Kodak Free Photo Magnet

The Saving Cents Together blog put me onto this free photo magnet deal from Kodak Gallery online. The normally $3.99 photo magnet is free with coupon code FREEMAGNET -- all you have to pay is the $1 shipping. This makes a perfect stocking stuffer for the total cost of one dollar -- how often does that happen? And you can get it for anyone: spouse, child, grandparent, boyfriend or girlfriend, and so on.

I mentioned in a post a while back that I always keep photos "on deck" so I can take advantage of such specials as they come up. So I just got a magnet of one of our kitties who has been feeling underrepresented in our family photo-wise. (A few of our cats are extremely photogenic while a few others -- we have many! -- seem to have demon eyes in every picture no matter how we take it. So we tend to have lots of photos of some and hardly any of others.) It's nice because you can also put a name or short caption on the photo magnet.

I have no idea how long this promotion will last, so I suggest taking advantage of it quickly!

What: Kodak Free Photo Magnet
Where: KodakGallery.com
How much (as of today's post): free ($1.00 shipping)

Free Sheet Music from The Mutopia Project

The day after Christmas is probably the hardest day of the year to come up with an appropriate stocking stuffer post! Presumably we're still so stuffed with turkey and ham and cookies and other Christmas goodies that a post about a food stocking stuffer is right out! And the last thing I want to do is think about shopping today!

In any case, here is something that I've wanted to post about as a possible last minute stocking stuffer, but I hesitated because I haven't quite figured out the file formats that you receive. But now that it's not "last minute", for this year, anyway, you have some time to explore this site and file it away for future reference if you would like. This is The Mutopia Project website, which provides free downloads of sheet music, mostly classical music that is in the public domain, but also some modern and contemporary music that the rights owners have chosen to make available. As of today, The Mutopia Project has 1,628 pieces of music available.

As with other "downloaded" stocking stuffers (digital stamps, free coloring pages, PDF patterns for crafters purchased from Etsy, etc.), you can either print these out and roll them up like a scroll for your recipient's stocking, or load them onto a flash drive for a stocking stuffer that does double duty. As I mentioned, the site takes a little getting used to; pieces may be arranged for voice, piano, string quartet, etc., and there are several file types, many of them zipped. But I still think it's a nice idea for the musician in your life.

What: Free Downloadable Sheet Music
Where: The Mutopia Project
How much (as of today's post): free!

E-Books that Don't Need Readers

There's lots in the news about e-book readers these days -- Barnes & Noble is having trouble delivering their Nook on time, Amazon has had some problems with Kindle content, and so on. But if you're caught today without a stocking stuffer for someone, how about some e-books that don't need readers? Several e-book suppliers offer PDF formatted e-books, which can be read on any computer with the free Acrobat reader -- which means they can be read on almost any computer. Here are two sources for e-books that you can load onto a flash drive for one last stocking stuffers:

• Fictionwise has a handy advanced search screen that lets you limit by format, including PDF. Plus you can use the pull-down menus to limit by genre/category and publisher, and you can even fill in a price range. There are even issues of fiction magazines such as Asimov's, Analog, and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Prices vary, but many are cheaper than buying a paperback.
  
  
• I've mentioned Girlebooks once before -- this is a wonderful website that both sells e-books, and offers many for free, including lots of classics by women writers (think Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, and so on). And it's a little thing, but I love that they give each e-book it's own unique "cover". I have gotten tons of free e-books from this site and I've even bought one or two. They're available in many format, including PDF.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!



What: E-Books that Don't Need Readers
Where: various websites
How much (as of today's post): some free, other prices vary

Free Halloween Coloring Pages from Land O'Lakes

Free is always good, right? And things on the internet are great for those of us who leave things to the last minute! So here is a link to the Land O'Lakes website, which has several free Halloween coloring pages that you can download as PDF files. These have so many possible uses!

• Something to keep your own kiddos busy on Saturday when you're rushing around trying to finish up errands before trick-or-treat or party time.
  
  
• Something you can tie up in a scroll with black or orange curling ribbon, to surprise your kids with at the breakfast table on Saturday.
  
  
• And last but not least, if you're a stamper or crafter, you might utilize portions of these pages as digital stamps, to color in yourself for cards, tags, or Halloween treat bags. I especially like the page with the three little trick-or-treaters dressed as a witch, a cat, and a pirate. These little cuties aren't quite as adorable as the Anya and Ian stamps from the Greeting Farm, or Bella and Bronte from Mo's Digital Pencil Too, but they're really pretty darn cute and I can just see them on cards!

[NOTE: I first came across these freebies at Nicole's Nickels. Also, please note these images are copyrighted, so make sure you credit the Land O'Lakes site and don't send them around willy-nilly -- send people to the Land O'Lakes website instead!]

What: Free Halloween Coloring Pages from Land O'Lakes
Where: Land O'Lakes website
How much (as of today's post): free!

Free E-book Downloads from Girlebooks

Can you believe it's already August? Wow, this year is flying by!

Today's stocking stuffer is almost free, it's do-it-yourself, and it's something you can do at the very last minute if you get caught short. All you need is a flash drive, which is the part that isn't quite free. But maybe you have one on hand anyway -- I have at least six or seven of them that I've picked up various places.

Have you heard of Girlebooks? It's a website with the tagline "ebooks by the gals". Their stated goal is "to make classic and lesser-known works by female writers available to a large audience through the ebook medium." They provide many free downloads of ebooks that contain works that have entered into the public domain, and also provide links to ebooks by women that are for sale. If you're not familiar with the term "public domain," it means books for which the copyright has expired, meaning that anyone can reprint the book and sell it without having to pay the author or the author's estate. In other words, these are generally older books, but don't let that fool you into thinking they're uninteresting! Here's a sample of authors for whom Girlebooks offers selected free downloads:

• Louisa May Alcott
  
• Jane Austen
  
• Anne Brontë
  
• Charlotte Brontë
  
• Emily Brontë
  
• Willa Cather
  
• Agatha Christie
  
• Helen Keller
  
• L.M. Montgomery
  
• Dorothy Sayers
  
• Edith Wharton
  

The books are offered in multiple formats, including Adobe Reader PDF, eReader PDB, Microsoft Reader LIT, Mobipocket/Kindle PRC, and plain text. Unless you have a dedicated e-book reader, which I don't, PDFs are probably the best choice because just about every computer has a free PDF software, and if you don't already have it you can download it for free. I still generally prefer books in the printed form, but I have read a few books on the computer, especially at lunchtime at work, and found it easier and more pleasant than I thought it would be.

So back to the stocking stuffer aspect: all you have to do is take a flashdrive and download several books to it to have a great stocking stuffer for the book lover in your life. For instance, you could put all of Jane Austen's books on the flash drive: Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, and the lesser known Sandition and Other Stories. (Sandition is actually an unfinished novel, so they've collected some short stories into the same volume.) You can also take a shortcut by simply downloading Girlebooks' The Complete Works of Jane Austen as one file, but I actually like the idea of downloading them separately because Girlebooks has gone to the trouble of creating lovely covers for each of them. A flash drive filled with these books would make a lovely addition to a Jane Austen themed stocking (don't forget the Jane Austen action figure!), but it also stands on its own very nicely.

You could also do the same with L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables books, although unfortunately copyright restrictions prevent Girlebooks from providing one of the books in the series, Anne of Windy Poplars. It seems odd, but copyright law is extremely complicated and these kinds of oddities do occur. For Agatha Christie, only two of her dozens of books are available so far (The Secret Adversary and The Mysterious Affair at Styles), but you could combine them with the two Dorothy Sayers mysteries featuring her Lord Peter Wimsey character for a mystery-themed stocking stuffer. Or you could put all of Louisa May Alcott's books on the drive, or simply some combination of books by different authors. This would even work for a teen or tween girl, because you can get the classics Heidi, The Secret Garden, Little Women, What Katy Did, and at least the first three Anne of Green Gables books. I loved each of these books as a kid, and it's clear that they're enduring classics that each generation can discover anew.

You can conveniently browse the Girlebooks catalog by title, author, American literature, British literature, young adult, and new releases. And Girlebooks is constantly adding new free e-books to its catalog, so be sure to check back there, or subscribe to their updates so you don't miss anything!

Guest Blogging at "Look What Mom Found... And Dad Too"

Melinda and Rob of the Look What Mom Found... And Dad Too blog kindly let me write a guest post for them while they are on vacation. My post, about free samples from Dover Publications, which you can use to collect activity book pages for your kids and clip art for yourself, appears there, and only there, today!

While you're there, be sure to explore Melinda and Rob's blog in more detail. If you have kids, you find lots of useful reviews, tips, and even some giveaways. Have fun!

Printable Gift Boxes from "Don't Eat the Paste" Blog

In my opinion, the best way to write a good blog is to read a lot of other blogs. That means exploring constantly to see what's out there, and trust me, you'll discover wonderful things! One of the nicest things about the blogosphere is that so many creative people are willing to share. Sometimes they're sharing ideas, but lots of bloggers even share their creations for free, like Shala from Alaska, who shares beadwork patterns on her Shala's Beadwork site, and downloadable, printable gift boxes on her Don't Eat the Paste blog.

From a Christmas stocking perspective, Don't Eat the Paste is an absolute treasure trove! Shala has three pages of every occasion gift boxes, a page of printable cards, a page of gift bag shaped boxes, and my favorite, the page of holiday gift boxes. Most of the standard box patterns make 2.25 inch cubes -- the perfect size for stockings! They're intended to be printed in color on cardstock; then you cut and fold, then presto! Naturally, since they're made of cardstock, they're not indestructable, but if you put them at the top of the stocking, just peeking over the edge, they should be fine with a little treat or small gift inside.

There are designs suitable for everyone, like the yummy peppermint pattern shown above. There are even boxes that would be especially wonderful for boys or men, like the dreamy winterland fox shown right. Take your time looking around the site -- there are cone-shaped ornament boxes that can be filled with treats and placed on the Christmas tree, boxes designed especially to hold earrings, boxes meant for tea.... And make sure to bookmark the page to come back, because there are adorable Halloween and Easter designs too!

Special thanks to Shala for allowing me to post about her lovely work. Please note that the images shown here and on her site are copyrighted and cannot be reposted without permission, or used for commercial purposes. If you use Shala's work, please also consider making a small donation to help her support her websites -- it's not required, but there's a convenient Paypal donation button on the website.

DIY Ink Stamp Popsicle Stick Puppets

Lately I've been doing a lot of online searching for ideas on ink stamp crafts and homemade greeting cards, and I've been astounded at the wealth of creativity out there in the blogosphere. By far, my absolute favorite of all the posts I've seen is from Prairie Paper & Ink, by Amy Rysavy. This is another of those ideas that I never in a million years could have come up with myself, but once I saw it, I thought "But of course!"

The idea is do-it-yourself popsicle stick puppets made from ink stamps. Talk about an inexpensive but fun stocking stuffer! Amy used "Anya" stamps from The Greeting Farm company, but naturally you could use all manner of ink stamps for these puppets, or even just draw your own if you felt so inclined. Myself, I fell in love with the Anya stamps immediately, and ordered a few of my own to play with. As you can see from Amy's beautiful "puppet bouquet" above, Anya can take the form of a mermaid, a rock star, an angel, a fairy, a princess, and a schoolteacher. But those are only the ones Amy used -- Anya also comes as a nurse, cheerleader, ballerina, "Wild West" cowgirl, and more! Can you imagine the fun your kids would have making up stories to go with their puppet characters?

And never fear, The Greeting Farm isn't just all about girls. There's a boy character named Ian who comes as a football player, sheriff, surfer, fireman, astronaut, and more. So you can make puppets for girls or boys. And these little puppets would encourage just the kind of creative, imaginative play that I think is so important for children.

Amy's post about the puppets gives a lot more detail on just how she made them. And once you've arrived at her blog, spend some time exploring it to find amazing tutorials on ink stamping techniques. For instance, when I first started looking at ink stamp blogs, I was perplexed by all the references to "Copics", which are apparently the crème de la crème of markers. Amy not only has a post about her favorite paper and inks for working with Copics, she also has a video on her blog demonstrating how she shades and blends with them!

And if you are feeling the pinch of the economy and you can't buy Anya or other ink stamps just now, improvise: if you have some stamps already, see what might be suitable for puppets. Or ask your crafty friends if you can borrow some of their ink stamps, or get together for a popsicle-stick-puppet-making session. I have two ink stamps of spaceships that have to be at least 40 years old, but they could make a neat little popsicle stick spaceships that puppets could interact with.... (And don't worry if all your stamped images are not to scale with each other. Trust me, the kids won't care!)

Many thanks to Amy Rysavy of Prairie Paper & Ink for allowing me to post about her puppets!

Daily Extra: Free "Animals of the World" Coloring Book Pages

I just came across a link to this artist's page from a craft blog, and had to share! Australian artist Louise Elliott sells washable doll and animal kits, including her "Animals of the World" designs -- and for each one, she has a free downloadable coloring book page! She is also running a contest each month for kids to e-mail in their colored version of that month's animal, to be entered into a drawing to win the kit for that animal. But even if you don't want to enter the contest, kids should enjoy coloring these beautiful, unique pictures. And if you're crafty, you may enjoy making an animal from one of the kits.

Make sure to scroll down to see all of them! My personal favorite is the kangaroo, a portion of which is shown here. (Please remember that this image is copyrighted by the artist.)

I did a test print-out, and found that the following worked to get a nice full-sized coloring page:

• Right-click on the picture
  
• Choose "Save picture as..."
  
• Save the file to your computer as a jpg (and close the web page if you like)
  
• Go under "My computer" and locate the file where you just saved it
  
• Double-click the file name to open it
  
• Click "print". On my computer, this brought up a "Photo Printing Wizard". Click "next" and make sure the correct picture is selected, choose a printer, and choose one of the full-page printing options. Even if your computer doesn't have a "Photo Printing Wizard", you should hopefully still have an option to print the page at full size.

What: Free "Animals of the World" Coloring Book Pages
Where: Louise Elliott Design
How much (as of today's post): $0.00

Free Christmas coloring "book" pages to print!

So it's 3 a.m. between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, you inadvertently had a bit of eggnog with your brandy instead of a bit of brandy with your eggnog, your little ones will be waking up in oh, say, three hours, and their stockings aren't quite as filled up as you anticipated. What do you do?

If you've got computer, paper, and a printer, never fear: just print out some of these free Christmas-themed coloring book pages, roll into a tube, tie with a bit of ribbon, and presto! You've got a fun little stocking stuffer than can poke out of the top of the stocking looking all festive.

One tip for printing: each picture will print by itself on a page, but you will also get the website URL address at the bottom of the page, which tends to detract from the "coloring book" vibe. So I would recommend right-clicking the mouse on the picture, choosing "save picture as", and saving the picture to your computer. Then cut and paste it into a simple Word document and print it just like that, without the extraneous matter.

Merry Christmas!

What: Free Christmas coloring "book" pages
Where: free-coloring-pages.com
How much (as of today's post): $0.00 -- Merry Christmas!