5 Daily Reads (Day 5)

This is the last day of Daily Reads. Hope all of you found some new blogs to follow! Thanks for following us! Have a great weekend!

5 Daily Reads (Day 4)

I hope your enjoying browsing through some of my favorite blogs. These ladies are crafty, inspiring, funny and a joy to read. All of them bring something different to the table. One more day to go. Check back tomorrow for 5 more great blogs!

It's funny how things work. I posted all these buttons over the weekend, and then I just check to make sure they are posting. But head over the Craftaholics Anonymous! She's having a great giveaway today! Oh, darling little girl hats!

These last two ladies are pretty famous and very well loved. Read daily for inpiration and messages of hope and a lot of laughs!

5 Daily Reads (Day 3)

5 Daily Reads (Day 2)

5 Daily Reads

We've had a rough week.

My hubby was playing church ball last Tuesday,

he jumped, landed wrong and broke his L3 in his back!

I've been kinda busy. No crafts at our house right now!

But here are some good reads to keep you busy.

I'll share 5 more each day this week.

These are listed in no particular order.All of these came out of my favorites page on my computer. I use alot of memory for these!Read daily for good laughs and great ideas! These are only 5 of about 30 that are bookmarked!I need to start putting all of them on the blog, but that's alot of buttons. I'm working on it. Until then, go check out just a few of my favorite ladiesWho do you visit everyday?

We Have a Button

We have a button, we have a button, we have a button, hey, hey, hey, HEY! After many hours of trying to figure this out, we have a button. I feel so cool now!! I know it's not a fancy button, but it's a button!! Feel free to grab one! We'd love you forever.

This is the first button I got to work. I will be playing with making some more in the next few day's. So you may see others pop up on the sidebar. I'm looking to makes something that screams Mandee and Brandy. Thanks for your patience.

Cute Apron

Isn't this darling? I am so in love with it. I am more excited about this apron that I was the skirt. Oh my!!! I kept getting up in the night to just sit and stare at it. I am amazed that it turned out so well. The pattern say's it's easy. Which I guess it may be if you've sewed a little bit, but for being the second thing I made, it was a tad bit hard. I pinned things wrong and had to completely unstitch the ruffle, it took me about 4 hours to finish it start to finish. And agian, it's not perfect.

The saddest thing was that my little girl who I made it for, won't wear it. But it's for about a 6 year old, so we have a few years for her to change her mind :). I put it on my 5-year-old little boy and he wouldn't let me take a picture of him. He said if I made one in boy colors he'd wear it. I'm tempted to make one and put on a blue ruffle!!!

Anyway, if you want to give it a try, you can get the pattern from Skip To My Lou. I found the pattern on a link party on The Creative Itch, which is also a great blog. Misty is awesome and she does so many fun projects! You should go check out her blog too!

My new Obsession: Fabric Flowers

I'm obsessed! My husband is freaking out and wondering what we are going to do with all of these flowers. He wants me to sell them, but everyone sells them!! I am just having fun.
This was taken about a week ago, there have been oodles more since then!

This is a fun little no sew flower. You can get the template here. These one's actually take a a bit longer than the ruffle flowers, but if your an anti-sewer, these are the ones for you!

These headbands are so much fun and so easy to make! You don't even need to add the flower, but it's fun to add a little something to it. I followed her measurements exactly and apparently I have a big head!! It's squishing my brain!! So I made some more and added about 2 inches in length and now it's almost to big, so maybe just adding 1 & 1/2 inches next time. This one was way cute on my 2-year-old and fit Mandee's little gal who is 7 perfect.

This is my favorite flower. A little bulky. I actually took it apart to make it smaller. My husband thinks this is way to big to wear, but I tried to tell him that it's the style and big is better!

This is perhaps my favorite one I have made and I just gave it to a friend for her birthday!

I know I am a behind in jumping on this train, but I am loving it! There is definite a learning curve on the flowers. I will do a tutorial on one, because I have kind of changed up a few different set's of instructions and have been making my own. Let me experiment a little and then I will share!!

I Made This All by Myself!!

Your probably thinking, wow, big deal!! But it is. I have never sewn a piece of clothes in all my life. My sewing experience consists of sewing straight lines and never more than a few inches. SERIOUSLY! Learning to sew was a goal I set for myself this year. My mom, bless her heart, tried to teach me a few things in high school and so did poor Mrs. Anderson the home economics teacher, but I hated sewing!! Hate, hate, hate, hate, hated it! My poor teacher. I made a bath robe and a pair of sweats in class, but she did probably 90% of the sewing, because me and that Bernina, just did not get along!! Oooh, and me and the serger!! Cut a huge gaping whole in that robe, but that is another story all together.

I got the idea for this skirt from Ruffles and Stuff. She did a guest post on Somewhat Simple, and I stumbled across her blog. AMAZING!

I basically followed her instructions. The only thing I really changed was the ruffle at the bottom is made from material instead of tulle. It did turn out a little bit bigger than I wanted, but that's okay because she will be able to wear it for a long time! I think it's pretty cute. I am pretty proud of myself. I have some more cute material, that I may try to do another one with and make it a touch smaller. I have to give some credit to my mama, because I called her several times to make sure I was doing what I was supposed to and testing a few ideas with her.

What do you think??

Cake Balls

OH CAKEBALLS! You were much easier to make than I expected. You were so tasty!! I need another excuse to make some more of you. I'm afraid, these may become a habit. And addiction, a tradition. If you've never made them, you must!!! Go visit Bakerella for the full details and how to. Sweet heaven on a stick!!

Peace, Love, & Tye Dye

Isn't this an awesome picture? It's Mandee's little gal. She makes an awesome hippie!

Tye Dye has been around forever! We can thank the Hippies for that!

Last week our kids had a 60's day at school. So Mandee and I helped them do a little tye dye project and make shirts. They turned out AWESOME! We had 6 kids making shirts. It was a little bit cRaZy! But we survived!

There are so many way's to tye dye. We kinda cheated. I bought a couple of awesome kit's at Joanne's on clearance a while back.

I think I paid $3 for each kit.

We laid plastic out over my table. used rubber bands to wrap a few places on the shirts and let the kids go to town with the squeeze bottles. After the t-shirts were thoroughly soaked we put them in Ziploc bags and left them overnight. Leaving the rubber bands in, was them in cold water and you have an awesome hippie shirt!

Isn't it pretty?

I am so tickled with this little cake! I had a friend who signed me up to take a fondant cake decorating class. YIKES! I was a little nervous, it's so fancy and pretty, I really didn't think I could do it. But I could! It was much, much easier than I thought. It is however, very time consuming. We used Marshmallow fondant and yes, I do have a recipe, but I want to do some more experimenting and sharing. It taste so much better than regular fondant and is much easier to use.

See, even if your scared to try something and don't think you can do it, the experience alone is worth it. And who knows, you might just find that you really enjoy it. Learning something new is never a bad thing!

I Have Finally Become Organized!

I have always wanted my pantry to look "pretty" and organized but I didn't think it was possible. Our storage space is so minimal in our tiny kitchen. But the Tupperware Modular Mates are on sale right now for 40% off so I took advantage of that and bought me some. My husband and I went to town and got it organized in just a couple of hours. It left us with so much more space and I looks uniformed and "pretty".

We got half way through and we both realized we hadn't taken a "before" picture but take my word for it....it was a disaster. I keep opening the pantry door each time I pass by to look at the masterpiece. :) If you are interested in modular mates, you can go here to order them. They are on sale until next friday the 19th.

Me Like To Eat Valentines

I like this little monster guy! And so do my kids. He was also super easy to make. For the template, go to The Rubber Punkin. You can seriously do it in under an hour. I love cute and quick projects. He's also very forgiving, because I accidently messed up on him. And when you see the template, your going to wonder how in the world, but I did. He was so much fun to make!

~ Love Actually ~

Valentine's at my house this year is on a small budget. Not that Josh and I do extravagant when it comes to holiday's. We only spend about $20.00 on each other for Christmas. We figure that we don't need to go crazy on a holiday to show each other that we love each other. We show each other love all year round!

With that said, let me tell you about this awesome blog, Love Actually. This is a great blog full of idea's for romance on a budget. And not just on Valentine's day, but every day of the year! I spent an hour browsing this sight, trying to decide just what I wanted to share, but I couldn't pinpoint one thing. It is full of great idea's. Everything from cheap date night ideas, to gifts, to advice and so much more. Your really must go and see it for yourself! I now have a few ideas up my sleeve to make Valentine's day affordable and special!!!

Pizza Casserole

Pizza Casserole:

3 cups elbow macaroni cooked and drained

1 lb. hamburger, cooked and seasoned

1 jar spaghettie sauce

1 cup sliced pepperoni

2 cups cheese

Sliced olives (optional)

Mix everything together. Place in 9x13 pan and and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Easy Valentine Block

This is a double sided Valentine block that I whipped together. It was so easy. Cut a 2x4 into a block and sand it down. A little paint, some scrapbook paper, cute printable and modge podge and wala! Easy Peasy Valentine decoration!

I got the word art from, here. I just looked under the love category and found lot's of really cute ideas. And the eye chart picture, which is so cute, from here. You have to sign up for a newsletter and become a facebook fan in order to get this little freebie, but it's so worth it.

I am so loving the red and black. Very Twilight! I wanted to theme it around Twilight, but knew my husband would draw the line at me displaying Twilight Valentine Day crafts on the half wall!!

Could You be Replaced?

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home

are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."

Thomas Moore

Does anyone else feel the need to be super mom? Involved in the community, in the school, in your church? The need to shuttle kids to and from music classes, to sport's practice, and to the school family night? My question is, when did we get so over scheduled?


I don't remember my Mom doing all the things I do. It doesn't mean she was a bad mother, oh no, she was a fabulous mother, but I have contemplated often, what the difference is between us. I think that times were much simpler when I was a kid. I played sports and was very involved in many different activities, but I don't remember the constant stream of activity that my kids have today. And I must admit, that my kids, stay busy, but I do not allow them to be involved with more than one thing at a time. I have friends who spend their entire afternoon running several kids to different activities, practices and rehearsals in different parts of town. It pretty much consumes their entire life! I don't want to be that mom.!!


I had an interesting conversation today with a couple of good friends, and we were talking about how much women judge each other. It's sad, but true. We do judge one another. We judge ourselves against our neighbors, friends, co-workers, and the women we see on the street and in the grocery store.


It's easy to feel that you could be replaced. I feel that way often. Anyone could come in and do my dishes, cook, clean and all of the other things that I do on a daily basis. And some women, could probably do it much better than I do and make it look good!! My friend told me that I should make a list of all the things I do, that no one else could do. I couldn't think of any off the top of my head. And then she told me that no one else could be a wife to my husband the way that I am.

Okay, well, that got me thinking. No one could be the kind of mom I am to my kids. No one can kiss their owies, or read them stories the way I do, simply because they are not me. I am the perfect mom for my kids because I am me. I have qualities that attracted my husband to me and that he fell in love with me for. Others may have those same qualities, but they could never be me. No one could be a friend, like me. I have abilities and thoughts that are all my own to share and bless others with.

It's an interesting concept to think about. The list could go on and on. It was interesting to see how much I could come up with, when I thought about it. My list was full of little things and some pretty important, big things.

I love this quote by President Monson:

"My dear sisters, do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle, but you will be the miracle."

We are truly miracles, each of us in our own right. We are blessed with the ability to be mothers, wives, friends, sisters, daughters and so much more. Why the judging?

Boy Month at Made

This is pretty cool! I have 2 little boys who unfortunately get to make girly crafts. Every once in a while, we do a boy craft. I've come up with a few in my day, but for an entire month on this blog, Made they will be celebrating all things boy. They have tons of guest bloggers and giveaway's all aimed at boys! Made by Rae will be co-hosting this month long event! If your life is full of guys, you need to check this out!

Orange Peel: HCG Smoothie

I just did HCG agian and Orange Peel has a great Strawberry smoothie that counts as 1 serving of fruit. It's super tasty, but it's $5.00!!!! Which to me, is a lot of money. So I came home and whipped one up on my own and I actually liked it better than the Orange Peel smoothie.

Strawberry Smoothie:

1 & 1/2 cup crushed ice, or ice cubes
enough cold water to make 2 cups w/ the ice
1 pkg. strawberry flavored crystal light
10 medium frozen strawberries
fresh lemon juice 1/2 to 1 full lemon, to taste

Blend until smooth. If you would like you can add truvia, or vanilla flavored stevia. You don't even need to have the crysal light. It adds more flavor, but it does add 10 calories. It counts as 1 serving of fruit and this amount will make a huge cup. It makes you feel like your getting a great treat!!!