Star Sponsor Feature: Sweet Caroline

Meet Caroline:

Hi Friends! My name is Caroline and I am the crazy person behind the shop Cotton Lane and the author of the blog, Good Times Never Seem Sew Good. When I'm not blogging about my life a as a newly wed, DIYs, fashion (sort of), and other tid bits, I am either busy creating fresh goodies for my handmade shop or working non stop at a local fabric store. Are you tired yet? :)

Shop ~ Twitter ~ Blog ~ Facebook

**COUPON ALERT**

Take 10% off your order with coupon code YESTEACHER10

Star Sponsor and Giveaway: The Arizona Russums **CLOSED**

Meet Jen:

My blog is a place where I share my adventures as a newlywed living in a new state, the joys and pains of grad school, and little bits of home management advice and inspiration along the way. Mostly, it's an outlet where my I share about my faith in Jesus to encourage other women.

**GIVEAWAY ALERT**

Jen is giving away a one month large ad sponsorship on her blog!!

Here's how you can win:

MANDATORY entry:

Follow Jen's lovely blog

EXTRA entries:

+1 Like Jen on Facebook

+1 Follow Jen on Twitter

+1 Share this giveaway on Facebook or Twitter

Sample tweet: Win a FREE month of advertising with @jenrussum over on @yes_teacher 's blog!! http://tiny.cc/rukno

This giveaway is open worldwide and will end on Tuesday, Dec. 20th. Winner will be emailed and announced on this blog! Good luck!!

Tickle Me Tuesday, 48th edition

Welcome to the latest edition of Tickle Me Tuesdays, where we all share what's been tickling our fancy!

If you'd like to participate (and you know you do!!), here are the rules:
  

1. Write a short post with anywhere from one to five items that have been tickling your fancy recently. Please include pictures and links :)

2. Make sure to link back to the party in your blog post (you can grab the button or include a text link)

3. Come back here and link up your blog post!  

4. Visit some other links and HAVE FUN!

White Ceramic Votive Holders

Vintage Glasses Ornaments

Reindeer Table Top Decoration

Now it's your turn! What's been tickling your fancy lately?

<a href="http://yesteachercrafts.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s92/french_mk/tickle.jpg" /></a><br />

Missionary Kid Monday: You Know You're an MK When....

Because we are caught between our parents' home culture and the cultures of one (or more) other countries,  missionary kids have become their own culture. It's why some people refer to us as "Third Culture Kids".

This is a long list that's kinda famous. Some of it may even apply to you! Below, I've picked some of my favorites:

via

You know you're an MK when:

1. Your family sends you peanut butter and Kool-Aid for Christmas.
2. You think VISA is a document stamped in your passport, and not a plastic card you carry in your wallet.
3. You go to a church you have never been in before and find your picture on their bulletin board.
4. Someone asks you where you most enjoy just hanging out and you immediately think of happy hours spent in international airports.
5. You don't know whether to write the date as month/day/year, day/month/year, or some variation thereof.
6. You know how to pack.
7. You can't get past "Oh, say can you see ..." in the national anthem, and you have to watch to see what hand to use.
8. You mess-up your idioms without even thinking about it.
9. You feel like you need to move after you've lived in the same place for a two months.
10. You meet another MK, and discover that you share the same best friend.

Important Shop Announcement

My shop will be on vacation mode from December 15th to January 3rd! So if you've had your eye on some cute Christmas cards or mini notes, NOW IS THE TIME!! :)

Gift Giving Traditions

I inadvertently started a gift giving tradition in 2004. It was the year we were all together in California with my grandma:

See how young we all look? (And it was only seven years ago!)

This was the year I made my grandma a scrapbook calendar. To say she loved it is an understatement. Here is ooohing and aaaahing over it:

I was so pleased she was happy with the gift! But now? Now she would like a scrapbooked calendar for every Christmas! And I can't blame her because they are pretty special. But it is a lot of work... a labor of love for me as I look back on our year and collect all the photos I can.


Do you have any gift giving traditions?

The Christmas Mantel

One of the things I would love in our next house is a fireplace.

With a mantel.

That I can decorate for the holidays!

But since we don't currently have one, I'm just drooling over everyone else's :). Here are a few of my faves:

via

via

via

via

via

Do you have a mantel to decorate?