Q&A with Valerie: All About Blogging

Don't forget to enter our Snapfish Photobook Giveaway!  Click here to enter! I get asked a lot of questions about blogging, especially from my "real-life" friends.  With SO many blogs out there today, you might be wondering if starting a blog is still worth doing.  The short answer:  ABSOLUTELY!  So today I'm going to answer some of those FAQ's about how I blog, why I blog, and how you can do it too!

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Q:  How long have you been blogging?      Chances are, you haven't been with me since the beginning!  My first post was in April 2010, so it's been 4 years!  I can't even believe it.  You can see my very first project here.  You can see my writing and photography has improved a ton since those first days.  

Q:  Why did you start a blog in the first place?      I was an avid blog reader for awhile.  I loved to re-create things I saw online and give them my own twist.  When I started coming up with my own ideas, I knew that I could "do what they were doing", and so I decided to give it a try!        At the time, I also had three young kids at home (then 5, 3, and 7 months old).  I was in desperate need of a creative outlet!

Free Easter Printable + A HoneyBaked Easter Dinner

**  This post is sponsored by HoneyBaked Ham.  I was given a gift card to purchase food items and compensation for writing this post.  However, I was not paid to give a positive review.  All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.**
Easter is family, gathered around the table to enjoy time with each other. Easter is friendship, extending love and care for each other on a special day and all days.
Easter is new clothes, new dresses, and new ties! (Weren't we adorable?)

Easter is eggs, bunnies, chocolate, and jellybeans.
Easter is joy at the glorious news of the Savior's resurrection.  It's taking time to remember that He overcame death, and because of that, so will we!
I'd say all of this is cause for a delicious dinner and celebration.
How do you celebrate Easter?
We start with an Easter Egg hunt when the kids wake up, followed by the devouring of jellybeans and chocolate bunny ears.

We have a delicious  breakfast, then get ready for church.  We dress in our Sunday best and worship in song and speech.  I get to sing in the choir, and my children perform a special children's number.

Then we gather around the table with friends for a delicious Easter dinner.  I rarely take the time to make our table look special, but Easter is one of those few special times!
This year I made this simple Easter centerpiece with items from around my house.  I used cute patterned tissue paper as a base.  Is that weird?  I love it!

I included this printable  (yours to download at the end of the post) with a line from my favorite Easter hymn.  

If your day is anything like mine, your Easter day is C-R-AZY!  Holidays are exhausting!  Having RA makes it worse- baking, cooking, decorating, and cleaning wears out my poor joints.  By the end of a holiday I am usually in bed with ice or heat on my joints, barely able to move.  It sure would be nice to have some help to get that meal cooked and ready!  This is where HoneyBaked Ham comes in!
I made a quick visit to my local store, which is located in Glendale AZ.  I have to admit, though I've eaten HoneyBaked Ham before, I've never set foot in a store!  The manager, Kate, was very helpful in walking me through the process of choosing the perfect ham and sides for my group.  Since my family lives far away, it's just my little family of five and a few friends eating together.  A quarter ham was the perfect size.
The ham comes fully cooked, though I let it come to room temperature  for our dinner.  It's also pre-sliced, which my joints LOVE!  I love the spices and that crunchy crust.  We all loved the ham!

I chose the Sweet Potato Souffle, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and the Macaroni and Cheese for our sides.  One of my children will only eat mac 'n' cheese, or he'll also eat pizza, which is not on the menu!   I know you're curious: we loved the Mac 'n' Cheese- even the adults!  It was creamy and cheesy, and the large noodles made it feel a little more "grown-up". 

The Sweet Potato Souffle was a close second.  I usually don't like Sweet Potatoes, but I felt like I was eating dessert, this was so yummy!

The Garlic Mashed Potatoes sure looked delicious!  But, honestly, they were a bit dry and could've used more flavor.

The thing I love about all the sides is that they cook either in the microwave or the oven, so they are a huge timesaver!  And I'm pretty sure my friends would never know I didn't make them from scratch!
I also picked up some King's Hawaiian rolls (we chose the honey-wheat)

and a cheesecake sampler for dessert.  

You can view your local store's menu here:  (use the store locator, then click on your store for the menu)
I didn't have to spend hours in the kitchen to have a delicious meal with my friends.  It was completely affordable as well- I doubt I would have spent less on all the ingredients at the store!  

What did my kids think?

If you'd like to try out HoneyBaked Ham for your Easter meal, here's some specials you can use with your order.
If you'd like the Easter printable, you can right click on the image (open in a new tab for full size)  and save to your computer, or you can simply click here.

And finally, there's an awesome giveaway going on!  20 people will win a $50 HoneyBaked Gift Card to help pay for your meal!  Enter via the Rafflecopter widget below (giveaway ends 4/13) a Rafflecopter giveaway


Have a wonderful Easter!
P.S.  I am linking up to the Link Party Palooza and other parties this week!  Come check them out!

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Why We're Adding Ads

We had some rough times this week here at Occasionally Crafty.  We had some technical issues with our site that took most of a day to fix (time I really don't have).  We finally got it done at almost midnight, and now everything's back the way it should be.  Not to mention I got to hang out with Mr. Grumpy Pants this week.

So, if you're visiting us for the first time this week, you might notice something new.  After some deliberation, Laura and I decided to work with Today's Mama and add some ads to our blog.  There are a lot of ad networks and money making opportunities when you blog, but for the most part we've decided to opt out of a lot of those.
However, we like Today's Mama because it's a great community for moms of all types.  We've read and enjoyed many of their articles.  Their ad network is family friendly, and we hope will show ads that you readers might genuinely interested in.  Our commitment to you is that the ads will stay that way-- so if you ever see something come up that you find questionable, let us know! 
When we returned to blogging after our break last summer, we decided that we were going to keep Occasionally Crafty from being any kind of full-time business for us, as many craft blogs have become.  But running ads (and the occasional sponsored post) helps us pay for our supplies and for the behind-the-scenes technical work that we have to do (and pay for) to keep this blog up and running.  So we hope you'll keep stopping by to see our latest projects (and if you're seeing this on an email or RSS feed, please click over to the blog once in awhile!)

Thanks as always for your support!

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Make Your Party Rock with Supplies from One Way Novelties

* When we write a sponsored post, it's because we think a product or company would interest YOU.  Today's post is about one of those companies. If you are Canadian, you'll especially want to check out this local company!  So you know, we have been compensated for writing a post reviewing the company, but our opinions are entirely our own. It's Holiday Party season, and I don't know about you, but my calendar is booked!  I have parties at church, parties at the kids' school, parties with friends, etc.   You know I don't like to go overboard with super-expensive, over the top parties for my kids and friends, but I do like things to be fun and memorable.  One place that has a great variety of toys and props for your events is One Way Novelties. Let me show you some of the great deals I've found there: If you have a princess party coming up, these flashing tiaras will be a hit!  And at only $14.85/dozen, they fit my qualification for a thrifty find.

Have a Pirate-themed party coming up?  One Way Novelties has bandannas in all different colors, including these cute pirate ones! They're $9 for a dozen, so again- this is budget-friendly.

We're going to Disneyland soon, and I know at night they sell all these cool glowing products.  Well, I think I'll stave off the "gimmes" by ordering some of these awesome Flashing Ball Necklaces.  These are so much cheaper than buying glow stuff at the park!

You can see the full catalog of novelties here. 

Now for a word of caution: this is a Canadian company, so if you live in the U.S. your shipping will be more than you're probably used to paying.  So, make sure you load up your cart before you checkout to make the shipping worth the extra cost!  

If you have a fundraiser, party, or other event coming up, I hope you'll check out One Way Novelties.  They have so much to offer and the price is right.  I'll certainly be using them for my family.  And- good luck with all of YOUR Holiday Parties!

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Dinosaurs Galore! A Craft Kit for Kids: Review and GIVEAWAY!

Disclaimer:  I was asked to review a craft kit for the Two Kids Cooking Shop and was provided the kit to review.  I was not compensated in any other way.  Any thoughts or opinions are 100% my own!
I've had three extra people in my house for nearly a month now.  We're doing a bit of service to help out a friend and her family, and while we've been happy to help, having a few extra kids in the house certainly has thrown a few wrinkles into my life.
I really wonder how you moms of multiples do it.  One of the children staying with us is nearly the same age as my youngest son.  She's 3 1/2, and my son just turned 4.  It feels like what I imagine it must be like to have twins.  
By the way- here is some Earnest family trivia for you. My husband is the last of 4 brothers (and he also has three sisters).  Every brother, except for my husband, has twins.  And two of his brothers have TWO SETS of twins.  That means, for those of you who stink at math like me, there are five(!) sets of twins in the Earnest extended family.  Cuh-razy!  

Sets #3 and #5 live in Boston and couldn't make this trip.  Boo.

I think God knew I could not handle twins.  Thus, our children are all singletons.
Anyway- I have been desperately trying to find things to keep my faux-twins busy this month so they don't a) kill each other or b) destroy my house.  So when Kelly at Two Kids Cooking contacted me and asked me to participate in their store's launch, I jumped at the chance to try out one of their awesome craft kits.
By the way- you HAVE to check out the Two Kids Cooking blog- there are so many kid friendly crafts and recipes, plus some great parenting advice.  It is a lifesaver for people like me who enjoy doing things with kids but don't always have great ideas of what to do with them.
So, the Two Kids Cooking shop sent me this Dinosaurs Galore kit to try out.  It comes all wrapped up in this cute package!  (Sorry for the poor lighting in this photo- I got it all out, then realized at the last minute that I needed a picture of it for the blog! )

It comes with everything you need.  

I was impressed with the quality of the dinosaurs.  I have gotten craft kits where the cutouts are flimsy plywood sheets.  These are thick, heavy pieces that will stand up to lots of playing.  As you can see, it also includes sandpaper, paint, and brushes, along with the instructions.
I set the kids to work sanding their dinosaurs (though ours were pretty smooth already).  They loved this part!

Then we painted the base coat.  I definitely had to help the littles with this, or they would've used up all the paint one one side.  Also, I am glad they chose different colors for the dinosaurs.  I don't think there would've been enough of one color to paint more than one dinosaur.  That's about the only con I found in these kits.

Once the base coat dried, we got to work decorating the dinosaurs.  One child wanted me to help them- the other wanted to do it herself.  Betcha can't tell which is which ;)  (you totally can!)

We let our dinosaurs dry, then let the faux-twins play away.  My kids LOVE dinosaurs.  They watch Dinosaur Train, Dino Dan, The Land Before Time, and anything else that has dinosaurs in it.  So this kit is right up their alley.  I have two more dinosaurs that I'll let the older ones decorate.  Someday.  When my life is a little more organized again.
Now, I want to let you know that you can win a craft kit of your own.  Two Kids Cooking is giving away 5 Dinosaurs Galore Kits, 1 Falling Leaves Garland Kit and 1 Curious Chef 5 Piece Pizza Kit.
Simply enter via the Rafflecopter below.  The giveaway runs through November 9th, and a winner will be drawn on the 11th.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Deliberate Motherhood: If You Are a Mom, Read This Book

When I was in college, I couldn’t wait to graduate and begin my career as a teacher. 

After I began teaching, I met the man who would be my husband, and we were married within a year. 

  While I loved teaching, I began to dream about the day I would be a mother. 

When the time was right, we made plans to begin our family.  Due to a medical condition I have, it takes very specific planning to bring a child into the world.  The time was finally right, and I was expecting our first child.  As a high school band teacher, I would arrive at school around 6:15 am for marching band practice, and would often be at school until 10:00 pm or later due to basketball games, football games, concerts, and the like.

I knew I could not be the teacher my students deserved if I was also the mother I wanted to be.  So I resigned my position when my first child was born and became a stay-at-home mom.

The thing is, I’m not sure I've become the mother I envisioned.  Mothering is the hardest thing I’ve ever done- and that includes Advanced Chemistry in high school! (kidding/not kidding)  There have been times I've wept into my pillow, times I wished I could hide in the bathroom forever, and certainly times I wondered what in the world I was thinking having kids.  As much as I love my kids, I often feel like a failure as a mother.

Being a blogger who is a mother has complicated things for me.  I've questioned again and again the time I've spent pursuing my blogging goals, trying to find that balance between pursuing my own interests and mothering a family.

One of the resources I've found in my search for sanity and balance is the Power of Moms website.  I had no idea that an old college friend, April Perry, is one of the directors (long live Stover Hall and the BYU 95^th ward!)  I've been a member of the site for quite a while, and it alone has been an empowering experience.

Because of this, I have the opportunity to review a book compiled by Power of Moms, called Deliberate Motherhood: 12Powers of Peace, Purpose, Order, and Joy. 

It features the stories, wisdom, and ideas of more than 60 excellent writers who have come together to strengthen mothers.  As for the title, being a deliberate mother means “…you really think about what you do as a mom.  You really care about your family and want the best for them.  Plus you want to learn and grow and develop yourself as a person through the experience of motherhood.  You live life purposefully.  You embrace what you uniquely bring to your family,” (p. vii).

I sat down with the book and a pencil to mark things that stood out to me, and I can tell you, there are very few pages without a pencil mark.  This book is insightful, inspiring, and empowering.  Every mother should read this book, and read it now.

The mothers in this book are as varied as those you’ll find in the world- single, married, working, home, etc.   No matter your situation, you  will see yourself in this book as you read.  

I appreciate especially the format of this book.  There is so much entailed in being a deliberate mother. It can feel overwhelming when you ponder on all you want to do and be for your children.  Deliberate Motherhood makes this manageable by breaking up the salient points into sections or chapters.  I plan to follow the advice in the book: to really focus on one “power” or area a month.

I don’t want to give away everything in the book, but I wanted to list a few of the powers mothers have and should develop.  These stood out to me because they are probably my biggest weaknesses!

• Patience
• Individuality: Celebrating Our Uniqueness
• Balance
• Fun:  Putting Extra in the Ordinary

After reading this book, I feel encouraged.  I can recognize more strengths in my parenting than I thought I had.  I see more things that I’m doing well.  My heart was lifted when I read "Today, I know I'm a good mom because I am committed to my children and to myself in this role," (p.19).

I feel empowered.  There are so many great ideas, so many insightful thoughts.  There are helpful anecdotes and powerful quotations. I know I can do better and I’m armed with the tools to do it.  

• One mother made a plaque for her family room with their family goals on it. Of course this appeals to my crafty side, and I'm already thinking up one for our own family!

I feel inspired.  I don’t feel like I have to change because I’m guilted into it.  I don’t feel like I just read a book telling me everything I have been doing is wrong.  The opposite is true. I feel inspired to improve and change some of my mothering “habits” because I recognize truth in what I read. I know how much I love my children and I know, I want to do better.

"The power of mothering and living with intention is having a vision for our lives and key relationships....It is knowing who we are and lining up our doing and being with the glory of our possibilities," (p.100).

You can order a copy of Deliberate Motherhood here.  Read it, and while you’re at it, order one for your sister, for a new mom’s shower gift, or for a friend who is overwhelmed with her own parenting struggles.

If you're interested in Power of Moms, you can find them at the places below:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Finally, there's a wonderful giveaway going on at Power of Moms!  For anyone who purchases the book in September and sends their receipt (or an email acknowledging purchase) to dm@powerofmoms.com, they’ll receive complimentary access to the Deliberate Mothering Podcast series (valued at $20). Also, on October 4^th, 10 Grand Prize Winners will be selected to receive the Power of Moms Premium Package (valued at $224)! See the POM Store for all the fabulous programs in the Premium Package: . For all the information on this special giveaway, visit http://powerofmoms.com/deliberate-motherhood/.

I'm working on being a better mother every day.  What mother isn't?  I'm grateful to have this wonderful tool in my arsenal.  I hope you'll let me know if you read it, and what you think.

*Disclaimer- I received a copy of Deliberate Motherhood in exchange for an honest review on my blog.  All opinions are mine and no compensation was offered or received in exchange for a positive review.**

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Sassy Steals GIVEAWAY!

Just in case you need another awesome daily deal site to get addicted to, today I'd like to introduce you to Sassy Steals.
Sassy Seals offers daily online deals on womens jewelry, womens trendy clothing and other handmade crafts.  Here are some examples of recent deals they've had:
I love these initial  necklaces!

They have cute clothing deals, like tunic tank:

And they even have home decor deals, like these sweet chevron table runners.

Visit SassySteals.com for women's fashion deals and weekly giveaways!  Use code sassy15 at checkout for 15% off your first purchase!
Today Sassy Steals is giving one of you the chance to win this fun Polaroid 300 camera and film, in your choice of purple, blue or black- a $90 value!

This camera is a novelty in this day when we take hundreds of photos, but rarely print them.  The Polaroid 300 prints instant, business-card size photos with all the nostalgia of the "old days" but a heightened quality and sharpness.  It has Auto flash in low light, an auto-adujst electronic shutter to 1/60 second, manual exposure compensation, and four scene settings to capture the perfect photo in any light.
This is a fun, highly-rated camera that makes a great gift or a fun tool for a party, wedding or other event where you want to capture the moment and send someone off with a photo.  
Entries to win are simple- just use the Rafflecopter form below to enter.  This giveaway is for the US only.  I'll announce a winner next Monday on Facebook and via email- so make sure you are checking your spam folders and that you've liked our page!
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