Linds Campbell

Tayte and Tenerys Coral and Caribbean blue wedding...

2013-04-01T14:51:00.001-07:00

So remember how I ALWAYS say I get overwhelmed and then I get behind on stuff so I get more overwhelmed and more behind...well this is one of those things! It was almost a year ago now I swear and I still haven't recovered on the project level! But I am getting there. I just thought I would share a little of what I did to get so overwhelmed...happily overwhelmed! :)

I didn't take this picture but...I can take credit for the hair! Ha ha both of them...such a cute happy couple! This was when we were melting in Mesa!

Someone else had these doors so that was lucky. They were just three old doors crudely painted and hinged together with 2x4's cut and screwed onto the back to support it standing up! I added the paper doily bunting (from my sisters wedding) and just hung some pictures...we also had their initials hanging from ribbon on the side from a sign hanger!

When my mac fried I lost all the pictures i had taken of how I did these to make a tutorial but it is pretty easy we just collected whine bottles and any clear bottle really and painted the inside I mixed various oranges and pinks to get different coral shades you put paint in and shake and tilt until it is all covered then stand up in like a cardboard box to dry!

For the open house my mother in law wanted a backdrop so we made one on the cheap...with the paper doily bunting (my favorite thing!) and some flowers hot glued onto fishing line it was actually so pretty! We suspended it between two pieces of pvc. It was EASY!

These are my cute kiddos bearing the 118 degree weather in Mesa! I made Hinkley's headband always fun for an excuse to put her in something extravagant like that! Again my tutorial pics got fried away...but put simply you make different kinds of fabric flowers grab some buttons, pearls, feathers whatever tickles your fancy and arrange on top of a felt piece and glue in place then trim felt and add a headband or clip to the back!

Cleaning Upholstery (and my awesome thrift find!)

2013-02-01T12:35:00.000-08:00

So...I realized something...in my head I am such a good blogger! You should see the posts! I do so many things, recipes, projects, etc., that I never document and I also have so many things I start to document then never post. Yeah if I could post everything I do I would have a blog over flowing but...it is what it is.

This is something however I just had to share! I was at my local DI and saw two sea colored beauties I couldn't pass up! I have wanted to do my living room forever! And I am starting to snatch things up as I can so this is where I am starting! There are two squatty chairs and I love them! But they were dusty and had a few scary spills on them so I had to clean it up and hope for the best! I reasearched some DIY upholstery cleaning and came up with a simple solution!

First, I vacuumed it like crazy! I did it in all different directions and sprinkled baking soda on the seat cushions to add a little extra oomph...and that brightened them up quite a bit then I clean cleaned them. I took 2 cup warm water to 1/4 cup blue dawn and whipped it up for about 2 min to get a foam that I blotted on the fabric and blotted back off after a few minutes with a clean damp cloth. i had to rinse my cloth off a few times because it seemed dingy but that seemed like a good thing. I used a little extra foam and a soft bristled toothbrush on the more scary spots...and did not have a problem! They cleaned up beautifully!

I can't wait to find the rest of what I don't know I have to have for my living room and get it all together to show you!

Sound It Out: an ADORABLE educational app for android and iPhone!

2013-01-11T12:58:00.001-08:00

Hey! Its been a while.. Christmas, new years, I am just outta the swing of things but I just found this app for kids it is so so cute! I think every parent with young children should have it...it is the best I have found. My little guy is three and loved it and my little brother who is almost 15 loved it almost as much (really ha ha)! This is the app description:

Sound It Out is a game that will help your child learn and discover phonics. It was developed by a kindergarten teacher to promote beginning phonics. It has beginning, middle and ending sounds. It has a trace option as well as a spell option. There are two levels of play. One level for beginning spellers and the second level is for those that need an extra challenge.

Sound It Out uses CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant) to promote letter sounds and spelling. It helps children use letters and their sounds to create words. Colorful pictures are provided to show the child which word they are sounding out and spelling.

Sound It Out is great for teaching your children or students sounds, letter recognition, words, letters and spelling. If you child is already learning sight words, dolch words, fry words, CVC or flashcards then this is the app for you. It works well for preschool, kindergarten or first grade (1st grade).

It is so cute, adorable pictures, sounds, everything to keep the kids engaged and learning! We loved it! It is only $0.99 and worth every penny! Give it a try! Search Sound It Out by Havoc to find app!

Pumpkin Doughnuts w/ Cinnamon Sugar

2012-12-13T13:36:00.000-08:00

OK...yes I know it is December. And i know pumpkin is more of a fall thing but seriously when you make these you will want to make them ALL THE TIME! So yesterday 12.12.12. pretty awesome! Last repeat day EVER and it also happened to be my one and only's birthday. (I am kinda a brat but it was like the first time ever it was cool for his birthday to be in December.) My hubby is SO low key but for this once in a lifetime cool birthday we had to do something!

So that something: dozens of doughnuts! Cute right? 12.12.12. dozens, doughnuts. Yeah anyway my plan was to make all homemade and thankfully my good friend swooped in and saved the day with buy one get one Krispy Kreme coupons because there were a few disasters, and a lot of tears...but the ones that i did finally end up having work out(all thanks to mommy) were amazing!

These doughnuts were cakey but so soft and and...just plain old yummy! People were snatching them up so fast we were all having to juggle them because they were still so hot! But seriously going in the family recipe book for sure!

Pumpkin Donuts

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree
Canola oil for frying

Cinnamon Sugar

1 cup sugar to
2-3 tsp cinnamon
butter for dunking

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, spice and sugar. Whisk together all of the remaining ingredients (except for the canola oil) in a second, medium bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir them around the bowl until the mixture is well combined. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, rolling the donut dough to approximately1/4-1/2″ thick. They really puff up when you cook them! Cut with a donut cutter. (or a glass cup and an apple corer if you are me but a cutter would be much faster!)

Heat 3 inches of oil in a dutch oven or large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, gently slide the donuts into the oil, frying on the first side until the edges of the donut are lightly browned, flip carefully and allow to cook on the other side until lightly browned.

Remove and place on paper towel. If glazing do it as fast as possible or even skip the paper towel step. We dunked in butter (just one side but if you are feeling indulgent go ahead and do both) then cinnamon sugar! Eat as soon as you can! YUM!

Merry Christmas

2012-12-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Dinner Rolls- with a surprise

2012-11-19T20:14:00.000-08:00

So for the first time ever my Parents will not be home to see on Thanksgiving which is weird but leave it to my amazing mother...she made sure to have a dinner before they left and the reason...so we could have her rolls! In her wisdom she knew it would just not be Thanksgiving without her rolls. Whenever there is an event she is asked to bring the rolls. They are those rolls in our family. First they were Grandma Greens and now they are hers and they are amazing. Yummy! And this year she did something really cool! She rolled little pieces of paper into them that said "I am thankful for..." It was so fun to sit down and see who got rolls with them in them! We all ate like seven rolls so there was a lot of love going around. And the perfect way to really get the thanks rolling. It was so fun!

How to make the paper hold up when you cook the rolls is by buttering it! Melt some butter and brush it over the paper with a basting brush. then whether you fold or roll your rolls cut it up and put them in! It was really so fun to have that I think it is a tradition we will keep up!

And as a parting gift the roll recipe:

Grandma Greens Hot Rolls

5 cups milk
6 tble sugar
2 tble salt
1 cube butter

Heat half of the milk; add sugar, butter, and salt and other half of the milk; while warm (not hot) add:

2 tble yeast, let sit for a few minutes add 3 beaten eggs

Gradually Mix in 14-16 cups of flour.

Let rise, Mix down and let rise a 2nd time. Roll out and use pizza cutter to cut (if rolling like crescents) or use a cup/cookie cutter to cut in a circle and fold in half; place on pan, let rise.

Bake approximately 20 minutes at 350. Makes 50 rolls.

Marshmallow Witches

2012-10-15T06:33:00.003-07:00

So my birthday is on Halloween...so I am totally bias about the holiday! It is just the best! I love it...not really the creepy bloody yucky Halloween but the adorable fun and spooky Halloween. So for my birthday this year my mom gave me a present early! It was an adorable Halloween recipe/craft/fun book from Taste of Home! And as soon as I got it I just had to make these with the kiddos! It made for a FUN FUN craft and treat!

They used Reese's under the Kiss but I thought just a kiss almost looked cuter and they used chocolate wafers for the hat...I couldn't find them so I used a generic chocolate cookie a lot like a tag a long and thought it worked great! So try it! Dye the hair different colors, add a pull and peel mouth! Just have fun! And if you serve them at a party invite me! :) any Halloween party is my favorite!

Marshmallow Witches

Ingredients

1/2 cup vanilla frosting, divided
36 miniature semisweet chocolate chips
12 large marshmallows
1 drop each green, red and yellow food coloring, optional
1/4 cup flaked coconut
12 chocolate wafers
12 miniature peanut butter cups
12 milk chocolate kisses

Directions

For the face of each witch, place a dab of frosting on the bottom of three chocolate chips; press two for eyes and one for nose onto each marshmallow.

For hair, combine green food coloring and a drop of water in a small resealable plastic bag; add coconut and shake well. Spread a small amount of frosting on sides of marshmallows; press coconut hair into frosting. I actually dumped the coconut into a bowl and just sorta rolled and pressed and that made it really easy!

For hats, color the remaining frosting on the bottom of a kiss; press press onto cookie. If you are going all out: cut a small hole in the corner of pastry or plastic bag; insert a small star tip. Fill the bag with frosting and pipe stars around the base of each kiss. But I just made frosting a little thick and let it overflow out to make an EASY rim. Secure a hat to each witch with a dab of frosting. Yield: 1 dozen.

Man in the Yellow Hat & George...and a little Mermaid!

2012-10-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

So I have disappeared again...I know I am seriously lame just not good at doing the whole hop on the computer fast thing (I loose my whole nap time) so when I have something going on I just stay away! The most recent thing I had was we went to DISNEYLAND! Yay it was amazing and so so much fun and I just want to go back! I do...but alas I cant so I thought I would get back into the bloggin life.

I wanted to share our last years Halloween costumes...and forgive me I am a freak I am so nervous about putting my kiddos out there...I trust all of you people it everyone else ha ha! No I am sure I will relax soon but until then I find the pics where you can't see the kiddos faces or I doodle masks on them again weirdo I know! Please forgive me! But last year Flint loved Curious George and still does so I enlisted my good sport of a hubby to dress up as man in the yellow hat with him! They were adorable! Everywhere we went; every carnival, around the neighborhood I felt like i was with a celebrity couple! it was so funny! So when we did Disneyland this year and decided to do the trick or treating they had to be it again! And if I had a dollar for every time someone took his picture (whether they asked or thought they were being sneaky) I would have been able to pay for Disneyland! Seriously people love them! It also helps I am sure that the hubs is tall and skinny and dark haired...but they are perfect! So cute! So I just had to share how we threw it together:

And last year Hink was at that baby stage where I could totally confine her and she was thrilled so of course it had to be a mermaid! And if you are into matching your kids like apparently I am I dressed up as a scuba diver...but she was nice and cozy because I cut an old bath robe into a triangle and sewed tulle on top of that (from the bottom up) and sewed it into a cone and slid her right in! She loved it and I didn't have to buy a thing! So this was last years Halloween! I will share this years soon!

The BEST way to eat zucchini...Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2012-09-18T14:35:00.002-07:00

Ok...so I will admit right up front I have eaten this for breakfast at least the last four yes FOUR days...
My mom has made this for years, they used to be called Zucchini Brownies but they really aren't brownie-ish and I had a sister who just couldn't take it...so we now call it cake. It is much more fitting and just as delish! IT IS SO GOOD! Oh and...way way easy!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 cups finely grated zucchini
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil*
1/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp vanilla

Mix together, it may seem dry at first but just keep stirring until all large lumps are gone and it will turn super moist!

Butter and flour a 9X13 pan pour in batter and bake @ 375 for 20-25 min.

Wait til cool and frost with your favorite chocolate frosting...or use my recipe:

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup softened butter
3-6 table spoons cocoa (to taste)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all together, and add powdered sugar (at least 2 cups) and milk to desired taste and consistency.

*can replace with applesauce (I usually do half and half)

Yummy Baked Zucchini

2012-09-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Yum so its that time of year when all of the zucchini is on and in abundance! As I mentioned before my dad just recently had a birthday and we love to make a big reason to cook so our bday dinners are over the top. We had everything a thanksgiving meal would have...with a few summery additions. Fresh Zucchini being one of them. And it was so so good! Oh and way easy!

Breaded Zucchini Fries

Equal parts of Seasoned Breadcrumbs & Parmesan Cheese (I used about 1/2 cup each) it depends on how much you are doing)
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/3 tsp garlic salt
salt and pepper to taste
buttermilk
zucchini

Mix all dry ingredients together. Cut zucchini into spears or disks, dip in buttermilk, and coat with breading. Be sure to really pat everything on really good so it coats well.

Place on lined cookie sheet and cook at 375 for approximately 30 minutes.

Ladder Golf DIY

2012-09-10T13:20:00.002-07:00

Ok...so I have seen this game in fact someone in my husbands family has a homemade set but I never gave it much thought. Until my dad played it at a family reunion of ours and loved it and his bday was the end of August it made my life easy. Until I saw how much they were! PRICEY! But then my hubs reminded me of making one so that's what we did! You can buy one for around sixty or make one for around twenty! DUH...make it, especially when it was so easy!

You will need:

For balls:
12 golf balls (preferably 6 of 2 different colors but don't forget spraypaint!)
120+" of nylon rope leaves some room for mistakes
matches or a lighter
drill w/ 1/4" bit

For goals:
4x 10' 3/4" PVC pipe
12 T intersections joiners for the 3/4" pipe
4 right angle joiners for the 3/4" pipe

saw or cutter to cut pipe (we used the kind that you tighten and turn around the pipe. It worked slick.)

To make balls:

1 Drill holes all the way through each one of your balls

2 Tie a knot in the end of the rope, string your first ball and tie a second knot to secure it in place

3 Measure 18 inches from innermost knot and tie another, thread your second ball and tie a not to secure and cut to create one set.

4 Singe the ends of the rope to prevent fading and keep knots tied

5 Repeat until you have six matching sets

To make goals:

Cut 16 ONE FOOT sections (however you decide to cut is fine, saw a 'turney' cutter like we had whatever floats your boat)

Cut 4 ONE AND A HALF FOOT sections

And Cut 6 TWO FOOT sections

The 2' bars are horizontal and the 1' bars are vertical. The portion that is on the ground has a 1' bar in front and the 1.5' bar in the back.

If you don't already know how to play rules of the game can be found here:

http://www.laddergolf.com/ladder-golf-official-rules

Soda Shoppe Birthday

2012-08-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

So my little Hinkley turned one! WOW! While it seems I can never believe the time has come for a first birthday the one thing I do from getting totally bummed out is throw myself into planning a birthday party! For Hinkley it had to be soda shoppe...I don't know why but once it was in my head it was there forever and I must say it turned out so sO SO ADORABLE!

I went a little crazy and wanted it to be in true soda shoppe fashion so i had everyone wear soda jerk hats for party hats...we had ice cream, soda, everything we could think of for sundaes, and cones...including cupcakes stacked to look like ice cream got that from mycakeschool.com via pinterest, and ice cream cone looking cake balls from Bakerellas cook book! UGH! It was so much fun! Hope you love it too!

Simple twist half up hairstyle

2012-08-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

Ok...so I have been missing FOREVER!!! I KNOW! I have never been good at getting on and blogging when I have a million other things going on...which is all the time so when I have ten million things going on it apparently just doesn't happen! But I have done a million things just haven't documented...all I have posted it seems is cooking things...and while that is something I do the most I also have a ton of crafty projects i have done and do all the time. So I will get better at getting all of those up. My problem is pictures...I am usually doing things in a rush while one or both of my kiddos sleeps so I forget to take pictures of progress...oh well...

But I figured that something else you can count on me doing pretty regularly is my hair...hopefully. I honestly probably cook more than I do my hair but don't tell anyone...seeing as I am a hair stylist and all. Ha ha but you will laugh so I tried documenting while I was in the process and the pictures are funny. They are pretty terrible...but lucky for you I snagged my sister to take the last one...and it was at the end of the day and still holding up!

So this is a favorite second (or third) day hairstyle. It great for when you still have some curl or wave in your hair but it will not hold up on its own without going flat and letting everyone know your dirty hair secret!

Yikes...day three hair...I know I know...My excuse is I don't want to dry it out...

I went with a more centered part to keep my twists a more even size.

So first things first give it a good brushing and backcomb the top to your liking....the hairspray will also help dry up any excess oil!

Smooth out to desired look the backcombing underneath just helps hold the volume and shape...

Grab the front chunk of your hair and start twisting it away from your face moving your hand down and gathering more hair along the way as you go. This will keep it loose and adding hair will help it up. You can twist it as loose or tight as you like I typically like it more loose in the front.

Twist all the way past the middle of your head because you want them to criss cross each other.

Secure with a bobby pin or two or three :) before starting other twist.

Rosette Chunk Necklaces

2012-07-18T19:37:00.003-07:00

Cute right? I always see them on Etsy and I love them so I decided to try and make some...not too bad for my first try. Sorry for the poor pictures I hope to get better ones soon!

You will need:

*fabric strips for rosettes
*hot glue
*felt
*ribbon
*beads (optional)

1. Make a bunch of rosettes. Varying sizes for a little more personality. How many you make will depend on what size of necklace you want.

2. Place them how you want the overall shape of your necklace to be. Place them right on the felt to avoid messing up the placement you want.

3. Simply hot glue them on the felt. Be sure to push them close together to avoid gaps.I like to add the glue to the rosette to avoid having glue where it shouldn't be.

4. Where ribbon goes place a dot of glue on felt to hold in place, then add glue to rosette and place over ribbon.

5. If you want beads thread them onto ribbon once everything has dried.

6. Cut felt tight around the shape of your clump of rosettes.

7. Hot glue any accent beads on that you wish! Be creative also try buttons and broaches etc!

8. Tie on and enjoy! You look fabulous

A recipe that has changed my life! MICROWAVE CARAMEL!!!

2012-06-18T06:26:00.003-07:00

So...I grew up with one of those moms that just made certain things so well and they were just AMAZING and caramel was one of them! From about the age of 12 I totally would study what she was doing and help her anytime she made treats. Especially carmel...because I know it is a bit of a science and technique.

Well flash forward to me happily married and wanting to make caramel apples with my friends for a fun fall get together...I was going to make the caramel and become famous because its that good...but no I ended up with grainy sugar and flavor that was separated from the butter! Seriously I was so mad...we ate it because the taste was there but it was not the creamy amazing caramel I grew up making.

So...I am sure there was one more in between but flash forward again to last christmas party...I was making a chocolate caramel pretzel tart...amazing right?! Yeah. I slaved away on it all day and when it got to the caramel I knew that my mom recipe had not been my friend the last couple times...so I used the one from the recipe. SAME THING!!! Grainy caramel no matter how slow I cooked it! I had to try boiling the sweetened condensed milk and it worked but I ran out of time...so it was caramel-y but not really. Major disappointment.

So...one more time. I thought I would give it a try...but by this time I decided it might be my cheap cheap stove so I bought back up just in case...once again to go on my moms Snickers Ice Box cake the caramel did not turn out so I used the bottle of ice cream topping. Thank heavens.

So when I was making Billionaire Bars I panicked when I forgot the store bought caramel! So I searched and found this recipe that has changed my life forever!!! I will never attempt caramel on my crappy stove again...note to self in next house get a nice range! I found it on pinching pennies and it was perfect! Maybe not as deep as a slow cooked carmel but in 15 min you have smooth amazing perfect soft caramel! I AM GIDDY!!!

Microwave Caramel
1 cup Butter or Margarine
1 cup White Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Light Karo Syrup
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

In a large microwave safe bowl melt the margarine for 1 1/2 minutes.

Remove from the microwave and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Place back into the microwave and cook on high for 5 minutes.

Take the bowl from the microwave and stir well. Continue cooking on high for an additional 5 minutes, remove and stir.

Cook for 3 more minutes ( for a total of 13 mins.15ish with melting butter and stirring) Remove from the microwave, stir and pour into a 9 x 13 pan to set.

Once caramel has set wrap in wax paper and store in an air tight container. Or use on favorite recipes!!!

pic and recipe from pinching pennies.

Key Lime Cake with Lime Cream Cheese frosting

2012-06-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry for my long long absence. I tend to get way behind on EVERYTHING...and my fun blogging is the first to be neglected. I am getting better at keeping up with myself but still...clearly....I am not there yet. I have a lot to share with you guys if only I would sit down and do it.

I made this in April for my mom's birthday upon her request. I was skeptical I am not a lemony/lime type sweets sorta girl but her birthday, her cake...But I will say this:

IT TURNED OUT AMAZING!!! Everyone loved it, the cake was great and the frosting was better! So delicious. I took things from a whole bunch of different recipes and this is what I did:

Cake:

1 lemon cake mix
1 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 package lime flavored gelatin mix
3/4 cup orange juice
Mix together and divide among pans of choice and cook according to cake box directions.
*If your worried about it being too sweet add 1/2 prepared white cake mix. I did then I used the other half to make cupcakes for those babies who wouldn't eat heaven on earth!!! I even made it swirly looking it was cool.

Key lime Frosting

1/2 cup butter
1 package cream cheese
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon orange juice
4 cups confectioners' sugar
zest from one lime mostly for pretty

Worlds best frosting!!! SO GOOD!

Real Strawberry Shortcakes

2012-05-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

So right after high school I spent a summer in Rochester NY doing the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It was awesome! One thing I discovered and fell in love with was real shortcakes!!! We would go to this little berry farm where they had shortcakes and you could pick your berry sauce and eat up with a dollop of ice cream! Pretty much heaven! So when we were throwing around food ideas for my sisters shower that would be amazing and not a lot of hassle while guests were there this was perfect! They were a HUGE hit everyone was so excited and LOVED them!

Shortcakes

1/4 cup sugar

2 1/3 cups Original Bisquick® mix

1/2 cup milk

sugar for sprinkling

3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

In medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix, milk, 3 tablespoons sugar and the butter until soft dough forms. On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by 6 spoonfuls.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Split warm shortcakes and top with desired toppings. (i.e. fresh strawberries and danish dessert(my favorite), or strawberries in sugar to create a natural sauce, whipped cream, chocolate ganache, etc.)

Photo Book

2012-05-14T20:26:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Build your own high-quality photo books at Shutterfly.com.

mothers day gift! pedi printable

2012-05-11T17:23:00.001-07:00

I always give my mom a pedicure for mothers day...it is something I know she would do for herself and I like to go with her so it makes my life so super easy! The hardest part is coming up with a new card/tag every year. So this year instead of some foot model, I decided to use adorable baby feet! And they are the cutest because they are my oldest's baby feet :) Love!

So if you need a last min mothers day take your mommy for a pedicure and use this cute printable! I also made a version if you can't go w your mamma or its just not your thing...but to all you moms out there:

happy mothers day!

Rosette Chunk Necklace

2012-05-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

Cute right? I always see them on Etsy and I love them so I decided to try and make some...not too bad for my first try. Totally gave these to my mom for mothers day...I need to get better pics! I took these at night with terrible lighting!

You will need:

*fabric strips for rosettes
*hot glue
*felt
*ribbon
*beads (optional)

1. Make a bunch of rosettes. Varying sizes for a little more personality. How many you make will depend on what size of necklace you want.

2. Place them how you want the overall shape of your necklace to be. Place them right on the felt to avoid messing up the placement you want.

8. Tie on and enjoy! You look fabulous.

DIY upcyle onsies!!!

2012-05-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

My little Hinkley was so much smaller than my first that I wasn't prepared with cute little outfits for her that were that small! I had one to bring her home in but that was about it. Even jammies she only had one thing that didn't drown her. For some reason it was so important to me to have her in cute things that fit and when I couldn't find any little outfits to buy I decided to make some...Onesies are my best bet since my kids are long and skinny and I had some hand-me-downs from my cousin so up-cyling was the perfect solution!

For the owl I took random fabric scraps and just cut them until I liked the shape, used fabric glue to attach on roughly then my sweet mommy helped me stitch around the edges to hold and define!!! And you can do fabric or googly eyes whatever you have! Easy peasy.

The ruffle onesie was even easier! I cut ruffles off of a pair of pants I wasn't going to put her in and started attaching with fabric glue! Just make sure you have something in-between the front and back of the onesie so you don't leak and glue them together! Then to secure for sure for sure just add a few stitches but your glue should work just fine! FUN HUH!? Free, and they have ended up being my favorite things for her!

Liebster Blog Award

2012-04-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

Ok so in so many respects I feel like such a space case in the blogging world...I love it and I want to share with people the things I love because I love all those who share things they love with me to inspire me and keep my juices flowing...but I am new and I feel so slow catching on to everything that it is always so appreciated when people let me know they like my efforts!

So when Amy @ sugar and spice gave this to me it pretty much made my day! THANK YOU! I had no clue what is was but this is what I learned:

"Liebster" is German for "Dearest". The award is a "Share The Love arrangement", given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers.

Here's the To Do list for any Liebster Award recipients:

1. Thank the person who presented you with the award on your blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award on your blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 other bloggers with less than 200 followers.

5. Let them know you've chosen them by leaving a comment on their blog.

I'm happy to award the Liebster Blog Award to:

The Dotsons @ Connect the Dotsons
Shalamar @ Obsessively Crafting
Joan@ Chocolate Chocolate and more...
Annette @ Tips from a Typical Mom
Stacy @ Handmade by Stacy Vaughn

These are all adorable wonderful blogs! I hope catch up to them because these ladies are just adorable and creative and much better about blogging than I so YOU EARNED IT! So all my readers! I LOVE YOU and check out these other great blogs...Thanks again Amy!

Orange Creamsicle Cookies

2012-04-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

I was trying to decide what to make and decided I just didn't have anything summery...then I found these babies! From sweetpeaskitchen.com and thought it sounded summery and frankly delicious! And they were! I almost never follow just one recipe or I make up random stuff as I go but these I followed pretty close and they were tasty!

I think that they will for sure be something that I will just CRAVE randomly and have to have right that second...so glad I found these easy to make gems!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh orange zest, grated
12 ounces (2 cups) white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In another bowl cream butter and sugars until light and creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture until combined. Stir in orange zest and white chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Cool for 3 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Yields: about 3 dozen

Now one thing I did was add an orange glaze for just a little more summer time flavor and it was great but lets be honest I ate them both ways and they were all pretty good. Something to change it up from my chocolate obsession and it looks like I am beginning to like more and more citrus sweets.

Orange Icing

I just made my favorite frosting recipe and added like two table spoons of orange juice...you could just omit the milk for orange juice but in true Creamsicle spirit I wanted it to be creamier. I just drizzled on when they were still warm on the cooling rack.

2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup butter
2-3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
To make it runny like icing 2 tablespoons orange juice.

*this makes tons!!! Way more than you would need cut it down or just wing it!

*also...I had to thieve the pictures from their website...My camera decided to die so thank you sweet peas kitchen!

original post from my old blog...skiptothelue

Finger Weave Bracelets

2012-04-19T14:58:00.002-07:00

Ok...so I have been gone forever! I mean look at this! I haven't even posted any treats! That is when you know I have lost my mind in a whirl wind of way too much to do! I have had my sisters wedding shower, wedding and all the TONS AND TONS of DIY and planning we did for her so that pretty much consumed my life...I will try and post about it soon but good grief she got married the 7th and with at least a month of neglect for everything not wedding leading up to it I may NEVER catch up.

But one thing I can always count on in YW. I can't neglect that...I do...but I can't. It makes sense to me ha ha! So for an activity we did a really fun thing!!! We took the colors personality test, and then were going to make these cute finger weave bracelets in the color they were...well much to my surprise my 12-13 year old lovelies took the whole hour and a half just on the test so we pushed these back to the next week but it was good because then I just told them to bring an old shirt they had permission to cut up to make their bracelet with! It was a hit...and lets face it, it way showed their personality more! So here is how I taught myself and a pack of beehives:

how many fingers you use will determine how thick your bracelet will end up.okay...
*first you are going to take your 1" strips and cut on your ends a 1/4" slit.

next take your slits and line them up ends together, now take your bottom strip and pull it through the slits from TOP to bottom gently pull till you get a little knot.

with your connected strips we are now going to weave the strip in and out of our fingers.

bring one big loop around to face you (from the pinky to pointer)
take your weaved loops and go over your finger and big loop

continue to do so with all the fingers going in order.
when you get to the end make a new loop and start the process all over again!

once you get like 6 chains done, take your starting tail and gently pull (while your chain is still securely placed on your fingers!) so that you can get a good feel as to how long you need to make your chain, depending on your wrist size.

once you have a long enough chain, carefully pull the loops off your fingers, making sure you don't undo any of the chain by losing the loops!

slip the end you used to hold in your thumb into loops.

pull all the way through, and gently tug the end.

tie off your bracelet with a knot.
cut off excess tails

so by using 2, 3, or 4 fingers, you get:

side view.
and top view of thickness.

Method and bottom 3 pics from V and Co! Thank you!

marshmallow bouquet

2012-04-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

I made this for a Young Women activity as a treat/centerpiece. It turned out great and I don't like marshmallows so beside the cuteness I wouldn't have enjoyed it.

What you need:

*Popsicle sticks probably at least 100
*Marshmallows
*Chocolate chips or melting chips (don't use white chocolate chips)
*1-2 teaspoons vegetable oil
*Original m&ms
*Styrofoam ball
*Pot
*Dowel or pencil
*Cute ribbon

1. Melt the chocolate add the vegetable oil this keeps it from being too thick and also helps keep it soft and more easily eaten when it cools.

2. While chocolate it melting arrange m&ms on wax paper in a flower shape. It sounds hard but its easier than arranging them on the marshmallows. (which is what I tried at first.)

3. Stick the sucker sticks in the marshmallow and dip, then place them on the m&m flowers.

4. While marshmallows are setting up secure your pencil or dowel to the bottom of the pot. I used duck tape and marbles. for a longer stem on your bouquet use a dowel not a pencil and add some floral foam to the pot to make it extra sturdy.

Example of a longer stem

5. Place your Styrofoam ball in the center of the dowel/pencil coming out of your pot.

6. One by one secure sucker sticks into the ball making sure to place them close together so you can't see through them.

7. It will look like a cute globe bouquet when you are done and to make it cute add ribbons etc. to your pot or for a longer dowel its cute to tie it right on the dowel. Add your touch its yours now!