A Fun Valentine's Day Gift for the Board Game Aficionado

You may absolutely adore Valentine's Day- the celebration of love- the hearts, sparkles, and chocolate abounding. 

Or you may completely detest this Hallmark Holiday, obviously used to commercialize something meaningful into a box of chocolate and red roses. 

I guess I fall somewhere in between. I do celebrate Valentine's Day but for the past four years it has been with homemade gifts and/or dinners. I thought I would share a really fun, inexpensive gift to make if either of you love board games! 

A personalized version of Monopoly! All you need is a foam poster board, a sharpie, scissors (and a box cutter if possible), a printer, glue and colored paper. Here's what I did:

Create your board!

• Using a regular Monopoly board as a template, cut a square out of the foam poster board. Using a box cutter makes a cleaner cut. 
• Draw your spaces around the board, in pencil then with Sharpie. 
• Create your logo in the center, mimicking the official name and trademark information. 

Choose your properties

• I incorporated places that we met, favorite date spots, places we lived, where we worked, etc. I printed small photos that represented each place to glue onto their space on the board. I listed the values of each space as represented on my regular Monopoly board. 
• For railroads, I used the cities which we have lived in. Instead of Go, I made a Home space. Instead of Jail - the Doghouse. For Free Parking, I made a little Mt Bonnell space, a famous Austin lookout. I replaced the luxury tax with a credit card bill, and income tax with a tithe. 
• I glued strips of colored paper on each section- you could also use different colored Sharpies and just color the tops! 
• For houses and hotels, just cut uniform shapes from colored paper- quick and easy!

Create Chance and Community Chest cards

• In my game Chance became "Get Lucky" cards and included an equal number of good and bad personalized fortunes and consequences. 
• Community Chest became Family Jewels. I read through the official Monopoly versions and modernized/personalized them! 

Print or create monopoly money

• I printed my own money by searching each monopoly denomination in a Google image search, re-sizing them all to be the same, creating sheets in a power point file, printing and cutting each out. 
• You can always just sub in the money from your official board game though and save yourself some time!

Don't forget your game pieces

• Create or find an item that represents each of you!

This project does take quite a bit of work, so be prepared to put in some time to make it perfect. I loved reminiscing about our relationship as I put this together. When I gifted it, we played a round and it was so fun to read through the cards and see how it all worked in actual game-play. And now, the board makes an adorable keepsake! 

Have you ever given or received a homemade Valentine's Day gift? 

Spring Fling Swap

My awesome bloggy friends, Erin from Sweetness Itself and L from All Glorious Within came up with the brilliant idea that is the Spring Fling Flip Flop Gift Swap. The idea behind it was to celebrate spring, make new friends, and send some sweet encouragement to our new friends! The only requirement was to send a pair of flip flops and to spend around $25-$30 on the gift. 

I was paired with Rachel from Along the Way with Rae. She is such an amazing woman! She's studying to be a teacher, loves the Lord and has a blog just radiates inspiration. You should definitely go check her out and see what I sent her! 

 

Yes this lovely lady! 


I actually got my spring fling package in the mail as I was on my way out of the house. The suspense was killing me as I drove with it just sitting beside me in the car so I had to pull over into a parking lot and open it!

I was not disappointed. Rachel spoiled me with some of my favorite things! She even sent a sweet card saying thank you for her package. 

A pair of gorgeous flip flops with gold braided straps-  perfect for a breezy look

They even take your attention away from my chipped pedicure!

Rachel loves coffee as much as I do and included a lovely coffee mug 

with pretty flowers on it. New favorite!

And a precious knit coffee sleeve. With a mint heart. Love.

(ok so there's not really anything in that jar... but I HAVE used it that way. Just pretend!)

And some pretty pretty matching earrings- gold leaves and mint/gold hoops

Swoon!

THANK YOU so much Rachel for the amazing gifts you sent. They've already ALL been used. I'm truly grateful to have been partnered with you for this! I'm looking forward to continuing our friendship!

And the winner of the missions supporting giveaway is....

Ashley! 

Congrats, girl! Email me and I'll get your prizes shipped out to you as soon as possible!

Meet Rachel from Along the Way with Rae!

I'm really excited to share with y'all about an upcoming gift swap
celebrating spring and helping to create new friendships!


It is so much fun to get mail,
(especially mail that's not bills or credit card applications!)

so Erin at Sweetness Itself and L at All Glorious Within are hosting a Spring Fling blogging gift swap. They've paired up 100 bloggers to send each other a pair of flip flops and other goodies and encouragement! Doesn't that sound awesome? I've had a lot of fun shopping for my gift package!

My awesome partner is Rachel at Along the Way with Rae. She is such a sweetheart! She loves the Lord with all her heart and frequently writes about her faith. She is also intentional about being active and living a healthy lifestyle. She plays college volleyball and has began running. (I definitely need to take a note from her book. I'm eating a muffin right now.)


Check her out and send her some love!

My name is Rachel, and I blog over at Along The Way With Rae. My parents call me "Rae" all the time and I love that nickname, but no one else calls me that, so hence my use of "Rae" in my blog name :) I am a 20-something, college student, new to the blogging world. I've had my blog for about 3 months now, and I must say that I LOVE BLOGGING and all of the wonderful bloggers out there. Blogging is my outlet. It's my way to express myself and get my thoughts out there. I am a Christian gal, and God is, and always will be at the center of my life and at the core of my blog. I love being encouraged by other Christian bloggers and wanted to do the same! You will also find the musings and randoms of my every day life and experiences, fitness tips, wedding inspiration {I'm not engaged or married, but I LOVE weddings!}, style inspiration, or anything else that may be on my mind or heart. Now come on over and say hi, I love meeting new people, and it would make my day if you were one of them! :) 

You can also connect with me on:

Twitter: @rachlarz

Facebook:  Along The Way With Rae

Pinterest: Pinterest Addict

Instagram: rachel__elizabeth__larson

Swag Bag Sponsor Feature: Petals, Lace and Pearls

I was surprised and elated when I had not one, but two Etsy sponsors who wanted to donate enough items to have one for every swag bag. That means they handmade 50 items for no charge! It's humbling to say the least. Yesterday, I shared the awesome jewelry that Natalie from NS Pottery sent over.

Today, check out Becky from Petals, Lace and Pearls!

She is a fellow Austinite with a darling family, fun blog and adorable shop.

She handmade a mustard yellow rolled rosette hair pin for every girl.

Aren't they so sweet?

I was also lucky enough to get to meet her in real life to pick these beauties up!

She's the first blogger I've actually met, so that was really cool.

Check out her store and send her some love!

Here are some of my favorite items:

Love the turquoise with the rosette- so feminine and pretty!

 I'm a sucker for anything with polka dots!

 Petals, Lace and Pearls all in one- love it!

Becky, thank you so much!

Our girls loved the hair pins,

and we are so grateful for your generosity!

Cold Hands Warm Hearts Swap!

I am really excited to share with you 

what I got in my Cold Hands Warm Hearts package!

It's a blogger swap program put on by

 Ilene from Much Love Illy and 

Sandy from Sandy a la Mode. 

The basic requirements are that you get to know 

an assigned blogger and send them a goodie package 

which must include a pair of gloves or mittens 

(to keep their hands warm!) 

and then any other tidbits and accessories you think would be good.

I was paired up with Jessica who blogs over at The In Between.

It was great getting to know her through blog, Twitter and email!

I had been gone all day long when my package came in, 

so I didn't get to open it until really late at night

But I was just tooo excited to wait for better picture-taking lighting

Pretty festive packaging

What could be inside?

several very cutesy packages! 

i don't know if you can tell,

but they all have sweet little tags on them!

cable knit gloves from Target

and festive red tights

I totally wore these THE NEXT DAY

I looove them!

Then, Trader Joe's Candy Cane Coal

(we don't have Trader's Joe here, so this was awesome!)

A Bissinger Chocolate Bar

and Bissinger Chardonnay Salt Caramels.

YUM. 

I samples a little of everything right then. 

SO GOOD. 

Hook 'em!

If you want to see what I sent Jessica, 

check out her blog here!

Or check out all the participants at the link up.

Getting packages in the mail is super fun,

and so are surprises, 

so I really enjoyed this swap

and it's been great getting to know other bloggers

all over the world!

Handmade Christmas Gift Idea #2: Infinity Jersey Scarf

If you thought the ruffle scarf was a simple T shirt project, check this out!

You'll need:

1 XL T shirt (or larger)

scissors

Cut the bottom hem off of the shirt completely. 

Cut across the T shirt, under the sleeves, leaving you with large loop of T shirt fabric (and a very tacky cut off shirt ;) )

Then, stretch the fabric! I stepped on the inside of the loop and pulled up. You can also loop it around a door knob and pull. After you stretch, you have a jersey infinity scarf. The rough edges curl in and won't fray. 

Wear it in one large loop

Or double loop it! 

So easy. 

T shirts 4/$10 at JoAnn's. 

Perfect accessory in so many colors!

Step by Step tutorial here. 

P.S. Lots of new items on the Etsy Store! Check them out here!

Handmade Christmas Gift Idea #1: Ruffled Jersey Scarf

I found this idea on Pinterest and 

I'm sure if you're a pinner, you've seen it. 

Well over Thanksgiving, my mother, sister and I 

all made scarves and wore them in our family photos. 

They took maybe thirty minutes each to make, 

(but we were watching football so we were a little distracted) 

involved no sewing and turned out really cute!

You'll need:
1 XL T-shirt (or larger)
Good scissors
fabric glue (optional)

Begin by cutting large circles from the T shirt. 

We used a paper plate as a guide. 

Don't worry if you have rough edges 

or if your circles aren't perfect. 

It won't matter later!

From the outside, cut a spiral in the circle, 

maintaining about the same width as you go. 

Gently pull on the two ends of the spiral to stretch the fabric slightly 

(but be careful because I ripped one of mine by stretching it too hard)

It forms a long ruffle!

The end which was the center of the circle will be

 more tightly ruffled than the outside.

Depending on your T shirt, you should be able to cut 8-12 circles.

Secure them together by tying a strip of t shirt fabric around the center with a knot

Or secure with fabric glue

Wear with your favorite fall/winter outfit for a cutesy pop of color!

We got our T shirts at JoAnn's for $2.50 each.

You could also upcycle old T shirts that you don't wear anymore.

Even if they have print on them, use several to make a multicolored ruffle scarf.

I did just that to make a gameday scarf for next football season!

This is definitely going to be a gift for my three roommates this year.

And at $2.50 each?

It might be a gift for all my aunts and cousins as well!

Have you attempted T shirt scarves? How did yours turn out?