One Choice Can Transform You: Why I Love Divergent & Free Quote Printables

I love to read.

There's something about being able to escape into a book where you can become all kinds of people.

You can try on the soft spoken wisdom of the friend who's the "third wheel".
You can be the funny, wisecracking best friend who always knows how to make things better.
You can be the selfish bad guy who always gets his way.
Or you can be the brave heroine who struggles along to make the right choice and become a better person.

The choices are endless on the type of books and the characters inside of them.  One of the best books I've read recently is "Divergent" by Veronica Roth.

When I first picked up the book, I wasn't sure what I'd think.  I hadn't read too many "dystopian" styled books.  I had read several "young adult" books and it seemed it was hit or miss in whether I liked them.

But I fell in love with Tris, Four, Al, Will and the others pretty easily.

Divergent is set in a future world where society is divided into factions.  Each faction is based on a principle that the members feel is the most important character trait of a good society.

Amity believes in keeping the peace above all else.  They believe in Trust, self-sufficiency, forgiveness, and kindness.

Candor believes in telling the truth at all times. They believe that dishonesty makes evil possible and truth makes us inextricable.

Abnegation believes in putting everyone else first at all times.  They believe society's selfishness is their undoing.

Erudite believes knowledge is power and can bring wisdom and harmony.  They believe that knowledge is the only logical solution to conflict and that intelligence must be used for the benefit of society.

Dauntless believes in bravery and freedom.  They believe in freedom from fear, in ordinary acts of bravery and in defending those who can not defend themselves.

Beatris is a young Abnegation girl who must make one choice to transform herself and her future.  She must pick which of the factions she will pledge herself and her life too.  After much struggle and a few lessons learned about who and what she is, she chooses Dauntless.  Now she must learn to survive there.

Why do I love Divergent?

Not only is the story interesting and captivating, I love the hidden messages under the story.  I love that Veronica tells a story of being brave, even when it's hard.

I love that Tris shows us that being selfless is another form of bravery.

I love that Four falls in love with Tris when she's struggling to stand up for another who can't stand up for himself.

I love that we can learn to be brave, selfless, honest, smart, and kind.  We don't have to make just once choice.  We can be it all.

If you haven't read Divergent, I highly recommend picking it up.  If you have, I'm sharing a few of my favorite quote printables from the book.  You can find the complete Divergent printables here.  Stay tuned for lots more Divergent printables and party ideas!

I'm starting on a Divergent party theme today so we will be ready to make the choice to go see the movie next month.  Feel free to grab a few 4x6 inch picture frames from your local dollar store and print out these free printables to dress up your Divergent party table.

What's your favorite book quote?

See all our Divergent Party projects here.

A Real Woman Free Printable and Shindig Saturday

We Survived!  How was your Valentine's day?  Or did you even have one?

I know there were so many parts of the country that were snowed in, which made it super hard to enjoy some sweet treats and a romantic night out.  I heard on the news that one town even "cancelled" Valentine's day on their city's Facebook page so the men wouldn't run out and buy last minute items on snowy, bad roads.  I don't know about you but I'm super curious how that turned out for the men!

Personally, we had a crazy few days down at the candy store.  I was up way too late and up way too early this week, but really enjoyed helping people find the perfect gift for their loved one.  I have to admit, some of their gift ideas were rather interesting!  We had one gentleman buy a Cricket Lick It sucker for his wife for Valentine's day.  I supposed you'd really have to know your wife well to give her that and get away with it!

Dear Hubby gave me the best Valentine's gift EVER.  He helped me to survive this week by staying up super late every day to help me work the store and get everything done.  I couldn't have survive without him.  I am so blessed to have the most wonderful and supportive husband.

How was your Valentine's day?

What have you been up to this week?

Now on to the party...

*Party starts Saturday morning at 12:05 am and runs through Friday night at midnight.  
* Link up to your OWN project post, not just your blog, but your actual post. (We want to see it!)

*Grab a Shindig Saturday button for your post or blog page. (Hey, it benefits us all!)

*Stay and enjoy the party by visiting and commenting on other's projects. (It's fun to mix and mingle!)

An InLinkz Link-up

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Top 10 Reasons To Give A Candy Bouquet

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm sure you're all enjoying the wonderful day and planning for some romantic fun tonight.  If you are still looking for a great gift idea for your "Someone Special", you might consider making a yummy candy bouquet like any of the ones I've showed you here.  After all, everyone LOVES chocolate, especially on Valentine's day!

Do You Want $25 to Help Celebrate the One You Love?

What do you think of the new Pinterest based giveaways? Do you love them? Hate them? Or just ignore them?

I think they are pretty cool myself.  (If you can't tell by all the one's I've been sharing lately.)  Pinterest is probably one of my most favorite things in the history of ever, so to be able to have the extra benefit of possibly winning some extra cash makes me feel like I'm actually doing something wonderful with my Pinterest time.



Here's another great Pinterest based giveaway from Guidecentral.

For a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate, you need to go HERE to enter the contest.

Follow Guidecentral's board Valentine's Day DIY on Pinterest.

Then it's a simple manner of following Guidecentral's Valentine's DIY board. And pinning an amazing Valentine's idea (You're doing that anyway this time of year, aren't you? I know I am!) Use the hashtag #ValentinesDIY on your pin and share your pin with the rest of us on the sweepstakes page HERE.

 And look at some of the cool ideas you can pin!  Pretty awesome to get some great last minute Valentine's ideas and possibly win $25 to celebrate the one you love.

Chocolate Emergency Kit Printable Gift Idea

I've been debating on sharing this DIY idea for a while now.  It's one of the most popular items in my shop, but it's so very hard to mail without risk of the glass getting broken.  It's not like you can't very easily make one yourself also, but after going back and forth on it, I've decided to share my Chocolate Emergency Kit gift printable with you for Valentine's day.

I guess that just shows you how much I love you guys this holiday!

The Chocolate Emergency kit is a pretty easy gift idea for the chocolate lover in your life.  All you'll need is a 5x7 picture frame, a 1.5 ounce Hershey candy bar, and our free Chocolate Emergency kit printable.  It does help to have some hot glue too, but you could use tape if that's easier and more available to you.

My favorite frames are the $4.00 ones found at Walmart.  They have a great back that's easy to hold the candy bar and you can find ones that look like the old fashioned 'break glass' boxes.

Go to my Google dropbox and download the Chocolate Emergency Kit Printable .  Now go to wherever you saved it and print it onto card stock using your computer's print program. 

Cut the rectangle out and glue a Hershey candy bar onto the center between the wording.

Now open the back of the frame and place your chocolate emergency inside.  I like to line mine up correctly by looking at the front and then put a little bit of glue on the back of the card stock so it is stuck to the frame and won't move around when you stand the kit up.

Depending upon the type of frame you use, the back of your picture frame may bulge a little once you secure it back up.   I've found it easier to use the frames with the turn-able hooks so the bar will stay in without trouble.

Now you have a great gift idea for the chocolate lover in your life this valentine's day.  If you'd rather not make one but have the perfect loved one to give this to, the chocolate emergency kits are still available in the shop....and I haven't had one break in shipping yet, so don't stress!

What are you giving your loved one for Valentine's day this year?  Chocolate? Flowers? A Great Date night?

Valentine Fairy Tale Mantel

Valentine's Day is almost here, so I wanted to share my Valentine Fairy Tale Mantel with you.

As you know, I've been working with a fairy tale theme this year for Valentine's day.  After all, what could be more romantic than a Happily Ever After?  Isn't that what most little girls dream of for their life?

Most of these fairy tale projects were DIYs that I completed for my daughter's Disney Princess fund raiser for our church's girls camp last year.  I loved how they all turned out, so I kept them and use every excuse I can to pull them out and put them on display.

As usual, in the center of our mantel decoration is our family name letters.  Above that is my interchangeable picture frame.  I filled the frame with a picture of the Salt Lake LDS Temple.  I had it printed at my local Walgreens during a 40% off sale and added the saying "YOU Are My HAPPILY EVER AFTER."

Under my picture frame sits my Hercule's Muse Vase, Cinderella's slipper, and the Frog Prince that I found at my local Goodwill.

On the right side of the mantel and our name sign, sit Lumiere, Chip the teacup, Beast's rose, and Rapunzel's frying pan.  (Frying Pans...who knew?  That quote always makes me laugh!)

On the left side sits Aladdin's magic carpet, his magic lamp, the three good fairies from Sleeping Beauty, and Maleficent the dragon.

I am really excited about how my Valentine Fairy Tale Mantel turned out.  It really puts me in the mood for some magic and happiness in my home this Valentine's day.

Make Your Own Castle Photo Booth Backdrop

This weekend was our town's Chocolate Walk.  Some sixty businesses gather together to host a day full of treats to give back to the community and help fund our city's annual Music and Blossom festival.

I decided to keep with my Fairy Tale theme and so we had our very own "Princess Chocolate" handing out chocolate roses to all her subjects.

But we needed a castle.  Every princess needs a castle.

Since I'm fresh out of medieval castles around these parts, we had to figure out how to build our own.  Since your little princess may want one too, I thought I'd share our easy DIY with you.  This way, you can use the idea for a great photo booth opportunity at your next princess party.

I started with the lemonade stand/kissing booth that Dear Hubby made for the Chocolate Walk last year.  Since most people don't have one of these laying around the house, you can use the same idea as I shared for the Photo Booth background and use PVC pipes.

It was actually really quick, easy, and cheap to make the castle.  Drama Queen and I found these sponges at Walmart in the cleaning aisles.  They were 2 to a package for $1.00.  Over in the paint department we found some grey paint on clearance and picked up a 0.97 plastic paint tray.  To finish our project, we found a beige flat twin bed sheet in the bedding aisle.

The sponges were perfect in size, but were wavy in shape, so we simply trimmed off the edges to make them into brick shapes.

We layed the bed sheet out on the floor with some newspaper and cardboard beneath it.  (Trust me, you will definitely need this so the paint doesn't ruin your floor.)  I was worried at first that we might need to iron the sheet, but it didn't end up being a problem at all.

Drama Queen sat on one side of the sheet and I sat on the other with the paint between us.  She started stamping the bricks onto the sheet until she got half way and I finished the other side.  It went really fast with the two of us working together.

We let it dry over night and by the next morning, it was good to work with again.

We wanted a castle window for our Princess to hand out the candy, so we folded the sheet in half and drew our window.  Then we cut the window out with a pair of good cutting scissors.

We finished off the castle with a piece of foam core board stamped with the brick design and cut into a castle top design.  Then we placed the piece on top using tape and screws.

Our princess entered the castle and was forced to stay there forever since the Evil Queen mother slayed all the boys who entered the store to save her.  (I am DEFINITELY not ready for her to be saved and carried off!)

If you want to see all the pictures from this year's Chocolate Walk, you can see them on our facebook page here.  But be prepared for some sweet eye candy!

As You Wish Free Printable and Shindig Saturday

What a crazy week it's been.

While most of the rest of you have been covered in snow for most of the winter, I live in a little bubble in Colorado that rarely gets anything but sunshine.

This week, that all changed.

We got hammered.  With both the cold and the snow.

It made me laugh when I saw this cartoon from The Main Street Mouse using the new Frozen movie.

I'm thinking we need to give the girl her darn Oscar already!  I'm ready for summer again.

So until then, I think I'll just enjoy the closeness that winter makes me get to my hot blooded husband.  Valentine's is on everyone's mind right now and since I'm working with fairy tales, my free printable this week is from one of the best "fairy tales" ever....The Princess Bride.  (hey, I can call it a Fairy Tale if I want...it's got the essentials!)

Pretty basic, but it sums EVERYTHING up.  

Now on to the party...

*Party starts Saturday morning at 12:05 am and runs through Friday night at midnight.  
* Link up to your OWN project post, not just your blog, but your actual post. (We want to see it!)

*Grab a Shindig Saturday button for your post or blog page. (Hey, it benefits us all!)

*Stay and enjoy the party by visiting and commenting on other's projects. (It's fun to mix and mingle!)

If you would like to be emailed when we go live each week, subscribe here. (I promise this will only be used to send you a reminder invitation!) 

How to Bring the Romance Back in your Marriage

Dear Hubby and I have been married for twenty years this October.  We've known each other since we were pre-teens, and so have a lot of history and time together.

In the beginning, it was easy to be romantic and go on creative, fun dates.  As the kids came along and our energy slacked, so did our quality time.  Dates became dinner and a movie.  (Not that I don't love a good movie and not having to do dishes, but talk about not very exciting.)  It was just SO MUCH work to plan and execute anything else.

While surfing blog land last year, I found the Dating Divas blog.  Can I tell you how wonderful these ladies are?  They solve so many of the problems that make it so difficult to bring the romance back into your marriage.

For Christmas, I gave Dear Hubby the Year of Dates Printable Binder Ebook.  It was so easy since all the dates were already planned,  organized, and set up so all we have to do is find a free night and go.  It was even an easy present to give, since all the printables are already designed up and ready to put into a three ring binder to give him.  I can't wait to try some of the romantic date ideas and bring some of the romance from the early days back.

If you're looking for more than 12 dates to choose from to bring back the romance, the Divas' have done the work there for you too.  Their Ultimate Date Night Ebook contains 226 pages of ideas and printables.  These are unique and "not to be forgotten" nights that will spark the romance and memories of time before the kids.  

If you're looking for something that has it all for Valentine's day, this Ultimate Valentine's Day Printable Pack is perfect for you.  It has ideas and printables for your Valentine's night date, gift ideas for your kids' teachers and their classmates, ideas for party planning, and decor.   The Divas and their friends have put together the perfect printable pack to make your Valentine's day easy and romantic!

I can't wait for our next date night now!  And I'm really looking forward to twenty more years with the most wonderful man I know.

January Blog Review

I knew January was going to be a let down after December's highs, but the numbers weren't as bad as I was expecting.  I still had a lot of visitors if I compare to October or November's visitors, so I'm glad about that.  The content on the blog in January wasn't my usual party content, so I'm not sure if that helped things or not.  The biggest concern I had was the complete drop in adsense and infolink numbers.  I don't think it should have dropped as much as it did, so I need to figure out what's going on there.

February will bring us back into party mode, so we'll see what that does to the numbers.  Adding the Shindig Saturday posts hasn't had much effect yet, but I'm still trying to invite people and boost the party up. I'm going to give myself a few months before I decide what to do about the blog linky party.  I would like it to be a great resource for my readers as well as a good source of views for the linkers.

In the meantime, here are January's numbers:

December: 

Google Analytics:
People Visiting Site:   24417   (-5647)
Unique Visitors:          26637    (-6866)
Page views:                   61164    (-23526)
Pages/Visit:                     2.30     (-0.23)
Average Visit:                0.50    (-6 sec)
Bounce Rate:                31.38     (+6.1)
New Visits:                     89.03    (+1.94)

Alexa Rank Worldwide:      174635  (-9717)
Alexa USA:                                 35649    (-8811)
Blog Followers (GFC)               309      (+0)
Twitter Followers:                    493   (+24)
Facebook Followers:                983  (+20)
Pinterest Followers:               2824  (+115)

Amazon                    +27.27
Infolinks                   -104.24
Rivit                           -0.36
Google Adsense       -36.05
Escalate                   -28.85
Sverve                       +3.00
Swagbucks               +20.00
Social Spark                 0.00

Decrease in profit:  -125.23

Disney Princess Party Tables

With Valentine's just around the corner, I've debated on what kind of Valentine's day party that I wanted to throw this year.  I wanted to do something a little different, but in a fun romantic way.  I ended up deciding to go with a Fairy Tale romance theme.

To kick off this theme, I wanted to share a repeat of the Disney Princess Tables that I did last year for our Young Women's camp fundraiser.  The girls had a Princess theme program and we dressed up each of the tables to match a different princess.  Many of the DIY projects are shared as well as the printables so you can make your own for a Disney Princess Party.

Snow White

This table had a yellow table cloth to match Snow White's dress.  For the centerpiece, we added the 7 Dwarf printables, the Magic Mirror, a wishing well, and a basket full of apples.

Beauty and the Beast

This table had a yellow table cloth to match Belle's dress.  In the center was Lumiere, Chip the Teacup, Babette, Cogsworth, and the Rose under the glass.  We scattered rose petals round the table to simulate the falling petals.

Princess and the Frog

This table had a purple table cloth.  I used trees found at Dollar Tree in the luau section to simulate the bayou.  I also scattered lilly pads and flowers around the table with this frog prince I found at Goodwill.

Enchanted

The Enchanted table had a blue tablecloth with the pattern of a dress cut out of the center to simulate the curtains that were made into dresses in the movie.  I added a Apple "martini", a plain apple, and a poisoned apple on a bike helmet.  I also included Pip the chipmunk and (Cinderella's other) slipper in a pale color to simulate the lost slipper that is found at the end of the movie.

Sleeping Beauty

This table had a pink table cloth with a rose, a plastic canvas dragon, and the three good fairies.

Mulan

This table had a purple table cloth and a bunch of Chinese items that one of the girls brought.  Her father had spent several years in Japan before her birth and they had a bunch of items that they were willing to share.

Hercules

This table had a pink table cloth with snakes, a chariot made from popcycle sticks and mason jar lids, and the muse vase.

Tangled

The Tangled table had a purple tablecloth to match Rapunzel's dress.  It also included a frying pan (yea, who knew?) from Goodwill, the lantern lights on a candlestick holder,Rapunzel's tower, and a lock of Rapunzel's hair.

Tinkerbell

This was a hard table to dress.  We ended up going with a pink tablecloth.  I scattered flowers or all kinds around the table and made colorful mushrooms out of felt and candle holders from Goodwill.  I also scattered butterflies around the table and a fairy glow wandfrom Dollar Tree.

Cinderella

Cinderella had a light blue tablecloth.  For the centerpiece, Cinderella's castle stood proud with her missing glass slipper to the side.

Hunchback of Notre Dame

We went with a fun theme for the Hunchback with a teal tablecloth.  In the center, we made the belles of Notre Dame and surrounded them with Marde Gras masks and beads.

Lion King

I did nothing to this table other than add a pink table cloth and Pride Rock from my front yard.  One of the other girls added her Lion King collection of figurines and I think it worked perfect!

Tarzan

Tarzan had a pink table cloth with a jungle of trees we found in the Luau section of Dollar Tree.  I printed off monkey clip art and tied it with fishing line to the tree branches.  We also had Tarzan and company sitting in the jungle thanks to one of the girls Disney collection of figurines.

Aladdin

Aladdin had a blue table cloth with a magic carpet that I made from plastic canvas.  I also found a gold teapot at Goodwill that looked like a genie lamp.  More figurines were added to sit on the magic carpet to finish off the table.

Little Mermaid

Ariel had a green table cloth with scattered sea shells.  We also tried to make sea weed by stringing green crepe paper on wire.  A glowing trident from Dollar Tree and a (half finished) Sebastian the crab completed our table.

Keep Calm Super Bowl Printable with Shindig Saturday

Are you all set for the Big Game tomorrow?

I've been so busy making all kinds of treats and projects for the party that I forgot that we don't have any way to watch it.  I cancelled our TV service months ago and we only have "bunny ears" that get ABC and NBC.  So now, we are without a way to watch the Super Bowl.  Can you say "duh?!?!"

Not sure if we are going to be able to find the game online or not, but if so, we'll miss all the commercials.  And most of the time....they are the best part.  Don't you think?

I hope you enjoy the game, but if not, at least enjoy the commercials and know we are envying you.  If your favorite team didn't make it, then go ahead and enjoy the commercials anyway.  And if you're on the wrong side of the winning team, at least there are the commercials to enjoy!

If you are looking for a few last minute ideas for your Super Bowl party, I shared some fun and easy DIY projects this week.  You can find Orange Julius recipe in a Bronco DIY Mug, Bronco Candy Bark, 10 Football Games, Plastic Canvas Football Helmet Napkin Rings, and Super Bowl Candy Bar Printable or two.

If you're tired of Super Bowl projects and would rather go "build a snowman" with your little sister, you need to check out Olaf the Marshmallow man from Pam's Party and Practical Tips.  My sister and I saw Frozen over the holiday break and she's always texting me snowman pictures now asking if I'll come out and play with her.  Since she lives in Texas, and I'm in the Banana Belt of Colorado, neither of us has snow like the rest of the country.  This snowman would be a perfect gift to send her.  Then maybe I can get that 'darn' song out of my head!

Definitely go check out Pam's great Frozen party features and other fun projects!  You'll be glad that you did.

Now on to the party...

*Party starts Saturday morning at 12:05 am and runs through Friday night at midnight.  
* Link up to your OWN project post, not just your blog, but your actual post. (We want to see it!)

*Grab a Shindig Saturday button for your post or blog page. (Hey, it benefits us all!)

*Stay and enjoy the party by visiting and commenting on other's projects. (It's fun to mix and mingle!)

If you would like to be emailed when we go live each week, subscribe here. (I promise this will only be used to send you a reminder invitation!)