Thursday, July 22, 2010

Its Beginning to Feel Like Christmas?

Christmas is only 5 months away!

Can you believe it!?

Get festive with our Christmas in July Blog Hop!! A group of papercrafting designers, etsy shop owners, and fabulous crafters have gotten together to bring you fun Christmas ideas to jump start your creativity. And the best part is, we're each doing a little giveaway!! So keep on reading to see how to enter to win one of the prizes we've posted :)

First, I have to tell you Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday. I love the opportunity to spend time with family and friends with lots of good old Holiday cheer. And I love the chance to give little trinkets to those who are a part of me and my family's life. One thing I have found to keep the stress out and to keep the joy of giving in Christmas is to be a bit organized. Gift giving can get a little crazy but it doesn't have to be expensive if you put a little time into planning and truly think about the receiver.

So I wanted to share with you a couple tips I use and plan to use this year to make my gift giving a little more fun!

I stumbled across this fantastic little project a couple years ago and I will be implementing this year. It is a Christmas Planner that I found on www.easycraftprojects.net. This is a fantastic way to get organzied for this year but if you use binder rings you can add sheets for upcoming years as well. Think about totally avoiding giving someone the same gift twice or heaven forbid regifting to the original gifter! Beyond gifting think of things and traditons you do each year and make notes on how to do them better the following year - jot down things like "Note to self, those red sprinkles from such and such brand stain more than teeth - avoid buying next year."

Christmas Planner Directions

I also shop all year for Christmas so having a planner where I can jot down what I have already purchased in July for someone helps me to not buy for them twice that year. Also shopping year round is a great way to get great deals on gifts that are very personalized. If your brother is an outdoor nut, finding a great deal on the bike accessory he really wants in December is a little tough, but shopping those end of summer season sales you may make a big score. Back to school time is a fantastic time to buy crayons, paints, and other art supplies for the young ones in your life. Last year I bought 25 boxes of 16 count crayons for 25 cents a piece. I then checked the dollar section through out the year for inexpensive workbooks and coloring books and pads. These items paired with my handmade Crayon/Pencil rolls were perfect gifts for my daughter's playmates and cousins.





Gifts don't have to be extragavant to be appreciated and everyone loves to be thought of so keep a few inexpensive gifts available for those who maybe come by unexpectedly during the Holiday season. I keep plenty of my hairclips on hand and wrap them in girly paper for impromptu gift exchanges. Do the same for boys and wrap in boy paper. That way no one feels left out.





So would you like to get a head start on building up your gift supply a little early? I am giving away either a HAIRCLIP PAIR or a CRAYON ROLL of your choice!

Here's how to enter:

Start the blog hop from any one of the participating blogs. Here are the links to each blog:

Hydrangea Hippo Blog: http://hydrangeahippo.com/
Hydrangea Hippo Shop: http://hydrangeahippo.etsy.com/

China Doll's Blog "A Blog of Thoughts": http://chinadol1.blogspot.com/
China Doll's Shop "Spiffy Things": http://www.etsy.com/shop/ChinaDo11

FeFiFun Blog: http://fefifun.blogspot.com/****YOU ARE HERE****
FeFiFun Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/fefifun

Trendy Scrapper Blog: http://www.trendyscrapper.typepad.com/
Trendy Scrapper Studio Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/trendyscrapperstudio

tammy i Blog: http://www.tammyi.com/
tammy i Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/tammyi

Donna Salazar's Blog: http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/my_weblog/
Donna Salazar's Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/donnasalazar?ref=seller_info

Scrappin' Kitty Blog: http://scrappinkitty.blogspot.com/


When you visit each blog, go to the etsy shop listed with the blog, choose a favorite item, and then come back to that blog to post a comment about an item you liked in that shop. Please post your comment on the post about the Blog Hop (if you post it other places we won't be able to find your post to enter you into the drawing).

Click here to get to my etsy shop Fe Fi Fun Shop
.
You can then go to the next blog on the list OR do any of the things listed below for more chances to WIN! Just a reminder, you have to comment on THIS blog post--you can't comment on a different post that is not about the Blog Hop to be entered to win.

* 1 entry for each comment left on each blog about their fave item from each etsy shop
* 1 entry for sharing about the Blog Hop on Facebook (just tell us you shared by posting a comment here)
* 1 entry for sharing about the Blog Hop on Twitter (just tell us you shared by posting a comment here)
* 1 entry for sharing about the Blog Hop on your own blog (just tell us you shared by posting a comment here)

Be sure to post your comments and share the good news about the Blog Hop by July 31, 2010. We'll post the winners of each prize on August 2, 2010.

Happy Hopping!

15 comments:

  1. Your Fe Fi Etsy link isn't working.

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  2. your Christmas ribbon is so cute, love the trees:-)

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  3. I love the crayon rolls! I am posting to facebook too! Good for you, Nancy!

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  4. I know my daughter would think your purple & brown flower hairclips were really cool! They are

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  5. My DD would love those Pointsetta Hair clips you have. They are really very cute and would go great with a red and green Xmas dress.

    Love your crayon rolls, great way to keep the crayons together with out having a bucket.

    Thank you for sharing.

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  6. Love the cream fabric flowers!

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  7. The crayon rolls are cute and useful - great idea! I am drawn to the hair clips, though, as I have two 2 year old great nieces that they would look tres cute wearing!

    :) linda

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  8. the crayon rolls are pretty great.

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  9. congrats Nancy! Im proud of ya!

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  10. The white felt hair clips are cute.

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  11. Love the idea of the Christmas binder. I LOVE the hair clips and the crayon rolls. Keep up the good work Nancy!!!

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  12. I love your felt flower hair clips!!

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  13. LOVE the crayon rolls! My son would love a place to keep his crayons! Or maybe mommy would like him to have a place to put them!

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  14. Loving your tips, thank you, I would love to win the fabric crayon rolls!!!

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  15. the crayon rolls are awesome but as soon as my dd leaves clips in her hair I will be placing an order for some of those bad boys :)

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