Vanilla Joy

Boys Bedroom Decor

Kelsey — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:38:10 +0000

My embroidery hoop designs were the main part of the wall decor in my boys’ rooms, and this is what I’ve come up with for the other areas.

Some vinyl African safari animals to match the elephants in Gus’s room.

And some pictures to help our family remember who we are and what we believe. (We have a picture of Elliot in front of the Salt Lake City Temple, Jesus Christ, and Thomas S. Monson, president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)

This one is in Elliot’s room, and I’m going to do the same thing for Gus. Eventually…

I love buntings – we have our Happy Birthday bunting and this is my second. You could do one of these above a child’s bed also with their name or any other fun word. I picked up some knob things from Rod Works to hang the bunting from. And the picture is a little crooked…everything is straight on the wall…

What have you done to decorate your kids’ bedrooms?

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Paper Crafting with Staples

Kelsey — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:00:52 +0000

I really don’t have much time for scrapbooking anymore, but I do still make cards which I love. And I’m trying to express my thanks to the people in my life more this year, so I have cause to make lots of cards.

This particular set I decided to use staples in my embellishing and I like how they turned out. Everybody has a stapler and staples are super cheap (Making Memories even makes regular staples in lots of fun colors) so it’s a quick and easy way to embellish.

What do you like to use in your embellishing?

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Flirty Aprons Contest

Kelsey — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:59:13 +0000

To enter to win a Flirty Aprons apron,

Go to FlirtyAprons.com and look at the resource section located at the bottom of the page
Submit a paragraph or two that could be used in their new resource section titled “Christmas Gift”!

The best/longest submission will receive a FREE APRON and the runners up will receive 50% and 25% off. All submissions can be sent to mail@flirtyaprons.com. Ends March 28th!

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Kelsey — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:00:34 +0000

{Photo from cakefineart.com}

We haven’t been doing much for St. Patrick’s Day, but I’m dying to try making some rainbow jello…and here are some other festive projects for you!

Bib Necklace

Leprechaun Cookies and Milk

Leprechaun Ruffle Shirt

St. Patrick’s Day Cupcake Toppers

St. Patrick’s Day Centerpiece

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3 of My Favorite Things

Kelsey — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:00:26 +0000

There are three things that I want everyone to know about, not because they are paying me or giving me free stuff (because they’re not), but because I have searched long and hard for these treasures.

THE WORKS

Our water is really hard and so our toilets were really gross. I went to Walmart looking for something and found this stuff, the cheapest product on the shelf. I bought it with absolutely no hope that it would actually work, but it totally did and I didn’t even really have to scrub that hard. I’m telling you, if you have stains in your toilet bowl, this stuff works. It is probably highly toxic and dangerous to my health, but my toilets are clean!

ZENNI OPTICAL

My second favorite thing are those glasses I’m wearing. I have red ones just like them and another red pair and a wire pair. Why do I have so many? Because they are super cheap. This pair was $13. Total. That includes the lenses and everything. One of my pair was only $8. And they are real glasses that correct my vision perfectly.

ZenniOptical.com is where you can buy super cheap glasses. They have my business forever. They also have the business of my optometrist. He told me so himself, which told me shopping there was safe.

VANITY JEANS

My last favorite thing are Vanity jeans. Praise the day that my friend told me about these jeans because I am set for life.

See, I have a 37″ inseam and not even GAP’s longs are long enough for these legs. They used to be, but no more. I used to be able to find Silver jeans, but they’re so expensive and I can never find a pair that fit just right.

Vanity jeans are perfect. They sell them in all combinations of sizes, so I can actually by a 29 x 37 to fit PERFECTLY. And they’re very inexpensive. I purchased some on sale for around $30 and another two pair that were only $15. The Samantha fit is my favorite and I can’t find them on the website. I knew I should have bought 5 pair!

What are some of your favorite things?

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Was? Old Shirt. Is? Plastic Grocery Bag Dispenser.

Kelsey — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:00:07 +0000

A. The other day I noticed how out of control my grocery bags have gotten without me even noticing. They used to live between the wall and the dryer in the laundry room. Not really a good system.

B. I came across a husband’s shirt with an unfortunate sweat stain around the neck. Gross. But the rest of the shirt is perfect, so how to reuse it???

C. Plastic grocery bag holder made from husband’s old shirt.

I love myself.

Supplies

a woven shirt (long or short sleeved)
standard sewing supplies

Step 1 With the shirt buttoned, lay it out flat on the table.

Step 2 Cut off the sleeves so you have a rectangle. You can cut off some of the bottom if you want it to be shorter.

Step 3 Cut off the collar, right above a seam so you don’t have to finish the edge.

Step 4 Sew the front of the shirt closed. A zipper foot is handy on this step.

Step 5 With right sides together, sew around the shirt to enclose all the sides leaving the only opening at the neck.

Step 6 Stuff with plastic grocery bags and hang from that little loop on the back of most men’s shirts.

My laundry room is more organized and I have found a practical use for that old shirt. It’s been a good day.

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Monday Giveaway – Yoplait Greek Yogurt

Kelsey — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:50:39 +0000

The winner is #1, Kristie Howe! She said, “I think I would try the Dark Chocolate Mousse Recipe because any form of chocolate is wonderful to me!! Why not make it a little healthy?!”

And the runner up is Natalie, who said, “I want to try the Honey Vanilla Yogurt. Sounds super yummy!”

Email your address to kelsey[at]vanillajoy[dot]com BEFORE TUESDAY to claim your prize. Thanks!

One reader will win a Yoplait Greek yogurt “Nourish Your Inner Goddess” gift pack containing four VIP coupons from Yoplait and My Blog Spark!

THE PRIZE

One reader will win a Yoplait Greek yogurt “Nourish Your Inner Goddess” gift pack containing four VIP coupons from Yoplait and My Blog Spark!

MY REVIEW

I received this same gift pack from Yoplait through My Blog Spark and got to try out the new Greek yogurt in strawberry and blueberry flavors. Yoplait Greek also comes in honey vanilla and plain, but all flavors have 12 grams of protein in a 6oz. cup – most yogurt has only about 6 grams.

The texture was super creamy and not too sweet, just the way I like my yogurt. Elliot was a fan as well – I only got to eat a few bites of each cup if he was around…he loves yogurt, and I was glad to get some extra protein in him as well.

The spa package is lots of fun also. My favorite is the towel wrap – I don’t know how I’ve bathed this long without one because I’m never going back to the tucking towel method that never holds for very long. It’ll be great at the pool this summer too!

When Yoplait Greek hits the shelves at your grocery store, try the blueberry. It’s my favorite!

GIVEAWAY RULES

Visit YoplaitGreek.com
Come back here and tell me what flavor OR recipe you want to try most before midnight Thursday, March 11.
A winner will be selected and announced at the top of this post on Friday.
Only one comment per person.
Giveaway open only to residents of the continental United States…sorry.
Winners must email me to claim their prize within 5 days.

{This product was provided to Vanilla Joy for review purposes.}

Blurb (www.blurb.com) is a creative publishing platform that enables anyone to design, publish, share, and sell affordable, bookstore-quality books. Download Blurb’s free book design software, BookSmart, to design your masterpiece. The minimum order is 1 book, and you can expect to receive your book within 7-10 days of ordering it.

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Blurb Winners!

Kelsey — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:49:19 +0000

Here are our winners of the Blurb gift certificates:

Marne – “I would LOVE a blurb book! I blog so much that it was going to be pretty expensive. So winning a book is right up my ally! I would make a blog book. It is my version of our family scrapbook and would love to have it in print!”
Dawna – “I would make the blog book. I have been wanting to do this for my family to give as Christmas presents! Now you really have me motivated!!!”

The runners up are

Maren – “I am working (slowly) on turning our blog from last year into a book with blurb. I like the 8×10 size because it allows you to see the pictures more clearly, but of course that makes it more expensive, as well. I would love the gift certificate!”
Lisa Magaoay – “I have been wanting to get one of these mabey winning one would bet my behind going!”

Send an email to kelsey[at]vanillajoy[dot]com BEFORE THURSDAY to claim your prize. The gift certificates do have an expiration date, so contact me quickly. Thanks Blurb!

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Knit Trick

Kelsey — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:00:59 +0000

Knitting is a relatively inexpensive hobby, or at least it can be. If you’re into reusing things, however, oxygen tubing makes great point protectors. The lady who taught me to knit also gave me some of these, and they work great in a pinch. And if you have an asthmatic child laying around like I do, you’ll have yards of this stuff…

I thought it was a clever idea…

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Wall Decor Overhaul

Kelsey — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:00:10 +0000

I redid Elliot’s rocket ship wall decor to something that fit the existing color scheme a little better and with more designs to fill up the space. I used the Everyday Paper Dolls Cricut cartridge to cut the patterns out and then appliqued them with fabric and put them in embroidery hoops – my favorite bedroom wall decor!

I also redid Gus’s wall too – I didn’t like the colors so I came up with a new color scheme inspired by some crib sheets I got at Target with elephants.

I picked up an old overhead projector from a college surplus sale, traced the elephant from the sheet, and blew it up on the wall to be much bigger. I used that as my pattern for the applique.

Then I cut the alphabet out with my Cricut and arranged the letters randomly to make a cute design and appliqued all that to some white terry cloth. It was a lot of work and my sewing machine pedal was burning hot when I was finished, but I love how it turned out!

Besides Heat’N'Bond and my Cricut, a mini iron really makes the applique job go smoother. I use the Clover mini iron and it works great.

This is the finished thing. I love it! Now what to do on his other walls…Any ideas?

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