Typing in Circles (How to Insert Special Characters)

Do you ever stroll (actually roll) though the 'Insert Special Character' section of your word processing program?  Who has the time, right?!  Well, apparently one night I did (or I made the time by staying up WAY past my bedtime).  As much as my tired eyes burned, I have to tell you, I found some gems!  There are some really fun, easy ways to add that extra special touch to anything you type.  Today, I'm going to show you how to type letters in a circle.

This is a quote I typed up for my birthday memory board.  I did a whole post on birthday traditions over at Or So She Says earlier this week.  You can check it out here.  I made six birthday printable quotes in my post, so head on over and print away!

So, back to 'Inserting Special Characters'.  I use Apache Open Office 3.  You can download it here for free.  If you have a different word processing program, I'm sure the steps are about the same.  Here's where I start.  Open up a text document.  Once it's opened, look at the top of your document for 'Insert'.  Click on 'Insert', and a drop down menu will appear.  Then, click on 'Special Character'.  

A box like this should appear.  My Open Office default font is Times New Roman, so that's the font that appears in the box.

We don't want to use Times New Roman, because it doesn't have the letters in circles.  What we want to use is GungSeo (interesting name- I know).  Click on the box where Times New Roman appears, and a drop down menu should come up.  Scroll up until you see GungSeo.  Click on it.  (BTW, you will only see GungSeo in the 'Special Characters' window if you have it as a font in your word processing program.  My Open Office came with this font.  If you don't have GungSeo, you can download it here for free.)

Once you've clicked on GungSeo, your widow will look like this.  See any letters in circles (besides the copyright sign)?  Not yet.  Scroll down a bit and you will.

My letters (and numbers!) show up after about four scrolls down.  

Now you just need to select (by clicking on them) the letters you want to use in your document.  You can select 33 letters at one time.  As you select them, they'll show up in the bottom part of your window next to Characters:.  For the birthday quote, my window would look like this.

Once you've selected the letters you want, click on OK.  Your letters should appear in your text document now.  Once the letters are in your document, you can change the size or color, copy them, paste them, center, add other fonts to them, whatever you'd like.

Here's a few other ideas with the letters in circles. 

Check out the fonts Hiragino Kaku Gothi and Hiragion Mincho Pro- they also have letters in circles.  Be careful!  Once you get looking at you special characters, you might be up all night like me :).  

I hope you found a little something worth your time.  I think the letters in the circles are a lot of fun!  Oh, and if you'd like to print out the Dr. Seuss quote, click here.

Linking to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Favorite No Bake Cookies

Have you ever gone to make a recipe, and realized you didn't have a good one for it?  That happened to me with banana bread not too long ago, and recently with no bake cookies. I found this recipe from Food Network, and I can't tell you how many times I've made it since then.  They're a HUGE hit with kids (and husbands), and so easy!  I love how they don't hog up the oven when I have dinner cooking.  I can whip these up on the stove top in no time, and have a yummy, easy, crowd-pleasing dessert.

Here's the recipe for you.  Click here to print it.

ENJOY!

Snowflake Symmetrical Art

In one of my very first posts, I mentioned my cooperating teacher my first year at Aspen Elementary was Mrs. Linda Lewis.  She was an amazing teacher, and had so many great art projects!  This was one of them.  It not only involves art, but symmetry as well.  We did it for Valentine's Day (using hearts) when I taught, but the end result is always so stunning that I had to adapt it for other holidays.   Here's a winter version for you.  

Supplies

*12 x 12 piece of card stock

*snowflake cut outs (in varying sizes, colors, and designs)

*Winter Lace Cricut Cartridge (optional, but SO handy!)
*pencil

*yard stick

*glue

How To

*Cut out your  snowflakes (mine range in size from 1- 3 inches).
*Draw a large X on your card stock using a pencil and yardstick.

*Then, the fun part!  Lay out your snowflake design on the penciled X.  It's fun to play around with the different configurations and layering.  I usually start with a larger snowflake in the middle and work out from there.  Remember to keep it symmetrical.  
*When you're happy with your design, glue all your snowflakes into place.

You can adapt the size and color of your paper and snowflakes to make this project much bigger, or smaller.  Experiment and see what you like.  The one below is what my six-year-old twins came up with. 

Be sure to check back next month for the Valentine's Day version of this project.
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Here's your Tuesday quote.  
(I decided to start making printables of the Tuesday quotes.  What good is a quote if it sits here on my site?  So, go print one out for yourself and put it somewhere you'll see it.   Click here to print today's quotes.)  

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Some Big News!

Okay, so it might not be big news to everyone, or anyone but me, but I have to share.  Last month I sent an e-mail to Mariel at Or So She Says about guest posting on her site.  I knew it was a far shot, but trying can't hurt- right?  Well, guess what?  She was kind enough to give me the opportunity to be one of her new contributors for this year.  I am the Family Time Contributor at Or So She Says.  I'm still pinching myself!  I will be there the second Monday of every month.  My first post is over there today, so go take a look.  It's all about my favorite birthday traditions.  

Thank you, Mariel for the wonderful opportunity!

P.S.  Here's a sneak peak of what you can find in my birthday traditions post. 



Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Winter Wonderland (& Printable)

It started snowing yesterday afternoon here, and didn't quit until late last night.  This is what it looked like this morning.  A winter wonderland!  

I sometimes get anxious for the snow to be gone once Christmas is over, but when it looks like this I can't complain.  

Here's a printable for you in honor of the snow today!  If you have snow where you live, go find yourself a reason to be out in it.  

Happy Friday!

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Banana Bread Split

My mother-in-law came up with this idea a few weeks ago when we were needing something for dessert.  We had banana bread on hand, so she thought it would be good to add banana split ice cream on top of it.  It was delicious!  Then we added caramel sauce on top, and it was even more delicious!  If you're in need of a new kind of dessert, give this one a try.  I promise it won't disappoint!

Sour Cream Banana Bread

+

Banana Split Ice Cream

+

 Caramel Topping

We used a Kroger brand of banana split ice cream, but I'm sure any kind would be good.  Mrs. Richardson's is my favorite store-bought caramel sauce, but here is my very favorite homemade caramel sauce.  

ENJOY!

Snowman Game & Printable

There seemed to be quite a bit of interest in the Roll a Christmas Tree game I posted about last moth, so I decided we needed a snowman one.  Snowmen are perfect for this game!  I had a hard time deciding which snowman elements to use in the game.  I couldn't fit all of the ones in I wanted to.  There is the 'Add your own item' when  you roll a number nine, so anything that I left out could be used on that roll.

    

My boys and I played the game yesterday (I had sick boys- well one sick twin, the other couldn't go to school without him).  Some of us got a bit more elaborate with our snowmen than others.  It's always fun so see how different each snowman turns out.

I hope you enjoy the game.  I know we always do.  The fun thing is we play it over and over and our snowmen are different each time.  I'm thinking we need to start a snowman wall to display all of the ones we've made. 

Click here for the instruction sheet.  Happy snowman making!