Sunday, September 28, 2014

Fabulous Fall Sale - Monday and Tuesday Only!

Happy Sunday night y'all!!  Lindsay here . . .
 
Dontcha just LOVE fall?  The pumpkin spiced lattes . . . trips to the pumpkin patch . . . football every Sunday . . . and let's not forget about the cooler weather!!! (I mean, we SHOULD be getting some cooler weather soon, right????!!!!)
 
Well, what better way to celebrate the fabulous-ness of the fall season than by throwing a lil TPT sale?
 
That's right -  Kerri and I will be having a FABULOUS FALL SALE Monday and Tuesday in our TPT stores!  All items in our stores will be 20% off - a great opportunity to stock up on some fall and winter goodies for the next few months of school!
 
 
You can check out Kerri's store HERE and Lindsay's store HERE.
 
Happy shopping - and have a great week folks!
 
Lindsay

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Stitch Fix #4 and your chance to win a $20 gift card!!!

Happy Sunday, Peeps! Kerri here...
Soooo, last Monday the best day of the month arrived. The day when I received my 4th Stitch Fix box! You might have read about my previous Stitch Fix box here, and my last one was sooooo amazing, I had high hopes for this one. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. If you don't know what Stitch Fix is, I'll explain it at the end of this post, where you'll also be able to enter to win a $20 Stitch Fix gift card!! Whoot whoot!!

Let's get this party started, shall we???
Here is the beloved teal and brown box sitting on my bed, just waiting to be opened.



Once I opened it, I first looked at the handy Styling card that is included with every box. I LOVE these and I keep them all. They are perforated, so you could (hypothetically) keep them all as separate cards in a file box to refer to. (Not that I am such a dork to do such a thing. Heavens no.)

Here is what they sent me. I always ask for 5 clothing pieces, although you can ask them to send you an accessory, such as jewelry or a scarf, as well. I never do this because I have GOBS of jewelry (it's embarrassing, really) and I'm not really a scarf girl. 
Looks delicious already!!!
Here are the pile of clothes once I took it out of the box. Aren't the colors GORGEOUS??? I ALWAYS ask for the same colors. I can't help it. Coral, teal and blue are my favorites.
Soooo pretty. Like model. Cheerleader. Something pretty.
Next, I'll break down each piece and tell you how much each one costs, plus my first impression when I hung it up, and then you can see what I looked like in each piece. 

DISCLAIMER....I took these pictures at 7 a.m. in the morning before I went to work each day because it was 10000 degrees last week and by the time I got home, I was a HOT, SWEATY, STINKY mess. I feel like there are giant bags under my eyes and I am half awake. UGH. Don't ever get old, peeps. It sucks.  Even my 6th grade daughter was like, "You look tired, mom!" 

Thanks.alot.child.


With that being said, and with the promise that you will ignore my puffy, sleepy face, let's continue shall we??? :)

First up...the Clarita Leopard Print Flutter Sleeve Blouse by COLLECTIVE CONCEPTS. ($38)

I loved the print and the color was spot on, as was the price, but I was a little put off by the flutter sleeves. I am self conscious of my arms (even though I do yoga and try my darndest to get them all toned up!!) and I felt like the flutter sleeves might accentuate my arms in a weird way. Plus, I felt like I might fly away. 


Ok, ok, not too bad. The fluttery sleeves are a little LARGE, but overall, it fit great, I felt comfy in it, and I just LOVE the print. So I kept it! :)


Isn't this print too cute???
Item #2-The Joshua Colored Ankle Jean by Pink Martini in Teal ($44)
These jeans were ADORABLE on the hanger. Thin material, great color and a super good price.
And then I put them on. UGH. Not even close to fitting me right. Just so wrong in all the wrong places, you know what I mean?? I couldn't even stomach taking a picture in them. Too gross.

Sorry, Stitch Fix.  These.were.hideous.

Item #3-the Milan Lace Print Back Pleat Top by 41 Hawthorn ($58).
When I first saw this top, I liked the material and the navy and white color, but the lace was just not me. I kept thinking, "Too grandma! When do I ever wear ANYTHING lace??" Plus, it was little spendy. Not looking good girls.

And then....I tried it on. And fell in love. And felt completely cute it it. And decided that maybe I'm turning into a grandma??? Whatevers. Totally keeping it!!!!

This is the beauty of Stitch Fix. I NEVER EVER would have even entertained trying this on in a store, and it turn out it is my favorite piece of all. I got about a thousand compliments on this when I wore it to school! Seriously...Stitch Fix nailed it!
I love it in sooo many ways!!!


Lovely. just lovely.

Item #4-the Taya Flutter Sleeve Silk Blouse by Daniel Rainn ($74)

This was just beautiful. The color was perfect, the cut was great, except...again with the flutter sleeves??? And silk, WAYYYY too high maintenance for this girl. I haven't walked into a dry cleaner since forever. In fact, I don't even know where the nearest dry cleaner is. Plus, it was SUPER expensive! DARN DARN DARN.  Not keeping.

And, it was so pretty on. Poo and double poo.
Item #5-the Florence Colorblocked Dress by 41 Hawthorn ($68)
This dress was fabulous! I had asked for a shorter dress to wear to school and Stitch Fix DID NOT disappoint. It was so so cute and comfy and the colors were great!!


And absolutely fabulous on!!! Kept it!!!

So, there you have it! Stitch Fix #4 was the BOMB, as usual. I kept 3 of the 5 items this time, wore all 3 to school last week, and got GOBS of compliments from all of my teacher friends! I'm telling you, I felt VERY fancy!
After I checked out, I made sure to leave SUPER detailed notes and what worked and didn't work for me. For instance, I told them NO MORE SILK EVER or flutter sleeves for that matter, and to please reference my Stitch Fix Pinterest Board, which I keep adding too every time I see something cute that is my style!

So what is Stitch Fix??

1. Create a Style profile on the Stitch Fix Website


2. Have 5 handpicked items that fit your style profile delivered to your house.


3. Keep what you like and check out online. Send back the rest in a


pre-paid envelope.


4. Look fabulous at w
ork or while you're out playing!!


It takes about 10 minutes to fill out your style profile online, and it is super fun and easy, because you get to choose different outfits that best represent you. I love this part! You can also go back in and tweak your profile, which I have done several times. Just for fun!


This really is the easiest service in the world. There is no pressure to keep anything. If you don't like anything, they charge you a $20 styling fee, but if you keep at least one item, the $20 fee goes toward the cost of that item, and shipping is FREE both ways. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!!


You can also schedule your fixes to come just once, monthly, or 


every 2-3 weeks. I started out with just once, and then after it came 

and I realized how RAD it is, I decided to switch to monthly. It is 

so much fun to look forward to each month!!

If you sign up using my referral link (I'm so grateful when people use my link!! Thank you so much!), I get a small referral fee which goes toward the purchases of my own Fixes, and I can keep blogging about it and showing you all my awkward pictures! :)


Wanna win a $20 Stitch Fix gift card to use on your very own Fix?? Enter the Rafflecopter below! I'll choose a winner next weekend! YAY!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Five for Fraturday! And our Trashy Crafter WINNER!!

Good Morning, Bits and Bobbers!! Kerri here...

I'm linking up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for her weekly Five for Friday linky party, but since last night I was pretty much good for nothing but laying on the couch in an exhausted heap, it'll have to be a Five for Fraturday post!

It has been HOT here this week.
 Like "I'm officially in HELL' hot.
Like "My classroom is 90 degrees (NOT exaggerating) because I have no air conditioning because I teach near the beach and it NEVER gets hot at the beach" hot.
My wonderful parents realized how dire our situation has become so guess what they did for us????
TADA!!!
Oh HAPPY DAY!!! Can you believe this??? We set it up in the front of the room that's the hottest and it was gloriously cool ALL DAY yesterday! Is it not the most beautiful sight ever?? I have decided that...
A) it is a male air conditioner
B) it is officially my new boyfriend (my husband totally understands, trust me)
C) He is British and shall henceforth be known as Benedict Cumberbatch the Second.
SWOON!!


We started our unit on Apples this week and did all sorts of apple activities and learned about Johnny Appleseed. Here are some pics of our week...

I asked the kids to bring in apples so we could sort and graph them (FREEBIE) and use them to make applesauce next week...
 Look at how many apples they brought in!! I'm telling you, my families this year are AMAZING! I think we can make applesauce for the entire school with all these apples!!


We did our first direct draw of Johnny Appleseed and added him to our apple trees...cute!


And made an apple life cycle flow map...

My Johnny Appleseed Centers are next week. There's just too much apple goodness to fit into just one week!

We started our Back to School super sentences book from my Super Sentence Unit and they kids went CRAZY!! They LOVED it!!! They said (and I quote), "I like writing super sentences, Mrs. B!"
Well, there you go.




I am ADDICTED to the British crime Drama called Happy Valley. It's on Netflix. People, if you like British television and you have Netflix and you like a good cop/crime/drama, then
 HOLY CANNOLI!
For heavens sake, stop what you're doing.
Find it on Netflix. If you don't have Netflix, get it. It's worth every penny.
Sit for the next 6 hours and watch the entire season.
It's that good people. It's that good.

My 4th Stitch Fix came this week!!!

Oh, sooooo good! I'm going to blog all about it tomorrow, however, here is what I have to tell you about this one.
Never, ever, ever, take a picture of yourself wearing your new clothes first thing in the morning if you are 40 years old and tired as hell. Not pretty. I don't recommend it.
You'll see tomorrow.

Finally, here is the winner of my Trashy Crafter bracelet giveaway!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats!! I'll be emailing you to get your details!!!

I'm off girls! Tune back in tomorrow to read all about my latest Stitch Fix and to win a $20 Stitch Fix gift card!! 
Praise Jesus, it's cooler outside today.
XOXO Kerri B

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Trashy Crafter Bracelet Giveaway!!

Good afternoon, Bits and Bobbers!! Kerri here...

Oh.my.word. It is HOT in So.Cal this week. Like SWAMP SWEATY HOT. Literally, I can smell my stink all day long, because guess what?? We have NO air conditioning at my school. True Story.
It was 80 degrees in my classroom at 7:30 a.m. this morning when I walked in the door and just got progressively hotter and sweatier as the day went on.

On top of that, we have Back to School Night tonight!! There's gonna be like 40 adults in my classroom tonight. Sweating profusely.


Kill me now.

But, enough about me and my sweatiness. I am here to tell you about the MOST amazing GIVEAWAY EVER!!

About a month ago, Kimberly from The Trashy Crafter emailed me and asked me if I would be interested in doing a giveaway and review of her ADORABLE recycled book, sheet music, and map jewelry on our blog. She makes this jewelry with her mom. Isn't that the cutest thing ever?? 

Well, HELLO??? Are you kidding me? Of course I would be interested!

Here is a little snapshot of the kind of jewelry she makes and sells...
A Dr. Seuss book recycled bracelet
A recycled map bracelet
The Giving Tree recycled bracelet-LOVE!!!

So, aren't these bracelets GORGEOUS and CREATIVE and AMAZING??? She also generously offered to send me a bracelet to review (soo sweet of her!!) and I chose Harry Potter (Of course! I obsessed with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry).

When it arrived, I was first blown away by the packaging...
Look at the cute little packages wrapped in an old map!! I almost didn't want to open it!
I love the yarn! What a nice added detail!
She even folded the map to make an envelope. I'm not gonna lie. I saved it! I just couldn't bear to throw it away!
TADA! My Harry Potter bracelet!! I LOOOVE IT!!
Aren't the colors gorgeous??
And...it looks awesome on my wrist too!
I also HAD to order earring to match (matchy matchy!!)...
To.Die.For.
And they look great on too!!


If you would like to check out the Trashy Crafter for yourself, here are her Social Media links:

Her Etsy Shop (come on. You know you want one of these bracelets RIGHT NOW): 

Her Facebook page (so you can see the new bracelets she's cooking up!): 


Her Instagram page (I love me some instagram!!): 
username @trashycrafter

She is offering 15% off to our Teacher Bits and Bobs followers (thank you Kimberly!!). All you have to do is visit her Etsy page, order yourself a bracelet or whatever else strikes your fancy, and  and on the check out page, enter the code:
TC2014


So, would you like to win a bracelet of your very own?? All you have to do is enter the rafflecopter below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

XOXO Kerri B