Halloween Giveaway

How exciting! Today we are giving away 1 Personalized Address Stamp, 1 Halloween themed Peel  & Stick pack, and FREE SHIPPING to the winner.  Entering is easy, just enter from the widget below. 

If you aren't familiar with our personalized address stamps, allow me to introduce you! Our stamps have a patented Peel & Stick technology. Your personalized stamp die is not glued onto your stamper. It's actually sticky and you can remove it at whim.  The dies never loose their stickiness so you can stick them on over and over again. We have hundreds of interchangeable stamps that you can use with your personalized outer ring. Peel off the middle, and stick on a cute little icon for each holiday.  The one shown in the photo above is our UBU Happy Halloween collection.  Love all the adorable characters, don't you? 

Enter to win the personalized stamp of your choice below. Preview all of our available PSA Essentials stamp designs here! 

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Halloween Cards

Halloween is nearly a month away and while there's a huge selection of cards available at drugstores and department stores everywhere, a handmade card cannot be beat.  Sending your friends and family a card at Halloween may seem strange to some... why bother?  Really, it's just a piece of happy mail.  Why not? It's nice to get something in the mail aside from junk and bills.  If you are crafty, get inspired with this collection of my absolute FAVORITE handmade cards by our PSA Essentials design team. All use our PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamps.

Which one is your favorite? Stay tuned tomorrow for a giveaway! 

Halloween Prep

With September drawing to a close, that can only mean one thing for children and crafter's alike. Time to break out Halloween! I ADORE this holiday. With creative ways to entertain, loads and loads of decorating ideas, endless crafts, parties, and trick-or-treating, Halloween is one of my favorites because there is so much room for creativity.  PSA Essentials Design Team members have really wowed me in the past few years and I'm here today and all week long sharing my favorites. 

Carly Robertson designed these treat bag tags and wine charms using Hello Kitty Reindeer Games Peel & Stick pack by PSA Essentials. She colored the stamps up to bring them to life.

Monika Wright created this pencil holder, which makes a great party favor or treat in school. It is also a fabulous alternative to candy when trick-or-treating. (But just know, your house may get egged by the big kids later...)  Monika used UBU Happy Halloween Peel & Stick stamps by PSA Essentials to create this. 

 All week long, I'll be sharing more ideas for your Halloween decorating, trick or treating and more!  Check back tomorrow for more ideas we love here at PSA Essentials. 

Inspirational Quotes and Sayings

Just over a year ago, we went through a big change here in The O'Regan household. I was inspired by a few quotes about pursuing your dreams and going for it that really motivated me.

Two of the quotes that became the backbone of my thinking hang at my desk. I look at them everyday.

There are some days I say, "Wow, I've accomplished a lot." Other days, I look and think I have such a long way to go.  I found this one and thought it should also probably sit on my desk, too... 

I have started to see my limitations and more recently thought to myself -- maybe just because I can, doesn't mean I should. So as I got sucked into Pinterest last night pinning a variety of inspirational quotes (hence this post....), I found this one and felt compelled to share.  This is SO true, isn't it? 

Focusing on what's important is really the key -- this is a good one! 

This is a good reminder for any busy mom. So many of my friends focus on their kids, career, their husbands, and leave little time for themselves. And those that do make the time to go to the gym or get a babysitter to watch their kids so they can go out with friends, end up feeling guilty about it. Sigh. 

This one also was pin-worthy to me. I love being with positive, smart, successful people who inspire me. I am lucky to have a lot of them in my life. 

Found this good one too.... you never know what people are "fighting." 

Thanks Pinterest, for sucking me in once again. Find more inspirational quotes and sayings on my Pinterest board here. Or hop on over to see all of my Pinterest boards here. (I was pinning Halloween like crazy yesterday, too! So many ideas for this Halloween using my PSA Essentials stamps coming soon!) 

After School Activity Jar

I am actually a firm believer in not always "entertaining" your kids.  My kids specifically need to learn that I can't always be crafting with them, sitting on the floor playing, and constantly in their faces.  No structured play date, no structured activity, and time with the TV off  is SO good for children. It's in that "boring" time that kids find a way to occupy themselves -- invent games, explore toys, play imaginatively.   That all being said, I like the idea of having an hour of time devoted to the kids after school where we can do something together that's fun and exciting. 

On days that Molly doesn't have scheduled activities like ballet or tennis, I am always searching for that thing to do with them. I thought it would be fun to create an "after school activity jar" filled with fun ideas.  So last week, we made our jar!  Every morning before we head off to school, we pick our after school activity. It's made those non-activity days (for ballet and tennis) SO MUCH FUN.  

Here we are making our jar. I used an old vase, cardstock, pink paint, and of course, my PSA Essentials "Activity" stamp from Mom's Calendar Peel & Stick stamps. 

I had the kids involved in making the actual jar, cutting the paper and painting it. Then we had fun coming up with activities to do.   Molly and I brainstormed together! 

Later on when the jar was dry, I stamped "activity" onto the jar. It's totally fine and expected that they didn't come out perfectly on the jar. I used the Peel & Stick stamp on an ink pad (if I could find my acrylic blocks that would help....) 

So what have we done?  Would you believe that Molly drew "Lovin' Spoons" -- a trip to the yogurt shop on the first day? 

We also got "Make Fall Decorations" -- more to come on that later! That was a fun one. 

We pulled "gardening" last week which turned out to be my favorite of all. We went shopping for seeds and plants and planted. Connor had the most fun watering....

And on Friday, we drew "Island Playground." Time of the kids lives! 

Molly and Connor are really becoming friends. They play together at the playground even when other kids their own age are there. They talk to each other. They look out for each other. I can honestly say seeing their friendship emerge has been the most rewarding part of having two children. 

They're growing up so fast, life seems to be wizzing by, I am working really hard and I am pretty tired. Spending some QT with them, even if it's a bit scheduled is so special! Hope you get some family or friend time, too.  Thanks for reading!