The One With the Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
Even if you don't have kids yourself, these would make great Christmas gifts!



The other weekend I went to Christmas in Cowtown in Fort Worth, which is basically my wildest dream come true. It is a mega giant Christmas craft show. I love, love, love craft shows. As in, to a point that is kind of embarrassing. I rarely ever buy anything from them, but it's kind of like looking at a real-life Pinterest. Bam. I rest my case.

Anyways, I found a booth there called "Tabletop Truths". I was immediately drawn to the cutesy pictures. They sell adorable kid's placemats. (You know you're a nerd mom when you are immediately drawn to colorful, thematic placemats.)  They had a table set out with 6 placemats, each with a different Nativity scene on it. The gal said, "Each placemat has a different scene, and tells a different part of the Nativity story."

Sold. How fun would it be to have these placemats around your table year after year? Your children could place the mats in order as a sequencing game. (First, the angel came to Mary, then they travelled to Bethlehem, etc). I love them.

Then I glanced around and saw their other themed placemats. They had Easter ones, birthday ones, Thanksgiving ones, and all sorts of other themed placemats. I wanted 2 of everything. I bought 2 of those Nativity placemats above.

(Thanksgiving placemat)

As a kid, my sister and I had placemats with maps of the United States, the continents, and even the presidents. We learned so much from these! My sister could identify tons of presidents by age 3.  Kids might as well learn while they are sitting at the table, right? Children are like little sponges, soaking up all sorts of different concepts. We should seize each teachable moment.

Now most Christian children's items basically say, "Jesus Loves Me!" and that's it. This is nice and all, but doesn't have much depth.  Why not dig deeper? Kids are capable of understanding more than that. Then I saw these additional placemats and was totally impressed.

(Clearly presents the gospel for kids to see and learn.  I love the pure hearts on the right!)

and this one:

(This teaches the different names/qualities of Jesus. Amazing!)

If you think all of this is bologna, then you should watch this YouTube video. An adorable little girl is learning all about Jesus, and it makes me want to cry. So sweet. When I bought my placemats at the craft show, the gal there slipped a paper in my bag. She said, "These are some activities to do with your family along with the placemat." Again, totally impressed. The sheet had applicable verses and different games/points to talk about regarding the placemat.  They are not just trying to sell a product. They really want to help you be successful parents and teachers. I love that this company is selling practical, educational, Biblically-based things that can help plant seeds of truth in your child's heart. 

I couldn't stop thinking about how awesome this company was, so I finally emailed the gals and asked if they would do a giveaway on my blog. They said yes! Here are the details:

All you have to do is look at their site and pick out 2 placemats that you would want to win. There are many more choices on their website than what I showed here. Comment below and say which 2 ones you would like to win. These could be great gifts if you don't have young kids. If you win, they will mail you those 2 placemats! Ta-da! 

You have until Friday to comment below and pick your placemats! Yay! Make sure you leave your name as well so I know who entered the contest! :)

Start Shopping Here!

www.tabletoptruths.com

The One With the No Sew Birthday Banner

 This year I wanted to make a birthday banner for my hubby. I also want to use this banner for all the birthdays in our family. I think it will be a fun tradition for the girls to wake up on their birthday and see the fun banner and have a  yummy birthday breakfast.

I love banners/garlands on the fireplace. I think they are a good way to decorate for an event/holiday without having to decorate the whole house. These are the supplies I used:

1. Ribbon. I wanted something wide and colorful. I also made sure it had boy and girl colors in it, without being too girly or boyish. Colorful polka dots worked for me!

2. Felt. I love felt! I brought my ribbon over to the felt section of Hobby Lobby and picked out some coordinating colors. I also got white felt for the letters.

3. For extra fun, I got pom pom trim. (As in, the stuff that dangles off of sombreros!)  I don't know why, but I think this stuff is adorable. 

4. Hot glue.  I can technically kinda sew, but it's not pretty. Hot glue is my friend.

First, I hot glued the pom pom trim to the front of the ribbon for a fun textured look. 

Then I cut out a bunch of triangles out of the felt, and glued those to the back of the ribbon, making a pattern with the colors.

To make the letters, I typed the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" in all caps in a cute font. I made sure that the font had a lot of straight lines, because they would be easier to cut later on. I used size 150 font, but I forget the name of it. It wasn't fancy.  I printed the letters and cut them out.  Once they are cut out, I traced them backwards on the white felt with just a regular skinny Crayola marker. That way, you didn't see the yucky ink when you flip it over. 

Then I cut the letters out an hot glued them onto the triangles. Voila!

And here is my hubs with his birthday banner! I can't wait to take a picture with it every year!

My inspiration to make a family birthday banner is from a website called www.Icanteachmychild.com  Its my FAVORITE blog. It's from a Christian mom that used to be a reading teacher and now stays at home with her 2 boys. She has a lot of fun themed ideas, and sorts her arts/crafts/learning games/book activities by age! Love it! She has 2 boys, so a lot of her things are boy-themed, (but not all of them). All of her ideas are cheap too, like "match your pots and pans with their correct lid" etc. A lot of good rainy day activities are there as well. You should check her out!