"Make A Plate" Blog

MakIt is the "Make A Plate" company! We are a proud USA manufacturer, producing up to 1 million personalized plates every year for our customers.

[makitproducts-blog]

Friday Fun Links: 5.10.13

Use these homemade robots to help teach your child counting numbers!

Tips on making a bridge for Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony

10 Disney Dog movies to watch with your children & pets!

Fun writing prompts for Mother's Day!

[makitproducts-blog]

Mother’s Day is Sunday and we can’t wait to spend time this weekend with the special moms in our lives. 

What Did Mom Teach You?

Growing up, what do you remember Mom teaching you? What about grandma? And don’t forget mother-in-laws! Each person has impacted us. We’d love to hear how! Please share your favorite story about a mom in your life what you learned from her.

[makitproducts-blog]

Teacher Appreciation Plates on Sale! 

Back by popular demand! School is almost out but it’s not too late to say thank you to the teachers in your life with MakIt!

This week only, our popular Teacher Appreciation Plates are only $9.99. Click here to shop for your favorite teachers!

[makitproducts-blog]

My MakIt Story: My life in plates – from 1988-2013

Plate #1

1988  Meghan's First Plate

  Created at EPPNS - a parent participating nursery school in San Jose California.  The school director wrote down what each child said as he/she created the drawing.  The director wrote the transcript in the color the child was using. As you can see, our Meghan used a lot of colors and told a detailed story.  Poor Linda was swapping out markers fast and furiously.  I seem to remember that each child got to spend between 5 and 20 minutes with the director, so, those plates for 18 children, really became labors of love.  The kiddos were allowed to create other plates at other times throughout the year, but this was the 'memory' plate for the parents.

  Plate #2

1988 Meghan's Gift to her Grandparents

  I'd forgotten that Meghan had created a plate for my parents.   We got it back when my sister and I sold our parents' home.

Meg signed this as well, with the reversed 'G' and wrote 'To GRAMMI NAD BAHPI'.  Don't know if you can read it in yellow at the bottom of the photo.

  Plate #3

2001 College Dinnerware

This was part of the series of plates I made for Meghan when she went away to college.  She took 2 plates and two bowls, and we kept one of each.

  Plate #4

2013 25 Years Later, Our first Digital (Photo) Plate

This was my first experience using your online tool. It allowed me to produce a very high-quality plate without having to be an artist. The plates are going to be the trophies for the Scrabble Club. As I was making this plate, I had a lot of other ideas about other plates I would like to make using your online system.

  1988-2013 Family Treasures

Bottom line,  your products have given us a lot of joy through the years.  They're family treasures and I'm so happy that your company has expanded the product line to include the photo plates.  The children at the Leon Springs Scrabble Club are really proud of the membership cards I created for them.  I can't wait to see their reactions to the trophies.

Thank you for the memories. 

Kit M., San Antonio, TX

[makitproducts-blog]

Importance of Teachers

As another school year comes to a close, it’s time to thank the teachers in our lives.  Over the past several months, they are the ones who have opened our minds to new ideas and filled our heads with learning.

How can we thank them?

There’s no question about it – we need to proactively thank the teachers in our lives for the investment they’ve made not only in our lives, but in the lives of our children. It’s a profession that is often underpaid and certainly underappreciated, yet it is one of the most important roles in society. 

Here are some easy ways to thank teachers for their efforts:

An apple is a teacher’s best friend! That’s at least the thought that many have taken for years, bringing their favorite teacher an apple on the first day of school. This year consider surprising your teacher with a small group of apples and a great snack to pair with it, such as caramel or chocolate almond butter.

Add a touch of Hallmark! Consider a thank you card with a hand-written note from both you and your child inside.

 Bake cookies. Who doesn’t love fresh, homemade cookies? :)

 Shameless plug here :) - MakIt is offering a special $9.99 Teacher Appreciation Plates this week only. Hint hint! 

Teaching doesn’t stop in the classroom

Some of us may not have been in a classroom for years, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t still learning from someone else. Today is a perfect time reach out to someone you consider a teacher or mentor and personally thank them for the impact they’ve had on your life.  It may be especially fun to surprise them with a handwritten note thanking them for the specific ways they’ve helped improve your life.

[makitproducts-blog]

MakIt Loves Teachers! Thank you for all you do!

[makitproducts-blog]

Mother's Day Gift Guide 2013 - A Mom's Take

Find Mother's Day Gift ideas in this easy to read picture guide. See a range of gift ideas from inexpensive to thoughtful and more.

[makitproducts-blog]

Woo hoo! Happy Cinco de Mayo from MakIt!

[makitproducts-blog]

Friday Fun Links: 5.3.13

It's the first Friday Fun Links in May! Happy Friday everyone!

Can you balance as well as this awesome dog?

Want more happiness? Try these 5 choices in your life!

Teach your kids to draw Tweetybird!

Activity for ages 4 and up: Make a Cherry Tree!

[makitproducts-blog]

Starry Nights

Did you know April 28 was International Astronomy Day? That’s right! It’s the one day ever year created to provide an interaction between astronomy enthusiasts and  professionals with the general public. What better way to spend a free afternoon than taking your family to the local planetarium! It’s also a great time to talk to your kids about the stars. 

Fun activities!

Initiate activities with your kids to get them excited about the stars!

Draw pictures – have your children draw pictures of the sun and stars. Ask them what they would name their star and if it’s a close star or one far, far away.

Spend an evening outside looking at the stars. Bring along a constellation book and have your entire family look for specific star constellations together. Once identified, you can then share its origin!

Show your children the entire solar system and walk through each planet and a unique characteristic about them for easy memorization.

Plan your trip!

After getting your entire family excited about the trip to the planetarium, plan the day you can go. Make an entire afternoon out of it and be sure to keep the conversation going after leaving by asking questions about your children’s experience and what they thought of specific exhibits.

[makitproducts-blog]

Our customer plate of the week is just in time for Cinco de Mayo!  

Destiny L. from Eynon, Pa writes,

"I made this plate because I enjoy my Spanish class very much.  I thought it would be a nice idea to incorporate our new chapter which was foods."

[makitproducts-blog]

Shoot for the Stars!

“Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird, That cannot fly.” - Langston Hughes

Dreams are integral to our lives. Many times we have big, powerful dreams, but may  give up on them as life progresses. But some people never stop looking to the heavens, and stay focused intently on the stars and their dreams.

MakIt knows the power of positive thinking and positive dreaming, so we’ve put together a list of tips for you to stay focused on your dreams and reaching for the stars!

1. Know exactly what your dream is – and write it down! Visualizing and writing down what you want to accomplish is the first step to reaching it!

2. Put your dream somewhere you’ll see it every day. This can be a note on your bathroom mirror, car dashboard, or on the refrigerator. Place your written dream somewhere that you will be reminded of it every single day.

3. Make an action plan! What steps are needed to reach the stars? Make a step-by-step plan on how you can go from “today” to your dream.

4. Share your plan with a close friend. Choose wisely – these people are your accountability buddies!

5. Take the first step! Do! The biggest step in reaching your dreams – which 99.9% of people never take – is doing! Don’t be that 99.9%! 

6. Review, reorganize, respond! After starting down your path to your dream, always review what you’ve done, reorganize your action plan if necessary, and respond by continuing to reach higher!

Hopefully these six, easy steps will provide you with the necessary fuel to eventually reach those lofty dreams!

Want to share your dreams with us?

We’d love to be another accountability partner for you. Better yet – share with us how you’ve accomplished a dream to help inspire others.

[makitproducts-blog]

[makitproducts-blog]

Friday Fun Links: 4.26.13

To celebrate the last Fun Links in April, we have a ton of laughter for you!

These pets must be confused! They're acting just like humans!

Dads having problems dressing your baby girl? Try these helpful tips.

101 Picnic Dishes to make in under 20 minutes.

MakIt is celebrating Mother's Day with 30% off Photo Plates - this week only!

Start your weekend with this classic pep-talk!

[makitproducts-blog]

The blog "A Bit of Everything" shares their "before" pictures from the MakIt Make A Plate Art Kit! 

[makitproducts-blog]

MakIt is Green

Producing more than 1 million plates every year can be a messy business, but MakIt is committed to taking necessary steps to be green! Every year our team looks at opportunities to reduce our impact on the environment and how we can help give back to the environment we so dearly love.

What MakIt Does!

Our MakIt team is committed to a number of actions every year to make our production process more green. They include:

Recycling Old Plates

One of the biggest steps taken is that MakIt recycles all of our non-perfect plates. A partner organization chips up each old plate into sand-sized particles that are later used for sand-blasting.

We also use the non-perfect plates in our MakIt kitchen at work and at home.

Recycling Products & Power

Our team is adamant about recycling aluminum, cardboard, & paper from our offices. During our intense energy usage months – late summer being the biggest – we work earlier in the day & turn off molding presses to help reduce the amount of energy used.

Planting

MakIt has installed water-wise plants around our offices that do not require additional watering, except in rare instances of extreme drought. This helps keep our water usage to a minimum.

Partnerships

Finally, MakIt has partnered with groups such as the Girl Scouts and YMCA to produce durable lightweight plates that can be packed for trips. These plates reduce the usage of paper plates and help ease the impact on waste.

MakIt is Committed

We understand that Earth will only be green if we all take the necessary steps today to ensure its future tomorrow. The MakIt family is committed to continually updating our processes and programs to make sure we are doing our part!

[makitproducts-blog]

MakIt loves Moms! All Photo Plates ordered for Mother’s Day will be 30% off this week only! Celebrate Mom’s special day by adding your favorite picture for your  favorite mom to a special plate that will last a lifetime.

Order your Mom photo plate today!

This offer is only good until Saturday night! So get your orders in today to take advantage of the 30% discount!