How Tweet... Baby Shower!

I have a super cute friend.  Her name is Holly.  She is having a baby boy in September!  I am so excited for her and even more excited to see this precious, cute, angel of a baby! 

If you know me, you know I love to plan parties and get plenty of girls together to do what we do best - TALK, VISIT, CATCH UP, GOSSIP (only wholesome gossip...you know!), EAT, open PRESENTS.... Are you catching on?  Yeah, I thought you were.

Back to the topic at hand...Holly is having a baby.  And that means BABY SHOWER!!! I was SO happy to throw Holly a shower and I hope she and all the guests had a good time.  A big THANKS to all who came to support Holly and her soon to be Little Man.

 " How Tweet Baby Shower "

Photography by Kellie Stilson - she is AMAZING!  Check out her blog here!

Pop Up Pancakes

The other night I stumbled upon something FABULOUS!  Pop Up Pancakes!  I had never heard of them, but they are a spin off of German pancakes.  And, they are DELICIOUS!

I {heart} Pop Up Pancakes!

Maybe because the word CAKE is in it?  I don't know, but oh they are mouthwatering.  Better yet, my kids LOVED them too!

The recipe is here and everything you will need to make them, you will more than likely have in your pantry.  So simple, so easy, so quick, and SO heavenly!

Give them a try (we had them for dinner) and let me know what YOU think!

back to school treats

So, some of you are already in school, some are about to start. Where ever you are in this season, here are some treats to make with your kiddos and to again reaffirm your cool status! Seriouly, you will be getting some "those are awesome" comments.

Aren't these just the coolest crayons you have ever seen? I think so, the biggest plus is that you get to EAT them. Yes, eat them: Edible Crayons.

Howie helped me make edible crayons (pretzels with their ends dipped in candy melts, covered with a paper label). They were SUPER cool,(I keep saying that, but they were cool,) loved making these, and my son did too!We just loved the outcome. They were so life like and the kids had a blast eating them. Here is one for your file: old school paper chain. We counted down the days till school by tearing off a chain each day. I can tell you this was a hit. No school like the old school.

I just had to make a cute Back to School wreath, using a variation of the burlap one Tator Tots and Jello makes.Lastly, the Back to School fairy left a brown bag with lots of school supplies in it.

Just had to share some fun back to school ideas. I had good intentions of making school bus cookies or some kind of school sugar cookie, but I just ran out of time! Next year. Oh, and we said goodbye to summer by making Flip Flop cookies (Family Fun Magazine). These were very yummy since they were milano cookies. Mmmmmm. Loved them.

Goodbye Summer, Welcome Fall and Back to School!

Yard Sale Treasure

Several weeks ago Tara and I checked out a few yard sales in town. As most of you know, when you hit yard sales you never know what treasures you will find. This is my treasure!

Isn't she lovely? Okay, I know she's not but just wait!

The lady was asking $10 for this old rickety chair. I am an okay haggler and got her down to $7. And yeah, this chair needs a good home and LOTS of love!

The first thing I had to do was make this thing safe to sit on! I secured all her legs with some wood glue and my nail gun where possible! I sanded her down and made a huge dusty mess...oh how I love sanding.

Moved her into the backyard rock pile.

Pulled out TWO can's of Krylon Marigold spray paint and got to work.

This pic is right after she was painted. I then sanded the entire chair very lightly. I wanted it to have an old distressed, vintage look. After sanding, I applied a thin coat of glaze, wiped it down and....

I have this charming chair!

Now, just in case your thinking to yourself "Why does that chairs legs look miniature?" It's because it kind of is. In her former life she was a rocking chair. Someone removed the rockers and left her rocker less. Poor girl. However, do not worry! I am on the look out for something I can use to add some height to this little lady!

Back To School

I cannot believe my kids go back to school TOMORROW!  I am so excited yet slightly sad all at the same time.  We've had so much fun this summer - swimming, lagoon, parks, water slides in the backyard, movie days, baking cookies and cupcakes...my list can go on and on!  But, I am happy because now I can have time to get my house back in order and really clean!

I saw this oh so very cute idea over at How Does She (guest post from Eighteen25) and decided it was so cute my kids needed to give one to their teachers on the first day of school!

How cute will they be? Giving this to their teacher tomorrow...I can see it now!

This project was very inexpensive and very quick to complete!

I bought some fortune cookies from Walmart (in the Asian food section) for $1.48 a box.  I headed over to the party section where I found two different types of "Chinese food boxes" aka party favor boxes!  The plastic ones are $1.50 a piece, but the colorful paper ones are 4 for $1.50.  I went for the more bang for your buck...you know me, I'm kinda frugal!  I also grabbed a bag of melting chocolates and headed home.

I pulled out my Cricut and cut out four scalloped circles. 2- 3" circles and 2- 3.5" circles.  I printed off the words "I'm So Fortunate To Have You As My Teacher" and cut it into a circle.  Glue them all together and adhere to the box.  Oh so simple, yet oh so cute!

Next unload your fortune cookies and melt your chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.  Follow the directions on the package on melting.  Once melted, dip one end of the fortune cookie into the chocolate and set on wax paper to dry. (I didn't have any wax paper so I used tin foil and it worked just fine!)  Now, here comes the fun part!  If you want to add some flare to your cookies, after dipping in the chocolate, roll the chocolate side in some sprinkles then set aside.  Or... melt white chocolate and put in a piping bag and drizzle over cookie, set aside.

I actually let Charlee help with the process and she did fairly well.  I was a little nervous at first, but she figured it out quick!  So, not only will the kids have something cute to give to their teacher, they helped make it too!

Now mama's, have a fabulous day sending those kiddos out the door to school, kick up your feet and RELAX for the day!  You deserve it, you had them ALL summer long!

 

keys to my heart

just finished this little beauty:

I just lOvE how it turned out! Sweet Daisey Design has the tutorial.

I think I smell a craft night project in the air....what do you think?

Reclaimed Headboard

Oh my goodness!  I am in LOVE with Ana from Knock Off Wood.  Tara has posted about Ana's skills and talent before, and I am here to agree with Tara, this woman is amazing! 

Mike and I finally decided it was time to upgrade our Queen size bed to a King.  Now, we are both fairly small people and a queen should be more than enough for the two of us, but Mike is a bed hog and a blanket hog too.  He likes to claim that he only gets 10% of the bed and blankets, but I beg to differ.

Solution- KING SIZE. 

We have a KING mattress now but only a queen bed....uh oh! 

Solution- KNOCK OFF WOOD!

Here is our completed Reclaimed Wood Headboard. 

See the cute little bench at the foot of my bed?  Mike made this for me YEARS ago to go with our log bed.  We decided to not do a foot board and use the bench instead. After a coat of primer, paint and glaze, it matches perfectly!

Now, don't focus on the bed skirt wrinkles....or the fact that I have a queen duvet cover on my bed.  New bedding is in the works, I just haven't found what I want yet!

The plans to the Reclaimed Headboard are here, the instructions are simple to follow and make perfect sense.  We had the headboard built in just a few hours, the next day we sanded, primed, painted, sanded again, and glazed.  By dusk the second day, our headboard was attached to our bed frame and looking beautiful as ever.

As Tara said before, all the plans at Knock Off Wood are free.  Can you believe it?  Isn't that great?  I think so!  She creates very sturdy pieces and they can all be done very inexpensively.  The total cost for this headboard was only $50.00.  A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  The wood cost just under $40, the primer was $8.  We already the paint and glaze leftover from a previous project (sweet!) and the bolts to attach to the bed were about $2.00.

Once you build something from this site, you will never want to purchase another piece of over priced furniture again.  With the help from Ana, some power tools and wood, you can build just about anything!!

Now, get over to Knock Off Wood, find something fabulous and get to building!  You will be so happy you did.

Summer Craft Night!

Our summer craft night was a hit! We had several women who joined in the fun. We painted, sanded, crafted, glued, talked, laughed and visited! Thanks to everyone who joined in! Here are some pics of friends and projects...

Thanks again everyone! All the projects turned out FABULOUS!!!