitely needs another option besides the emergency room for after-hours non-emergency healthcare services.  Not only would a Walgreens Healthcare Clinic save us the expense of a hefty emergency room co-payment, but it would also have saved us the time we spent waiting for hours in the E.R. since priority is given to emergency cases.  For your local Healthcare Clinic, you can make an appointment and see the wait time online, so you can wait in the comfort of your own home if you want to wait 45 minutes before you head over.  There's nothing worse than being sick or injured and having to sit anxiously in a waiting room for hours, whether you're a child or an adult.

When do you recall needing attention for a non-emergency reason and had to resort to going to the emergency room?  To check if one of the 400+ Walgreens Healthcare Clinics is located near you, visit the Walgreens Healthcare Clinic online.

Join Me for the #HealthcareClinic Twitter Party & $550 in Prizes on Tuesday (2/18) at 1pm EST! #shop #cbias

Join the #HealthcareClinic Twitter Party!

Walgreens Healthcare Clinics provide convenient and personalized care for patients seeking relief from illness. The clinics offer a variety of sick visit services including treatment of strep throat, bronchitis, sinus, and ear infections. You can schedule appointments online for yourself or a family member to treat a current illness or for routine health screenings!

I am patiently waiting for at least one of our local Walgreens locations to open a Healthcare Clinic.  I cannot count how many trips to the emergency room we've taken simply because we needed to see a medical professional during off hours.  A Walgreens Healthcare Clinic would have taken care of everything from our minor cuts to our fevers and flu symptoms without the long wait in the ER.

Join me at the #HealthcareClinic Twitter Party on SoFabChats!

• DATE: Tuesday, February 18th
• TIME: 1-2pm ET
• PRIZES: 5 – $100 Walgreens gift cards
• EARLY BIRD: 1 – $50 Walgreens gift card
• RSVP: #HealthcareClinic Party Page
• LOCATION: SoFabChats Tweet Grid
• HOST: @formulamom
• CO HOSTS: @blueviolet, @MudpiesandTiara, & @_Karen
• PARTY RULES: #HealthcareClinic Official Rules

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Join #HealthcareClinic Twitter Party 2/18 1pm ET. Care made easy! Prizes $550! http://cbi.as/8007a #shop #cbias

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Manage Prescriptions, Chat With a Pharmacist, and Shop Online with Walgreens 24/7! #WalgreensRX #shop #cbias

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This medication refills shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser Walgreens.  All opinions expressed are my own.

My husband is 43 years young.  That's why we were both taken by surprise when we found out he had serious hypertension, otherwise known as high blood pressure.  He had to take a physical for something work-related and, after checking his blood pressure, they sent him right over to see his primary care doctor, who told my husband that he was very close to be hospitalized.  That was an extremely scary thought for both of us.  Luckily, he has been able to manage his blood pressure with medication and reducing his sodium intake.  Suddenly, we found ourselves managing several different prescriptions just for him.  Not only does my husband need to remember to take specific medications daily, twice daily, or weekly, he also needs to manage his medication refills.  His previous system was to tell me when he notices that he has only 2 or 3 pills left in one of his bottles.  Using the many prescription services offered by Walgreens online is a much better system!

This diagnosis really scared me, but I can only imagine how shaken up my husband was when he first learned about the severity of his high blood pressure.  It was enough to motivate him to make the changes in his life that he mostly only talked about before . . . eating better and exercising more.  He wants to be around to see our children grow up, to teach them new things, to show them fun new things the way only a dad could, to see our children earn their black belts in Taekwondo, and to walk our daughter down the aisle someday (well, that is if he ever lets her go on a date).

Since we have a Walgreens located right next to the Taekwondo studio where our children study, I am running into Walgreens once or twice a week.  Still, the way I stay sane is to do most of my tasks online, including shopping, banking, ordering takeout, grocery shopping, leaving notes for my husband, and much more.  Well, I just added managing my family's prescriptions, medication refills, and refill reminder emails to that list.  Walgreens.com also offers automatic prescription refills, but that wouldn't work well in my husband's case because his medication type and dosage can change frequently.

Whenever I run into Walgreens, I rarely have my husband with me.  We had been talking about buying a blood pressure monitor since he was first diagnosed with hypertension.  While I was at Walgreens.com adding my family members to my account, it occurred to me to look on the website for a blood pressure monitor.  When I found one that was affordable and received good reviews on this and other websites, I just sent the link to my husband to see if he liked it, and placed my order.  Shipping is free for most items when your order totals $25 or more and weighs less than 20lbs, so I was able to have the blood pressure monitor and a bottle of my favorite nail polish shipped to my door for free!

My husband needed to register on Walgreens.com in order for me to add him to my account for managing his medication refills.  This was a quick and simple process.  We were both amazed at how easy it was to view prescription history and to request a refill.

It is easy for me to run into Walgreens or for my husband to go through the drive-thru on his way home from work to pick up his prescriptions, but if you do not have transportation or have limited mobility, it is important for you to know that you can have all prescription refills shipped for free to your door!

Whether you have transportation or not, nobody wants to run out in the middle of the night.  Although I have used Walgreens' Pharmacy Chat before, my husband never did until one night when he was experiencing severe aches and pains as a side effect of his medication.  He really wanted to take an over-the-counter pain reliever to take the edge off, but was not sure if he could take one in conjunction with the multiple prescriptions he was already taking.  This question about drug interaction between his prescription medications and the OTC medication was answered quickly by the pharmacist online.  It only took less than 5 minutes to chat with a pharmacist, my husband never had to leave the house, and he avoided putting himself in a dangerous situation by mixing two medications he should not.

I also want to mention that you can earn or redeem your Balance Rewards points online for prescription refills and purchases.  I was able to get $5 off my husband's blood pressure monitor by redeeming my points!

With the help of Walgreens online services, we have been able to make dealing with my husband's high blood pressure far less stressful.  I am so proud of my husband for making such a serious commitment to taking better care of himself.  He is an inspiration to me and is setting a great example for our children.

Holiday Gift Guides, a Free Printable Organizer, and More Tips for Managing the Holiday Madness! #HappyAllTheWay #shop #cbias

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This Walgreens Holiday Gift Guide shop has been compensated as part of a #HappyAllTheWay social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser.

The Holidays are my favorite time of the year.  I can say that because (if you take blogging out of the equation) I have learned to keep Holiday stress to a minimum when it comes to organizing my Holiday shopping list and coming up with Christmas present ideas.  No, you cannot snap your fingers and suddenly have an unlimited budget for Holiday gifts, but there are some things that are within your control.  You may already do one or more of these things listed below, but, if you do all four, you can be on your way to having a low-stress Holiday where you can actually enjoy the Holiday season.

1.  Start your gift shopping earlier.  Notice, I did not say to start "early" because that s a relevant term.  I usually start my Holiday shopping during the summertime.  If you usually start 2 days before Christmas, try starting 2 weeks before Christmas instead.  You will be amazed at how much it will reduce your stress with every gift you check off your list.  This will eliminate having to run around to find suitable last minute Christmas gifts.  Also, the earlier you start, the more opportunities you will have to come up with more creative gifts.

2.  Keep your gift shopping list(s) organized.  Everyone should make a list of who they need to buy for and possible gift ideas for each person.  This is especially true if you have children.  Not only do gifts for teachers, bus drivers, babysitters, and others come along with having children, you also need to stuff stockings and buy the gifts from Santa in addition to the ones from yourself.  Every year, I make a special list for my children and it is set up exactly like the one below.  Feel free to print it out to use for your own family's shopping.

TO PRINT:  Make sure your printer is on and ready to print.  Click on the image to enlarge.  Then right-click and select print.  Use your browser's back button to return to this page.

I also make a similar list in my head for my husband because, although Santa does not leave a gift for him under the tree, he does stuff my husband's stocking.  I refuse to write any of it down because I know at least part of him likes to be surprised as much as our children do.

3.  Use Holiday Gift Guides as resources for unique gift ideas.  Starting at the beginning of November, you will be bombarded with gift guides left and right.  If you take the time to stop and actually look at them, you might find some creative gift ideas.  They are all free, so why not take a quick look?  For example, I picked up the Walgreens Holiday gift guide last week and was able to find some great gift ideas for teachers, our neighbors, my husband's co-workers, and for hostess gifts.

The Walgreens Holiday catalog can be found in-stores and online, and is full of unique pairings and other Walgreens Holiday solutions.  Be sure to grab one next time you're in your local Walgreens because there are tons of savings and bonus Balance Rewards Points in there!  That's how I discovered the Good & Delish premium snacks, chocolates, cookies, ice cream, nuts, and gourmet party snack ideas.  I had purchased Good & Delish cookies before, but I had no idea the line spanned multiple aisles across the store.  There are tons of decadent snack ideas that would make wonderful gifts.

4.  Buy one for them, pick up one for yourself.  Another way to keep Holiday stress in check is to reward yourself.  Let's face it, organizing, buying, and wrapping all those Holiday gifts is hard work and you should be rewarded.  I'm not saying this rule should apply to cashmere sweaters and tablet PCs (but if you can afford it, go for it!), however, a few little rewards can go a long way.  For example, I am putting together a gift basket for one of my children's teachers as her gift from the whole class.  I knew I wanted to include a personalized wall calendar with quotes from her students and a gift card.  Everything else was a little fuzzy until I saw the Good & Delish chocolates and other sweet treats in the Walgreens Holiday Guide.  I chose a variety of gourmet treats to include in the gift basket for our child's teacher and picked up an extra box of Raspberry Fruit Creme cookies and a pouch of Brittle Bites for myself.  Thanks to one of the ideas I found in the gift guide, I also picked up a bottle of Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice for her and one for myself.

What tips do you have for reducing stress during the Holidays?  I would love it if you shared your tips with me and other 3G2S readers!

Find Answers at Walgreens Online or In-store About Digestive Health and Other Common Topics (#WalgreensAnswers #shop)

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study about finding Answers at Walgreens about digestive health issues for Collective Bias and their client.

About 6 years ago, shortly after our twins were born, I began to experience crippling pain in the area around my ribs.  The pain would start very suddenly, sometimes waking me up from a sound sleep, and would last anywhere from one to several hours.  Basically, it felt as if there was a vice tightening around my rib cage.  The pain got worse when I tried to lay down and actually felt like someone was standing on my ribs so that I could barely inhale.  After I had endured several episodes, one evening my husband had to take me to the emergency room because the pain had not gone away after several hours.  Well it turned out that I was experiencing severe anxiety and stress-induced heartburn.  Who would have thought this pain had anything to do with my digestive health?

That night at the emergency room, the doctor prescribed something for anxiety, but I do not really like the idea of taking prescription medication for stress.  Now, 6 years later, I still experience the same stress-induced symptoms, but not quite as often.  I could go several months without noticing that tightening feeling around my ribs and, when I do, I immediately take an acid reducer.  The past month and a half, I have been experiencing high stress levels.  I work at home and it's summer vacation.  Need I say more?  Well, I've been feeling all the symptoms that usually occur before the crippling pain hits daily and I really wanted to find out if there was anything different I could do to  prevent the symptoms and to treat them after they've begun.  That's when I turned to Answers at Walgreens.

If you did not already know, Walgreens answers questions from their customers about how they can treat common health issues, such as digestive health, pain relief, and sleep solutions.  You can find answers and recommendations in 3 ways . . . by talking to the pharmacist at your local Walgreens store, using the Pharmacy Chat on Walgreens.com, and picking up a free brochure about the health topic you want to learn more about.  These brochures are available in a display near the pharmacy area within Walgreens and, not only do they contain helpful facts and suggestions, they also contain coupons to save on relevant products.

While I shopped in Walgreens the other day, I did not see a pamphlet for digestive health, but I did grab a couple of others that address some different health issues we've been dealing with at our house.  Luckily, I was able to chat with a Walgreens pharmacist the night before.  The chat is open 24/7, so I was able to sit down and ask my questions when it was most convenient for me (after the children had gone to bed).

During the chat, I learned that there is not enough evidence showing that herbal at-home remedies are actually effective for stress reduction, so the pharmacist recommended that I talk to a doctor.  Although there were no revelations experienced by me regarding how to treat my heartburn-related symptoms, I did learn two very important things . . . that what I am taking is the correct thing and that I should not be taking that particular acid reducer while taking both benadryl and loratadine for my allergies.  The pharmacist that I should only be taking one of those rather than both.  I really had no idea and was glad I had decided to try the Walgreens Pharmacy Chat.  If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it as a way to get answers to your health questions in a convenient, low-pressure way.

Visit AnswersAtWalgreens.com to find special money-saving offers on your favorite health products and to find out which products will earn you Answer Balance Rewards.

As a Man, Hair Loss is Important to Me, But . . .

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Viviscal. I received product samples and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

There was a time when I never worried about losing my hair. On my mother's side, hair was not an issue.  My grandfather in fact had a full head of hair into his nineties. Even though my dad had a bald spot on the top of his head in his thirties, I always assumed my mother's genes would prevail. Now that I am in my forties, I am starting to realize my mother's genes have only offered me partial protection. My hairline is slowly receding.

Still, I am not nuts over keeping my hair. Sure, I would love to have the thick mane I enjoyed as a younger man, but I would much prefer to gracefully go bald than to try all those crazy, and often silly looking, things men do to keep their hair. Heck, I would rather just shave my head! Of course, if I do that, I will need to start working out . . . but that's a completely different topic.

Having said all of that, I would always be up for some sort of topical or oral supplement, like Viviscal Man, that could actually strengthen my real hair and promote existing hair growth. I know there are many products on the market, but I am still skeptical about many of them. I also would not spend a ton of money on anything that is not real and clinically proven to work.

Hair loss is important to me, but it is not such a big deal that I would go to any extremes to address it. Now if could just control where my hair grew....

How do the men in your life face the prospect of hair loss?  Are they on the fence like I am or are they especially proactive about using preventative or restorative measures?

If you know of a man who would like to try Viviscal products, through July 31st, he can save 10% off on Viviscal Man and Viviscal Hair Filler Fibers at Walgreens.com by checking out with Promo Code: VIVISCALMAN.

"Say It With Photos" Easy DIY Photo Gift

Last Spring, I took photos for a DIY photo gift that my children presented to their Dad on Father's Day.  Although my husband loved the gift, I was not completely satisfied with it and had been thinking about how I could improve upon it since.  The two main things I did not care for were the small size of the photos and the quality of the photos, which I had printed on my own printer.  The prints had come out a lot darker than the actual digital photos.

Since it had almost been a year since I had taken the photos for the original photo gift, I thought it would be a good idea to take new photos of the children holding the same letters, but a year older.  This was the perfect excuse to revamp the photo gift into something with a larger scale and better photos.  Instead of printing the photos myself this time, I used the Walgreens Photo service via the Walgreens Mobile App.  It was super-easy to do.  The app recognized the photos on our Android phone and I was able to order 5x7 prints of the 7 photos I needed for same day pickup.  You can see more photos of the app in use here (and checkout how much I saved on my purchase using my Balance Rewards Card).

Today's Project:  "Say It With Photos" DIY Photo Gift

SUPPLIES NEEDED

white 9"x11" foam sheets (1 per letter)

red wooden heart (or a red foam sheet)

scissors

5x7 photo frames (1 per letter)

5x7 photo prints (1 per letter)

Step 1.  Using the white foam sheets and scissors, cut out the shape of each letter in the message you would like to spell out, trying to make your letters as large as possible.

Step 2.  I used a red wooden heart I had purchased from the craft store.  If you would like to include a heart in your message, you can either purchase one like I did or make one yourself out of a sheet of red foam.

Step 3.  Take photos of your letters with the desired people or pets.

Step 4.  Have good quality prints made of your photos.

Step 5.  Insert each photo in its own photo frame.

That's it!  You're done!!  Now all you need to do is create a nice presentation.  I did this by only using reversible wrapping paper and a peel and stick gift topper I had purchased at Walgreens when I picked up my prints, along with two colors of curling ribbon I already had on hand.

The reversible gift wrap was solid red on one side and red polka dots on white on the other side.  I wrapped each photo frame individually and bundled them together in a stack.

After tying and curling the ribbon, I attached the peel and stick heart and folded the layers up at the creases to give it a 3-dimensional look.

Here we are!  It was so easy to do and I love how the gift turned out (both inside and out).

How to make this project your own . . . 

• If you are spelling out something short, like the word "DAD", you could easily use larger size photos for this project.  How about 8x10s or even poster size?
• Rather than using people or pets in your photos, you could take photos of the letters in sentimental places.
• Wrap the gift in brown paper or newspaper.  Then top it off with some lace and a sprig of flowers.
• Use a different style and color painted photo frame for each letter for an eclectic look.

If you happen to not have time to make a photo gift yourself, you'll be happy to know that you can order photo gifts, such as photo books, photo canvases, photo wall calendars, posters, and more, all for same day pickup.  You do not even need to take brand new photos.  Thanks to Walgreens Innovations, you can use the Walgreens Mobile App to order photo gifts using photos from your phone, Instagram, or Facebook.  For great Valentine's Day gift ideas, look for the 14 Gifts of Love shared daily by the Walgreens Community on Facebook.


I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Walgreens #HappyHealthy #CBias #SocialFabric.  All opinions expressed are my own.