Monster Pillows

My son found some cute stuffed monsters on Pinterest a few months ago.  And he has been talking about them ever since.  I tried to find the etsy shop that sold them, but I couldn't find them.  I don't think she makes them anymore.
 (A reader just commented and shared with me the name of the shop that sold the monsters.  She doesn't have any listed right now, but she may in the future.  Her shop is called Little Bit Funky.  She is really creative and has some really cute items!)

In fact, my son (who was 9 years old at the time) loved these monsters so much that he made a few for his brothers and sisters and gave them as presents.  He made them all by himself and did a really good job!  

He made these little ones:

So for his birthday, the only thing that he wanted was a monster for himself.  

I decided to make a bigger one and surprise him!

The front has a pocket and I sewed on the letter C, since that is the first letter of his name.  

(Since his birthday, my other son begged for one, so I had to make another monster with the letter A. I am also in the process of making one with a D.)

You should have seen his face when he opened his present!  He was so excited and carried that monster everywhere!  I think he even took it to school to show his friends.  Now the kids at school want one!  :)

This monster has been everywhere, even camping!  My boys love them, because they use them in the car on long trips as a pillow.

So now, I have more monsters to make... I better get busy!

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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