This post is a little off the beaten path of what I typically write about but I get quite a few emails and questions on how we like Ecwid (our shopping cart / eCommerce software provider). I’ve always replied with the same answer and thought it would be helpful to post it.

We have been using Ecwid since 2010 and have only positive things to say about the software and customer service. The store was easy to setup. Their statement on the homepage “Takes less than 5 minutes to setup” is no lie. If you’re familiar with HTML and CSS it is also easy to customize the store to match your website. I had aspirations of being a web developer for awhile and had no problems getting everything to match our site. Our site is powered by WordPress and integrating the storefront and cart system into our site was a piece of cake. The FAQ’s provide a lot of information on how to add or remove features and how to get setup with WordPress, but you may not even need to go there because it’s so easy to figure out. [My journalism major sister would get me for using "easy" so much but seriously Ecwid is that easy!]

Setup of the System Settings is straightforward and easy to navigate. (There’s that word “easy” again!) You can setup various shipping profiles, taxes, payment options, email notifications and social networking tools. The Catalog is simple to manage as well. Setting up new products and categories is a breeze. You can import and export your products and sales.

Customer service is amazing. I haven’t had to contact them in awhile but when I first created our store I posted on the forums for feedback and within a day Eugene had checked out our store and replied with some great feedback. Later when the Facebook app became available I had some problems with how our store was displaying and posted on the forums. Again, Eugene replied with suggestions  and I was able to quickly fix the issue. It had to do with some menus I had hidden for our regular store.

We signed up when all services were free with the knowledge that eventually paid plans would be set in place. I was especially thrilled when Ecwid grandfathered in current users and let us keep the features we had when they added the paid features. The free part is what drew me to Ecwid, but I would happily pay for these services as well.

Previously we had used Big Cartel and Payvment. I also looked into using Paypals cart system. Ecwid won out over the rest because of the ease of setup and amount of features offered.

Feel free to comment if you have any additional questions. I will do my best to answer them!

For the record, we were not paid or solicited by Ecwid for this review. All the opinions are mine from my experience with using Ecwid.

This winter has felt exceptionally long and I’ve been in a funk lately (missing the warm breeze and SUN!). Whenever I feel this way I always turn to words. Writing, reading, quotes, poetry… you name it. If you follow me on Pinterest, you probably noticed my quotes board has exploded the last few weeks.

While I was wondering around Michaels doing some happy shopping (hehe!) I came across the display of words for jewelry and got inspired to create. The hard part was deciding how to arrange the straps and getting them to stay in place while I tied the ends up! I think it turned out pretty well. In hindsight I would have added another braided or some single smaller straps below the word to balance out the one on top, but I think it’s not too shabby for my first leather bracelet. I’m hoping it doesn’t fall apart on me!

Two years ago we moved. A new house and a new baby meant I was going to be even more forgetful about paying the bills on time. We came from a condo where our only bills were the mortgage, association fee and internet. As new homeowners I had to wrap my head around paying for electricity, water, gas, garbage, etc. Needless to say it was overwhelming. I knew I had to setup a system or we would be up to our necks in late fees! The first thing I did was to setup automatic payments on all the ones I could. But I also wanted to know how much we were spending monthly on everything so we could budget and cut back if needed. This is where the binder comes in:

Each type of bill has a page to track the amount, date due and if it has been paid. This lets me see at a glance the trends in our habits (leaving lights on or too long showers etc.). And I hate to admit it but sometimes I sound like my mom… “turn the lights off when you leave the room!” or “Are you trying to cool the whole house with the fridge?” If she knew I said those things she would be proud that it stuck, hehe.

Instead of filing the paper bills in a folder, behind each bills page I put a letter sized envelope with the top cut so I can slip in the bills.

The inside cover of the binder has a pocket which I put in a letter opener, our checkbook and stamps for easy access.

So, I know it’s already April but it’s never to late to start getting organized. There are two PDF’s one for specific bills and one generic for other types of bills.

Click here to download or click the image.

The PDF includes:

• Cable/Internet
• Electricity
• Garbage
• Gas
• Insurance
• Medical
• Water/Sewage

Click here to download the generic version or click on the image.

Hello March! Not only am I looking forward to seeing the snow melt from my lawn, I am excited about about trying out three projects (for the third month of the year) that I found on Pinterest in honor of National Craft Month!

Project #1: LEGO(r) Crayons

This LEGO crayon project from estylojewelry is the perfect craft project for my boy who is in love with LEGOs. His birthday is coming up in May and I think these would make some great party favors!

UPDATE: I made a batch of these colorful LEGO people and I can’t wait to make more! The hardest or rather, the most tedious part of this whole project was peeling off the paper from the crayons. The fastest,cleanest way I found was to run an Exacto knife down the length of the crayon and then peel off. Good news is that I spent one evening peeling off an entire box of 64 crayons that I picked up at the dollar store for $2.50.

Project #2: Animal Silhouette on Canvas

I am going to modify this canvas project by bluechickadee somewhat as I will not be decorating a nursery. Instead, I plan on a Longhorn silhouette for my alma mater (Hook ‘Em Horns!). It will look great in my home office!

UPDATE: Canvas #1 is complete! I spent the evening working on it and didn’t finish until near midnight but it was worth it! Paint is not my medium, but I’m glad how it turned out (as long as you don’t look at it too closely!). I am calling this “Ombre, Longhorn Style”. It will go well in my home office. Canvas #2 is now complete! I kind of winged it and improvised as I went along. I think it turned out okay! They’re both hung proudly in my home office and got my kids’ stamp of approval. They’ve already put in orders for their own rooms!

Project #3:Sandpaper Printed T-Shirt

My kids love drawing so why not make their “works of art” something they can wear too? This sandpaper printed T-shirt project from alphamom reminds me of a similar project I did when I was in 1st grade a gazillion years ago

UPDATE: The kids really enjoyed this project. What I found was that pictures that were outlines (vs. filled in) ended up looking better. Also,what I did was really saturate the lines with crayon as my kids weren’t able to apply as much pressure. This is an airplane that my son drew (he LOVES airplanes and knows all the major airlines!).

Bonus: A craft project that I completed that wasn’t part of the original three was giving my living room pillows a makeover. Before they were a drab green/brown fabric and I decided to give my room a pop of color. The entire project (including the design, measuring, cutting and sewing) took about 1.5 hours. I didn’t spend a dime as I already had the fabric as part of my stash I love the blue/orange combination!

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These truffles are YUMMY. They were also really easy to make. I won’t go into details as she does an awesome job explaining. Click here for the recipe.

I sprung for Ghirardelli chocolate chips and they turned out delicious!

The only thing I did differently was re-heat/dip the melon baller after each use. It helped them to come out easier.

Next time I plan on adding some powdered sugar to the cocoa to cut the bitterness. I also think I will try sprinkling the powder on instead of rolling. The powder seemed just a little too thick. Or maybe cover them with chocolate. Ohh the possibilities!

Last year when I saw this hand-print ornament on Pinterest I knew I had to try it for the little one. Since I didn’t have any embossing tools I went with paint. [These were actually made last year... I never got around to posting about them and when I did it was way past Christmas! Baby was about 7 months at the time. Looking at the ornament this year, his hands were so tiny!]

I recruited hubby to help since I figured making it while baby slept would probably be the easiest. He’s such a deep sleeper – he didn’t stir at all when I picked him up from the crib or when I painted his hand multiple times! It took about 8 tries to get a “good” print where all his fingers and hand were imprinted.

Of course we couldn’t let the baby have all the fun…. Little Peanut made one as well. Hers was done in one shot. Of course it was easier since she was 3!

I also wrote their names and the year at the bottom with a sharpie.

She (Mandy of http://www.asortafairytaleblog.com) has a full tutorial posted on her blog here.

Gearing up for 2013! Here’s a little 8×11.5 calendar I made for my office.

(I couldn’t figure out how to make it default to landscape when opening in Adobe Reader. Make sure you check the settings and change it if needed.)

Click here or the image to download.

October already! That means Halloween is coming. Fall seems to be the kick-off for themed decorations for me. How about an early treat? Enjoy this Halloween subway art printable!

It is a PDF and approximately 8×10. Print on 8×11.5 paper. Click on the image to download.

Need some more Halloween inspiration? Check these out from our archives.

Halloween bookmarks – free printable

Halloween wreath – decor inspiration

Halloween party invitations - free printable

We have a small raspberry bush in our back yard and last year it fruited like there was no tomorrow. This year not so much (I’d like to say it was the crazy weather we’ve been having but I’ve been known to have some black thumbs!) but that hasn’t stopped us from enjoying fruit milkshakes over the summer. It all started last year when we had no idea what to do with all the raspberries then hubby suggested smoothies. There was quite a bit of trial and error but finally I found a recipe that works for us.

In the end I learned-

1. I like ice cream in my smoothies, which would make them now milkshakes.

2. If you run out of vanilla ice cream, mint chocolate chip works just fine (see picture below!)

3. Freezing the fruit makes it less runny.

4. Avocado and blueberries don’t mix. (Taste-wise it wasn’t bad, it was the ugly brown color that turned me off.)

5. If you don’t want to share with the kids make it after they go to bed.

6. Cut the strawberries before you freeze them.

In true Vietnamese fashion I don’t have an exact recipe but here’s the general ingredients for my two favorite kinds of fruit milkshakes. These serve 2 people so cut in half if you don’t plan on sharing!

Berrylicous

- 2 scoops of ice cream

- 2 tablespoons of yogurt

- blueberries (frozen)

- raspberries (frozen)

- 4-5 cut strawberries (frozen)

- chocolate chips

- milk (about 3/4 cup)

In a blender put the ice cream in first then everything else. I found putting the ice cream first helps the blender get going easier. Blend until smooth. Enjoy.

Banana Avocado (and sometimes a mango)

- 2 scoops of ice cream

- 2 tablespoons of yogurt

- 1 banana (frozen)

- 1/2 an avacado, unless it’s really small (frozen)

- 1 mango (optional)

- chocolate chips

- milk (about 3/4 cup)

In a blender put the ice cream in first then everything else. I found putting the ice cream first helps the blender get going easier. Blend until smooth. Enjoy.

They’re finally finished! Turning these into editable pdfs was quite the learning experience. Not only did it take me a few tries to get the process done right I also majorly goofed and used super high res pdf’s that were over 20mb each. I only discovered that when I was trying to upload the “final” pdfs to our server and got an error message that the files were too large. So I took that as a sign that it was time for a break. Seems to always work when I get stuck on a knitting project and turns out to be true for other creations because I took another stab at it this week and SUCCESS!

[Sidebar: if anyone reading knows how to save an in progress form so I can come back to it later and edit please let me know! There were multiple times I thought I was done and found a spelling error only to have to start over.... it wasn't pretty. lol]

Without further ado… my labor of love Colorful Birthday Party Pack.

Invitation – Editable. Enter your kiddos name, date, time, address, ect. into the pdf then print. You can also add a number inside the big red balloon. Click the image on left to download. I printed on regular paper and glued that onto colorful cardstock for a layered look. Also note I had to change the font from the original invite (something about copyrights and legalities… I thought best avoid it!) Fits 4×5 envelopes.

Toppers – Editable. Add a number to the balloons. Click the image on left to download. I printed on regular paper, punched the circles out and glued that onto colorful cardstock.

Month Circles – Click the image on left to download. I used these for a picture display which I forgot to take photos of. (bummer cause it was kind of cute. hehe) I had a wall of photos and included one of each month. These were taped to the photos to identify his age.

Food or Name Labels – Editable. Enter the food or name and then print. Click the image on left to download. No action photos of these either. I cut them out and completely forgot about them when setting up… it was a little hectic! Cut the paper in half vertically then in thirds horizontally, then fold in half.  The stand like a tent. (Oh and I corrected the color order on the pdf, the image below has yellow and orange swapped. Oops!)

Poster – Editable. Enter an age in the balloon. Click the image on left to download. I framed it and placed on the mantle. Like the invites I had to change the font from the original on the right (something about copyrights and legalities… I thought best avoid it!)

Thank you cards – Click the image to download. I’m still a believer in handwritten thank yous. (Although I’ve still yet to send ours…. but better late then never?! And a shame he’s too little to write his own. Maybe a few squiggles will do?) Like the invites, I plan on gluing to cardstock before sending. Fits 4×5 envelopes.

And if you’ve made it this far, thank you! See more photos of the printables in action.

Please do let me know if there are any problems with the pdf’s. I also request that these be used for personal use only and I’d love to see what you’ve done! Feel free to comment or email (info at embeshop.com) us photos.