Hoo Are You?

Joining in the fun today at Night Owl Crafting.   

1. What did you get/give for Valentine's Day?

My husband got me a new camera, which was really partly a present for himself too.  Gave some other silly little things. 

 

2. Do you have a vacation planned in the next couple of months or in the summer?

We are going away for the weekend to a gorgeous inn near Bear Lake.  Without the kiddo.  For the first time ever.  And we hope to do some light camping this summer. 

 

3. What is one thing you do to pamper yourself?

I drink Diet Mt. Dew.  Like there’s no tomorrow.  I love to go get a fresh one from the gas station. 

 

4. What sparks your interest to other people's blogs?

Fabulous original ideas.  Neatly organized.  Good writing.

 

 

5. What kind of a mood are you in today?

Pretty good  mood.  The kid was wonderful.  We enjoyed the warmth and sunshine.  My dad brought us Chinese for dinner on his way home.  I will stop there, the rest is mostly negative, I’m trying to get over it.  Night ended great with lots of goodnight kisses from the Little Miss. 

Neglectful

I’ve been a little neglectful in blogging this week, I hope you will forgive me. 

 

{My List of Excuses}

We hosted our first ever Thanksgiving at our house!

Luckily my mom and dad, who are turkey masters made the turkey, but I’ve been cookin’ up a storm.  {More on this later!}

 

The wonderful hubs had some time off work, so we’ve been enjoying just spending time together, and of course getting a few things done we’ve been putting off for a while now . . . maybe more like since June!

 

We went to this super cute movie, I laughed, I cried, I wanted to sing along.

Worth the $7.25 we paid to go see it.  (And both my husband and I thought during the movie, “This would be soo cool in 3D”, so would be worth it to see in 3D.)

 

Of course, I have been enjoying our Thanksgiving leftovers.  Trying really hard not to eat too much of my mom’s yummy pumpkin roll . . . drool . . 

 

And who can’t resist a little Black Friday shopping?

 

Not mention spending waay too much time enjoying everyone’s cute crafty Christmas ideas.  Making lots of plans for some of my own Christmas Craftiness!  {Pictures are linked to sources is you’re interested}

Craftily Ever After

New blog I found the other day, Craftily Ever After (such a cute blog name!).  She has a ton of cute stuff posted already. 

A few of my favorite things:

Halloween printables. 

 

 

 
This gorgeous wreath.  What’s it made of you ask.  Just this old lace cardigan.  NEVER in my life would I have thought to make a wreath out of my old clothes – brilliant. 

 

 

 
And this not so Halloween, but extremely cute, chalkboard picture frame.  Refurbished from a Dollar Store frame.  Love the frame, and the flower, but also the idea of using it to mark each month of your little one’s life. 

 

 

And last but not least, an UNO Birthday Party!  Too bad my little girl is already past her first year mark, but my next child will be having an UNO Party for their first birthday. 

Fall Pillows

I am lov-ing these two pillows made by Gwenny Penny.  I think one, if not both of them will be my next sewing project.  And they are both fallish and not too Halloweeny that I could leave them out until Thanksgiving!

 Pumpkin Pillow by Gwenny Penny

 

 
Tree Pillow by Gwenny Penny

Just For Fun

Today because it’s Friday.

Because I chased after the Garbage Truck trying to explain that we’d forgotten to put out our garbage can!  We’re new at this whole living in a real house thing.

Because The Two Year-Old, oh that loveable little bug!  She’s learned to wiped her mouth on her shirt, and she’s wearing pumpkin socks and ladybug pjs. 

I thought I’d share some things that have made me chuckle today.

 

 

The Pioneer Woman is featuring funny photos over at Pioneer Woman Photography.  These were two of my favorites!  I had no idea cats could make such facial expressions. 

 

Brian Regan ALWAYS makes me laugh!

 

So true!

 

And last but not least, these aDORable candy bracelets!  I am making one for The Two Year-Old and one for me!  {Found @ Eighteen25}

Dollar Store Cupcake Stands

I originally stumbled across this idea here at According to Kelly.  I knew that I just HAD to make some to use at my daughter’s birthday party.  I LOVED them SO MUCH that I left them out for a week after the party!  I LOVED them even more because they were CHEAP and EASY.  Two things that are musts in my craft book. 

 

{Supplies}

candle stick holders
plates
spray paint
super glue

I trucked my butt to the Dollar Tree to pick up supplies.  I got four clear glass candle holders and one painted ceramic squarish candle holder.  Instead of spray painting silver trays, I got already brightly colored plastic plates (seven plates, three green, three pink, and one polka a dot pink).  I also bought the stickiest strongest glue,  Super Glue Fix-All Adhesive.  Don’t worry, just because it dollar store glue, it is totally awesome.

I then headed to Wally World and got some cheap white spray paint. 

 

{Steps}

I proceeded to go spray paint crazy (Confession:  I’ve never spray painted anything before.  And now I’m hooked).  I spray painted my candle stick holders perfectly matching white. 

Wait not so very patiently for the paint to dry . . . .

Supplies painted and ready to be assembled. 

 

Began experimenting with different stacking combinations. 

  
I liked this one with three plates and four candle stick holders (two put together on the base), but was worried about stability. 

 

I also liked this one with one plate and two candle stick holders.

 

This one provided stability and lots of room for food. 

 

The square candle holder with the polka dot plate.

 

 
Ultimately I choose to do two two-level trays using the four glass candle stick holders and one one-level tray using the pink and white plate and the squarish base. 

 

Time to glue pieces together. 

 
Glue, let dry, use heaviest objects you can find in your pantry to help dry.  Repeat if doing several levels of trays.  On the second level, I turned the candle stick holder upside-down, to provide more room for food on the green plate.  

 

 
TA DAAAAA!!!  The finished products!  I love them!  Everyone at the party wanted to know where I bought them and were shocked to find that I made them myself!!  And everything, but the spray paint (which was a buck at Wal-Mart), came from the Dollar Store!  The two taller pink/green stands were $4.00 a piece and the pink polka dot with the square base was $2.00! 

 

 

 

 

Blue Blueberry Finger Paint

Have you ever tried yogurt finger paint.  Sort of like when you use pudding, but it’s so much easier because you don’t have to make the pudding first.  We tried it today, and it was a complete success! 

 

Supplies needed:

Yogurt (I ate our last vanilla for breakfast, but blueberry worked ok since I planned on making it blue anyway)

Food coloring

Paper

 

Mix food coloring with yogurt, just a few drops will do.  Too much will dye things blue that you don’t want to permanently be blue. 

 

Use your fingers to paint away!  Makes a fun tasty treat after you’ve finished your masterpiece!

 

Original idea found here at Make and Takes.