Mother's Day is just around the corner (it's this Sunday - don't forget!). If you're anything like me, the holiday has crept up on you. There are so many different things to celebrate about our mamas (and grandmothers, spouses, and mother-figures), but what it ultimately comes down to is telling her you're thankful for her. Whether that means making her breakfast, bringing her flowers, or sending her a note in the mail, these (free!) Mother's Day printables can help you get the job done.
Are you ready for a crazy-quick sewing project? I'm calling this the "half hour half apron" because it's one of the fastest sewing projects I think I've ever completed. Honestly, if I busted out a few more of these half aprons, I believe I could get my time down to 15 minutes. No sweat. My point is, this half apron is a breeze to make. This is a perfect project for beginner sewers. Plus, who doesn't need an adorable handmade apron in their kitchen?
Everyone loves to receive gifts, but I like giving them just as much. And by making a reusable box to place items in, you can make the giving experience that much more beautiful. This wood veneer gift box is easy to make, and your recipient will be able to continue to use it. Or, just whip up several of these for your own personal storage. They look amazing on a desk or shelf, and are a great way to store craft and office supplies!
I have lots of great holiday memories from when I was a kid: listening to the Merry Christmas from Sesame Street cassette while driving downtown to pick up the ham with my dad, waking my parents up with my sister after totally having scoped the presents, and warming the handheld candles to make funny shapes with my cousins and uncle during Christmas Eve service. But nothing stands out more than this silly little wooden nativity set I set up...
Giving cash this Christmas? (We still think it's better than a gift card.) Instead of just sticking the bills in a card, how about festively folding them into a Christmas money tree shape? With this simple technique, you’ll have the whole project done in less than five minutes. Here's how to make a money tree for the holidays this year...
If you find conquering the blank space at the bottom of a Father’s Day card daunting, you are not alone. It can be difficult to express yourself even if you have an ideal relationship with your father or father figure, let alone one that is more complicated. When you want to write something heartfelt but don’t know where to start, consider using one of these prompts:
So Mother's Day is days away, and you're empty-handed.
Procrastinate much?
JK! There's no judgment here - I am the absolute worst at planning ahead.
But, let's not leave our moms thinking we don't care about them. Instead of panicking and grabbing the first tchotchke that catches your eye on the way home and playing it off as totally intentional, try one of these last-minute gifts your mom will love.
We've got you covered with gifts you can order online, simple ways to make a gift of flowers more special, and experiences you can share with your mom that will really make her day.
Hello, and happy Valentine's Day! Okay, it's not quite the big day yet, but February 14th is just weeks away, and I'm totally ready to celebrate. Ever since the Christmas holiday ended, I've been itching for an excuse to decorate, party, craft - whatever! I wanted to make some cards featuring some of my favorite gals throughout history (some are good, some are bad!), and the captions kind of wrote themselves after that. Click through for these printable valentines!
Hello, and happy Valentine's Day! Okay, it's not quite the big day yet, but February 14th is just weeks away, and I'm totally ready to celebrate. Ever since the Christmas holiday ended, I've been itching for an excuse to decorate, party, craft - whatever! I wanted to make some cards featuring some of my favorite gals throughout history (some are good, some are bad!), and the captions kind of wrote themselves after that. Click through for these printable valentines!
With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it's time to start making plans. Nothing screams Valentine's Day quite like conversation hearts. They're colorful, they're graphic, and they say something (sorta) meaningful in ten characters or less. But, they taste kinda icky, so this year, I'm combing the classic conversation heart with something we all actually want to eat: chocolate.
If Christmas gifts consisted only of stockings and the goodies therein, I'd be one very happy gal. While I absolutely adore the tradition of gift-giving, I find gathering the little things most exciting. Below is my list of favorite stocking stuffer gifts, and they're arranged into the following categories:
As we wrap up the year, it's always fun to look back at some of our favorite DIY projects from the last twelve months. This year we worked with The Home Depot to come up with a whole series of projects and tool reviews, called Tool School. Here's a look at some of the DIYs I liked best, along with the tools that made them possible, plus, a selection of new gift ideas just in time for your holiday shopping.
It's hard to believe, but it's that season again... gift giving time. It's tough to find the perfect present for everyone on your list, and even harder to try to secretly figure out what size the recipient is. But we've made it infinitely easier - just print out a few of our free gift giving cheat sheets and have your family and friends fill them out and you'll have their information at your fingertips whenever you need it.
I thoroughly enjoy woodworking, and I know that I'm not alone. There are tons of women out there that enjoy the craft! Spoil your mother or the lady in your life with one (or all!) of these cool tools!
I don't know about you, but I'm guilty of forgetting to take the time to chill out every now and then... I'm constantly trying to chip away at my to-do list, which doesn't leave much time for self-care. But lately I've been taking a few minutes every day to heat up and put on my new aromatherapy eye pillow, and it's been working wonders for my stress levels. Other eye pillow benefits? It's fantastic for headaches, and it's also a great solution for insomnia sufferers. Keep reading to find out how to make your own!
With Mother's Day right around the corner, many of us are on the hunt for gifts for those new moms out there. The best gifts usually involve something that will save her time or give her a bit of extra time to herself. So we've done the research and rounded up the best ideas from around the web. Here are 17 gifts for new moms that will put a smile on her face this Mother's Day (or any day of the year!).
1. Meal Delivery Gift Card - Give mom the gift of delicious food while she's adjusting to having a new baby in the house. There are tons of great options... Blue Apron is probably the most well known, but others include Sun Basket,Freshly,Plated and Hello Fresh. And Nurture Life is specifically for kid's meals and they come already cooked.
2. Night of Free Babysitting - After weeks and weeks of all-things-baby, mom is probably desperately in need of a few hours to herself. A night of free babysitting is one of the best gifts you can give her, so she can go out on the town with her other half or just have some much-needed alone time.
Photo: Original Baby
3. Ba Baby Bottle Holder - This clever bottle attachment helps babies as young as three months hold their own bottle, allowing mom to have both hands free to do work or chores around the house while baby eats. Which may not seem like a big deal, but when you're short on time it is a wonderful help. Head over to Amazon to buy one.
4. Homemade Meals To Put In Freezer - If you like to cook, whip up a large batch of something that is freezable and bring pre-portioned servings over to mom. This will be especially welcome for brand new moms who have their hands full feeding baby and don't have time to cook for themselves. Great freezable options include things like chili, chicken soup, beef stew and lasagna.
5. Monthly Product Delivery Membership - Automating the delivery of products is becoming popular, and with good reason... it eliminates the need to remember/go out to buy large items that you use on a daily basis. Things like paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, vitamins, snacks, self care products, etc. are great things to schedule monthly delivery of. Get mom set up with Amazon, Public Goods (for self care), Petsmart (for pet food) or Grove Collaborative (for all-natural home products).
6. Jawbone Activity Tracker - Give active moms an activity tracker to help them figure out a new daily routine. Jawbone helps you track your steps, but also things like food, sleep and heart rate to make sure everything is where it should be. Other similar products include FitBit,Garmin Forerunner, and the Samsung Gear Fit2.
7. Mobile Photo Printer - We all take a lot of pictures these days, now that our smart phones allow us to keep a camera on hand at all times... but new moms may take the most! But it's difficult to find the time to get those images printed. Give her a compact photo printer like Sprocket so she can easily print out all of those adorable images and hang them up on the wall.
8. Owlet Smart Sock - The Owlet Smart Sock silently tracks an infant's heart rate and oxygen levels while they sleep so mom can rest easy. And the more sleep for mom, the better! If anything is wrong, Owlet will send an alert right to her phone.
9. Audible Membership - If mom loves to read but can't find the time anymore (because sleep usually trumps reading when you're overtired!), buy her a membership to Audible. She can listen to books in the car, or even at home while she's breastfeeding or cooking dinner. The first month is free, and it is $14.95 per month after that.
10. Swoop Toy Bag + Playmat - The Swoop Toy Bag + Playmat is a simple yet genius product that will save tons of time during cleanup... just set up Legos or blocks on the mat and then pull the drawstring when the kids are finished playing. Genius! They come in different sizes and make a great portable bag for bringing toys elsewhere too.
11. Local Coffee Shop Gift Card - Combat sleep deprivation with some extra caffeine in the form of a gift card to a local coffee shop. Mom gets a jolt of energy, and a local establishment gets some extra business... everybody wins!
12. A Storage Box Filled With Cute Greeting Cards - If mom never missed a birthday or a holiday before, odds are she'll still want to send greeting cards to her friends after she's had a baby... but the logistics of going out to the store to buys cards are much more complicated now! Buy her a large variety of cards and put them in a cute storage box with dividers for different holidays. Add a book of stamps to complete the package!
13. Workout DVDs - If she loves to work out but doesn't have enough time to get to the gym, buy her a couple of at-home workout DVDs. That way, she doesn't have to bundle up baby every time she wants to go to the gym to work out... she can simply pop in the DVD when baby is down for a nap.
14. Mani Pedi Gift Card - Everybody needs a little bit of pampering every now and then, but especially a new mom. Get her a gift card to a highly rated nail salon near her using a service like SpaFinder... you can search by location and service and then buy a gift card right on their website. Mom will feel like a queen!
15. Multi Cooker - This clever appliance does triple duty as a slow cooker, pressure cooker and a steamer... so not only will she save space, but she'll also be able to take advantage of the joys of a slow cooker - set it and forget it! Or if she's running behind, use the pressure cooker to get things moving right along. Here is a highly-rated one from Amazon.
16. Pacifier Thermometer - Keep track of baby's temperature with this genius thermometer and pacifier in one! The small screen on the front glows red if a fever is detected, alerting mom right away to any problems. Check out the Summer Infant Pacifier Thermometer here.
17. Monthly Subscription Activity Box - Monthly Subscription boxes make great gifts for moms who love to buy educational toys for her kids, but may not have the time to research and purchase the best ones on the market. Services such as Milestones or Hoppi Box will do the work for you, sending curated packages monthly filled with the best educational items for the little ones.
I'm going to use this platform to declare this: advent calendars are kinda the best. They capture all the excitement building in the hearts and minds of children and they temper it by delivering it in small doses the 24 days leading up to Christmas. Growing up, the method my parents employed was a drug store calendar filled with tiny poor-quality milk chocolates that my brother and I retrieved by poking our fingers through a small perforated...
One of my favorite things about the festive season is the lead up to the big day; there’s so much anticipation and excitement surrounding the countdown to Christmas. This is why advent calendars are right up my alley and this year I finally got around to hand-making one, which is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Best of all, being a free printable advent calendar, it’s easy to set one up for your own holiday celebrations - click through to see how!
Materials
Snowy mountain advent calendar printable
White cardboard
Bone folder
Ruler
Scissors
Double-sided tape or glue
Hole punch
String/twine
Dowel rod
How to get this printable advent calendar
Step 1
Print out the snowy mountain advent calendar file onto white letter-sized card stock. In the file, there's a pocket for each day of December (up till the 24th).
With your ruler and bone folder, score along the dashed white lines that section off the two tabs on each of the pockets. Also score a line along the middle of each pocket (use the base of the mountain as a guide).
Step 2
Cut out each of the pockets with a pair of scissors.
Step 3
Fold the pockets along the lines you scored in Step 1.
Step 4
Apply double-sided tape or glue to the two tabs on each pocket. Fold up the bottoms of the pockets so that they stick to the tabs.
Step 5
Punch a hole in the corner of each pocket and thread a piece of twine through it, tying a knot to secure it in place.
Step 6
Attach each pocket to your dowel rod by tying the other end of the twine around the dowel.
As you attach each of the pockets to the dowel, try to vary the lengths of the twine so that some of the pockets hang lower than others - this will add more visual interest to your calendar.
Once your advent calendar is complete, simply fill it with goodies or printed Christmas greetings for your loved ones.
I've gotta say, I feel a little bad for the groomsmen in a wedding. You want to say thanks for being here for us today, but there are so few ideas out there when compared to gifts for bridesmaids. Have no fear! Whether you're a bride or groom shopping for the men in your wedding party, these 10 budget-friendly groomsmen gifts are sure to be appreciated.
I write this next sentence every year, and every year I believe it more: if buying gifts could be my full time job, I would be the happiest person on the planet.
I love everything about gift giving. The rituals, the sentiments, the experience of finding the perfect thing for the perfect person. It's a total thrill and my total Kryptonite.
This holiday season, we partnered with Minted to create a set of gifts perfect for the people you love most. Your man, your woman, your boo, your bestie, your bae. They're all accounted for in this collection.
So, grab your warm beverage of choice, settle in under your coziest blanket, and have a look at these gorgeous gifts.
