Happy Sunday

We have had one crazy busy summer! I am loving seeing friends, but also learning to slow down and take more family days. Our weather has been amazing and watching everyone have babies and get ready for weddings has been so fun! (Seriously, I think wedding dress shopping was more fun with my friend this week than when I did it 7 years ago!)

Here is a little bit of my week:

New shoes:

Heart shaped donuts make any morning brighter:

Finding Buzz Lightyear in my bathroom at the end of the day:

Beautiful weather:

Sewing projects:

A crawler developed this week...keeping me VERY busy!:

Making a new bag:

Going downtown:

Pie crust cookies:

Marhsmallow pops for a get together (which my daughter dropped in the parking lot):

Altering some thrift store finds:

Fried ravioli:

Ending a busy day with warm blondies and watching the Olympics with my man.

I have taken almost 200 photos with Instagram in the last two months that we have had our new phones! I love capturing all these little moments. I really feel like these days are so special while the kids are little and things are simple. I want to remember them always.

Happy Sunday!

Mickey Mouse Pie Crust Cookies

I found this little Mickey Mouse cookie cutter on eBay a while back and I love it! I had a pie crust in the refrigerator that needed to be used up, so in 10 minutes flat we were enjoying some cookies!

PIE CRUST COOKIES

roll out pie crust

parchment paper or aluminum foil

STEP 1: Roll out pie crust onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread a mixture of cinnamon and sugar over the top.

STEP 2: Cut out shapes with cookie cutters, peel away excess crust, and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

I will definitely be making these for our next trip to Disneyland! Such a fun and easy treat;)

Happy Friday!

Simple Stitched Number Art

I wanted some fun number art for Jack's side of the room. I found this scrapbooking paper at Michael's and decided to stitch with embroidery floss around the day that Jack was born, which was the 18th.

I like it adds some personality to his side of the room. I'm thinking of making another version for our living room as well.

Happy Wednesday!

DIY: Paper Heart Wall Art

This wall art idea came to me a few days ago and I was so excited to make it for my little girl. She LOVES hearts, and I picked out a bunch of her favorite colors (because, if you are the parent of a toddler, you know how their favorite color changes every day).

Best part of all, this cost $2 to make. We already had some of this wood in the garage, leftover from making slats for our bed, and I also had the lace to cover the front. I bought some scrapbook paper while on sale at Michael's.

STEP 1: I made a heart template out of posterboard and then traced and cut out all my hearts (88 total).

STEP 2: I divided the hearts into 8 secitons of 11 and staggered the colors so they would look random.

STEP 3: I sewed each strand together, leaving a 1" gap between each heart and long threads at the top of each row to wrap around the wood.

STEP 4: I wrapped each line around the wood and secured the string on the top and back with tape.

STEP 5: I cut some lace and hot glued it over the front of the wood, making sure to seal each string.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and my daughter loves it...so that makes me even happier.

It's colorful and sweet, just like her.

I'm linked to:

The Southern Institute

Tatertots and Jello

The Petal Cake

I have been seeing petals cakes all over blogland lately and I love them. Frosting was on clearance for $.17 a can at Target this week...so all the more reason to give this a try!

To create this, just pipe large dots onto cake and use a flat angled spatula to press down and out. For the bottom row, I used a baby spoon since my spatula was too large.

For better instructions on this technique, check out this video over at The Hungry Housewife. She gives great step by step instructions.

Also, for the frosting, I comined two cans of pink lemonade canned frosting with 2 cups of powdered sugar with a hand mixer. This creates a stiffer texture that will hold a design.

(If you don't need that much frosting, the ratio is 1 cup of powdered sugar for every can of frosting)

Happy Saturday!


I'm linked to:

The Southern Institute

Tatertots and Jello

DIY: Fabric Scrap Map

When I saw this map idea...I knew I had to make my own version. I made this map before Jack was born and finally got around to framing it. I used an Ikea frame that I found at Goodwill, and matted it with posterboard.

FABRIC SCRAP MAP

1 large piece of fabric (mine was 20x27)

Scrap fabric

United States template (I found a blank map on Google and blew it up to print it out)

Heat N' Bond

Iron

STEP 1: Print out map and cut out each state.

STEP 2: Iron fabric scraps onto one side of Heat N' Bond per the package instructions.

STEP 3: Trace each state's template onto paper side of Heat N' Bond fabric scraps.

(REMEMBER: When tracing the states, the image will be mirrored once you iron it on...so make sure to trace each state backwards, so that it will face the right way once ironed together)

STEP 4: Iron on each state to your large piece of fabric in order, starting with California first, and working your way east.

OPTIONAL: You can also stitch down the edges of each state. I chose not to since my map was on the smaller size. I also framed it under plastic, so I'm not worried about it falling apart over time.

I'm so excited to have this project done. Within the first 5 minutes of putting it up, my daughter was asking the names of every state (while also telling me what other projects I have made with the same fabric.)

Have a lovely Wednesday!

I'm linked to:

Tatertots and Jello


The Southern Institute

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies for our friends that just had a baby. They are so yummy and exactly what a chocolate chip cookie should taste like. Crispy shell on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

(from Allrecipes)

1 cup BUTTER, softened

1 cup WHITE SUGAR

1 cup packed BROWN SUGAR

2 EGGS

 2 teaspoons VANILLA

3 cups ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR

1 teaspoon BAKING SODA

2 teaspoons HOT WATER

1/2 teaspoon SALT

2 cups SEMI SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS

STEP 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

STEP 2: Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans. ( I used my cookie scoop)

STEP 3: Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges are nicely browned.

Let cool for a minute on baking sheet, then move to cooling racks while still warm.

I have made these twice, and I prefer doubling the salt to 1 tsp for a better chocolate taste.

Enjoy!

Happy Sunday

Another week gone. We sure had fun:)

Found the best vintage book to frame for baby boy's side of the room:

Made the best chocolate chip cookies ever: 

Won a snazzy watch out of the claw machine: 

This lady is too funny: 

Found an adorable pair of boots for the Little Miss. I wish they came in my size... 

Pushed these two around and felt like the luckiest mom in the world: 

Painted a purse (then gave it to my mom): 

Went to a beautiful baby shower for my beautiful friend: 

Made more baby food: 

Enjoyed the rare sight of clouds: 

And sported my new shoes: 

This summer is flying by! Hope you all had a great weekend.

Happy Sunday!

Chicken and Sausage Borsellini Soup

This soup was created today because I was going through the fridge and wanted to use up some ingredients before they went bad.

It's all about transparency on this blog.

But what was created tasted pretty darn amazing! Score!

CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE BORSELLINI SOUP

1 package of FROZEN MIXED VEGGIES (green bean, pea, corn, and carrot variety)

1/2 cup DICED ONION

1/2 cup ALFREDO SAUCE

3 small cans of CHICKEN BROTH

2 cups SHREDDED COOKED CHICKEN (I used rotisserie leftovers)

2 cups boiled SAUSAGE BORSELLINI (found in the deli section at Walmart)

1 tbsp PARSLEY FLAKES (optional)

SALT AND PEPPER to taste

STEP 1: Cook vegetables and onion in large saucepan over med-high heat. Add a little of the broth to boil them a bit.

STEP 2: Once vegetables are tender, add chicken broth. Stir in Alfredo sauce and bring to a slight boil.

STEP 3: Add chicken and borsellini, parsley flakes, salt, and pepper.

Remove from heat (or keep on warm) and serve.

This is one of the best recipes to come from a little bit of everything in my kitchen;)

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Sunday

I'm posting in the last few minutes of Sunday (which, can I go off topic for a minute and say how awesome it is that Arizona doesn't mess with all that daylight savings business?)

We rocked another week here in the sunny southwest. I do wish people could put more energy into positive things rather than talk about the heat. (Yes, it's 120 outside...get over it). The only exception to this rule is if you are pregnant...cause I've gone a whole summer pregnant here...so say whatever you want to say and you can even curse a little. I won't judge.

Ice cream always helps with the heat...but not my bottom. Sigh.

New "up do" for the warmer weather:

(btw: I have to credit my husband for the above photo. I made him take it in our hot car, with two kids, on the way to lunch. I think the conversation went like, "Can you take a picture?"..."Wait, I don't like that one...take another". I love him.)

In shocking news...the hubs and I cleaned out our closet! What? I know! And I only had to bribe him with a Chipotle lunch.

(PS...I just found that knit stripe scarf and it is the most softest thing ever. I might even risk passing out from heat exhaustion to wear it...)

Finished some necklace projects:

We had clouds and rain on 4th of July! Which is like a snowy morning on Christmas. Or so I hear.

"Pink, white, and blue" cupcakes for the 4th. Three stores later, no red was to be found. Don't worry, the non-patriotic color scheme did not ruin the taste. We still managed to eat 2 dozen in 3 days.

Baby toes...love them.

I took my girl to the mall this week and we stopped by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory stand. We shared the $3 raspberry truffle...and it was amazing.

Getting up at 5am to walk 6 miles. Good times.

That was our week! I'm going to enjoy the last 10 minutes of our Sunday and I can't wait for what this week has in store;)