Miscellany Monday

I am linking up at lowercase letters for Miscellany Monday.

{1} I added the cutest new custom Instagram magnets to my etsy shop this week.  You can use coupon code, FREESHIP to get free shipping off of any order from now until the end of June.   If you have your own blog and would love a free magnet to blog about and a chance to offer a chance for one of your readers to receive 2 free magnets,  send me an email at instamagnet {at} gmail.com.

 

{2} I took a three day weekend (minus a thirty minute team meeting this morning) from work and it was much needed and fabulous.

{3} We had a busy, fun, and productive weekend. Saturday we went to Connecticut where we went outlet shopping, mall shopping, Home Goods shopping, and out to lunch. Sunday I did stuff around the house while Chris and Maddie went hiking and then we grilled out, went to Target, and then watched a movie. Today we CLEANED like crazy people and I know have a bag of clothes to donate to my cousin's daughter and two bags of assorted clothes I need to find some local organization to donate to. I also cleaned out our washer and did laundry; we went out to dinner, and went grocery shopping.

{4} Saturday night I ordered new bedding. I cannot wait for it to arrive. We went with a new duvet, duvet cover, fitted sheet (we don't use a top one) and pillow cases. I googled a promotion code and ended up getting 20% off. My goal this week is to work on a piece of art which will go over our bed once our new bedding arrives.

Source: thecompanystore.com via Melissa on Pinterest

I Went to the Baby Shower

I attended my cousin's baby shower on Sunday.   I was really sort of dreading it.  I am happy report I had a nice time.  It was a beautiful shower and the sadness I was anticipating wasn't there... thankfully.  About halfway through I sent a quick text to my husband to let him know I was okay and he responded with this super sweet text.

It helped that I chose the most beautiful baby gift ever.  My cousin originally pinned it on Pinterest. 

Source: etsy.com via Melissa on Pinterest

 As soon as I saw she pinned it, I called my mom and sister to see if they wanted to go in on it, and then  I contacted the etsy seller and placed an order.  The shop owner, Becky, was fabulous to work with and I was thoroughly impressed with the frame. 

{This is the one I ordered... custom designed with your choice of frame, background, and font}

This was a huge hit at the shower both with the mother-to-be and the guests.  I also included a copy of the fabulous book, Love You Forever the quote on the frame comes from.  My cousin was in near tears when she opened it and said she couldn't wait to go home to hang it on the wall.  I am so glad she loved it.  I cannot wait to place an order from The Sugared Plums on etsy for my own baby... soon.  If you are looking for a gift, check her out.  She has tons of sales and 100% feedback.

{She has no idea I am sharing this, I received no discount, credit, etc... I am just sharing a new etsy shop that I love}

Jungle Birth Announcement Printable

I made this print for my friend Valerie's new baby, Joel.  However instead of posting it here with all of his information, I made a "sample" one to share here.  His looks exactly the same, expect it has his personal information on it. It will go perfectly with his jungle themed nursery. 

 I sent it to Walgreens to be printed and cannot wait to frame it and mail it to her to hang on his wall.  I added it to my Etsy shop, if anyone is interested.  You can find it here.   You can customize it. It comes as a JPG file to be printed as an 8x10.  You can use coupon code APRIL12 to take 30% off anything in my little shop for the entire month of April.

Feature Your Handmade Shop/Small Business for FREE

Do you have an Etsy shop or another at home business?

If so, I'd love to offer you free advertising space through Christmas as well as a feature in two upcoming holiday shopping posts on my blog.

I don't have hundreds of followers.

But, I do believe in supporting women who have started businesses for themselves.  I do believe supporting small businesses and start up businesses whenever possible instead of big chain stores.

So hopefully this will bring you some free exposure and a little bit of traffic to either your blogs, Etsy shops, or other home based business.

Feel free me to send me your avatars and a little blurb about your shop to my email.  Use "Free Sponsorship" in the subject line. and I will get them up with a day or two.  I am excited to see what everyone sells and to possibly do some of my holiday shopping through your businesses.  I hope you will check back for some of your holiday shopping as well.

I sell Scentsy... so that would be the only competing business I would not be taking on... I hope you understand.

DIY - Bathroom Decor

I decided to do a beachy/ocean/nautical themed bathroom in our new house.  Our new bathroom has a lot of wall space.  I set out to create a 3 piece set of art for the bathroom.  I am so happy with how they turned out.

 I used Picnik to create my prints.  I saved them as JPEG files.  Then I uploaded them to CVS and ordered 5x7 prints (which were less than $1).  I got the frames for $1.99 each at this great little shop near our new house called Christmas Tree Shops. I love this store... I have picked up lots of fun items here...and it isn't what it sounds like... I only saw 1 aisle of Christmas stuff.

I traced around the frames on leftover packing paper, cut them out, and taped them up on the wall to make sure I had them spaced out how I wanted them.  Then I put the nail in the wall with the paper up and then removed the paper.  I will definitely be using this technique (which I saw on Pinterest) to hang the rest of our frames.

The set of these three prints are available for digital download in my etsy shop... if you are interested.  Use code "BLOG1" to save 15% off your first purchase.

Then you can print them out at your local drug store, Target, Costco, etc... and frame them. 

Contact me through etsy if you are interested in different colors or different sea creatures... I can do custom prints for you.

Crazy About Cupcakes

I finally placed my order tonight for the Scentsy July Warmer of the Month.  I love it...cupcakes...pink...and green... all of my favorite things.  I cannot wait for it to arrive.  I am also thinking of selling Scentsy... anyone sell it and have any opinions?

I have started to work on my etsy bake shop - Betty Ray's Bakery and hope to have it up and running my mid-August.

I have a super generous giveaway coming soon from an online store that sells the cutest baking mixes for cupcakes and whoopie pies...  You won't want to miss this giveaway.

Etsy - Print Candee Giveaway

I am hosting my first giveaway from Print Candee - an etsy shop  I have purchased several items from.  She offers high resolution digital images that are emailed to you within 24 hours of purchase you can use for personal and commercial use.  Print Candee is offering a $10 store credit to her etsy shop for one of my readers.  Details on how to enter are below.  Plus everyone who likes her Facebook fan page automatically gets free clip art.

This is what Print Candee has to say about her shop-

I love creating fun and fresh designs that can be enjoyed by others! Each design is hand-drawn by me on my computer and usually takes hours to perfect them to be used by others for personal and commercial projects.

Print Candee always offers buy 2 items, get 1 free through her etsy shop.  She currently has over 275 items listed for sale.

Here are a few of the items I have purchased from her -

This Mod Owl kit.  I am using it to create our change of address cards...which I cannot wait to share.  It was just $3.50.

I also purchased this Summer Fun kit.  I am using to to design invitations for my daughter's end of the year pool party.  It was just $3.50.

Print Candee also has lots of other fabulous items for card marking, stickers, digital scrap booking, paper crafts, t-shirt designs, blogs, etc... such as these favorites of mine I cannot wait to purchase -

Here is how you can enter -

1. Make sure you are a follower of my blog.

2. Like Print Candee Illustration & Design on Facebook.  As an added plus - when you like the page you can get a coupon for free clip art.  So everyone is a winner :)

3. Leave a comment on this post letting me know you are a follower, you liked the Facebook page, and tell me what you plan on getting with your $10 gift card from Print Candee's etsy shop.

A winner will be chosen via random.org on Friday June 10th.  Winners will be announced on Saturday June 11th.

{Print Candee graciously offered to participate in this giveaway on my blog.  I have not been compensated in any way for hosting this blog.  I am in no way affiliated with Print Candee.  I am simply a happy customer}

I DID IT - Starting My Business

I have been wanting to start a bakery business for quite some time.  Recently I created an etsy shop and a Facebook fan page but that is as far as I got.

Last week I had two small baking orders for guys at my husband's job.  This Friday he came home with four orders.

Today my local Groupon was $12 for $25 of baked goods for a local in home bakery.  I checked out their web page.  I was not impressed.  I immediately thought I CAN SO DO THIS!

So I registered a domain name for my bakery.  I selected the name a bit ago. It is named after my grandmother, Betty Ray.

I obviously have a lot to learn.  I have a lot to do.  My main goal is to one day SOON be making enough money doing this where I will not need a job working for someone else. 

Tonight I worked on a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies (one of my orders for Monday). 

Does anyone have any advice as far as web design goes? I know what I want...I just need to know how to do it or have someone do it.

What I am Loving Wednesday

• I only have to go to work 2 1/2 days this week - I am really loving this one.  A short week of work is always a good week.
• I am taking Madison today to get her hair straightened.  She is very excited about this and I love that it is making her happy.
• The new laptop padded cover I ordered this week from etsy.  It is from beeyourselfdesigns and its pink and green.  It will be arriving today or Friday.



• Being about to take a trip this weekend to Home Goods...I love that store.
• Being able to enjoy a meal at Pei Wei this weekend...one of our favorite places that we only get to enjoy when we go to my parents'.