Conscious Box Giveaway and Help for Boston

****UPDATE****

This giveaway has ended and the winner is Kelsey Mackey!!!!
Thanks to everyone for participating and hopefully we can get more giveaways in the future! This was fun!!




Hello again!!!!! I know it's been awhile. I've been trying to decide where I want to go with this blog and everything. Forgive me, I have not forgotten about you.

I decided that I want to let you in on my life a little bit so we can really get to know each other.
Life has been busy lately, I landed a great freelance design position doing ads and programs for high school plays and sporting events. It's the most perfect job EVER. I get to stay home with my little Minions and make that much needed extra income to help pay the bills! The posts on here may be a bit sporadic until I really get in the swing of things , one thing that I lack is time management skills.

Anywho...now the reason you most likely came here!!!



....*drumroll*.....A GIVEAWAY!!!!!!

This may seem a little off topic for this blog, but since I'm changing things up and letting you in on my life a little this seemed like a perfect starting point.

As some of you may already know, I plan to homeschool my kids. At least for the early years until we can move into a better school district. I've already started with my daughter, she's 3 this year and already knows her numbers to 20, the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes, her shapes, colors, animals and their noises and much much more. She loves learning new things and we work on what she's interested in only. So if she just doesn't want to do something we just change the subject. Recently she informed me that she wants to do "real" school. So I've been busy putting together a great homeschool curriculum for her. She is currently learning to read and write (her choice) and we are slowly adding more subjects. One thing that has been very helpful recently is Educents. They are a daily deal site exclusively for educational materials. Educents launched on April 2nd of this year and has quickly grown to be one of my favorite sites. They recently offered me a chance to giveaway a great product and of course I could not turn them down!

       

Educents & Conscious Box have teamed up to offer you a chance to win a free Conscious Box – delivered right to your door!
Conscious Box offers a monthly subscription service that delivers the purest, most natural products on the planet, right to your doorstep! You’ll be introduced to the purest, most ethical companies on the planet, every month!  So what are you waiting for, sign up below for your chance to win and teach your kids about being eco-friendly!
As you wait to find out if you’ve won the box, we encourage you to:

• Like Conscious Box (Facebook.com/ConsciousBox) and Educents (Facebook.com/Educents) on Facebook!
• Leave a comment and tell us why you want the box!
• Share the giveaway with your friends! 

PLUS, if you aren’t the grand prize winner, you can still get a 3-month subscription to Conscious Box for less than $12/month by heading over to Educents.com. For one week only, Educents will be offering the Conscious Box for 40% off!  In addition, ALL profits from the sale of this box will be donated to The One Fund, which will provide funds to help those families most affected by the tragic events that unfolded during Monday’s Boston Marathon. So enter to win, and then head on over to buy the Conscious Box for yourself or a friend to celebrate earth day and support our fellow Americans in Boston!

This giveaway is sponsored by Educents.com. Conscious Box only ships within the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. They can also ship overseas to APO addresses, as well as US territories.

Educents, a flash-deal website, is an easy way to get huge discounts on the educational products you know and love (and maybe even some you’ve never heard of!)
In a world where education is becoming increasingly expensive, Educents is a company with a mission: to provide every family access to affordable educational materials. They focus exclusively on handpicked, unique educational materials including online curriculum, learning tools, educational toys, software, e-books, and more. With new deals added every day, Educents is quickly gaining popularity amongst parents, teachers, homeschoolers and learners of all ages.
 Come check out Educents.com to find your favorite brands at up to 90% off retail prices!



Giveaway ends on April 27, 2013. Winner will be randomly selected and announced on this page within 48 hours of  the giveaway ending. Winner will need to respond within 48 hours of  being notified and provide shipping address, or they will forfeit their prize and a new winner will be selected. The prize will be shipped on May 10, 2013. By entering this contest you agree to subscribe to Educents email list to receive news about future deals and giveaways. If any of this information changes you will be notified. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Disclaimer: I did not receive anything in exchange for this blog post/giveaway. I just genuinely love this product and Educents. I will, however, receive a referral credit if you sign up for Educents or Conscious Box and purchase something from their site.**

I mustache you a question...Valentine's Freebie!!

I was racking my brain trying to think of something awesome to go with the I mustache you a question... Valentine Collection when it came to me! We need somewhere to put the Valentines you'll be getting on Valentine's Day...right? A mailbox! I always see those cute little metal or plastic ones at the store around this time of year. So I whipped up a printable one you can assemble yourself for a fraction of the cost.

A mailbox...the perfect addition to the I mustache you a question... Valentine's Collection

I went and got them printed so I could post an assembly tutorial for you!

First you need to get your supplies:

• Scissors
• Adhesive (glue stick or double sided tape)
• Fastener (I used a brass brad fastener from the office supply store...you could use a more decorative one from the scrapbook supply store)
• The prints, I went and got mine printed on cardstock at a local print shop

Ok, now if you don't have all this already go run and get it. I'll wait.


Oh! You're back!  Great! Let's get started.

First make sure you have all your prints. I'm making two mailboxes so there should be 4 pages - 2 per mailbox.

All pages accounted for!

 Now you need to cut everything out.

Then start folding...Fold along the dotted lines and the top and bottom edges of the main body

I also curled the rims and main body by rolling them up a little 

Then measure the rims so they fit evenly over the body (length wise) with just a little over hang on each side and fold the parts that over extend.

see how it can stand on it's own since I folded the ends under

 Now you're going to take the front&bottom part and attach a rim to it...curving along the edge of the front portion.

Set that aside and grab the body and fold the back portion over the body and attach with glue or tape

I found it easier to go OVER the outside as opposed to gluing to the inside...don't worry it'll be covered with a rim later

Grab that front & bottom part and attach it to the main body

I'm not really left handed but I had to take pictures with my right hand! lol

I preferred folding the edges over the bottom instead of to the outside, it gives it a prettier edge

Now you can take that second rim and attach it to the back portion of the body concealing those tabs from earlier

And now the final step!! Fold the flag over and secure with your adhesive of choice. Then take that fastener and stab it through the bottom of the flag then through the body of the mailbox where there's a white circle.

Fold the fastener ends over to secure it and Voila! You have an adorable mailbox for Valentine's Day! Complete with working flag!

And here are the links to download your FREE Mailbox printable!

Page 1
Page 2

I hope you enjoy this and please check out the rest of the I mustache you a question.. Valentine's Collection on Etsy!!

1, 2, 3...Smile!

As some of you may know already, I run a photo booth for special events.

Winter is a slow...slow...slow time for the booth. So I just sit here twiddling my thumbs. To occupy my time I like to design things for the booth.

What sets my photo booth apart from the rest is that you are able to customize just about everything down to the print layout and background. That way you can match it to your event perfectly.

So today I just thought I'd share some designs I've done for past booths...and some I just made for fun!

I'll be posting in more detail about these designs in the future and some of them even have a whole collection of designs to match...and yes...I'm a Doctor Who addict. If you've never seen a single episode of Doctor Who...then I feel sorry for you. lol

Anywho, if you'd like to check out my booth and maybe even reserve a date if you're semi-local then check out the Facebook page: Oh Snap! Photo Lounge ....the actual website is a work in progress. ;-)

I *mustache* you a question.....

*Ahem* drumroll please......Presenting the Mustache Valentine Collection!!!!

"I *mustache* you a question..."
Mustache Valentine Collection
By: Jessica Beegle

Yes, I jumped on the mustache bandwagon. But these are just too cute!  It has everything you could possibly need to DIY an awesome Valentine's Day Bash!

Cupcake toppers and wrappers:

Treat bag labels:

And Valentines to give to your sweetheart:

The full DIY Printable Collection is just $40

Ala Carte:

Cupcake wrappers and toppers set:  $15

Cupcake wrappers only: $8

Cupcake toppers only: $12

Valentines: $18

Treat bag labels: $9

Mustaches: $8

Or if you want it all but don't want to DIY, I can do it for you! Contact me for a quote*

Shoot me a message with what you want to order and I'll create an Etsy Custom listing for you!

*price varies based on how many you need, does not include suckers or treat bags!

If you want to keep updated on new posts and products please follow me on Facebook.

New Facebook Guidelines....Again...

Yup, they're at it again! Shocking. I just think they like to keep us on our toes. Turns out they will be implementing new guidelines next week that will affect just about all of us. "*le sigh*

Beginning January 15th, Facebook is implementing a 20% rule for all cover images as well as images that are paid to be in newsfeeds (i.e. promoted posts and sponsored stories.) This rules makes it so that these images cannot include more than 20% text. Yikes! Just about every page I visit has a cover image with more than 20% text, mine included! I have a feeling this is going to cause issues for the many small business owners out there. So lets take a moment to explore these new guidelines and what they mean for you.

Newsfeed Images

If you pay to promote your posts, or, if you pay for Facebook ads that show up in people's newsfeeds, then the 20% rule applies to you. Images you pay to promote cannot contain more than 20% text. When stating this, Facebook is referring to the spatial aspect of images. Images that show up in newsfeeds are 398x398. The 20% doesn't have to be located in one area. Facebook will be using a grid based overlay detection tool to determine which ones meet their criteria. EEK! There's no skating around this rule.
Lets look at a couple examples.

This doesn't look so bad, but with the new 20% guideline it is way over the limit. 

This image is an example of a Facebook Newsfeed Ad that violates the 20% rule

Here, I've fixed the design and made sure only 20% of the image is text:

I re-sized the text to fit within the 20% guidelines and filled the empty space with another image

Cover Images

Nearly every business page these days  has a cover photo that includes more than 20% text. As a result this aspect will affect most of us. I'm already working on a redesign of  my cover photo. So what can and can't we do with our images?

Things you can't include:

• Price or purchase information ,such as "20% off" or "Download on our website"
• References to Facebook features or actions, such as "Like" or "Share"
   or an arrow pointing at any of these features. 
• Contact information such as email address, web address or information that should go in your page's "About" section.
• Calls to action, such as "Get it now" or "Tell your friends." Covers must not be false or deceptive and must not infringe on third parties' intellectual property.

Here we have an example of an image that violates the new guidelines:

This is my current Cover Image. It violates the price/purchase rule, the 20% rule and the call to action rule

 And here I've fixed it. I removed the line of text at the bottom because it violated 3 rules. I got very lucky that my original image didn't need a lot of reworking in order to abide by the rules. :

Revised cover within all guidelines. I got lucky that most of my text was within guidelines and I only had to remove one item to fix it.

Don't forget that logos are not exempt from these new rules! If you have a logo that contains text then it is included as part of your 20% allowance.

Help Is Here!

This all may seem a bit overwhelming. But don't worry! I'm currently running a special on my Cover Photo and Facebook Ad design services!  For a limited time I'm offering them at a 30% discount. Just mention the code NEWRULES when requesting services and I'll apply the discount for you!
Please keep in mind that this discount only applies to Cover Images and Facebook Newsfeed Ads.

I usually do these services for $50 with the discount it brings the service to $35. So send me a message and lets get to work and fix your Cover Photo before the Facebook police get you!

WINNING!

So, as some of you may know, I entered a graphic design contest earlier this month.

Guess what?! *spoiler alert*

I WON!!! 

So this is how it all started...

I was just sitting around hanging with the kiddos when I got a text from our local rock radio station, 104.9 The X, calling all graphic designers to enter a design in their "Beat the Designer" contest for their 13th annual Rock n' Roll up Your Sleeve Blood Drive. It was literally one day before the submission deadline but since I wasn't doing anything and the littlest one was napping I figured I'd give it go. I never win things anyway but it was just fun to get out a little creative energy. I submitted two designs and didn't give it a second thought.

Fast forward to the following week...I'm cooking dinner with the family and get a phone call, I rarely answer numbers that I don't know but this one looks familiar. Turns out it was someone from the radio station telling me that one of my designs was chosen as the winner!!

WOW!

Like I said, I never win anything...like, ever. So needless to say I was excited... I managed to maintain my cool while we discussed a few revisions they wanted to see and hung up. Then I literally RAN to the kitchen and started doing a happy dance, bouncing up and down screaming, "I won, I won!" Kyle thought I was a little nuts-o. Apparently he never doubted for a second that I would win, awwwwwww.  Anyway...on to the designs! Which is what I know you all wanted to see, not my ramblings. lol.

So first we have the winning design

Then the second design I submitted, admittedly my favorite of the two designs

Here's the final revised design

 So be one of the first 104 people to attempt to donate on Saturday, January 14th at Park Lanes from 9-4 pm and you'll get a free shirt with my design!