Ready or Not - Here it Comes!!

Round 6 is coming on Monday!! 

More details will be announced Monday.

Until then, we have a fun giveaway for you all.

How would YOU like to join the ranks of 
Holly @ 504Main, 
Bev from Flamingo Toes, 
and Roeschel from DIY Show Off?
and become April's guest pinhead?  



Enter below for your chance to be our Guest Pinhead for April's Pinterest Challenge.

There are a few ways to enter this giveaway.  Rafflecopter will walk you through the process. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Embellished Glitter Paper Clips {a video tutorial}

This is a first for me.  A video tutorial.  I made these fun little paper clips to attach my business cards to your orders and thought it would be fun to share how to make them... in video form!

I DREAD taking tutorial photos.  HATE it.  And then I thought of my cute little Panasonic video camera.  Bought a tabletop tripod at Target and went for it!

Let me know what you think!



So?  Want to see more videos in the future?

I may (or may not ) have done my nails especially for you.  {wink, wink}

And for your pinning convenience... a few more pinnable images ;)

A Pinterest Inspired First Birthday Party

So, it's one month later, but I finally got around to editing Clara's 1st Birthday pictures last night!  The wanna-be-photographer in me is not happy with the quality, but the mom in me is super happy that memories were captured on camera!

I'll start with the decor and end with some adorable smash cake pictures.

Here was the main food table.

Then some details from the table:

mason jars with vintage sheets cut up for ribbon and paper striped straws

Izze drinks - Sparkling Blackberry and Grapefruit

Smash Cake, Raspberry cupcakes, and chandelier cake stand.

We bought Clara an art easel for her birthday, so incorporating it into the decor only made sense.

Continuing with the chalkboard and goodies theme - I turned our computer table into a Yogurt Bar.  It was a huge hit.

In the living room, I set out photo books of her last year.  Along with some yarn wrapped letters that spelled her name.

These were her birthday invitations that never made it to the mail.  If you receive one in a few weeks, just laugh.

As guests entered our home, they walk up a long staircase that I decorated with paper doilies, cupcake liners, and monthly pictures of my sweet little one year old.

And finally, the smash cake.  I used my newly painted dresser as the backdrop and cut out her name from some thrifted material.  Also notice the cupcake liner streamer I made.

After stripping her down to a sweet diaper cover and pearls, she went for it!

Definitely NOT as messy as her brother, but she sure enjoyed the frosting!

ps - most of my inspiration came from Pinterest... where else?

Documenting Their Growth with Canvas Handprints

I absolutely love traditions.  And I absolutely love documenting my children and their growth.  This next project marries to two together.  

Every January I take a new handprint of my children and display in on the wall.  One row for my son, one row for my daughter (added in 2011).

I foresee it becoming even bigger as we add more members to our family, and it's so simple to make.  Here's everything you need:

I purposely don't stamp their hands onto the canvas because there is no room for error.  I instead, stamp their hand on a white sheet of paper until I like how it looks, then cut around it and mod podge it to the canvas.

Such a simple project with lots of fun decor possibilities.  And what kid doesn't like stamping their hand??

PS - don't forget to check out my NEW website!  And remember, for a short time, get double the Reward Points by mentioning that you read my blog in the checkout process!

Linking up to Best DIY Projects by Beneath My Heart

ready for some big news?

I have been working incredibly hard over the past month to get a NEW WEBSITE up and running for Better Life Bags!  Aimee from ByAimee did all the beautiful design work for the page.  I'd love to walk you through the shop and give you a little tour.  I think you'll REALLY like the new changes.

First change: when you type in www.betterlifebags.com you will see this landing page:

Pretty, right?  From there, you can click on "Blog", "Shop", or "Facebook" to be redirected to my favorite aspects of Better Life Bags.  Let's click on "Shop".  Here's what you'll see:

Really professional looking, huh?  If the images don't line up like that when you go to check it out, just click "Grid" as the Display option instead of "List".

Now, besides how the shop LOOKS, there are some awesome new features that I think you'll fall in love with.

First, a Reward Points system!

So, to celebrate the opening of the new Better Life Bags website, everyone will get DOUBLE reward points this entire week.  Spend $40, get 80 reward points - which means you potentially could already get a free bag!

Also, a new feature that I will be working on in the near future will be an opportunity to become an affiliate if you are a blogger or website owner.

Shipping is now just $5 per item and FREE with orders totaling $75 or more!  Also, be sure to check out the links at the bottom of the site.

From here, you can purchase Gift Certificates and check your balance, sign up for my weekly newsletter, and add items to a wish list!  I'm in love.

Now, go play around with the new site and let me know what you think!

ruffle knee socks tutorial

This is the last day to vote for who you think should win the Pinterest Challenge!   
Go make your vote count!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These ruffle knee socks seem to be all the rage on Pinterest lately.  See? See?  and See?

So I decided to try my hand at making Little Ditty a set of her own.

It was pretty hard to find a pair of knee socks in her size, so I ended up using 2T socks so they would be tall enough.  I found the lace in the belting and ribbon section at Joann Fabrics.  Man is that lace heaven!  All sorts of styles and colors!

Here's the step by step:

The results are pretty cute.

Now, if only I could get her to keep them on.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It is my pleasure to wish you a ...

My how they have grown since last year!

voting is LIVE!

I hope you all had a chance you link up your Pinterest Challenge pieces!  I'm excited to show off my before and after inspired by this pin.

I've actually been inspired to "get rid of wood" in my house.  Except for my wood floors, of course - which I love.  But everything else makes the house too dark!  I painted my table, too.  But you'll have to wait until later this week for that reveal.  Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss it! 

The hutch has turned into my "craft space" as well - taken from this pin.  Since I don't have my own craft room, this will have to be the home of all my scraps, frames, paper, and glue gun for awhile.  {see my silhouette in the corner there?}  So happy it has it's own little bed.

And it was a perfect backdrop for Little Ditty's 1st birthday Smash Cake Adventure, too.  Her 1st birthday party in it's entirety will also be revealed later this week.

I just love Pinterest Challenge time.  It really motivates me to get things off my boards!  I even created a "Pins I've Actually DONE" board in Pinterest to highlight my accomplishments.

Ok, now it's now time to vote for your favorite Pinterest Challenge piece!

Just so you know, voting will be secret this time.  No popularity contests here.  You won't see how many votes your entry has until Thursday morning when the winner is announced.

To get your friends and family to vote, tell everyone to come to www.betterlifebags.com and vote for your project by clicking the star ABOVE the name on your thumbnail image. Make sense?  There was some confusion with that last round.

Good luck to everyone who entered!  And be sure to follow the Pinterest Challenge blog for details on the next round.  We play the first Monday of every month.  And you'll never believe who our Guest Pinhead for March is!! 

last minutes items (and a sneak peek)...

Hey BLB readers,

Just a quick one tonight to remind you a few things:

1.  The Pick Your Plum giveaway winner was announced.  Was it you?

2. One more day to enter the Pinterest Challenge!  110 entries so far, and voting opens up Monday at midnight.

3.  Thursday, Ashlee from I'm Topsy Turvy showed off her adorable Pinterest piece... it's something soft and adorable for her little one.  And yesterday, Kara showed off hers... it's something I've been pinned everywhere on Pinterest with lots of different variations.  Maybe you've already made one?

4.  I have something SUPER FUN in the works.  A new blogging initiative of sorts... here's a sneak peek:

Any guesses?

Pick Your Plum Giveaway {48 hour giveaway}

Don't forget to enter your Pinterest Projects into the Challenge!  Link Party closes Sunday at midnight then voting opens for the awesome prize package.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you all heard of Pick Your Plum?  It's an incredible website that offers seriously sweet stuff at a major  discount. 

And it's something new EVERY DAY.  But the trick is to "get it before your neighbor does".  Don't hesistate because they often have a limited supply.  And once it's gone, it's gone!

Some days it's something to wear like this necklace of those leg/boot warmers.

The next day might be something crafty like baker's twine or fun tags.

Another day might be something personalized like this ribbon.

Every day is something new and something totally cute.  And guess what?  One of YOU are going to win $55 worth of Pick Your Plum awesomeness.  It's a surprise at what's actually going to be in the box, but with those images above as possibilities, you KNOW it's gonna be good!

Need to have a US shipping address to enter.  Giveaway will close Saturday morning!


a Rafflecopter giveaway