It's Giveaway Time!

I'm having my first ever giveaway!! I was going to wait until I was reaching 100 followers but I just can't wait, so to all my great followers and new bloggy friends I met during the first 3 months of "Life In The Trifty Lane" I am giving away a cute Christmas Basket.








You will find in it:

• Gingerbread Kitchen Towel & Pot Mitt
• Krusteaz Sugar Cookie Mix
• Gingerbread Cookie Cutter
• Santa Mug
• Hot Cocoa Cone
• "Believe" Ornament
• Baci Perugina Chocolates

Here is how you can enter (leave me a comment for each entry):

1. Follow Life In The Thrifty Lane


2. Tell me your favorite thing about the Holidays


3. Blog about this giveaway (link post in comment)
   
   

One of you fabulous friends will be randomly chosen on Monday Dec. 6th. NOW CLOSED

This giveaway is open to US & Canada residents only. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning email. If your email is not available on your profile then please leave a way for me to contact you if you are the winner.

Good luck to everyone!

Linking to:

Tuesday's Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Free For All Party @ Sassy Sites!

Birthday Goodie Boxes

This post is about the goodie boxes for Ryan's Birthday party. I'm going to show you what there was inside, what I made and some links in case you are planning too a Jungle or Safari theme birthday.

I got the cute little boxes from Amazon. 12 for $4.99.

Inside there was:

• Mini Play-Doh (got the Party Pack @ Kohl's on sale plus used a coupon)



• Animal print pencil (@ Michael's in the Dollar section)



• Single portion Hot Cocoa Cone



• 1 Silly Bandz
  


• 1 Neon bracelet/stick (Michael's)



• Rice Crispy Treat



• Soap with surprise



• Tattoos ( at Smith's from the Halloween clearance section)

Here is how you can make your own Hot Cocoa Cones. For these ones I used animal print ribbon.

I found a great tutorial for the soaps over @ Cap Creations ! They are really easy and fun to do. I added green apple scent to mine. And for the toys inside I used 1 Silly Bandz and 1 small jungle animal. I ordered circle labels too with cute little animals and Ryan's name on it from an Etsy shop but unfortunately they didn't arrived on time so the night before I made a scalloped circle out of cardstock, used some extra animal print paper and added a sticker. And voila'!

(Let me know if you are planning too a Jungle or Safari Theme Party, I can send you more links to get some inspiration or to buy more supplies.)

*COME BACK SOON TO VISIT ME, A GIVEAWAY IS ON THE WAY!*

Linking to:

• The Sunday Showcase Party @ Under The Table And Dreaming
• Hookin' Up with HoH @ House of Hepworths

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone Happy Thanksgiving!

Stylish Blogger Award

The other day I received a very cute surprise: the Stylish Blogger Award! And for this award I have to thank Chelsea @ Get Your Crap Together, that was really nice of you Chelsea!





The rules that came with this award are:


1. Thank and Link back to who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pay it forward to 15 recently discovered bloggers.
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award.



So here are few things about me:

1. I was born in Dallas, TX but raised basically all my life in Europe, mostly in Italy, where I did all my school years. I lived in Verona (the city of Romeo & Juliette) with my parents.

2. My mom was Italian and my dad Mexican

3. I moved back to the States with my husband and my daughter that at the time was only 18 months old on December 2006.

4. I've been married for 9 (and a half!) years and have 2 kids, a 5 yrs old girl and a 2 yrs old boy

5. I love chocolate and everything sweet. When I go to the restaurant the first thing I like to read on the menu are "Desserts".

6. I like romantic comedy movies, some of my favorites are: You've Got Mail and Something's Gotta Give. I'm not really into the adventure/fantasy ones!

7. I would like to go back and visit again New York City. In Europe I have to say that my favorite city is Berlin.

And now I would like to pass this award to these 15 great bloggers:

Fairytale Frosting

Chrissie @ Chrissie's Collections

Elena @ World Wide Mom

Crystal @ Savvy Moms Save

Marisa @ Make Happy

Amanda @ It's Always a Party at the Parkers

Melinda @ Under My Umbrella

Nadir @ Stitch Sense

Amanda @ Serenity Now

Erin @ Making Memories...One Fun Thing After Another

Robin @ All Things Heart and Home

Paula @ Sweet Pea

Mary Joy @ Seeds of Encouragement Sewn with Grace

Dawn @ Seven All Together

All That Glitters

Welcome To The Jungle!

On Sunday we celebrated Ryan's 2nd birthday!

Seems yesterday that we came home with him from the hospital.... Like for all of my birthday parties lately, it was a windy and rainy day!! It was such a nice day a few days earlier...! It happened also on my wedding day in April (9 years ago): rainy and windy day, sunny the day before and after!! Good thing I decided this time to do the party inside!

For the first time ,this year I did all the decorations myself without buying any "commercial" ones. I've been searching the web for inspiration and found lots of cool ideas.

Since it was a Jungle Theme party I made lots of paper-bag vines and I cut leaves out of green cardstock to hang all over the house.

Nicole even got the chance to use again her Halloween costume from last year!

I have to confess I'm not a fan of plushes! But this time they came in handy. I took out all the wild animals and place them in the living room and kitchen.

With my Silhouette I made a cute birthday banner. I used light green, yellow and brown cardstock from Michael's and animal prints paper from Hobby Lobby and than tight together with raffia. I wasn't so happy about how the letters came out, they were too dark but I made it late at night and ran out of a lighter color cardstock :(

The tablecloths were all green and for the buffet table I just added some empty CapriSun's boxes and shoes boxes, covered with a zebra print gift wrap paper from Hobby Lobby (I highly recommend their wrapping papers...great quality!) and used them to put some dishes on.

For extra decoration I did two centerpieces using a round piece of wood, some woods animals that you can find in any craft store and hot glue! They were very easy to make them and everyone loved them!

I bought the cake from Smith's to go with the theme and my SIL also made the cutes cupcakes ever!


We also had a magician coming over that did a small show, balloons for the kids and face painting. Everyone had a great time! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN! Mommy Loves You!!

(Sorry about the poor quality of the pics...hopefully "Santa" will bring me a new camera this year!!)

Linking To:

• Free For All Friday @ Sassy Sites!
• The Sunday Showcase Party @ Under The Table And Dreaming

Nellis Air Show 2010

Hello everyone! First of all thank you to all of you who have left me a comment for the Hot Cocoa Cones post :) It was really nice to read all your kind words!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I went to help my brother and SIL at their Kettle Corn stand at the Nellis Base (NV) Air Show. I went once as a "visitor" and for the last 2 years as a "vendor". It is a very nice event that I always enjoy but also lots of work! I woke up for 2 days at 4.30 AM, left at 5 AM and arrived at the base by 6AM and worked all day no stop till 5PM!!!! The kids were at home with their grandparents, my aunt and my niece.
The following day after the show I was very tired and couldn't do many of the things I have in my list for Ryan's B-Day party, but now I'm very focused and almost finishing everything!

I'll try to post the "Goodie Bags" for the party tomorrow.

Meanwhile here are a few pics from the Air Show:

And to all my followers, get ready because shortly a giveaway is coming up!!

Hot Cocoa Cones

Next week will be Ryan's 2nd birthday so I'm going to be pretty busy putting the party together but I'm already thinking about small Christmas gifts and ideas for teachers and stocking stuffer. I have 4 stocking to fill, 2 for my kids and 2 for my nieces, since we moved here we always did like that. So I have one for a boy, 1 for a 5 years old girl and 2 for teen girls. Something that I always like to give them is the Hot Cocoa Cone, the one with the chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. But they cost between $4-5 at Walmart or Target, so this year I decided to do them myself!


I got the clear cello cone bags from e-bay here. They were $4.49 for 50 plus $2.89 shipping. I can make 25 hot cocoa cones with them, because you will need 2 bags per cone. With 25 cones I have enough for stocking stuffer, teachers gifts and will probably make small ones for the birthday goody bags!



Here is what you will need for a cone that will make 2 cups of hot cocoa:

2 cello cone bags

2 bags of hot cocoa mix

4 tablespoons of chocolate chips

5 tablespoons of mini marshmallows

2 mini candy canes

ribbons

tag

rubber bands

Empty the 2 bags of cocoa mix in the first cello bag, twist right above the cocoa and secure with a small rubber band. Trim extra plastic on top and place it in the second cello bag. Now add 4 spoons of chocolate chips (I used 2 milk chocolate and 2 white chocolate), 5 spoons of mini marshmallows and for last the 2 crashed candy canes. Twist the bag and secure with a small rubber band, some ribbons, a jingle bell and a tag. I did mine using a scalloped circle that I cut out with my Silhouette Machine and 2 small circles and than stamped a Santa face using Stampin' Up "Deer Friends" set (I added some red glitter on his hat too).

They are really very easy to make and you can have fun decorating them the way you want. For the Jungle theme birthday I will just use animal print ribbon. Plus they will cost less than go buy one at the store!

Linking to:

• Show & Share @ Just a Girl


• Weekend Bloggy Readig @ Serenity Now


• Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots & Jello


• The Sunday Showcase @ Under The Table And Dreaming


• Handmade Holiday @ Just a Girl


• Show & Tell @ Blue Cricket Design


• Hookin' Up With HoH @ House of Hepworths


• Under $100 Party @ Beyond The Picket Fence


• All Thing Merry & Brite @ All Things Heart & Home


• Free For All Party @ Sassy Sites!


• Making It With Allie @ What Allie's Making Now


• Whatever Goes Wednesday Party @ Someday Crafts

Etsy Finds

It's been pretty busy around here in the last days. My in-laws are arriving tomorrow from Italy and they will stay with us for....2 MONTHS!! Yup! (Actually: 2 months and 6 days!!!Yes, I'm counting). So I'm enjoying my last night of peace and quietness on the couch and watching whatever I want on TV!

This weekend I will be all day working with my brother and my sister in law helping them with their Kettle Corn Stand at the Air Show in Nellis, NV. I did it also last year, very nice event and we were very busy all day long.

I was just looking around Etsy searching some Xmas gifts (every year I say that I start Xmas shopping in September and every year I end up with nothing till the end of November!)

I love FELT! So here are some items that I found and want to share with you:

How cool is this I-Phone case! Source

Felt Letter Set. They come in a bag too. Source

Beautiful felt necklace. Source

Lovely Doggy Ornaments. Source

I love everything from this shop!

So cute the Santa Booties! Source

Great for the kids to play! Source

I love this wreath! Source

Linking to:

• Featuring You! @ Sassy Sites!

Jungle Theme Rag Wreath Tutorial

In two weeks my little boy will turn 2! Terrible Twos! (In our case: Very Terrible Twos! Lol) It will be a "Jungle Theme Party" and I'm making all the decorations this year.
I was thinking for something to hang on the door and I came out with a Rag Wreath with jungle/animal print fabric.
It is a very simple project to do. I took some pics to show you how you can make one too:
You will need 1 yard of fabric of your choice (I got mine at Hobby Lobby for $4.89 and a 12 inch wire wreath ($1.99).

Cut out your fabric strips into 1 inch thick by 6 inches long.

Tie a strip of fabric on your wreath with a knot. Continue until your wreath is full.



That simple!! I think the longest part was to cut all the stripes, but other than that I did pretty fast.

To add something personal I got a wooden #2, green acrylic paint and green glitter. (I choose green because inside the house there will be lots of that color!)

I painted the number 2

And than after a layer of Mod Podge, sprinkle the glitter all over.

I tie a piece of green ribbon and attache it to the "2" with my hot glue gun

And here is the final result:

Linking to:

• The Sunday Showcase Party @ Under the Table and Dreaming
• Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
• Tuesday's Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
• Show & Tell @ Blue Cricket Design
• Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts
• Strut Your Stuff Party @ Saturday Mornings
• Hookin' Up with HoH @ House of Hepworths
• Under $100 Linky Party @ Beyond The Picket Fence
• Show & Share @ Just a Girl
• Weekend Bloggy Reading @ Serenity Now
• Making it With Allie @ What Allie's Making Now
• Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots & Jello
• Share & Tell Creativo @ World Wide Mom