It’s free birthday printable designed to make your life a little easier.  The free printable includes 4 craft baggie toppers so you can print an infinite number grab-and-go birthday gifts.  All you need is a pack of 3″ x 4″ craft baggies (I found mine in the beading section of WalMart’s craft area).  Simply print the free printable on heavy, white card stock and use a straight-edge cutter to trim the toppers.  To make a gift, just stuff the baggie with a gift card, small prize or your treat of choice and staple the topper on top.  Viola!  Instant little birthday gift.

Don’t you just love how versatile these are?  You could put a gift card and some fancy chocolates in for your favorite teacher, or cheap dollar store prizes for your kid’s friends.  They’d be perfect for Primary kids, or YW birthdays.  You could make a ton all at once and then keep a stockpile in the cupboard to use throughout the year.  You gotta love that!

Of course, if you want to really impress someone, you could hop on over to my Etsy shop and purchase the full 3-page printable.  It includes hershey kiss tags, cupcake toppers and sweet, coordinated happy birthday cards – all for the bargain price of only $4.95.  Isn’t that a steal?

Regardless of which printable you choose, this birthday set is guaranteed to make your gift-giving life a whole lot easier.  Just thought I’d pass it on.  Have a great weekend, everyone.

Here’s the file for you.

Download: Happy Birthday Baggie Toppers

In the LDS faith (that’s my religion, you can click here for more info on it) an important event takes place around the 8th birthday, their baptism.  Just like in any religion, a LDS child’s baptism is a big deal.  It begins her official entrance into the Church and her commitment to live the gospel and choose the right.

I really wanted this day to be special for Emily so she would remember it forever.  I also wanted to keep it simple, so the details of the event wouldn’t overshadow the baptism itself.  I looked around online for inexpensive decoration options but came up empty-handed.  Unhappy with my choices, I decided to create my own.

Emily’s loves black, pink and white so we worked with that color scheme throughout – even her fancy schmancy dress coordinated with the decor (I found it here on eBay for only $18).

Her birthday was in December so we opted for cold-weather refreshments: fancy hot chocolate, cinnamon rolls, and cookies.  Honestly, the entire project was really simple to throw together.  The homemade cinnamon rolls, however, kept me up until 3am – but that’s another story.  I printed all the elements on white cardstock and had Emily punch the circles with my 2″ Fiskars punches.  I also made easy, coordinating programs and thank you notes (sorry, I don’t have a picture of those).  Aren’t they sweet?  They’re just girly enough to be feminine without crossing into cutesy territory.  In other words, exactly what my can’t-wait-to-be-a-teenager daughter was hoping for.

Since this file has so much customization, I can’t really offer it here on the website.  However, it’s too good to keep all to myself so I’m adding it as a printable in the MeckMom Etsy shop.

If you purchase the printable package, I’ll update the files with your daughter’s name, initials and baptismal date before emailing them to you.  I can even change to colors to reflect your daughter’s favorites.  The price for now is $9.99 for all three custom printables.  Isn’t that a steal?  I totally would have paid that price to save myself the many hours I spent creating these!

I’m in the process of making a boy version as well but they’re not available yet.  They should be up next week. Here’s the link to the printable package in my Etsy shop if you’d like to check it out. Let me know if you have any questions.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

For this Good Luck edition, I’ve created a cute, plaid, shamrock-covered printable.  Much like the Thank You version I posted back in May and the free Halloween version I posted two weeks ago.  This printable comes complete with all this…

* 90 mini-circles designed to be placed on Hershey Kisses, Rolos, or Peanut Butter Cups (cut with a 3/4″ circle punch)

* 3 Good Luck jar topper circles in a variety of colors and styles (cut with a 2″ circle punch)

* 1 small, coordinated Good Luck notecard

* 2 large Good Luck note circles that read…

Because a little chocolate is the very best way
To muster up courage for a very big day!

You can buy this printable in my Etsy shop for only $3.95.  Once your payment clears, I’ll send the file directly to your email the same day (usually within 2 hours of purchase).

The irony of this post is that a bunch of you have already purchased this fun printable from my shop in the last two weeks.  If you were one of those early buyers – I’m totally impressed with your speed!  I hope you love them as much as I do.

For those of you who are wondering, yes, I will be making a Christmas version as well.  Several of you have emailed me with requests so I’ll be making several different Christmas editions and posting them in my shop in the next week or two.  I promise to give you plenty of time to create your teacher presents, primary gifts, and neighborhood exchanges!  I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

• Shmanessa8 Flowers
  Looking for a simple way to banish the winter blahs in your wardrobe?  Try adding a few of these gorgeous one-of-a-kind blooms into your accessory collection.  Shmanessa8 Flowers was created by a stay-at-home Mom with an eye for beauty.  Her shop features loads of flowers for both girls and women.  Each bloom is made by hand and is completely unique.
  

• Signs of our Time
  The mother of two behind this shop is an acclaimed artist from Springville, UT.  Her original artwork has been sold all over the country in stores like Target, Kohl’s, Hobby Lobby, and Michael’s.  She has over 350 fabulous designs and is constantly adding new pieces to her collection.  You can find her work in both her Etsy shop and on her website.
  

Interested in becoming a MeckMom sponsor?  Rates begin as low as $10 per month.  Get the details by clicking here.

Remember, if you’d like instant access to the links I love and a few other tips and tricks, you can sign up to be a follower on Facebook by clicking the Facebook icon at the top of the page or by following this link.  Here are the links from last week…

• Katie Did
  It was a chilly 11 degrees here this morning. I wish I’d had one of these oh-sew-easy and charming scarves to wrap around my girls’ necks.
  

• Life in the Fun Lane
  I love reading DIY blogs. The stunning furniture transformations on this blog (and the helpful tips on her FAQ) make me want to run to my nearest thrift store and find a hidden treasure. Check out this gorgeous desk renovation.
  

• Serving Pink Lemonade
  Coming up with clever clues is the trickiest part of planning a scavenger hunt. Luckily the fun Moms on this blog have posted several generic clues that anyone could use to make a quick and easy Valentine’s Day hunt for their family.
  

• The Belle and the Beau
  There’s nothing like a guy in a sharp tie – especially when that guy is under 3 feet tall. The fabulous ties from this Etsy shop’s collection are some of the best I’ve seen. They’d be the perfect Easter accessory for my little heartbreakers.
  

Since I didn’t have to stress over keeping my identity hidden, I had a little more time to experiment with new clue ideas and new challenge options.  Some things worked beautifully, others… not so much.  Over the next week or so I’ll be posting some of the most successful stuff from last year’s party.  Many of you have emailed me over the last few weeks for clue ideas and party advice – hopefully the next few posts will help spark the creativity of those of you who are in the middle of your Wanda planning right now.

To kick things off I thought I’d share my invitation idea from last year.  I planned to invite a lot of guests so I needed an invitation that was easy and inexpensive to create.  I designed the invitation in my graphics program, printed it silvery vellum and then mounted it on a simple square of black cardstock with glue dots.  Specialty vellum can be kind of expensive so I designed the invitations to fit two to a page so I could use as little as possible.  I purchased the vellum (and the 6″ square envelopes) at Michaels and the black cardstock WalMart.  Overall, each invitation only cost me around fifteen cents and took less than  five minutes to create.  I must say, I think it’s my favorite invitation so far.

Unfortunately, I created the file in my Adobe design software, so posting it on the site wouldn’t be very helpful.  However, you are more than welcome to click on the pictures above and duplicate the idea.  Of course, if you’d like to save yourself a lot of time, you could also just order the printable file in my Etsy store.  All you have to do is place the order and send me an email with your party information.   I’ll edit the invite details for you and then send the finished file to you via email within 24 hours.  Just think, in less than two days you could have a set of fabulous, inexpensive invitations right in your hands.  It doesn’t get much easier than that!

Don’t forget, if you haven’t had a chance to comment on the MyNurseOnCall post, you’ve still got time.  There are still three $25 Target gift cards up for grabs so hop on over to that post and join in!  More Haunted Halloween Challenge details to come soon.  Good luck to all you Wanda’s out there!  Just thought I’d pass it on.

• An Eye for An Eye: Often the most successful discipline takes the least amount of effort.  When my 9 year-old daughter left the lids off the markers and ditched them on the carpet (for the third time), I grabbed one of the washable markers and wrote “I love my MOM!” in big letters on her arms and forehead – then sent her out to play with her friends.  She was mortified, of course, but I’m pretty sure the message sunk in.
• Stairs to Nowhere: When I was little, my Dad would make us run laps around the house (one lap for each year of age).  I adapted this technique for my own house by making my kids run up and down our 15-step flight of stairs.  I love this one because it can be used for almost anything.  If they take 45 minutes to finish a 10 minute chore, 5 sets of stairs.  If they completely ignore me when I ask them to turn off the wii, 10 sets of stairs.  If they get out of a math test by telling their teacher I’m in the hospital having a baby, …well you get the idea.
• A Different Kind of Pillow Fight: There are few things I hate more than shouting – especially whiny shouting.  When they were little, I used to force the offenders to sit across from each other and sing the BYU fight song until they could be friendly again.  Now that they’re older I don’t have as much time to be the mediator so I’ve instituted a new rule – the kids are welcome to shout at each other as loud as they can as long as they cover their faces with a pillow and shout through it.  Generally I’ve found that the muffled result causes a lot of laughter and cools down any heated tempers.

Ok, you know the drill, I shared a few of mine now it’s time for you to share yours.  Good news!  This month I have a great little commenting incentive for you.  Mariah from the Etsy shop ‘look what Mariah Made with love‘ has generously offered to give away one of her incredibly popular Onsie Cuddle Sacs to a very lucky commenter.  These adorable little newborn garments are a perfect example of form meeting function – they’re made of gorgeous materials (don’t you just love that chunky grosgrain ribbon at the bottom?) and the clever design makes those frequent newborn diaper changes a cinch.  Whether you’ve got a little of your own or just want to have a fabulous baby shower gift on hand – you’ll definitely want to give this giveaway a try.

The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday (June 21) at midnight CST.  The winner will be chosen at random, contacted by email and announced here.  There’s no catch…you can choose any fabric you like from her collection and the shipping is included.

As always, to those of you who participate, thanks in advance for passing it on.

*This giveaway is now closed.

And the winner (chosen by the iPhone app iChoose) is #16 Rachal.  Congratulations on your big win, Rachal.  I’ll be contacting you via email tonight.  Thanks to all of you for sharing your parenting wisdom.

Well not this year!  Thanks to the super-creative store owners over at Etsy you have a new alternative; expertly-designed Valentines printables.  These are not your run-of-the-mill freebie printables.  These are fresh, trendy and downright adorable.  I did a little search for Valentine printables on Etsy and found loads of great options.   Here are just a few…

Jolly Rodger by Three Wheels Design

Octopus by Sunshine Cupcake

Pink Owl by Blue Cake and Buttercup

One of my favorites was a cute little shop called Up Up Creative.  My girls fell in love with their Love Birds series.  For only $3 I was able to buy the file and print out enough Valentines and envelopes for both of my daughters’ class lists (over 50 cards in all).  It was a perfect way to give my girls’ Valentines a homemade feel without all the homemade work.  It’s tough to beat that.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

**Julie, over at Up Up Creative, has generously offered to give away a free Valentine printable file to one lucky commenter.  So if you’d like to be entered, just head on over to Up Up and leave a comment below about your favorite Up Up Creative Valentine.

There isn’t much time before Valentine’s Day, so I’m ending this contest Saturday (Feb 7th) at Midnight.  Good luck and I hope you have a happy Valentines Day!

And the winner (randomly chosen by the iPhone app, iChoose) is… #5 – Iene Bond! I will pass your email address on to Julie at Up Up Creative and she’ll get in touch with your regarding your file choice.  Thanks for playing!