Printable Lunch Box Notes

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of BIC®. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's officially crazy holiday season around here. Just this week we have three holiday-related school events, a couple doctor's appointments, a 5-year-old's cowboytastic birthday party (why did I have a kid in Decemeber again?), a work Christmas party, and all the other regular hustle and bustle that Christmas brings. I've been yelling the words "hurry" and "c'mon" more than I'd like to admit. (Yep, that mom.) So when things get this busy, it's easy to forget the little things that really matter.

To celebrate this month of #BICMerryMarking, they created a downloadable booklet full of colorful, inspirational ideas for you and your family. From simple thank you notes to personalized gift tags to colorful pay-it-forward ideas, BIC's Merry Marking shares oodles of bright creations. Simple ideas that mean a lot when you're short on time but want to show others you care. Pretty much exactly how I've been feeling towrds the fam lately. 

BIC Mark-it™ permanent markerkers come in lots of bring colors plus metallics. Shiny! One idea that stood out to me as little way to show the kids I'm thinking about them, was lunch box notes. While she'd never admit it, whenever I have left a note in my daughter's lunch box, I find it several days later stuffed in her back pack. Awwww. So cute. (side note: that reaction is probably why she never tells me this kind of thing) 


I designed a few coloring-book-style notes this time and printed them out to color by hand.
Click here to download the free printable lunch box notes.

This time I used only #SummerMelon (sounds delish, doesn't it?) to color their notes, like the Merry Marking pages showed. I think it might be neat to choose a different color each time I try one of the ideas.

I backed each note with some colorful scraps of paper and tied a small ribbon in the corner.




So simple yet meaningful when days get rushed. Click here to get the booklet of merry marking and a coupon to start marking. What ideas will you be inspired to try? I'd like to nominate friends, coworkers, bosses, moms, students, and teachers to try some Merry Marking this month. You never know who's day you're making bright.

Free Motion Quilting Video Tutorial

So something like a hundred years ago I made my first quilt. Not really, it was more like 3 years ago, but same thing. I really didn't know what I was doing but thought hey, if other people can figure it out, so can I (that could really be my life motto). So I Googled a bit, read some blogs, bought some fabric, and went at it. The result was a crib-sized actual quilt for my nephew Levi. And while a few negative Nancys told me I didn't know what I was doing and that if I wasn't going to do it "right" why bother (so sweet, really), the majority of people "got it" and were excited to see a first timer get off her bum and just try. Yay you second group of people I mentioned!

Click here to read that whole lovely tutorial and maybe make your own quilt (and browse the comments to see if you can find any ridiculous ones). You can do it, I promise! 

Then like another million years later, I made my second quilt. This one was a bit larger and for myself. If you're wondering, it came out equally as amazeballs. (Amazeballs means it's a functioning blanket looking pretty much like I envisioned it looking without causing hives or rashes to its user.) Click here to see that masterpiece. One day I'll take it out of the drawer in the guest room.

In both posts I tried to describe what I was doing assuming the person I was talking to had very little sewing knowledge. Because let's face it, I had very little sewing knowledge while doing it. ha. The only thing is, even though my picture taking and descriptive skills were, ahem, incredibly stellar, like I'm headed for HGTV right now, I didn't take any video.... UNTIL NOW!

Drum roll.  Without further, incredibly informative and yet entertaining rambling, I have a video to show you which explains the whole free motion or meandering quilting technique I used. So sit back, grab your latte, and enjoy my real life self, slight lisp and all!