Moss Covered Letters

For this project you will need: Wood letters, moss, and hot glue.

Homemade Playdough

     I have been a mom now for 13 years. I have also been buying playdough for about that long. Why? I have no idea because you can make your own perfectly good playdough at home with your kids!  I have to admit, I love playdough!  I love sitting with my kids and creating fun things.  I haven't met too many kids who don't like it. It's great for older kids (even though they may never admit they like to play with it and squish it), toddlers, as well as smaller ones because they love the textures of it.   So I was really excited when we came across a recipe to make it. You can add food coloring to create the color you want and experiment with mixtures of colors with your kids.  You can even add scents to it if you choose which may not be great for the little ones who may think it's food because it smells good. Below is the recipe that I found for it.  It really is easy and fast but the kids will enjoy it for a while.  

 

1 cup flour

1cup warm water

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp oil

1/4 cup salt

food coloring

  Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. With a wooden spoon stir and cook over medium heat until it starts to ball up. Then remove from pan and knead until smooth.  I added the food coloring while it was in the pan.  Then just store it in an air tight container or bag.  Very easy and very fun!

Rider pouring in the flour

 

pouring cream of tarter

 

in the pan it goes

 

turned this batch blue

 

kneading

 

Rider playing with his finished dough

 

Sarah and Abigail playing with theirs

 

Gabi and Kierra playing with theirs

 

Embroidery Wall Holder

One of the things I love is embroidery. I saw this project and had to share it. I hope you enjoy it too.

For the printable download go here: Sew Daily

Abigail's Heart Hair

     My daughter, Abigail, saw this hairstyle while we were looking through Pinterest and we thought we would give it a shot.  It didn't turn out so bad considering we didn't have a comb.  Just a little messy but she loved it anyway!  If you haven't seen already, here is the link to the website we found this on. www.princesshairstyles.com This website is pretty amazing and is so much fun if you have little girls who love to look like a princess. 



Homemade Iced Circus Animal Cookies

Vanilla Sugar Animal Cookies with Royal Icing

About 3 dozen 2 1/2 inch cookies

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg at room temperature, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Royal icing (recipe follows) and colored sugars if decorating

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
2. In stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed for several minutes until light and fluffy.
3. With mixer on low speed, gradually add the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined. Add the flour mixture gradually. Mix until fully incorporated and the dough is smooth and uniform.
4. Divide dough into 2 pieces and flatten into 1/2 inch thick discs.
5. Wrap dough and refrigerate for 2 hours. At this point the dough can be double wrapped and frozen for up to 2 weeks.
6. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 325°F. Grease several cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.
7. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and dust with more flour. Gently roll the dough 1/8 inch thick.
8. Using a cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place on sheets about 1 inch apart.
9. Bake for 14–16 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden brown. Transfer cookies to wire racks with a metal spatula to cool completely.
10. Once cookies are cooled, decorate them with icing and colored sugars.

Royal Icing
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cups powdered sugar
Food coloring in desired colors

1. Using a mixer with the whisk attachment, combine all the ingredients and whisk for several minutes on high speed until the mixture is thick and shiny opaque white. It should have the consistency of glue. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar by teaspoonfuls as needed. If it is too thick, add water by teaspoonfuls as needed.
2. Divide icing into bowls for coloring. Keep the bowls covered or the icing will dry and harden. Add food color to icing to achieve desired hues.

Burlap Pillows

     I have recently been seeing these amazing pillows that people are making and thought I'd give it a try.  They are made out of burlap which is very inexpensive and comes in many colors.  You simply buy the burlap you like, a fun stencil, some paint, and a pillow form or stuffing.  I absolutely loved making these and can't wait to experiment with other fun ideas and ways to use them. 

Materials needed

The finished product :)

Beginning to paint



              Blessings, Jen :)

Madeline Inspired Children's Party

With so many of our friends having children and being an Event Planner one of the things I love is Children' s Parties. Madeline is such a cute idea fro a little girl's party. I hope you enjoy this post and it inspires your next children's party.

Party found at Kate Landers Events

Just For Laughs

     If you know me at all then you know that I absolutely LOVE a good laugh.  Which is why I have to tell this story. I would like to apologize to my sister Pam for this ahead of time. Hehe. 

     Recently my sis and I decided to spend the day shopping around looking for some new and creative ideas for things we would like to do. We went to a few local stores and were both in heaven at all the possibilities.  Before heading home we decided to make one more stop at a craft store.  Sounds like a great plan right? Wrong!  We go in the store and find everything we want, which took quite a while, and then head up to the cash register.  Now the line was pretty long when we got up there so we chatted as we patiently waited for our turn.  The cashier than noticed how long the line was so she called for a back up cashier who came out from the back room.  He than proceeded to call for the next person in line who was none other than my sister Pam. Doesn't sound so bad right? (giggle)  We both pay for our things and merrily head out to the car and sit down to talk. Just then, it happens.  Pam looks down and notices a HUGE booger on the tip of her finger! Yes a booger! LOL! The same one that touched that mans hand who just so happened to be coming from the back room.  Her response, "Why do I have a booger on my finger?"haha So, being the loving sister that I am I help her with some obvious scenarios of why she has a booger on her finger. 1) It's hers. Which we both know it's not because I was with her the whole time. 2) It was on the shopping cart! ewwwe or 3) It was from the man who just came out of the back room! LOL! We then pulled out of the parking lot with my sister gagging yelling, "germs! Oh the germs! I can feel them going up my arm!"  What was I doing you ask?  I WAS CRACKING UP! So much so that I could hardly see where I was driving! 

     This was by far one of the funniest moments I've had with my sister and we've had A LOT!  So I decided that I had to share it with you so that you can see why I love my sister so much. Lol.  I'm sure that there's a lesson in this but I have no idea what it would be, so then you would understand why I posted it Just For Laughs. :)

More Great Hair How To's!

     Here is another great hair accessory how to the the girls and I found online at creationcorner.blogspot.com.  These were very simple and fun to try in a variety of fabric and colors. Creation Corner gives an easy to follow tutorial and each one only takes a few minutes. Below are the flowers the girls and I made. Hope you enjoy! :)

http://creationcorner.blogspot.com/2010/03/flower-headband-and-pin-tutorial.html

Fun Hair Accessories At Home

     There are so many fun hair accessories that you can buy in the store these days. But, with having two girls it can get a little expensive buying them.  So, today the girls and I found some great ideas online to create our own for a lot cheaper.  We had so much fun making them. 
      The first one that we made can be made out of a satin, organza, or a material that is similar.  These are really simple to make and can be made very large or small. 
     
     Step 1) Cut out 5 or 6 circles each getting a little smaller than the one before. We
                  used various lids we found around the kitchen. 

Simply trace the circles and cut them out

Step 2) Make 5 small cuts around the circles making sure they are even distances apart.

Step 3) Using a tealight candle, carefully go around the outside edges of the circle at a
            safe distance so that the edges curl up.

Step 4) Place all off the circles on top of each other and hand stitch in the center to

          hold in place.  Place a button in the center to finish the look.

Step 5) Using a hot glue gun, place a small amount of glue on a barrette or headband

            and hold until firm.

This is a wonderful project to do with the kids and they will be so proud that they made them!

Hope you enjoy as much as we did! :)

Homemade Artisan Bread Recipe



I have decided that I am now going to try and make my own bread each week. I am not very found of the bread options in the store and there is something great about making something yourself.. First, before I did this I needed to find a recipe that was both fast (I have a very busy schedule) and good at the same time. I came across this recipe at Make and Takes and decided to give it a try. This was by far the easiest recipe only taking me 1 hour total and it was delicious. 1 recipe produced three loaves of bread for us. Not only did it taste good but, it looked no joke just like the picture above. Since it turned out so great I thought I would share the recipe with all of you. Enjoy..

Recipe for Homemade Artisan Bread 
makes 3 loaves

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (Note: I used rapid rise east cutting my time down)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher or other course salt
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• cornmeal for pizza peel (optional)

1. In a very large bowl, add your flour, yeast, and salt.



2. Pour in your water and stir until combined, just a few minutes.

3. Cover your bowl with foil or greased plastic wrap for 2-5 hours. We left it for 5 hours and it turned out just fine, yay!

4. Divide your dough into 3 loaves with a knife. Cover each loaf with flour and form it into a ball.



5. Lay onto a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or onto a pizza stone sprinkled with cornmeal. Let this dough rest for about 30 or so minutes.

6. With a sharp knife, slash the top of each loaf into 3 lines or a criss-cross pattern. This helps let out some steam in the dough. If you don’t slash your bread, the bread will most likely make it’s own tear somewhere during cooking.

7. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and add a small pan filled with 1 cup of water on a lower rack for a water bath. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

8. Place your baked bread on a baking rack to cool.