The Life of a Mormon Housewife

Cloth Diaper Cover Tutorial

2012-01-21T00:18:00.001-08:00

We've decided to cloth diaper baby Q and since we only have 9 weeks left until her arrival, I decided it was high time I get everything I need to diaper her when we come home. I recently learned that Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's sells Babyville products, a line that has everything you need to make cloth diapers. After doing the math, I discovered that I could make about 8 diapers for the price of buying two. Now that's just common sense.

There are lots of free patterns out there but I couldn't find any that suited my needs so I decided to draft my own to be like the Thirsties Duo Wrap Snap cover because it's adjustable and can fit a baby from birth to about 18 pounds.

I did have to buy all of supplies because these are not things I have ever used before.

PRICE AND SUPPLIES

Supplies:
-Pattern
-16x16 square of PUL fabric
-snaps
-snap applicator
-about 1.5 feet fold over elastic or *FOE
-sewing machine, preferably with a 3 stitch ziz-zag capability
-good quality polyester thread

*FOE: There is a great seller on ebay called hobovian who sells FOE in a large variety of colors and it's incredibly cheap. She will even send you color samples for free. this link should take you right to her page or search "fold over elastic" on ebay.

**Obviously, if you're buying your supplies at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby, you can use 40% off coupons for all of these items.

Here's the cheapest possible scenario to make 8 covers:
Buy 1 yard of fabric for $14.99, using a 40% off coupon for $8.99
Buy a pack of snaps for $7.99, using a 40% off coupon for $4.80
Buy 10 yards of fold over elastic on ebay for $3.30 + shipping, about $5 total
Buy a snap applicator (one time purchase) with a 40% off coupon for $12

Total cost of 8 cloth diaper covers: $18.79 + tax
Plus the one time cost of the snap applicator for $12.

$20 for 8 diaper covers is AMAZING. Even $31 (including the snap applicator) for 8 covers is still AMAZING! That's two covers retail!

JoAnn's sells a pack of coordinating pre-cut PUL squares, enough to make 3 covers, for $14.99. I almost bought a pack until I realized that I can make 8 covers for the same price (1 yard of fabric.)
The down side to my frugality is that I'll have a lot of covers using the same fabric, but remember you can always make wet bags, bibs, diaper changing mats and lots of other things with your leftover PUL.

TUTORIAL:

First I laid out all my pattern pieces and traced them on the wrong side of the PUL with a marker. Then I marked where all the snaps would be. In my pattern (which is made of poster board) I poked little holes where the snaps need to be so that I would just press a marker over the hole and it would leave a mark.

After cutting out all my pieces I taped the wings and rectangle in place, which are there to reinforce the snaps. I used tape to avoid putting holes in the PUL.

Then I used the awl (it comes in the snap applicator kit) to poke holes in the PUL for the snaps.

The actual application of the snaps is simple but this is one of the tricky parts of making the cover. You need to be cautious of which side the cap (smooth side of the snap) should be on and if you need to be using a stud or socket.

The caps need to be on the inside of the cover, except for the 4 on the wings. Also, on my pattern I have a 21 snaps total and I have a blue x over 4 of the snap marks. Those x marks need the opposite kind of snap than the other 17. So if I used a socket on the 17 snaps, I need to use a stud on the 4 with the blue x. If I used 17 SOCKETS on one diaper, I will use 17 STUDS on my next diaper so that I don't run out of sockets and have a pile of studs that can't be used. Make sense? I hope so because I re-wrote that about 10 times trying to make it understandable. Make sure you give the snaps a really good squeeze. I was having a hard time getting my snaps to click together so I started giving them 5-6 squeezes when I applied them, and I no longer have a problem.

Now I'm about a half hour into this project and all the snaps are finally in place! All that's left to do is add the fold over elastic.
To apply the FOE, you start by adding elastic to the gussets and basting them in place. Then, starting near the top left wing, you sew using a 3 stitch zigzag (or a wide zigzag if necessary) but sewing it as you would normal bias tape and NOT STRETCHING IT. There are four sections where you need to stretch the FOE as you sew, the back, the legs and the front. One tip: go slow!

After you're done sewing and before you ever use them on baby, you need to put them in the dryer and let it run on hot for 20 minutes to seal the holes.

It seems simple enough but it was a matter of trail and error for me. I bought a package of Babyville's FOE because I was too impatient to wait for my ebay order to arrive. I hate to say it, but I didn't like Babyville's FOE. It didn't have enough stretch to it which is okay for the outer edge of the cover but the gussets need a lot of stretch! So when I sewed my next diaper I used normal bias tape in the gusset area only and added some basic elastic from my stash. It turned out so much better! Here's a comparison:They look the same here, but when you open them up...
...the pink is much tighter. The green diaper has FOE in the gussets. The pink diaper has bias tape + elastic.

I'm happy with the overall size of the pattern. These pictures shows the original Thirsties Duo cover next to my pink cover.

I tweaked some things along the way. You can see in some pictures that my green cover has a squared top corner. I started sewing a rounded top corner because it was easier and looked nicer in the end.

I received my FOE from ebay today. I sewed another diaper and I liked the FOE much better.

Here's another option:
After seeing how effective the bias tape + elastic was, I sewed a diaper using only bias tape and I sewed little pieces of elastic into the 4 sections that needed it. This diaper also turned out really well, so if you don't want to spend the money on FOE, just buy double fold bias tape and some elastic (I think I used 1/4 inch but you could certainly use bigger.)

I am loving making these covers. But since my little one isn't here I don't know how well they work. I sent some home with my SIL to try on her 5 month old. I'm anxious to get her report!

****UPDATE****
My SIL tested the diapers on her baby, she said they work great!

I went to JoAnns and got some more fabric and some velcro. It occurred to me that snaps in the middle of the night might be a pain, so I wanted a few with velcro.

I bought the Babyville book and I'm really glad I did. It has great ideas and patterns. There are step by step pictures and instructions for all kinds of diapers. I highly recommend buying the book.

Here are a few more that I've made.

I found a style in the book that intrigued me called the snail shell.

It's a basic diaper cover that doesn't need to be made of PUL. There are snaps in the cover that hold a shell, which is a piece of PUL that holds a prefold or insert.

Cover

With shell snapped in

With prefold in place.

I can't wait to try out the snail shell. It would be so easy to snap shells in and out.

I've made more covers than Baby Q will ever need. I need to start trying pocket diapers or AIO's. I just can't stop!

Fondue

2012-01-01T14:45:00.001-08:00

I think fondue is our new NYE tradition.
Here are the recipes we used this year. They're all amazing!

FONDUE BROTH

2 bay leaves

4-5 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons dried parsley

2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper

3 cups beef broth

3 cups water

1 (1 ounce) package French onion soup mix

Mix all ingredients in a fondue pot or on the stove. Simmer for one hour. Bring to a boil when ready to serve.

source

CHEESE FONDUE

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

¾ cup heavy whipping cream

¾ cup parmesan cheese ( I used romano)

1 1/3 cup grated gruyere cheese (or swiss cheese)

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

In a fondue pot or double broiler over medium heat, gradually add the olive oil, cream cheese, cream, parmesan and gruyere cheese until the mixture is smooth and the cheese has melted.

Add the garlic powder, nutmeg and salt. Mix well.

*If the mixture is too thick, add more cream, if it’s too runny, add more cheese.

source

CHOCOLATE FONDUE
Half of this recipe is plenty!

32 ounces chocolate, grated ( I used 2/3 semi-sweet and 1/3 milk, both Guittard)
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder (I used Pero)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (preferably Mexican vanilla)
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/3 cup hot water

In a double boiler melt the chocolate with the heavy cream. Mix in the instant coffee, vanilla extract, sugar, and hot water. Continue to heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is smooth.

souce

Our alien

2011-12-15T14:00:00.000-08:00

We finally got a face shot of Baby Q. She's looking a lot like an alien but I'm in love with her anyway.

Another Rag Quilt

2011-11-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

Well the baby is still a girl so I'm getting into nesting mode and making her bedding. I finished her rag quilt and I'll start on the rest of her bedding next week. I saw this picture and decided to base the look of her bedding off of it.

Here's baby Q's quilt.

Raq Quilts

2011-10-12T23:13:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to make a quilt for my new little one, who is a girl, BTW. But I'm horrible at binding quilts so I decided to make a rag quilt. I used this tutorial. The only difference it that I sewed an "x" through the two pieces of flannel rather than sewing along all the edges.

I made my first rag quilt for DD and I'm happy to say that she has abandoned her other 3 blankets and now only uses the quilt I made her.

I really thought this baby was going to be a boy and I had the fabric picked out for his blanket but refused to buy any until I knew for sure. I'm sure glad I didn't buy it and now I have to find fabric that will go with the blue and red mickey (the only mickey flannel I could find) and have it still be girly.

While looking for fabric on Saturday my mom spotted some breast cancer fabric and asked me to make a quilt for her. It's much larger than DD's but it only took me 2 days and it turned out great. This time I had the help of these beauties: which makes it SOOOOOOO much easier. The worst part of making a rag quilt is having to snip all around the seems, and using regular scissors kill your hand but these spring loaded snips made it a breeze.

It was surprisingly difficult for me to design a "random" pattern. I blame my OCD.

Here's mom's finished quilt. And per her request I also made her a heating pad to lay across her chest.
I have another ultra sound coming up and I'm waiting to know that this baby didn't grow some boy parts (I wouldn't be upset if that happened, I'd be thrilled) before I start on the baby's quilt. I'm excited!

Birthday Plaques, pt.2

2011-10-12T23:11:00.001-07:00

I finally finished MIL's birthday plaque. Of course, It's Mickey colors.

Dressers

2011-09-08T22:03:00.001-07:00

I am the type that starts nesting REALLY, REALLY early. DD's room was done before I was even 15 weeks along. Since we have all the basics I only have a few things on my list. 1) cloth diapers 2) clothes (if it's a boy like we think it is) and 3) two dressers to replace DD's one.

I wanted two taller 4 or 5-drawer dressers hoping it would take up the same space as DD's short long dresser. I did a lot of internet shopping before I found the one I wanted. I had a few requirements. It had to have metal runners, it had to be sturdy, it had to be big enough, it had to be under $150, and it had to be white. Most of the dressers I found under $150 had bad reviews saying it was flimsy and cheap.

I found one at Shopko that had metal runners and a safety mechanism that only allows one drawer to be open at a time. LOVE that feature with little kids! (Does it drive everyone else nuts when they walk into your kids' room to find that the kiddos have been rummaging through the drawers and left them all open!?) This dresser was originally $260 but it was on sale for $130. I took hubby to see it and make sure he approved. Instead of taking a gamble on 2 dressers we decided to get one for DD now and make sure we like it. We've got 6 more months to get another (however I'm already accumulating stuff for the little one and I need a dresser keep it all in. We may be getting another sooner than we thought! DH will be so thrilled when I tell him...)

It took DH two or three hours to put together but it's very, very sturdy, and quite heavy. It's definitely not a Wal-mart piece of junk. Since it is so heavy I'm really glad it had the only-one-drawer-open-at-a-time feature.

I love it! The one down side has been that we've gone down from six drawers to four.

To give it a little more organization I went to Lowes and had them cut some poplar board down to the length of the drawer so I could make permanent dividers. Poplar board is so cheap, about $1.50 for 2 feet. I came home and debated what kind of glue to use to secure it. I thought about gorilla glue but it foams up so ugly. I thought about wood glue but then DH suggested silicone. It worked perfectly (and we lucked out that the poplar board is the same color as the inside of the drawers!

So instead of this:
We have this:

And DD's socks, misc stuff and panties are organized like this:
LOVE it!

Announcement!

2011-09-07T18:02:00.001-07:00

After going through the torture of this past year it's been hard to believe that this is real. But we feel good about this and rather than worry, I decided to just have faith that this little one will be born healthy and strong. The Lord's timing has been a huge blessing. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after I found out I was pregnant. This pregnancy has given my mom something to look forward to and keep her hopes up.

We're so grateful for this huge blessing. It's been a good reminder of a quote I love, "Faith in the Lord includes faith in His timing."

Birthday Plaques

2011-09-06T20:40:00.001-07:00

For the sake of coming up with birthday gifts I am lucky to have my mom and my MIL's birthdays 9 days apart. And my dad's and my FIL's birthdays are also 9 days apart. Convenient, huh?

This year for my moms, I'm giving them birthday plaques. This is my mom's and MIL's is almost finished.

MIL's will have a totally different color scheme. *cough* Mickey Mouse *cough*. Now I just need to get the energy to make one for myself. Why is that always the hardest to do?

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies and Banana Bread

2011-09-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

I found these red velvet cheesecake brownies on Pinterest and I've made them several times now. I can't describe how awesome they are! They come from this site

And they're really easy too!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
2-oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp red food coloring
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 8 inch metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir until combined and very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and red food coloring. Add chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add flour and salt and stir until just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
To prepare cheesecake mixture, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth. Distribute the cheesecake mixture in 8 dollops over batter in the pan. Swirl in with a knife or spatula.
Bake for 35-40 minutes (mine always take 45-50 minutes), until brownies and cheesecake are set. A knife inserted into the cheesecake mixture should come out clean and the edges will be lightly browned.
Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack before lifting out the parchment paper to remove the brownies. (Hard to do but very important!)

Yields: 16 large brownies or 24 small brownies

I also had a craving for my mom's banana bread and these days, when I have a craving, I HAVE TO have it!NOW! :)

Ingredients

½ cup margarine

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas

¼ cup milk

1 tsp. lemon juice

2 cups flour

1½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

½ cup nuts (optional)

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Add bananas, milk and lemon juice.

Sift dry ingredients and add to wet mixture. Add nuts or chocolate chips.

Bake in well-greased 8x4x3 loaf pan for 1 hour at 350°, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Ruler growth chart

2011-09-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

My sis-in-law had her little boy Malcolm about a month ago. As the due date approached I frantically worked on one more project, only to have it fail miserably and have to start again. Ugh. But the second one turned out just as I had hoped so I can't complain too much.

I love growth charts and I chose this style because I really love that it looks like a giant ruler. And they'll go with any decor.

They're really quite easy to make, if you don't screw up and have to start again. :)

Step one: measure out all your lines. My handy dandy sewing ruler was great for this since I could see through the plastic and make sure I was on target.

Step two: MEASURE AGAIN!

Step three: get your trusty wood burner and try not to burn yourself! I liked the tip you can see in this picture because it was really easy to make a straight line.

Step four: make a template of your numbers and lettering and trace them where you want them to end up. On a spare piece of wood try out the different tips for your wood burner so you can see what you like best. Curved number lines are much more difficult than the straight inch marks. Then CAREFULLY burn in your numbers and letters. BTW, I chose to go with their last name instead of the baby's name since I didn't think that years down the road they'd want 3 or 4 of these around their house. And I think it's fun to keep all the family's heights in one location.

Step five (optional) apply a wood stain to your wood. Then try to sand off the stain and realize it's useless.

Repeat steps one - four since the wood stain looked absolutely awful! :)

Step six: seal your wood with spray sealer.

Just to compare: the good and the bad.

DD with cousin Malcolm. Finally a cousin on this side of the family!

Keeping a fridge organized

2011-07-12T00:24:00.000-07:00

I ran across a tip junkie facebook post a while back about a fridge that was organized with baskets. I loved it but then forgot. 2 months ago I was deep cleaning the fridge and as I put things back I decided to give the baskets a try. I LOVE them. This picture was taken today and it looks pretty much the same as it did two months ago. DH recently said how much he loves how the baskets help keep the fridge organized (and for him to notice that's a BIG deal) . I've found that we harldy waste any food because it's so easy to see what we have and what leftovers need to be eaten.

The baskets with handles are from Wal-Mart. $1.50 for the small ones and $2.50 for the big ones.

Brag Board

2011-07-12T00:15:00.000-07:00

Last year for mother day I made some brag boards for our moms but the one I had for DH's mom got damaged in transit so I never gave it to her. I wanted to give it another try this year and ended up giving her this. Instead of using the ghetto clothespins , I used sheet metal and magnets. MIL is in love with bottle cap magnets and has become quite expert at making them, so I figured that if she put this sign up in her office she could show off grandkid pics as well as her bottlecaps.

Lemon Gelato

2011-07-12T00:08:00.000-07:00

My BFF made this for a summer BBQ 3 years ago when we were both pregnant. It has become my favorite summer dessert. The lemon flavor is very strong and it's not overly sweet, but that's what makes it so refreshing. If you have an ice cream maker, this is a quick, super easy summer dessert.

Lemon Gelato

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

5 egg yolks, beaten

3 Tbsp. grated lemon zest

¾ cup fresh lemon juice (5-6 lemons)

2 c. heavy whipping cream

Scald milk. Add sugar and cook until dissolved. Temper eggs then add all eggs to mixture. Add zest. Cook until thickened to a custard-like consistency. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice. Place pan in ice water. Stir in cream. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.* Transfer to ice cream maker and mix until an ice-cream consistency is achieved.

*May be placed in freezer for an hour instead of refrigerator.

Subway Sauces

2011-07-11T23:47:00.000-07:00

DH LOVES LOVE LOVES sauces. He's always experimenting and coming up with new concoctions. That's why our fridge is mostly condiments:)
On Sunday night he was craving a Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich from Subway, and since it was Sunday we of course weren't going to go get one, so we started researching recipes. By the time I found some good recipes, he had munched on something and wasn't hungry anymore, but I got really excited about our two favorite sauces, the sweet onion sauce and the southwest chipotle. (Try the sweet onion chicken teriyaki with just a small strip of the chipotle sauce, and lots of sweet onion sauce. It's divine!) I was only missing a couple ingredients so I got them today and whipped up these sauces tonight. They were both super duper easy but the sweet onion sauce has a rather strange ingredient that I wouldn't think most people have laying around. This buttermilk powder can be found on the baking isle, but not knowing what it looked like, I honestly wouldn't have found it. Luckily my friend spotted it.

Sweet Onion Sauce

1 cup light corn syrup

2 tablespoons minced white onion

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 teaspoons white distilled vinegar

2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoon brown sugar

2 teaspoon buttermilk baking mix

1/2teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon poppy seed

1/4 teaspoon salt

pinch cracked black pepper

pinch garlic powder

Combine all ingredients. Bring to boil. Whisk well. Cool and store in refrigerator.

I used 1 Tbsp. of dried minced onion instead but I'm anxious to try it with the fresh onion.

Southwest Chipotle Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

1 ounce pureed chipotle chile in adobo

1 tsp. fresh garlic, minced

salt, to taste

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate.

I was trying to find some fancy glass bottles but settled on these for now. But really these will work better than glass since they can be squeezed.

So tomorrow night's dinner is homemade Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwiches!!! We're excited. DH just needs to find Subways Italian Herb and Cheese bread recipe.

Ribs

2011-07-04T22:02:00.001-07:00

We were stuck at home working for the mortuary today while the rest of our family celebrated Independence Day. So in an effort to not feel sorry for ourselves, we had our friends over for dinner. DH decided to try his hand at beef ribs. (We're not pork eaters) They were fall-off-the-bone incredible!

He came up with this sauce on his own. He loves to get as many spices into a sauce as he can, luckily I was taking notes so I was able to write up a recipe. Like any good ribs, these take quite a while, but they're worth it!

5 lbs. beef ribs
3-4 garlic cloves
1/2 onion, minced
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
14 oz. ketchup
1/2 cup honey
2-3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire
2 Tbsp. liquid smoke
1 Tbsp. spicy brown mustard
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 - 1/8 tsp. ground clove
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. seasoning salt
1/2 tsp. tarragon
1/8 - 1/4 tsp. ground sage
3 drops green Tabasco

Saute garlic and onions in oil.
Stir in ketchup, honey and vinegar.
Add remaining ingredients.
Bring to boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Slather ribs in sauce and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Preheat oven to 280°. Place ribs in a roasting pan and cover. Bake for 2 1/2 hours then reduce heat to 200°for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Remove ribs and keep covered. Let sit for an about an hour.
Just before serving, place ribs on a preheated grill for 2-3 minutes on each side, just enough sear the ribs.

Baby Gifts

2011-06-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

Now that my SILs shower is over I can post some of the things I've been working on. I made a diaper cake and had a basket of homemade goodies. But I was in such a rush to get these gifts to the host's house that I forgot to take pictures of everything. But here are a few.

This one is my fav :)

I saw this corny applique at JoAnns and I debated using it but DH convinced me. The other side of the shirt says something about "Reuse, Recycle...." I don't remember exactly, and the back says "Be Green." Well, the baby's last name is Green and his mama is into "being green" so DH thought it would be hilarious.

This is Make It-Love It's pattern for a nursing cover with one little add-on:

On the corners I added some minky fabric. I liked having a little pocket there for a nursing shield, and having something absorbant since, lets face it, you have to dry off after feeding the little one.

I made some Wee Wee Wigwam's and Binky clips, among other things. We're so excited to welcome our little unnamed nephew into the family next month!

Forgetful me

2011-05-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

I recently got my car door fixed. Hallelujah! And while cleaning it out I found several things I forgot were in there. I'm sure when I put things there I thought I'd remember where I left them, but that doesn't work out so well.

So I know it's corny to put vinyl lettering in the car, but if I didn't I'd forget what's in there.

You have no idea how happy I am to have this:

A back door that opens!

Word to the wise, if a can of soda explodes in your can and the sticky sugar somehow makes the weather stripping come out of place, fix it before the weather stripping gets caught in the latch and you can't open your back door:) It's not fun to pay $96/hr. for a mechanic to prise your door open.

When crafts go wrong....

2011-05-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

So I've been crafting a ton of baby things lately for my little nephew-to-be but I can't post any of it for fear his mommy will see:) But one craft went seriously wrong and they're going to be trashed.
I'm really bummed these didn't work out. I was really, really excited about them. I attempted, and failed, to make closet dividers for my little un-named nephew (I'm shaking my fist at his parents for keeping his name a secret. It's funner to personalize baby gifts....just sayin)

I don't remember where I found this idea but when I saw it I wished so bad that I had them when DD was born. She got so many clothes in a wide range of sizes that sometimes I didn't find an outfit until she had grown out of it.

I found the wood door hangers at hobby lobby and used DH's dremel to cut one side so they'd hook over the rod. Then I mod podged on paper. Here's where I messed up. I wasn't too worried about cutting the paper exactly to size because I thought that when I went back over the edges with a sanding bit on the dremel, it would sand off the extra paper. It didn't. Then I tried to exacto knife off the excess, but it tore a lot. So I thought I'd ink the edges but the ink wasn't dark enough so I used paint. By then I was so frustrated that I wasn't as careful as I should have been. In the end, they looked like crap and I refuse to give them to my sister-in-law, but here they are:
It's okay. I've got many, many other things to give the little guy and his mama. But it's always a bummer when a craft doesn't work out.

Family Growth Chart

2011-04-24T21:47:00.001-07:00

I've had a growth chart in my mind for a while and yesterday I finally made one. I had intended to do one just for DD but decided instead to make one for the entire family. Mickey will always be a family favorite, even if DD doesn't maintain her obsession so I figured it was pretty safe.

It was easy enough to do, just a little time consuming. After completing it a light bulb went off and I realized an easier way. Next time I guess.

DH asks me almost weekly, "did she get taller overnight?" Now we can check. At 30 months and 8 days old she is just short of 3 feet tall. Don't ask me where she got the height.

Living Room Makeover....Phase 1.2

2011-04-23T22:42:00.001-07:00

I wanted to work on the living room today but DH was enjoying his first day off on about 3 weeks, so I decided to be a nice wifey and wait for another day to nag him for help. But I did complete a quick little project that made a world of difference.

We have been staring at these 10 square feet of hideous green tile for a year and a half.
After browsing Home Depot and seeing the great options they had for laminate tile, we decided to go with that.
Before :

10 minutes and 10 dollars later:
Couldn't have been easier but what a difference.

Bridal Shower Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-04-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

I had these cookies last week and my sister-in-law's bridal shower, hence the name (and I can never remember the name of the lady who made them:))
Anyway, I think they're quite good.

1/2 cup shortening

1.2 cup butter

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream shortening, butter, egg, vanilla and sugars.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.

Slowly add flour to creamed mixture.

Add chocolate chips.

***Note: dough will be crumbly

Drop onto parchment lined cookie sheet using a Tbsp. measure.

Bake for 11-13 minutes at 350°.

Transfer to cooling rack.

10 Minute Table Runner & Cake plate

2011-04-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

I wanted to add a little Spring to the kitchen so I whipped this table runner up in literally 10 minutes, maybe less. Possibly the easiest thing in the world to sew. If you want a tutorial, let me know.

Also, I found this awesome plate at DI for $1 so I made it into a cake stand using an upside down sundae dish and some gorilla glue. Pretty self explanatory.

My kitchen feels spring-y. Mission accomplished.

Living Room Makeover....Phase 1

2011-04-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

Our living room has been on my to-do list for a while now. Two day's ago my friend and I painted her family room in 3 hours so for payback (and personal motivation) I got her to come help me paint my living room today.

I saw a blog recently where someone did a board and batten look in their bathroom and I fell in love. Gorgeous!

And one day I would simply LOVE to have a playroom like this:

I've been a lover of wainscot for a long time but board and batten is so much cheaper. I decided on a dark tan on the top and white board and batten on the bottom. My board and batten isn't going to be as tall as the board and batten in the pictures, but it's still 4 1/2 feet. Had to get DH to help with the top

I am so excited to hang this above the fireplace:

Or something very similar. I'll be taking a class at Hobby Lobby for Roberts. I told DH it will be my birthday gift to myself.

Recipe Book

2011-04-07T22:17:00.001-07:00

I mentioned before that DH's baby sis is getting married next month and that I was making her a recipe book. I've been having too much fun making these recipes cards with my Memory Mixer software. Here are a few:

I hope she likes it!

Christmas in March

2011-03-29T22:03:00.001-07:00

Today I got two things I've been needing for a while.

Our oven has had problems since we got it. DH diagnosed the problem as a broken top heating element. So I've been cooking with an oven that has been working on 1/2 power. It literally took over a 1/2 hour to heat up to 350. And it's been getting worse so yesterday I finally got up the guts to ask our boss/landlord for a new one. Today they delivered my new black beauty. I was so excited to cook dinner tonight! And it only took 10 minutes to heat up to 425!

Also, we got a new (well, new to us) computer! Our neighbor works for a large medical clinic and they recently updated all their computers. We got a computer tower that had been wiped clean for $25! And a functioning computer is really nice to have now that I'm the Primary President in our ward. I've been driving 30 miles to use my in-law's computer to do all my primary stuff. It got old quick.

I've been Primary President for about 6 weeks now and it's keeping me unbelievably busy. But I'm happy to be busy right now because a month ago I had an ectopic pregnancy. It's been devastating, but we have faith in the Lord and know that another little one will come along soon enough. Before we found out that this little baby was stuck in my fallopian tube, we told DH's family about the pregnancy using this:

Now for some crafts.
-DH's baby sister is getting married next month. I've been making some things to get them going. I glass etched some Pyrex for them similar to the ones I made for us

-I also made them a "wedding night basket." I won't post pictures of that:) Let's just say it has everything they may need or want for their honeymoon.

-I'm in the process of making her a recipe book. I'm using my Memory Mixer scrapbook software to make each recipe all cute and scrapbook-like, then I'll send them to Costco to print. Pics to come.

-I made a What's for Dinner? calendar using MIL's supply of bottle cap's and DH's endless access to sheet metal.

But now that I'm so busy, and am rarely home at dinner time, I haven't been making most of the meals I have planned. I'm hoping that as time goes on, I won't be so busy. I'm lucky to have an understanding husband who doesn't complain about my calling.

-DD saw this at DI and had to have it but it said Wal-Mart on the sides. Yuck.I replaced it with this.

-Finally, my brother and his family moved back to Utah from Texas and they're living with my parent's until they find a house. This freed up my parent's spare king size bed. They graciously offered it to us because they know that our queen gave us both back problems. Now we're sleeping oh so comfortably with plenty o' room for the little one when she climbs in.
I don't even care that it doesn't fit our queen headboard.
Best sleep we've had our whole married life.

Crafts Catch-up

2011-02-04T17:16:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to catch up on a few things while I'm using my parent's computer.
I made this for my sis-in-law to keep all those pesky neighbor kids from ringing the doorbell.

My other sis-in-law is getting married in May. I've been practicing glass etching to jazz up her pyrex.

And of course more cricuting led me to this:

Computers

2011-01-23T19:51:00.001-08:00

I get a camera so I can finally start posting all my projects, and our computer crashes. Well, our laptop that we have been using because we don't want to pay the $650 to fix our iMac. I'm posting from my parent's house now.

We finally decided to get the Mac fixed if our tax return allows. Fingers crossed!

Deardenland Sign

2011-01-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

MIL gave this sign to FIL a couple years ago for Christmas. You've got to remember that my in-law's are obsessed with Disneyland. And now that I've been, I've become a little obsessed too:) So I wanted to give DH a similar sign for Christmas. MIL and I went to the boutique that made the sign for her. They told us they no longer had the Walt Disney font (we later found out they did) and that they wouldn't do a multi-colored sign. This frustrating event lead MIL to buy a Cricut so we could do it ourselves! YAY!!!!And with Sure Cuts A Lot, I was able get the perfect font.

Like I said, I wanted our sign to be similar, but not the same. DH decided he wanted the sign to look like this:

so I ended up with this:

Pillows!

2010-12-29T22:03:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting a black leather couch for months. I'm too practical to go out and buy a new one, so I diligently watched for one on KSL. After a few weeks I gave up then one morning I just thought to check. I found a FREE black leather couch about 15 minutes away from us. I called and the lady said I could have it! Patience really pays off!

The couch wasn't perfect but DH fixed the structural problem. So it was time for new pillows! For this pillow, I used Make It- Love It's tutorial, found here.

And for this pillow, I used Just Another Hangup's tutorial, found here.

There is a downside to this story is that I foolishly left my purse in my car while I was helping DH bring our new couch into the house, then I forgot about it. The next morning the bank called to verify some strange transactions, and, you guessed it, someone broke into my car and stole my wallet. It has been a nightmare trying to replace everything, but it's also been a blessing in disguise, so I really can't complain.

Hallelujah!

2010-12-28T13:07:00.000-08:00

My parent's got me a camera for Christmas! YAY!!! I really wasn't expecting it but I'm having so much fun! DH got me Sure Cuts A Lot for Christmas so I've been having a blast labeling EVERYTHING!

Now I'll have to play catch-up and post all the things I've made over the last few months.

Play apron and oven mitt

2010-12-20T19:15:00.000-08:00

After watching how much DD loved playing with a real oven mitt, I just had to make one so I unwrapped her apron and whipped up a quick oven mitt to go with it. (Fabric from Hobby Lobby)

The oven mitt isn't the best but I just free-handed it in about 2 minutes.

BTW, the apron pattern was incredibly easy. I borrowed it from my neighbor. She bought it at Wal-Mart. It's McCall's M5720 if anyone is interested.

Cleaning Tips & Recipes

2010-12-20T18:06:00.000-08:00

A while back, I showed the Relief Society in a friends ward how to make homemade laundry soap. They handed out a packet with some other great cleaning tips and I can never find the packet when I need it, so I'm posting it here.

All Purpose Cleaner:
1/4 gallon warm water
1/2 cup ammonia
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup alcohol
Empty squirt bottle

Mix ingredients and put in squirt bottle. Use to clean and sanitize hard surfaces in the home. Keeps well in the bottle for an extended period of time.

Wall Cleaning Solution:
1 cup ammonia
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cups soda (I assume that means baking soda)

Mix with 1 gallon water. Use on wall surfaces other than flat paint.

Homemade Windex:
2 TBSP non-sudsy ammonia
1 tsp. dish washing soap
1 pint rubbing alcohol
Blue food coloring (optional)

Mix in one-gallon container. Fill remaining space in container with cold water. Wipe windows clean with newspaper.

TIPS:

-Wipe bathroom and kitchen fixtures, stoves, etc. with rubbing alcohol.

-Freshen pillows, bedspread, quilts and blankets by periodically placing then in the dryer on a no heat cycle to reduce the need for laundering. The same thing can be done for draperies and curtains.

-Remove ball point pen marks by spraying first with hairspray.

-To whiten and brighten colors, soak in plastic container for 8 hours in water with dish detergent then launder normally. For badly grayed towels, etc. soak longer.

-Was windows from left to right on inside and top to bottom on outside. If there are streaks, you will know which side they are on. Don't wash windows with sun directly on them. THey dry too fast and streak.

-Clean windows with water and polish with newspaper. They will sparkle from the glycerin in the newsprint. They will also shine with 1 cup ammonia and 1/2 cup vinegar in 1 gallon hot water.

-Ovens- Place 1/2 cups ammonia in a dish in a closed oven or soak small towel in ammonia and place in closed oven overnight to loosen grease and soil. In the morning, wash.

Christmas Cards & Stockings

2010-12-20T12:25:00.000-08:00

I saw this on 30 Days and had to make it. I used things I already had in the house and it's okay for this year but I'm going to need a much bigger frame next year and better ribbon. The frame I used is 21" x 17" and just these 5 cards have taken up most of the space. So I'll be on the lookout for a big frame at DI that I can paint red and use in years to come.

I've also been working on stockings for our little family. Until now we've been using stockings from our childhood. DH's was a cross stitch stocking while mine was a patchwork stocking. DD's was a crappy sequence one from the dollar store. They just didn't go together. The hardest part was deciding on fabric. I wanted all our stockings to be the same, like my family's stockings were growing up, and DH wanted them to be all different. I saw different colored damask's at Hobby Lobby and used a pink for DD (and planned on green when we have boys) but finally decided that it didn't look good with mine and DH's black stockings. So after sewing half a dozen stockings and not liking them, I have settled on all the stockings being black & white damask with the tops being red for the girls and green for the boys.

So here they are. DH's has green behind his name. Maybe this is weird, but I purposely made my stocking & DH's stocking face the other direction from DD's. That's how ours were growing up, so that's what I did too.

I need to make sure I borrow my mom's camera on Christmas morning (unless someone gets us a camera for Christmas!) so I can take pictures of the other things I've been working on. I made a little apron for DD to go with the play kitchen she's getting for Christmas. I just wrapped it so I don't want to get it our just to snap a crappy cell phone picture.

For neighbor gifts I'm going to make mall-style cinnamon sugared almonds. Go here for the recipe.

Thankful Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T09:49:00.000-08:00

Well, my 5 pies are made, the turkey is ready to go in the oven, the rolls are rising and DH &DD are napping which gives me some quiet time to think about this day.

I have so much to be grateful for. I have the best husband in the world and the sweetest, most gorgeous girl that loves me and brings so much joy to my life. (There is no sweeter sound than DD saying "mommy")

As we are on call for the mortuary and stuck at home having our own little Thanksgiving, I realize that I have all I need right here. I fear I take them for granted because I have them here all the time. But really, as long have I have my husband and kids with me, I can't ask for more.

Of course I have so many other things to be grateful for as well. I'm grateful for my husband's job and that he loves it. I'm grateful for the mortuary and the home it provides us. I'm grateful for our families. I'm grateful that DH's siblings are our best friends. I'm grateful for my church calling and the opportunity it gives me to serve. I'm grateful for our temples, and that we live so close to so many of them. I'm grateful for all the material things we have and that we can live so comfortably.

Above all, I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father and my savior, Jesus Christ. I know without a doubt that EVERYTHING I have comes from them. I'm grateful to know that Father hears & answers prayers.

And on a really worldly note, I'm grateful that our co-workers are covering for us tonight so we can go see Harry Potter!!!!:)

Potato Basil Puree

2010-11-23T16:29:00.000-08:00

I was at Costco the other day and saw Ina Garten on the cover of Costco's magazine. I picked it up and flipped through it when I got home. The one recipe that screamed "Make me!" was the Potato Basil Puree. Being an Italian girl, I am a sucker for anything basil.

(photo from yumsugar.com )

I had some fresh basil leaves so I made it for dinner tonight. It is absolutely delicious!

Potato Basil Puree

Ingredients

2 cups fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
2 pounds large Yukon Gold or white boiling potatoes
1 cup half-and-half
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil and fill a bowl with ice water. Add the basil leaves to the boiling water and cook for exactly 15 seconds. Remove the basil with a slotted spoon and immediately plunge the leaves into the ice water to set the bright green color. Drain and set aside.
Peel the potatoes and cut them in quarters. Add the potatoes to the same pot of boiling water and return to a boil. Cook the potatoes for 20 to 25 minutes, until very tender. Drain well, return to the saucepan, and steam over low heat until any remaining water evaporates.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the half-and-half and parmesan cheese until the cream simmers. Place the basil in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and puree. Add the hot cream mixture and process until smooth.
With a handheld mixer with the beater attachment, beat the hot potatoes in the pot until they are broken up. Slowly add the hot basil cream, the salt, and pepper and beat until smooth. If the potatoes need to be reheated, cover and cook gently over low heat for a few minutes. Pour into a serving bowl, sprinkle with extra parmesan cheese, season to taste, and serve hot.

Serves 4 to 5.

Flannel Board

2010-11-14T11:28:00.000-08:00

After seeing a felt turkey at Naptime Crafts, I couldn't get the idea of having a flannel board out of my head. And the only cure for that is to make it, buy it, whatever it takes. I have a bunch of felt for the quiet book I will one day make (maybe) so while DD was napping I cut out a turkey. Couldn't have been easier. Then I set out to find something I could use to make a flannel board. I went to DI hoping to find a cheap, lightweight frame that I could take the glass out, but the only thing that came close was $8, and I didn't want to spend that much on something I knew I could make for pennies.

While laying in bed that night I remembered that DD's ond hair bow holder was covered in flannel, and that it was sitting in her closet as it doesn't match her room anymore. I swear my light bulbs only go off while I'm laying in bed.

So it's currently pink but I'm waiting to go to JoAnn's next week when their flannel is on sale to get white, but it works for now.

So we've been learning about Turkeys and Thanksgiving and practicing colors.

Last night I was cutting some Christmas shapes on the Cricut and decided to cut templates and make a felt tree and snowman.

Just Another Hang Up

2010-11-11T10:31:00.001-08:00

I love link parties. I always come away with new projects to do and sometimes I stumble upon a wonderful blog.

I was on somewhat simple and an amazing flower caught my eye. Probably because I've been making the same type of flower for DD but these look so much better. Suzanne at Just Another Hang Up is a very talented lady who is incredibly generous too. She has many patterns and files that she's willing to email. I emailed her and within the hour, she sent me 4 files that I'm super excited to start working on.

Link over and check her out!

Mickey Counters

2010-11-09T23:07:00.001-08:00

I'm so proud of myself when I come up with something on my own, rather than copying ideas I see on blogs. These original ideas are few and far between, but I'm happy that they come at all.

This idea came from the frustration that all DD ever wants to do is watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We've started having "art time," "dance time," "reading time," "cooking time," "clean-up time," and anything else I can come up with just to get her excited about something other than Mickey Mouse.

I wanted to limit how much she watches so I came up with this:

We keep this at her level on the side of the fridge and now every time she wants to watch Mickey, she has to take a "Mickey" off the board. Don't think I let my child watch 8 episodes a day! She gets 4 on the weekdays and 8 for the entire weekend. 4 a day even sounds like a lot!
It probably makes more sense to just have 4 Mickey's on the board, but DH and I liked the look of this.

Making it was simple. I just cut out 8 black Mickey ears and 4 red & 4 yellow Mickey ears that were 1/4" smaller, all on the Cricut. I have some Mickey paper that I used as a background then glued the black Mickey ears to it. I left the red & yellow Mickey's loose and took it all to Utah Idaho Supply to have it laminated. It was less than a dollar for all of this. When I got home I cut up adhesive magnets (97 cents a pack at Wal-Mart) and stuck them to the back of the colored Mickeys and to the front of the black Mickey's so they'd stick together and it was all done.

Super easy, and so far it's been really effective.
And again, sorry for the camera phone pictures.

Cricut Love

2010-11-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

MIL let me bring home the Cricut while I'm working on DD's new Mickey room. It was a real pain to drive 30 miles to cut all the things I needed to.

I decided to stray from the Mickey cartridge tonight and make some Christmas cards for an upcoming achievement days activity.

I've been so focused on the Mickey cartridge that I never really took the time to browse through the others. I found some awesome cards for Thanksgiving which is was perfect to send the great-grandparents these turkey hands that DD recently made for art-time. I love this this autumn script and this cute little turkey.
While I was at it I made a "give thanks" banner for the mantle. I wasn't in the mood to string it so I just taped it right to the mantle.
As always, I realize I should have done things slightly different when it's too late. When I was attaching the leaves to the mantle, I wished I had them going in random directions, not so uniform. But by then the letters were glued on and it was too late. Oh well, I'll know for next time.

I still haven't found my camera. I hope that someday soon I'll stumble upon DD's hiding place. So these pics are all from my phone. They're awful, I know. Sorry.

Tutu Bow Holder

2010-10-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

I've been on a bow making kick lately and DD's old bow holder just wasn't cutting it anymore. I decided to make a tutu bow holder. It seems a little more grown up for my almost 2-year-old (on saturday!) I used ehow's instructions.

Sorry for the picture, it's from my phone.

The tulle is 3 ft. long. I decided to start out long because I can always cut it down, but DD has a lot of bows so I'm glad it's that long.

This will look a lot better hanging in DD's room after I paint it. Her old color scheme is driving me nuts. I never really liked it, but I was in such a rush to do SOMETHING, that I ended up with something ugly.

So, this tutu holder will fit the new color scheme (when I actually get around to re-painting her room)

Cost for this project: $6.
Brown ribbon was $2 and 4 yards of tulle at Walmart was $4.
The bodice was made of foam board, which I had. The fabric and hanger I also had on hand.

After an hour or so and many hot glue gun burns later, I learned a few things that will make it easier when I make one for BFF's baby girl. It's really an easy craft and DD tells me it's "pity" and "oh! cuuuute"!

Halloween Potions

2010-10-06T00:06:00.000-07:00

For the first time since I was a little kid, I am excited for Halloween. I never understood the desire to be scared or act silly. But that has changed. Maybe it's because DD is almost 2 and I can dress her up or maybe my in-law's love for the holiday has rubbed off on me, but I'm totally into it this year.

I went downstairs to find my Halloween decorations and was shocked at my lack of decor. I have a scary tree that glows and 2 pumpkins which are of Mickey & Winnie the Pooh. And all 3 of those items were bought by MIL. So I started blog surfing for ideas and found one that I LOVED! Substantially Chic Designs had the cutest potions display! So I decided to copy her ;)

I raided my fridge and transferred a bunch of stuff to Tupperware so I could use the glass and I spray painted the lids matte black.
I printed out a bunch of labels that she linked to. The only problem was that I was printing them at my in-law's house and didn't have my bottles with me to size them correctly.
I set made a list of things to buy at the dollar store but only found about 1/2 the things on my list so I came home and improvised.
I saw another blog that did Harry Potter potions and made labels out of brown paper bags so I decided to add a few of those.

I love the Vampire blood. I had this awesome bottle in the fridge which had some acai berry drink in it. I was happy to have an excuse to dump it. The label is from Love Manor and the liquid is water with a few drops of red food coloring.

The corrosive sublimate label from Spook Show and I just filled it with maple syrup.

The polyjuice potion is simply dirt and water. DH made the label.
The skeleton was supposed to have a label but I didn't print it. DH and I decided to leave it alone.

Living Death is another Potter reference and contains water with red & blue food coloring. The Danger: Unknown Specimen was a toy snake from the dollar store that I cut up. That one grosses me out.

I had this cool bottle that DH's grandpa gave us containing his homemade plum syrup. The syrup was almost gone and I thought it would be perfect for the Life Renewal Potion, which is water & green food coloring.

The Human Flesh label comes from Love manor and inside is a toy liver from the dollar store and water.

I was excited for the eye of newt. Like Substantially Chic, I got hydrating balls from the dollar store and added green food coloring. I didn't have a label so DH made one.
The petrified butterflies bottle is empty (shameful, I know). I've been trying to find butterflies at the dollar store but haven't had any luck. But I love the label, so I kept it.
The eyeball label comes from Spook show and just has chocolate balls with eyeball wrappers from the dollar store in it.

Now, this potions collection is on a floating shelf above the TV and I thought it needed a little more. MIL just bought a Cricut for us girls to share!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we got an awesome Halloween cartridge, but it'll be a few days before I'm at her house to cut something cute so I came up with something else.

Running off the Harry Potter theme, I made a warning sign on "parchment." I haven't decided it I love it yet, but it'll work for now.

I had made a potions sign with the cricut, but after adding the Harry potter stuff, it just didn't look right so I took it down.

I also made a trick or treat banner, but I wish I had made it bigger. I was really just playing with our new toy and that's what I came up with.

It's amazing the crafting possibilities a Cricut provides. DD is obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She's turning 2 in a week and we got a Mickey cartridge (of course) so I'm going to spend my lonely weekend while DH works making decorations for her birthday! So excited!

Linked up to Tea Rose Home

Disneyland

2010-09-25T22:38:00.000-07:00

My freaking awesome in-law's took all of us kids & spouses to Disneyland for a glorious 6-day vacation to celebrate my mother-in-law's 50th birthday. This was my very first trip to the happiest place on earth and I truly had no idea what I was missing. We had a wonderful time other than the evil flu that DD gave 7 out of the 9 in our family. DD had been sick before we left, and I mean really sick. Like going to the ER for dehydration. DH and I were lucky to have gotten the bug before we left but the other 5 were sick during the trip:(

Nevertheless, we all had a great time! We spent one day at beautiful Newport Beach and 5 days in Disneyland and California Adventure.

(We all pitched in on an iPad for mom. Needless to say, she was thrilled)

(Tower of Terror. Best. Ride. Ever! Well, tied with Soarin' over California)

Disneyland has gone from being something that I thought people made too big a fuss about to my dream vacation spot. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that place!

We've been home for almost 2 weeks and I'm still going through withdrawals. I've been busying myself planning home improvement projects. I've had general contractors out to give me estimates for having my laundry room finished. That's going to be up to the boss/landlord. I don't know how happy he is to lay down $5000 to beautify a 100-year-old house, but I've got my fingers crossed!
**I must note that the first two pictures are stolen from my sis-in-law. She always does awesome effects on her pics and I've never figured it out.

Kitchen Makeover....Finished...for real this time!

2010-09-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

I was talking to our boss today and he offered to pay for the backsplash that I wanted in the kitchen.
We went to Lowes and looked at our 5 choices of colors and my brilliant husband noticed that the charcoal color would look good with the black hardware. I had dismissed the charcoal as an option because I thought it would be too dark. But we decided to go with it and I'm so glad we did.
We also got black light switches for the disposal and a black metal switch plate. Here's a closer look. We really couldn't be happier with the way this turned out!

Kitchen Makeover....FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

I am two weeks behind schedule but the kitchen makeover is finally done! Except for (there's always an except) the blue tile over the sink...we're going to cover that hideousness with this:In silver or bronze I'm not yet sure, but it will be done.

I wish I had the before pictures to compare but our computer is being retarded and I'm stuck using a crappy laptop that doesn't have any of my pictures. But you saw the before cabinets in this post. Huge improvement, if I do say so myself!

Nursery to Toddler Room

2010-07-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

I needed to make drapes in DD's room so that I could be in the laundry room without having the light wake her up.

We were at Wal-Mart and found a brown pinstripe fabric for $1/yard. Along with the price being unbeatable, I actually liked the fabric and thought I could make a cute valance to make it work in the room. I went to Hobby Lobby because their fabrics are adorable, cheap, and they all have coordinating fabrics. I fell in love with the flower fabric (on the ends) and the coordinating fabrics matched the brown pinstripe perfectly.

Since these colors don't match DD's room at all, we're going to have to repaint, which is fine with me because I never loved her room the way it was painted. (You can see to the very right of the picture the purple, green and blue polka dots) I'm going to paint over the polka dots in the colors that you see in the flower fabric.

I like this because the colors aren't so infantile. I'm sick of the pastels and baby feel of the room. DD's has grown out of that phase and I think that the colors in flower fabric suits her better. And when we have another baby, if it's a boy, he'll fit right in with these colors.

Kitchen Makeover

2010-07-28T14:02:00.001-07:00

We've lived in our house for a year come Sunday and I decided that we've lived with the ugly, outdated kitchen cabinets long enough so I decided to do a little makeover. I'm half done with this project and pretty proud of myself.

Before

After

Before

After

I still have to finish the last set of cabinets, as you can see in the above picture. Then we're going to paint the walls tan and paint baseboards and trim white.
I'm so excited to be done!!!

Bachelorette Party

2010-07-17T23:33:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends from high school is getting married in a couple weeks so I offered to throw her a shower. As a general rule I hate showers with their stupid games and crappy food so I decided to do what my BFF did for my shower - go to Olive Garden. But with something as simple as going out to dinner, the little details have to be perfect to make it special for the bride. My BFF offered to help me so we spent the last couple days working on favors and decorations.

We went to hobby lobby with a few things in mind and ended up getting inspired by what we saw and changing our original plans. (That always happens to me, except when I go without a plan hoping to get inspired - then I draw a blank.) We decided to re-live high school, since that's when we were all the closest.

Mariah in high school was punky-pink. So we did everything in black and pink and tried to add in a little punk.

BFF made little purses out of pink paper with black polka dots to hold the favors which were funky colored nail polish (a Mariah fashion must) and candy flavored lip gloss along with a manicure set. She also made covers to hold CD's that I made of songs we listened to in high school.

I made this simple centerpiece (the bottom white & pink is Good & Plenty candy)
I made a veil (pink, of course) with a black headband that we made her wear and we got a bachelorette sash, just to embarrass her.

Being the shower only for friends (as opposed to one where her mother would be there) we were able to give her the dirty gifts

It went over really well. It was fun to leave the little one home with daddy and have fun with the girls. But I'm always happy to come home to my loving hubby and my beautiful girl.

Sammi, Mariah, Me, Marne'

Mariah, Me, Marne', BFF Kalli

Garden Cake

2010-07-04T23:24:00.000-07:00

DH's grandpa turned 80 last week. Grandma asked me and my sister-in-law to make a garden cake that had chickens and rabbits. This is what we came up with: All the decorations are handmade from fondant. This really was a fun cake to do. But I'm done doing cakes for a while.

New Love!

2010-06-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

We have a new cupcake bakery in Ogden! I've been twice in the last 2 days. Guess I should start adding an extra workout to the week. They have fun flavors that the kiddos will love, like peanut butter & jelly! DD loved it!!!!

If you're ever in Ogden, stop by! 470 24th street.

http://vintagecupcakeco.blogspot.com/

The PERFECT Roast Beef

2010-05-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

I found this method of cooking a roast on recipezaar. I tried it today and it truly is perfect!

I cooked mine medium-rare so it does look quite pink. I should have let it sit longer to avoid losing all this juice, but it doesn't matter, it was moist and delicious! I find that often the beef flavor gets covered up by all the herbs and other ingredients that recipe's call for, but this recipe actually lets you taste the beef.

Another major bonus: this roast took less than an hour to cook!

Try it next time you're making a Sunday roast!

Mother's Day Brag Boards

2010-05-16T00:40:00.001-07:00

DH and I were tuck home last Sunday working for the mortuary, so I had an extra week to get our Mother's Day gifts done. They're finally complete and ready to give to our mom's.

I decided to make Brag Boards for them. I got the idea from a blog (which I can't find now) where the mom was sick of having her refrigerator covered in the kids' artwork & pictures, so she made a brag board.

I wanted to make them to fit both of our moms' personalities and I think I accomplished that.
Here is the one I made for my mom:

And here is the one I made for DH's mom:

This one was a little trickier than my mom's was. I went to Roberts to get white vinyl but they were out, so I had to figure something else out. I looked at chipboard letters but they were too small. I thought of letter stickers, but again, too small. I finally decided to use my neighbors cricut and cut out the letters. We found some really elegant ivory paper with a gold sheen (enlarge the picture to see) and then we found some awesome jewel embellishments.
I painted to board Cinderella blue, MIL's favorite color. Even her car is that color. I painted the border of the board and the clothespins ivory to go with the paper.

I'm pretty happy with the result. I think it looks better than it would have if I had just done white vinyl. Funny how that always happens; you go to the craft store with an idea and you end up doing something totally different.

I had pictures printed to hang from the clothespins but I cannot find them!!!! Hopefully I'll come across them before we head to our folks' houses.
*****Sad Update: DH's mom's brag board was damaged en route to her house. It was still a little tacky and DH's clack coat touched it. Now it's covered in black fuzzies. There is no way I'm giving this to my mother in law. Aaargh!

Toddler Bed

2010-05-11T15:41:00.001-07:00

DD fell in love with this toddler bed at Kid to Kid. DH wanted to get her a toddler bed and this was only $35! It's sturdy and in great condition! It had a beautiful cherry stain but the nursery is white, so....

My Review of WinCo

2010-05-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

WinCo just opened a store 1 mile from my house. I've watched the building process and I'm so excited that it's finally open!

I told myself that I'd wait a few weeks to go since I knew it would be crazy busy, but I couldn't help myself. I went on opening day and it was a madhouse, but I got about $80 worth of groceries for $30, so I couldn't complain. Later that night, DH and I needed to get milk so we went back. I thought it would be less crowded but I was so wrong! The check-out lines were literally to the back of the store.

My dad loves a good deal so he and my mom came over today so we could go to WinCo. It was still busy but much better so I was able to take a better look at things and I'm very impressed.
The prices are better on most things, but there were a few items we looked at that we knew we could get cheaper at Wal-Mart or Costco.

The store itself is very clean and has a good flow. My favorite section of the store is the bulk section. They have every herb you could possibly want for super cheap. I love that I can get as much as I need and not have to buy a full jar of a spice I need for just one recipe. They also have a huge variety of flour including semolina, gluten, rye, & multiple kinds of wheat. They have bulk honey, which I've never seen. They have a big meat & seafood department and even though I think fish & seafood is disgusting, I did notice that they have a huge variety compared to most stores.

The biggest con I can think of is that you have to bag your own groceries. I like to watch the scanner and make sure I'm getting the right price, but it's not that big of a deal.

I was told today that they're building in WinCo in Layton which should open next year.

I love this store. It is definitely my new store of choice.

Homemade Laundry Soap (Powder)

2010-04-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know why it took me so long to think of using powder instead of making liquid soap. It's so much easier! Not that the original liquid recipe was hard, but this is a sinch!

I grated 2/3 of a bar of Zote and added 2 cups each of Borax and Super Washing Soda. I also added 2 cups of OxiClean since I add that to every load.

Then I add 2 Tbsp (1/8 cup) to 4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) per load, depending on how dirty the clothes are. (I add a full 1/4 cup when I'm washing DH's work clothes.

Easy Peasy!

Death by Oreo

2010-04-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

This is a spin on Hello Dolly's but for Oreo lovers. But beware! they are highly addictive so I suggest you make them to take to a function so they're not sitting around your house.

1 pkg Oreo's
4 Tbsp butter, melted
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini-marshmallows
1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Grease 13 x 9 x 3 pan with PAM.

Place Oreo's in gallon size Ziplock bag. Crush with rolling pin. Add melted butter.

Spread 1/2 the Oreo's in pan. Spread chocolate chips & marshmallows. Cover with remaining Oreo's then evenly spread sweetened condensed milk on top.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Hectic

2010-04-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Life has been a little hectic lately. DH has been really busy at work (good for our income, not for spending time together,) we've been getting over bad colds and we've had some family stuff to do.

4 months ago my mom asked me to present my homemade laundry soap and dryer sheets at a Relief Society activity. I was really nervous but after I made dryer sheets to give away and psyched myself up for the presentation, I was actually getting excited.

But yesterday I tweeked my old back injury and ended up at InstaCare with prescriptions for a few meds. My wonderful sis-in-law came over today to take care of DD so I could rest. (LOL! I have to laugh at the idea of rest. I didn't rest. I was having too much fun chatting with my fav sister! And the pain meds were working quite well so I felt good. I didn't pick up DD, though!) So, I missed the activity tonight. My mom just called to tell me how great it was. I'm bummed that I didn't get to chat with all the wonderful ladies in my ward that I don't get to see anymore.

I have a couple projects that I want to do but I'm scared. I really want to paint my kitchen cabinets white and paint the walls a tan. It's quite an undertaking and I need to wait until I have DH's full cooperation. My new found couponing hobby has taken up mere time than I thought it would. I hope that with practice I won't have to work so hard at it.

I just need to finish some of my 1/2 completed projects so I can reawaken the crafting bug!

Tidy Tip

2010-04-02T15:07:00.001-07:00

I've been sick for 5 days and I'm just now starting to feel like myself again. While I was sick. my house was a disaster. DD didn't get sick so she had all her normal toddler energy but I didn't have the strength to clean up after her. Now that I've got my energy back, I'm getting my house back to the way I like it.

I was reading Tidy Mom's Tips for a Tidy Home. All her tips are wonderful, but there's one in particular that I've implemented and I love it!

She says:
Don't walk to another room empty handed - there's almost ALWAYS something in a room that belongs some where else - don't pass it up, grab it on your way - even if you just open a door and toss it in!

This is so very true! And it quickly becomes habit!

Hair Styling Mirror

2010-03-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

DD hates having her hair done. She's got such a beautiful head of hair and I want to play around with different styles. Even something as easy as a pony tail is such a hassle that I usually give up.

DD likes to look at herself in the mirror so my mom suggested that I make a little hair station. We were at DI and my mom found a mirror that was perfect. It has a sturdy metal frame and 2 arms that look like they were meant to hold votive candles.

I got it home and spray painted the little arms white (I forgot to take a before picture...again) then I mod podge'd some scrapbook paper to the frame. I was so thrilled when I found this paper because has the colors that are already in her room as well as colors I plan to add if our next baby is a boy. DH hung this on the wall last night but DD is napping and I don't dare go in to take a picture of it on the wall.
I'm about to wake her up so we can go to Toddler Time at The Treehouse, so we'll see how well this works.

****Update: It's a week since I posted this and I finally got a picture of DD and the mirror. She LOVES it! No more wrestling to get her hair done!

Chicken Divan

2010-03-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

Along with trying the recipes in the Deceptively Delicious book, I've been trying to use the concepts I learned to adapt my own recipes.

One of our favorite dinners is Chicken Divan, or Rice/Chicken/Broccoli casserole.
So, here is the recipe, with my adaptions:

2 (10 oz) pkgs. frozen broccoli florets
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 cup cottage cheese
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups cooked rice
2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
breadcrumb
Parmesan or cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Slightly cook broccoli and set aside.
Combine soup, buttermilk, cottage cheese, lemon juice, and curry powder in blender and puree.
In a 13x9 baking dish, layer 1/2 soup mixture, all of the rice, all of the chicken & broccoli. Top with remaining soup mixture.
Dust with breadcrumb & cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.
Uncover and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

My adaptions:
Add 1/2 cup broccoli puree to the soup mixture. I used this instead of the broccoli florets on top, but you could do both.
Add 1/2 cup cauliflower puree to soup mixture.
I used low-fat cottage cheese. I have also low-fat ricotta cheese when I didn't have cottage cheese.
I didn't have buttermilk so I put 1/2 Tbsp. of white vinegar in a 1/2 cup measuring cup and filled the remainder with milk.
I added another drop of lemon juice and a sprinkle of curry powder because the flavors weren't as strong after I added the broccoli and cauliflower.
I add ground flax seeds to the breadcrumb topping.

Tofu Nuggets

2010-03-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

My childhood friend turned cousin-in-law got me excited about a book called Deceptively Delicious. I saw it on clearance at Deseret Book so I bought it.
I love the concept of hiding vegetables in food. DH & DD are good vegetable eaters, so really I bought this with myself in mind.
I spent an evening pureeing foods so I'd have them ready in the freezer. For lunch I decided to make tofu nuggets for DD & myself. I had to make these when DH was working, he gags at the thought of tofu.

I thought they were delicious!

Tofu Nuggets

1 cup whole wheat or white breadcrumbs ( I only had Italian and I think it added lots of flavor)
1 TBSP flax seed meal (buy a big jar at Costco for cheap)
1 TBSP grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 cup spinach, broccoli or pea puree (I used broccoli)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 (14. oz) package extra firm tofu , preferably with calcium
1/2 tsp. salt
Nonstick cooking spray
1 TBSP olive oil

1. In a bowl, stir together the breadcrumbs, flax seed meal, Parmesan, and paprika. Set aside.
2. In a shallow bowl, much puree and egg with a fork, and set the bowl next to the breadcrumb mixture.
3. Slice the tofu 1/2 inch thick and cube it or cut into shapes with cookie cutter. Sprinkle both sides with salt. Dip tofu pieces into the puree mixture, then roll them in breadcrumbs until the tofu is completely covered and you can't see the puree.
4. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil.
5. Add the tofu nuggets in a single layer (be careful not to crowd the pan!) and cook until nicely browned on one side 3 to 4 minutes. Turn and cook until breadcrumb coating is crisp and golden, 2 to 3 minutes longer.

Couponing

2010-03-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

I tried couponing once before and I found it totally confusing.
On Monday night I was at Smith's and I overheard 2 ladies talking about some awesome deals they got. I plucked up my courage to walk up to them and ask what source they use for couponing. They were super friendly and told me about pinchingyourpennies.com I told her that couponing confused me, but she said that this website walks you through it and makes it easy. She told me how she bought $200 worth of groceries the previous day and paid $30 out of pocket. I can't pass up deals like that. I came home and explored PYP and decided that I want to do it. DH even got excited about it.

I was looking at the PYP blog and found a great deal going on at Rite Aid. So I went with coupons in hand and got all of this:

for FREE. Now, I did pay some money out of pocket, but I will be getting a $25 rebate from Rite Aid so I will end up making money!

I was able to stock up on stuff we always need like Sudafed & Motrin, and get some things I've always wanted to try (KY Yours & Mine) :) all for FREE.

Dresses

2010-03-14T23:03:00.000-07:00

DD broke my camera so I've had to take pictures with my phone, which aren't very good. So I apologize for the quality. (Not that my camera took great pictures either :))

I've been making dresses for DD. It's my first attempt at sewing clothes and I'm surprised that I'm really enjoying it.
This was my first dress.
I took a onesie and added a skirt and ruffles. The fabric was a remnant I got at Hobby Lobby that I knew I'd be able to put to good use.

This is DD's Easter dress. Or rather, what was supposed to be her Easter dress but it's so big on her that I'm going to stick it in the closet for next Easter.
But I've conquered my fear of patterns. That's a big thing for me!

Awesome Giveaway on Make It and Love It

2010-03-04T15:47:00.000-08:00

R'z Cozy Creations is a new sponsor on my favorite site, Make It and Love It. She makes adorable bean bag chairs for kids and luscious clover car seat blankets, which I LOVE, I used them for DD

Check it out here

Easter Preparations

2010-03-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

Hubby recently informed me that Easter is his favorite holiday because "Easter candy is the BEST!" How we've been married for 2 1/2 years and I didn't know this is beyond me.

So, as I've been shopping lately I've been picking up Easter supplies . We didn't even have the basics like Easter baskets.

Tonight hubby is working and while DD is napping, I decided to collect everything I've got so far and see where I'm at.

This is 4 bags of plastic eggs that are now all filled with candy.
I think I've got enough. Now the trick will be hiding these for a month so DH doesn't eat all his candy before Easter.

Rotary Cutter Tip

2010-02-26T21:22:00.001-08:00

BFF and I were talking about how much we love rotary cutters as opposed to scissors. However, we both get frustrated because the ruler that you're using to cut a straight line tends to slip, and there goes your straight line.
BFF told be that her mom has a ruler with a non-slip grip. Then a light bulb went off. Hot glue tends to have the same effect. So I glued a thin layer of hot glue around the edge of my ruler and, voila! No more ruler slip!

I'm sure many other people have already thought of this, but I thought I'd throw it out there just in case.

Seth's Birthday Cake

2010-02-26T08:34:00.001-08:00

My cousin called me last week and asked me to make a cake for her son's first birthday.
We decided on a dump truck. It was a little hard for me to switch to "baby boy" mode because I'm so used to all things "baby girl."
With DH's creative help, I was able to get the entire thing done in about 6 hours.
We decided to make it a whimsical since it is for a baby.
It still needs some finishing touches. I have to transport it 30 miles and I'm really nervous. I'll wait and add the last minute details when I get the cake safely my cousins house.

Bathroom on a Budget

2010-02-16T18:50:00.001-08:00

I just realized that I forgot to talk about the cost of our bathroom makeover. It was very, very cheap.

Paint & supplies totaled about $40, which we were reimbursed for by our boss/landlord =$0
Fabric from JoAnn's = $9
4 Towels from Costco @ $6.99 each= $28
3 hand towels from Wal-mart @ $2.50 each= $7.50
4 washcloths from Wal-mart @ $1.50 each= $6
3 candles from Dollar Tree= $3
White shelf from DI= $3
Towel Hook from Wal-mart= $2
Shower curtain liner from Ross= $4
Shower curtain from Ross $7.99 but my parents found it and purchased it= $0

Grand total= $62.50

If we had not been reimbursed for the paint and supplies it would have been just over $100.
Not bad at all for a bathroom makeover!

Our Bathroom Revealed

2010-02-15T21:59:00.000-08:00

The bathroom isn't 100% complete but we're almost finished and I'm dying to show it off.
Once again, here's the before:
And here's the after:
What's that in the left corner, you ask, well, here's a closer look:
My wonderful, talented hubby painted this silhouette. This is actually the one thing that isn't completely finished. He spent the last 2 hours meticulously going over the tree to give it a second coat and he was only able to get through half of it.

I found beautiful towels at Costco and those towels determined that the colors of the bathroom would be sage green and a very light baby blue. So, with towels in hand and my BFF alongside for opinions, I went to JoAnn's to find coordinating fabric. I found 3 fabrics that I fell in love with and I've been adding these fabrics to everything I can. (This is a really bad picture of the fabric.)Here's how I added color to the new shower curtain:
A closer look:

For the vanity I really wanted to show off the colors I chose. I went to walmart and to my surprise they had exact color green I wanted in the Mainstays brand. The blue was a little brighter than I wanted but it works. And the price was right.

See, I added fabric to anything I could!

The little white shelf was a DI find that has been sitting in DD's closet for months. I happened to look at the candles in Dollar Tree and voila! the perfect color candles for my bathroom.
There was one victim in our makeover and that is our vanity. It cracked and is now in 2 pieces. But, lucky for me DH is handy and he can fix it.
So there it is. 2 weeks of having the bathroom in a state of chaos. But it was definitely worth it!

Discovering New Products

2010-02-15T12:54:00.000-08:00

We're in the finishing stages of the bathroom. I hate it because I just want it to be done but I love it because I get to decorate. I've been working on a lot of things but I don't want to reveal anything until it's completely done.

But in the process of making over our bathroom, I have discovered two new products that I have fallen in love with.

The first is Renuzit Crystal Elements. I saw a buy one get one free coupon in the P&G coupons that come in the mail. I have to be very careful when I'm going through those coupons because I tend to buy products that I wouldn't normally buy just because there's a coupon. So I thought about these Crystal Elements and tried to convince myself that it was just another coupon-induced impulse desire. But then I thought about how I hate having aerosol cans of air freshener in the bathroom and decided that this might be a good compromise.
I bought it and I LOVE it! I just got it today so I don't know how long it will last, but I'm very happy for now.

The second product is a solution to an infuriating problem we've had. Our tub is old and filthy. No matter how often I clean it, it is always filthy. Months ago I saw a commercial for Kaboom Foam-tastic and wanted to try it but I could not find it in any store. Months after giving up and becoming accepting my filthy tub, I saw kaboom sitting on a shelf at Wal-Mart. I tried it and Oh. My. Gosh! It works! It's fantastic! I told my parents about Kaboom and they tried it on a basement shower that they were about to give up on and...it Worked!!!! This stuff if amazing!!!

Just thought I'd share....

Sweet and Sour Chicken

2010-02-07T19:47:00.001-08:00

I don't know about you, but every time I have had homemade Sweet and Sour Chicken, it never tastes as good as you get at a Chinese restaurant. The sweet and sour sauce is always too vinegary and if you buy the jarred sauce, well, that's just nasty.

Last night around one a.m., I told my hubby that I was craving Chinese food. Since there are no restaurants open that late, I looked at recipezaar and, like always, searched by rating. This is the first recipe that popped up. We were too tired to make it last night so I made it for dinner tonight.

It tastes exactly like you get at a GOOD Chinese restaurant! The sauce is sweet and the batter on the chicken is beautiful! Best of all, it's EASY.Go here for the recipe

Crochet Headband

2010-02-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

Had to take a break from the bathroom makeover. We've had a couple setbacks and I was getting mad.

I logged onto The How-To Gal and saw her post for this crochet headband which I've been wanting to make for a while. Here's what I ended up with:

Bathroom Makeover

2010-02-03T13:38:00.000-08:00

We've been working on our bathroom for 3 days now. It's almost done. I'm just waiting for DH to get home from with some tools and a ladder off his work truck so we can reach the top of the walls and fix a few things.

The before bathroom is so ugly that I feel it deserves an explanation.
Before we moved 6 months ago, the maintenance guy for the mortuary (did I ever mention that we live at a mortuary? Well, not IN the mortuary, in a duplex next door owned my the mortuary.) ripped off the wallpaper that was ALL OVER the house. Then he painted the entire house white. I had been in the house before they did any of this and believe me, I'd rather live in an all-white asylum then in a house with 70's wallpaper on every wall.

Anyway, the only room he didn't have time to get to was the bathroom. They installed a new toilet and a new vanity, which was slightly smaller than the previous one and left a hole in my wall for 3 months.

The bathroom wouldn't have been too bad if someone hadn't painted these hideous daisy's with neon yellow accents all over the walls.

So, in this picture you can see the neon flowers and in the bottom right corner you can see the raw drywall piece of wall that was finally installed to patch the big hole in the wall.

The bathroom (which I think is more like a closet) currently looks like this (sorry my camera takes such crappy pictures, when we're all done I'll get my MIL's fancy Nikon and take some pictures)

And I love it! Stay tuned...

Project in the works...wall art

2010-01-30T13:21:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting DH to paint something on our bedroom wall but I can't decide what I want. I saw this on Growing Up Creative and thought it was the perfect solution.

It's art made out of toilet paper rolls. My only problem now is that I have to wait for toilet paper rolls to come available so I can continue. Here's what I have so far:

I really like the natural brown color so I've decided to leave most of it brown and paint just a few flowers red to match our room.

Best of all, it's FREE!

Winner of the Giveaway!

2010-01-28T17:16:00.000-08:00

Random.org chose #4, which is Melissa from My Craftie Life! Congratulations! I will be getting on touch with you and we can discuss the colors you would like me to use for your seat belt covers!

Guilt Stories and a MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!!!

2010-01-21T19:06:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to do a giveaway for quite a while now. My problem is that most things I make are for my home so I couldn't think of what I could give away. But, my cousin is doing her first giveaway and that gave me the motivation to just do it!

So, back to the title of this entry and then on to the giveaway.

The other day I was getting DD out of the car and I fell while I was holding her (Stupid snow!). She hit the cement with her face. I was scared that she cracked her head open but she just got a scratch on the head and nose. Luckily I was at my in-laws when it happened and DH's mom is a Nurse Practitioner and was able to examine her and assure me that she was okay. But I felt HORRIBLE! This is my first "accidentally injuring my own child" experience. And every time I see her scabbed nose I feel horrible all over again.

So, what does this story and the giveaway have in common? I want you to leave a comment and tell me one of your "accidentally injuring your own child" stories. Or, if you don't have children, just tell me a funny story.

And what do you get?

You can choose between a set of these:(Note her poor little nose)

They are seat belt covers to protect our little ones' necks. I'll even let you pick the colors you want!!!! ( I must give credit where credit is due for these seat belt covers. I got the idea from my favorite blogger Ashely over at Make It and Love it)

Or you can choose a microwavable baked potato bag:Again, I'll let you pick the colors you want!

Only one entry per person *OR* if you start following me, you can have up to 3 entries.
And please tell me if you want a baked potato bag or seat belt covers.

The giveaway will close at 6:00 pm (mountain time) on Thursday, Jan. 28th. Make sure your comment either links to your blog or tells me some way to get in touch with you.

Project in the works...door frames

2010-01-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

Our house is at least 60 years old. Probably more. That comes with a lot of down sides i.e. lath and plaster instead of drywall, aluminum ducts with asbestos tape....But, it also has some cool old woodwork. Unfortunately the original wood has been painted over. So, instead of stripping the paint we decided to paint the door frames so they stand out. We've only put the first coat on so far, but it looks amazing.

This is in my "black room." All the furniture is black and the couch is soon to be recovered in black. I was hesitant when DH suggested painting the door frames black, but I'm glad I went along with it.

Our little helper monkey

I also made new curtains recently but I wasn't going to post pictures until the couch was recovered. Oh well, here are the curtains:
I decided to hang them down like this rather than off to the side so they hide the ugly swamp cooler. I also made fabric flowers and put them on the tiebacks.

More pictures to come when the room in finished.

Grocery Bag Holder

2009-12-29T20:20:00.000-08:00

I loved this grocery bag holder that I found on one of my favorite sites Make It and Love It. I made one for my bro-in-law and his bride and loved it so much I decided to make one for my mom & sister.
I followed Ashley's tutorial which you can find here

I been obsessed with fabric flowers lately so I added one of those. You can find a great tutorial for fabric flowers here.

Tip Junkie has tutorials for many different types of fabric flowers. You can find them here.

Sugared Cinnamon Almonds (Like you get at the mall)

2009-12-23T14:26:00.000-08:00

My mom made these the other day and I had to try them for myself. She found them here. They really are just like the ones you get at the mall and they make your house smell fabulous!

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups whole almonds
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1 egg white
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly spray with vegetable oil.

In a large bowl combine sugar and cinnamon.

In another large bowl, beat egg white until slightly frothy. Stir in vanilla and salt.

Add almonds to egg mixture and toss to coat

Pour almonds into cinnamon sugar and toss to coat

Spread sugar coated almonds onto lined baking sheet

Bake for 25 minutes; stir after 10 minutes

Let cool and remove from pan with slotted spoon

Missing my baby

2009-12-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

Do you ever just miss your children?
They're just sleeping but you want them to be awake so you can hug them and kiss them.
But no mother would ever wake their child up....

I was so happy to hear Bridget's little noises this morning (actually, it's 11:15 and she just woke up from her 12+ hours of slumber. I'm lucky, I know) so I flung open her door and was greeted by her beautiful, giddy smile.

Oh how I love this little girl.

Recovered Sewing Box

2009-12-18T15:16:00.000-08:00

About a year ago, long before I got into sewing, I went looking for a sewing box to hold the few sewing materials I had (like needles and thread). I found some cute ones but I thought $20 was ridiculous, especially since I was never gong to get into crafts. (Never say never!)

I found this at the thrift store. I liked the baby blue but the fabric was ugly, but who cares because, again, I wasn't into crafts. I look it home and it held every single crafty thing I had, with ample room to spare.

Well, now that I've come over to the crafty side and I use this all the time to hold my sewing notions, I decided that ugly old grandma cover had to go. I looked through my fabric remnants and found a fat quarter I had bought at JoAnns. It's hard to tell in this picture (because my camera sucks) that the blues match perfectly.

Much prettier now.

Appliqued Potato Bag

2009-12-13T17:34:00.000-08:00

I think the potato fabric is a little dizzying and I liked the idea of appliqueing 2 potatoes onto the front of the bag so I gave it a try. This bag is for my BFF so I know she wont judge me for the flaws. I like this look a lot better than the all-potato fabric.

I'm anxious to start a pillow slipcover with appliqued flowers.

Homemade Baby Wipes

2009-12-11T16:58:00.000-08:00

It seems that Kirkland changed their baby wipe formula and I don't like them much. So I decided to try homemade baby wipes. They're so easy and I like them much better.
I still carry store bought wipes in my diaper bad, these just stay at the changing table.

Homemade Baby Wipes

1 roll of strong paper towels, roll cut in half and cardboard removed
1/4 cup baby soap (I use Baby Magic)
1/4 cup baby oil
1 1/4 cup water
Container Place paper towels in container. Mix soap, oil and water together. Pour into container. Pill wipes from the center (where the cardboard tube used to be.)

I found a 2 qt. rubbermaid container at walmart for under $2. I tried to cut an "x" in the lid but it was made of hard plastic and it broke. It left a triangle shaped hole in the lid which actually works really well.

My favorite thing about these wipes is that they smell like Baby Magic. Yummm! Is there any better smell in this world?!

More Hanging Dishtowels

2009-12-11T15:59:00.001-08:00

Turns out DH's brother and his wife's kitchen is red and black, not green. The rest of their house is green, but I guess I shouldn't have assumed. Anyway, I made them red and black hanging dishtowels and I think they turned out really cute.

My kitchen is red and white so I made these for myself.

Hanging Dishtowels

2009-12-07T22:40:00.000-08:00

DD takes dishtowels off the oven door the second she enters the kitchen. I remember the dishtowels that had the crochet loop on top, but that's more for my mom's kitchen.

Yesterday I was browsing Somewhat Simple and found the solution to my problem. Tanya from Trey & Lucy was guest blogging and featured these hanging dishtowels

I was at Wal-mart and I went to look for dishtowels with matching potholders. The were out of red (my kitchen color) but they had green which is the kitchen color for DH's brother & his new bride. So I decided to make some for them.
All of this cost me $3! The potholders come in a 2-pack for $1 and the towels were $1 each.
At the last minute I decided to add some ribbon to spruce them up. I'll be watching for Wal-mart to restock their red dishtowels to make some for myself.

Potato Bags

2009-12-07T22:36:00.001-08:00

We've lived in our new home since August and I finally ventured out to find some fabric stores today. I couldn't resist this potato fabric to make some potato bags. BTW, if anyone hasn't used one, they are incredible. Perfect baked potatoes in 5 minutes. I followed this tutorial

Orange Dream Cookies

2009-12-05T22:30:00.001-08:00

I saw this on Ducks In A Row and had to try it. Oh. My. Gosh. So incredible!

Orange Dream Cookies
1 c. butter softened

2/3 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

1 t. grated orange rind

2 t. orange extract

2 1/4 c. flour

3/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 1/2c - 2 c. white chocolate chips ( I like just 1 1/2 cups)

Cream butter, sugars, eggs, extract and orange rind together. Combine flour, soda, and salt and then slowly add into mixing bowl with other ingredients. Mix in the chocolate chips at the end with a wooden spoon. Drop by tablespoons onto a cookies sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes 4 dozen cookies (when made with 2 cups chocolate chips)

Give them a try!

Easy Tortilla Soup

2009-12-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

It's cold here in Utah. It's also the first snow that is sticking to the roads which meant doing my grocery shopping with a few adventures.

It's definitely a soup kind of day.

I read about an easy and filling tortilla soup and decided to give it a try.

Build your own Tortilla Soup:

Heat:
2 cups chicken broth
1-2 cups salsa (I did one cup)

Let everyone add their own fix-ins, such as:
shredded chicken
cheddar cheese
sour cream
black beans
corn
crushed tortilla chips
and whatever else you can dream up!

My mistake was that I was trying to get rid of some thanksgiving turkey and I added it to the broth to heat it up. Maybe it's just me, but you can't fake turkey for chicken. I just ate around it and added some cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips. Yummmmm!

Dress Solution

2009-12-01T11:14:00.000-08:00

DH's little brother is getting married tomorrow to an amazing girl who has quickly become one of my best friends. I just love her!
We were asked to wear black skirts with a top in one of the wedding colors (hot pink, black, silver and dark green). I've had something in mind but I never actually put the outfit together until saturday night. I quickly realized that it just wasn't going to work. PANIC!

I remembered a black dress I bought and only wore once because it's a wrap around and running after a baby in church in a wrap around dress and teaching 3 year olds was rather difficult. Plus, the neckline is to low and putting a shades shirt underneath dressed it down quite a bit.

On Saturday night we ran to Shopko to see if we could find anything to make this work. When we were ready to give up DH saw a display of long sleeve tee's in hot pink. It was the right color, wrong look. And it didn't solve the problem of the wrap around skirt opening.

It finally dawned on me that I could insert some fabric to the wrap around part so that when the wind was blowing I wouldn't flash everybody.

I came home and started cutting up the t-shirt we bought. I sewed the front of the shirt into the neckline and the back of the shirt into the bottom.

Last night I decided that I didn't like the neckline because it's just a boring t-shirt neck. So I made the neckline to look like a corsage tee like I saw on Make It and Love It. I think it really completed the outfit. Here's the bottom: And here's the whole thing:
Then I made this hair piece to go with it using a super cute black button in the middle that I got in a button grab bag from Walmart

Hair Bow's & Clippies

2009-11-27T19:47:00.001-08:00

Lately I've been making bows in my free time. It is so much fun! DD has an amazing full head of curly hair and I love making a bow to match all of her outfits. All you need is ribbon, a hot glue gun and alligator clips (which I finally found at Sally's. I got 100 for under $5.)

I've found a couple great websites.
hair-hardware has great instructional videos.
Girly Things also has great ideas.
And I found instructions on Ribbon Retreat to make butterfly clippies.

DH's little brother is getting married on Wednesday and I've been trying to decide what kind of bow to make for DD. Her dress is pink and gray so I decided on a pink pinwheel bow with a silver surrounding loop and a jewel in the center. I couldn't resist trying her dress on her with a bow. On the wedding day I'll do pigtails with two bows. This butterfly clippy has a korker body which are so fun and easy to make. You can find a video tutorial on korkers here.

Meet Daisy

2009-11-27T11:00:00.001-08:00

This is Daisy. And I love her!
She is my Christmas present from DH. We dragged DD out of bed to get her at midnight. And we were the only ones there for a sewing machine.

Thanks to the sweet Walmart worker who tipped me off to this sale a few weeks ago! Now I can finally start making all the things I've seen on all the blogs I ~~stock~~ follow. I'm so excited. Thanks hubby!

Full of Thanks

2009-11-25T23:23:00.001-08:00

I have so much to be thankful for. I am thankful for my beautiful family. My wonderful husband who loves me and my beautiful daughter who brings us to much joy.

I'm thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for his sacrifice on my behalf. I'm grateful to belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and for the blessings that have come into my life because of it.

I'm thankful for temples. I'm thankful that I was able to go to the temple with my husband and daughter and be sealed for time and all eternity to them and my future children. I am thankful my life. I'm thankful for this day that reminds us to ponder the things we have to be thankful for. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Snazzing up some notepads

2009-11-25T17:17:00.000-08:00

Life's crazy right now. Not only is tomorrow Thanksgiving, but DH's little brother is getting married on in a week. I've been making bows and clippies for DD in my spare time, but I had a few minutes tonight and I wanted to try this. I saw it on another blog (can't remember which).

I just took some paper and cut it to fit the binding on the top of this notepad and glued it on with Elmer's glue. Fun and quick.

Sob-Fest

2009-11-19T17:52:00.000-08:00

DH is working and I've been sitting her for the past hour having sob-fest 2009!!!!

I've been reading NieNie You probably all know about NieNie already, but I'm just now learning about her.

She has made me appreciate the small things in life. I can cook for my family, I can pick up my daughter, I can bathe myself. What an incredible story. Check it out if you haven't already.

And grab the tissues.

Organized Grocery Shopping

2009-11-19T12:13:00.001-08:00

Back in June or July I decided that I could save a lot of money by only going to the store once every two weeks. But in order to do that I needed to be super organized so I could remember to get everything we would need for 2 weeks.

Organization is a hobby for me so this was just fun! I ended up with 2 excel documents(Click on them to see them bigger). One for my menu: and this one for my shopping list:I don't mind going to multiple stores for the best deal so I have my 3 most shopped at stores on my list plus a spot for any other stores I want to hit. I have my most purchased items typed in and I just highlight it if I need it then I have space to write in whatever else I need. I like having items already typed in because it reminds me to check and see if I need it.

I like having my list in excel format because it is always changing depending on my family's needs. For instance, my baby no longer drinks formula so I'm taking that off the list. And I now make my own laundry soap so I can take off the list as well.

I was going to be all fancy and link my excel documents for anyone who wants them, but I can't figure out how to do that and my fussing baby prohibits me taking time to figure it out. So if you want them, let me know and I'll email them to you.

Leftover List

2009-11-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

This is not some cute craft idea, just something I just started doing that hopefully will save some money. Heck, maybe everyone already does this and I'm just slow.

DH loves leftovers (lucky me!) but he's always forgetting what we have. He got the idea to keep a running list of what we have in the fridge for leftovers. I thought it was a great idea since the day before I threw out a bunch of old food.

So here's what I came up with:

I got this board at JoAnn's in their little $1 - $2.5o section a long time ago.

So I wrote down everything we have for leftovers and to the side I wrote the date it was made and a "I" or "O" indicating whether it's in the fridge in the kitchen or the "outside" fridge (it's not really outside. It's in the pantry)

DH is really good about finding something to eat when he's hungry and it's not meal time. He usually goes for Ramen, but with this I'm hoping he'll eat up all the leftovers and I won't have to throw away old food.

Rolled Turkey and Stuffing

2009-11-12T19:29:00.000-08:00

My dad used to make this and we all loved it. DH and I are going to be on our own for Christmas and I thought this would make for a good Christmas dinner. I decided to try it out for Sunday dinner.

I found a 4 1/2 lb. bone-in turkey breast. After thawing it all night I woke up and boned it. I've never boned poultry before, I just tried to stick as close to the bone as possible. It was quite fun, I felt like I was back in the Operating Room.

Anyway, after I boned the turkey I laid it out flat. I made 2 batches of Stove Top stuffing and cooked up some loose sausage and mixed the two together.

I spread out the stuffing/sausage on the turkey and then rolled it up, securing it with thread.

I baked it in a roasting pan and served it with mashed potatoes and pan gravy.

MMMMMMMMM GOOD!

It definitely doesn't need 2 batches of stuffing, but DH LOVES stuffing and only likes turkey.

Another Wall folder

2009-11-12T16:46:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help myself. I made another one last night!

No more ugly white boards

2009-11-11T20:48:00.001-08:00

Problem: White boards are very useful but they're white and boring.
Solution: Fabric underneath the glass and write on the glass!

It's so simple! I found a $3 frame at DI, fabric for $1.50/yard at Walmart and voila! A message board with some style.

I had planned on paining the frame black, but the wood matches the wood in our kitchen so with a little Old English to fill in the scratches (isn't Old English amazing!?), here's a message board in less than 10 minutes!

Wall Storage Folder

2009-11-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

I saw this on a blog and set out to do my own right away. This is a super cute way to store all those pesky loose papers that add up so fast.

All you need is an old book that you're willing to sacrifice, some scrapbook paper or fabric, and some ribbon.

I'm not so good at taking step by step pictures you can look at the step by step tutorial that I used here.

Here's my brief tutorial:
I couldn't find any books in the house that I wanted to sacrifice so I went to DI in search of big (larger than a piece of paper) hard cover books. The only problem is that I kept finding the perfect size book but it would be a great recipe book and I didn't want to tear it apart.
Anyway, I finally found 3 books for only $1 each.

I decided to cover mine in fabric so after I cut the pages out of the book and had only the cover left I plugged in my hot glue gun and set to work covering the outside of the book. Then I used some scrapbook paper for the inside of the book, because some of it will be seen.

I followed the tutorial when I made my holes for the thread. I used embroidery thread and coordinating buttons , but you can use anything.

I know my tutorial is very vague but if you follow the link, it tells you everything you need to know.

This takes less than an hour to make and you may already have everything in the house to make it.