DIY Wall Art

Painting is one of my joys and everytime someone comes over they say "oh I could never do that".  Well, I made this piece of wall art that I really think you can make.

Material needed:

-blank canvas whatever you size you wish

-different sizes of flat styrofoam circles

-acyrclic paint (you can get the small tubes at Michaels) 

-paint brush

-craft glue

1. I painted the canvas beige. I mix my own colors so a beige from the store may not look like mine.

2. After it was semi dry I randomly smeared across the top with a paint brush some off white over the beige to give it a two tone look.

3. Then I began choosing my colors for my styrofoam circles.  I used colors to coordinate with my room.  You can use less circles, more circles or all the same size cirlces have fun and play with it.  The styrofoam circles are really inexpensive so you can either buy new ones or turn them over if you are not happy with first color combinations. 

4. Once the circles are dry than begin placing them which ever way you wish but don't glue them until you figure out where your permanently placing them.  I put 4 on the bottom and 2 on the top. 

5.  I used clear craft glue to adhere the styrofoam circles to the canvas.

6. Once it was all dry I decided I wanted a little design on 2 of the circles so I painted them on with cream colored paint.

Your done! It took me about 45min with drying and testing colors and placement and it cost under $8. Let me know if you try it!

Gift packages from toilet paper rolls

I love boxes! Everytime we get something that comes in a small box I usually keep it because I think of the countless things I can use it for in the future.  Most of the time I don't use them :(.  Well, these cute little boxes will surely be put to use because they are easy, practical and use things you already have in your home.

Material:

-toilet paper roll w/o the paper on it:)
-scrapbooking paper, gift wrap or tissue paper
-ribbon
-glue
-scissors

Instead of tossing your TP rolls now you can put them to use or you can use kitchen towel rolls for larger boxes: 
1. flatten the roll out.  Press both sides firmly to flatten
2. trace the roll on your scrapbooking paper.
3. cut it out and glue on roll
4. press the open ends down to create your top and bottom closure
5. put some ribbon on it to keep the top and bottom closed

You can use it to put a cute little note in it, stuff it with small acts of kindness gifts: tea, chocolates, gum, mints, etc... Great for party favors and cover it with the theme your going with!

Creative but Simple Fourth of July: Flowers, Fruit and Cupcakes

Having fun with different shades of red and blue for our fourth!  This year I decided to go with the less traditional colors and instead used turquoise and deep fuschia.  I was suprised how well the colors combined. The flower arrangement has various shades of red and fuschia to bring it all together.  The Star Fruit Bowl above, I got the idea from my weekly recipes that Betty Crocker sends. You can subscribe for free on their website to get their dinner ideas once a week at http://www.bettycrocker.com/ . I just happen to find my star cupcake molds this week and decided to put them to use and whipped up some Star Spangled Cupcakes.  I used a vanilla cake mix and followed the directions on the box. Then I drizzled some yummy Cream Cheese Yogurt sauce over it and topped it with blue berries and strawberries. I drizzled strawberry syrup to a white plate to make an artsy edible creation. The Creamy Yogurt sauce is 1.5cps of vanilla yogurt and 1/2 cp of softened cream cheese, 3tbspns of sugar mixed all together.

Tea Bar Bridal Shower

I had the joy of working on a friends bridal shower.  She is a low key kind of person so we needed to find a theme that worked for her.  So we decided to go with Natural colors: blue, green and brown with a runner that added a pop of color.  She loves tea but we didn't want to go with a tea party theme so we went with something much more modern a Tea Bar.  For decorations we used tree limbs, ivy, faux leaves and love birds made from scrapbooking paper.  We filled large vases with tall, sanded tree limbs and the base had rocks and spanish moss and ivy coming out of it.  The fun part was the Tea Bar. 
The Tea Bar was a hit!

We filled 4 "pitchers" with different flavored cold teas and made fun labels for each flavor.  The Teas were Pomegranate Lemon, Lemon Verbena, Rasberry Lemon and Lemon Mint.  

Our party favor was tea bags in fun Match packaging with twisted crepe paper bows.  For the labels we used the same graphics that were on the tables and the Teas. 

It was simple, modern, beautiful and most importantly inexpensive!

Quick and Easy Creamy Tomato Penne Pasta

My cravings are far and few in between since my nausea keeps me from wanting to eat for pleasure.  But the other day I was flipping through a magazine and saw some advertisements for pasta and I thought I want some creamy tomato sauce over some penne and fresh baked garlic bread to go with it.

Quick and Easy Creamy Tomato Penne Pasta
1 can of Diced Garlic Herb Tomato
1cp of heavy cream
2tbspns of diced garlic
Penne Pasta
olive oil
parmesan cheese

serves 4-5
Sautee garlic in olive oil until slightly brown. 
Add Diced tomatoes with liquid.  Let it simmer for 5min.
Add heavy cream and stir.  Simmer for about 5min.
Pour over your cooked Penne and sprinkle with parmesan.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Told you it is quick and easy.  You can use plain diced tomotoes and season them yourself with Italian seasoning if you don't have Garlic herb ones in your cupboard.

cranberry broccoli salad

Cranberry Broccoli Salad
1 head of broccoli
1/2 cp of dried cranberries
1/4 cp of chopped red onion
1/4cp of chopped walnuts
4-6 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled
Your favorite salad dressing. Rasberry viniagrette, Ranch, Italian
sprinkle top with shredded cheddar cheese

If you want even more fruity you can dice 1/2 an apple and add to the mix. 

Can't keep this to myself: Potato salad w/ country ranch dressing

Picture and recipe came from Better Home and Gardens.  http://www.bhg.com/recipe/salads/potato-salad-with-country-ranch-dressing/  My pregnant self could not handle the hard boiled eggs so I made mine with out.  I also didn't have cider vinegar so I used red wine vinegar and it turned out just fine.  Please note that it serves 12. I didn't realize that before making it.

An Award for me

Shout out to Kathy who gave me my first blogger award! The cyberworld can be lonely since you only hope that you have some mysterious cyberspace blog readers out there who prefer to keep themselves anonymous, right don't we all have those. 

So for all those mysterious readers I am now supposed to share 7 things about myself:
1. I am 3 months pregnant and were hoping God blesses us with a little girl the third time around.
2. I am a counselor at a missionary school in Ecuador.
3. Though I am officially a "missionary" I love home decor, fashion and art. 
4.  I love my sweet Savior and Heavenly Father dearly. 
5.  My husband and 2 boys are a huge support and joy in my life.
6.  I want to climb Macchu Picchu in Peru when I am 6 mos pregnant (most likely won't happen).
7.  I would love to start a christian version of "family fun" magazine. 

A Womans Purse

Before kids- Cute little patent leather purse


After kids- Big red leather duffel bag(it's not really a duffel bag)
If you were to see me in a crowd, you may think that I don't look like I have kids- if they weren't hanging all over me. My clothes is put together okay (or at least I think so), you know my clothes is not yelling "Mommy alert".  My purse on the other hand is!  Today as I looked through my purse in the middle of a bible study class I had to chuckle because of the contents I had to rummage through to find my phone.

My purses have definitely taken a new look now that I'm a mommy. Before they were cute and small, always small. Now they are big and lumpy. According to my son "I need it" everywhere I go. He won't let me walk out the door with out it. You will see why as you read. If you were to randomly open my purse you would find: cell phone, keys, coins, gum, at this point your thinking okay that sounds normal. Well it get's worse: candy wrappers, baby star finger foods that have fallen out of it's container, some kind of fruit in a baggie(today it was a whole grapefruit, Bob the builder undies (got to be prepared for those potty accidents), hot wheel cars, kid tattoos, gloves and scarf (you never know when a blizzard is going to hit in TX), coupons for Sonic, Chic-fil-a, McDonald's (all those wonderful healthy places to take your children to eat), baby wipes, first aid kit (just in case someone bleeds to death) and mosquito wipes.  Depending on the time of the month you will find other necessities which Ethan tends to dig out at very inopportune times.

Wow! I guess you could get stranded on an island for a day or two with my purse. Can't wait til he's into bugs and rocks. For some reason I think I will be sure to find them in my purse.

What treasures does your purse hold?

I found this blog post in my old website and had to chuckle because 4 yrs later my purse hasn't changed much.

Van Gogh Creations Class

I had the joy of teaching these wonderful 2nd graders cooking, arts and crafts and baking!  First class, they made aprons to go with their chef hats. Second class they made swirly pops (recipe http://chiccookiekits.blogspot.com/2010/03/finallyhomemade-marshmallow-fondant-and.html.) Third class they made Pizza balls with dough they made from scratch(recipe http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/06/stuffed-pizza-rolls.html).  They loved watching the dough rise.  And they also got to make some lovely cupcake keepsakes and fill them with Cookie Balls (recipe http://amomnotapro.blogspot.com/2010/03/so-i-am-obsessed-with-lil-chickies-this.html ). Fourth day, they made some pillows/backpacks for Mothers Day! We had a blast!! Parents if you have any questions concerning the recipes feel free to add your comments below.

fun fondant cake

Fondant is becoming quite popular in my home. My 3yr old came up to me the other day and says "mom I have been eating your fondant" little did I know he has been paying attention to what I say when I am baking. 

Mushroom cupcakes for the Mother & Daughter Madhatter Tea Party

Alice in the Wonderland inspired: We are having a Mother & Daughter Madhatter Tea Party and these are one of the fun cupcakes that will be on the dessert table.  Once again my red fondant only made it to a dark pink shade, ughh. One day I will get red! Next project whimsical cake!