Fakin' It

Rainbow Crayon Class Party Favor

L is celebrating her 5th birthday at school today. The public schools have put pretty stringent rules on what you can and can not bring in. No more homemade baked goods. They encourage non-edible items be sent in. I reluctantly went along with this but still needed to sneak in some homemade craftiness.

The theme for L's birthday is Rainbows and Crayons. She couldn't decide between the two so we did both.

 
Everyone in the class gets 5 crayons for L's 5th birthday. Her name is signed on the back of the tag.

If you would like to make you own, I am including images for the two printables I created. One general and the one shown above for 5 year olds.

  
Click on the image you want and it will appear full size. Right click on your mouse and select print. 

I have a ton of little lollipop bags. I bought 4 packs of 24 crayons for .40 cents each and put 5 crayons in each bag. Since the bags needed to lay horizontally, I taped the end closed with clear packing tape.  Each rainbow card was folded over on top so I could sandwich the extra plastic from the baggies inside and then staple it all together.

 
Smooth white cardstock works really well for this project.

 
For all the materials used, these ended up costing me about .20 cents per favor. Cute huh!?

Stay tuned for more rainbow crayon birthday ideas this week.

Thanks for stopping by Fakin It!!

Rainbow Crayola Birthday Invite

Sorry no muffin tin lunch today. This week we are going to focus on my daughter L's 5th birthday. Her rainbow birthday to be exact.

Awhile ago I found this awesome idea on Giverslog called Happy Mail. Essentially it is putting anything in the mail under 13oz as is. Over Easter, she mailed plastic Easter eggs, not in boxes, just the eggs with stamps on them.

 
Well, an 8 count box of Crayola Crayons is less than 13oz.

I started by creating invites on my computer, small enough to fit into the crayon box.

 
I signed L's name in the cloud. This "party" is just for L's two best friends and the mom's and I had already worked out the details. I just wanted the girls to get something fun in the mail.

 
The hang tag part of the box at the top is perforated, so I just ripped it off and taped the box closed with Scotch tape once the invite was inside.

 
I just used the extra cardstock left from trimming the invites for the mailing and return address labels. Once I had filled them out, I secured them on with packing tape. It cost .84 cents to mail each box.

I can not tell you how fun it was to hand the postal worker these boxes of crayons. He was laughing when he asked me if there was anything fragile, perishable, toxic ...inside. He just kept saying "OK" like he was trying to figure out why I would mail just a little box of crayons by itself. When I told him there was a birthday invite inside, he decided I wasn't as crazy as he originally thought. Hee Hee If he only knew...!

I will be sharing rainbow birthday ideas with you all week, so be sure to check back. I will even have some free printables.

Thanks for visiting Fakin It!

I've FALL-en for Pinterest

I admit it. I have an addictive personality. It seems every few months I develop a new addiction. For a long time it was Etsy. But today it is Pinterest. Have you noticed my new red button in the sidebar that says "follow me"? 

Pinterest is a way of sharing and organizing all the ideas you love.  Before, I was trying to store everything in my "favorites" bar under titles like "recipes" or "crafts I want to try". The thing was, I had to click on the links every time to figure what I had saved. With Pinterest, you can group your interests under specific headings, title each idea however you want, and have a picture to go with it. A simple and quick way to find what you're looking for.

With Fall right around the corner, I've decided to give you a peek into my "Fall Fun" Board on Pinterest.

Source: graciousrain.com via Becky on Pinterest

 

Super cute donut holes turned into acorns.

 

Source: None via Becky on Pinterest

 

My kids love guacomole  and would think this is hilarious!!

 

Source: cantstopmakingthings.com via Becky on Pinterest

 

Anything with the word "poop" in it gets a giggle from my kids - and me too:)

Well there is a peak into my Fall Fun Board on Pinterest. Click the "Follow Me" button if you want to see more.

Thanks for visiting Fakin It!!

Customer Service in a Cup

I am old enough to remember having an attendant pump my gas for me and clean off my windshield. I remember bank tellers always having suckers and dog treats. I am old enough to have watched good customer service go down the drain. And I must say that it baffles me.

In these tough economic times wouldn't you as management want to do whatever it took to keep the customer happy. Or as an employee wouldn't you want to be the the very best at your job in order to hold on to it? Yet more often than not, I feel like the mere presence of people in their place of business is an annoyance.

It is so rare that rather than expecting people to go above and beyond what is minimally expected that I feel the need to make a big deal about the few companies that do.

So here's a thumbs up or shout out to Copco.

Do you see this cup? It is my absolute favorite cup but sadly something is missing.

 
It is top rack safe in the dishwasher but my straw fell to the bottom and melted. I went to Joann's where I purchased it and asked if they had any damaged cups in the back that I could have the straw from. They were very nice and did check but no luck. They suggested I email Copco- the company that makes them. So home I went. I heard back from Copco first thing the next morning. They could have just told me that Bed Bath and Beyond sells extra straws and be done with it but no they actually offered to send me a free replacement straw.

Hmm I wonder what is in this nondescript package that arrived a week later. I guess they don't want it getting out what great customer service they provide.

 
Notice the top of the slip. Apparently Copco, Wilton and EK Success are all the same company. Kinda like how most of the department store makeup brands all belong to the same larger corporation. So much for brand loyalty. Still, I am very happy with my new pink straw!

 
 There it is - my new light pink straw . I forgot to mention in the email that my cup was bright pink. Oh well, I am still one happy customer. To prove it I bought a second Copco cup.

Wouldn't this make a cute gift for a friend? 

Thanks for visiting Fakin It. Be sure to come back soon. 

English Muffin Tin Pizza

I have been wanting to do this lunch for awhile now. What kid doesn't love to make his own pizza? Even my husband enjoyed this lunch, maybe not scooping the toppings from a pink ice cream muffin tin, but he thought it tasted good made his own way.

I had bacon left over from yesterday's breakfast and figured, why not?  Mozzerella cheese, pizza sauce, black olives, italian sausage, pepperoni left over from a pasta salad I made.

 

English muffins make great pizza dough becuase you can just use the leftovers for breakfast.

These cooked up pretty quickly in our toaster oven. These were the first two but I was able to fit in 5 at once.

A super yummy and satisfying lunch! 
 

I am going to use the leftover sausage and cheese to make this yummy Bob Evans brunch casserole, halved, for dinner tomorrow.