Friday, August 31, 2012

'Germ Juice' what a great gift!

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Since my kids are just 'too cool for school' teachers gifts now... {their thoughts, not mine}  we will not be starting off the year with any little bribery 'welcome' gifts for their teachers.  I kinda makes me a bit sad, but I'll just have to direct those creative juices elsewhere...

I pulled this project from the archives because I figure it's still a useful gift and most appropriate for this time of year, teacher gift or not!



The end of the school year is fast approaching and I haven't managed to get much done yet for our many wonderful teachers.  The teachers we've had this year deserve so very much. 

I wanted to share a very quick, very easy, very affordable way to show some thanks to those teachers. They are absolutely fabulous people.  I know, these are not exactly an idea that has not been done before...but this is my version!

The supply list for this one is quite simple!  Thank Goodness!
All you need are hand sanitizer bottles (removable labels work best).  You can even use the generic store brand for this one because you will remove all the brand labeling.  These were 99 cent bottles.
 
Stickers, Vinyl, Stencils, Paint...anything you can use to get a saying onto the label!  Color & saying of your choice... and some ribbon.  I used glittery pink stickers for mine.  All of our teachers this year are female.  Yeah!  'Cause you know I luv PINK and I luv luv luv anything BliNGy!

I chose 2 short sayings that would fit with the size stickers I chose.
For Austin's teacher..."Germ Juice".  He was NOT happy about the pink stickers so we compromised on the color of the ribbon.  After all, it's not for him!  Geez, boys...!

For Alexis' teacher ..."A Squirt Kills Dirt".  Wanted to use the phrase 'just' a squirt kills dirt, but it wouldn't fit.  Oh well, don't sweat the small stuff.

Unless you want to use some of the hand sanitizer... or take another shower...

Very simple as promised and each on cost me less than $2 to make!


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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Sweet Harvest Slow Cooker Meal {4 ingredient}

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Did You know yesterday was National Bowtie Day?   No?  Well, neither did I, until late last night anyway.  But to celebrate this wondrous day, there is a little giveaway of sorts over on my FB page!
If you are not already following Kimberly Sminkey Designs /Tiaras on FB, head over now and enter your comment to win a little something something...mmmmKay?  {you need to have "liked" the page to enter}

It's cooling off a bit here, no more 90 or 100+ days lately... I sort of miss it and my pool lounging, but every good season has to open a window to the next, right?  The kids start back to school here in 6 days {mixed emotions about that} and this Momma needs to get majorly organized!  I'm flustered now so I can't imagine being back on a schedule with homework and strict bedtimes again... perhaps it's what we need though for Momma's sanity. 

This family has been taking baby steps for the past few months, making changes to be more fit and healthy.  Ms Boom has lost 26 pounds over the course of the past few months and I and her doctors couldn't be more pleased for her.  It's not about looks, it's about health so the slow progress is okay with us... she is feeling better- no more achy joint pain and her stamina is through the roof!  I have also jumped on the bandwagon recently, realizing I've been more of a 'do as I say' Momma rather than a 'lead by example' Momma... yes I admit it!

Part of walking a path to better health is to make changes to your everyday routine, especially with the foods you are eating {yea, I know, you know}.   Summer's been a whirlwind of activity and we have been eating out A LOT... and that's gotta change.  I've made a promise to myself and to the family that I will cook more healthy yummy meals from here on out, with takeout becoming the exception not the routine.

After a recent trip to our local farm, Linvilla Orchards, where Boom and I visited lots of animals, we picked up lots of fresh produce like fresh corn and white plums... and some delicious local apples.
Check out the lips on that horse!  We cracked up as he made faces at us!

I know it's still a bit warm out, so many of you may not quite be ready for a hearty belly warming meal just yet, but I wanted to share an easy peasy slow cooker recipe we made using some of those gorgeous apples! Think OUtsiDe the Box when cooking...try something NeW!

 
What you will need:
A few apples {I used 2}
Kraut {rinsed and drained if you like less of a bite}
Polska Keilbasa {2 pkgs feeds my family of 5, plus leftovers for my mom!}
1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar {not shown and optional}
1/4 Cup Water {not really an ingredient right, so not in the ingredient count!}
... and of course, the Slow Cooker!

What to do:

1. Chop everything up into bite size pieces {Pink knife optional, but sure makes cooking fun!}.

2. Core and cut your apples {I simply use a corer slicer, we like the bigger chunks}

3. Dump everything into your slow cooker, give a quick stir.

4. Turn on Low for about 4-6 hours {til apples are soft and hot}

Now you can go craft your day away, knowing that dinner is taken care of!  Yes, that's part of getting organized for me as I usually get into something, forget to take out anything for dinner, and panic when I realize later that I must feed my family... or be thrown out to the front yard!

"Bolsy" as the kids call it is an OuT of the BoX alternative to chicken or beef... not something we have every week so it adds a bit of variety to our monthly meals!  The apples and brown sugar lend a yummy sweetness to the otherwise sharp bite of the Kraut, not too sweet but Oh So Good!  Love the dish as the weather starts to cool down,  we love to visit our local farm and see the animals so knowing that dinner is ready when we get home is a lifesaver!

Do you use seasonal fruits and veggies in your meals?  What do you consider your family's
Out Of The Box meals?  I'd love it if you shared!


Tip Toe Thru Tuesday is still open, stop over and link up your out of the box meals and projects from the week!


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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Tip Toe thru Tuesday

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hello lovelies!!  welcome to tip-toe thru tuesday co-hosted by myself and Andie from Crayon Freckles!

The winner of the ThirtyOne Gift tote collection was announced yesterday and has been emailed, thanks to all who entered this week!  Andie also had a great giveaway on her blog and has announced her winner as well!

I've been having browser issues this week!  IE is not allowing me to upload photos to the blog here, and Google Chrome is allowing me to add photos but is freezing up on certain blogs as I tried to visit!  Ah... just my luck!  I'll get it worked out though!

I'm so darn excited that in just a few days, the new Speak Now website will launch!  I've been praying over my ability to contribute to the organization as a head of Little Speak and have faith that the words will flow to provide the support and encouragement that Speak Now stands for!   I'd like to share really quick, the item that I have designed to sell in both my shop and the Speak Now shop... inspirational and self explanatory...


A 10% donation from the sale of each and every one will support Speak Now Summer Camps!  These can be purchased directly through KSD right now in my shop for just $29.50!  Please go ahead and "Like" Speak Now on FB!

Andie's mission to support the school supply program ran by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America is in need of support.  you can read the full post here.  the basics of it are that if you donate $10 to their Tools for Success fund, you get an amazing ebook as a thank you gift! it contains 50+ activities from over 40 bloggers.

*and* if you're a blogger, note your blog name in your donation and Andie will give you a free ad space for september and october!


here are the toP 2 pOSts from 2 weeks ago plus one of mY faVEs. don't forget to check out Andie's fave over at Crayon Freckles. if you're featured, grab a fEAtuRed button from my button page!


3 Busy Bags with Pipe Cleaners from Making Boys Men
Playdough Robots from Happy Whimsical Hearts




PoST aNYtHiNG you've created (show me some etsy shops and giveaways!)

Feel free to share several posts

Link back to my page somewhere on your blog

Stay around and check out a few other links. wE aLL LovE fEEdBaCK!


I'd love for you to follow along... I follow back!

Now, get to linking!




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Monday, August 27, 2012

Rustic Clay Tags - 'Soap"

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I absolutely love the little mason jar soap dispenser I shared with you this weekend.
A few of my friends have liked them as well so I've made a few extra!

Today I wanted to show you how quick and easy it is to make the little tags for decoration out of clay.


While attempting to watch tv the other night, I grabbed a cookie sheet, a sheet of tin foil, an old cookie cutter with a scallop edge and my Sculpy clay.  After rolling and flattening them {yes, they have imperfections- lends to the hand crafted feel} I used my little stamp set I had found at our local Walmart to gently imprint each letter into the clay.  I actually pumped out quite a few very quickly along with some other words I liked and baked them according to the directions on the clay


Once they were cool, each were given a quick coat of a coffee brown glaze, simply made from water and coffee bean acrylic paint.  Allowed to set just for a few seconds, then wiped with a paper towel.
The brown paint gently stains the surface.
Just do not wipe out all of the paint from the indented letters!


Each tag received a coat of satin water based poly and were allowed to dry.

When finished you have cute little clay tags to add some rustic decoration to your favorite things!





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Winner Winner chicken Dinner!

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We have a winner for our ThirtyOne Gifts Giveaway!
 
Chosen by Rafflecopter the winner is:

 Entry #14 Deena M.
 
Congrats Deena, I will contact Kristin so that she can get in touch with you to ship your prize!
 
Big thanks to all who entered!
 
 
 


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Sunday, August 26, 2012

Living Life on a Faux Boat

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My head has been spinning!

No, not from too much to do really, but from a nasty little inner ear disorder called Meneire's Disease which has been hitting me much of the summer...

Simply put... I feel like my body is falling back to the right and the room is spinning to the left.
or
that I am on a boat in the middle of the ocean...

I'm living on a Faux Boat!

floor actually feels like it moves up and down for me A LOT lately...

I've been known to play bumper cars with the walls lately...

It leaves me nauseous, uneasy, and very anxious as I never know when it will hit out of the blue like mini earthquakes upsetting my equilibrium.  

Seems my eyes and my ears don't want to play nicey nice together anymore!  I cannot move my head from side to side or move my body fast at all... it's scary business.

Why am I telling you this, you may ask?

Because, I am behind...

Seems looking at the computer screen and TV screen play tricks on my eyes telling my ears I am moving when I am not...

unanswered emails,
behind on visiting your lovely blog link ups at Tip Toe Thru Tuesday,
and linking with your parties too!

All I ask is for your patience...
I will catch up...
this will go away again... 
{I hope}
and Tiaras and Bowties will go on!




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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

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I'm always on the lookout for quick and easy craft items to update commonly used areas of my home.

Now that I've been able to rid my bathroom from the lingering "boy smell" I figured, why not spruce up a bit in there!  I've been wanting to make a mason jar soap dispenser for the longest time, but never got around to it.  This week, I finally just went ahead and did it!  


The whole process was so simple and quick!  Using a drill, hubby cut a whole in the top of the lid to allow the pump to easily slide in and I adhered it with some glue.  

The decision to paint or not to paint... what's a girl to do?  In the end, I felt simple was the way to go and did not paint but added a cute clay tag which I stamped 'soap' onto and attached with some twine and a coppery gold ribbon.   




Sometimes, the simplest updates feel like the best updates!

Come on back on Monday, I'll show you how I made the tags!

Remember:  You can still enter to win a set of ThirtyOne Gifts totes values at $75  here!

oh, and great big thanks to the Andie over at Crayon Freckles for helping me figure a way to upload my photos again!  Don't know what happened, but thanks to her, I'm back!


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Linking with these Fantastic blogs Here! UndertheTableandDreaming

Friday, August 24, 2012

Pizzazz for School- Folder Labels

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Well, my babies are no longer babies.
I've had to accept that as my girl Boom starts 10th grade next week and Mr Awesome begins his first day in middle school... Oh My!  He visited the new school yesterday and had a chance to get used to opening a locker and following a schedule where he will change classes 6 times a day... Wanting to provide all of the tools he will need for a successful year, we purchased the crazy calculator and zippered binder with folders as suggested.  Organization is key, right?  He is growing up fast, so the childish {his thoughts, not mine} images of Cars and Spiderman on folders and notebooks just will not do this year... but I wanted his school items to have some sort of personality, they were just so black and plain... did I mention how plain they were?
 
Enter... the Silhouette Cameo to add Pizazz to those Stinkers!

Photobucket

We took his schedule and figured out all of the classes he will have, in the order he has them for the first semester and entered the text into the Cameo design studio.  We chose a font called "It's a Penalty Kick" which was big and easy to read.


From the Silhouette online store, {a while back} I had purchased a half price Tribal design and added it to each end of the class name text.  After measuring the width of the folders, we resized each label to just under 8 1/2 inches wide and just about 2 inches in height, making sure to flip the Tribal image at the end of each word.  Using white vinyl, we loaded out machine and cut the images. 

 
Using transfer paper, I carefully lifted each label from the vinyl backing,


then transferred the cut label to the front bottom of each black folder, making sure to smooth and press them securely.


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Here's to an exciting and well organized year in the middle school, Mr Awesome!  Wonder if the school will let me vinyl-ize the lockers too... doubt it, but oh that would be fun!

Just a reminder:

There is still time to enter to win $75 in ThirtyOne Gift Totes from Tiaras and Bowties and Independant Consultant, Kristin Byars- {here}.   There are low entries, so chances of winning are pretty good peeps!  Tip Toe thru Tuesday is still open, I'd love for you to link up what you've been working on!


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Thursday, August 23, 2012

Non Toxic Kitchen Sink Cleaner

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Last week I shared with you a tip to rid your bathroom of that 'stinky' boy smell using 3 simple ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.  OK, if you don't have boys you can still rid yourself from any lingering odors that might be plaguing your potty, without killing yourself from toxic chemicals in the process. 

Today, I'm back to share with you how I easily brought back a beautiful shine to my kitchen sink using 2 of those same non toxic ingredients!


We are a house of coffee drinkers.  That said, it still amazes me how quickly our stainless steel kitchen sink {circa 1960's- it's a rental} gets stained from coffee, tea, and other 'yuk' stuff!  Especially when the king dumps his coffee down the drain without rinsing!  Now believe it or not, the kitchen counters and sink get a daily wipe down {probably multiple daily wipe downs} with a traditional store bought bleach containing, chemical cleaner and the sediment still builds up...

Photobucket
a close up of the horrid  'before' of my kitchen sink!
 
Can we say, YUK! ???  Now not only is it a sad sight to witness, but,  did you know that the kitchen sink in most homes is actually full of more bacteria than your potty?  Oh, boy!
 
So how did I get my sink sparkling again and rid it from any bacterias that may be lurking?
 
Why... lemon juice and baking soda again, my dear!
 
The acids in the lemon juice are nature's perfect little germ fighters and they cut through grease and crud too!  The baking soda adds just the right amount of 'scrub factor' plus is a mighty deodorizer for those lingering odors!
 
Simply make a sticky paste using your lemon juice and baking soda, spread it all around your sink making sure to really get it into the drain walls, let it sit about 10-15 minutes, and wipe with a clean wet cloth or little dollar store scrubby then rinse!
Bonus tip:  dump about a 1/4 cup of baking soda down the drain if you have a  garbage disposer, then follow with enough lemon juice to allow it to bubble, let that sit for a bit and rinse as well to rid the disposer from any lingering odors or crud as well!
 
Photobucket
 
See!  No More Crud and oh what a shine!  You'll need sunglasses to wash your dishes!
 

Warning:  your family may just get a bit annoyed with you after using this cleaning tip as you will be threatening anyone who does not rinse after using the sink for days!
 
 
Take a moment to enter to win a gift package of ThirtyOne Gifts tote bags from Kristen with ThirtyOne Gifts and Tiaras and Bowties here {low entries=High chance of winning!}, Tip Toe thru Tuesday is still open, so link up what you've been up to!




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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Tip Toe and a Giveaway!

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hello lovelies!!  welcome to tip-toe thru tuesday co-hosted by myself and Andie from Crayon Freckles...

I'm just wondering if you notice anything different around here today?  Hummmmm?
Did you figure out the 'common theme' from yesterday's post?  Hummmmmm?

I am sooo in love with my new look!  This new blog design is everything I wanted- a beautifully classic soothing look with a hint of my favorite color!  This is all thanks to the wonderful... the awesome Andie from Crayon Freckles... yep, there is not much that girl can't do!  So if you are ever thinking of a redesign for your blog, shop, or facebook page, give that girl a call! 

So to celebrate my new look, I have a little suprise for you!  Kristin from ThirtyOne gifts is back and is offering up $75 worth of product for one of you!  This beautiful collection of ThirtyOne bags in colors fit for the upcoming Fall season!  You may remember Kristin has been here before offering some fantastic loot for Tiaras and Bowties readers, she is my step daughter!  ThirtyOne has been a great blessing in her life and she would love to share that with you too!  This one is an easy entry giveaway... get the details below and good luck!

 

***



Last week, Andie announced the beginning of an amazing fundraiser that benefits the school supply program ran by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.  you can read the full post here.  the basics of it are that if you donate $10 to their Tools for Success fund, you get an amazing ebook as a thank you gift! it contains 50+ activities from over 40 bloggers. {I received mine and it's soooo worth it!}

***
here are the toP 2 pOSts from 2 weeks ago plus one of mY faVEs. don't forget to check out Andie's fave over at Crayon Freckles. if you're featured, grab one of my NEW buttons {get code from my button page}... feel free to replace your old one's too with this lovely one too!
Making Homemade Soaps with Kids from Little Wonders' Days
The Ultimate Lego Party from One Artsy Mama

*** Now to help me celebrate my blog makeover... and the chance to win some ThirtyOne loot.. a Rafflecopter giveaway  then get to linkin!


PoST aNYtHiNG you've created (show me some etsy shops and giveaways!)

Feel free to share several posts

Link back to my page somewhere on your blog

Stay around and check out a few other links. wE aLL LovE fEEdBaCK!


.

Monday, August 20, 2012

A Common Theme {hint hint}

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There is a common theme in today's post.
Bet you don't know what it is... but I'm sure you will figure it out!
It's important for tomorrow's Tip Toe thru Tuesday...
yes, just like the kid's game but for us grown ups.

Guess what the common theme is and c'mon back tomorrow to enter for a chance to win a prize worth $75!

Source: etsy.com via Kim on Pinterest


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