Graceful by Anna

Cheddar Bacon Pork Chops

2013-02-22T05:40:00.000-08:00

Since moving to our little small town a month ago I have been cooking almost every night. There is absolutely no fast food, which I am so HAPPY about!

We have gone out to dinner at a restaurant 4 times, picked up a pizza once, and two nights ago when we drove into a bigger town an hour away we treated ourselves to Hardees(Carls Jr.), other than that we have had a home cooked meal every night, made by me!

I've been trying to be creative and try new things.

A couple weeks ago I was shopping and stumbled across these seasoning packages with cheese and breadcrumbs and decided to get a couple to see how they were.

Oh my goodness was dinner ever YUMMY!!!

Here's what I bought:

I got this one and the Cheddar Bacon one too.

I forgot to take a picture before of the Cheddar one but this is what the packaging looks like if you want to try them.

I used pork chops when I made the Cheddar Bacon one.

All you do is dip your meat into water, one piece at a time.

Then put it into the bag with the cheese and breadcrumb mix.

(I shook the bag around real good before)

The first piece the mix didn't stick on very well so the 2nd piece I squooshed my hands around the bag to try to get it on really good. It helped to coat it much better when I did that.

Just lay them out on a cookie sheet and bake them following the instructions on the package.

They were nice and crispy on the outside and the seasonings were so good!

The meat was tender and the chesse under the crispy goodness was soft.

We really enjoyed these!

I had a lot of fun making dinner too.

Another great thing was there was no mess!!! ;) I hate cleaning!

I served ours with green beans and roasted potatoes.

My mouth is watering seeing these pictures!

These are seriously one of my new favorite things to use to make dinner!!

I can't wait to try the Italian Parmesan.

Let me know if you try them! I'd love to hear what you think.

I Got My Hair Did!

2013-02-21T23:44:00.002-08:00

I went to a Professional!

What is my natural hair color you're wondering? My natural hair color is dirty blonde. Most of my life I have had short or shoulder length hair so it was easy for me to play around with my hair and change the color all the time. Every couple months I'd do something different from light blonde to black or highlights. In 2008 I started growing my hair long. I have ALWAYS dyed my hair myself so once my hair got to be really long it was difficult to bleach on my own so it's been various shades of brown since. I have major trust issues when it comes to my hair! Have any of you had horrible experiences? I HAVE with hair cuts and because of this my fear of something going terribly wrong with the color has made me not trust anyone to dye my hair.

After 19 years of coloring my hair on my own I finally went to a salon and had a professional dye my hair for me. I can't tell you how nervous I was!

This was my color before:

My hair was really dark brown and the first colorist I went to was scared my hair wasn't going to take so she did some highlights to begin with.

The color was really pretty with the highlights throughout my hair but I want to be blonde again.

I'm sick of having to dye my hair every 3-4 weeks!

I had my hair dyed in December just before Christmas

So on Weds I had another appointment and now I'm back to my dirty blonde hair. I'm loving it!

What do you think??

Hope you all are having a fabulous week.

Thanks for reading!!

XOXOXO

The Way to Your Mans Heart

2013-02-07T00:30:00.000-08:00

Just 1 more week until Valentine's Day!!

What are you doing for your boyfriend or husband for Valentine's Day??

Everyone knows the way to a mans heart is through his stomach!

HAHA! I'm kidding!

.....actually, I'm not! ;)

Here are some fabulous ideas of things to make for your man:

Breakfast in Bed:

How sweet are these Fruit Skewers and so simple to make!

Just use a heart shaped cookie cutter and stick em on a skewer or popsicle stick.

Love this!!

Can't forget the main course. Men love some meat, right?

I'm sure this sandwich tastes as good as it looks. M'm

To make take two pieces of bread, ham and cheese.

Grill one side, flip over and cut out the center.

Crack an egg and let it cook inside the hole you just made with your cookie cutter.

Don't forget to grill your small heart too.

Lunch:

What's more romantic than a picnic lunch??

Put together a picnic basket and head out for a romantic picnic together.

What do you pack for a picnic?

I suggest some plastic plates and even plastic wine glasses!

Make some really yummy sandwiches.

Veggies like carrots, celery and cucumbers.

Fruit, you could even make the fruit skewers and put them in a baggie or tupperware.

For a sweet treat bring along some chocolate covered strawberries or cupcakes. ;)

Some wine!

Don't forget a blanket and a couple pillows.

If you want to make it a dinner date instead of lunch bring some candles to set the mood.

Dinner:

Make his FAVORITE meal!

I have no idea what your man's favorite meal is, but make it!

Set a beautiful table and ENJOY!!

New Year, New Home!

2013-02-05T00:10:00.000-08:00

Wow! It's been quite a while since I've been on my blog.

I got so busy with my shop that with working and fulfilling orders I couldn't keep up.

In the past year I have moved from California to Colorado, met my boyfriend

and moved again with him to our new home in North Dakota.

my little small town ;)

CRAZY... I know!

But..... I'M BACK!!!

I will be writing about my life in gerenal, love, family, recipes, crafts AND not to mention,

MY SHOP!

I'll be bringing back Mega Deal Monday, so keep checking back here for amazing deals.

For first looks at what I am working on and exclusive coupons follow me on Facebook.

Hope the New Year has been a HAPPY one for you all! ;)

The Frisky

2011-12-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

I am featured on THE FRISKY!! ;)

My Grey, Black and White Rosette flower was chosen as one of the TOP 10 FLIRTY HAIR CLIPS!!! Whoo Hoo!!!

Thank you so much THE FRISKY!!!

Good to know my stuff isn't just cute but is FLIRTY and FRISKY too! ;)

Eat, Drink and be Scary!

2011-10-31T07:27:00.000-07:00

HALLOWEEN PARTY
These past two months of planning my Halloween Punpkin Carving/Birthday Party certainly paid off.

What a fun party!

Almost everything was handmade by me. It was a lot of work, but so worth it in the end.

Halloween Candy Bar

Monster and Mummy Cupcakes... Yummy!!!

Appetizing Brain

Mummy Wraps

Liver & Heart

Boneyard Dirt Cake (what a HIT!!)

Boos

Recipes coming soon!!

Happy Birthday to ME!! ... and you!

2011-10-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY to ME!!!

In celebration of my 30th Birthday, I am giving all of you a gift of 30% off your purchases on

My Birthday October 23rd ONLY !!!

In order to take advantage of my special gift to you enter coupon code Happy30Bday. This will run from 12:00am-11:59pm October 23rd 2011.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!!!

DIY Halloween Costume Trophies

2011-10-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

Ok so just like my problem finding awards for the winners at my Pumpkin Carving Party I also couldn't find any type of awards for the Costumes either.

So again I made my own.

I wanted them to look like trophies so I was trying to think of ways to make them on my own.

I thought of using candle sticks, which would work but they were all so expensive!

Then the idea came to me.

This whole project cost me $12.00

What you need:

Glass jars of various shapes and sizes, Spray paint, heavy duty glue that works on glass and the materials you are working with, Skeleton heads, wooden shapes, and craft paint.

Step 1:

Clean the jars with soap and water and then let them dry completely

Step 2:

Glue the lids to the jars and glue any jars on top of each other if you are stacking them.

Then glue the wooden shapes to the top that the heads will rest on.

Step 3:

Spray paint them all black. (sorry don't have a picture).

Step 4:

While the jars are drying start painting the heads.

I used a silver metalic paint mixed with some black to paint my heads.

I had to paint about 5 different coats to get them looking how I wanted to.

Step 5:

Print up labels to attach to the trophies.

I used Most Creative Costume, Scariest Costume, and Funniest Costume.

I tried looking for metallic labels everywhere with no luck so I went through all

my scrapbooking paper and found one that I liked.

I cut the 12"x12" scrapbooking paper down to 81/2x11 so I could put

the paper through my printer.

Then I went onto word and typed up the wording using various fonts.

The fonts I used were Honey Bunches, Zombie Holocaust, and Circus.

Then I printed out the words on the paper and cut the paper to fit on the trophies.

(sorry no pictures for this part either).

Step 6:

I glued the labels onto the jars.

Then I took black rhinestones and embellished around the label.

Step 7:

Then I glued the head on the top.

I am thrilled with how they came out!!

Can't wait for my party to give them out to the winners!! ;)

This whole project including drying time took about 10 hours.

If I didn't have to wait so long for the paint to dry on the heads it would've been much faster.

Next year I will probablly just use spray paint instead of the acyrlic paint.

Let me know if you make them and please send me pictures!!

All of my homemade HALLOWEEN party awards!!

DIY Pumpkin Carving Awards

2011-10-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

I've been planning my Halloween Pumpkin Carving/Birthday Party for a couple months now.

I have looked all over for cute awards to give as gifts for the Pumpkin Carving winners.

After searching for over a month I finally decided to make my own.

Here's what you need:

fake pumpkins, black paint, black spray paint, wooden circle shapes (as base),

paint brush, and self adhesive black rhinestones, nail, hammer, screws, screwdriver (not pictured).

Step 1:

Use black paint to write the words on the pumpkins.

I used Creative, Scariest, and Custest

Step 2:

Take circle base shapes and spray paint both sides black. Let dry completely!

Step 3:

Once dry then take a nail and hammer a nail hole through the bottom.

Step 4:

Center the pumpkin on the top of the circle shape.

Then take your screwdriver and screw the circle base into the pumpkin to keep it in place.

Repeat for all your awards.

So cute!!

Super cheap too! Only cost me $8.00

I bought the pumpkins for $1.00 each at Walmart and the wooden circle shapes at a craft store for a $1.00 each. Everything else I had laying around the house.

For the creative one I was CREATIVE ;) and used rhinestones instead of the paint.

This was a lot of fun!

Hope this helps you come up with ideas for your own Awards!

I'd love to see what you make!

Please post if you try this project!! ;)

My 30th Birthday!!

2011-10-18T22:11:00.001-07:00

Make sure to head over to Graceful by Anna's FB page on Friday night Oct 21st after 10:23pm for something very exciting happening on My 30th BIRTHDAY (October 23rd)!! You DO NOT want to miss this!!!

We are at 39 LIKES, Just 11 more to go til the GIVEAWAY game. Make sure to share with your friends and LIKE my Graceful by Anna FB page(not this status) to be able to join in the fun and win some of ...my items!! ;)

There is still time to take advantage of the FREE SHIPPING on all your purchases made now through October 24th for my Grand Opening of my Etsy Shop. Enter promo code NowOpentil1024 to get free shipping on your order!!

Thank you everyone for your love and support! I truly appreciate it!!

♥ Anna

DIY Crafting Supply Jars

2011-10-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

If you're a crafter like me then I'm sure you have random baggies of beads, buttons, etc. This is an inexpensive and easy way to make it all look cute, pretty and most importantly... ORGANIZED!

You all know I have an In-Home Daycare so I have baby food jars on hand, but for those of you that don't either ask a friend to save them up for you or you can buy them at your local Big Lots for

30-60 cents each. Thats still much cheaper than buying individual containers!

Here's what you need:

Baby food jars, spray paint (the color of your choice) and stickers if you want to use them.

Step 1:

Empty out the contents of the jars and wash them with soap and water. Dry them thoroughly.

Then take the lids and the spray paint outside and paint the tops only.

Let them dry COMPLETELY.

Step 2:

Then apply the stickers to label the contents of the jar.

I left mine blank only because I can see what inside and didn't want to use up all my stickers, but it does make them look so much cuter!! I may just have to go out and get more stickers to label them!

Just 2 easy steps!!

Now wasn't that simple!! :)

My Etsy Shop is NOW OPEN!!

2011-10-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

Graceful By Anna

After 2 long months of working countless hours cutting and sewing away I finally opened my shop. YAY!! I'm so excited to see how my business will grow.

My Shop has already been featured on Mommy Wants to Read. To read my interview click here.

I am also sponsoring my first giveaway with a Harvest Halloween Blog Hop.

Its a simple and fun way to win an incredible Prize Package!! ;)

Click on the link at the top to visit my Shop.

I am offering FREE SHIPPING for all purchases made thru October 24th.

Enter coupon code NowOpentil1024 to get your free shipping!

Take part in Giveaway games that will be happening over at my Facebook Page.

LIKE my page and you never know, you might just be that lucky winner!

My first custom order!!

I love a challenge! If there is something you want to see me make message me.

I wanna know what you want and what is of interest to you.

I have tons of ideas and items I am creating but would love the extra input!

Thank you for all your love and support! I truly appreciate it!

<3 Anna

Harvest Halloween Blog Hop

2011-10-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to be a part of the Blog Hop giveaway!

I have donated 3 of my items for the winner of the Getting Crafty prize package.

For your chance to win HOP on over to any of the Blogs listed below and simply choose which contest you want to enter, fill out the form, and thats it! Pretty simple! ;)

The contest runs from October 14th to October 24th.

Thank you for HOPPING, STOPPING and SHOPPING with GracefulbyAnna.

<3 Anna

Please check out the other blogs participating and hop on to the next one for your chance to win other great giveaways!

1.	Savey Spender: Trick Or Treat Giveaway ($95)	21.	Tammilee Tips	41.	The More The Merrier
2.	april's lifestyle show	22.	A Helicopter Mom	42.	Confessions of a Frugal Mind
3.	Randomosity	23.	Moose Tracks & Tater Stacks	43.	Blaze ' n' Crochet
4.	Rockin' Deals	24.	Shelly's Bits & Pieces	44.	Shopaholic Mommy's Must Haves
5.	ABCD Diaries	25.	Sweep Tight	45.	Savvy Shopper Central
6.	Aubut Family	26.	Just Married with Coupons	46.	insignificant at best
7.	Fashion In The Forest	27.	Giveaway Blogdom	47.	Home Grown Families
8.	The Kid's Fun Review	28.	Free & Frugal Mommy of One	48.	The Frugal Navy Wife
9.	Oh my gosh, Beck!	29.	Minding Spot	49.	Dazzling Daily Deals
10.	Crunchy Frugalista	30.	All In One Mom ($250+)	50.	Mommy Wants To Read
11.	Parent Palace	31.	Practical Frugality	51.	Big K, little a
12.	Mommy Who Loves Giveaways	32.	Giveaways with Grace	52.	Mom to Bed by 8
13.	Pretty Opinionated	33.	Kelly's Lucky You	53.	Mama NYC ($55)
14.	113Tidbits of Commentary	34.	Yes I Have A Coupon & A Giveaway Too!	54.	At The Maple Table
15.	The Review Wire	35.	Simply Sweet Home	55.	Whirlwind of Surprises
16.	The Pet Lady's Blog!	36.	Still blonde after all these years	56.	Savvy Shopper Mom
17.	Makobi Scribe	37.	Heavenly Savings	57.	Tracers Coupon Affair
18.	Shopping for Savings	38.	Being Tazim	58.	Emily's Frugal Tips
19.	Amy Sue's Place	39.	Real Housewife of Singapore	59.	You're next!
20.	Passport To Frugal	40.	Free Hot Samples

Test Tube Shooters

2011-10-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

Go here to get the recipe for this creepy concoction.

Fun with Food Containers!

2011-10-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some inexpensive and simple crafts to do with your kids.

Eat a couple bowls of cereal and have a great time making these crafts!

Cereal Box Mummys

Go here to wrap em up!

Haunted House Milk Cartons

To make this spooky House go here.

Ghosts from Gallon Milk Containers

To get a scare go here.

Vampire Blood Drip Martini

2011-10-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

To taste this blood sucking beverage go here.

My Favorite Homemade Childrens Costumes

2011-10-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

Year after year new ideas for Halloween costumes are revealed.

The creativity behind some costumes never cease to amaze me.

These are just a few of my favorite kids costumes I've seen this year.

Isn't she a HOOT?

Owl

"Builder of Tomorrow"

Boba Fett Lego

Do you think they like to travel... yet?

"The Roaming Gnomes"

She's no Joke!!

Joker from Dark Knight

Red Light, Green Light

Stop Sign, Stop Light

Shes a Doll!

The classic Paper Doll

Free Halloween Printables and Templates

2011-10-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

We all love FREE things.

Take advantage of these frightfully wonderful printables and templates while you can!

Go here to download.

These Owls are a HOOT!!

Go here to make your own.

Get these adorable pencil toppers here.

Learn to make this Mummy wrap and get the Bat template here.

Brain Hemorrhage

2011-09-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

To get the recipe for this gruesome potion go here

Halloween Costume Candy Award Ideas

2011-09-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

I'm having a Halloween Party and want to give out awards for different costumes. I've been trying to think of creative ideas for awards because all I have seen are ribbons or statues that are way overpriced or super tacky!! The other night my boyfriend and I started talking about different candies that could be given out for certain costumes.

Here is the list that we came up with. Please share any other ideas!!

I'd love to hear them!!!

Sexiest Woman Costume:

Sexiest Mens Costume:

Doctor or Nurse:

Nerd:

Lumber Jack:

Out of this World:

Funniest:

And my Favorite!!! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU???

Halloween Party Playlist

2011-09-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

Must Play Halloween Party Music

(Alphabetical order)

Abracadabra Steve Miller Band

Addams Family Groove MC Hammer

Amityville Lovebug Starski

Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing Chris Issak

Bad Moon Rising Creedence Clearwater Revival

Bad to the Bone George Thorogood

Beetlejuice Danny Elfman

Blood Bank Blues Bobby Pickett

Burning Down the House Talking Heads

Chase the Devil Thievery Corportation

Come Little Children Sarah Jessica Parker (Hocus Pocus)

Cry Little Sister Gerard McMann

Day-O Harry Belafonte
Dead Mans Party Oingo Boingo

Devil Inside Unknown

Devil Went Down to Georgia Charlie Daniels Band

Devil With a Blue Dress On Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels

Double Trouble Harry Potter Soundtrack

Dueling Banjos David Garrett

Everyday is Halloween Ministry

Feed My Frankenstein Alice Cooper

Friends in Low Places Garth Brooks

Grim Grinning Ghosts Haunted Mansion
Halloween Aqua

Helloween Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus Serial Lover

Hungry Like a Wolf Duran Duran

I Put a Spell On You Screaming Jay Hawkins or Bette Midler

Jump In Line     Harry Belafonte  (Beetlejuice)
Little Red Riding Hood     Sam the Sham
Living Dead Girl     Rob Zombie
Love Bites     Judas Priest
Love Potion No 9     Drifters
Men In Black     Will Smith
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm     Crash Test Dummies
One Step Beyond     Madness
Our Solemn Hour     Within Temptation
People Are Strange     Echo and The Bunnymen
Purple People Eater     Sheb Wooley
Putting on the Ritz     Tako
Remedy     Little Boots
Dracula     Rob Zombie
Rock Lobster     B-52's
Scream     Michael and Janet Jackson
She Blinded Me with Science     Thomas Dolby
She Wolf     Shakira
Sims 2 it Must be Halloween     Unknown
Somebodys Watching Me     Michael Jackson and Rockwell
Superfreak     Rick James
Superstition     Stevie Wonder
Sweet Emotion     Aerosmith
Tainted Love     The Cure
Addams Family Theme Song
This is Halloween     Panic! At the Disco
Thriller     Michael Jackson
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor     Bach
Voodoo      Godsmack
Weird Science     Oingo Boingo
Werewolves of London     Warren Zevon
What a Thrill     Cyndi Lauper
What's This?     Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack
Witch Doctor     Cartoons
Zombie Jamboree     Rockapella

DIY Spooky Trees

2011-09-22T07:02:00.000-07:00

How to make Spooky Trees? Here's what you need.

Supplies:

Paper bag, bottle of water (I liked the shape of the Coke bottle so I filled it up with water since I drank it already). A Big rubber band (I didn't have one so I used some ribbon). Tiny rubber bands. A big stone or something heavy to put at the bottom to weigh it down. Something to fill the tree with. I used wood chips from outside! Scissors. And some black spray paint if you want to paint it. I'm still deciding if I'm gonna paint it....

Cut off the bottom of the bag and cut a slit down the middle of it so it looks like this.

You can toss the bottom of the bag, you won't need it.

Place the bottle in the middle of the bag and wrap the bag around the bottle.

Put the rubber band (or ribbon) around to hold it in place.

Now cut your two big flaps into 3 stips on each so you have 6 strips of the paper bag.

Take one of those pieces and start twisting it. Be careful not to tear it. I did tear some of mine but it does hide easily but be careful!. Keep twisting until you have about 2 1/2 inches left.

Take a tiny rubber band and secure the branch.

Now cut the remaining 2 1/2 inches of paper bag into 3 or 4 strips.

Twist each of those like you did the branch.

I've made two of the trees so far. The first time I didn't fill the bag up until I finished twisting the whole tree but I feel like if you fill it first then you can totally just work with the tree without having to worry about taking the bottle out and filling it. I think it was easier to fill it first but you can see what you like best.

Just continue to twist all the branches and this is what you get!

Such an easy project and costs about 10 cents!

Its a cute way to add spooky touches throughout your home!

DIY Halloween Art

2011-09-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

So you wanna decorate your house for halloween but your artwork doesn't fit in and to buy artwork to hang up to replace your own art is too expensive or the pictures they have are just too small.

Why not just cover your own art and paint your own halloween art?

Here's what you need:

Supplies:

Your own art piece you want to cover. Big black, white or orange trash bag. Staple gun or heavy duty tape. White paint (or paint color of your choice), and a paint brush.

Lay the trash bag flat on the ground and lay your artwork face down on top. My canvas was really big (24x30) so I bought the 30 gallon trash bag. If your art work is bigger you can cut the trash bag to make it bigger too. I was able to leave the trash bag as is without having to cut it open.

Then staple the trash bag along the edges. Try not to staple so much, this is your artwork and you may want to have somewhere to staple to do this for another holiday. I just staple in each corner and one in the middle. If your artwork doesn't have a wood frame to staple into use heavy duty tape and tape the bag to the inside of the frame. Remember to PULL TIGHT as you staple so you have a nice surface on the other side. It will be wrinkly from the folds but it doesn't look bad.

When your done it'll look like this.

Cut off the excess edges so its not bulky or hanging down when you hang up your picture.

Much cleaner!

Now turn it over and you have a blank canvas to paint on. I went online and typed in spooky art in Google and got an inspiration picture. Then I went to work. Don't try to be perfect. Its just for halloween, it can be sloppy!!

I seriously didn't spend much time. It took me about 15 minutes to do the WHOLE project.

It literally cost me nothing since I had everything already!

Hang up your art and you're done!!

Hope you have fun covering up your art!!! :)

Candy Corn Cupcakes

2011-09-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

These cupcakes look AMAZING!

I'm sure they tase just as good as they look!

Get this recipe here.

I have a Jello Cake recipe that my family has used for as long as I can remember that gives this same effect with the coloring.

What you will need:

1 box of Lemon cake mix

1 small box of instant Orange Jello

1 large box of instant Lemon Pudding

1 box of Dreamwhip

toothpick

Follow the recipe on the back of the box and make cupcakes as usual.

Let cupcakes cool for about 10 minutes.

Take a toothpick and poke holes into the cupcakes about halfway through each cupcake.

Make Jello following directions on the box.

Pour orange liquid Jello on top of each cupcake letting it seep through.

Use about a couple tablespoons of jello for each cupcake.

Put the cupcakes in the refrigerator and let the cupcakes cool completely to let the jello set.

Mix the Pudding and Dreamwhip together.

The Dreamwhip will give the pudding a thicker consistency.

Follow the instructions on the Dreamwhip box to make the topping.

Put the pudding/dreamwhip mixture into a large ziplock bag.

Cut off the tip of one corner and decorate the tops of each cupcake.

Cupcakes have to stay refrigerated until being served or pudding mixture will soften and melt.

The cupcakes will look exactly like the ones pictured above but have an extra yummy taste!

ENJOY!!!

Eye Candy

2011-09-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

Candy Corn is popular treat that reminds us of Autumn and Halloween.

Here are some ways to decorate with this Eye Candy!

Candy Corn Candles

Sweet Wreath

Candy Corn Everywhere!

Snack Table

This is my favorite! Simple but elegant!

Feed the Flames