Everyday Celebrating

Giveaway: Custom Fotomural

We have a great GIVEAWAY that really packs a punch!  Everyone looks for that one amazing decorative item that is unique and will make an impact.  Ever host an event and have that one bare wall behind a food table that you really need to fill, but know it will be really expensive to do so? 

Enter Fotomural Custom Photo Tiles!

 

Isn't that fabulous? 
All you do is submit one high resolution photo and Fotomural turns it into custom photo tiles that you just tape onto the wall.  Fotomurals come in black and white or color, are printed on paper or heavy grade cardstock or even transparency and can be printed up to 5 feet wide!  

Bare wall no more!

And they aren't just for special occasions!  Have a special photo and a spare bare wall in your home?

What about your child's room?  Can't afford an expensive mural?

Many many uses for these!  Have a friend that takes beautiful photos?  Blow one up!

And that's right, we're GIVING one away!
We're giving away ONE Fotomural!
Your Fotomural can be printed in black and white OR color and can be up to 5 feet wide.

Entries will be taken for one week until Noon EST on Tuesday, March 17th (St. Patrick's Day!)
All you have to do to enter is leave a comment!
We'll choose one lucky winner by random.org.

Can't wait to see if you've won?   Have an immediate need for a Fotomural?  Head on over to their website and place an order.  Easter is coming up and how excited would your children be to wake up to a custom mural of the easter bunny! 

Good luck!

oh.  And can you do me a favor?  If you LOVE the Fotomural and think it's a creative, unique idea for a business.... please vote for Fotomural in the Leading Moms in Business competition.

You don't even have to sign it.  Just click VOTE and you're finished!   Thank you!

Turn plastic cups into Sparkleballs!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for the 32 oz. bottle of Apple Martini Cocktail Mixer and rimmer from Stirrings!  Entry deadline is Monday, March 2 at Noon, EST.  Visit the giveaway here.

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Fun and easy light fixture which you can customize for any color theme or occasion.
These are made from plastic cups and xmas lights.  See?


You can make them in a variety of sizes and even spice it up with colored glasses or tipping the ends in glitter.



Visit this site to learn all about it and even hire someone to make them for you!

St. Patrick's Giveaway! Apple Martini Mixer from Stirrings!

The most divine box showed up on my doorstep recently.  A box of .... liquid!

from my friends at

If you haven't heard of Stirrings, I'm even more delighted you visited today. 
Stirrings is a new line of signature cocktail drink mixers, sodas, bar ingredients and amazing gift sets.
Not to mention they all come in packaging so fabulous you want to just keep them out for display.
See?  Go ahead... click on them to make them bigger.  Get a nice view. ;)

Their site is filled with fabulous ways to blend the perfect concoction for your next occasion.
Fabulous product as well as recipes on how to use them. 

St. Patrick's Day is coming up!!!!  I encourage you to begin thinking about your celebration now.
Green drinks, anyone?  Don't settle for that nasty green beer!  Apple Martini?  Mojito?  Classic Margarita?  Top them off with an amazing rimmer and garnish with even more green! 

Planning a wedding?  Stirrings has a special section on how creative drinks can liven up your event and add a unique touch.

I'm kicking off the weekend by mixing up a few of their drinks to sample!
But... I want to kick-off a Thursday by announcing my next giveaway!

We'll be sending one lucky reader a full size Apple Martini mixer so you may live it up for St. Paddy's Day!

From the site:

An Apple a Day

The Apple Martini is unrivaled amongst its cocktail contemporaries for glamour and urban sophistication. One sip of this luminescent libation and you will feel the warmth of the spotlight. Introducing the first appletini using fresh juice and cane sugar. The apple's back - be green.

Did you know: Almost 6 lbs of fruit go into making one 32 oz bottle of our Apple Mixer. This is equivalent to approximately 18 individual apples in every bottle.

Makes 11 cocktails!

Here's how you enter:

1.  Visit the Stirrings site.

2.  Pick a recipe that sounds divine and where you'd serve it!

3.  Post it here in the comments!

Since this is timely and we need to get it into your hands soon for St. Patrick's Day... the deadline is Monday at Noon, EST.

GOOD LUCK!  And Happy Stirring!

Free Download - Paper Rosette

It seems everywhere you go you see some version of paper decorations.  Great ways to dress up a bare corner or hang from a light fixture to add to your centerpiece.  Make a few in different sizes and hang them at various heights.

Also, you could make a small one and lay it flat on a package to spruce up your gift wrapping.

They are inexpensive and easy decorations and guess what?
Paper Source has a free downloadable PDF and instructions on their site!

Happy folding!

Let's talk Play Doh or the non-trademarked Play "Dough"

I'm a large fan of play dough. I have no idea why.  Maybe it was that fun barber shop from back in the day.  Remember that?

Or my other favorite.. the dentist....

I LOVED those things!

And now, I have my own child and while I think he may be a bit too young to use play doh (he may still be in the eating phase), I'm putting back some great finds for when he and his future friends ARE old enough to enjoy the time honored tradition of Play Doh.

Of course, today, lots of Moms are taking on the task of making their own play dough.  It's easy and inexpensive and a fun activity for your children. 

Jadi, over at Homemaking Fun, recently shared her recipe for homemade play dough and how she and her daughter made play dough hearts for her friends.

Guess what's coming up?  St. Patrick's Day! 
Get yourself a shamrock cookie cutter and you've got a plan for your children's friends!

Want to make your own, but prefer the traditional balls of play dough that we received as a child as opposed to cookie cutter shapes?   Go ahead and roll it up in a ball and give them as gifts in these:

Cute gable boxes and cups from Think Garnish
Boxes are $2 and cups are $1 each.   Dress up the boxes to match your decor!
These make great party favors!

Don't have time or the inclination to make the dough, but still want something that is homemade?
How about a Play Dough of the Month club?
yep.  You read that right.

Etsy seller DoSiDough is offering a Play Doh of the Month subscriptions!
Subs come in 12, 6 or 3 month subs. 
How much would your child like to receive this fun mail?
What will they think of next?

Go for the Dough!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

I accidentally fell asleep with my son while putting him to bed.  So now I'm up at 2am putting out his Valentines goodies.  It's like setting up for xmas all over again!

"Special K" (his nickname) is 2 so while he really doesn't grasp most holidays, it's fun to leave him some baubles and see his sweet face light up when he sees new treats. You know, the typical boy stuff, a large furry tarantula that jumps (he's into bugs these days), a slinky, a textured ball, balloon on a stick.... LOL

And mommy threw in some educational stuff like number/letter magnets and flashcards since he loves pointing out items that he recognizes.

Mailboxes from the dollar bin at Target! 
And decals from my buddy over at Decal Monograms on etsy.

Hope you have a fabulous day celebrating your special loved ones!

DIY/Tutorial: How to make a BIG kiss!

In my previous life, I was a professional fundraiser for a nonprofit.  That means lots of events... on the cheap.  For an event surrounding Valentine's Day, I made these large Hershey Kiss type centerpieces.  They were super cheap and a HUGE hit.  Needless to say, clean up was easy.  Everyone wanted to take them home!   And we were fine with that because... they barely cost us anything! We weren't losing something we could use again.

You need very little materials.

•  newspaper
• aluminum foil
• wide, wired ribbon
• pipe cleaners

Here's how it works.

First, take two large pieces of aluminum foil and overlap them in a plus sign.
You determine how large you want the kiss to be by how long the foil is.

Next, take a single pipe cleaners and wrap a long piece of wired ribbon around one of the ends.
Move the ribbon down just a hair and fold the pipe cleaner over to secure the ribbon a bit.  You could even add a bit of hot glue if you're worried about children pulling it, etc.
(sorry for the flash glare)

Lay that aside while you build the kiss.
Open up the newspaper and lay it flat.  Then pull the corners to the top like you were cinching a up a bag.  Remember, to make the kiss bigger, use more newspaper.  The newspaper will be the core of the kiss and will give it shape.

After you've cinched it up, you'll want to wrap your hands around the middle of the paper and press down.  This will flatten out the bottom and create a base for the kiss.  Remember, a kiss has a circular flat base.

Make sure the newspaper is in the center of the plus sign of foil, then begin pulling the corners of the foil up to meet at the top of the newspaper. 

Make a pyramid with the foil.

When you get all the aluminum corners to the top, insert the pipe cleaner down into the kiss.
(You can insert the pipe cleaner when you are molding the newspaper, but I prefer to put it in as one of the last stages, right before you close up the kiss.)

Then start shaping the foil to look like a kiss. 
You may have to press down on the kiss to get the base to flatten and you may have to be creative with the foil, pulling some sides out and pushing others in to get the shape you want.  

As a final touch, you can add stick on letters to the ribbon to create a message... U R Cute, your children's name, etc.  

These make great centerpieces!  You can make them any size.  Or, you can make them smaller and make several to sit around as accents.  Also, you can hide treats inside if you don't mind someone ripping them apart to find them! 

Happy Valentine's Day from Everyday Celebrating!

OH.
Don't forget to enter the giveaway!  You have until Noon EST on Sunday!  :)

The floral gift that never dies.... is that good or bad?

So.. you say you want flowers but don't have the cash and even if you did, they'd just die?
Introducing the "forever bouquet". 

from the site:
THE FOREVER BOUQUET - a kit which contains one dozen colorful paper flowers (ready to be cut), along with pre-cut wire and a pop-out vase. all you need to do is cut out your flowers of choice, tape wire onto the back for support and shaping, and pop out the vase. then, arrange your bouquet and present to the object of your affections for optimal enjoyment. you'll have "freshly cut" flowers that will never need sun or water! and in this economy, the thought REALLY DOES count!!

Funky and interesting, huh?

Still time for Valentine's treats!

With Valentine's day still a few days away, there's plenty of time for cute and easy treats!
I made these Marshmellow Pops for my son's daycare buddies and they are about the easiest thing you can make.  Here's how:

Simply use lollipop sticks to dip marshmellows in chocolate and top with sprinkles!
Use chocolate bark or candy melts , dip the marshmellows only halfway and top with alternating colored sprinkles.

Packaging....
I found the dotted box in the dollar bin at Michaels.
Make sure to use floral foam inside your container.  I made the mistake of not paying attention and buying regular styrofoam.  Bad.  Regular styrofoam crumbles and isn't as sturdy as thick, dense floral foam.  Floral foam is used to keep delicate floral stems upright, afterall.

After the chocolate dries, cover each pop with a clear lollipop bag.  Then cinch it up and tie with whatever fits into your theme.  Ribbon, twine, pipe cleaners, garland, etc.

And then, of course, I made the heart shaped rice krispy treats.  (You have to have something heart shaped, right?)  Halfway dipped in chocolate and topped with sprinkles. 

There's still time!  Make something easy... with love!

And, as usual, these pops would be cute at a baby shower or children's birthday!   And they make a great centerpiece!

Upgrading grocery store flowers

I love grocery store flowers.  What can I say?  I use them a lot. Walmart, Kroger and Publix have great flowers at a fraction of the cost.  The problem?  They aren't the most beautiful arrangements.  Especially for someone like me that likes a simple, Martha Stewart style arrangement. 

Real Simple online recently posted an article on how to upgrade grocery store flowers.  Great, doable ways to get the greatest bang for your grocery store buck.

The articles gives these basic tips, but you really need to visit the link to view how they turned grocery store flowers to florist type fab!

 - Divide and conquer
 - Contrast colors
 - Go monochromatic
 - Contrast textures
                                               - Cut and edit
                                               - Make it mass