{Treat Valentine's Day Cards Giveaway}

I am so excited because today I have my first giveaway ever!  The folks at Treat. generously allowed me to pick out some cards to review and are providing one lucky reader 5 Valentine's Day cards of your choice.  Go HERE to see all the Valentine's Day cards you get to choose from.

My mother-in-law is a beautiful woman, inside and out.  She is generous, loving and has devoted her life to caring for and serving her family.  I am so blessed to be her newest daughter.  I want her to know how much she means to me.  I plan on sending her this card:

Outside

Inside

                                                                             


First, let me tell you, these are not postcards.  They are regular greeting cards.  By regular, I mean a card that opens, because everything else is beyond regular.  You can personalize just about everything.  First I chose a card, then I added the pictures to the front.  Treat. gives you the option of using photos from your computer and also several photo sites, such as Shutterfly, Picassa, and Flickr.  You can also get photos off of your Facebook page.  For those of you with an iPhone, yes, there's an app for that.  Get the Treat. iPhone app HERE.

Next I chose a layout for the inside of the card.  For this card, I had six options.  I was then able to personalize the wording.  You might be thinking "I can't think of the right words."  No problem.  Treat. has the Message Library to help you pick the perfect words.

Here are a few of my favorite Treat.http://treat.com Valentine's Day cards:

  

  

Treat. literally has hundreds of Valentine's cards to choose from.  I usually pay anywhere from $2.99 to $4.99 for a good quality card.  At Treat.com all cards regular price is $3.49.  They also have options where you can purchase 6, 12 or 18 card club pack and get the cards for as low as $1.99.

Another cool option is you can add a gift card to the card you just created.  Than you can have them mail it to you so you can sign and mail, or they will mail it for you.  The third mailing option blew my mind.  You can make a card and schedule it to be delivered on the date of your choice up to a year in advance!  I am so forgetful.  This would be a great option.  I can get on Treat.com, make all my cards for everyone's birthday's, etc and they will mail them at the proper time.

So, why would you want to rush to the store and choose from cards that have been picked over, when you can send a special card made personal for each individual on your list.

You can interact with Treat. via:
Facebook:  TreatCards
Twitter:  @treatcards       (They are having a party:  #SweetTreats on 1/29/13 at 2pm EST.)
Pinterest:  Treat Cards
Google+:  Treat Cards
Blog:  Treat Blog

Now for the giveaway! (U.S. Only)  If you would like to enter, go to Treat's Valentine's section HERE and check out their amazing selection.  Sign up for an account (required to enter and receive prize, as Treat will credit your account with the 5 cards.  It's free to sign up!).  Then come back here and comment telling me which card is your favorite.  Please leave me the email account you used when you signed up at Treat.  If you would like extra entries, follow my blog and leave a separate comment letting me know how you follow  and/or follow Treat. and leave a separate comment telling me how you follow them.  That's a total of 3 possible entries per person.  A winner will be picked at random on 1/31/13.

What are you waiting for?  Head over there and start creating unique and personal cards right now.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!
Natosha

*I was provided cards for review purposes.  Treat. is responsible for providing the prize directly to the winner.  All opinions are 100% honest and mine.*

{Yay! It's finally Friday!}

Two of the awesome blogs I follow are Bold Butter Baby (Brin) and Tales of a Twenty Something (Allie).  They have a fairly new weekly feature:  Pit & Peak.  It's where you write a post detailing the best and worst parts of your week.  Head over here and here to read their posts, learn more and join.

Pit:

I work for a non-profit where I am a caseworker for juvenile delinquents.  I also work with families whose kids can only get the services they need by asking the court to help them.  I had two boys committed to youth prison on Tuesday.  Big downer.

Peak:

My 3 year old just may be finally getting the hang of this potty-training thing.

So, what's going on with you this week?  I can't tell you how happy I am that it is Friday.

Also linking up here today:

Have a great weekend!  Thank you for stopping by,
Natosha

{Valentines for Children} A Round-Up

There are only two weeks left before Valentine's Day.  Here is a round-up valentines ideas for your little one.

Crayon Hearts made from broken crayons via Inner Child Fun.



Friendship Bracelets with a personalized card via Dandee:





Magnifying Glass via Dandee




"I Dig You" Shovels via Fry Family:




Butterfly Valentine via Skip to my Lou:




3-D Photo Valentine via The Frugal Girls:




Blow Me A Kiss via Plum Adorable:




Fan {Tache} Tic Cards via Plum Adorable:





You Blow Me Away via Bloom:





U Rock via Onesie Twosie:




Fish Bowl via Faboolous:




Fish Bowl via Inspire. Create. Repeat.:





Kiss via I Am Momma Hear Me Roar:





Glowsticks via Bloom:




Gluestick via Craftiness Is Not Optional:

If you don't have the time or inclination to put together the above valentines, here's a list of printable valentines.

via Fresh Picked Whimsy

via pumpkins & posies

Dr. Who via Frantically Simple

Mustache via the mombot

via Secret Agent Josephine

via Chocolate on my Cranium

  

via kate.net

Hope you find something you like!  I still haven't decided what to do for Jaxon.  If you know of some other cute valentines, leave me a comment with the info.

Thanks for stopping by,

Natosha

{Arkansas Blizzard}

We don't usually hear the words "Blizzard Advisory" when we listen to the weather in Arkansas.  However, we did, indeed, get a blizzard the day after Christmas.  It started snowing Christmas night and continued all through the night.  We woke up to a gorgeous blanket of snow.  It snowed once last year and my son played it it, but it doesn't remember.  He had a blast!




I know I'm late posting these pictures, but I wanted to share.













Mom volunteered to show Jaxon how to make snow angels.  He thought that was pretty fun.





The snow was deep enough in some spots to almost cover Jaxon's boots.



Our electricity went off early that morning, around 2am.  Everyone near us were without electricity.  We didn't want to get out on the road and were tired of eating cold sandwiches, so . . . . .



My husband started a campfire and we warmed up some vegetable-beef soup I had made the day before.  It had rained, then sleeted (is that a word?) before it snowed, so there was no kindling and our firewood was wet.  He dragged a semi-dry pallet out and used it for kindling.  That got some of our wood burning.  We were so happy to eat hot soup.  Plus, it was so dang cold.  We enjoyed sitting around the fire just to keep warm.

So, have you posted pictures of a recent blizzard/snowfall.  I would love to see them.  Post a link in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!
Natosha

Linking up here:

{Cleaning Out The Pinterest Closet and Some Rambling}

Today I was looking at my "Craft Ideas" board on Pinterest.  Uh, I have 139 pins and I have done maybe 4 of them.  Sad.  Part of it is I forget to take pictures when I am cooking and while crafting.  And when I do, they aren't that good.  That shouldn't be an excuse though, right?

So, I am bringing back a feature I tried a couple of times when I first started blogging:  Try-It Tuesday.  It's not about re-inventing the wheel, it's just about trying my hand at some of the things I have pinned.  There are tons of bloggers out there who do this type of feature.  I don't look at it as stealing an idea, but as sort of a review of that idea, the feasability of a not so artsy-craftsy person being able to not totally mess it up.  But, you know what?  I'm totally willing to blog about my fails because who couldn't use a good laugh every now and then.

While I'm at it, any of my boards are free game for the series.  I've had a few recipes I pinned turn out really bad.  Now that is not necessarily the original recipe developer's fault.  Sometimes I fly a little too loose in the kitchen.  You know, "oh this looks like it's about a cup", "if 1 tsp is good, maybe 2 is better" and "hmmm, I forgot to buy that, I'm sure this would make a good substitute."  But in my defense, there have been recipes that I have followed to the "T" and they were not tasty at all.

I think for now, I will be trying projects from these boards:

Craft Ideas

Recipes

How Sweet It Is

For Jaxon

There are whole blogs/sites dedicated to testing pins:

Pintester (warning, uses adult language)

PinterestFail

The Pinterest Project

After reading about so many craft and recipe fails, I don't feel so bad anymore.  It happens to everyone!

Thanks for stopping by,
Natosha

P.S.  Today, I am linking here:












Go visit and show your fellow bloggers some love.

{Menu Monday} 1/14/13

Happy Monday!

This is what I'm feeding my guys this week (just click on the recipe's name to go to recipe):

Frito Pies.  We are using leftover chili from this weekend.  Served with shredded cheese, sour cream, jalepenos and diced green onions.


Bacon-wrapped Pork Medallions, Baked Potatoes and a salad.

allrecipes.com

Skillet Ground Beef Stroganoff with green beans and carrots.

recipe & photo via Elly Says Opa!

Accidental Chicken with rice and zucchini.  This is SO yummy.  I always pound my chicken breasts flat.  It makes them super tender and they cook quicker.

Image belongs to Bill Hogan

Take-out Pizza with breadsticks and salad.

Thanks for stopping by,
Natosha


Linking up here:

The New "No nonsense" Makes Being Fashionable Easy and Affordable

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of No nonsense for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was asked to post about No nonsense tights and leggings, I thought "this is a no-brainer."  Why?  Because I am already familiar with the brand and actually wear No nonsense leggings.  I love the leggings because they are affordable, easy to wear and you don't have to go to a clothing store or department store to find them.  I did some research and they are available at my local Kroger and can be found at drug stores.  Of course, they are also available at K-Mart and Wal-Mart.  So, you can pick them up while you are running your every day errands.

I am a mom, a wife and I work full-time.  I love to wear my black leggings with a tunic or sweater and a pair of boots.

And do you want to know the best thing about wearing the leggings around town or to work?  When I get home, I throw on a t-shirt or my night gown and lounge in them.  (oh, and don't tell anyone, but I sometimes sleep in them.  yeah, they are that comfortable.)

 

Now, on to the tights.  You have to check out the beautiful colors.  I love that you can extend your summer wardrobe into fall and even winter by layering.  Pick out your favorite sundress, add some bright leggings and a sweater, then pick out your footwear and you are all set.  Below, I've shown three different examples of how to wear the same dress with different tights and sweaters.  The best thing?  The tights are under $7.  Yes, you read that right.

 

Now that you have seen how I would style the leggings, check out the video below.  It features style expert Jill Martin, No nonsense brand ambassador.  Jill is an Emmy Award-winning TV personality and co-authored the style guide "I Have Nothing to Wear!"  She also reports on the New York style scene for Access Hollywood.

As you can see, No nonsense leggings and tights are an affordable way to stay stylish and stretch your wardrobe.

You can keep in touch with No nonsense on Facebook and on Twitter @benononsense.

Let me know in the comments how you would wear No nonsense tights and leggings.

Thanks for stopping by,

Natosha