Friday Favorites: Shopping Our Closet

It's crunch time.

You have pictures this weekend. And you just CAN NOT find a thing to wear! Sound the alarms. Christmas is ruined. You'll never be able to mail cards again. I mean, this is the worst thing that could happen ever. But before we go all Brintey circa 2007... did you try shopping your closet?

We didn't think so.

You will be so surprised at what you can find in there. Better yet - you probably have a few pieces that you wear over and over and over again that will work. AND if you wear them over and over again, it probably means you feel comfortable wearing it which is of the utmost importance when taking pics - you want to FEEL good.


Example 1: You have probably seen this pic on Pinterest over 5000 times (that's roughly the number of times it has been pinned. Crazy.) Cindy didn't spend tons of time on clothes, she picked darling pieces for her two bigs (that are tiny little BABIES in this picture) and shopped the closet for Josh and herself.

Example 2: Sometimes it's fun to shop your friends' closets, too! Cindy borrowed the blouse for a friend, and mixed and matched pieces she owned for the kiddos only buying some of the accessory pieces like those boot socks for Anna (!!!) and the puffer vest and leggings for Caro. 

Example 3: Ryan has had that jacket forever it seems, and I purchased that tunic and shirt. (on clearance, y'all. It was an XS. Why would you even make an XS maternity top. You can't tell from this pic, but it was basically a crop top and I was just using it for its sleeves).

Example 4: I didn't buy one thing for this series. Well, I'm lying... I bought the onesie. Everything else was from our closets. And no, this wasn't our Christmas card pic, but it is something I still look back on and love just as much as if I would have spent tons of time on clothes. Emmy's entire outfit is a hand-me-down! 

Example 5: I borrowed this top from Cindy and I did order the girls dresses but they were $8 each.

 So, feel encouraged dear reader! You don't have to spend a ton of money to look good and more importantly to FEEL good! Tis the season of celebrating your family. Telling your story. And spreading cheer. Because that, is the point of this crazy, inconsistent, scatterbrained blog.

A Little Bit of Everything Blog - Grace and Love Blog - Momfessionals

The Momma's Guide to Memes...

Dear Readers, it is upon us. Halloween was basically months ago on the Christmas version of telling time and Thanksgiving is days away. This means that it is go time. Consider these snarky, funny, stupid memes one of our gifts to you. Save them all. Use them wisely. And let's welcome the holidays together.

In case you're still wondering what kind of card you want to send, may we suggest these... because
#funny #butawful #butsostinkingfunny

For the person that brags about how many cards they "have" to mail...

In case you don't send cards (what!?!) ... make this your profile pic. 

To send to your hipster friends that go with paperless cards this year... 

Because #funny #andonlypartiallytrue 

 Another one for those green friends.

Just remember know matter what kind of card you do or don't send, we should all take some advice from Clark...

**Disclaimer - we didn't create any of these memes. We googled them by searching "christmas memes/Christmas card memes/Christmas gifs". To whoever is the originator of such memes - you are fantastic and we applaud you. That is all**

BAM - It's Christmas Season

Hi friends!

So this happened this weekend

And while we do CLEARLY love Christmas,

we aren't immune to the stress and busy that the holiday season can bring.

And sometimes, Christmas Cards can be an added stress.

Whew, there we said it.

But, they don't have to be.

And we hope that our blog shares tips and tricks to make your card a fun, great experience.

To keep you encouraged this season we polled a great group of people (our friends) and asked

WHAT IS THE BEST PART OF OPENING A CHRISTMAS CARD?

 We hope their answers inspire you to press on and SPREAD the MERRY!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Seeing a beautiful photo of friends and how they've changed in the year.  

Seeing the pictures and reading a letter if there is one

I enjoy and love the pictures (how much the kiddos have grown) and the creative themes. Also I have fun reading the letters or even a short note. Look forward to them each year! 

Pictures ... Or money!

Reading the notes that come with the cards.

Seeing the sweet faces looking back at you! Love seeing how families have changed from the past year in their photo. I keep all the cards from the previous years! 

#1 Seeing who it is from...#2 Seeing the graphic/photo...#3 reading the greeting/message...

Seeing the cute family photo

Feeling like you're catching up with an old friend!

Knowing that the person who sent it to us was thinking about us

Love seeing how the kids have grown and reading about all our friends and family and how creative they were with their Christmas card!

1.  cute pictures -- and being reminded of friends and family that I don't get to see very often

2.  colors -- so bright and cheery!  :)

3.  not finding glitter -- I'm not a big glitter person so cards sans glitter are the best

(friend, we hear ya...have you seen this?)

Seeing how much a family has changed from one year to the next.  

Love seeing who they are from!!

The love!

(This response was from a 6 year old, I think she has it figured out!)

Ready, Set...ORDER!

Hi friends! November is almost here and for most of you card loving folks, that means it is time to order your cards. There are TONS and TONS of places for you to order darling cards, how will you decide? Never fear, the Merry Mommas are here to help!

[Large Online Retailers]
Tiny Prints - The Merry Mommas have used Tiny Prints for various occasions, including Christmas Cards, and their product is great. They have very traditional cards. Recommended!

Minted - We think of Minted as the hipster sister of Tiny Prints. We have used them and liked them!
Recommended!

May Designs - You may remember this company from one of FF posts. We haven't used them for cards, but we LOVE their notebooks! Recommended.

Zazzle - We haven't used Zazzle for Christmas cards, but we have used them. We were totally satisfied with their product. Recommended!

Fine Stationery - Same song, second verse. We have ordered stationery from this retailer, but not a Christmas card. Satisfied with the process and produce. Recommended!

mpix - Some of our favorite photographers and graphic designers use mpix and RAVE about them. We trust them, so recommended!

Pear Tree - We haven't used Pear Tree, but after looking at their website, they have some great stuff. Let us know if you have used Pear Tree, we'd love to know your thoughts.

Snapfish - Looks like they have some fun designs, any readers use them?

[Large Big Box Stores]
Many of the large big box stores including CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Target, have photo labs in house and templates you can choose for your card. They have great, fun and festive designs that typically have a pretty darn good price point.

[Print Centers]
If you design or have someone design your card you may choose to have it printed at your local Kinko's (well, I think they are called FedEx stores now) or Office Depot. Merry Momma Katy has used Office Depot in the past and her cards are absolutely PRECIOUS! Merry Momma Cindy has used Overnight Prints and is 100% satisfied with their product. Vista Print is similar to Overnight Prints and could be used as well.

[Mom and Pop Shops]
Lots of folks use local graphic designers - we LOVE ours... Jumping Jax Designs and Quick Design Company - to design their cards. Many times the designs have a print company they use and you just get to pic up your finished product. #winning Another way to support local folks is to use Etsy to find local designers/printers.

[No pics, just a card...please. :)]
If you are in the market for cards without pictures or you are sending cards on behalf of your work place both Hallmark and Papyrus have a great selection.

No matter where you buy and print your cards, sending love to family and friends is really how we share the MERRY and we can't wait to see your MERRY!

TBT: Halloween

It's Thursday. 

And you know what that means...

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Edition: HALLOWEEN!!!

We are joining our fellow BCS Bloggers this week to highlight some of Halloween Past! Make sure to follow the loop so you can check out all the posts... and maybe get some awesome ideas! So, here we go... 

The Brown Girls: Melinda and Cindy

Circa: 1980 and 1978

OMG, right?!?  Those Strawberry Shortcake costumes are scary!  Y'all remember those plastic mask?  They would break if just put them on wrong!  Goodness.  Eek!

Now, have you ever seen two cuter angels?  I think NOT!  And we totally were and are angels so that makes the costume even that much more fun!  But the best part of these costumes is that they were made by my mom and grandmother.  They're pretty darn talented!  Thanks Mom and Mid!

And for your continued viewing pleasure:

The Guercio Kids: Jody, Jeremy and Katy

Circa: 1983 and 1986(ish)

Mom always let us pick our costumes. Naturally Jeremy's stature and size made him a great candidate for Superman, my cuteness made me the perfect tiger cub (or was it my Dad's LSU thing) and Jody was a zombie. (Please note that zombies can't stand upright. Clearly.)

A few years went by and Jeremy's con-man cuteness lead him to choose Pirate, me, well... I was a good witch. And Jody outgrew Halloween, or maybe he was just "the boy next door". 

 

Happy Halloween from the Merry Mommas! We clearly could have benefited from some makeup tips which is exactly what you will get when you visit Making Mrs. M - she's giving some tips on simple Halloween make-up that even beginners can master!

An Update on Help!

Hi y'all! It's Cindy and I know you have just been dying to hear an update on what we wore for our Christmas card pics and I am happy to oblige! Click here to refresh your memory on our choices!

First a little update on the day... It was WARM! Maybe even close to HOT. We started setting up for the pics around 5:30 and it was about 95 degrees.  Dang that October weather! One day it's in the low 70s and the next mid 90s! Oh well! We (and I really mean my sweet hubby) pressed on. We had a rather extensive set up so he was just a tad sweaty by picture time. And I'm not telling you about the set up, you will just have to wait. :) Everything was set up and ready to go around 6pm and the lighting was just beautiful, the sun was setting and the girls were pretty well behaved. #bribeswereused #everytime #picsareimportant

Josh's outfit pretty much stayed the same. He actually had a cream undershirt, but opted not to wear it. #95degrees

I borrowed some cute boot socks (thanks, Kelly!) and Millie's outfit was complete. I ended up doing a single french braid with her hair.

Caroline wore outfit #3, the light denim jeans and fringe sweater. I found a cream waffle shirt that had a tiny floral print and it looked so cute under the sweater.We gave her two cute braids.

The front runner #2 won for Annaliese. I rolled up her sleeves to help her be a little bit cooler. And I think I may have switched her jeans, but I can't remember. #sorry #itsbeenawhile We kept her hair down in her cute little bob.

Now...on to me. I definitely subscribe to the #ifmommaainthappynobodyshappy and I just wasn't super happy with my choices. I spent a little (read hours) time online and then ended up running up to Old Navy the Saturday before our pics and found a couple of additional options. After lots of texts and pics to Katy I choose a plaid shirt #plaidisin, skinny jeans, my brown booties and the cream sweater. The temperature kept me from wearing the sweater, but I was happy and not too hot. #winning #happymomma

And now I am patiently waiting to see them! #okaynotpatiently And I can't wait to share the final product with all of you!

Friday Favorites: ALL the Cards

It's FRIDAY y'all! 

And there is only ONE more Friday left in October which means November is almost here. Which clearly means YOU BEST BE GETTING TO PICKING OUT WHAT KIND OF CARD YOU WANT TO SEND. 

#yesallcapswerencessary

#becauseChristmascards

#clearly

So today we are just going to focus on some of our favorite types of cards to help you narrow down your selection. 

#youarewelcome

YEAR IN REVIEW

Both of the Momma's LOVE love super LOVE the year-in-review infographic that Kristin designed for her family! This works great for anyone. Married/singled/kid/no kids - there is so much to tell and you can do it in such a unique way. Did we mention that we love it?

TazandBelly

We also loved this darling chalkboard inspired version with a darling family photo included! You know we love searching Etsy and this one by LNZart is perfect!

DUAL PURPOSE

What's better than sending one card to family and friends? Well, sending TWO cards of course! But clearly ain't nobody got time for that. You mail cards to spread cheer and give updates, so use this as an opportunity to make a  baby announcement...

let people know you've changed addresses...

or that you're getting MERRIED!

EXTENDED FAMILY

This particular design from CardsEtc is no longer available but I'm sure you can find something similar. **UPDATE - she just added it back to the shop! Wahoo! **

We couldn't stop smiling when we found this picture. How darling are these grandparents surrounded by all of their little grands!

That's just a few of our favorite types of cards!  What kind of card are you sending this year? Anything we should add to the list?

A Little Bit of Everything Blog - Grace and Love Blog - Momfessionals

WWLW: Envelope Flair

Yes, it's true.

The Merry Mommas LOVE envelope flair! I mean, we focus LOTS on what's inside that envelope, but it's nice to give that outside some love, too!

You may be asking yourself, 

"WHAT IN THE WORLD is envelope flair?"

Well, it's all the little things on an envelope that add that extra WOW!

Here, let us show you...

STAMPS

United States Postal Service offers some really great holiday stamps.  They can add that extra, "Why, yes, I did stand in line for an hour to get the cute Charlie Brown stamps!" to any envelope. (Or, I sent my husband. Twice. because the first time he only bought a book, which is exactly 120 stamps too few.) :) 

Zazzle has TONS of unique options! Just search "Christmas" or "Holiday" stamps.

And you can customize them with your own pictures! How fun would it be to give a sneak peak to your card ON YOUR ENVELOPE! And sometimes you can't choose just one pic, this gives you the option of selecting just one more!

RETURN ADDRESS

Stamps - You can fancy up your address with ink stamps!  There is literally hundreds of thousands of different places you can get stamps, but we headed to Etsy to find some fun ones for you!

  (Seller - PaperTree Press)

 (Seller - Primele)

(Seller - Stamp Out Online, Seller - AllisCreations)

(Seller - Brittany Lauren Design, Seller - Sparrow Footstamps)

Labels - If you order cards from some of the major online retailers, many of them will have the option to add address labels.  Again, this is a darling way to give the receiver a little sneak peek at what's inside!

OUTSIDE

INSIDE

  This card and the address return label are from Tiny Prints.

Embossed - If you are a little more on the formal side, you may choose to emboss your envelopes.  We love the distinguished look of an embossed envelope.  Feel free to send us your cards! (We're serious!)  Paper Source has a great selection of embossers.

 WASHI TAPE

 Washi tape can be a bit intimidating, which is silly, because the whole point of it is to add some fun to your various projects without the stress. Take a look at some of things we found!

 Nest of Posies

 I mean, let's just discuss her entire style of envelope addressing. Click on that link because she does an entire post on her tips. We LOVE that she used a VARIETY of stamps! Darling. Her handwriting? AMAZING. And that washi tape adds an extra pop! It is definitely on this momma's list this year!

Crazy Little Projects

If you use more of a traditional addressing system (read: white labels) you can always add more washi tape for that extra pop of fun! You could even just use a tiny piece on the back of the envelope as a seal. And done!


See, you totally love ENVELOPE FLAIR now too, don't you! :)

Know what we LOVE? When y'all leave us comments! Seriously, we can't blog about what you LOVE unless you tell us. So share the merry and spread the love...