Fun Mail

I found the idea to mail out Easter Eggs from AmberLee over at Giver's Log.  She mails out all sorts of fun things. 

I found large eggs all over town but settled on some from Wal-Mart that were filled with Pop Rocks.  They were only $1.00 each compared to $3.00 or 4.00.  I mailed out ten so went with the cheapest option that was large enough to stuff a few things in.

We filled them with little candies, trinkets, and stickers. 

Then we taped them up mailed them off to our cousins and friends. 

The postal workers got a kick out of seeing them there.  They told me they've seen things much more odd than Easter eggs come through there.

The same week, my kids received Easter / Birthday packages in the mail throughout the week.   One of their favorites was this one:

Their Aunt Heather mailed them each goodies in those round balls you find and fill at Party City.  They were fun to find in the mailbox. We've got two to recycle now so we'll be mailing them onto someone else in the future!

My Memories Scrapbook Software Giveaway

I have an exciting giveaway for you this week!  My Memories will give away a free digital scrapbooking software package to one lucky reader.

The My Memories Suite is a digital scrapbook software that can be used to create scrapbook layouts, photo books, cards, videos and more.  

I downloaded the software a couple of weeks ago to try out.  I was surprised how user friendly it was from the start.  There were a few quirks to figure out but once I did, I found so many options  for backgrounds, colors, photo frames, shapes and elements, and more.  It took my fonts from my computer so I had plenty to choose from.

They have many templates you can choose from for layouts and photo books or you can create your own from scratch.  I decided to start with an Easter card to mail out.  I started from scratch and here's what I came up with.

I made this card fairly quickly and, like I said, I figured out the menu and interface pretty easily.  I printed them on white card stock, cropped them and mailed them off in yellow envelopes.

My Memories has plenty of free digital scrapbooking kits for you to choose from.  But, they also have many other kits you can purchase for a reasonable price.  I purchased this Spring Is My Thing kit by Connie Prince.  I'm going to use it to create Thank You cards for my daughter's upcoming rainbow birthday party.  I love all of the colorful elements and papers.

Overall, I'm impressed with the software.  You can purchase it for a very reasonable price compared to other software that costs hundreds of dollars.  It is compatible with a Mac or a PC.  While I don't dabble as much in digital scrapbooking as some, I'm excited to use it going forward for creating invitations, cards, photo books and even a few collages that I want to transfer to canvas.  My Memories also has an online gallery with over 1700 projects posted where you can go for ideas and inspiration.  

In addition to the giveaway, My Memories is offering a special discount for my readers as well.  Use the code below on MyMemories.com to get a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store.  That's a $20 Value!

Code: STMMMS59730

To enter the giveaway, visit MyMemories.com and tell me which digital scrapbook kit is your favorite in a comment below.  

For extra entries you can do the following (and leave a comment for each that you do):

• Check out the My Memories Blog here.
• Like My Memories on Facebook here.
• Follow My Memories on Twitter here.

I'll choose a winner on Wednesday, April 11th so get your comments in by Tuesday night.

While I did receive a free download of the software to try out and review, all of the opinions here are my own.  

Countdown To Easter

I found this twelve day countdown to Easter via Family Volley's blog.  I love the idea of doing something each day to prepare my family for Easter and reading the story from the scriptures along the way. 

In addition to Easter this weekend, we have three birthdays and two parties this weekend.  I wanted to find something we could do to spiritually prepare for Easter among the craziness of birthday celebrations.

She lists twelve scriptures that tell the Easter Story.   You include each scripture strip along with an item for a little object lesson in an Easter Egg.  You open an egg each day and count down the twelve days to Easter.  But, if you want to start today, she included a seven day countdown as well!

I printed up the scripture strips and gathered the items.  I had everything on hand around the house.  The items include: twelve Easter Eggs, a small bar of soap, a flat stone, a crushed rock, a bay leaf, red or purple fabric, white fabric strips, twine or rope, dice, coins, bread or a sacrament cup, and a small nail.

I placed each item, with it's corresponding scripture, into a large Easter Egg and labeled them 1-12.  I put ours in an Easter basket.

We started this week and they are enjoying opening the eggs and seeing what is inside.  I love the idea that we can just read a little each night, review the prior nights and focus on Easter each day.  Even if it is just for a few minutes before our family prayer. 

Had I thought ahead, I could have made some of these up for gifts.  Maybe next year. 

Thanks for the idea, Heather!

Easter Egg Tree

We gathered up all colors and sizes of plastic Easter eggs over the weekend to string for our tree.

Some had two holes already in them.  Those were easy to string.  Others needed a hole poked in them.  I recruited my husband for that job.  He heated up a large paperclip and they were quick and easy to poke through.

When I threaded the fishing line through, I added a little bead before the knot to keep them from pulling back through.

Here they are hanging in our tree out front. 

They're very festive along with our bulbs that are blooming underneath it.

Did you do any fun decorating for Easter? 

My Weekend

I spent yesterday working on invitations for my kid's upcoming birthday parties. 

My son is turning five this year and wants his "own" party this year with his own theme and only to invite his friends.  And that's what he's getting.  He and his sister's birthdays are three days apart so we've combined a party and an Easter Egg hunt the last couple of years.  But this year...it's all about SUPERHEROES.

Since he's having a party, I thought I'd throw a little one for her as well.  Really, it's just going to be a glorified play date with cupcakes.  She's turning three and is just as excited about her party.

I love to plan parties and I love the prep work as much as the party.  Creating invitations, games and decorating is all part of the fun for me.

We're off to deliver the invites today and hopefully get to a few other things like:

• Attend a Dinosaur birthday party!  I'll post pictures later. 
• String and hang plastic eggs in our tree.  We're completely inspired by this Eirbaum by Volker Kraft in the Czech Republic.  10,000 eggs!  Think my neighbors would mind?
• Work in the yard.  We're having an unusually early & warm spring.
• Buy and stuff some plastic eggs to mail off to the cousins like Amberlee at GiversLog.
• Find an fun Easter tradition to start.  I'd love any suggestions for ideas leading up to Easter that you do with your family.

Easter Carrots

I saw these on pinterest.com (my new addiction...are you on there?) and wanted to make them. They made the perfect hostess gift for our friends who invited us to Easter dinner. I cut out several to make for myself and others but only whipped up five this weekend and threw them in a basket I found at Goodwill. I saw the pattern and tutorial here. I blew off making those "leaves" and just cut strips of the green fabric with pinking shears and sewed them on like that. Then I tied green ribbon around each one. They were simple but kind of tedious to make.

Cascarones: confetti eggs

For our annual family Easter egg hunt I made some cascarones this year. After I'd made them I found a dozen at Wal-Mart for $1.99 so while they were fun to make, it's really pretty cheap to buy them already done.

First I cracked a small hole in the eggs, emptied the insides and let them dry out for a day. Then the kids and grandpa colored them. You have to hold them down into the dye as they are hollow and float!
I filled them with confetti I found for $1.00 at Wal-Mart with the Easter stuff.
Then I glued on little tissue paper squares.
When you found one in the Easter egg hunt, you got to crack it on someone's head. The kids loved them. They mostly cracked them on their dad's heads and grandpa.

Easter Eggs

Having a baby three days before Easter kind of put a damper on my Easter decor and craft plans this year. I did take some time to dye eggs with my two year old though. That's something I'll never grow too old to do. My dear husband blew out a dozen eggs just for me so I could leave them out on the table. I sprouted some wheat grass and placed the container in a basket and set up my eggs in my dining room. I put rubber bands and dot stickers on a few to resist the color then I splattered a few with acrylic paints. Nothing too fancy. Next year I'll try out some more creative egg ideas.

Easter Egg Snake

Today my son and I made this cute snake out of Easter Eggs. You basically drill holes in the bottom halves of 15-20 eggs, string yarn through, add some beans in the bottom one for rattling and draw on some eyes. I found the idea and instructions here at preschoolrock.com. I used super glue instead of tape on the whole eggs. I used 24 halves but would make mine longer if I did it again. It's a great way to use up leftover eggs or you can buy them cheap and make one.

Thumbprint Cards

My nieces came over last week and we made thumbprint cards with inspiration from Ed Emberley's books.
He had ideas for making all sorts of animals and people. We enjoyed being creative and making fun cards. Here are a few of them.