This Santa Claus craft will create some Santa giggles and smiles of surprise. This is a super easy crafty & doesn't take much time!! The hardest part was trying to take the picture :)
Just grab some red paper, glue, cotton balls and freestyle draw a hat & beard; glue the cotton balls to the beard and bam your done!
I have our Santa face in the bathroom for added surprise but any mirror will do. Have fun & umm Santa's always watching you...
Thanks to this movie, Love at the Christmas Table, they had the Santa Claus mirror in one of their scenes (unfortunately, this clip doesn't show it, but if you haven't seen this movie, its a cutie :)
If you've never had frozen grapes, you just have to try them!! It's about the simplest YUM around.They are a perfect treat for summertime's hot days, sore throats in the winter & a little extra treat at the end of your glass of wine.
RECIPE:
Freeze purple, seedless grapes.
How easy is that!
When we asked Nyla what type of cupcakes she wanted for her "10" birthday, she said, "Chocolate Ganache, Truffle cupcake" then I found this recipe from Pinterest. WOW!!
I have never tackled anything like this so you can only imagine my nervousness & hesitation as well as surprise at Nyla's response. My girl's got awesome taste! I'm so glad my husband is a purest when it comes to baking & loves a tasty treat. Basically, my involvement was buy the ingredients and lick the bowl.
These were soo delicious, almost everyone ate 2 of these decadent, chocolate almond, ganache & butter cream truffle cupcakes!
Go to The Cake Blog for the complete recipe
for our inspiration cupcake, we varied it a little, (store bought chocolate cupcake mix, almonds instead of hazelnuts, plain buttercream instead of chocolate & a variety of truffles).
I often wabble back n forth with all the social media, but today I'm super happy because without it we would never have this tasty inspiration! Thanks so much The Cake Blog, you ROCK with your super yummy recipes!
These Peanut Butter cookies are the BEST ever, no joke!! One of the greatest things about this yummy cookie is that it only has 3 ingredients!! You can bump it up to 4 ingredients by throwing in a little left over Halloween candy or butterscotch chips. I used crunched up Butterfingers but I'm sure any chocolately candy will do.
This is my quick, go to recipe when I'm craving something sweet & easy, I betcha it will be yours too :) I had these last night & just had to share this recipe again! They got gobbled up soo fast, I couldn't even take a picture, so here you can see them with the butterscotch chips. If you love peanut butter then these are the
Best Peanut Butter Cookies Ever!
To find out more about my super powers click here...Dreamy fun!
Need a Halloween Treat in minutes - no problem! I fell in love with this toothy treat & so has everyone else! Monster Mouths make everyone smile!
Just bake some cookies, let cool, cut cookie in half, spread some yummy Nutella on each side (one side bottom side down), then top with mini marshmallows and press together. Then let the giggles and yummy in my tummy begin! :)
(I packed this little monster in Nyla's lunch- got rave reviews, totally kid approved!)
Super thanks to Pillsbury's Halloween booklet for this fab recipe!
WHEW!!!... Just finished an 8-week life changing logistics whammy! We are moving & going to be cruising around Costa Rica for awhile, so during the summer I'm saying goodbye to my phone & all the social media stuff and my main goal is enjoying my family & friends & having full on fun!
I'm super stoked about all the promising possibilities that are in our future, I'll miss blogging & will try to post when I can, have a super fun time out there everyone, live the life you are meant to have!!
Please feel free to check out some of my crafty posts an send me an email.
Summer time fitness that will keep you fit; kids happy & you having a blast!!
I'll have to admit, I'm not a fitness buff and if your anything like me this was a long winter of being a slug... but summer is one of my all time favorite seasons!! So, I've come up with my top 10 fitness faves that will fool you / me into fitness.
1. Water park! Need I say more? Climbing up all those steps, then swooshing down & climbing up them again & again. By the end of 2 hours you are tired, legs shaky, sun kissed & kids are talking about when you can go again! It is expensive but fitness has a price and its having a blast at the water park - kid style!
2. Riding the bike to the yogurt place...I'm not a big yogurt fan but my family is. So I totally get away with a little taste or two. If it was a chocolate, fudgy cake parlor I would have to ride a little farther. Before you go why don't you glam up your bike like we did - check out this post on Bike Glam!!
3. Nature walk - how fun right? looking for bugs & trees all while burning a few calories. Collect a few rocks, then turn them into sparkle rocks & add them to your garden &/or flowerbed. Or find things to make a fairy house & make these to really make your fairy house sparkle.
4. Making homemade ice cream - yes I said it making ice cream fitness, the throw kind here's the easy recipe.
5. Blueberry picking or any kind of berry picking. Really works those arms - pick, pick nibble, pick, pick nibble nibble. Plus your getting all those antioxidants too!! We do this every year, I think I like it more than Nyla but I see her munching right along with me and whew carrying all those berries back to the car is serious business!
6. Canoeing - loads of fun (haven't done this since, well... forever ago but I remember being totally exhausted & sore as well as super happy from a really fun day) This is at the top of our list, since we didn't get to last summer.
7. Beach time! Nothing will tone those arms more than dragging all that stuff down to the beach & then bringing it back at the end of the day. Add in a little chasing those kids all over the beach & you will be fit in no time. Do at least 3 times a week. When you're ready to leave just scoop up the kids :)
8. Playground obstacle course. I saw a father do this years ago & I thought he was a genius! Go to your neighborhood playground and set up the course - meaning do all the things on the playground, time kids to see who did it fastest. The key is you have to show them first (that's where your fitness part come in :) When kids are bored with that course simply switch it up a bit.
9. Amusement parks! Nothing beats the excitement of running all over the park riding those rides, then running back to the other side of the park to go on them again!!!
10. Make homemade Marshmallow Shooters, take to the park & have a blast running away from those crazy kids with the marshmellow shooters :)
At the end of the summer you will have some super fun memories, I guarantee it!
No scientific proof here just good ole' kid style summer time fitness fun!
How easy is that!! If your anything like me, I like to switch up my home decor every so often & with this trick it's easy peasy! Just find a wrapping paper that suits your taste, pick a basic frame & your done :)
When we were trying to decide what to do with all of Nyla's books, the usual came to mind, book shelves. But in our house we're not so usual. I saw these cute little boxes at a local store and knew our problem was solved!
We've had these for awhile and they really do work, Nyla's room is pretty neat, atleast in the book department :) Nyla's a huge reader & it's super easy for her to grab one or toss one in when she's finished reading.
Pretty & practical, doesn't get any better than that :)
Don't you just love my little model "Dodger" :) I was leaning back on the bed trying to get this picture when he jumped up :)
Can you tell I have summer on my mind!!
This is a little switcheroo on the "cup of dirt" pudding. Super easy & fun, who doesn't like a little beach for desert??
How to:
Vanilla instant pudding (make according to package directions)
Sour Patch kids
Rainbow candy
Broken graham crackers, & or brown sugar
little umbrellas
Once you have your pudding made, just decorate, some I added brown sugar just because I was playing around - kids totally loved the extra sweetness but I think it was perfect without it.
I stumbled across one of my old craft projects and fell in love with it all over again!
I call it "Portrait Glitterature"
How to:
Simply print out one of your favorite photos, grab some fabulous colors of glitter & various glues, toothpicks.
Depending on what area you are covering determines what glue. For little areas I used good ole' Elmer's glue and just kinda drawed it, bigger areas a glue stick. You can even use a toothpick dipped in glue to "draw" your glitter details. Then sprinkled the glitter over the glued area. Allow to dry before starting a new glitter color.
Don't worry, it doesn't have to be perfect! This project is a little messy but glitter is soo worth it :)
You can really get as detailed as you want, for my picture I wanted Nyla's eye lashes & ice cream to pop, so I concentrated on them.
I remember this day, she was sooo excited to get ice cream with sprinkles! (isn't that the coolest, being so little that sprinkles make you super happy!)
I'm hanging with this fun bunch, come join me!!!
OH YEAH!!!
Bananas, peanut butter, sprinkles... little umbrellas
gobbled up in seconds :)
Popsicle Party for POP!
Margarita Popsicles...need I say more???
Since Father's Day is just around the corner & we love homemade frozen Margarita's & smoothies in our home, I thought why not have a Popsicle Party for Father's Day!
I thought a personalized "Poparita or is it Poparito" Popsicle would be a super fun way to kick off our Father's Day celebration.
You see in my house, my husband, Andy is a commercial fisherman...which means we never know when he will be home! So we have to celebrate when we can & sometimes we miss the actual day but if were lucky we can celebrate before, during & after :)
This works out super cool for spreading the word about our "Popsicle for POP" party.
This party is super easy, just takes a little planning.
I simply got some pictures printed from my favorite place Shutterfly - totally lovin' the valet door delivery service - saved me an extra stop (they even have for new members - 50 free prints- how cool is that!!)
Bought some popsicle sticks from the craft store and also got little 3 oz. cups; they seemed to work best for margarita drinkers & little hands.
I used super silly pictures from past birthday parties & vacations; cut out the faces from my pictures then glued them to my popsicle sticks.
I have to tell you...we totally cracked up laughing every time we opened the freezer! It was like the fun patrol & ice cream police all rolled into one hanging out in there :) Plus, after the shock of seeing them in my freezer,it brought back all those happy memories from the pictures.
I found that cutting the photo wider at the bottom works better for propping up on the cup - rather than waiting 2 hours to put the sticks in. You still need to check to make sure the sticks don't get tipsy :)
Now that my sticks are all prepped, time to make the yummy popsicles...YAY!
We made frozen watermelon Poparitas.
Margarita Recipe:
Watermelon
2 shots of silver tequilla
1 shot triple sec liquor
1 shot Rose's lime juice
lots of ice, blend until yummy
Now for the Kid time Popsicles:
Nyla, my fabulous Popsicle maker chose her favorite drink - pink lemonade. How easy just pour lemonade into a little tiny cup, then wait for it to harden a little & add the sticks. We also had magic shell on hand for some yummy chocolatey dipping!! WOW!!
When ready to serve, simply cut along seam of cup, if the cup sticks to the bottom, wet it a tiny bit with water and that should do the trick.
We kept making more popsicles but kept it simple and used what was in our fridge; Customizing to our bff's - milk, chocolate milk, grape & apple juice. That's the beauty of popsicles, the possibilities are endless!
Since this was such a special party - I'm thinking, I'm going to get all these picks made into a photobook that way whether Andy is here or not we'll have this special day in our hearts and on our coffee table. (my photo bff, Shutterfly can do that for me too :)
