Sparkle, Sizzle and Bloom

Nursery Decor ~

September 6, 2011

When my daughter was born I wanted to go out and buy all of the cute nursery decor that you find at Babies R Us – but the cost of it was too much and it left alot to be desired, so instead I decided to make my own. I went to my local craft store and bought my own supplies and the whole thing cost me about 25$ total. This is what I used…

Supplies:

Canvas

CeramCoat Paints

Paint Brushes

Pre-Painted Wood Cutouts

Hot Glue Gun

So all I did was paint my canvas in the color of choice. I let it dry and then I hot glue gunned my pre-painted wood cutouts (you can find these at your local craft stores). Because some of the butterflies werent the colors I wanted I used some paint to make them more personalized for my nursery theme. I hot glue gunned the wood to the canvas and hung on the wall. Simple.

I wanted a shelf hung over my daughter’s changing table so that I could place baby products on there and not have to worry about my 3 year old getting into them. I bought a simple unfinished shelf at Michael’s and painted it useing Valspar Spray Paint. I then found lady bug clothes pins in the dollar bins at JoAnns that I hot glue gunned under the shelf to accomodate hanging headbands, bibs or her outfit for the day. These decorative clothes pins are simple to make on your own though…just buy regular clothes pins (mine are mini ones) and more of those wonderful pre-painted wood peices and hot glue gun them right onto your clothes pin and then glue that right under your shelf. Ta-Da! It adds a personal touch to your shelf and it becomes multi-functional.

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More than S’mores!

August 9, 2011

I got my Food Network Magazine this month and there were some wonderful ideas in there on how to turn your average bonfire s’mores into something so much more. So…with that said, I decided to share some of that with you. Some I created and came up with myself. So if you are headed to the beach for a bonfire, have a fire place, or have a fire pit in your back yard – try ones of these tasty ideas on one of these summer nights!

Mini Salami Subs:

Split open an Italian Sub Roll, drizzle the inside with olive oil and fill with salami, provolone and basil. Cut the sub into 2 inch pieces and thread a sandwich onto a skewer. Toast until cheese is melted.

Hangel-Nut Bites:

Cut Angel Food Cake into small squares. Spread some Nutella Hazelnut Spread on 1 side of each piece of cake. Take a marshmallow and place it in between 2 pieces of the cake and thread on the skewer. Toast until marshmallow is somewhat melted.

Sweet Breadsticks:

Cut strips of refrigerated breadstick dough in half crosswise. Thread the piece onto the skewer lengthwise. Toast over a flame until golden. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Prosciutto wrapped jalepenos:

Take a jalapeno and cut it in half length-wise. Take out the seeds. Fill the inside with cream cheese. Put the jalapeno back together (seem to seem) and then wrap a piece of prosciutto around it. Thread it onto the skewer keeping the jalapeno closed. Roast over a flame until the prosciutto is golden.

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Crafting “Good Behavior”

I don’t know about you, but it seems the terrible two’s are the least of any mom’s worry – it’s more like the terrible 3′s! Now that we have a new addition to our family, my 3 year old is acting out and acting up more and more. We got tired of always doing the time out method and so did our son. So – we got this idea from a good friend. We call it the “stick method”. Let me explain:

We took popcicle sticks and we painted some yellow and some black. (Note: you can replace the yellow paint color for any color your child likes, but we recommend black for the others). If the child acts out (i.e. behavior, doesn’t listen, doesn’t do a certain task) they get a black stick. If they do something good or something you have asked of them and you want to reward them they get a yellow stick. You continue to do this for a week and then designate a day as the “cash in day”. This is when your child brings all of his/her sticks to you and you bring out the goodie basket. (We fill the goodie basket with 1$ toys, candy, or 1 big things the child may have been wanting like a movie, game etc.) So you have the child lay out their sticks. For every black stick that they have you get to take one of their yellow sticks away – example: if they have 6 yellow sticks and 3 black sticks then you get to take away 3 of their yellow sticks leaving them with only 3 yellow sticks to use for goodies. We usually “price” the goodies too. So for the games or movies it may cost them 5 sticks – for the smaller things it’s only 1 stick. They can also choose to save their sticks for next week to try and save for the bigger prize. It teaches the kids how to earn something and it gives them the incentive to actually work toward their goal.

This is a chart I made that I keep on the fridge. It “holds” the sticks Noah has earned. I cut a Solo cup in half and hot glue guned it to a peice of contruction paper. I then decorated the paper by adding the title to make it more personal. This is a good idea if you have more than one kiddo – that way they can keep track of their own sticks. Instead of the small popsicle sticks – we used the bigger sized ones. Either works well. If you have smaller kids (2-3 yrs old) I recommend doing the “cash in” days every 2 or 3 days, otherwise the child gets bored easily and wont work hard at trying to get the yellow sticks. Since we do cash in days every 2 days Noah stays excited about it. Enjoy!

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Asian Chicken Wraps

May 28, 2011

Ingredients”

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts – thin

1 cup of Teriyaki glaze/marinade (reserve half for the wrap itself)

1 package of julliened carrots

1 package of chopped cabbage

2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

1/3 cup of toasted sesame seeds

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 green onions chopped

tortillas (I buy the ones specifically for wraps)

Directions:

Marinate chicken breasts in teriyaki overnight. Take chicken and cook on grill until done. Let cool. In a bowl combine carrots, cabbage, toasted sesame seeds, chopped green onions and almonds. Cut up chicken into small strips and place in the middle of the tortilla. On top add the slaw mixture and drizzle the rest of the teriyaki glaze on top before rolling. (Note: you want to serve this wrap cold).

This is an easy weeknight, summer dinner. I love it and it’s one of those recipes you can switch up the flavors with and make it your own. Example: you can turn it into a bbq chicken wrap by adding bbq chicken, black beans, corn, lettuce, and tortilla strips. The possibilities are endless.

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A Corner of Comfort

May 12, 2011

We had a blank grassy area in the corner of our side yard. I wanted to do something with it. It started out by planting a fruitless plum tree (I love those trees). Then I got to thinking that the corner was perfect for a flower bed. So, my husband dug out the proper sized bed and allowed me to plant to my hearts desire. We then bought little stone borders to better define the space and I added some chairs, decorative pillows and side table in front of it all. Now it looks like a cozy corner that is perfect for sipping coffee in the morning and enjoying all of the flowers that are blooming and growing in what used to be a very boring area of the yard.

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The New Fad – Cake Pops

Cake Pop Mold

My son, Noah and I have our weekly fix at our local Starbuck’s on Sundays. I usually get my coffee and he gets his Birthday Cake Pop. Cake Pops seem to be the new thing. I’ve even seen cookbooks geared towards just different pops. Even though I haven’t attempted to making them myself I think, ‘what a great way to mix things up a bit’. I mean, you can make cake pops for birthday parties instead of the traditional cake or cupcakes. You can make them for weddings, baby showers, seasonal party gifts – I think they are fantastic. With that said – here are 2 products that I think are great for getting someone started on this Cake Pop Fad.