Summer Scraps

I {Heart} my Smartphone! Best Wireless plan #FamilyMobileSaves

2013-05-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

This post is sponsored by Collective Bias and Walmart Family Mobile.

I am pretty excited to tell you about the lowest price rate plan I have ever found for my smartphone, but first let me tell you a little bit about my smartphone "love" store.

Also you can check out my Google+ story for more info on my shopping trip.

To me owning a smartphone has always been very important for my business and blog. I am constantly checking email, facebook, blog and other social media. I have had a smartphone for quite some time and me and my phone were like BFF's. She was the last thing I saw before going to bed and the first thing I saw when I woke up.

Then one day I heard the saddest words ever come out of my husband's mouth - "Summer we need to lower our bills, we just can't spend that much on a phone right now". I was devastated - no seriously! I even cried a little! I knew he was right, we are trying to save up for a fun family vacation and to fix up our home and the cost of the smartphone was just ridiculous. So we changed to two super basic phones that have just talk and text. It was a sad, sad time for me. If you are a close friend then you probably heard me whine about missing my smart phone.

I would get together with my friends at an event and everyone would be tweeting, facebooking and instagraming about the event and I was not able to. I also missed my smartphone terribly when I would be driving my kids to things and needed directions to an address and I no longer had GPS via my phone. Times were very frustrating. #firstworldproblems

Then I heard about the Walmart Family Mobile plan and was shocked at the price. I could have a smartphone with unlimited talk, text and internet (yea!) for only $40 a month - what???? And NO Contract??? Awesome - where do I sign??

That is cheaper then my rinky dinky basic phone with just talk and text. I didn't need much convincing after that.

I hit up the local Walmart to get the details. I wanted to make sure I had a phone that could access all of my social media, email and had GPS. When I arrived at Walmart they had many phone options available and I was happy to say that they had a MyTouch. That was the first smartphone I have ever had and am very familiar with it. So that is what I wanted. This phone has everything I need.

I wasn't sure how the activation process would go but it was easier and quicker then I thought. I learned that you just have to buy the $25 starter kit and can use a smartphone you already own or purchase a new phone.

The associate at the store said he could activate it for me or I could do it myself from home. I opted to do it myself. The setup process was super easy! There were step by step instructions and pictures and in no time flat my smartphone was up and running.

Once you are all set up you can manage your account online and get more information about your account - so easy. The first thing I did was download facebook, twitter and instagram - then my email.

Hello Instagram - Oh how I have missed you!!

I now am a proud owner of a smart phone again - and life can go on - I mean I went 4 months without a smart phone and it was hard! I think this will make the summer so much easier for me. Once the kids are out of school (in about two weeks eeek!) I can take them on outings and be out and about and still get a lot of work done - it's gonna be awesome!

This weekend we went away for one night to the Narrows in Wyoming and I forgot to bring my camera but I was very happy with the camera feature on my MyTouch - I thought it took great pictures!

So if you are on the fence about getting a smartphone, or you are worried about getting stuck in a contract, or if the price for Smartphone monthly charge has always been a little bit out of your budget then I recommend looking into the Walmart Family Mobile plan. With our old plan our 2 basic talk and text phones bill was about $117. On the Walmart plan the first phone is $40 and the second is $35 (I think you can add 4 to 5 phones to the family plan). So our bill will be around $75 - and it will be unlimited talk, text and internet. I love when I help save the family some money - yet still get to play with my fun techy toys!

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Potatoes and Lord of the Rings!

2013-05-20T13:22:00.000-06:00

What do potatoes and Lord of the Rings have to do with each other? Well if you are a fan of Lord of the Rings then you know the answer to that question. But just in case you aren't sure I am sharing a video I found on You Tube that had me laughing and dancing at the same time. I LOVE both potatoes and Lord of the Rings so this video is so me!!!

I am currently writing up a recipe using potatoes so my mind is all potatoes right now. Potatoes are the perfect comfort food - plus they are super delicious. In fact I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to Potatoes - Yum! I should have my potato recipe up soon - it is so yummy!!

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Mother's Day gift to me - the gift of Goodies!

2013-05-16T12:55:00.000-06:00

This post sponsored by Goodies Co.

Am I the only one who buys themselves a little something for Mother's Day(and probably birthday and Christmas)? My family is actually very good at giving me cute gifts and this past Sunday was no exception. For Mother's Day I received cute handmade cards and art work, breakfast in bed and even a chocolate candy bar. My family spoiled me all day long and let me craft the day away and watch movies with them. They were all very thoughtful gifts and I love them all.

But I still always like to buy myself a little something - it never costs much and is usually something new that I want to learn about or try. Well this year I bought myself a Goodies Box.

I am pretty excited about Goodie box - it is a monthly subscription that I can end at any time that only is $7 a month. These Goodie boxes are full of yummy treats and goodies to try. My first box should be arriving on Monday (yes I have been stalking my mail).

I was looking through the pictures of previous Goodie Boxes and it has me even more excited - like these:

The Fall Box

The New Year Box

The Winter Box

They look like yummy treats, right?

So here is more info about the Goodies Co. Tasters Box:

In your Goodie Box you will receive 5-8 snacks for $7/month. This $7 includes shipping so I think it's a great deal.
If you want you can review the products and accumulate points to redeem for a free Taster's Box and other rewards.
You can purchase subscriptions for friends/family and have the Goodie Box to them. This is perfect for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birthdays, Christmas, etc. I also think this would make an excellent Teacher appreciation gift for your child's teacher.

If purchasing a gift subscription is something that interests you then follow these simple instructions:

1. Go to the Goodies Gifting page and select a plan {3 months, 6 months, or 12 months} by clicking on the corresponding button.

2. Enter the gift recipient and gift giver details.

3. Enter the gift recipient's mailing address (please note: this is where they will receive the monthly boxes)

4. Enter the gift giver's billing information.

5. Review order details and click on "place order".

So easy!!

I can't wait until I get my first box - I will have to let you all know how I like it.

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my blog post but all opinions are 100% mine - I actually signed up for a Goodies subscription before I ever decided to work them. I love working with companies I love!

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Favorite Photo this week

2013-05-16T10:20:00.002-06:00

I am just loving the sunny weather we are having - but even more I am loving the fun I am having with Adison! She just loves being outside and being with me - she makes my heart happy!

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Wood Connection Giftcard Giveaway

2013-05-13T00:00:00.000-06:00

Today I am sharing my latest project over at The Wood Connection! Yea! So be sure to hop over to their blog to check out my "Sweet" project!

To celebrate I am giving away a $25 giftcard to The Wood Connection. So once you are done checking out my latest craft project on their blog be sure to enter the giveaway!

Enter via the Rafflecopter widget below. If you have a hard time seeing the rafflecopter entry form I have heard it sometimes doesn't work well with Internet Explorer so you may need to try a different browser.

Odds of winning are based on number of entries.
Winner will be chosen at random using Rafflecopter.
Winning entry will be verified.
This giveaway begins right now and ends on 5/17/13.
Winner will be emailed and winner must respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be picked.
Only US residents eligible to win this prize.

If you don't see the Rafflecopter Widget you may need to click on the words "a Rafflecopter giveaway" to be taken to the giveaway page - thanks!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Family Share - Tools to Strengthen Families

2013-05-12T10:05:00.001-06:00

Happy Mother's Day everyone!!! I am enjoying my Sunday morning surrounded by my wonderful kids and husband and am feeling truly blessed. My family really makes Mother's Day special for me and I am pretty much Queen for the day. I am spoiled!!

This Mother's Day I have a stack of books that I am going to choose a book to read from plus I have a list of websites I am going to browse through to read articles. Today I would like to tell you about one of these sites. I met some of the people who work with Family Share at a blog conference I went to, and I was able to learn a bit about Family Share. Over the past few weeks I have been reading articles on Family Share and have really enjoyed it. Family Share has asked me to share with all of you a little bit about them - and since they are a site I like and enjoy I knew it was something I would like to share with you all.

Family Share has many articles with so many different topics from marriage, family, spiritually, family activities, etc. Over the last week I have enjoyed reading through the articles and I will be spending some of my "me" time today reading through more. Some of the articles I have really enjoyed are

Tips for Keeping Social Media Positive

Image from Family Share

I enjoyed/agree with this article since I have three kids that are getting older. They are finding themselves online more and I am always going over the rules and purposes of social media.

Another article I liked was an article about making crafts building self esteem - I have found that when I am feeling blue or down that making a craft always seems to cheer me up. I also have found it is a good time for me to bond with my daughter. She is my youngest child and loves to craft as much as I do. Whenever I get my supplies out to make a project she sets up her stuff right next to me. She loves what she does and I really think it helps with her self esteem.

I also need to take some cues from this article on How To Lead a Balanced life. Besides articles that you can spend a lot of time reading and enjoying they also have a lot of Groups you can join in a variety of categories. Family Share also has a Question & Answers page if you have a specific question for something you need help on.

Family Share also has a place called Show Love where you can send a free e-card to anyone. I love some of the Mother's Day designs - this one is one of my favorites

Image from Family Share

If you have some spare time today you should check out Family Share!

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day today and be sure to take some time for yourself today to relax, read and eat a bit of Chocolate!!

Disclosure: I received compensation from Family Share for this review but all opinions are 100% mine.

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries in less then 5 minutes!

2013-05-09T18:47:00.000-06:00

We have chocolate dipped strawberries at our home all of the time - why? Because they are so simple and easy to make!! I was surprised when several of my friends said they did not realize how easy they were to make. So I figured if some of my friends in real life didn't know how easy they were then I am positive some of my cyber friends needed to find out as well. Hence this super simple, yet super yummy blog post.

All you really need are two ingredients. Strawberries and chocolate. I always have leftover chocolate chips from baking and I don't let the kids gobble them all up. Then when I have a spare 5 minutes I make up some chocolate dipped strawberries.

First wash your strawberries really good. Then you need to dry them really good. I just use paper towels to dry my strawberries. Water can seize up the chocolate so you really need to dry off the strawberries well.

Next put your chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Repeat until melted. For me this only took 1 minute total.

Put some wax paper or parchment paper on a plate and then dip your strawberries into the melted chocolate. Just swirl it around until 3/4 of the berry is covered in chocolate and then place on your plate.

Now you just have to wait for the chocolate to harden. However I have been known to eat a chocolate covered strawberry while the chocolate was still melted - yum!! You can let it sit on the counter to harden or put in the fridge or freezer to hurry up the process - just depends on how quick you want to eat your strawberries.

Please note that if you do let them harden in the fridge or freezer the chocolate may gray a bit or not be as shiny because the process was hurried. So if I am making this for friends I will let it go the slow method. But if it is for me and my family I do it quickly - I mean seriously if I leave them to harden on the counter they slowly disappear. :)

Do you love chocolate covered strawberries??

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Magnetic Dry Eraser Board from DecoBoards Unlimited - Great Mother's Day Gift!

2013-05-05T17:02:00.002-06:00

Last week I was able to host a huge giveaway for items I would love to have in my kitchen. A Magnetic Dry Eraser Board from DecoBoards Unlimited was one of the fabulous prizes. I was thrilled when I found out the DecoBoards was going to send me one to try out and I have to say that I love it! I am currently refinishing my Kitchen . Once my Kitchen is done my magnetic dry eraser board will go in there. For now I have it in my bedroom. I am using it as a To Do list for now and I like being able to wake up and see what is on the schedule for the day. I was having a horrible glare when I tried to take a direct camera shot so I got a shot at an angle. I absolutely love how this looks in my bedroom!

I was so excited to open my package when I received it! My dry eraser board was nicely packaged and the board was much, much nicer than I expected.

The boards come in so many options. There are a ton of different frames you can choose from and a ton of different backgrounds to choose from. You can even upload your own image to use as the background - awesome right? I really liked the pattern of this background so it is what I went with.

Here is a close up of the frame. I was really impressed with the quality.

I also love that it is magnetic and I can add important reminders/invitations to my board.

The board I ordered is 18x24 and is a really nice size. When I move it my kitchen I am going to turn it into a calender/menu. I had Carson stand by the board to give you an idea of how big it is.

I do have to admit that there was a moment that I was freaked out. I let the kids draw on the board for a bit to test out how well the board erases. When I went to wipe off the dry eraser marker it only partially came off. So I was a bit concerned. I then turned the dry eraser board over and there was a message on the back that said if the dry eraser marker did not wipe off with a cloth that it would come of with rubbing alcohol. I tried the rubbing alcohol and it came off perfectly - looks good as new!

Do you know what is one week away? Yup, Mother's Day - and do you know what would be the perfect gift? Yup - A Magnetic Dry Eraser Board from DecoBoards Unlimited. I have a promo code for my readers so you can get 10% off and free shipping - awesome, right? The code is SR2013 and the code is good through May 31,2013.

For more info check out DecoBoards Unlimited on their website, facebook, twitter and pinterest.

Disclaimer: I received a magnetic dry eraser board from DecoBoards Unlimited to review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Winners of the April Showers Bring May Flour giveaway - is it you??

2013-05-04T11:27:00.000-06:00

So did you all just love the huge giveaway I had? I am still amazed at the awesome prizes that were given by our wonderful sponsors. I so wish I could have entered to win the amazing prize packages.

This giveaway would not have been possible without our awesome sponsors. We are all so grateful that they wanted to participate in this giveaway. I hope you all took the opportunity to follow them on facebook, twitter and pinterest because they are truly great companies.

And without any more delay here are the winners...

Grand prize winner is: #3386 Lisa J. - Congrats!!!! She's also a fellow food blogger at Cooking with Curls and I can't wait to see what she does with the Bosch!

And our 2nd prize package goes to #6129 Savanna L

If you would like to be see again what was included in our fantastic prize packages you can see them here at April Showers Bring May... Flour?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(the winners have 48 hours to contact us or we pick new winners)

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Favorite Photo Monday - on Wednesday!

2013-05-01T16:50:00.001-06:00

I didn't share my favorite photo I took over the past week on Monday because of the Huge Giveaway I posted - there are a few more days left to enter if you haven't yet! So I am going to post my favorite photo today. Last week I was at Thanksgiving Point - again - at the Tulip festival and took some lovely pictures of their tulips. Here is my favorite

I think it is so pretty and I just love the yellow and purple combination! I just love tulips in the spring!!

Where I party
Etsy Shop

April Showers Bring May...Flour? Huge giveaway for your kitchen!!

2013-04-28T23:35:00.001-06:00

I have teamed up with 15 other bloggers for an absolutely amazing giveaway that I am thrilled to share with all of my fabulous readers!! You know I love to cook so I really wish I could win this one! I just love all of these fabulous prizes that are perfect for your Kitchen!! You have the chance to win one of these two amazing prize packages!!!

Did your jaw just hit the floor? Aren't you already super jealous of whoever wins this Grand Prize - Because I am! If you end up not winning the fabulous Grand Prize you have a chance at this fantastic 2nd Prize!

I want to give a huge shout out to all of our amazing Sponsors for this giveaway as these great prize packages would not have been made available without them.

To show my thanks I want to tell you a little bit about each of our Sponsors.

Bosch Mixers - I don't own a Bosch Mixer yet but I am saving up for one. In fact the only mixer I own is a hand mixer and it just isn't cutting it any longer. Bosch is having a Mother's Day sale right now - there are so many great things but I like the Bosch Compact Mixer that is on sale for $139.99 - do you think I can convince my husband to get me one for Mother's Day??
Decoboards - I received my first DecoBoard earlier this week and I have to say I am super impressed. I like it so much that I have decided to write a little blog post about it coming up later this week. But instead of putting mine in my kitchen it is going in my craft room - I love it in there!
King Arthur flour - I have always heard great things about King Arthur Flour and I can officially now say I love the flour. I have a yummy recipe coming up later that I know you will all love!
Gygi - I seriously can spend hours in this store. I love all of the amazing kitchen gadgets and have eaten taken some great cooking classes at Gygi.
Coldstone Chocolate - I know you have all heard of Cold Stone Ice cream but have you heard of Cold Stone Chocolate? Well Cold Stone and Utah Truffles have teamed up to make some amazing chocolate bars using the most popular Cold Stone flavors. They made their debut at the Snap Conference I recently attended and I just loved them! My favorite was Mmmmmint Chip. What kitchen doesn't need a drawer full of these yummy chocolates?
Grandway - Grandway has the cutest aprons, oven mits and gloveables. I have a fun stash of cute aprons that I love to use in my kitchen!
Gourmet Garden - I first used Gourmet Garden Herbs and spices last years on my Grilled Pork Chops - I absolutely love them and how convenient the herbs are to use. I have a super yummy potato recipe coming up later this week!
Tropical Traditions - So I have heard a lot of great things about Coconut Oil but honestly have not tried it yet - I really want to because I have found a lot of good recipes using Coconut Oil.
Deals to Meals - Deals to Meals is a menu planning service with great recipes but on top of all of that they give you a run down of the sales in the stores in your area and let you know where to buy things at for the best bargain. I liked using this service for both the Menu Planning and saving money on great deals!
Shirley J - Oh My Goodness I absolutely adore Shirley J's gingersnap cookies - There isn't one in the giveaway because I ate them all!! No seriously though every single thing I have tried from Shirley J has been delicious. Now I really need to order me some more Ginger Snap cookie mix because I am all out!
World Market - Here is another store I can totally spend hours in. They recently opened up stores in my area and I am loving the variety and look of all they have to offer!
Simply Wrappers - You had me at Cake! This store has the cutest cupcake wrappers and accessories - Love!
Superior Touch - Superior Touch has yummy things like Better than Bouillon and Better than Gravy. This stuff is way better than the little cubes I remember using when helping my mom cook when I was little.
Kic Mount - If I won a Kic Mount I would use it to stick my tablet on my fridge so I could enjoy my music while cooking and it would be completely out of the way - But in reality it would probably be showing the newest Disney Princess movie while my daughter"helps" me cook.

I bet you are wondering how you can enter this giveaway - right?? First follow us all on Pinterest and then enter on the Rafflecopter -click the button that shows you followed all of us. Once you have done that extra ways you can enter will be made available to you.

If you have a hard time seeing the rafflecopter entry form I have heard it sometimes doesn't work well with Internet Explorer so you may need to try a different browser.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Teaching my kids to reduce, reuse, recycle #GELighting

2013-04-28T21:30:00.000-06:00

As part of my partnership with GE, I received coupons for my GE light bulbs. All opinions posted about my GE Lighting experience are my own.

With Earth day just last week I have taken the opportunity to talk to my kids about saving energy and recycling. You know the whole reduce, reuse, recycle. This is something that I feel my family needs a lot of work on. We do try to turn off the lights throughout the house when they are not in use to save energy and we recycle a teeny tiny bit but there is so much more we could do around here. Not only will we be helping our earth but it should help our family save money.

This last weekend we ran to the store to grab some new light bulbs for our home and the things to make a recycle bin. You can see more about my shopping trip in my Google+ album.

These are the light bulbs we purchased. I wanted a 75 watt bulb and love that these GE light bulbs use only 20 watts.

I thought this would be a good teaching moment for my son. I showed him two boxes of different lights. These ones were both 60 watts. I pointed out that the GE lights actually only used 13 watts of energy. So if I was using 4 60 watt bulbs of the first brand I would be using 240 watts. But if I used 4 bulbs of the GE light bulbs I would only be using 52 watts of energy. So I can use 4 GE light bulbs for the same amount of energy of 1 of the other brands.

Next we grabbed the new garbage can that we were going to use to make our recycle bin.

Once we were back home I cut out a big large R in black to put on the recycle bin to remind the kids this was for recyclable materials - not garbage.

I think my new recycle bin looks pretty good!

And yes I may have a Coca-Cola problem - these were from the past several weeks that I was saving to recycle. And yes I know I am not supposed to start a sentence with "and" - but for some reason I like it - it is my rebellious side coming out.

After the recycle bin was done we began changing out the light bulbs in our home. I have no windows in my bathroom so the lighting in these pictures is pretty awful. I put all 4 of these lights in the bathroom at the same time last year. 2 were the GE light bulbs and 2 were ones I had around the home that I wanted to use before I purchased more. As you can see they did not last as long as the GE bulbs.

Changing the bulbs was very quick.

Now my bathroom is nice and bright - using only 80 watts total!

There were a ton more light bulbs that we changed out throughout our home and I know there is still so much we need to do but I know this little bit is a good start!

GE Lighting will have an FSI in the April 14th paper for $1 off all energy efficient product (CFL, LED and energy efficient Hallogen). Walmart will have an end-cap of CFL T2 3pk product. These two items (pictured below) are also on rollback right now and will be through April.

To learn more about GE you can visit their website or follow them on facebook and twitter.

What is your family currently doing to reduce, reuse, recycle??

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and GE Lighting #cbias #SocialFabric” All opinions are my own.

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Sweet Heart Shirt Makeover - Cricut Fashion Show

2013-04-26T10:39:00.000-06:00

Cricut Fashion Show - Sweet Heart Shirt Makeover

I am so excited this week to be participating with a bunch of other fabulous bloggers in the Cricut Fashion Show! Cricut had the fun idea of sending bloggers just plain white shirts and iron on vinyl. I have to say thought that deep down inside I was nervous! I am not that great of a sewer but it is something I want to get better at.

I am very happy with how my project ended up. You see my daughter has this favorite pink polka dot shirt. It is getting too small for her and when she raises her arms you can see her tummy. I have tried to put the shirt in the thrift store bag but she always pulls it out. So I thought if I was going to try my hand at sewing this would be the perfect thing!

Here she is in her shirt - if she were to raise up her arms you would be able to see several inches of her stomach.

I started by cutting the bottom part of the shirt off - this was scary! I don't know why, but it was! Adison was so worried I was going to ruin her precious shirt.

After the shirt was cut I took the bottom half and layed it over my white tshirt that I received from Cricut. This white shirt was an adult small size shirt. I knew I wanted the bottom hem of the shirt so I wouldn't have to worry about hemming. I was trying to add length to the original shirt - so I positioned the original shirt several inches above the bottom of the white shirt.

Now it was time to cut - this was scary too guys! Why was cutting a shirt so scary to me? Maybe because a cut is just so permanent?

Now turn the top piece and bottom white T-shirt piece inside out and pin together. The bottom is obviously wider than the top so I made pleats, which I think added a fun cute look to the final shirt.

Now sew it together! My daughter didn't even realize we had a sewing machine. I had her help me do this so she could hopefully learn a little about sewing. She had such fun! Once it is sewn together turn it right side out.

Now I wanted to start having some fun with the Cricut Iron On Vinyl that Cricut sent me. My first thought was to do pink polka dots all over the shirt - I think that would have been so cute - kind of like opposite of the top. But Adison begged me for a Pink heart. Adison won and we went with the heart and I think it turned out so cute!

So let's talk about the iron on vinyl - I was nervous about using it at first but it worked so easily for me! The iron on sheets are made up of two parts - you have the iron on film (which is what is ironed onto your fabric) and the liner (which is like your transfer paper).

So first design your image - mine was a Heart and the word Sweet. If you are going to use a word like I did make sure you use the mirror image. At the top of the Cricut Craft room is a button that says flip - click it and it will flip your image into the mirror image - so easy!

Now that your image is ready it is time to cut! Put your iron on vinyl on your mat. You want to put the liner (shiny side) down on your mat. Set your settings to your vinyl settings (for me it is all 3's) and cut. This will make it cut through the vinyl but not the liner. Now weed your iron on vinyl just like you would with regular vinyl.

Now it is time to iron on your pieces to your shirt. I have two pieces to mine - and I will iron on each of them separately. Set your iron to the highest setting like you would use for cotton. Make sure the steam is turned off. Iron over your fabric to heat it up for about 15 seconds. Then place your iron on vinyl (with liner still attached) onto the fabric. Cover up the iron on vinyl with another cloth - like a dish cloth and iron for about 30 seconds. Once this is done flip over your fabric and iron another 15-20 seconds.

Let your fabric/iron on vinyl cool. Once cooled you can remove the liner and the vinyl should stay in place. Repeat with any other iron on vinyl you will be adding.

Didn't this turn out so cute?

The best part is that Adison just loves it! I am actually a little proud of myself for actually sewing something - it was an easy thing to sew, but when you aren't sure what you are doing it can be a bit of a challenge.

Have you ever tried iron on vinyl?

Disclosure: I was given some iron on vinyl and white tshirts for the Cricut Fashion Show campaign - all opinions are 100% mine.

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Wood Cupcake Stand

2013-04-24T15:49:00.000-06:00

I am excited to share with all of you today the cute Cupcake Stands I made for my Girl's Night Out Party. I have already shared my yummy Pasta Salad recipe and how I made my cute Goodie Bags so now it is time for my last post about the party - the Adorable Cupcake Stands! They were perfect for my dessert that I served.

For dessert we were having cupcakes that matched the theme of the party. I saw these cute wood stands at the Wood Connection and thought they would be fabulous to display the cupcakes. Plus at the end of the night I let each of the guests take their stand home with them - so fun!

Here are all the pieces waiting to get put together

Next using wood glue I glued all of the pieces together and let them sit overnight

And then this is where I forgot to take more pictures :) The next day I painted them all white and added a pink ribbon. I didn't glue on the ribbon just wrapped it around the base and knotted it at the front.

Here are some pictures of the cupcake stands at the party

I wanted to get some close ups of this and was having too much fun at the party that I didn't get them taken. So at home I made some more yummy cupcakes just for this photo shoot (my kids were not complaining!).

I think these turned out awesome and was just a nice touch to my party! I love cupcakes so this is totally me! My favorite cupcake is yellow cake with chocolate frosting - what is your favorite kind of cupcake??

Where I party
Etsy Shop

Favorite Photo Monday

2013-04-22T20:39:00.003-06:00

I am going to try a little something new around here on Mondays. I love to take photos but am always so busy I haven't been stopping and taking a moment to look through and enjoy a lot of my photos. So I am planning on sharing on Mondays my favorite photo that I have taken the past week. I just love this photo I took of Adison and Kayden together. When they are getting along they are the best of friends but when they fight it can get pretty ugly and frustrating. I love that I was able to capture this moment!

What is your favorite photo that you have taken lately? Feel free to leave a link to a photo in the comments as I would love to stop by and take a look!

Etsy Shop

Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival

2013-04-13T09:20:00.000-06:00

My family loves Thanksgiving Point! In fact we are heading there today to visit Farm Country. I will also be heading to Thanksgiving Point next week for Snap Conference! I went last year and loved it so I am going again (I will be sure to tell you all about it). April is here so that means I get to enjoy the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival! I have never been so I am very excited to go this year!

The Tulip Festival has 250,000 tulips spread out over 55 acres in the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. With almost a 100 different varieties it is a rainbow of colors! I think it is cool that every year it is redesigned for a new display - can you just imagine all the work that goes into that??

The Tulip Festival is already opens and runs until April 27th (but is closed on Sundays) from 10am to 8pm. On Fridays and Saturdays there is also music, vendors and food. Garden tours and demonstrations are held everyday.

Thanksgiving point is also having a photography contest with three age groups (Junior, Youth and Adult) - so if you love to take pictures of tulips or have a "budding" photographer at home then this is a fun contest to enter.

Before we get to the giveaway of 4 passes to the Tulip Festival I want to quickly tell you about the Museum of Natural Curiosity. It is Utah's newest Children's museum and is scheduled to open in the Spring of 2014. I am so excited for this museum to open and love how close it is to me. Be sure to check RUCurios2? for more info!

Now to the Giveaway!!!!

Today I am giving away 4 passes to the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival to one of my awesome readers!! Since the festival is already open and ends on the 27th this will be a quick giveaway so I have time to mail the winner the passes.

Please enter via the Rafflecopter widget below. If you have a hard time seeing the rafflecopter entry form I have heard it sometimes doesn't work well with Internet Explorer so you may need to try a different browser.

Odds of winning are based on number of entries.
Winner will be chosen at random using Rafflecopter.
Winning entry will be verified.
This giveaway begins right now and ends on 4/17/13.
Winner will be emailed and winner must respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be picked.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: Thanksgiving Point has given me passes to give to my readers because they are awesome like that!

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Feeding my Hungry Teen with Tyson Chicken Fries and Sweet n Spicy BBQ Sauce #ChickenFryTime

2013-04-12T08:06:00.000-06:00

Life can get pretty busy around here! With both me and my husband working full time jobs, school, homework, afterschool activities and scouts. Then I throw in the work I need to do with my crafts and blog and everyone is going a million miles an hour. My kids especially my teenager Carson is starving after school and he usually wants to hurry and grab a snack so he can get to hanging out with his friends. I always try to stock my freezer with items my kids can cook easily without supervision so I can get the things I am working on accomplished. I recenlty went to Sam's Club (you can see more about my trip on my google+ album) and tasted the Tyson Chicken Fries. I knew right away this chicken snack would be perfect to have at home for Carson to quickly make for himself.

Along with the Chicken Fries I have some homemade Sweet and Spicy BBQ sauce that the kids love to use for a dip. I love to make dipping sauces for chicken. We often will have ketchup mixed with mayo, ranch or a favorite of my husbands is BBQ sauce mixed with ranch. BBQ suace is used the most around here so I found a recipe I like that is quick and easy to make. My cousin Lori gave me this BBQ sauce recipe - hers does not include a Jalapeno but we add that because we like to make things a little spicy around here sometimes.

Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce

Ingredients needed:

1/2 a Small Onion (diced)
1 Garlic Clove (pushed through a garlic press)
1 Tsp Butter
1/4 cup Honey
3 dashes Worchestershire Szue
Jalapeno (diced) for less spice remove seeds
1/2 cup Ketchup

In a saute pan saute the onion, garlic clove and jalapeno in the butter until the onions are soft and tender. Add the ketchup, honey, worchestershire sauce and mix together. Cook over a medium/low heat for 3-5 minutes until everything is nicely combined. If you want a smooth sauce then once the sauce is cool you can blend everything together.

The Chicken Fries can be made in the oven (how I prefer them) or in the microwave (how the kids prefer them because it is quicker).

I asked Carson what he thought of them and he said they were really good - crunchy on the outside but still soft on the inside - just like a french fry. The rest of the family enjoyed them as well.

What is your favorite dipping sauce for chicken??

You can find out more about Tyson and their Chicken fries on their website. Also soon you will be able to enter to win Six Flag tickets for your family vacation!

If you like this recipe you will probably also like my Honey BBQ Chicken Wraps!

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Tyson #cbias #SocialFabric All opinions are my own.

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Supreme Pasta Salad

2013-04-11T11:09:00.001-06:00

Remember my Girls Night Out party from a couple of weekends ago? At the party I served a delicious pasta salad. Almost everyone at the party asked for the recipe so I thought I would share it with all of you since it was such a big hit.

I first received this recipe from my sister in law Tiffany. She makes hers just a teeny tiny bit different but it pretty much the same recipe. You will be surprised with how easy and delicious this recipe is - and is all because of one secret ingredient!

Supreme Pasta Salad

Ingredients Needed:

1 Box Pasta - In Tiffany's original recipe Tiffany uses Spaghetti noodles for her pasta - my family prefers bow tie pasta because it is so fun to eat - but either will work great!
Veges - I use 1 cucumber and 1 Roma tomato dice up. In the original recipe I believe Tiffany uses 2 or 3 tomatoes. You can really get creative at this point. Add veges that you and your family will like. Occasionally I will even add sliced olives and sometimes cocktail shrimp - really the ideas are endless.
1/2 red onion diced
Italian Salad dressing - The original recipe calls for a whole bottle plus a small bottle - I don't like that much dressing on mine so I add about 3/4 of a bottle of dressing - it really is just what you prefer.
Secret Ingredient!! - Okay so the Secret ingredient which totally gives this recipe a special kick is Salad Supreme seasoning. I just love the flavor it gives this recipe - really try it, you will be amazed! Tiffany's recipe calls for the entire bottle of salad supreme seasoning - I only add 1/2 the container.

In case you are not sure what Salad Supreme is, here is a picture - Salad Supreme did not ask me to blog about this - it is just one of my most favorite seasonings!

Mix well and refrigerate for a couple hours and eat - yum!!!

This is a great side dish to bring to a family gathering or potluck. What do you like to add to your pasta salad?

Where I Party!

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Keeping my family healthy with healthy habits

2013-04-06T16:41:00.000-06:00

What does your family do to be as healthy as possible? One major thing my family does is sanitize our hands as soon as we enter our home. Right next to the little table right by the front door we have a huge bottle of hand sanitizer. As soon as we walk through the door my husband reminds everyone to sanitize their hands.
Here is my little table (currently decorated for Easter - yes I need to put it away, but I have been busy)

Hiding behind my wood Easter blocks is our hand sanitizer that we use all of the time now - just out of habit.

Also as part of the kids chores several times a week they all grab a Lysol wet wipe and clean things that are touched often - like doorknobs, light switches, handles, etc. I really think this helps keep my family healthy. I recently found a new Lysol wipe that I am loving! One side is a regular Lysol wipe and the other side is like a scrubber. So as you are wiping away when you come in contact with something that doesn't want to wipe off so easy you can scrub it - I love this!

Have you heard of Healthing? Lysol is introducing an idea centered around families becoming as healthy as possible beyond just cleaning. Lysol has many tips to incorporate Healthing into your cleaning routine. These are some that we use:

Know the difference between cleaning and disinfecting! Both are important components of the Healthing process and LYSOL^® has products that can help with all related tasks. While cleaning and organizing is certainly important, killing germs on commonly touched surfaces can lower the risk of spreading bacteria and viruses between members of the family.
Use a disinfectant product, like LYSOL^® Disinfecting Wipes, to help ensure you’re killing germs as you clean, and think beyond the usual places. Be sure to clean even the smallest surfaces, such as light switches.
Don’t forget to disinfect places that you don’t see or think about often, like the door knobs, cabinet handles or sink drains.
Remember to practice proper hand washing as well after you clean, either with soap and water for 20 seconds or a hand sanitizer. Hand washing is the single most important thing you can do to prevent illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

One thing that I think is pretty cool is that Lysol is visiting YMCA's across the country to provide people with hands on education. They will be teaching about products and steps for healthy living and hygiene habits in the home.

If you would like to learn more about Lysol's Healthing Initiative you can visit their website. Lysol is also on facebook and they have a guidebook available.

Do you have any good cleaning tips??

Disclosure: I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for LYSOL^®. I received a promotional item to thank me for participating.

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Super Simple Goodie Bags

2013-04-03T13:24:00.001-06:00

Goodie Bags are always fun to have at a party. Even if it is a bunch of your girlfriends! This past weekend I had a girls night out party and I had such fun making some cute goodie bags.

Let's Get Started!!

Disclosure - Here are the supplies I used. The links are amazon links that show you what the product is or where you can buy the product. I am an Amazon affiliate. I find it helpful to see what a product is or easy places you can purchase it from - hopefully this helps you.

Supplies Needed:

Colored Lunch Sacks (I used green - perfect for Spring! I purchased mine from Walmart but they can be found on Amazon as well.)
Items to put in your goodie bag - for this party it was lotion, nail polish, a pedicure kit and candy
Cardstock (I used white cardstock but really you could use any color)
Paper Cutter
Punch (mine is this Fiskars border punch)
Coordinating Ribbon
Scissors

Open up your colored lunch bags

Next fill with fun goodies!

Using your paper cutter cut your white paper in squares. I measured the bag to determine the size. Mine were cut 5 1/4 inches wide and 4 1/2 inches tall.

Using my Fiskars border punch I punched along one of the wide (long) edges

Now fold in half and place over the top of your lunch sack. Use your paper hole punch (I love my cropodile!) to punch two holes through the white cardstock and paper sack.

Grab a cute piece of coordinating ribbon and push an end through each hole. Tie a knot and trim the ends with your scissors. You are done!

A whole bunch of these on the table look so cute!

Do you like to make goodie bags for your parties??

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Where I Party
Linking to the following Link Parties:

Sally Hansen Girls Night Out party #IHeartMyNailArt

2013-04-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

This weekend I had a Girls Night Out Party and it was so much fun!

We painted our nails, ate great food, made a cute ladybug craft and had a ton of laughs! When I decided to do a Girls Night Out party the first person I called was my cousin Mandy. I knew she would love to help me put the party together. We got together that same day and made plans and went shopping. We stopped at Walgreens to purchase the Sally Hansen nail products I needed for my Girls Night Out. There is a huge display of Sally Hansen products and it was so hard to pick and choose the colors we wanted.

Once my cart was full of nail supplies, snacks and soda I checked out using my Walgreens Balance Rewards card. Walgreens has several Sally Hansen promotions going on right now like the Sally Hansen Extreme and Salon Effects are 2/$5 with 1000 points. It is great seeing the savings add up!

The first Walgreens I went to did not have the Nail Art pens that I really wanted for my party. So I went to another Walgreens and found them. I am so glad I did because everyone at the party loved them!

I made some cute goodie bags for the party. In each bag I put nail polish, hand lotion, a pedicure kit and some candy.

I love how the decor turned out. My ideas were inspired by Spring and the Fashion Runway. The colors I used for the decor were yellow, green and pink. Perfect for spring time and colors right off the runway! Here I have a cute banner with the "Spring Fling" title. Below I have my runway fashion inspirations.

I used the photos below to give my friends some Runway Fashion inspiration. The tables were covered in Yellow tablecloths and we had some cupcakes with a yellow checkerboard theme. I sadly did not get pictures of those cupcakes - they were cute though! Mandy made the cupcakes - the Key Lime cupcakes pictured below were inspired from the green and white flower dress. My friends were also able to look at the pictures to get inspiration when painting their nails.

A great party needs great food. I made a fruit bowl with strawberries, grapes, blackberries and pineapple. I also made ham/turkey croissant sandwiches, had a vege tray and a yummy pasta salad.

All of my friends began to show up. They grabbed some food and began doing their nails.

Here Ashley is drawing some chevron lines onto Camille's nails with a nail pen.

Here are a few closeups

Nails using Sally Hansen Salon Effects - they have so many fun designs!

Nails using Sally Hansen Pink and Green Nail Art Pens

Nails using Sally Hansen Pink Polish with Sally Hansen green nail art pen for dots.

Nails using Sally Hansen Cherry Red polish with Sally Hansen White manicure pen for french tips and Chevron design.

After nails we worked on our ladybug craft that I think turned out so cute!

Here is a photo of Shannon's Ladybug that I took and shared on Instagram. Isn't her ladybug adorable. I especially love the wire antennae! You can also see Ashley photobombing!

I am so glad I had this night to spend with these girls. We had so much fun!

I am sure you are all wondering how our nails turned out. I think they were all so fun and stylish! What do you think??

To see more info on my shopping trip and party check out my Google+ photo album. You can also find more photos from my party as well as other people's parties via instagram, twitter and facebook by using #IHeartMyNailArt. To see some more fun nail art you can check out the facebook page IHeartMyNailArt You can find the products I purchased at Walgreens at their Online store as well.

Disclosure: “I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and COTY #cbias #SocialFabric

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Linking to the following parties:
LollyJane

Kitchenaid Mixer Giveaway!!

2013-04-01T01:00:00.000-06:00

Do you love to cook? Do you know someone who loves to cook?

Perhaps you just want something pretty in your kitchen so that people think that you know how to cook? Regardless of the category you fall into... you'll want this beautiful KitchenAid Mixer! I've partnered with some fun and awesome bloggers, you're probably following most of them already! Just follow along on their social media, and one of you will win an awesome KitchenAid mixer! ... and if you don't win the mixer, you'll still be following some awesome bloggers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Paint instead of Vinyl - Did Someone Say Chocolate Bunnies?

2013-03-30T08:16:00.002-06:00

A couple of days ago I shared my "Did Someone Say Chocolate Bunnies?" that I made with vinyl. Well sometimes I like the look of painted words instead of vinyl. So I thought I would show you a super easy way to paint the words on.

Supplies needed:

Wood board
Paint (I used white and brown)
Brown Ink
Vinyl (any color - we are just using as a stencil)
Mod Podge

Now Let's Get Started!

Cut and sand some wood boards to the size you would like.

Paint your wood boards (I painted mine white)

I inked the edges of my board - just because I like how it looks!

Cut out a vinyl phrase that you like. For me I did my Did SomeoneSay Chocolate Bunnies Vinyl. But instead of taking off the negative vinyl I left on the negative vinyl. Like this:

Now put the vinyl on your wood board.

To make sure the paint does not seep under the vinyl Mod Podge around all the edges. It really helps to make a clean look.

Once the Mod Podge has tried paint over the letters - like this

Once the paint has dried carefully take off the vinyl and you will have your painted board!

You could leave it like that but I wanted a more rustic look so I took my sander and sanded over everything. Here is a close up of the board with it sanded

So cute right? Using this painting technique makes painting words and images so easy!

What project are you going to try this on??

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Did Someone Say Chocolate Bunnies? Wood board with vinyl.

2013-03-28T10:42:00.000-06:00

For my friends I wanted to make a cute little board they could put on their shelf for Easter.

Let me show you how easy this is to make!

Supplies needed:

Wood board

Paint (I used white)

Brown ink

Vinyl (I used brown)

Mod Podge

Cut your wood board to the size you like and paint white.

Using a brown ink pad ink up the edges a bit.

Cut out a cute Easter saying on vinyl. I thought this was such a cute saying because I just love Chocolate bunnies at Easter time!

Put your vinyl on your board.

I add a layer of Mod Podge over the top to make sure the vinyl doesn't peel up. It usually does not - but I like to make sure.

Let dry and put on your shelf - so cute!

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Snacks for College Basketball game night #SnackMadness

2013-03-26T06:00:00.000-06:00

It's March! Do you know what is in March this year? Yes we have St. Patrick's Day and yes Easter is this Sunday but there is also all of the college basketball tournaments going on. And when there is a game with boys sitting for hours in front of a TV there also needs to be snacks. Walgreen's is just down the street from me (less than a minute) so it is very convenient to stop at to grab snacks. We always stock up on chips, soda (like Coca-Cola, Coke Zero, Hawaiian punch) and some sweet treats. Reese's is a favorite around here but really anything made from Hershey's is a winner at our house. #SnackMadness

(You can read about my shopping trip at Walgreen's for my snacks on my Google+ album here.)

In high school my husband was on most of the Varsity sports teams. He lived sports! Now that he is all grown up he enjoys watching it on TV with the boys and occasionally us girls join them. In Utah we have several college teams but the biggest rivalries are Uof U and BYU. My husband and boys purposely choose opposite teams than each other just to see if their teams can win one another. They love to tease each other about how their team is doing. Too bad that neither of these two teams are in the playoffs this year.

Once a month I get together with my extended family for dinner. This month we were at my brother Kelly's home (he makes the best smoked pork). The kids were watching Toy Story 3 but as soon as we got them interested in something else the guys all sat down and watched a Basketball game.

No one is eating yet because we are all waiting for my brothers smoked pork to get done - it was worth the wait!

Some of us ate in the frontroom and the rest were at the table. The older boys pretty much stayed in the front room to watch the basketball game.

Yummy food potluck style! So many yummy things to eat! Smoked pork, pasta salad, chips, rolls, veges, desserts and soda. Perfect for hanging out with the family and enjoying a basketball game #snackmadness

There were many desserts tonight - Cheesecake made by Tim, No Bake Cookies made by Amanda and my Caramel Turtle brownies made with Hershey's chocolate chips.

The other night while watching another basketball game I visited the Reese's recipe site for recipes using Reese's peanut butter cups. There were a lot of yummy recipes and I was inspired to make the Reese's cupcakes

We ate a bunch and also shared with the neighbors. What do you like to snack on when you watch a game on TV??

You can find more info about Walgreen's at their website. They are also on Twitter and Facebook.
You can find more info about Coke on their website and on Facebook

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Walgreens #cbias #SocialFabric All opinions are my own

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