Traditions…one of the things I love most about the Holidays. Many, many years ago, we started a great tradition…New Year’s Eve Countdown Goodie Bags.

My boys were quite young, but still wanted to stay up until midnight, and quite honestly, it was hard for my husband and I to stay up that late too. So, we started using Goodie Bags to countdown to midnight.

Using cardstock or construction paper, cut a circle, then simply draw a clock on each circle, facing the hands toward each hour. I start with 8 p.m., but only because it’s less expensive to fill only 5 bags per child.

I use Dollar Tree goodies, and try to find more than one item in a package, to further cut down on the cost. I also always put the noise makers and poppers in the midnight bag and hand those out a few minutes before the hour, that way, we aren’t hearing the noise for hours. Some other items I have used in the past are glow necklaces, small puzzles and toys, and candy.

I display them on the Buffet with shiny gift bag filler and noise makers. You can also color coordinate for each child if you want, making it easier for each child to keep their bags seperate. I also keep the clocks from year to year.

This has become such a tradition for my boys, last year, my oldest, then 18, had to work, but he asked me to be sure to save his bags for him.

Do you have New Years Eve traditions?

I’m linking to…Holiday Home, Saturday Sevens, Sundae Scoop, Made by you Monday, Show Me How, Get Your Craft On, Transformation Thursday, Show & Tell Friday, Weekend Wrap up Party

Here we are at the end of our week long Blogging Anniversary Celebration! Wow!! What an awesome week we have had!

I’m ending the week with the BEST giveaway I have ever had!! I have received lots of offers and goodies in the mail, but this one is by FAR the most memorable I could have ever received!

A painting of my boys!! AND, not just any painting!! A Modern Bird Studios painting!!

Many months ago I was contacted by the great gal, Megan from Modern Bird Studios, asking me to run a giveaway. And then…well…life with 3 boys happened! Do you know how hard it is to get 3 teenage boys home at the same time? Let alone…dressed and all in the mood to have their picture taken?

I finally threatened asked them nicely, and we got the pictures taken. Then came the hard part of choosing…here is the picture I sent to Modern Bird…

Yes…those are pumpkins! Shows you how long ago it was.

Anyway, Megan was AWESOME to work with, she sent me color choices, and even fixed Casey’s smile on the original piece that they had ready. Then it arrived…and I cried

And to show you how they look together…

AMAZING!! Simply AH-MAZ-ING!!!!!

Would you like one of your own? Modern Bird Studios is offering a discount to Hoosier Homemade readers! Receive 15% off your order until March 11, 2011…use discount code HOOSIER.

Can you tell I LOVE it? And guess what?? I get to give one of my readers one too!!

GIVEAWAY GUIDELINES: One winner will receive $200 Gift Certificate from Modern Bird Studios. US and Canada residents only please.

This giveaway will remain open until Friday, March 4, 2011 at 10 p.m. CST. Winner will be chosen at random, notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond.

Entries only accepted on this page. Facebook and Twitter entries do not count.

REQUIRED ENTRY:

• Visit Modern Bird Studios, and click on the products tab at the top, come back HERE and tell us which type of painting you would love to have AND who would you like the painting to be of. (son,daughter,pet)

BONUS ENTRIES: Please leave a seperate comment for each entry.

• Follow Modern Bird on Twitter
• Follow Modern Bird on Facebook
• Subscribe to Cupcake Chronicles or Hoosier Homemade
• Follow Hoosier Homemade on Facebook or Twitter
• Follow It’s A Blog Party on Facebook or Twitter

Don’t miss our other giveaways going on now!

• $5 Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook {ends 2/28}
• Bounce for a YEAR {ends 3/1}
• Zoolu $50 Gift Certificate {ends 3/2}
• Veripur Hand Sanitizer {ends 3/3}

When I saw this fun wreath over at How Does She? blog, I knew right away I wanted to give it a try. Sometimes making time do get crafts done, can be a little hard. But, when you have a special occasion, like a birthday, you can find the time.

It was time to celebrate, Nick’s (middle son) girlfriend’s Step-Mom’s birthday. While I worked on the Pool Cupcakes, Nick and Brittney worked on the wreath.

All you need is a straw wreath, balloons and floral pins. I bought the pins at Walmart, they were by the silk flowers, but you can probably find them at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s, I’m sure.

Just put the balloon in the fold of the pin, and poke it into the wreath. Sorry, I was so busy working on cupcakes, my photo taking was a little lax. You can grab all the detailed instructions, from Missy over at How Does She? blog. And while you are there, take a minute…or 15…to look around, their blog is jammed packed with great ideas! I could spend hours over there!

You can most certainly hang it on your door, which is what you typically would do with a wreath…

Or…where it as a head piece

Enter to win some great Wilton Products! Perfect for your party cupcakes!

 I’m linking to the Blog Parties in my footer, please visit them! You might just find one or two that are new to you! 

Last weekend, we took the afternoon and headed to the beach. We have beautiful lakes around us. We are about 15 minutes only from Lake Michigan, and also have several lakes here in LaPorte too.

Packing a Picnic for the Beach can be lots of fun, but sometimes tricky, because you don’t want to take food that will melt, like chocolate, or food that will fill you up too much and make you feel heated in the weather. Even though I REALLY wanted to take some Beach Cupcakes with us!

While the kids were getting their “gear” ready, I cut the bread with cookie cutters for sandwiches. Then while I made a late breakfast, the kids put the sandwiches together.

They made Peanut Butter & Jelly, and some Ham & cheese. We also used a Melon Baller
and made some Fruit Kabobs with Watermelon, Cantelope, Strawberries and Blueberries.

Sorry, my pictures are from the beach, not at all fancy this time. But a very good lunch though, my son said…”I love this lunch, so simple, yet just perfect!”

I added some bottled water with Mix’ins, that way we covered both bases with drinks, a bag of chips and some snack crackers.

The kids had fun playing in the sand, and we all built a very “lovely” castle.

Are you a beach lover? What do you pack in your Picnic Basket?

Share with me over in my Blog Frog Community or on Facebook! I’d love to chat!

I’m linking to the Blog Parties in my footer, please visit them! You might just find one or two that are new to you! 

It’s been such a long time since I’ve shared a Wordless Wednesday post, and I had these great pictures from our weekend at the Lake, I just had to share. Plus, you know, my other blog, It’s A Blog Party…we have Wordless Wednesday every week! So I just had to join in the fun!

One of Doug’s part-time accounts, let us use his Chalet for the weekend. The kids enjoyed fishing, and swimming. I enjoyed laying around, most of the time. We went to our Hometown Parade, that has over 100 units. And of course, fireworks.

How did you celebrate the 4th?

I’m linking to the Blog Parties in my footer, please visit them! You might just find one or two that are new to you! 

Last weekend, my oldest son, Andrew, graduated from High School. We had just a small party, but I still wanted to decorate for him.

I used an orange and black piece of fabric, because those are the school colors. And simply added items that had meaning.

• Trophies that he won
• A Rock Band guitar, because he is a big game player
• Pez that he collects
• Monopoly, his favorite game (Nightmare Before Christmas Edition)
• A Nightmare Before Christmas Figure
• A T-shirt from Camp in 4th. grade
• Some movie mylars ( he LOVES the movies, and works at the theatre)
• A book that one of his classes made this year in school
• A drawing that he did several years ago
• And the MOST amazing drawing he has ever made (self-portrait)
• And of course, his diploma

You could most certainly change this to fit any Celebration!

• A Birthday
• A Promotion
• Anniversary
• Any milestone…maybe even Summer Reading program

You could also change it, and place some items on a table, or shelf. It doesn’t have to be a Mantle. Have fun and think outside the box for your own Celebration Mantle!

I’m linking to the Blog Parties in my footer, please visit them! You might just find one or two that are new to you!

Our oldest son, Andrew graduates from LaPorte High School in a couple weeks. Since we don’t have family that live near us, and won’t be having a super, big party, I decided just to make his invitations.

He went to the Prom a couple weeks ago, so I used one of the pictures that I took. I uploaded it to Picnik, my favorite photo editing site, added a border, his name and year.

I used Microsoft Publisher to make post card size invitations. There may be an easier option, but I’m not very techy, and I know how to use Publisher.

I simply printed them onto white cardstock, and bought some invitation envelopes at Walmart for the ones I’ll be mailing. Then Andrew can have some to hand out to friends. I’ve covered our address, you can never be too safe.

You could use this idea to also make invitations for a birthday, shower, house warming or just about any get together you are planning!

Here’s a short video I took before Andrew left for Prom. Don’t laugh at me too much!

I’m joining the Blog Parties in my footer. Take a minute to visit a few, you might just find a new one to join!

And these…