Christmas Decorating Sneak Peek

I'm almost done with my Christmas decorating and thought I'd share with you a free printable I found and am using this year. Don't you just love Pinterest and all the free printables at your fingertips?! I'll be sharing more of the decorations and craft projects I've been working on soon. If you would like this printable you can get it in red HERE or in the blue/green colors HERE. Happy decorating! I'm off to finish my sewing orders for this week!

Girls Night

Every so often I get together with a group of girl friends for a girls night (sometimes it's a girls day). It's a time for us to get together kid free (if possible) and catch up on whats going on in each other's lives. Whether is breakfast at Cracker Barrel, Lunch at Brick Street Cafe, or Karaoke and Dance Wars at Katie's. We always have fun! This time we decided to have a craft night.


Katie made tissue paper pom poms for her little girls room.

Charity made this adorable Christmas tree shirt for her little girl.

Kris is working on her pendant necklaces and earrings.

Brianne worked on her scrapbook.

It's not always easy with busy schedules to find a time that works for everyone but we make the most of it with the ones that can make it and hope it's not too long before we can all get together again! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are having our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday since Matt had to work yesterday. I've got lots of sewing projects and Christmas decorating to get done today so I'd better get off the computer and get to work! 

Gift Idea: Thanks a latte!

 Thanksgiving is this week! I can't believe how fast the month has gone! Today is Claire's last day of school for the week so to show her teacher how much we're thankful for her Claire surprised her with this card. I'm always looking for cute ideas to spiff up a plain gift card. I saw a version of this one on Pinterest and it was just perfect!

You will need

• thanks a latte card printable found here
• coffee sleeve
• twine or ribbon
• white card stock
• stapler
• double sided tape or other adhesive
• gift card for Starbucks (or coffee house of your choice)

To put it together I printed out the 5x7 printable and cut it out. Then I taped it to white card stock that I cut slightly bigger than the print out. I used double sided tape to close the bottom of the coffee sleeve and put one staple in the middle so I could use it as a pocket to slide my gift card into. I put one staple on each side of it to secure it to the card. Then tied a bow around it with twine. I just used twine I had in my kitchen, but if you'd like to spiff it up a bit more you can get a variety of colors here. I made two since the teacher's assistant in Claire's class is wonderful also!

Claire signed it with her new name writing skills. I'm so proud of her! It's kind of like when your kids start going in the potty for the first time. Parents get excited about the little things ya know.

So Miss Margie and Miss Sheryl and all the other wonderful teachers out there. We want you to know how much we appreciate you! Thanks a latte for all you do! =)

Here is another gift idea in case your teacher prefers soda. I gave this to Claire's swimming teacher this past summer who was very patient with my little fish! 

Linking up with a few of these wonderful parties. Check them out!

Smoothies

Looking for a healthy snack or breakfast idea for your kiddos? Smoothies are delicious and nutritious!! Claire loves them! I just put whatever fruit I have on hand into my blender and blend away! I use fresh and/or frozen fruit. Sometimes we pick our own berries when they are in season or buy them while they are on sale and freeze them for smoothies. Occasionally I'll sneak in some baby carrots.

Put your blender on the smoothie setting and mix it until smooth. I don't add any sugar but occasionally for an extra treat I will put a dollop of whipped cream on the top.

 Ready for their snack!

Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino Cupcakes

Two of my absolute favorite treats in the world are chocolate cupcakes and Java Chip Frappuccinos from Starbucks. So when I saw these amazing cupcakes from Kimz Kitchen I knew I was in Heaven!! Matt asked me to make them for his work dessert potluck so here they are! Can I just say this is the best cake recipe EVER! (And I had a really good chocolate cake recipe but these win hands down!)

For the chocolate cake: 
Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package of devil's food cake mix
• 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into the greased or lined muffin tins. Fill them up 3/4 full.
3. Turn the oven down to 325 degrees F. Bake for 18 to 23 minutes or until the top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cupcakes thoroughly in the pan at least a few minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack. Cool completely.

Yield: 24 cupcakes plus one extra.

For the chocolate mousse:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs sugar
• 6 large eggs yolks
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 package semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 1/2 cups chilled whipping cream

Note: I cut the mousse recipe in half and had more than enough!

Directions:

1. Whisk sugar, yolks and water in a large metal bowl. 
2. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bowl to touch water); whisk until candy thermometer registers 160 degrees F, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, pour the chocolate chips into another bowl and set aside.
3. Remove egg mixture bowl from over water. Pour it over the chocolate chips. Let it sit for a minute or two, then stir. Using an electric mixer, beat egg/chocolate mixture until cool and thick about 5 minutes.
4. Beat cream in another large bowl until stiff peaks form.
5. Fold the cream into the chocolate egg mixture.

For the chocolate drizzle I used Hershey's Hot Fudge.

For the frosting I just used store bought Duncan Hines Buttercream. It was getting really late so I cheated. You can view the recipe for the Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing that Kim used here.

To assemble the cupcakes:

Once the cupcakes are cool, core out the center of each one. I used my Pampered Chef small cookie scoop. Using a pastry bag, pipe chocolate mousse until the center is almost full and then top with a drizzle of hot fudge.

Once all the cupcakes are filled, pipe frosting onto each one using a pastry bag fitted with the large star tip.

Lastly, drizzle chocolate on top of each cupcake . I downloaded the starbucks logo from the website and printed it off onto paper. 

These are amazingly delicious and I'm sure if you made the frosting yourself you would just die right on the spot from pure delight! 

Linking up with some of THESE parties! Check them out!

Our Thankful Tree

So last Friday Matt told me to try and keep Claire up later than usual in hopes that she might sleep in on Saturday. (No such luck.) Since she gets up early for school she is usually ready for bed by 7. So to keep her entertained we decided to make our thankful tree after Maddy went to bed. We collected branches from our back yard after dinner that night and cleaned them off with a rag. Then I let Claire fill one of my vases with walnuts and faux cranberries from my vase filler collection. We just planted our branches into the vase and we had our tree! I got the thankful card printables from Emily at Jones Design Co. She designs the most beautiful stationary! You can download the printables here.

 Claire loved this project!

Since she is just learning to spell she drew out some things she is thankful for.

 {Flowers}

 {Daddy}

{Auntie Sara and Uncle Phil}

 Maddy can't talk yet but I know she would say Cheerios. She's an addict!

We truly have so much to be thankful for! Our tree isn't big enough! What are you thankful for this year?

Linking up with a few of THESE parties. Check them out!

Liebster Blog Award!!

I was so excited when Annie from Peaches and Bees told me I was nominated for the Liebster Award. I had never heard of this before as I am fairly new to the blogging world but I am honored that she chose me! I googled it (as I google everything)--it's an award for up and coming bloggers with less than 200 subscribers. Thanks so much Annie! I'm glad you enjoy my blog!

Here are the rules:

1.Thank the person that awarded it to you and link back to their blog.

2. Choose 5 up and coming bloggers and pass the award onto them and notify them on their blog.

3. Post the award on your blog.

4. Hope the people you passed it along to will pass it on even further!

Here are five wonderful blogs that I enjoy reading and I know you will too! Check them out!

1. Creatively At Home

2. Delightfully Random

3. Kimz Kitchen

4. Nora's Little Nook

5. The Farmer's Wife

Flower Petal Canopy {Tutorial}

When we found out we were having a second girl, we decided to give Claire the new room and let Maddy take Claire's old room. To make Claire feel special she got to help me design her "big girl room." Her tastes are somewhat eclectic (Matt sometimes comments that her room has many themes) but it's for her and she loves it. One of the first things she picked out was the Rose Petal Canopy she saw in the PB kids catalog. She calls it the "princess bed." But since I hate to buy something when I can make it myself I decided to give it a try.  I love how it turned out and thought you might enjoy it for your little princesses as well. Here's how I made it.

You will need:
19 yards of tulle off of the bolt (I originally made it with 9 and added more to make it more fluffy so you could go either way.) You will use 18 for the bottom canopy part and the extra one is used for hanging.
5 yards pink fabric (or color of your choice) for large and medium petals
3/4 a yard green fabric for the small petals at the top and the cover
Matching thread
19" Embroidery hoop (you only need the inside hoop) or hula hoop
Matching ribbon
hot glue gun
hook to hang it from the ceiling

First I searched online for a petal template and found one here.  I printed out the sheet of petals and cut out the one I wanted to use. Then I put it in my copier and blew it up at 400% which is the largest my copier would let me. So it came to the size on the right. I used this size petal as a pattern for my small green petals at the top of the canopy. It measures 4 1/8"W x 7 1/4"L at its widest points.

I put the bigger one in the copier and blew it up at 300%. Since this is larger than one piece of paper you have to print it out in sections. So I placed my petal template on the copier so that it would only copy a corner at a time. I had to experiment a few times with the placement until it came out right. The large petal measures 12"W x 21"L. You could draw your own petal patterns which would be easier I'm sure. I think sometimes I just prefer to do things the hard way. I've listed the measurements of each petal in case you want to draw them yourself.

Now there are 5 different pieces of the petal.

 I put the pieces together to form the petal and taped them to secure.

Then cut out the pattern.

For the medium sized petals. You will use the petal piece that you blew up to 300% in the beginning and blow it up again to 250%. I liked the width that this came out but I wanted the petal to be a little shorter. I taped the two top pieces together and the two bottom pieces together separately.

I wanted my medium petal to be about 4" above the bottom of my larger petals so I put it on top of the petal to determine how long to make it. I pushed the bottom piece of the petal up and taped it in place. My medium petal measures 10.5"W x 17" long.

Now there are 3 petal patterns.  The small one which measures 4 1/8"W x 7 1/4"L. The medium one which measures 10.5"W x 17"L and the large one which measures 12W "x 21"L. With the pink fabric I cut out 16 large petals (front and back for 8 petals) and 8 medium ones (front and back for 4 petals). Using the small pattern I cut 16 petals out of the green fabric (8 petals.)

Now put them right sides together and pin in place.

Mark about a 3" space to leave open so you can flip the petals right side out.

 Now sew them in place making sure you leave your 3" space open.

Clip your threads and trim the seams around the petal points.

Flip them right side out and iron flat. Then you're going to turn in your opening and iron it.

Pin in place.

Now sew your opening shut. I continued sewing all the way around the edge of the petal to give them a more finished look.

Next I added button holes to the top of each petal. Measure about 1/2 down from the top of the petal. Draw a 3/4" line to mark the guide for your button hole. I pulled the tulle through the holes to connect them and create the flower.

Sew all your button holes.

Here are the 6 green petals using the small petal pattern.

So now you should have 8 large pink petals, 4 medium pink petals and 6 small green petals. Set them aside. Now you are going to work on the embroidery hoop. I used sharp scissors to cut my hoop in one place so I would have an opening to slide my tulle onto.

Then wrap the hoop with ribbon leaving a few inches on either side of the break. You will need to put the break back together before you wrap it. Secure the ribbon to the hoop with hot glue at the beginning and the end. The first time I made this canopy I didn't do this and it made it difficult to slide my tulle onto because it kept getting caught on the wood. Plus it gives it a nice finished look so you don't see the bare wood.

I rolled out my tulle and cut it out into 6 sections running the width of the fabric. Each section measures 9 feet (3 yards) long. You should have one extra yard left over. Set it aside to use for hanging the canopy.

Then I took the top end of each section and folded it over about 2". Sew it so that you will have a pocket to slide your hoop through.

Slide the hoop into each of the six pockets you just made on your tulle. So now your hoop will look like this except your hoop will be wrapped with ribbon making it look prettier. Don't be like me... wrap your hoop! Now you are going to put the break back together using a heavy duty duck tape. I wrapped it several times so It was nice and sturdy. Then finish wrapping your hoop with the ribbon to cover the tape. 

Using your leftover yard of tulle you are going to cut three strips to tie to the hoop. This is what you will use to hang it from the ceiling. My tulle strips measured about 3 feet long and then I cut off some at the end once I determined how low I wanted it to hang from the ceiling. Tie the ends of each strip onto the hoop so that they are evenly spaced apart with equal sections of tulle in between them.

Now you are going to bring the 3 strips together in the middle and tie a knot. Mine measured about 12" in length from the knot in the middle to the hoop. Make sure they are even so your canopy won't be lopsided.   

Now you are going to put the petals on sliding the strip of tulle above the knot you just made through the button holes of each petal. If you make the knot big enough it should hold your petals in place but you may want to add a safety pin if they slide through.

Slide the large ones on first arranging them in a flower pattern and the medium ones on second.

Then add the small green petals.

After you've determined how low you want it to hang from the ceiling cut off the excess if any and tie a knot at the very end of your tulle.

So now you have this.

I created a cover to add over the tulle piece that attaches to the ceiling. I cut a strip of fabric about 3 1/2" wide by 27" long. Finish the top and bottom edges by folding them under about 1/4" and sewing. Then fold it in half right sides together and sew together at the open edge. Flip it right side out and you've got your cover.

Pin a safety pin to the end of your tulle.

And push it through the cover. The safety pin just makes it easier to get the cover on.

I used this hook to attach it to the ceiling. Since it was pretty light I didn't think it needed a heavy duty hook. But they do sell bigger ones at Lowe's or Home Depot if you'd rather use that. She has had it up for several months now and it has never fallen down. Although she did pull it down once during a heavy duty pillow fighting/bed jumping party she had with a friend.

Here it is again!

I'd love to see pictures if you decide to give this a try! Feel free to email me if you have any questions!



Linking up with some of these fabulous parties. Check them out!