Sophie's Room

To keep with the turning a house into a home theme.  I thought I should show part of Sophie's room.  This is the wall above her bed.  I had seen a little girls room on Pinterest that I absolutely loved.  Recreating our version of this room is not finished.  But this little spot is pretty much complete (except for the trim!).

Isn't this great!?  Her bed is bright yellow, almost the same shade as the yellow frame.

The pink open frame I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby for around $2.  I added some twine, mini clothes pins and a Project Life card and it's finish!

The yellow frame is from Walmart.  It think it was around $5.  I have yet to figure out what photo to put in it.

You are My Sunshine and Beach prints are from Gordmans.  Can't remember the price of these, but I know they were very reasonable.

Hoop art is from London and Granger on Instagram.

Heart garland is by Bub & Nonnie on Instagram.

Canvas print is by me.

Not bad for a clearance frame!

Close up of the gorgeous hoop art by London and Granger

DIY canvas wrap print.  Print on to some tissue paper, Mod Podge it on a canvas and there you have it!

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I'm back baby..with a school organization board!

So, it's has been quite some time since I've posted on here!  We have since moved into what we hope to be a long term house.  I'm finally getting around to turning this house into our home...while working 2 jobs and trying to be Supermom.

Kyin & Sophie just started back up at school this past week, which means lunch menus, tons of papers sent home and of course, homework.  While staying with my in-laws we had a large cork board that we used to put all of the kids papers on.  I missed having a go to spot in this house for their stuff.  While cleaning the dining room and front room today I got a bug in my butt to set up a spot for their stuff.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I ended up mixing a bunch of different ideas I found on Pinterest to create our area.  It's not quite finished, as I want to frame it with rulers/yard sticks but I can't for the life of me find any!

Here it is!  

Supplies:

Roll of cork board,  I found this at Hobby Lobby for $14.99. Thank the Lord for 40% off coupons.  I did look at Joanne's for the cork board, but did not find any.  

1.5 yards of Burlap, $5

Project Life cards, $4.99

Pre-cut Plywood, (2) $4.99

Acrylic Paint, $1.79.  You can use any color, to keep with a traditional chalk board, I went with black.

Push Pins & Small Binder Clips, $5

Clear Chalkboard Coating Paint $2.99 at Hobby Lobby

Hot Glue, Sharpie, Chalk, Acrylic Paint marker

Lay out your burlap, then lay the cork board on top (cut to the size you want).  I double layered the cork board and hot glued the edges, as mine was fairly thin.  I then trimmed the burlap so there was enough for a 2" overlap and hot glued it to the back, pulling it as tight as I could.  It was still a little loose, but not terrible.  I hung mine by nailing it into place.  It's fairly flimsy, so I couldn't think of another way to hang it.  To make the chalk board- I bought pre-cut plywood at the craft store and painted it with black acrylic paint.  Once that was dry I put a horizontal coat of the chalkboard coating on it.  The bottle says to let it set for 1 hour, I let it sit for maybe 45 minutes.  Then I put a vertical coat of it.  It's recommended that you let it set for 24 hours.  No way I was waiting that long.  I let it sit for about another 30 minutes.  I then 'seasoned' the chalk board by running a piece of chalk on it's side all over the board.  This is supposed to help avoid ghost images on the chalk board.  Once the board had been seasoned I hung that sucker up too.  I will be framing it out with yardsticks, once I can find some.   

Close up of Kyin's space. I couldn't find any cute thumb tacks, so I bought plain silver ones and painted them.  I thumb tacked the binder clips in place.  The name card is a Project Life card.

Aren't these adorable!?  I might just change them out with the different seasons.  Love love love the Project Life products!

Again with the Project Life!  This is one of the journaling cards.  I used it for a reminder of the kids daily school activities.  I normally forget about Library day, hopefully this will help me!

The lunch menu. So I can remember when to pack cold lunches. 

My little chalk board.  I used a white acrylic paint marker to write on it, then chalk for the daily activities. 

My birthday reminder board.  My husband hates this, but I think it's cute.  Just a wooden plaque from Joannes, a knob from hobby lobby, twine, and some tags from Hobby Lobby. 

My other chalkboard I made. This one is going to be 100% chalk so I can change it out whenever I feel like it. 

Enjoy!!

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Winter CandyLand 1st Birthday Party!

My little Christmas Present turned 1 this past December.  When searching for a theme I searched Pinterest for a few days.  I was originally going to go with the Winter ONEderland theme, but it seemed that it was quite the popular theme.  Wanting to be a little different I came across the Winter CandyLand theme and LOVED it.  What's better than candy, cookies and sweets!?

I purposely scheduled the party at a 'non-eating' time so I didn't have to throw serving a meal on top of everything else I was doing.  I did everything, but baking the cake, and the cake pops myself.

One of my favorite items from the party was the sucker tree. The kids (and adults!) LOVED it.  I got the candle holder from Hobby Lobby (8.99 on sale), and I used a 6" styrofoam ball and cut one end off so it sit flat on the candle holder. From there I filled it with Dum-Dum suckers.  It took A LOT of suckers to fill this thing.  But, it's still in the kitchen, I keep refilling it. It's such a colorful cute decoration.

The cookies. I was VERY specific on the cookie cutters I wanted. I searched multiple stores (and had my in-laws looking) for a wrapped candy shaped cookie cutter. I FINALLY found it at Joanne Fabrics.  The cookies themselves I just used Pillsbury sugar cookie dough out of the tube. I know, I know..cheater. But I put a lot of time and effort into decorating that I really didn't want to put that much effort into baking. I made a lot of cookies, so I used two of the large tubes. I honestly don't even know if they sell them when it's not Christmas time.  For the icing/glaze I mixed powdered sugar and a tiny bit of milk until I got the consistency I wanted.  I then added the coloring gel (Wilton brand that comes in a little jar..around $1.75/color at Walmart) and transferred it to the piping bags.  They do sell white coloring as well, which I did use. I believe I got that at Joanne's too.  Not going to lie. I was decorating for around 4 hours. I got about two and a hlaf episodes of the Following (on Netflix) into it and was asking myself what was I thinking!?  I have to say the time and effort were worth it though. Those snowmen rocked.

The cake. Oh this cake was specific.  I thought it was going to be super easy. White round cake, red polka dots and red trim. I mean, how hard? Right? Apparently it was very confusing for the poor girl at Sam's Club.  Twenty minutes later I felt moderately sure that she understood what I wanted.  I was greatly relieved when I picked it up and it was perfect.  All I had to do when I got home was add the cookies and suckers (got those at Party City).

Now for the candy. Oh..lots and lots of candy.  We had Dum-Dums obviously, Starbursts, M&M's, blue and red Sixlets (color specific from Meijer 2/$5), Hershey's Kisses (chocolate and candy cane flavor), red candy coated marshmellows on a stick, Sourpatch kids, and Candy Canes.  I got these cute red and blue scoops from Party City as well.  The candy was used as the goodie bag.  I bought red and blue small gift bags and red and blue tissue paper. Each bag had the opposite color tissue paper, and before the kids left they got to pick out some candy and cookies to take home.  The parents loved that idea. 

All in all it turned out just as I had planned. The kids LOVED it. I'm still the favorite aunt..my niece wants to have a Candy Land birthday party for her next birthday.  

And here's the happy Birthday Boy!  

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#longlashes fail

I was so so excited to do the #longlashes influenster. I put the serum on every night before bed...that is until last night. I heard Moose upstairs in the bathroom,  so I went up to investigate.  I find him with my tube of Fysiko open & he was running around. I managed to stop him and snatch it away.   I went to put the brush back and I noticed it sounded quite liquidy.  After some investigation I realised that he had submerged the open tube in the toilet.

Needless to say, this influenster is over for me. I'm so bummed. :(

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Fysiko Lashes

Now, this post isn't going to be like the other posts on this blog.  I had signed up for this program called Influenster a few months ago.  I had gotten a survey about my eyelashes, so I filled it out and a week or two later I got another email that said I was chosen to receive a new product that increased the length and thickness in your eyelashes in as little as 2 weeks.  

Now, if you know me in real life, you'd know that my kids, especially my oldest has the LONGEST lashes ever. I'm not kidding! When he went and got his glasses fitted they couldn't make them as tight as they needed to be because his lashes would have hit the lenses!  So, I'm always asking him if I can have his eyelashes. He always tells me no. :(

Well, thanks to a product called Fysiko Lashes I can grow my own long lashes!  I just got the product in the mail today, I have to apply it to my upper eyelid like a liquid eyeliner every night. Best results are at 16 wks.  So, naturally I rushed and took off my makeup tonight and applied the product as instructed. 

Here's what the brush looks like

I am super excited to see the results and share them with you! 

Here is my 'before' picture

*I was given this product free of charge, and not paid in anyway to test/review it

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Protein Energy Balls

Lately I've been on a health kick.  I started doing Insanity 2 weeks ago, and we are focusing more on eating clean.  Here's the problem: I am a chocolate addict.  Seriously people. It's bad.  I can honestly say that I don't really feel guilty when I inhale half a bag of Hershey Kisses while watching a movie.  But, alas, I knew there was a healthier way.

Now, I have a whole board dedicated to eating clean.  Most of the recipes I've tried, and honestly aren't too bad, some are actually REALLY good.  This one falls into the REALLY good category. 
Here is the original Pin




Looks pretty tasty right?  I looked up the ingredients list and I had all but one thing, which could be omitted if I wanted to.  Score!  So I got out my mixing bowl and the ingredients and got to work. 

Ingredients:
1c Oats
1/2c Peanut butter (I used all natural)
1/2c chocolate chips (I used the mini chips)
1/3c Honey (I used clear Agave Nectar, and not 1/3c of it..I would say half that)
1/2c Flax Seed
1tsp vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients together, let chill in refrigerator for 30m
Roll into 1" balls, return to the refrigerator


Easy peasy lemon greesy, as my 6 year old would say!  These are super fast to make and SUPER yummy!  They taste like a no bake cookie.  They're great when I'm craving sweets!  And I won't feel guilty.

So, people-if you're clean eating or not-try these! You won't feel guilty for eating them, or letting your kids eat them. Pin It

How to Remove Crayon From Fabric

I have neglected the blog. I can admit it. BUT in my absence I have given birth to our fourth (yes...FOURTH!) child, so I have been busy. Back to the reason for this post.  My three older children's birthday's were last month.  Seeing how the need new toys like Taylor Swift needs another ex-boyfriend we got them mainly clothes.  I had found this super cute yellow striped cardigan & teal jeggings from The Children's Place and gotten them for Miss Fluffy. 

The day the box with the clothes arrived, I put them on her. Of course she looks adorbs.  AND because these are brand new clothes I'm super anal about her not staining them.  Family of 6 + 1 income = not a lot of extra money to replace clothes.  So, she made it through lunch, dinner, snacks... no stains! Awesome! I call her to the living room to get her jammers on before bed and what do I see??  Magenta crayon on the thighs of those brand new teal jeggings.  Yes...MAGENTA! Oh I was mad.  This happened early February and she's STILL grounded from crayons.  She's four people-she knows better.  Anyway. I, of course, went to Pinterest to figure out how to remove the crayon from the fabric.  I've heard of a few different ways, but the most common on was to sandwich the fabric in between paper towel and crank up the iron.  Supposedly the heat from the iron would transfer the crayon wax onto the paper towel. Viola- no more crayon stain. 

I don't think I actually re-pinned this one because it was so self explanatory that if it worked I wouldn't need to go and look back on it, I would just remember.  Well, guess what? Didn't work.  But I did burn the ever loving crap out of my forearm on the iron while reaching for something in the cabinet.  Here's my lovely scar. wahh! It does look a little like a sluggy alien with it's mouth open though..

 

File this one under bust ladies and gentleman.  Tried it. Burnt my arm. Didn't work.
Update: I was able to get the crayon out with a good saturation of Clorox 2 stain remover spray.

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