Send a Personalized Video Message from Santa....

...and watch your kids light up with pure happiness!!  Portable North Pole lets you create a free video of Santa talking to your child with information you fill in!  I tried it out on myself and will be sending a video to my son and daughter on Wednesday (prefer to keep extra excitement to a minimum or I'll go crazy!).   UgroupMedia from Canada is behind this awesome idea and it's their second year doing it.  You upload a picture to really personalize the message but their terms of use states: 'All photos or files up-loaded on or via PNP will be removed and deleted from our database 30 days of the end date of the PNP operation: January 15th, 2010'.  Thanks goes to a friend on facebook for sharing this!  Merry Christmas!

Best Deal Magazines 12/21-12/26

Still have people to shop for and don't know what to do?  Seriously, a magazine subscription about something they enjoy is a perfect gift and it continues the whole year!  You can buy the recipient the December or January issue of the magazine and give them a little note that says 'more issues will be in their mailbox soon'!  Or you can be cheap like me and skip buying the recent issue and just give them the note!  My BIL and FIL were still happy! ☺

This week Best Deals Magazines has great deals on popular magazines:
Deal of The Day:

Monday- Taste of Home $4.39

Tuesday- Family Circle $4.39

Wednesday- Everyday with Rachael Ray $8.79

Thursday- Boys' Life $5.39

Friday- Car & Driver $4.39

Saturday- Seventeen $4.39

More money savings:
*PYP has a bigger list and some possible codes!
*She Saved... says to use Ebates for cash back!

Holiday Links

Fantastic holiday posts I like-

Yumminess for homemade gifts (or to eat yourself):
- Famous Chocolate Fudge -
- Spiced Nuts with an Orange Kick -
- Homemade Vanilla Hot Chocolate and Homemade Marshmallows -
- Cookie Dough Roll -

Some fun homemade gift ideas:
- Altered Board Book -
- Fabric Scrap Paper Doll Kit -
- Glass Marble Magnets -

Lots of stocking ideas:
- 101 Stocking Stuffers -

Fun and different ornament ideas:
- Clay S'more Ornaments -
- Fabric Ball Ornaments -
- Button Wreath Ornaments -

Donate Fun Wrap Skirts for Dolls!

The YCMT Gift Giving Series videos are great.  This week they posted a video showing how easy it is to make a dolly wrap skirt that's reversible.  The pattern is free on YouCanMakeThis.com- Twirls for Girls-  and they encourage you to donate some skirts this holiday season to make some little girls happy!  Take a look at it!


They actually have five free patterns for doll clothing available.

And don't forget- my YCMT 'Believe' Pillow Pattern Giveaway ends Monday night (12/21).  It's a festive looking pattern and if you don't sew you could give the pattern to someone who does!

Reindeer Memory Game

   Want to make this memory game too?!  These free printable Reindeer Tags can be found on babalisme blog.  She uses scribd.com (check out their scorecard on WOT) to share her printables so if you want the reindeer you have to sign-up!  When signing-up use your alternate e-mail in case they send you spam offers and un-click any e-mail notice offers that come up on the screen.  I had to print my reindeer at FedEx Office because I'm out of printer ink!  This was my first time using FedEx Office Online Services to print a computer document and I'm impressed!  It told me that my document wasn't the right size and asked me what size I wanted it to be- I chose 8 ½"x 11".  It was easy to send from their website for no extra charge and pick it up when I wanted to.  Each regular paper color sheet was .59+tax.

   There are many ways you could make this game.  Contact paper would work great, of course you could laminate them or you could just glue them on card stock or print them on cardstock and leave it at that.  Here's my little tutorial if you'd like to use packing tape to cover them and help the game last longer!  Warning- this method can get sticky and tricky! ☺  I recommend only doing squares or making the card stock circles the same size as the reindeer circles because of the packing tape height.  I had to use two pieces of tape on my circles because the blue trim made my circle too big.

 

Supplies: 2 sheets of reindeer, card stock, glue stick, good packing tape, small baggie

1- cut out all reindeer

2- cut card stock squares (height 1 7/8"x width 2"- measure exact to fit packing tape size)

3- (skip to #4 if only using squares) cut card stock circles- if you don't have a circle punch/cutter it might be easier to glue reindeer first and then cut around them

4- glue reindeer to card stock with a small dot of glue  

5- lay down a 4½" or 5" piece of packing tape sticky side up and place one square/circle face side down to right half of the tape carefully making sure it fits in tape height and then fold over the rest of the piece to cover the back- cut off extra tape

6- tape 'Reindeer' and some of the festive border on a snack-size bag to hold game

7- Have fun playing memory!!

* I made my game with both circles and squares to hopefully make it easier for my 3 year old to find matches. *

I'm busy with my holiday cards....

I procrastinated my holiday cards big time!  I talked with my sister about doing a 'Christmas in July' when we were making our cards last year.  That never happened but it WILL in 2010!  Did you procrastinate anything this season?  What projects are you currently working on this week?  I hope you're at least enjoying this special time of year!  I'd love to hear about it! ♥ Chels

*One style of my 2008 cards- simple*

~ If you're like me and are still working on your cards (I hope I'm not the only one!) you might want to check out Becky Higgins' Project Life and her free Digital Holiday Card Templates (non-traditional holiday colors)! There are 10 templates to choose from and all you have to do is insert your best family pic! ~  Middle of the page on the right side- click on 'Free Holiday Cards'!!

Button Fun for the Season

Homemade Gifts for Kids to Make:

◘ Button Bookmarks on Family Fun ◘

◘ Button Baubles on Family Fun (What's a bauble?) ◘

Crafts for Kids:

◘ Snowman Button Mosaic on Flipflops and Applesauce ◘

◘ Button Snowflake Ornament on Parents ◘

All You 1 Year Sub for a Great Price *over*

-Image from Amazon.com-

Coupons, coupons, coupons!!  She Saved.... has the full scoop on how to get 1 year of All You for $11.58 after cash back from Ebates today only.  That's a pretty good price.  I've posted about All You twice already and from what I've read everyone says the coupons are worth it!  I have never subscribed because I have yet to dive into the couponing frenzy!! ☺

PBS Kids Holiday Episodes

-Images from PBSKids.org-

We love watching PBS Kids!  They're having holiday episodes for many of their shows.  Check out the holiday episodes 2009 list and then see what day they're on in your area!  We'll definitely be watching the Dinosaur Train holiday episode: Dinosaurs in the Snow and Cretaceous Conifers (14th, 18th and 24th) and the Super WHY! holiday episode: The Nutcracker (14th and 22nd).

YouCanMakeThis.com DIY Gift Giving Series and a Giveaway!

      YouCanMakeThis.com is spreading some holiday craftiness with their DIY Gift Giving Series.  "With the holidays just around the corner, we thought it would be fun to put together a series of gift giving ideas you can make!  You’ll learn some fun new techniques, tips, and ideas not only for the people on your list, but also creative ways to decorate your home!"  On the YCMT blog you can enter to win gift certificates by watching the videos and then answering a question!  How joyful and fun!  YCMT has also created Free Printable Holiday Gift Tags that coordinate with the holiday gift idea videos and the designs and patterns found at SWAKembroidery.com and YouCanMakeThis.com.  In my opinion the best gifts are homemade and YCMT is trying to help make your season more merry and bright during this busy, wonderful and stressful time of the year!

○YCMT is sweet to offer 2 of my readers a chance to win a pillow pattern!○

 Just a Little Something for...A Merry Christmas! Pattern #2 - Believe Pillow, a perfect addition to your holiday décor or a fantastic gift for a friend!

- DIY Gift Giving Series: YCMT blog or YouTube -

8 ways to enter and 12 entries possible- leave a separate comment for EACH entry:

• Have you made any homemade gifts to give this holiday season? (1 entry)
• Check out the Christmas projects on YCMT and tell me what you like! (1 entry) 

• Watch any DIY Gift Giving video on their blog or YouTube and let me know what you think! (3 entries)

• Blog, Twitter or Facebook about one or all of the following:

      ▬ this giveaway (1 entry)

      ▬ the YCMT Gift Giving Series (2 entries)

      ▬ the Free Printable Holiday Gift Tags (1 entry)

• Display the DIY Gift Giving Series button on your blog (2 entries)

♥ Love my blog in any way- subscribe, button, e-mail, blogroll (1 entry)

Giveaway ends 12/21 at 10 pm MST/midnight EST

-open to residents worldwide with a valid e-mail-

-provide your e-mail in your comment if it's not on your profile page-

-2 winners will be posted on 12/22-

-the winners will be sent their pillow pattern download by e-mail from YCMT-

Geminids Meteor Shower *over*

The last big meteor shower of the year, Geminids, peaks the 13th and 14th!  Sean Welton from Visual Astronomy has Tips for Viewing the Geminid Meteor Shower in an article on Universe Today.  StarDate Online says "The thin crescent Moon rises not long before sunrise, so it won't dim the Geminids' luster."  NASA calls it "The best meteor shower of 2009"!  I think you're lucky if you can watch from a house window.  I'll be in bed since I don't have a good view from any window and live in cold Utah.  Hope it's a great shower!

Coldplay: Left Right Left Right Left Album for Free Again

-Image from Amazon.com-

It's back but maybe not for long?  I posted in May about Coldplay offering their live Left Right Left Right Left album for free to their fans and it was available through September.  Savvy Mom Finds had this free album offer posted today and I checked it out on Coldplay's site and it's on the bottom right- click on the blue butterfly.
Thanks Savvy Mom Finds!