Mud Room

I've always wanted a Mud Room!
We bought a new house this summer and it came with this odd, extra closet.
It is 6.5 feet deep and 3.5 feet across.
My first inspiration was the three cubbie hole shelf.
It's from Pottery Barn, bought at a garage sale of course.
I wanted hooks galore.
Three boys require lots of hooks!
Ten double hooks.
Belts, backpacks, hats, shoes, & jackets now have a home!
I'm so excited it's finally finished, I may just sleep in there tonight!

Cookies on a Stick

Monday was my son's birthday.
He wanted to take a treat in to school.
I was over making cupcakes.
We love Funfetti Cookies.
The Funfetti Cake Mix has the cookie recipe on the side of the box!
I had a bunch of lollipop sticks!
I used a cookie scoop and once the mound was on the cookie sheet,
I inserted the sticks and then baked them to the directions!
They were a huge hit!
Bonus: No napkins required....no mess!
Love it!!!

Dessert Bar

I am in love with Dessert Bars right now!

I super love creating them.
My best friend was planning a baby shower for her sister.
I volunteered to do the dessert bar.
She wanted bright colors, ie: turqoise, lime, purple, yellow.
She also wanted cake pops....holla!
Here's what she got:

Pretzel Rods, Button Lollipops, Cake Pops...oh my!

Mike & Ike's, Lemon Heads, Skittles, Twizzlers
& Sour Patch Kids!

Homemade Kettle Corn

I love Trader Joe's bags of Kettle Corn...especially at $1.99 a bag!

However, the closest Trader Joe's is 20 minutes down the freeway!

When we were out of T.J.'s we decided to make our own.

I googled many recipes and then found the one that sounded the best.

I found it here.

I tweeked the recipe, since I don't buy corn syrup.

I read somewhere that you can substitute 100% pure maple syrup for corn syrup.

Pop 1/2 cup of popcorn

Bring to a boil:

1/4 cup of maple syrup

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Once boiling...continue on medium heat for one more minute.

Pour over and coat popcorn.

Sprinkle with salt.

Super yummy and a little sticky.

Would make great popcorn balls!

Summer Fun "Bored" List

Like I've posted before...
"You have 18 summers with your kid, what are you doing this summer?"
I've seen many blogs about making a summer fun board or summer bucket list.
Once again...loving my cricut!
I know you can't really read anything on the list...so here goes:

Bowling
Movies
Drive-in
Basketball camp
Camping
Late night Sonic run
Goodwill
Blueberry picking
Silly string fight
Bagels for breakfast
Corona Citrus water park
Paint at Cup Above
Make a cookie at Cup Above
Ice Cream Social
Miniature Golf
Visit cousins in San Fran
GeoCaching
John Incredible's Pizza
Swimming
Make post cards & Mail them
Ride a Train
S'Mores
O.C. Fair
Library
Have a Picnic
Walk to gas station to get an ice cream/popsicle
Carl's Jr. Playland with friends
Cow Appreciation Day...July 8th @ Chick-Fil-A
7-11 Day...free slurpee day
Vacation Bible School
Discovery Science Center
Beach
Eat lunch at Auntie's work
Laguna Beach
Las Vegas
Wild Rivers
Universal Studios

Magic Mountain

Most things are very inexpensive or free...
the ones at the end are special trips we have saved up for!

Enjoy your summer with your little ones!!!
As Phineas once said...
"Don't mind us ladies, we're just making everyday of summer count!"

S'more Terrific

I did see this on another blog, if I find it I will add it.
However, her saying was different than mine and didn't really fit for end of the year gift.
This is a bad picture, but the tag reads,
"You couldn't be any S'more terrific!
Included was a bag of Marshmallows, Hershey bars, & Graham Crackers!

Thanks A Latte

I made this giant board card for Teacher Appreciation Week.
Lots of help from my cricut!
All the parents brought in a $5 gift card to Starbucks and we attached them all over!
The teacher kept it up in her window the rest of the year.
(minus the gift cards! ;) )

Graduation Gift

I saw this Candy Gram pail idea over here.
It was for a teacher! I tweaked it, to give as a graduation gift!

I got the clear paint can at Michael's for $3.99
minus my 40% coupon, which made it even less!

In case you can't read it in the picture:

LOOK at you, SMARTIE pants!

You SKORed high on tests and reached the PAYDAY of graduation.

Don’t listen to SNICKERS, that you are a DUM DUM or NERD,

cuz you are one HOT TAMALE in this MILKY WAY,

on her way to making a 100 GRAND!

Hope your FAST BREAK of summer is MOUNDS of fun!

Lots of KISSES,

HEATHer and family

Cake Pops

My new obsession is cake pops!
OMGosh...they are so fun to make and turn out so super cute!
They are so easy to make too!

Ingredients:
1 box cake
1 can of frosting
lollipop sticks
bag of chocolate melts
sprinkles

Directions: Bake the cake according to box directions.
Once cooled, crumble entire cake in a bowl.
Add can of frosting, stir thoroughly.
Use a cookie scoop to form your balls.
(This way they will all be the same size.)
Freeze for 30 minutes to harden.
Melt chocolate.
Insert sticks into cake ball.
Dip into chocolate and add sprinkles.
Place on parchment paper.
They dry/harden quickly!

I am already dreaming of all the ones I will be making for 4th of July!

Orange Marmalade

A Mentor Mom in our MOPS group at church has several orange trees in her backyard. Every year she invites us over to pick oranges. We filled two whole bags with over 80 oranges...you couldn't even tell that we made a dent, that's how many there are on her trees!

This year with all the oranges, I was determined to make orange marmalade.
It is one of my mom's favorite jams.

Thanks to my good friend Dyanna over at Just Simply Live,
who taught me how to make jams & jellies and to properly can them!

I found my recipe over at Ball Jars website.
I omitted the Chili peppers out of the recipe.

It was a lot of slicing of oranges, but so worth it.
I guess you're supposed to use a mandolin, to make it easier.

Nine families were blessed with Orange Marmalade! :)

Pottery Barn Style Twine Balls

First of all, I found this mosaic style footed bowl at the Salvation Army. They had a ton of these brand new in the box for $2.50! So I needed something to go inside. I had some styrofoam balls and then found some of the kids large bouncy balls. I bought the twine at a home improvement store for $2.74. I hot glued the twine round & round! It ended up being a really nice Christmas gift for my sister! I was really excited about it!

Craft box

Thanks to my friends at eighteen25 , I learned to make these awesome boxes for my two son's teachers for Christmas. I found out that their favorite colors were green and purple. So I filled them with tacks, Hershey kisses, jolly ranchers, paper clips, magnets, pens, stapler, chunky clips, hand sanitizer, note cards, Chapstick, and Sharpie. The teacher's really loved getting these! They were super fun to make too!!!

Thanks to my cricut I was able to cut out all the letters and already had the silk craft flowers to embellish more!

Valentine Gift

I saw this craft idea on another blog...so it's definitely not my idea. If I can find the blog again I will post the link. I already had the canvas from another craft I never got to. Spray painted it red and then my boys each put their handprint on and used my cricut to cut out the letters and hearts. Both Grandma's loved this gift!!!

Batman Party

When my son likes something he REALLY likes it.
We have had two Buzz Lightyear parties in a row and now
two Batman parties back to back!
I had a lot of fun getting ready for this year's party.
So many ideas popped in my head!

Here is the Riddler table for the Adults to sit at!

The Riddler himself, my 8yr. old came up with this all by himself. He had the green clothes and the St.Patrick's Day hat and we went crazy cutting out ?'s on the Cricut!




The kid's table to eat at and decorate masks.
I put the Batman Sheet up as a Paparazzi wall to take pics of the kids standing in front of it!
Thanks to my friend Dyanna over at: www.thesousakids.blogspot.com
She has a lot of great ideas always!



This is my Penguin Table with the chips in a black top hat and a black umbrella for added decor. All things The Penguin has!
I also cut out penguin shapes on the Cricut to write the dip names on!





Everything on this table was black & yellow.
My inspiration came at Target when I saw Oreos with yellow filling for Spring!
Chocolate Cupcakes with Yellow Sprinkles.
Yellow & White Gum Drops
Black Licorice in a Jar
Lemon Drops



We dug everything Batman out of his room and used that for decoration!



I made this poster with Black & yellow poster board.
(This took a lot of work & measurements, it had to be perfect!)

Valentine Felt Bags

I made these cute bags for my son's Kindergarten class! I took two pieces of felt, hot glued (cuz I don't sew, I hot glue) the three sides and added ribbon, tulle or beads for the handle. Old school puffy paint to add dots along the edge, the name and some hearts!

Homemade 7-Up

We hadn't been grocery shopping in awhile! My kids were tired of milk or water as their choice of beverage! I looked around to see what I could make.

A friend at my husband's work gave us a bunch of lemons. We had Pellegrino on hand from a case I bought at Costco(with a coupon) to put in baskets I gave out at Christmas and the simple syrup was left over from my sister's shower!

First, I filled each cup half way with crushed ice, squeezed half a lemon over the ice. Then I poured a little simple syrup...a tablespoon or two. Last, I filled the cup with the Pellegrino and stirred! It was so good! The boys really enjoyed it!

Stocking Holders

All around me, I've noticed moms holding on to random containers and turning them into things.
I did this one night when I made chili and looked at the cans. I washed them out and set them aside.

My sister was married this last October...and she has no Christmas decorations. I really brainstormed how I could make some for her, because I am not a buy at full price kinda girl!

Here's what I came up with:

I spray painted two cans with gloss black spray paint (she loves black & silver). Hot glued heavy river rocks in the inside for added weight. Hot glued black coat hooks ($3.06) and silver snowflake ornaments (4 for $1) to the front & back. To cover the top I hot glued some faux black leather. I think they turned out adorable. She loved them too! Two stocking holders for around $4!