Cupcake Liners

If you've been on Pinterest, you've probably already seen this idea. But, I had an extra spaghetti noodle container sitting in storage that I'd received as a wedding gift. With all the cupcake liners I had floating around the pantry I thought, "What a novel idea!"

And for the mini cupcake liners, I used a container I already had that held normal sized cupcake liners - perfect!

What will they think of next?

Baby Shower - Girl

A few months ago I hosted a baby shower for Alexis and thought I'd share a few pictures and ideas.

As each guest entered, there was a place to write a little love note for mom and baby (love note cards from previous tutorial found HERE):

These candy-filled glass baby bottles added a nice touch to the refreshment table (as well as a few fresh flowers from the garden). Since the colors I used were pink and yellow, I used lemon heads, pink Good & Plenty licorice and pink and yellow Jelly Belly jelly beans:
A "Busy Bee" event is not complete without cupcakes! Throw in beautiful fruit and veggie platters (that I did not get any pictures of) brought by a friend who helped with the shower (who also made beautiful announcements with a template purchased from Etsy)...
... and a few delicious Pinwheels (these are so, SO easy to make and are a great addition to almost any themed party!).

PINWHEELS

6-8 Tortillas
1 8oz. brick of cream cheese
1 package Lipton dry Onion seasoning
1 package of turkey/ham slices
1 small can sliced olives
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
Toothpicks (don't forget these!)

Mix onion seasoning and cream cheese together. Fold in olives and yellow pepper. Generously spread mixture onto tortillas and top with sliced meat. Gently roll tortilla and use a toothpick to hold in place. Add a few more toothpicks along the edge of the tortilla about 1 1/2 inches apart and carefully cut between each toothpick. Whalla... Pinwheels!

We played a simple game of "guess how big mommy's belly has grown" (be sure to check that this is not an offensive game to the mommy before playing!). Each person simply makes a mark on the ribbon and writes their name next to their mark. After everyone has made their mark, Mommy-To-Be holds the ribbon around her waist and announces the winner! When we played this, I somehow was the closest, and it was a little awkward (like I had rigged the game or something)... so I gave the prize to the next closest person - just a heads up in case you are NOT planning to be the awkward winner!

And, finally, a table with several white onesies to decorate with puff paints. I covered a folding table with wrapping paper to protect it from any spills. I also inserted a square cardboard cutout inside of each onesie so that the paint would not bleed through to the back of the onesie and stick the front and the back together. Fun decorating ideas included flowers, a rainbow, butterflies, a necklace and a black smiley face with a big pink bow.

Overall, it was a fun shower. If I did it again, I probably would have just had refreshments and visiting on the back patio with some nice music and soaked up the nice warm weather that is now quickly fading into Fall.

Here's hoping your next shower, party, event is a success!

Cereal Cupboard

How do you organize your Cereal Cupboard? Do you have a Cereal Cupboard? You know, that cupboard your kids are in and out of all day long where you stash the cereal, crackers, chips and other go-to snacks. Well... this is how my Cereal Cupboard was looking:

BEFORE:

With about 10 minutes of my time and these lovely, inexpensive cereal organizers purchased from Wal-Mart, this is what my Cereal Cupboard looks like now:

AFTER:

Much more functional! I was tempted to whip out my label maker to label the cereal containers for Cheerio's, Quaker Oat Squares (my all-time favorite) and Granola, but I decided I may switch it up every now and again and didn't want to have to rip off labels and such. But, if you want to label the cereal containers, that would definitely add an "I'm super organized" touch! Happy organizing!!

Love Notes

I saw the idea to make these cards here and thought they looked easy enough. What a great idea to add a special little touch to a "love note."

You will Need:
sewing machine and thread
card stock paper for cards
(I made 4 cards from each 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper)

large heart shaped paper punch
patterned paper

Start by cutting each card stock paper in fourths. Fold each of the "fourths" in half to make four small cards. Use the paper punch to punch several hearts from the patterned papers. Stack three or four hearts and place them centered on the front of the card. Start sewing from the top of the card all the way to the bottom (it is not necessary to sew all the way to the bottom, but it is faster to clip the ends of the thread if you sew to the bottom of the card).

Fan out each side of the heart and write a little love note to someone you love!

Red, White & Blue Strawberries

Many of you have likely already discovered these little beauties. But, just in case you haven't, you've got to try them! They are incredibly simple to make, look very patriotic and taste delicious. I found the idea here.

Just wash and dry the strawberries and coat them with melted white chocolate and blue sprinkles. I just melted white chocolate chips (be sure to melt 10 seconds at a time in the microwave, stirring between each 10 seconds, or use a double broiler. When white chocolate is heated too much it starts to clump and doesn't coat well). That's it!

I made these for a family BBQ last night. Definitely a hit! Beware of the blue sprinkles, they will turn your mouth blue! Oh, and you may want to let the white chocolate and sprinkles coated strawberries cool first before placing them on a serving plate. I put mine right on the plate after I dipped them and we all just had to carefully pry them off the plate. It was worth it, though!

4th of July Garland

That's right folks, it's time for another holiday garland idea. This one is not only super easy, it is super cute, too! I followed the tutorial I found here. The tutorial was a little difficult for me to follow, so I posted SEVERAL pictures for you to follow for those of you interested in trying it out.

Supplies you will need:

red/white/blue paper (one sheet for each star)
paper cutter (if you have one)
small hole punch
skinny ribbon
scissors
stapler
pencil
ruler

1. Start by cutting each piece of paper 6" x 11" and folding it in half. 2. Fold the paper two more times and crease.3. Unfold. Since I used card stock instead of stationary weight paper, it was difficult to crease well once folded three times. Instead, I folded enough to leave crease marks then once unfolded, creased each individual crease with my ruler to make a crisp crease. 4. Use your ruler to mark 1" from each end (close to the folded edge) and 3" in the middle where a staple will go to hold it together.5. Use your scissors to cut from the open corner of each end up to the 1" mark on the folded end.6. Once both ends are cut, use your stapler to staple along the 3" mark perpendicular to the folds.7. Fan out the star and staple together on each end. I stapled twice to make it more secure.8. Keep piling up your finished stars until you have enough to make garland.
9. Punch two holes in each star. String skinny ribbon through the left hole from the top of each star, behind and then out the hole on the right. Be sure to leave extra ribbon on each end of your finished garland to hang up.
Surprise! I also made matching stars to hang from the hutch doors. I punched just one hole at the top of each star and strung a loop of skinny ribbon through each hole.

*** Happy 4th of July! ***

Easy Father's Day Cards

I found a tutorial to make these adorable Father's Day cards here. I used scraps of paper and buttons I already had in my craft supplies and this is how they turned out:

Supplies you will need:

Paper for "Shirt"
Patterned paper for "Tie"
2 small buttons for the "Collar"
Glue stick
Glue gun

1. Fold paper in half (to the size you would like your card to be) with the crease at the top. Cut a 2" to 3" slit (depending on the size of your card) at the top roughly 1" below the crease of the card.

2. Cut a tie from patterned paper (I used the print out from the tutorial above as a guide and cut mine slightly smaller to fit on my card). Glue the tie cutout to the center of the card with a glue stick (make sure the top folds, the collar, will cover the top of the tie before gluing).

3. Fold over the top slits to look like a collar and secure with a glue gun. Add a small dot of glue to the corner of each collar and place a button on top of each glue dot.

4. Open up the card from the bottom and write your Dad/Husband/Grandpa a nice note to let him know how much you love and appreciate him.

Happy Father's Day to all the great dad's out there!

Blanching & Freezing Kale

What is BLANCHING you ask?

Definition: This term means to plunge foods into boiling water for a few seconds or a few minutes, then remove and place in ice water. This process sets the color of vegetables, lets you easily peel fruits, and slip the skins off nuts. The food does not cook all the way through, so crisp texture is preserved. Blanching also denatures enzymes that make food spoil as the first step in food preservation.

I picked a bunch of kale from the garden to freeze before it goes bad. I've heard how healthy kale is to eat, but I'm new to the kale-eating world and wasn't exactly sure the best process for freezing kale. I followed the tutorial I found here. I also found this awesome website with healthy, delicious-looking recipes I am excited to try here.

Apparently it is best to blanch kale before freezing it to prevent a bitter taste once thawed. My process of blanching and freezing kale went as follows:

1. Rinse kale well under running water (be sure to rinse off any little bugs that are hiding).

2. Cut out the thick spine from each piece of kale (see tutorial noted above) and cut into bite-size pieces.

3. Add kale to a pot of boiling water and top with lid for 2 MINUTES.

4. Prepare a large bowl of cold water with ice. Once 2 minutes are up, spoon kale out of the pot of boiling water into the bowl of cold water. (Note: you can save the remaining water in the pot used to boil the kale as a broth to make soup - I saved mine in a mason jar to use later this week).

5. After a few minutes of swishing the kale around in the ice water, drain the water and place kale pieces on a kitchen towel and blot with paper towel to remove excess water.

6. Use a salad spinner to help remove water still remaining.


7. Place kale in freezer bags (I used sandwich size bags with the amount I would include in one meal). Squeeze the air out of each bag until it is flat, seal, label and stick in the freezer.

I'm excited to try a few new recipes using Kale: soups, stews, pastas and even smoothies! The possibilities are endless!!! (and it's healthy)

Quiet Book

I made a quiet book for my little boy a while ago and thought I'd share for those of you looking for ideas. I've also purchased patterns for quiet books that I love here.

I made this quiet book out of felt (each page is a block of felt cut in half - 6x9 inches). I didn't use any pattern for this book, just suggestions from friends and my own imagination. I sewed each individual page with its detail before placing the pages back to back and sewing every two pages together around the edge of each page with the sewing machine. Before sewing around the first and last page of the quiet book, I sewed in a piece of ribbon to tie the book closed once it was finished. I added the eyelets and rings to hold the book together last. A small, inexpensive eyelet kit can be purchased at any craft store, including the tools, to easily insert eyelets to each page. Three small metal rings go through each eyelet hole to hold the book together.

For the stoplight page, each colored circle has Velcro on the back to see if they can be placed in the right order. I machine sewed around the black rectangle and hand sewed a square of Velcro to the back of one circle then placed an identical shaped circle on top of the circle with Velcro and hand stitched around each circle (each colored circle is two circles on top of each other to hide the stitching from sewing on the square of Velcro).

The mitten page is open at the bottom for a child to insert their hand. I simply cut out the shape of a mitten and machine sewed a white square and strip of white across the bottom of the mitten to add detail. I also hand stitched the white square with two simple stitches and across the very bottom of the mitten with floss then machine sewed around the entire mitten with a zigzag stitch (except for the bottom of the mitten - remember to leave this open!).

For the potato page I cut out a brown oval in the shape of a potato and machine sewed it to the page. Each accessory is two felt pieces hand stitched together. The first piece has a Velcro square sewed to it and an identical piece sewed to the top to cover the stitching from attaching the Velcro. I hand stitched around each individual piece.

For the shoe page I cut out a large black oval for the base of the shoe. I cut the leather detail of the shoe out of a leather-looking felt square to place over the top of the black oval. Insert the shoe hole eyelets to the leather-looking cut out before sewing to the top of the black felt oval. Machine sew both pieces to the page (except for the fabric along the row of eyelets - leave this part open in order to lace the shoe). Lace the shoe and tie a bow and this page is finished!

For the basketball hoop page I cut out each piece of the hoop and machine sewed to the page. I next machine sewed green felt to the bottom of the page cut out to look like grass. I cut out a strip of tan felt and machine sewed along each of the long edges and a cross pattern to look like a net. I rolled the fabric and attached it to complete the basketball hoop. I made the basketball similar to the colored lights on the stoplight page. I sewed a plastic snap to the first orange circle (the back of the basketball) and sewed black lines to the front circle before hand sewing the circles together. Be sure the basketball fits inside the hoop before sewing everything together. Also, I plan to add a ribbon to attach to the basketball to keep it from getting lost!

For the tree page I started by machine sewing a brown felt stump. I then machine sewed a big green felt piece for the tree and a few smaller green "blob" shapes on top of the first large green felt piece to add texture. I sewed small pieces of Velcro to the tree and the opposite piece of the Velcro to the back of each apple. I hand sewed each apple similar to the basketball and colored stoplights. I plan to add ribbon from each apple and a brown basket at the base of the tree to put the apples inside and keep them from getting lost!

If you've read the directions for the above pages, the shapes page should look pretty self-explanatory. I cut out an outline of each shape and cut out two matching pieces for the inside shape (one to attache Velcro to and another to cover the back of the shape where the Velcro was attached). I hand sewed around each inside shape.

The texture pages are easiest pages of the quiet book. My sister gave me scraps from her prior sewing projects with different textures and colors. I machine sewed around each small square of fabric. This was the last page, so for the page on the right, I also attached a ribbon coming out of the side of the page to tie to the ribbon at the front of the book to keep it closed when not in use.

Hopefully this will give you some ideas of how to start a quiet book of your own. Using your imagination I'm sure you can think of several other fun ideas of your own!

Sugar Cookies

One of my very best friends gave me this sugar cookie recipe a while ago. I was asked to bring a dessert to our annual family Memorial Day BBQ this year and decided I would finally try this recipe. So Yummy! As I started to make these cookies, I realized I didn't have any white flour so I substituted whole wheat flour that I had ground on the most fine setting. I was a little worried how they would turn out... and they tasted delicious!!!

Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup cold butter cut into pieces

1 cup sour cream

1 egg

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

5 cups flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cream sugar, butter, sour cream and egg. Sift soda, salt and flour. Slowly add to creamed mixture. Roll dough onto lightly floured surface about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into your favorite shapes. Bake for 6 minutes. Let cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
1 2 lb. package of powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together until smooth.

Soup in a Jar

The past year or two I've had several opportunities to make dinner for families who just had a baby or someone who is sick. I'm never really sure what kind of food to make. Last night I decided to make Chicken Chili for someone, but I wasn't certain the best way to transport liquid without spilling it all over.

My first thought was a plastic container. However, my husband (the logical man that he is) suggested a glass jar. BRILLIANT! I cut out some patterned paper to line the top of each jar and tied a cute bow around the top. Botta-bing, Botta-bang - dinner is served!

I also added a plate of muffins and a little dessert to complete the meal (and a little container of shredded cheese and a little container of sour cream to eat with the chili). The beauty of giving away soup in a jar is that it saves nicely in the fridge to eat the next day and if for some reason the person you are leaving dinner for is not quite home yet, you can just leave it on their front porch in pretty much any weather condition. Love it!

Wooden Words

A couple weeks ago I was asked to decorate the display window in our Relief Society room at church. Hmmm, sure! As I thought about what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to somehow reflect the unity and sisterhood of Relief Society sisters. I thought of those painted letters that spell words like, "Laugh," "Simplify," or "Family." I thought for sure I could find one that said, "Sisters."

But, to no avail! I decided I should stop wasting my time looking and just make one myself. So after a quick trip to Hobby Lobby I had all the supplies I needed to make this:

I bought each letter individually (I don't LOVE the font. Different craft stores have other options, I just didn't have time to keep looking). I then needed to find something to mount the letters on. I found a pack of three small wood slats just the right size. I simply used a foam brush to cover each piece with acrylic paint. After everything was dry, I used the glue gun to carefully attach each letter.

I used a solid color table cloth and a matching patterned quilt for the backdrop and an easel with a framed picture of Mary and Martha, a spring bouquet of silk flowers and these little painted letters to tie it all together. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the finished product, so you'll just have to use your imagination!

Maybe there's some word you wish you could find to place on a shelf in your home or office (like your name). Not to worry, you can easily make it yourself!

Mixed Nut Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes last weekend and they turned out so yummy!! So, I thought I'd share.


I baked the cupcakes - Betty Crocker Butter Pecan flavor - the night before and stored them overnight in the refrigerator.

The next morning I whipped up some frosting. I didn't use a recipe, I just mixed together a lot of butter, powdered sugar, a little half & half (or milk works fine) and my secret ingredient - almond extract.

I filled a frosting bag with a star tip and chopped some walnuts to sprinkle on top of each frosted cupcake.
The combination of nut flavors was delicious! Cupcakes are so versatile and fun to experiment with since you can make little mistakes and they still turn out beautiful and delicious. The possibilities are endless - so get the creative juices flowing and think of your own kind of cupcake to create!!

Spice Drawer

I like nice clean counter tops without the clutter. Therefore, I am not a huge fan of a spice rack sitting out taking up my precious counter space. For those of you who want a different way to store your spices, and happen to have an extra drawer laying around, this is a great, inexpensive option!


Luckily I had this extra drawer laying around...

Here's the drawer insert (search online for "spice drawer organizer" or something similar - there are a lot of different options depending on the size of your drawer).

Now all you have to do is line your spices along each angled shelf. BEAUTIFUL!! (If you look closely, you will notice I organized my spices in alphabetical order to locate them more quickly - left-brain, I know!)
Happy organizing!