Real Life- What to Plant??

We planted our garden a few weeks ago.  On the way to pick up the plants, I asked my children what they would like to plant...  

My son (3 years old) replies, "COOKIES!"  Ohhh, if it were that easy!

Cinder Block Sand Box

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I have had an excess of cinder blocks around my house and I was getting really sick of them piled up everywhere.  I decided that I will start making them into things.  The first thing that we put together was a sand box for our children.  Let me tell you, they absolutely LOVE it! 

Our yard is an obvious working project, but it is getting better.  My children loved making this sand box especially because on one side they planted some plants inside the cinder blocks.  They love to water the plants and so far they have been really cautious about squishing them.

This morning we even went and bought some sand toys at Walmart and they have been playing in it all morning!  It has been really nice!

Now I am excited to get the rest of the yard going!!

Chocolate Cake Balls

This past month, my third son had his 10th birthday.  When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he responded that he wanted Chocolate Cake Balls!  Yummy!  A few years ago he wanted Lemon Cake Balls and they were delicious!

 I love making cake balls because they are so easy to serve.  There is no cutting the cake, just pick up the cake ball, put it in a bowl and add ice cream.  And they would be even easier to serve if you add sticks to them!

This is how we make our cake balls:

Pick out your favorite cake and bake it according to the directions on the box.  I baked mine in a 9x13 inch pan. 

After it is out of the oven and cooled, take the entire cake and put it in a bowl with a tub of frosting.  (For these cake balls, we used devil's food cake and chocolate frosting.)  Now mix the cake and frosting until the mixture becomes creamy.  I know it sounds weird, but trust me...

Now form the mixture into balls, put on wax paper or a well greased pan and freeze for a few hours. You could place the mixture in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to make it easier to form into balls.

Dip the frozen cake balls in melted chocolate and allow the chocolate to harden.  And enjoy!

These are so rich and moist and creamy with the frosting mixed into the cake.  It's the ultimate cake ball!

Friday Feature: Sew Stormy

I have a friend here in El Paso that is so talented and when I found out that she has a blog, I knew I had to let you all know.  Her blog is called Sew Stormy.  She has five children and as you can imagine, is always busy, but she finds time to work on fun projects.

She has an amazing sense of style!  She just recently repainted her dining room to this beautiful blue.  You can take a look at the before pictures on her blog.  The blue is so calming, I love it!

She is an incredible quilter!  She has a whole room in her house that is set up just for all her quilting!  I would love a room like that!  She is always working on a quilt, or five...

Here is her Daisy Buttons Quilt. 

Here is another quilt that I think is darling!  I love all the colors in it!

This one is called the Modern Rose Garden.

I also love her Swoon Quilt!

But she does more than quilt and paint her house, she also is a canner and cans her own fruit and jams. 

And she decorates so cute!  Here is frame wreath that she made this past fall.  I love fall!

So...you really should head on over to Sew Stormy and look around at all her craftiness!  You won't be disappointed!

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Paper-bag Popcorn

If you love Popcorn this is a gotta try recipe and cost just pennies compared to the commercial microwave popcorn.

You are going to need:

 Brown Paper Bag

Popping Corn

Salt

and Melted Butter (optional)

You will first add about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of Popping Corn to the Brown Paper Bag. Its really not going to make a big difference on the outcome if you over or under measure. 

Add a dollop of Melted Butter.

Then Salt it up. 

You need to fold the top of the bag a few times so that when it is being popped it doesn't get all over. 

Next, put it in the Microwave for about 2 min. Every microwave is different, so listen carefully, when they quit popping that is a sure sign that it is done.

Now open it up and you have lovely popcorn! Enjoy! 

Cutting Edge Stencils Giveaway Winner

We are happy to announce the winner of our giveaway!  But first, just a little review...

Cutting Edge Stencils was so generous to give one of our readers a stencil of their choice up to $50!

For those of you who missed the giveaway, here is a picture of the before and after of my bathroom.  I took down the wallpaper and painted using Cutting Edge Stencils.  I love my bathroom now!  You can check out the post here.  

And now for the winner...

Out of 648 entries, Rafflecopter chose...

Entry #254 Theresa M.

 

Congratulations!

I will email you, if I don't hear a response within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Thanks to all who entered!

DIY- Bandana Dress

A couple months ago, we were at a farm show in Amarillo.  One of the venders gave me a couple of CASE bandanas that I thought were pretty neat.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them- a Bandana Dress for my daughter.  I am just now getting around to it...

Here is how I did it.

I got two of the bandanas and sewed them with right sides together.

Then I gathered the very top of the bandanas to make it flow at the bottom.

I then got out one of my daughters dresses and cut out a pattern for the top.  Then I stitched it together, I just eye balled it... 

When the top is all stitched up, just sew it to the gathered skirt.

This is how it looks when it is all stitched up.

I wanted a couple of red accents, so I had some red ribbon that I stitched on for sleeves, a ribbon etc...

Then you are done!

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Repurpose: Diaper Box into Denim Box

 My 12 year old twins go to middle school and have to wear uniforms and didn't have any room for all these extra clothes in their dresser.  So they have been keeping their clothes in a diaper box under the bed.  I promised that we would turn the diaper box into something else that didn't look like a diaper box, or have a baby on the front.  I am just now getting around to keeping that promise.  I don't know why it took me so long, it was so easy and quick!

I covered the diaper box with some heavy duty denim fabric that I bought at a yard sale a couple of years ago.  This was incredibly easy!  It only took about 15 minutes.  Making the liner in easy too.  There is a tutorial on Make it Love it if you are interested in making your own liner.  

When I made my liner, I just measured each side of the box and added an inch to the top and side for seam allowances.  Then I sewed all the pieces together.  Fold over the edges and sew a seam casing for the ribbon and you're done!  Easier said than done, right?  It's really not that hard.

Here is how I recovered my box.  This is actually the second one that I did.  My boys loved the first one so much, that I decided to make a second one.  They fit perfectly under the bunk beds and look so much organized than the system they are using now.

First, measure the top of your box.  Mine is about 11.5 inches tall.  So I made sure to cut about 15 inches around the box so I could fold over the sides into the box.  More on that later.  The first box I use was very sturdy.  So I cut off the flaps that fold to make the top.  This box has been used and abused by my boys.  They folded the flaps into the box and used packing tape to secure them, so I left it that way.  I figured that the box would be that much sturdier.

Cut your fabric around the box as shown.  I cut 15 inched around the entire box. Now cut a square out for each corner.  I measured 2 inches  out from the corner and then cut the square out.

This is the spray adhesive that I used.  There is NO sewing to recover the box, only to make the liner.

Spray the bottom of the box.  It is best to do this in a well ventilated area.  Outside would be best.
Place the box in the center of your fabric.  Then turn the box upside down and smooth the fabric over the bottom of the box.

Now for the sides:  I did the longer side first.  Spray the whole side of the box and smooth the fabric over the box.

 

Now spray the inside of the box, just enough for the fabric to cover.  You don't have to spray the whole inside. Then repeat on the other side.

This is what your box should look like now.  The long sides are done and now we are ready to do the short sides.  Before you spray for the short side, you need to spray a little to attach the remnant from the long side onto to the short side.
 

Now you need to make sure your fabric folds this way.  You are going to spray the short side of the box, but as you attach your material to the box you need to fold in the sides.

Here, my fabric is attached and the sides are folded.  Now spray into the fold and apply pressure.

Spray the inside of the box to attach the rest of the fabric and then repeat on the other side.

Now your box is done and the liner can be made.  So cute and easy!

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Show me Some BLING!

How do you like this little beauty? Last week I received a pretty pink package in the mail and knew exactly what it was.  Just a few days before, I ordered JGOOD's   

'Bloomingdale' Tiered Engagement Style Ring.

 

It came in such cute packaging! The ring was in a beautiful shimmery white quilted jewelry box that was wrapped up in pink tissue paper with the JGOOD logo printed on a sticker.  

I had to take a picture because opening it was too much fun!  However, it was night time, so the pictures aren't the greatest.

And here is my ring!  My 12 year old son took these pictures. (Not too shabby a photographer!  He even shoots in manual!)  I love the ring!  It is so beautiful!  I wore it to Church on Sunday.  This is a ring that I wear to "special occasions".  It's fun to get dressed up and show a little bling!

Have any of you heard of JGOOD?  They are an online company that sells some amazing and beautiful jewelry!

They describe themselves as a "private shopping community for designer fashion goods marketed exclusively through our members."  So what exactly does that mean?  

They market their products by using Social Rewards.  For example, if you sign up under Babblings and More (by clicking on the link below) then you get $5 to spend by becoming a member through us and once you make your first order, we get credited $10 or points to spend.  And then if you refer a friend, your friend gets $5 to spend and you get credited $10 after they make their first order for you to spend.  Make sense?  This is how they advertise their business.

  JGOOD was featured on People Magazine’s under their “Exclusive Deals” section seen here: http://www.peoplestylewatch.com/people/stylewatch/gallery/0,,20333808,00.html#21111532

The jewelry that they have is really beautiful as well.  My favorite is the Vintage Affair Collection by Brooke Hill.  I love the timeless look that they have!  You really have to check it out!  And the rings are gorgeous!

Their website is really catching on.  Their facebook page has over 31,000 likes!

Curious yet?  Click on over to their website and look around, you won't be disappointed!

JGOOD: Sign up through this link and get $5 to spend!

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