Welcoming Baby Parker

I am super excited to share that my husband and I are expecting an addition to our little family! We will be a family of 3 as of March 2015!

 

I am excited to expand our blog to be about more than just "married life." This is our first child so I look forwards to sharing our experience as well as getting advice from other mommies!

We will also be welcoming product reviews for new mommies and of course little ones very soon! If you have a product you'd like to have reviewed, please let us know!

FUZi Review & Giveaway

Through the past year, I've done lots of fabulous reviews but I have to say that this one has been one of the most unique reviews I've done! FUZi (pronounced "foozie") has given a new twist to "ice cubes"!

 

These FUZi spheres are absolutely amazing! Its easy to create your own frozen sphere!

 

Just add your favorite liquid in the sphere through the small hole on top. I used water for mine (simple I know but I just love a glass of ice water). After you fill it up, set it in your freezer for a few hours.

 

Once its ready you can usually tell where the liquid usually expands when frozen.

 

Once your ready to use your FUZi ice sphere, just pull it apart and add to your favorite beverage!

 

 Get creative with FUZi Ice Spheres! Use your favorite soda, juice, alcohol or even fruit! I think I may try adding strawberries next! Yum!

Anxious to try FUZi Ice Spheres?

I've got great news! 2 lucky winners will receive their very own set of Ice Spheres!

Just enter below!

Interested in purchasing your own?

You can do so here at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F12D8QU

Just Get Pampered Giveaway

We love giveaways here at The Married Life Blog and we're super excited about this one!

Just Get Pampered is giving away an adorable bag to one lucky winner!

The classic, never go out of style mint chevron messenger bag will add a splash of wow to every outfit!

There are 2 interior pockets and one exterior pocket underneath the front flap. The shell is a sturdy cotton canvas and features an interior magnetic closure. The strap is adjustable so it can be worn as a traditional shoulder bag or across the body.

These purses can be monogrammed, or you can have your name embroidered!

The purse measures 9 ½” wide by 10” tall by 3” deep.

Mandy's Story ~ Hand Stamped Jewelry & Giveaway

Just a few days ago, I came across Mandy's beautiful jewelry through groopdealz. I loved how unique and fun her pieces were. After talking to her a bit, we thought it might be fitting to share her story. Mandy is also offering a great giveaway! You can enter to win at the end of the blog post!

My name is Mandy Lee. 

 I am the creator of Allyson Design Hand stamped Jewelry. But getting to this point was a long road. Sometimes exciting, sometimes confusing, sometimes discouraging. 

                                   My husband, Michael and I will be married for 16 years this August 2014. 

He and I both worked full time and when I became pregnant with our first child, I found a job as a church secretary part time. It was a great place to work. They even let me bring Brandon, my first born to work with me. 

Then a few years later, Chad Austin was born. He also came to work with me, but was a huge handful unlike his older brother and it made it difficult to work with a toddler that had the mentality of his way or the highway. 

When I became pregnant the 3rd time, my husband I prayed and made the decision for me to quit my job and stay home with the children. There was no way I could care for 3 children in an office. One of which was very spirited and the other a new born. 

I had worked at the church for 7 years and was bittersweet to leave but knew it was the right choice. About a month after leaving what had been the perfect job, I suffered a miscarriage and lost my baby. I was devastated to say the least. Not only for the loss of my child but also the loss of a perfect job. Why do things like this happen? Well I've learned that my human brain cannot comprehend Gods perfect plan for my life. 

About 2 months later, I became pregnant again. Only this time was different. Not only was I pregnant with one baby, but I was pregnant with 2. Awe, see God did know what he was doing. He knew I wouldn't have been able to work with 3 let alone 4. During my pregnancy the shock never quite wore off that there were 2!! 2 babies!! Having 2 boys already, I prayed that god would give me 1 girl at least so I wouldn't be totally out numbered. God did grant that. He gave me my son, Matthew and my first and only daughter, Allyson. 

The season of life when you are raising small children is tough stuff! You loose who that person you used to be is. It's a good day if you can jump in the shower. But most of the time I was changing poopy diapers and cleaning spit up off of myself constantly. Not to mention I had my older boys 3 and 7 to tend to. 

My 2nd son, Chad Austin was born a typical happy child. After 12 months he quit talking to us.  He stopped responding to his name. He threw tantrums. He refused to be put in a stroller or shopping buggy. He was a handful to say the least. I didn't understand why he had changed from this happy little boy to someone I didn't recognize. Then one day I read something. It was talking about lining up matchbox cars and a red flag. Red flag?? For what? I kept researching. Red flag for the dreaded A word....Autism. I didn't know much about it at the time, but the more I researched, the more they were describing my sweet baby.

 Mama bear took over and I became a woman on a mission. An obsessed, knowledge thirsty crazy person! I stayed up nights researching  the net, reading books, talking with other parents. I got Chad into cognitive therapy 2 times a week in our home and also speech therapy in our home. I also would take him 3 times a week to the hospital for private speech therapy. I loaded up my twins in a tandem stroller, my oldest son, Brandon and Chad even when temps were scorching hot or freezing cold. I learned how to do my own therapy for him that I could not afford to pay someone to do. I prayed A Lot!!! What other hope did I have? My baby was fully autistic at the age of 2.

After therapy and a regimen of vitamins, minerals and fish oils started to reach him and pull him out of the black hole of autism, I was able to start thinking of ways I could help bring in extra money. The burden financially was solely on my hard working husband. He was going to school full time to get his bachelors, then is masters degree while working full time and also a part time youth pastor. Not to mention dealing with the chaos at home with a special needs child, baby twins and an eldest son that seemed to learn to do his own thing because mom and dad were so preoccupied trying to "cure" our son and make ends meet. Update on Chad: he is 9 years old and will be in 4th grade. He is a great student, very smart and the most loving child. He loves people and life! He's my hero! He has overcome so many obstacles. Even though he has Aspergers, if I didn't tell you, you would never know:)

I started to pray what I could do. Jewelry! God said! I said no way I'm so not creative. I cannot do that. So I prayed and prayed and after wrestling with God, I finally thought I should be obedient and at least try. After all, God is God. He's perfect. No mistakes. And I? Well I'm not so much. 

I started Allyson Design in September 2010. I started doing bottle cap jewelry, photo jewelry, some beading, all of which were really time consuming. So I started to you tube videos and taught my self how to hand stamp metal. At first it was pretty pathetic, but I kept at it and eventually got the craft down. Never would I have ever believed I would have so much passion for hammering metal! It's not just that, it goes deeper for me. It means something to people. It sparks emotion with people. It makes them happy. It brings them comfort. And that is a ministry in itself for me.

 Yes I do get paid for my services, but my prices are very modest. As a stay at home mom on a budget, I understand how hard it is to buy a non budgeted expenditure. That's why I strive to give the very best quality products at the very best prices that everyone, no matter what situation you are in can afford to have a piece of jewelry that means so much. 

Customer service is HUGE for me!! I've ordered from companies that once they received payment, I was on my own. That is the far opposite of what my business stands for. Even after the sale ends, if ever a piece is lost or broken, I want to know about it. I need to make it right. Kind of like Vidal Sassoon motto: if you don't look good, we don't look good. I started a Facebook page and have a great following with repeat customers and that speaks volumes to me. Since the end of 2013, I have been selling product on Jane.com and groopdealz.com and that has enabled me to make amazing contacts and meet wonderful people. I really do have the best customers. I take care of them, because without them, I wouldn't be allowed to do what I do from home and work around my families schedule. 

Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you. Please check out my facebook page and check out everything Allyson Design has to offer.  I love designing new pieces and I work closely with my customers to take their ideas and bring them to life. 

Thanks again for reading,

Mandy Lee of Allyson Design

Enter to win this beautiful necklace from Allyson Design!

This is a hand stamped necklace with a 1" aluminum disc stamped with God gave me you topped with a precious silver puffy heart charm. Comes with 2 rectangle aluminum pieces for 2 separate names. Hangs from a sterling silver ball or bamboo chain. Aluminum is 1100 pure grade. It will not rust or tarnish and will be a piece to treasure for a lifetime.

4th of July Giveaway

One of my favorite holidays if the 4th of July. I love the abundance of red, white and blue every direction you look! I also love the different patterns and styles that you see as well. Our friends over at Dramatic Accent decided to offer a giveaway!

They are generously giving away 3 of these adorable bow ties to some of our lucky readers!

These adorable bow ties are pre-tied and have a velcro enclosure for infants.

Color options shown above are:

1. Light blue Sailor Print

2. Boat Steering Wheel (with red & blue rope)

3. Red White Life Preserver

4. Anchor with Links

Sizes include:

Baby/Infant (3 months-2T) with velcro strap

Toddler- 3T- 6 adjustable strap 

Young Boys 6X-10 years old- adjustable strap

The velcro is soft to prevent itching and irritation

These adorable bow ties are made right here in the USA and are 100% cotton designer fabric!

Its super easy to enter to win! Just check out the raffle copter app below to get started!

I'm Back!

After taking a few months off from the blog, I am BACK! 

I am excited to back sharing DIY tutorials, yummy recipe's, product reviews and lots of fun giveaways! 

I will be working on incorporating guests bloggers from other blogs and lots of guests sharing their favorite activities, recipe's and more!

Product Reviews & Giveaways 

The Married Life Blog works hard to help promote and share small business. As a small business owner, I know how hard it can be marketing with facebook. Doing a product review & giveaway with us is a great way to get your name out there. 

When you do a review with us,  you just mail us an item(s) that you'd like for us to review. Once we receive the item(s), we will test it out and post our review on the blog for everyone to see. This includes photos of the item and the item in use. Our reviews are honest but will never put down an item. We understand that some products (skin care, makeup, etc) aren't for everyone. If this is the case, we will contact the vendor and discuss our experience. This happens very seldom as most of our products we receive are pretty amazing :) 

If you opt to offer a giveaway as well, that will be listed in the blog post along with the review. It will be generated by rafflecopter and readers may enter by liking facebook pages, following twitter accounts, making purchases from the vendor, etc. Liking the vendors' facebook page is always a required entry.

We hope to work with you soon! If you are interested in doing a product review and/or giveaway with us or being a guest blogger, please contact us at ashleyparkerphoto@hotmail.com

We look forwards to hearing from you!

xoxo- Ashley

Get Crafty- Mason Jar Ring Wreath

Pinterest, as always....is the root of all my crafty ideas. 

Sometimes things will pop up in my feed that I just HAVE to try out.

About once a month, my best friend and I try and have a craft day. 

Our craft days usually consist of a couple of fun crafts, lots of chatter and yummy lunch!

Today's big craft idea came from Tater Tots and Jello. This is one of my favorite blogs to read. They have some super fun ideas and I've used their blog for things several times. One thing I've learned, more than once, about blog DIY ideas...they are almost never as simple as they look or seem. This wreath was definitely another one of those projects.

First off, you'll need a few simple items for your wreath:

Washi Tape

Canning Jar Rings (32  large or about 50-60 small)

Thick Floral Wire

Wire Cutters

Ribbon

Step 1

Line the outside of your canning rings with the washi tape. Some of the tape I had was thinner than others so I doubled them when needed. Canning rings can be expensive if purchasing them from the store. I'd suggest raiding your grandmother's house.

After you've got all your rings wrapped, the fun part begins! 

The original DIY post instructed you to use ribbon to form your wreath. After trying that out, we found that it wasn't holding the shape very well. We ended up with a big 'ol jumbled up pile of metal rings. After trying a bit of thick black floral wire, we figured out that it was the best and most successful method since it holds that shape a little better.

So now, string your rings onto the wire in whatever pattern you choose. 

After all rings have been added, pull them tight onto your wire....and by tight I mean so tight that they don't move and that you have created a donut shape.

This may require two hands- one to pull the rings tight and secure the wire, and one to hold the rings still.

Excess wire can be either cut down or tucked down into the rings.

Even pulled tight, the wreath will still move a little so when adding your hanger, good support is necessary. We chose a wide wired ribbon to do the job.

For the bow/support, we took a long piece of ribbon (probably around a yard or so) and folded it in half. Then, loop it around the top of your wreath. Take the two ends pieces and put them through your loop. This will help support the top of your wreath. Now tie your bow!

We used a small piece of twine that was tied around the blue ribbon as the hanger!

This was such a fun and adorable wreath to make! We will definitely be making a few more of these in the near future! I'm thinking maybe red, white and blue for the 4th or maybe black, purple and orange for Halloween!