did you see my giveaway?

I posted a giveaway on my other blog. Enter if you haven't already, it ends tonight.

new blog and website

I'm leaving today to go out of town for the next month, plus school starts two weeks after we get back so I won't be posting on here for a while. You can check out my new website onecharmingparty.com and my new party blog one charming blog that I recently started to go along with my website. I already have some posts up there and it's all party stuff. I had been waiting for my new blog header (being made by the lovely & talented Hannah from Sherbet Blossom Design) however, it will be a few weeks before it's finished so I thought I'd go ahead and tell you about my new sites now. So PLEASE check it out and leave me some comments of encouragement, it's been a rough road.

teacher gifts

Better late than never. I put together these teacher gifts in May for my kids to give their teachers at the end of the year as a thank you. I just never posted it. I had two parties going on and I was SO busy. But, when I saw the pictures again I thought maybe I'd still post this. And really, these flower pots could be used for any occasion, not just for teachers. I can't remember if I've shared my gift giving philosophy on here before, but I always try to give a two-fold gift: something that can be enjoyed now and something for later. For this gift the flowers are to be enjoyed now, but being realistic, these flowers will eventually die and then they'll have the container to use later to hold something else. Other examples of the two-fold gift are a small candy type treat and a book (something to eat now, something to read later). You get the idea.

I found the daisy type flowers at Wally Mart and the yellow containers at a local boutique-y store. I think the total came to $6 per teacher. Not to shabby. These aren't actual flower pots, just containers so I left the plants in their plastic pots for drainage, and like I mentioned earlier, they can reuse the container for something else if they want to plant the flowers in their yard or when they eventually die.I used a scalloped circle punch and a smaller circle punch, some purple ink,
long skewers, and some alphabet stamps.I stamped "Love (each kid's name here)" on the inner circle and stuck it to the scallop circle.
Then I taped the skewer to back.

And I was really diggin' the yellow and purple combo at the time. Maybe not so much now.

giveaway winner: oxo office supplies

And the random number generator picked #4: Dianna said... I love OXO products .... have you looked at all of their kitchen stuff? I find it at Marshall's, or TJ Maxx. These products would be great for the newbie homeschooler!

Thanks Dianna for leaving your email address. I will be contacting you today. In the meantime, leave us a comment telling us how excited you are to get your new office supplies. And good luck with the homeschooling!

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

ikea jar favors

I wanted something to take over to a few neighbors that I was going to visit. I didn't want to arrive empty handed, but I didn't feel like I needed to bring something extravagant either. So I used some small jars from IKEA and filled them with some leftover jellybeans that I had from my last party. With a jar (instead of the standard cellophane filled bag) they can leave the jelly beans out on their counter for everyone to eat gradually.Here are some pictures from the party. As a side note, I'm sure you can tell a huge difference in the photography skills between my pic at the top and these. Yeah, that's why I leave my party photographing to the professionals.

giveaway: products from oxo good grips

A kind lady named Sarah emailed me and offered to send me some new office supply products from OXO Good Grips. I get these kinds of offers randomly, but if it's from a company and someone I don't know I never accept. However, this time I was intrigued. We often have a shortage of office supplies around the house because my kids tend to carry them off and never bring them back. Also, we own some kitchen things from OXO and I trust this brand. I told Sarah that if I liked the things she sent me I would do a giveaway with the duplicates. They were delivered last week. After I opened them Husband commented on how cool the push pins were and he likes the dispenser. The kids like all of the stuff (but anything that arrives from FedEx or UPS in a box is awesome to them). I love the comfortable hole punch. I use hole punchers a lot lately when I'm crafting and this one locks too. That may come in handy, I can't really think when, but maybe when I don't want little ones helping me out too much. These and other things are available at Staples and they actually aren't very expensive. (And NO, she didn't tell me to say any of this stuff.) She didn't send one, but I really wanted the hand held or pocket stapler... We never have a stapler handy when I need one...

Well, here you go. If you would like to win the hole puncher, push pin dispenser, plus a package of extra push pins, leave me a comment and please leave an email address. I'll pick a winner on Friday.

interview

The cute gals at Vintage Hem interviewed me a few days ago.
You can check out what I said on their blog.
I did a post about them and their cute slips last year.

green smoothies and an awesome blender

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. The kiddos are out of school so things are crazy and I have a lot less quiet time.

We recently bought a Blendtec Blender and I've been making green smoothies nearly every morning. It's such a quick breakfast and it brings a smile to my face to think that by lunch time I've already had about 5 servings of greens and 3 servings of fruit. I can even get my kids to drink them some mornings if I put in less greens so that the color isn't too weird. It's always baby steps with them.

Here are two links for websites with info: Green Smoothie Girl and Running Raw. And here are some You Tube videos: Green Smoothie Girl Smoothie and Running Raw Smoothie and see the Blendtec Blender blend an iPhone into powder (or on the Will It Blend Website).

a little etsy love

I still haven't recovered from my party on Friday. I don't have the pictures from the photographer yet. Actually that whole process takes weeks for them to edit & size, send to me, for me to proof, and then more cropping and sizing changes if I want them. By that time I'm usually so sick of looking at them that I hesitate to post them here. So actually I'm a few parties behind on posting anyway. As my sister recently reminded me...

So instead I decided to post some giveaways from some great etsy sellers. Hurry quick, some of them end tonight. And tell them that dgoddess sent you.

The first is from Ginger Blossoms Boutique. I did a post on felt food a while back and she so kindly offered up some cute treats. She doesn't have as many comments as some of the other giveaways, so your chances of winning are pretty good.

Next is the Sweet Lollipop Shop. She made the cute suckers that I used at my most recent party. The kids loved them. Check her blog out to enter to win some free suckers, er lollipops.

Also, a blog in French is giving away a $25 gift certificate to Bake It Pretty. My French is kind of rusty but it was so fun to read her post. I do love the French language. Ahhhh... Anyway, I've bought several different cupcake liners from Bake it Pretty for parties. Twenty five dollars will buy you a lot of cute stuff.

And last is a cute blog that is all about etsy finds that I recently discovered. I started following her on Twitter and she tweeted about this great collection of giveaways on her blog from her and other etsy sellers. She has tons of comments, but she also has tons of stuff to give away. Check her out at Paper Cakes Finds.

Happy Memorial Day Everyone!

my kitchen table

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. This is what my kitchen table looked like last night. I have spared you and didn't include the pictures of laundry baskets full of clothes that still need to be folded or the bed upstairs that still needs the clean sheets put back on from yesterday. I'm getting ready for my niece's first birthday party tomorrow so I've been crazy busy. I'll post pictures soon. Happy Birthday Paisley! (Sneak peak of the vases Chelon, just for you!)

giveaway winner

And the winner picked by the random number generator at random.org is lucky number twenty-five! #25 Kim H. said... My favorite gift from you was the bath bomb. I loved it.

Leave a comment here telling us what you're going to buy at Lush. Maybe more bath bombs???

I'm off to an exciting day with one of my younger sisters. I've been looking forward to this for a month! Her birthday is tomorrow and Husband is treating us both to a full day at the spa. Shhhh. It's a surprise. I hope she doesn't read this before I pick her up this morning at 9.

my perfect birthday

my perfect birthday would have a party:

with pretty flowers:

and something fun, like this:

and a present of course:
and something either grey (my favorite color)
or vintage-y. or both, like this:and i have to put a link to this cute post by my friend
who did something so sweet for her daughter's birthday.
read it to the end.
i hope you have a happy day too.

a favorite present

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes. Actually my birthday is tomorrow--I just like to drag the celebration out. I don't usually share too much personal stuff on my blog, but here is my favorite birthday present ever from my husband. A few years ago he rented me a convertible mustang to drive for a week. You can see my minivan in the background, my usual ride. Obviously an impractical present to own since 1) I have too many kids to even fit in there, 2) the winters here are not good for V8s/rear wheel drive/convertibles, and 3) the price. Yeah. But it was so fun to drive for a few days and definitely one of my greatest memories. Especially since I had a mustang in college. But that was a LONG time ago. Ahhh.

giveaway: $25 lush giftcard

Oh, I love Lush. I first discovered it through a friend many years ago when I was looking for something more from my bath stuff. Now it's my favorite place. There aren't any locations in Utah. Sigh. So every time I go out of town I track down a Lush store. All of the big cities have them so I'm never disappointed. I walk in and never want to leave. When I first started shopping there I started out timidly. I only bought things like bath bombs and sliced soap. Now nearly all of my bathroom stuff is from Lush. My shampoo (Big). My conditioner (Veganese). My face soap (Coal Face & Ultra Bland). Fresh masks (can't remember all of their names). Face scrub (Angels on Bare Skin). My night time moisturizer (Celestial). My daytime moisturizer (Ultralight). My deoderant (Aromacream & Coconut). My lotion, which is actually a bar in a tin (Nutts Massage Bar). My favorite soap (Honey I Washed the Kids). And of course my favorite bath bomb (Avobath). I have used tons of their stuff. And I love how their website has tons of current, honest reviews of their products left by people like me who use their stuff and rate it. They use tons of fair trade and organic products. And they are very vegan friendly. No animal testing. Concern for the environment. Minimal packaging. You get the idea.

For my birthday I wanted to give away something that I love. I think that a Lush giftcard is perfect. Then you can try some new stuff if you've never shopped there, or you can stock up on old favorites if you have. Leave me a comment. BE SURE TO PROVIDE AN EMAIL ADDRESS. I'll pick a winner on Friday. Oops. I forgot to put the links in. They are in there now!

stay tuned

I'm too tired to write my real post.
But I'll put it up tomorrow.
It's a giveaway in honor of my birthday this week.
From my favorite store.