Celebrate with Creative Card Ideas from Hallmark #ValueCards #shop #cbias

 I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. All opinions are honest and are my own.

Saturday was Kynthia's 3rd birthday and we celebrated in a big way! With so many kids in the family, we try to make each birthday extra special---it's always a great thing to have a whole day to yourself. In addition to sweet decorations and a few nice gifts, I've been buying Hallmark Value Cards for several years. Their creative card ideas are so bright and adorable, and it really helps that they cost less than a dollar!

 I headed out to Walmart on Friday night to pick up everything I'd need for her special celebration. This is the display where I always pick out my Hallmark cards. They've got .47 and .97 varieties.

Kynthia wanted a princess theme for her party and I immediately spied this super cute princess bear card. I knew she would love the bright colors and sparkly glitter.

The next morning as I was getting her cake ready, Michael helped the kids all sign the card. This is a favorite tradition at our house and everyone loves to leave a sweet or silly message for their siblings.

Lynzie has become the resident streamer hanger. She has happy memories of Daddy hanging streamers for her earlier birthdays so now she wants to do them for everyone else.

I found some cute decorations to top the pink princess cake. One thing I like to do when using these candies stuck on paper is to set the paper on a wet towel before I start frosting the cake. By the time it's time to put them on the cake, the backs have softened enough to remove them from the paper without the paper sticking to the candies.

Once the preparation was done, it was time to party! Another family tradition is that Daddy always hands out the gifts while I take photos. Here Kynthia is opening her sweet Hallmark card.

Daddy always reads the messages to the birthday child and everyone else giggles at the funny things the older kids write.

I think cards are really important---especially when you've got a whole group signing them. They're great ways to archive special memories and to keep track of who helped make those memories. Kynthia loved her special birthday card and it will be a treasure for her in the future, as well. For more about Hallmark Value Cards, join the #ValueCards conversation on Twitter and check out these ideas from other bloggers.

Hallmark has a rewards program for customers to collect points and use them toward savings on future purchases, dining perks, and more. You can collect points anywhere Hallmark cards are sold. The most convenient place for me is Walmart, since that's where I do most of the birthday shopping. Visit the Hallmark rewards site to sign up to earn rewards for every five cards you buy.

#CollectiveBias

Fall Baking Recipes

It's almost Fall---my favorite time of year, and I'm already planning on baking up some delicious things for my family! Here are a few ideas to inspire you, as well!

Candy Bar Apple Crisp

Apple Quick Bread

Pumpkin Pie Fudge

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Scones

Autumn Spiced Cornbread

Apple Doodle Cookies

Pumpkin Banana Bread

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Sprinkle

Autumn Pumpkin Bread

Summer Reading Challenges

I absolutely love love love to read, but it's something I have a very difficult time getting done. You might think it's because I've got sooooo much responsibility---but no, that's not it at all. We're a family of hobbyists so most of us are always off doing whatever thing it is that feeds our creative souls. No, it's because I find so many things to distract me. Blogging, reading blogs, planning blogs, taking photos for blogs, applying for jobs for blogs...see a pattern here?

Over the next two months, I'm participating in two reading challenges and am really hoping to focus on knocking out a few books before the first day of fall. I'll keep a running list of what I've read here---it's fun to have a record of books I've enjoyed. Here's the info on the challenges I've joined---in case you're wanting to join too!

Simply Audra Marie is hosting the Summer's Flying By reading challenge from August 1st to September 21st. You can read whatever you want, and there's even a drawing at the end for an Amazon gift card. You'll need to write up a quick intro post, as well as an "all done" post at the end, to be eligible for the drawing.

Lost Generation Reader is hosting Austen in August---a whole month dedicated to reading Jane Austen-themed books. Novels, biographies, and modern-day fan fiction all count---even rereads count! They've even got their own hashtag: #AustenInAugustLGR.

What's on your reading list this summer?

Linking with:

Homemaking Party @ Hope In Every Season

Thursday Favorite Things @ Katherine's Corner

Thriving Thursday @ Serving Joyfully

Homeacre Hop   

Think Tank Thursday @ Saving4Six 

Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home 

Create It Thursday

Open House @ Bernideen's Tea Time Blog 

Share Your Cup Thursday @ Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

Cozy Book Hop @ Reading List

Booknificent Thursday

Inspiration Friday @ Dear Creatives

Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Pintastic Party

A Stillness of Chimes -- book review

I'll be honest: I'm kind of a snob when it comes to Christian fiction. To me, it seems that so much of it is either very much contrived and preachy or very much not-really-Christian with a few references to Jesus thrown in to make it (sort of) work. That's why I was so so SO pleasantly surprised by Meg Moseley's A Stillness of Chimes. It's like a real story. Written by a real author. With real talent. It's really good!

Laura Gantt has just lost her mother, so she's hanging out in her hometown of Prospect, Georgia for awhile to settle her household. Twelve years ago, she lost her father to a suspected lake drowning, but now rumors are circling that he's been seen around the area. Former fiance and lifelong friend, Sean, has his doubts, but he's willing to help Laura find out. Together, they discover the truth---with some very surprising secrets being unearthed along the way.

I love a good mystery and this one didn't disappoint---too much. I usually do have the mystery figured out early on, but it's always fun to see how it all plays out. Though I had this one about half way through, I definitely enjoyed this story of grace, forgiveness, and ultimate sacrifice. The scenes where Laura misses and remembers her mother lead me to believe that this author has dealt with that kind of loss on a personal level. The part where she takes the last blackberries out of the freezer and makes a cobbler---with the last berries ever picked by her mother---oh. my. goodness. Girls, that was too much. Really made me miss my mama so far away in Oregon. For more info, check out the author bio and read chapter one.

I've been on the lookout for good Southern fiction---this one is a definite must-read. Do you have any other good suggestions for me? Lets make a list in the comments---and don't forget to link up with the Homemaking Party! 

I received this book from Blogging for Books to review on my blog. All opinions are honest and are my own.

Easy Fruity Party Petit Fours

What's more dainty at a tea party than a sweetly decorated petit four? My recipe is super easy and so delicious. Don't they look good? Make them for your friends and they'll make you look good too!

Notice I don't dip them and level them perfectly. I think it adds to the uniqueness and homemade look. Ok, honestly, they look like this because I ran out of oil to add to the melted candy coating. It's important. Don't forget. So why am I not taking the time to redo them so they'll be absolutely perfect for my photos? Because I am human and you are too and I want you to feel comfortable making these---even if they don't look like they belong on a magazine cover. I'm giving myself permission to be imperfect. That's important too. Don't forget.

My husband made the little flowers with gum paste, luster dust, and little pearly candies. He's always making cute flowers for me out of gum paste. I came home from my last blogging conference and told him I'm recruiting him onto my creative team. He felt sort of honored until he found out my creative team now consisted of two members.

These tasty treats are a spin on my Fruity Brownie recipe. They're rich, tangy, and fairly dense, so you'll be fine cutting them small. One batch makes approximately 75 squares. For a taller petit four, fill with frosting, chocolate, jam, or whatever you please!

Fruity Petit Fours

16 oz. boxed pound cake mix

1/2 c. butter or margarine

2 eggs

2/3 c. water

(2) .15 oz. envelopes flavored drink mix

colored candy coating

oil

Heat oven to 350º. Grease a 15x9 jelly roll pan (or line with parchment paper). Mix all ingredients on low for 30 seconds and then on high for 2 minutes. Bake for about 20 minutes or until done through. Cool completely, then cut into squares. Melt candy coating completely and then add in oil, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it's reached your desired dipping consistency. Dip cakes and let cool on a cooling rack until set. If you want to top them with sprinkles or something similar, make sure you do that right away after dipping, as the coating will set fast.

I'd love to know if you give these a try!

Welcome to the Make Bake Create Party! 5 blogs-1 party-lots of fun!

My Little Pony Inspired Tie-Dyed T-Shirts

 This campaign has been compensated by Blueprint Social and it's client. All opinions are honest and are my own.

Our move to Arkansas has already brought our family many blessings---most importantly are our new friends and church family. Lynzie and Aaliyah (check out her mom's blog: City Girl, Country Life) have become fast friends and have so many things in common. One big way they've hit it off is with their mutual love for My Little Pony. When I was invited to work on the Tie Dye Your Summer campaign with Tulip, Lynzie had the perfect idea in mind: My Little Pony Inspired Tie-Dyed T-Shirts!

Tulip sent me a very generous package of supplies. In addition to all of this dye, they also sent a huge bag of white T-shirts to play with! Lynzie had played around with America's favorite tie-dye before, so she was definitely the expert on this one. 

The girls wanted to make T-shirts based on their favorite pony characters. I thought that was a super creative idea and they really did a great job. Tie-dye is a great project for friends and family fun and no two projects are ever the same. Here are their shirts inspired by Nightmare Moon and Twilight Sparkle. 

Dyeing the shirts was super easy. Because the dyed shirts needed to sit for 24 hours before washing, drying, and wearing, the girls planned two work days. On the first day, they started by wetting down the shirts thoroughly and then wringing them out. 

They filled the dye bottles with water and grabbed some plastic gloves to protect their hands from being tie-dyed too! These one-step dye bottles make mixing so easy as they already contain the dye---you just add the water. The dye is color fast and permanent so it won't fade out in the wash.

Then they spread out some plastic on the driveway for a work surface. After reading through the directions and getting some inspiration from the photo ideas, they were ready to start coloring.

To make a pattern on the shirts, they twisted them in different ways. Once they were twisted, they secured their designs with rubber bands.

Next, they picked their dye colors and saturated the shirts with dye. I was surprised by how quickly they were able to complete three shirts each.

In a matter of minutes, their shirts were ready to sit for 24 hours. They packed them each into their own plastic sack and set them on the counter for a little T-shirt sleepover.

After the 24 hours were up, Lynzie rinsed out each shirt and we washed them individually. When they were all done, Aaliyah came back over for a photo shoot. Here are the shirts inspired by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

This photo is my favorite. Here we've got Apple Jack on the left and Rainbow Dash on the right. These are two of the original ponies from when the series was first made popular in the 1980s. I had both of these ponies and have special memories of enjoying them just like these girls do now.

For more creative tie-dye projects, check out the video and visit Tulip online at the following sites:

Tulip on Facebook 

Tulip on Twitter

Tulip on Pinterest

Tulip's Blog

You can also find more inspiration from other bloggers on this campaign by checking out the links below:

Linking with:
The Creative Collection @ Craft-O-Maniac
Link Party Palooza
Show and Tell Saturday @ Be Different, Act Normal
Upcycled Party @ Funky Junk Interiors
The Party Bunch
Sunday Showcase Party@Under the Table and Dreaming 
Seasonal Sundays @ The Tablescaper
One More Time

After School Snacks for Kids with Delimex and Bagel Bites

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

One thing that my older kids really looked forward to when they were younger was the day they'd be old enough to make their own food in the kitchen. It's such a symbol of status around our house to be able to open up the fridge, freezer, or pantry, grab something to fix, and cook it all by themselves! Friday afternoon, the five older kids cooked up some Delimex Chicken Taquitos and Bagel Bites for a fun snack while they played a favorite card game. They did it all by themselves and I went in to take a nap with the baby!

Earlier in the week, I'd picked up some Bagel Bites in the freezer aisle at Walmart. They've got a special section just for party food. Look for the big purple signs that say, "Parties & Gatherings." For a limited time, you can find a coupon for Bagel Bites, here.

Right around the corner, in the floor coolers near the meat section, I found the chicken taquitos. These are always a favorite around our place and I never buy enough! Here is a Delimex coupon, too.

The boys arranged the frozen snacks on one of my large stoneware bar pans and popped it in the oven to bake. In the time it took them to set up their game and get drinks ready, the food was just about done. Both snacks are also microwavable.

Cainan served everyone initially, then set the platter in the middle of the table for easy reach of seconds. I love it that they like to spend their after school time with one another. Some of my favorite memories with my little brother were our after school times when we talked about all we'd done that day and the things we'd learned.

The kids were especially excited about the Bagel Bites as they'd seen them in the store but had not yet tried them. They said the homemade sauce was great and they liked that there was real cheese on top! I like it that they've got zero grams of trans fat. They also loved the white meat taquitos---even though I forgot to grab the white cheese dip we like to go with them. Oops!

This plate was empty in 30 minutes and five happy kids had a great afternoon together. For product info, ideas, and more, checkout the websites for Bagel Bites and Delimex.

What after school routines do you have in your home? Let me know in the comments below. Before you go, make sure to check out what Elisha does when he's stumped on a homework problem.

#AfterSchoolSnack

#CollectiveBias

Linking with:
The Creative Collection @ Craft-O-Maniac
Link Party Palooza
Show and Tell Saturday @ Be Different, Act Normal
The Party Bunch
Sunday Showcase Party@Under the Table and Dreaming 
Seasonal Sundays @ The Tablescaper
One More Time

Playing Preschool with Disney Junior Games #Ready4Preschool #shop #cbias

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

I've mentioned before that we have a really relaxed homeschool. I don't really even start formally schooling anyone until they're reading chapter books. However, there are some things I like to do with the little ones to get them ready for reading and math. Rather than give my preschoolers busy work, I like to play fun games with them. When I brought home some adorable Disney Junior activities, Kynthia and Liam were thrilled! We spent a couple hours Friday afternoon hanging out with some of our favorite characters and had a blast!

I found several things at Walmart that I thought my two preschoolers would really enjoy. There are many kinds of Disney Junior character games and activities all throughout the books and toys sections. I found a set of flashcards for each of them here in the color book aisle. I knew Liam would love Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Kynthia looks just like Sofia the First, in my opinion.

Friday morning after chores, I had the older kids help straighten up the living room and have Liam and Kynthia sit quietly on the couch, waiting for me. I arranged their gifts in a basket: the two sets of flashcards, along with matching activity books and a Minnie Mouse dominoes game for Kynthia.

They could not stop grinning when I presented them with their fun basket of games. Both of them were so excited and kept saying, "thank you, Mommy!" Being two of the youngest in the family, it's not often they get something brand new of their very own.

Both of the kids were ready to get started right away with their new things. Kynthia looked through her book for a little bit and then decided to get busy with her flashcards. Check out this short but super cute video of us playing flashcards. I taught her how to use them first, but this video shows what happens when she decides it's time to teach me! 

Liam found big brother, Cainan, to help him get started with his Jake flashcards. The older kids love helping their younger siblings learn---and I think Cainan was kind of excited about the new game too!

Kynthia and I played countless games of dominoes and it didn't take her long to figure out the matching concept. I also showed them both how they could make them all fall on one another in a line. Check out this adorable Instagram "movie" (actually less than 10 seconds!) we made with dominoes!

Each day is a learning experience, and I love how we can find ways to incorporate learning time and play time. Picking up these fun activities for my preschoolers was definitely a good move. In fact, they're both playing flashcards as I write this!

#CollectiveBias
#Ready4Preschool

Linking with:
The Art of Homemaking
Inspiration Monday @ Your Homebased Mom
Motivate Me Monday 
Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom 
Living Proverbs 31
Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy 
Masterpiece Monday @ BoogieBoard Cottage 
A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success 
Monday Funday @ C.R.A.F.T. 
Making Your Home Sing Monday
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios
Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good 
(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife
The Scoop @Stone Gable
Winsome Wednesday @ My Daily Walk in His Grace
Whole-Hearted Home Wednesdays 
Wake Up Wednesday
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Homemaking Link Up @ Raising Homemakers
What's It Wednesday @ Ivy and Elephants 
Wednesday Link up at Adorned from Above

The Family of Jesus by Karen Kingsbury -- Giveaway and Review

If you're a fan of Karen Kingsbury, you'll be super excited about the first book in her new Life Changing Bible Study series, The Family of Jesus. Kingsbury brings the story of Jesus and his family to life---taking us back to an early Jerusalem who was hungry for its promised Messiah. Featuring all the "main players": Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth, James, and more, these stories will solidify your faith, as well as help you feel closer to our Lord.

The thing I like I best about, The Family of Jesus, is that the book includes devotional study questions, as well as group discussion prompts and homework. This book can be read through for enjoyment, done as part of my own devotional time, or used in a small group setting with other ladies.

How would you like to win a copy of your own? Family Christian is giving away one copy and you can enter to win below (Rafflecopter might take a minute to load). I'll pick one US winner next week.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was compensated by Family Christian for this review and giveaway. All opinions are honest and are my own.

Linking with:

The Art of Homemaking

Inspiration Monday @ Your Homebased Mom

Motivate Me Monday 

Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom 

Living Proverbs 31

Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy 

Masterpiece Monday @ BoogieBoard Cottage 

A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success 

Monday Funday @ C.R.A.F.T. 

Making Your Home Sing Monday
Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Through Life
A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life 
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios
Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good 
(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife
The Scoop @Stone Gable
Cottage Style Party @ Lavender Garden Cottage
Winsome Wednesday @ My Daily Walk in His Grace
Whole-Hearted Home Wednesdays 
Wake Up Wednesday
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Homemaking Link Up @ Raising Homemakers
What's It Wednesday @ Ivy and Elephants 
Wednesday Link up at Adorned from Above

The Homemaking Party

Welcome to the Homemaking Party! Dear readers---are you counting your blessings today? Our kids have been so sick the past couple of weeks and we've had to miss several fun things. It makes me just want to whine, whine, whine...but, on the other hand, we've been so blessed this week too! I need to remember to count my blessings and be so thankful for this beautiful life I have---feverish toddlers and all!

Thanks for stopping by to link up. Hope you have a great week!