Almond Joy Ice Cream

So every year my Grandma & Grandpa have a Homemade Ice Cream Contest and this year I put together a pretty darn yummy one.  I made it because I had just made THIS Almond Joy Popcorn Munch from Inside BruCrew Life, and thought it would be great as ice cream so here is what I concocted.

Almond Joy Ice Cream

1 cup almond milk

14oz. cream of coconut (find it in the booze isle)

1 ½ cups heavy cream

1 ½ cups sweetened flaked coconut (toasted)

1 ½ cups sliced almonds (toasted)

1 cup chocolate of choice (melted)

1-2 cups chopped Almond Joy candy bars

Toast coconut and Almonds (lay out on wax paper)

Melt chocolate and drizzle over the coconut and almonds.  Let harden.  Break up into bit size pieces.  Wisk almond milk, cream of coconut, and heavy cream together. 

Dump everything into ice cream freezer, and freeze.

Baby Shower Applique and Bow

Had another baby shower to go to.  I whipped this up a half hour before it started... maybe I need to start making them BEFORE I need them.

Mother's Day Card

This is the Mother's Day card that I made for my Mom and Mama-Law

The inside says "All flowers remind me of you" and "I give you my love with each flower.  From this lovely song:  I Often Go Walking 

Thank you Martha for the lovely idea... but when it says it only LOOKS complicated on her website, it's a lie because it takes some skill. 

My Front Door Decor

There are not words that can describe how thrilled I am about my framed wreath on my front door!  You know how on Despicable Me when the little girl says, "It's so fluffy I'm gunna DIE!"  Well, while I've been making this project I have been saying, "It's so cute I'm going to DIE!"  I'm glad that I have a 5 year old girl to share in my joy, she has been validating every statement and completely agreeing with me, I just love it!  I love the random-ness... the colors... the polka dots... well you get it everything, I LOVE EVERYTHING about this beauty.

I set out to make this because my front door was BAD it had very hideous tape marks, and a bad paint job that needed some hiding.  (I would love to just paint the whole darn thing but we are renting, and I am not about to go through that much work for someone else's door.)  My challenge was that there were things that needed to be hidden that were under as well as over the peep hole, but yet I still wanted to be able to see out of the peep hole.  Now all the big problem spots are hidden and the cuteness detracts from any other flaws on the front door!

This took me about a day to make and it was pretty cheap too!

What you need:

Frame - from Goodwill $3

Willow wreath - from Dollar Tree $1

Letter initial - Hobby Lobby $1

a few different kinds of ribbon, some spray paint, craft paint and a glue gun.

And TA-DA!

Home Sweet Home

So here is one of the many reasons that I have not been around this blog.  We moved!  And to thank the neighbors that helped us move I made goody bags.  I folded down the flap and wrote a thank you note right on the bag.

Paper bag... check

Colored paper... check

Sharpie... check

The yummiest cookies to go inside... CHECK!

Scalloped four strips of paper and cut a door and curtains, then outline with a marker.

Didn't they turn out super cute!

Jar Chandeliers

Wow it's been busy around here!  I have felt the void of posting around here but it hasn't been on the top of the list.  I have crafted up some fun lately though, I have been dying to make a chandelier out of jars for a very long time and I finally had an excuse to make some and my how nice they turned out!  Here are the beauties!  Made them out of round cooling racks (I think) that I found at Savors, chain, wire, and recycled jars.  Now I just need to find a place for them to stay I love them so much!

A-Frame Tent Cheap!

This is what my kids got for Christmas, a tent.  And NO Santa didn't bring it, mommy made it...  I just couldn't give the Fat Man credit for this one.

So here is what I did, I started out with this tutorial... DIY A-Frame Tent

but did it a little bit different.  She uses a wooden dowel on top, and elastic for the ends of the tent.  I decided that I would rather replace PVC than a wood dowel if my kids get crazy with it.  Also I thought that I could make my cover less droopy if I hemmed the ends and put PVC through it.

So here are the materials that I used:

2 pieces of wood, 1x3x10 (had Home Depot cut them in half) and (if they are not sanded you can tell them to smooth them out for you too)

2 pieces of 3/4" PVC 10 feet long

6 end caps for the PVC

material/sheet (I got my material free from a friend, but you could get a sheet second hand and it would not cost much)

twine or hemp (on hand)

drill with crown drill bit

sand paper

So since my fabric was free and I had hemp and tools, my total was $13!

First off I drilled a 7/8" hole in my boards. Sanded them, then I wrapped and tied the hemp around the boards as shown.  This was ingenious... I knew it would hold my boards together and make the hole a little more snug but I didn't know that when you put the PVC through and spread the boards it squeezes the PVC tightly AND makes it so that the tent can't collapse, ingenious, like I said.

As for the PVC I cut one of the 10' pipes a little LONGER than 5' for the top so that we could hang things on the outside of the tent. Then for the other pipe I cut it exactly in half so I had two 5' pipes for the bottom of my material to hold it tight.

So you put your PVC through and then spread the legs place the end cap on the PVC and repeat for the other side.

Throw the material over and feed the pipes through the bottoms and TA-DA!

What I love about the pipe being on the top of the tent is that the kids can hang flashlights from carabiners, which they love.

And this is all the space you need to store it!

Ugly Sweater Make-Over

I found this lovely acrylic sweater at Savors for $5

Before:

Then added some uglyness.  Just added felt and buttons.  The Santa pockets were on a dollar store stocking.  I had to hot glue it because the iron on "Heat n Bond" wasn't ironing on to the acrylic.

After:

Here it is in action, because you don't really notice the shoulder pads unless it's on.  Mine wasn't in the running  for the ugliest but my husbands was... his was ugly enough the way it was.  Although the pointsettia pin I made was a nice touch though. 

How to Pin on Pinterest

Ok I will start my comeback with something that has been BUGGING me for a while now.  Let me explain...  have you hear of Pinterest?  If you haven't... where do you live?  Oh how I LOVE Pinterest for my own personal benefit!  I am a visual person and "pinning" things that I want to refer back to is about the best thing ever.  I used to "star" or "label" things in Google Reader... my other love thanks to Erika at Oops, I Craft My Pants for opening my eyes.  BUT the thing about Reader is that I couldn't SEE the things that I had star-ed or labeled, and then finding them again was quite hard to do.  So Pinterest solves that for me and I love it!

Now with my LOVE of Pinterest I HATE when people don't pin right!

Let me ask, have you ever seen someone else's Pin that was the cutest project, I mean you could DIE it's so cute, you were SO interested in this particular project.  Maybe you just wanted to see the picture up close, or maybe more pictures of it, OR maybe you were hoping for an actual tutorial.  And while the page is loading you wait in anticipation to see this glorious project in further depth.  Then to your dismay you don't see it, it may not even be on the first page of posts... then you start to wonder maybe this project was posted a YEAR ago and how much longer do you have to scroll to get to your beautiful project that is now fading as you shuffle through other not-so-interesting posts.  Don't you just HATE that!  If only the Pinner had just pinned it right, you now would not have to go on a wild goose chase for the cute thing that you had seen, searching the site for something your not quite sure you even know what it is now.  This is why I made this post.

First there is a "Pin It" button that you can place on your toolbar that is super handy, although this should be used with some discretion.  The "Pin It" button is for when you are on a site (any site other than Pinterest) and you find something you like you can pin it from the site, onto your pin board.  It is found by going to "about" on Pinterest and going down to the "Pin It Button".  Then after you have installed it, it will appear in your toolbar like this.

WARNING:  The "Pin It" button is where one can go wrong with Pinning, mostly as it pertains to Pinning items off of blogs.
SO what is the RIGHT way to Pin?
If you are looking at one of your favorite blogs and you find something that you just LOVE and have to Pin, BEFORE you hit the "Pin It" button you need to make sure that you are on the actual post of the blog and NOT on the blogs home!  To do this click on the title of the post.  To make sure you are NOT on the home page look up in the web address box.  It should look like this...

NOT THIS

But another way to tell is if you have pressed the "Pin It" button, there should only be a limited amount of picture that come up that are available to Pin.  You should NOT have an infinite number of pictures.  The only way you should pin a home page is if you love the whole site and want to refer back to the whole site.  Like and organization site or tips for cleaning site... things like that.  If there is a certain project or design that you love you MUST be on the post.

RE-CAP Pin posts not home pages!

Ahh, I'm so glad to get that off my chest!

It's Been Awhile

I know that I have not been posting... trust me it is not for lack of crafting but I just haven't taken the time to actually take any pictures of my crafts lately.  Mainly because of this little one!  Yes he is 2 months now, and I feel like I'm finding my grove now.

Twin Girl Onesies

I made some super cute twin baby girl onesies.  I used some lace and a strip of ruffled fabric.  I like that they are similar yet different so that the twins can be identified yet still matching.

I dyed the onesies myself and left one in a bit longer so that they would be matching pinks yet slightly different shades.

Can't wait to gift them!

Witch Shoes and Broom

Oh how I love Halloween!  I love the decorations, the fun, the candy, dressing up... EVERYTHING!  I love that there is no meaning to miss, or make sure you focus on.  It's just dress up, have fun and get candy!  Don't get me wrong I love the meaningful holidays too but Halloween is so great!  Plus the more dirt, leaves, and cobwebs the better!  To start off my Halloween decor I HAD to do this!  The thought has been stuck in my head for days and I could not rest until it was made a reality!  I was in such a hurry to get it out of my head I didn't take step by step pictures, too bad.  SO here is what I did.

I went outside and examined my trees for a branch the was just crooked enough to make a great broomstick.  Got out my ladder and saw and cut it down... Shh my husband doesn't know that yet.  I was laughing at myself as my 8 month pregnant body was outside in my PJ's up on a ladder while the HOA landscapers where down my street doing their rounds!  Anyways, here is a hint I made my broomstick as tall as I wanted the whole broom to be so that the bristle would have some extra sturdiness.  

Then I found two small brooms (which were hard to find) at Dollar Tree, made entirely out of the bristles.  I cut them in half and hot glued and then tied on the the stick.

Then I went to Goodwill... any second hand store will do.  Find a pair of shoes that look like they can pass as witch shoes.  I found this pair pretty easy, didn't even search around and since I wasn't worried about the size it was super simple.  Originally the shoes didn't have a buckle so I went to the belts and amazingly I found two of the SAME belt in black!  Got home buckled my belts cut them and hot glued the cut ends underneath!  TA-DA witch shoes from the thrift store!

I may make a sign to go with it, or I may just leave it... I really like it the way it is... we shall see! 

T-shirt Refashioned

I thought I'd dress up a plain T to be just a bit fancier!

Start with a plain t-shirt.

Folded the shirt in half and chalked a line in the middle.

Line up your buttons where you want them and chalk a line there too. My buttons are all different sizes and some are plain white and some are pearly. I did have enough of the same kind but it wasn't as cute!

Then sew on your buttons and sew on some lace!

Ta-da! So simple and easy!

Linked up with:

Skip to my Lou

Creations By Kara

Paisley Passions

Meal Schedule

When it comes to meal planning there are a ton of different ways to do it.

I usually use my Google Calendar to plan my meals, but I taught a class on meal planning and decided that I needed a cute display and came up with this...

Start with a dollar store frame (take out the glass). And print out a cute calendar, I found mine HERE at Anything but Perfect. And more HERE!

Place a couple of sheets of tin tiles behind your calendar, and your almost done!

Then you need to make a list of all of your 30 plus favorite meals that you know how to make... type out a list of them, here is mine if you want. Print them out on a few different colors of paper, you will need to space/size them to fit on your calendar. Then make magnates out of them. I traced some with pebble marbles, cut out, and Mod Podged them to the back.

Then hot glued a magnate to the back.

Others I just stuck a magnate on the paper.

So WHY meal plan?

You know what to buy at the store because your meals are set and you know what to get!

It makes being in the kitchen more enjoyable.

Your eating more of a variety, and it should be healthier and cheaper, because of your planning.

And the best part is NOW you KNOW what's for dinner!

Try throwing in a "New recipe night" or maybe buy something that you have never cooked before (because it's on sale) and try cooking it. Always have a "fill in meal" or a "fall back meal" something that is easy and requires no prep, so that way if you had a "leftover" night but you have no leftovers you still have a meal. Like potstickers that you pull out of the freezer, or cans of soup. Canned beef is a great one to have on hand... you can mix it with BBQ sauce and throw it on a hamburger bun (that you keep in the freezer). Or you can take that same can of beef and mix some green chili sauce with it, bust out some beans and tortillas and you have green burritos.

Cricut Giveaway!

I just wanted to spread the word, the odds are good and there are 5 more days! The giveaway is over at Turbo Bubblegum!

Cute Baby Girl Onesie

Made this today, I can't wait to gift it, I think it's so cute!

Twisted rosette headband