How to Repair your Underwire Bra

Good Morning All...

I just HAD to share this fantastic find with you today! 

Several months ago, I found this PIN on Pinterest.  Upon seeing it, it was one of those PINS where I was in such a state of shock that something as simple as this could possibly work...that I just HAD to try it!

Well my little blog lovelies...after about a week of trying this out now, let me save you from wonder...because this DOES in fact WORK!

I know...my mouth dropped open too!!!!!

I have tried this on 2 bra's now.  Both have been worn and washed, which I didn't have any luck with washing, but after a quick re-apply, they're still trucking right along!

 

Thanks Chaotically Creative for coming up with such a brilliant idea!  You have literally saved me hundreds of dollars from buying new, and my poor fingers thank you from trying to sew them shut!!

TGIF All!!!

Cookie Monster Camera Bling

Good Morning sweet blog'lies...

Today I have a special treat that is sure to get your kiddo's smiling!  

Cookie Monster Camera Bling!! *Nom, Nom, Nom*

 

I haven't ever met a child that doesn't love Sesame Street, and I know mine is slightly obsessed.  

Like all kids, she has her favorite characters, but I absolutely adore how she says Cookie Monster. It's an extremely loud "COOKIE!" and then she'll whisper "mons-ter"

Ah...I swear that girl makes my heart grow bigger each day!

So this one's for you buttercup...

When Mommy says "Smile" you can flash those pearly whites not only at me, but at COOKIE! monster too :)

To make your own, its really quite simple...

One blue scrunchie (didn't think I'd ever repeat that word, once we left the 90's) and 2 XL googly eyes.  Hot glue the eyes into place, having one slightly overlap the other, and let it dry.

Once it's dry, attach around the lens of your camera, and get started with your very own photoshoot.

Click, Click - Horray!

Zucchini & Onions

I adore fresh vegetables; Don't you?

If you're a zucchini and onion fan, you MUST try this vegetable dish.  I can pretty much tell you right now, that once you try this easy side dish, it will be something that makes it into the menu rotation!


You'll Need:
1 large sliced zucchini
1 small thinly sliced onion
butter
cloves of garlic

Salt/Pepper

On your stove, place a skillet on your burner and crank the heat up to medium - medium high heat.  Add about 3/4 tsp of butter, then 1 clove of garlic, and some thinly sliced onions.

 

Leave the onions and garlic for about 30 seconds, and add in your sliced zucchini on top of your onion bed, sprinkle on a little salt and pepper, cover, and cook to desired tenderness.

We like ours cooked, but not too mushy.  About 7-10 min's. Depending on thickness.

This is what ours looked like at about 7 min's:

These are more firm to the bite.  See how they're not as translucent as the ones below?

After 10 min's:

Mmm...this is my favorite way! Caramelized tender yumminess...

By the way...You'll be cooking your zucchini in batches, as you don't want to overcrowd your pan, so once your 1st batch is done, restart the instructions.

*Tip* To keep the previous batch warm, you can place the zucchini on a plate to stay in your microwave immediately after leaving the skillet, or you can turn your oven to warm, place a Pyrex dish in there, and continue to add to the Pyrex as fresh zucchini come out.  I find this is the easiest method if you're cooking in large batches, otherwise, I use the microwave technique.

Enjoy!

Apple Cobbler - Land O' Lakes

Remember ALL those beautiful apples I showed you last week?  Well this is one of the many creations we've made so far, and it is absolutely luscious!

Picture borrowed from Land O' Lakes

To make your own;

You'll Need:
9 cups of peeled and diced apples, 1/4"
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups of flour
1.5 cups of sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup of melted butter

To begin, you'll want to preheat your oven to 350, and add your diced apples to a 9x13 baking dish.

In small bowl, combine 3/4c of sugar and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.  Mix with a spoon and pour over your diced apples evenly.

In a large bowl, combine the rest of your cinnamon (1/4tsp), flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Gently whisk.

Now, the original recipe calls that everything originally be combined together, all together, but for me, I find it's easier to add the eggs in after incorporating the dry and then mix them in.
When you do, your mixture will look like this. A soft yellowy color.  Very pretty.

 

Now you're going to top your apples with the dry mixture, and diced up 2/3c of margarine, and stick it in the microwave for about 1min.  Checking in 30 second intervals.  Once your butter has melted, top the dry mixture, trying to spread as evenly as possible.

Then add to the oven, and bake for 45 minutes.

After 25 min's, you can smell how amazing this is going to taste.  

 Tantalizes the senses, for sure!

All that was missing was a big o' glob of ice cream.  

Everything tastes better a la mode!

We made sure to stock the freezer for Night #2.

OoOooOh yum...

No sewing pins? Cheaters Guide!

I was sewing curtains, and somehow I could not find my sewing pins anywhere.  So...in a short panic, I decided to get a little creative, and surprisingly this worked really well.  So well, that I had to share!

No sewing pins?...Use clothespins!

Here's perfection at it's finest ;)

I used the same theory when sewing a cotton skirt, and it worked just as well.

Hope this creation brings you luck, or at least brought a few smiles your way!  

If you try this out, please share your story...I'd really love to hear from you :)

Fruit & Veggie Wash - Go Green

We've gone apple picking a lot this month.  On our last trip, we picked up roughly 15lbs of apples!  That's a lot of pies!! :)

As I'm sitting there staring at our fruit overload, I figured there had to be a better way to do bulk washing, so I went in search and came across this gals blog.  It was very useful and seemed to do the trick just fine.  I followed her instructions, but I did cut back on the vinegar because I have a farm house sink, so one side is much larger and deeper than the other.

Note to those of you whom also have farm sinks: I used the smallest side of my sink to wash the fruit, and used approximately 5 gallons of water to 1/2c of vinegar ratio.

Using her method really saved me a lot of time.  I hope it helps you out as well!


To start;

You'll Need:
Half Full Sink Water
1c. Vinegar
Hard Fruit or Veggie (not recommended for lettuces or soft fruits such as strawberries, raspberries)

To start; Fill your sink with water and with your hand mix in vinegar:

 Remove all the stems/leaves from your fruit:

Add your fruit to the vinegar bath:

Sit for 10 min's, rinse well, and lay them out to dry:

 

That's it.  Now you can enjoy your fruit with ease, and better yet, it's GREEN!

I love simplicity!

FREE - Old Navy Safety Kit

Morning all, and Happy Friday to ya! I'm sure you all have big weekend plans, but be sure to squeeze in an Old Navy stop.  They are giving away FREE Kid Safety Kits, "which includes a child ID Card and safety tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children"

As an added bonus, with a donation to the NCMEC, you will receive 10% off your shopping that day, as well as an activity book, and internet tips for kids.

Having an ID card for your child is an absolute necessity.  It can save a childs life! So make sure to stop by Old Navy between September 13-16 to pick up yours for FREE!!

If you or a loved one would like more information on Old Navy, or the safety kits, please check out their website for further details.

UPDATE!   For those of you who live in my area, please note that Old Navy has re-scheduled the event to 9/29/12.  As I'm learning, it's always helpful to call 1st! :)

Pan Sauteed Tilapia

Our family is starting to eat a lot more fish.  Why? Our daughter loves it!

This is a simple recipe that takes roughly 10 min's from start to finish, so it's perfect for those busy weeknight meals.

You'll Need:
4 Tilapia Fillets
2 Tbsp of Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
Herbs de Provence Seasoning

Warm your skillet on Medium - Medium High Heat.  Add your oil.

On a plate, season both sides of your fish.  Go easy on the Herbs de Provence.  I use about a pinch (how do you like those measuring skills ;)) for every 2 fillets.  So about 2 pinches total.

If you've never had Herbs de Provence, it is a powerful, but mouth pleasing seasoning.  It's essentially a mixture of different herbs from basil to lavender.  To read more on it, you can visit here.

After seasoning, add the fish to your hot pan, and cook approximately 4 min's per side, depending on the thickness of your filets.  Tip: The fish will turn a white-ish color around on the edges.  When you see that color, all around, it's time to flip.

We served this dish with rice and hefty salad.


Eat and be Merry!

Kids Painting Craft - FALL

Happy Fall Y'all!  With the heat we've had this summer, I'm so grateful that we're going into the fall season.  It's one of my favorite seasons, so I knew we had to do something fun to celebrate.

As of late, the little one has really gotten into painting.  She LOVES it, and she is very creative for her age, so when I saw this idea on Pinterest, I knew we'd have to do something similar, just not as extravagant, as lovely as it is.

If you would like to do your own fall craft;

So proud of herself!

You'll Need:
1 piece of cut down posterboard (to fit your frame)
Frame
Acrylic Paint
Painters Tape
Old Shirt
Something to protect your floors (We use an old vinyl tablecloth)
2 willing hands and a foam brush

Lay out your work area, starting with your tablecloth, and have all your supplies out and handy.

Tape off the lettering you'd like your sign to read, and let your wee one have a ball!

After the painting has dried, carefully remove the painters tape, and see your discovery.

When you're finished, you should have one messy but happy child, a beautiful piece of artwork, 2 gray hairs, and lots of memories to cherish forever!

Top half - One happy happy girl

Bottom half - Messy Messy Girl :)

This is by far one of my most favorite painting projects we've done yet.  Highly encourage it!

Outdoor Rug Makeover

"Rug" and "Makeover" don't usually go together in the same sentence, but they should really go together more often than they do!

I've been in the works of redoing our 8 year old outdoor rug, and 'lo and behold if I didn't see this pop up on BHG's website!  Great minds think a like! :)

I adore theirs, and wish I would have thought of doing it the reverse way myself.  HOWEVER, if you try either of these projects, I have to disclose that during the trial and error of this project, I HIGHLY recommend using any paint OTHER than spray paint! I don't know if it's the Kansas wind that took over, or if my rug was just not going to budge and allow itself to soak in the spray paint, but after using an entire can + of spray paint, we concluded that using a different kind of paint is the theory that worked best (for us).  

To start;

You'll Need:
An Outdoor Rug
Pre-Cut Stencil
Paint
Paint Brush
Newspaper if you decide you're still going to go ahead and try the spray paint theory. ;)


Start with a clean outdoor rug:

 

Put your pre-cut stencil in place:

Using scrap pieces of paper, protect the sides of the initial from your spray paint.  If you're stenciling in, you will skip this step.

 Spray to your hearts content.  I gave up, after 1.5 cans of spray paint, and filled in my initial with acrylic paint and a brush.

So that you can see the project both ways...

Here is the spray painted version.

Meh...Could be worse...

Here is the spray painted, then brushed version:

Gonna have to go with option 2 here.  Just sayin' :)

Additional Note:  Since I spray painted and then brushed, I did not brush the side design squares.  Seemed to help save my project fail, and overall I'm really happy with the project.  I love a good upcycle! :)


Need further tips and tricks?  I hope I can help!  Comment or email me.

Happy Crafting!

Easy Ice Cream Pretzel Cake

My beautiful friend, Tara, had a super size birthday this year.  She turned the big 4-0!  Her being one of my favorite people to talk too, I couldn't allow her birthday to go unnoticed, so I went in search for a decadent recipe, but I had a few prerequisites.

1st off; It had to have chocolate. She loves chocolate, it's her vice!
Then I thought it'd be cute if we stuck with our Tuesday night theme. Ice cream!

After hardly any searching, I found this recipe.

Are you drooling yet?  You should be! Oh.My.Gosh, it is SO good!

If you'd like to make this recipe as well;

You'll Need: 
3 cups crushed pretzels 
6 tablespoons cold butter, cubed 
3/4 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed 
About 20-25 pieces of chocolate-covered miniature pretzels 
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened 
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping (I maybe used 3 Tbsp)
Springform Pan



To start, place your ice cream container on the counter.  It will need to soften.

In the meantime, crush your pretzels.  You can easily do this in a food processor, but for those of you who don't have one handy, try this method.  All you need is a zippy bag, a rolling pin, and some arm muscle:

I've found that it works best to work in small batches, but once you're finished, you're pretzels should look something like this:

Sit 1 1/4c of the crushed pretzels in a bowl and sit aside.  The additional pretzels will be used later on. Next, dice up your butter into cubes.  It needs to be very cold, so try to work quickly.

 

Now add the cubed butter to your crushed pretzel bowl, and cut in the butter until crumbly. 

I just used a fork

Once the butter is well combined, transfer your mixture into a springform pan, and press firmly around the pan to make your crust. 

Place your pan in the freezer for at least 30 min's.

During freeze time, place your fudge into a microwave safe dish.  After the 30 min freeze time is up, nuke fudge for about 30 seconds, and spread over the top of the pretzel crust.

Spread all around, and re-freeze - Freeze time is up to you.  I left it in there about 15 min's

While your chocolate is freezing, transfer the entire carton of ice cream to a large bowl.

I did this part in sections to help me combine the two without making a disasterous mess.
I layered it 1 part ice cream, then 1 part crushed pretzels, 1 part ice cream, to remaining pretzels.

I also threw in a small handful of the chocolate covered pretzels since I had some left over.  
After everything is added to the bowl, stir to combine, and place over your chocolate crust.

Looks good already, right?

Then you won't mind when I say that the little one got a spoonful of the mixture...and Momma did too!  Oh-my...I could have ate a whole bowl of this stuff!! *Cheese* :) :) :)

After you've top your crust with the amazing ice cream mixture, cover and place your pan in the freezer overnight. It needs at least 12hrs. 

 By the way, I marked my pretzel bag while my cake froze overnight.    "Do Not Eat"

If your family/friends like to snack, like mine, I highly recommend doing this.  I caught a few friends going for our snack bowl, found these babies, and after reading the note, each one of them had a look of such disappointment. Haha - Oh the torture of it all! ;)


After the 12 hours, remove the cake from the freezer and take out of your springform pan.

 

To remove, just pull the lock in the opposite direction and it will cinch right open.

Transfer to a plate.  I used a regular ol' dinner plate, but hey...schmancey it up if you want!

Now it's time to drizzle on your caramel. I started by moving right to left making a straight line.

Okay...so not totally straight ;)

Now rotate your plate so that you can do the exact same thing again.

You're a quick one!  Yes, I rotated my plate :)

It's almost like you're making a super-sized tic-tac-toe board.

Now it's time to top your cake with some chocolatey embellishments. Notice how there are only 18 preztels and the recipes calls for 25?  That's my gift to you! 7 chocolately treats!  Hey...we all know you were going to sneak anyway! ;)

There you have it.  One Ice Cream Pretzel Cake... 

The birthday girl, and guests bragged about its beauty, multiple people asked for the recipe, and some even went as far to say that they thought it was from a bakery.  That made me smile, but above all...no one could believe how easy it was.  This is a must make!!