Celebrate the Holidays with Shutterfly

We're heading into my most favorite time of the year; Thanksgiving & Christmas! I especially love Christmas time. So many things about this time of year I love; family traditions, decorating our tree, listening to Christmas music and making cookies! 

This year I'm feeling ahead of the game as I've already made Christmas cards and it's my goal this month to get them all addressed and mailed out. 

I've been using Shutterfly to create my Christmas cards for the last six years, I'm always blown away by their quality and the options they have.  Every year I love picking out a coordinating card that goes with our family photos. 

This year we did something a little different, we didn't take traditional family photos before Christmas. Our trip to Disneyland this year was a big highlight for our family I wanted to use our cards to showcase a few pictures from that trip. 

I chose bright colors with a little bit of sparkle with the gold trim. I also chose matching return address labels to pull it all together. 

I also love that Shutterfly gives you many options when customizing your holiday cards, you can choose from the amount of photos you want featured, shimmer, matte or regular paper, as well as many font options. I also use the customization on the back to add a few more photos and a message from our family. See more Shutterfly Holiday cards here.

Holiday Party Invitations

I've never hosted a holiday party before but this year I'm switching it up and hosting a party for all of my girlfriends! What better way to celebrate your friends than hosting a party for them and loving on them a bit. 

With so many options to choose from you're able to find the perfect invitations for your holiday party or New Year's Eve bash. Same with the holiday cards you can make them your own using different fonts and use the back to write messages to your guests. See more Shutterfly Party Invitations here.

Gifts for Your Girlfriends

Celebrate your girl friends in a special way this holiday season with some fun gifts you can customize from Shutterfly. These would also be great gifts for teachers, neighbors and other people in your life you want to give some appreciation to this holiday season! 

I made these notebooks by adding my own image to one of their notebooks, this is my blog tagline and a motto I love living in life. I hope it inspires my friends to celebrate the everyday as well! 

Coffee Mugs with a Special Message

Give a special gift this season for the coffee & tea lover in your life! I used a free image from The TomKat Studio to make this adorable mug! Visit Kim's blog to download your image and order a mug from Shutterfly. 

Mix & Match Stationary Sets

With so many designs to choose from this is the perfect small gift to give your friends! I love that you can add your own messages to these cards. I made some (shown below) that said "hello", "thank you" and used my personal initials on them. 

The black and white stripes and dots are my favorite, classic and simple. 

With so many options for gift giving with Shutterfly the possibilities are endless and my favorite thing about using Shutterfly is that you give such personalized gifts people always feel really well thought of. 

Have you browsed Shutterfly lately, what are some of your favorite things on their site? What are some of your favorite personal gifts to give during the holidays? 

Game Day Buffalo Chicken Pizza with Foster Farms Crispy Chicken Strips.

Anything buffalo chicken related is my Husband's favorite! I've been making this pizza for a long time now and it's always a crowd pleaser, he especially loves it on Saturdays for college football watching! 

This is the perfect yummy combination of buffalo sauce and pizza! Learn how to make this on your own below. 

For the chicken I used Foster Farms Crispy Strips, I make the whole bag and only use about half but the rest I use up for lunches during the week. Bake according to the package directions.

After they are done baking let them cool enough so you can pick them up and cut them into small strips. Put them in a bowl and toss with your favorite buffalo sauce. I like to make sure they are all generously coated with the sauce. I use Franks Buffalo sauce. 

I also enjoy using a pre made crust, it makes the prep time easier. I cover the entire crust with ranch dressing and then about 1 tablespoon of buffalo sauce and mix it all together evenly on the crust. Then I top it with my chicken, 2 chopped up green onions, and a handful of cilantro before covering the entire top of it with shredded cheese. 

Bake according to the package directions on your pre made crust. I did mine for about 20 minutes. Cut into slices and enjoy! 

This really is a fave of our family's, we love it! What are some of your game day favorite things to eat? 

THIS IS A SPONSORED POST ON BEHALF OF MYSELF AND FOSTER FARMS CHICKEN, ALL OPINIONS ARE 100% MY OWN. 

'Your Legacy' Dr. James Dobson Review + Giveaway

I have been a long time fan of Dr. James Dobson and his books for a while now. I started reading them when Ava was a little over a year old. He's got some great books on parenting children & discipline. I love his commitment to raising Godly children and having healthy Christ centered families. Dare to Discipline is a favorite of mine. 

I had the chance to review his new Building a Family Legacy series which includes 8 DVDs on various topics (see below for the complete list.) I think the idea of leaving a legacy for our children isn't something we talk a whole lot about these day, or even hear about. I feel though that it's so vital to consider this when raising our children. 

My husband and I are always asking ourselves;

What do we want our children to remember about our family?

What values do we want them to have?

How can we leave a lasting impression and legacy for them?

In the Your Legacy DVD Dobson unpacks the value of leaving a spiritual legacy for your family, shares his own experiences with his own ancestors and what he did for his own family. He also challenges us to do the same for our families.

Other DVD titles include:

• Your Legacy
• Bringing up Boys
• Bringing up Girls
• Love For A Lifetime
• The Strong-Willed Child
• Dare To Discipline
• Straight Talk To Men
• Wanting To Believe with Ryan Dobson

Now for the fun part; I'm giving away 3 copies of the Your Legacy DVD by Dr. James Dobson. To enter comment below with your best tip for raising healthy families. It can be anything you want, the best way you get dinner on the table, how you get your kiddos to eat their veggies or your best tip for breaking up sibling fights. I wanna hear about it. Contest will run from now until Friday night. Winners will be announced Saturday morning and emailed for notification. Connect with them on Facebook & Twitter. 

Taking Up a New Hobby.

When I sat down at the end of 2013 to think about goals for the new year I knew I wanted to try a new hobby. I love being creative and trying new things that develops that creativity in me. This year I decided to try painting. I wouldn't consider myself a painter but I really enjoy it. 

I bought myself a water color set from the craft store and used some thick letter press paper I already had. 

I sat down at my kitchen island one night with some worship music on and just started painting. 

I love that they are a little imperfect. The brush strokes aren't even. 

And my drawing skills aren't the best. 

But this wasn't about it being perfect or even the best. 

It was about trying new things. Doing something new that I've never done before. 

I actually find painting really relaxing, I've painted pottery a few times before and find it relaxing as well. So I knew I'd love this. 

I really love cultivating new habits and trying new things. God's taught me a lot about myself in this last year. To not be afraid to try new things, to not be afraid to put my trust in him. I know we're talking about painting here but I think it's all apart of a bigger picture. 

Trusting God in the little things. Means he'll trust you with the bigger things. 

Have you tried anything new lately? Any new hobbies? 

Gold Inspired Fall Manicure

Are you guys still obsessed with gold just like me?! I sure hope so, I just can't get enough of it. Perhaps it's my love of glitter and all things sparkly. 

For some Fall inspired nails I did some color blocking with two different colors, and I love the way it turned out. For Fall I love putting a darker color on my nails. I always do my own manicures at home. 

Here's the polishes I used:

Essie's Bahama Mama

Revlon's Gold coin (best gold polish I've tried!)

Sally Hansen's top coat

I used the Essie first, then just did Revlon's Gold Coin on one side. I did this free hand, but you could also use a piece of washi tape to get a clean and even line on each nail. 

I love this look for Fall and winter months. And I'm still obsessed with gold, how about you? What are you fave fall nail trends?

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