Mikarose Giveaway!

Have you heard of Mikarose?  If you haven't, go check it out now!  Hurry!

Okay, now that you're back I have some wonderful news for you.  One lucky reader is going to get a $50 gift certificate to use at Mikarose!  So exciting!

I recently had a chance to get a dress from Mikarose and I love it!  In fact, I was wanting a new dress and the Bailey dress fit the bill perfectly.

 
I am always hesitant about ordering from a new place because sizes vary from place to place and I hate having to return things . . . especially if I have to ship it!  With Mikarose I followed their size instructions and the dress fits great!  And not only do I love the fit, but I love the feel.  It is about the most comfy dress I have worn in a while.  Anything knit these days seems to be too thin--which means I feel I have to wear something under it (which makes it awfully hot in the summer) and I eventually get a hole in it (sooner rather than later).  The fabric on this dress is the perfect weight--it still feels light and feminine but it's not so paper thin.  Perfect!

So here's your chance!  Enter through Rafflecopter to win a chance at a Mikarose dress of your own!  Good luck!

Pasta Beads

I just wanted to let you know about some great deals going on right now at Paper Coterie.  Now through June 4th Memory Keepers are only $20.  That's half price!  Plus you get a free gift when you buy one.  I love my Memory Keeper.  

Also, have you started thinking about Father's Day?  Paper Coterie has some daring All About My Dad books.  They would be such a fun project to work on with your kids to make a very special Father's Day gift.  I just ordered mine.  Now through May 28th they're 60% off!  Enter promo code MYDAD at checkout.

And one more thing.  Today only journals are just $6.  Wouldn't one make a perfect graduation gift?  I think so!

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The other night I was making spaghetti for dinner and as I poured out the noodles into my hand they unexpectedly came spilling out all over the place.  I decided to turn lemons into lemonade and called my kids into the kitchen for a game of pick up sticks.  My daughter was appalled that I was just going to throw away all these uncooked spaghetti noodles and suggested we use them for a craft.  What a great idea!  For years I have been meaning to color pasta with my kids and decided this was the perfect opportunity.

Along with the spaghetti noodles I pulled out of the pantry some almost empty boxes of pasta and we got to work coloring them.

To color pasta you'll need your noodles, plastic ziploc bags, food dye, and rubbing alcohol.

Place your pasta in the plastic ziploc bags and add 3-4 drops of food coloring and 1 tablespoon of alcohol.

Make sure your bag is sealed well and then shake it up so that each piece gets coated

Pour you pasta onto a tray lined with paper towel to dry.  Be careful because the food coloring can stain while still wet.  Make sure your pasta is very dry before working with it.

Once the pasta was dry we were ready to play with our new beads.

My kids had a great time stringing their beads together.  Some randomly, some in a pattern.

Simple.  Fun.

Car Games

I can't believe it's May!  This year has flown by.  The school year is winding down and before you know it it will be time for summer vacation and road trips.  

Our family took a little road trip last month to this event over spring break.  I brought along several of my travel toys that I've made in years past along with a few new things.  I found these great car games over at Prepared NOT Scared and decided to make them up last minute.  I'm so glad I did because they were the hit of the travel toys this year.  My five year old especially loved them and kept her busy for hours.

After printing them out and laminating them I added them to my kids travel bags along with a dry erase marker.

My three year old wasn't into the games as much but the backside of each card made a great little erasable drawing board for him.

 Another popular item in their travel bag were some personalized notebooks I made using composition books that I picked up on clearance for 20 cents last fall.

A little scrapbook paper added a personal touch and they had pages of drawing paper in a special little book just for them.

What activities are popular with your kids on road trips?

Need a Gift? This One's Free!

Yesterday when I heard the doorbell ring I rushed to answer it because I knew it was going to be my package from Paper Coterie.  I've been anxiously awaiting its arrival.

Have you heard of Paper Coterie?  I recently came across their site and discovered oodles of amazing products.  Everything over at Paper Coterie can be customized with words and pictures to create a precious personalized keepsake or gift.

At Paper Coterie you can create high quality personalized books, baby announcements, journals, canvases, growth charts, recipe books, birthday cards, guest books, calendars, and much more.  Hop on over there to check out all the beautiful products they have to offer.  But wait.  Before you go I wanted to let you know that right now they are offering a $15 credit to all new customers.  (Enter GIFTFAVES at checkout.)   Yep.  $15 for you to use however you want. 

So what did I get? 

Well, after browsing around for much too long, drooling over all their products, I finally settled on a Memory Keeper. 

Then there was the hard choice of how I wanted to design my Memory Keeper.  I ended up going for this simple look.

Decorated with these sweet faces.

The perfect place to put all those sweet treasures my little ones make for me.

 And the back.  This is my favorite part.  Love it!

And it opens up . . .

Nice and big.

Plenty of room for all those precious pictures and little love notes that my kiddos grace me with daily.  Just what I need.

 I'm so in love with my Memory Keeper and was impressed with how easy it was to make and order my product, not to mention how quickly they had it shipped out to me.  Seriously impressed.

 So what are you waiting for?  Check out Paper Coterie and figure out how you're going to spend your $15.  Don't forget Mother's Day is coming up or you could even plan ahead for Father's Day or I'm sure you could come up with about a thousand other ways to use your $15 credit.

Use promo code GIFTFAVES at checkout.  (Offer valid through May 14th.)

Have fun shopping!