Mama Style

Hi, remember me?  Yeah, I have been really bad about blogging, but I managed to get a post done for my cute friend Livia's Mama Style series.  Check it out HERE.

Need To Make Last Minute Valentines?: Weekend Website

The big day is Monday, have you made/bought all of your Valentine's Day cards? If you have waited until the last minute and all the "good" Valentine's Day cards at the store are sold out, you could make these fun Valentine's Day suckers that kids and adults will love. I know I am on a bit of a mustache kick lately, and then when I was asked if I had any ideas for a Valentine's party, I thought lips would be an adorable theme! My friend Liv is going to do a lip themed baby shower, wouldn't these be cute favors? I saw these free printouts at Blonde Designs Blog, and couldn't resist sharing them! Angie and Kristin are graphic designers who used to work for Martha. Yes, THE Martha! Their blog is packed full of fun ideas throughout the year, so be sure to stop by and check it out. Have a wonderful weekend!

Guest Post Tuesday Featuring: Liv of Liv(e) & Liv's Favs

We are SO excited to have our first guest blogger today, Liv of Liv(e) & Liv's Favs. I will let her introduce herself.....

I'm a self-proclaimed blogaholic, so I'm happy to be posting here today! Before I share my project with you, allow me to share a little about myself.
My husband Kev and I live in a Pink House with our two girls- our dog Maddie and our daughter Aspen. I blog over at Liv(e) and Liv's Favs because, y'know, I'm addicted to blogging. I worked in real estate before Aspen was born, and now I spend most of my days with her when I'm not teaching Yoga or Pilates.
I also run an Etsy shop, Liv(e) and Love, where you can find my hand-crafted jewelry, custom-made picture frames, and sometimes an amazing vintage piece.
I met the ladies of A lil bird... through the blogging world. SueAnn and I have since met in person so our babies can smooch on each other (we actually have friends in common as well, so that makes it easy to get together in real life).
Today I'm sharing a little project I did on a Saturday afternoon while Aspen shoved toys in her mouth for an hour. I used a $1 wooden frame from a craft store and covered it with ancient (seriously, from Kev's grandpa's basement) contact paper.
The contact paper had gridlines on the back, so it was easy to trace a piece slightly larger than my frame to cut out with a blade.

Once I had my piece sized, I slowly peeled the front from the protective backing and smoothed it out with my cutting board. After the contact paper was stuck onto the front of the frame, I flipped the whole thing over again and cut off the excess paper with my blade.
For extra shine and protection, I coated the front of the contact paper with mod-podge and voila! Done.

I cut this feathered friend out of a birthday card I received a few years ago and thought it was a perfect fit (especially for this website!). Since I already had all these supplies on hand, this project cost me nothing and I didn't even have to leave the house.
Thanks to the ladies of A lil bird told me for letting me visit today!

THANKS so much Liv for the AMAZING project! I am seriously in love with that frame! Be sure to check out Liv's blogs, ESPECIALLY her Etsy shop, I wish I had unlimited funds to buy so many of her cute creations!

Would you like to do a guest post on A lil bird? We would love to have you feature a project, your blog, or anything that strikes your fancy. Email us at bagsnrags3 (at) gmail (dot) com, we look forward to hearing from you!

Opinions, please?

We are constantly amazed at all of the fabulous bloggers out there. You guys are cooking, crafting, and creating so many inspiring things and we LOVE IT! We are considering doing something new on Tuesdays here at A lil bird told me..., and we need you input and opinions. Since you are all so talented we want to feature you on Tuesdays!! Tuesdays would be guest post day, where you can talk a bit about yourself, your blog, or share a fun tutorial. What do you think? Would any of you be interested in guest posting here? Let us know what you think, if we should or should not, we would love to hear what you think!!!

Stylish Blog Awards

We are blushing because Maryanne over at Scrappy Gifts gave us our first awards!! Thanks so much, it really means a lot. Be sure to check our her fabulous blog, we LOVE it!!

Rules for accepting this award are:

1. Link back to the person who gave you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass it along to 7 other stylishly and trendy bloggers.
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award.

So here are 7 things about me/us~

1. There are a couple authors of this blog. Mostly Karen & SueAnn, sometimes Steph too!
2. Karen is addicted to Hot Tamales.
3. She also LOVES to exercise, but hates to eat right.
4. She has a HUGE stash of vintage sheets that she can't wait to get crafty with them.
5. SueAnn is not a fan of movies or TV. Her husband hates it. :)
6. She loves to eat all kinds of different foods. Sushi is her favorite, but she also loves Greek, Indian, and Brazilian, just to name a few.
7. She loves the pink grapefruit scent from Bath & Body Works.

7 Stylish and Trendy Bloggers (YOU get both awards!!!)

1. Hunny Bee Blog
2. Diva Baby Bows
3. An Oasis in the Desert
4. Lizard & Ladybug
5. Envy My Cooking
6. Consider The Lilies
7. Liv's Favs

Spice Up Your Boring Lunch! : Weekend Website

Why is it that whenever you are trying to lose weight, all you can think about is food? One of my sister in laws visited Japan recently and was telling me about bentos, which are single portion Japanese meals. I decided to look into bentos and found this charming website, Crouching Mother, Hidden Toddler. Kelly makes such fun lunches for her daughter, they are super easy, and healthy! She gives tips on how to make fun lunches, and most of these are pretty quick to put together using a cookie cutter. When my baby starts eating more than just finger foods I hope to make some of these once a week. I received a dinosaur sandwich cutter as a gift and am excited to use it! If you have a picky eater this may be an option to try. Happy Weekend!!

Dinner Ideas and More!: Weekend Website

I find myself quite often thinking, "What should I make for dinner tonight?", most of the time I am tired of the same staples. If you're anything like me, you need to check out my friend Janey's blog, My Daily Cuisine. It's a food journal of sorts, that goes way beyond dinner recipes, like the photo above, Christmas Morning Rolls, YUM! Janey has a great palette, and you should find photos of all kinds of different cuisine. I have started doing her "Healthy Habits" to try to get rid of my baby body, and I am a big fan of healthy habits vs. dieting. In my opinion, diets don't work, unless you want to eat like that for the rest of your life. I highly recommended you check out this lovely blog, it is one of my faves. Have a great weekend, I am off to the gym! :)

Drum Roll Please.....

It has been nice to spend the holidays with our families, but alas back to reality and life. Starting off the new year we are announcing the winner of our giveaway. The winner of the beautiful 11x14 print from Cierra is......

Ashley said...

Hey! I finally found out how to become a follower :) Cierra, I love your nature pics, love love love the flowers!

Congrats Ashley! Please email us at bagsnrags3@gmail.com to get the details for receiving your print. Thanks everyone who entered and everyone who reads.

Time for A GIVEAWAY!!----Closed

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday! Since the New Year is this weekend and we are wanting to spend a little more time with families, we will be taking the week off, and be back to posting daily next Monday. In the meantime though we thought we would enter the new year with a giveaway!

Since A lil bird told me… has almost reached 100 followers we thought a nice way to say “Thanks for reading” would be to have a giveaway!!

My gracious friend Cierra has offered to giveaway ONE of her amazing 11x14 prints! Besides being super Mom, awesome crafter, and blog designer, Cierra is AMAZING at photography. I am super jealous of her talent and I love “ooing and ahhing” over her photos at her Yellow House blog. Check out her work, she is seriously talented, you don’t have to take my word for it though, her Save Ferris photo was recently featured over at Design Mom. If you live in Moscow, Idaho, she also does family and baby photography, which you can check out over at her Photograph: By Cierra blog. Once you have found your favorite print you can head on over to her Etsy shop to pick one up, and all the proceeds go paying for medical bills of her sweet Baby C.

Here are some of my faves...

On to the details for the giveaway….

Here is how to enter:

A: Become a follower of A lil bird told me…

B: Head over to Cierra’s Etsy shop and pick out which print you want if you win.

C: Leave a comment letting us know you have done the above two things!

Easy as 1, 2, 3!

If you want additional entries, here it is:

A: Post to Facebook, Twitter, or your blog about this giveaway. (1 entry for each)

B: Follow the Yellow House or Photograph: By Cierra blog. (1 entry for each)

C: Post a link or our button to your blog to share what a lil bird has told you! (1 entry)

Leave us the link to where you have posted the giveaway or that you are following the above blogs.

There you have it, 7 possible entries to win a beautiful 11x14 print from Cierra. This giveaway will be open until Monday 1/3/2011 12am MST. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!! See you in 2011.

Quite the Christmas Card: Weekend Website

I wish I was as creative and talented as the Foster family. Instead of making a Christmas card for their friends every year, the make a Christmas Video. I was perusing over at Design Mom the other day when I came across this fabulous video. The picture above is from behind the scenes, this scene took a lot of candy canes! Her children are ADORABLE and very good actors, I am super impressed. Check out the video in it's entirety HERE. Have a lovely weekend, only 7 days left until Christmas!!

Give Thanks

I am so glad Lynn from The Vintage Nest is hosting her Give Thanks party today. I am thankful for all of you in the blogosphere for your inspiration, creativity, comments, and for reading and supporting us! Please stop by and see all of the great bloggers she has listed and what they are thankful for, it is so nice to reflect on what blessings you have.

I am so thankful for family and what wonderful people I get to surround myself with on both mine and my husband's side. I am thankful that I added a new addition to our family this year, what an amazing joy he has been. I am thankful to be a Mother, Wife, Daughter, Sister, and Friend. I am thankful for the love that family gives unconditionally, always. I am thankful that on this holiday we gather together as families and reflect on the blessings we have.

Thank you, each one of you, for taking the time to read our blog, we appreciate it!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

A giveaway....

Our good friend/sponsor/blog designer Cierra is having a giveaway at the Yellow house blog! Be sure to head over and check it out, you can have up to 5 entries, so it's a great chance to win. Cierra is such a talented photographer, I love following the Yellow house, if I ever get a nice camera I want to start my own project 365! If you adore her photos like I do and are looking for a fun Christmas gift, then look no further! Cierra has decided to sell her prints to help with some of the medical bills her family is experiencing. She is a Mother to the cutest (next to mine of course ;) ) baby boy, who was born with a rare condition called CAH. CAH has been really rough to her little sweetie and he has been in and out of the hospital quite a bit. Any print you buy will help to cover those visits. Be sure to hop on over to enter the giveaway and check out her amazing work! Also, check out her photography blog below!

Thanksgiving Dessert Idea...Weekend Website

I love all the fun ideas I find over at Make and Takes, it is definitely one of my favorite blogs. Marie posted these muffin tin mini pies, how cute and easy are these!! I think they would be a super fun dessert for the kids table, and the perfect portion to avoid gaining those holiday pounds. I also am in love with the pumpkin potted plants that craftzilla guest posted. What a lovely idea, they would make such a fun gift for your Thanksgiving host. There are oodles of fun ideas, so be sure to stop by and browse through them. Happy Weekend!!

Gorgeous Halloween/Autumn decor...

One of my best friends, Brandee, has a BEAUTIFUL home. She has so many FUN decorations for all seasons, but sent me a few pictures of her Fall/Halloween decorations. They are GORGEOUS! I thought I'd share...
















GORGEOUS, right? You can visit her blog here for lots of pretty decor pictures from all the SEASONS and Holidays.

Curious Pumpkin Cake: Weekend Website

Have you seen this cute pumpkin cake yet? Amanda over at i am baker, is an amazing baker, and an amazing mommy. She is constantly coming up with cakes, cookies, and other fun creations for her kids. She was having so much fun baking that she decided to dedicate a blog to her fantastic concoctions. While you are over there you must check out her rainbow cake, I LOVE it, I was a big Rainbow Brite fan as a kid, and would have gone crazy for that cake.

If you think that the cake above is your average, cute, jack-o-lantern cake, then you would only be half right. He is far from average, he has a secret, a surprise for you! Check out his surprise HERE, I am in awe of how talented she is.

Have a wonderful fall weekend!

Check out this giveaway!

Liv over at Liv(e) is having a giveaway! Stop by her blog and enter to win these beautiful hand made earrings from her Etsy shop. You can find all the details HERE. Also, don't forget to stop by here tomorrow with your spooky photos for our first blog party! We are excited to see all the spook-tacular ideas out there!

Making your own dress for a $1 a day: Weekend Website

A new dress everyday? Yes, please! One of my friends sent me a link to her favorite blog New Dress A Day, and I am LOVING it! Marisa decided to forgo traditional shopping for a year, buy a new dress a day, and make it fabulous! I am jealous for so many reasons. I don't sew, I had a rather unfortunate experience in junior high with making a monkey, his ears are on the inside of his head. Marisa does an amazing job of making these dresses go from drab to fab all on her $1 a day budget! Check out what she did with this beauty and have a great weekend!

Weekend Website

This weekend check out my friend Becky's cute blog, Random Acts of Obsession. If your looking for a fun, cute, useful weekend crafts, there are several, but one of my favorites is this...

Can you believe that was once a rat trap!?! Check out the full tutorial HERE. Have a great weekend!

Weekend Website

This weekend be sure to check out one of my favorite blogs, Young House Love, "two young people falling in love with their first house". I love the house tour, they have done amazing transformations on the entire house. They even had their wedding in the backyard. I think it is such a great and inspirational site, it really gives me some fantastic ideas!

Be sure to check in tomorrow to see the winner of our first giveaway!

GIVEAWAY!----Closed.

We are having our first giveaway! It is a Petunia Pickle Bottom Honeysuckle Serenity sling! A very stylish way to baby wear and it is a $90 value! Even if you don’t have a baby, it makes a wonderful gift.

You have 3 chances to enter:

1- Become a follower. (If you already are, your in!)

2- Leave a comment as to why you want to win.

3- Post our button or link to us on your blog. (Be sure to leave a link in the comments section to where you have it posted.)

You will get an entry for each, so be sure to do all 3! This giveaway will be open until Friday September 10 at 9:00 am MST. The winner will be chosen at random and will be announced on Saturday September 11 at 9:00 am MST. Don’t wait enter today!