ABC Baby Shower

Today I had a shower for my sister-in-law. I had so much fun putting it together! I want to do another one!


The picture in the frame is the front of her invitation. I'll post a link to the free printable once I find it again!


Gift table.


Food table with labels.


Another free printable I found via Pinterest.











Thank you's


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Baked S'mores!!!

These should be called "Super Dangerous Baked S'mores" because they're so easy, you'll be in danger of making them on a very regular basis!!

Step 1: set toaster oven, or regular oven, to 400 degrees.

Step 2: set your graham cracker halves onto baking sheet.

Step 3: add marshmallows to one half, chocolate to the other (you can use chocolate chips too)

Step 4: place in oven until chocolate is slightly melted and marshmallows are golden (doesn't take very long)

*Sorry for the poor quality pictures, but you get the idea right?

Fathers Day Cards

Super simple and easy!


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Bathroom Makeover

My kid's bathroom was in desperate need of decorations. And me, having the frugal husband that I have, knew I couldn't buy all the cute stuff at Target that I wanted to buy. So I bought a cheap canvas at Hobby Lobby (using a 40% off coupon of course) and splattered it with paint.

Then I made a shower curtain using the tutorial found at Make It and Love It.

Then I sewed some coordinating fabric onto my hand towels using a tutorial, once again, from Make It and Love It.
The bathroom looks much better with a little bit of color in it. And it was all SUPER easy!!

Man Birthday Card

I used Cricut Cartridge "Just Because Cards" and altered the words to make it say Kick instead of Kickin'.





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Couch Pillow

I finally finished ONE couch pillow. I thought it turned out pretty cute. Its a little lopsided in this picture. It was just a quick snapshot from my phone. I'd love to write out instructions on how I made it, but its too difficult without having pictures, and I didn't take any pictures throughout the process.

However I can tell you this book is where I got the instructions. I've made several things out of here now. I've seen this book on Amazon.com, at Hobby Lobby, Joann's, and Hancock Fabrics. So check it out if you're interested in Americana style quilting :)

Yard Work

I've been learning how to take care of the yard the past few weeks (this is the first time we've had a yard in our 7 years of marriage). I have to admit, I'm enjoying it much more than I thought I would. First of all, because I get to be outside in the sun! Oh how I love the sun! Second, there's just something so relaxing about mowing the grass. Third, its nice to look at it when you're done and know that it looks that good because YOU did it!!

Anyway, our yard is brand new and, therefore, is far from looking perfect. We have been having a hard time getting rid of the weeds. Something I learned this week is that it is much easier to get the weeds out (all the way to the root) when the grass is wet. I just thought I would share for those of you who are amateur yard workers like me :)

Ragg-ed Coasters

I found a super cute tutorial HERE for fabric coasters. It inspired me to make some of my own, but I decided to stick with the theme of my living room and go with the ragged/rustic/Americana style since I had lots of scraps left over. So this is what I came up with.
I cut 2 5x5 squares of fabric.
I cut 2 4x4 squares of fusible interfacing and ironed them onto each piece of fabric.
I cut 1 4x4 piece of flannel and put it in between the 2 pieces of fabric.
I pinned it all in place, and sewed and X through the square.
Then I sewed a seam around the whole square. About 3/4".
Then I ragged it by clipping around the sqaure, careful not to cut through the seam.
Wash and dry to get the full rag effect.

Earring Hanger/Display

This earring display is simply a picture frame with plastic canvas stapled to the back. I'm not sure how long it will hold up, but it works better than the shoe box :)

Project List

My list of projects keeps getting bigger and bigger every day!! *Click on the italics to see the tutorials I plan on using or adjusting to my needs :)

Earring Holder
Harddrive case for my husband's upcoming "trip"
Coasters
Wall Hangings for my bedroom
Curtains for the window above the master bathtub
Shower curtain for the kids' bathroom
Paintings for my son's room
Butterflies for my daughter's room
Pillows for the couches
The kids' lightswitch covers
My daughter's lamp

Can you tell I love Make It and Love It? She has some great ideas and tutorials!!
Keep your eye out for my completed projects, coming soon!!

Texas Flag

I FINALLY finished my Texas Flag wall quilt. I have to admit, I'm disapointed in how small it is. I didn't realize how small it would turn out, but thats my fault. I should have paid attention to the "finished size" measurements. Now I'm not sure what to do with it or where to hang it.
Next up on my to do list: COUCH PILLOWS!!

Jewelry/Necklace Holder

I've seen lots of Jewelry holders and necklace hangers on the internet. This is what I came up with. I've had my jewelry in a shoe box for the last 2+ years, so it was time to do something about it!! I found some unframed cork board at WalMart (it came in 4 12x12 panels) and some 50% off frames at Hobby Lobby. I covered the cork board with linen and used a stapler to attach it :) I couldn't find anything else that worked as well as staples. I put the frames on and hung them up. I used cute push pins/thumb tacks that I also found at WM. Next I need to figure out a way to organize my earrings!!!

Happy Birthday Christmas Card

It was my mother's birthday on October 25th. My mom is a Christmas FANATIC!!! She listens to Christmas music all year, does her Christmas shopping all year, and leaves Christmas decorations up in her office all year. She starts counting down from day 364. So, when my sister-in-law and I decided to do a surprise party for her this year, the theme was a no brainer. Here is the card I came up with. I THINK I used the Christmas Cheer Cricut Cartridge. The star is a brad, so it swivels.

Christmas Is Coming....

....and I'm getting ready!!! I spent a few hours making Christmas tags the other night. I thought they turned out pretty cute (well, most of them).

My favorites are these white sparkly ones. These pictures don't do any of them justice because they are from my cell phone.

Cricut Cartridges used: Plantin School Book, Christmas Cheer, Stretch Your Imagination

Halloween Birthday Card

Made with paper from the DCWV Amber Autum Fall Stack Collection and the Mini Monsters Cricut Cartridge

My mom said it looks like a pineapple :(
I thought it was cute. My husband's birthday is on Halloween, so this is for him. I'll be helping my daughter make him one within the next couple of days, so be watching for another Halloween Birthday card.

A Christmas Gift

I'm sad that I can't get this to upload straight, but oh well. I'm currently staying in Utah with my parents, so I don't have any of my scrapbooking supplies. But my MIL let me borrow her Cricut and some paper along with embellishments. I pulled some of my pictures out of storage and got to work. Anyway, this is what I cam up with. These are pictures of my now-almost-3-year-old. She was born 16 days before Christmas.

TV-Free Toddler Time

*This is a post I started in Korea, but never finished*

I found a great new blog called "365 Days of TV-Free Toddler Time". Click here to see it. She has some really great ideas on how to keep your toddler entertained without putting them in front of the TV all the time. However, most of her ideas just don't work for us in our current living situation, so I've been trying REALLY hard to think of ideas that WILL work. My 2-year-old asks for TV about ever 10 minutes. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night and asks for a "show". Its a little rediculous. I read somewhere once that an average toddler watches 3-5 hours of tv every day! Crazy! So here is a list of things I've come up with recently.

Make Jell-O Jigglers
Finger painting
Bubbles
Puzzles
Bake muffins, or cookies, or just about anything. Kids LOVE to help in the kitchen! And they love to decorate food too!
Get a kitty :)
Visit a friend who has a kitty
Take a walk around the block (your toddler may be able to ride a tricycle next to you as you walk)
Put away toys that your toddler doesn't generally play with. In a few months take them out again and it'll be like the toys are brand new to the child.
Glue raw macaroni noodles to paper. Paint them first if you want.
Go swimming
Play in the dirt. It ALWAYS washes off
Find a rock outside, bring it inside, wash it and paint it
If you have a little girl, play with makeup or finger nail polish
Take silly pictures with a digital camera and let your toddler see them on the computer
If you have a piano, sit down with your toddler at the piano and let them play it softly. This has been a great way for me to teach my daughter to respect such an instrument.
Play-doh
Dress up
Kick a ball (we do this indoors because we don't have a yard, just put away fragile stuff)
Play with the webcam, even better, call a friend or relative on the webcam.
Go to the park
Riding a Tricycle (we also do this indoors if the weather is yucky)
Color in a coloring book
Build a tower with blocks and knock it down. A toddler can do this over and over and giggle every time.
If you have tile walls in your shower or bathroom, let your kids color on them with washable marker or fingerpaints. It is easy to wash and they get a HUGE kick out of it!!

With the winter months coming we're going to have to find a lot of indoor stuff to do.


What kind of stuff do you do with your kids when you can't get outside?

Father's Day is Coming!!!

Father's Day is coming up fast. Are you ready? I'm not, but here's a start.

My First Scrapbooking Pages

I haven't scrapbooked since I was a senior in High School. Okay, that was only like 7 years ago. But the world of scrapbooking has definitely changed. Its better now! There are so many cute papers, embellishments, ribbons, etc. that you can use to scrapbook. I never though I would get into it again, because it seems like an overwhelming task to get caught up, but I decided to start with my kids. They are young and if I can just keep up with them, I should be able to have a scrapbook from birth through highschool done before they get married :)

I'm starting with child #2 because child #1's pictures are all in storage in the States. I have been looking at layouts (LO) and sketches that others have done for the past couple of months. There's so many cute ideas out there for LO's. One thing I've noticed is that its very popular to have a lot of empty space or a lot of embellishments (stickers, ribbon, buttons, brads, etc.) and only one or 2 pictures per page. I find that I prefer lots of pictures on my page. Maybe because I don't have a lot of the cutesy stuff yet lol.

Sharing the Sweetness!

I've sure been posting a lot of cards lately and not much of anything else. It seems like I go through phases...sometimes I'm really into cooking, other times its sewing, right now its card making. Soon it will be scrapbooking once I get all the awesome supplies I ordered from Cropchocolate.com. DID YOU KNOW THAT CROP CHOCOLATE NOT ONLY HAS THE LOWEST PRICES FOR ALL YOUR SCRAPBOOKING AND CRAFTING NEEDS, BUT THEY ALSO HAVE FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER $60 AND OFFER A 20% YES 20% MILITARY DISCOUNT!!!!???? DID YOU KNOW THAT!? WHY WOULD YOU SHOP ANYWHERE ELSE?

To shop with Crop Chocolate.com you have to create an account. If you don't mind, tell them you heard it through me and give them my email address (clint dot katie at gmail dot com). Then after you place your order, email their customer service (cs at cropchocolate dot com) and ask them for a military discount if you have an APO or FPO address. If you don't have an APO/FPO address, just mention my name (Katie :) ) and they will refund you 20% discount. Not many companies give military discounts anymore, especially a 20% discount! Thats huge! I just got $19 knocked off my most recent order plus free shipping! Not only do they offer several great deals a day, they have the most amazing customer service around!

Having Cropchocolate.com is better than having an LSS (local scrapbooking store)!!!!!

~See below for a shout out to an awesome new blog~