Easter Egg Garland

I've seen this garland over and over in blogland and love it. This version is from the ladies at eighteen25.

So, so very clever!

I finally got around to making one for myself. It didn't take more than 10 minutes and it was finished and hung! You gotta love a simple craft!

Here is my version:

I love it!

Playing Catch Up

I haven't been doing much crafting or major cooking lately. I've been spending most of my free time catching up on my Project Life album. I had to go back and pick out all the pictures that I wanted to use and mark them according to week and then load them for printing. We haven't replaced our ink cartridges yet, so I printed them at Target, which I must say, I'm super happy with. I had previously been printing at Walgreens because it's very close to our house and they always have a discount on prints, but the quality was horrible. I knew I didn't want poor, discolored photos for my Project Life, so I switched to Target. They cost a little more, but the quality is soooo much better and well worth the extra pennies!

Anyway, I've been going through and adding the photos and then adding journaling, keepsakes (such as receipts, mail, clothing tags, etc.) and embellishments. So far, I'm LOVING the outcome. I still have a ton more to do before it's all caught up, but I'm really enjoying the process! I'm also working on the current week at the same time, so it's been a lot of work! As soon as I get entirely caught up, I will be sure to photograph it all and have a big post. After that, I hope to post my weekly spreads as I go.

Here's a peek:

 (I apologize for the photo quality. It's been dark and rainy here all week, so I just snapped these quickly this morning.)

Oh, I did manage to FINALLY sew a set of curtains for Harper's room! They are far from perfect (and I actually did have a major screw up), but I'm so happy I completed my first sewing project! I still have to make the other set for the second window. I plan on finishing those up this weekend and then getting the hardware to hang them. So exciting! I would take a picture for you, but right now, they're folded up sitting on the ironing board and I think they will look much more impressive (maybe) when they're hung up.

*If you would like to learn more about Project Life check out http://www.beckyhiggins.com/.

Pinterest Challenge Update

I finished my Pinterest Challenge project but haven't had the chance to order it yet, so I can't show you my finished product. I have the book design finished, but I don't have the book made yet and in my possession. I can show you where I got the idea though! This was my inspiration:

This awesome idea comes from Modern Parents Messy Kids. I'm sure you've seen it at some point on Pinterest. It's been a very popular pin.

Anyway, I figured now that Hudson is almost 3, this would be a great learning tool for him. He already knows most of his letters and can recite the alphabet, but I want him to learn to associate letters with words and what better way than to have a book full of images that he is either in or are of his own belongings?! Pure Genious!

I created mine with MyPublisher.com. I've used them before for our family yearbooks, and have always been really happy with them. Plus, they always have some type of promotion and I love a discount!

It was much harder than I thought to come up with words and pictures for all of the letters. I kept coming up with words for the same letters, but would get stuck on others. "N" for example for tricky for me...

I can't wait to get it ordered and in the mail. I will be sure to share it with you as soon as I get it!

Another Challenge!

Sherry from Young House Love and Katie from Bower Power are back with another installment of

Here was my Advent Calendar project for the fall edition:

 You can read more about that here.

And these were my little projects for the summer edition:

sponge balls for Hudson to play with in the pool

 

and some word rocks that I just thought were cool...but mine didn't turn out to be nearly as cool looking as the ones I pinned.

(p.s. I have no idea why I put Oprah on the quote rock when it was a quote from Ghandi. I must've had Oprah on the brain! Duh!)

You can read more on these projects here.

This time I want to take on a bigger project. So, I'm off to browse my DIY/Craft board to find something I really, really want to make! If you would like to follow me on Pinterest, just click the button on my sidebar.

I have a lot I would like to get accomplished around here this weekend. I keep saying that and it never happens, but this time I REALLY mean it!

Lucky Us

I wanted a little sign to go along with my St. Patrick's Day banners. We had some small pieces of plywood leftover from some other projects, so I used a small piece of that.

I used some of Hudson's craft paint to paint the wood white. It actually looks sort of white washed because you can still see the wood grain through the paint. And I'm okay with that. I actually kind of like the way it looks.

Once that was dry, I used some of my acrylic paint to write Lucky Us across the sign.

Then all I did was embellish it a little with a few of the same foam shamrock stickers that I used on my banner and now I have a cute little sign!

It's not perfect, but I like that about it. My favorite part is what it says!

St. Patrick's Day Banner

I wanted to make a couple of St. Patty's Day banners to hang from the shelves above our tv this year. I've never really done much decorating for this holiday, but now that I have little kiddos, I feel the need to make every holiday as festive as possible. Festive, but tasteful.

While blog hopping one day I came across a beautiful banner made by Rebecca Cooper from
Simple As That.

So this became my inspiration. Then I remembered that I had these little foam shamrock stickers left over from a scrapbooking project. Perfect!

I like that they've got some sparkle. I also like that there are two different colors.

Here is what I ended up with. I was going to use white cardstock, but decided that I really liked the book pages to add a little more character.

I used twine that Jeremy had down in the garage. I think he uses it to tie branches and sticks together for the yard waste, but I'm loving it for this project and will for sure use it again!

It's very simple, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. Thanks for the inspiration Rebecca!

P.S. I hate these shelves and can never really figure out what to put on them. They're not very deep, so they don't hold much, but we needed to fill the space above the tv. I would've preferred to mount our tv on the wall, but at the time Jeremy didn't want to hassle with it. I think he's changed his mind since then. Maybe that will be a future project!

Linking up here: 30 Handmade Days, Whipperberry, Itsy Bitsy Paper

Mini Books-Yay or Nay?

Now that I'm back at the whole scrapbooking thing I've even been considering putting together a mini book when we go on our 5 year anniversary trip. We're still trying to decide where to go. We've considered San Francisco, Seattle, Jackson Hole and a few other places. Anyway, I digress, when I was at Archiver's a few weeks ago, I saw the new Amy Tangerine mini books by American Crafts. She has one called Off The Map that I'm loving! I think it would be kinda fun to get all the supply to take with me and add things as we go.

I just think this stuff is so cute and fun! Plus, I've never done a scrapbook on the go, but think I would like it. And anything I don't add to this book I would add to our Project Life book later.

I don't really have to think about it for a while though because our trip isn't until August, but I'm all about planning ahead! Especially when planning ahead involves buying lots of new scrapbooking supplies!

Has anyone else ever done a mini book? And if so, how do you store them later? I've never done one because I don't really know what to do with them later.

Pinterest Recipe List & Ratings

I've made quite a few recipes from my board on Pinterest...I still have like a million more and counting to go before I've made them all, but this is a start. I thought I would share the list with you and even add mine and my husband's rating to each one. Keep in mind that you may have different tastes than we do, but I thought I would include our ratings for fun. I'm not saying that any of these recipes are bad (not at all), there are just some that I enjoyed more than others and some that I will (if I haven't already) make over and over again. That's what we're basing our ratings off.

We used a rating scale of 1-5 stars with 1 star being our least favorite and 5 stars being the best a.k.a. our favorites. I still highly suggest that if something sounds good to you, you should definitely try it. I mean, isn't finding new recipes that you love so much fun?! I get really excited when I find something that becomes a staple in our recipe book!

So here they are in no particular order:

Better Than Sex Cake
Tashia- 4 1/2 stars (I would have rated it 5 stars if it were topped with Butterfinger instead of Heath crumbles, which I will change next time I make it.)
Jeremy- 5 stars
recipe link

Roasted Parmesan Potatoes
Tashia- 5 stars (These are so good and completely addictive. I could seriously sit down and just eat a giant bowl!)
Jeremy- 5 stars
recipe link

Brussel Sprouts with Parmesan and pecans
Tashia- 4 stars (I'm still learning to like green veggies, but these are delicious)
Jeremy- 5 stars
recipe link

Roasted Chickpeas
Tashia- 1 star(It's possible that I didn't make these correctly though)
Jeremy- 2 stars
recipe link

Sour Cream Chicken Bake
Tashia- 3 1/2 stars (This chicken is very moist and tender. It's pretty good. I have already made it twice)
Jeremy- 4 1/2 stars
recipe link

Parmesan Honey Pork Roast
Tashia- 4 stars (This was different, but really tasty)
Jeremy- 4 stars
recipe link

Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting
Tashia- 4 1/2 stars (I thought these were so moist and delicious! Everyone in my family loved them too.)
Jeremy- 4 stars
recipe link

White Chicken Enchiladas
Tashia- 4 1/2 stars (I love Mexican food and this is a really good, simple recipe.)
Jeremy- 3 1/2 stars (Jeremy said he would have rated it higher, but he likes my chicken enchilada recipe better.)
recipe link

Coca Cola Cake
Tashia- 3 1/2 stars (It is very rich and I think it almost had a little too much glaze. I would make it again, but with less glaze.)
Jeremy- 2 1/2 stars
recipe link

French Bread Pizzas
Tashia- 2 1/2 stars (This is a simple, kid-friendly meal, but I couldn't get Hudson to eat it. Nothing fancy. You can basically make these your own and add anything you like.)
Jeremy- 2 stars
recipe link

Cheese Pinwheel Rolls
Tashia- 2 1/2 stars (These were good, but needed more flavor I thought. Very easy to make though. They're basically like little pizza rolls. Next time I'll add pepperoni.)
Jeremy- 2 1/2 stars
recipe link

Lasagna Rolls
Tashia- 4 stars (I love pasta and this recipe makes lasagna simple. I definitely plan to make these again and again.)
Jeremy- 3 stars
recipe link

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie & Oreo Brownie Bars
Tashia- 4 1/2 stars (These are amazing, but I may have over baked them just a tad because they seemed to get dry and hard quickly, like the next day, but I will totally make them again!)
Jeremy- 5 stars
recipe link

Crockpot BBQ Chicken
Tashia- 4 stars (Delicious and so simple. Yum!)
Jeremy- 4 1/2 stars
recipe link

World's Greatest Sandwich
Tashia- 5 stars (I love a good sandwich and it's hard to make amazing sandwich's at home, but this is awesome!)
Jeremy- 5 stars
recipe link

Banana Ice Cream
Tashia- 2 stars (Just to be clear, this is not an ice cream recipe. It's the recipe where you freeze bananas and then blend them to make an ice cream like treat. It was just okay. I think it would've been better without the peanut butter.)
Jeremy- 1 stars
recipe link

Kansas City Sue's Slow Cooker Chicken
Tashia- 1 1/2 stars (Totally different than I expected and I wasn't a fan. I think I expected it to taste BBQish and it tasted much more like an Asian dish to me. I think I was really caught off guard because I even made it to go over potatoes instead of rice. Now I know why they say to pour it over rice! Ha!)
Jeremy- 2 stars
recipe link

Pumpkin Bars
Tashia-5 stars (So awesome! Even better the next day!)
Jeremy-5 stars
recipe link

Beermosas (Orange Beers)
Tashia- 4 stars (I've always liked these.)
Jeremy- I drink beer beers
recipe link

Cheesy Beefy Enchilada Casserole
Tashia- 3 1/2 stars (Pretty delicious, but next time I'd cut the amount of sour cream added in half. It was a little too overpowering for me.)
Jeremy- 4 stars
recipe link

I have so many more recipes pinned that I can't wait to try. This list barely scratches the surface!

However, I will be taking a little hiatus from baking and even some cooking for a little while. Well, 30 days to be exact. Jeremy and I are starting an all natural, no processed foods meal plan tomorrow. It's part of my One Little Word for the year. I'm really making an effort to become more healthy, but also to lose some of the baby weight that I've accumulated over the past three years and two babies. And I just basically want to see how it improves my overall mood and appearance. By doing this little experiment of sorts, I'm hoping to come away with a more health conscience mind so that I'm making better decisions about what I eat on a daily basis. I guess we'll see how it goes and I'll be sure to keep you posted!

p.s. I will not be giving up my coffee...well my coffee creamer that is. That is the one thing I look forward to every morning and it makes me happy!

Day In The Life

On Wednesday, February 8, I followed along with Ali Edwards to capture "A Day In The Life". Things have changed quite a bit around here since completing Week In The Life back in September, so I thought it would be fun to look back and note what's gotten easier and what's gotten more difficult, how much the kids have grown and what our schedule is like now versus then. I just ordered my Project Life plastics on Friday, so I haven't started my book yet, but knew I wanted to add this project in an 81/2x11, 9 pocket page protector. I added 18 photos taken throughout the day and also printed out the daily journal pages from Ali's blog to fill out throughout the day as well.  Here is what the pages will look like:

*note* I still have to print the photos onto 81/2x11 photo paper and cut them to add them to the page protectors. Some of the photos will be switched around a little.

1. Having my morning coffee, checking email, facebook

2. Jeremy's getting ready for work

3. Saying goodbye to the kids.

4. Reading blogs still drinking my coffee

5. Breakfast for the baby

6. Hudson's ongoing obsession with shoes, especially daddy's shoes

7. Harper pulling my hair...her favorite thing right now...not so much fun for me.

8. Hudson taking pictures of me taking pictures of him.

9. Harper's nap time.

10. Hudson enjoying some Little Einsteins

11. My Project Life core kit and binder came in the mail! Yay!

12. An afternoon nap for Harper and some snuggle time for mommy.

13. Finally getting around to folding some laundry.

14. Taking a bath after dinner. I had a nasty headache.

15. BBQ chicken salads that Jeremy picked up from Panera. Delicious!

16. Play time with daddy.

17. About to feed Harper and put her to bed for the night.

18. Jeremy and I watching one of our favorite Wednesday night shows.

It was a VERY typical day around our house. Perfect for what I hoped to document with this project. It will be a nice addition to my Project Life, which by the way, has gotten so big this year that some of the new shipments that arrived at amazon.com on Friday sold out within hours! Craziness. I'm glad I got mine! I also talked my friend Kari into jumping on the PL bandwagon ( Hi Kar!). I hope she likes it as much as I do!

Show & Tell: For The Photographer

*Update*
This post is way late considering Christmas was almost 2 months ago, but I wanted to share with you a few camera related gifts that I received. I'm so loving all of them!

1. Jo Totes rose camera bag
I had the hardest time deciding on a color, but most importantly, I just REALLY needed a camera bag. Showing up to a photo shoot without a proper camera bag for all your lens=embarrassing and totally not cool. Anyway, I ended up choosing the mustard colored bag and am so glad I did. It's a great semi-neutral color that I really can't see myself getting sick of anytime soon, which is something I was worried about with the other colors on my list.

 I totally dig the inside with the black and white houndstooth.

2. Handmade Camera Strap 

I really wanted a pretty camera strap to match my bag and my sister ended up getting me this one from here. I love the bright colors and pattern.

3. Fujifilm Instax Mini 7s

I had been pining after these cameras for almost a year, but now I finally have my own. I had it saved on amazon.com just waiting for it to go on sale. Right before Christmas the price dropped from $95.99 down to $87 (I think it was even more a while ago), so I called my mom and she ordered it for me! Yay! Only now I see that the price has dropped significantly since then down to $65.95! I wonder if they are coming out with a new model or something. Now the 25 is $83.95 down from $125.99! Ugh...why couldn't it have been that cheap when I got mine!! Sigh. Maybe that just means I'll have to get that one too! He he! I really adore the one I got though. I think it will be tons of fun to add these little polaroids to my Project Life!

*Here is what the photos look like:

It's actually a little clearer in person. This was taken inside, so it's a little dark too. I haven't taken any photos with it outside yet, but I'm sure those turn out much clearer. I'm looking forward to taking vacation photos with it.



So there you have it! It was a very camera heavy Christmas this year. Just what I wanted!

I'm kind of interested in those magnetic lens for the iPhone. Has anyone tried them or have some? I would love to know if they're worth getting.

A Blizzard

Yes. Winter finally arrived last weekend. Boo. I didn't get to get out of the house much because it was snowing like crazy on Saturday. I'm not a big fan of snow, but it was gorgeous! It was that really wet snow that sticks to everything it lands on, so it covered all the trees and bushes in a blanket of white. The best part about all the snow was that Hudson finally got to use his new snow pants and snow boots that my parents bought him back in October. He also got to build his first snowman and go sledding for the first time...it was only down a tiny little slope on the side of our house, but he loved it!

Here is my handsome boy all bundled up and ready to go.

And I finally got to get a few pictures of Harper in the snow too. She is wearing an old fleece snowsuit given to me by my sister back when Hudson was a baby. I thought about buying her a new, cute pink one, but it's been so warm here, I wasn't sure when she would get to wear it. This one worked fine and matched her cute hat. She was laughing and trying to catch the falling snow in her mouth. It was adorable!

It was so bright out because of all the light reflecting off the snow, so you can't see where the snowman ends and the snow on the yard begins.

Here are Hudson and daddy on the sled.

I'm hoping to bet back to work on all our projects this weekend. We are for sure painting the nursery. And I'm going to try to get Harper's little artwork finished. I think I have a new plan for it now though, so we'll see how it turns out.

P.S. I'm joining Ali Edwards for Day In The Life today. I love a reason to take lots of pictures...not like I need one though! If you would like to join in, click on Ali's name and it will take you to the blog post and a download freebie! So awesome!