Scarves, Scarves, and more Scarves!

Good afternoon to everyone! I hope you're all having a good start to the week! I am, other than feeling slightly under the weather, I think I have a severe case of the winter blues! I am so darn anxious for spring to be here I can hardly stand it! It doesn't help that it is so VERY VERY cold out here today! I don't even want to peek my head out the door!

Mama Made has once again made a few changes and added a new line of products! I recently (this past weekend) got a new sewing machine! SO exciting! I have been wanting to start sewing again for quite a while now but my old machine was having some issues and I just decided it was time for me to get one so that I could sew!  With me starting to sew, comes the addition of a section in my shop! "Sewn with Love"

I plan on having quite a range of items, things I find to make that I think are fun and enjoyable will be added as I come across them! So far I have added sewn infinity scarves and minky dot and flannel security blankets! Taggie blankets will be coming shortly!

Scarves, Scarves, and More Scarves!

Sewn fabric infinity scarves are $ 15.00 dollars a piece and are a great fashion accessory for any season! They would make an absolutely wonderful Easter present or Mother's Day gift!

 Blue Butterfly Print Infinity Scarf

 Robin's Egg Blue Infinity Scarf

 Birch Bark Print Infinity Scarf

 Salmon Colored Infinity Scarf

Coral colored Infinity Scarf

This Minky dot and flannel security blanket is a perfect snuggle buddy for any little one, they can be made in a variety of colors and prints on the flannel for little girls and boys!

 

 Minky Dot and Flannel Security Blanket

Along with the addition of my new sewn items section of my shop, I decided that I needed to alter the name of my shop to include all aspects of it. So the new name is now Mama Made Prints & Stitches to include both knit stitches and sewing stitches! 

Well, I think that I will be off for the day to do some more promoting, work on some sewing, what have you but be sure to check back for a St. Patrick's Day coupon code coming soon! As well as new updates and promotions!

Have a WONDERFUL day!

- Mama

A New Monday Beginning of the Week Post!

Happy Monday to everyone!! I hope you all had a great weekend, I know that I haven't posted for a week or so and didn't get to some of the posts I was thinking I would but with some family things going on and my birthday being this past weekend, and every day life it just gets busy! I had an interesting but good weekend!

I will fill you all in on the basics of why my weekend was interesting! As I said my birthday was Sunday of this past weekend. My daughter husband and myself had made plans to go up to my parents Saturday morning and go out with some of my friends Saturday night and then to dinner with my parents on Sunday. Well Saturday morning my dad had a major health scare which resulted in him being rushed to the hospital. He had surgery today and is resting comfortably and will be okay but he certainly had us all worried! Needless to say it made the weekend a little more hectic and we ended up just staying in at my parents house with friends so we could hang out with my mom and she could get some sleep as well. Sunday we intended on going to visit my dad in the hospital and then have dinner with mom. Mother nature however had different plans. We were hit by a winter storm that resulted in a gross combo of both ice and snow so mom got us on the road to go home hoping that we would get home before most of the weather hit. We made it safely, had some interesting road conditions but we made it. Gotta love mid-western winters I guess haha! But as I said, even with all the chaos of the weekend, I still had a good weekend and a great birthday!!

With all that said!! Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and I have added some new Valentine's Day products to the shop!

Personalized Valentine's Day Mini Candy Bar Wrappers

 Personalized Valentine's Day Cupcake Topper - Owl "Whooo loves you!?"

Personalized Valentine's Day Cupcake Topper - Love Birds

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, it not only brings these holiday items into my shop, it also brings the Handmade Circle Team's Valentine's Day Promotional Sales Event!

What is this you ask!? Well a group of lovely shops (including mine) are running this promotional sale starting today, there are all sorts of fabulous sales going on during this sale shops are using the universal coupon code HMCLOVE for various discounts!

My shops discount is 15% off of your order if you use coupon code HMCLOVE during checkout

Check out our fearless leader's blog post with all of the shops participating and their coupon codes!

Well, I am off to finish up an order and make some dinner!! Check back in on Wednesday for the mid week check in!

Kari

It's Monday that means time for the Beginning of the week Blog Post!!

Hey guys and happy Monday! I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend! Such a shame that the weekends fly by so fast isn't it!?!  This Mama had a good weekend with her family, a good weekend to STAY IN!! It is so darn cold out here! I guess living where we do I should be used to it but I just don't ever get used to it, brrrrrrrr!! I went grocery shopping last night and just about froze myself to death just getting my goodies into the car! Anyway enough of my complaining about the weather!

This blog post marks the start of something new for me... I have printed off a blog planner! This will hopefully allow and encourage me to sit down on the Friday before the upcoming week and plan out several different blog posts rather than struggling to come up with something on the spot and feeling like if I can't come up with anything right then and there I should just not post. This will hopefully bring you a more steady flow of posts to keep updated with Mama Made Gifts! I plan on doing 3 posts a week and here is kind of my plan for what they will be like.

Monday- Beginning of the Week Blog Post! I intend for these to be a check in to the start of the work week for me, I have also decided to run discount sales every other week or every couple of weeks so this blog post will always include those sale items as well as any upcoming promotions or coupon codes for the next week.

Wednesday- Mid-Week Check In! This will just be a mid week check in, I will include any new happenings, promotions, any new updates or products will be coming to you in these posts.

Friday- Fridays are going to be FAN PAGE Friday! For every 10 new blog followers/subscriptions I get I will do a raffle to give away a gift certificate and this also goes for if I reach 150 fans on facebook. I will also include other updates before the weekend in this post!

So being that this is the first OFFICIAL Beginning of the week Blog Post

Mama Made Gifts is having it's first discount sale! These sales will happen every couple of weeks, no coupon code required as the items that are selected for the sale have already been discounted! 

THIS WEEK'S DISCOUNT ITEMS:

ALL ITEMS IN THE HAND KNIT SECTION ARE 15% OFF! HATS, MITTENS, SCARVES!

Stay tuned for Wednesday's post which will include a coupon code for the Handmade Circle Team's Valentine's Day promotion! 

I will check back in with y'all Wednesday! 

The Shop!

Mid Week Check In!

Hey guys!! Thought that I would just do sort of a mid week check in with you and let you know what's been going on with Mama Made Gifts!

Seeing how we are hopefully rounding a corner and heading for SPRING I have decided to start to focus more on the graphic design element of my shop again! That doesn't mean that I am going to stop knitting entirely, I have some ideas for new products that will be knit but not just for winter weather. 

In the past week I have actually had 3 graphic design item orders which is pretty exciting and kind of a BOOST to get me going and creating again! I had gotten kind of burnt out and discouraged on the graphic design front but now I am feeling creative again and look forward with coming out with some new designs! 

Speaking of!! I just created these new personalized nursery or children's room wall art prints! They're personalized with your child's initial and name!

Well it's getting to be dinner time here and I need to find out what we're going to have so I will try to post again soon!!

Wishing EVERYONE a VERY Happy New Year!!

Hey there everybody!! Are you all surviving all of the holiday happenings!? I know that my family certainly had a busy but VERY fun and enjoyable Christmas!! We had our get together with my side of the family the weekend before Christmas which was a blast! Kind of quiet compared to years past but it was just as much fun as it always is and hey the people that came are the people that you want around in your life right!? The people that were TOO busy to make time or what not... well your loss!! We had a BLAST!

This was the first year that we have been home for Christmas eve, in hopes of starting some of our own family holiday traditions!! We went out for a family dinner and came home to relax and of course SANTA had to come visit our little peanut! That was the highlight of the holiday for me, seeing her come out Christmas morning to presents under the tree and getting so excited! 

We also then went to my husband's sides Christmas get together. From my understanding it was the first time in quite some time that they had got together on his dad's side for the holiday so that was pretty cool to see and a fun time! Unfortunately by the time we went to that, I think we were all feeling pretty darn tired!!  That's the problem with the holiday season, all the rush rush rush before, the getting ready, shopping, cooking, parties wears you out but still it is SO very enjoyable to spend time with family!

Now on to the New Year!! I know personally I have a few resolutions that I would like to stick to... I got a Zumba game for the Xbox for Christmas so I know that I would like to have a resolution to work out at least 3 times a week for a little bit each time, as well as I am going to try to cut back on POP!!! I drink way way way too much pop (pepsi to be exact!) Several years ago I made it my resolution to cut pop out entirely after a few weeks of WICKED headaches and feeling pretty darn crappy I was down to drinking none, I don't know that I'm going quite to that extreme this time, but I am definitely going to try to cut down on it!  

Mama Made Gifts is also making a resolution... to keep you guys updated more often, make more blog posts, update my shop more often and keep products new and fresh!

Speaking of which, now that we have officially hit the winter solstice (do the days seem any longer to you!?!) I am going to start adding some new knit items to my shop that don't seem quite so wintery! That's not to say you can't still order hats, mittens, scarves, what have you but I just think it's time to add some more light weight things as well. My lacy infinity scarf was the start of this. You can view it in my shop here:

Lacy Infinity Scarf/Cowl

I also plan on making baby blankets as well as several other ideas that I have found patterns for, please keep checking back for updates!  I plan to bring back more graphic design items as well!! I have kind of been on a little break from the graphic items due to a lack of creativity as well as really wanting to knit, but now the itch to do some design work on the computer is starting to come back so expect to see some new graphic items as well!!

Well I think I have blabbed on enough here, the main point to this post was to a.) update you since I hadn't made a post since the beginning of December and b.) to wish you all a VERY Happy New Year!! Please have fun and celebrate but be careful and be responsible!! Keep checking back for more updates, new items and a CLEAN look to my shop!!

Until next post!

Mama

Mama Made Gifts

Blogging blank-out!

Hey everyone!! I know it has been quite some time since I posted, I kept saying that I would post and then just never got to it, plus although I have had a lot going on, I just haven't really had anything to blog to you guys about!!

I hope everyone is having a GREAT holiday season!! I know that Thanksgiving at our house was a lot of fun! Lots of great company and good food!! Lets just say that I won't feel the need to eat turkey for quite some time now! Yikes!! I love having our families over to our house for Thanksgiving but oh my goodness I get tired of the leftovers in just a very few days!! There are only so many meals you can eat turkey in a row!

With that said, onward to Christmas!! The weekend after Thanksgiving we got our Christmas decorations out! I absolutely LOVE decorating for Christmas!! The tree is up and looks so pretty, lights spread around here and there stockings hung, and my fabulous husband even put lights up outside this year!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I did a holiday craft show with my mom! She too has an Etsy shop W&W Crafts! My dad cuts out the wood crafts and my mom paints them

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SMW1953

Anyway like I was saying, we did a holiday craft show together which went pretty well short of us almost freezing to death (they had the air on!!) My mom sold quite a few crafts which was exciting and I found out that my knit headbands are a big hit!! I also sold my first ruffle scarf which was exciting!

Well for now, I have several orders that I need to get off to the post office and seeing how it's a decent day here today temperature wise I think I will head out and get something accomplished!! I will try to post again soon with some product and shop updates!! 

Talk with you all soon!

-Mama

Ideas for having an absolutely SPOOKTACULAR Halloween Party!!

Good afternoon everyone! Let me just first start off by saying that I LOVE Halloween!! In fact, I really love the Fall season!! Don't get me wrong, I am definitely a Summer person as I don't like being cold, and don't enjoy driving in the Winter months, but at the same time I don't enjoy being overly hot either (call me picky lol) and I LOVE the cool crisp air that comes with fall, the gorgeous colors of the leaves on the trees and 2 of my favorite holidays happen in the Fall months!

With that being said, back to Halloween! It is such a fun cooky holiday! I love carving pumpkins, especially now that we have a little girl of our own to help carve them and she gets such a kick out of things like that. I love all the creepy fun decorations and costumes, all in all it's just such a fun crazy holiday to get into! And a trip to target with my mom recently proved that stores are trying to get as many Halloween decorations out and make as big of a deal over this holiday as they do over Christmas!

That's one reason why when the Handmade Circle team of Etsy decided to have a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween sale I jumped all over it! That's right, through this Sunday,  October 7, the Handmade Circle Team is celebrating Halloween with our HMC Spooktacular Sale. Just use coupon code HMCSPOOKY for discounts from 5% to 30% in any of the participating shops!

Another part of celebrating Halloween for us other than carving pumpkins and taking our little girl out trick-or-treating is going to a Halloween party with a bunch of friends! It has always been a good time! We all bring tasty snacks to share, dress up and just act goofy. Of course there is a costume contest which can get quite competitive! This year however the couple that normally hosts the party are not, so I'm not entirely sure what the plan for Halloween party going will be. And if we weren't having a bonfire just a few weeks before I would consider hosting the party ourselves!! Even if we aren't hosting the party I love planning parties and all the great ideas, fun foods and such that go along with it so I went in search of some different fun ideas for Halloween party themes, activities, decorations and snacks and the following is what I found!

Such a cute creative idea for guests drinks!

Yum!! Halloween Themed Cake Pops!

No get together with our friends and family is complete without a game of beanbag toss, Halloween bags are prefect!

 I also checked in with the lovely ladies of the Handmade Circle team for ideas for parties and here are some of the ideas that they came up with!!

 
Holly Burke Westmoreland of Holly's Homemade Goodies had several great suggestions!

Where do I begin...
1. Purchase cheap candles from the dollar store (any color) and wrap decorative Halloween paper (found at Michael's or Hobby Lobby) around them securing with glue. You can dress up with ribbon, sequins, or prefabricated spider webs.
2. Decorate your food table with cheap orange, black or purple fabric purchased from a fabric store. Put you Christmas lights underneath to add ambiance to your table.
3. Instead of giving out candy, I purchase, through out the year, discounted stickers, pencils, small crafts, and what not from craft stores. I make up small bags with these goodies to give out. You can also use this same idea for goody bags to give the children at your Halloween party.
4.Take surgical gloves and fill with the Halloween punch you will be serving and freeze. Once frozen, peel off gloves and put your frozen hands in your punch bowl. Kids love them!

Sharon Morgan of ArtisticSoul Designs had a fun idea for little hands!

Something that's always a hit with kids is a mystery box. Put something gooey, slimy or just baffling inside and have everyone guess what it is. Cooked spaghetti noodles tossed with oil or peeled grapes are especially creepy!

Kate Brooks of Pieces of Home Mosaics also had several great ideas for little Halloween party guests!

I host a Preschool Halloween party every year because of my preschool! We all dress up in our custumes and head outside. Our games are so much fun! Pumpkin bowling, a feely tub filled with black and white rice with toy bugs & halloween rings. We get out the parachute. We have another feely tub with black beans, white beans, glitter and halloween toys. We bring the hippty hop balls, tunnel, jumping sacks, & balls. We also have a bean bag toss game & dancing streamers. The parents bring treats, I read a halloween book to the kids. And the grand end of our party is picking our own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch!

 Ashley Noelle Mabe of Brenny's Bibbies had a fun game idea that would be great for kids but could be just as fun for adults as well!

One game that kids seem to love is pumpkin bowling. Take six (or the full ten) empty two liter bottles and decorate them with monster/witch/ghosts faces. Place a few rocks or sand in the bottom of the bottles to give them a little bit of weight. Use a plastic pumpkin or even an orange ball with a jack o' lantern face drawn on to bowl over the pins. We've done this at fall festivals and craft fairs, the kids love it.

Jessica Grauert Croft of The Prismatic Peacock suggested adding some incentive to your costume parties!

Costume parties are so much fun, and there is more incentive to dress up when you offer prizes for different categories such as: best couple, scariest, funniest, most original, etc. We attend a Halloween party with the same group of friends every year, and it's always such a good time. People take the costume contest very seriously and we have had some very creative and hilarious winners! Make sure you have your camera charged before the party!

Shannon Rose of A Moment in Paradise had a unique Halloween party theme idea!

I thought this sounded like a fun themed Halloween party: Hellidays. This is such a fun adult Halloween party idea! If you can think of a holiday, you can spook it up. Dead Easter bunnies, evil Santas, cannibal Thanksgiving dinners.. it would be fun to see what your guests came up with

So I just wanted to say thanks to all of you HMC girls for the GREAT ideas for a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween Party!

Be sure to stop by and check out all the participating shops!! Use coupon code HMCSPOOKY for the sale discount!

A Moment In Paradise www.etsy.com/shop/AMomentinParadise?ref=si_shop

Art for Comfort www.etsy.com/shop/ArtForComfort

Artistic Soul Designs www.etsy.com/shop/artisticsouldesigns

AstraBella Sinsations www.etsy.com/shop/AstraBellaSinsations?ref=pr_shop_more

Augie and Lola Baby Boutique www.etsy.com/shop/augieandlola

Bags By Hags www.etsy.com/shop/bagsbyhags45

Beautiful Swag www.etsy.com/shop/beautifulswagstore?ref=ss_profile

Blue Ridge Origami www.etsy.com/shop/BlueRidgeOrigami

Bmaja www.etsy.com/shop/BMaja

Brennys Bibbies http://www.brennysbibbies.etsy.com/

Camermaidjewelry www.etsy.com/shop/camermaidjewelry

Chumaka www.etsy.com/shop/chumaka?ref=ss_profile

Cutterstone http://www.etsy.com/shop/Cutterstone

DeeDee's Details www.etsy.com/shop/DeeDeesDetails

Flowertown Originals www.etsy.com/shop/FlowertownOriginals

HandmadeExclusives www.etsy.com/shop/HandmadeExclusives

Hannah Mia www.etsy.com/shop/hannahmia01

Holly's Homemade Goodies www.etsy.com/shop/HollyHomemadeGoodies?ref=si_shop 

Isewmuchtime http://www.etsy.com/shop/isewmuchtime

Jewels by Trish http://www.etsy.com/shop/JewelsbyTrish?ref=pr_shop_more

Little Momma Boutique www.etsy.com/shop/LittleMommaBoutique?ref=ss_profile

Lucary www.etsy.com/shop/Lucary

Mama Made Gifts  www.etsy.com/shop/mamamadegifts

Marees Treasures www.etsy.com/shop/mareestreasures

MiSha Me Designs http://www.etsy.com/shop/MiShaMeDesigns?ref=pr_shop_more

Monday's Child Primitaves www.etsy.com/shop/MondaysChildPrims

Peachy Creations www.wuzzyscreations.etsy.com

Pieces of Home www.etsy.com/shop/PiecesofhomeMosaics

PollyWog Patterns www.etsy.com/shop/pollywogpatterns

Serenitylane www.etsy.com/shop/serenitylane

Starfall www.etsy.com/shop/Starfall

Stars in the Sky Design http://www.etsy.com/shop/StarsintheSkyDesigns

Star Jewels www.etsy.com/shop/StarJewels

The Crafty Panda Girl www.etsy.com/shop/TheCraftyPandaGirl?ref=si_shop

The Lemon Dahlia www.etsy.com/shop/thelemondahlia

The Prismatic Peacock www.etsy.com/shop/theprismaticpeacock

Toppy Toppy www.etsy.com/shop/toppytoppy

Twiggy and Opal www.etsy.com/shop/TwiggyandOpal?ref=pr_shop

Whispering Rainbows www.etsy.com/shop/WhisperingRainbows