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Labor Day is straight ahead, and that means it’s Back to School season for kids, teachers, and administrators. The new school year creates the opportunity for dozens of new milestones. Below you’ll find a few milestones from a variety of categories that might be created this fall…

• Spelling Bee Winner (Awards)
• Dean’s List or Honor Roll (Awards)
• Fall Festival (Events)
• Football Champions (Athletics)
• Tenure Awards (Professional)
• ROTC News (Military)

We realize the road to these wonderful milestones can be uphill at times, so here are a few words of wisdom to get you in the right mood as the new school year begins!

• “But there are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret.”  –Ronald Reagan
• “The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think – rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.” -Bill Beattie
• “To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks.” –A.A. Milne
• “Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.”  -Aristotle

We also asked a few folks to sum up school in 1-3 words. Here are a few of their responses…

• “Windows, not mirrors.”  -Terri
• “Necessary Money Pit.”  -Adam
• “Tough, fun, interesting.”  -Jenn
• “Necessary, consuming, silly.”  -Nicole

One of our followers who is currently in law school sums up education like this: “Windows, not mirrors.”

Good luck, everyone, and don’t forget that apple for the teacher!

There are lots of different options when it comes to purchasing cards and invitations. Why not save yourself some (or a lot) of money by tapping into your own creative genius?

Invitation possibilities are endless. I’m going to outline a few ideas to get you started but I encourage you to think outside the box and come up with your own variations!

Supplies you may need:

• Colored construction paper
• Glue (glue sticks and bottled glue)
• Glitter
• Scissors (regular and craft scissors that cut in patterns)
• Scrap-booking paper (comes in all different designs and patterns)
  *If your budget is tight, try flipping through some magazines; you’d be surprised what creative patterns and colors you can find!

Image credit: www.sharpeningshack.net, www.cailun.info/

The Basics

Start with the details of your party. Create a Word document with all the information about the party and print out as many as you will need. Plan your design out in advance. That way if you don’t want to use white paper you can print onto colored paper that corresponds with your theme. Remember, people need to be able to read these so it’s smart to just use plain colored paper for this step. You should also make sure that it’s a light enough color that people will be able to read your text against it.

*In the next few examples you’re instructed to cut your paper. If you’re having trouble getting straight lines with scissors, try using an X-acto knife and a ruler. Put your paper on a protected surface (cutting board, cardboard, or even an old magazine), place the edge of the ruler where you want to make your cut, then put your X-acto knife up to the ruler and slice along its edge.

Layered Design:

Layers are a great way to add detail to your cards.  Glue your party details to colored construction paper, then cut that out leaving a little bit showing for a border. Next glue that to a piece of paper with a design or pattern, and instead of cutting in a straight line try using the craft scissors to cut in zig zags. You can then add two more construction paper borders behind that.

Ribbon Design:

Ribbon can be an elegant addition to your cards. Print your details, then mount them on one or two pieces of construction paper, letting the edges hang over as a border. Then glue that to a piece of craft paper with a design (I used polka dots in my example). Cut a strip of paper taller than the height of your ribbon and glue that across the top of your card. Next cut a piece of ribbon double the width of your card. Find the middle of that piece and tie your bow. Center the bow on the strip of paper you just added and glue it down (bottled glue will work better than a glue stick). You can either trim your ribbon at the edges or fold it around and glue it to the back. If you decide to fold over to the back you may want to glue a piece of construction paper over the back of your card to hide the ribbon’s ends.

*Your ribbon doesn’t have to run across the top of your card. Try placing it vertically up the side, or off center on the bottom.

Glitter Design:

Depending on the theme of your party you may want to add a little glitz and glam to your cards. First you need to find a design or pattern that you want to add your glitter to. Find an image you like online and print it out (printing onto colored paper may look better than printing on white). You may want to bring your image into a Word document so you can control where it will print on your paper. Cut this into the size you want to use for your cards and set it aside. Next print your party details; you may want to use another color for this paper. Mount it on construction paper twice, leaving the edges for a border when you cut.  Take your background design you had printed before and glue your details on.

Now you need to deicde where you want your glitter accents to be. Use bottled glue to fill in the shape where you want the glitter to appear (If you don’t have enough control using the bottle you can pour your glue into a bowl and use a small brush to make your shape). When you’re done, pour the glitter onto your card. Make sure to cover all your glue, then flip the card and tap to remove the access glitter. You can once more mount your card onto construction paper or leave it as is.

Now go start creating! Follow my examples or mix and match techniques to create memorable invitations for your milestone-making events!

Today is United States Air Force Day, a time to honor the sacrifices and achievements of our brave men and women in uniform. The USAF is the aerial branch of the US Army, and it was created on September 18, 1947. Thousands of manned and unmanned aircraft fly through the sky to protect our nation and her interests abroad, and we’d like to take a moment to salute these service members for their hard work and dedication to the United States.

The seeds of the USAF were sewn during World Wars I and II, and the department has since been involved in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Iran Hostage Rescue mission, and multiple humanitarian endeavors around the globe.

The xtra xtra team invites you to join us in honoring the US Air Force and salute their service. Take a moment to thank a service member today, and remember that you can also post a military milestone on xtra xtra to honor an Air Force airman in your community!