Jello Cookies

Posted on June 5, 2012 by admin

Recently, I was on Pinterest collecting ideas to keep my boys busy this summer. I found this recipe for Jello cookies. The colors just looked so fun I thought it would be a good baking activity for us!

I let my boys each pick 2 flavors, my younger boy picked lemon and strawberry, YUM! My older boy picked Lime and Tropical Fusion, YUM!!

Here are our cookies

They are not as pretty as Jamielyn’s but that is ok, the boys helped roll the balls of dough and smoosh the cookies down with the bowl. The cookies did taste good and they were fun to make!!

What are you doing to keep your kids busy this summer?

Strawberry Pineapple Coconut Delight

Posted on January 12, 2012 by admin

In case you missed me last week on The Grant Life, here is my post from there!

I have a quick and easy recipe for you today! I saw this recipe for Orange Fluff Jello Salad over at Six Sisters’ Stuff and I thought it looked really yummy. But when I went to my cabinet I had no orange jello, I had strawberry jello and that was when my creative recipe skills took over!

This is a super simple recipe and very quick!

Ingredidents:

1 Large Box Vanilla Instant pudding (I used sugar-free)

1 small Box Strawberry Jello (I used sugar-free)

15oz can crushed pinapple

1/2 c shredded coconut

1 container cool whip or homemade whip topping (16oz Heavy Whipping Cream, 1/4 c sugar beat in mixer until stiff)

Dump the pudding and jello packets into large bowl, added the can of pinapple (DO NOT DRAIN) and mix well. Add in coconut and mix. Fold in the cool whip or homemade whip topping. Refrigerate for 1 hour and then serve.

I made mine with the homemade whip topping as I had no cool whip on hand. Enjoy!

I am guest post at…

Posted on January 7, 2012 by admin

Come on over and check out a really yummy, easy and cheap desert I made! Plus you will find a great blog!! Thank you Kelley for allowing me to be a guest blogger on The Grant Life!!

Double Duty Valentine’s Day Sign

Posted on January 5, 2012 by admin

I made a sign for Valentine’s Day!!! Do you remember my CHRISTmas sign?

I reused the sign, really I used the back so I still have my CHRISTmas sign for next year!! YAY!! love reused and making things double duty!!

So I took the sign which was unpainted on the back and spray painted red just like the front. Then I needed to cover the partial cut that is at the bottom left side of the sign. I cut out strips of hearts from some left over Christmas cardstock, I just flipped over and used the white. I cut the hearts with my brand new Silhouette machine!! I won her at Skip to My Lou in November (trust me, if you say oh I never win, start entering giveaways on blogs!!!) So I got the Silhouette right before Christmas and I just had not had time to use her, so I was super excited when I finally was able to!! After cutting the strips of hears I used modpodge to attach the hearts along the bottom of the sign.

Then I used my Silhouette and contact paper to cut out be my valentine stencil. I then used some of my red and white paint left over from Christmas craft projects to mix up a nice pink and painted the letters! The contact paper did not stick as well as I would like but that is ok, I like the feathered look of the letters. As soon as I painted the letters I pulled the contact paper stencil up so that it would not shift and smear the paint. And there you have a sign!!

and the other side

Are you working on Valentine’s Day crafts yet?

I am linking up here! Come check out the great link parties!!

Capri Sun Zipper Pouch

Posted on January 3, 2012 by admin

Yup jumping on the drink pouch upcycle to a bag bandwagon! Oh wait, you mean to tell me I am over a year late to this party! Oh well, my oldest son asked for one! He came home one day saying that he had to take all of the Capri Sun Drink pouches to school so they could be recycled and made into bags. I then explained to him that we could do that but to get a bag we would have to buy the bag and I told him that if he saved his Capri Sun pouch and brought it home to me I could make him one, he thought that was the best!

Fast forward four months and I had a stack of pouches but had not made a bag, my son had a birthday coming up so I thought perfect time to get busy! I used Allison at House of Hepworth tutorial on Capri Sun Pouch Bags as a starting point. I made mine different than hers but Allison had great tips included how to wash the pouches. Side note – if you do not know Allison over at House of Hepworth, stop right now and go to her blog, you can come back and thank me! She is just AWESOME!!!

Onto my Capri Sun Zipper Pouch, mine is very simple just three pouches sewn together, a second set of three sewn together. Then I sewed the zipper at the top of each three pouch then sewed the sides and bottom together. It is the perfect size for pencils!

Quick and easy! My son loves his Capri Sun Pouch! I have a second zipper to make a second one for my younger son, we will see when I get to that! (Yes, my name is Karie and I am a procrastinator!) Haha my secret is out!! Shhh, you won’t tell anyone, right?

I am linking to these great link parties!! Check them out and come party!!

Shabby Apple SALE

Posted on January 3, 2012 by admin

I love Shabby Apple!!! They have amazingly beautiful dresses, skirts, maternity clothing and even baby girl dresses, there is also accessories, swim, fitness clothes, and a Arts & Crafts section! Right now until the January 31st they are having a site wide sale!! Save 20% off nearly everything (excludes the Sidesaddle Line) just enter NEWYEAR at checkout!

Translucent Painted Mason Jar

Posted on January 2, 2012 by admin

I love my painted mason jars! They are great for vases however candles do not work as well as the paint makes them opaque. Enter a wonderful Pinterest find!! Momtastic painted the inside of mason jars with Mod Podge and food coloring! Making a beautifully tinted, translucent, Mason Jar! Perfect for a vase or CANDLES!!!!!!!!

Really it was that easy! We received a cookie mix in a jar for Christmas, we made the cookies, they were wonderful and I thought, empty mason jar, I know what I am doing with you!!! I rinsed and dried the jar, poured a good amount of Mod Podge and added about 20 drops of food coloring, swirled around and coated the entire jar. Then set the jar upside down ontop of a paper plate and let drain. Flip over and allow to dry overnight. You can see how it goes from a milky pink when wet to a beautiful translucent pink when dry! LOVE!!! I will be using this for my Valentine’s Day Mantel!! And a perfect Thrifty Craft, cost $0, I had it all on hand!!!

I am linking to these great link parties! Check them out for inspiration!!

DIY Green Carpet Shampooing

Posted on January 1, 2012 by admin

I am going to let you on a dirty secret here at the HoB, we have awful, dirty, disgusting carpet! I HATE it!! But it is no where in the budget to get it replaced, a long-term goal for sure, but not right now. It is also not in the budget to have my carpets cleaned professional. Plus I am not real keen on the idea of all those chemicals. Enter the Hubs! He found this great green carpet cleaner recipe on Pinterest! Here is a link to the original site.

So here is what we did:

First a picture to show you just how bad my carpets are! Second we sprinkled on Arm & Hammer Carpet Cleaner. I do think straight Baking Soda would work just as well.

Third, let the baking soda sit on the carpet for ten minutes and then vacuum. While waiting to vacuum we mixed 2 cups warm water, 1 TBSP white vinegar and 1 TBSP Dish Soap, I used my Seventh Generation green dish soap, I think any would work as long as it is clear. Fourth, after vacuuming the baking soda, blot (we ended up scrubbing more than blotting) the stain with a clean white towel.

Fifth, clean the carpet with cold water and clean towels. Then let dry and run vacuum back over area. CLEAN carpet!!!

Here is a side by side! There is much improvement! I still can’t believe I put my awful ugly carpet up here for all to see but at least you can see the slightly better cleaner one now!!

I am sharing at these great link parties!! Check them out!!

Happy New Year and a Goal

Posted on January 1, 2012 by admin

Happy New Year! With the new year we always think of new goals and what we want to accomplish in the new year. Every year I always try to make an attempt to be more organized. In this past year I have come to realize that part of what I need to do to be more organized is to declutter and simplify. So on Pinterest the other day I found a 2012 Declutter Calendar from My Simpler Life. I like that she has it all broken into very simple steps. One activity a day to help declutter and simplify the stuff in our life. I hope that this slow and methodical approach works better than my normal hit it full force and fizzle approach of the past! Here is to a cleaner, simpler, more organized 2012. I will do updates through out the year on my declutter project!! What is your goal or goals for this year? How do you keep yourself accountable?

Wedding Invitation Ornament

Posted on December 31, 2011 by admin

One last post for 2011! This makes a nice even 50 post for my first year of blogging (well my first 4 months!) I saw this idea a while back on From Glitter to Gumdrops! I pinned the idea as soon as I saw it and knew exactly when and where I would make this wedding invitation ornament!

I made this for my brother and his new wife! (Hi Zac and Becca!!) I knew that my sister-in-law checks my blog so I did not want to post this till I could give them their ornament. They live in California so we did not see them till this past week when they made it back to Texas for the holidays.

This is a very easy ornament to make, I used an acrylic clear ornament because I knew the ornament would have to survive a flight back to CA and would need to be cat-proof! I took their wedding invitation and cut strips with my paper cutter. Then I used a pencil to curl the pieces of paper around, their invitation was made with a nice weight cardstock so when I twisted it around the pencil it held the curl. Then I just popped the top off and put the curlies into the ornament. Then put the top back on and done! So easy!!! A very personal 1st year ornament for a newly married couple!! Zac and Becca liked their ornament!