First, let me preface this post by announcing that, yes, this is my 500th post on this blog! Many thanks to my followers and please spread the word!
So I felt it appropriate to use this post to address a topic near and dear to me - small businesses. Many of you may know that I have a wine charm business - growing by baby steps via retail partners, Facebook connections and my website (yes - ok, since you asked! See www.charmedbyarizona.com)
For those of you interested in starting any type of business on your own, here are some great resources:
- US Small Business Administration: www.sba.gov
- Family businesses: www.fambiz.com
- The Family Business Network: www.fbn-i.org
- Family Business Magazine: www.familybusinessmagazine.com
So we've addressed lots of scrapbooking and photo ideas over the past couple of years, but what about a "memory making" collection? Here are two great ideas from Martha Stewart -
A family recipe saver - see marthastewart.com for her version, though I did these a different way for each of my kids for when they graduated from high school. I used recipe card boxes decorated for them and wrote family recipes (old and newer ones as well) on index cards decorated with scrapbook stickers and baubles related to food and cooking. Now when they are on their own (one already is), they have these with them.
Another of Martha's ideas is "vacation jars" - use small jars (about 8 oz) and inside put sand, shells, stones, souvenirs...anything to represent each trip you've taken. Label these with permanent file folder labels. Simple but memorable and fun to display.
Getting ready for your holiday guests with a fresh coat of paint? Check out
Sherwin-Williams' online tool at www.letschipit.com.
This site allows you to instantly generate perfectly matched paint chips from any image on the web (and, yes, it's free!).
Running late again? Here is an amazing idea - "dry shampoo." REALSIMPLE.com (9/12) did a "road test" of over 75 variations of dry shampoo and selected their best bets. These will "instantly refresh and revive your hairstyle and render the rushed shower unnecessary" - ok, let me know if these work for you! (FYI, the much earlier version of this was brushing talc powder through your hair - and, yes, it did work!)
My version would be for hair that needs help with body so I'm looking at Arrojo ReFinish if I read this correctly. It runs $22, but that may not be bad for my travel needs since this won't be an everyday product for me. If you have curly hair, you are in luck - they recommend Suave Professionals Waterless Foam Shampoo at only $3.40 at drugstore.com. Sigh...always wanted natural curl!
Check out the other options at www.realsimple.com (9/12).
As always, I want to be sure to blog about topics that are important to you...I try to cover a wide range, but your input would help me in discussing issues that are relevant to my readers! Please post topic ideas whenever something comes to mind - I am happy to look for answers, deals, etc. for you!
At least twice a week I take our basset, Baxter, to our local dog park. He runs as if he were still a puppy and it's a great opportunity for me to meet people from our neighborhood. Best of all, it is free entertainment for all of us! Check out one in your area by visiting www.dogpark.com.
Here is a great idea from REALSIMPLE - and, yes, I plan to try it as I just spent all day trying to catch up on too many tasks around here!
Rather than trying to do your cleaning (or any other tasks) all at once, aim to complete one specific task or chore every day. Write your key chores on index cards and select one per day to complete. Everything gets done weekly, but without the added stress of overloading yourself!
