Southern Sign Language (GIVEAWAY)

Southern Sign Language is a new & wonderful business that makes the cutest custom made signs for any & all occasions!!  They can be custom made to match any nursery, holiday decor, room in your house, or even be made as a special gift for someone.  The wooden signs are hand painted & then designed to match your needs.

I am happy to say that this is a family member's business & she is putting her talents to good use; thankfully we are all going to reap the benefits!!  Personally I love to spruce up my house with personalized & original things like this.  I feel like it makes a house more homey when you add things that fit your family's personalty & that is just what a custom sign from Southern Sign Language  will do in your home.

Jamie can create anything that you request & has been sweet enough to offer a $30 gift certificate to one lucky reader!!

You may choose any design in her shop or work with Jamie to create your own custom sign!

How to enter the Southern Sign Language Giveaway:

*Required entry:  Visit Southern Sign Language Etsy shop and "favorite" her shop.

(1 entry)

Extra Entries:

1.  Leave a comment with a certain design you'd like to see. (1 entry)

2.  "Like" Southern Sign Language on Facebook. (1 entry)

3.  Become a public follower of my blog. (1 entry)

4.  Follow me on Twitter (1 entry)

5.  Like my page on Facebook

You have 6 ways to enter & win!

Leave a comment below telling me each way that you have entered 

(all entries will be checked & confirmed)

This giveaway begins today, October 2nd, and will end in a week from today, October 9th.  A winner will be chosen at random using Random.org.  You must respond within 48 hours to claim your prize or another winner will be chosen.  Good luck!!

She's Crafty........Well I'm Working on It Anyway!!

I have decided that since I have an amazing craft room (thank you boobala) that I am going to start using it to create all presents & cards here in the future.  I know that with 2 little ones running around that I might miss an occasion here & there but for the most part I would like to create & make sweet & also one of a kind presents for our family from the the boys.  I know that a store bought gift can be a great gift but when you make something special for someone & put some thought into what exactly that person might like then I think it makes that gift & occasion every better!  

I have a Cricut & am just getting into all the things that it can can create & if you have one you know that you can never know all that it does the it seems endless.  I have made a few things for myself for holidays & also made this for our niece's room for her birthday.......... 

& then made frames for the boys Grams & JuJu for mother's day.  I still have to learn a good bit but I like the way they turned out!!

I then got adventurous & made a frame/block set for the boys PaPa & Puddy for Father's Day.  I really loved the way these turned out & think that both Puddy & PaPa likes them too.  I really like the fact that they can change the blocks to show 6 different photos & thought the frame with the poem just made it even more special. 

I started a book for Lance & the boys for his Father's Day gift but have yet to take photos of it at this point nor it is up to date; I am still working on it but an anxious to show it to you all............I'm pretty proud of it.  I enjoy doing all of this so much & it is kind of like therapy for me since it is a time for just me, my thoughts & my glue, mod podge, photos & ideas.............

Valentine's Day.........

I think like a lot of other women (&men too) out there I am addicted to Pinterest & have been stock piling ideas for just about every occasion that comes up each year & it just so happened that Valentine's Day was the 1st to pop up & I had a great time putting some of the things that I had found to good use.  I found both the idea for the mailboxes on there as well as the 14 days of Valentine's Day.  With 2 kids Lance & I are really having to work at our marriage so every little bit counts & helps us to remember that we are are a married couple & NOT just a mom & dad to the boys...........

I am really enjoying my crafting & think that it is just what I need for my much needed me time; I don't have much of it but when I do I love it.  Here is how it all turned out & I think that Lance loved his & that B loved getting little stuff too!!

I am bummed that I forgot to take a photo on one of the days but this is what it kind of looked like:

Here are the boys that morning enjoying their cards & B his chocolate.

& here are the Valentine's that I made for the boys friends at school!

Colton's are gummy bears & teddy grahams bagged up with these cute little tags.

B's are melted crayon hearts with little "you color my world" tags.

Valentine's Day Art & Crafts.........

For Valentine's day this year I wanted to give the grandparents & Lance something that B could help make himself & since he is only 18 months that meant something that he could get dirty doing & that meant that he would really enjoy it!!  I found this idea over at A Little Tipsy; I really did try to get B to put his hands on the paper the right way to make the hearts but he had something else in mind so I just went with it & decided that I would figure out a different way of using & making his hand painting into the perfect gifts.

I used a heart cookie cutter to cut out some hearts to mail with our Valentine's Day cards to friends & family & then used the rest of these to make frames for the grandparents & daddy.

For the grandparents...........

For daddy.........

I think that they turned out really well & think that they were a great way for B to show his favorite people how much he loves them!!

I also made more cupcakes (red velvet) & used another idea from A Little Tipsy for Valentine's Treats for B's daycare buddies.  I also think that these turned out well; I did change the type of chocolate to milk & white chocolate just because the kids in his daycare might not all like the mint flavor & I also just used red sprinkles instead of the crushed m&m's. 

 I used adorable printable tags that I found at Good Gravy Designs

 The kids loved them & the were so easy & fun to make.  The red velvet cupcakes that I made were from a recipe I found on Better Homes & Gardens (my new favorite recipe website) & they were a bit tricky when it came to the baking since they rise funny but I think that they turned out well after a 1st batch trial run (only fill the cupcake tins up half way).  I followed the recipe & sprinkled some of them with powdered sugar but had some left over cream cheese frosting from when I made these & used it on some of them as well.

I boxed them all up (well I did eat a few) & took them to family on Sunday & B's daycare for Valentine's Day.  I think that they were a hit & I have to say that I am really enjoying baking, cooking & being creative; these are things that I have always loved to do but have just never made or just taken the time to do lately.