Cherry Creek Designs

I discovered this fun etsy shop not too long ago! Oh, her stuff is so darling!! The shop is called Cherry Creek Designs and you have to check out Heather's stuff. These are two of my favorite items:

I have this ring!!! I LOVE it!!

Expressionery.com

One of my favorite websites for purchasing gifts, Expressionery.com, is having a site-wide 40% off sale.

There are some exclusions (which I guess makes it a semi-site-wide sale) and offer expires in January 2010. Use discount code: Holiday.

Spoon Flower

If I was a quilter...

I would love this website!!!

www.spoonflower.com

At this site, you can turn your creative vision into a fabric reality. Upload a JPEG of your vision to the spoonflower website and your custom-printed cotton fabric will arrive in a couple of weeks!

I.am.not.kidding.

$18 per yard.

I'm going on-line, right now, to look for some quilting classes.

Zazzle - Mugs

At Zazzle you can 'create' all sorts of things! T-shirts, bags, mugs...

You can add text, pictures, graphics...

I like the idea of using the mugs as gift holders. They would be perfect to hold treats, flowers, gift certificates, etc. It's all about presentation.

Each personalized mug is $13.

Family Beehive

Check out this website... FamilyBeehive.

You can customize a family beehive with your family name, an important date and any number of little bees that you want!

Perfect gift for grandparents!! Or... perfect for the family that is getting ready to send off their firstborn. Oh, I love that!!

Lisa Leonard Designs

Lisa Leonard Designs has some seriously cute handmade jewelry! Each piece is meaningful, unique and handmade from sterling silver. You can create a piece with a meaningful phrase, a special date, your children's names... what you want to have close to your heart!

My favorite three pieces are below!

Hugs and Kisses $54

Lots of Love $48

Jumble of Charms $58 (includes 2 charms) Additional charms are $22

My Street Signs

Check out MyStreetSigns for a great and unique gift idea. You can personalize these signs with anything you want.

Mine is going to say... Disneyland 359 mi

One of our favorite teachers at school would love Conway Circle.

The ideas are endless.

All-Star Cookie Cutters from Williams Sonoma

You can make (notice I did not say that I can make) these adorable cookies with the All-Star Cookie Cutter Set from Williams Sonoma. I love sugar cookies, and I love using them as favors at parties, and fortunately I have found two bakeries that will make them for me! They will even use my own cookie cutters for special orders!

The All-Star Cookie Cutter Set is $25 for a set of 8.

Mite Tees

Mite Tees offers these darling shirts... up to 6T. (6T??? Never heard of it, but that is what their site says.) Anyway... they are all able to be personalized and I think they are so simple, yet darling!

Armored Penguin

If you are like me and you have a difficult person to shop for on your list...

YOU MUST SEE THIS WEBSITE

http://www.armoredpenguin.com/

Armored Penguin can generate puzzles, with clues YOU give it. For free! They have generators for crossword puzzles, word search puzzles and word scrambles. I love the idea of creating a booklet for teachers, grandparents, siblings, etc., with personalized puzzles!! What a great idea!

I created my first word search puzzle this morning, saved it to my computer, edited it in Word and printed it out. It'll be a fun activity for my girls after school today!

Also, on this website there are some fun logic puzzles... I played the Bagels game and am hooked! I've marked the site as a favorite.

Monster Kit

Yikes... this is $250... more than I would spend for a plush... but if I could, I would! What a cute idea. Your child draws a picture of a monster, you send the image to the designers at North American Bear Co. and they reproduce your child's design as a plush monster.

Chalk Talk Storage Jars

I found these very cute, and very reasonably priced jars at Cost Plus World Market! I think they would make great teacher holiday gifts! Fill them with a homemade goodie, or even a bunch of wrapped candies, and label them with the teacher's name and presto... gifting done!

Also, I thought of many uses for these jars at home. I think I'll get two... one for a chore jar and one for a special treat jar. In both I'll put colorful slips of paper with either 'extra' chores or special treats or privileges. I will use the chore jar for chores that can be done to earn extra money or be done as a consequence! In the treat jar I will include coupons for things like an extra serving of dessert, an extended bedtime, a dessert date with mom or dad, a mini-manicure, a little toy, etc... all things that I can use as rewards!

I started thinking... these jars range in price from $4 to $8 each... I wonder if I could find some bulk jars (maybe from IKEA) and buy some of the blackboard chalk paint and create this gift for much cheaper! I think so.

Fun project...

Bezales - CURRENT GIVEAWAY

Bezales is a fun new on-line shop with the most darling pendants around! The company, run by, and the brain child of, a 16-year old entrepreneur takes your digital photos and creates darling pendants. She offers two choices, the medallion style and the original stone style. Both come with either a black cord or silver chain.

Bezales has generously offered to give an original stone pendant, with black cord, to a randomly selected reader of LaughUntilYourCheeksHurt! Please leave a comment here by midnight, Tuesday September 16 to be entered in the drawing! Add a "shout out" to your blog about this giveaway and I'll enter you in the drawing two times!! Just tell me in your comment that you did it, so I'll get you entered the second time!

These would make great gifts for so many people on your gift-giving list! I love this idea and all the possibilities!!

Medallion Style

Original Stone Style

Keds Shoes

Add to the list of my titles... SHOE DESIGNER!

Keds Studio has to be one of the coolest ideas on the web! In just under a minute, I customized these pair of Keds Mini-Slip Ons. Cool? YES!! I love the little surprise of red on the inside of the shoe.




You seriously have to check out this site... Keds Studio. Can you imagine a more fun (read: silly) way to wear a favorite photo?

Enjoy!

Sticks and Stones - CURRENT GIVEAWAY

Items that are in the shape of letters, that have been photographed from items in nature and architecture, are used to create personalized keepsakes from a super cool company, called Sticks and Stones. There is an extensive gallery of letter options available to spell a favorite word or name. Obviously a great gift idea... but one for my family is a MUST!

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There are multiple framing options available, but my favorite is the black wood frame... simple, yet elegant! In my opinion, these are priced reasonably (starting at just $130!) and really would make a great gift! Think about the possibilites... a housewarming gift, customer appreciation, good luck on your new business adventure, graduation gifts, new baby gift, and what about a classroom gift to a favorite teacher?? Oh man...

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So... I'm THRILLED to announce the current giveaway... The very amazing people at Sticks and Stones are donating a $100 gift certificate to a lucky LaughUntilYourCheeksHurt reader! Leave a comment on this entry by midnight Tuesday, September 2 and I will randomly select a winner on Wednesday morning! Tell your friends...

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P.S. Did I mention that Oprah ordered one of these keepsakes as a gift for Tom and Katie???
Click here to see the masterpiece!

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I See Me!

My youngest child received this darling book for his first birthday! It is so adorable and absolutely a treasure!

Here is what the I See Me website says about their books!

My Very Own Name is a very high quality personalized storybook that helps children learn to recognize letters and spell their names. In this 8 1/2" x 11" hardcover, professionally bound book, animals bring letters one by one to create the child's first and last names in rhyme. A jackal brings a J, an ostrich brings an O, and so on. At the end, the animals celebrate because they've created the perfect name. As an added personal touch, this award-winning book includes the child's birthdate, a printed dedication from the sender, and an illustrated encyclopedia of 61 animals. This storybook is made in the USA.

Here is a sample of a page from the book!

There is also a book titled "My Very Own Fairy Tale" created in the same fashion, but using fairies, instead of animals. Books are $29.95 a piece.

Photo Gift Ideas

I love using personal photos in gift giving (and gift receiving) and www.exposuresonline.com has some great gift ideas. Here are three of my current favorites.

I have personally ordered items from Exposures and find their products to be very high in quality!

Love this bag! Want this bag! It is $39.00.

These personalized photo cubes start at $19.95 each. Love them!!

These glass vases are $29.95 a piece.