Spring Cookie Cutter Collage "How To"

As many of you may know, Ethan LOVES doing anything that involves cutting...

So, while doing my spring cleaning I came across a few things that I thought would make a fun afternoon project for us to do! This is what I found--

#1 Fun spring scrapbooking paper my dad had given me for Christmas about 3 years ago.
#2 An old canvas that used to be my Grandmas. (I bet you could use a heavier paper or poster board too.)

Excited about my fun "finds"... I had Bob watch the boys, grabbed my 40% off coupon for Michaels, got some Mod Podge, and went for it!

Here's our play by play:

We grabbed that cute paper,

and our Spring cookie cutters:

Then we traced the cookie cutters to make some fun "spring" shapes,

and we drew some different designs too! (Like leaves, grass, flowers, you get the idea...)

Cutting them out came next:

Then we coated the canvas with Mod Podge,

put the paper designs on the canvas,

and applied another coat of Mod Podge:

Then I added a simple border to give it a more "finished look" & to cover the sides of the canvas:

And Tah Dah! Our little masterpiece...

Belt Winner

The winner of the "Fab $5 Belt" drawing is.....Siri!!!

Congrats Siri! I'll be contacting you for details!

Conference Activities!

Next week is General Conference for our church. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings & our church leaders (including our modern day prophet) speak to us. Its broadcast all over the world!

We are excited to go to St. George and spend the weekend with Marge and my Grandpa Johnson (Aidan's namesake)!! Hopefully it will be sunny & warm!

We always look foward to this event, but it can be hard for our littles to sit still the entire time. To keep my "little ones" ( aka Ethan :) focused I just found some great "conference" ideas, activity books & links online for those that might like them. I'm excited to use these during our regular church services too!

Here are a few of my favs:

*This conference packet looks like alot of fun for kids of different ages.

*Ethan's at an age where I should probably do more to prepare him for conference. Here's some great ideas and a candy game for conference too.

*A coloring book with pages all from The Friend magazine:

*Kids Conference Baskets:

Let me know if you have or find any more ideas!! Yay for conference!

I was featured!

I found this super cute "Creative parties and showers" site while blog hopping the other night. And next thing I know they featured Ethan's Peter Pan Party! So fun.

Easter Nest fun!

Easter Nest Fun!

I can't take credit for this one, but boy was it super cute & yummy! I found on tip junkie from a blogger named Kendra on My Insanity.

You make them like rise krispie square but with chow mein noodles! Ours didn't quite turn out like hers...but close enough for us!:) (I also made smaller batch because I wasn't sure how they would turn out.)
Here's what I did:
Melted 1/4 cup butter with 4 cups mini marshmellows. Then added 4 cups of chow mein noodles. (Not pictured.)

To shape them we put them in bowls coated with butter:

They were really sticky!

So I had Ethan put a plastic bag on his hand and butter it up. (Kendra suggested this...it was a great idea!)


Then we let it sit still for a few minutes...


And took them out of the bowls...


Add some chocolate eggs...



And look how cute and fun! They didn't last very long at our house!!

Places to visit

Like many of you, nighttime is my time.

Once those babes are in bed I love to just do what I want (or need) to do. Sew, watch my DVRed shows, read (should probably do more of that!!), or get on the computer. Time flies, especially when I find a "trail" of fun blogs to read. (Most of the fun places I find I file under "Things I like..." or "Things I want to do..." on the right hand side of my blog. )

Lately I found several places that I'm excited about.

Most of these I've found through blog hopping--thanks for posting such great stuff guys!

So, for those who want something fun to do tonight...

Many of you may already know about Tip Junkie, its a "big" site with a lot of ideas. Almost overwhelming for me, but I like to check it every now and then for tips...

Etsy. Love it.

Its basically an ebay for people to sell handmade things. You wouldn't believe the great stuff on there. Yesterday I ordered some homemade all natural organic body wash for my boys (who have super sensitive skin). Can't wait to try it.

Also-anyone can open a little "shop". Lately if I have extra crafts I've made I'll throw them on Etsy to sell for fun. I've also been selling a Car Seat Blanket PDF Pattern I made that people are really liking. Its fun.

I just discovered $5 dinners (thx Aimee!)...I'm always looking for new recipes and was excited to find this:


Ramblings is all about fun kids crafts... I haven't spent too much time here yet, but I'm sure I will.

My cousins wife Daisha loved this site so I checked it out and its great. It helps kids of all ages get ready to read.

And of course...Tanya's blog.
She is my inspiration for sewing, crafting, & Etsy.
She introduced me to blogging.
She got Bob to get me a sewing machine for Christmas (we all know the impact that has made on my life!).
She has great tutorials and fun ideas.
She is a great mom.
Love her.

Thanks to all for sharing the fun stuff they find on the web! Happy Bloggin'!

"Fab $5 Belt" Tutorial

I wasn't going to post this until tomorrow, but I was too excited to wait!

Story behind this little project:

I usually hate wearing belts. (I hate the "muffin effect". AKA: tummy fat that hangs over the tops of my pants.) However, after having babies my body is in the weirdest shape and my pants never stay up by themselves. I have this belt I bought forever ago that is too small, but I use it because it doesn't have holes so its easy to adjust and --although its not pretty-- it keeps me from loosing my jeans when I bend over. (You know what I'm talking about!)

I figured I could probably make something that would work and get me through this phase of my changing body. And I'm so happy with the results--and they cost less than $5 each!

"Fab $5 Belt" Tutorial

Items needed:

-2 pieces of 1 1/2 inch ribbon at least 45 inches long (or however long you'd like your belt to be.)
-2 D Rings

* Grab your 40% off coupon and head to Joann's or where ever you can find cute cheap ribbon and D rings. I got mine at Joann's. I also picked contrasting ribbon to make it more colorful... you could use the same color for both sides if you want to.

1) Take your ribbon and pin in the "wrong" sides together:

2) Take one end and fold in the edges:

3) Sew the end together. I just used a regular stitch at 1/8 inch from the edge.

4) SLOWLY sew a 1/8 inch stitch down both sides of the ribbon. (You want this stitch to be straight so take your time.)

It should look like this when you are done:

5) Take your unfinished end and fold it over. Sew 1/8 inch stitch to hold it down.

6) Fold the end you just sewed over again about an inch, and slip your D rings into it:

7) Flip it over and sew a small zig-zag stitch right over the stitch you made in step 5. (The zig-zag stitch I used was .2 and 2.0).

8)Enjoy your cute new belt!

And YES I will be giving one away in a drawing! So let me know in the comments if you want a shot at winning it! You never know...it could be your lucky day! I'll have the drawing on Monday March 30.

"Street" Garage Sale Sat!

Mark your calendars! We've invited our neighbors to join us & we are having a "street" garage sale on

Saturday March 28 from 8AM-2PM!

There will be electronics, computers monitors (thanks to bob's collection), baby stuff (thanks to me never wanting to be prego again), clothes, decor, & other great stuff!

There will also be "treats" sold by a certain 4 year old...:)

*(I'm not going to post where we live -just to be on the safe side- but if you'd like to come and don't know where we leave let me know in the comments.:)

Twitter

At the risk of sounding totally out of it, I'm asking for a little help here. Now that I've kindof got a handle on facebook I'm wondering what the big deal is with Twitter.

So let's hear it people...

• if you're on facebook do you need twitter? It sounds like it serves the same purpose to me.


• why join? (okay, confession: I just joined but am wondering what I just did.)


• maybe I should just avoid another distraction from attending to my nightly chores around the house...or then again maybe its just what I need.:)

1st sign of Summer

Tonight was the 1st time in a long time that Ethan REALLY needed a bath. After playing around outside, climbing on top of our dirty car, & finding little "treasures" as I was cleaning out the garage the dirt took its toll. As he was getting ready to jump into the tub these cute little feet brought a smile to my face...warmer weather is here again.

Bag Lady Take 2

Is it normal to have a bag in almost every picture you are in? Seriously.

I'm laughing at myself now. I'll never look at my pictures the same again...