Free Shaun T. Workout on Dr. Oz

Fitness trainer Shaun T., known for his Insanity workouts, was on Dr. Oz this past February.  He shared his 3 steps to getting your best body back and a short workout. 

Shaun T's Miracle 15-Minute Workout is at the top of my fantastic list-- it really gets my heart pumpin' and forehead sweatin'!  It's important to first watch the exercise demonstration in parts 3 and 4 of the episode.  Get movin'! ☺

Free Owly Comics Downloads

Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) is in May when artists like Andy Runton, author of Owly graphic novels, have free comic booklets at comic book stores.  This year I planned to have my kids and husband head to the comic book store down the street so we could add more Owly goodness to our collection!  Unfortunately we all forgot since we were preoccupied with a newborn.  Thank goodness Andy is kind enough to share free PDF downloads of Owly FCBD fun!  You can also order FCBD Owly booklets from past years for cheap + shipping (US Media Mail $4.95) from Top Shelf (scroll all the way down)!

Not sure what graphic novels are and if they're right for your kids?  Read Using Graphic Novels with Children and Teens on Scholastic's website.  It says "graphic novels have emerged as a growing segment of book publishing, and have become accepted by librarians and educators as mainstream literature for children and young adults—literature that powerfully motivates kids to read."

Snap a Poladroid

My parents had a Polaroid Camera and I always thought it was interesting how the film developed and how the pictures looked.  Believe it or not, someone has created a free application that mimics a Polaroid using digital photos!!  Poladroid Image Maker can be downloaded to your computer really quickly so you can start snapping some poladroids!!  I found out about this photo fun while browsing through This Mama Makes Stuff.

Amanda's Free Fonts

Look no further than kevinandamanda.com for a huge selection of free fonts for scrapbooking and more!  Amanda provides step-by-step instructions on how to download and install the fonts and she can even turn your handwriting into a font!  I use Pea So Lovely font for my post titles (credited on the left sidebar) and I love it!  The doodles fonts are really fun too!  It's important to read her terms of use before you use a font from her site.

* spring image created with fonts A Little Pot & Pea Tisha's Doodles

10 Cute Printable Paper Dolls

These cute paper dolls would be fun for lots of things: a SUMMER car trip, *fridge magnets, boredom activity for a rainy or snowy day, little girl birthday gift, party activity or favor, stocking stuffer (*in a little magnetic tin), etc..  All of the free printable paper dolls are for non-commercial use.  *One Pearl Button has a Magnetic Paper Doll tutorial.

Wee Wonderfuls has download freebies (mostly patterns)!

paper doll (1)

Patty Reed Designs has 6 printable dolls! (2)

 

Babalisme has many free printables (*memory game made with her reindeer tags).  If you place your cursor over a download link on her blog and the link shows in the bottom left of the computer screen as going to ziddu I would caution you to not go there.  Babalisme has changed her hosting site to Scribd (only a few links are still ziddu) and it's a much nicer site.  You will have to sign up and skip past a couple of 'offers' before the download will happen.  It's worth the trouble though!  Her paper dolls are really sweet!

fairy tale paper doll (3)

Halloweenie dress-up boy and girl (4)

Santas's little helpers and decorate a tree (5)

Kireei has free printable stickers and paper dolls.  The site is in spanish but all you need to do is click on 'english' under the image and then 'download'. (found via How About Orange)

Clementina (6)

Terri Pettit has a whole page of paper doll links that she's scanned; she created the Vector Strawberry Shortcake. (found via How About Orange)

Little Kiddles (7)

Vector Strawberry Shortcake (8)

The Graphics Fairy has many vintage paper dolls. (9)

Wee Life has paper dolls with clothes and Halloween costumes to color! (10)

This Mama Makes Stuff made a cute Fabric Scrap Paper Doll Kit.  (I had to include this, even though it's (11) and there's no printable for her sweet and simple doll, because it's such a fantastic idea.)  A little metal box would be perfect for storing regular and magnetic paper dolls.

• This top ten eleven paper doll list is linked to Top Ten {Tuesday} on Oh Amanda.  The dolls listed are in no particular order!  **part 2: black-and-white printable paper dolls

Owly Animated Short and Free Comic Book Day

-Image from wallpaper download on spriteanimation.com-

I raved about the graphic novel series Owly by Andy Runton last September.  Last night we read Owly • A Time to Be Brave again (we own this book but have read other Owly volumes from our library) requested by my 3¾ yr. old.  He didn't want me to stop after a few pages so we read it all the way through in 45 minutes.

I visited AndyRunton.com after getting Owly happy and discovered I had missed a really cute thing last year.  In late July '09 Owly's first animated short was debuted!  Any kid will love watching it!  It's so adorable and really short (1½ min.)!  After I watched the short I downloaded a free Owly desktop wallpaper like the image pictured above.  Too cute! 

Free Comic Book Day is the first Saturday in May!  There may be a chance you could get a free Owly and Friends Comic at a participating store near you!