Memory game

DIY Memory game.

I was trying to search for the best Christmas gifts for my niece and nephews. I also wanted to make sure it was a little on the cheaper side. So I came up with memory game. I was so excited to do this because I can personalize it to what they like and enjoy.

I bought just two 12x12 sheets of paper and a few sticker packs. I realized that they don't have to be the same exact sticker, at least the same character. Such as both being Buzz Light Year not both Buzz Light Year flying.

 I also used a great new "toy" I bought... A laminate machine!!! I am so excited about this!! I also used a 12 inch paper cutter and a 6 inch paper cutter. Super easy to do.

 I cut the sheet of 12x12 paper into 2 inch square then added stickers to the back of them. This is a photo of a whole sheet of cards.

 If you don't have a laminate machine your local Kinko's store would laminate for you.

 And there you have it. Just trim the cards down to size, gift wrap and there's your easy Christmas gift!! I can't wait to play with this with my daughter. I hope that this is inspiring for you to hand make your Christmas gifts this year.

Ribbon Wreath for Christmas

So I saw this in the Women’s Day magazine (December 2011) issue and thought to myself “I can totally do that”. It couldn’t be too hard right, just some ribbon and a ring. I did some things a little different then what the magazine instructions were, but I was very pleased with the turn out.

Here’s what I did. I used 3-4 spools of ribbon – roughly 4 yards each. Then I got a 14” ring in the bead section of Hobby Lobby. I cut the ribbon down to 10” pieces and simply double knotted them around the ring. Make sure the knots are close together and tight around the ring. The magazine said to hot glue a piece of the ribbon to the back of the wreath to hang it, but I just cut a long piece of ribbon and tied it around the ring like all of my other knots. I think it looks good and hangs just fine.

Here is the finished product:

Easy Pumpkin muffins

I love fall, and I love pumpkins!! I saw this on another website and thought I would give it a try. I changed a few things to make it my own.

What you need...

1 box white cake mix
1 can pumpkin

Just mix them together in a large bowl. I then made mini muffins with my mix. cook at 350 for about 15 minutes. Time will change depending on if you make mini muffin's or large muffins, or just a pumpkin cake. There is SO much you can do with this simple mix! Adding powered sugar to the top or cream frosting is also a great treat. We have been eating them for breakfast, snack, lunch and whenever else.

Enjoy this super simple pumpkin muffin mix.

Daily Workout

I saw plenty of different workout tips and tricks on Pinterest, but I wanted something that I would do. I'm not a motivated person in just working out. So I found an idea that I made my own. I looked for many different workouts that I would do. This is what I came up with...

 

What you need to make this super simple daily work out plan is...

2 Plastic cups
1 sharpie marker
35 pop sickle sticks (I do 5 sticks a day 7 day's a week)

I wrote TO DO on one cup, and DONE!! on the other cup so when I finish a stick I can move it to DONE!! and feel very well about it just being done!

So I've been doing this for a few weeks now and I seem to be working out more now then I have every in my life. There are some day's that I might not do all 5, but I don't let that bother me. I do what I can for the day. No stress!

I hope that you can also find motivation to do a work out everyday.

DIY Quoted Canvas

My husband and I are expecting our first child in March, so the brain storming has begun as to how to decorate the baby's room. As I was thinking, a Bible verse that we pray over the baby everyday came to mind. This was it. I'll put the Bible verse on canvas, paint it and hang above the crib. 

Here's what I used:
Canvas - I bought a 20x24 size
Paint - I used Mysteria
A Cricut machine
Vinyl

I used the Opposites Attract cartridge. I tested a few letter sizes until I got the one I wanted. There were two words within the verse that I wanted to have stand out from the other words, so I cut them out in a different font and made them a little bigger.

Once I had all of the letters cut, I placed them on the canvas. Then I painted the whole canvas, including going over the vinyl letters. I used two coats of paint to make sure it was all covered and no white was showing.

Once it was all dry, I slowly peeled off the vinyl letters. The paint did bleed through a little bit, but I think the effect is pretty cool, so I'm going to keep it as is. If you don't like it with the paint coming through, I would think that getting a small paint brush with some white paint you could paint in the letters and it would look good.

Pumpkin Poppers

Here's the recipe for another successful Pinterest recipe. I got it off of http://hwescott.blogspot.com blog. Hope you enjoy.

Pumpkin Poppers
recipe from Domestically Speaking

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup pumpkin
• 1/2 cup milk

For Coating

• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F and spray mini muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking soda,salt, and spices in a bowl and whisk until combine.

In another bowl, mix oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin, and milk.  Pour in flour mixture and mix until just combined.  Fill mini muffin tins until almost full and bake 10-12 minutes.  

Melt butter in small bowl.  Mix sugar and cinnamon in a separate small bowl.  After popper cool for a few minutes, dip them in the butter and roll them in the sugar mixture.  Enjoy.  :)

The only thing I would say about these is that they are really sweet, especially with the coating on the outside and the pumpkin taste is minimal. I think next time I'll add just a bit more pumpkin. Otherwise, we really enjoyed them. Here's a picture of my finished product:

Easy Burlap place mats

Material:

Sharpie marker

Scissors

burlap

I had a wedding shower to go to in a rush. I had no idea how she decorated her home, or what was on their wedding registry. I took a huge risk and made these easy awesome place mats.

I simply used another place mat as a guide to the size. I cut four mats out.

I then got a large sharpie marker and wrote their initials in the bottom right corner.

When she opened her gift, they both fell in love with them. They loved that it was personalized and that it was home made. Something they use everyday.

Scrapbooking Memories

I thought I would take a moment of your time and post a blog of memories. I love to scrapbook and want to share some of the pages I've done with you.

In 2007 my brother moved to Redding, CA. My brother, mom & youngest brother drove out to California to help him move into his apartment there. I then flew out to California to meet my family, see my brothers apartment and then help my mom drive home. On the day I visited my brother in his new town we went to the Sundial bridge and saw Mt Shasta. It is absolutely gorgeous out there. This trip is definitely one of my favorites I've taken over the years.

I love football and I love the Indianapolis Colts. A girlfriend and I wanted to be at the welcome home party for the Colts after they beat the Bears in the Superbowl. So we left work early and headed down to the RCA dome. As we were entering the stadium, they opened up a new section of seating, so I ran. We ended up getting third row seats that sit on the side of the stage the players and owners would be standing on. I got so close to some of my favorite players, it was amazing. By far one of my favorite memories.

I love my family. There is 18 years between me and the youngest and we all have a lot of fun together. There aren't many pictures of the 6 of us together, but these happen to be a few of my favorites. It was a long time ago, I'm thinking back in 2002 around Thanksgiving. We were just hanging out in my parents basement and decided to bust out the camera. Good times!

My family has never been much for Halloween or even decorating for fall, but one year we decided to go to the pumpkin patch and carve or paint our pumpkins. We had so much fun doing this. As you can see we have some very creative people in my family and a Yankees fan. :)

Thanks for letting me share some of my favorite memories with you. Hope you enjoyed them.

A Tutu-torial

I saw this awesome table idea on Pinterest (I know- shocking!).  The only problem is that it didn’t have a tutorial to go with it. So, this is what I came up with-

What you’ll need:

1.     A round side table (found at Wal-Mart for $18)

2.     White fabric for the table top (1/4-1/2 of a yard)

3.     16yards of pink tulle (I bought three different shades and divided it into 4 different pieces)

4.     Medium width white ribbon

5.     Scissors

6.     Staple gun

7.     Hot glue gun

How to put this adorable table together:

1.     Put the legs on the table and flip it upside down with the white fabric underneath

2.     Make sure the fabric is pulled tight and staple it to the bottom of the table top (about 2inches in)

3.     Cut off the excess white fabric

4.     While the table is still upside down begin stapling the tulle to the back of the table top by gathering a few inches and stapling it, moving over an inch, gather a few inches of tulle and staple. Continue around the whole table (in this picture I had not cut off the excess white fabric yet)

5.     Once you’re around the table do it again with the remaining three pieces of tulle

6.     Once all the fabric is stapled securely, flip the table over and trim off the excess fabric that is hanging on the floor. This will allow the tulle to poof out looking more like a tutu.

7.     Take the hot glue gun and begin trimming the rim of the tabletop with the white ribbon

8.     Once you’re around the whole table cut the ribbon. Tie a bow and attach it to the rim where the ribbon begins and ends.

Tada! You’ve got an adorable tutu table!

Easy Wall Decor

Easy Wall Décor:

I was cleaning out my kitchen cabinets and found I only had one of these brown raffia place mats. I’ve seen them hung on the wall before and I liked it but it’s really not my style. So, I put it aside and finished what I was doing. Before I threw it away I walked into my daughter’s room to see if there was something I could do with it in there. I’ve been collecting the letter M of all different shapes, sizes, colors for her room. This fun blue M stuck out. I picked it up and used a twist tie (leftover from a bread bag) and attached the M to the place mat. I LOVE it!!! I already had nails in the walls so I just placed it there. It has to be one of my FAVORITE ‘recycled’, cheep, and easy wall decorations in my home!!

Coupon Binder

About a year and a half ago I decided I wanted to look intothis whole couponing craze that was going on. So I started to buy the Sundaypaper and cut coupons. I’ve become addicted and can’t help but crave thechallenge to save. About 6 months ago, my coupons were getting a so out ofcontrol, that I needed to get better organized. A coupon binder was the answer.

Things you’ll need:

3 ring binder

Baseball card holder (perfect size for coupons & goodprices found on eBay)

Tab dividers

Coupons

The first thing I did was sort my coupons by categories.I used sticky notes to help label them.

The categories I have used myself are:

Pantry

Fridge

Baking

Frozen

Drinks

Sweets

Meats

Cleaning Products

Paper Products

Dish Soap

Laundry

Hair

Body Soap

Lotion

Oral Hygiene

Personal Care

Make-up

Medicines

Office Products

Baby/kids

Dog

Places

Restaurants

Miscellaneous

These categories seem to work well for me.

The next thing you’ll do is to put your tab dividers andbaseball card holders into the 3 ring binder. After that start inserting yourcoupons into the baseball card holders behind the proper tabs.

If you are serious about couponing here are a few tips I haveto offer:

-         Only cut the coupons for the things you use. If youcut out coupons for items you don’t normally use, you’ll end up spending moremoney than you’ll be saving.

-         The exception to this would be if you know youcan get an item for free after the coupon.

-         Sometimes you’ll get coupons for free items; I keepthose at the front of my binder so I remember to use them.

-         Find a good blog to follow for couponing. Two I useare www.hip2save.com and www.moneysavingmom.com. These blogslay out exactly how to use your coupons at particular stores.

I hope this helps. Happy savings to you!

DIY Full Coverage Nursing Cover

I don't know if you're anything like me but I really hate nursing in public. Not because there is anything shameful or uncomfortable about it, but because I don't want my love handles and postpartum baby belly hanging out for all the world to see. I saw a tutorial on Pinterest for a full coverage nursing cover that had you sew "only one line". But I've revamped it so you don't have to sew anything at all!

Supplies:
1yard knit fabric (I bought a jersey knit fabric that way it wouldn't fray)
Fabric scissors
Measuring tape

Directions:
1. Fold the fabric long ways in half
2. Trim edges of the fabric that need to be trimmed or straightened
3. Measure the folded side of the fabric and find the middle

4. From the middle out measure about 12-13inches. (for the neck hole in the center)

5. Once you've cut along the fold put the fabric on

6. Measure about how much you'd like to cut off the bottom (I cut 9inches off of mine)

7. Refold the fabric along the neck hole and cut the desired amount off the bottom

8. The end measurements of my nursing cover were 21 inches x 42 inches

I embellished the corners of the neck hole with buttons just to make it a little pretty.

Hope you enjoy your new nursing cover as much as I do!

Apple Canvas Bag

Apple Canvas bags

What you need:

Canvas bag

Paint

Apple

I was making gift bags for a birthday party and thought it would such a cute idea to make the bags have double duty. 

So I had an apple that was just over ripe.

 I cut it in half. I mixed green paint with white to lighten it, and green paint with a mixture of purple, red, orange to darken it. You can’t tell in the photos but there are two different color greens on the canvas. I just started on the bottom of the bag, and did every other in light green then dark green. 

 

I did notice later that the paint had gone though the bag to the inside. It didn’t go though the back, but just inside. So maybe I’d use a plastic bag inside just to make sure next time. Happy crafting!

Easy Home Decor

This is a very easy way to cover some bear wall.

You just need:

4 12x12 pieces of scrapbook paper

4 empty card bottom boxes

Scissors

Tape

Pencil

12” paper cutter

The box is 7.5” x 5.25”. So I cut the paper down to 11.5” x 9.25” to make sure I had more than enough to fold into the box. On each corner cut out a 2” x 2” square so it looks like this:

Put the box in the middle and fold over all of the edges on the paper around the box. This will help after taping to get everything on the box smoothly.

Next apply the tape to the scrapbook paper. Begin putting the scrapbook paper around the box. Repeat until all of your boxes are covered. Here’s my end product:

Grilled Chicken Nachos

 Ingredients:

Chicken tenders or breasts- boneless skinless

1 jar of salsa

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 small can of green chilies- drained

1 can of black beans – rinsed and drained

1 package of Mexican shredded cheese

Green onions

Tortilla chips

Directions:

While the chicken is frozen (in the am) put it in the crockpot. Mix ½ the taco seasoning with ¾ the jar of salsa- pour over the chicken and cook on high for about 5 hours if you’re using chicken breasts (only 2-3 for chicken tenders). Once the chicken is literally falling apart, pour the chilies, beans and remaining taco seasoning into the crockpot. Cover the bottom of a disposable aluminum pan with tortilla chips. Top with chicken mixture, shredded cheese and finely chopped green onions.

Heat the grill, place aluminum foil over the top of your pan, place on the grill for about 10min or until the cheese is melted. Enjoy this super unhealthy but ridiculously tasty dinner! ;)

Mustaches for Daddy

store to find something for him. Before we walked into the store I asked the boys, “What would you like to get daddy for his birthday?” Agent J responded quickly and quite seriously, “Mustaches. Because daddy can’t grow one for himself.”

We searched high and low at two different stores for fake mustaches only to find nothing. Then it came to me, “I’m crafty! Let’s make ‘em” So I picked up some black pipe cleaners and elastic. When bubba was down for a nap one afternoon the twins and I sat at the kitchen table laughing hysterically, enjoying being creative together and imagining daddy wearing these ridiculous mustaches!

It was so much fun! If you have boys, then you probably understand the fascination with facial hair. My sons have always been a little over the top with it (at age two they wanted me to draw mustaches on them to go to the store and to see their grandfathers band… we allowed it too! You’re only a kid once!) Here’s what we did- have a great time and enjoy some laughs with your little ones!

Need:

·      Scissors

·      Pipe cleaners

·      Elastic string

·      Imagination

Instructions:

·      Manipulate the pipe cleaner(s) into the shape of the mustache you’d like

·      Tie the elastic string around the middle of the mustache in a knot

·      Measure around the wearers head with the elastic and tie another knot in the back

·      Enjoy the ridiculousness of these home made mustaches “because daddy can’t grow one for himself”