Giving warms the heart

If you're like me, you want to give and give and give some more around Christmas. I give till I get myself in trouble. I like to shop anyway, and then I continue to see things that "remind me" of this person or that... I have to let them know that I was thinking about them, right?!

Well to keep myself out of trouble, in more than one way, I stay at home one weekend in December and bake & make candies. My munchkins and I have a blast, create memories, & mama spends less dough. {pun intended}

Creating these treats helps me to give baskets to people that I love and think about without breaking the bank. On this occasion, however, I found myself without enough actual baskets to pack in. So here was my innovative solution! Remember the boxes that cuties come in? Yes! I wrapped that sucker in some gift wrap and viola! Instant Christmas basket!

Autumn Crafting for kids

There is about two whole things that I love about Autumn, #1 Boots! and #2 the falling leaves/changing colors. That being said, when fall starts to fall I start to stay "in" more often... drink hot cocoa, and have movie nights as well as crafting time.

I am very blessed to have two kids that love to do crafts with me. My oldest is so in tune with crafts, as you saw last week, so I know she is going to enjoy this one once she sees it!

I found it over at Pinterest, of course.

I'm so in love with these and can not trace back the link :/

However, I found this one too, and it is just as adorable! This blog is where this links too.

Can't wait! When we are done you shall be sure we will share our end result ;)

Baby Shower for my newest lil niece

As you can imagine we wanted to spend as much time possible with family before going West. Luckily for us, we had loads of things to do to accomplish this feat. Amongst all the fun last minute things we did, I got to plan a shower for my newest arrival to my extended family. I was getting (now have) a little niece. My sister and I landed on an owl themed shower, and being the good sibling I am I got to "pinning". Like everyone on Pinterest, we found more than we could accomplish, but over all I think it turned out great given the shoestring budget.

If you have been around my blog much, you know that I use to work for a label company, thus always including water bottle designs into every party I plan.

I found something very similar to this on Pinterest, and had to "steal" the idea to make it my own. I like to give credit where credit is due, but when I opened the link to find it, the image was just cache. I put animal crackers inside these and made them our table centerpieces. They did double duty, make the place look pretty, and keep the kids calm and quite while we played games.

Ultrasound pictures were provided by the mother to be, and I made the banner to match our overall color scheme. The lights were a Target dollar spot find! I got them for a dollar and they matched perfectly!

I created this sign in to be very much like the wedding ones I've seen around a lot, but I decided to make the tree more like a storybook theme so that we could hang it in baby's room. I really like how it turned out with the fingerprints as the leaves.

This I can not take credit for, however I wish I could, it turned out perfect! I found one similar on (you guessed it) Pinterest and handed the project over to the mother in law. She did such an awesome job. Definitely competes with the one I found over here.

One more thing that I can not claim as my own, but was amazing! One of the guests brought this awesome diaper cake that just put the final touch on our decor. Is it not lovely?

Over all we had a nice time, delicious food/cake, and great conversation. 

That is what showers are for right?!

More baby arrivals

Here are the centerpieces for the other baby shower I went to. I really wish I would have taken pictures of all the diaper cakes. Every single one of them were different. The one I was sitting in front of, there were two ‘NUK’ food-mesh-spoons crisscrossed on the top. Again, wish I would have taken pictures. I was running around visiting with family, and didn’t have the camera enough. But, the point is, all of them were very cute.

Artwalk (part 2)

As promised, here is the other half of the artwalk. These are from all the other grades, so will not include any art works from my munchkin.

I realize there are a lot of pictures here, so you can’t really see the detail, but every. single. one. is holding a child. So sweet! Reminded me of why exactly I was there.

I guess I should be embarrassed that I do not know who she is?! The kids works of art were amazing though!

This was Alisa’s favorite one however. Isn’t it pretty? The middle was tissue paper. I was thinking this would be a nice craft for her & her sister on a rainy afternoon.

This was the one that I wanted to attempt. I would have never thought to try to recreate my version, but I absolutely love these! So bright & colorful to brighten up a space.

Picasso! I was pleasantly surprised at how very awesome these 4th graders did on these!

Here is another project I was thinking would be loads of fun for our family. I had to get all of them in, so here is another picture of them…

What do you think? I love the third one over from the left, top row… reminds me of Paris for some reason????

This one was my husbands favorite. I pointed out the Notre Dame one, but he said it was actually the entire collection together that he liked. I concur.

Arts & Crafts per my 6 Year Old

It is really starting to look like Easter around my house! My Alisa has been hard at work making us all necklaces to celebrate. So what do you guys think? Are they not so craft-cute for an imagination of a 6 year old? I love mine (the purple one).

<3

Over the Rainbow

I love coming home from a long days work to a lovely sight like this! It reminds me of why I was drawn to graphic design in the first place. My oldest clearly got her love of all things stationery from me! Pens, pencils, markers, crayons, paper, stickers, & just colors in general. It wonderful that she can color group already at such a young age. She’ll have no problems with the color wheel & the different hues and saturations. I know it’s a little on the late side…

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Hopping down the bunny trail…

It’s almost that time again! Who else it super excited to color eggs with the children? I don’t know what I love more, their joy or my joy of playing in the pretty colors.

I have been thinking to do the natural dying from veggies & herbs this year. Any opinions or experiences from this you’d like to share?

Frozen Herbs

I love to make, what I like to call, Faux-Chipotle every so often, but I feel like I waste so much cilantro, so I was on a mission. As usual, I turned to my best friend ever Pinterest, and found what I needed. You can freeze herbs!

The thing is, apparently you must layer it in a jar with sea salt. Why sea salt? Ummm I don’t know either, but if something works, why question it? :)

My thinking is it keeps too much moisture at bay, so that they herbs don’t get mushy. That sounds good, right?! Yeap that is the answer I am sticking with.

Also, I haven’t tested this on other herbs, yet, but I want to this summer. My plan is to have an herb garden this year, but we will see how many other things I get to planting. I get carried away every year.

The simple things in life

My husband bought me some lovely roses for International Women’s Day, March 8th. I got a dozen of them, half white and half purple; the colors from our wedding. Isn’t it lovely when your husband remembers the little things?

I was hoping to bring a couple of them to work with me, to enjoy there, but I couldn’t find my bud vase. Actually, do I even own a bud vase? hmmmm… I went ahead to work without them this morning. When I got there, the universe must have heard me, because one of my coworkers were drinking out of this bottle. I walked up to him and said “Oh I see Starbucks changed their packaging. I am such a sucker for cool, unique packaging.” Just like that I had an empty bottle in my hands. Lucky for me I work in the print industry, so getting the sticky label goo off was as easy as walking over to get the acetone off the press. I had the twine in my drawer at home, from use in my garden. So? What do you think? It will look nice on my desk at work, right?

March 8th–Women’s Day…

The first time I heard of International Women’s Day was after I became a mother. With a husband from Europe I should have been getting flowers the 8 years prior to this, right? *sheepish grin here*

Okay, let me tell you what women’s day means to me….  The year that I learned about Women’s Day, I was going through a lot. It was the stuff dreams are made of, two beautiful, and amazing little girls in tow. As all of you women know, this is hard hard work, especially when you have two under two. It was not flowers and trinkets I was looking forward to. It was not some time alone at a spa, & it sure wasn’t a “night out on the town”. It was, in fact, something only a women could truly give me… moral support. This is how International Women’s Day came full circle for me. Women helping women.

Why do we, as women, get so cagey and catty with other women? We have it hard enough ladies.. we need loads of support to get through all that domestic stuff that us “goddesses” are expected to do. Okay, well, let me back up for a minute. All those domestic things that a lot of (but not all) women like to do. Everyone has their own arrangements in their households, but I feel like I would be an awesome “goddess" if only time allowed. This is where our support team steps in, to talk us down off the ledge, we can’t do it all. Also, to let us get the praise we deserve, who better knows how hard it can be than another woman?

So in short, be extra kind to all women today & everyday, because like in my favorite quote:

If we all understood that everyone has their own battles to fight, insecurities to face, loves to contend and goals to attain, the world would be a gentler place.

Happy International Women’s Day! <3

A Latte Love <3

I know that Valentine’s Day is done, but one more post on that thought, okay?

I made this drink cozy for my husband a couple years ago, but came across it again just in time for the day. Unfortunately things have been crazy at work for him, so I stopped by Starbucks & bought the biggest cookie I could find… because I equate chocolate chip cookies with love, don’t you? I believe that he thought it was the best Valentines as well.

Butterflies in the winter

 

How cute is this… the craft, not the amazing little girl! While at the ice carving festival, there was also a wellness expo going on in our local supermarket’s side deli. To keep warm, we bopped around the expo for a bit. My lil punkin’ here is the crafty one, she loves being creative any way possible. When the lady invited her to make this cute butterfly, she was up for it.

What do you need?

1 ziplock baggy

1 clothespin (colored pretty with markers of course)

a pipe cleaner (folded in half)

some yummy food or candy

How easy is that? The possibilities are endless. I am thinking a springtime birthday party craft, or Valentine’s craft with conversational hearts in place of the goldfish?! How about homemade caramel popcorn with red sprinkles and white chocolate, red pipe cleaners with red heart antennae tips. Oh I love it! Must. make. some :)

First Snow has fallen

In lue of the first snow fall, I suppose I should try extra hard to get into the winter spirit. {bah-humbug} Believe me, I am the BIGGEST fan of all things Christmas.. I love to shop, I love to find “that perfect gift” with actual meaning, I love to bake cookies, I love to be in a cozy house with tons of family, but…. but? I HATE the cold! I am one of those people that wears my coat half the day @ work.. seriously.

Now it is time to flip my brain around and concentrate on all the lovely things connected with Christmas… Thanksgiving… New Years… Black Friday…

And if I am to be stuck in the house to avoid the snow? I will CRAFT!

This is what I made last year to give as gifts. What you think?

My baby is growing..

Don’t you appreciate all that grandmothers (& great-grandmothers) do for us! My husband’s grandmother made these for my girls.. aren’t they adorable?

Now that these cute little slippers have went through two little girls and are getting too small for “baby”, this mommy is so sad today. But on a happy note, the other great-grandmother is working on some new scarves for my girls (to share later, promise) :)

Pipe Dreams & Pipe Cleaners

*I need to first put a disclaimer on this about safety and such… help your children to make sure all sharp ends are away from eyes (obviously right?!)

When we were given pipe cleaners after story time at the library, my oldest daughter says “Let’s make glasses mommy” I thought, ‘hmmmm, why not?’

So when we went to the art festival this summer and there were pipe cleaners out on one of the craft tables, guess what was asked for once again?! Only this time it caught on! I saw many children asking there moms to make them as well. I was asked several times where we made them too. I was thinking in spirit of missing summer (again) I would share with you all my special memory.

Happy Halloween!

 

I saved this from one of the craft shows I went to this summer…

Isn’t this whole collage wonderful?!

<3

Marble Art

 

Have you ever tried marble art with your kids?

How have I never heard of this?!

So flippin’ easy!

Shake, Shake, Shake…

Lovely colors, remember… blue and yellow make Green!

Now have a party, and make a collage with all the art :)

Taste like Bud-dah

I have been on Pinterest again! That is my go-to for boredom now-a-days… I found something very interesting that I MUST share with you.

I can now make homemade butter. It is the Easiest thing in the world! Not joking!

Hop over to this website: http://babblin-brooke.com

{‘cause that is where I found it via Pinterest}

Whipping Cream, Mason jar, Marbles, & Now start shaking… that’s it! My girls and I took turns, once one of us would get tired another one would take over. I loved it so much, I got to thinking I will buy organic whipping cream just before Thanksgiving & impress my family!

Yummmm <3

Maya little Ghost

When baby Maya came home from the hospital, Alisa use to call her Maya baby. I still think that is the cutest thing ever. She was not just Maya, she was not my baby, she was Maya baby. Anyway, that is just a side note in this post.

Maya’s first Halloween she was still quite little, 5 months to be exact, I thought seriously about not dressing her up. She was going to stay at home with her daddy, after all, and pass out candy. Then, I came across this cute onsie at Wally for like $5, who could pass that up?!

I brought it home and pondered for a bit.. white tights and this onsie was just not enough. I certainly was not going to invest more money, when in the beginning I wasn’t even going to dress her up. Thinking….. Then? Wait. I had an idea! I can make her a “skirt” (this was before I saw the homemade tutus or even how to make them). I just went with my crafty instinct, a piece of ribbon with white material tied around it…. wedding crinoline ? No, too scratchy for a baby.. what else did I have laying around the house? The idea hit me as I was drifting off to sleep.

I tore up a sheet into strips and tied it around the ribbon… by the looks of this picture I think she liked it!