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!