I love facebook. It’s fun to share photos of my kids, let Mom and Dad know what we’re up to since we moved to Seattle, and keep in touch with new and old friends (don’t say you haven’t spied on your jr. high crush!)

I also manage a facebook page for Make and Takes. A place to share creative inspiration, parenting questions, and fun crafty finds. Over the last couple of years my fans have grown to over 15,500, whoa! So to say thank you to everyone who has given us a “like”, I’m offering you all a free gift, my new gift giving ebook. Yippee! Head over to the M&T facebook page and you’ll see the “Free Gift” link on the left hand sidebar.

Here’s a little sneak peek: 

Gift Giving Ideas for Any Occasion is a collection of old and new handmade gift giving tutorials, all in one handy place. There’s an idea for almost every holiday, birthday, or party where you might need a gift wrapped present. Also included is a set of Free Printable Gift Tags just for you, provided by designer Juliann Law. And special thanks to Aimee Giese for her awesome ebook design skills.

So after you’re done checking the status of Dave from 3rd period English ;) click over to the Make and Takes facebook fan page to download your ebook for *free* today!

• If you’re already a facebook fan, simply look to the left of the M&T facebook page sidebar and you’ll see the link “Free Gift”. Click to download my gift giving ebook for *free*!!
• If you’re not YET a facebook fan, simply “like” M&T on facebook and you’ll be directed to the “Free Gift” page. Click the green download button and you’re on your way to gift giving success!

Hey, Seattle locals! This message is for you…

Hop on a broom and come join us for a night of witchCRAFT! Lyndsey from The Stationary Place and myself are hosting this event because we decided we can’t let Halloween get away with out a night of good ol’ crafts. 

We’ll be crafting the night away with the following
fabulous Halloween inspired projects: 

~Typography Pumpkins~

~Halloween Felt Wreath~

~Spider Stitched Greeting Cards~

~Scrabble Tile Necklaces~

~Glittered Spider Rings~

And the best part, there will be cupcakes from Trophy Cupakes too!

Sign up HERE

The cost is $25 to help cover your supplies, as you’ll go home with all these fabulously spooky crafts! There are only 25 spots and they’ll fill up fast, so check your calendar and sign up now!

When: Monday, October 17th, 7-9

Where: Trophy Cupcakes (Wallingford)
1815 N 45th St. Suite 209
Seattle, WA 98103
click for map 

Who: YOU! Make sure to bring your fancy witch hat :)

Come cackle & craft the night away!

This giveaway is now closed. Thank to all who entered. The winner of the $100 Target gift card is Jordan R. I will email you for your prize. Have fun shopping.

My kids are such good sports. I think I took about 400 photos of them in their first day of school clothes. “Mom, are we done yet?” “No, I want to document it all, every second!” But the photos turned out great, they were sure to ham it up!

My 3rd grader. I can’t believe I have a 3rd grader. That’s where they do times-tables and learn cursive. I keep telling him he has to stop growing up!

My 1st grader. She is so fun and ready to learn. Kindergarten was only half day, so she is loving the fact that she gets to eat lunch at school and stay all day.

My preschooler. My little sweet munchkin. I’m dying that she big enough to wear a backpack, a giant Dora one at that!

They are ready for action…

They are channeling their inner zen…

They got kisses from Dad…

…and now they are off!

Today on Make and Takes, you too can channel your zen and get ready for action with a $100 gift card to purchase school clothes thanks to Cherokee Clothing and Cozi for sponsoring this giveaway. Gotta love it.

Or if you want to get really crazy, Cherokee and Cozi are giving away a $1000 shopping spree and $300 smart phone on Facebook. Visit their Facebook page to enter!

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Giveaway Entries: For your chance to win $100 gift card to Target, leave a comment on this post by Thursday September 22nd @ midnight. I’ll announce the winner chosen from random on Friday morning September 23rd. Good Luck!

For an extra entry – Share this on your facebook page and link to the giveaway on the Cherokee Facebook Page. Then enter in a new comment back here telling me you did.

Pike Place Market is one of those iconic places to visit in Seattle. And now that I live here, it’s fun to call this place home. We like to come down here with our kids, see what the vendors have to offer. My 6 year old is really good at spotting the fun stuff to buy, like a handmade glass ball or miniature flower pot for her room. Then there is the bronze pig where we drop in a coin or two and the fish market where they toss the fish around or spook a passerby with their fish on a rope. You gotta love it.

I recently went on a photo walk through the market with some foodie friends. Here are just a few snapshots of what can be seen.

Had my first bite of the famous Beechers Handmade Mac n’Cheese. It’s really good.

Post Alley has some fun shops and restaurants.

And nearby, they have ghost tours or you can take a stroll over to the “Wall of Gum”! It’s kinda gross, but kinda cool!

What’s your favorite spot to visit at Pike’s Place?

I’ve got a few fun things to share, if you haven’t noticed with the title of this post. It’s all about the B’s!

Babble: I’m thrilled to be on the writing team at Babble for their new channel The New Home Ec. I’ll be sharing some of the fun finds, crafts, and tutorials from over at Babble each week, giving you loads of Home Ec ideas and projects to be creative.

• Intro to my little family, and what sport I want to try out for this year!
• Is Home Ec lost? Why it’s important to have it in every home.
• I’m a germaphobe and clean my toothbrushes!
• Fun finds at the Queen Bee handmade market, 17 savvy shops
• It’s time for tea with this handmade felt sugar cookie tutorial

Now it’s time for Bob Harper! Oh, yes. He is such a cutie pie and I’m still getting a little flush thinking about our moment together.

I met him at the women’s blogging conference, BlogHer. Bob is a spokesperson for Quaker, so they brought him in to speak and take photos and be awesome. I love him, HUGE fan of the show. Are you?

Of course I choked when I met him. I was like a giddy school girl and my tongue was tied. I meant to have a long thoughtful conversation about how amazing I think he is, how motivating and inspirational he is, about how I too am currently in a friendly contest of Biggest Loser and have lost 6 pounds!! Then we would laugh and hug again and he would tell me to keep it up and do my best! I know, I’m one of those geeky fans. But we did take a great picture together, don’t we make a cute couple? Jordan loves him just as much and would probably create an image with hearts around him and Bob too :)

In fact, Jordan and I have been playing a little game of “hide and seek” with the signed photo I received from Bob. We’ve been hiding it in funny places, in the laptop, under pillows. Now my kids caught wind of it and he’s been getting hidden all over the house. It’s a little piece of Bob to keep us all motivated and healthy, right?!

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered. Congrats to the following winners:

2 Plan to Eat 1 year memberships: 101 Amy, 176 Martha
1 What’s Cooking with Kids book: 27 Jessi
2 Plate to Pixel book: 36 Jo, 159 Chacoy
4 Pleated Poppy gift certificates: 31 Catherine, 147 Karen, 165 Meg, 127 Kitter

It’s that time of the month where I get to share Make and Takes sponsors and their really cool products with you, just in time for a little fun this summer. There’s a theme of food this month, tied in at the end with accessories to make you look fabulous while cooking!

• First up is the meal planning madness from Plan to Eat. This program is the perfect way to help plan meals for your family in an easy organized method. They do it all for you, it couldn’t be simpler. There is even a mobile app to help you while you’re shopping, complete with your shopping list and recipe. Two of you will win a 1-year membership. But the best part, they want everyone to try it for 30 days free! Get to know their program and fall in love!

• What’s Cooking with Kids is up next, with their cookbook that gets the whole family involved. One winner will receive a copy of The Whole Family Cookbook, helping to encourage your little eaters to learn, grow, and cook healthy food. This cookbook ties in nicely with our newest contributor, Sabrena, bringing more sustainability into our homes. This cookbook is all about local and healthy eating, but in a practical “everyone can do it” way! For quick tips and hints on cooking meals, make sure to follow What’s Cooking on facebook.

• Now that you’re ready to plan and cook your meals, it’s time to learn how to take amazing food photography with Helen Dujardin of Tartelette and her new book, Plate to Pixel. It’s all about digital food photography and styling to make you look like a star. If you’re a blogger or want to start up a new career, this book tells all on how to get the best photo of your food. It’s the kind of photos where you want to reach right in to the photo for a bite, and she shares all the tricks to make it happen! And 2 winners will receive a copy of Plate to Pixel, so get your cameras ready.

• And last, but certainly not least, is The Pleated Poppy. She’s going to accessorize you while you’re cooking and photographing up a storm! 4 winners will receive a $25 gift certificate for anything in the shop. There are her famous posy pins, oh so ruffly scarves, super cute zipper pouches, and lovely little covered notebooks. Every woman needs a little ruffle in her life, right?!

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Giveaway Entries: For your chance to win one of these 4 lovely prizes, leave a comment on this post by Thursday June 30th @ midnight. I’ll announce the winner chosen from random on Friday morning July 1st. Good Luck!

Extra Entries – enter a new comment for each extra entry telling what you did:

• Tweet this giveaway and follow @MakeandTakes
• Share this on your facebook page and link to the giveaway or the M&T Facebook Page
• Subscribe to M&T
• Add one of M&T’s buttons to your blog
• Join the M&T Newsletter

My neighbor up the street is known as “Mr. Wave at the Bus“. Since day 1 of the school year, back in August, he has dressed up in a silly costume to wave at his son’s school bus. Every morning, bright and early (or dark and early), he’s waving at that bus. He’s now on day 132, can you believe it?!

I have yet to see him in person, I’m not up as early as those high school kids, but here’s a fun clip of him on our local tv.

Go show him some support by commenting on your favorite costume over at Wave at the Bus blog. Or better yet, give him some new costume ideas. I know he’s always on the look out for what to dress up as next. I’m sure he would even take your costume donations as well.

I’m participating in this amazing effort called For Japan with Love. It’s organized by Henny and Lucia of Utterly Engaged and Lydia of Ever Ours. March 18th will be a Bloggers Day of Silence to continue awareness and to help raise money to support the urgent needs of the relief efforts in Japan. Take some time to check out this site and see what you can do to help.

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered. Congrats to our winners.

Juxio: #216 Leslie
Curl Covers: #21 Jeanine, #162 Xenia, #251 Kristi
Blue Lemon: #199 Courtney
Funky Vintage Kitchen: #60 Amy S.

We’ve got a few fun items for February’s giveaway. There’s something for everyone and lots of ways to enter. Check out these fabulous M&T Sponsors.

• First up is Juxio, a Make Your Own Poster company. They offer a fresh, fun line of easy-to-use templates that beautifully showcase children’s artwork in a poster form. You choose the template to fit your needs and build your own poster. No more guilt having to save every single piece of art work your child creates. Simply take a picture of each and create artwork that is all in one, perfect for any child’s bedroom or family room. They are offering $100 worth of posters for you to create!

• Curl Covers is up next, offering a genius way to travel with your too-hot-to-handle curling and flat irons. This perfect little pouch is designed to “put it away hot, at home or on the go”. When traveling, or even with toddlers around, my flat iron takes a bit of time to cool down. So these curl covers are great at letting you put it away and store it hot, getting it covered out of harm’s way. They have all different colors and sizes, perfect to fit your needs. And Curl Covers are giving away 3 of these lovelies to 3 winners!

• Now we’ve come to the Blue Lemon Restaurant, something fun for those who live Utah, or who will be visiting soon. I’m a huge fan of this restaurant and they’ve recently opened up a new location at City Creek, right in Downtown Salt Lake City. The food is fresh and delicious and the atmosphere is hip and fun. They have just about everything on the menu and it’s all really good food. From fiery fish tacos and homemade sweet potato fries to the yummiest butternut squash soup and raspberry chicken salad. Blue Lemon is offering a $25 gift certificate to one winner, perfect for date night! Find them on facebook and twitter too.

• Funky Vintage Kitchen is up last, but definitely not least. April, a new found friend, has a beautiful shop filled with all kinds of gorgeous funky vintage kitchen accessories. You’re going to fall in love with her flower jewelry, darling aprons, and throw pillows. For the giveaway today, one person is going to win all four jewelry items below, floral necklace, blossom earrings, dahlia ring, and keep calm and carry on ring, woot! And everyone else is going to get 10% off all items {excluding Pretty Little Lovelies Club} with this exclusive code: MAKEANDTAKES10, holla!

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Giveaway Entries: For your chance to win one of these 4 lovely prizes, leave a comment on this post by Thursday March 3rd @ midnight. I’ll announce the winner chosen from random on Friday morning March 4th. Good Luck!

Extra Entries – enter a new comment for each extra entry telling what you did:

• Tweet this giveaway and follow @MakeandTakes
• Share this on your facebook page and link to the giveaway or the M&T Facebook Page
• Subscribe to M&T
• Add one of M&T’s buttons to your blog
• Join the M&T Newsletter

If you’re a child of the 80′s, then these three classic cartoons are bringin’ back the memories: DuckTales, Rescue Rangers, and Talespin. We bought these videos a couple of months ago at Costco and my kids can’t get enough.

Who else had this DuckTales intro song memorized?!

These cartoons seem to move in slow motion compared to what they show today. There were such simple cartoons back in the day, little adventures and silly plots. What classic cartoons have you brought back to share with your kids?