Fruit Bouquet

What's a birthday without a cake?!  Since I have this love of making fun cakes, I usually do whatever my family wants for their birthdays. Like a castle for my daughter's 3rd, or even an ugly, not creative what-so-ever German Chocolate cake for my husband.

This year my husband has changed what he eats and therefore didn't want a cake at all.  Unheard of.  So I thought he still needed something and surely I could think of something healthy.

That's when I remembered those awesome yummy looking fruit bouquets.  Perfect.

I bought a bunch of fruit: strawberries, apples, kiwis, grapes, a pineapple, & a cantaloupe.  I threw in some marshmallows and chocolate chips just in case someone wanted a little something sweet i.e. the kids or me.
You'll also need skewers, leafy lettuce, stirofoam, and vase/pot/bowl or something to hold it all in.

It was fairly simple.

The cantaloupe:
I sliced this in longer pieces to go vertical on the skewers.  I also cut out little half circles for the center of the pineapple flowers.

The pineapple:
I cut it in slices.  Be careful not to make them too thick, about as thick as the cookie cutter you want to use.  Center your cookie cutter on one of the slices and press firmly.  Stick the skewer straight in the middle of the flower with a little poking out the other side to put the circle of cantaloupe on it, but don't let it stick out of the cantaloupe.  Other shapes like hearts or stars are cute too.

The strawberries:
I dipped some of them in chocolate and others I left plain.  Put them on the end of a skewer.

The grapes:
Slide about 5 grapes on a skewer.  Don't slide the skewer all the way through the last grape, to hide the the point.

I used a big soup bowl I already had to hold it all.  I put a block of stirofoam wrapped in seran wrap in the bottom and laid in the lettuce.  Then I just started sticking the skewers in at different angles.

I ended up not using apples or kiwis.  I thought I had enough for my bouquet without them.

If I do this again, I'll make a more compact bouquet and make sure you can't see the skewers at all.  I think that's what the "professionals" do different than what I did.   They also make the bouquet not quite as tall.

Pretty healthy and very yummy.

Accidental Experiment

My 3 girls got roses for Valentine's Day.  I was looking at them yesterday and was shocked at how sad 2 of them look, since we got them at the same time from the same place and they started out looking the same.

I had taken one to my 1st grader at school and had fixed it all up in a vase for her.  The other 2 I gave to the girls in their plastic outer wrap and then just stuck them in a big vase afterwards.

What I finally realized was that I had cut the end of the stem on the one I sent to the school, and had forgotten to with the others...therefore, my accidental experiment came about.

This may not be a huge realization to most, but I hadn't ever seen the difference for myself.  And if you haven't either, here it is. 

The one on the left had its stem clipped and the other 2 didn't.

So if you get roses, don't forget to snip the bottom of the stem about an inch up at an angle.  It really does make a difference.

Topiaries

I have always loved the look of topiaries.  I have looked at dozens of pictures of them to see what I really liked.  I knew I wanted to make them...and cheap.  So this is what I came up with.

I went to the wonderful Dollar Tree and bought 2 nerf type balls, a bag of moss and 2 glass vases/bowls.  I already had 2 dowel rods and 2 squares of styrofoam.

I looked for the green moss at the craft stores, but didn't want to spend $7 on it (or even $4 with a coupon for that matter).  I made these Easter baskets a couple of years ago so I thought the same technique might work for this project too.

I put hot glue on the balls and pressed the moss onto it.  The places I didn't get covered well I shot some hot glue and pressed into it a little wad of those messy pieces you get when you're taking the moss out of the bag.

I actually like how they looked just sitting in the vases.  I might have to make some like this as well.

After they were covered I spray painted them green.

You can see really up close they aren't covered completely, but in person you would never know

 I spray painted the vases black and painted the dowel rods brown.

I used scissors to poke a hole in the ball and stuck the dowel rod in until it was sturdy.

I cut my styrofoam to fit and pressed it into the vase until it wouldn't move around.

Then I stuck the other end of the dowel rod into the foam.

I like the kind of messy, but simple look of them.

My mantle is slowly evolving into something I like.

Valentine's Day Cards

I know we've already had Valentine's Day, but thought I would post our Valentine's cards anyways.  We did these last year, but thought we could do the same idea since we're at a new school and we loved this idea.

Also, this was about as last minute as you can get.  V-Day was Tuesday.  Monday morning we took this picture as she was walking out to go to school.

I added the words and hearts in Photoshop and ordered them online at Sam's Club (this is one of those moments that I absolutely loooove technology).  Picked them up on the way to get her from school.  She wrote names on the backs and I put the suckers in that night.

 Done. Whew...cuttin' it close there.

Framed Monogram

I'm trying to decorate about every room in my house right now.  Which means I end up doing a little project here and there before I actually complete a whole room.  They'll eventually all come together.

I love having a fireplace, which gives me an awesome mantel to decorate.  It's been 8 months so I had to start doing something to it, around it, over it, anything.

I broke out all of my old frames I've been saving to re-purpose and had just the right one for this project.  This is the before picture, but I had already taken the matte and picture out of the frame so I sat them together so you get the idea of what it started out as.

I spray painted the frame black and the matte white.
I found some material I liked and wrapped it around the board the picture was on.  I hot glued it on the back to secure it.
Then I spray painted a wooden D black and hot glued it on top of my fabric.
Stuck it all back in the frame, minus the glass, and done.

This was one of the quickest projects I've ever done and I really like how it turned out.

A couple of things I might change on it later...
1) I would put some hot glue under the fabric where the letter is hot glued to it.  Now that it is hanging it is kind of heavy and pulls on the fabric.  You don't really notice it, but I do and it bugs me.

2) I would paint the letter with acrylic paint.  With the wooden letter I got, it doesn't absorb the paint really well and makes it look a little streaked.  Again, I don't think it's that noticeable, but it bugs me.

Happy monogramming. 

Cakes

 I haven't posted some of my cakes & cupcakes I made, so here they are.

Dark chocolate fudge cake with chocolate ganache frosting and cake balls.  It was a tad rich.

Bowling cupcakes for a little boy's birthday party at the bowling alley.

One of the most fun cakes ever to make.  Bachelorette party!

16th Birthday Girl wanted these colors.  Brought us back to the 80's.


I have to show off what my husband was "not crafting" while I did this last cake.
His office was having a Super Bowl competition and he made the trophy for the winner.  It was pretty awesome.

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

My kids love cinnamon rolls and we have them almost every weekend at some time...probably should ease up on 'em a little and do every other week?  Naaaa.

I love homemade cinnamon rolls but they take foooorrrrever.  I wanted something quick (again), so I tried using the canned biscuits.  They turned out great so I've been doing it ever since.

This is how I make them.

Ingredients:

3 cans of cheapo biscuits (10 count) or I'm sure they work with Pillsbury or whatever you want to use.

butter or margarine

cinnamon and sugar mixture - a good ratio is 1/2 cup sugar to 1-2 tsp. cinnamon

powdered sugar

milk

I lay all of my biscuits out overlapping a little.  Using a rolling pin I roll it into about a 11"x14" rectangle.

 I don't measure my butter.  Just spread some all over the biscuits.  Then take your sugar & cinnamon mixture and sprinkle it on top.

Next you will roll it up lengthwise.  After you have it rolled, pinch it closed so it doesn't unroll.

 Get a sharp knife (or you can also use unflavored dental floss) and cut the log into 1 inch rolls.

Make sure to grease your pan first. Then put all of the rolls in touching. 

I bake them at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.  These look more done than what they really were.

To make your icing, put a couple of tablespoons of butter in a bowl and melt it.  Then add a couple tablespoons of milk.  Add powdered sugar and stir until it becomes the consistency you like.  If you need more, just add more milk and then more powdered sugar.

Pour on top of your warm cinnamon rolls and dig in.

*Sidenote: Once I used the flaky Pillsbury biscuits because that's all we had...don't do it!  They turned out pretty bad.

"Better Than Those Other" Granola Bars

For the past week I've been trying to find a good granola bar recipe.  There are a bunch of veeeery yummy recipes out there.

But I wanted one that didn't have butter, salt, condensed milk or other not-so-healthy things.  I also wanted one that had ingredients that my girls and I like, was quick to throw together, and that actually stuck together.

So here is my recipe for granola bars.

 

Better Granola Bars

1/2 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup honey

2 cups oats

1/4 cup almonds

1/2 cup peanuts

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Microwave the peanut butter and honey for 30-40 seconds and mix well.  Pour in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Press into an 8x8 foil lined pan.  Refrigerate until cool.  Flip out of pan and

cut to desired size.

 Most recipes I saw said to melt things on the stove, but this is much faster and you don't have to heat it so much that the chocolate chips melt.  Of course if you like the chocolate more dispersed just heat the peanut butter and honey a little longer.

To make this healthier you can use organic peanut butter, dark chocolate chips, local honey, and peanuts that you shell yourself.  It makes me feel better at least. :)
You could also add non-sweetened coconut or other nuts.

I store mine in the fridge in a sealed tupperware container.  It seems like the warmer they get the more likely they are to fall apart or be super sticky.

After giving one to my 4 year old she said, "These are better than those other ones."  I thought she meant they were better than the ones I had been experimenting with, but she said they were better than the ones in the packages....hence the name "Better Granola Bars."   Yea for homemade! 

Hope you enjoy!

DIY Decor = Canvas + Doily + Spray Paint

One room in my house that has never been decorated is my master bedroom.  Isn't that sad?  I've made bedding and decorations for about every room in the house, but never for our master bedroom.  So after 10 years of marriage, I thought it's time.

I'll have to wait for the big before and after reveal of the whole room (mainly because it's not done), but for now, here are some decorations I've put together.

I had bought doilies from a garage sale a couple years ago and had these canvases on hand.  I laid them out how I would want them and then Mod Podged them on.

I made my own Mod Podge, and so glad I did for this project because it took quite a bit.

 

Want to make your own Mod Podge?

Mix 1 part Elmer's glue 2 parts water.  Put it all in a jar and shake well.  That simple.  It comes out a lot thinner than real Mod Podge, so I was skeptical, but it turned out working great.

I brushed on the Mod Podge and stuck down the doilies.  Then I started brushing on the Mod Podge on top of the doilies, but resorted to dumping it on because I wanted them covered well and it was taking too long...a little impatient, yes.

I had to let them dry outside in the sun for awhile.  After they dried I spray painted them and let that dry well.  It took a lot of spraying because of all of the little spaces in the doilies.

I really love how they turned out.

And because spray paint makes all things look better, I had these stick decorations (I don't really know what to call them) but didn't like them in my kitchen anymore.

Now they are my bedroom decoration.

 

Can't wait to finish this room.  Working on the duvet cover and pillows now.

I should mention I have material for 2 other rooms in my house as well.  Hopefully in the next few months they will actually all be done.

Lots of before and after pictures to come!

Such A Lie!

I am always seeing this pin or article or idea that your house can be clean by only cleaning 15-20 minutes a day.  All I have to say...such a lie!

Ok, I get the idea.  Do a chore a day and the deep cleaning stays looking good with about 20 minutes a day invested.  I actually totally agree with this concept.  But what about the other million things you have to keep cleaned?  Just trying to be realistic.

I can't tell you how many times I've sat down and made a list for my weekly chores...dozens, I tell ya.  I did it again today, but this time I'm actually going to stick to it (hopefully).

Here is what my list looks like:

Sunday -  NOTHING (start the week off easy) :)

Monday - Bathrooms (all but floors)

Tuesday - Vacuum whole house

Wednesday - Mop whole house

Thursday - Big Laundry Day

Friday - Dust, Windows if needed

Saturday - Organize (pantry, closets, garage, kids crafts etc.)

All Week (because face it, these don't go away with once a week kind of a deal) - Dishes, Pick up, Sweep, Laundry, Trash, Water Plants, Spot Vacuum, Spot Mop

I do have 4 kids and a husband, so maybe my house takes more to maintain, but hoping it is possible to keep up better if I'm organized.  I'm also getting ready to start assigning chores for my little ones (age appropriate of course).  I think as they get older my chore list with start to shorten. :)

I'm going to try making lists for getting organized with eating healthy also.  I like my lists.

iCarly Cupcakes

Let me first say I know absolutely nothing about iCarly.

So when I was asked to make cupcakes for a little girl iCarly birthday party, I was stumped.  Google came to the rescue.

I searched and saw something about spaghetti tacos and gummy bears.  I ran this by the mom and she said her daughter loved it...I guess it does have something to do with the show or Carly, yea.

This is what I came up with.  The purple and white icing was upon request.

Fun stuff.

Reupholstering Chairs

It was my first time reupholstering.  Success!

My hubby took all of the chair cushions off and kindly put them back on, so I definitely had some help. 

My fabric was pretty thick so the corners on the chairs took the longest to get just right.  Of course, I think about every project I do takes twice (if not 3 times) as long as I think it will.  It just sounds pretty simple...take cushions off, staple fabric on, put cushions back on.

It really was simple, don't get me wrong.  It just took some patience as well.

I am so happy we did this.  Before they were an off-white microfiber.  I love microfiber because of how well it cleans up...for awhile that is.  After it has been cleaned so many times and has some wear on it, it no longer cleans up to look like new.  It just looks dirty all the time, especially such a light color.

Here's the before and after.

I would highly recommend reupholstering.  Much cheaper than a new dining room set.