School Days Picture Frames

5 years ago, my 10 yr. old step-daughter had her picture day at school and she wore the most adorable dress.  I saved that dress in hopes that one day when I had my own little girl that she would wear the same!  That day arrived and I now have the most adorable pictures of two of my girls in matching dresses at the same stage of their lives!  So, I searched for the perfect picture frames to make this special and could not find one within my "budget" I was allowing myself.  I found some unfinished frames at my local craft store on sale and was able to finish these frames for around $6.

Painting the frames, and using my Cricut for lettering and the pencil added just the touch I was looking for!

DIY Fort Kit

I am now officially addicted to Pinterest.  I can't help myself, and when I saw this really cute DIY Fort Kit, I just knew I had to make one for my Isabelle.  This was so easy, and I had most of the stuff already in my house. 

Contents included:

2 - Flat Sheets with ribbon loops sewn onto the corner's and middle
Bungee Cords
Clothes Pins
Flashlight
Glowsticks
Chip Clips
Twine
Pillowcase for storage

For the flat sheets, I simply looped the ribbon and sewn them into place.  You can utilize the twine, chip clips, clothes pins and bungee cords to hang your forts up how you desire! 

These make great gifts and I made mine for around $5!!

Boutique Bow Tutorial

Who really wants to spend $5 or more on something you can make for a 1/3 of that at home?  Not me!  I love all of these great tutorial's on the Internet explaining how to make Boutique Bows and I thought I would share one with all my friends. 

Here is a great one brought to you courtesy of Notes from the Patch.  This is a really different way to make the classic Boutique Bow but seems easier than some I have tried in the past!  If you try this method, post your finished products on my Facebook page!

Book Review: Reader's Digest Homemade

So, here recently I have been making regular trips to the library again looking for some inspiration on some different projects.  So, that being said I am going to start inserting little "book review's" into my blog entries as I go along.

So here is my first one...  I picked up this book at the library, and actually thought that a lot of the DIY ideas in it for things such as making your own ketchup, bisquick mix, and so forth were great alternatives to the store bought items.  As I create them myself I will post those online and give my opinion!  However, if you are interested in purchasing this book yourself you can find it at Amazon.com here!

Homemade French Fries

As those that know me, I have quite the obsession with cooking simply and deliciously!  One of my ALL time favorite blogs to frequently check for recipes and The Pioneer Woman and I also religiously watch (well, actually DVR) her show every Saturday at 10am on the Food Network!  Over the weekend I took a trip to my local Bed Bath & Beyond and purchased a "Fry Cutter" for around $15.  I tell you what... this was probably the best $15 I have spent in a long time because my fries I made tonight were superbly scrumptious.

For the full recipe please visit The Pioneer Woman here for this great dish!

Valentine's Day Love Bug!

So with Valentine's Day less than a week away I am sure you are all getting ready!  This year was my daughter Isabelle's very first Valentine's party at school and I was so excited!  I found this post on Everyday Cricut and decided to mirror this project and make these super cute valentine's!  On the post at Everyday Cricut they used different cartridges, but since I was really not interested in making a special trip for these I decided to find things similar to what they did!  The cartridges I used on these valentine's were the Birthday Bash and the Simply Charmed cartridges.  Birthday Bash carried the scalloped square and the Simply Charmed cartridge carried the "Love Bug"!  I did all the doodling by hand and added the "Love Bug" message with my printer on the computer!

DIY Bath Paint

So, I know all you Mom's LOVE to have toys and things for your kids to play with in the bath, and for mine, she HATES bath time.  So tonight I decided to try a new idea I found on Pinterest!  Yes, I am also addicted to Pinterest... it's probably the best thing invented since maybe sliced bread and coffee.  All you do is take regular shaving cream, a muffin tin, and food coloring!  Yes, it's that simple, and as I write this post my daughter is enjoying her new bath paints that cost me nothing to make (and that's because the shaving cream was free!).