an ornament exchange

Happy Monday! Happy Holiday Season! :) For those in the U.S., I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week. Our week was crazy busy with lots of traveling, seeing family and eating. A lot :) I will be wrapping up my 30 Days of Thankful this week - it was such a fun activity to write down (and sometimes photograph) the little (and big) things I'm thankful for.

So I've been brainstorming a fun little idea just in time for the Holiday Season. An Ornament Exchange. I have a sweet friend who, each year, creates and exchanges holiday ornaments with family. Love that idea! And after seeing this fabulous idea by Monika of I Love It All, I thought it'd be fun to put together a little Ornament Exchange via this blog :)

It's really simple - I'll be pairing up people who want to participate in groups of 3 (you and two other people) and then we make ornaments, and send them off to those who are on our list. So you will make 2 ornaments and send 1 ornament each to 2 different people, and you will then receive one ornament each from two different people.

Want to participate? I'm taking a limited number of people (since I've never done this before ;)). Email me at thecreativeplace(at)gmail(dot)com to participate. Please, please do NOT sign up if you are not 100% committed to following through and sending two ornaments. People will be putting time, effort and money into these and we need to all actively participate if we sign up :)

Please sign up by this Wednesday, November 28. I will send out partners no later than Friday, November 30. If the exchange fills up and there are no spots left when you email me, I will email you back to let you know. Ornaments must be mailed on or before December 10.

Requirements:

+ Create 2 handmade ornaments (they can be the same) - they don't have to be elaborate or overly complicated, but create something that you would like to receive - something that is festive, fun and uplifting - and sure to put a smile on someone's face! :) Here are a few ideas of DIY ornaments. Or do a search on pinterest for inspiration :) (You will pay for materials, etc. for your ornament).

+ Send your ornament to each of your partners on or before December 10. That way, it should get there in plenty of time for Christmas and be able to go on the Christmas tree and be enjoyed :) Include a quick little note with your ornament about it - maybe include something like why you made it, what inspired it, etc. and sign and date it :) It will be nice to look back year after year about the ornament's origins when unpacking them to go on the Christmas tree! (Thanks, Monika!) :) Be sure to pack your ornament very carefully, especially if it is fragile (You will pay for shipping your two ornaments.)

Subject your email: Ornament Exchange

In your email include:

1. Your email address you want your partners to contact you through.

2. Your mailing address.

3. If you are willing to ship international: Yes or No *Note: If you are international, you must be willing to ship international.

Yay! I already know what ornament I will be making. And it may or may not involve paper ;)

--------------------------------------

In other news:

Happy Cyber Monday! Save 15% off your entire purchase in my shop. Use coupon code: creative26 at checkout :) Coupon good Monday, November 26 - Wednesday, November 28.

How to Easily Sell Items from your Blog or Facebook!

So, as you know I have an etsy shop where I sell a bunch of crafty odds and ends. And then recently, I started selling wood mounted rubber stamps via a page on my blog. Well. Let me tell you about a new and super incredibly easy (and attractive!) way to sell things directly on your website, blog or Facebook page - it's called ShopLocket.

Seriously, this is so incredibly easy and I will be posting different items for sale here and there because of how simple (and how cute the widget is)! And besides how easy it is, it's even nicer because you don't have to go through setting up an online shop if you are not wanting to do all of that at this time. You can sell as many or as few items as you want. You just sign in with your Facebook account, or simply your email address.

When you sign in, you are taken directly to this simple page. You can list an item by filling out the product name, description, and price, and by adding at least one photo.

Click on Advanced Options where you can track number of items in stock (so you don't sell out without you knowing! :)), add shipping costs or tax and other options.

Once you click Publish (or update if you are making changes like I was in the above photo ;)), you can easily share and promote your product through Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or even email! To put it on your blog, just copy and paste the embed code into the HTML of your blog post. Super simple!

So, how much does this cost?! There’s no up-front or monthly fees, you only pay when you sell. When you sell a product, you’re charged 2.5% (plus any payment processing fees from PayPal or Stripe - which you would be incurring with an online marketplace anyways). So if you’re selling something that’s $20, you’d pocket $18.62

Seriously ya'll. You can be selling products in minutes. To sign up, just go to ShopLocket.com and you can be selling almost instantly :)

And a bonus giveaway! Go sign up for an account at ShopLocket today and then enter the giveaway below on Rafflecopter. Hurry! The giveaway ends tonight :) 

FIVE new signups will win a $100 Michael's giftcard! YAY! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with ShopLocket and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.

stamps are here!

I am excited to say that wood mounted stamps are now available! Yay!! These little cuties are SO much fun :) I had so much fun designing and developing them to go along with memory keeping. These will be perfect for using in mini albums, journals, or Project Life! And what a great stocking stuffer for the upcoming holiday season :) Go here to purchase them through my blog - or I have a couple here in my etsy shop.

Also: Holiday Journal Kits are now shipping :) Grab one here and have plenty of time to play with the goodies and get it all customized before December begins :) Or, if you are looking for a basic album only, you can find one here :)

Yay for the Holiday Season! 

So excited about all of the upcoming festivities :)

30 Days of Thankful - November 3 - 9.

30 Days of Thankful. Loving this little challenge. Loving the simple reminder that I have so, so many things to be thankful for, each and every day.

November 3 - Thankful for the gorgeous changing leaves and the reminder of God's beautiful creation.

November 4 - Thankful for a family trip to Hilton Head to visit with Rob's parents - and a warm, sunny day at the beach.

November 5 - Thankful for palm trees. I know it's silly, but I seriously love palm trees. Maybe it's because I don't live near any - it was fun to see these in Hilton Head. They are so fun to me! :)

November 6 - Thankful for a visit to The Salty Dog Cafe - or "Salty Dog Town" as my sweet 5 year old would say. Our first time as a family of five :) Always fun to have a yummy meal, walk out on the pier and explore the shops.

November 7 - Thankful for a fun new line of products that will be available soon :) 

 November 8 - Thankful for how excited I get about paper. I love paper :)

November 9 - Thankful for taking the time to notice little things my children do that might otherwise go unnoticed. I found this milk truck on the steps the other night - My son had put blocks on either side of the truck as brakes - like he had seen on a firetruck out in town. 

Adorable. My heart flutters :)

30 Days of Thankful

A little challenge this month as we approach the holiday season. A challenge to specifically think of one thing that you are thankful for each day. I've seen a lot of friends posting on fb about things they are thankful for. I think it's such a great idea! Of course, it's great to always be thinking on these things - but what a fun challenge to record these thankfuls for a month - for the month of November - for the month when we celebrate Thanksgiving at the end :) I'm trying to decide if I will make a simple list, or put it in my Autumn Journal, or what. Not sure yet. But at this point, I am recording them each day.

Thankful.
Day 1 - For my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Day 2 - For my wonderful little family. What a blessing my husband is! And my three sweet little ones. Love.

What about you? Are you writing down things you are thankful for this month? Want to join me in this fun little challenge?

hello, november.

hello, november. 

hello, almost end of the year.

hello, month filled with lots of fun things happening.

hello, month that i will begin planning for the holidays.

hello, month that we will be traveling a lot.

hello, month that we will be seeing lots of family!

hello, month that we will celebrate thanksgiving and everything we are grateful for.

hello, month that holiday journals will be mailed to their new homes!

hello, month that new wood mounted stamps will show up in my shop (thanks for all of the guesses! :))

hello, month that i will start a rainbow quilt with this gorgeous fabric.

hello, month that i may not finish the rainbow quilt, but that's ok ;)

happy november! what do you have going on this month? :)