gift

{Lifestyle Crafts} Shape ‘N Tape

January 21, 2013 Leave a Comment

**This week only, Lifestyle Crafts is offering a 50% discount as opposed to the regular 20% discount for my readers! Use the link on the sidebar and use code LADY**

I got a package in the mail! Love getting fun stuff in the mail. This time it was a bunch of fun stuff from Lifestyle Crafts to try out…two packs of their new Shape ‘N Tape and a Tape It cutting die kit. Um…FABULOUS! And it’s ON SALE this week!!! (see bottom of post)

First, let me say that I love washi tape. I’ve been hoarding it lately like I did Mrs. Grossman stickers when I was in elementary school. But, I have to say, this stuff is BETTER than regular washi tape! The Shape ‘N Tape is a pack of 5, 6″x12″ sheets of tape. SHEETS! So it’s not just a little strip. You can run this stuff through a die cut machine…into. any. shape. Brilliant. It was really easy to work with too. (I was afraid it would be too sticky and stick to itself like packing tape or Saran Wrap does, neither of which I am good at handling.) It’s not too sticky, but sticky enough. I even accidentally got it stuck to itself and it peeled right off. It sticks to paper beautifully (and paper bags).

There are actually 18 cutting dies in the set, I just picked a few to try out first. I cut off a piece of tape sheet and I placed a bunch of dies on the cutting pad. I was able to get a bunch of shapes on a small area of the tape sheet. I rolled the dies through the machine…perfect cuts. No frayed edges or uncut sides.

I gathered up a few little goodies…my date stamp (from Staples), a little paper bag (from Two Peas in a Bucket), and a black ink pad (from Michael’s).

Those little bags are perfect to hold a gift card. I wrapped up a music card, folded the edge and secured it with a cute little tape flag I cut. I stamped a date on it…I’m using these for Valentine’s Day gifts for the kids! (little clothespin came from Michael’s too)

Cute. Easy. The best part of this post is that Lifestyle Crafts is offering a BIG HUGE discount for my readers this week. Normally, you can purchase from their site and receive a 20% discount when you use the code LADY. This week (Monday through Sunday, the 21st – 27th) that discount jumps to 50%. HALF OFF! If you’ve been thinking about ordering, this is the week. I’m off to add to my stash right now.

This is a sponsored post. Lifestyle Crafts supplied the materials for me to try. The opinions are all my own.

Filed Under: Fav Products, Holiday, Lifestyle Crafts, Paper Bags...It's in the Bag, Trends Tagged With: all occasions, clothespin, die cut, die cutting, discount, favors, gift, Lifestyle Crafts, paper bag, sale, stamp, tape, tape sheets, valentine, washi, washi tape

{etsy store}NEW in the Etsy store

January 20, 2013 Leave a Comment

Well, hello 2013! It’s off to a bit of a slow start at this house. I did manage to finish and upload a new printable calendar to the shop! It’s a 4×6 size, perfect for these cute IKEA frames. Easy and inexpensive gifts for teachers, coworkers, neighbors, and friends…makes a great January birthday gift! You can find them here.

Filed Under: Etsy, Gift It, Hybrid Crafting, Printables Tagged With: 2013, all occasions, calendar, desk calendar, etsy, frame, gift, printable, printables, ribbon, teacher

{giveaway} Cuteness from Lilla Rose

November 28, 2012 14 Comments

Not long ago, Lizzie contacted me about doing a giveaway for her Lilla Rose business. First off, I’m all about small business {smiley face}. Second, I was very intrigued about her products. Lilla Rose is all hair cute hair goodies. We (at least the girls in this house) were blessed with lots of hair. Mine is very fine, but baby girl’s hair is thick. thick. thick. I’m always looking for a good way to keep hers (and mine) under control. and pulled off our faces!

Lizzie sent me a flexi-clip. It’s a clip, but it’s flexible. It’s two parts, but connected. It’s genius, really.

I got my flexi-clip in the mail. Baby girl and I both tried it out. multiple times. love.

Love it so much, in fact, that I’m ordering more. More for us and then a few for gifts for the holidays. I mean what tween-teen-woman doesn’t want cute hair clippies?

Just to try it out again and totally make sure, I wore it all day today as a ponytail holder of sorts. It never budged. I really do like it.

When you look at the site, find the awesome videos they have…one to explain what size you should order and other videos teaching you different kinds of hairstyles you can create with the flexi-clips. FYI…I’m a small. I have think, wavy hair. I have the simple band in small in my hair {see photo}.

The best part of all of this? YOU COULD WIN ONE! Lizzie’s giving me the opportunity to offer one of the flexi-clips to you! {one flexi-clip of your choice (up to $16)}

There are four ways to enter. First, you can leave a comment on below as to which flex or hair accessory is your favorite from Lizzie’s site http://www.lillarose.biz/Zizzie78.

You can enter three more times…please leave a separate comment below for EACH of these that you do…

*Like Lizzie’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LillaRoseZizzie78

*Register as a customer on Lizzie’s website…. you do not have to buy anything to register http://www.lillarose.biz/Zizzie78

*Blog or post on FB and tell everyone about your giveaway

Comments will close Tuesday night, December 4th and I’ll announce the winner Wednesday morning on the 5th! Good luck!

Filed Under: Announcements, Fav Products, Giveaway Tagged With: all occasions, gift, Giveaway, hair, lilla rose

{valentine, freebie} QR code? more like QT code!

January 25, 2012 8 Comments

Pin It

Ok, so the idea for this one hit me last night. I was working on some other stuff and happened to be using my QR code. QR codes are those little black pixely boxes that you can scan with your smart phone and it brings up a website, text, etc. I made one for this blog and I try to include it on the printables for download. These little codes are popping up everywhere…magazines, at the mall, I even saw one on the garden stake in my last batch of potting flowers I bought.

So bear with me on this idea. It combines the cute printable subway art idea with the qr code idea with a Valentine’s Day theme. With me so far? This may be totally out there, but I decided to give it a try. It appeals to my geeky side. I can picture it framed on someone’s desk at work…maybe a teacher’s or the school secretary’s, maybe even the dentist’s front office desk…for all to see. If someone is curious (I would be), they can pop out their smart phone, scan it with an app like QRReader (that’s the one I have), and a cute little animated message will appear. It’s a secret message, hidden in cyberspace for your friends to find.

Fun? Wanna try? Try scanning this to see the secret Valentine message….

I made both a 4×6 inch and 5×7 inch size. I framed them in inexpensive frames I found at Target this morning.

Let me add a little disclaimer…I tried this many times. I scanned from my phone, from the computer, from the printable. It works for me. I can’t guarantee that it’s gonna work for everyone and every phone out there. And I did try a red heart, but it seems that my scanner didn’t like the red. Pink works much better. If you’re ready to give it a try, here is the printable.

If anyone is interested in a custom qr code that goes to a personalized, animated Valentine’s message? I’m thinking these would be cute as Valentines for classmates, too….hmmmmm. Email me or go to the ‘contact me’ button at the top of this page. Have fun with this! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Filed Under: Freebie, Gift It, Holiday, Hybrid Crafting, Printables, Teacher/School Tagged With: chevron, February, frame, Freebie, gift, heart, Holiday, home decor, printable, printable art, printables, qr code, qrcode, valentine, valentines day

{birthday, my real life} goodie bags for school

January 20, 2012 Leave a Comment

Pin It

And since I seem to be in the birthday state of mind…here’s a shot of the birthday goodie bags I sent to school with the youngest. Her birthday is 5 days before Christmas. Usually we aren’t in school, but this year we were and since she wasn’t having a party (she got her ears pierced and a special dinner out), she wanted to take goodies to the kids in her class. I raided the junk aisle (ahem, party favor aisle) at Walmart and found these green paper bags at Michael’s. I made little tags with the cutest graphic from Kate Hadfield (I worked with her on the popcorn toppers, remember?).

I filled the bags with goodies, folded a piece of ribbon over the top, and stapled. Then I added the circles I made with a pop dot. It seriously took me about 15 minutes to make 22 of these. quick, easy, cute. This is officially my new way of wrapping bags!

Filed Under: Birthday, Brown Baggin' It, Do Me a Favor, Gift It, My Real Life, Paper Bags...It's in the Bag, Teacher/School Tagged With: birthday, favors, gift, party, party favor, ribbon, school, tag, treat topper

{my real life} Birthday Cup Cakes…literally

January 19, 2012 1 Comment

Pin It

I play bunco with a nice group of ladies. I think bunco is an Army wife staple…that, knowing where to stuff the TA50, and knowing how to make a green bean casserole. Anyhoo, it’s a fun excuse to get out of the house. And I always say, if it’s something I can do with a drink in one hand and while carrying on a conversation, then it’s pretty easy.

This month was my good friend’s turn to host. And it was also her birthday. So I made birthday cup cakes. Not cupcakes. Cup cakes. I think we were talking one day and I was saying how I saw some cute clear cups on Pinterest that had been personalized with stickers from Frog Prince Paperie. Then we started talked about what you could put in the cups. It might have even been the birthday girl’s good idea to put cupcakes in cups. And then I remembered this pin, too, from Lisa Storms. We thought it would be a great idea for kid birthdays…no papers to mess with and maybe a bit less messy. So I decided to try it out on the bunco ladies. I’m pretty sure they were a hit with the crowd

I found the ‘crystal cut’ plastic cups at Target. I made a simple happy birthday tag for each one, printed them on sticker paper, and cut them out with a 2-inch circle punch. I loaded each cup with a bit of icing so that the cupcake would stick (plus it’s a nice little treat to get extra icing in the bottom of your cup!). I plopped the cupcakes in and iced them. I gave each cake a candle (like I did here) and a bit of yellow frosting for a flame. The cups actually made it really easy to transport them, too. I lined a basket with tissue and loaded the cups…the cupcakes didn’t touch each other and it made for a nice little display, too.

And a party just isn’t a party without party favors, so each bunco lady got a little something to take home, too. And the birthday girl got a little something extra. My inspiration? Another pin!

And the birthday girl got a little something extra. My inspiration? Another pin from Poca Cosa via Be Different Act Normal!

And the birthday girl was happy with her chocolate cake!

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Do Me a Favor, Fun and Food, Gift It, My Real Life, Show Me Tagged With: birthday, birthday candles, candy melts, cup cakes, cupcakes, edible candles, favors, Fun and Food, gift, party, party favors, personalized cups, plastic cups, pretzel candles, tag, treat topper

Remember those tissues and hand sanitizers?

December 21, 2011 1 Comment

Pin It

I know I’m late…really late…but remember these? I mentioned on Facebook that I had picked up some of those little hand sanitizers from Bath & Body and some cute little tissue packs from the dollar spot at Target.

And I turned them into little gifts for teachers…

And if you still need a cute tag, jump over to my Facebook page, ‘like’ me (if you haven’t already) and download this cute tag!

UPDATE: There seems to be something amiss with the FB thingy. It will get fixed Please still go ‘like’ me on Facebook, but for now you can also download the tags here.

Filed Under: Freebie, Gift It, Holiday, Printables, Teacher/School Tagged With: chevron, Christmas, December, facebook, Freebie, gift, gift tag, Holiday, tag, teacher gift, tissue

{etsy} cute little ABC book

December 1, 2011 1 Comment

Pin It

These little books were an idea that came to me a long time ago. My kiddos were barely starting to trace letters; they’re 8 and 10 now. Badge books were big then…business card little scrapbook pages that were slipped into plastic badge holders and tied together with ribbon. I had made some for family and friends, one that was even in Scrapbooks, Etc. magazine {I’ll have to find a photo}. One day someone, somewhere said something about them and it sparked an idea. Those little plastic holders were almost like lamination…I bet those write-on/wipe-off crayons would work on them. They do and so do wet erase markers. And they can be attached to the binder rings with a little ribbon so they don’t get lost. The little ABC book was born! Since then, we wore a few of them out and we’ve shared them with friends. I even had a friend comment on a Pin of these that her kids loved them.

I decided last week to offer them in the Etsy shop. It’s a 7 page pdf file with all 26 letters in both upper and lower case. I also included a cover page card, 2 blank cards, and 13 sight word cards to practice. It’s easy to make…plastic badge holders and binder rings can both be found at Walmart in the office supplies or any office supply store…and it’s a great size to stick in your purse or the car to keep little ones busy. We used ours a lot riding in the shopping cart at the grocery store and at baseball practice for big brother. I used them in my preschool classroom, too. And if you wear it out or mess it up…just print another one!

These books make really cute gifts, too, for little friends. If you’re interested in looking, you can find the book here in the shop.

Filed Under: Etsy, Learning, Printables, Teacher/School Tagged With: ABC, all occasions, badge holders, Fun and Food, gift, kid friendly, learning, printable, school, teacher

{etsy} Printable Calendars and another giveaway! CLOSED

November 8, 2011 9 Comments

Pin It

I’ve added another item to the shop. Remember when we made these? I’m using those same frames to make 2012 desk calendars. These are a great gift for teachers, co-workers, neighbors…just about anyone. Everyone needs a calendar!

check them out in the store…

Let’s give one of these away, too! Leave a comment on this post for one entry. If you’re a Facebook fan, you get another (just leave a separate comment that you are a fan). I’ll close the giveaway at 11 pm EST on Thursday night. I’ll draw a name on Friday morning. Good luck!

Filed Under: Etsy, Gift It, Giveaway, Holiday, Hybrid Crafting, Printables, Teacher/School, The Buzz Tagged With: 2012, calendar, etsy, gift, Holiday, hybrid, printable, teacher

{Hybrid Crafting} Crafting with Echo Park!

May 26, 2011 3 Comments

I’ve been a fan of the Echo Park Paper Company for a while now. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have a scrap store anywhere near me. I have a craft store, but not a real scrapbooking store. Poor me. I could order all the yummy goodies from an online store, but I’m impatient and when I want something…I’d like to have it now, please. The good news? Echo Park has a whole bunch of digital goodies! Right up my alley, right? I recently bought some deliciousness from their digital store. I was antsy to make something. Ended up making 3-somethings.

Project #1…note holder

I’ve shown you my note holders before. I think some of you even made some for yourself! Just a reminder…the frame is $1 at Walmart, the note pad is a 3×3 postie. If you’re a digi-girl like me, these are really simple to design your own. {I’m gonna start talking digital scrap now…for those of you who don’t, don’t worry, I’ll convert you sooner or later!} I opened a blank 5×7 canvas in my photo editing software. I like Photoshop Elements. They even offer a 30 free trial (and maybe I should offer some beginner lessons…hmmmm). I opened up some digital papers, borders, and elements from the ‘For the Record’ line that I bought in the EP digital store. I arranged them all on my canvas. I wanted my 3×3 postie to sit on the library card, so I made sure that the library card was 3 inches wide to accommodate the post it pad. The paper, library card, and the ‘domcumented’ tab are all digital elements. I printed the 5×7 canvas on white cardstock and slipped it into the acrylic frame. Now, here’s the cool part. I opened up my Silhouette Studio software and went to their store online. Echo Park has a bunch of print and cut Silhouette files for 99 cents each! I chose the ‘For the Record’ bracket word art. When you get it opened up, you just print the image and then run it through your Silhouette machine and the machine cuts out the image! So I made one and slipped it inside the acrylic frame near the top. I took the backing off the post it pad and stuck on the front of the acrylic frame and tied it off with some ribbon. EASY! CUTE! CHEAP! enough said.

credits…paper, library card, tab, Echo Park ‘For the Record’ (digital). word art, Echo Park’s Silhouette store. ribbon, Michael’s.

Project #2…custom framed picture

This little project is even easier than the last one. Seriously. And it’s another digital to paper hybrid project. {And another reason to buy the software and come play with me } Inside the Playground Elements 2 pack I bought, we’re a bunch of little digital journal cards. I picked a super cute one and resized it to a 4×6 size. I digitally cut out the middle (but you could physically do this, too) and inserted a cute, old pic of my cutie pie son. Printed it. Put it in a frame. done.

credits…paper, Echo Park ‘Playground’ (digital). frame, Target.

Project #3…candy bar box

I know, I know. I like my candy bar boxes. But they are easy and cute…and who doesn’t like to get a chocolate bar?? First, I used some digital journalling cards that came in the Playground Elements 2 pack to make a little gift card. I overlapped two cards; the ‘my friend’ one over the asterisks one and added a 4. I picked a darling paper from the Playground paper pack and clipped the digital paper to the template I made. {clipping is another digital scrap term…terms you’ll learn when you take the plunge. hehe} Then, just like those of you who got the teacher ‘bar none’ box, you just print, cut it out, and assemble with a bit of glue stick. I stuck a standard size Hershey bar inside, tied it with a bit of ribbon and tucked the little gift tag under the ribbon. Perfect for gift giving…say for the last day of school, maybe?