OK… now you’ve got the mailing addresses of all your lovely friends, family members, and random people you like to send greeting cards to… but how are you going to make them save you more time in your holiday routine??

By creating [...]]]> [here is the previous post about gathering addresses for your holiday cards]

OK… now you’ve got the mailing addresses of all your lovely friends, family members, and random people you like to send greeting cards to… but how are you going to make them save you more time in your holiday routine??

By creating a mail merge of course!

Part 2) Using Mail Merge to Print your Envelopes – a step-by-step guide to making mail merge do all of your heavy envelope writing for you… even using pretty fonts and color!

Open up a new document in Microsoft Word (I’m using Office ‘07 in this example), and browse to the “Mailings” tab.

Look for the button labeled “Start Mail Merge.” Click and select “Envelopes” from the list of choices. (Notice that you can also do this with Labels, if you’re so inclined! Just follow the same steps, and you can populate a whole list of labels from your database of names!)

The window below will pop up and ask you for specific information about your envelopes. Choose the correct size of envelope, and make sure that the feed settings match those of your printer. [hint: look on your printer paper holder – it usually has an envelope icon that will point you in the right direction] Don’t worry about the font settings, as we can change those when we are editing the envelope itself.

And what you’ll end up with is something that looks like this below! I’ve hit CNTL-A (Select All) to show you where the text boxes are that you can edit in blue…. notice that they give you an area for the return address and the main addressee.

Now we’ll need to go back to our holiday database and export all of our address information so that we can import it into Word.

We will export the data by logging into your Google Documents folder, selecting the file, then navigating to FILE –> Download As –> CSV (current sheet).

Save the file in a handy location for the next step.

Now we are going to import the file into Word. From the Mailings tab, Click on “Select Recipients” and then “Use Existing List…”

Find the file that you just exported (hint: it ends in *.csv) and select it.

The following window will pop up on the screen. Leave the settings alone and click, “Ok.”

Congratulations! You’ve just imported your contact list into Microsoft Word!  Now… to actually use it as a mail merge data file we have to do a few more steps.

Go ahead and fill in your return address information by clicking in the upper left text box. This information will stay the same on all of your envelopes.

Then… Click in the middle area to find the center text box. This is where we’re going to enter the merged data!

Click on “Insert Merge Field.” All of the labels from your database will be available to you! Select one at a time to insert them into your envelope text box.

For my envelope, I chose the fields below.

Notice that they’re also formatted as I’d like them on the envelope. You can now use all of the options you want from the Home tab to customize your address. You can change the fonts and sizes, center the text, and make it any color you want!

Once you’ve made all of the adjustments to the text that you’d like, you can see what it will look like with the REAL information filled in!

Select the “Mailings” tab, and click on “Preview Results.” 

You can flip through all of the records using the arrows in the “Next/Previous Record” box. Go ahead and scroll through all of them to make sure that there aren’t any issues with the formatting you’ve selected and your database records (i.e. sometimes certain names look funny).

If everything looks good, then you’re ready to print out your envelopes!

From the “Mailings” tab, click on the far right button labeled, “Finish and Merge.” Select “Print Documents.”

When the following window pops up, you’ll have the option of printing all of your envelopes at once, or selecting a certain range (hint: I like to print 4-5 envelopes at a time, so that my printer doesn’t accidentally jam, or if one of them gets messed up).

And there you have it!

Now think of all the fun things you can add to your holiday cards because you won’t be spending time writing addresses on all of them! I’ll admit that one of my pet peeves of the new photo card is simply that people plop it in an envelope and don’t even sign it or say anything…. maybe this will let you at least have the wrist dexterity to write a small note!

And think of all the amazing fonts that you can use to dress up any plain envelope!!!

Happy card holidays everyone!

So we’ve talked about finding pretty holiday cards… but what about the pain of actually sending them out?

If you’re like me… you don’t have any actual printed copy of everyone’s address in one place. They’re all scattered among various “Contact Lists” in various programs, they’re scribbled on pieces [...]]]>
[source: bookgrl]

So we’ve talked about finding pretty holiday cards… but what about the pain of actually sending them out?

If you’re like me… you don’t have any actual printed copy of everyone’s address in one place. They’re all scattered among various “Contact Lists” in various programs, they’re scribbled on pieces of paper, and maybe you know where your friends lived last year but they’ve moved yet again and you deleted the email with the important “I’ve moved” details. Sometimes I’m truly jealous of my mom’s archaic physical address book… but then I remember all the white-out and post-it notes inside and I’m happy to have my digital mismatch in place.

But last year, before the holidays, I decided to truly organize the madness and make an organized “Christmas card list” once and for all. You know, one I could use over and over and over again! And guess what, I did it for my mom too… how nifty am I? Seriously…

And you know what else I did with it?  I used it to digitally print ALL of our holiday envelopes in a fraction of the time it would have taken me to write them out. Leaving me time to actually write a note on my cards instead of sticking them in the envelope plain… Lovely, huh?

So now there’s no panic about preparing my cards this year. I just need to order stamps, focus on designing the cards, and know that they’ll all be out in mail just a couple days later!

And to help you alleviate some of the stress of your holiday season (in case you still believe in sending cards to others) I’d love to show you how I did all of this last year, using only Google Docs & Microsoft Word!

There are two parts to this tutorial….

[today’s post] Part 1) Gathering Addresses – a really easy way to grab your friends physical addresses through email! (you can input the rest that you have at the end)

[tomorrow’s post] Part 2) Using Mail Merge to Print your Envelopes – a step-by-step guide to making mail merge do all of your heavy envelope writing for you… even using pretty fonts and color!

So without further adieu… here we go!

Part 1: Gathering the Addresses

In order to use MAIL MERGE, you need to have the components of your addresses in a spreadsheet form. Therefore, if you gather them into a spreadsheet, you save yourself the trouble and time of transferring that information into the proper format at the end.

This is where Google Docs comes in VERY handy.

First, login to your Google account. Navigate to “Documents” on the top black navigation bar.

Once you’re there, click on the red CREATE button on the left hand side, and select “Form.”

This will create a new “Form” document where you can collect addresses from your friends and family members and random acquaintances.

You’ll want to customize your form to gather all of the information you need. Enter the name of your form in the top box (listed as Untitled form) and fill in any information you’d like. I named mine “Holiday Card Information” and stated that I was collecting addresses for our annual holiday cards.

Then proceed to create your question boxes.

You’ll want to have “Questions” for all of the address variables you’re collecting (i.e. Name, Address, City, State, Zip).

To add additional Question boxes, click on “Add item” and select “Text.”

Once you’ve completed your form (see mine below), you are ready to send it out to friends and family!!

Just copy the link on the bottom of the screen and paste it into an email, tell your friends what you’re doing and why they need to click on the link, and you’re ready to go!

When they visit your form, they’ll see this:

Once they enter their information and “Submit” their form… all of that info goes straight into your spreadsheet within Google Docs!

Just go back to Documents and click to open the Form you created, and you’ll see this:

Each person who submits a form will show up as a new row. And if you need to enter names manually, from lists that you already have, just follow the pattern and enter the information as you need to across a row. The “Form” is smart, and will always enter in new information it collects on the next row down, so don’t worry about it accidentally overwriting any manual entries.

And after a few days, you’ll have a whole list of people’s addresses ready to go!

What do you do with them now? Well… you print them on your envelopes silly!

And I’ll explain that easy process tomorrow…

Last night was a pretty geeky night for Mr. M and I. We went to “The Lord of the Rings: In Concert” at PowerBalance Arena, and watched the entire theatrical release (if you’re a true LOTR nerd, you know why I say this) of “The Fellowship of the Ring” as it [...]]]>

Last night was a pretty geeky night for Mr. M and I. We went to “The Lord of the Rings: In Concert” at PowerBalance Arena, and watched the entire theatrical release (if you’re a true LOTR nerd, you know why I say this) of “The Fellowship of the Ring” as it was accompanied by a live orchestra and chorale.

It was a belated b-day present for Mr. M, who I deemed an official LOTR groupie after attending this event. It can only get worse if we move to New Zealand and commission the creation of our own “giant size” Hobbit houses. (I kid I kid)

Anyhow, it was actually an amazing experience to watch the movie with the music at the forefront, and the actors words barely coming through. You had to rely on the subtitles for most of the dialogue, but in the end, you barely even noticed. Instead, your emotions soared up and down with the symphony, and that was just perfect.

Mr. M’s love of the LOTR score is pretty well ingrained within him, and I finally got him the boxed CD set from Fellowship for Christmas last year. (Sadly, the other sets are currently quite pricey, but allegedly they’re re-releasing all 3 score’s in honor of the 10-year anniversary of the premiere of Fellowship! — If you’re interested, you can however get a copy of the newly released, “The Lord of the Rings Symphony” which is a selection of music from the full 12-hour score performed as a symphony.)  So this was an extra special treat, to watch the performers and see what it really takes to create the amazing music behind the films.

This is actually our second such “fan” event, as we went to see Video Games LIVE! a few years back at the Hollywood Bowl… and I had quite a few friends indulge in Star Wars In Concert this year as well. And, to be honest, it’s truly a wonderful way to enjoy live orchestral music if you’re not a fan of doing so in the performance hall.

And… we didn’t even have to dress up as elves (like the folks seated in our row) to enjoy it!

You may have read all about them in the New York Times, Engadget or maybe this is the first time you’ve seen this boxy little thing.

I’m not going to lie. I want one of these Lytro cameras. BADLY. And for absolutely no good reason.

That’s why I know [...]]]>  

You may have read all about them in the New York Times, Engadget or maybe this is the first time you’ve seen this boxy little thing.

I’m not going to lie. I want one of these Lytro cameras. BADLY. And for absolutely no good reason.

That’s why I know it’s bound to be the “oh my gosh you have everything so why don’t you get one of these” gifts of the 2011 holiday season. Because when you yearn for gadgetry that is so darn cool but isn’t necessarily needed (hello people who are upgrading their iPhone 4’s to 4S’s), it’s bound to cause an illogical ruckus.

So what does this weird little camera do? Well… instead of capturing just the light that you’ve instructed it to capture in that instance, it captures all of the light possible. ALL OF THE LIGHT. And then you can manipulate your pictures later on your computer to choose the composition you want.

Don’t worry about focusing on a subject. You’ll chose how you want the picture to focus later. Just snap the photo and go. And when you upload it online, your viewers can choose how they want to focus the image as well. Just check out the example above, or in the photo gallery. Click on the photo and refocus it how ever you’d like!

Essentially, you have no more shutter and focusing delay. It’s the picture available the exact instant you want it. Weird, huh?

Oh… and the images are inherently 3-D too. So soon you’ll be able to show them on your 3-D TV and wow your friends with really cool slideshows of random family vacations. (this is an upcoming feature…)

And while I realize how revolutionary this is and crazy cool in tech terms, I have absolutely no practical application for it whatsoever in my real life.

I’m thinking that the true gift of Lytro is that it’s the gamechanger… the technology that will catapult digital cameras into being more than just digital replicas of film cameras.

But yeah… I kinda want to still have one and be super cool.

If you’re thinking about getting one, they’re $399 for the 350 picture model or $499 for 750 pictures.

It’s no hidden mystery and Mr. M and I like our video games. And while we have a few crossover favorites, I tend to enjoy more situational games and long-term strategy rather than shoot-em-up or sports games. But, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a little combat in my games too. I think [...]]]>

It’s no hidden mystery and Mr. M and I like our video games. And while we have a few crossover favorites, I tend to enjoy more situational games and long-term strategy rather than shoot-em-up or sports games. But, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a little combat in my games too. I think it’s why there are so many female MMORPG players out there… because as long as you make the game about something more than combat, we’ll be invested in whatever we need to do. [p.s. yes, six years later the Mr. and I are still playing that WOW thing… I blame the holiday events and the pets]

So when I happened upon a chance to Beta test a new MMO game called Fleck, I was highly intrigued. Why? Because not only can you grow a garden, dance with friends, and complete quests, but you can also kill zombies!

Yup… it’s a grow your village game with automated combat. In essence, a pretty nice way to let off 5 minutes of steam instead of screaming out the window during the middle of the day!

It’s also set in the real world instead of the imaginary one… so you actually interact with real maps and real locations! Your “hometown” can be any city in the United States that you want… and you can compete against other cities to make it yours the highest ranked in the game. Check it out… I bought prime ocean front real estate in my hometown:

Like most of these “Farmville”-like games, you basically just hang out where you live in Fleck, cultivate your little area, and help out your friends when needed. The added bonus here, is that you can actually team up with lots of other players for massive Zombie fights, can play different roles in the fight (i.e. be a healer), and hang out with your friends while they’re playing too. Now… that can be friends from real life, or the ones who just randomly ask for your help in the chat room.

All in all, it’s a pretty fun little game and has some different quirks that make it a nice change of pace from complex games or all of the dribble that clogs up Facebook. And… if you have an iPad, you can play it on there too!

There is something amazingly comforting about playing an MMO… not sure if it’s just the fact that you know there are other people out there and see them in real time playing along with you… or that you don’t feel so alone in reaching out for a few minutes of silliness that means absolutely nothing every now and then.

So if you don’t want to be sucked into facebook after you spend a few minutes playing a game, head to Fleck and try it out! And if you do join, you can add me as a friend: kim_michelle!

Thank you again to Self Aware Games for sponsoring this blog post. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.

#CleverFleck #spon

However, with this lovely chart, “The Illustrious Omnibus of Superpowers,” created by Pop [...]]]> If you’re like me, you might forget all of the wonderous powers that various Comic Book superheroes possess, and therefore might find yourself in the embarrassing position of improperly critiquing the latest summer thriller and the impossibility of such actions. (Ooops!)

However, with this lovely chart, “The Illustrious Omnibus of Superpowers,” created by Pop Chart Labs, I think that might be less of an issue.

So choose to study it if you like, or just buy it as a gift for the amazing geek in your life who will hang it in their office as a chemistry teacher would hang their periodic table…

Poster – $25

[Thank you Fanboy.com]

1) Fab.com

Really… FAB is truly fabulous if you enjoy quirky/fun design stuff. Today, they’ve got fun stuff from Fred & Friends, last week they featured those awesome [...]]]> Here are two quick tweets from yesterday… with some pretty cool information that I figured I should share on the blog as well!

Really… FAB is truly fabulous if you enjoy quirky/fun design stuff. Today, they’ve got fun stuff from Fred & Friends, last week they featured those awesome girl-power posters I talked about last year, and who knows what’s around the corner! It may not be insanely practical, but it’s lots and lots of fun!

If you’d like to join fab.com (it’s a members-only daily sample sale), just click here for your invite!

2) Pinterest – who pinned what of yours?

This has been a pet peeve of the Pinterest.com system since it began… tracking down who has pinned what of yours! But now… problem solved!

Just put the following string into your browser and you’ll find out:

http://www.pinterest.com/source/________.com

i.e. http://www.pinterest.com/source/kimberlymichelle.com

Fill in the __________.com with your website, blog site, or anyone’s site and see all the pins that pop up! (be sure to leave off the www if you have it!)

[p.s. if you still need an invite to Pinterest, just leave a note here and make sure you fill in your email, and I’ll send one your way!]

A few months back, I was inundated with emails from all of these daily group-buying websites, and even after setting up an email filter to sort them out of my inbox, I felt [...]]]> You might Groupon, or Live Social (at livingsocial.com) or perhaps you Zozi too? But… do you Groolu?

A few months back, I was inundated with emails from all of these daily group-buying websites, and even after setting up an email filter to sort them out of my inbox, I felt overwhelmed. And then Groolu came along.

Deals from the sites above, for my city, all in a quick and easy place to glance at and then resume the rest of my life.

Just pick your city from the main menu (or the city that you’re visiting soon on vacation)…

… and then see all of the deals available that day, along with the countdown timer for when they expire!

Click on the links you want to buy… ignore the rest. Browse the deals in your best friend’s city and send her an email on what she’s missing out on that day.

But whatever you do, stop wasting minutes opening and sorting through emails from these sites every day for no reason at all!

Happy Friday everyone! Have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend!