Olaf the Pumpkin Snowman!

Posted | 0 comments

I am sure there are a 100 posts about this on Pinterest. But I’m not even going to check. I’m just going to post this for you here because I think it’s so stinkin’ cute.

Olaf from Disney’s Frozen made out of pumpkins for Halloween!

I will NEVER do this this but I hope some of you crafty mamas out there do! I can’t take credit for this. Some crafty person at the Red Fox Bar & Grille in NH made this. We saw it when we visited this weekend. I had to share.

What you’ll need:

3 pumpkins
white paint
black paint of black marker
black felt
orange felt
glue
sticks

Go! Make it please? And then show me on Facebook! I’d LOVE to see it.

Craft on mamas, craft on.

So I clicked a Facebook Ad and was pleasantly, um, uplifted

Posted | 0 comments

It’s like Stitch Fix for your Boobs!

Does anyone really click on those ads? Anyone?

A year ago I think my answer would have been “Hell NO!” But two weeks ago I saw one that caught my eye. It was a beautiful bra. I know right? A bra? Really? That’s what gets you? Well boobs are awesome! Who doesn’t like boobies? Food and fun all rolled into one :-)

I digress. I clicked the ad. I did! It was for a company called True & Co.

So here’s the uplifted part.

I have been wearing the same bra every day for the past 10 months or so. I am not even kidding. It gets washed, sometimes. But really, the same bra. Every day. Because it is the most, um, uplifting bra I own.

I got it last year at the outlets in North Conway, NH. Our annual trip up north to Storyland. The perfect time to buy a bra you say. Why of course!

I go in to the bra outlet, Hanes, Bali, Warner, something. I look around at literally thousands of bras. My boobs have been a 36DD, a 34C, a 32B, and really everything in between. Reduction surgery, 3 pregnancies, 3 babies nursed, 14.5% body fat and then back up. Lots of sizes. I think everything has finally settled, down (ahem). Meanwhile I have about 20 bras that I never wear from all these different periods of my life that just sort of fit.

A crazy old lady (and I mean that with much respect, but still. I call ’em like I see ’em) asks if I need help and then proceeds to feel me up. I don’t have much shame after having three kids, but still.

The end result of that chance encounter in a fitting room was a bra that fit pretty well. I got two, but for some reason only ever wear the nude one, not the pretty purple one?? Go figure.

So back to the ad. I should really get a new bra right? That one is pretty, I think to myself. So I click True & Co. ad to see what it’s all about. I figured at the very least I could do a little review for True & Co for the ole blog here.

The site asks me if I want to take a fit quiz. Sure I have a few minutes to procrastinate. I answer 15 questions about the boobage. They make suggestions. I pick out 3 bras and they pick out two. 3-5 business days later a pretty package of bras arrived.

At first try on it seemed like every one of them fit. I was pretty floored. I tried them on again the next day and one didn’t fit. Still 4/5 ain’t bad. I ended up keeping 2 and sending two that fit back for reasons other than fit. (One was too sheer and the other was a strapless and I already have one. Does a mom of three really need two strapless bras to hang out in the school pick up/drop off line?!)

This is not an ad of any kind. I paid for my bras. However if you check out the site please do use the link above or this one here   – it’s a referral link. And then if you buy anything I may get a free bra someday. Woot!

I just thought you all would like to know about it. It’s like Stitch Fix for your boobs!! At home try on is free you pay for what you keep. Send back anything else. I mean trying on bras is like trying on swimsuits – UGH! Who wants to spend your no kid time doing that. Becasue you certianly can’t do it with the littles. I may or may not have had to run after someone in an ill fitting bra in the dressing room before. Someone just give me a few, or five, that might work and let me try them on at home!

Just in case you all have been wearing the same old gnarly bras for a year too. Just me? No? Yes? You don’t have to tell me it’s okay :-) Just go get a new bra already wouldya!

Year in Review Kid Video

Posted | 0 comments

This is me cheating on my #videoaday thang. But who cares really? You don’t, I know you don’t. I don’t.

I’m cheating because I made this video LAST January. So I thought if I’m going to cheat a bit I would give you guys something in return.

Do you want to know how easy it was to make that video? How about I write a post and do a screencast about it. I can get you to do a Year in Review Video of your kids in no time at all. Wouldn’t you love that? I know you would!

Here’s last year’s video (2012). I am going to do 2013 this weekend. I’ll take notes and make a screencast and give it to YOU!

The Taming of the Art

Posted | 0 comments

I finally broke down and bought the Keepsake Portfolio at Lakeshore yesterday while I was getting a teacher gift.

Why not as mom gift as well? Times 3!

I had been balking for 3 years because of the price thinking that my homemade version would be just fine.

Clearly my current solution in not exactly working.

Heh.

The plan is to keep everything throughout the year. Cull it every month or so by taking pictures and recycling. Keeping only the stuff I, or the kids, reaaaaaaally want.

I’ll let you know how that goes!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The link above is an affiliate link, justs so you know :-)

Babba Box – Crafty fun on your doorstep

Posted | 0 comments

I went to an event at Barefoot Books last week and I won the door prize!

There were actually two parts to the raffle that were equally exciting. The first was a credit from Urban Sitters! Can you say Date Night?! I have been itching to use Urban Sitter ever since my speed dating experience with them a while back. But I needed a sitter with a car, and lo and behold AT the event I found a sitter with a car that lives in my town. Squeeeee!

Then as if it couldn’t get any better, the other part of the prize was a 3 month subscription to Babba Box. BabbaCo and Barefoot Books had been keeping my kids busy under the watchful eye of the Urban Sitter while we learned all about Babba Box from its founder Jessica Kim. Jessica is a mom of three and as cute and smart and genuine as you can get. Can you say Girl Crush?! Too far? Ok.

But look! She hand wrote every blogger a lovely note on our goody bag.

See? Aren’t you crushing on her a little bit. Handwritten notes rock! I so need to do this more.

But it’s all about that other thing she does – the Babba Box! From the website…

BabbaBox is a monthly subscription activity box that is delivered to your home with ALL the physical materials plus know-how content to really engage with your kids. Watch the video below to see first hand what the box is all about!

 

So in the next few months I’ll let you know what we get and how the kids like it. As an admitted non-crafty mama, I am super psyched for the help!

DIY Autograph Books for Disney World

Posted | 1 comment

I am not so crafty, but I try. Sometimes I do it because my kids are begging me. Sometimes I do it because the occasion demands it.

Other times, like this one, I just want something special and different. Autograph books for Walt Disney World.

I just wanted something personalized, small enough for their little hands, and inexpensive.  I didn’t want them to have the very same, kind of cheap feeling, one that everyone else had. I wanted a lot of pages, strong pages that wouldn’t bleed through. I searched for a couple days online and finally settled on these.

I ordered them through Dick Blick Art Materials. They are a simple 6″ x 4″ sketchbook. It comes in black and kraft. They were $5.13 each. I got some stickers and scrapbooking notions from Michaels and, well, all done…

Mirage Sketchbook Kraft 6″ x 4″

I really love them. The kids will further personalize them as a craft on the plane with some stickers. When we come home I’ll get some photos printed and stick them in there. There’s even enough pages for me to make some notes for them about the special things they saw and did on their trip. And of course a special love note on the inside back cover from mama to each of them.

I also got them each a clickable sharpie in their favorite colors. They are big enough for the characters to hold and will show up really well on the pages.

So it wasn’t like a real craft, really? But I made it for them, and that’s what matters to me.

Seriously? SO excited.