Easter Gift Giving with World Market

I don’t get to World Market as much as I’d like, but when I do I can easily spend an hour or more wandering around the store looking at all their awesome stuff.  From furniture to wine, they have it all.  One thing I love about the store is all the unique and colorful items they carry.  Trust me, it’s not hard to spend an hour there.

I recently headed to World Market to wander around and grab some things to make Easter gift baskets for Brad and I’s parents and grandparents.

Holy smokes you guys.  They have the cutest stuff for Easter.  Check out these baskets for the kiddos.  Ah-dorable.  I wanted one for myself.

world market easter baskets 2013

While browsing around, I came across these gift basket kits.  A basket, raffia, gift tag, and excelsior for $5.  Done.  Sold.  Put it in the cart.

world market gift basket kit

I decided to go with a baking theme for the gift baskets for our parents and grandparents after seeing World Market’s bright spring themed baking section.  So. Many. Cute. Things.

world market spring baking items

world market baking

world market baking items 2013

After spending well over an hour in the store, I loaded up my cart and headed home to put the baskets together.

Each basket contains a baking mix, baking utensils, jam, and some chocolates.  The chocolates were a must because I wholeheartedly believe you can’t give someone an Easter basket without ready-to-eat chocolates.

easter gift basket

World Market gift baskets

The gift basket kits?  Genius.

Doesn’t this gift basket look professionally made?  Because I’m definitely not a professional.  In fact, this is the first time I’ve made gift baskets.

world market easter gift basket

I’m excited to give our parents and grandparents these baskets for Easter.  I’m hoping they don’t read this post and spoil the surprise.  Family members: if you’re reading this you must act surprised when Brad and I give you your basket.  K, thanks.

Are you a World Market shopper?
Are you a professional gift basket maker?
Aren’t those kiddie Easter baskets the most adorable things you’ve ever seen?

Make sure you check out the OZ The Great and Powerful Sweepstakes presented by World Market!

feb_wk3_oz_sweeps_r1_c11

Win wondrous prizes and celebrate a world of adventure.
Enter to win our grand prize package:
Private movie screening for you and 50 friends of OZ The Great and Powerful
Free IMAX Movie Tickets for a Year
$1,000 World Market gift card
Plus, 3 first prizes: $500 World Market gift card
Enter online at worldmarketsweepstakes.com!

Visit World Market
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This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and World Market, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #WorldMarket. Disclosure

Dare to DIY Give Handmade Features

A big thanks to everyone who linked up to the Dare to DIY Give Handmade link up!   There were so many great projects that we decided to compile our favorites into one handy post.

Hopefully you can use this compilation to help you out with those last minute handmade gifts.

 House Drawing by Planting Sequoias * Card Table Playhouse by Anything Pretty

Dog Silhouette by A Peachtree City Life * Wine Gift Bags by Bowl of Cherrys

Wine Cork Trivet by B&B Build a Life * Christmas Joy Felt Pillow by Our Next Great Adventure

Owl Coasters by Boxy Colonial  * Vanilla Brown Sugar Body Scrub by Wills Casa

Sharpie Mugs by Shannaigans * Travel Jewelry Holder by Naptime DIY

Gold Leaf Agate Coasters by Desert Domicile * Lilly Doll by Home in the Country

Festively Red Spread by Little Rays of Sunshine * R2D2 Stocking by Creative Chaos Art

Geometric Necklace by Ceci Bean * Mason Jar Snow Globes by The Sweetest Digs

Woodbead Necklace by Decor and the Dog * Crochet Blanket by Maybe Matilda

Dish Towels by NewlyWoodwards * State Necklace by Two Twenty One

We will be pinning all of these handmade gifts to the Dare to DIY Projects board.  You can also find all of the co-hosts on Pinterest: Decor and the Dog, Maybe MatildaNewlyWoodwards, and Two Twenty One.

Are you ready for next week’s Dare to Deck the Halls Challenge?

BlogHer Gift Guides: Crafty E-Courses

Looking for the perfect gift for the person in your life who has everything? Check out some of the great crafty e-courses in this gift guide! Give your loved one the gift of learning how to crochet, starting his or her own blog, or learning to paint.

One featured website in the gift guide is Craftsy. Craftsy offers e-courses on all things crafts– cake decorating, jewelry, paper crafts, quilting, and more. They have some pretty awesome teachers too, like Colette Peters, cake decorator extraordinaire. There’s also a review section so you can see what people who purchased and took the class think of the skills they gained.

Another great e-course offering site mentioned in the gift guide is A Beautiful Mess. The talented chicks over at A Beautiful Mess offer some great e-courses. From how to start your own blog to styling your own space. And I’ve heard good things about their e-course ‘Dream Job’, which covers how to start your own e-business. Perfect for someone wanting to open their own Etsy shop.

Want more gift ideas? Check out more BlogHer gift guides here.

Do you have someone in your life who would enjoy the gift of e-learning? Have you taken an e-course? Isn’t it crazy what you can do and learn with technology these days?

This post is part of BlogHer’s Holiday Gift Guides editorial series, sponsored by Open Road Media. All opinions are my own.

2012 Christmas Wish List

 Hello, friends!  Around this time last year I shared my Christmas wish lists (responsible and materialistic) with you.   So I thought I’d share my 2012 wish list with you because I’m the nosy type who always wants to know what other people are putting on their Christmas lists.

Let’s get this party started!

1. Clarisonic Mia Skin Cleaning System:   I bought a similar skin cleaning system a couple years ago.  It worked well until it stopped taking a charge.  I had good results with it before it decided to crap out on me.  My pores got smaller, my skin looked and felt smoother, and it got all of my makeup off my face.

2. PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives:  Holy. Smokes.  Have you guys heard about PostSecret?  My best friend informed me of it a couple months ago.   Basically, people send postcards with their confessions/secrets to this Frank Warren guy, and he posts them on the PostSecret website.  You HAVE to watch the PostSecret YouTube video here.  The first postcard they show has been the most memorable to me.  While watching the video I got the chills.  I had tears in my eyes.  Guh.  So good.  So real. (Plus the song that’s played with the video is one of my favorites.)

3. Retro POP phone handset:  For hour long phone conversations with my BFF.  Duh.

4. 20″ x 15.5″ Air Bake baking sheet:  This is one bad mama jama.  I don’t know what baking was like before my Air Bake baking sheets.  You guys, these are life. changing.   Especially this one because it’s MASSIVE.  Seriously, I can fit 12-20 cookies on one of these bad boys.

5. Smith’s lip balms:  Love these!  They smell good, and they’re smooth, not sticky.

6. Pre-seasoned cast iron skillet: I blame Michelle for this one.  I want to make a giant chocolate chip cookie like she did.  But I’ll add ice cream on top of mine.

7. Vacuum:  I’d really like a roomba but they’re $350.  I asked for a vacuum last year but Santa showed up with other stuff, which was fine.  It’d be nice to have a new vacuum since ours is old and the pile adjustment gadget is broken.  Blah.  Being an adult.

8. Silpat Baking Mat:  Another life changing baking utensil.  You. Must. Get. One.

What’s on your Christmas wish list this year?
Do you have any of my wish list items on your wish list?  Wish list twins!
Have you tried any of the items on my wish list?

Don’t forget to enter the Staples $100 gift card giveaway!

Holiday Gift Wrapping Station with Martha Stewart™ with Avery™ + $100 Staples gift card giveaway

With the holidays quickly approaching I decided to make life a bit easier and create a holiday gift wrapping station in my home office with the help of the Martha Stewart Home Office™ with Avery™ collection which Avery sent for me to try out. To say that I’m excited to utilize this station and the products in it is an understatement. Prepare yourselves, organization lovers.

My stenciled file cabinet was put to work, becoming the base of my station. I topped it with the Stack + Fit™ organizer. Isn’t it pretty? I used the Stack + Fit to organize my gift tags, holiday shipping tape, ribbon, scissors, pen, and holiday gift bags.

The Martha Stewart mitten and stocking shaped gift tags are the most adorable gift tags I’ve seen. They rank up there with puppies in the adorableness department.

I used the back part of the Stack + Fit to organize my gift bags and a red and white striped padded shipping envelope.

Have you seen the festive Holiday Shipping products Martha has come out with? They’re available in-store at Staples. Definitely more cheerful than slapping someone’s gift in one of those boring, yellowish brown, padded envelopes. And check out the awesome holiday-themed shipping tape.

Instead of throwing all my coupons in my purse, I decided to organize them in this Shagreen Accordion File. When I go Christmas gift shopping I’ll throw the file in my car, and when I arrive at the store, I’ll grab the coupons I need. I’m sure this method will be ten times more stress-free then spending five minutes digging through my purse.

I hung this Shagreen Pocket, which comes with thumbtacks (thank you, Martha) above the file cabinet. I filled the pocket with address labels in a Corner Lock™ High Capacity Document Sleeve and addresses and return address stickers in another Document Sleeve. This area will definitely come in handy when it’s time to send out Christmas cards.

I used a large galvanized container to hold my rolls of gift wrapping paper. Care to guess my favorite paper? Hint: mittens.

I used some boxes I already had to organize my gift bows and tissue paper. I used these great Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery Chalkboard Labels to mark the boxes. The Chalkboard Labels are such a great idea because when the holidays are over and I put the holiday stuff back in our attic, I can erase the labels and use the boxes to store something else. The labels are also removable, an added bonus.

And there you have it.

Bring on the holidays. This chick is organized and ready.

Are you organized and ready for the holidays? No? Well you’re in luck because I have a $100 Staples gift card to give away to one lucky person. That’s right, one of you will be able to head to Staples and pick up some of this awesomeness from the Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery collection.

GIVEAWAY
To enter the giveaway, comment on this post and tell me which Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery item you’d love to buy if you won the $100 Staples gift card.

Visit Staples to see the entire Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery collection. Be sure to check out the Avery website and Facebook page.

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 11/14/12-12/14/12.

Be sure to visit the Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m sharing this at the following parties: Home Stories A to ZTatertots and JelloHouse of HepworthsThe Shabby Creek CottageTidy MomLiz Marie BlogCraftomaniacThe Shabby NestPositively SplendidWhipperberryFunky Junk InteriorsClassy ClutterToday’s Creative BlogUncommon DesignsLive Laugh RoweMiss Mustard Seed, and Serenity Now.

10 Handmade Gift Ideas

Since the holidays will be here before you know it, I decided to help you out (you’re welcome) and round up 10 two twenty one DIY projects that you can easily make for the special people in your life.  Because nothing says “I love you, and you better appreciate this gift because I burnt myself with my glue gun while making it for you” like a handmade gift.  These handmade gifts are easy to make and inexpensive.  Because we all know that I can be lazy and cheap.

DIY lucite tray

wine cork candle holders

wedding invitation ornament

braided chain bracelet

ruffled burlap table runner

thrifty hurricanes

jute wrapped monogram wreath

fabric wrapped, faux nailhead trimmed cork board

mossy ampersand

tomato cage christmas tree

Are you making gifts for your loved ones this year?
Have you burnt yourself on a glue gun before.  Yeah, it’s not fun, is it?

I’m sharing this at the following parties: Home Stories A to ZTatertots and JelloHouse of HepworthsThe Shabby Creek CottageTidy MomLiz Marie BlogCraftomaniacThe Shabby NestPositively SplendidWhipperberryFunky Junk InteriorsClassy ClutterToday’s Creative BlogUncommon DesignsLive Laugh RoweMiss Mustard Seed, and Serenity Now.

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