Flash Sale!!!

Hey beauties!!!

I just marked down a ton of Faudori's that are ready to ship for $15.00 in the shop; limited quantities. I also have a special code I wanted to share with you all...INSTAWESOME25 for 25% off all purchases through Friday. ;)

Also, I'm planning on doing a fun plan with me post. Do any of you do crazy fun things inside of your traveler's notebook? I'd love to feature you on here. Shoot me an email thatsmerb at gmail dot com. ;)

With love,

Raven

Beautiful fabric goodness

Y'all I'm so excited that today is Monday! Do you ever have those just days where you are so excited and grateful to be alive?!?! I feel so blessed for all of the wonderful and not so wonderful parts of my life I can't even express my gratitude. 

I also have recently opened up my etsy store (www.etsy.com/shop/Ravenb) and I've decided to do Monday specials. Today's special is a beautiful fabric passport sized faudori. 

YUP you read that right. This little gem is available for $12.50 until Midnight tonight or until it sells out. I can't wait to package these little goodies. 

Thank you for your love and support. 

With love,

Raven

P.S. Would you be interested in videos on how I set up my faudori or on how to make them yourselves? ;)

What a Great Read :Book Review~Spark Joy

Hey gals & guys,

I have had the pleasure of reading the fantastic new book by Marie Kondo. I've had the pleasure of reading and reviewing all three of her books thus far and I think this is my favorite. If you haven't yet been introduced to the KonMari method of organizing and declutter then this is the book you want to start with. The first book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, was great but this surpasses the first. The 280 pages include illustrations as well as detailed reasons as to why we hang onto our possessions. Every single category that you can think of is included in this book. I've tried to pin every single blog post and idea onto Pinterest but having the physical book seemed to really help me work through our clutter. We are a family of five and our "Stuff" has taken over our house. Our biggest tackle was by far the laundry. Being able to go through it piece by piece we have given away over 10 bags to charity. I still find such an attachment to stationery supplies so I'm working through that one but this is such a great read for even the youngest reader. If I could go back in time and learn all of her methods from childhood I think I would have been more successful in school and in life. I know that sounds drastic but her methods are honestly life changing. I feel like our home is calm and relaxed now due to our changes. We have a place for everything and a system that really works for our household. I wish you all luck in your decluttering adventures. If you haven't already... 

GET THIS BOOK! 

I'm grateful to Bloggingforbooks.com for allowing me to read this book for review. 

What do you all think of the KonMari method? Have you used it in your home, office, school etc.? How is it going for you?

With love,

Raven

Book Review~ Doodletopia Cartoons

How stinkin adorable is this cover? I desperately wanted to review this book because it is adorable and I've been into doodling for so long but I am just NO good at drawing. When it came in the mail the girls took it from me because they loved the cover so much. I had to pull it away in order to go through it. Let me first start by telling you what I liked about this book. I love that it's not only a guide book but its also an activity book of sorts. I love the encouraging words throughout. The illustrations are really adorable. The commentary is great especially when it comes to expressions. The artist really shows you why he is doing what he is doing with each character. I also love that the lettering section is so animated. Lettering is such a big deal right now in the crafting community and bible journaling so I really enjoyed that element of the book. The fun facts are also great, "Scientists don't know why, but there seems to be something about the combination of fat and fluff that makes pandas irresistible." LOVE those little tidbits of information. My one and only con of this book is that it's not longer. The book is long with 160 pages but honestly I was left wanting more! I sure do hope there is another book in this series.

I received this book for review purposes from blogging for books. The opinions are my own account of this little gem. 

Hope you all are having a great week! 

Happy Crafting & Drawing!

Book Review~ life-changing magic (a journal)

Hey y'all. I've been obsessed with living the minimalist lifestyle for a while now so when Marie Kondo came out with her first book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing I was ALL about it. I simply fell in love with the simplicity of it and the internal process of questioning oneself to decide if you really "need" or even "want" something. I was surprised to find out that I rarely felt joy when I picked something up in my home. When I saw her accompanying book life changing magic a journal I jumped at the chance to see how it could inspire me to continue my journey of purging and having what I really need/want. I was quite surprised when it arrived. I had assumed that it would include prompts and inspiration. However, it only contains pages of lined paper and occasional quptes from the original book; mentioned above. If you are looking for strictly a journal to document your process and your journey then this is the guy for you. However, if you are similar to me and you need more direction then I would strongly encourage you to purchase Marie Kondo's first book. 

I'm grateful to Bloggingforbooks.com for allowing me to view this book for review. 

Clean it Monday~Week 1 (Pinterest Inspired cleaning)

 Hey guys! So my plan is to try and blog something every single day or at least 4 days a week going forward. I want to stay on track and I'm hoping this will help. So since today is Monday and it's my cleaning day I decided to share a cleaning tip that I found on Pinterest and I LOVE it! 

So one of my lovely kids decided to warm up pizza in the microwave this morning and left it a wee bit too long and it exploded. I've been a neat freak about my kitchen for the last few months so when I opened this up today I about had a panic attack. No joke; it was bad. 

So a while back I found this pin on pinterest Click HERE!

    

"Whatcha gonna do is" grab a microwave safe bowl, 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 cup of vinegar. Set it into the microwave and turn the microwave on for 5 minutes. Wait about 2 minutes after the 5 because the bowl is going to be VERY hot (use mittens). 

Then you take a warm wet washcloth and wipe down the microwave. Everything comes off so easily I just love this recipe. I have it written down in the back of my planner as one of my 

go-to cleaning recipes. 

This is an "almost done" picture I still need to clean a few more spots but I wanted to show how easy it is to clean out. 

I hope this helps some of you who have a messy microwave. ;) 

Have a great one y'all and happy cleaning!!!

Book Review~NIV ZONDERVAN STUDY BIBLE

Oh do I love me some bibles. I love to review bibles because they can vary so much from one bible to the next and I feel like it is so great to see what works best for you. 

This is the NIV Zondervan Study Bible which is definitly a STUDY bible. I say this because it is so incredibly big and jam packed full of information that you will most likely only want to use it if you have it on your next or next to bed. It contains 2880 pages with thin, typeface small font. The typeface of the notes are even smaller. It's very unlikely to travel with this bible because of its bulk. So I would not recommend this for bible study class or the like. The weight is also an issue (it weighs 5 pounds) due to the bulk so it isn't light. 

It is a full color bible though and that is really beautiful to see all the color coding throughout. It helps digest this bible with its varying codes. I absolutely loved the colored maps as well. 

The NIV is a great version and I loved the way that it was outlined so well it really helps one pull apart scripture and really dig deep into the true meaning of each passage. 

If you are looking to do a comprehensive study with the NIV bible this is the one for you. I would highly recommend this review but like I said it's not a traveling bible.

I received this book for free from Booklookblogger.com for a complete and honest review. 

Book Review~ The Surrender Experience

Hey yall. Super excited to share a book review with you. I'm always on the lookout for books that will inspire and uplift and boy did this one ever. The Surrender Experience is the true life experiences of Michael A. Singer who is the author of The Untethered Soul; which I haven't read yet. 

The book follows Michael through key times in his life where he just allowed the universe to take him where he needed to be hence the title having surrender in it. It was amazing to read how he went from one occupation to the next and surrendered to the entire experience of life leading him through this wonderful journey he is on. 

The idea of quieting the inner chatter is such a journey that it's mesmerizing to see it through another's perspective. His journey through yoga and meditation into a beautiful facility that it is now was really very inspiring. It feels as though too often we are lead by fear opposed to being led by spirit and I feel like that is exactly what Michael did and he is still doing. This is a concept that has truly inspired me to live my life differently going forward. 

I received this book for free to review from blogging for books. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to read this gem. The ideas and concepts are my own and genuine. 

Pretty Cute Stamps August Sneak Peek Reveal

Hey beautiful crafters! I am so sorry for my Hiatus! Seriously it has been the craziest summer for our family EVER. Actually last summer was pretty crazy too but alas I'm back and the kids start school soon and yeah so Here is a project I made using the ADORABLE Pretty Cute Stamp set called Harvest Happiness and my favorite new MIDORI! I super love this thing. Okay so here we go. 

I also filmed a video for those of you who don't use a midori or travelers notebook if you'd like to learn how I made these inserts. ;) 

Here are some close up pictures...

I just LOVE this time of year it brings out the kid in me that's for sure! Hope you liked this cutie pie trio of inserts. Please be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel as I promise to start uploading videos weekly. 

Hugs, 

Raven 

Pretty Cute Stamps July release

Thanks so much for joining us for the July Release Blog Hop, where we are all sharing projects featuring the new stamps this month that are now available in the Pretty Cute Stamps Store.

If you came from Larissa's blog, you are in the right place. If you just stumbled across this post and would like to start from the beginning, please visit the Pretty Cute Stamps Blog. 

For my project for the hop, I've used the Sew Amazing stamp set. 

I've really been wanting to open up an Etsy shop for some time now. So I decided to sew up some pretty little bags and list them on both my Instagram (@Ravenb28) and on my Etsy. I had to dress them up pretty so I put this adorable tag using the Pretty Cute Stamps Sew Amazing set. The sentiments are so cute!!!

~BLOG CANDY~

I would like to offer my own candy. My Etsy store and a flash sale will be going live on July 10th 2015. I would love to giveaway one of my small size bags to one commenter here on this post. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here on this post, follow me here on this blog and leave a way for me to reach you if you win. For an extra entry I'd love it if you follow me on Instagram (@Ravenb28) and share this giveaway. If you do please let me know so I can add in your entries. ;) 


Blog Candy directly from Pretty Cute Stamps...

Blog Candy!! There is a $15 Gift Certificate to the PCS Store available to win! All you need to do is:

1) Follow and comment on each of the blogs. 

2) For extra chances to win you can LIKE Pretty Cute Stamps on Facebook and/or sign up for the Pretty Cute Stamps mailing list. 

A random winner will be chosen on Thursday, July 9, 2015

All New Releases will be on sale through July 7, 2015, and you can save even more by purchasing the June/July 2015 Stamp Bundle. You can also pick up the SVG outlines for each of these stamps at the store!!

***Lisa will be on vacation during the release, so all orders placed between July 1-8 will be mailed out on July 9. :).

Now, you can head over to the next stop on the hop- Karla 's blog. 

If you get lost along the way, here's the lineup!

Lisa: http://prettycutestampsblog.blogspot.com/

Dawn: http://www.dawnmercedes.blogspot.com/

Janna: http://www.stampingwiththedogs.blogspot.com/ 

Larissa: http://muffinsandlace.com/

Raven: http://www.love4stamps.blogspot.com 

Karla: http://creative-love-affair.blogspot.ca/