31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Personalized Halloween Coloring Books for Your Little Ghouls & Goblins

Halloween party plans almost complete?  Our pre-Halloween Pumpkin Decorating Party at our house was a success, although I didn't take enough photos!  Pumpkins were decorated, party snacks and drinks were eagerly consumed and the homemade caramel apple dessert activity was a hit.

If you're still stumped about a non-sugary treat for the goodie bag or a pre-trick-or-treat activity for your celebration, you really must check out Frecklebox's FREE collection of PERSONALIZED Halloween printable coloring and activity pages!  Actually, they have over 40+ pages in different designs and holiday themes that you can print with your child's name or the names of your guests.  For example, these are perfect for an early ice breaker among the Crayola set:

If you've got the time, why not print 4-5 pages per child, staple or bind together with colorful Halloween ribbons, and present to your guests as a non-candy party favor alternative?  My daughter loves activity pages and coloring books, even at the age of 8.  Quick and easy!

Frecklebox, one of Sweetest Whimsy's Retail Love affiliate links, offers an amazing selection of personalized gifts for kids.  Check them out here:

Wishing everyone a spooky, kooky and safe Halloween tomorrow!

31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Days 22-24: Catching Up

EEK!  Where did the week go?  Did not have a chance to post any 'tricks and treats' this week because I had some very minor stuff done at my dermatologist's.  It's been more of a nuisance than anything else, but has somewhat curtailed my range of motion (no lifting or vigorous movement), so everything I need to do seems to take longer! 

So to get caught up, here are funny things I love this week, courtesy of some new Sweetest Whimsy Retail Love affiliates!  Because we all need a little funny in our week:

Awkward Family Photos!  They're not just awkward, they're awesome!  I'm so excited that Sweetest Whimsy has added Cardstore to the Retail Love list of affiliate links.  You can order 1 card or 100; there are no minimums, so I'll be ordering one of each, especially this one:

I mean, how can you not laugh at these?!  The photos are funny on their own, but the captions just them even better.  Jazz hands, anyone?

Something else that's funny?  Finding out that today is National Bologna Day!  Or rather, today WAS the day we celebrate (is that the right word?) that lunchtime favorite made from beef, pork, chicken, or turkey.  Thanks to our friends at Punchbowl, an online party planning site, we will never be in the dark about today's reason to celebrate!

What's even better than National Bologna Day?  Well, it's also National Bake Week in the United Kingdom.  Visit Punchbowl's fun site and mark your calendars with all the important reasons to celebrate.  Just so you know, this week we also celebrated:

National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day (October 21)
International Caps Lock Day (October 22)
National Boston Cream Pie Day (October 23)

Who knew?  I am loving Punchbowl!  I'll be visiting their Celebration Calendar every day.  I've already missed so many special days!

31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Days 20-21- The Weekend Edition

Very busy weekend with out of town visitors, family holiday photo shoot and one literary pumpkin (more on that later) so I didn't get everything done that wanted to do!  Thus, a belated "weekend edition" of my 31 Days of Tricks & Treats for your delectation.

Do you love printables?  I do.  I am a paperaholic.  (As if you didn't know already from the name of this blog!)  I am a bit of a paper hoarder, much to my husband's dismay, although this has been a tiny bit reduced since digital papers were introduced.  So now I love digital papers and embellishments as much as real paper.  My digital collection grows apace.

The TREAT of the weekend is courtesy of Smilebox.  They have some adorable Spooky Party Circles available for download TOTALLY FREE!  They are too cute.  Four each of four different Halloween designs, absolutely perfect as cupcake toppers, party bag decor, etc. 

They match perfectly with Smilebox's Spooky Circles invitations, of course.  Time to get your Halloween party started!  I've already downloaded the FREE printables and will definitely be using them on treat bags and such next week.  Don't miss this spooky and sweet digital download!

31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 18: Flirty Savings

I've previously posted about my love affair with Flirty Aprons' designs at the Sweet Spot blog, but I have to go on about them a bit more because they are having a quick 3-Day Sale on their awesome aprons!   Yes, these cuties are 40% OFF through this FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19.

The Apron Flash Sale applies to: Marilyn Sugar n' Spice; Original Pink Chocolate; Original Blue Chocolate; Original Cocoa Lime; Original Sassy Red and Original Frosted Cupcake.  (I have the Marilyn in Sugar n' Spice.)  While you're at Flirty Aprons' site, you can also add these to your cart to match:

These gloves may be glam but they are a necessity in my kitchen (lots of washing up when cakes are involved)!  I have several pairs myself, and can always use another one.

 Got some junior chefs at your house?  They have kid-sized aprons to match Mom's!  They are too cute.

Visit the link below to start shopping the Apron Flash Sale!  At checkout, enter the code: flash40.  You only have a few days left!

31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 15 - Magnetic Personality

I am halfway through my challenge to post daily throughout October and offer you some tricks and, treats!  (Patting myself on the back.)

Today's little TRICK is something cool for the party planner in you-- a clever and inexpensive Save the Date idea for your next big event.  I personally love magnetic Save the Date cards.  Your friends and family are less likely to lose them (and the important information) if they can stick them to the their fridge when they arrive in the mail.

I just discovered these at Birthday in a Box last week-- magnets you can personalize with several lines as Save the Dates:

The magnets are just the right size (2 1/4 inch round) to attach to a card for mailing.  And they are just the right price too-- $1.59 each!  Or if you're planning a party and just need a few lines of text, why not use it as an invitation:

I love how simple this idea is.  If you don't use it as a Save the Date or invitation, then how about a cute party favor?

You can personalize them even further by ordering one for each guest at your event:

Endless possibilities for a very little bit of money!  I'm ordering them as party favors for my Pokeno get-together.  Right now, Birthday in a Box will even sweeten the deal with a 20% discount on personalized items:

31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 14 - Vintage Candy

Candy, candy everywhere.  Because it's Halloween season of course!  All this candy has me reminiscing about candies of Halloweens past, or really about candies I loved in my past!

Thanks to online candy shops like A Candy Store, I can take a trip down memory lane and even buy the candies I loved right now.  The joys of the Internet age.  Were you a child of the 70's?  Do these make your taste buds scream YES!?

The packaging looks different but the taste is the same as it was 30+ years ago!

So excited to see Bubblicious is still around, although the flavors have definitely changed.

I loved these!  I still do. Lots more flavors now, but otherwise the same.

Apparently these come with a layer of caramel now, unlike the 70s, but that just makes it even yummier!

Big League Chew! A late 70s addition to the candy lineup, but wasn't it clever?

Although not all of my childhood faves are still around, it really makes me so happy to browse A Candy Store's vintage flavors to find the ones that bring back my sugary sweet kid memories.  And I do mean sweet!  I don't know if I have the tolerance for that much sugar anymore!

Which candies from your childhood bring it all back? Find them at A Candy Store!  Right now, you can even get your favorites $5 off as a special Halloween TREAT:

31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 12 - My Good Luck T-shirts

It's the eve of the big game and how I wish I was in Dallas this weekend!  They call it the Red River Rivalry now, but when I was in college, it was just the Texas-OU game, possibly the Red River Shootout.  (Gotta love that branding by AT&T.)  For four years in a row, I traveled to Dallas like a good Longhorn to partake in the annual tradition of the State Fair of Texas and football in the Cotton Bowl.  Corn dogs, the UT Band, butter sculptures, obnoxious fans of the rival team. Good times.  The Horns beat OU every year I was at UT.  Even more significantly, they lost the year before I arrived in Austin and the year after I graduated and  moved away for graduate school. Clearly, I brought them good luck. Probably because I bought a new Texas-OU t-shirt every year before the game!  I loved those t-shirts and wish I still had at least one of them for memories' sake.

In honor of this immense rivalry and in appreciation for the few things in life that should never change, I pulled up these "good luck" t-shirts from Beyond Graduation, my go-to shop for all things Longhorn:

It's 10:45 pm . . . and OU still sucks!  GO HORNS!

31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 11 - Fight Like a Longhorn!

Are you loving the NFL Pink Campaign right now?  Their "Crucial Catch" partnership with the American Cancer Society is pretty awesome to see on the field, with all the teams so visibly decked out in bright pink accessories to raise breast cancer awareness throughout the month of October.  Football on TV was never so stylish!

But did you also know that the NCAA teams have also gotten in on the act?  You can help raise awareness about breast cancer by supporting your favorite team!

Fight like a Longhorn!

Guys show their Pink support too!

Burnt Orange goes GREAT with Pink

So proud to be a Longhorn!  If you support a different school or several, you'll find all of the NCAA teams' Breast Cancer Awareness gear at Beyond Graduation's Breast Cancer Awareness page.  Beyond Graduation also offers the official NFL Pink campaign stuff too!

Since I'm a Texas girl, I have other teams I can support too:

Dallas Cowboys in NFL Pink

Houston Texans in NFL Pink

You'll find our link to Birthday in a Box on Sweetest Whimsy's website, or you simply click the banner below to support your favorite school AND spread the word about Breast Cancer Awareness Month:

Monday, October 8, 2012

31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 8 - Project Life at Shutterfly

OMG, OMG, OMG so crazy excited that Sweetest Whimsy is now an affiliate for Shutterfly!  Why?!  Because I'm a good Shutterfly customer myself, and I love all the many, many options the site offers to be creative with your images.

My newest favorite thing on the Shutterfly website isn't really new at all, just new to me, but very much looking forward to starting this project to jump-start my mostly neglected scrapbooking hobby: Project Life by Becky Higgins.

I've been a fan of Becky Higgins since I discovered her work in Creating Keepsakes Magazine about 12 years ago, and so pleased to discover this current project she offers.  I have several of her books, which are just chock-full of awesome layout ideas for the stumped scrapper.  I always loved the 'Becky's Sketch' in the magazine.

PROJECT LIFE: OUR REAL LIVES
So now that Shutterfly, through a partnership with Tiny Prints/Wedding Paper Divas/Treat Cards, is part of Sweetest Whimsy's Retail Love Collection, I want everyone to jump on board and start a Project Life photobook with me!  Seriously!  This is something I need to do with friends (and total strangers even) to keep me honest and stop me from getting lazy again.

Clementine Edition, Project Life by Becky Higgins: This is the one I chose for my own Project!

One of the many embellishments in the Project Life kit

I love this idea at Shutterfly because it scrapbooking/photobooking at it's simplest.  No crazy bells and whistles, just honest thoughts and images from real life.  Our real lives.  Care to join me?

Start here:

Sunday, October 7, 2012

31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 7-Getting Personal

If you follow my blog, you know I love personalized stuff!  They're such a great gift idea, especially for your friends who have unusual names (like my own kids) and would never find anything personalized at any store. 

Birthday in a Box has some awesome personalized gifts and favors, in a dizzying selection of themes and designs!  I just discovered these today, and they are perfect party favors for the kiddos at our next birthday party:

Hula Girl Personalized Luggage Tag

You can personalize them with address and phone information, or simply with a name:

This one is spot on for the season and my daughter's candy bag:

What's great about these Personalized Tags?  They are $1.99 each, so they're cheap enough to buy one for every kid at the party!  And what's even better?  They are 20% OFF RIGHT NOW! 

Want to know the TRICK to making your party guests feel special?  Getting personal!

You'll find our link to Birthday in a Box on Sweetest Whimsy's website, or you simply click the banner below:

Friday, October 5, 2012

31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 5 - Playing Dress Up

Yesterday I was lamenting my girls growing up (too fast!) and getting too old for cutesy Halloween costumes, or really playing dress up in general.  Just last week we cleaned out their dress up trunk and although we didn't give everything away to charity, the trunk is not as full as it was!  Either they outgrew their tiny princess costumes or they were just too 'babyish' for my 8 year old to consider wearing.
 

Cinderella Doll Dress for 18" Dolls

However, they are not yet "too old" for dressing up their American Girl dolls!  I just discovered this website recently, and loved it so much that Sweetest Whimsy became an affiliate seller for this amazing online seller, Everything Princesses.  This online shop was literally created for Moms like me!

Medieval Doll Dress for 18" Dolls

As the name implies, Everything Princesses sells practically EVERYTHING Princesses!  How I wish my girls were little again, so I could order everything!  From tutus to tiaras, crowns to capes, beds to books, they have everything for a sweet princess-in-training. 

Rapunzel Doll Dress for 18" dolls

Everything Princesses is a real TREAT for those days when you just wish you were a princess.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 4 -Tiny Terrors

Tiny Terrors Luncheon Napkins

from: Beau-coup.com

Tiny Terrors 7" Luncheon Plates

from: Beau-coup.com

No, this isn't a blog post about my kids.  Well it didn't start out that way at least!  But I totally heart these Tiny Terrors from Beau-coup, which reminded me of Halloweens gone by here at my house.  So now here are my own Tiny Terrors in costumes from days gone by:

2005: The first year we had TWO walking, talking trick-or-treaters at our house!

I have to admit, I miss having two "little kids" at home sometimes, especially when we're getting ready for Halloween.  The costumes are cuter and there is more excitement and anticipation for the big day.  Although I still have one kid who gets excited about trick-or-treating and the costume she'll be wearing, I also have a kid whose idea of costume now is duct-taping her jeans in some funky patterns. Yeah, she's "Duct Tape Girl" for Halloween.  

 We've been toying with the idea of having a pre-Halloween get-together, and now I am dying to have one just so I can have these adorable Tiny Terrors party supplies from Beau-coup's Halloween shop!  They are perfect Halloween whimsy and a pleasant reminder of how stinking cute my own kiddos were (and occasionally still are).

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A sweet spot on the web with thoughts, tips and tricks on my world of cakes, paper and gifts!

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    • 31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Personalized Halloween...
    • 31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Days 22-24: Catching Up
    • 31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Days 20-21- The Weeken...
    • 31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 18: Flirty Savings
    • 31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 15 - Magnetic Pers...
    • 31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 14 - Vintage Candy
    • 31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 12 - My Good Luck ...
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    • 31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 8 - Project Life a...
    • 31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 7-Getting Personal
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    • 31 Days of Tricks & Treats: Day 4 -Tiny Terrors
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