Everyday Celebrating

Easy July 4th lawn decor!

How about celebrating July 4th with wonderful stars covering your yard?

Pink and Green Mama shows how to create these biodegradable stars on your yard easily.
Nope, it's not spray paint... it's FLOUR!

Pretty creative, right???

Head over to her blog to learn the tips - like how to get the flour to stick.

Wanna chat more about your July 4th plans or hear what other people do for the holiday?
Jump over to the Ebates Savvy Living community  at Blog Frog we're chatting about everything under the sun!

Enter to win $10K from Redbox!

To celebrate summer fun, Redbox is asking moms, "What movie meant for kids do you secretly love to watch?" Plus, they are rewarding 2 lucky people with a chance to win $10,000 as part of the Redbox Summer of Fun & Games Sweepstakes.

To say I watch a lot of kid's movies is an understatement! LOL My fave has to be the Toy Story series.

I love that the movie is so well written and includes so many toys that I grew up with! So many of the lines are meant for only adults to "get" really. Sometimes kids movies are all fluff and it takes everything you can do to sit through them. Toy Story is different. The writers understood the parents need for entertainment as well.

And Toy Story 3? Wow. We took our son to see it at the theatre and I bawled. BAWLED. The beginning and ending REALLY hit home with me as a parent.

And how about the song We Belong Together by Randy Newman? It makes me so happy every time I hear it. My son and I have actually danced around the room to it.

Jump in and enter the sweepstakes!

Redbox is celebrating summer family time with a great line up of family-friendly titles, awesome savings and two chances to win $10,000 as part of the Redbox Summer of Fun & Games Sweepstakes.*

4 Easy Ways to Enter:

1. Enter your email address at www.redbox.com/summer

2. Rent a movie or game at a redbox kiosk (and provide a valid email address at checkout)

3. Reserve a rental online at redbox.com

4. Text 'SUMMER' to 727272

Enter to win today!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Redbox. The opinions and text are all mine.

*Each item rented earns one entry, regardless of how long it is rented, up to three entries per day. Limit 3 entries per day, regardless of entry method. The sweepstakes begins May 27, 2011 at 12:00 a.m. CT and ends on August 1, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. CT. No purchase necessary. See official rules at www.redbox.com/summer.

Still time to: Draw a portrait of Dad for Father's Day

Those of us with children love seeing their perspectives in drawing.

Design Editor provides a great FREE printable for Father's Day.  Simply print it out and have your child draw a portrait of Daddy.  So fun to compare their skills year after year!

 

DIY: Photo envelope liners

I absolutely love lined envelopes.  And while I've made my share of liners, I have never made liners that feature a PHOTO!  Brilliant!

Sidenote: Those that are reading this that usually receive a holiday card from me...you may see this idea again in December.  LOL   Maybe.

Paige of  Paiges of Style gives a tutorial on creating lined envelopes.  This fabulous tutorial gives a photo step by step of creating the template and then she goes on to show you how to use a photo.

This tutorial is one to bookmark for sure!

Don't forget, these will work on ANY envelope.  You don't have to save it for a special occasion or invitation.  You can line any envelope!  Birthday, anniversary or graduation cards or just a special note dropped to a friend.  

DIY: Stamped paper plates

Aren't these stamped moustache plates cute?

You can create whatever design you want on your paper plates using a sponge and paste food coloring.

Emily at Remarkable Home gives a full tutorial on the easy process including cutting the sponge into a cute shape.

You have plenty of time to create fun plates for your July 4th gathering.  Stars and stripes, anyone?

For the new mom: Hospital survival kit!

I love this idea from My Own Road!  

When you're pregnant and even in the hospital, everyone brings gifts for the BABY!  But what about the MOTHER?   Whether you have a traditional birth or a c-section, the Mom is exhausted after and while the new baby is totally worthy of all the fuss, it's so nice for the MOM to receive some pampering as well.

Jennifer of My Own Road created some fabulous printables to attach to gift bags.  Create your own hospital survival kit for the new Mom.  While most Moms have a hospital bag packed, fill this bag with some things they may not think of or just a few pampering items like these things that Jennifer recommends:

Visit her site to read the descriptions.

As someone who had a c-section and stayed in the hospital for 4 days, I can tell you that this would have been a VERY welcomed gift!  

Jennifer has created those printables in both pink AND blue.  Save them for your next visit to the new Mommy!

DIY: Rainbow crepe paper wreath

Loving this crepe paper wreath from Fiskars.  Visit their site for the full tutorial!  

Make one out of any color combination.  You have plenty of time to get started on a red, white and blue one for July 4th celebrations!

DIY: Bag tags

Do you use gift bags for fast gift giving?  Do you hate those small tags that are attached to some of them?  The ones that just barely fit your name?

Normally I don't use gift bags.  I'm a wrapper.  I love wrapping the box and adding embellishments and all that goes into that.

However, this weekend, I'm preparing gifts for the Candle Wishes Foundation.  This is a wonderful organization in the Nashville, TN area which fulfills birthday wishes for underprivleged children.

They ask that you bring the unwrapped gifts in gift bags.  So, of course, I'm going to bring them as they wish.

I thought I'd share with you an idea I use for gift bags to get around those crazy SMALL bag tags.

Make your own large tags from paper plates!

Here's what you need.  These all came from the Dollar Tree.

Foam letter stickers
Happy Birthday paper plates
Curling ribbon
Scissors 

Take one plate and use the foam letter stickers to spell out the birthday girl/boy's name.

I like that the back of the paper plate gives you plenty of room!  You can write a long message AND if you have a preschooler like I do, there's plenty of room for them to write, which takes up a lot of space.

If the front of your plate isn't as graphically busy as this one was, you could even put the name under the "Happy Birthday" message.

Then, just punch a hole in the top of the plate and thread through curling ribbon.  Attach to the bag!

I love that the plate is BIG and adds another shape and dimension.  And... it's just different.  

And one package of $1 plates from the Dollar Tree can take care of several gifts!  Keep them in your stash!


 

 

Wordless Wednesday: Paint chip garland

via Grace and Light Studio

DIY: Umbrella wreath

Happy Cinco de Mayo! 

Looking for an easy colorful way to decorate warm weather patio celebrations?

All you need is a wreath form and a bag of drink parasols (found at party supply stores).

Family Chic shows additional photos. While she didn't use glue, I do recommend that if you're using this outdoors, I would definitely hot glue in the umbrellas.  Those umbrellas wouldn't last long in a thunderstorm.

You can coordinate the colors of parasols used for any celebrations... red, white and blue for July 4th, etc.

Also, this would make a great centerpiece lying flat on a table.  Fill the center with a floral arrangement or if your wreath is large enough, place a pitcher of margaritas in the middle.

Cheers!