You know you are married to a techie when…
Your husband emails you your Valentine and it says…
You may think it’s tacky. But I got a good laugh out of it. Thanks, Nathan!
Posts Tagged ‘gifts’
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Birthday Fortunes In a Jar
In Life, Tutorials on February 8, 2010 at 9:00 am
First birthdays are special, even though Elle will never remember it. I took ample pictures then made her a fortune cookie jar full of birthday fortunes, or wishes, from her loved ones. The fortunes are to be kept unopened until a later moment in time, like her 16th birthday party. Similar to the concept of a time capsule. And fortune cookies because her birthday party was based on a Chinese theme.
The intention was to set up a table where guests would write birthday fortunes to Elle as they entered the party. Great idea, but it didn’t go as planned. Majority of the guests arrive an hour before party time, while we were still in the process of setting up decorations and cooking the meal. Oh well. Plan B. I had everyone email me their fortunes to Elle, including all of Nathan’s family who lives everywhere but here.
Supplies:
- cardstock paper
- glue
- something circular as a template (3″ diameter)
- scissors
- rubber band (optional)
- jar
1. Gather your paper. Use something circular and at least 3″ in diameter (depending on how big you want your cookies to turn out) to trace circles on the back of your paper. I used a coaster.
2. Cut out the circles and the fortunes. I printed the fortunes then cut them into strips.
3. Make a crease at the center of your circle about 1 1/2″ with the wrong side out (the paper patterns are on the inside touching each other when you fold to make the crease. Don’t fold the entire circle in half, just make a crease at the center.
4. With the crease pointing at you vertically, put glue at the edge of the circle going only about 1/3 of the circle. Make sure your crease is at the center point of where your gluing.
5. Place your fortune paper, folded, in the middle of the circle.
6. Fold circle in half touching the no-glue side to the side with glue. But don’t press down at the fold. Use laundry pins to hold the sides down.
7. This is where the crease comes in handy. Puff up your paper by pushing down on the crease and it should bend in the middle at the crease line. And it will open the holes at the two corners (see second picture below). Continuing to bend the crease until the paper takes shape of a fortune cookie.
8. If your cookie doesn’t hold it shape, put a little bit of glue at the middle of the crease line then use a rubber band to hold the cookie at the bend together. Allow for the glue to dry then remove rubber band.
9. Put it all in a jar then you can label or decorate the jar.
Linked A Soft Place.
Elle’s 1st Birthday
In Random on February 8, 2010 at 8:00 amIt really turned out well. After all the back and forth on whether or not I should do a party, I’m glad we did one but kept it small. Her birthday was actually on Thursday. But since Nathan had school that evening, we took her out to McDonalds (or Kaye calls it Ol’ McDonalds) for lunch. Elle is like her mommy. We love French fries.
We saved her Chinese birthday party for Friday evening. Thanks to all those who paid her birthday wishes. Here’s my big girl at her birthday party…
standoff between Elle and gifts.
Elle eating frosting.
Gift Tags
In Crafts, The Gift Box on January 18, 2010 at 9:00 am
My shop, The Gift Box, is a place where your purchases come with gift boxes or wrappings. I also designed and created these gift tags to go with the boxes. I designed a few different patterns. Reused paper bags. Tied raffia. Simple and easy.
Kaye’s Sketchbook Caddy
In Crafts, Holidays on December 21, 2009 at 9:01 am
I have been lucky in the sense that Kaye’s Christmas wishlist to Santa has been pretty simple the last two years. Last year, she wanted a candy cane. That’s it. I got her the biggest candy cane I could find. This year, the list got longer. A horn (the musical instrument kind, not the rhino kind), paper, pencils and a book. Easy enough, except the horn.
And because I can’t just wrap a ream of paper and a couple pencils and toss it under the tree, I came up with a sketchbook caddy for Kaye. You see, we’ve been having a little problem with Kaye and her drawings. She sees me with my sketchbook and is motivated to draw, too. I love that she is creative like me. However, the problem has been she takes the crayons, pens and markers then draws on our hearth, dressers, bookshelves and my office desk. Not ideal for the resale value of our house if we ever move. I’ve been trying to drill in her that we only draw on paper. Nothing else. Hopefully this will take care of the problem.
I drafted the caddy idea in a day, then finished it the next day. And I had all the supplies at home, just needed the sketchpad and markers. What do you think? And anyone out there with an idea of how to get blue crayons out of a slab of marble?
Friday’s 5 at 5: Guy Gifts
In Friday's 5 at 5 on December 18, 2009 at 5:00 amI don’t know about you, but I have the hardest time finding gifts for the men in my life… husband, brothers, father, father-in-law and grandfathers. This year, how about…
1. Fire pit. What guy doesn’t like the outdoors? Now tell me, what guy doesn’t like to burn things outdoors? There. Done. This one is from Lowes.
2. Leather excursion case. If your man travels quite a bit for work or just likes to travel in style. This one is monogramed by Red Envelope.
3. Space pen. I got this for Nathan a few years ago. What a boring gift. A pen. But a bullet space pen. It’s he favorite thing. He takes it with him everywhere. It’s short when closed, regular pen length when fully sized. It writes upside down, in the freezing cold, in boiling heat and under water.
4. SunnyBags. For the eco-friendly tech guy. These bags have solar panels that charges your gadgets while he is out and about. These SunnyBags are made in Austria. You can other solar bags
5. Cloud 9 Living. If you rather create a memory and give him the experience of his lifetime then Cloud 9 Living is your answer. You purchase an experience or a gift card that is good for an experience of his choice. Experiences are relative to where you live, but some examples are hot air balloon rides, race car ride along, couples massage, private golf lesson by a PGA pro, adventure film making and I could go on. This gift will win you the wife of the year award.
Friday’s 5 at 5: Memory Gifts Using Photos
In Friday's 5 at 5, Photography on December 11, 2009 at 5:00 am
I am constantly looking for ways to make gift giving more personal. Those are my favorite gifts to give. As we are in the season of giving, here are five ideas for using your photos…
- Favorite things. This Christmas, I made photo books of my kids favorite things. It was a medium size flipbook. One for Elle and one for Kaye. It’s fun to be able to capture their favorite things at this age. I also used letter blocks to spell out their favorite things, an idea I received from Liz’s blog.
- Favorite memories. This year, I hand bound personal books for our parents for Mother’s and Father’s Day. I had each of our siblings write a couple favorite memories with our parents. Then dug through old photographs for pictures to go along with the stories. We all laughed and cried taking a trip down memory lane.
- While you were gone. My brother and some of Nathan’s siblings travel all around the world. We send them photo books of our children growing up while they were gone. Catch them up on some of the things they missed.
- Messages. Have family members or friends hold a sign with a message of ‘I love you’ or ‘thank you’ or ‘we miss you’ in a photograph. Put it on a card or make it into a poster.
- Cover an event. At a special event, take ample pictures and make a little scrapbook for them. Don’t forget to include your thoughts and feelings of the event. This is great for weddings, birthdays, graduations and performances.
Resa Design Giveaway
In Events, Giveaway on November 30, 2009 at 9:00 am**This giveaway is now closed. But check out other Winter Days Giveaway that are still going at the top right.**
Here we go! Today begins our first giveaway for The Winter Days Giveaways, an event to thank my readers for supporting Simply Modern Mom. Remember to come back all week as this is a back-to-back giveaway event featuring a new giveaway each day. I am so excited! Are you? And remember, there’s a surprise! Read on and you’ll see…
Our first sponsor is Resa Design. The talented Resa came up with this idea in 2004 when she couldn’t find cool and modern gear for her new baby. What started as a hobby became a business, Resa Design, in 2005. Since then they have shipped thousands of products around the world. You can find Resa Design products in boutiques worldwide as well as in diaper bags and closets of the most fashion forward babies and kids.
The company offers some of the trendiest bibs, blankets, changing pads, burp cloths, and clothes. Some of which you can customize and design. One of my personal favorites: the birthday tees. Resa is also doing her own 12 days of Christmas sale. Beginning today, she is giving her customers special discounts to her products.
Their Signature Tee is by far the most popular item. Resa is giving away ONE custom Signature Tee to a lucky winner. You will be able to design your own Alphabet or Shape tee by choosing the size, style, fabric, and customization. It is perfect for family photos or welcoming a new baby. Available in sizes newborn thru 4T. The tees, designs and fabric choices are pictures below. This giveaway includes all my international readers. Resa is willing to ship out-of-country if you win.
To enter, do ANY of the following. For multiple entries, do more than one and make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry.
- Leave a comment below and tell me which fabric choice you would choose if you won.
- Go to Resa Design and tell me your favorite product in a separate comment.
- Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to your post in a separate comment.
- ‘Share’ this giveaway by doing one of the ‘Share’ options below (Twitter, Facebook, Kirtsy, StumbleUpon, or email).
- Subscribe to Simply Modern Mom by RSS, email or Twitter. All ready subscribing? Just tell me in a separate comment.
This giveaway will close Monday, Dec. 7 at 10 p.m. EST. The winner will be announced Monday, Dec. 14.
Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about your surprise. Each entry you do for any of these sponsored giveaways during the Winter Days Giveaways will automatically enter you to win a set of my fake mustaches on a stick! So the more entries you do, the better chance you have of winning the sponsor’s prize as well as a set of fake mustaches. Enter away and good luck!
The Winter Days Giveaways
In Giveaway on November 23, 2009 at 9:01 am
**Scroll down to see the line up of sponsors and links to their giveaways!**
Huge announcement! Simply Modern Mom is celebrating our first Christmas and we have YOU to thank. I started this site in July of this year and it has all ready surpassed all my goals and expectations I had set for SMM this year. And it is because of your support, your interests, your comments, your time here on SMM that has made it what it is today. What began as a site with only 20-30 pageviews a day in July, SMM has grown to over 1,000 pageviews a day in just four months! I just can’t express enough gratitude to all my readers.
To celebrate, I put together SMM’s first The Winter Days Giveaways. I have 10 amazing sponsors each doing a giveaway here on SMM in a four week event. This back to back giveaway event begins the Monday after Thanksgiving and ends on Christmas Day, Nov. 30 – Dec. 25. The first two weeks, I will feature a sponsored giveaway a day. The last two weeks the winners will be announced. All you have to do is show up and enter to win. There will be jewelry, stationary, patterns, handbags, decorations, children’s clothing, and more.
Start spreading the news! It starts next Monday! Look for different ways of sharing this announcement below under ‘Share’.
P.S. There will be a little surprise, too.
Line up of giveaways & sponsors…
- Resa Design
- Love.Obsess.Inspire.
- The Idea Room
- Hope for Women
- V & Co.
- Allora Handmade
- Tatertots & Jello
- Recessionista
- Poloppo
- Liliash
Friday’s 5 at 5: Non-Traditional Halloween Treats
In Friday's 5 at 5, Holidays on October 23, 2009 at 5:00 am
I am probably the neighborhood mom that all the kids complain about. I don’t hand out candy. I figured they get enough candies from all the other homes. At least I’m not as bad as my neighbor who makes children do push ups for candy. He’s a personal fitness trainer. He would probably hand out protein bars if it were safe for babies.
Moving on. Other than candy…
- Glow sticks. It has yet to fail me year after year. The kids love them. I get the bracelet ones with the connectors so it can also be a necklace if they had two.
- Play-dough. You can find them with the candy stuff in big super stores such as Target or Wal-Mart.
- Bouncy balls. Or other party gift bag toys found at party stores.
- Bubbles. The small bottles found in party stores.
- Pretzels or crackers. Individually pre-packaged of course. Nothing homemade.
I have also seen people who attached their business cards to whatever it is they are handing out the kids. I guess that is one way to advertise.
Glass Pendant Necklaces Tutorial
In Crafts, Tutorials on October 13, 2009 at 9:00 am
Easy. Cheap. Adorable. How can you pass up something like this? I found places online where they sold the tutorials on how to make these glass pendant necklaces. Here’s mine for free.
Supplies:
- paper
- exacto knife
- ruler
- cutting board
- glass tiles* (rectangular, circular, or square shapes available)
- bails* (I used aanraku small size)
- clear glue (I used Diamond Glaze
. Mod Podge will work too, just not as well.)
- super glue or E6000
- toothpick
- wax paper
- ball chains, ribbons, necklaces
- paper towels
*glass pendants and bails can be found pretty much anywhere online… Amazon, Etsy supplies, etc. I have also found bails at craft stores.
1. Using the exacto knife, cutting board, and ruler, cut your papers to the size of your glass tiles. I prefer to cut my papers slightly smaller than the tiles (about 1mm shorter all the way around). I had squared tiles, so I rounded the corners of my paper a bit to fit the tiles better. You can use just about any kind of paper, although tissue paper may be to thin and transparent. Suggestions: magazine pages, scrapbook paper, origami paper, cardstock.
2. Clean the glass tiles with a slightly damped paper towel or cloth. Allow to dry completely.
3. Lay a sheet of wax paper over your work space, the glue doesn’t stick to it. If your glass tile has a frosted side, you will want the paper to glue to the frosted side. Apply a layer of Diamond Glaze or Mod Podge to the frosted side of the glass tile. Gently place the paper onto the glue with the designs facing down. (The polka dots in the picture below is the back side of my pendant. The design is on the other side of paper.)
4. Quickly wipe off excess glue with toothpick and dry paper towels. Turn the tile over and press down on the glass tile hard to allow the layer of glaze to even out. Allow to dry completely, approximately 30 minutes to an hour.
5. Working on the back side of the pendant again, put another layer of glaze over the back of the paper to seal it. If you are using the Diamond Glaze, you will only have to do this once. If you are using Mod Podge, you will need to use a brush and do a few coats allowing drying time between coats. I also applied glaze on the sides of the paper to protect the edges. Use a toothpick and paper towel to wipe off excess glaze or glue. Also use the toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the glaze. Let it completely dry, approximately 5-6 hours or longer.
6. Once it dried, clean off any excess glue anywhere on the glass tile with a lightly damped paper towel or carefully scratch it off with finger nails.
7. Glue bails to the back of the pendants at the top. Make sure you check your designs and note which side you would like to have as the top of the pendant. If you use super glue, apply a small amount of the glue to the back of the tile and the bail. Work quickly as it dries fast. You will also need to get it right the upon first contact because super glue doesn’t allow much time for adjustments. If you use E6000, squeeze a pea size onto wax paper. Then use a toothpick to apply a small amount of it to the back of the tile and on the bail.
8. Let it dry for about 30 minutes to an hour. Then put on ball chains, ribbons, or necklaces.
Featuring Thea, my model…
Children’s Block Books
In Photography on September 25, 2009 at 9:52 am
I saw this cleaver idea a while ago at Liz’s blog. It has been stuck in my head ever since. I loved the idea of such a personalized book. And while I was shopping the craft stores last week, I found wooden children’s blocks for 50 cents a set. Then, Liz announced a giveaway on her blog where she is giving away two Shutterfly books. I hope I win as I’m already working on my block books for Kaye and Elle. Go to her site to enter for your chance to win.
Dry Ice Season
In Random on September 22, 2009 at 9:00 amUPS delivered a surprise package to our front door last Thursday. The box had this label on it…
What? A frozen pie? Oh yeah, I forgot I was signed up to do a survey on a new pie product. What a pleasant surprise, a free apple pie. Yum. To keep it frozen there was a brown paper sack inside filled with dry ice. Fun. An early Halloween.
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