Wray Sist3rs

Cardio Circuit Workout

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:11:00 +0000

Cardio Circuit Workout

1. Burpees

Do 3 sets of ten

2. Single leg dumbbell row

Do 3 sets of 20 (10 on each leg)

3. Mountain climber on ball

Do 3 sets of 45 seconds

4. Alternating ball pushups (on toes or knees)

Do 3 sets of 10

5. Dumbbell Swing

3 sets of 20 on each arm

6. V-Ups

Do 3 sets of 20

Perform all exercises in a series and then repeat the 2nd and 3rd set. This is a great way to mix weight training and cardio. It is a very effective workout in a short amount of time.

Dr. Seuss Baby Shower

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:19:00 +0000

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! You all know that we love Dr. Seuss at our house. We basically have an entire room dedicated to him. Well since today is the doctors birthday I thought I would share some fun ideas for throwing a Dr. Seuss baby shower. Since my son’s nursery is Dr. Seuss themed I was thrown a Dr. Seuss baby shower. Now granted my son will be turning 2 in just a few weeks. This wasn’t a recent shower. I still thought it would be fun to take a look at the amazing shower that our amazing mother threw for me.

We had themed food to match a few of the books. We had green eggs and ham rolls. The green eggs were just chocolate eggs covered in green foil. The ham rolls were ham, cream cheese and chives all rolled together. Yum!

One fish, two fish cupcakes!

Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes. The cat in the hat cupcakes are topped with red lifesavers and white mints. The thing cupcakes were topped with lots of delicious frosting!

We even had cat in the hat striped Jell-O!

It was such a fun baby shower!

Thanks again for the shower!

If you are looking for some other Dr. Seuss projects. Check out the following:

Dr. Seuss reading corner

Dr. Seuss storage boxes

Dr. Seuss mobile

St. Patrick's Day Scavenger Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:44:00 +0000

Finally, a new printable! This time we are offering a St. Patrick's day scavenger hunt.

I imagine my son waking up on St. Patrick’s day to find little leprechaun footprints starting at his bed and leading to his bedroom door where he finds the introduction to the scavenger hunt(the cloud) and his first clue(the red arch of the rainbow). The idea is that a leprechaun has scattered a rainbow throughout the house. My son will have to follow the clues to find all of the missing pieces of the rainbow. Then he will have to put the rainbow back together to find where the leprechaun left his treasure or his pot of gold.

Here is what the scavenger hunt will look like:

The Introduction: A sneaky leprechaun snuck into this house. He scattered a rainbow, as quite as a mouse. Let’s piece the rainbow back together, and follow his clues till we find a treasure.

Clue #1: Rainbows always start with red, but what Color always follows? Keep your eyes “peeled” for the color of a yummy fruit. (Fridge)

Clue #2: You have found orange, but time to move on. Now go to the pLace where the bright sun wakes you at dawn. (Bedroom window)

Clue #3: You now have yellow, but let’s keep going. Next lOok for the color of the lawn that may need mowing. (Backyard)

Clue #4: With green in hand, you are getting so close to the treasure, you hope. The color you must Search for now can be found in a place that holds bubbles and soap. (Bathtub)

Clue #5: Now that you have blue, it is time to look for your next clue. Look in the place wherE you keep your feet. *Hint: Rhymes with blue.(In their shoe)

Clue #6: Put the rainbow back together. What do all of the underlined letTers spell? That is where you will find your treasure. (Closet)

Once the rainbow is put back together, the underlined letters will spell out the word CLOSET. The closet will be where the treasure can be found.

The printable I am offering comes with the introduction cloud, the set of rainbow clues, a set of six pairs of leprechaun feet that can be printed multiple times so you can leave little leprechaun feet throughout the house or by each clue. There are also two black pots that once cut out can be stapled together and filled with treasure.

As always, our monthly printable is available for download on our Facebook page. If you already follow us via Facebook, click on the free gift tab on our Facebook page to download this scavenger hunt.

Pumpernickel Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I want to introduce you to the most delicious sandwich! I am hooked on it right now. I swear I eat one or two for lunch almost everyday. This is a sandwich that our mother would make for us on occasion when we were kids. I don’t think I really appreciated it until I was an adult. Now it has become one of my favorite sandwiches!

I think that I have just decided to call this the BPT (Bacon Pumpernickel Tomato)

Ingredients:

Pumpernickel bread
Bacon
Tomato
Avocado
Alfalfa sprouts
Munster Cheese
(Optional) Cream cheese or hummus

This sandwich is super easy to assemble. After all it is just a sandwich. I thought I would offer some helpful tips on how best to go about it.

1. Cook your bacon. Or on lazy days, I use precooked bacon. It doesn’t even need to be reheated before putting it on the sandwich. You will be putting this sandwich in the broiler for a few minutes and the bacon will reheat during that step.

2. Start to assemble your sandwich. Lay down one slice of pumpernickel. Then spread a little cream cheese or hummus on top of the bread. I just use whichever one that I have on hand. Mostly it is used for texture rather than taste. This will soften the sandwich a little. My husband thinks the sandwich is too dry without that addition of cream cheese. I like it with or without. So if you don’t have some cream cheese on hand- no worries, it will still taste great.

3. Add the rest of your ingredients. I usually layer mine bacon first(2 slices), then tomato(2 slices), next avocado slices(about 5 slices or 1/2 an avocado), then I add the sprouts, and finally I top it off with the Munster cheese. Obviously the order of the ingredients isn’t a huge deal, but if I put the tomato or avocado on the bottom then I usually find the ingredients slide right off the bread, and sometimes onto the floor leaving me sad and very hungry. I’d play it safe with the bacon on the bottom :)

4. Put the sandwich in the oven on a low broil for about 3 minutes or until the cheese starts to bubble and turn brown. This step also crisps up the edges of the bread which is one of my favorite parts about this sandwich.

5. Enjoy!

Bath Bomb Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:02:00 +0000

I have been working on perfecting my bath bomb recipe as of late so I thought I would share it with you. These bath bombs are pretty easy to make, and more importantly if you have ever worked with bath bombs, they are not too hard to mess up. They are also fun to make and fun to use.

Bath Bomb Recipe

Dry ingredients:

Baking Soda – 1/2 cup
Citric Acid(Sour Salt) – 1/4 cup
Corn Starch – 1/4 cup
Epsom Salt - 1/4 cup

Wet Ingredients:

Water - 1/2 tbsp.
Essential or Fragrance Oil – 5-10 drops
Almond Oil – 1 1/2 tbsp.
Food coloring - 2 or 3 drops

Instructions:

Step 1- Blend your dry ingredients

Step 2- Blend your wet ingredients

Step 3- Then while stirring slowly add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients

Step 4-Try to avoid volcanoes. If the mixture starts to foam, you are adding the liquid too fast. Quickly stir the reacting ingredients into the nonreactive part and you should be able to stop the reaction. When all of the wet ingredients have been added, you should have a mixture with the consistency of slightly damp sand. The mixture probably wont look wet, but It should clump together in your hand when you squish it

Step 5- Mold quickly. The mixture can dry quickly. You want to get it in the mold while it is still damp. If it does become too dry, you may add a little bit of water to dampen it up again(no more than a ¼ tsp at a time.)

Step 6- Let dry. I use ice cube trays from IKEA to mold mine. This recipe will fill an entire tray. To be safe you will want to let these dry for about 24 hours or they can crumble when you take them out. If you want to speed up the process though, you can put them in the oven on 200 degrees for 20 min.

These will make the perfect valentines gift for a friend, or a sister, and I am sure husbands wouldn’t mind them either.

And were back....!

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:21:00 +0000

Sorry for the long hiatus, with the holidays and getting back into the swing of things, we have been MIA.

This weekend my cute cousin Lydia helped me vamp up some of the pillows on my couch.

1. I found this cute fabric at Hobby Lobby.

2. I decided to make fabric flowers to add the the pillows. Cut out 3 different sized felt circles.

3. Cut strips of the different fabrics and scrunched the ends. Then hot glue the end of the fabric to the felt circle.

4. Once glued, continue to fold and scrunch the flower in a circle. Then continue to hot glue the fabric down as you wrap it in a circle.

5. Cut the extra felt off the sides of the flowers.

6. Next, hand sew the flowers on to the pillow.

6. Add more batting to the pillows if needed. I did since mine are a little older.

7. Ta-da revamped pillows!!

Healthy Recipes For The Thanksgiving Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:33:00 +0000

I love Thanksgiving as much as the next person, but it sure can be a day with lots of fattening side dishes and desserts. Here are few healthy and delicious recipes that you can incorporate into your Thanksgiving Feast.

Pumpkin Soup:

Serves 4 (Double or triple the recipe when serving for more guests)

Ingredients

3/4 cup water
1 small onion, chopped
1 can (8 ounces) pumpkin puree
1 cup unsalted vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup fat-free milk
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 green onion, green top only, chopped

Directions

In a large saucepan, heat 1/4 cup of the water over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Don't let the onion dry out.

Add the remaining water, pumpkin, broth, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the milk and cook until hot. Don't boil.

Ladle into warmed individual bowls and garnish with black pepper and green onion tops. Serve immediately.

Here is a twist on the classic Thanksgiving side dish of stuffing:

Wild Rice Stuffing:

Serves 12

Ingredients

3/4 cup uncooked wild rice (or equal amount of uncooked quinoa)
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped apple (including peel)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 cups diced celery
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Directions

Rinse wild rice two to three times — until water runs clear.

Place wild rice and water in a 1 1/2 quart sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until all water is absorbed, stirring frequently. Do not burn. Cook wild rice for about 30 minutes. (If you're using quinoa, cook it for about 15 minutes.)

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add onion, mushrooms, apple, cranberries and celery. Stir and heat through until tender. Add the salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Continue to stir and cook slowly until fragrant, about 10 minutes total.

Combine the rice, the fruit/vegetable mixture and chicken broth in a large bowl. Use to stuff turkey. Or bake in a dish coated with nonstick spray. Cover and keep warm in oven until serving. Garnish with a sprinkle of toasted almonds.

Gives these a try mock mashed potatoes a try!

Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes:

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 head cauliflower
1 clove garlic
1 leek, white only, split in 4 pieces
1 tablespoon soft-tub margarine, nonhydrogenated
Pepper to taste

Directions

Break cauliflower into small pieces. In a good-sized saucepan, steam cauliflower, garlic and leeks in water until completely tender, about 20 to 30 minutes. While cauliflower is hot, puree until the vegetables resemble mashed potatoes. (Use a food processor, of if you prefer a smoother texture, use a blender. Process only a small portion at a time, holding the blender lid on firmly with a tea towel.) Add a little hot water if vegetables seem dry. Stir in margarine and pepper to taste.

Give Thanks Banner

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:50:00 +0000

It’s that time of year to get out my Give Thanks Banner.

Each part of this banner is made starting with a different fall colored circle. Then topped with a book page pin wheel. Then each pin wheel is covered with alternating leaves…

…and acorns. Then a letter is placed on top to spell out the words GIVE THANKS. Then this is attached to a string of twine with a clothes pin that is covered by a felt leaf.

That is my fun Fall Give Thanks Banner!

November Free Printables

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:12:00 +0000

I apologize for the delay, but Novembers printables are finally up!

It is always nice to share a meal with a friend in need, but now especially at this time of the year wouldn’t it be great to share a meal with a friend just because. If you are planning to share a meal with a loved one we have tags for you to give along with the meal to let them know that their meal is made with love. There is even room for directions in case it is something that needs to be heated up. We are offering six different designs for you to choose from for almost any occasion.

Do you have a friend who just had a baby boy?

or a baby girl?

Maybe you just want to say Merry Christmas…

or Happy Holidays enjoy a meal on us!

Or maybe it is a loved ones birthday.

Or maybe you want to share a meal just because.

As always, head on over to our Facebook page to download your meal tags.

1,200 Calories

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:43:00 +0000

On average most bodies burn around 1400 calories a day. Our heart, our lungs, and our minds all take energy to function. This is great because if we consume less then we expend we should lose weight!

Below I wrote a meal plan for about 1,200 calories, eating these days worth of calories alone without exercise you will hopefully help you lose weight.

Breakfast: Calories

1 activia yogurt 70

1/4 c blueberries 48

3/4 c egg whites 90

Snack:

Almonds 100

Lunch:

6 oz grilled chicken 180

1/2 tomato 28

1 Tbsp. pine nuts 136

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar 35

1 Tbsp. EVOO 120

Snack:

1 laughing cow cheese 35

1 cup celery 16

Dinner:

4oz. lean turkey 120

1/8 avocado 39

2 c. green salad cuc, tom 48

1 Tbsp. light dressing 35

Snack:

Healthy Choice Fudge Bar 100

Total: 1200 Calories

Have a great weekend!!

Dr. Seuss Reading Corner

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:24:00 +0000

I recently added a little reading corner to my son’s room. As you may know, my son’s room is Dr. Seuss themed. So everything that I added has a hint of Dr. Seuss.

The room already had a couple of book shelves.

Underneath the shelves I added a magnet wall.

I just used Rustoleum magnet paint. This stuff is amazing! You can even paint over the magnet paint so that the magnet wall can just blend right in with the rest of the wall. I decided to leave it for the time being so that my son can see the contrast between where to put the magnets and where not to. I think eventually I’ll paint over it and then just frame the part of the wall that is magnetized.

Here is the wall before right we painted it.

I love the magnets on the wall. I happened to come across some Dr. Seuss foam stickers at Hobby Lobby one day. They came in a pack of 200. I thought that they would be perfect for this project. I just converted them to magnets by adding some adhesive magnet tape to the back of each sticker.

There are some cool magnets. All of the ABC’s, plus pictures of Dr. Seuss books and characters. They even have a magnet for every page of Green Eggs and Ham so you can even read the book right there on the magnet wall.

In addition to the magnet wall, I also sewed my son a bean bag chair using various Dr. Seuss fabrics. I used the Michael Miller child bean bag chair pattern.

It sits right next to his book shelf.

Contrary to the story this picture tells, my son actually loves his chair. He spends a lot of his day sitting and reading in his bean bag chair. He just wasn’t interested in sitting in it when I wanted to take a picture.

Here is a view of the entire reading corner, complete with a pennant banner made from Dr. Seuss book pages.

Here are a couple of links to other Dr. Seuss projects in his room.

Cat in the Hat Mobile

Dr. Seuss Storage Boxes

P.S. Happy Halloween! We spent our evening reading Halloween books in our Halloween PJ’s. We’ve had 3 rounds of trick or treating over the last week so we took the night off from candy collecting to pass out candy to others. It was just as fun but without the sugar high. My son would get so excited every time the door bell rang!

Workout series

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:29:00 +0000

Here is my favorite leg circuit series that I do with clients to make their legs look stronger and leaner. They are even great exercises you can do from home! Get to it!

1. Side lunge (10 on each side)

Start in a standing position and then shift your weight to one leg so it bends. Do 10 on each leg and then switch sides.

2. Single leg get ups (10 on each leg)

Use a couch or a bench and stand up using one leg then switch sides.

3. Squat Jumps (20 repetitions)

4. Wall sit (20 sec hold)

Make sure to hold the wall sit nice and deep. Try to get a 90 degree angle in your knees.

Go through each exercise and then repeat 2 more times. Do 20 repetitions or 20 sec holds for each exercise.

Mexican Shrimp Cobb Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:26:00 +0000

This is my first pinterest recipe I have made and it is divine! A yummy salad with shrimp, avocados and a heavenly dressing. You really can't go wrong here. This salad reminds me of a cafe rio salad but so much easier with much less steps and mess. The only thing I would have changed is sauteing the shrimp first to make them crispy and add heat to the salad. The salad dressing actually comes from my sister, Lauren who found it in a cookbook. Thanks sis for putting this salad over the top delicious.

For the dressing:
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
1 lime, juiced
1 package hidden valley ranch dressing (ignore the directions)
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup cilantro
1/4 cup Salsa Verde

For the salad:
16 oz. cooked large shrimp, peeled
chili powder to taste
1 TBSP lime juice
salt, to taste
1 romaine heart, shredded
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 c. corn kernels, fresh or frozen
2 tablespoon red onion, chopped
2 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
juice of 1/2 lime
1 seedless cucumber, diced
2 c. diced tomatoes
1 ripe hass avocado, diced
1 c. reduced-fat Mexican blend shredded cheese

Directions:
1. To make the dressing, combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Refridgeate for at least 1 hour to let thicken. Can be made up to 3 days in advance.

2. To prepare the shrimp, rinse and chop into large chunks. Toss with chipotle powder, lime juice, and salt.

3. In a small bowl, combine drained beans, corn, red onion, cilantro, lime juice and salt to taste.

4. In a large glass dish or clear bowl, layer the salad ingredients in the following order: lettuce, black bean mixture, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, cheese and shrimp.

*if wanting to saute the shrimp, let the shrimp marinade in the chili powder, lime and salt for 15 minutes. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in saute pan. Add the shrimp for just a few minutes to allow to crisp up and heat through.

What’s your Sodium Style? How to ensure a Low Sodium Diet

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:02:00 +0000

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sunkist S’alternative for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Lauren here, and you know that I love to eat healthy! One of the ways that I make sure that I am eating a healthy diet is by consuming only the recommended daily amount of sodium or salt. Do you know how much sodium you consume everyday?

Check out this chart below:

According to the CDC (center for disease control and prevention) Americans eat too much sodium, commonly consumed as salt. The average American consumes almost 3,500 mg of salt everyday, when we should really be taking in no more than 2,300 mg a day or 1 teaspoon a day.

There are quite a few benefits to having a low sodium diet:

lower blood pressure
can reduce cardiovascular disease
helps lower cholesterol
reduce risk of chronic liver disease
reduce risk of heart attack and stroke

How do you know if you are consuming too much sodium?

One way to find out is to take the Sunkist Sodium Quiz from Sunkist on Facebook to find out where you fall on the sodium scale based on your daily food choices.. Whether it turns out you’re a Serial Salt Offender or a Sodium Smarty, you’ll learn new tips on how to use Sunkist® lemons as a healthy sodium-free alternative to salt.

In case you are wondering, here are my quiz results. Not too bad. And I promise I didn’t cheat!

Most food includes “hidden salts” that can be dangerous to your health. A few things you may not have thought about, in regards to sneaky sodium:

Deli meats like turkey and ham (and especially more processed ones like salami and pepperoni) often have a lot of salt added to them during their processing. Cooking a turkey breast or a ham yourself, and slicing it for sandwiches or snacks is a better option.
Pre-prepared foods like frozen dinners, even “healthy” ones, often have a high sodium content because it adds flavor stripped out due to processing and it’s also a preservative.
Cooking from scratch will significantly reduce incidental sodium from overly-processed foods, but you still need to be aware of the ingredients you’re using! If you use cheese in a quiche, for example, you probably don’t need to add any salt, because most cheeses have a lot of salt in them already. Or if you make a stir-fry with soy sauce, it’s going to be plenty salty without any additional salt from your shaker.
Restaurant foods (from chain restaurants or fast food) are some of the most sodium-laden foods you’ll encounter. If you’re out to eat, put the salt shaker down. Or on the table beside you. It doesn’t need it. And be sure to drink lots of water.

So a great way to avoid TOO MUCH salt even in your home cooking, is to use Sunkist lemons for their bold fresh flavor. Using Sunkist lemons as an alternative to salt can help reduce sodium, increase potassium, and enhance the flavor of recipes. Sunkist S’alternative

Here is a delicious low sodium recipe that you could try:

Sunkist® Lemon Seafood Paella

(source)

Ingredients: (Makes 8 servings)
*1- 32 oz can low sodium vegetable broth
*1 cup dry white wine
*1 teaspoon saffron threads
*1lb. of firm, fresh pieces of whitefish such as tilapia, bass, halibut and swordfish, cut into 16-21 pieces
*1lb. or 16-21 mussels, cleaned and de-bearded
*1lb. or 16-21 medium sized clams, rinsed
*cup chopped fresh parsley
*3 Sunkist® lemons, zest and juice
*3 Tbsp. olive oil
*1 _ cups minced onion
*3 cloves garlic, minced
*teaspoon crushed red pepper
*3 cups uncooked short-grain rice such as Valencian, Arborio, or Calrose
*1 cup frozen green peas
*1- 8oz jar of sliced, roasted red peppers

Instructions:
• To prepare broth, combine all the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer (do not boil). Keep warm over low heat.

• To prepare paella, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large paella pan or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish pieces to pan and sauté 1 minute. Remove fish from pan, reserve and keep warm. Add onion to pan and sauté 5 minutes. Add the lemon zest, garlic and crushed red pepper and cook 5 minutes. Add rice and cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly. Stir in broth, bring to a low boil and cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

• Stir in the peas and red pepper slices. Add mussels and clams to pan, nestling them into rice mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until shells open; discard any unopened shells. Stir in the reserved fish and chopped parsley and cook 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in lemon juice and check for seasoning. Cover with a towel and let stand 10 minutes before stirring

How do you try to avoid excess sodium in your diet? What do you love to cook with lemons?

Rose Bath Mat

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:12:00 +0000

Incase you missed it, here is my guest post from Someday Crafts.

The Rose Bath Mat.

Are you looking to spruce up your bath mat? Let me show you how to make your own rose bath mat. All of the skills needed to create this were learned in Kindergarten. Seriously, if you can cut and glue than you can make this rug. That is how easy it is to make. As far as materials go for creating this you will need a rug, an old T-Shirt, some felt or fleece, a hot glue gun, and some scissors.

*I was also thinking that a towel might work instead of a T-Shirt.

You are going to start by cutting your T-Shirt into 2-3 inch strips.

Then you are going to cut out circles from the felt or fleece. You will cut them in various sizes depending on how big or small you want your flowers to be. Place your circles in the pattern that you would like on your rug. Originally I was going to have three large flowers and five smaller flowers spread across my rug. My husband wasn’t too sure about having a rug full of flowers, plus he was worried that the rug would loose some of its comfort. So we compromised, and I ended up only putting three large circles and three smaller circles on half of the rug. Now we each have our own side of the rug. I think the flowers are just as comfortable, if not more so than the original rug.

Next you will make your flowers. Take your cut T-Shirt strips and start wrapping them around the circle. Once one T-Shirt strip has come to an end, just add another. Keep wrapping the strips around the circle until you have the desired flower effect. Now all the while you are doing this you want to be gluing the strips to your circle.

Just keep making as many flowers as you want for your rug. Like I mentioned before, I went with three large flowers and three small flowers.

Once all of your flowers have been created, then glue them onto the rug.

Here is a closer look at the flowers.

I love the end result. It looks perfect in my bathroom!

Trick or Treat Bag Winners

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:47:00 +0000

Congratulations to the winner of the Trick or Treat Bags!

Shooting Stars Mag- winner of the Frankenstein Bag.

Melanie- winner of the Bat Bag.

Congrats and you will be hearing from me soon!

Healthy Halloween Snacks

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:44:00 +0000

With Halloween just around the corner you may find your self tempted with all the Halloween goodies at parties and in trick-or-treat bags.

Here are some cute Healthy Halloween Treats that still make Halloween fun but healthy at the same time!

1. Apple Chompers

Easy as 1...2...3

1. Core an apple with an apple core

2. Cut core slices in half

3. Place almond slivers into bottom and top of the apple slices

2. Pear Witch

1. Start out with a whole green pear

2. Cut a slice of pear from the back and stick a toothpick in it to place on front of the pear for the nose

3. Shred some carrots with a peeler and set aside

4. Place frosting under the rim of the ice cream cone and stick onto the middle of the chocolate cookie

4. Put frosting underneath the cookie to hold in place the pear and carrot shreds

5. Place cookie and carrot on the tips and side of the pear

6. Cut a small wedge of red apple for the mouth and place a toothpick in the apple so it stays in place

7. Place raisins for eyes on the side of the nose

8. Stick a chocolate chip in the lower corner of the pear for the mole

9. Enjoy!!

3. Pizza Monsters

1. Cut mini bagels in half

2. Place a spoonful of tomato sauce on the top

3. Rip off pieces of string cheese to make the mummy bandages

4. Place two olives on the pizza for eyes

5. Bake on 350 in oven for 10 minutes

Give these fun Healthy Halloween Treats a try!!! Happy Halloween!

Thanks to famliyfun for these recipes

Trick or Treat Bags with Tutorial + Pattern + Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 04:10:00 +0000

This post has a little bit of it all! Before I get to the bags I thought I would give a little background on how I got creating the bags.

I wanted to make my sons costume his year. I wasn’t sure what exactly he was going to be, but I was going to make it. Then one day on a trip to Old Navy my son discovered their creepy life like manikins. He tried so hard to figure out if they were real. He would hold their hand and he would shake them trying to figure out what these things were. Well one of them happened to be wearing a dragon costume and that was it, my son had made up his mind on what he was being for Halloween. He wanted to be a dragon just like the manikin. We tried the costume on and he was not going to take it off for anything. I couldn’t even get it off to purchase it. I had to bring him to the scanner. Ha!

Below are a few pictures of this experience. At the time I was only trying to get a picture of the costume, but you can see a little glimpses of him holding the manikins hands.

So then I figured if I wasn’t going to be able to make his costume then I would at least make him a trick or treat bag. I experimented with a couple of different options- which I will get to later in this post. I finally decided that I wanted his bag to match his costume. I tried to think of an accessory for a dragon. The only thing that came to mind was fire. Dragons + Fire = perfect idea for a trick or treat bag. I set out to make him a trick or treat bag on fire!

Here is what I came up with.

I have yet to get him to touch it. He thinks that it is hot, so he wants nothing to do with it. This is as close as he has come to it.

I did trick him into touching it for a second, by putting his favorite ball inside of the bag. I am hoping that once he figures out that the bag is used to put candy in that he will forget about the “hotness” of the bag. We’ll see.

Before I created him the fire trick or treat bag, I made him two other versions. I made him a Frankenstein and a Bat.

I thought I would share a tutorial and pattern on how to create these bags.

Patterns:

Bat Pattern- Part 1, Part 2

Frankenstein Pattern- Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

You will need a variety of colors of wool felt. Bat Felt Colors- Black, White, Purple. Frankenstein Felt Colors- Green, Black, White, Purple. I suggest using wool felt over the regular because it is a little more sturdy. You will also need to print out my pattern. Now I just want to apologize about the pattern right now. You will probably laugh at it ghetto-ness after you download it. But even though it may not be the prettiest pattern, it will work just fine.

First, you will want to cut out all of your felt pieces.

Then you will either hot glue or sew the face pieces together.

The bat requires a two step process. You will glue on your wings and ears to the back of your face. Then you will cover that with another felt circle or the front of your face. Then glue or sew on eyes and fangs.

Then you will hot glue the middle piece to the back of your face. You will want to draw your hot glue in the shape of a smile around the edge of your face and then stick in your middle piece. Repeat for the other side as well.

Then you just glue your handles together. Then glue them to the inside middle piece of the bag.

Then you are complete!

Let me know if you have any questions. I am happy to help.

Now are you saying to yourself, “this is cute, but I don’t know if I have time to make this before Halloween.” Well today is your lucky day, because I am giving away one Frankenstein bag to a lucky winner. And I am giving away one Bat bag to a lucky winner. That is 2 winners!

Here are the giveaway rules:

-This contest is open only to followers of Better Together, because we love our followers! We want to give back to you. If you are a follower, than just leave a comment telling me which bag is your favorite- and be honest because that is the one that you will get if you win.

-If you are looking for an additional entry, like our Facebook page (1 additional entry) or follow us on twitter (1 additional entry)

You have 3 chances to win your own trick or treat bag.

The giveaway will be open until 8 p.m. MST Sunday, October 23. I will contact the winner Sunday evening. I need to hear back from you within 24 hours. I will be shipping these out on Tuesday morning so that they will arrive in plenty of time for your Halloween weekend.

Thanks and Good luck!

And P.S. Are there any moms of dragons this year? If so, email me and I will send you the pattern for the fire trick or treat bag!

*Giveaway is now closed, but I am still leaving the comments open incase you have something nice that you would like to say. Thanks!

Bat Pillows

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:10:00 +0000

I am all about these bat specimen pillows that keep popping up all over the web. I think they are fabulous! I just had to make my own version.

I started with two pillowcases that I made last year. They are just your basic pocket pillow. I just slip them over the pillows that sit on my porch during the summer.

Last year I couldn’t decide what to do with the pillows so I drew a ghost and boo in chalk. It was cute but not practical as you couldn’t actually use the pillows without getting chalk on yourself.

This year I decided to commit to a design for the pillows. I went with the bat specimen pillows.

I used this stencil and cut out the bats in felt. I would have sewed them on, but since the pillows were already made I just attached the bats with hot glue.

I love my new porch swing pillows!

Look forward to a Halloween giveaway tomorrow! I made a few extra Halloween trick or treat bags, and I thought that I would share some with you fabulous readers!

Getting rid of the pre race jitters

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:28:00 +0000

So this weekend I am headed out to run this race:

It is the Nike Women's Marathon and Half Marathon in San Francisco. 30,000 women compete in this race running all over the city. Probably one of the most empowering things you can experience. I ran the half last year and am doing it again this year!!

With this in mind I thought I would give some tips to calm those pre race jitters and make sure you are prepared as best you can come race morning!

1. Make sure you are prepared! Have the race outfit you are going to wear set out with the bib number on your shirt and timing chip on your shoe. Most races start EARLY in the morning (just like Nike Women's) and without having the essentials laid out and ready to go, you could be scrambling trying to get down to the starting line. There is nothing worse then getting to the starting line with the gun already gone off (trust me, been there done that :)).

2. If you are planning on running with music spend some time putting together the ultimate playlist and make sure your batteries are fully charged. Find music that pumps you up and carry you through some tough miles during the race.

3. Get some sleep. I have always heard the night before the night of the race is the most important night for sleep. You want to make sure 2 nights before the race that you are well rested. It will allow you to full energy the day of the race.

4. Eat the right foods. DO NOT eat something new the morning of the race. Make sure you have tried your pre race meal before a long run during your training. Trying new foods can cause you to have an upset stomach or not give you all the energy/fuel you need for the race. My pre race meal, is a pack of oatmeal, a banana, and a glass of orange juice.

5. Make sure to do a few strides (quick sprints) or a little 5 minute warm up jog to get your muscles loose. This way you are not starting the race with cold muscles. Do a little stretching as well. By doing this you wont have to use the first mile or two of the raced to get warmed up.

Hope these few tips will help you feel geared up and ready to go the morning of your big race! Prepartation is key but most importantly have fun!!!

Here is the starting line of the race I will be running this weekend

Wish me luck!

Someday Crafts Guest Post

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:16:00 +0000

I am over at the fabulous Someday Crafts today. I’m posting about my new bath rug. Come on over and say Hi and learn how to spruce up your very own rug too!

If you are here from Someday Crafts, Welcome! If you are looking for other crafts, check our this page for some pics and links to other projects. Feel free to stay for a while, follow along, or even check out our facebook page.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:16:00 +0000

I think it is fairly obvious now of my serious love for soup. I love making soups and eating them even more. This soup is no exception. So delicious and ridiculously easy to whip together. What makes this recipe the quickest to prepare is if you already have precooked shredded chicken. I do this once a month. I put 8 chicken breasts in a crock pot with 1 tsp. garlic salt and about 1/2 chicken broth. Cook on low for 8 hours and have perfectly cooked shredded chicken. I get about 4 bags with 2 cups shredded chicken each. Perfect for just about any recipe that calls for chicken. You can make this soup spicy if you want and can interchange the ingredients so easy to what you love.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

2 cups shredded chicken
1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can tomato soup
1 can diced tomatoes or Rotel
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn (or 1 can corn)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt

Saute onion and garlic in 1 T oil until softened. Dump the rest of the ingredients in the pot. Stir to combine. Simmer for 30 minutes. Top with sour cream, crushed tortilla strips, cheese or what else sounds delicious. Enjoy.

*if you want this more spicy, up the chili powder to 1 Tablespoon and add a can of diced green chilies.
*If not using pre-shredded chicken, cut chicken in bite size pieces and cook with the onions and garlic until no longer pink

Mummy and Spider Web Bottles

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:40:00 +0000

I started with two empty bottles of orange cream soda.

First, I took strips of cream fabric and I wrapped and twisted them around the bottle, using hot glue to hold them in place. And then I added some googley eyes to create a mummy.

Then I painted the other bottle with chalkboard paint. I drew on a spider web and a hanging spider with chalk.

Then I decided to put them atop a bed of Tolle with some googley eyes sprinkled in.

Then I put them inside a picture frame without the glass.

It is the perfect piece to sit on my coffee table for the month of October.

I have so many more Halloween projects to share with you. I hope I can fit them all in before Halloween! For a few Halloween projects that I have already shared you can check out the links below.

Halloween Mantel

Halloween Dining Room Table

Halloween Printables

Halloween Table Setting- Plus 2 Mini Tutorials

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:58:00 +0000

I have my very own Halloween table setting. I told you, I love Halloween! I hope to start a tradition in the next year or two when my son is a little older. I would love to have a spooky Halloween themed dinner one night during the month of October. Since my son is only 18 months, we will have to wait to start that tradition. But for now we do like to have friends over for a Halloween get together. Today I thought I would share what our Halloween dining table looks like. I also want to share 2 mini tutorials on how to make the spider web doily table runner, and how to make some Halloween name/place cards.

But first let me show off a few details of what you will find on the table. I have a Frankenstein salt and pepper shaker.

There are pumpkin plates and cups.

The table is accessorized with various spider candle holders.

As we get ready for this years Halloween party, I thought I would share a tutorial on the place cards that I will be using.

Halloween Place Cards

You will need:

Black paper
Mini clothes pins
Ribbon
Glue gun
Scissors(or just use your Silhouette or Cricut to cut the stencil for you. That’s what I did.)
Chalk

Step 1. Cut out your name card shapes. All I did was Google bat stencil or spider stencil. I browsed through the images until I found one that I liked. I had my Cricut cut my stencils for me.

Step 2. Put a dab of hot glue into the back of your name card.

Step 3. Attach your clothes pin.

Step 4. Tie ribbon around your napkin.

Step 5. Attach your clothes pin to the ribbon.

Step 6. Write name in chalk.

I cut 4 different designs.

Spider Web Doily Table Runner

I feel silly giving step by step instructions for this since you can probably figure this out on your own. So I will make this even more brief than the last tutorial. I had my Cricut cut out the stencil below. I cut it out in various sizes on white paper. Then I glued the white spider web to black paper to make the web more stable and less flimsy. Then I just laid them on the table. The stencil I used was from this website. Any questions?

That is what eating, Halloween style, look like at our home.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole (freezer meal)

noreply@blogger.com (Wray Sist3rs) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:13:00 +0000

Chicken Cordon Bleu is so delicious but so labor intensive. This recipe is the perfect way of getting the same flavor without all the work. This meals even comes together so quick that we ate dinner at 4:45 last night because I thought it was going to take much longer than it did.

Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole

2 lbs chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
8 ounces shredded swiss cheese
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 pound ham sliced in strips
salt
pepper
1 box stuffing mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare stuffing mix according to package. While that is cooking, cut chicken into bite size pieces. Heat a pan with 1 tablespoon oil. Saute chicken until no longer pink inside. Season with salt and pepper. Mix together milk and soup in bowl. Layer the casserole dish with chicken, ham, cheese, soup mixture, top with stuffing and cheddar cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

If you are going to freeze this dish, don't bake in the oven at this time. Just cover with foil and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator the night before. Bake for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.