Embellishing T's= Adorable, Affordable Tops

I LOVE how there are so many tutorials out there showing you how to embellish plain t-shirts. Don't we all have those shirts lying around that we are just bored of wearing?? Lets fix that! I want to try some of my own ideas soon, and I will definitely post the pics here. But first lets take  in some inspiration from others!

 How about this totally cute Anthropologie inspired tee by Tatertots & Jello...

or

Try this plain long sleeve tee transformation 

or

This adorable corsage tee both by Make it and Love it

 And last, but not least, this super cute tee by Blue Cricket Design.

I love that she just bought two cheap shirts at walmart to make this adorable one, and it saved her $40!!! That is amazing!

So go have some fun creating a design fit for the fabulous you!

Delicious!

I don't know if you guys have ever had Bakerella's cake pops, but if you haven't you definitely should make some, they are so good, time consuming, but worth it! This is a picture of some I made...

So I made a new twist on these. Let's call them ice cream pops!

All you need is...

Ice cream, I went for the Strawberries and Cream because I love Strawberries and chocolate

Magic Shell topping

and some sort of scoop

I used this one, which might have been a bit big. If you have a smaller fruit scoop or something to make them even more bite size that would make the ratio of chocolate to ice cream even better!

All you have to do is scoop the ice cream out in a perfect little ball. Then put the ball of ice cream on a spoon and go to town pouring Magic Shell all over it. Now set it aside to harden.  I think this worked the best. I also tried rolling them in the topping, but it didn't cover as well.  I just mixed the topping that fell on the plate to eat with more ice cream!

Now we are to the good part.... time to devour! Okay, so they aren't perfect, but they are perfectly delicious! And a fun change to just scooping it out and throwing it in a bowl!

Have fun!

Making Fabric Flowers

 Lately I have been obsessed with making fabric flowers for headbands or hair clips. They are so easy and so much fun to make. Here are a few I have made...

By the way... I LOVE adding bling!

I found a great website that has a bunch of links to learn how to make a lot of different styles. It's called little birdie secrets and it's an adorable blog filled with lots of tutorials. There are so many adorable flowers you can make! I need to just find the time to try them all!!

The Cutest Belt

If I EVER have an extra minute I am definitely going to use it to make this stinkin cute belt! I found the tutorial at Emily Spark's blog. She is an extremely cute girl with an extremely cute blog! I think it is so adorable. I will post pictures as soon as I do, because I am determined to test my sewing skills on this!

It is just too cute to pass up!

Beat The Boredom

If you need to spice up your summer you should really head over here for some cute ideas for kids!

I remember as a kid always saying to my mom, "I'm bored." "There isn't anything to do." It would have been so great if my mom had one of these jars to cure the summer boredom! It would have probably helped her out more than us!! hehe Such a cute idea!

Best FREE Fonts To Download!

I have to tell you about one of my favorite websites. It is called Fonts for Peas...

A

 And let me tell you how awesome this is. You can download some of the cutest fonts for FREE! They have SO many to choose from it is hard to decide which one to use, I usually want to use them ALL for my projects! 

Also get this... if you love your own handwriting, or you want to use it to scrapbook, you can submit it and they might just turn your handwriting into a font. How cool is that?? 
I just wanted to share this awesome site, because I don't know what I would do without it, and I know you will love it too!

FREE Movie Ticket From Poptarts Boxes!!

I just printed off an awesome deal!

If you are like me you buy Pop Tarts every time you go to the grocery store. (My husband isn't much of a breakfast person, so he takes poptarts to work instead!) Well, by just entering 5 codes of 5 different kinds of Poptarts you get FREE Stuff! It is pretty awesome! I just printed off a coupon for a free movie ticket! But that isn't the only thing you can choose from! Here are some others...

-25 FREE Snapfish Prints

-5 Music Downloads

or

-1 Magazine Subscription

And to make this deal sweeter there is a $1 off 2 coupon in the RP 6/13/2010! So if you use at least 2 of those you can save even more! 

So to get this deal all you have to do is buy your 5 boxes of poptarts (with a coupon of course!), register at this website, then enter your codes. They will then send you an email with further instructions!

And have fun at the movies!

Father's Day Ideas

Need last minute Father's Day Ideas??? I found a cute blog called DollarStoreCrafts. It is such a cool blog with LOTS of fun ideas for not too expensive!

Here are some examples for the big day...

This is an awesome shirt that dad would be proud to wear ;)

I LOVE this idea! And at first I was thinking you could only do this if you had 3 kids, but you could definitely do three different pics of one kiddo!

My husband would absolutely LOVE these adorable golf cupcakes!

This frame would be perfect if you want something that has some more personality in it! SO cute!
Good luck and Happy Father's Day to all you great dads out there!

Wall Murals

There are some pretty amazing murals that would be awesome to have, but are just too expensive. Like these gorgeous murals by the Decor Place. Amazing...

But this one was actually done by hand. And you can see a tutorial that gives you a step-by step guide to do-it-yourself here at Mafe Maria! How amazing would it be to say that you did the mural in your little boy's room? I just wish I had the time, and patience! Maybe someday....

Smashbox Cosmetics= FREE $16 Gift + FREE Shipping+ FREE Samples!

This is what I got last time they had this amazing deal!

The JET SET WATERPROOF EYE LINER and let me tell you... I LOVE it! I like to put my eyeliner in the lower inner lid, and this stays on better than anything I have used! It's great. And I would have spent the money anyway, so might as well get FREE SHIPPING AND FREE GIFT with it all too!

Smashbox Cosmetics offers up a FREE gift with ANY order from 9am-2pm PST, every Tuesday and Thursday! Today (until 2pm PST) they are offering up a FREE Mini Eye Shadow Trio in Headshot ($16 Value)! You can see all the details about this special promotion here.




On top of that promo, you can sign up to be a Pretty Points member. This is a FREE Rewards program Smashbox offers up. By signing up, you’ll score many perks! Your purchases will earn you points for FREE rewards certificates, you’ll score a FREE gift set during the month of your birthday, and a bonus deluxe sample will automatically be added to all of your Smashbox orders + you’ll score FREE shipping with every order!

After signing up for their rewards program, choose an inexpensive item from their Curtain Call collection here. They have items priced as low as $10. Once you start the checkout process, you’ll get to choose from 3 deluxe samples + you’ll get an additional bonus sample. Enter your payment info and complete your order. On the order confirmation page, the FREE $22 gift and the Pretty points bonus deluxe sample will show up. Your total will be as low as $10 + tax shipped! I LOVE these Smashbox cosmetics deals! If you do them on a regular basis, you will be stocked up on high quality cosmetics for very little money out of pocket!
To sweeten this already sweet deal further, go thru Shopathome.com! You’ll get a $5 sign up bonus if you’re a new member and 4% Cash back from your Smashbox Cosmetics purchases! Just go on over here and login or register, then in the store drop down menu find Smashbox.

*Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas*

These are absolutely the most delicious enchiladas I have had in a VERY long time!
If you like sweet meat in your enchiladas you will LOVE this! The hubby just about died when he tasted how great they were! And the amazing thing is they are pretty simple too, and let's be honest we could all use some more simple in our lives!

So here goes...
Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
6 Tbsp honey
5 Tbsp fresh lime juice (1-2 limes)
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2-3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
8 – 10 flour tortillas (depending on size)
1 lb of a Mexican blend cheese (monterey jack, colby, cheddar), shredded
1 large can of green enchilada sauce

Mix the honey, lime juice, chili powder and garlic powder together with the shredded chicken.  Allow it to sit for at least 1/2 hour or you could do it hours before and just cover and refrigerate.
Pour 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce into bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.  Place chicken and cheese into middle of a tortilla and spoon about 1 tablespoon of enchilada sauce over it and roll up.  Place seam down in the pan.  Reserve about 1-2 cups of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas.  Pour enchilada sauce over the top of rolled enchiladas (reserve a little bit to add after they are baked) and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

I got this recipe from another blog (thanks HomeBasedMom!!) and it is a great recipe but it calls for cooked, shredded chicken. So I decided to take it a step further and cooked it in the crockpot to make it easier. And to add the flavor to the chicken, I put the honey, chilli powder, lime juice, and garlic powder in the crockpot too. I cooked it on high for about 3 hours. It gave the chicken a delicious flavor since it was all cooked together. I think when I do it again though, I will add just a little more lime to the end prduct before I put it in to cook, because I love the lime flavor, and I think it cooked out a little more in the crockpot. But VERY delicious and we will be seeing this dish around a lot more!!

Tai Pan Trading Deal

You can go to this website and print off a coupon for Tai Pan's Tent Sale! You get an additional 25% off! I love Tai Pan and their stuff isn't expensive, so this is a great deal!
Hurry though, it is only good through June 19th!
You can also go to their website and sign up to be on their mailing list, and you will get coupons like these emailed right to you!

So sorry for the delay!

So I guess moving delayed sharing my creations with all of you a lot more than I expected. For that I am sorry! But I am going to start posting a lot more I promise! A lot has happened since my last post, and for one I decided to become a consultant for Close To My Heart. It has really been a blast! I just love having the gatherings because we get to have the very much needed "Mom/friend Talk Time"! It is so fun to see some of my friends and catch up on girl talk once a month! That is really why I started all of this in the first place!

Anyway, I just want to share with you what we made last month! It all turned out so great!

All of this is done with the "Boom-di-ada" Level 2 Paper Packet,

The My Acrylix stamp of the month for August "It's Your Day,"

And the Hollyhock, Barn Red and Olive Stamp sets, (and added embellishments:)

These are the different cards we made. I love this stamp set! Birthday cards are always needed around my house, and I think these ones turned out pretty cute!

And the scrapbook pages! This Paper Packet was perfect for some summer pics I needed to put together!

And last, but definitely not least, my FAVORITE part of the night....

I call it my "Explosion box" because you take off the lid and an explosion of pictures are inside. I obviously need to put pictures inside, but you get the idea! It is so fun to make cool things like this too! If anyone wants to know how this is done, let me know and I will post a short tutorial!!

Fun To Make and Give...

So here is my latest creation! I was really quite surprised that it turned out as cute as it did.

My sister-in-law is prego and going to have a baby like any minute now, and I wanted a cute blanket, but not the same old thing. So I came up with this. 

Here is what you need;

-Half yard of Fleece

-Matching Yarn {I actually used two different colors for around the stars too, but you don't have to}

- Two different colors of Matching Felt {Make sure it is machine washable}

-Scissors

-Needles big enough for yarn

-Paper

Just 4 easy steps to follow below...

1. Start by going around the blanket with a Blanket Stitch. If you're not sure how to do this, I found a great tutorial to learn how on YouTube.

2. Cut out a pattern on white paper of the shape you want to embellish your blanket with. Then take the white paper pattern and trace it onto the felt, cut it out.

3. Now just like you did on the blanket, do the same stitch around the stars to give them an adorable finished look. 

4. Then stitch around the stars just going through the fleece and the stitch on the stars, so you won't see a stitch on the actual star itself. Mine definitely is NOT perfect, but I think it looks pretty good for a first time job!

Good Luck!

Mmmm....Tasty, tasty!

I know they don't look like anything super special, but they are!
So I decided I would let you in on a little secret. One of the BEST and easiest peanut butter cookie recipes ever!

I'm telling you, if you like peanut butter and chocolate together, these cookies are just for you. 

I made them for my hubby to take to a church thing, and everyone there was begging him for the recipe. They are divine!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffle Cookies

1 c. Peanut Butter

1 c. Brown Sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 c. Chocolate Chips {Milk Chocolate is best}

See how easy... hardly anything to them, I bet you already have everything to make them!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix all ingredients together. 

Bake in oven for about 9 min. on light cookie sheet, and about 7 min. on dark, or until golden brown.

Leave on cookie sheet for 5 min. to cool.

Beware though, you will need a glass of milk with these!

And a big thanks to my sister, Cassandra, for giving me the recipe a few years back!

A Little Spring Cleaning ;)

Whether we like it or not, it's Spring Cleaning time again!

Especially since we are moving again, I see a lot of Spring Cleaning in my future :( All well, let's just get it over with. Then we can get back to the chic and crafty ways of life!

But I have some fun ideas to help with the mundane task.

First, I found a great article on Organization at HGTV's website.

There is a lot to read and go through so I will just give you some highlights that I appreciated.

One thing they pointed out is to make sure your picture displays are neat and orderly.

 

If there is one thing that will make your house look cluttered, it is too much chaos on your walls. 

Here is kind of a clever idea...

Paint bricks and stack them to display your picture frames on. {Sorry the pic is kind of blurry}

And as for the Kitchen...

Start small...

 

Tackle all those unused recipes you have. Throw them out if you haven't used them in a few years. Or do what I do, and store recipes on your computer. Doing this takes away ALL the clutter, and they are easy to keep organized.

And on to the bathroom...

If you are like me in any way, your bathroom is cluttered with hair product and other hair odds and ends. The article suggested buying a plastic tub to put everything in. But before you just start piling it all in there, evaluate what you really use. Donate all that you don't absolutely need to a friend or center. That way you can just pull out the tub when you are doing your hair, and just put the whole thing back when you are done. Great idea I definitely need to do!

So if you want to catch the entire article click here.

Second, I found a great place called Tip Junkie. 

She has a whole list of wonderful ideas. 

But what I like the most is her great Organization posts. Click here for those.

Tip Junkie also is having a great giveaway right now for Mother's day, so be sure to head over and enter to win!

And as for the cleaning part, my tip is to try and think green. Look around your home to see what you can use to clean. For example, try....

   1pt. White Vinegar to 1 pt. Water 

This is great to clean windows with. 

Rubbing Alcohol is great for mirrors too. 

Try to only use paper towels when it is absolutely needed. Maybe we can save a tree or two!

Good Luck with the spring cleaning and hopefully you will find something to help get you going!

Let me know what great tips you have for me, because I know I could sure use some help!

That New Dress Time of Year

I LOVE this time of year.

The sun.

The beautiful weather.

The flowers.

The bright colors people wear.

The green trees and grass.

And last but definitely not least...

Shopping for a new Spring/Easter dress.

So I was searching around on the internet trying to find some great spring/summer fashions and I found some great outfits at the Gucci store online. hehe like I will ever be able to afford it, but I can keep dreaming right?

I really want this dress, I hear cool blues are really in this season, and I think this is just adorable. It's just a mere $1395 for the dress. But did you check out the shoes? Here is a closer look...

They make me all giddy inside {I know a little dorky, but true}, and these are only $895! 

I love this orange color too. Maybe I will try to be brave enough to try something like this on.

I know this isn't a dress, but I just love this style for Spring. The white pants with a great jean jacket, scarf and the sunglasses. Need I say more?

Well, I am off to find one more in my price category.... hehe, but in the mean time I will keep dreaming!

Did you get a spring dress already?? Tell me how your shopping trip went in the comments, and where you found it, I might need some help since I can't just go into the Gucci shop and tell them what I want!

TTYL