GIVEAWAY-Tupperware-A Great Thing

Jill and I have definitely found some wonderful Tupperware items.  We wanted to share a few with you.

Our all time favorite is the tumbler impressions. They do not leak and are so convenient. They are also very easy to clean! You can use any disposable straws and the cups and lids are dishwashwer safe.

Jill also loves the fridge smarts. She thinks it is easy to store things in these and it makes her fruits and vegetables last so much longer.

Shannon really likes the vent and serves.  They stack so nicely, food warms evenly in them, and they are very durable.

We've both had great luck with Tupperware products.  Jill had a really old rectangular cake taker.  She got it out and noticed that the lid had split.  She told our Tupperware Consultant, Frannie and she got her a brand new one at no cost to Jill!  She just sent in her old one.  That is fantastic customer service.  Most businesses are not standing behind their products these days, but Tupperware goes above and beyond!

Frannie wants to spread the Tupperware love with our readers.  She is giving away 3, $20 gift certificates for Tupperware.

Here's what you need to do to enter the giveaway:

Comment 1: Visit Frannie's online Tupperware store and tell us what you'd like to buy with a $20 gift certificate. website: my.tupperware.com/frannietaysavang

Comment 2: Subscribe to Our Seven Dwarfs via email (must be verified) or RSS feed and tell us you do.

You will have until Saturday, May 28th at 11:59 pm EST to enter.  Good Luck!

Frannie is also giving our readers a special opportunity!  She's offering free shipping on orders $100 and more!  You will have to contact her directly for this opportunity. Just let her know we sent you.

Frannie Taysavang

tupperfrannie@gmail.com
Tupperware Director In Qualification

 website: my.tupperware.com/frannietaysavang
404-538-4137

The Winner-Grace, Sugar Momma Great Things Give Away

We'd like to thank Grace, for sponsoring this giveaway, for our readers.  This week's winner is:

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 71

71. Salleefur/Jesslyn/Jesster said...

The Butterfly Cookies are beautiful, I also really like the lovely Assorted Hearts, the Squiggly Flowers and Flower Bouquet Cookies (almost too pretty to eat! Almost...) Oh - and I just love the Princess Cookies - they are a real hoot! (I Etsy hearted the shop.)
jessterlyn(at)aol(dot)com

Congratulations!  Email us so we can pass on your information to Grace!
If you'd like to order from Grace, remember she's giving our readers a 15% discount at her etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/SugarMommaRocks .  Just use the code OSD15 at checkout.

A "Daddy" Gift

I've found buying presents for men challenging! With Father's Day right around the corner, I wanted to share something that would work well for the Daddy in your life.

My friend, Jessica, was looking for a special birthday present, from her sons, to her husband.  Together, we came up with this.

I took a canvas and painted it white.  I dry brushed it with navy blue. We traced the kids hands and cut them out of scrapbooking paper.  I Mod Podged the hands to the canvas.  I cut the words (navy) and key (gold) from vinyl and transferred it on to the canvas. To make the canvas look framed, I hot glued navy blue ribbon, trimmed in gold, to the edge of the canvas. I was really happy with how it turned out and I think he liked it too.

Crocheted Dress for Anna

Well, it has taken me almost a month from the time I purchased this adorable crochet dress pattern to finish it!  The pattern was easy, but forcing myself to stay focused and on task was another issue.

Now that I have a little girl, I get to make all these precious girly items.  My sweet Anna has the most beautiful big blue eyes.  I think purple looks beautiful on her and brings out those beautiful blue eyes. I love how it turned out!  It helps to have such a precious model too!

Don't you just love her rolls!

The pattern for this dress is called The Piper Dress and is from one of our sponsors RAKJ Crochet Patterns.  In case you missed it, we featured Kristi and her amazing patterns in one of Great Things!  You can read more and see more featured patterns here.  She has a ton of awesome patterns and she regularly runs sales that you won't want to miss!  I made one change to the pattern by adding about 15 rows to the bottom to give more ripples and to help the dress stretch for a few more months.

I also made a headband for her called the Shell headband and attached one of my favorite flowers to it.

I used my favorite yarn, "I Love This Yarn" from Hobby Lobby in Amethyst.  It is super soft and easy to work with.

Here is a picture of dress without the beautiful model.

I can't wait to show Anna off in it at church!  She will be so precious!

I am very proud of my first attempt of crocheting a piece of clothing!  It was not near as daunting as I would have thought.  When my sweet Anna can stand up better I will update you with another picture!

Happy Crocheting!

An Easy Bow Holder

 I have two daughters.  Both have long hair and many "bow bows" for their hair.  My friend, Lesli made my oldest daughter, GraciAnn a bow holder for her second birthday.  I was inspired by hers, to make my younger daughter, Mariella one.  I bought a spool of ribbon, a precut wood oval, 2 precut flowers, and a wooden initial from JoAnns. I already had the paint, that matches her room colors, from previous projects in her room.  I painted the flowers and oval white and  I painted the "M" the same green color as her walls. When the oval was dry, I used a round sponge brush to make polka dots on the oval and pink dots in the center of each flower.  I used wood glue to glue the M to the oval.  I used a staple gun to staple the ribbon to the back of the oval.  I hot glued the flowers to the bottom of the ribbon.  Something needs to be at the bottom of the ribbon to keep the bows from slipping off.  These flowers work perfectly. I was done!  This took maybe thirty minutes, of hands on time to complete.  It was inexpensive (with coupons, around $10) and it will be used for years!

 

I've made a few bow holders as gifts too!  They are so easy to personalize and so convenient to have! Here's Mariella's filled with bows!

Casserole Cover

For those of you who have been waiting to hear about my casserole carrier, the wait is over.  You got a sneak peak if you checked out my etched casserole dishes tutorial.

I am sure many of you have a casserole carrier.  I have an ugly bright blue one that came with one of my pyrex dishes.  It is truly hideous!  I have always wanted something nicer, but I am not willing to pay the $50 or more that I find for one in many catalogs.

A couple months back, I am came across a tutorial for a casserole carrier over at 2 little hooligans. I loved this easy and personalized casserole carrier.  You can make this carrier can be customized to fit any preference or decor. I bookmarked this tutorial for when I had my fabric and the time to make one.  Well, I still don't have mine made, but I did make one for my best friend, Laura for her wedding shower.  This was part of a series of gifts for her.

Here is what I came up with:

I made a few changes from the tutorial over at 2 little hooligans.  Since I was using a larger casserole dish, I first measured the casserole dish to properly fit the cover.  Make sure to measure it with the plastic cover on it (if it has one) from handle to handle and the width.  There are two main pieces of fabric, the wider part to go around the middle and the long piece to go the length of the dish.  I expanded the sizes of each of these to accomodate for this casserole dish.  I made the wider piece 30 by 16 inches and the long piece  40 by 13 inches.

Then, I cut long strips of the main fabric and batting that were 2 1/2 inches by 33.  I used these as my handles.  When I sewed the two main pieces together, I stuck the handles in at the seams.  I didn't want to make separate handles, so tucking the handle ends under the seams worked perfectly and saved me time.

This casserole cover was a hit at the shower!  I love when my crafty skills impress people.  It is a nice pat on the back for all my hard work!  I also just love giving gifts that people can't buy at a store.

Here is the entire gift package:

I made her the the casserole carrier, two etched dishes(see tutorial), couple mugs (see tutorial), menu board (see tutorial),  and monogrammed coasters (see tutorial).  There you have it great gift ideas with the tutorials included.

If you make any of these I would love to see how yours turns out!

A Son's Sign

Before being a Stay at Home Mom, I was one of those teachers that gave 100%.  I worked from sunup to sundown (or pretty close) on teaching.  During this time, I made wonderful friendships with parents of many of my students. This has enabled me to follow the students through many life changes.

One of the greatest families I had in teaching was the Rebusmen family.  I taught 2 of their 3 children and they were just wonderful: the children and the parents!  Their son, the second child I taught, Connor, left for basic training.  He is going to be an Airman!  His mom, Robin, is so proud of him; but, is understandably having a rough time with him leaving. One of her friends posted, "His feet may go, but his heart will always be at home." on her facebook wall.  I thought that was the perfect sentinment and decided to make a sign for her.

Robin told me that she's into "patriotic" colors right now, so that was how I chose the colors for this project. 

Here's how I made it:

1. I took a piece of plywood and painted it creme.  After it dried, I painted it navy blue and let it completely dry.

2.  I cut out the words and symbols, on vinyl, on my Silhouette.  I used the vinyl as a stencil.

3.  I painted the words and symbols creme.

4.  After the paint dried, I painted the symbols red to add a punch of color.

5.  I peeled off all the vinyl.

6.  Using my mouse sander I distressed the sign.

7.  I drilled holes and added wire for hanging.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a finished picture.  Oh well, this is close! This is definitely a personalized gift I was proud to give a great friend!

Do you want a personalized sign for your house? We can make them!  Just let us know!

Great Things-Grace, Sugar Momma's

These were the fabulous cookies we were sent!

Do you love cookies?  What about art?  Do you think it would be fabulous to find a place that wonderfully combines the two?  We've found it!

Somehow, when I was cruising through facebook, I came upon Grace, Sugar Momma.  I saw amazingly, beautifully, decorated cookies.  I scanned through her pictures and her wall. She said she sometimes sent out samples for people to try her cookies.  Well, Jill and I were in.  We wanted to try them.  I sent her my information and within days received a box of four beautifully decorated cookies.

Four cookies divided by two families (Jill's and mine) meant sharing two cookies per family.  They were like gold.  The girls and I divied the first cookie up between the three of us. It was so beautiful, I was reluctant to eat it.  Well, GraciAnn and Mariella dove right in.  Mariella proclaimed, "Yummy!" and GraciAnn asked for more. I explained that one of the three remaining cookies was for Daddy to try and the other two were Mrs. Jill's.  GraciAnn was POSITIVE Mrs. Jill wouldn't mind sharing her cookies with her.  I was positive Mrs. Jill would mind. John and I shared the last cookie when the girls were in bed (smart, I know!) and I gave Jill the other two to try.

This is what we all agreed on: the cookies were beautiful and the almond flavored icing was amazing!  I approached Grace about being featured as a "Great Thing" on our blog. She agreed and even offered to do a giveaway!  She will be giving the lucky winner 4-6 beautifully decorated butterfly cookies iced with her signature almond flavored icing. 

You could win beautiful butterfly cookies, like these!

Here's what Grace wants to share with you about herself and her new business:

** I am a professionally trained fine artist who put her training to good use in the kitchen.  I am a self taught cake-cookie decorator.  The baking talents comes from many generations of amazing cooks. 

Just a couple weeks ago I "officially" opened an Etsy store.  It took me WEEKS to figure out what I was doing and I was scared too because it's unknown territory for me but I realized if I ever plan on taking off as a mail-order business THIS was the place to start.

I haven't sold anything yet but I have faith in the quality of my products.  I take great pride in what I do, as an artist.  Every thing I make is a piece of me so quality control is through the roof!!  LOL

My ultimate goal is to do this full time so I can be with my family (I have 1 son, Jaymes 12y).  I currently have a full time "day" job and bake full time at "night" as well as do all my "Mom Jobs" at home too.  I am truly blessed, in so many ways Praise God, and thankful of the friends I have made on my little journey.  The opportunity you and Jill have offered me is an answered prayer to help get me closer to my ultimate goal of staying home with my family :)

Most of my orders come from word of mouth and free samples I offer periodically via FB.  Because I take great pride in my products and believe "Customer Service" is a lost art form the clients I do have are loyal and repeat for every family occasion that comes up - cookies, cakes, cupcakes and just because they have a craving.  I am not expensive and go out of my way to provide them with the best I can and it has paid me back in return.  Every penny I make goes right back in to sending out more samples and getting my name out there.

These are perfect for wedding favors!

Okay, now it's up to you!  Let's get this contest started! You will have 5 chances to comment in an effort to win cookies, delivered to your door!

Comment 1: Visit Grace, Sugar Momma's at etsy and tell us what you like best. (mandatory entry) 

Comment 2:  Follow Our Seven Dwarfs via email or RSS feed. (mandatory entry-see sidebar)

Comment 3: Become a facebook fan of Grace, Sugar Momma's and tell us you are.

Comment 4: Like us on facebook and tell us you do!

Comment 5: Follow us on blogger and tell us you do! (see sidebar)

Make sure you have separate entries for each comment! You can enter until Saturday, May 21st at 11:59 pm. We will announce the winner on Sunday, May 22nd.

Grace is offering our followers an exclusive 15% off discount.  Use the code OSD15 at checkout.  Her cookies make great gifts!

Once you are a facebook fan of Grace, Sugar Momma's, you will be automatically registered for ongoing milestone raffles.  The latest one is at 285 fans.  She will give away a Father's Day Cookie Set in their choice of Golf, BBQ, Football or Tools.

What a great gift for golfers!

We're pretty sure our followers will help Grace reach this 285 fan milestone, this week! Well Grace, we are so glad we are able to give you this opportunity.  We can't wait for our readers to visit your etsy store and see what they'd like to try!