Since it’s the beginning of the month, Tip Junkie is here as Your Personal Assistant. Take a day and really plan and organize your schedule. Here are some of the things to do:

1.  Labor Day is Monday!  I hope  you’ll plan something fun to do with friends and family.

2. Check birthdays for the month, buy cards & presents, get them ready to mail or deliver. If you have a child’s birthday this month, plan it and get out the invites.

• Tip Junkie has tons of amazing birthday theme, party favor, game and decor ideas.
• Executive Homemaker has several games to print out.

3.  Let’s start the month off right and make a list of the things that are causing you added stress.  Make a list of the big ones as well as the little ones. Is something in the house that’s broken, is there an insurance issue you need to take care of, do you need an extra trash can upstairs to help keep things tidy?

Once you’ve thought it out and made your list, plan a day this week as your “ongoing problem day” and finally resolve those issues that need to be resolved.  You’ll be glad that you did!

4.  Halloween is next month and my favorite holiday, therefore  Tip Junkie has the most creative and fabulous Halloween ideas!  Here’s a taste of what you’ll find:

Halloween Party Ideas:

• Gross Halloween Party Food
• Halloween Party Inspiration
• Creative Halloween Ideas
• DIY Halloween Party Favors
• Halloween Party Themes
• Creative Halloween Party Food Ideas
• DIY Halloween Ideas

Halloween Decor Ideas:

• Halloween Home Decor
• Outdoor & Indoor Home Decor Ideas
• Halloween Advent Calendar Ideas
• Halloween Home Decor
• Halloween Spook-spiration
• Halloween Spook-tacular Ideas
• Trunk or Treat – Decorate Your Car
• Decorate Your Car for Halloween

Costumes & Gift Ideas:

• Family Themed Costumes
• Couple Themed Costumes
• Halloween Gift Ideas
• More DIY Halloween Ideas

5. Clear schedule for book club, girls night out, BUNCO, and other rotating activities. Make sure you have child care, your food assignment, etc. Here’s how to start a dinner club.

6. If you are doing a food storage, time to check the schedule and buy next on the list. Don’t forget to put some cash in there as well.

7. Change AC house filter.

8. Write one grandparent a letter, artwork, or card.

9. Plan Mommy/Son or Daddy/Daughter dates.

10. Plan a date night with your man.  Swap kids with a friend or schedule the babysitter in advance.

11. It’s time to start planning for Christmas. If your family draws names for Christmas, September is a good time to do it. This way you know who to buy for.

• Christmas Planner
• Christmas decor, gift, tradition, and organization ideas
• Printable Instructions for Christmas projects and gifts

If your purchasing your gifts, spread out your Christmas expenses buy purchasing a couple gifts each month from the Mom-preneur Shops. Every penny you spend goes to support another woman and her family. {{fabulous!}}

Also, if you’re making gifts this year consider organizing a craft group where you can all make the same gifts together.  it will be more fun and you’ll get it finished faster.  For instance, one year  I made 6×6 grandparent albums with 5 other friends.  We each created a 2 page layout and made 6 copies of the same one – then we swapped!  Voila – an adorable album completely finished and I only had to make the Halloween layout.  {{evil laugh}}

12.  Fall can be such a busy time of the year.  As you organize yourself this month, look ahead to the end of the year.  This way you can stay ahead of the game and things won’t sneek by.

• What fall school parties are you in charge of?
• Finalize your Thanksgiving plans and accommodations.
• Finalize your Christmas plans and accommodations.
• Are you going to host a New Years party this year?

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If you want to remind yourself to head on over to Tip Junkie at the beginning of every month for this segment, here’s a button you can put on the sidebar of your blog. ;)

What else do you do in September to get your home organized?

Free eBook:

• "Memories that Endure are Moments that Matter", get it when you sign up for the Tip Junkie newsletter.

She has some beautiful kids activities and art crafts that you can do together.  Any of these would also make great small gift ideas.

You’ll find printable art, Valentine’s Day ideas, printable quote cards, affirmation sets, art prints, cd sleeves, Homemade Sugar Scrub, and much more!

Free eBook:

• "Memories that Endure are Moments that Matter", get it when you sign up for the Tip Junkie newsletter.

Organization Craft

1.  Vertical Storage for Spray Paint Can holders from Sew Many Ways – Made out of Coffee cans and a plank of wood.  {{brilliant!}}

2.  DIY Craft Cart on Wheels – Now you’ll be able to keep all the supplies for the craft you’re working on in one place from In My Own Style.

3. Over the Couch Remote Control Organizer – Easy Organizer Project from  Cabinet Cards and Napkins from Cathe Holden.

4.  Car Organizer Caddy – An easy tutorial on how to make a car caddy that hangs from the passenger seat for toys, baby items, travel toys, whatever you need.

Storage Craft

5.  Car Craft Caddy Pattern – Now you can craft in the car!  This is such a fun craft caddy that hangs from the car window.

6.  Darling Cookie Sheet Calendar – This one is made from chip board and scrapbooking paper from Oops, I Craft My Pants.

7.  DIY Dry Erase Board Calendar – An easy tutorial on how to turn an old frame into a fabulous wipe off calendar from Living My Life.

8.  Cookie Sheet Calendar - A magnetic calendar made from scrapbook paper and a cookie sheet from Keeping It Simple.

DIY Daily Fix

9.  Crafting Menu Planning Organization – Spray painted an old frame, backed with fabric, and turned into wipe off board.

10.  Thread Holder – Made from a dismantled frame and a piece of lightweight peg board cut at Home Depot.

11.  Grocery Bag Dispenser - A quilted pattern from Moda Bake Shop on how to make a beautiful grocery bag dispenser for your kitchen.

12.  Beautiful Drawer Hangers - I just love this collage of drawer hangers from Design Sponge.

More Organization Craft Ideas from Tip Junkie

• Organization Daily Fix {Organization Craft}
• Spring Cleaning Organization
• Closet Storage & Organization Solutions

Free eBook:

• "Memories that Endure are Moments that Matter", get it when you sign up for the Tip Junkie newsletter.

Here are three submitted tips I received on ways to clean using vinegar.  These are practical tips for saving money on cleaning supplies at home.  My man and I were wondering last Sunday how to clean an iron.  I should have known better and checked my e-mailed tips.  Enjoy.

1.  How to Clean your Iron – Shows how to clean your water reservoir on your iron using vinegar.

2.  Unclogging drains with natural ingredients – Such as common household items: vinegar, baking soda and water. 

3.  Everyday uses for white distilled vinegar – Make nail polish last longer by wiping fingernails with a cotton ball that has been dipped in white distilled vinegar before painting nails.

If that’s not enough uses for Vinegar, here are several more resources you’ll love:

• 1001 Uses for White Distilled Vinegar -  White distilled vinegar is a popular household cleanser, effective for killing most mold, bacteria, and germs, due to its level of acidity.
• Recipes from Heinz – The all natural choice for all your food and recipes.
• 254 Uses for Vinegar and Counting – A somewhat funny but useful list of ways you can use vinegar.

Free eBook:

• "Memories that Endure are Moments that Matter", get it when you sign up for the Tip Junkie newsletter.

Hanging a Picture Straight on a Wall

Lay the picture you are hanging face down. Take some masking tape or painters tape (anything that is not very tacky so it won’t peel the paint off the wall) and lay it over the hooks where the nails will go. Then use a pen to mark where the hooks are.

Next peel the tape off the picture frame and tape it on the wall at the height you want your picture to hang. Use a level to make sure it is straight.

Rachelle has hooked us up with a complete step-by-step photo tutorial just in case you need more detail.

Free eBook:

• "Memories that Endure are Moments that Matter", get it when you sign up for the Tip Junkie newsletter.

1.  It was easy to make, just very time consuming. Here’s what you need to make your own:  A pillow form, fabric, buttons, print out of the letter, a washable fabric marker, thread and a needle.

What a great use of all those mismatched buttons you’ve been collecting over the years. {{giggle}}  Here are several more beautifully created tutorials on how to embellish your plain pillows.

Make Pillow

2.  Stamped Embellished Pillow – Use a stamp and fabric paint, to stamp a pattern across simple burlap.

3.  Pillow With Rosette Clusters From Felt Furnishings – It’s created by folding small circles of bright orange cloth (either felt or felted wool) and packing them very tightly together on the base fabric.

4.  Scrap Buster Fall Pillow from Cluck Cluck Sew – This pillow cover is 16″ square with an envelope back & the design possibilities are endless!

5.  Embellished Couch Pillow Cover from Mandy’s Creative Corner. A picture tutorial on how to sew leaves onto a pillow cover.

You also might like these DIY Decor Ideas:

• Interior Design – Decorating the Walls
• Decorate Walls With Hanging Empty Picture Frames
• Celebrate a Home Made Christmas (DIY Christmas)

Free eBook:

• "Memories that Endure are Moments that Matter", get it when you sign up for the Tip Junkie newsletter.

Keep Sheets on a Thick Mattress

You’ll need a piece of elastic to go from one side of the corner of the fitted sheet to the other, like this. You can either sew it in place or put in in place with safety pins. Yep, I took the easy way out and used the safety pins.

Free eBook:

• "Memories that Endure are Moments that Matter", get it when you sign up for the Tip Junkie newsletter.

On the Tip Junkie fan page I have so much getting suggestions and comments from readers as well as an opportunity to share more of my everyday life.

Suggest Tip Junkie to a Friend

Did you know Facebook has made it so easy to suggest blogs to your friends?   I just know your favorite bloggers would really appreciate some Facebook referrals.  I sure would!  So here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to Suggest Tip Junkie {or any blog} to your friends.

1.  Go to the Blogs Facebook Fan Page:  Tip Junkie, Executive Homemaker

2.  Click on “Suggest to Friends” link on the left right under the picture.

3.  A pop-up window will appear with your Facebook friends.  Simply click on  friends who you think would enjoy a bit of creative inspiration.

4. Press “Send Invitation”

Yep, it’s that easy!  Not only will you be doing a HUGE favor to your favorite blogger but you’ll also be giving your friends some fabulous information.

They will get a message that you’ve invited them to like Tip Junkie and they can either accept or ignore.  Check the Tip Junkie fan page and you’ll find out where in the US I am today.  Hint:  It’s hot!

Free eBook:

• "Memories that Endure are Moments that Matter", get it when you sign up for the Tip Junkie newsletter.

This week’s question:

Q: How do you make a navigation bar with images?

A: First let’s take a look at what a navigation bar (often called a menu bar) is and why it’s useful!  A navigation bar with images looks like this:

Having important links in one place is a great way for readers to find what they’re looking for on your blog.  Common links found on navigation bars include “About Me” pages, posts with contact information, or even links to your other blogs.  So let’s get started!

Step 1: Decide what links you want to include on your navigation bar.  Find and copy the links to these locations.  For example, I want to include the following information:

-       Home: http://kreatedbykelsey.blogspot.com

-       About Me: http://kreatedbykelsey.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html

-       My Portfolio: http://kreatedbykelsey.blogspot.com/p/portfolio.html

Step 2: We need to create our images.  To do this, we’ll need some sort of editing program.  If you don’t have a purchased program such as Photoshop, there are many free options that will work great for our purposes!  My personal favorite is Gimp, but you can use anything from Picnik to your basic Paint program.

How big or small you make your images is really up to you.  I like to make mine somewhere between 30 pixels and 50 pixels in height.  One thing to consider is how many images you plan on using.  For example, if you have many links you want to add, your images will need to be a little bit smaller in order to fit.  The size of your images may be something that you need to play around with!

Step 3: Once you’ve created images that you’re happy with, save them to your computer as either .jpg, .png, or .gif files.

Step 4: Now that your images are saved, we need to upload them to the internet!  I use Photobucket.  If you don’t have an account, follow their simple directions to create one.  Once you’ve logged into your account, click on “Upload Images and Video” and find the images that you just created and saved.

Step 5: After you’ve uploaded your images, click on each one until you see a screen like this:

Copy the Direct Link information for each of the links you uploaded.  I will refer to these links later on as the links to your images.

Step 6 : Copy the following HTML code exactly as it appears here.

<center><a href="LINK1 GOES HERE"><img src="IMAGE LINK1 GOES HERE"></a><a href="LINK2 GOES HERE"><img src="IMAGE LINK2 GOES HERE"></a><a href="LINK3 GOES HERE"><img src="IMAGE LINK3 GOES HERE"></a></center>

Step 7: Next we need to fill in the different parts of the code.  Let’s start with the first link.  In my case this is my homepage, http://kreatedbykelsey.blogspot.com.  I am going to replace the blue words LINK1 GOES HERE with this link.

Step 8: Now that I’ve filled in the first link, I’m going to fill in the image link.  In this case, I’m going to fill in the red words where it says IMAGE LINK1 GOES HERE with the link to my first image, http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r75/kreatedbykelsey/Home.png.  My HTML now looks like this:

<center><a href="http://kreatedbykelsey.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r75/kreatedbykelsey/Home.png"></a><a href="LINK2 GOES HERE"><img src="IMAGE LINK2 GOES HERE"></a><a href="LINK3 GOES HERE"><img src="IMAGE LINK3 GOES HERE"></a></center>

Step 9: Repeat steps 7 and 8 for the rest of the links you want on your navigation bar.  Depending on how many links you want on your navigation bar, we’re now going to have to dig a little deeper into the HTML…

Step 10: The original code I gave you in Step 6 is for 3 links.  However, if you want more links you will need to copy the following code for each additional link that you want to include:

<a href="NEXT LINK GOES HERE"><img src="NEXT IMAGE LINK GOES HERE"></a>

The above code needs to be placed directly after the last </a> you see in the original code.  This is shown in the picture below.

Step 11: After you’ve inserted all of the links and images you want on your navigation bar, we need to insert it underneath your header.  Go to your dashboard and click “Add a Gadget”.

Select HTML/JavaScript and paste your completed code into the box.  Make sure to leave the gadget title blank as shown in the picture below!

Step 12: Save it to your blog!  Let’s take a look at what the final product looks like…

You’re done!  Make sure to test out your links to see if they take you to the right places.  :)

Do you have a question you want me to answer?  Leave a comment!

Free eBook:

• "Memories that Endure are Moments that Matter", get it when you sign up for the Tip Junkie newsletter.

One of my favorite details! My sister and I thrifted for pillow cases and fabric to make the napkins (she made them;) Then we added tags that spelled LEMON in different languages.

Carrie has hooked everyone up with the full menu, party decorations, and party favors.  I absolutely adore how the yellow pops in the park.  What a wonderful way to thank a great friend.

Free eBook:

• "Memories that Endure are Moments that Matter", get it when you sign up for the Tip Junkie newsletter.