Gift for our Favorite Teacher!

I pulled this off of another blog and for the life of me I can't seem to find it now. If anybody knows what blog I'm talking about, I'd love to give the gal some credit!

I did make some tweaks, though, as hers seemed very tedious to me (as in, she actually got out a ruler) and I am just not a very patient person!

I decided to just hit the dollar section at the front of Michael's and picked up these chipboard booklets, all ready to go for just $1. (Let me say sorry now for the sideways pics! Don't know why some are and some aren't, but I know even less about how to fix it. I can craft, craft, craft... but keep me away from this technical stuff!)



Then I just cut my scrapbook paper to fit, cut a piece of plain paper to fit on top and attached them all using double-sided tape. I had Stevie write the captions so it would be more personal than just typing it up.

I lurve how it turned out and so did the teacher! The gift cards are each for $5 so including the $1 I spent on the booklet (I had all the papers), it was only $21 for a teacher who was highly deserving!











And because 5 pictures seems to max out my attention span, I somehow missed taking a pic of the last gift card. It was for Blockbuster and said, "See a good movie". I know the original lady who came up with this idea made all kinds of matching little envelopes to hold the gift cards. Me?? Lazy once again. I just attached the little holders they came in- I thought they were pretty enough as is!

*Wanted to just add that our gift cards are for Blockbuster, Barnes & Noble, Dairy Queen and Bath & Body Works*

Wow- long time no see!

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post! For some reason I really thought I'd be able to keep up with this better!

I'm a bit overwhelmed lately- all my doing, of course- but I'm happy to report I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. After 8 gallons of paint, the basement is finally done. Well, the painting is done at least and it does look awesome! I have the playroom section mostly the way I want it, so now I'm moving on to the family room section and then finally my craft area. But, did I mention the painting is done!!!

Now I seem to be accumulating a garage full of furniture that needs painted. Picked up a table and 4 chairs from my hubby's aunt the other weekend. I'm done with the first coat of white and am thinking it will need at least 2 more coats to cover. Then that will be moved into the sunroom (by Easter, I promise!).

To add to it, we were at friend's the other night when I commented that I liked her coffee table. By the end of the night we were walking home carrying a coffee table. We went back up the next day for the 2 matching end tables and sofa table. The coffee table is already painted black so I have to paint the other 3 to match. Shelves need painted and installed. Two other end tables need stripped and re-stained. I have a little end table for the loft that needs painted. Aaaaahhhh!!!

Hopefully there will be lots of pictures to follow by the end of this week! Oh and I've been doing some spray painting too, plus making a sign out of an old cabinet door. Ooh la la!!

The Spring Fluffing Party

I decided to join in with Rhonda at Southern Hospitality and post some of my spring pics.

Once again, I feel like I have some of the right elements but it just doesn't quite pull together the way some of these other ladies manage to do. Maybe I need some green moss? or some birds' nests? I dunno, just seems to me that my stuff just kind of sits there and isn't exactly a "tablescape". Any advice?

Exhibit A: my little mounted postcard got washed out, but it really is just adorable with a little silver glitter around the edges.



You can see the glitter edge from this angle. Along with my "chocolate" candle bunny. This bunny isn't exactly my style, but my grandmother gave it to me about 8 years ago and it has survived 2 moves, plus an accidental placement in the hot attic. I'm so impressed by it's perseverance so it keeps getting a prominent display spot.


Making our way down the mantel, we have another vintage postcard mounted on a box with a glitter edge.


From the back, this bunny has a little basket that I usually fill with eggs, however, you guys are catching me at the very beginning of the decorating stage and I haven't gotten to everything yet.


Hence my empty little Pottery Barn display. I picked this up at the outlet store for $2 and normally I place the little yellow candy chickies on top and they look oh so cute. Must get to the store and get some for this year.


I picked up this wire hen basket at a Goodwill store for 50 cents a couple years ago and just love it! I'd like to have it filled with eggs in various shades of blue, but I need to find some more to make that happen.


And, the piece de resistance! A little Easter basket that is the perfect size for the spare roll of toilet paper. No, I do not keep my toilet paper on my mantel, but my shiny, clean toilet was whiting it out every time my flash went off so I moved it here for picture-taking purposes only. I do love my little toilet paper holder, though.

Time to break out the list...

I swear my life goes in spurts with everything. Aside from my kids' birthdays, I haven't done much baking for the last year or two. Suddenly it seems to be top o' the list every time I turn around. So, I'm vowing to make my to-do list and stick to it. I must hunker down and stop saying yes for a little bit.

I'm hoping if I write it here, I'll feel compelled to stick to it. Nothing like a little accountability, right?

Here we go:

1. Go to Home Depot for white paint and brushes.
2. Finish painting basement soffet.
3. Tear down bar in basement and patch wall.
4. Paint basement walls.
5. Cut wood for shelves and paint.
6. Assemble furniture in basement.
7. Order pictures from Las Vegas.
8. Decorate for Easter.
9. Collect prizes for Easter egg hunt and make tags.
10. Plant wheat grass for Easter centerpieces.
11. Mail invitations for Uppercase Living party.


I know there's more, but we'll just let that sit for now. As you can see, I'm in the middle of re-doing my basement. Not a small project and I assured my husband I would tackle this on my own. I've already done 3 coats of white on all the baseboard, doors, ceiling and stairwell. I ran out about halfway through my 3rd coat on the soffet and now I have to go back for the 3rd gallon of paint. Ugh. This morning I picked up 5 gallons of the yellow I'm using for the walls and I'm crossing every finger I have that 5 gallons is enough. My arms are hurting just thinking about all this work. But I started and there's no turning back now, regardless of how much I may want to. My goal is to have it done by Easter. At this point that is laughable, but I'm sticking to it (while I laugh).

For now, I thought I'd show off the doggy cupcakes I made for the birthday party today. They were a huge hit and one of the managers asked my sister for contact info on me so she could pass it out to the parents who book parties there. She said they had 13 parties just today so that was excellent news!

I don't have a voice...and I like to talk

I'm hoping I'm carrying the last of the sickies through this house, but let me assure you, this one was a doozy. Even my husband said it's probably the worst he's ever heard me. Let it be known, though, that he can still hear me amidst the hacking! The kids had it rough. They spent all of their 3-day weekend sleeping. They would wake up and come down to the couch where they would promptly fall back asleep.

This was the scene in our living room on Sunday around 2:00 p.m.



Actually, I don't really need to put a time on that picture, because, like I said, that was them for 3 FULL DAYS!!!

But we're on the upswing so on to bigger and better things. I figured I'd hop on the computer and do a little "research" since I'm not much of a conversationalist lately.

I told my sister I'd make the cupcakes for my niece's birthday party this weekend. She's going with a doggie theme. I've made many cakes, not so much recently, but through my years, but I don't believe I've ever done a dog theme.

My last one was... alien? superhero? not sure, but my son is obsessed with Pokemon so he got a Pikachu cake.



While I agree that cupcakes are much easier from a practical standpoint, they're not always the easiest (fastest) to make. I made these once to surround a larger ladybug cake and they were super easy. Now how to turn them into a dog...

Not that I need another project

I truly do have a hundred things on my to-do list right now, but that doesn't seem to deter me from continuing to add more things. My biggest project is painting and reorganizing the basement. Ugh, Calgon take me away! What a ridiculously huge project. I assured my over-worked, over-stressed, splitting-fingers hubby that if I started this, I would complete it unassisted. Way big project, though, and I'm just starting.

So...

I'm thinking I need another short project to throw in there and kind of break it up. Something that's quick and easy and will make me feel like I'm doing something else other than just being confined to the basement cave.

One of my good friends and I randomly ended up with the same bathroom set for our kids' bathrooms. Her room's a bit bigger and needed something on the walls. So last year she asked me if I could paint her something for the walls.

Here's the shower curtain we have:


And here's the painting I came up with for her.


I told myself I'd do another one for my kids and their bathroom too. After all, it was really quick and easy. I have all the supplies, so it's basically free art. Problem is I never got around to it. Now I'm thinking I might do it quick now, except I know I'm really just procrastinating. Their bathroom doesn't need it, I don't have the time and other things do need my time. I might still do it, though...

But for now I think I'll procrastinate with these cupcakes I have leftover...

The food is good and the hands are raw

I've been baking up a storm this weekend and have thankfully managed to pass everything out to other people so it's not sitting around this house! Huge pats on the back for me on this one! My cousin and I are starting to do some baking for others as a little side job, so I needed to make a few things so I could snap some pictures of them.

A little Apple Pecan Cheesecake anyone?? Um, yeah, this absolutely had to leave the house. It was not allowed to be around me.



HA! As if that's my biggest temptation. I'm always a sucker for pecan sticky buns. Luckily, this time I messed them up enough that it really didn't bother me to give them away. Thanks Mom and Dad! See, the problem is I have this new high-falootin' stove that is awesome, but I still haven't quite embraced how efficient it is! Need to turn that temp down!




Ditto for the Raspberry Pecan Streusel Coffee Cake. LOVE this coffee cake. I mean true love. And now I know that it needs to be pulled out at the minimum time, instead of keeping it in 10 minutes longer like I had to do in my last oven. Still full of ooey, gooey goodness, but now I know.



And now, onto my evening snack. Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake. F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S. I need to work on my photography skills, but I know how to get down and savor a good dessert.



And tomorrow I will be at the gym. For a long time...

Oh yeah, and the raw hands part- I think I just may have washed my hands about 23,645 times this weekend. Lots of hand lotion happening tonight.