We Unite to Feed the Homeless

Listen up my fellow Gleeful Peacocks! Help us feed the homeless this Thanksgiving. The awesome little hamburger joint, Brownies Hamburgers feeds 800 homeless each year for Thanksgiving. They lost their funding and need $1,500 to make it happen this year. Join us and let's make this tradition happen!

We have through Wednesday, November 27th to raise the funds needed. The Limited Edition and Special Release sale on Instagram is still going on, but the  proceeds will be going towards the cause.

Please head over to GoFundMe and see the different ways you can help us reach our goal. There are different donation increments that include Gleeful Peacock jewelry such as our Home necklace, Snowflake necklace or a charm. Plus, if you donate $20 you will be entered in a chance to win a $200 gift certificate from Gleeful Peacock.

We are so excited that Tulsa Pedicabs has also joined us in our efforts to help Brownies Hamburgers. We will auction off 2 Restaurant Tours of Downtown Tulsa. It includes a 6 restaurant-stop tour with all food and drinks included for 2 adults. Bidding starts at $100. The highest bidder will win the Tulsa Pedican tour. Thank you Tulsa Pedicabs for your generous donation!

Show us your glee with #Browniesfeedsthehomeless and we would love to see how you gave back. It's good for the soul!

Don't  you love when wonderful small business owners share the same vision to help others? Makes me happy.

Planning to Succeed

In this crazy, chaotic world that is Gleeful Peacock, things are always happening, deadlines looming and goals are being fulfilled.  Not to mention all the painting, making, packing, shipping and serving our customers that we do.  In an attempt to save space, pare down, and be more "efficient", I attempted to make a small, off the shelf calendar from Target meet my needs.  Then it started happening - things were falling through the cracks and my small planner was busting at the seams.  I knew it was time for a change. 

I remembered reading a post by Jennifer Jones of I Heart Organizing last year sometime on her blog (which by the way - if you heart organizing like I do - you need to read her blog).  She was tired of trying to find a planner that was already made that fit her needs, and decided to create her own.  She sells these planner inserts in her Etsy Shop, along with so many other awesome printables to keep you organized.  At the bottom of this post, I'll link to each individual items I purchased so you can find them yourself also!

I read Jennifer's posts here and here and that's where I started.  I also purchased the Martha Stewart Discbound cover at Staples for my planner.  See that adorable vinyl?  One of our super sweet fans made those for Nichole and I, so we can tell our planners apart. :)

When you open the front cover - you'll see that I stuck in some post-its for easy access.  We just used the adorable Martha Stewart Post-Its, and used some Scotch brand removable sticky tabs to secure them in there nice and tight. 

Next, I ordered Jennifer's 2013-2014 planner, with weekly pages that include the meal planning option - I'm so excited to have a place to really plan my ENTIRE life, not just my work life.  I also have really enjoyed the "goals" column on the planner - it really sets the tone for my week and lets me catch a glimpse of some things I'd really like to accomplish, without it taking over my daily to-do lists. 

To keep all the months easily accessible, I made monthly tabs using Martha Stewart's tabs (which I have yet to be able to find again) and our label maker. 

To give my monthly pages a touch of fun, I used washi tape to mark out days where there is either something big going on - hello Tulsey Awards!, traveling to be done, or the shop being closed for Thanksgiving.  Everytime I open my planner, it makes me smile.  You'll notice the teardrop shaped stickers - I am also using those for appointments for different family members.  Each family member gets a designated color, and then I just write the time and place directly on the sticker - it keeps things looking neat and fresh!

I've tried a couple of other pen types, and my favorite is still my beloved Sharpie pens.  I like using different colors to designate different things.  I also purchased a business card holder and some pocket folders for the back of my planner.  I really like when everything has a place; it seems to keep me from throwing random items in between pages.  I also got the Martha Steward tabs for my planner, so I can keep notes, lists, etc. separated by topic. 

So, there you have it - how we're managing to stay organized here at Gleeful Peacock.  How do you stay organized, are there any must-have products we should know about?

Here are the links to the items I used to create this awesome planner:

Planner Pages
Contact Pages
Special Dates Pages
Custom Cover Page

Martha Stewart Planner Cover
Martha Stewart Planner Tabs
Martha Stewart Pockets
Martha Stewart Task Pads
Martha Stewart Post-Its
Martha Stewart Color Coding Labels
Martha Stewart Tabs (similar)

Staples Business Card Holder

Sharpie Pens

Papermate Inkjoy Pens - I'm enjoying these too!

Gluten Free Granola Recipe

Gluten Free Granola Greek Yogurt Parfait

In the last year or so I have had to come to the conclusion that our family needs to be gluten free. I have to be honest that I fought it and keep trying to find ways around it, but the truth is that we all feel better when we are gluten free. 

One thing we all love  and would miss is granola. I have found some great gluten free granolas at the store, but they were expensive. We have also realized that Mik is allergic to cinnamon, vanilla and coconut which rules out a lot of store bought brands. 

Assemble Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 40 min

Ingredients: 

5 c. quick oats

3 c. slivered almonds

1 c. sunflower seeds

1 c. raw pumpkin seeds

1/2 c. light town sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon (I make it without, but it would be awesome with it)

1 tsp. dried ground ginger

1 tsp. sea salt

3/4 c. unsweetened applesauce

1/3 c. real maple syrup 

1/4 c. blue agave syrup or equal amount honey

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

What to do: 

Preheat oven to 300 F. 

Mix the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Get your hands in there and separate the clumps of sugar. This is a great task for the little ones while you do the next step. 

In a medium sauce pan stir together the remaining ingredients and warm them up until they blend well. 

Pour the contents of the sauce pan into the bowl and store until all contents are moist and it should be clumping. It should also smell super yummy! 

Spread evenly onto two lightly greased baking pans.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Every 10 minutes taking it out and storing it. This is important for a even bake. 

This will make between 8 to 9 cups of granola.  

Gluten Free Granola

The first picture is how I love to eat my granola. Fresh berries, honey greek yogurt and granola for crunch. It is seriously one of my favorite breakfasts.

I would love to hear how the recipe turns out for you!

Nikki

Free Shipping Site-Wide!

To celebrate hitting 8,000 fans on Facebook, we're having free shipping site-wide, now through 6/13/13!  Thanks for being so awesome!  We love you all!

 

Hop on over to www.gleefulpeacock.com to place your order today!

Something a little special...

As many of you know – we’ve been working diligently to get our new site up and running.  The time has finally come!  Tomorrow, our new site will officially launch at its new home at www.gleefulpeacock.com.  To celebrate, we’re going to have an AWESOME sale, extra special deals for our newsletter subscribers, and we’ll be releasing brand new products!

As a huge thank you to our awesome fans, we will be giving you all 30% off all week long!  Take advantage of this awesome sale to spruce up your summer wardrobe with our new products.  In addition, the first 100 orders will receive a free pair of stud earrings with their order!

Also, to celebrate our website launch, we’re also releasing several new products…we’ll give you a little sneak peek of some lovelies below.

Feather Cuff Bracelet

Peep Show Pendant Necklace

     
 

 

 

 

Life's a Party Necklace

Be sure to check out the new site for more of our fabulous new Spring / Summer 2013 line!

Also, we’ll be hosting contests on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.  Be sure to follow us there so you won’t miss any chances to win!  We are so excited to be announcing this launch.  In addition to all these amazing ways to save or win, be sure to sign up for our newsletter at www.gleefulpeacock.com/contact to receive an additional coupon code! 

We can’t wait to share all of our hard work with all of you!  We hope you love it as much as we do.

 

Sometimes you just have to jump...

We’ve all been told that we need to “take a leap of faith” at one point in our lives or another.  For Gleeful Peacock, this has never been more true.  In business (especially small business) as you grow, you get to a point where you either have to jump, and take a risk; or you risk losing it all. 

(Source)

We are growing by leaps and bounds here at the Gleeful Peacock studio!  We are about to participate in our second Zulily event (we still are pinching ourselves), and we are so honored to also be participating in the gifting to celebrities and members of the press at the Cannes Film Festival in France!  These two things alone are huge, but we are also going to the Dallas Market in June, and will be going to at least one more market later this year.  Having all of these opportunities means that we need more help!  Our little family is growing by leaps and bounds!  We now have several fantastic ladies who help paint, assemble and infuse love into our one of a kind pieces, and we also are finally going to have some admin help!

We are so excited for the many things in our future, and it’s only because of our amazing customers, shops and supporters that we are able to make this big jump to bring on more help.  It seems to hold true that when you are willing to take risks, and take those leaps of faith, you are rewarded many times over for taking those risks.  Here at Gleeful Peacock, we do things BIG.  We don’t know any other way.  We hope we can be an encouragement to others to dream big and take big risks!  I’m reminded of a quote from the movie Inception, it just seems perfect, “You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”  It’s a nice reminder that without big dreams, you’ll always remain right where you are.  Don’t be afraid to dream big!

 (Source)

 

The Gleeful List

In life it is truly the little things that are the big things. Last night as I laid Down to sleep I was experiencing pure glee for one lovely moment. Yes.. the pillow was cold. Total bliss for a small moment overtook my stressed out mind. A few moments later, the crazy over thinking mind came back and I was sending myself a e-mail to think about the little things in life and how in a crazy busy world the little things are what stops me in my tracks and puts a smile on my face.

This is my Gleeful List of the week.

Gleeful List April 6th, 2013 

My number one this week is doodling. I promised myself I would get back to making art again. The first step is to start doodling again. With a lack of boring business meetings in my life now, I have found that this simple joy has left my life. With new notebooks and pens in hand, doodling is my #1 gleeful thing this week. 

I would love it if you would share one or tow of your gleeful things this week! 

Gleefully,

Nikki