...and so do I!  A while back I joined in on a fun post card swap hosted by the lovely Jess of Jesstagirl & Her Officer.  I would mail a post card from my area and in turn receive one from another blogger located in another area.  It’s a fun way to now only have fun mail in the mailbox, but also a nice way to “meet” new bloggers you might not otherwise follow.

I was paired with Cailin of A White Picket Fence, who lives in Toronto.  I loved glancing through all of her travels and feel a bit of jealousy that she recently visited Harry Potter-land since I wasn’t able to schedule it in during my last work trip to Orlando.  An interesting fact is during the time of this swap I was getting ready for my first trip into Canada.  With this in mind, Cailin made sure to include random bits of trivia about her homeland.

Thanks Cailin, your post card(s) made my day and I had no idea hockey & lacrosse were your national sports!  A bit of a funny story happened while I was trying to mail a postcard from Georgia for Cailin.  I mentioned that the swap happened while I was planning a ski trip to Whistler, so I picked up a pretty Atlanta post card with big plans to mail it from the post office at the airport as I left for my trip.  The reason is they have (or at least had) a really cute airplane shaped cancellation stamp with the ATL initials.  I neglected to think that with a  early morning flight they might not be open…so Cailin’s post card from Georgia was actually mailed from Canada.  Which just seems to go against this whole idea….So Cailin, I still owe you a post card that is postmarked from Georgia!

Yesterday I used the larger stickers from my dollar spot container to make heart shaped cupcake toppers.  When I was finished I had a handful of the smaller stickers left over and knew I needed to do something with them!  A quick glance through the craft stash box yielded some red embroidery floss and I realized that a mini heart bunting could be really cute.

If you’d like to quickly make you own:

With my leftover stickers I was able to make over 6 feet of the bunting…which combined with the cupcake toppers is quite a bit of Valentine’s goodness for an expenditure of $1.07 (including tax)!   I’ve seen bags of rainbow foam heart stickers at my local dollar store this could be a fun birthday party decoration as well…one which your kiddos could help you assemble!

I’ve made these before…but when I ran across these cute heart stickers in the Target Dollar Spot I knew I had to repeat this Easter project.

In case you missed the Easter egg ones, the process is super cheap & easy.

And repeat until you end up with these cute little guys!

I picked up the container of stickers in the Target dollar section but I’ve also seen large bags of these in rainbow colors at my local dollar store in the craft section.  The fun thing about the Target container was that after making cupcake toppers with the larger stickers, I still had a large amount of the smaller ones left over.  This means I have another project lined up tomorrow with the leftovers and rumor has it I’ll give them both away next week

Anyone else out there throwing together last minute Valentines ideas?  I’d love to see them so share those links!

Well hello there….why yes it has been literally months since I’ve updated ye ole blog.  However, I had to pop in to talk about the Kitty & Canine Holiday Blogger Gift Exchange 2011 which was hosted by the lovely kjpugs and Hannah.  I forgot to sign Cotton up last year and I think she was still a bit annoyed about it, so I made a point to make sure to fill out the form in time this year!

We were matched with Pamela and her adorable pup Bentley.  We picked out treats and a toy for Bentley, and whipped him up a quick bow-tie collar.  Then, last week I brought home a large envelope from our PO Box addressed to Miss Cotton.  She knew it was hers the moment I walked into the door with the envelope.  I swear Cotton could smell a bag of Pup-peroni a mile away!

Pup-peroni is Cotton’s absolute favorite treat.  If we leave the bag out she will sit and stare at it for ages, and then cast a longing glace at them each and every time she walks by.  Since she dances around on her bag legs the moment you open the bag we refer to it as puppy crack.   In addition to the yummy treat Bentley & Pamela included a crunchy bone, a floppy toy and a sweet note.  We haven’t tried the crunchy bone yet, but she has already tossed the toy around the living room a few times so it’s a winner as well.

Thanks Pamela & Bentley and Thanks Kelly & Hannah for hosting such a fun swap!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 4 months since tornadoes took several rural Alabama towns literally to the ground. For those of us who don’t see the recovery taking place everyday it’s easy to think that things are cleaned up and rebuilding is well underway…but in some areas it literally still looks like the storms came through days ago. It’s shocking how far so many still have to go. Thankfully there are still people working, people donating, and people making a difference. In light of that, I’ve decided to post several small ways that we could all make a small difference. Small differences add-up!

For the cost of a stamp you can: Collect Box Tops & Soup Labels

Box Tops are found on various General Mills products that you already buy, like Avery, Scott, Cottonelle, Pillsbury, and other product packaging. For example we by Cascadian Farms granola bars, and they have Box Tops on them. We cut them off the packaging before it goes into the trash or recycle bin, collect them in a ziplock bag in our kitchen and mail them in once a month or so.  Same goes for Campbell’s soup labels…especially with cooler temperatures just around the corner (hopefully).

Box Tops 4 Hackleburg
This is a grass roots endeavor on Facebook, put together by a Birmingham mom and attorney to collect Box Tops for Hackleburg, Alabama schools. Hackleburg schools were destroyed which means they are starting over.She plans to deliver everything collected mid-September so you still have time to mail them a few!   
Click here for more information & Shipping Information

Box Tops for Schools Damaged by Tornadoes
This is another Facebook group started by a mom in North Alabama.  She is working to collect General Mills Box Tops as well as Campbell’s Labels for Education.  Whereas the group above is focusing on Hackleburg, Alabama schools, this group is working to distribute their collections amoung several schools effected by the April tornadoes.  They have already shipped collections to several schools in multiple states and are working with the coordinators of other effected schools to keep the effort going.  Click here for more information & shipping information

For the cost of shipping you can: Share pre-loved baby items

Boots on the Ground 365
This is a group of moms also near the Birmingham, Alabama area who have set out to help expectant moms who lost everything on April 27th gather the things they need to bring their new babies.  They are looking for new or pre-loved but in great shape baby items to help these families focus on the new blessing in their life, and even throw full baby showers for these moms-to-be.  One of the families they are helping is from my hometown…they lost so much more that most of us could even fathom, and these ladies are making a huge difference.   Click here for more information & Shipping Information

For less than $10 you can: Donate school supplies for devastated areas

Magnolia Disaster Relief

This is a group from the Atlanta, Georgia area.  They came together after the Tuscaloosa tornado, as volunteers from various organizations came together to help get relief items to the more rural areas that were effected by the storms.  Their mission is to aid our neighbors who have been affected by disasters (tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, fires, earthquakes, etc.). We especially focus on areas that have been overlooked by national media and national organizations such as the Red Cross or United Way.   They work directly with rescue squads in these areas to make sure that only the needed items are brought in, and that they are taken to places where they can be distributed to those in need.  Now post-tornado they are working to make “hit kits” with all the essentials (water, food, toiletries, tarps, etc) for a small community affected by a disaster (tornado, hurricane, flood, fire, etc). The kits will be stored throughout the Southeast and be delivered to communities directly after a disaster strikes. Then, they will work directly with rescue squads in these areas to match requests for help with resources to meet those requests.

One of the projects they are working on right now is gathering school supplies for the children in these rural areas who are still recovering post-storm.  Click here for a list of items needed & shipping instructions  and click on their logo above to learn a bit more about them and the ways you might be able to help them out!

Keeping with the red,white, and blue theme this week…today I have one more fun napkin wrap template.

I also noticed recently that I always take photos of the napkin wrap templates using cloth napkins…but the 4th of July is a perfect opportunity to show they work great with paper napkins as well!

(click here to download MS Word template)

I love how this one looks with my dollar store napkins and plastic cutlery!  The great thing is the napkin wrap holds the bundle together so you could make them up ahead of time!  Total Cost $2.14

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The font used in the template above is Lobster 1.4, which is free to download from Pablo Impallari.

New to Napkin Wraps?  No worries, visit this post for step-by-step instructions on how to use my napkin wrap templates!

I’ve been away and neglected this poor little blog for far too long….and since the 4th of July is just around the corner, this week it’s all about Patriotic crafts!  Let’s get things started with a new napkin wrap template!

(click here to download MS Word template)

The template above uses Monterey BT font which is free to download from SoFontes.

New to Napkin Wraps?  No worries, visit this post for step-by-step instructions on how to use my napkin wrap templates!

And now for a shameless plug….did you know I have an Etsy shop?  While it is 99% to blame for my lack of craft posts recently, I did take a break from custom orders to whip up a few sets of  red,white and blue cupcake flags and flagged straws!

Hello there!  It has been way to long that I’ve been away so I decided to give myself a bit of a red, white, and blue theme to get myself back in the habit of posting.  I have new craft posts coming up soon, but first I thought it only fitting to show you a few photos from one of the many trips that have kept me away from my blog.

So, Blog friends…meet “Blue”

Blue is a wild peacock that seems to migrate through my parent’s area of Alabama, staying for a few months at a time.  He has been showing up for the past 2 or 3 years, and bounces between their property and a neighbors.  From what I hear he is quite the attaction when he decides to perch on a fence post near the road.  Blue is also quite the tease, we keep trying to take a photo of him with his full tail feathers displayed but he refuses to show them off when we have a camera around.  Perhaps he is just modest?  I don’t think any of my photos adequately capture the intense shade of blue and green in his feathers.

When chatting about this odd bird in my parent’s yard, a friend asked if peacocks could fly and if they even had wings.  I think this photo answers the latter of those questions, although sadly I snapped it as he was tucking them in so it doesn’t show the full span.  Dude has a huge wing span, and he does indeed fly for short distances.  His “nest” is in a tree near the neighbor’s house and they have seen him perched on their roof before.

Another random piece of trivia for you: Peacocks have a really interesting “screech”.  And by screech I mean something that sounds akin to a female screaming.  Oh, and by interesting, I mean definitely not my alarm clock of choice.

See that look of indignation… I’m pretty sure Blue is insulted that his screeching first thing in the morning  might not be my favorite sound to awake to .  Oh well… is still pretty funny to see the guy on the parent’s porch and hear the stories of people slamming on their breaks to do a double-take of him perched on a fence post.

Since Easter is just around the corner, I decided to create a one-stop post featuring all my previous year’s related napkin wraps!  Also, I’ll be adding links to the new ones I plan to post here later this week.  To access the post with printable template simply click on the napkin wrap images below:

All templates above use Monterey BT font which is free to download from SoFontes.  New to Napkin Wraps?  No worries, visit this post for step-by-step instructions on how to use my napkin wrap templates!

Today I have a super quick, super inexpensive, yet fun way to add a bit of Easter sparkle to cakes, cupcakes, sandwiches, or any yummy treat!

Supplies Needed:

• Easter Egg Stickers – 2 for each topper to be made,  I picked up mine from the local dollar store. You can use other types of stickers just make sure they are symmetrical so they line up correctly when you reverse the one for the back.
• Toothpicks

Instructions:

1. Remove one sticker from the sheet and carefully adhere your toothpick to the stick back.  Make sure the toothpick is centered.
2. Remove a second, same sized sticker and carefully line up the edges with the back of the first sticker.
3. Press down around the edges to seal everything firmly.  Don’t worry if your edges don’t line up exactly, you can always trim with a pair of scissors if necessary.
4. Repeat and Enjoy decorating your yummy treats!
   

Cost Estimate: $1 & up

Stickers – $1.00 from local dollar store, but you could use stickers you already own just make sure they are symmetrical
Toothpicks – Free – On Hand

I love the little touch of shimmer these egg toppers add to even my breakfast doughnut, and for one measly dollar you can’t beat the price!  How will you dress up your yummy Easter treats?