Make and Takes » Fun

Spending the Day at Disneyland

Marie — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:40:51 +0000

Thanks to Disneyland, we were given tickets to come and spend a day at the greatest place on earth! We’re a little bit of a nerdy Disney family. Maybe not as much as my friend Oh Amanda, but we would move in if they let us! See the t-shirts (nerdy), and my husband is also decked out in Mickey-wear behind the camera! We try to make our way to Disneyland every other year and we usually go for a whole week (more nerdy) as we want to make sure to do everything. So when we went to California this past summer, we only had one day to spare at our precious Disneyland and we had to make the most of it. Here are a few tips and tricks I picked up that helped us spend our day at Disneyland.

Do a little research before. If you’re able to do a little research before you get there, then you can schedule some of your day. Find out where you want to eat, what characters you really need to meet, and what are the absolute must for rides. We made sure to get in the top 2 rides from everyone’s wish list. A fabulous website with some great information about Disneyland, the ins and outs of it all, is Just Spotted. Those ladies have done a lot of research themselves and can give you some advice.

Wear good shoes. You’ll be walking a lot, as you’re trying to go fast to get from place to place, so you’ll want a good pair of shoes! We have a mix of Skechers, Buster Browns, and Keens. These style of sandal/shoe is a great choice for walking all day and in the heat.

Download the Ride Max program. The Ride Max program is a website that has a form you fill out, choosing your list of desired rides, and then it calculates the day’s schedule for you. It tells you what rides to go on at specific times and even schedules in a few breaks. All the work is done for you, totally worth the $14.95 it costs to use. We were able to get in every single ride we wanted, and some with time to spare. Which was good, as we were also using Disneyland’s ride share program as we had our toddler with us.

Have you been able to do Disneyland in just one day? What’s your favorite thing to do?

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Our Loch Ness Zucchini Monster

Marie — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:18:34 +0000

This was our zucchini from last year. It grew so much so fast that they were GIANT by the time I went out to get more. My husband decided to get creative with these over-sized zucchinis and created Nessie!

It comes complete with green tomato eyes and zucchini flower horns. I love it!

This year we wised up with our garden and have been letting my in-laws grow the zucchini for us! They’ve got plenty. Any Loch Ness Zucchini Monsters in your garden?

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The Rascally Adventures of Calvin and Hobbes

Marie — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:05:55 +0000

We can’t get enough of Calvin and his crazy adventures. I used to read these books over and over again when I was a child and it’s so much fun to now share them with my son! He’ll be in his room reading and giggling for 2 days straight, going from cover to cover. I love it! Any Calvin and Hobbes fans out there?

What books are your kids into reading right now?

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Update with Make and Takes RSS Feed

Marie — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:17:20 +0000

We made a recent update to our RSS feed for Make and Takes. So if you’re having trouble viewing your subscription for either your feed reader or email, we’d love for you to re-subscribe. You can subscribe by clicking the orange icon on my sidebar (shown below) or click this link for subscribing: http://feeds.feedburner.com/makeandtakes

If you’re not already familiar with a subscribing or feed readers, here’s a little more information about it. It’s a great way to save time when reading your favorite blogs. Here’s an article by Simple Mom on RSS Explained, making it simple to understand what RSS is and how fabulous it can be for you.

Also, here’s a how-to video about setting up a RSS feed reader:

Thanks for subscribing and being a part of the Make and Takes community!

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Getting Social at a Blogging Conference

Marie — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 15:10:52 +0000

I’ve talked about some really good reasons for going to blog conferences before, but I can’t stress enough what an amazing community there is of women bloggers! I just got back from New York City where I attended BlogHer, a conference of 2400 women (and men) bloggers. So after hosting the fun and fabulous event SocialLuxe Lounge, we hit the town, the conference, and even went on a run!

Here’s just a taste of what I experienced last week at BlogHer:

Bright Lights, Big City:

I had just a little time for sight seeing. I wish it was more, so I’m going to have to go back. Here are a few fun friends at Time’s Square.

BlogHer 5k & Tutus For Tanner:

I got up bright and early to run this year’s BlogHer 5k through Central Park. I had to do it, and it was such a pretty run. Here’s Kelly of Centsible Life and I struttin’ our stuff!

During the run, Catherine of Her Bad Mother had organized for everyone to wear tutus on the run, helping to raise awareness for her nephew Tanner. He suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a muscle degeneration disease that is terminal. His family is trying to raise money to help him be in the comfort of his own home while he goes through this, but they need to reconstruct their house to allow their home to accommodate his needs. I started running this race as any other, just running my 3 miles. But then as I ran in my blue tutu, under my red Eat Blog Run skirt, the tears started coming as people along the path were asking me why I was wearing a tutu and I would start to explain. And as I passed Tanner on the trail, I thanked him for the opportunity to run for him. It was a very touching moment and I was so happy to be a part of it. Click here to donate to his cause.

Blogging Friends New and Old:

Having attend a few conference over the last year or so, it’s been fun to keep seeing many of the same women, getting to know them on even deeper levels, making real friendships. And I’ve also been able to meet many new blogging women who I can’t wait to get to know better. Here are a few of us dancing the night away at one of the BlogHer parties!

Celebrities:

Yes, that is Nate Berkus with Jane Maynard and I! He is super dreamy, those eyes, and so personable. He’s hosting his own TV show The Nate Berkus Show and I can’t wait to set my DVR!

The one and only Robert Verdi. I’ve loved him ever since his show Surprise by Design on HGTV. I so wanted him to come makeover my house. BUT instead, last week at the Getting Gorgeous event, he was there to help me pick out the perfect jeans. Miracle Body put me in a size smaller than I normally am, and I learned the term Jeggings: Jean Leggings!

Ms. Frizzle herself! I attended an event hosted by Scholastic and we met with Ms. Frizzle and drove in the Magic School Bus! So fun.

BlogHer 11′ is headed to San Diego, California next August and I’ll be there. Will you?

Photo Credits: Because I’m horrible at getting my own camera out and rely on the photo skills of others, so thanks to – Justin Hackworth, Christine Koh, Kami Bigler, Esther of She Posts

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Tips for Hosting a Party for 350 Women

Marie — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:58:29 +0000

After putting on a huge amazing party in NYC for 350 blogging women before the big blogging conference BlogHer, I’ve learned a thing or two about party planning. This is the second year of SocialLuxe Lounge and I’ve got a few tips for you if you ever plan to host a party for a large group of people.

Co-host it with good people. I couldn’t have planned and executed this amazing event without these two smart women. Allison and Jane were so great to work with, making it all fun and worth it to party! (Thanks to Shabby Apple for our dresses.)

Bring in extra help. We asked a team of blogging friends to help us with our party for the day before and the day of. They opened boxes, filled swag bags, managed the front doors, helped with design, and were absolutely amazing! Cheers to them: Kami, Carina, Melissa, Susan, Jenny, Cora and Alma. (Oh and the bouncers were awesome too.) Thank you, ladies!

Location, location, location. This year, BlogHer was in New York City, so that helped us overall in our planning, as there were a lot of great places to choose from. We found this great kind of swanky venue called the Arena, that was the perfect setting for our party.

Work with great brands. We were very fortunate to have our party sponsored by some really great brands this year. Avery, the paper company, came in as our title for the Avery SocialLuxe Lounge. They were amazing to work with and had a darling display of their Zazzle binders and labels. They even provided each guest with a little conference survival kit.

We also were fortunate to work with Frito-Lay, Stride Rite, Ghirardelli, International Delight, Yummie Tummie, Tiny Prints and a non-profit organization called Drop In and Decorate. They decorate and donate cookies to charities in need, the Center Against Domestic Violence will receive cookies designed from guests at our party.

Pamper the people. Who doesn’t love a free massage or mini manicure? Aveda came in as our massage sponsor and we had OPI come and help with nails. It was fun to primp, pamper, and polish all the guests. There were even fabulous Henna artists as well.

Host an award show. The best and most looked forward to part of our party is the BlogLuxe awards. Starting back months ago, blogs were nominated and voted for. It’s so fun to showcase such fabulous blogs and host a fun awards ceremony for them, Oscar style. And we were graced with the lovely Audrey McClelland as our MC.

Invite fabulous guests. Because of the buzz that our party created from last year, when we opened registration this year, our party sold out in 12 minutes!! It was crazy, but oh so fun. Thank you to all of our guests who made it a success.

Send them home with goodies. For taking the time to come to our party, we wanted to thank all of our guests with a bag full of goodies. Each main sponsor provided something fun, as well as a few other fabulous companies. They left with gifts from Skullcandy, Lisa Leonard, Little Alloutte, Moji, 1800Flowers, Foxy Blunt, Peek Kids, Mabel’s Labels, Golden Gate Wine Cellar, Mrs. Field’s Gifts, PBS Kids, Cambria Cove, Zappos, Mixed Bags and more.

Have you been the host of a party, big or small? What tips and tricks do you have to share to help us all plan a little smoother for next time?

Photo credits: Thanks to all those who brought their camera and took pictures!! Mishelle Lane, Casey Mullins, Kami Bigler, Julie Dance, Melissa Esplin, She Posts, Jenny Eckton – SocialLuxe Loung on Flickr

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Weekend Links: Crafty Ninjas

Marie — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:42:42 +0000

Little crafty ninjas are popping up all over the place and I just have to share a few of them. From cupcakes to stars to turtles. Who doesn’t love a crafty ninja?!

Printable Ninja Cupcake Toppers by Zakka Life (pictured above)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle crafts by Cut Out + Keep
Origami Ninja Star Tutorial by PaperCrafty
Make a Ninja Costume by Kaboose
Paper Tube Painted Ninjas by Journey Into Unschooling

Also, welcome everyone from Simply Utah. I’m happy to have been featured this weekend.

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Giveaway: Cordless Glue Gun

Marie — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:58:18 +0000

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered. Congrats to #70 Francheska, #88 L Christensen, 220 Sav O’G, #390 Kathryn. Have fun getting crafty with your cordless glueguns!

GlueGun.net is here today, as a Make and Takes sponsor, giving away 4 of these awesome cordless glue guns!

Let’s just talk for a minute about how fabulous a cordless glue gun could be! With my current glue gun, I’m always crafting right near a wall, close to an outlet. It’s not an ideal spot for most crafty projects. Hot glue gets on the cord, then on me, ouch! This cordless glue gun could solve so many crafty messes from happening, letting me be free to move all around my craft area! Wahoo!

The Cordless Glue Gun has these qualities:

Cordless for comfort and safety

High temperature for better bonding

Works with metal, wood, ceramics, leather, porous and non-pourous materials

High quality construction

And 4 of you will be the new owners of one of these cordless babies! See below for giveaway details.

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Giveaway Entries: For your chance to win one of 4 Cordless Glue Guns, leave a comment on this post by Thursday July 29th @ midnight, telling me what project you might use your new cordless glue gun for! I’ll announce the winner chosen from random on Friday morning July 30th. Good Luck!

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Sharks, Dolphins, and Elmo, Oh My!

Marie — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:10:47 +0000

As we took our little trip to Southern California a few weeks back, we were given some tickets to head to Sea World. I hadn’t been to Sea World since I was a kid and it was just as fun and magical as it felt when I was little. My favorite part is still the water tunnel of SHARKS! I love it when they swim right over my head!

Sea World has a few rides and they are pretty great, but we’re all about the shows. We loved the dolphin show, Blue Horizons, lots of flying and jumps, and splashes. If you were on the first 6-7 rows, you got DRENCHED! We were at the top of the “splash zone” and happily didn’t get wet. See, smiling dry faces below!

Then there was our favorite show, Sea Lions Tonite. I highly suggest you go at least 20-25 minutes early to the show, as Biff, the “Sea World Janitor”, stole the show. He was really really funny, Jordan was cackling, and kept us entertained while we waited for the sea lions. He put on a funny costume dance party, picked random people out from the audience and took “family” photos of them. Funny stuff.

As an added bonus, we also got to meet some Sesame Street Friends! My little 2 year old said she was so excited to meet Elmo, until she actually got close to him and kinda freaked out at the red hairy monster!

Anyone else been to Sea World lately? I definitely think it’s worth a trip to San Diego!

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Giveaway: Total Class Creative Dream Girl Collection

Marie — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:16:27 +0000

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered. Congrats to #121 SAJ. You’re the winner of a new dreamy collection! Have fun make believing!

Are you ready for the most Dreamy Girl Collection ever? Ready to play, make believe, and head off on an adventure to a new land? Your little one is going to love this giveaway for a fun collection from Make and Takes sponsor, Total Class Creative.

There are so many fun creative things to be had, they are right up my “make and takes” alley!! Craft kits, holiday crafts, and fun furniture. You can also check out their blog where they share all kinds of crafty creative ideas.

Here’s what’s up for grabs for today’s giveaway: Dream Girl Collection:

It comes complete with the dream house play structure, dream house fashion doll furniture and girls dress up kit! All I can say is “hours and hours of playtime fun”!

And for an added treat, Total Class Creative is offering a coupon code for 25% off your entire online order. Offer valid July 16- July 31, 2010. Redeem at totalclasscreative.com. During checkout use coupon code: MAKENTAKES.

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Giveaway Entries: For your chance to win the above Dream Girl Collection from Total Class Creative, leave a comment on this post by Thursday July 22nd @ midnight, stating how you and your family stay creative. I’ll announce the winner chosen from random on Friday morning July 23rd. Good Luck!

Extra Entries – enter a new comment for each extra entry telling what you did:
- Tweet about the giveaway and follow @TCCCrafts
– Like (aka become a fan) of TCC on Facebook

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Keeping Children’s Creativity Alive