Winner!! Winner!!

Ok...seeing how this a pretty small blog and there were a whopping 5 entries for my 1st giveaway I used the very tried & true "name out of a hat" method of picking the winner ;)  To make it official & fair I had Emmie pick the name out of the Fancy Nancy hat!  So drumroll please...........

CONGRATS to ArtsyNina & please contact me with your mailing address!

On a side note,  I am super excited to say I have signed up for my Sewing 101 @ JoAnns for this Sunday.  I paid the course fee today and picked up my supplies to make a super FAB pillowcase, considering I let Emmie pick out the fabrics with me sparkles & fairies are involved is all I am saying.  Here is to hoping that I am not the only old lady in the class since it says "kids 8 & up" on the class form! ha ha :)  Stay tuned for my creation and hopefully growing knowledge & diminshing fear of the sewing machine!!!

~I was featured on Remodelaholic today!~

Woo Freakin Hoo...this is a big deal for me....One of my most favorite blogs of all time did a feature on my dress up clothing cabinet!!!!!

Check it out :) 

http://www.remodelaholic.com/2011/03/dressing-up-old-dresser-cabinet.html

I am honored & totally stoked to have a piece of furniture acknowledged by them :)

Weekly Menu! {And my 1st giveaway!!}

Some crazy & exciting news.......I received an email from a RedPack Tomato rep last week and she sent me this amazing kit with kitchen gadgets & canned tomatoes in this super cool tin!  I plan to try out a few of the recipes they offer on their site this week, 100s of really tasty looking ones I might add in any category you can imagine!  They have generously offered one of these kits for me to give away to one of you lucky followers! {I feel like such a big blog star considering this is just a small blog I do for fun!}  Details on how to enter are below!

Meal #1 Crescent Pizza Squares w/ tossed salad

Meal #2 Mini Mac&Cheese bites w/ green beans, yeast rolls & grapes

Meal #3 Roasted chicken w/ cheddar dill gougereres & cantaloupe

Meal #4 Chicken Risotto w/ basil & tossed salad

Meal #5 Fettucinne Alfredo w/ caesar salad & apples

Things to Try:

Breakfast Burritos
Easy Blondies
Chocolate Chip Coconut Oat Cookies (wow long name, hope it turns out as amazing as it's described!)
Sprinkle doughnuts ( I have been collecting homemade doughnut recipes forever now & yet to try 1, I am determined to do it this week for an after school snack!!)

So, if you would like 1 of these super cool kits of your own, become a public follower w/ Google Friend Connect {see side bar} or tell me you already are & tell me what 1 recipe from the RedPack site you want to try!  Good luck! Enter 3/27 - 3/29!Winner will be announced Wednesday 3/30!

Tutus & Magic Wands!

Remember back here when I made tutus for my girls?  Well they were so thrilled & they were so easy to make, even for me! :)  I decided to make my cutie pie niece Angelina one for her upcoming 4th birthday..then I got the idea of a wand to go with it since lets face it, all fairies need a magic wand right?!?!  I took a trip to Joanns and found all the supplies fairly cheap, I of course had to make 3 since my girls had to have one too!  I let all the girls choose their colors & got to work. Supplies you need : glue gun, glitter, craft paints, spray adhesive (or even good ole Elmers glue would work!), 2 wooden stars for each wand and 2 long pieces of the balsa wood in the same wood section of Joanns, 1 super thin & 1 thicker to make it sturdy.  I had the glue, paints, glitter, ribbon and all that good stuff already so for about $1 per wand we were ready!

These wands were super easy, paint the stars whatever color you choose & I spray painted the sticks silver & gold then went over that with a clear glitter craft paint since we all know there can never be too many sparkles!!  Then take the ribbon and hot glue pieces on the inside of 1 star, finally take the long thinner piece of wood and glue that to the 1 star as well.  Take the other star & glue them together with hot glue. I also went around the edges of the star with a line of hot glue since there is a little gap, I covered that with glitter glue since its a prettier edge than the hot glue!  Trim the thicker piece of wood & add to just the handle part right at the base of the star, I used E6000 glue for this part instead of hot glue. Then I just used spray adhesive and loads of glitter to finish off the stars!

After the wands were made I got the idea of a personalized shirt and went to a super amazing site that everyone should know about if you do not already!!!!  http://www.dafont.com/ which is an AWESOME site with a ton of free downloadable fonts!  I had some iron-on transfer paper left over from a project long ago so I found a font I liked called Deja vu, perfect since they call her "Angel" & she loves to be a princess...it had a little tiara on top of the A & a wing off one side.  I downloaded it & made a big A, mirrored the image in MS Paint & printed in the the same blue as her tutu!  Simply ironed it on a $3 walmart t-shirt & we were set! 

I have since made a shirt & tutu for Emmie's friend Maura who celebrates her 3rd birthday this week!  It is fun to make these in all the different colors that each little girl chooses.  I used the razzle dazzle font for Maura, super cute letters made all out of stars!!  These are such a nice, yet inexpensive personalized homemade gift for little girls!

Happy Anniversary!!

 Today marks 9 years that I have been married to my hubby! I give him a lot of grief on this blog & daily in life but I cannot imagine life without him! He makes me stay in love with him for so many reasons and gives me new reasons all the time to keep falling for him again! He puts up with me and my craziness & I put up with him and his redneck ways! We make each other laugh and smile and provide a pretty amazing life for ourselves and daughters!

 

Here is to the past 9 years ~ a beautiful outdoor wedding with family and friends, cross country move from Chandler AZ to New Woodstock NY, renovating a 110+ year old home, 2 beautiful daughters & lots of memories...and here is to many more years to come & new memories to be made!



Entryway seating lacking?!? - Problem SOLVED!

We NEVER have enough room for people to sit down and take off/put on boots, coats, etc.  Living in Central New York you need this space for at least 7 months out of the year given the wet Fall, long Winter & muddy Spring!  We had a small hall tree with a few coat hooks on it & I have a cubby system for my girls & daycare kiddos {loving the cubbies, not so much loving the seating!}

I was lucky enough to score an awesome 10' antique church pew for FREE!!! Its amazing to live in a small town and know the right people!  It was pretty rough shape so I sanded it down & stained it a really pretty red mahogany color from Minwax, I sealed it with a rub-on tung oil because I did not want a super shiny slick finish that using poly would give you. I was planning to use a paste wax but could not get my hands on the brand I wanted & I was unwilling to wait for an online order to arrive!  Not to mention this huge pew in the garage meant Dave had been parking outside for a week now!  I also scored a free bolt of fabric from Craigslist that will become a cushion for the seat!! The seat was not original so the stain did not look the same on the back & sides as it did on the seat so what better what to break in my new sewing machine?!? I have yet to use it since I am terrified of it, or intimidated might be a better word!? Either way it scares me!!  Here is a shot of the fabric, not bad for FREE & the colors actually go pretty well with everything!

Here are some before & during photos!

After!

Weekly Menu!

Meal #1 Pasta w/ tomato cream sauce, bread sticks (recipe below) & tossed salad
Meal #2 Tacos (seasoning) & Spanish rice
Meal #3 Spagetti & cheese stuffed meatballs w/ tossed salad
Meal #4 4 packet roast (I use a 2# roast & only 1/2 of each packet) w/ potatoes, carrots, & onions & rolls
Meal #5 Calzone ( I usually make 1 with just mozz cheese & pepperoni for the girls & then another with ricotta, mozz cheese, veggies and sausage or whatever for Dave and I)  w/ tossed salad

Things I want to try:
Oatmeal carmelitas
Banana cream pie
Smores bars

Breadsticks

I found this on http://www.sistersstuff.blogspot.com/ but it was just in the comment section left by another follower so I cannot link to it!  These are awesome & best part is how quick and easy they are!

1½ cups warm water

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. yeast

Let that sit for 5 minutes. Then add:

3½ cups flour

1 tsp Salt

Mix until smooth then let raise for 10 minutes. Roll out dough into a large square on a floured surface. Brush with melted (real) butter mixed with garlic and then sprinkle with kosher salt. Fold in half and cut into 1 inch strips. Twist and place on a cooking sheet. Let sit for 15 to 20 minutes to raise. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately after baking, brush with more garlic butter and sprinkle with kosher salt and grated parmesan cheese.

Happy St. Patricks Day snack!!

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!!! We had a crazy busy day but I snuck in some time to make these super fun rainbow cupcakes!  I hate the whole corn beef and cabbage meal and all that, green beer & fun snacks are always a winner though.  I actually really wanted to try making Irish soda bread for the first time but didn't manage to get that done, maybe next year! 

So, hope you all had a fun St. Paddy's day & if you still have time (these are easy but VERY time consuming to assemble!)  try out these for a fun snack for the kiddos, or for the adults alongside a Guinness!

 We chose to top ours off with a good ole Reddi-Wip cloud!

 

Winner Winner After School Snack in Savannah & Emerson's book!

Weekly Menu!

Meal #1 Fish Tacos w/ Mango Salsa & chips w/ salsa
Meal #2 Super Simple Chicken Parmesan over spagetti & tossed salad
Meal #3 Goulash & Cheddar Garlic Biscuits (these are SO good, just like Red Lobster!)
Meal #4 Sausage pattys on the grill, macaroni salad & corn-on-the-cob
Meal #5 MYO Pizza & tossed salad

Snacks for the week:
my favorite granola bars
Chocolate Chip Cookies - these were AMAZING! BEST recipe I have ever made & I have tried tons of chocolate chip cookie recipes!

New Things to try:
Lemon Strawberry Parfaits - these look so fresh and scream Spring to me!
Melting Moments cookies

Dressing up our Dress Up storage!

Remember waaaaaaaaaaay back here when I found this cabinet, last October?!?


Well Dave refused to even help get it outta my car and would not let me bring it inside..so it sat on our porch for a few days...seriously it did...then it started to rain and I snuck it inside while he was at work...but where do you hide something that BIG?!? I couldn't so I just jammed it in the laundry room (1 room he NEVER uses! HA HA) Then soon after it got moved out to the shed where all my large "sometime" projects and curb shopped items reside until I finally get moving on them, or rather he threatens to burn them! There is a paper tag on the back that reads "Montgomery Wards made for W. McMillan - Canandaigua NY - 1938" which is pretty cool if you ask me!

The playroom addition is almost done, just waiting on the carpet guy to come and install it, followed by a few more finishing touches.  We couldn't afford to hire someone to finish the drywall so that's why its been so long since my last post on the secret room! The big reveal will be sometime soon I hope!!  Since we are so close to "moving into" the new space I started to work on the cabinet this week since all along I intended it to house the girls dress up clothing!  I was so excited to finally get it out and working on it that in just 3 days its DONE!!!

BEFORE

GLORIOUS AFTER

Here are some closeup shots of hardware & fabric.  The only thing I could not get a good shot of is the fabric lining in all the drawers, its the deep purple sparkly fabric ~ SO FUN ~  I shopped around for new hardware but to make this a really low cost project I decided to give them a quick coat of silver spray paint instead & I love it!  The dark purple flowers are done with chalkboard paint so Savannah can write what those drawers contain; wands, hats, jewelry, etc! The large part of the cabinet on the right has a hanging bar inside for all the dresses and skirts and tutus! I still want to find a long mirror to hang on the inside of the door so they can admire themselves all decked out!

Total Cost for this project was under $10!

Cabinet - FREE

Lavender paint & silver spray paint - leftovers on hand

 2 Fabrics on 30% sale @ JoAnns - $5.45

Purple Chalkboard paint w/ 40% JoAnns coupon - $4.19

{I used maybe 1 tbs from the 8oz jar! So when you factor in that I would say the project was under $5!}

Al's Rack Pack!!!

A good friend of mine Allison was diagnosed with breast cancer late last year, you can see her story on her blog Fueled By Love ....She is 30 years old, a young mom of 3 beautiful little kids and she is a SURVIVOR!!!!  She is wrapping up her treatment very soon and doing amazing!!

There has been a team created in her honor "Al's Rack Pack" to participate in Susan G Komen's Race for the Cure.  I have signed up for the team and hope you will honor me with a donation or sign up yourself & join us if you are local CNYer!

To donate online for me & my team go here.  I have a goal of $250 & would love to reach or even surpass it if I can!

Lets all do what we can to SAVE THE BOOBIES!!!!!

Weekly Menu!

Meal #1 Baked Ziti w/ garlic bread & tossed salad
Meal #2  Grilled chicken w/ rice pilaf & green beans
Meal #3 Teriyaki chicken w/ steamed rice & egg rolls.
Meal #4 Pizza bites w/ tossed salad & cantaloupe
Meal #5 Hotdogs w/ Mac&Cheese (Savannah & Emerson's meal request for this week!)
Meal #6 Broccoli Cheese Soup in bread bowls & tossed salad

Things to try:

Cinnamon Syrup - WOW this looks good! Its so close to Spring & fresh maple syrup time here I cant wait!

Twix bars - Oh man..come to momma!

Thin Mints - I have posted a ton of copycat girl scout recipes, this looks like the easiest so far & no crazy hard to find odd ingredients so I really plan to try these out since the Samoa bars were a big hit!

Checking out sewing sites!!

OK - So I have not actually sewn anything yet....other than watching the DVD and getting the bobbin wound and machine threaded, I just ran some material through it to make sure it worked and in the box it sits on my kitchen counter!  I really want some super easy project to work on this weekend so I can really try it out!  I am been searching all over online and have come across some really cool sewing sites! 

http://www.sewdaily.com/

http://www.allcrafts.net/sewing.htm

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/

http://www.sewdangcutecrafts.com/2009/01/tutorials_01.html

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/


Do you have any to share with me?  PLEASE :)  OR an easy project that I could tackle this weekend (with 2 little girls at my feet the entire time & a mountain of laundry looming at me!)

Cabinet facelift!

I found this great vintage cabinet with my mom at a garage sale 2 years ago!! I remember being pregnant with Emerson & trying to shove it into the back of my Ford Escape with my mom & the homeowner's daughter!  I loved it, we brought it home dusted if off and put it right in Savannah's bedroom.  Its filled with books on the bottom and all her "treasures" as well as photos on the top shelves.  I always knew I wanted to do something to spruce it up a bit but never did...well last week I finally got the bug to get moving on it!  So here are some before shots.

It was already painted white when we bought it but had some rough spots, rather that repainting the whole thing (WAY too lazy for that!) I plan to distress it a little to make it look like it's supposed to be marked up :)

My first change; I found some super cute fabric @ Joanns and used Mod Podge (man I love this stuff!) to adhere it to the back of the cabinet. I had a $5 coupon so I splurged for the official Mod Podge tool since I ended up getting it for $1.99!

Already looking worlds better, but still not quite there.  I had paint leftover from the patchwork border my sister and I did around the room so I took each of the 3 colors and painted the shelves.

I wanted to find some cute new knobs but of course all that I fell in love with were super pricey and being cheap I could not force myself to spend $40 on knobs for a $25 cabinet!  I found a great seller on eBay and she custom made 6 knobs for me with little vintage dresses in the center of each knob.  This lady is so amazing, super nice and QUICK!  She even made this light switch cover as a special gift for Savannah! Check out her store on eBay Designer Knobs & More & trust me, even if you don't see what you are looking for ASK and you will receive!!

  

So here are the after pictures, I am really happy for under $20 I gave it a super nice face lift and Savannah is in love with it!