Kozie Kuties Winner!

We have a WINNER!!!

Congratulations to 'Cinchworm' (Alyssa)!!!  She is the winner of this adorable Easter ensemble from Kozie Kuties...you lucky gal!  We hope you enjoy your prize!  And a big thanks to Lisa at Kozie Kuties for putting together such a cute basket!  Remember if you live in the Phoenix area, Lisa will be at the City North Farmer's Market this Sunday (4/17).  You can also find her products locally at Moonbeams and Girly Girlz.

Easy Paper Easter Basket Tutorial

Well Easter is less than 2 weeks away so I figured I would break down and do an Easter craft :).  This is another one of those holidays that I like, but typically don't decorate for so I usually stick to making stuff for the kids.  Last year I picked up a couple little treats to give to my neighbor's kids and when I went to put everything together, I realized that I forgot to get something to put the treats in.  Luckily, Lauren and I had been at Scrapbooks Etc. a couple weeks earlier and saw a super cute little Easter basket made of scrapbook paper so I whipped up a couple of my own!  This is a quick and easy project, and since I already had all of the supplies on hand it was FREE!  Well...if you ask my husband he would disagree and say that I had to buy all the stuff at some point in the past so it's not technically free, but WHATEVER!

First, a preview of the finished product...

Here's what you'll need:

1-12 x 12 card stock for basket (plain or patterned)

1-12 x 1.75 strip of card stock for handle

6-3.75 x 3.75 paper squares in coordinating paper (if desired)

pencil

ruler

scissors/paper cutter

adhesive  

brads, ribbon, flowers or whatever else you want to embellish with

And here's what you do:

On the wrong side of the 12 x 12 paper, divide it into 9 equal 4 x 4 squares and mark it with a pencil.  I labeled below where to make your cuts for the next step.

Make the 4 cuts and then crease the paper on the remaining lines...it should look something like this when you're done. 

This next step is optional.  Since I used solid card stock for the main part of the basket, I wanted to make it a little more fancy with a coordinating patterned paper.  I cut 6 squares (3.75 x 3.75) each.

Flip over your 12 x 12 paper (right side facing up) and glue your squares like so...

Now flip your paper back over and fold the ends in toward the middle (kinda hard to explain but like in this picture).

Apply glue to secure both sides in place...

...so it looks like this when it's all put together.

Now cut a 12 x 1.75 strip of card stock for the basket handle.

Apply glue to both inside ends of the strip.

Attach handle to basket.  I added a brad to each side for extra support since the basket holds a pretty decent amount of goodies! 

That's it...super easy!  You can leave it nice and simple or add extra embellishments for fun.

I also tried a smaller version using 6 x 6 paper for the main basket...I thought these might make cute little treats for my son's preschool class.

 Here are the ones I made last year for my neighbor's kids:

Kozie Kuties Giveaway!

We have a giveaway from

Kozie Kuties!

Kozie Kuties can be found in local Arizona boutiques such as Moonbeams and Girly Girlz. Lisa has been building her business with Kozie Kuties and has been asked for custom made tutus, onesies, hairbows, aprons and baby travel packs (blankets, paci holders, burpcloths). 

Click here to go to her website Kozie Kuties. 

Today Lisa is giving away a Easter basket for your little Kozie Kutie. 

This basket includes: Multi-colored Tutu, White Tank with bunny applique (size 2T), bunny ears with the Tutu hair clip to match. 

How can you resist this little face??

Wouldn't your Kozie Kutie look so adorable in this Easter outfit?

This package valued at $55.00 can be yours!  

Here's how to enter:

1. Leave a comment below on this post with your name and contact email.

2. For an additional entry become a Facebook Fan of Coffee @ 3 and leave us a comment on our Facebook page letting us know you are a new follower.  Or if you are already our fan on Facebook, leave us a comment on our Facebook page to let us know!

How simple is that???  The contest only goes until this Friday (April 15th at 12n AZ time).

If you are in the Phoenix area please make sure to go check out Lisa's Kozie Kutie products at the local boutiques and check her out this 

Sunday April 17th at City North Farmers Market.

Creative Estates

So this is what Lauren and I were up to this past weekend...

We had a great time at the Creative Estates Conference and were thrilled to be surrounded by so many talented and creative crafters and bloggers (and to be around people who totally 'get' blogging).  The  breakout sessions provided tons of useful information on various topics, and I even learned from Shelley at House of Smith's, that these things (...) are called ellipses...thank goodness because I use them ALL the time :).  Speaking of Shelley, we got the chance to meet and chat with her a bit and she is SUPER sweet and hilarious...and she can sing too!  We follow and love her blog so it was exciting to talk to her in person.  Sadly, the picture we took with her is really blurry and I would be breaking every blogging rule out there about good picture taking if I posted it...but I'm gonna anyway cause it's THE Shelley!

  We met another one of our favorite creative ladies...the one and only Jen from Tatertots and Jello (not sure why we didn't have someone take ONE picture of all of us...duh).  She is so nice and down to earth!

And then there's the Queen of Party Inspiration...Kim from The Tomkat Studio.  We've been following her blog for a long time so it was cool to meet her!

Kendra from My Insanity is another great blog we love (again...we each had to get our very own picture???)

And we made some new bloggy friends!  (top left) Aimee from Paging Supermom, Heather from Sweet & Simple, (bottom left) Jessa from Sparkle, and Whitney from Turbo Bubblegum.  It was so fun hanging out with them, hearing their stories and sharing ideas. 

We met so many other amazing ladies and got tons of great tips from some of our favorite bloggers.  And, of course, we did some shopping at the Handmade Market.  Lauren even won a ticket to next year's Creative Estates Conference so looks like we'll be going in 2012 too!

Bookmark Inspired Reading

Love this bookmark I got from the Creative Estates Conference this weekend in my Swag box. Its from My Hoot Designs and its just what I need...or at least I think I need to get me reading again. 

I've had a book that I've had from a friend for probably almost 2yrs. No joke. It's really a good book and I just can't seem to find the time between all my reality TV shows to sit down and read. Its pathetic I know. So when I got home and opened all my fun stuff from the Creative Estates Conference, I went right to my book and replaced my friends old airline ticket that I was using as a bookmark with this cute little number.

 This should inspire me right?? And after this book I have this next book on my agenda which everyone says is great as well.

I'm so proud of myself for getting inspired by one little bookmark. I decide to take a hot bath last night to relax and of course read...what do I pull out??

Ok my reasoning on this is that I don't want to get my book wet, OR my cute new bookmark! 

Reward Jars

Well I had to try a new technique......so I saw these Incentive Jars from The Green Brae Cottage. I love the chalkboard paint, but decided to do mine a little different by painting the jars and using pre-painted wood pieces from Hobby Lobby to write their names on.

I wasn't crazy about how Treys name came out, I stickled over it and it made it look more gray......but Hey what can you do........at least its readable.

Trey's I painted like little Earths because that is his main interest right now so I thought I would captivate him with that. Michaela the 3yr old going on 16 is into anything fashion, pink and purple....well that was easy!

Here's the back view 

So the deal is they get a reward ball for anything noteworthy....not just picking up a toy, but doing it on their own initiative, trying new things, not complaining, listening the first time, helping someone out, doing a great job on homework, etc,etc....its really my own judgement call at the time. Today is the first day and they are enjoying the "clunk" sound when it goes into the jar....Treys at 2 and Michaela is at 1.......once they get to the top of the jar they get $5. I'm hoping it also helps them understand the money concept....we shall see!

Uh oh....I think I need to go remove a ball right now.....oh well.....but at least its a start and a visual reward idea which is important to a 6yr old and a 3yr old.