Creative Attempts

Birchbox Breakdown: December 2011

2012-01-20T09:22:00.001-08:00

Wow where has the time gone?

My December Birchbox was really late and didn’t come until a couple weeks ago but better late than never right? If you want to learn more about Birchbox go HERE.

The theme for December was Frolic and Fancy and this is what I got……..

1. Benefit Cosmetics POREfessional

My Opinion: I was really skeptical about this especially because I do have some fairly visible pores and I must say I was surprised and I think I will end up getting this in the full sized version.

2. Blinc eyeliner

My Opinion: I was scared to use this because I had a strange skin reaction to the brown blinc mascara and I don’t have the most steady hand for liquid eyeliner but I really did like this on my eyes. It was dramatic and fun to wear and it stayed on all day and came off easily when I was ready to remove it.

3. Harvey Prince – Ageless perfume

My Opinion: I love love love this fruity scent I will definitely be getting this in the full sized version.

4. Jouer Lip Gloss in Birchbox Pink

My Opinion: I really like the color but not a huge fan of the formula.

Treat/Extra: ShowStoppers Designer Fashion Tape

My Opinion: To be honest I don’t have one for this product yet because I am two feet deep in snow and have no need for double-sided tape strips at the moment lol. I will keep you posted if/when I get the chance to use them.

AND: EBoost Orange Natural Energy Booster Drink Mix

My Opinion: I really did not like this at all it did not dissolve well and was chunky and the flavor was just plain yucky.

Have a happy day and I will be posting about my January Birchbox very soon!!

Dipped Marshmallows

2011-12-24T20:20:00.001-08:00

This has been a fun treat to deliver to neighbors and friends and they make your hot cocoa taste fantastic!

Happy Holidays!

NYX is on Hautelook today!!!

2011-12-19T09:56:00.001-08:00

I am so excited that NYX makeup is on Hauetlook today.

Click HERE to go shopping!!

I am still deciding on what exact colors to get because the selection is pretty good but I am thinking I need these for sure….

This entire lip set is only$18.50

And this cute set called “earth angel” is only $25

Sorry if you are not a makeup freak like me but they do have cute clothes today too (I love Ella Moss) but oh my goodness I am excited. Happy Monday!

2011 Holiday Card

2011-12-11T11:49:00.001-08:00

I wish you could see how cute the glitter turned out I hope your Holiday preparations are going perfectly!!

HauteLook: Urban Decay

2011-12-06T12:35:00.001-08:00

I am so excited because Urban Decay is on HauteLook today and I just got my favorite primer potion for $9 (regularly $18). This is by far the best eye shadow primer ever. I think this is the old packaging because now it comes in a squeeze tube but that is a great price so who cares.

And I also picked up this Urban Defense tinted moisturizer for $3 (regularly $30). I love tinted moisturizers (MAC is my favorite) but for $3 I thought how could I go wrong lol.

I was just super excited and had to share it with someone!

Birchbox Breakdown: November 2011

2011-12-04T20:09:00.001-08:00

I feel like I am always behind posting about my latest Birchbox but hey I get to it eventually right {wink}. If you want to learn more about Birchbox go HERE.

The theme for this box was Getting Gifty and this is what I got….

1. Atelier Cologne: Vanille Insensee Cologne Absolue

My Opinion: I was not a huge fan of this scent it was a little too musky and I tend to lean towards the fruity/sweet side when it comes to perfumes.

2. Borghese Fango Active Mud mask

My Opinion: I really enjoyed this mud mask it left my skin feeling really smooth and clean; although I have to say for the price of a full sized bottle I don’t think I will be buying this one.

3. LaROCCA Champagne and Shimmer Supreme Crème

My Opinion: I love this glittery lotion. It smells good, it’s not greasy, and has the perfect amount of shimmer.

4. Zoya nail polish in the color Izzy

My Opinion: The color is so so perfect for me it is a very shimmery pink I love it. It went on smooth and had pretty good staying power.

Treat/Extra: Two paper dolls coasters

My Opinion: They are super cute. I think they would make a fun gift for your friends or neighbors.

AND I also got something from the “Bauble Bar” because I purchased a full sized item through the website. I like when companies give you a little surprise like this especially when it’s so cute!

As usual I am already so excited to get my December Birchbox and I will keep you posted when I do! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

Blog swapping!!

2011-11-17T19:53:00.001-08:00

I have been asked by my bloggy friend Jennifer over at quirky pickings to do a little blog swap, and to make it even more fun she asked me to pose the question for her to answer!

Stay tuned to read what she had to say and come and visit me HERE to get find out how I would finish this phrase “If you really knew me you would know……” (P.S. it does include a picture of me and you know how very rare that is lol)

Enjoy my friend Jennifer…..

Are you inspired by anyone that you would be embarrassed to admit?

i didn't have an immediate answer to this question because i don't believe a person should be afraid to confess to inspiration, however it is achieved. so it took me a long time to answer this. the question’d been sitting in my inbox, then my read folder for months. literally. i'd asked for it in august. and been mulling over the answer ever since.

i decided this morning to tackle it. and so, my thinking cap took the form of a google search: embarrassing inspirations. i checked the image results. i saw pictures of women with their eyes covered with black rectangles, as though their vision had been censored. of monkeys with their teeth bared and their hands across their faces. of french mastiffs (best dogs ever, by the way) with their upper lips caught on their bottom teeth and their eyes fierce. of rats and rings and seth rogen.

and for some reason, i thought of bette midler.

and remembered all those times when, as a child or adolescent, i would go off by myself and sing her version of the rose.

or be sitting in class (or detention) writing down the lyrics and drawing a cheesy picture of a rose to go with it. because i knew how to do the homework already, knew i'd ace the test regardless of whether i completed the assignment, and my teachers’ busy work bored me. because the lyrics:

when the night has been too lonely

and the road has been too long

and you think that love is only

for the lucky and the strong

just remember ...

these gave me solace when my day had been unbearable. and more often than not, it had been.

we had two versions of this song in my house. one by her. and one by harry belafonte. hers is infinitely better.

i love this song.

singing it is one of the few things i do well.

not that i can sing as well as i did twenty years ago. i smoked too many cigarettes between now and then, and my range is significantly less because of it. but even still, i can sing it sufficiently.

i used to sing it on the bus on the way to and from school.

quietly. or so i thought.

someone heard me once. and, of course, his reaction wasn't kind. neither were those of others who clued in on his mockery of me.

i rarely sing in front of people. probably because of that. i hadn't realized until just now, though, that that's why this is. i'd been in choir for one year in high school. i do the occasional karaoke with friends. that's it.

anyway. i love this woman's voice. i love her spunk. i used to dream that i could be a little bit like her.

but ultimately, it wasn't her so much as the song that inspired. the lyrics. the hope in them. it kept me believing in the future when i couldn't see much of one at all.

Repost: If you really knew me you would know…..

2011-11-12T12:26:00.001-08:00

This is a post I had written for a blog swap but I wanted to post it in full here before I moved on because it was so important to me.

So I have been wanting to blog about this for a really long time but I think it’s the hardest to write about something personal that you love because you expose a part of yourself, but here it goes…..

Let me preface this by saying loud and clear that I have never done anything like this and I am quite possibly one of the most uncoordinated people on the planet. That being said if you really knew me you would know that I have become absolutely obsessed with something called Oula. If you haven’t heard about this I have no doubt that you will one day soon. It is a cardio dance class that is literally one of the most fun things (especially exercise related) that I have ever done. It is filled with top 40’s music and I feel like it is somewhere that I can let everything else go and rock out and let the music move me. I leave the classes feeling energized, happy, and excited (how many times can you say that after you have been sweating like crazy at the gym for an hour).

Yes this is me ugh I am so not photogenic but I had was part of a project where we were photographed doing some of the Oula movements and it was actually a blast.

In my head when I am dancing I look like this……(PS this is not me although it is the founder and creative director of the program and she is AMAZING)

But I am pretty sure I look more like Elaine form Seinfeld (if you saw that episode you will know what I mean)….

The fact of the matter is that you don’t have to be a great dancer to go to this class and have it change something inside of you. It is amazing stress relief and great cardio obviously, but more than that I feel like it’s just plain good for my energy. How cheesy I know and I sound like an infomercial but there it is friends I couldn’t imagine my week without this as part of my routine.

Birchbox Breakdown: October 2011

2011-11-05T15:43:00.001-07:00

Better late than never right? I really liked my box last month but some of my other project kept me from telling you about it sooner, sorry for the delay. And if you have not heard about Birchbox check it out HERE where you can sign up for the monthly beauty sample box for $10 a month.

The theme for October was Prep and Finish and this is what I got….

1. Befine lip exfoliator you rub this over your lips in small circles and then remove it with a warm wash cloth to leave lips feeling velvety.

My opinion: I am addicted to lip products so I was excited about this. It does work really well as an exfoliator although it is very drying so I do not use it often. I am thinking in the middle of winter though this will work miracles on my lips.

2. blinc mascara is a tubing mascara that is not supposed to flake or smudge all day.

My Opinion: I have read so many mixed reviews of this that I was very skeptical. I actually ended up buying the full size of this product because I like it so much. I do feel like mascara is about as individual as shampoo but for me this works great. It doesn’t do much for the volume of my lashes but it is fantastic with length and it really does stay put ALL DAY!

3. Pangea Organics Facial Scrub (self explanatory lol)

My Opinion: I received the Pangea facial cream in my last box and liked the product but was not in love with it enough to buy the full product and I feel much the same with this little guy. The scent is nice and it is a nice exfoliator but I am not in love.

4. Redken Shine Flash is a finishing spray that is supposed to leave your hair super shiny.

My Opinion: I think there is a fine line between shiny hair and greasy hair and for me this seemed to leave me more on the greasy side so this one was a no for me but maybe on a different hair type this would work who knows.

Treat/Extra – Tea Forte Minteas that are infused with energizing yerba mate and rick cocoa.

My Opinion: This was another one of those things that I didn’t love or hate. I tend to only like mints that leave my mouth really fresh smelling and tasting and for me these didn’t do the trick. And energy wise I didn’t notice a thing so I will be sticking to my Diet Dr. Pepper lol.

All in all I am still really loving Birchbox I have purchased something in the full sized product from both of my boxes so far because I was so excited about the sample. I already can’t wait for my November box it should come in about a week so I will keep you posted.

Do you Hautelook?

2011-10-30T20:48:00.001-07:00

I have another new love…….

Hautelook

What is Hautelook? (this is directly from the website)

HauteLook is a premier members-only site that offers private, limited-time sale events on the world's best brands. Each day, members receive an email invitation to the newest, most exclusive sale events on the best merchandise for men, women, kids, home and beauty - at prices up to 75% off retail. HauteLook is free to join and everyone is welcome - there are no commitments or charges for membership.

I am not a huge online shopper but they have such great deals on all of my favorite things. I can’t show you all of my latest purchases because I have started Christmas shopping but I got this super cute shirt…..

Sorry the picture is so small lol. It’s from Threads for Thought and I can’t wait to get it. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Halloween Candy Cake

2011-10-27T21:03:00.001-07:00

Well they are finally done! The marketing gifts that I made this month were by far some of the most time consuming things I have done in ages but I was so excited about the outcome………

I have been told that the hands on top that are holding the card look like antlers so here is a different angle lol….

I thought I would also share with you my new favorite Halloween décor…..

Just some old bottles with labels I printed out and food coloring with water. Super easy but I think they are fun.

Happy Halloween!!

Sunday morning doughnuts

2011-10-16T13:48:00.001-07:00

So if you are like me and you don’t have a Krispy Kreme near your house you have a void that you just have to fill with something, right? So here it is my latest doughnut fix and it’s actually easy and surprisingly delicious……

You need something like this……

And you get this!!!!

Trust me these are really amazing and I have high standards because my Grandpa owned a doughnut shop when I was younger and we still make them around the holidays.

I found great directions HERE!! You won’t be sorry

Birchbox inspired bracelet tutorial

2011-10-01T21:06:00.001-07:00

Remember this cute little guy….

Well I have finally finished my own version of this and I can’t wait to show you how I did it.

And now if you want to stick around I will show you the steps to the braided version of this because if you can do that one you can do any of them!

Basically I used crochet thread, tacky glue, and a metal charm….

I cut three separate pieces of thread about 22 inches long each (that is way more than you will need but it will be easier to work with)…

I like to secure my work with these paper clips and then I loop all three strands through my hoop….

Next I separate the strands out…….

And start braiding……..

Once I get the length that I want I tie a simple knot…

I like to make both braids on the same side so that I can get the length of each the same……

Hanging off each end you will have six strands and I like to cut it down to two so that it’s easier to manage….

I then secure the strands with my paper clips again and prepare to make the sliding knot…… the best tutorial I have found for making this knot is HERE. Trust me when I say she did a much better job of explaining this than I could have.

Last but not least I used tacky glue on the knots to keep them from fraying or falling apart……

let the glue dry and there you go…..

Tell me what you think and let me know if you have any questions!

Birchbox Breakdown: September 2011

2011-09-24T21:00:00.001-07:00

Now that I have had some time to try out the products in my Birchbox I thought I would give you my opinion on the treats I received.

This is the card with the details of what I received and they also include the price of the full sized product (I really love that).

#1. So let’s start at the top of the list with the Incoco nail Applique’s…..the style that I got was like this

They are made out of real nail polish and they are supposed to last up to 14 days. So if you know me you know how much I LOVE nail polish and this was right up my ally. Look how cute they are on…

My opinion: The first nail or two were tricky and then I got the hang of it. After a week of them on my nails they held up perfectly through laundry, dishes, cooking, and hair washing (he he). I don’t know if they would have held up the entire 14 days because I got antsy with the growth on the cuticle side because my nails grow super fast and removed them. But I loved them so much that I bought these two different patterns…

#2. The Jouer lip enhancer is supposed to plump, hydrate, and condition all in one step. If there is anything that can compete with my nail polish collection it would be my lip gloss/balm collection.

My opinion: I was so excited to try this and to be honest it was a little bit of a let down. I didn’t think it was anything very special and certainly did not fee that it offered any plumping whatsoever. I didn’t love it or hate it, to be honest it was just blah. So no I will not be purchasing more. I feel like that is so mean to say but hey I am just being honest.

#3. LIV GRN perfume in Earth. Can I just say I hate these little sample bottles they make a mess when you open them.

My Opinion: I tend to like really fruity sweet scents but I have to say that I love this so much and I will most likely get this in the full sized version.

#4. Pangea facial cream (I think that speaks for itself )

My opinion: I don’t love it or hate it. Much like the lip product it was just okay.

#5. Friendship bracelet

My opinion: I love love love the bracelet. I have worn it a ton already and am working on my own version inspired by this so stay tuned because it is going to be so cute and so simple.

Birchbox September 2011 (my new love)

2011-09-17T19:48:00.001-07:00

Okay so I have become obsessed with makeup and beauty channels on You Tube (if you have favorites let me know) and I was watching one of my favorite “guru’s” the other day and she was talking about something called Birchbox. Have you heard about this? It is AMAZING.

No I haven’t been prompted or paid in any way to blog about this but I love to pass things along that I enjoy or am currently obsessed with so today you get this treat

So Birchbox is “Hand-picked deluxe samples delivered to your door for $10 per month”. That explanation is directly off of the website and it is the very best way to describe this fun monthly gift. So this month is my first month and I thought I would share with you what came in my box.

This is straight out of my mailbox…

This is the box inside the shipping box….

This is what you see when you open the box…

Every box comes with a very detailed card that describes the products in your box that are handpicked for you based on your beauty profile…

I am so excited about everything in my box. If you want me to show in detail what I received or if you want my opinions on any of the products I would love to share. For now I will keep it simple and just give you a peak of what I got.

Have you ever tried anything like this?

Labor Day Fun and Crystal Digging

2011-09-07T11:37:00.001-07:00

Hi! I hope you had a fantastic Labor day! We did a little camping, fishing, and hiking….but the highlight of the trip was digging for crystals. Right here in Montana we have a really fun place where you basically get to be like a kid in a sandbox looking for treasures. They don’t plant the crystals so you really have to search them out to find the bigger ones but they but it is truly addicting.

I pulled some information off of the official website just because I thought it was so interesting. “The prospect of finding buried treasure is always just one shovel scoop away here in this public sandbox high in the Pioneer Mountains. The treasure is the quartz crystals that are scattered liberally through the decomposed granite of the unique 220-acre site that's been reserved by the Forest Service for the popular hobby of rockhounding.

Look at me in all my camping glory lol

These are some of the fun treasures we unearthed….

We had a blast. Now I need to figure out a way to add these to a fun project…maybe jewelry?

Favorite Things Party 2011

2011-08-22T16:06:00.001-07:00

I recently hosted one of the most fun parties I can remember throwing in quite a while. It was a Favorite Things Party have you heard of this idea? I am sure there are several variations of this idea but I wanted to share with you how I went about this.

I stated with an Evite (I am in love with these) it is so easy to track who you invited and if they are attending and it’s a great way for everyone to communicate about the event. My invitation said:

We're sharing our "Favorite Things"!!
(Think Oprah's favorite things show) Please come prepared to share with us what your "can't live without" item is and bring three of them to share. The idea is that you leave with three different items that just might become your new favorite things! The possibilities are endless but some ideas would be cleaning supplies, kitchen gadgets, makeup/beauty items, or even fashion accessories. Also please bring your favorite appetizer, dessert, or side dish to share (because you know my favorite thing is food). Feel free to bring friends just have them bring their own items and let me know in the comments so that I know how many people to plan for. Thanks to Holly for the idea (even though I changed it up a little). I hope you can all come and I can't wait to see what you bring :)

Everyone that came brought yummy food including this beauty…

I made chicken taco’s and we started by just eating and chatting. Then we played a game of “get to know you” bingo. I tried to gear the questions around the girls that attended so that we could have fun answers. I also used a penny as the “O” and I will get to why in a second. Here are the card I made….

I know nothing fancy but hey it worked and it was fun.

Then we got down to business. I had gift bags like this set out together…

I had each person describe their items (I think we all spent $5-$10 they were supposed to be small things that you love). After the explanation was given I had each person put one of each item in a different bag and when the bag had three items we then moved it out of rotation. After everyone was done we broke for desert and I put tissue paper in each bag so that it would be random what each person would take home. Then we all gathered together again and I had each person choose a bag and the order was determined by the year of penny that they had on their penny on the bingo card (so cheesy but it worked).

I know you can’t wait to hear about my item right? Well I couldn’t choose because if you know me you know that I love nail polish and lip gloss/lip balm. So of course I had a bottle of my favorite brand of polish Nabi. It dries fast, goes on smooth, stays on for days, and comes off easily with remover. And I read that Nabi in Korean means butterfly and that makes me smile. I also included my favorite lip balm of the moment and it is the EOS lip balm. I have the lemon flavor always near by me because it has SPF in it and my “bestie” says I need to use more SPF so she should be proud, but all of the flavors are delicious. I also included a small hostess gift in each bag just for fun. I love the ELF makeup brushes they are inexpensive and work sooooo well so I made sure everyone took one home.

Last but not least here is the list of what everyone else brought just because it was so fun to see what everyone loved (I am not including names because I forgot to ask permission).

* Country living magazine

* Home magazines (House beautiful, Real Simple, and Better Home and Garden) and itunes gift card

* Burt's Bees chapstick and Starbucks gift card for vanilla steamer with whip cream and caramel sauce

* Stash brand Licorice spice herbal tea (found at Rosaurs and Good food store) and mug

* Glass pitcher and fun pot scrubber

* Loves the Dobie sponge (but couldn't find) with Dawn oil of olay/ brought Coconut lime body butter by Tree Hut (found at most drugstores and at costco around the holidays)

* Was talked out of bringing her favorite stone scrubber for the toilet with the white handle from Albertsons / brought fresh/raw tortilla and Nutella

* Body Basics scent infused lotion

* Kirkland brand makeup removing wipes, LA's totally awesome cleaner form the dollar tree, and Turbie twist towel

* Loves cellophane wrap and brought it as the gift bag for the purse hook

This was such a fun party to throw so go and plan one of your own and if you have any questions about how we did it don’t hesitate to ask!!

I am in love (again)

2011-08-06T18:44:00.001-07:00

Hi friends! I hope that everyone is having a great summer. Mine has been very fun but very busy lol. I have to admit though that I have been cheating on blogging with my new current love……

Oh my word are you part of this? Have you checked it out?

This is literally my new favorite way to save all of the fun things I plan to create, cook, craft, sew, or just plain drool over. I would love to hook up with any of you there!!

Red, White, and Blue Gift

2011-07-01T20:30:00.001-07:00

I thought I would show you a fun gift that I delivered this week for Independence day, because I love how it turned out. I had a local popcorn company make some red, white, and blue berry flavored popcorn and then I made a cute tag so they would know what office it came from

I hope that everyone a safe and happy holiday!!!

Summery gift box decor

2011-05-31T21:17:00.001-07:00

I had a local bakery make these amazing coconut macaroons…..

and yes they taste just as good as they look. The problem was that the box was so plain. So I decided to spruce it up

I cut strips of paper 2 inches by 12 inches and folded them accordion style……

Then I connected the ends together to form a circle….

and the fun part comes next. I cut some circles out of cardstock and had my glue gun ready and then I flattened out my circle (yep that’s the best way I can describe it lol)

After adding a few embellishments I came up with this….

Movie Certificate Holder

2011-05-15T11:05:00.001-07:00

I needed to find a fun way to give a movie gift certificate and came up with this…

I used a small brown paper bag and some decorative scissors and stickers.

Crafty weekend

2011-05-06T17:29:00.001-07:00

I know how excited you must be to find out about the crafts I eluded to in my last post right? lol

Well like I said before my “bestie” came to visit and we have the same craft disease/obsession and the result of that was some crafting bliss.

First we made the cutest fridge magnets out of bottle tops look how fun and easy they were….

all you need is a bottle cap, some cute paper (she cut her circles out of magazines so they were fun and shiny), a magnet, and some hot glue.

We also made these rings out of wire and beads…….

I made the first two and Brandi made the cute flower

Don’t you love them? I was thinking about doing a giveaway but it’s hard to get the sizing just right unless I fly you to Montana and used your finger (ha ha), but I am debating on doing a little tutorial if anyone was interested?

The Handwriting Game

2011-05-04T21:13:00.001-07:00

I know I have been the worst blogger ever lately but between Easter, a funeral, baseball, work, and oh ya know life {ha ha} things have gotten out of control. But hang in there because my “bestie” and I did some fun crafts last weekend and I can’t wait to show you the pictures. Until then enjoy this fun game I was tagged with by my blog friend Jandy. I really don’t love my handwriting but this was to fun to pass up!

Pretty easy, just answer these questions in your own handwriting...

1. What's your name/blogger name?

2. What's your blogs URL?

3. Write "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"

4. Favorite quote?

5. Your favorite song?

6. Your favorite band/singer?

7. Anything else you want to say?

8. Tag 3 bloggers to participate.

I will post my fun new projects very soon I promise!!!

Plate Pedestal

2011-04-09T15:31:00.001-07:00

I had the fun chance recently to visit my mother-in-law (and no I’m not being sarcastic she really is fantastic) anyways she shares my love of crafty creations and was prepared for my visit with a this box…..

filled with cups, candlesticks, and old plates that she found at second hand stores.

We used these to make the cutest pedestals and we put them together with glue that was like this….

If you can suffer through a picture parade I will show you the combinations I made and where I put them in my house (aren’t you on the edge of your seat? lol).

If you stuck around until the bitter end then you must really love me Happy Crafting!

A gift idea and some facts about me :)

2011-03-30T21:11:00.001-07:00

Hi friends! Wow I didn’t intend to take some time away from blog land, I guess between sickness and life it just got away from me but I still missed you.

My latest gift/delivery was pumpkin cookies and molasses cookies made by a wonderful local market and everyone was excited to get them….

Well now that I have shared that I am sure you just can’t wait to learn more about me ha ha…..This was inspired by a game called “If you really knew me” that I played at a friends house a few years ago.

So if you really knew me you would know that…..

*I have lived in my house for almost five years and have never painted one wall. Yep as much as I love crafting I can’t decide what color I would possibly want to see every day so instead I see white.

*I have zero rhythm and thanks to my amazing friend I have fallen seriously in love with dancing.

*I love camping with my boys, they make me laugh and don’t judge me for the amount of S’mores I eat or what time of day I eat them

*I am giddy about my BFF visiting!

*I love all kinds of technology…Computers, cameras, cell phones (you get the picture)

*99.9% of the time my fingernails and toenails are painted and I feel naked when they aren’t.

Have a great weekend! I would love to read your posts about what I would know if I really knew you!

How does this happen? and a WINNER!

2011-02-27T20:22:00.001-08:00

Well first thing is first the winner of one of these……..

Yep that’s right #4 so that’s you Brittany! A nicer gal couldn’t have won and if you are in the salt lake area you may have even seen her on the news Get me your address so I can get it out to you!!!

And now for the How does this happen? part

my son started school with two black gloves that were obviously the same size and here we hare at the end of March and he starts coming home with this……lol

Memory Wire Bracelet Tutorial and Giveaway

2011-02-19T08:16:00.001-08:00

I have a new love!!

I used memory wire and glass beads and it was so easy….

First you cut the wire depending on how many times you would like it to wrap around your arm…

Then you put a loop in one end to hold the beads on…..

now you thread on your beads and end it with another loop

What do you think? Okay now for the giveaway….

You have your choice of the clear or the black bracelet and all you have to do is tell me the last great book you read?

This giveaway will end Saturday the 26th at midnight MST and I will use random.org to choose a winner that I will announce on February 27th. The winner will have two days to contact me concerning the prize or I will pick a new winner.

Kindergarten Valentines

2011-02-13T14:23:00.001-08:00

I was so excited when I found this cute idea HERE for my son to bring his class for valentines day!

I took these………….

And some paper and pipe cleaners and made……

And the backs looked like this….

And of course I couldn’t wait to see what my son thought and he said “it’s cute but the eyelashes look like a girl” lol leave it to my son.

I also made a few more gifts out of those amazing caramels for some more deserving people for Valentines day. Enjoy!

Now go tell someone that you love them!!

Caramels in a gable box

2011-02-07T19:32:00.001-08:00

I know I have said this before about my marketing/gift projects but I absolutely love them and I love them even more when I can use local products. I had a friend introduce me to these caramels that are made right here in Montana and they are heaven especially the Celtic Salt flavor.

So I took this Wilton box…..

and these caramels…..

and delivered this to some very nice offices!!

A craft fail and a win!

2011-01-30T09:41:00.001-08:00

I am still so addicted to cutting vinyl with my cricut. I am endlessly looking for things to decorate and this is my latest love…….

This project came about because my son has the same water bottle as another boy in his class and I wanted a way that he could easily tell them apart. But of course I couldn’t stop there right?!

This design seemed appropriate for spin class when I just feel like I can’t push myself further lol.

Ok so this is where the craft fail happens…..vinyl doesn’t work so well on a squeeze water bottle because this happens….

But do you want to know where it works perfectly?

This one is my favorite!!!!

Snow Sculpture

2011-01-22T20:10:00.001-08:00

Every year we drive to a small little lake town a couple hours away from us for their annual “Snow fest”. It is filled with events and fun such as a biathlon, dog sled races, chili feed, and our favorite the snow sculptures. This one was by far the winner in my book……

It was titles “he’s got the whole world in his hands” cute huh?

Photography Treats

2011-01-17T21:53:00.001-08:00

I love photography and I have been participating in these amazing weekly challenges at MCP actions through flicker. It is so fun to see what people come up with

I thought I would share the challenges that I participate in with my bloggy friends. This weeks theme is “shades of gray” and this is what I submitted…

I took the picture at the zoo over the weekend what do you think?

Can you crochet?

2011-01-09T17:22:00.001-08:00

Let me start by saying that I am an extreme novice when it comes to crochet, but honestly when I saw these I knew I had to ramp up my skills.

My amazingly talented friend came up with these patterns (as well as a few others) and just recently opened up an Etsy shop!! The patterns are inexpensive and super easy to follow. And she is so right when she said that it is rewarding to have a little critter in just one evening, as apposed to a blanket (if you have ever tried) that takes FOREVER.

I was thinking about what cute baby gifts these would make or that they would even be something you could attach to the top of a gift. And then it dawned on me that the next diaper cake I make will have these little darlings as decoration. I have to be honest aside from the Celtic sea salt caramels that I can’t get enough of these are my current obsession.

I actually won something!!!

2011-01-07T17:06:00.001-08:00

Ok I know people say all of the time “I never win anything” but I truly never do, until now. I entered a giveaway for a gift card on a blog I love to read Quirky Pickings and I totally won. Look what I got today (PS it totally made my day).

Oh and that card was perfection

Traditions

2010-12-24T13:40:00.001-08:00

We have a few Holiday traditions that I love!

We always make snow flakes…..

We always make glass candy HERE is my recipe!

I try to have my son make some Christmas cards. He used his thumb print to make these.

And of course we make gingerbread houses (although we actually use graham crackers lol)

I hope your Holidays are happy and filled with the best of memories!

Frost

2010-12-22T10:48:00.001-08:00

We have been living in a winter wonder land for a while now but this morning I must say that the frost was stunning.

This frost was actually on the antennae of my car

Tile Magnets

2010-12-20T15:31:00.001-08:00

I was so excited about the gifts that I made for some of my friends this year.

I used these cute tiles that I found at Home Depot and cut out some fun vinyl shapes with my Cricut and then I attached a round strong magnet to the back. How easy is that!!

Then I found this fantastic pattern for a pyramid box that I thought could resemble a Christmas tree. I love how they turned out !

Our Advent Calendar

2010-12-11T11:08:00.001-08:00

This year we were given a fantastic early Christmas gift from my mother in law, it was this gorgeous advent calendar.

In the years past we have used the classed cardboard advent calendar but now we get to start a new tradition and it has added so much to our home this year.

My mother in law got the board from The Craft Warehouse and added some of the lettering with vinyl then made the Holiday magnets with paper and hot glue :)

I love it and smile at it every time I walk by it!!

A cute gift and Christmas cards 2010

2010-12-06T16:46:00.001-08:00

I was so excited to deliver these holiday gifts for my latest work project. I had a local bakery/cafe make their decadent specialty cookies and packaged them by the dozen in these cute little jars….

I am also ready to share with you how my Christmas cards turned out this year :)

A few new cards

2010-11-19T08:24:00.001-08:00

First of all I just want to say thank you for all of the kind comments and concern on my last post. All three men that were involved in that tragedy are recovering and making progress everyday.

I made a couple new cards and just thought I would share them with you……….

Heart Attack (with love)

2010-11-07T10:15:00.001-08:00

Three very brave and wonderful men were in a sad accident and two of them I happen to know. One especially is a close family friend. So many people wanted to do something nice for each of them on their return home without causing mass chaos and traffic to them. A friend and I decided that we would collect messages via text and email and transfer them to hearts and then go give their homes a heart attack. This has been such a great outlet for me with all of my nervous energy and anxiety for them. And it gave me something to do to occupy my time. This is what we have done so far….

I struggled with the decision to post this or not because I didn’t want it to seem like I was seeking a giant pat on the back. In the end I have decided to put this out there in hopes that if you know someone that has been through a lot and could use some extra love this is such a great way to do it. With the technology today it’s easier than ever to organize something like this.

I hope you and all your loved ones are safe, healthy, and know of your love.

Pumpkin Muffins

2010-10-20T13:22:00.001-07:00

For my deliveries this month I had a local bakery make the most delicious pumpkin muffins and then I decorated the boxes for Halloween. Everyone was excited to get them :)

I love my job!!!

Cheese and cracker trays

2010-10-10T09:06:00.001-07:00

For my deliveries in September I made this fun cheese and cracker trays……..

I also did a little sewing in September too…..

kids apron

and adult apron!

New Music Obsession

2010-10-05T15:18:00.001-07:00

Oh my gosh have you heard about DJ Earworm and his amazing music mashups? My husband played one for me the other night and I went straight to his WEBSITE to download some of his amazing work.

Here is a taste what do you think?

Vinyl Obsession

2010-10-02T14:56:00.001-07:00

I finally learned how to cut vinyl with my Cricut and I am so addicted!! It started because my husband wanted some information put on some of his work equipment in vinyl so we bought the supplies and I tested my skills on this little sign for our house….

We have extremely pushy sales people in our area and I just can’t handle it any more. I hope this will help.

I had so much fun cutting that sign that I cut a little design to put on the back of my cell phone

I know my husband is so going to tease me but hey it made me smile.

Now I want to cut a saying for a wall in my house does anyone have any suggestions?

I am a sucker for no bake cheesecake

2010-09-25T13:30:00.001-07:00

This is one of those amazingly simple delicious recipes that I could eat EVERYDAY lol.

This is all it takes!

Fresh fruit is better but when we are in a pinch we use the canned stuff too :)

No Bake Cheesecake

1 (8oz) cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 (8oz) cool whip

**Blend the cream cheese and sugar together then gently stir in the cool whip. Spoon the mixture into the crust then chill for three hours or overnight to set up.

Do you have a favorite easy recipe?

Gourmet Trail Mix

2010-09-17T20:05:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! Well I am sure we all have the same story…….my blogging totally got away from me this summer. But I am ready to re-commit to you and my blog and share some of the fun things I have been up to.

I am so excited to share this project with you. It was simple and inexpensive but I think it turned out to be a great gift. I know I say this often but I always feel like I need to explain why I make things like this so frequently. I work in marketing and deliver these gifts to local dentists on a monthly basis.

I am sure it is super obvious but just in case you can’t tell the bottom layer is almonds, the middle layer is dried fruit, and the top is chocolate covered raisins.

Who would you give a gift like this to?

Car City

2010-08-31T19:59:00.001-07:00

My friend Erin asked me to take a picture of this fun play mat and I thought what the heck maybe my bloggy fiends would like to see it as well. It was one of my husbands very favorite things to play with as a kid and is now one of my sons very favorite things in the world :)

This is on a giant piece of canvas and is covered in great shops, stores, and houses made of felt. And what do you need with a big car city…..

yep a giant bucket of cars.

More of my favorite tips

2010-08-13T19:45:00.001-07:00

Okay I know I recently did a similar post but sometimes you just have tips you have to share!!

My mother in law recently taught me that if you have something really baked on a pan (especially a crock pot) you can let it soak overnight with a dryer sheet in the water. And guess what it comes off like magic!!

I also heard a long time ago that if you have a stubborn zipper all you have to do is rub pencil over the zipper and it will fix it right up. Well I finally had a chance to test out this theory on a new pair of jeans and yep you guess it the trick worked like a charm.

Do you have any favorite tips you want to share?

Butterfly Blooms

2010-08-10T20:49:00.001-07:00

My amazing sister made me these for me for my birthday:

Aren’t they so so cute?! She is calling them Butterfly Blooms.

Thank you sis I really do love them.

She is planning to open an etsy shop to sell her creations so I will keep you posted on her progress :)

I’ve been sewing

2010-08-02T20:05:00.001-07:00

We went to a family reunion a few weeks ago and had such a fun time. Part of the deal was that you were asked to bring something you made and they have a family auction to help cover some of the reunion costs (like the camping fee). I love this idea and it motivated me to get my sewing machine out and make this………

I used my favorite patter from The secret stitch club!!

I also had a chance to put together the birthday present my grandma got for me. She found this adorable kit for an apron from what she promises is the cutest fabric shop/boutique ever.

The kit came with everything you see here, isn’t it fun? And it turned out like this………

I don’t know if the seller of these cute kits has an etsy site but she does have a blog with a tutorial at The lazy Daisy cottage.

P.S. my five year old took the pictures and I thought he did pretty good considering the subject lol.

A Musical Journey Challenge

2010-07-28T21:49:00.001-07:00

My bloggy friend Jenn over at Quirky Pickings is hosting a song challenge and I am in love with it. For her this will be a daily challenge that she will post about for thirty days. I really wanted to play along but I also know that I have a hard time with a daily posts (call me flaky lol), so the way I am going to play is to post all of my answers in one big post. But you really should go check out Jenn’s blog and join in the fun!!

I love music and have it on in my house all day. Many of these answers would change daily or depending on my mood it could change several times a day ha ha. So these are my answers for now :)

day one-

favorite song Carrie Underwood – Last Name

day two –

least favorite song Train – If it’s love (I don’t know why it rubs me wrong lol)

day three –

a song that makes you happy Michael Buble – Haven’t met you yet

day four –

a song that makes you sad Kenny Chesney - Don’t Blink (it makes me remember how fast time is going by and how big my son is getting)

day five –

a song that reminds you of someone Emerson Drive - Moments (my husband played this for me the first time I heard it and I will never forget the look it put in his eyes)

day six –

a song that reminds of you of somewhere LMFAO – I’m in Miami (I will never hear this song without thinking of Vegas with you Brandi)

day seven –

a song that reminds you of a certain event Elvis – Love me tender (I can hear my Grandpa’s voice singing this to my Grandma at their 50th anniversary party)

day eight –

a song to which you know all the words Eminem – loose yourself (ok to be honest remembering songs is almost as easy as breathing to me but I thought this one would make you laugh because it’s true)

day nine –

a song to which you can dance J-lo – Lets get loud (I know I know so silly but I can’t help it this one makes me move)

day ten –

a song that makes you fall asleep Imogen Heap – Hide and seek (I really mean this in a good way this is a song that calms me down and lulls me)

day eleven –

a song from your favorite band Black Eyed Peas – I got a feeling

day twelve –

a song from a band you hate Johnny Horton – Battle of New Orleans (I can honestly say that I love all kinds of music but twangy country is probably my least favorite, sorry love)

day thirteen –

a song that is a guilty pleasure Britney Spears – Toxic (don’t roll your eyes you love it to right?)

day fourteen –

a song that no one would expect you to love It may surprise some people to know that I love everything from Phantom of the Opera, Carrie Underwood, Eminem, Frank Sinatra, and Dixie Chicks to Trapt.

day fifteen –

a song that describes you Colbie Caillat - Lucky

day sixteen –

a song that you used to love but now hate Fergie – Glamorous (I mean I wouldn’t say hate but how did I use to really like this one so much?)

day seventeen –

a song that you hear often on the radio Owl City - Firefly

day eighteen –

a song that you wish you heard on the radio Anything by Michael Buble

day nineteen –

a song from your favorite album Carrie Underwood –Wasted – from the Some Hearts album

day twenty –

a song that you listen to when you’re angry Evanescence – Bring me to life

day twenty-one –

a song that you listen to when you’re happy Corinne Bailey Rae – Put your records on

day twenty-two –

a song that you listen to when you’re sad Anna Nalick – Breathe (It calms me down)

day twenty-three –

a song that you want to play at your wedding (Well since we pulled a fast one and eloped we didn’t have “a song” for our wedding but this would have been a good one) Nat King Cole - Unforgettable

day twenty-four –

a song that you want to play at your funeral Alabama – Angels among us (I love the version with lots of kids singing along)

day twenty-five –

a song that makes you laugh BKaty Perry – California Gurls

day twenty-six –

a song that you can play on an instrument Tim McGraw – Don’t take the girl (I used to be able to play most of this on the piano)

day twenty-seven –

a song that you wish you could play (anything really ha ha but I love the piano intro to…) Lady Antebellum – I need you now

day twenty-eight –

a song that makes you feel guilty Che’nelle –I fell in love with a DJ (I know I am a dork, I don’t know if this makes me feel guilty but it’s just a dumb song that cracks me up)

day twenty-nine –

a song from your childhood (I don’t know if it would be considered my childhood but these two songs make me think of times back in the day :) House of Pain – Jump around and Ugly Kid Joe – Everything about you

day thirty –

favorite song at this time last year Taylor Swift – Love story

I hope you had fun going on my musical journey, do you feel like you know me better? Let me know if you play along I want to see your list or you can post daily with Jenn!!

Box of Bagels

2010-07-27T07:00:00.001-07:00

This was almost as fun to deliver as the flowers. Everyone loved them!! I was able to get a great price on these packs from a local bagel shop and they provided everything that you see inside.

The square tag was placed on the box by the bagel shop with their information and the rest was my attempt to dress up the box :) The round tag I made said the name of the doctor that I work for.

Wouldn’t it be fun to bring these to a friend that had a house full of summer company? (I was thinking of you Janna lol)

Summer Painting Project

2010-07-16T20:18:00.001-07:00

We decided to paint outside the other day and the rules were that we could only use things we found in nature to use as our paint brushes :0) Sticks, leaves, weeds, grass….you get the idea!!!

I thought he would love this, and I think he did for the entire ten minutes that it held his attention until a grasshopper came by and he HAD to chase after it lol. That didn’t stop me from having fun ha ha.

Zip lock baggie Ice cream

2010-07-06T22:05:00.001-07:00

It is finally getting warm enough around here to make a cold treat. So I decided to make my son work for it lol. Have you ever done this? I was shocked at how well it turned out.

You will need a large zip lock and a smaller one. First in the small one mix:

1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)

1 Tbs sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

Seal the small bag well…..Now fill the large zip lock 3/4 of the way with ice and 6 Tbs of rock salt then place the smaller zip lock on top of the ice. Next seal the large bag and get your kid to start shaking the bag.

After about 15 minutes we had this and guess what it actually tasted really good! I am sure you could add all sorts of flavoring and toppings but this time around we kept it simple :)

I Linked up here!

Inside BruCrew Life

Extra Sugary Sugar Cookies

2010-07-02T13:37:00.001-07:00

I saw this amazing idea for adding color to regular sugar at Homemade Mamas and I couldn’t wait for an excuse to mix some up.

You use regular sugar and put it in a zip lock then add a few drops of food coloring…..

Next shake it and squish it around to disperse the color…….

After the color is mixed well dump the sugar out on parchment paper to dry out….. (Did you know you could do this? I love it)

But the fun can’t end here right?! Now you have to make sugar cookies and use the sugar to decorate them.

Do you have big plans for the 4th? Well tomorrow is my birthday so I have a good excuse to eat a bunch of these cookies and be lazy lol. And then Sunday we plan to have a BBQ with our own little fire works display. Have a fun and safe weekend!

Magnetic Picture Board

2010-06-24T14:08:00.001-07:00

I know I am so late posting this but hey better late than never right (wink wink). My friend Janna had this amazing idea for fathers day and because she asked my opinion on her project I decided to copy her and we did it together (yes I am saying I basically stole her idea lol). She went to a local metal shop and had some large pieces of sheet metal cut out. She measured hers but I had more of a “wing it” approach and am really glad that it still fit on the wall ha ha. We spray painted them black and had a little help drilling some holes in them. I had to have my hubby help hang his but Janna was brave enough to get crazy with her hammer (she is my inspiration :)

I had a bunch of pictures developed of my son doing all sorts of fun things with his daddy and a few of the fun things we have done together over the past few months. Then I stole Janna’s other great idea to hot glue magnets to some pretty glass rocks to make it more decorative.

I know this is not the best picture on earth but you get the idea. What do you think? What did the dad in your life get for fathers day?

Summer Bubbles

2010-06-16T06:55:00.001-07:00

Hey friends! Well it stopped raining just long enough to have a little summer fun. I found this amazing idea for bubbles at How does she..... It is one of my favorite sites filled with crafts, activities, recipes and all sorts of useful tidbits.

All you have to do is cut off the bottom of a plastic bottle and cover that large hole with a cloth or an old sock. Make sure it’s tight to the bottle, we used a rubber band to hold it up. Then you dip it in dish soap (I added a little water to make it last longer) and blow some killer bubbles.

My son did this forever and had a blast, and yep we had a bunch of extra neighbor kids in the yard wanting to check it out lol. Do your kids love bubbles? Do you have a favorite brand or way to blow them?

Have you met Bree Tanner?

2010-06-07T21:12:00.001-07:00

Okay so I am sure you already know this (especially if you are a Twilight fan), the new Stephenie Meyer book came out over the weekend. It is a short novella about Bree Tanner, one of the newborns from Eclipse.

I loved it. I got sucked into the world of Stephenie Meyer all over again :) I thought it was way too short (hello novella) and I was sad because obviously I knew how it would end, but nevertheless it was fantastic. Have you read it? Do you plan to?

I will leave you now with a pic from our little detour to Forks last year (and I know the hair was not a good color for me but we all make mistakes ha ha).

VELVEETA Cheesy Pasta Casserole

2010-06-01T14:40:00.001-07:00

I have a new favorite recipe!! We had it last night and loved it. I actually saw a commercial for it and jumped online to find the recipe then ran to the store to get the ingredients. What can I say I love food and RO*TEL tomatoes ha ha!

1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

4 cups cooked rotini pasta

1 pkg. (1 lb.) frozen Italian-style vegetable blend, thawed, drained (I used the Birds Eye brand it worked great)

1 can (10 oz.) RO*TEL Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies, undrained

3/4 lb. (12 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

HEAT oven to 400ºF.

COMBINE ingredients in 13x9-inch baking dish; cover.

BAKE 40 min. Let stand 5 min.; stir until sauce is well blended.

Time saver: If you have leftover chicken? Prepare recipe as directed, using 5 cups chopped cooked chicken and reducing the baking time to 20 to 25 min. or until VELVEETA is melted and casserole is heated through.

Quirky Pickings and Randomness

2010-05-29T08:16:00.001-07:00

My bloggy friend Jenn (AKA Criticalcrass) over at Quirky Pickings did a little spotlight on me and let me ask her a few random questions then she said it was my turn to answer my own questions lol.

First a little about Jenn…..her blog is a fun place that always makes me giggle. She likes Coke and Never Pepsi, and Pringles but not Hostess products. She also shares my love for books and is a fellow fan of Nora Roberts. We also have the same embarrassing fact from our past in common. Yes we both played the clarinet in grade school ha ha. How did we get roped into that?!!

Here are my answers to the questions I asked her. You should go check out what her answers were to the same questions!

1. If you had a giant yacht what would you name it? (I stole this answer from the hottie hubbie) 401k

2. Is it ok to wear socks with sandals or to bed? Never ever on both counts ewwww

3. If the president was calling you with an emergency what would he need your help with? He must have heard I have mad scrapbooking skills :)

4. If you had a super power what would you want it to be? I think I would like to be able to fly (wouldn’t errands be so much more fun?)

5. What can you hear right now? HLN news concerning the oil spill DISASTER (so sad)

6. Would you rather be way too hot or way too cold? I would rather be too hot next to a cool pool, with a cold drink, and a good book

7. What would your dream vacation be? That’s easy….FIJI

8. If you had an extra $100 to be selfish with what would you get? I seriously need a new curling iron but I want a good one and I am way to cheap to buy one lol.

9. Would you ever sky dive? Nope I am a chicken, although I am considering paragliding

10. What is your all time favorite book? I am a huge Twilight fan (the book not the movie) and I loved the book The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Ok there you have it!! Now I put it to all of you: What is your dream vacation?

Oh and on a side note I apologize for having to turn on word verification for comments but the spam comments have gotten out of control. Have a great day!!

Life is good AWARD!!

2010-05-26T13:10:00.001-07:00

My friend Lisa over at Smell the Coffee Lisa has brought sunshine into my day by giving me this cute award!

(I think the bowls I made out of cooking CD's put me over the edge lol)

What do you do when you're bored?
Blog surf or read

Are you an Autumn or a Spring?
Spring!!

Quick! You're stuck at an airport for hours, and the only options are crossword puzzles, or an old novel no body's ever heard of. Which do you pick? As much as i love to read I would probably pick the puzzle ha ha

Jane Austen or Emily Bronte?
Jane Austen

Do you feel prepared for the five other questions coming your way?
Bring it on ;)

Who’s your hero?
I have a few but my husband ranks pretty high. I have never met anyone as hardworking and loyal as he is.

Favorite word?
Because I have a five year old boy I say “dude”, “sweet”, and “awesome” way more than a normal person should. But I love the words serendipity and surreal.

Are you one of those “checklist” people, or are you a “wing it and hope everything goes well” sort of person?
I have lists everywhere and I am learning to actually use them

What phrase has stuck with you in your life?
”Don’t worry about the people in your past, there is a reason they didn’t make it into your future” This one makes me happy and sad but reminds me that there is a reason for everything even if I don’t like it or understand it and it reminds me to be grateful for the loving supportive people in my life.

If you were to choose between coffee and tea . . . which would you go with?
How about option “C” diet Dr. Pepper

Who do I think deserves this award?

Together We Save (because she helps me find the best deals ever)

Quirky Pickings (because she makes me laugh)

My Minds Eye (because she inspires me)

Ma What's for Dinner (because she helps me feed my family)

The Idea Room (because she helps me decorate)

Guest Bogging and Melted Bowls

2010-05-22T15:01:00.001-07:00

Today I am guest blogging over at Everyday Mom Ideas!!

I had a blast getting this project ready so come on over and see how I made these bowls out of regular CD’s and one out of fabric!!!

Pretty Purple Tissue Flower

2010-05-16T21:09:00.001-07:00

I have seen these amazing tissue paper balls and flowers all over the web and I couldn’t wait to make some myself. I thought Mothers Day was the perfect reason to use my new creation.

I used this fantastic tutorial from All Things Thrifty…..if you haven’t visited this blog before you are in for a treat they are amazing ladies.

So what do you think about the flowers cheezy or cute? ***Oh and heads up to all my girlfriends and friends with little girls you will most likely see these on the next gift I give cheezy or not ha ha ha!

A Touch of Spring

2010-05-11T20:30:00.001-07:00

Well since spring just won’t come to my part of the country yet I decided to bring a little bit of sunshine to the offices I delivered to this month. Most of you know by now that I am in marketing and get to do this sort of thing every month (best job ever).

I wanted to get the flowers from our local farmers market but like I said spring is being slow here, so I got an assortment of flowers from Costco…….

I decided to use a mason jar as my vase and my goal was to have them be simple and classic. I was really happy with the outcome. I am thinking that I should put a disclaimer here and say I am certainly not a florist but I had fun pretending for the day lol.

Have you ever delivered flowers to people before? If you haven’t I totally recommend doing this, especially on a day that you might be a little down. It is an uplifting experience. I would love to do this again and go to a hospital or nursing home and just pick some random recipients.

Fabric Flower Bandwagon

2010-05-06T21:05:00.001-07:00

It’s official, I decided to jump on the rosette bandwagon! I have seen these amazing fabric flowers on everything from headbands, rings, and purses, to picture frames, t-shirts, and necklaces. Then my sister tells me that she is opening up an Etsy shop to sell her version of these amazing flowers (trust me hers are way cuter and sturdier than mine) so I will let you know as soon as she is up and running.

After absorbing all of this wonderful inspiration this is how mine turned out!!

I cut some fabric into strips and twisted the strips around a barbeque skewer to make my flowers. Then I hand stitched some of the pieces of the flower together so that they wouldn’t fall apart. Lastly I used some hot glue to attach felt to the backs.

I couldn’t decide what to do with my pretty little flowers and then I remembered I had a stash of old magnets that I could cut up and glue to the backs….

I love how they turned out!!

What is the best use that you have seen for these flowers?

The best homemade play dough and an apology

2010-05-01T19:06:00.001-07:00

I have to start with an apology to anyone who has left me a comment and waited for a response. The entire time that I am been blogging I thought that when a comment was posted and the notification was sent to my email that I could simply hit reply and shoot a comment back to you….guess what? It doesn’t work that way :)

When a comment comes to my email it is just a notification and has a “noreply-comment” address (most of the time). I am so embarrassed that I didn’t know this sooner. So I guess what I am saying is that I always try to reply or visit the blog of every comment I get and I thought I was doing so good. If you have a question or comment that I have never got back to you about please please resend it and I promise to reply properly :) (I know I am such a dork)

Now moving on to the best play dough we have ever made……We took out our play dough the other day and it looked like this

It was hard and crunchy and yep all mixed together. So I searched some of my favorite bloggers and found This Amazing Recipe from The Idea Room.

We mixed it up and it is not only the softest best homemade play dough ever but it smells soooo good. Ours was cherry flavored yummmy!!

Now go get the recipe and make it because you will not be sorry!

Last but not least I am wondering How do you reply to comments on your blog?

Why didn’t you tell me?

2010-04-28T07:02:00.001-07:00

Do you ever have those moments where you are in shock with information that you just got and you literally have to say, why didn’t you tell me about that? Well I had a moment like that over the weekend. I said to my BFF how much i hated my dirty, sticky, laundry soap cap….

and she said, “ I just throw it in the wash with my clothes and it comes out clean”. I sat there and thought Duh that is so simple.

So I thought I would share some of my favorite little tricks and see if anyone else wants to share what they know so we can all learn something and have less “why didn’t you tell me?” moments!!

I clean my lint trap with the used dryer sheet that just got ran through the last cycle.

I am obsessed with disinfectant wipes especially in the bathroom and kitchen.

The magic eraser changed my life when it comes to cleaning bathrooms, especially the shower/tub floors.

This one might be completely in my head but I read that a large part of what dulls a razor (other than regular use) is the water that sits on it after it is used, especially if you have hard water like me. So while I dry off after a shower i take my towel and dry off the edges of the razor as well. Like I said this could be all in my head but I swear my razor lasts longer.

To help a blemish heal faster I put a little dab of Neosporin on it. I have no idea if this is even a good idea and I am certainly not a skin expert but I always think if it is supposed to help cuts heal faster and healthier doesn’t this just make sense lol.

I blog using Live Writer and if you have never tried it I couldn’t recommend it more!!

What tips/tricks do you have?

**I was not paid, prompted or asked by any of these companies to blog about these tips!

Card Swap Party

2010-04-25T14:17:00.001-07:00

I am so lucky to have the friends that I have!!!

In honor of one of my best friends in the world visiting me we gathered up some of my other most amazing friends ever and had a craft party/card swap.

We had five of us crafting. We each picked a category and made 25 cards. Then we divided them up so we each left with five of every different design (was that a confusing enough explanation LoL).

It was a great night filled with food, giggles, and crafts. Here is the result of the fun….

Made by the talented Janna

Made by the talented Natalie

Made by the talented Molly

Made by the talented Brandi

Made by ME!!!

What kind of craft parties do you have?

***I should add that I have other amazing crafty and non-crafty friends that I would have loved to invite all they have to do is let me know they are interested! As for my bloggy friends that can’t make it to my hometown well that is why I post the pics so you can be a part of it lol.

Robin Egg Cookies (yep still using them up :)

2010-04-21T07:17:00.001-07:00

First I have to say thank you to all of my loyal readers and followers….I can’t believe anyone would be interested in what I have to say but here you are and I am flattered. I plan to do a giveaway soon in honor of my latest follower goal being reached so come back and see what I come up with {wink}.

I am excited that I finally finished my new cookbook, so I thought it would be a perfect time to share a recipe.

Remember how I have been trying to ~~get rid of~~ use up these?……

As yummy as the Whopper Shakes were, it was time to move on.

I found a new blog that I love called Cast Sugar and she had a recipe for Whopper Cookies, and I put my Robin Eggs to good use yet again.

These were chewy and delicious with that to die for malted milk “whopper” flavor baked right in!

Whopper Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 c. butter, room temperature

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 c. roughly chopped Whoppers/malted milk balls

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in milk and vanilla, then gradually blend in the flour mixture. Do not overmix; stir only until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chopped Whoppers/malted milk balls.

Drop into 1-inch balls (Tbsp.-sized balls) on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes, until lighty browned.Cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe?

Attempt One Failed, Do I get to keep the Awards?

2010-04-18T09:08:00.001-07:00

Well after all of THAT can you believe it failed miserably? i plan to find another recipe and try again so stay tuned :)

View Full Album

Do you see that not even one sugar crystal ha ha!

But now I am worried that I may no longer deserve these amazing awards?!? lol

It must be blog award season because look what I have been honored with. I am feeling lightheaded with excitement over these three awards from three amazing blogger……

Should be Cleaning

(I pass this one on to Bobbi, Disney, Allison, Kimberly, and Jill)

The Practical Mom guide

(I pass this one on to Ammie, Molly, Aubri, Lisa, and Leslie)

Both of these awards ask for………

Ten things that make me happy:

1. The sound of my hubby and son laughing together

2. Going on adventures with my family (camping, hiking, etc……)

3. Reading

4. Crafting

5. Loyal friends

6. Good food

7. Cookie dough

8. Tight hugs and snuggles from either of my boys :)

9. Family movie night

10. Lazy mornings

Ma What's 4 Dinner

(I pass this one on to Stacie, Stephanie, Jandy, Amber, and Krystle)

This award asks for…………..

Ten honest facts about me:

1. I am so not a morning person

2. I hate falling asleep/napping during the day, I wake up feeling so groggy

3. I only wash my hair every other day (is that gross?)

4. I loooove a good bargain

5. I am obsessed with the show Gilmore Girls and watch back episodes everyday while I work :)

6. I really hate cleaning our bathrooms (don’t worry I still do it)

7. I am the middle child of three girls and the hubby is the middle child of three boys (meant to be huh? wink wink)

8. I am a big fan of Twilight but I am part of team Edward when I am reading the book and team Jacob if I am watching one of the movies ha ha

9. I love to sing but not in front of people

10. I love video games especially anything Mario related and of course guitar hero (now you know)

What is something honest about you?

Rock Candy (part one)

2010-04-15T21:11:00.001-07:00

With a little inspiration from Fun on a dime and because my family is such a big fan of Glass Candy I decided I have to give rock candy a try!!

Apparently this is quite the touchy recipe and finding the right instructions has proven to be super tricky. I will post the recipe once I know that it works lol.

My son is so excited and keep checking it like every ten seconds ha ha.

Now we wait and hope that it turns out something like this………

Okay remember this is creative “attempts” so I plan to show you the good and the bad, but I am determined to make this work so cross your fingers :)

A feature and A cookbook

2010-04-12T07:37:00.001-07:00

I am so excited to tell you that my new friend Andrea at Patchwork Pages is hosting a giveaway to one of my favorite places and doing a feature about me (insert HUGE smile here). So please go check her out see what she has been up to, spread the word, and enter the giveaway :)

This is what I am currently working on……..I have that “one” cookbook that I shove all of my favorite recipes in……

and I can never find a thing!!

I decided to grab a binder and make myself a more functional version. Right now it looks something like this….

It’s taking me a while to type all of my recipes up and print them out….

but I think it will be totally worth it and I will have a digital backup of my recipes when I’m done too.

It’s still a huge work in progress but I really hope it will be easier to use when all is said I done. Oh and I picked paper that I love to look at, the bright colors always make me smile.

Where do you keep your recipes?

Robin Eggs Recycled

2010-04-09T15:28:00.001-07:00

If you are like me you are so sick of seeing Easter candy (or at least my scale is sick of it lol). So I have been trying to figure out what to do with a bunch of extra robin eggs (or I will eat them all in one sitting) and my hottie had a fantastic idea…..

You guessed it we made the best milk shakes ever….(i am sure whoppers would be just as yummy)

We used one cup of robin eggs, one cup of milk, and a bunch of vanilla ice cream (just depends on how thick you like them). I bet some stores have Easter candy super cheap right now. I know I know I just figured out how to get rid of them and now I want more, what can I say??!!!

Seriously the best malted milk shake!!!

An interview and a bracelet

2010-04-05T06:47:00.001-07:00

I am feeling unworthy of the bloggy attention I have received lately…and the love keeps coming. I was interviewed by Leslie an amazing and inspiring blogger at {words of me project}. I always leave her blog with my mind stimulated and a smile on my face. In honor of my first interview I wanted to show you what I made this weekend.

My craft inspiration for today’s project actually started a few months ago…..when we went to a swimming pool that had a water slide. In order to go down the slide they gave you a wrist band. I guess I should explain that my son loves jewelry especially bracelets and necklaces (is that a bad sign lol). He was super excited and wore his water slide bracelet with a huge amount of pride. So you can imagine the day it finally fell off (over a month later yuck) how sad he was. I promised to make him and daddy some “boy” bracelets so they could wear them all of the time. This is what I cam up with:

Yep the old school hemp style bracelet, he was soooo excited.

I started with some hemp twine….

I cut four strands (the length will depend on the size you want)…..

I tied them off to something because they are easier to manage that way….

Then you want to decide what two strands will be your middle pieces and what two are the sides…….The next part is a little complicated to explain but I had these pictures to help, the website I had printed these off of years ago isn’t around anymore so this is the best I could do……

If you want to add any beads all you have to do is slide them on the two middle strands and keep going in the same pattern (don’t worry it twists on its own)

I tied it off with a clasp and we were good to go :)

I have a feeling I should make a backup so if this one falls off we can avoid drama lol.

Want to know a secret?

2010-04-01T19:55:00.001-07:00

It’s simple really……the secret is in the sauce!! I have to be honest when I first started blogging I thought “this is fun and all but what’s the point if I have no one to share it with?” And then I found SITS and was introduced to an amazing group of bloggers that welcomed me with open arms.

And today at SITS it’s all about me!! So if you are visiting for the first time I am so glad to have my SITSta’s here and if you are a regular friend of mine welcome back. The “about me” blurb to the right pretty much sums me up in a nut shell. A huge thank you to Tiffany and Heather I am honored to be in their spotlight today!!

Some of my favorite posts

Cougar Town Inspired Necklace: Tutorial

Repurposed Spice Rack

Crisscross Coaster Tutorial

Last but not least….My favorite kids craft!!

Edible Finger Paint

Easter Carrot Treats

2010-03-30T14:42:00.001-07:00

I finally finished and delivered my little treats for Easter. For anyone here that is new I am (sort of) in marketing and deliver these to local Doctors.

I used these supplies…….

(and some green cellophane I forgot to photograph here)

and made these……………

I filled each carrot with pistachios and robin eggs (you have to have that salty sweet right?) Happy Easter!!

Nesting

2010-03-27T21:10:00.001-07:00

I know that I promised an Easter gift idea and I swear it’s still coming…….. but I can’t seem to get the decorative tag just right, so when I do it’s all yours. In the mean time I couldn’t wait to show off my latest obsession.

It started with a home made paper mache mixture, tissue paper, and a few plastic eggs super glued together.

My son doesn’t love to have his hands super messy (I know he’s a boy what’s up with that right?) but he still had fun creating his own eggs.

I let them dry for about 24 hours. Then with some sticks, twigs, a tumbleweed, and yep that’s right hot glue I made some nests for these little guys.

Put it all together and you’ve got…….

And here is my Son’s version (he refused to leave out any eggs lol)

I’m linked up here:

What would you be test

2010-03-25T21:40:00.001-07:00

I like to believe that my blog is mostly my crafty attempts but I have to say I have been so drawn to these “get to know you” posts lately. So if you bear with me through this one I promise this weekend to post my little Easter gift idea :)

I found this fun idea at Pushing Pixels

What Would You Be?

If I were a month I’d be November
If I were a day I’d be Sunday
If I were a time of day I’d be sunset
If I were a planet I’d be Saturn
If I were a sea animal I’d be a Jellyfish
If I were a direction I’d be South
If I were a piece of furniture I’d be a recliner
If I were a liquid I’d be diet Dr. Pepper
If I were a gem stone I’d be pink topaz
If I were a tree I’d be a cherry tree
If I were a tool I’d be a hammer
If I were a flower I’d be a water lily
If I were an element of weather I’d be the rain
If I were a musical instrument I’d be a piano
If I were a color I'd be pink and purple (equally)
If I were an emotion I’d be euphoria
If I were a fruit I’d be a huckleberry
If I were a sound I’d be laughter
If I were an element I'd be fire
If I were a car I’d be something luxurious and fast
If I were a food I’d be a Cafe Rio salad
If I were a place I’d be a beach
If I were a material I'd be bamboo fiber
If I were a taste I’d be something sweet
If I were a scent I’d be something fruity
If I were a body part I’d be lips
If I were a facial expression I'd be a smile
If I were a song I’d be sung by Carrie Underwood
If I were a bird I'd be a hummingbird
If I were a gift I'd be a book
If I were a street I'd be up and down
If I were a city I'd be somewhere in Fiji
If I were a door I'd be made of wood
If I were a pair of shoes I’d look like Louboutins and feel like Uggs

And what would you be?

Giveaway Winner Revealed (finally :)

2010-03-21T18:10:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay in my giveaway announcement I thought I would have internet access where I was over the weekend and boy was I wrong ha ha.

No internet here!!!!!

I really want to say thank you to everyone that took the time to enter my giveaway and an even bigger thank you for the fantastic book recommendations. My “to read” list is now humongous.

It was no surprise to me that the top most loved book was be Twilight. And as much of a dork as it will make me sound (Jen will understand :) I have actually been to Forks. We were near there on vacation last year and my handsome hunk of a husband took me there to explore for a day. I felt like a twelve year old on a treasure hunt lol.

Okay back to the real reason you are all still tuned in today lol. The winner (thanks to random.org) of my oh-so-fab necklace is

“ Anne said...

I love any of the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich - whenever a new one comes out I know I'll be up all night to finish it!”

CONGRATULATIONS Anne you are the winner. Email me your shipping information to lacie23@gmail.com and it’s all yours. If I don’t hear back from you in a few days I will re-draw. I also decided to giveaway one more to someone that went above and beyond the call of duty and posted about my giveaway on her blog just out of the kindness of her heart. So Jen from Should Be Cleaning get me your information too. Yeay! Okay that’s it for today. And come back soon I had so much fun with this giveaway I have to do it again. Maybe an apron next time? The ideas was inspired by Lisa from Smell the Coffee maybe that’s good luck Lisa {wink wink}

St. Patrick’s Day Oreos

2010-03-17T06:48:00.001-07:00

Thank you so much to everyone that has taken the time to enter my giveaway, the support has been fantastic. If you haven’t entered you still have time, it ends this Thursday at midnight.

If you need/want to make a treat today and you haven’t made these mint chocolate Oreos yet then this should be your project today.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Cougar Town Inspired Necklace: GIVEAWAY!

2010-03-12T13:44:00.001-08:00

It’s official I have decided to give one of these necklaces away!

Giveaway Closed! but it went so well I plan to repeat this one for sure :)

Check out THIS post for all of the fun ways to wear it and go HERE to learn how I made it.

So here are the rules and it’s going to be pretty easy no extra points for flattery or following (but I would never turn the love down ha ha).

All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me what is your favorite book that kept you up at night and had you burning through the pages? I love to read and am always looking for a little inspiration. If you aren’t into books that’s ok tell me your favorite places to frequent on the web and that will work too.

This contest is open to all US and Canada residents (only because shipping anywhere else might break the bank) and it will run though Thursday the 18th at midnight. The winner will be chosen at random!!

Did I leave anything out? I am knew to the giveaway scene so feel free to let me know if I have forgotten anything. And good luck!

Cougar Town Inspired Necklace: Tutorial

2010-03-12T13:26:00.001-08:00

I have to say thank you for the sweet comments and wonderful questions about my newest creation. I thought it would be fun to give a little bit more detail into how I made it.

As I said in the previous post you can buy the wires with a hook already bent on one side like this….

but I had some bits and pieces left over from another project so my wires were straight like this…..

Now for the fun part that will bruise your fingertips but give you such a cute result lol (I am certain there is a better way to do this but this is the way I went about it)

I finish it off by pinching it closed so it won’t snag your shirt :)

I slipped a little glass bead on every other piece and clipped off the excess wire with my trusty little wire clippers.

Do this several more times depending on the length you want or until your fingers are numb {wink wink}

Cougar Town Inspired Necklace

2010-03-07T17:55:00.001-08:00

I saw the cutest necklace on last weeks episode of Cougar Town (such a funny show) and I thought hey I could make that, so I did. I am sure the one Courtney Cox was wearing was much classier than this “homemade” version but I am still proud lol. Oh and can I just apologize that I had to be the model for this, I really need to get a little mannequin for occasions just like this :)

First I wanted to show you everything I used to make my necklace

I made it in one giant continuous loop so that I could wear it several different ways….

I made all of the loops in the wire myself and I know you can buy them with the loops already in them but I had these left over from another project so I thought it would be smart to use them up.

I am temped to make another one and do a giveaway what do you think?

I linked up!!

Ten Years From Now……

2010-03-05T13:38:00.001-08:00

I rarely do a post about myself I like to focus on my crafty little attempts and I promise to get right back to it, but this post from Should Be Cleaning was to fun to pass up. Oh and if you haven’t visited her before you should especially on Tuesday because she has a new poll every week everything from divorce to leg shaving lol.

Here are the rules:
1. Post where you want to be in 10 years
2. Pass it on to 10 of your bloggy friends!

I will be married to the same fun loving, sexy, laid back hunk.

My son will be 15 (okay that one made my stomach roll)

I will have finally figured out my sewing machine {wink wink}

I plan to still be living in the same town but hope to have a house with a laundry room like this……

And a craft room like this…..

I will be almost 40 (you would think that would make my stomach roll more than my sons age but oddly it doesn’t)

I will still be working on being a better Mom, Wife, Sister, Daughter, Niece, Cousin, FRIEND, and Granddaughter.

I plan to copy Jen and say that I tag all of you that regularly read what I have to say. This is such a fun way to learn just a little more about each other. I can’t wait to see who follows through with this and read what you have to say!!!!

Kickin’ Art Old School

2010-03-02T21:27:00.001-08:00

I was away for a few days and couldn’t be happier to be back :) I was also surprised and excited to see a few people comment that they noticed I was away from bloggy land and missed me. It always feels good to be missed and liked (this is me beaming).

Okay now on to the goods. We decided to do a couple of art projects that I would consider oldies but goodies…..

Paint Transfers

A few drops of paint….

fold and rub….

We had so much fun using our imaginations to find pictures in these. I thought the top left looked like a butterfly and the top right we decided looked like a puppy. What do you see?

Potato Prints

I know it’s a classic project and my son loved it!!

Easy, cheap, and fantastic….. fabric bracelet

2010-02-21T21:18:00.001-08:00

I found this idea from It's a hodge podge life for these adorable rag bracelets via U create and had to make them.

This is how mine turned out!!

You have to go see her version because she added a cute charm and her colors are way better :)

Marbled Paper Project

2010-02-15T19:03:00.001-08:00

I know much of the country is dealing with record snow but here where you would expect to find it, here in Montana, we are trudging through slush. As you can imagine my five year old thinks this is torture he wants it to either stay snowy so he can plan in it or dry off and warm up a touch so he can ride his bike. Anyway the point to this long ~~boring~~ entertaining story is that we have been in need of some rainy day crafts. We did this one together the other day and my son loooooved it. I got the idea HERE from a blog I can’t get enough of called Homemade Mamas.

All you need is white shaving cream, a straight edge of some kind, food coloring and the paper to transfer your art to. Mix it around a little and press your paper on top of your colored shaving cream then remove the paper and scrape the excess cream with a straight edge like this

Or this……

And you get really cool results like this (drum roll please lol)

This was super easy and a really good time filler. If you make your own show us how they turn out!!

Valentines Sundae

2010-02-11T13:08:00.001-08:00

I originally got this idea for a little gift from HERE at JesseKate Designs via Be different act normal. Both sites are packed with incredible ideas just like this one. I was so proud of how mine turned out. For those of you just joining my little slice of blog heaven I am in marketing and make these little gifts to deliver monthly, so check back often to see what I am up to. I think these would be fun gifts for neighbors, co-workers, family, friends, or as centerpieces like they were originally designed for.

Also on a personal note I am super excited because today I am the side bar feature on Somewhat simple ahhhhhh I wish you could have heard the pitch of the squeal that came out of my mouth when I got the email woot woot!

Crisscross Coaster Tutorial

2010-02-07T17:39:00.001-08:00

I have to start by stressing three things. The first is that I have never attempted a true tutorial before so be patient and feel free to ask questions and offer constructive comments so that I can learn how to do this better lol. Second I am just learning to sew and I am sure that I have a long ways to go to be great so again helpful tips are welcome. Third and lastly I made this project without a pattern so I have no doubts it could have been done better ha ha.

This project came about because my Mom saw a stack of fabric coasters at a friend’s house and borrowed the little cutie for me to look at. After inspecting it I thought I would give it a try.

This is how they turned out. I hope this makes you want to stick around and see how I made them :)

I started with six squares that are all 5x5 inches(obviously if you want larger or smaller sizes you just adjust your square sizes). The square and rectangle pattern is going to be the back. The light color is just a filler. And the other two patterns are the ones that you will see on the top where they will crisscross.

Next I ironed the back piece and filler piece flat and the top pieces are folded in half one time and ironed flat with the the side you want to see facing up.

Next is the layering. First place the filler piece down (you will never see this piece so the side that is showing won’t matter), place on top of that your back piece with the side you want to see facing up.

Now you start to crisscross your top pieces. You want to place them with the folded side facing in and the raw edges facing the outside.

Next you want to place some straight pins to hold it all together because if you are like me you move things around a bunch as you sew.

Now just sew around the edges. As straight and square as you can. I didn’t use an exact seam allowance I just went in enough to catch all of the layers.

Now trim off the excess and around the edges and remove the pins.

Here is a look at the front and the back before I turn it.

Now you want to turn it inside out where your crisscross sections meet up.

Last but not least iron them flat and get ready to enjoy them on your own table or decorate them with some ribbon to give them as a gift!

Mint Chocolate Heaven

2010-02-04T07:15:00.001-08:00

During the holiday season my friend Natalie gave our family the most delicious cookies. I begged the recipe out of her so that I could copy her brilliance for valentines day.

This is what you will need:

If you have dealt with the candy melts before and struggled like I did, Natalie also shared the dipping secret with me. We did not use a double boiler all we used was a microwave safe plastic bowl and the microwave. We put in the amount we wanted to use then micro waved for 30 seconds and gave it a stir. We continued this process until all the lumps were gone and added a few drops of peppermint oil and food coloring (yes you can buy the already colored chips but I am cheap), then dipped them like this…..

We set them on parchment to harden and later added a decorative pattern with a squeeze bottle (because that’s what Natalie did and I had to copy her heavenly cookies as closely as possible :)

I let them set up for several hours then transferred them to my cake stand. Seriously if you have the time make this project they are super easy and taste amazing.

I am glad that my Honey was around to help me with this because we got way more done together than I could have on my own (and I ate less of them during the making process because he was watching lol). And of course we gave some cookies and melted chocolate to the Little Guy so he could make his own creations (and be entertained).

I wish I could send some of these to all of you but since I can’t I thought the next best thing would be instructions on how to make your own. Let me know how yours turn out if you decide to make them.

Heart Treats

2010-01-30T07:59:00.001-08:00

I love that I have found bloggers to follow that share such fun and creative ideas. Yesterday I used leftover candy to make treats with my son and we danced, giggled, and tasted as we went. All because of this easy valentine treat idea that I came across on a fantastic blog called Pleasant Home.

Isn’t this brilliant! These leftover mini candy canes were just about to make it to the garbage, and now they won’t go to waste yeay.

We put white chocolate melts in a squeeze bottle and zapped them in the microwave for 30 second intervals until it was smooth (thanks to Natalie for this part of the idea). Stay tuned this little treasure will come in handy for some Oreo treat we are going to make next week :)

My Valentine’s Topiary

2010-01-25T19:49:00.001-08:00

I came across an AmAZing idea and tutorial for this Valentine's Topiary on one of my favorite blogs The Idea Room!! If you have never visited this blog you have to, it is filled with super cute ideas and fantastic directions.

I love the way my topiary came together. I haven’t decorated for Valentine’s Day yet so I just took a few random pictures of how it turned out. I hope you like it!

Homemade Birthday Card 2010

2010-01-23T08:22:00.001-08:00

I really am trying hard to send all my friends and family a cute little card on their birthday. I am sure I’m not the only one who made this as a goal for the year, right? So I sat down and made some cards to have on hand.

I would love other ideas so please share or let me know if you have a favorite blog you “borrow” ideas like this from!!

Fishy Fun

2010-01-19T21:29:00.001-08:00

I am teaching my son all about fish this week. He is completely baffled by the fact that they can breath underwater lol.

The first project I had him do was to learn about fish scales and fins….

The second project took a little more time and preparation but he looooved making it…..

We cut out two giant fish and then cut shapes and circles out of old magazines and glued them on like scales

Then we stapled the two together and balled up magazine pages to stuff him with.

and this is how he turned out!

I’m BAAAAck!

2010-01-10T20:04:00.001-08:00

Thanks to my hubby I have just returned from paradise!!

Can you believe it? I took this from the balcony of our room!!

We had a great time but can I just say how great it feels to be home and back in my own bed, does that mean I’m getting old? lol. While I get all of my ducks back in a row please go and visit my friend Mrs. E and see what she did to shine up this Amazing dresser and tonz of other cute projects!

Best of 2009

2009-12-31T12:28:00.001-08:00

I have seen so many of my blogger idols doing a post like this to end the year and LOVE it. So here are some my favorite posts of 2009. Wishing everyone a fantastic New Year!!

Repurposed Spice Rack

Photography Art

Lets Play Twenty Questions

2009-12-29T06:58:00.001-08:00

If you are like me your schedule this week is a little crazy but you will still find time to blog and blog hop. This is a fun “get to know you” game. All you have to do is copy and past the questions to your post and then obviously change the answers to your own :)

If you don’t ~~want to~~ have time to play along at least answer number twenty by leaving a comment with your new name ha ha.

1. What was your high school mascot? Eagle

2. What was your favorite music in Junior High? Mariah Carey everything!!

3. Name one thing many people don't know about you? I have never broken a bone (knock on wood right)

4. Where would your dream vacation be to? Fiji

5. Do you have any phobias? Dark parking lots

6. What was your favorite childhood toy? My cabbage patch doll named Molly

7. What TV shows did you grow up watching? Saved by the bell and Friends

8. Song or Artists you can't get enough of lately? Michael Buble

9. Favorite perfume? Brittany Spears Fantasy (I know your laughing but is smells so good)

10. Do you hang your toilet paper to unroll over or under? Over! Always!

11. What is the best concert you have attended? Black Eyed Peas and Carrie Underwood tie for first!!

12. Favorite TV show right now? Cougar Town

13. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes but it's not pretty :)

14. Favorite movie right now? The proposal (i can't get enough of it thanks alot Brandi lol)

15. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky charms duh

16. Favorite book right now? The Goose Girl

17. What is generally the first thing you notice about people? teeth

18. What are you listening to right now as you type this? hubby playing Mario kart

19. What word describes you best? routine

20. What would your stripper name be? (the name of the first childhood pet you can remember and the street name you grew up on) EbonyTower

Christmas Twine Tree

2009-12-19T20:04:00.001-08:00

I saw these Christmas-y Cones (with a fantastic tutorial) while I was blog surfing the other day and I totally fell in love with them. My husband was a good sport and even made them with me (I know he must want something big from Santa huh?).

I think they turned out pretty good!! So if you need a project this week this one is super simple and it’s like a little surprise to see how they turn out.

The Best Snowman Dough (and a little bragging lol)

2009-12-18T06:59:00.001-08:00

My son had a blast making this dough and I think it makes the prettiest snowmen because the salt makes it a little sparkly.

The recipe makes this much dough so if you want more than this make sure to double it :)

What you need:

1 cup salt
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
Food coloring or tempera paints (optional)

Directions:

Heat the salt and 1/3 cup of water over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. (An adult should prepare this mixture, which gets quite hot and bubbly.) Remove from heat and add the cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water. The mixture should now look like thick mashed potatoes; stir until it thickens, then let cool for a few minutes before kneading. If the dough feels too sticky at first, your child can work in some extra cornstarch as she kneads. Add food coloring, if desired.

This dough will dry and harden in one to four days depending how thick the project is.

It will keep unrefrigerated for up to 2 weeks when stored with a small bit of wet sponge in a plastic bag or sealed container.

Here are his snowmen, cute huh?

We are going to save them and let him use them as decoration in his gingerbread house landscaping!!

Ok and now for a little ~~begging~~ bragging.

My Christmas card was featured on Tip Junkie and is now part of their annual contest. So if you want to vote for me they make it super easy.