Teacher Survival Kits

Tomorrow is the first day of school for my kiddos and I've heard so many parents have tears in their eyes, not here...this Mama will be jumping for joy, hallelujah! :) hehe

We met their teachers today and dropped off school supplies. 

Can't believe I have one in 3rd and a Kindergartner! Wow!

Since tomorrow is going to be a busy day, the kids took their new teachers a 

survival kit today. Both teachers were thrilled and one even said she had

never gotten anything like it before, GASP!...come on parents, teachers need

some serious love too! 

It's really the thought that counts...apples are great and all but it's not 1930 anymore!

Can I get a what what for a little Starbucks?! A bar of dark German chocolate, yummy. A water cup filled with mints, cause ya kind of need one after you've had a coffee...and some cute little note cards hand stamped by moi' with apples of course!

I'd love to hear what you gave your children's teachers this year or in years past.

Happy School Year!

$100 Target Giftcard Giveaway with Kimberly

I don't know about you but with four little ones at home now, shopping is usually done online...or in town at Target! From diapers to clothes, food, furniture, household decor, school supplies...Target is a one stop shop and I love checking out what they have on clearance, anyone else?

Welcome to the A Night Owl August Sponsor Giveaway!

Today the sponsors and friends of A Night Owl are joining up to bring you an amazing $100 Target Gift Card Giveaway! What are you waiting for? Enter today via the Rafflecopter form below!

Open in the USA and Canada. Ends at 11:59pm EST on Sunday, September 1st, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TERMS & CONDITIONS: Giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents ages 18 and over and ends at 11:59pm EST on September 1, 2013. By entering you give the right to use your name and likeness. Number of entries received determines the odds of winning. Approximate retail value is $100.00. One winner will be selected. This is a giveaway sponsored as a group buy, which means the bloggers pooled their money together to purchase this product for you. All liabilities and responsibilities with product is directly responsible by Target. Winner will drawn by random.org from all verified entries, contacted by email provided, and announced on this page at the end of the contest. Winner has 48 hours to respond or prize will be redrawn. Entrant is responsible for the email address they provide, whether through typing it directly or through the Facebook entry method. A Night Owl is not responsible for lost or misdirected emails. All prizes will be awarded. No prize substitutions allowed. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook and we hereby release Facebook of any liability. Information is provided to A Night Owl, not to Facebook and your information is never sold or shared. Facebook and Target are not a sponsor of this giveaway. Prize is mailed or emailed directly by Kimberly Sneed of A Night Owl and requires confirmation of delivery. Protected tweets do not count as an entry method for tweeting. Tweets must come from a public account. Bloggers in this group giveaway and their immediate family members in their household cannot enter or win the giveaway. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law.

Cardstore Review

I was recently asked to review a card from Cardstore, or rather the process of purchasing a card via cardstore.com and with my Dad's 70th Birthday coming up, I have to say, I found THE perfect card for a laid back farmer and lover of classic things. 

(inside it says: Classic. Happy Birthday)

The options are endless, from choosing a pre made card, which you can personalize to creating a photo card and adding your own crafty spin on it. I loved the ease of the drop down boxes and the mini card preview at the top of the page, that showed which step I was working on.

Cardstore didn't leave anything out in the checkout process either...with a magnifying glass that automatically pops up so you can scan your card for spelling mistakes before placing your order.

I quickly created an account with my email address and a simple password and then headed to the payment and shipping option. You can either mail the card directly to your recipient or to yourself, as I did in this case since we are putting a skydiving gift card inside. 

Since it's his 70th, what better way to help him celebrate from afar then with a cool classic Birthday card and helping him check something off his bucket list!

Loved cardstore so much, I've already made up two more cards, with photos this time, for Grandparents day and have them saved so I can mail them closer to the date... easy breezy! 

photo copyright of cardstore.com

Vintage Circus Themed Baby Room (Part 2)

There are so many fun and whimsical features in our Vintage Circus Themed baby room, so I decided to split the photos up into a few different blog posts.

Below, I picked this canopy up from IKEA and pulled the nursery room colors from the pennants. Since we didn't know the sex of our baby, there is only a bit of pink in the room, on a few of the little circles on the canopy. But now that we know a little girl will be living here, the pink is perfect!

When we lived in Newport, I scored two of these old windows on someone's curb during trash day...they've traveled all the way to ND before one of them was transformed into a beautiful piece for the nursery. My hubby sanded down the window and then painted it a grey. He then aged it up a bit on the edges and then I lined the backs with some fabulous Circus paper I purchased through Stampin' Up!. As soon as I print out a few of the baby photos of our sweet little girl, I will put them inside a few of the window panes. I used washi tape to attach the papers inside the panes to make it easier to pull out when I'm adding the photos.

I added a sweet little paper banner for a bit of whimsy...

more to come...stay tuned!!

$400 Paypal Cash Giveaway with FFMama

I've teamed up with Frugal Foodie Mama and a few of her favorite bloggy friends to celebrate her milestone of reaching over 

 10,000 Pinterest followers!!

WOW!

I don't know anyone who doesn't like a celebration...or cash for that matter, here's to a chance at winning your very own money tree!

We are celebrating by helping one of you make your Pinterest dreams a reality with a $400 Paypal Cash Giveaway- the biggest giveaway ever hosted on Frugal Foodie Mama!

How many of you all have Pinterest projects and ideas that you have had pinned for months, longing to do them, but maybe the price tag is holding you back?  

*Raising hand here*

Would $400 to spend any way and anywhere you would like help out just a little with that?

Yeah.... I thought so. ;)

Of course if you win, you can spend the Paypal cash any way that you would like.  But how fun would it be to finally splurge on a little something you have had pinned away on one of your Pinterest boards??

If you do not have a Paypal account presently, you WILL have to set up one if you win.  Frugal Foodie Mama will only be able to transfer the funds via Paypal.  Paypal is great because it is accepted with most online shops and you can transfer funds to your checking account once you have connected the two.  Pretty cool, right?

Please read through ALL the giveaway terms and conditions below.  Frugal Foodie Mama is a stickler for them.  No joke, folks.

*This giveaway is open internationally.  All entries for the winner will be checked and verified, so please make sure you are doing what you are claiming in the Rafflecopter or all your entries will be voided.  No funny business, folks. ;). By entering you give the right to use your name and likeness. Number of entries received determines the odds of winning. One winner will be selected. The winner will be notified via the email they provide, and will have 48 hours to reply to the email.  If the winner does not reply back within the 48 hours, they forfeit the prize and a new winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter.  This is a giveaway sponsored as a group buy, which means the bloggers pooled their money together to purchase this product for you.  Paypal is not a sponsor of this giveaway.  The cash prize will be sent via Paypal directly from Carrie of Frugal Foodie Mama.  You must have an active Paypal account to receive the cash prize!  Entries must come from your MAIN social media accounts, not accounts that have been set up separately just for entering giveaways.  Entries from these types of accounts will be disqualified.  Protected tweets do not count as an entry method for tweeting. Tweets must come from a public account. Bloggers in this group giveaway and their immediate family members in their household cannot enter or win the giveaway. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law.

Please see the Rafflecopter widget below for additional Terms & Conditions.  Good luck, all! 

Here is the HTML for the Rafflecopter- a Rafflecopter giveaway