Lazy Days And Lemonade

I hope you get a few lazy days and lemonade this summer... I think I know someone who is getting his share!

Let me introduce you to....

My little laptop hog... Will can not get enough Flintstones on Youtube.com lately. I am not even sure how he knew about the Flintstones. Why aren't the Flintstones on tv anymore anyways?

I had some technical difficulties with my Featured Reader post so it will be bumped until next week. If you haven't already be sure to enter to win one of my new pieces of hand stamped jewelry HERE. I just added some new pieces in my shop and have more to come, all with the new lowercase and uppercase script font.

Wishing all a great start to a fresh new week!

This just in....

The Faith necklace and the Teenie Tiny initial necklace (under $25 too!) have just been added to my SHOP.

I just loved the simplicity and elegance of my lowercase font that I have also added the same font but in uppercase. I now can mix uppercase with the lowercase. What do you think of the new hand stamped pieces?

You can view my entire collection at HERE.

Aloha Friday: A show and tell and questions

Will's Gnome a.k.a. Dancy (no idea why but everything these days has to have a name)

I love flowers and the more the merrier, I also have a fondest for container gardening and every year my planters look a bit different. One of my favorite flowers is my Annabelle Hydrangea, if I had a really large yard I would line the perimeter with Annabelle's. I don't know the names of most of my plants but if I plant it and it does well then I buy more of that same plant! One day I want to take a gardening class so I know exactly what to do w/ my clippers.

I hope you enjoy my pictures of my flowers.

My questions for you are:

Do you like Gnomes?

Do you have a green thumb?

For more Aloha Friday's please visit Islandlife808.com

Happy Birthday Daddy !

This picture was taken last year around this time and is one of my favorites.

Today is my hubby's Birthday so Will and I want to wish Daddy a very Happy Birthday! Hope you are hungry for some chocolate bumpy cake, I know someone who is if you aren't!

We love you and are looking forward to celebrating with you tonight!

Jumpstart Winner chosen!!!

The winner for the Jump Start giveaway is Tessa of Six Feet Under! Congratulations Tessa!

Have you entered yet in my current giveaway? Enter HERE.

Wordful/ Wordless Wednesday

Will and his girls... the twins aren't they adorable? It is always fun when we get together with the girls and I mean for everyone including Mom! Aren't play dates the best??

Giveaway Kristen's Custom Creations Hand Stamped Jewelry Giveaway

Contest closed. Please visit my shop to view my complete collection.

Enter for your chance to win one of these....

Hand Stamped I Love You More in fancy script

Custom Personalized Hand Stamped A lot of Love Necklace

Custom Personalized Hand Stamped Necklace With Artisan Crafted Heart Charm and Chunky Chain

Custom Hand Stamped Mommy Necklace In Fancy Lowercase Script

By The Sea I Will Be Hand Stamped Necklace

Would you like to win one of the above necklaces, from my shop Kristen's Custom Creations? This giveaway is going to be very simple and there will be a lot of ways to earn extra entries!

Main Entry: Leave a comment and tell me which of the above necklaces you would like to win. Look carefully because what you select will be the one you win if you are the chosen winner.

Extra Entries: (leave a comment for each entry)

Become a fan of my Facebook Fan Page HERE (5 extra entries)

Add my shop button to your blog code found upper left (5 extra entries)

Add my blog button to your blog (3 extra entries)

Follow me on Twitter Here (1 extra entry)

Blog about this contest (5 extra entries)

Tweet about this contest (2 extra entries)

Follow my blog (1 extra entry)

You can view my entire collection at my shop Kristen's Custom Creations.

This contest is open to US residents only and will close on July 17th at 11:59 PM.

Good luck!

Featured Reader: Let me introduce you to...

Hello friends! I hope everyone had a great weekend and for those in the states a Happy 4th of July! We spent the weekend at the lake and saw some fab fireworks! Do you know what I love about Monday's... introducing you to one of my readers.

I have the great pleasure of introducing you to Sue of My Home Wellingtontown. What is so intriguing about blogging is the people you meet and the ability to connect with someone on the other side of the world! Sue resides in New Zealand, how cool is that! I know you are going to love Sue's blog as much as I do. Sue is a married Mama of 4 daughters, and returned to paid work (as Sue refers to it) after 20 years of staying home with her girls. Please grab a cup of joe and get to know my friend Sue.

Name:

Sue from My Home Wellingtontown

Your family:

Me, the hubs (of almost 25 years), 4 daughters – (2 teenagers, 2 pre-teens), 3 cats and 2 rabbits!

How did you start blogging?

I thought about it for a looooooooong time before I actually started. I thought

blogging would be a personal online journal, and that if I couldn’t share everything, then I wouldn’t share at all. In the end I took the leap, and the reality is that my blog has turned

out to be quite different; a slice of life, a way to showcase my lovely Wellington City, my scrapbooking, my return to paid work after 20 years, and everything else in between! I also lo

ve the way I have been able to connect with like-minded women from all over

the world.

If you are a parent do you have a parenting philosophy?

Children are little people with less life experience. What they say is important, and we can learn so much from them.

You will never find me without......my camera!!!

Day job:

I recently returned to the workforce after 20 years as a SAHM! The entire process was very character building (!) and took much longer than expected. I just love the change in lifestyle, which sees me involved in IT and event management for 20 hours a week.

Favorite Stuff:

Music: anything that isn’t too heavy

Food: ceasar salad, curry, thai, Italian, coffee, chocolate. Any meal that someone else has cooked for me!

Tv/ Movies: fave movie of all time: sleepless in seattle. 2^nd fave movie of all time: love actually. (can ya tell I’m a hopeless romantic!)

Reading: anything well written with strong characters

If you had to wear a T-shirt with your favorite saying on it what would it be?

No coffee no workee

Favorite stores to shop at.

Not many people reading this will recognize the names of the stores, so I’m going to go with anywhere that sells boots (which is what I’m looking for right now!) Remember, it’s the middle of winter! When I’m in the States, I love payless shoesource and target!!! When I LIVED in the states, I loved nine west and express (is that what it’s called?)

If you could trade with a blogger for the day who would it be?

Definitely daryl from out and about in new York City. I’ve met her you know! I was in NY last October and I just luuuuuuuuuuurve the place!

Other good stuff from Sue:

I love to scrap, stamp, make cards, walk the local hills in my suburb, ride my mountain bike and orchestrate heavily planned family events. It’s not that I’m not spontaneous; it’s just that the older girls are in their late teens and it takes so much effort to co-ordinate the 6 of us! We most recently went bowling and out for Chinese. I love watching movies and hanging out with my friend; if that involves cocktails and dancing – all the better.

I’m also looking forward to my 2 weeks trip to Rome in October this year with my husband (sans children!)

Please be sure to visit Sue's site My Home Wellingtontown and leave some comment love in this post!

If you would like to be a featured reader please send a link to your site to klacustomcreations@comcast.net

P.S. I think it may be time for another giveaway at my site for some jewelry so be sure to return this week to enter!

Happy 4th of July!

Wishing all a safe and Happy 4th of July!

Aloha Friday

What are your plans for the 4th of July weekend and do your plans involve fireworks?

We are heading to the lake but I will be taking my work with me and will be stamping jewelery in between enjoying hopefully some beautiful sunshine. I always feel like a fish out of water when I have to move my workstation.


You can view more Aloha Friday's by clicking on the image below!

Fun at the lake...

Kane loves his boat rides and even asks for them!

Two captains of this ship!

This sea-doo squirts water so look out!

Playing with Papa is always fun!

Have a Happy Thursday... just a few more days until the weekend!

Wordless Wednesday/ Wordful Wednesday

We spent this past weekend at the lake and we took a lot of pictures. One of the things I love is reviewing my pictures and finding that one picture that really captures the moment. Will and I were were having a giggle fest so this is a special picture.

Happy Wednesday friends, please send some sunshine to Michigan it has been gloomy the past few days!

We have a winner and something new

The winner of my Featured Reader Contest is Tiaras and Tantrums! Congratulations my friend! Please contact me to let me know what you would like!

The Awaken The Laughter In Your Heart is a new hand stamped necklace just listed in my shop. The necklace has my new lowercase, script font. Just today I received my uppercase script font so look for some new pieces in my shop soon. Creating new pieces is always fun! You can view product details HERE.

Review and Giveaway: Give learning a Jump Start

When I was asked to review Jump Start, I was very interested since my 3.5 year old, Will loves to play with my computer. It is hard to find games that are age appropriate for him but JumpStart certainly is appropriate for his age, you just need to help a bit with the navigation.

I do have a bone to pick with Jump Start, I couldn't get Will off the computer the first time we tried it out we were on the computer for hours. What I love about Jump Start is that the learning is actually fun. Will thought he was playing a game. Later that day, (that is once I finally got him off of the computer) I heard him singing some of the songs and he kept asking to play again and again. He had no idea he was learning while playing, which is the way learning should be.

Jump Start is an award-winning adventure-based 3D virtual world that is personalized, your child can create their own character and jump right into the game. There are plenty of areas to help you if you get stuck too.




The JumpStart virtual world is broken into three main segments, each targeted towards a different age range. Story Land (for ages 3-5), Adventure Land (6-8’s) and Futureland (8-10’s)
Each section offers various levels of challenge and game play as your child progresses.

The game is free to try out and lets kids play in one of the world’s themed zones, but to access the majority of the content families will need to pay a $7.99 monthly subscription fee (per family not per child.) You can purchase memberships online or in stores such as Toys R Us, Best Buy and Rite Aid.

Jump Start also has a blog to accompany their main site where you will find many updates.

Will and I had a lot of fun playing/learning with JumpStart and I am thankful for finding a fun, interactive learning game for Will. Would you like to give JumpStart a spin?

Giveaway! Giveaway! Giveaway! Giveaway!

JumpStart is offering one of my readers a FREE 3 month subscription to their site!

Here is how you can enter:

1. Leave a comment and tell me why you would like to win this subscription for your kiddo(s)

Extra Entries:

Follow my blog

Tweet about this contest

Add my blog button to your site

Follow JumpStart on Twitter HERE

Contests ends on July 7th at 11:59PM. Please leave a way for me to contact if you are the winner!

Featured Reader: Let me introduce you to.....

Hello friends! Happy Monday. We had a very nice weekend at my parent's lake house, it was our first time out for the season. It was nice to get a break since normally I work most weekends. Will wanted to swim in the lake, which was a surprise to me since he has never wanted to before, I will be sure to share some pictures later in the week.

I always love Monday's since I have the pleasure of introducing one of my fabulous readers. I have the great pleasure of introducing Loukia of Lou Lou's Views. Loukia is a very busy Mom of two kiddos under the age of 4, has a full time job, a blog and manages to always look just stunning! Loukia also loves to shop, which just happens to be one of my favorite hobbies. Please grab a cup of joe and get to know the fabulous Loukia!

Name:

My name is Loukia... people also call me Lou or Loulou. My kids just call me mommy.Which I totally love. My blog is Lou Lou's Views

Your family:

I'm married to my high school sweetheart, and we have two amazing boys - Christos, who is almost 4 years old, and Dimitry, who is 17 months old!

How did you start blogging?

I started blogging in 2007, when my first son was 18 months old. I used to send my friends dozens of emails a day, talking about life as a mom, talking about the news that I found interesting, complaining about not being able to lose weight, sharing my ideas and thoughts about everything - my blog was a way better outlet to get my feelings out! My friends are very thankful. :) Also - I LOVE to write. It's my passion. What better way then to record what is happening in my life? I find blogging to be like free therapy!

If you are a parent do you have a parenting philosophy?

I don't really have a parenting philosophy. I love my boys with all my heart and they are my life. I love being with them, playing with them, teaching them, and I enjoy watching them grow and interact with each other. I don't think you can ever spoil a baby; I do not let my children 'cry it out', and I'm a big supporter of co-sleeping. My blogging philosophy is be nice! Leave comments! ;)

You will never find me without...... My Louis Vuitton! And a diaper bag which contains enough 'stuff' in it, I'm sure we could take a vacation for a month and not have to worry about running out of diapers, or a change of clothes, or snacks!

Day job:

I'm a Communications Advisor for the Federal Government. It's a great job, because I can be creative, and I'm also the Editor of our newsletter. I'm also a writer - I have a passion for writing, and have loved writing since I was a child. I always had a journal of some sort, documenting my thoughts, or stories, or poems. I'd love to be a published children's book author some day! But my favourite job, and the only one that really counts? MOMMY!

Favorite Stuff:

Music: I love anything with a good beat! Right now, I'm loving Black Eyed Peas (as usual!) and Lady Gaga. My favourites are Tom Petty, The Eagles, Dre, (I know, I'm all over the place...) Snoop Dog, Prince, and well, everything!

Food: Pizza, Pasta, anything Greek, ice cream (french vanilla!) and chips and salsa. Oh, and chocolate covered almonds. And Doritos. Um, and strawberries. So it doesn't sound like all I eat is junk! ;)

Tv/ Movies: The Office, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives! Movies... too many to list!

Reading: I always have a book or two on the go. I have a lot of favourites. Reading Night was very sad and touching, I loved A Prayer for Owen Meany, Fall On Your Knees, The Way the Crow Flies, The Glass Castle, The Other Bolyen Girl, The History of Love, Time Traveler's Wife, Prep, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Angela's Ashes, and a million more! I also LOVE reading to my kids; I think they own every children's book IN Chapters/Barnes and Noble!

If you had to wear a T-shirt with your favorite saying on it what would it be? "This, too, shall pass."

Favorite stores to shop at:

I love shopping at Nordstrom when I'm in the US, or bebe. I also love shopping at Banana Republic! And Gap Kids for my boys!

If you could trade with a blogger for the day who would it be?

I'd trade places with the fabulous McMommy (www.themcmommychronicles) because, well, she lives in Florida! To be surrounded by the beach and palm trees? LOVE it!

Please be sure to leave Loukia some comment love here and also head on over to her site HERE.

If you would like to be a featured reader please send me a email with a link to your blog to klacustomcreations@comcast.net and don't be shy about wanting to be featured!!!!

Remembering Michael Jackson

Last night I was on Twitter and started seeing everyone talking about the death of Michael Jackson. It was such a shock to me and brought back so many memories from my youth. I remember just loving him in elementary school and spent so much time with friends choreographing our own moves to songs like Beat It , Billie Jean, and Bad. I also remember wearing as many Michael Jackson buttons as I could on my jacket and my little Jordache purse.

Michael Jackson will be remembered as one of the most talented musicians, even though things got a bit bizarre over the last 10-15 years he brought many special memories for me and for thank I am truly thankful!

What is your favorite Michael Jackson song?


Did you wear Michael Jackson buttons too?

Aloha Friday....

Hello friends! With the weather being so hot I thought it would be perfect to talk about the perfect summertime drink.

My favorite summertime drink is a Arnold Palmer or half lemonade and half ice tea with a lot of ice. I like to brew some ice tea and then top it off with Simply Lemonade, it is just like fresh squeezed and is about as close and you can get with out squeezing the lemons yourself.

What is your favorite summertime drink?

For more Aloha Friday's please click on the pic below:

This just in... more in the NEW lowercase font

One of my original pieces and a customer favorite is the simple signature hand stamped two disc necklace and it is now available in my new lowercase script font. You can view it in my shop Kristen's Custom Creations.

Thousand Words Thursday..... wait... wait... AHHHH

It has been so hot the last few days and we went to the "Castle Park" as Will calls it and he discovered that the park has a sprinkler mister, you push a red button and then it randomly mists water. He played with this almost the entire time we were at the park. I have to say it was pretty refreshing! I think we need a magical mister in our back yard too.

Tell me what do you do to cool down when it is really hot?

For more Thousand Words Thursday please visit Cheaper Than Therapy Jen.