Quick Gift "Dad's" Float KIt for Father's Day

I put together a quick Father's Day gift for my husband after finding lots of online inspiration. In passing a couple months ago my husband mentioned he wanted root beer floats for Father's Day. So I set out to put a little something together at his request. 

I saw a great tutorial here from A Night Owl blog I used her tutorial and just replaced the paint with glass etching cream and etched my Husband's initials onto a mug I bought at the Dollar Tree. I then paired it with a "DAD'S" root beer sampler pack I found at World Market. I placed them all on a tray together. 

I added some vanilla ice cream and some cards we made for Daddy and presented it to my Husband. He was really happy with it, and is still raving about the mug. He's been using it for everything for the last few days. A really simple and meaningful gift doesn't have to take long, this was just the thing! 

Happy Father's Day Hubby!

Five Years of Blogging + A Giveaway

Today is a special day, five years ago today the very first post on this blog went live. Each year I'm always reevaluating what I want this blog to be, is it serving a purpose? Is it a true reflection of myself, can others get a sense of who I am and what I'm about through this blog? I feel like after five years in this space I've finally been able to answer all those questions, and made a difference with this space. Using this avenue that God's given me to bless his name, bless others and my family through this. 

I never would have imagined this blog would have given me a creative outlet that I really enjoy five years ago. It's also brought me some of the sweetest friendships that I am forever grateful for. 

Today and always I want these words to mean something. To have weight and make an impact on those that stop by and choose to read. Weather I'm sharing a creative craft project or pouring out my heart and what the Lord is speaking to me. 

Thank you for being apart of that, for taking time out of your day to stop by and leave comments. It truly makes my day. Thank you for making it matter, for making it mean something. 

My heart is blessed. 

The internet is real my friends, so real. 

Today, I have something special for you, a giveaway to celebrate! 

Made by Jewls sells handcrafted fabric button covered earrings, hair pins and scarves. A portion of their proceeds goes to their adoption fund. I have a pair of her earrings I picked up last year while I was at Queen Bee Market. They are offering a $10 shop credit, Check out her shop here. 

A Pocket Full of Sunshine sells adorable kids clothing and accessories for both boys & girls. They are offering a $25 shop credit, Check them out here. 

Worley House Designs is my own little shop selling lots of hand crafted accessories for home, baby, women and kids. Offering a $15 shop credit, Check me out here

Since this giveaway is a celebration in part of YOU my faithful readers you must be a subscriber either via RSS feed or Google Friend Connect to enter. If you're not either, you can easily sign up at the bottom right for GFC, or below my pic for the RSS feed. All entries will be verified. All other entries are optional. 

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Special thanks for A Pocket full of Sunshine & Made by Jewls for helping sponsor this giveaway.

Holiday Hostess Gifts with World Market + A Giveaway!

The Holidays are upon us can you believe that Thanksgiving is just two days away! Today I'm excited to share with you a Holiday Hostess guide in partnership with one of my favorite stores World Market! World Market is easily one of my faves because of their wide range of selection anything from food to home decor and furniture. I'm always instantly inspired when I walk into the store, and can easily always find a few things "I just can't live without."

I was just in there a couple days ago and I'm loving all their new Christmas ornaments, table decor and even some new furniture pieces that I've got my eye on for the new casa!

Today, I put together a little holiday hostess gift guide. I think hostess gifts are such a nice gesture and a nice way to say thank you to any host. I think they are a lost art form actually and such a small gesture can go along way in making your host feel special. With the holidays quickly upon us I think it's so important to make these gestures for all those holiday parties, events and dinners you'll be attending.

We're spending Thanksgiving with some friends again this year, and I always like to bring our host something. They've opened their home to us, cooked an amazing meal and it's something I can easily do to say Thank you for all of that. Plus, I really love giving gifts, shopping for them and packaging them just so.

Hostess gifts don't have to be grand or expensive. You can do something small, write a little note with it and present it to your hosts. I personally don't like to bring flowers as a hostess gift. They are so pretty, but more often than not you give them to your host and she lays them down to finish preparing the meal or say hello to other guests and before the night is over they are wilted and dead. I like to give tangible gifts that they can open later and enjoy.

Today I've rounded up some lovely finds with the help of World Market that range in pricing from $2.50-$30. Perfect for any budget, c'mon let's see what I've found.

Holiday Hostess Guide by worleyhouse on Polyvore

1. Ikat Bowl Set- I love these small bowls. They come in a set of two, perfect for holding jewelry or using as part of your home decor.
2. Holiday House Kit- This is a fun gift the whole family can enjoy putting together!
3. 6 Bud Vases in Holder- I love this little bud vase caddy. So perfect and cute, would be fun in the kitchen with flowers.
4. Good Morning Mug Set- Who doesn't love a cute mug filled with hot cocoa?! These are adorable and say "good morning."
5. Snowflake Cupcake Kit- Another fun foodie item to give to a baker or to a family.
6. Glass Pitcher- I'm a firm believer that every woman should own a nice glass water pitcher for serving, and I love the shape of this one.
7. White Glitter Trees- the perfect holiday decor gift, white trees go with any decor and they have glitter on them, what could be better?!?
8. Cute Napkins- You can mix & match patterns so fun to give an assortment away to your host.
9. Mason Jar Beverage Dispenser- an adorable way to serve up that holiday punch!

What a fun round up right?! I'd gladly love to have any of these, wouldn't you? That's not all friends World Market has some great Black Friday deals going on for you right now to take advantage of, along with the Life of Pi Movie Sweepstakes. See below for your chance to enter and win!

Life of Pi is the story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper’s son, who survives a

disaster at sea and is thrown into an epic journey. While adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with another a fearsome Bengal tiger. The movie opens in theaters November 21, 2012. You can watch the trailer for Life of Pi here: http://www.lifeofpimovie.com/#!/watch-trailer

The first 100 customers to shop in-store on 11/23(Black Friday) will receive a FREE Limited Edition Life of Pi ornament and a FREE Life of Pi movie ticket. The first 100 customers to shop in-store on Saturday, 11/24 & Sunday, 11/25 will receive a FREE Limited Edition Life of Pi Tote Bag and a movie ticket.

The Life of Pi Sweepstakes

• Grand Prize package includes: a dream trip for 2 to India and a $1,000 World Market Gift card.
• There will also be 3 runner up prize winners that will each receive a $500 World Market gift card!
• The Life of Pi Sweepstakes runs from 11/17 - 12/28.
• If you share the sweepstakes with 5 of your friends (via FB share or email) you can receive 5 additional bonus entries. This is part of the registration process when entering. Users can also enter daily for more chances to win.
• Enter online at http://worldmarketsweepstakes.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/worldmarket?fref=ts

Do you want to be entered to WIN your very own Life of PI gift bag & limited edition ornament?

TWO Winners will be chosen to win each of the prizes above.

Please use the RaffleCopter below to enter:

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WEBSITE :: TWITTER :: FACEBOOK :: GOOGLE+ :: PINTEREST

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™, but all my opinions are my own. http://cmp.ly/3/KqtZiE. as always I only promote/recommend products that are a good fit for my own lifestyle and ones that I feel would be a good fit for my readers as well.

Simple Brown Paper Bag Packaging

I attended a Favorite Things Party this past weekend hosted by my lovely friend. I wanted to find a fun inexpensive way to package my favorite thing to bring to the party. Never underestimate the brown paper bag. There's so many endless possibilities you can do with a package of these. I decided to use them to put my gifts in to bring to the party.

These little gift bags are so simple. I started with 11 bags (this is how many gifts I needed to bring), and cut the first 4 inches off the top of the bags.

Using a pair of decorative scissors I just cut a line across the top with them to make a decorative edge on the bags. 

Then I folded over the tops of the bags, and then using a hole puncher punches two holes in the middle of the bag an inch apart. 

Repeat till all your bags are punched. 

Then using some fun ribbon to tie my packages together, I cut 11 strips of ribbon 10 inches long. 

Now you'll want to thread your ribbon through the holes. Thread it forward facing instead of behind you, this way you'll be left with the design from the ribbon showing forward like in the images below.

Then you'll take each end of the ribbon from behind and thread them in the opposite holes to tie your packages. 

They will look like this when finished:

So pretty, and like I mentioned there endless possibilities with these. Switch up the ribbon, add washi tape to the bottoms of the bags for more decoration too! You could also stamp the fronts of them, perfect for different holidays. 

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Here's all my loot from The Favorite Things party. So many amazing goodies. 

This is such a fun party to host and throw with your best girl friends. 

To find out more on how you can throw your own parties visit Destiny's blog and read this post. 

Fun Holiday Hostess Gifts with Lifestyle Crafts

This week Lifestyle Crafts released their new Wintertide Collection. I love Christmas time and it's never to early to start thinking about gift giving! Today I want to share with you a fun easy hostess gift you can give to your friends, this would also be a great gift to give co-workers. I'm always looking for small fun gifts to show appreciation.

You know I love a good cup of coffee, or anything to do with coffee right? 

Using the Drink Sleeve Die I cut out two of them with my letterpress machine. I also cut out some banners to add to the front of the cuff. 

Using some foam stickers I added them to the backs of the banner dies to make them pop and give them a 3D effect. They will look like this when you're done:

I bought my disposable cups from Target. Put your sleeve together and slide it onto your coffee cups. 

Next I used some crafts sticks, and some green glitter stickers to write "stir" on the sticks and put them inside the cups. 

To finish everything off I placed a hot cocoa and tea bag inside each of them along with the stir sticks. You could also add marshmallows, Christmas candy or any other small items to complete these coffee gifts. 

View the entire Wintertide Collection here. 

Use code: WORLEYHOUSE for 20% off your purchase as well.

Sharing with: Sundae Scoop, Overflowing with Creativity, Weekend Wrap Up Party, Create & Inspire

Those Who Give {Free Printable}

I have a special treat for you today, remember this sign that I posted a while back on the blog when I shared about giving back?

I wanted to make it available to you to easily print off and enjoy at home. This free printable is sized to an 8x10 print on 8.5x11 paper. You can print this at home or take the downloadable file to any places where prints can be printed (Kinkos, Office Max, etc.) Download your free print here. 

This is a great reminder to always give back, give when you feel like you don't have anything, give because the Lord has blessed you abundantly. 

Happy Wednesday! 

When You Give

I've been thinking a lot lately about my lil' shop, where I want it to go, and what I want to accomplish with it. I've been praying a lot and asking God to show me more ways to show his love to others. A couple of weeks ago some ides began swirling, and after doing some more praying and researching I'm excited about the next little step my shop is taking.

Each month I want to give 10% of that months proceeds back to a charity. Each month highlighting a new charity to give to.

Not only do I want people to know that by buying from the shop they are also giving back to some great chairties, and giving to those in need, but I also want them to know when THEY GIVE, they can be blessed as well.

There's a few charities that I'm excited to give back to, hopefully you'll find new ways to give as well beyond this and learn about some of these exciting causes you too can be apart of.

Here's just a sneak peek of where you'll be giving to over the next few months when you purchase something from the shop! Please take a look at the sites, read about their awesome charities and how they are helping bring awareness, support and how they are helping to change the WORLD! 

For March & April:

http://www.babybuggy.org/

Is a charity helping underprivileged families by providing baby gear and other baby items  to those families and mommies in need.

For May:

http://www.love146.org/

Helping abolish modern day slavery. Help end child sex slavery and exploitation.

For June:

http://www.myshineproject.com/

Help Ashley provide collage scholarships to kids at a local Arizona inner city high school.

GO HERE to buy something from the shop!

{Handmade Holiday} Frosted Monogrammed Glass Jar

I'm back to share with you another handmade gift idea. I think this is a great idea for all sorts of occasions. I saw a lot of tutorials on glass etching. I wanted to use mostly what I had on hand so I decided to go another route. The only cost to me was the glass jar & Rustolem paint. The rest of the stuff I already had on hand.

Here's the supplies you'll need for this:
waxpaper
frog tape
Rustolem Frosted Spray Paint {used 50% coupon at JoAnns}
X-ACTO Knife
Printed letter in your choice of size & font
Oversized Glass Jar {mine is from Wal-Mart}

Here's what I did;

Then place your cut out letter onto your jar, make sure you rub the tape onto the jar and seal all the edges. 

I just followed the directions on the can, and sprayed it onto my jar. 

I wrapped the top with a ribbon, and placed a gift card to their favorite restaurant inside to complete the gift. 

Linking Up with:

Get Your Craft On * DIY Show Off Project Parade
Weekend Wrap Up Party  
Sundae Scoop