Summer Fun With a GIVEAWAY from Pick Your Plum!

I have a fun giveaway for you today! If you haven’t heard of Pick Your Plum, you need to know about them!

They offer daily specials on popular crafting, fashion, baking, and home decor goodies at a wonderful discount . The thing is, you have to act FAST because once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The lovely folks at PYP are giving one of my readers the opportunity to win $25 worth of goodies from them!
Some of their past offerings :

I ordered this baker’s twine when they had it and LOVE it.  Plus they ship so darned fast!

I’m definitely ordering paper straws next time I see them!

Likewise these cute wooden tags!  Your box won’t necessarily include these items but just to give you an idea of the fun stuff they carry and you never know!

They post their daily specials on Facebook so if you don’t already “like” them, you want to so you don’t miss out.  Likewise you can sign up to have a daily email sent to you.

Here’s how you can enter to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will remain open through Saturday 7/21 with the winner announced on Sunday 7/22. Good luck!!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by Pick Your Plum. All opinions expressed are mine.

More Podgeables Ideas: Velvet Ribbon Bookmarks

What happens when you have fun stuff to play with, and you get to do a guest post for a wonderful blogger?

Sweet Carolyn, from the blog homework invited me to guest over at her place. If you haven't visited her, you really should because you will find all kinds of amazing ideas from simple materials and done elegantly.

I had so much fun playing with the Mod Podge  Podgeables I used in a recent post. So much so that I had some that didn't quite make it into the necklace I made because I made too many. So guest post + extra fun stuff to play with = win win!


I did some of these last year here and like giving them as gifts. We are avid readers in our house and even though we’ve kept pace with technology and read a lot online and via an eReader, for me, there’s still nothing like an actual book. But what’s a book without a bookmark? 



For this project you will need:

• Ribbon. I used velvet but anything with some body to it.
• Ribbon Clamps. Find these in the jewelry supply section of your favorite craft or bead store. Mine are from Michaels.
• Jump Rings
• Pliers
• Charms, beads, anything small w/ a hole that will fit on a bookmark!

Measure your ribbon to the length you want. For standard hardback books, this is about 10 inches. Put your ribbon clamps on each end of your ribbon. I’m not coordinated enough to take pictures while doing this but it’s pretty easy. Slide clamp on, pinch it hard with a needlenose pliers.

Once you have your clamps on, you can add your embellishments. The Podgeables are acrylic shapes that you can decorate. I used Mod Podge  Antique Matte  to adhere paper to the backs of mine. Then added beads and charms from my stash.

The little copper charms are ones I made using Mod Podge Dimensional Magic in gold and a bezel I had in my jewelry stash:

BFF Open House #61

Welcome to this week’s BFF Open House here at The Answer Is Chocolate. Hope you all had a safe and happy July Fourth.

I’m going to have a crazy couple of weekends coming up so the party will go on but just letting you know in case I don’t get around to visit and do features like I usually try to. All the more reason for you all to go visit each other right?

See that button on my side bar? I hope you’ll check out Workshop Wednesdays, a fun Christmas in July series I’m participating in with several other bloggers. It’s never too early to get a start on the holidays.

OK I think that’s it for the announcements! Let’s see what everyone’s been up to this week:

Party On!

Christmas In July Workshop Wednesday Blog Hop: Paris In A Box

Welcome to a fun blog hop called Workshop Wednesday and a special welcome to any new visitors who came over from visiting Kara at Mine For The Making!

Michele over at The Scrap Shoppe had the genius idea to get several of us together to get a jump start on holiday ideas. I know what you're thinking:  it's July. There's plenty of time. That's what I tell myself every year and then I get a big old Emeril "BAM" wake up call. 

I always joke with a friend about running away to Paris. I can’t actually give that to her, so I came up with the next best thing. Paris in a box. Or at least the essence ( to continue my Emeril references)  of Paris in a box.

For this project you will need:

• Plain wooden box you can get at Michaels, JoAnns, etc. (which if you post a project using, you remember to take a picture of before you start!)
• Scrapbook paper of choice; I used K and Company black and ivory coordinated papers
• Mod Podge
• Acrylic craft paint
• Embellishments

Start by painting the edges of your box ( the parts that won’t be covered w/paper). Cut paper to fit the top and bottom and inside lids of your box.

Apply Mod Podge to surface, lay your paper down, smooth, let dry. Once dry, you can lightly sand off any excess paper on the edges and then seal with another coat of Mod Podge. If you’ve never podged, visit the Queen, Amy Anderson for getting started tips here.

I then went around my box with this fun “Crafting Tape” from Recollections at Michaels. LOVE this stuff which is their version of  washi tape!

Time to embellish! I cut an Eiffel Tower image from black vinyl using my appropriately named Silhouette Cameo "CoCo". As in Chanel ( ok and chocolate) .  Then went stash shopping for embellishments…self adhesive rhinestones, die cuts, buttons, and one of a couple of little frames I picked up along the way:

I popped out the plastic “glass” and popped off the back and then painted the frame with cream acrylic craft paint and dabbed on a little silver Rub n Buff.  Mod podged an oval diecut onto the lid and glued my frame and butons on :

Added black rhinestones here and there and Voila! I’m filling the box with some handmade tags tied with black and white baker’s twine for mon amie. 

I’m terrible at doing cost estimates because I have a lot of stuff on hand and always have a Michaels or JoAnn’s coupon around. If you had to buy the main materials, your total cost would still be around $10. a.) some of this stuff is always on sale  b.) there’s always a coupon and c.) much less than a plane ticket!

Hope you enjoyed this and it’s given you an idea for a plan ahead gift for a friend. Think of the fun you could have with places you and a friend have wanted to run away to. Hawaii? Italy? London? All of the above? Yes please!

Remember, this is a blog hop where you can find some more head start holiday inspiration so next stop is to visit Michele at The Scrap Shoppe! We'll be hopping every Wednesday in July.

Sharing At: 

Wishing You All A

It's Christmas! In July...Workshop Wednesdays

No you did not lose time on your calendar. It’s still July but time flies when you have all these great intentions of being organized for the holidays and then suddenly you realize you DID lose time on your calendar.

Michele, from The Scrap Shoppe had a great idea to get ahead of this. She and I , along with Kara from Mine for the Making, Bev from Flamingo Toes, and Tracey from My CreativiT decided that since Santa isn’t using his sleigh right now, we’d borrow it for a Christmas in July Blog Hop !

Would you like to get a jumpstart on your gifts for this year or get some great decorating ideas? Then join us for Workshop Wednesdays starting tomorrow!

We will be sharing ideas such as how to get organized for the holidays, how to make personalized ornaments, and some great gift ideas.

Turn on some Christmas music and dust off your Santa hat as you join us as we dash through blog world by visiting these participating blogs in Workshop Wednesdays. Spread the word and dust off your elf shoes!

Cool Yule !

BFF Open House Link Party #60 Wrap Up and Features: Festive Fourth Edition!

Thanks everyone for another great BFF Open House. As always, there was no shortage of creativity and fabulous ideas. Since we are celebrating Fourth of July this week in the US, I’m featuring some of the great Fourth inspired ideas that were shared.

Malia, from Yesterday on Tuesday shared a fantastic collection of printables you can use to whip up some décor for the 4th:

Wreaths are a wonderful way to decorate and I have two really cute ones to share. The first from The Freckled Optimist:

I just love those letters! And the second is from Mel, The Crafty Scientist that is part of her interchangeable wreath series and can be updated for other holidays:

Transform a plain dimensional star with Mod Podge and scrapbook paper. Visit A Creative Princess to see how:



If you want to wear your festive Fourth colors, pop over to see Ellen at Creative Passage for this crocheted wire and bead bracelet!

Of course you know I have to feature something chocolate, so I think these Drumstick cupcakes from White Lights on Wednesday are an ingenious interpretation of the iconic ice cream treat, perfect for a 4th of July barbecue:

As always, thanks for choosing to share your creativity here each week!