Relay For Life 2011

This year was the first year we had a team sign up for The American Cancer Society's Relay For Life! It was an amazing experience! However we did have a torrential downpour (lots and lots of rain) insane wind gusts (that almost blew over our tents) and it was practically freezing most of the time, but aside from those minor setbacks it wasn't so bad. I am our team captain and I have 22 other team members who suited up in sweats, laced on the best walking shoes and grabbed their water bottles and power bars and camped out over night. We braved the elements, we walked lap after lap with soggy wet tennis shoes, we dressed up and participated in the fun theme laps (80's, luau and glow) we won prizes for winning the best dressed in those theme laps, and we raised $1729 for The American Cancer Society! I personally am so proud because this was our very first year and next year we plan to almost double that amount. So for anyone who is afraid of a lil rain, or of blisters, or of cramping leg muscles I say Bah! Bah because nothing should stop you from this experience that it the Relay For Life!

Easy $ for old books!

So I'm always on the lookout for a way to turn old stuff we are looking to just get rid of into extra $ I mean why not right? So tada I came across this super cool site called cash 4 books, they buy old books off you and deposit the money into your Paypal account or mail you a check. I chose the Paypal option because it's safer and relatively quicker. All you have to do is log on and start scanning in your books ISBN #'s in to see if it's what they are looking to buy at that particular time. I actually found a scanning application on my phone so it was a lot faster than individually typing them all in. Mind you they didn't want a lot of the books that I had, keep in mind how many books they probably have stuffed in the warehouse, but they did buy 4 of my old books! After you scan in the books they are added to your cart then you print out a free shipping label, box'em up and there you go. Naturally I'm a skeptic so I made sure I completed a full transaction before sharing this website link, so here ya' go! Sell Used Books - Ship Your Books For Free And Get Fast Cash Back!. Oh and I noticed they pay more for old textbooks, so students if you are looking to unload and make a bit of money, there you go!

Ahhh! Graduation is in the air!

Can you feel it? The air is thick with it! Anticipation, excitement, stress, maybe a lil bit of fear of what lies ahead...my oh so amazing sister in law is finally graduating! I'm happy for her yet I feel a tiny bit of sorrow, my sis is growing up and boy is there a lot involved in graduating! Cap n' gown rental, senior pics, announcements, oh and probably her favorite part the planning of the grad party! I just spent 2 hours envelope stuffing her announcements and party invites, whew! I still have shopping for party decor, food (still haven't decided on a menu, blame my sis, she wont give any input) figure out music selection, decorating the house (my fave part!) Lord knows how many people will show, she's probably invited half the high school! Love you Sami but I can't wait for all this to be over! Oh who am I kidding, I live for parties!

My mini Entreprenuers!

I swear my kids are mini millionaires in the making! They save every penny they earn, well almost, and my eldest daughter Brooke has been spring cleaning her room and having me post stuff on Craiglist for her to sell. She's made $55 in one week! Plus she has a new jewelry making skill and she's wanting to sell those as well. Now her younger sister Heather has been scouting out her own room looking for those $ signs too. What's next, a lemonade stand? No really though I'm very proud, I think it's so important to teach our kids about finances from a young age. Makes for more responsible adults later in life. Here is a great website to get your little one started on the path to strong financial independence http://www.moneyinstructor.com/art/waysforkids.asp

Oh wow! I just stumbled upon the most amazing website that has the most beautiful ideas, photography, you name it. It's so out of the box and yet so elegant! Intrigued? Yup I thought you would be, here's a link if you wanna skip over there and take a peek http://silverboxcreative.typepad.com/ and just to give you a hint of what's instore here's the cutest ice cream social invite! Love it!

Cake stands and an adorable bird? Does it get any cuter?

All I can say is wow! I really adore this! Too bad it's from Europe, but I dare not fret they do ship internationally, yeah me! Anywho, so as a usual morning started I sat down with a much needed cup of coffee and surprise, surprise I Googled "cakestands" but I'm a bit tired of looking at plain jane glass ones so to shake things up a bit I looked up Shabby Chic cake stands and low and behold this lil cutie popped up from this great website http://www.momui.com/. I believe it was kismet!

Why can't they just stay little?

I often wish my bambinas would just stay little, even though I do enjoy watching them learn and evolve into these impressive young ladies, I just know that one day I'm going to miss something as simple as holding their tiny lil hands! So I decided to make an updated version of the finger paint hand print. First I laid down in a grid like pattern some blue painters tape (I use this tape because it lifts off easily without damaging the picture) then, and this takes patience, I talked my daughter into holding her hand very still while I traced an outline in pen. After I sent her on her merry way, I took a sharp pair of scissors and cut the hand print out then laid it down on a piece of my kids watercolor paper (make sure to smooth it out very well, removing any bubbles and the "fingers" need to be pressed absolutely flat so paint doesn't seep under them ruining the finished result) Once you have it ready to paint (I used just simple acrylic paint from Michaels) take a small craft sponge paint brush and paint an even layer over the entire picture, if you want a white border like I did just tape off the edges too, once the paint is dry you can remove the tape and voila, you have a cute little hand print of your child. To dress it up I purchased a cheap $ store frame, painted it with some leftover primer I had lying around. Then when that was dry I gingerly sponge painted the same pink paint over it to give it a sort of vintage look. This entire project cost maybe $3 per child! Not bad considering I now have a beautiful reminder of how precious that hand is and will always be to me!

Felt food breakfast anyone?

So I had this crazy idea a while ago to try and make felt food for my youngest daughter, the jury as it stands, is still out on whether or not I was successful. And by jury I mean my 2 year old. I kept seeing all these websites and blogs about making "Felt Foods" so I figured I'd take a stab at it (no pun intended) This of course is my attempt at breakfast eggs, pancakes (complete with syrup and butter) and bacon (I wanted to do red but the red color I had didn't look right, it was a bit too...well red, so this is a take on my husbands bacon, he tends to burn it!) Anyways it isn't finished yet I still have to stuff it with batting and sew up the last little bit. All in all I think it looks...kinda cute, considering I don't know even how to sew, so this was all done freehand.

Momprenuer! Hmm! Can I do that?

So here I am, Blogging away wondering "What can I do as an at home mommy to make a little extra dinero for me n' my kiddos?" Naturally I turn to my internet BFF (google) and searched for momprenuer sites....and Tada! I have a ton of ideas now for making money at home with my kids climbing all over me! The biggest hurdle I've come up against is narrowing it down to one or two ideas so I'm not spred too thin! So far I've been eBaying stuff I don't need, It's better than a garage sale because I can do it anytime of the year in any weather, also instead of dealing with customers trying to talk you down in price you get to sit back and watch the eBayers of the world battle it out in their own lil arena over your unwanted stuff. I started last week and I've already made over $150 and that was only off of 10 items. However there are a few things to keep in mind, make sure you are charging the correct amount for shipping (on a couple of items I ended up paying some of the shipping out of my pocket, not the direction we're going in, It's about making $ right) also make sure you are pricing your items according to what people are bidding (I noticed that if I start the bid lower than another auctioneer most people would bid on my item first, like I said "most of the time" not always though) Ebaying for me has been great so far but what happens when I run out of extra stuff? Well I also set up an account at http://www.etsy.com/. So now the crafts I create can be found in one place (and an amazing website I might add) which makes selling crafts so easy! So for all you "Momprenuers" out there, Keep it up my'dears! The best way to make money is from the comfort of your home with the people you really want to be with, your family!

I had a bit of an "I'm bored, what can I craft today?" moment!

In a fit of boredom, I decided to create some princess inspired

accessory hooks to hold my daughters scarves, necklaces, etc.

First i started with plain wood heart shaped hangers, painted

them pink (her fave color) and mod podged over some really

cute stickers added some gems and lightly dusted it with

glitter while the glue was still wet and Tada!

Tea Cupcakes?

Ok I have to say these have intrigued me a bit, not sure if I love'em or
if I'm a wierded out by them! I think I vote love'em only because we're planning an Alice in Wonderland tea party for one of my daughters birthdays next year (yes, I plan that far in advance) and I think these would be a very cute addition to the table setting. I just wish they came in other colors too. Anyways, you can buy them from several different vendors but I found them at http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/ They come in a set of four saucers and four cups (which are made of food grade silicone so you can bake and serve in the same cup) for $18.00 I guess I might give them a try and see how they work out!

Oh happy day!

Today I received my daughters invites for her ice cream party! So cute (too bad her party isn't until July) I've been working on this one for about six months and I still have three months to go. But oh I will be posting my inspirations and ideas along the way.

Baby shower favors!

1. And then there were favors....yes I know it's still ten days till the shower, but hey I'm an over planner! I can get a bit carried away with the prep work. We're just lucky I haven't hung the decorations yet (tempted!!!) because I'm not sure my husband and kids would want to live with baby shower decorations for a week and a half!
   

I want sooo bad!!!

Sometimes I'm embarrased to admit things...well this is one of those times. I have coveted this copper finish coffee urn (which I totally plan to use for hot chocolate at our yearly Christmas Eve get together! Hello! Can we say beautiful presentation here?) from Grandin Road forever now! This lovely is an amazing amount of $199.00. Not bad since it has a hand hammered copper finish, wrought iron base and even comes with a fuel holder so you know that cocoa's going to be hot! However I do have have five wonderful daughters who tend to drain my "mommy wants but doesn't need it" fund, so I admit that every day I look up the link to see if parhaps, just maybe it went on some sort of sale. Even $20 bucks less and I would snatch this beauty up in a heart beat! Anyways, if you are as intrigued as I am, here's the link http://www.grandinroad.com/

Happy Easter! I hope every one enjoyed themselves today and found a lil something in their basket from the bunny man himself!

Speaking of My BF's baking skills, check out this cake she made for her sons birthday party. Considering this is the first time she has attempted to make a cake of this caliber, I say it's pretty darn impressive. I can't wait to see what sort of mad skills she shows after a few cake decorating classes we want to sign up for. I'll stick to being her official taste tester!

And this one was supposed to be just for me but my two year old was so persistant! She would creep up on the cupcake and try to take a nibble like she was invisible and I wouldn't have any idea where that bite came from.

A treat, for me?

So have you ever had a moment when you have dinner on the stove, kids are all over you, the dog wont stop barking and then the door bell rings and you're like "Really! geez what now?" So you go stomping off to the front door expecting to tell whatever annoying solicitor that dares to interrupt you to promptly shoo and leave you alone before you set your attack dog (a 4 pound yorkie!) on their tail, only to find your totally awesome bff standing there with a plateful of the cutest cupcakes just to surprise you? No? well this is one of those situations where "the little things" comes into play! I went from 100 on the stress meter to melting like butter. thank you BFF for making day! You rock!

I just love finding lil things like this!

Ok is there such a thing love at first sight? I now firmly believe so! These little cuties are from http://www.rosannainc.com/category_redirect.php?acti... and are so adorable! They come in four spring inspired pastel colors and are only $17.00 each. Soooo at the top of my wish list!

Baby Shower count down!

So its 16 days and counting till the baby shower I’ve been planning for my brother in law and his girlfriend! I have been planning this party for months now and I can’t wait to see it all come together! They chose the King of the Jungle theme. Which I think is totally appropriate since the baby’s name is Daniel. Get it? Daniel and the LION’s den! Ehh? No? That’s ok I thought it was clever. Anyways, moving on…of course we bought the traditional plates, napkins, banners yada yada yada with the image of the lil lion (so cute by the way) but I want this party to have some dimension so I purchased some Chinese paper lanterns in the colors of the tableware (turquoise, yellow, green and orange) and I plan to hang them at varying lengths from my ceiling. I love paper lanterns, they can create such an impact and for very little money, I bought mine at http://www.paperlanternstore.com/ and they cost around $1.20 each. The other element I’m proud of it the favors, we have about 50 to 60 people invited so I wanted them to be awesome yet still economical, so I purchased these clear plastic pillow favor boxes from ebay (100 for only $10, trust me I looked on every website so I was ecstatic to find these) and then I ordered return address label (of all things) from http://www.vistaprint.com/but when I customized them instead of an address I wrote “______baby shower. We thank you for joining the fun, we hope you had a “roaring” good time celebrating our new little one! Corny, I know but I thought it was cute, not to mention the design matched our theme perfectly! Now I just have to find a filler I’m thinking candy in a coordinating color since a lot of the party goers will be children too. Besides not every guest attending is going to want a “baby” themed favor so edible favors I think are always a good way to go. Not to mention they look super cute assembled and all lined up (I did a test run, yes I know nerdy, but that’s how I do it) I’m still working out the finer details but obviously its right around the corner so I’ll be posting the pics soon!