Uncommon Christmas gifts ideas and $25 Uncommon Goods gift certificate giveaway

Do you struggle with getting unique gifts for those on your list? Well look no further than this post today for some great ideas! The wonderful people at Uncommon Goods not only let me try out a few of their products, but also are offering a giveaway- teamed up with little ol' me! (See bottom of the post for more details!)
If you are in search for some unusual or uncommon gifts, look no further than Uncommon Goods, where you can find some awesome Christmas gifts here. Don't forget about those stocking stuffers either- get great stuffer ideas here. Or, if you're like me and on a budget, see here for their gifts under $50.

Now here are my picks for some great uncommon gift ideas:

Uncommon Gifts for the Uncommon People on your list

If you're like me, you have certain friends and family that seem to have EVERYTHING. When the holiday season comes around- you are stumped at what to get them. Well, I have a few ideas to help save you during this already-stressful time of year!

For the at-home bartender:

Click here to get Uncommon Goods Mixology dice.
These are perfect for those who love playing bartender at gatherings or parties. My husband and I are often stumped at what drink to mix up when friends are over (besides the classic wine and beer), so this product struck me as a wonderful helper! Your mixologist friend will surely be excited to try these dice out- whether they are an amatuer or a seasoned bartender. Pair up with a hard liquor of your choice, and you have the perfect gift for that future or at-home bartender.

The first drink I made using the Mixology Dice was a honey vanilla-vodka with peach cocktail- tasted great!:

How the dice work:

Other gift ideas for the bartender:
Whiskey & Rum Making Kit- $25-$75
Ultimate Cocktail Bar Tool- $39.95
Molecular Mixology Mojito Set- $30
Whiskey Taxonomy Glass Set- $45
Beer Pop Chart- $35


For the aspiring writer:

Click here to get Uncommon Goods "642 Things to Write About" book.
As a blogger, I often find times where I need a little creative writing inspiration. I have a LOT of friends and co-workers who are writers, so this book is a perfect gift for them. It is filled with writing prompts that just help you really think and/or get creative. Sometimes you need a little boost to get your creative juices flowing, and this book certainly helps with that. Pair it up with a pretty pen, and you have your holiday gift in the bag for that novelist-in-training you know.
Here is a little taste of some of the prompts in the book:

Other gift ideas for the writer:
Storymatic game- $29.95
My Life Story so Far- $28
Calligraphy Starter Kit- $35
Pocket Bookbinding Kit- $28
Literary Scarves- $42
(or for the artist who draws better than they write): 642 Things to Draw-$17


For the foodie:

Click here to get Uncommon Goods 3-Tiered Twist and Fold Bowl.
This bowl(s) is honestly one of the coolest kitchen containers I've come across. I always complain I don't have enough cabinet space for all the cute kitchen dishware, but this little baby is perfect to deal with that dilemma- it folds up! So cool! Whether you need to entertain or store your fruit in your kitchen, this great product is perfect to save you space. If you have someone on you Christmas list that is a foodie or the hostess-who-is-the-mostest, this gift is for you.
It collapses down to this:

Check out how it works:

Other gift ideas for the foodie:

My Family Cookbook- $35
Foodie Dice- $24
Salts of the World Test Tube Set- $40
DIY Granola Kit- $35
Italian Cheesemaking Kit- $29.95

Bonus gift idea: Great gift to give to your mother or daughter- Mother & Daughter Letter Book Set, which you can pick up here. This wonderful product helps the Mother/Daughter bond to grow by sharing letters between each other.

So, has this given you some ideas for Christmas gifts for your hard-to-buy-for friends and family? If none of these fit those on your list, be sure to check out all of these products and MANY other uncommon but totally awesome Christmas gifts here at Uncommon Goods.

But before we get to the giveaway, here's a little insight into the Uncommon Goods company.
Uncommon Goods is a privately-owned retailer, based out of Brooklyn, NY, that strives to feature unique designs and handcrafted gifts created in harmony with the environment and without harm to animals or people. Their mission is to support and provide a platform for artists and designers; in fact, half of what they sell is made by hand! Most of the products they carry are created right here in the USA, and about one-third of their entire collection incorporates recycled and/or upcycled materials. If you're a local artist or designer, they have various events and design challenges here that you can get your work out into the marketplace, or if you need help to improve and develop your artistic business, you can check out their How to Make It events panel series here. I also love that this independently-owned company is proud to donated $1 to the non-profit of your choice with every purchase you make, through their Better to Give program here.

Now, without further ado- here is how YOU can win a $25 gift certificate to Uncommon Goods.

Entries are done through the Rafflecopter below. 

$25 Uncommon Goods Gift Certificate giveaway!

The Must dos: 

You MUST like both Uncommon Goods and Madcap Frenzy (my blog page) on Facebook for your entry to count towards the giveaway- use the Rafflecopter below, so we know you liked us through the giveaway! (If you've already liked us, just check off that from the Rafflecopter below).

Extra chances to win:

You can get extra chances to win by-

• Following Uncommon Goods and Madcap Frenzy on Twitter
• Tweeting that you entered the giveaway 
• Answering a question through the rafflecopter- What is the best Christmas gift you've ever recieved?
• Or leaving me a comment on my blog (on this post)- What would YOU get from Uncommon Goods if you won the gift certificate?

Please feel free to stop by every day to tweet the giveaway for more chances to win. If you've entered, please share with your friends and family- who knows- if they win, they just might get YOU a gift from Uncommon Goods with their gift certificate. ;)

The giveaway is only up for a week- ending next Tuesday at 11:59 PM EST- so it will be a Thanksgiving present to you if you win! The winner will be notified by personal message/email. Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Uncommon Goods and start your Christmas wishlist, pick up Christmas Gifts here- especially those that are under $50 here, or stuffing those stockings here. They are the perfect place to get gifts for those very uncommon people on your list. ;)

I am so happy to have had the opportunity to work with Uncommon Goods for these awesome products and their fantastic giveaway- I hope you find their company as inspiring as I do!
Have a great day!

-M

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Belated Valentine's Day: DIY 101 Date Ideas Card Deck Book

 Ok, so I know Valentine's Day was last week, but I'm a little behind in posting. One of the items I made for my hubs this Valentine's Day was a little deck of cards (string bound) with 101 date ideas on it. Our mission is to complete all 101 dates by either next Valentine's Day, or at least 2 Valentine's Days from now (so 2016). haha

I got the idea from a mix of many Pinterest posts (such as this 52 things I love about you) and a 101 Creative Date Ideas from Thinking Closet.
I tweeked some of the date ideas to be a little more catered to my hubs and I, as there was some ideas that we just couldn't foresee us ever doing or affording to do (we're kind of cheap).
So far we've already done one of the items (#19 karaoke duet), and I hope to get those little gold star stickers (the ones you used to get at school for being good) and star up each date we complete.

This was a pretty easy present to make and would be super easy to do for an anniversary as well.

101 Date Ideas Card Deck Book
Supplies:

• 1 deck of cards
• hole punch
• string
• printout of 101 date ideas
• glue/adhesive

All you have to do is punch 2 holes in each card (I used my big chomper punch and did about 6-10 cards at a time). Tie string through each to bind the cards together. Cut out each date idea and adhere to each side of the cards. I left the cover card and the back cover card empty, with a few blank cards at the end if we wanted to add anything or add notes or whatnot.

This project is super easy and cheap to make and now we have a fun little book to go through and pick out a date to complete when we are stumped on what to do over the weekends or on a free evening. ;)

Here are the 101 date ideas I used:

1.      Have a trilogy movie marathon.  

2.      We draw each other’s portraits… with your non-dominant!  Laugh at the results.  Then we can frame ‘em!

3.      Sit down together and write postcards to a few of our favorite people.

4.      Go tubing- either in snow or down the river.

5.      Visit a pet store and play with the puppies and kittens!  (Beware, we might bring one home- or will have to force ourselves to leave without an animal in hand.)

6.      Food Crawl: enjoy an appetizer at one place, the main course at another, and the dessert at a third place!

7.      Visit one your favorite childhood places.

8.      YouTube video marathon; we share some of our favorites with each other.

9.      Hit up the bowling alley…lowest score wins! 

10.  Create a marriage bucket list together, and set a date for our first item.

11.  DIY Duo: find a home project we’re BOTH excited to work on.  Then, execute!

12.  Go to a local orchard or farm and load up some bushels of fruit to bring home!

13.  Visit a local winery or brewery and bring a bottle of their drink home.

14.  Paint something together- whether it is furniture or an actual painting.

15.  Have a wine and cheese picnic together as we watch the sunset.

16.  Get up early to watch the sunrise; then, make a hot breakfast together and eat it in bed.

17.  Go to a book signing and meet an author.  (Check what our local Barnes & Noble has to offer.)

18.  Take a trip to the park, walk and enjoy the outdoors.

19.  Go to a Karaoke bar, be brave and sing a duet TOGETHER.

20.  Make homemade pizzas with wild toppings.

21.  Build a fire in the firepit and roast s’mores. 

22.  Re-write the first chapter to a favorite book- starring your significant other.

23.  Take a free factory tour.

24.  Put on your bathing suits and have a water balloon fight.  Why not?

25.  Prepare and enjoy a special fondue dinner together…followed by fondue dessert!

26.  Game Night!  Enjoy a tourney with some of your favorite board games. 

27.  Create an audio recording podcast. Do episode 1.
 

28.  Do a fitness class or exercise together.

29.  Bust out a deck of cards and play a game!  Poker, Go Fish…you get the picture.

30.  Go Geo-Caching!  

31.  Go for a bike ride.

32.  Fill out those long silly questionnaire quizzes that you might of filled out as a teen- see what each others answers are. 

33.  On a rainy day, go outside and play in the rain/mud- best not to do this during the winter though.

34.  In the autumn, carve pumpkins together.

35.  Journey through a corn-maze together.

36.  Create a couples Halloween costume together!

37.  Fresh snowfall?  Go sledding; then, sip hot cocoa together by the fire.

38.  Build a snowman and snow-woman, followed by snow-ice cream

39.  Decorate a live tree- if we don’t want one inside, decorate one of the live trees outside with lights and bird-friendly ornaments.

40.  Around the holidays, drive around and look at lights while playing Christmas music in the car.

41.  Visit the dollar store together, and put together a shoebox full of goodies for each other.

42.  Make brunch, followed by playing a video game together.

43.  Play the Game “Two Truths and a Lie!” to get to know each other better…no matter how long we’ve been together.

44.  Go camping!  Roast hot dogs over a fire for dinner, and completely unplug from technology.  Even if it just for a night.  Even if in our own backyard!

45.  Hop in the car together and hit the open road for a memorable day trip.
 

46.  Visit your local frozen yogurt spot, and go topping crazy.

47.  Childhood movie night!  Watch each of your favorite childhood movies while snacking on popcorn.

48.  Mini-golf never gets old.  Especially Glow-Golf.

49.  Recreate a memorable meal together from a special event or past anniversary.

50.  Go to a thrift store together, set a budget, and choose outfits for each other!

51.  Get up early on a Saturday and hit the garage sales together early for some new finds! 

52.  Go to a park and throw a ball around.

53.  Take an evening stroll together around your neighborhood.

54.  Choose a new TV series to dive into together!  Watch way more episodes in a row than you probably should.

55.  Create a scavenger hunt for yourselves.

56.  Create an ice cream sundae bar at home for kicks.

57.  Go to the nearest jungle-gym and swing on the swings like you did in days of old.  It’ll keep you young.  

58.  Spa Night!  Give each other massages and exfoliate with face masques.

59.  Research and then visit some of your town’s historic sites!

60.  Play “Remember when…” as you recollect some of your favorite memories together.  Jot them down, so you remember them for always.

61.  Write a wish list of all the places you still want to visit.

62.  Pack dinner and enjoy an outdoor movie…even if it’s on a laptop in your backyard! But a drive in movie is ideal.

63.  Make a time capsule, and bury it with plans to dig it up in 10 years.

64.  Watch the first movie you saw together for nostalgia’s sake.

65.  Choose a meal you’ve never made before, go on a grocery run, and then cook dinner together back at home.

66.  Ask a friend to do a special photo shoot of the two of you!  Capture a moment in time.

67.  Make a dish that is traditionally from your heritage. Have a full meal of eclectic food.

68.  Visit your local library or bookstore together, find some good books, and then cozy up in a corner reading side by side.

69.  Have a cookie bake-off!

70.  Dye eggs together.  

71.  Go paddle-boating.

72.  Go for an evening swim at a local pool or own pool. If you can, bring glow sticks!

73.  Browse Craigslist together for some amazing local deals.

74.  Pick up some water-guns at your local toy store, and have a water-gun fight!  You can even invite neighborhood friends in on the date.

75.  Toss around a frisbee in the backyard.

76.  Take the train to Philly and go somewhere!

77.  Go to the Aquarium.

78.  Support the arts!  Go to an art museum or art gallery.

79.  10 Things I Love About You: set a timer for 10 minutes and each write a list of 10 things you love about the other person…then read them to each other.  Prepare for plenty of “Awwww” moments.

80.  Attend a local sports game.

81.  Explore a state park by car, by foot, or by canoe. Take photos of the landscape.

82.  Stroll through a farmer’s market together.  Buy fresh ingredients for your next few meals.

83.  Visit the zoo or a petting farm on discount / free days!

84.  Fun in the sun: hang out at the beach for the day.

85.  Create a “specialty drink” that represents each of you. And enjoy the night sipping your special drinks.

86.  Watch old videos you have taken in the past, and then video something new!

87.  Find statues in your area and take funny photos with them.

88.  Build a fort out of blankets in the living room, and cuddle up to watch a movie together.

89.  Learn a new sport together!  Croquet, badminton, tennis…heck, you can even invent a sport together.

90.  Take a class together: dancing, painting, cooking….

91.  Go to an arcade!

92.  Get a Groupon for a special night out on the town together.  You can usually nab some pretty sweet deals!

93.  Visit your local science center, planetarium, conservatory, or botanical gardens.

94.  On a windy day, fly a kite together at the park.  

95.  Get in the car and just drive to get lost.  It’ll be an adventure!  (Just make sure you have plenty of gas, so it doesn’t turn into a misadventure.)

96.  Pick out one outfit from your spouse’s closet- then they have to wear that outfit sometime in the week.

97.  Visit a local festival together.  Many of them are free!  Just check out your town’s website for their calendar of events.

98.  Bring your own lawn chairs for an evening of outdoor theatre or music.

99.  Spend a night looking through old memorabilia: love letters, photographs….

100.          Make homemade pasta together and enjoy.

101.          Write letters to each other that you’ll open 20 years from now. 

Hubs and I had a lovely day out for Valentine's Day (we both had off) at the Cheesecake Factory and then an evening at home.

So have a great day everyone and happy belated Valentine's Day! Why not celebrate love everyday, not just on Feb. 14th!
-M

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Blog Weekly Planner printable

So, as I sit here planning out my week of blog posts, I thought to myself- how can I setup a weekly planner that is easy to use and perfect for me to plan out my blog posts? So I created this nifty blog weekly planner.

I then decided to make it a little more specific to MY needs- such as my weekly features of Pinspirations and Favorites. So then I separated out the sidebar to look like this one:

If you would like this nifty planner, for yourself, feel free to download it by right clicking the image for full size. (Still trying to figure out the best way to share pdfs to ya'll).
It is a pretty simple printable, and not nearly as complicated as most, since I wanted to not waste a whole not of ink printing a boat-load of these, but it does the trick in helping me plan out my posts. yay! I thought maybe my fellow bloggers might want some organization too!
Organization for the win!
Have a great day all!
-M

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Looking back at 2012 and looking forward to 2013

Ok, I know lots of bloggers did this kind of post a good month ago, but I thought, after looking over my past year of projects to link up to a 2012 DIY contest, I thought I'd kind of do a roundup of my year in projects and talk about what I have in store for this coming year.

So, my top three projects from 2012 are these babies:

Dollar store silverware mirror for Kitchen nook

Bar cart trash to treasure reveal

Trashed mirror turned into cute chalkboard

Now on to my top 5 re-pinned Pinterest items. Personally I find some of these quite interesting that they were repinned the most (of today). 3 cards, 1 scrapbook page and one gift. I guess I'm still getting in the groove of Pinterest- haven't had any earth shattering pinned items, but I'm getting there. Feel free to pin everything and anything from my blog-o people! If you want to see more of my projects that I've pinned, if that is easier, I created a My Projects pin board that you can surely repin from, or feel free to follow my boards on Pinterest over here.

1) Beer cake- ok this surprised me, since it was such a simple idea, but it was perfect for a guy present. It wasn't even a post all on its own, and was something I put together quick for a friend's birthday. But then again, I know I struggle with gifts for men all the time. So I guess everyone else had the same issue, hence why it was my top pinned project!

2) Christmas double scrapbook layout- was a fun layout and a double layout (which is kind of becoming unheard of in the pro-scrapbooking publications).

3) Christmas Happy Holiday kraft card- one of the many Christmas cards I made this year, so I'm glad ya'll liked it!

4) Fly away card- so this is the only top pin that isn't from this year, but it is probably one of my all-time favorite cards I've made thus far, especially since it was for a co-worker's surprise to his wife.

5) Peace, joy, love Christmas card- another card from this year's Christmas card extravaganza, and super fun to dream up. I LOVE PTI's Christmas tag stamp set that I used for this.

Overview of this past year, 2012:
 I created a chalkboard from an old mirror, held a S'Mores party, made a dry-erase board and some new business cards, started planning out the rooms to our new house with Olioboard, made a headband holder, did scrapbooking projects at the Autism Crop, created a boat-load of reusable bags from old t-shirts, picked up some awesome finds at antique stores and thrift shops, finished my trash-to-treasure bar cart, created cake stands and a beer cake for a friend's birthday, revealed my bestie's wedding invite, scored more thrifty finds, showed off my father's day cards I sent out, checked out Chip It! and acquired our trash-to-treasure dresser, revealed the "Spooks and Scares" digital image set I created over at www.frenzified.com, went to CHA summer, helped hold a Beauty & the Beast/Parisian themed bridal shower for my bestie, made personalized mini suitcases for gifts to the crew of "The Music Man" where I played Marian, got my first project life package, was in my bestie's wedding and showed off some super fab projects and gifts for the event, bought our very first house, survived Hurricane Sandy in our new home, did a LOT of new projects in our new home including decorating for Thanksgiving then Christmas, sent out my massive amount of homemade Christmas cards, as well as created and sent out our 2012 year in review infographic letter. We also celebrated my hubs' grandfather's 75th birthday, I attended CropPink with my mom in October (and won the Pink Spirit contest with our SteamPink costumes), and rung in the New Year with a few of our closest friends with a New Year's dinner party.

So all in all, it has been a superfab year for projects! This 2013 year already I've decorated for Valentine's Day (with snowflakes!) AND finished our trash-to-treasure double dresser!

And now onto the future...
My plans for this coming year in projects and DIY and crafts:

• Paint the chair/stools given to me by my co-worker for our breakfast nook in the kitchen (and finish adding the shelf table in there)
• Find better wall decor for dining room
• Finish our large clock made from old wood backing from vanity, for the living room
• Find/finish living room decor (map for pinning where we've been and friends that live there? and/or shelf for faux mantel)
• Pretty-up/finish 1/2 bathroom
• Do SOMETHING with our front and back yard (flowers, firepit, new front-door appeal?)
• Finish up wall decor for bedroom
• Paint mirror for bedroom and repaint vanity & end tables
• Update lampshades for bedroom
• Finish decor in spare bedroom
• Figure out what to do with hall bath
• Finish wall decor for master bathroom
• Organize and finish all the projects for the craft/office room (red polka dots?!!)
• Lots of decorations for the holidays, projects for friends and family, and start planning a big 2013 New Year's party, since we didn't have a big one this year.

I know, a lot of plans, but even if I get a few done, I'll be happy.
So, check out my DIY projects from 2012, as well as many other cool projects from others over at the big contest at Not Just a Housewife.

Anyways, happy January and here is to a good year of DIY projects!
-M

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