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Reinvent the Box of Chocolates

Queen Darlene - November 21, 2018 - Anniversary, Birthday, Business, Christmas, Congratulations, Father's Day, Food & Drinks, Get Well, Gifts for Him, Host, Mother's Day, Retirement, Teacher Gifts, Thank You, Valentine's Day

Maggie Louise Confections has reinvented the box of chocolates with color, personality and unique customization.

Each box has fun bite-size chocolates to celebrate everyday indulgence.

The gourmet chocolate gift boxes and luxury confections are chocolate look-a-like creations of lipsticks, lips, jewels, precious stones, coffee cups, snowmen, mittens and the list goes on and on.

Before attending a conference, I researched “things to do” in Austin and discovered Maggie Louise Confections, an Austin-based company. Continue Reading

Butterfly Fairy Hair Clips

Queen Darlene - October 24, 2018 - Birthday, Christmas, Gifts for Me, Mother's Day, Wedding

I love handmade gifts. I remember watching my mother create beautiful gifts from vintage jewelry.

My mother and I would also help each other handcraft unique gift ideas waaay before Etsy ever came along. Mom would have loved Etsy.com where you can shop for anything made by creative people everywhere and where she could have shared her gifts too!

When an Etsy email pops up, I’m always curious to see who created what. Oh my… what a find this time. Butterflies! They are exquisite!

Wild and Free Jewelry created by Corina Alulquoy Brown are inspired by the ocean, wildlife, and Native American culture. You have to look at her website!

Handmade Butterfly Hair Clips

My favorites are the beautifully handcrafted butterfly hair clips by Corina.

Extreme Rock-Paper-Scissors

Queen Darlene - September 19, 2018 - $20 or Less, Birthday, Business, Family

Remember playing rock, paper scissors? How about playing the game in a group setting to the extreme?

My office of 90+ employees meet quarterly for awards, updates and training and just for fun, we incorporate “not your usual” team building activities.

In this game, employees battle it out to see who is the Rock-Paper-Scissors champion of the group, as losers of each mini-round cheer the remaining winners on!

How to Play Extreme Rock-Paper-Scissors

Have each member of the group pair up for the first round of rock, paper, scissors. If there is an odd number, add the odd person out to another pair for a quick knock-out match.
Play 3 games and the best 2 out of 3 will be the winner.
The losers of the first match start cheering the name of the winner for their next game.
All winners pair up and face off against each other while the ones they beat are cheering for them. When one winner beats the other, all the people behind the losing player start cheering for the winning player.
Repeat this process in elimination until there are only two players left. Each should have a large group of people cheering them on from their previous wins. The game is over after one player wins the final match.

Win or lose, everyone participates to the very end. Continue Reading

Creative T-Shirts for New Dad & Uncle

Queen Darlene - September 5, 2018 - $20 or Less, Baby Shower, Father's Day

I’ve known my friend Jody’s two boys since the day they were born. I have watched them grow up to become wonderful young men!

I can’t believe her oldest, Austin, is going to be a first-time dad and his brother, Camden, a first-time uncle.

What an exciting times for these young men!

Jody invited me to her future grandbaby’s baby shower and both “Dad” and “Uncle “ were going to be in attendance.

I’ve witnessed throughout their lives how the brothers have always had a close relationship. I wanted to commemorate them both as they experience their new life titles together!

Creative T-Shirts

There are hundreds of creative t-shirts to choose from for such an occasion.

I chose “Top Dad” a replica of the Top Gun movie logo. Austin is patriotic and the red, white and blue was perfect for him! Continue Reading

Bug-A-Salt | Insect Eradication Gun

Queen Darlene - August 22, 2018 - Birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, Gifts for Him, Mother's Day

“I love flies landing on my food,” said No One Ever!

The Bug-A-Salt is a pump action gun that shoots a shotgun spray of ordinary table salt to decimate flies on contact.

Bug-A-Salt is Non-Toxic swatter!

Did you catch the play on words? A-Salt. Assault. Love it!

No more backyard BBQs with yucky flies buzzing around!

It’s a surefire fun way to enjoy a disgusting task and get rid of pests while having a blast doing it. Don’t worry it’s a lot easier to clean up a little bit of salt compared to smeared fly guts on countertops and walls. Continue Reading

Thumbprint Family Tree Retirement Gift

Queen Darlene - August 9, 2018 - Baby Shower, Business, Retirement, Teacher Gifts, Wedding

For many of us, a large portion of our days is spent at work. Research shows the average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime.

So the people you work with do become family.

When Eldon, our organization’s CFO, decided to retire after 28 years, his work family wanted to find a special gift for him to remember us by.

Work Family Tree | Unique & Memorable Retirement Gift

I found a birch tree on Etsy that was perfect for for the addition of thumb or finger prints of each employee. This is an office gift that allows everyone to participate.

Hershey’s Candy Bar Baby Birth Announcement

Queen Darlene - July 25, 2018 - $20 or Less, Baby Shower

After 14 years, we have a new baby born in the family July 4, 2018. Announcing my great-nephew, Rogan Charles!

And… GREAT it is!

It’s been so long since we’ve had a newborn in our family that when he was born on Independence Day, we definitely felt the parades, fireworks, and the whole nation celebrating was appropriate!

I wanted to take a celebratory gift to the hospital when we visited the new Mom, Dad and baby.

Easy Peasy DIY Baby Birth Announcement

I purchased 24 Hershey candy bars (12 plain and 12 almonds). Then I took a blue permanent magic marker and colored in the HE in HERSHEY.

It’s easy peasy! All you have to do is color within the lines! Continue Reading

Professional Family Photo of Three Generations

Queen Darlene - July 11, 2018 - Anniversary, Birthday, Christmas, Experiences, Family, Mother's Day

I’m on summer vacation and reposting a favorite by our readers. Speaking of summer, it’s a great time for family photos!

It’s not an easy task to get three generations of one family scheduled on the same date and time for professional photos. Life just seems to get in the way.

That’s even more reason to pause and take the time to pose for those precious photos.

Professional Family Photos

Most people have nice cameras and even smartphones take excellent pictures, but professional photos should not be overlooked.

For my mother-in-law’s 80^th birthday gift, the family decided we would have a professional photo of three generations of our family made.

A photo of three or even two generations of family is a keepsake many family members will cherish.

Unique Knitted Metal Jewelry

Queen Darlene - June 27, 2018 - Anniversary, Birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Teacher Gifts, Valentine's Day

My grandmother knitted throughout her lifetime. She tried to teach me, but I never really showed much interest.

Oh, how I wished I had learned because you never know when old skills can turn into new talent.

This past Mother’s Day weekend, my husband, Randy, and I attended an arts festival in our community. Over the years, we have purchased art, prints, pottery, jewelry and leather goods at this event.

Since we no longer need stuff to hang on the walls or decorate shelves, I’ve become interested in jewelry made by artists. Randy likes to look for unusual artistic designs on leather belts.

Arts festivals are wonderful places to have the opportunity to speak with artists face-to-face. To me, this makes the art more personal.

I’m always on the lookout for jewelry that is different when I spotted a booth by artist Susan Baile of Spiritus Designs.

I ooohed and awed over her necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. I asked her, “What are these made of?” Susan replied, “Metals and I knit them.”

Well… that really piqued my interest!

She went on to say she started knitting at the age of 11. When Susan retired, she wanted to do something to keep her busy. Since she loved to knit, she found a way to knit metals into jewelry.

Bombas Socks | 1 Purchased = 1 Donated

Queen Darlene - May 30, 2018 - Birthday, Business, Christmas, Father's Day, Get Well, Kids, Military/Veterans, Mother's Day, Retirement, Teacher Gifts, Thank You

For Christmas, my grandparents would give my brothers and me socks. They lived through the Great Depression and their gifts were very practical.

My friend, Linda, introduced me to her favorite socks–Bombas!

These aren’t your grandparents’ socks!

Ever heard of socks that support the midfoot? Me neither until now. Now my whole family wears it!

They feel wonderful on my flat feet because of their comfort, support, and softness.

My son loves Bombas because he always turned his socks inside out so he wouldn’t feel that annoying seam across his toes. Bombas found a way to get rid of it!

They also have anti-microbial and moisture-wicking properties to keep feet dry all day which makes them perfect for my husband’s feet.

The name Bombas is derived from the Latin word for bumblebee. Bees live in a hive and work together to make their world a better place. They’re small but their combined actions have a big impact on the world.

Socks are the #1 most requested clothing item at homeless shelters. This fact is the driving force behind Bombas–to support the homeless community and to bring awareness to this problem in the United States.

I work for an organization that provides housing to the homeless and every Christmas we collect socks for homeless shelters. So you can see why I would be intrigued not only in the comfort of the socks but also in a charitable company like Bombas with a mission of giving back to communities.

8,641,077 Pairs of Socks Donated

One pair purchased = One pair donated.