Crafts

WhipperCafe & Friday Flair | Link Party

0 · Jan 26, 2012 · 45 Comments

YAY… It's {almost} Friday!!! Have you come over and checked out the new diggs over at WhipperCafe {If you want to learn how to navigate through the community click here.} We had a ball chatting about all kinds of fun things yesterday. Today… Tracie from Cleverly Inspired will be chatting about Valentine Treats and I'm going to be hanging out at Blogging 101. Ellie from The Vanilla Bean Girls is going to be talking about fun kid spaces & Amanda Joy from Joy in the Jumble is gabbing about link parties!! Speaking of Link Parties… Raise your hand if you are ready for Friday Flair! Oh but first… we need this weeks inspiration picture.

I think it's offical… my love affair with donut making has begun! I love these coffee and donut cupcakes from Always Better with Butter. Don't they look fun. I can't wait to share my recipe for my vanilla bean heart shaped donuts from the other day!

Before we get the party started I have a little programing note… I'm super excited to be attending the Craft and Hobby Association trade show {CHA} this weekend with a handful of aaaamazing bloggers. I can't wait to share all the fun! It's located in Anihiem, California this time and the word on the street is we MAY be visiting a certin Mouse while we are there. Can't wait to share. While I'm gone, you may want to check back often… I have a special CHA deal coming your way from Silhouette!! Also, the Friday Flair features will post next Thursday rather than Sunday. If you want to follow my CHA adventures you may want to follow my Twitter or Facebook feed along with a little Instagram fun! It's going to be quite the ride…

Welcome to the New WhipperCafe

0 · Jan 26, 2012 · 8 Comments

One of my greatest joys that I have discovered on this blogging journey is the joy that I feel when I make a connection with one of you guys, my readers. I have been blogging with WhipperBerry for about a year and a half now and I have met so many fabulous people from all over the world. Connections that I would have never made in a million years sitting here in my little home, with my little family here in Las Vegas.

For some time now I have been feeling like we need a bit more. I want to have more of a conversation with you all. I want you guys to have a place to come and meet these fascinating people that I have had the privilege to meet. A community where we can gather and feel uplifted by each other. A place to pop in and chat for a minute about the news of the day or ask a question about a project you are working on. A place to just BE and to enjoy each others ideas and crazy sense of humor… That's when the idea of the WhipperCafe came to be.

The WhipperCafe is our new community created for us by Blogfrog and I am thrilled beyond belief and can't wait to introduce you guys to all the fun possibilities! Let me take you on a little tour…

You can find the WhipperCafe right in the top navigation bar here on WhipperBerry right in between ABOUT and TUTORIALS. Click on the tab and it will take you right into our own little community. First thing, you will need to do is join the community by clicking on the JOIN COMMUNITY button. It's super easy and will only take a second.

You will see several tabs… first you have the welcome tab and it shows snippets of all the converstation going on. The Forum, this is where all the conversations will happen. Blog Posts, this is where you can see samples of blog post from our Community Leaders {more on them in a minute.} At the tail end we have our members tab. You can visit there if you want to connect with some one who is a member of the group.

Within the Forum tab you will find all the fun converstation that are currently happening, or you can even start a converstion of your own. To start a converstation click on the +NEW CONVERATION button. To join a conversation click on the title of the chat. Next to each chat you will be able to see how many people are chatting about that topic.

Click on the conversation title to join a chat. Once in the chat forum, all you have to do is read the conversation starter and then read everyone's comments. You can then join the chat by making a comment of your own…

Doesn't this sound FUN!!! One thing I am super excited about is that I have a handful of fabulous people who are going to be our WhipperCafe Leaders. They are bloggers and non-bloggers alike. Wonderful woman who I feel would be a hoot to get to know. Many of them have been long time readers and many of them you have seen from time to time on the Friday Flair posts.

Today we are going to kick-off the WhipperCafe with some great gals who have some fun stuff to chat about…

Amanda from Every Creative Endeavor will be chatting about Crafting Trends that we Adore.
Jocelyn from Inside BruCrew Life is going to be chatting about Baking with New Products.
Jennn from My Fabuless Life will be chatting about Homemade Cleaning.
Beth from Through the Eyes of the Mrs. will be gabbing about Class Valentine's Parties.
I will be having just a general WELCOME to the party chat!! Come say hello and join the great gab for a minute or two or grab a snack, kick back and let's get some serious chatting on.

I can't wait to introduce a few more of our team leaders tomorrow and tell you a little more about what we will be chatting about at the WhipperCafe! Come on over and say hello and tell us what you think…

Packaging your Valentines with GiftGloss

12 · Jan 24, 2012 · 7 Comments

Can you feel it in the air? It's getting close… "What" you ask? Valentine's Day!! I know that there are haters out there, I choose to not be one of them. I love, LOVE! It doesn't need to be romantic love {although that's my favorite} the love between family and friends is just as amazing. What makes Valentines day for me, is coming up with a fun little goodie to share with ALL the loved ones in my life. This year I've discovered the love of homemade donuts and I am packaging them with GiftGloss from the FoofQueens.

Because quite honestly, it's not just what you give… IT'S HOW YOU GIVE IT!! You guys know that I am ALL about the packaging. I have been as long as I can remember. I'm so glad that I found GiftGloss it has so many applications. If you haven't heard of GiftGloss it's a dandy little system where you can create your own custom wrapped gifts. It's a sleeve of a unique material developed by the FoofQueens that is so fun to create with. I used the small six inch sleeve to create the perfect wrapping for my heart shaped donuts.

Using the handy GiftGloss Dispenser to unroll the appropriate amount of GiftGloss and then neatly cut the sleeve without having to run and search for scissors. I carefully placed my donuts into the sleeve and then found some fun materials to tie off the ends.

I used some Divine Twine, ric-rac and some fun pom pom yarn to tie off the ends. Then I created a fun, simple tag from some basic tags, washi tape, my alphabet rolling stamp & some fabric…

Super Simple and then added it to the end of the package…

There is no way that I would've been able to make a package that cute to show off these FUN donuts!! It's just soooo easy! Here is another idea that I had for a fun way to give a simple Valentine gift…

Take a simple recycled bottle and put some fun candy inside. I found these fun heart shaped Honey Lover candies that are just too cute and make for the perfect Valentine. I placed the bottle in the six inch sleeve and then tied off the top with a thin strip of fabric along with a key tag from the office supply store. Simple and yet so fun when packaged the right way! You need to head over to the FoofQueens Facebook page to see all kinds of fun and inexpensive Valentine ideas that I'm sure will tickle your fancy.

The FoofQueens would like to give each and everyone one of you a special Valentine gift as well. For the rest of January all of the products at the Gift Gloss store are 40% off they would like to give all of you guys an additional 10% off your total purchase. All you have to do is enter A SWEET DEAL at check out to receive the additional 10% off. Act quickly this special deal is good thru next Tuesday the 31st.

Thanks FoofQueens for the fun early Valentine's Day gift!!

* Don't forget to enter this weeks DownEast Basics giveaway and don't you worry… I'll post the recipe for the heart shaped donuts next week!!

DownEast Basics | Giveaway

0 · Jan 23, 2012 · 91 Comments

Raise your hand if you've gone shopping with a teenage girl recently? A daughter, sister, niece or friend… How was it? Did you want to pull your hair out after about 20 minutes? Did it turn into a power struggle between you and your shopping companion? Ok, maybe this only happens when my 14 year old and I go shopping. We travel from store to store looking for fun, cute, stylish and MODEST clothes… only to by terribly disappointed. If it's cute and stylish, it shows too much skin. If it covers all the appropriate areas, it's a "Mom, you're kidding me right? That looks like something YOU would wear!"

Hales and I have struggled for sometime now looking for the perfect store for her to shop for some stylish & modest clothes. A few weeks ago we walked into the DownEast Basics store here in Vegas and managed to have the most pleasant shopping trip EVER!!!! Their new spring line is sooooooo cute!! Here is a picture of Hales in one of the cute outfits that we bought that day. It was so funny, the sales ladies where having a ball watching her put together outfits. She came up with some really fun options.

Isn't it CUTE!! {yes I know the Uggs are a little questionable, but whose to argue with a teenager who is willing to get all dolled up for you to take pictures of her to put on your blog!} The outfit is LOVELY!! Every piece the Uneven Beauty skirt, the Across Town cardigan, the belt, even the Rhinestone & Chains necklace are all from the new January line. She LOVES the outfit {we even have a matching bag, but we forgot that} I love it for so many reasons. First, it makes her happy and helps her to feel pretty. Second, I LOVE that I didn't have to spend an arm and a leg to purchase an ENTIRE outfit!

I just love the belt! It takes the simple cardigan and kicks it up a notch! We saved enough money on this whole outfit that we were able to buy another shirt, that paired with the skirt created a whole new look…

I've gotta say, I'm one happy Mom!! The thing that I love most is that I found some fun stuff to add to my wardrobe there as well….

Here are a few of the items that I am crushing on. The Destiny Dress, The Avenues Top & the Reporter Dress are just a few on my wish list.

The folks at DownEast Basics would LOVE to share some of their new January line with you guys!! They are sponsoring the DownEast Basics Giveaway here on WhipperBerry and are offering one single item from their online store to one of you. You got it… YOU GET TO PICK WHATEVER YOU WANT!!! Here's what you need to do to enter…

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Read On →

Friday Flair Features

0 · Jan 22, 2012 · 8 Comments

Wow, love is definitely in the air! I love watching the holidays come and go in the blog world. It's like we are all connected in some small way. We are sitting in our home dreaming up ideas… all with the same theme. I love it!! I still have a few valentine ideas on my plate for this week. Here are some of the fun posts that caught my eye this week…