Fast and Simple craft project

Look at these gems I found at the local DI. As soon as I saw them I had to have them. I'm pretty sure I squealed with delight as I snagged them off the shelf! They're perfect for my project! Can you see their potential, can you??? Yippy!

And better yet, check out the price of these babies. That's right, 50 cents a piece.
I'll take it!!

After a quick wipe down with a damp paper towel--because let's face it, these pretty butterflies had been tucked away in some body's basement or garage for quite sometime I'm sure--I gave them a fresh coat of bright white spray paint. Who doesn't love a can of spray paint? I do, did I mention that?

And wa-la, perfect for my daughters pretty little room. I'm trying to decide if I want to hang them on the wall over her white desk. . .

Or on the wall above her bed under her tulle princess canopy.

What do you think, where should I hang them?

Keep your eyes peeled for treasures like these at your local thrift stores, add a little spray paint, and you've got yourself a fast and simple craft project that is sure to liven up any space in your home. :)

Silly Face Dinner or Breakfast or perhaps lunch :)

If your kids love crafts, especially food crafts, as much as mine, then you've got to try this fun recipe. I found it in the Kraft Food & Family magazine and it was a BIG hit at our house!

Silver Dollar Sour Cream Pancakes

2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

1. Beat eggs in medium bowl with whisk until well blended. Stir in sour cream. Add remaining ingredients; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. (Do not overmix. Batter can still be slighty lumpy.)

2. Heat large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Working in batches, spoon 1 Tbsp. batter into skillet for each pancake; cook 2 to 3 min. or until bubbles start to form on tops and bottoms are golden brown.

3. Turn; cook 1 to 2 min. to brown other sides.

Then, turn the kids loose to make as many silly faces with their favorite fruits as they can! :) These are a few of the beauts that my three kids came up with. . .

P.S. That last one is mine, do you recognize him? If you need a hint, he's a little someone called Santa Claus. ha ha!

I have to admit, I had just as much fun as my kids! :)

Give it a try, your kids {and you} will LOVE it!

Monte Cristo Sandwiches

These are quite the hit at our house! Every time that my husband and I go to lunch somewhere he is always ordering a Monte Cristo. So, since he loves them so much I decided to make them on my own at home. The taste of the salty meat and cheese dipped in sweet homemade Raspberry jam is Scrumptious! Who would have thought that all that would go together so well?! They are super simple to make and always turn out great!


1 egg
1/4 cup milk
4-6 slices of turkey
4-6 slices of ham (I like Virginia baked ham)
4 slices Swiss cheese
6 slices of white bread
Powdered sugar
Raspberry jam


In a bowl beat the egg and milk together. Take a slice of bread top it with turkey, ham, Swiss cheese and another slice of bread. Gently dip both sides of sandwich into egg/milk mixture and then place in a frying pan or on electric skillet. Cook until both sides are browned. Place on plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Put Raspberry jam on the side to dip sandwich in (optional). Absolutely YUMMY!!!

Strawberry Romaine Salad

Strawberry Romaine Salad

Ingredients

Salad:
1 bag of romaine lettuce
1 bag of spinach leaves
1 pint strawberries, sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced very thin
1/2 cup sliced, candied almonds

Dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 TBLS red or white wine vinegar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 TBLS poppy seeds

Combine romaine lettuce, spinach, sliced strawberries and onions in a bowl.  Then in a jar with a tight fitting lid, combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, milk and poppy seeds.  Shake well and pour the dressing over salad.  Toss until evenly coated.

Vinyl For The Laundry

After my vinyl project in the kitchen my mind started filling with ideas.  When ordering my vinyl I mixed up my color choices and ended up with this awesome pumpkin orange color, which if you know me is one of my favorite colors EVER!!!  I wanted to do something fun with it and this is what I came up with...

Arranging the lay-out

And Wah-Lah!

I have seen the saying many, many times, but fell in love with the arrow and had to use it. 

So cute and so fun!

Vinyl For The Kitchen

I'm so proud of my little Cricut even though I am loathing a Silouhette machine.  I have the very first version of the Cricuts that hit the market and I put this thing to work.  I have collected a couple of fun cartridges over the years which made this project so fun!

I started out with the good ole' Home Decor cartridge for most of the project and then used a couple different alphabet cartridges for the words.  I purchased my vinyl on Ebay which were cut to size 6x12 sheets with many color options.  I choose the Matte Black vinyl (I really like the matte because the shine on the regular black causes glares that make it hard to read when it is on a wall) and started my project.

Here are the words that already cut and ready for transfer tape.

Finished project--onto the next... 

To tie in the scrolls between the words I added one above the stove.  This actually turned out to be my favorite part!  I'm so pleased with how it all turned out!

Yummy Breadsticks

Yummy Breadsticks

This is for one batch of bread sticks.

Add the ingredients as they are listed.

1 1/2 Cups of really warm water                                 ½ to 1 cube of butter

1/2 tsp salt                                                                Garlic salt

2 tbsp sugar                                                              Parmesan cheese  

1 tbsp yeast                                                               Parsley

about 3 cups flour

In a bowl add water then sprinkle the next three ingredients.  Wait a few minutes until the yeast starts to melt together.  Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour and mix.  Flour the counter really well and pour out the dough onto the counter and knead until the dough just comes together, don't let the dough get to dry. You want it to be on the tackier side so less flour is better.  Then let rest for 10 minutes.  While that is going  on preheat your oven to 350 degrees and put a cookie sheet (I use my 1/2 cookie sheet) with a lip in the oven with the 1/2 (I prefer 1/2 a stick, but you can use up to a whole stick of butter) a stick of butter on it.  When butter is melted, take out of oven.  Roll out dough to pizza crust thickness about 1/4" - 1/2" inch thick.  When rolling out dough it should be about the size of a 9x13 pan.  Take a pizza cutter and cut in half lengthwise then cut into 1/4 - 1/2 inch strips, take two strips at a time and twist them together on the counter and then roll in butter do that until all the dough is in the pan and then sprinkle with garlic salt, parsley and then Parmesan cheese.  Put in oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until the Parmesan cheese is barley turning brown.  Then take out and let rest for a few minutes. 
These go great with soup, pasta, or salad! 
Enjoy!

Easy & Cute Baby Gift

Being the Compassionate Service leader in our ward I have the privilege of getting gifts for the new babies in our ward.  With the help of my sewing lady (my Mother) we put this one together for a baby girl.

A onsie with an appliqued flower and a headband from stretchy ribbon w/ a material flower to match!

When I delivered the gift, which was to my neighbor with the cutest baby ever, we tried it on and it looked darling!

So Cute!