Seriously, have you noticed that most people only write about their successes on Facebook?  Does that bother you?

I gotta say that it doesn’t bother me one bit.  I don’t feel sorry for myself because I haven’t accomplished the same things.  I don’t feel inadequate.  I’m not envious.

Frankly, I’m inspired when I see my friend Julie post about her almost daily longer-than-I-have-ever-run runs.  I love it when Sally checks in with her “I burned 793 calories doing Zumba” posts.  I get excited when I see a friend starting the C25K challenge and posting about it on Facebook.

Often, I listen to others complain about Facebook because seeing people post about their beautiful lives, wonderful children, adoring husband, lovely dinners and skinny legs depresses them.  Because their lives do not measure up to all that perfection.

But, honestly, does anyone have a perfect life?

I’ve been “accused” of having a perfect life a few times.  To my face. With a sneer.  With the intent to harm.  And, I’ll admit, it does hurt to have someone try to hurt me.

But then, I get a grip and realize that the woman who hates to hear about how much I love my husband wishes that she loved her husband more.  She has no idea how hard we work at our marriage and that by posting about how much I love my husband I’m also reminding myself that I love my husband.  We are in it for the long-haul, and we could use all the encouragement we can get.

When I post about the successes of my children, their love for one another, their silly words or their helpfulness around the house, I’m reminding myself of how much joy they bring to me.  I’m recognizing the gift of them.  I just want to celebrate being their mom with my Facebook friends.  Because, honestly, it’s not all unicorns and rainbows in this house of boys, and I don’t really know what I’m doing.  I’ve never been a mom before, so I’m learning as I go, and I could use all the encouragement I can get.

So, when I post about the awesome run I had this morning, just chuckle.  It doesn’t happen every day.  If you saw me in real life, you’d know that I don’t really make running look very glamorous.  Sometimes (ahem, most of the time) I make it look rather uncomfortable.  My thighs jiggle WAY more than they should for someone who considers herself a runner.  My ears stick out of my hat and my hair flips up on one side.  My belly typically finds its way out of my too-tight shirt, which I constantly yank down.  When I watch my shadow running in front of me at the end of my run I get a picture of what I must have looked like during my entire run.  It’s hilarious.  Embarrassing.  But hey, at least I’m doing it.

And, you know what?

I could use all the encouragement I can get.

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
International Family Services - Adoption Services

Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

JeniLu Scraps - handmade wristlets, bags & wallets on Etsy

Bluebird Chic - hand sewn camera straps on Etsy

Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
Confession: When I run, you’ll hear about it on Facebook. is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

So, basically, I’m gonna eat Mexican food while I scrap.  I’m flexible when celebrating two different holidays.  LOL!

My ENTIRE papercraft template store at the Digichick is at least 30% off right now!

I sorta forgot to mention that in the newsletter I sent out the other day.  Whoops!  Yep, it’s a great time to fill your cart with all of the little templates you have been dying to try!

Need a couple of ideas?  Here are a few of my best selling templates!

Scroll on back through my oldies!  I have some fun templates in my store!

And, while you are on the computer, head on over to Facebook where you can participate in the TDC Facebook Page Hop.  Start on my page, (make sure you “like” it), click on “Fan Freebie” on the top right, and download your freebie!

Then, click on the arrows at the bottom to keep going to collect the entire collaboration kit!  I promise, it is SO much fun!!

I’ll be back to show you what my Creative Team Members did with that word art freebie!  In the meantime, enjoy the hop and the fabulous sale!  (Oooh!  And don’t forget to check out my new releases!  Eeek!)

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
International Family Services - Adoption Services

Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

JeniLu Scraps - handmade wristlets, bags & wallets on Etsy

Bluebird Chic - hand sewn camera straps on Etsy

Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
30% off in my Template Shop to Celebrate {i}NSD, plus a FREEBIE! is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

I’ve been working my hiney off the last couple of weeks getting ready for this big day!

Check out my new releases!!  You can purchase them ALL in the Grab Bag for a great price, or just pick up the ones you really, really want! (Click the images to go to my shop!)

PLUS, everything in my store at The Digichick is 30% off this weekend only!!  It’s time to go grab your favorite papercraft templates and start creating!!

Stay tuned for information on an exclusive, limited time freebie available to my Facebook Fans!!

Keep watching my blog for template tutorials and inspiration!!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
International Family Services - Adoption Services

Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

JeniLu Scraps - handmade wristlets, bags & wallets on Etsy

Bluebird Chic - hand sewn camera straps on Etsy

Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
LOTS of New Releases and a Fabulous Deal!! is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

As we went around the table sharing ideas, our discussion group leader turned to me and said, “I’m anxious to hear what you do with your kids, Kelleigh!”

I had to confess, “Um. I don’t do crafts with my kids.”

I know that came as a HUGE shocker to the ladies around the table, especially since I have a crafty job and I have a room full of crafty supplies and because I’m a former teacher.  But, seriously, I don’t lie awake in bed dreaming about the next educational art opportunity I can present to my children.

The reality is, my kids are massively imaginative and LOVE to cut and glue and draw and color and write books, despite my lack of prompting.  They just do it.  I can’t take any credit for it. I’m no super mom!

A part of me was a little embarrassed by my lack of motivation to provide stimulating, educational art activities, but then the other part of me said, “Be realistic, Kelleigh. It just isn’t gonna happen.”

And I’m okay with that.  My kids are turning out just fine.

Do you do crafts with your kids?  Tell me I’m not alone here!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
International Family Services - Adoption Services

Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

JeniLu Scraps - handmade wristlets, bags & wallets on Etsy

Bluebird Chic - hand sewn camera straps on Etsy

Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
Confession: I don’t do crafts with my kids is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

So now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…the announcement of the winners!

Laura and lmjrocko, you are the lucky two! Congratulations! However, I didn’t see contact information in your comments, so if you could please leave a comment to this post with your contact information, I will send your coupon code on its way!

Have a great weekend!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
International Family Services - Adoption Services

Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

JeniLu Scraps - handmade wristlets, bags & wallets on Etsy

Bluebird Chic - hand sewn camera straps on Etsy

Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
Blog Hop Winners Announcement! is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

This template comes in PSD, PNG, PDF, JPG, AI, DXF, SVG and .Studio files!  You can use your digital die cut machine or cut it by hand!  Wahoo!

Assembling this little Seed Packet Card might seem self-explanatory, but I always get a little confused, so I thought I’d show you how I did it.

As always . . .

Before I get started, let me direct you to some pretty good tutorials (if I do say so myself!) found at The Hybrid Chick:

Where to Start – offers suggestions for basic materials to get you started with hybrid.

Using Templates – guides you through the process of using my templates from downloading to adding digital paper, and preparing to print.

Borderless Printing – shows you how to find your borderless printing option on your printer . . . or at least gets you headed in the right direction.

Now, print your project! Of course, you can use digital paper or simply print the lines only PDF version on some of the patterned paper or cardstock in your stash.

I used a soon-to-be-released collaboration kit called Roots and Wings by The Digichick Designers.  It is AMAZING, as always!! Here’s a little sneak peek, but don’t tell the ladies you saw it here!  LOL!  It will be available May 3rd!

Let’s get going!

I printed my project out onto Epson Premium Presentation Paper Matte and used the Fast Normal printing mode to conserve ink.  I definitely changed the color of my lines before printing to make them less noticeable.  I often change them to white!  Just a little tip for ya!  You can still see them, but they don’t jump out at you like black lines would on a final project.

Next, score on the dashed lines using a bone folder or some other scoring tool.  A single tine of a fork and a straight edge works great!

After that, cut the whole project out.  I always cut after I score, because it’s much easier to score on a full sheet of paper.  I use a craft knife (Xacto knife) for most of my template cutting these days, but you can use micro tip scissors, too!

Next, you fold the template as shown!

 And, use your favorite adhesive to glue the tabs to the INSIDE of the card packet.  My favorite liquid adhesive (which I use on almost everything these days) is Beacon’s 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue.  You can find it at large craft stores and some scrapbooking stores.  Love this stuff!!  (I would totally link you up, but the prices on Amazon are completely insane.  This stuff is about $5 a bottle, but, of course, I use coupons!)

Just a little reminder to glue the side and bottom tabs to the INSIDE.  Don’t wrap them around.  That would look tacky.

This is me, pressing the edge down while it drys.

 And, that’s it!  It’s assembled!  This is the inside.  You can see that the envelope flap opens on the inside of the card.

And, you can also see that I totally messed up on my stamping. Yeah. I know.  I’m a dork.  I should have put a different sentiment inside!  Oh, well.  You’ll do better, right? 

Keep in mind that you can put lots of different items inside this adorable card!!  Check out some of the projects on the blog hop for some ideas.  You’ll find gift cards, cash, jewelry and more!  Oh, and you can totally fit a seed packet inside the seed packet card.  It just slips in!

I hope you have a great time creating with this new template!  Be sure to share your creation on my Facebook Page and in the gallery at The Digichick!  I’d love to see what you make!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
International Family Services - Adoption Services

Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

JeniLu Scraps - handmade wristlets, bags & wallets on Etsy

Bluebird Chic - hand sewn camera straps on Etsy

Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
Seed Packet Card Tutorial is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

Leave a comment for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to my template store at The Digichick.

Check out what I created with it:

Digital paper from the new collaboration by The Digichick Designers.  Coming soon!

I made a seed packet that opens up as a card!  Wouldn’t this be perfect for Mother’s Day or a bridal shower?  Of course, you can do all sorts of fun things with this template.  Get creative!

Visit the following blogs to see what they did with my new template.  This little baby is not just for seeds!

Ria
Nikki
Andrea
Rachel
Roelien
Cathy
Elise
Ceci V
Michelle P
Joana

Don’t miss The Hybrid Chick where Pattie has another sneak peek for you!

Be sure to leave a comment at each blog you visit, and include your contact information, because you could win a $10 gift certificate to my store!

The deadline for entering is Thursday evening at 9 pm PST.

Come back tomorrow for a tutorial!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
International Family Services - Adoption Services

Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

JeniLu Scraps - handmade wristlets, bags & wallets on Etsy

Bluebird Chic - hand sewn camera straps on Etsy

Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
Seed Packet Card Blog Hop and Giveaway! is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

Let’s recap.  I’m writing these posts to demystify the topic, not because I think I know everything or because we are doing it all right.  I’ll be the first to tell you that we made some poor decisions back when we were DINKs (double income, no kids) and we have major regrets that we hope others will learn from.  Perhaps I’ll post about some of those some day (nothing life shattering, but stupid, nonetheless).  Basically, we know that people have a hard time talking about money, which really sucks when you are trying to get a handle on your finances and you have NO idea where to start.  Why does it have to be so secretive?!  I mean, seriously, people?

You could make your life a ton easier and just take a Financial Peace course at a local church like my sister and her hubby did.  I’m so thankful they took that course, because my sister shared her knowledge with me and started us on our debt free journey.  I have not taken that course, but I did read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover book and it was pretty inspiring. (You can probably pick one up at your church library, public library or Goodwill.)

We don’t follow everything Dave recommends, but we do like a lot of what he says, like the parts about getting rid of credit cards, using cash for all of our everyday expenses and planning for expected expenses.

For example, Mitch has a business credit card that he keeps with him, but our personal credit card (just one) is frozen in a cup of ice in the freezer.  We just don’t need it.  Ever. We have debit cards if we ever need to use one for some reason (car rental, online shopping, airplane tickets, etc), but otherwise, we are off the monthly-credit-card-use-hamster-wheel. FREEDOM. Truly.

That is all due to our use of the cash envelope system, which I’ve written about at length.  Go read about that.  I’ll wait.

We use online bill pay to pay for monthly expenses like mortgage, debt payoff, insurance, utilities, tithe and offerings, etc.

We regularly contribute to our retirement accounts (right off the top of Mitch’s paycheck and at tax time) and have a lot of life insurance (term and whole life).

And now for the micro accounts:  This is just what works for us, and hopefully it will spark some ideas for you.

Two years ago, we fully funded our little emergency fund account ($1000). We have never had to dip into it (thank you, Lord!) but if there is ever a true emergency, then it is there.  Needing a new microwave because ours broke is NOT an emergency (although it might have felt like it at the time).  An emergency must be serious business.

Last year, we made it a priority to fully fund our Health Savings account.  Our family health deductible is $2000, so we funded it up to $2000.  We do sometimes have to dip into it to pay doctor’s bills, but we immediately work to build it back up again by depositing $50 a month until it is fully funded.  These two steps took a load of stress off.

After that, we started setting aside money for expected expenses.  These are things that we know are coming, but they used to “sneak up” on us, which is pretty ridiculous, but it is what it is.

For example, we pay our entire homeowner’s insurance payment every February.  It’s a chunk of money that used to STRESS me out, but these days I save $100 a month for homeowners insurance.  Our homeowner’s insurance is much less than that, but last year I undersaved, so this year I popped it up to $100 so that we would have cushion. I like security.

We have a Home Maintenance budget category on my micro account spreadsheet that we contribute $50 a month toward.  We don’t live in a fixer-upper, but there are always things breaking and projects needing to be done, so we budget for it.  I want new bark dust this summer, and I just realized that I have the money saved!  Wahoo! {doing the happy dance!}  You know that microwave emergency? The replacement money came out of the Home Maintenance account.

Next is Vehicle Registration, which I totally over-save for.  I can’t remember how much it is, but I save $15 a month so that when registration comes around I’m ready to go.

Our Car Maintenance fund gets a bit of a workout.  We have two 15+ year old vehicles, and they are falling apart.  My Jeep doesn’t have air conditioning and Mitch’s truck doesn’t have heat.  So, we drive the family around in the truck in the summer and in the Jeep in the winter!  LOL!  They still run, thanks to regular oil changes, and if they ever need tires, I’m ready for that expense.  We save $50 a month for this fund.

We love to get our kids gifts, but birthdays and Christmas used to be so stressful.  We were never big credit card users (when it came to extravagant expenses, just life-sustaining expenses), so we didn’t rack up birthday or Christmas debt, but we didn’t buy our kids much, either.  TRUE, Christmas isn’t all about the gifts, but when you love to give, it’s hard to not be able to do that.  These days, we save $50 a month for Gifts.  Discovering Swag Bucks was HUGE for my family, though.  If saving for gifts isn’t gonna happen for you, consider earning $5 Amazon gift cards, just by switching your search engine to Swag Bucks.  One year, I racked up $475 in Amazon Gift cards using Swag Bucks.  I did use about $200 of those for an “emergency” household expense, but that was totally cool with me! 

Our final category in our Micro Account is Vacation.  Our family vacations are usually weekend camping trips, a night at the drive-in movies, a day at the aquarium, a trip to visit my brother or sister, etc. Sometimes it’s, “We overspent at Thai food. Ah! Vacation budget!”  Don’t judge.  That’s how we work!!  LOL!  Seriously, though, we just went on a one week vacation at a timeshare in Lake Chelan, WA that was donated to us, and it was AWESOME to pull out $500 for gas, food, entertainment, eating out, etc.  I have never been THAT relaxed about money on a vacation before. I highly recommend saving and paying cash rather than using your credit card.  We save $100 a month for vacation.  I realize that if we’re ever going to be able to take our kids to Disneyland, I’ll need to increase that amount, but I guess I’ll have to reevaluate that, now that I’ve paid off my student loans!!  (Had to plug that. It’s just SO amazing to me! Hee, hee!)

Now, logistically, how do we manage these accounts?  I know I’m old school, but I work with a spreadsheet.  There are online savings accounts and various types of software available for micro accounts, but I’m confident in my spreadsheet, and it works for me.

We get paid once a month on the 15th, so when I deposit our check, I take our cash out for our envelopes, then go home and use online banking to transfer a chunk of money from our checking account to our savings account.  Then, I open up our spreadsheet and enter the amounts in each of the categories.  This is a screenshot of our monthly micro account.  Click to enlarge it. (Oh, the transparency! You guys should really be thanking me for putting this out there!  I feel sheepish. This is awkward.)

Notice that along the bottom I have the links to the other savings accounts. We actually have one checking account, and two savings accounts that I can access through online bill pay: one is our emergency fund and the other is this micro account which is a money market account.  We also have our Health Savings Account through State Farm Bank.

You’ll also notice that there is a lot of money in our micro accounts.  A lot for us, anyway.  Most likely, we will not use all of the money in these accounts, so in December I’ll transfer all but the bare minimum over to another category that we’ll call vehicle savings.  This is how we built up our HSA.  It hadn’t been fully funded until we transferred excess from our micro accounts into the HSA last year.

Let me just continue to say that we do not have it all figured out, and we do still have ginormous HELOC debt, but we definitely feel financial freedom because we know where our money is going and we have a plan.  We won’t be overwhelmed by an “unexpected” expense that we didn’t plan for, thanks to our micro accounts.

And, I also feel the need to tell you once again that we are a family of four, and we make a lot of sacrifices to be able to save, spend and give in this way.  Every family is different, and what works for us may not work for you.  You might make significantly more or less than we do.  Our point is to simply show you what is possible and help you to get your thinkers thinking.  We had many years of scraping by (or, not scraping by, but just crying our way through it and trying to breathe in and out), so we can sympathize with those of you who look at our spreadsheet or our cash envelope categories and feel hopeless.  That’s how I felt when my sister shared her spreadsheet with me.  What I learned is that the needs of her family (of eight) were VERY different from my family, and that I could do something to help make up the deficit between what we spent and what my husband brought home in his paycheck by cutting back on our grocery budget and cooking from scratch.  SACRIFICE doesn’t have to be devastating.  It can be empowering.

Yes, it does help that I have been working on building up my businesses (creating new income), and for that I am incredibly grateful to the Lord.  He opened up opportunities for me and gave me ideas that have eventually paid off for our family, allowing me to bring in a wonderful little income that has been instrumental as we continue to pay off debt.  Perhaps another post?  I’ll have to think about that!

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments.  I’ll let you know what works for us!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
International Family Services - Adoption Services

Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

JeniLu Scraps - handmade wristlets, bags & wallets on Etsy

Bluebird Chic - hand sewn camera straps on Etsy

Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
Our Micro Accounts: How we save for expected expenses is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs