Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Handmade from the Heart with Heads up Designs


Happy Valentine's Day!
To celebrate Valentine's Day, I've joined the Blogging Mamas Network in the Handmade from the Heart Giveaway Hop!  This Event is all about the Love for Handmade things - each blogger involved, including me, has a great prize for you to enter to win!  After you enter my giveaway, be sure to hop around to all the others.
And you definitely don't want to miss the Grand Prize...

Etsy Gift Card Giveaway

My 5 year old LOVES to play pretend and dress up. He has the most active imagination, I sometimes have a hard time keeping up! Lately, he's been obsessed with Pirates so some friends of mine made him a copy of Jake and Neverland Pirates. Now he calls our loveseat "Bucky" and he randomly walks up to me and says "c'mon Izzy, follow me!" It's really cute, but if you are one of those people who have never seen the show, you'd have no idea what he was talking about. LOL.



Part of his creative imagination, involves dressing up in costumes. He loves to dress as a dinosaur or of course a pirate, and play pretend. Recently I found this adorable shop on Etsy, Heads Up Designs, that makes cape sets for kiddos! Each set comes with pants, shirt, mask, and of course a cape! How fun! She also has some really cute shirt designs. She has everything covered from holidays, characters, and even birthday shirts!




To celebrate Valentine's Day, she has graciously decided to do a giveaway with YOU, my readers, for two shirts of your choice and size OR a superhero bundle set of your choice and size. This giveaway is only open to readers that live in the U.S. and are 18 and older.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kinda Crunchy Mama, According to Jenny, So Easy Being Green, and the Handmade from the Heart participating bloggers are not responsible for sponsors who do not fulfill prize obligations.


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Valentines Day cards

This is Gideon's first year being in school during Valentines Day, and I've had plans for cards for his classroom since right after last Valentine's Day. I had found this really cute printable of jars that you taped a plastic bug onto it. Super easy and really cute. I have been excitedly waiting to do this for almost a year. Well a couple of days ago, I came across this really cute card on Etsy and I decided I was going to try and replicate that instead. I needed a monster stamp, which I looked all over for today and had no luck in finding. Since Valentines Day is only a couple of days a way I ended up using this alien looking stamp instead. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it worked. The other item we needed was googly eyes, which I had a bunch of. Of course, things didn't quite work out how I wanted it to (I ran out of the right size of googly eyes and had to use different ones, which of course then changed how it displayed in the hole) but I made it work!

Front of card
Front of card with different googly eye

Inside of card - still needs Gideon to sign them

Like I said, it wasn't exactly how I envisioned them but they turned out cute.

Supplies:

Heart punch
Monster stamp with a space for a googly eye
"U" stamp or die cut
Googly eyes
Circle punch
Red or patterned paper
Brown paper for card

I don't think you really need instructions as it's pretty self explanatory. The hardest part was getting the monster eye to match up with the hole. I finally figured out to stamp the monster then measure from center of eye to bottom of card. Then I measured up on the front of card to the same distance and made a mark where the eye was. Then cut that out with a circle. That seemed to work the easiest for me. If you had a clear stamp that was a monster you could probably do the circle first but mine was a wood block so it didn't work.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

It's time to get crafty with Twistmo



Welcome to the It's Time to Get Crafty Giveaway Hop, hosted by the Blogging Mamas Network. With the colder weather keeping us inside, it's the perfect time to get crafty! I’ve joined with over 40 other bloggers to bring you great products to keep you or your kids busy this season.

This event will run from February 6-20 and each blogger in the hop has a great prize, worth at least $25, to help you be creative or to admire someone else's handmade creations. While you're hopping, be sure to check out the Grand Prize for this Event - a 6 month subscription to Green Kid Crafts AND a $100 Michaels Gift Card!

Kinda Crunchy Mama's wonderful sponsor for this event is Twistmo Vinyl Decor Art. Nowadays, anyone can have a picture frame on their wall, but to add some beautiful vinyl art just sets your house decor apart!





Lori Lee is the artist in charge of creating art that is easy and mess free; that can be applied just about anywhere. She uses influences from her life, nature, and current trends, to create something that anyone can add to their home.

I'm not sure if you've ever attempted to use a cricut to create vinyl art, but it's not the easiest thing in the world to do. You're also stuck to what you can find cartridges for or if you have a silhouette, downloads for. The great thing about Twistmo is that these are one of a kind, creative pieces. I personally think the alien pieces are really cute for a little kids bedroom. Can you imagine coming up with a creative way to add these to your child's room?

This giveaway is open to U.S. only, 18 and older. Thank you to Twistmo for this wondeful giveaway, and don't forget to check out some of the unique designs over at Twistmo, today!


a Rafflecopter giveaway





 

Monday, February 4, 2013

I want to have a child

I've been debating on writing about this for awhile... If you know me personally, this probably isn't new information for you, but if you don't, it obviously will be.

I want to have another child. Yes, I have my son and I love him to death and i'm sure that's some of why I want another; but just one is not enough for me. And yes, I have three step-daughters. However, they do not live with us, (they're on the other side of the country, actually) so yes they are my step-daughters, but they're not MY kids. Regardless, even if they lived with us, they have a mom already. They have that special relationship with someone.

Another thing is I want to have a child with my husband. He considers Gideon his own and will be adopting him when he returns from his deployment, and I think that's some of why he's been so hesitant about another child. He has four. I have one. Yes, I could deal if that's all I can have but I really don't want to. I LOVED being pregnant. I LOVED having a newborn. I want that again, and I don't think anyone can tell me i'm wrong for wanting that.

I'm sure people will argue, since my husband has four kids, the financial aspect of having another. Yes, we pay a fortune for these four kids. I know that, I get that. I don't want to be strapped for cash. But I do want another child. Look at the Duggars. Sure, now they have book deals and a t.v. show which i'm sure helps them to raise their growing brood, but they didn't always have that. They lived responsibly and were able to provide. Sure, the kids may not have had everything they wanted but they did have everything they needed and were well loved.

Being loved is what ultimately matters.

Even if you don't want to look at the Duggars because you may consider it extreme, i'm sure you know at least one or two families with five kids or more. Overall, I would say people have that many kids because they love their children, and love their family. Of course there's always exceptions to that statement and i'm not talking about the exceptions.

But back to me. I have one child. Sure, yes, i'm pushing my husband to have a fifth child, not a second, like me. But I cant help the desires that have been put in my heart. I have one child.

The thought of not having another child honestly breaks my heart.

Another thing, you may or may not know, which i've kinda of been talking as if you did know, my husband has had a vasectomy. Yes, I married him, knowing he couldn't have more kids. But once again, was I supposed to tell myself I couldn't fall in love with him because he couldn't? I didn't set out to love him and marry him. I simply moved in with a stranger because I needed a cheaper place to live. (Check out my life to Army wife story).

I know that "I" don't have infertility issues and I don't know if you could even say my husband does since he chose this, but I feel like a couple with them. I just know that I can't have a baby now. And that hurts.

My husband has gone back and forth on whether he wants another child, pretty much since I met him. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. I think he swings on the yes side more so just because he knows it really matters to me. With being deployed, he's firmly on the yes camp now.

We can't afford to have a vasectomy reversal done. We've looked into the military doing it. Everything out there says Tricare doesn't cover it though. After doing research online, which is ends up being mostly forums of people talking who have had it done, I figured out the trick. Tricare may not cover it but specific, select military hospitals do it on an space available basis.

Michael asked at Madigan in 2009 when we first got married and they told him that they didn't do it. Or at least that's what he told me at the time. He tried in Korea when we were there too, and the same thing. We moved back to Washington and I found one place online that was dated 2010 that stated Madigan did them. So not sure if it's a newer policy or what but they do them! I called and talked to someone in the urology department about it and unfortunately with Michael deploying during the summer, they wouldn't let him sign up. They want you to be with your spouse for 6 months after. Which personally, I find a little silly since it can take 3 months to a year before anything is working again if the surgery is successful. Calling in the winter/spring of 2012 I was told that there'd be a good chance if he was on the list, surgery would be in the summer (2012).

Now, with Michael returning home shortly, we're going to try again. I'm hoping, since we're kind of in the same time frame, just a year later, we'll still be looking at surgery this summer. I've been nervous that Madigan would stop doing the surgeries but so far it looks like they still do. I've also been nervous, as i'm not in my 20's anymore. I'll be 32 in May and obviously my window of having children is dwindling.

Is it wrong to want children? I don't think so but i'm sure others out there will disagree with me. Hopefully i'll be able to share my adventures with you in the next year and hopefully there will be an eventual happy ending to this sad part of my life. I would love to hear from anyone out there that has had any experience with this. How do you deal? Have you had surgery? I don't feel like I can join the infertility groups out there but I feel like I need the same support that those people do. I feel the same, regardless of the reason.

I want to have a child. 


Friday, February 1, 2013

Melissa & Doug Toys Giveaway

$350 Melissa & Doug Toys Giveaway
Sponsored by Melissa & Doug

From puzzles to puppets, plush to play food, magnetic activities, music and more, Melissa & Doug® is one of the leading designers and manufacturers of educational toys and children's products.

Over 23 years ago we started our company in the garage of the home where Doug grew up — we had to be careful not to disturb Doug's parents who were still living there! Thanks to your support, we've been able to move into a real office down the road, a building that actually has separate ladies and men's bathrooms! Our philosophy has remained the same over the years–to make each and every customer a happy and permanent member of the Melissa & Doug family, while offering products with tremendous value, quality and design. Our line offers something for everyone with over 1,000 innovative products for children of all ages! We've always welcomed customer suggestions, and we continually strive to make improvements to our products. We're honored by the faith you place in us and view it as our responsibility to continue to earn your trust in the years to come!

Read Coupon Gator Mommy's Melissa & Doug Toys Review.






Three lucky winners!
 
Grand Prize: $250 in Your Choice of Melissa & Doug Products
1st Runner Up: $50 in Melissa & Doug Products
2nd Runner Up: $50 in Melissa & Doug Products

This giveaway ends Feb. 26, 2013 at 11:59pm EST. 
Open to US and Canada residents.
Good Luck!


A special thanks to all the amazing bloggers who are participating in this giveaway!

~Disclaimer: I received no compensation for this publication. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Kinda Crunchy Mama is not responsible for shipping prize to winner, nor did I accept any compensation for this promotion.~

I did it!

I did it! I crocheted my first baby blanket! I just started crocheting 2-3 weeks ago, and after watching some youtube videos to teach me how, I did it. I started by making a scarf for my son, Gideon. He loves red so when he saw me picking out yarn and I mentioned scarves, he requested one right away. He actually loves it though, and loves to show it off. It did take me a couple tries as my ends weren't even at first, but once I got it, I got it. I think... LOL.




After creating my scarf, I was invited to a surprise baby shower for a friend of mine. My first thought was to make her a baby blanket. I figure it's basically a bunch of scarves put together... Right? Let me tell you, i'm new to crocheting so i'm not that quick. This blanket took me well over 30 hours to complete. I did  half double crochet stitches (I think that's what it's called...) and while I think it's a nice, pretty, small stitch, it took forever! Not sure if i'll do that small of a stitch again on a blanket.

A friend of mine does a lot of wave borders on her blankets so that's what I planned on doing, but after going around the edges first, it scrunched a little and I realized that a ruffle edge would be really pretty. The reason mine scrunched (it wasn't that noticeable, just to me) was trying to do the ends. Figuring out where to put the stitch on the ends when going around, proved slightly difficult for me. I'm sure there's a trick, I just don't know it, so I winged it.

So then I started looking up tutorials for ruffle borders, and while it took me awhile, I finally found one that I liked! I was supposed to do three rows and only ended up with enough time and yarn to do two, but it was still really pretty.

I'm not going to lie and tell you it was perfect. I'm not. But I do think it was pretty darn good. Especially seeing as I just started.

Here's some of the videos I used to teach myself to crochet in the first place.



Thanks to my Facebook fans, I was also recommended  to check out Crochet Geek, All Free Crochet, and Bev's Country Cottage among others. Also, check out Bob Wilson's learn to crochet series:

Monday, January 28, 2013

Picaboo on Living Social

 Living Social Deal - Spend $35 receive $100 worth of photo products!

Awhile back I found a deal on groupon for the website Picaboo. I don't remember the exact price I paid but it was for $100 worth of products for like $40 or something similar. I planned on making a large photo book of the two years that we spent in Korea. Yes, I would love to scrap book it, but I take a lot of pictures, and honestly, I just don't get around to it. I'm much more of a card maker then a scrapbooker. I do try, but if it was going to happen it wasn't going to be any time soon. So I figured a photo book would be the answer! There's of course other things that you can purchase on Picaboo such as prints, cards, canvas, etc., but the photo book was the answer to my problem.



So I started my photo book and found out real quick that my camera didn't take as nice as photos as I thought it did :/ Luckily, i've gotten a nicer camera since but that doesn't help any photos that I took back then. Either way, I was still going to use them as this was possibly my only two years in Korea. Not to mention Gideon will only be two and three, once.

I also learned, that I had a lot of photos! And while I really wanted to make one book for the two years, I was getting dangerously close to 100 pages for just one years worth of photos. I went ahead and decided to do one book for 2010 and I would keep an eye out for another deal and go back to do 2011 in another book.

The Picaboo website, in general, was fairly easy to navigate. It was time consuming but I also had almost 500 photos in my almost 100 page book. My book was 8.5 x 11in and I was able to pick the picture for the front and back as well. They also have themed options to help you have a creative theme so it all fits together or you can pick any sort of background out of all their themes that you want. You can also use your photos as backgrounds which I also did a lot of. You have choices of soft covers or hard covers (I chose soft which is like a thick glossy picture paper) among other options. Your base price starts with 20 photos and then each individual photo after that is a specific price depending on size and book style.

I don't remember how long it took for me to receive my book but it wasn't an unreasonable amount by any means. I think it is a gorgeous book and I love to have it out when people come over. I will never get that time back and I love that I can share it with people on something other then Facebook.

Now why am I sharing all of this with you? Because Living Social has a deal on it right now! Spend $35 and receive $100 credit to use on the Picaboo website. I of course purchased a deal right away! I'm so excited that I can now finish my second book. Of course, if books aren't your thing you can get a beautiful canvas print or something else even. Multiple things even. It's up to you. So check out the deal today and don't forget to use my link at Living Social so I get credit for sending you over :) And as always, make sure to check the fine print for yourself and I am not an affiliate for Living Social.