tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-504286022011720242024-03-05T13:06:53.919-07:00The Brown Eyes Have ItTrying to be the best wife and mother I can be and having a little fun along the way.Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.comBlogger174125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-54592087742217528952012-08-30T08:39:00.000-06:002012-08-30T08:39:19.384-06:00A Fond FarewellI've been struggling with this decision for quite a while now. Back and forth, back and forth, should I quit, should I just scale back, yes it was even included in prayers (which seems a little silly.) So I've come to the decision that I need to stop blogging for now anyway, maybe things will change sometime in the future. I just feel like I need to be doing other things with my life right now and blogging isn't the best use of my talents, time, or abilities. So with that, I want to thank my family for all their support, thanks to the new friends I've made, and thank you to all my readers for all the nice comments you've made and for sticking with me. Thanks especially to my sister, Leslie, for all her great posts and for all her support and advice. I'll keep the blog open because you'll all want Leslie's great party ideas still. :)<br />
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Name the movie quote I thought was fitting here:<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">"So, your adventures are over."</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Oh, no. To live, to live would be an awfully big adventure."</span></i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(P.S. If you can't remember and it's on the tip of your tongue, edge of your brain and driving you nuts (like movie quotes do to me all the time, it's from the movie Hook. :) )</span> </span></i><br />
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<!-- AddThis Button END -->Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-8889358465740405742012-08-03T08:16:00.000-06:002012-08-03T08:16:58.139-06:00Super Simple and Yummy Dessert<div style="text-align: center;">
This is a really quick, really yummy, really simple recipe to have on hand, especially when company calls and are headed over and you want to make something to share with them. It's very easy to keep the ingredients on hand for just such an occasion as well. </div>
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Three ingredients is all you need for this yummy treat - a cake mix, pie filling, and butter, that's it, really!</div>
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Dump pie filling into a 9x13" pan.</div>
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Melt butter and stir into cake mix.<br />
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Crumble cake mixture on top of pie filling. Bake. It pretty much looks the same before it bakes as it does after. Spoon it onto a plate and top with whipped cream (or ice cream) if you like. Enjoy! Really, that's all there is to it, the easiest dessert ever. And you can change up the cake mix and the pie filling for different tastes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCrqG1mUfisQx1mMyWZfpDH3RLEDSxXx6hs8Pzbg9gRhbsRt_R49Mws7jOiJo0yaUyeonZZSS9JDI5X_-R0474mcxumk-GfYL0vJFfKBcTa9Zk0_jCcZ4OLhIXFVjLb8XmvySfxv5Y1v8/s1600/IMG_8980.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCrqG1mUfisQx1mMyWZfpDH3RLEDSxXx6hs8Pzbg9gRhbsRt_R49Mws7jOiJo0yaUyeonZZSS9JDI5X_-R0474mcxumk-GfYL0vJFfKBcTa9Zk0_jCcZ4OLhIXFVjLb8XmvySfxv5Y1v8/s320/IMG_8980.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The cat snuck up on me while I was outside taking pictures and popped into the picture. Don't worry, he didn't eat any of it, just sniffed around it a little. :)</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Easiest Dessert Ever</span></i><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Ingredients:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">2 cans pie filling (I've used cherry and blueberry, our favorites)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">1 cake mix (I've done chocolate and white)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">1/2 c. butter, melted</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Directions:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Dump pie filling into 9x13" pan. Melt butter and stir into cake mix. Crumble cake mix on top of pie filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min.</span><br />
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<img align="left" src="http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo310/shabbycreations2/postsig-25.jpg" style="border: 0;" /><br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-30942787979957455342012-06-30T11:08:00.001-06:002012-06-30T11:08:50.101-06:004th of July Wreath<div style="text-align: center;">
Did you see Leslie's super cute <a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2012/06/stars-and-stripes-wreath.html" target="_blank">Stars and Stripes Wreath</a> a couple days ago? When we both made our wreaths months ago, she didn't have the stars on yet so I didn't get to see the finished awesomeness. I love it! Well, I was going to make the same flag wreath like Leslie, but when I got ready to start inspiration hit (<i>lightning has struck my brain </i>. . . name the movie!) So I changed things up a little.</div>
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Basically, I made it the same as I did <a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2012/04/spring-yarn-wreath.html" target="_blank">here</a>, only I tried a 16" green styrofoam wreath instead. My suggestion, stick with the straw, wrapped wreath, so much easier. I had to be careful not to smash any of the foam, and ended up with little flecks of green foam all over me by the time I was done. It also didn't wrap as smoothly, the foam grabs the yarn making it take a little longer to get everything in the right place. </div>
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So pop in a movie or catch up on your tv shows, and start wrapping. An episode of "The Unit" and my wreath looked like this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpi5Yjd4cw_uDlNok96jLjEtzUCCiMy4TPaB2GcPjgOLKLvT6dhSNZj1s50X6tc1fwPttWeTKBL_L9BRrJeWgfzd1FkMUkI6LjJfBTrceB6_zw95HpbimnI8vkhqDd8d-6H2EM2eGERI/s1600/IMG_9338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpi5Yjd4cw_uDlNok96jLjEtzUCCiMy4TPaB2GcPjgOLKLvT6dhSNZj1s50X6tc1fwPttWeTKBL_L9BRrJeWgfzd1FkMUkI6LjJfBTrceB6_zw95HpbimnI8vkhqDd8d-6H2EM2eGERI/s640/IMG_9338.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I did carefully measure and mark my wreath to divide up the sections and colors this time. And yes, I do realize I'm missing a red section at the bottom, but I knew it would mostly be covered up so I didn't worry about it.</div>
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Then to make the pinwheels, I followed these instructions here: <a href="http://www.leslietryon.com/3dcolorcutout/makepinw/makepinwheel.html" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Pinwheel Instructions</a> I just used some scrapbook paper I had in my stash. The big pinwheel started with a 6" sq. and the little ones were 3". Just remember both sides will show, so keep that in mind when you're selecting what paper to use. Also, I did a test with a piece of cardstock, and I liked these papers better. The cardstock was a little stiff. However, my big pinwheel was paper that is slightly heavier than most paper and not as heavy as cardstock. Does that make sense? I glued down the centers with a tape runner or any glue that holds and then really kept it down with a brad.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwFaHaOY4UJXvXfuaDjE6PHWIdELpT3sf23RQL79doSwYVJec1JwCbdw9Aq5_BNNb38dhHbbXzd1ZzbDi62WpufkaymzM4qX-XhXBSKjT6HPs0C5itKp09cZbV_w8MM54-HgLvniBqq8s/s1600/IMG_9367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwFaHaOY4UJXvXfuaDjE6PHWIdELpT3sf23RQL79doSwYVJec1JwCbdw9Aq5_BNNb38dhHbbXzd1ZzbDi62WpufkaymzM4qX-XhXBSKjT6HPs0C5itKp09cZbV_w8MM54-HgLvniBqq8s/s640/IMG_9367.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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So that's it, a fun festive wreath for my front door.</div>
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Now to agree on what we're doing to celebrate the 4th is a whole other post. Cheyenne and Natalie are going to be in the parade helping Bill's brother with his business "float". But Bill is adamant about NOT going to the parade - he hates it! It's hot, boring - there're hardly any floats, it's all businesses, and it's long. Yes, but it's tradition - that's my only argument. :) He wants to go to a movie again like we did last year, which I'll admit was fun and so much cooler. Either way, I'm sure we'll have a BBQ later at some point and of course fireworks later. It'll all be good whatever we do. I love the 4th! How do you celebrate our nations independance?</div>
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<br />Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-63420563201409228832012-06-28T17:36:00.002-06:002012-06-28T17:50:21.188-06:00Firework Burst Earrings My daughters, Cheyenne and Natalie, and I have really been having fun making jewelry for the past couple of days. We haven't done that for quite a while. I learned some new skills, I introduced them to the fun of "Clue" the movie (they didn't find it that fun), and we escaped the heat while making super cute things. I love summer!<br />
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Last week Cheyenne and I (oh, and Billy, he was in it for the Sonic for lunch) went shopping. While we were in Shopko, Cheyenne found some really cute earrings and at the same time we both said, "We could so make those!" So we came home started looking through the beads we have deciding what colors to make when I thought they would be perfect 4th of July earrings. So our Firework Burst earrings were born.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Htzf_hUfZokGPJvJ20XLL1Cgbh8iU1l6iRMQiqbQg4OMGPeGV6359VcI83EktffrP2LZGCmdlndvhKH-OBCVjY8SMa7yUL-DD5kulOj5GQbd1kNhgwgfEyvSlqfS1SAfu0daB1JbgGM/s1600/Firework+earrings+-+Page+005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Htzf_hUfZokGPJvJ20XLL1Cgbh8iU1l6iRMQiqbQg4OMGPeGV6359VcI83EktffrP2LZGCmdlndvhKH-OBCVjY8SMa7yUL-DD5kulOj5GQbd1kNhgwgfEyvSlqfS1SAfu0daB1JbgGM/s640/Firework+earrings+-+Page+005.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okay, so I had a little fun editing this picture, too. :)</td></tr>
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Here's what you need to make your own:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YGAg_rYUdyO24sGSc3DbfapL6Cz-Y_6FOJlPukHR1h0byck3os0q8BrSIaNGmNCdYH9webiHBoYsJ-9MTTTIoBiZFv253F-Ju8_9U-NFruLFxzmAP0Fg8976LOX5v1u7d08PY1gl37Y/s1600/bead+earrings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YGAg_rYUdyO24sGSc3DbfapL6Cz-Y_6FOJlPukHR1h0byck3os0q8BrSIaNGmNCdYH9webiHBoYsJ-9MTTTIoBiZFv253F-Ju8_9U-NFruLFxzmAP0Fg8976LOX5v1u7d08PY1gl37Y/s640/bead+earrings.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">You can make these as long or as short as you like. We held the chain up to a pair we like and guesstimated that way. Remember when you add the beads to the bottom link it will be longer. 1. Attach the chain to the hooks. 2. Put the beads on a head pin. Using the wire cutters, cut of the excess of the pin, leaving about 1/8-1/4" above the beads. 3. Then using the round end pliers, curl that extra 1/8-1/4" making a loop at the top and then use the loop to attach it to the chain. This was the new technique I learned, I've never done this before. It was kind of fun. lol And I promise, it get's easier with practice and you'll see for yourself how much extra to leave depending on how tight you roll, etc. The first pair I made it took me about 30 min. per earring. By the second pair, I could make the pair in 30 min. and by the time she was done making several pairs, Cheyenne was pretty fast at it.</span><br />
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We started by putting one pin in each link of chain and then filling in "holes" when we were done. You can make them as full or sparse as you like. <br />
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Cheyenne's pair are less full than mine are, it's just preference. Finish by cutting off any excess chain links you have. <br />
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Give it a try, it's really kind of addicting. I think we ended up each making 3 different pairs. I'll show you our other pairs later.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGNexR_qxsUqbiuZI1mlKUlJLQnu9jgYxI3q1GUeFrw-t7QZT-cvzo-qDUuI7A3DK6BjbU_tewRj-I6bKnG_S1a6BXhF_N4daoDeFYSzhLLpV7xW0erXoaTFNbzkluEuGsfd3_bNdbl1A/s1600/IMG_9357.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGNexR_qxsUqbiuZI1mlKUlJLQnu9jgYxI3q1GUeFrw-t7QZT-cvzo-qDUuI7A3DK6BjbU_tewRj-I6bKnG_S1a6BXhF_N4daoDeFYSzhLLpV7xW0erXoaTFNbzkluEuGsfd3_bNdbl1A/s640/IMG_9357.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and my beading buddy in our matching earrings - sorry it's a little blurry.</td></tr>
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</script>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-1838479661785781422012-06-28T10:38:00.000-06:002012-06-28T10:38:37.400-06:00Stars and Stripes WreathLeslie here today: I love the Fourth of July. I also love to spend it with my sister Kimberly and her family, in nice, cool, Idaho. Alas, we won't be visiting this year, but I will be thinking of the traditional, hometown parade, a ride on the carousel, and waving sparklers in your backyard at night, Kim! (Looking forward to a late July visit, perhaps?)<br />
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A few months ago, Kim and I were together for a family get together and we decided we needed a craft day. So, we both tried out yarn wreaths. She posted her cute spring version <a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2012/04/spring-yarn-wreath.html" target="_blank">here</a> and I went for a patriotic theme (I was inspired <a href="http://naptimecrafting.blogspot.com/2011/06/another-patriotic-wreath.html" target="_blank">here</a>.) <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXI-qZXG9Mq2FOYr5aRgzJ3Tuj2C30u9vvhtrVPuynbzjf2jnvmcxmwqOHa6skPbB5yQJdo8nQfMyihGj_09OXCLEV_Qfz0znkXXYwPC_GFyPSTz12utdjDpKm0yfeHsW2N25YT0ka/s1600/101_0558.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXI-qZXG9Mq2FOYr5aRgzJ3Tuj2C30u9vvhtrVPuynbzjf2jnvmcxmwqOHa6skPbB5yQJdo8nQfMyihGj_09OXCLEV_Qfz0znkXXYwPC_GFyPSTz12utdjDpKm0yfeHsW2N25YT0ka/s640/101_0558.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Kim gave a </span><a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2012/04/spring-yarn-wreath.html" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">good description</a><span style="background-color: white;"> of how to make these. Basically, I started out with a straw wreath form (I left the plastic on). I drew an outline on the wreath of each stripe so they would be even. Then, I started wrapping a portion of red yarn around (tucking the ends under and adding a little hot glue so they would stay in place), and then wrapping a portion of white, repeat, repeat, and last blue. </span><br />
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I couldn't find medium-sized wooden stars so I ended up using some larger ones that I had from a previous project.<br />
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It feels festive to come home to this on our door.</div>
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One thing I know for sure, after taking pictures of my front door, my next project is to give it a much needed paint job! Funny how it is something I hadn't really noticed until now!</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06994173190414608552noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-36155244839457662292012-06-13T17:23:00.000-06:002012-06-13T17:23:25.569-06:00Father's Day Printable As I promised in <a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2012/06/simple-fun-fathers-day-gift.html" target="_blank">yesterday's post</a>, I made a Father's day printable to use as a decoration (would be really cute as a centerpiece for your father's day bbq), or for a card, just print and fold.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paper and banner from <a href="http://blog.persnicketyprints.com/" target="_blank">Persnickety Prints</a></td></tr>
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The quality of the print is much higher if you download here in stead of just copying straight from my site.</div>
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<a href="https://www.box.com/s/a3da76210027f01dad3d" target="_blank">8x10 print</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.box.com/s/fe1ab42a27455e1c302c" target="_blank">4x6 print</a></div>
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I saw this quote in our church newsletter this month and just loved it. It's just how I feel about my dad. He's just the best! I have very fond memories of going fishing with him in my younger days, stopping at the gas station on the way to get a treat and pop, making up stories on the way, and him being very patient with my sister and I as we stood up in the canoe (that only took once) or our enthusiasm for fishing wavered and we started leaving lilly pad trails for the fish to follow (that was mostly Leslie.) :) He was always my number one supporter whether it was just playing church basketball, then on the school team, or even when he snuck in the back of the auditorium when I was trying out for cheerleader - how many dad's are there for cheer tryouts? My dad was! When I was in high school, his office or room was always a place to hide or regroup when needed. He relearned geometry with me and painstakingly tried to teach me every night my freshman year. He was there to comfort and reassure me when I barely nicked a senior boy's pickup while backing out one day, and the senior boy yelled and cussed at me, again while I was a freshman. When I was a junior, my favorite year, I took 2 classes from him and was his teacher's aid (where I met my future husband :) ) I was in his class every day for the entire year, and two hours one trimester. While I was his TA, I remember being enthralled by his lectures in class (history), and then loving the time we sat and talked while the class worked. Then after I was married, I have loved watching him teach and play with my kids now. My kids love going to Grandpa's house and the highlight of the summer is "Grandpa's Campout." I'm so glad we live so close to them and they are such a big part of my life still and in the life of my children.</div>
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Here's my mom and dad, aren't they so cute!</div>
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Happy Father's Day, Dad!</div>
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P.S. Don't be too jealous, but my mom is equally as awesome. I'm so blessed!</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-51327689312536965492012-06-12T16:57:00.000-06:002012-06-12T16:57:21.444-06:00Simple, Fun, Father's Day Gift<div style="text-align: center;">
Hey everyone, time flies when you're having fun, and we're really enjoying our summer so far. Sorry for the lack of posts, I've just been enjoying my kids being home.</div>
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Anyway, here's fun, quick, little gift my kid's had a lot of fun making for their dad. </div>
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We bought the bottled root beers along with a bunch of his favorite snacks. Then Billy, Cheyenne, and I made the sacrifice (while no one else was around) and drank three of the bottles. Cheyenne was hilarious. Every time she took a drink she'd start grinning and giggling because she was feeling like such a rebel drinking her "beer". I washed out the three bottles and let them dry really well, you don't want sticky candy later. I just made the little tags with my scrapbook software, or just type it out and print on scrapbook paper. The kids (with some help) came up with ideas for each candy of why they love their dad. Of course their favorite part was filling the bottles, a few treats might have ended up in their mouths along the way. Then they cut all the circles out and we tied them with twine onto the bottles. We left three of the bottles full, because he really likes this root beer, too, and instructed him to take it all to work for some afternoon pick-me-ups. Easy peesy! </div>
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See how much we were having! :) Oh, and we actually made this for Bill's birthday a month ago, and he loved the gift.</div>
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<b>P.S. Come back tomorrow for a Father's Day printable to display or use on a card! </b></div>
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<br />Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-81807176245674114622012-05-30T08:13:00.000-06:002012-05-30T08:13:36.949-06:00My Little Scout A few months ago (sheesh time is flying!), Billy had his first Blue and Gold Banquet for cub scouts. For Christmas his leaders had given each of the boys a toolbox kit to build and they used these as part of the decorations for the banquet. Billy was quite proud of his masterpiece and asked if he could share it on my blog, "since it's something he made." I can't resist those dimples so here he is with his toolbox creation.<br />
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Can you tell he wasn't so excited by the end of the photo shoot? :) So he built the box first, painted it all, then because he knew I could cut Batman stuff on my Cricut, decided that would make it awesome! He really likes the Cricut. We picked out the designs and he helped cut a few pieces and then got bored - it was a LONG process to cut out all the different layers in different colors. He glued some of them together, but the stinkin' car and Batman himself had some teeny tiny pieces and I ended up finishing both of those. However, he finished up by mod podging each thing on to the toolbox. Mission complete! He did a great job and I got to introduce him to the world of mod podge. He now proudly displays it on his shelf above his bed where it holds his rock collection. Good job, Billy! I love that boy!!<br />
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<br />Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-55777833535294549022012-05-28T17:41:00.003-06:002012-05-28T17:41:55.585-06:00Picture Me Domestic ContestA couple weeks ago, as I was taking a minute for myself in between helping at school that morning, regular straightening of the house, getting things ready for Bill's birthday, and preparing for the kids to get home and start the routine of homework, piano practicing, chores, etc, oh and added in picking up Natalie from tennis practice, getting her home to change and back to the school for a band concert, I came across an announcement of a fun contest from <a href="http://www.familyeverafterblog.com/2012/05/picture-me-domestic-self-portrait.html" target="_blank">Family Ever After</a>. Rachel from <a href="http://www.familyeverafterblog.com/" target="_blank">Family Ever After</a> , the sisters from <a href="http://www.theletter4.com/" target="_blank">The Letter 4</a>, and Aimee from <a href="http://www.itsoverflowing.com/" target="_blank">Its Overflowing</a>, have teamed up to host a "picture yourself" contest called Picture Me Domestic. Here's Rachel's description of the contest:<br />
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<u><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>PICTURE ME DOMESTIC:</b></span></u></div>
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What do you spend your days doing? What do you look like in your home element? We all spend different amounts of time at home, but at some point in the day, we are home. The point of this contest is to challenge yourself to take some fun/creative/interesting pictures of yourself doing what you do best. Or most. Or worst. LOL. We just really want to see you having fun, while attending to your life and daily tasks. So again, your challenge is: </div>
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<b>to take a self portrait somewhere at home. </b></div>
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We want to "picture <i>you</i> domestic!"</div>
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Rachel shared this <a href="http://www.familyeverafterblog.com/2011/03/self-portraits-in-my-kitchen.html" target="_blank">post </a>a while ago, okay a year ago, where she took some really cool pictures of herself in her kitchen. It was actually one of the first things I'd pinned and really wanted to do "someday". Well, this was the perfect motivation. So as I was taking that "minute" for myself, I grabbed my camera and my tripod, and started having some fun while documenting some of the craziness of the rest of my day. Here's some of what I came up with:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwZjLe5FnWG8JAsauhiZgRs_pZusPfXxfoJ58P3nBH_3w6gwvxZlWNI6ahAZApV0QrExiKemng12z7mxutCqY_AwWf76XMp5WfphvnUPoumMmRVOQnNr1ZCQJNXsRUq752rqqguSJHN0/s1600/IMG_9195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwZjLe5FnWG8JAsauhiZgRs_pZusPfXxfoJ58P3nBH_3w6gwvxZlWNI6ahAZApV0QrExiKemng12z7mxutCqY_AwWf76XMp5WfphvnUPoumMmRVOQnNr1ZCQJNXsRUq752rqqguSJHN0/s640/IMG_9195.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Savoring the last minutes of peace before the kids get home.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baking birthday pies for my man. Fluting my pie crust.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3vQg_7VaiK8ODpT8895L-8laGmafPqVBDpC8qHU7aIg4VcUjg1I2ABPn2Gko8Y__L_eWkpeI1qzBJ6J_ZuOM-n-IIEW6Md5I4oF6stvZEvAoejYSr-sCLHGYOpx4q3pGzF9EkMfB5jI/s1600/IMG_9240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3vQg_7VaiK8ODpT8895L-8laGmafPqVBDpC8qHU7aIg4VcUjg1I2ABPn2Gko8Y__L_eWkpeI1qzBJ6J_ZuOM-n-IIEW6Md5I4oF6stvZEvAoejYSr-sCLHGYOpx4q3pGzF9EkMfB5jI/s640/IMG_9240.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Awww, perfection!</td></tr>
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<br />Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-23747209459436662082012-05-22T09:06:00.002-06:002012-05-22T09:06:48.618-06:00Teachers and Graduates Hallelujah, it's the end of the school year!! I'm so excited to have my kids home. Cheyenne and Natalie's last day was yesterday, well officially on Thursday, but since they didn't have to take the "fake finals" (attendance finals, so lame!) they're home today. Natalie just has to go to get her yearbook on Thursday. Billy, Chloe, Maddie, and Jon are just playing today and field day/last day of school is tomorrow. I really do enjoy having my kids home, well, most of the time.<br />
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Anyway, it's that time of year for teacher gifts and celebrating graduates so I have a couple ideas for you.<br />
First for the graduates, what is better than money. (Kristen, don't tell/show Landon, because his is in the mail.) This is a really easy card to put together.<br />
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I used my Cricut and the Batman cartridge for the numbers and Locker Talk for the cap all cut at 1.5". The "Congrats" are stickers by Doodlebug Design. If you don't have a cutter and want to do it by hand, it's very easy to type your numbers in Word or whatever program you use and then flip them backwards. Then print them and cut them out on the black outline. Then you can flip the numbers over and the black outline will be on the backside and you'll have perfect letters. I also used my Cricut to cut a small envelope for the inside for money or a gift card. If you know your graduates school colors, use those to make it more personal - these are for two nephews and a friend of ours, or I've also cut the numbers out of "Congratulations" paper and mounted them on black. That's really fun, too.</div>
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Now for my kids' teachers, I don't do "teacher appreciation" gifts, I do end of school gifts. I don't know, it's probably just me, but I hate when people tell me when I'm supposed to be thankful or appreciative or whatever. Maybe I'm more like my husband than I thought with his dislike of Valentine's day for the same reason. So anyway, since we happen to hear both of their teachers have Kindles, and one of them is retiring this year so I didn't want to give her "teacher stuff", we decided to give them Amazon gift cards and decorate these cute glasses for them.</div>
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I used some outdoor vinyl, which I've heard washes better and stays on longer. However, the teal dots are regular vinyl, so I'm crossing my fingers that it holds up. I used my Cricut again, to cut it all out, but again, I'm sure you could print something out on your computer, tape it onto your vinyl and trace around it to cut it out by hand. So in the card I gave them, I wrote something about wanting to kick off the summer right with a tall glass of lemonade (included a couple lemonade packets in the glasses) and a good book. I really hope they like them. My kids have had such awesome teachers this year and have been just my kids have needed. </div>
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So that's it, some quick, easy gifts for the teachers or graduates in your life. Now bring on the summer fun!</div>
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<br />Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-57199522276545045262012-05-18T08:29:00.000-06:002012-05-20T21:11:42.069-06:00Skylanders Birthday Party<i>Hey, Leslie's back today with another fabulous birthday party!</i><br />
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My oldest son turned 9 this weekend! He didn't want many "toys" for his birthday this year and when my husband and I were birthday shopping, I felt a little sad because I feel like he is nearing a new stage. Why do they grow up so fast? Ok, enough of my boobing! <br />
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This year, we did a family birthday party but he still wanted a "theme" (really, I don't know where he gets it from ; ) Last year was Angry Birds, but this year he and his brother are really into a game called Skylanders, so Skylanders it was. I didn't go all out, but I thought if there are others out there whose boys love this game as much as mine, they might like a few of the things we came up with.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDEJRT62j3BRG24Ublfnrtg2x3RXfIDdzYli3n2BNUDgm3UjwscwRY8B8mw84se18jSEIxMGN5z-VXR4rj0eB7h8Pi9nF0rpkKjwGTk9dOeIzF3h0YcUq5Ivbbada25Q40wMP_T8U/s1600/101_0316.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDEJRT62j3BRG24Ublfnrtg2x3RXfIDdzYli3n2BNUDgm3UjwscwRY8B8mw84se18jSEIxMGN5z-VXR4rj0eB7h8Pi9nF0rpkKjwGTk9dOeIzF3h0YcUq5Ivbbada25Q40wMP_T8U/s320/101_0316.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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For the decorations, I drew the <em>all important</em> Skylander elements on the coordinating colored balloons. I printed off coloring sheets of some characters <a href="http://www.hellokids.com/r_1985/coloring-page/super-heroes-coloring-pages/skylanders-spyro-s-adventure-coloring-pages">here</a> and then colored them while I finished up watching the last season of Parenthood. (I love that show!)<br />
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I made some little confetti and/or cupcake toppers of the elements. You can use them as well! Here is <a href="https://www.box.com/s/7823a4b67e6e8fcfd556">a link</a> to my file. (If you print it, it will be a little pixely. I took a black Sharpie and traced the edges to sharpen them up a little). <br />
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But then, my son requested root beer floats and ice cream sundaes for the party, so I used them on top of the floats, but forgot to get a good picture of all the floats lined up. You get the idea:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimQJctlQz6VbfzMnfM-twDXXD5BGgw0zNgBwRnOgioISp7MFz6SYBwGOx9nKnb_XKH8XC5GOB-X21mJ9jUdacEqNOW5UZt9lU6noznBRPlZpKQc5kLAhYPqWo518TJVVUdvCLbZ2hV/s1600/101_0349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimQJctlQz6VbfzMnfM-twDXXD5BGgw0zNgBwRnOgioISp7MFz6SYBwGOx9nKnb_XKH8XC5GOB-X21mJ9jUdacEqNOW5UZt9lU6noznBRPlZpKQc5kLAhYPqWo518TJVVUdvCLbZ2hV/s320/101_0349.JPG" width="209" /></a></div>
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Next, we had Skylander trivia. The parents were out of the loop on this game... but the kids enjoyed it. And, to save you time from looking up random trivia and learning more than you probably ever wanted to know about Skylanders... here is <a href="https://www.box.com/s/457b0db9e78fcb9e9c1b">the link</a> to our trivia! Feel free to use it.<br />
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One last game idea: you could take down the balloons and say the name of a certain Skylander character. The kids have to run to the correct element that particular Skylander coordinates with. I included a list of these under the link for trivia above.<br />
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Last, I made a little favor for the cousins to take home. I made them using a similar technique as described<span sb_id="ms__id4118" style="color: #38761d;"> </span><a href="http://www.ehow.com/how_5173545_make-scrabble-tile-necklace.html" sb_id="ms__id4119"><span sb_id="ms__id4120" style="color: #38761d;">here</span></a> (I use Glossy Accents rather than Diamond
Glaze). Also, rather than use scrabble tiles, I wanted something bigger, so my
brother cut these wood squares for me, which measured about 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".
I found the graphics online, copy and pasted them into Word, printed them off and glued a character on both sides of the wood. Then I screwed
in the key chain parts that I purchased from JoAnns. (If you want more details
on how to make them, just leave a comment or email). <br />
And yes, Tinker Bell is not a member of Skylanders, but there are fairies... so I figured my niece would rather have Tink than Terrafin!<br />
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<br />Hope this gives you some ideas for a birthday party or a fun summer activity if you have little ones that love this game like mine! (Or are mine the only ones???)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTsAwJWSK4QosESQJidrcqsJ_jZfFPCHjREU5Nb3hG9HIiWI0KWkdORN4UTHL6v_PsBd-DGYfFu8gv4D8LMsTojGbQpMOdccz7o0JtKRZy2o9eKULCLuMpVnQXDRFteOafo_hbZmuL5E/s1600/Leslie+sig+-+Page+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="72" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTsAwJWSK4QosESQJidrcqsJ_jZfFPCHjREU5Nb3hG9HIiWI0KWkdORN4UTHL6v_PsBd-DGYfFu8gv4D8LMsTojGbQpMOdccz7o0JtKRZy2o9eKULCLuMpVnQXDRFteOafo_hbZmuL5E/s200/Leslie+sig+-+Page+003.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06994173190414608552noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-21197341118782616812012-05-16T08:30:00.002-06:002012-05-16T08:32:54.395-06:00Baby Stats Sign and Custom Onesie A friend of mine just had a baby a couple weeks ago, so of course I had to make her something cute. Lucky for me I found <a href="http://thewinthropchronicles.blogspot.com/2012/03/baby-stats-subway-art.html" target="_blank">this </a>adorable subway art sign on <a href="http://thewinthropchronicles.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The Winthrop Chronicles</a> a week or so ago. I fell in love with it and knew I had to make one, too. I also had some flocked iron-on vinyl that I'd been dying to try out and this was the perfect opportunity. So here's what I gave her and her adorable baby boy:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHVw5x8SZEap4Os5OvO0u97pvN2n0eKkJPyJ5UOwhVHldRtWUU6QNe3tQRKzTE6OzuW4nH4hzukwdQkxt-lz6vVR_QGpw8zmxdIABUYr4Hm9L5PdUCBM2mwdmN5mNzWv5wEUP1qREd-qI/s1600/IMG_9179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHVw5x8SZEap4Os5OvO0u97pvN2n0eKkJPyJ5UOwhVHldRtWUU6QNe3tQRKzTE6OzuW4nH4hzukwdQkxt-lz6vVR_QGpw8zmxdIABUYr4Hm9L5PdUCBM2mwdmN5mNzWv5wEUP1qREd-qI/s640/IMG_9179.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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For the sign, I first painted my board white, just around the edges and on the back. Then I created the word art in Storybook Creator (my scrapbook software that I LOVE!), printed it out and mod podged it on to the board. Easy peesy! I like to cover the board with mod podge and then put the glue on the back of the paper, too. It seems to bubble and curl less that way. I also use a brayer (or credit card, or just your hands) to smooth out all the bubbles I can. I let that dry well, and then put a coat or two on the top. Oh, I also sanded the edges of the board for a distressed look. See the above picture for the finished product.<br />
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The onesie I found a year or so ago on a super clearance and grabbed a couple just for this idea. I've just never gotten around to it until now. :) I found an image I liked and cut it out with my Cricut. I like to give bigger clothes, like 12 mo. size, since it seems like I was always given tons of 0-6 mo. So I didn't want something too babyish. The P!ay Hard was perfect. When I'm cutting vinyl of any kind, I always test my image by cutting it out on cheap cardstock first. Why waste the good (expensive) stuff on errors. Did my adjusting, and then cut it out of the Silhouette flocked iron-on vinyl. This stuff is cool! I can't wait to do more projects with it. Then it was easy as ironing it on, letting it cool, and pulling off the top coating layer (I washed the onesie first, too). Again, check out the top picture for the finished product.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEd5aEWm8s6IWbOHOjx_YRUBAMmhMkMlOehNwMRl4RQh1DS8oU4PtqnMsw91verGWQFn-ejOLn8iA6BIVcuoOKKY65nj2mrgiD5IPwB2sGs_bfeFiqMwDQr_iNZHidoLDsUXnND8mtJJQ/s1600/IMG_9176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEd5aEWm8s6IWbOHOjx_YRUBAMmhMkMlOehNwMRl4RQh1DS8oU4PtqnMsw91verGWQFn-ejOLn8iA6BIVcuoOKKY65nj2mrgiD5IPwB2sGs_bfeFiqMwDQr_iNZHidoLDsUXnND8mtJJQ/s400/IMG_9176.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I really hope my friend likes it as much as I liked making it. Making things for others is just so much fun!</div>
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<img align="left" src="http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo310/shabbycreations2/postsig-25.jpg" style="border: 0;" /><br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-57533404672380722292012-05-14T08:47:00.001-06:002012-05-14T08:47:38.885-06:00Menu May 14-20 Happy belated Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers out there. I hope you had a great weekend, I sure did. Thursday was Bill's birthday, and Sunday was our anniversary and Mother's Day, so we did a lot of celebrating all weekend.<br />
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Saturday was a beautiful day, weather wise, which means we had to get some work done. However, we still couldn't get our garden planted since my FIL flooded (seriously about 4" of water ALL DAY LONG) our garden a couple days ago. lol Oh, well, Bill got all the weeds sprayed and we're toying with the idea of not even planting it this year and just attaching the stupid vine that is EVERYWHERE and nothing seems to kill. He sprayed the whole yard, put out some ground distillante, too, just hoping to keep the weeds in the field and out of our yard. Not easy. We also moved a little apple tree, I know, not the best time, but since the frost last week probably killed any chances of fruit we decided to move it. That will make it easier to get the lawn mower in and out of the shed.<br />
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I spend most of Saturday afternoon cleaning out cupboards and drawers in the kitchen. It's amazing how many crumbs and stuff accumulate in closed drawers. I also attacked the lazy-susan in the corner. I cleaned a few things out, but mostly corralled water bottles into a basket and all the lunch containers (sandwich holders, little thermos, etc.) into a basket. Why did I do this before?! It's genius I tell ya! And I'm not taking credit, I saw it somewhere a few days ago and thought, duh, why haven't I done this. So I had Jon skinny back into the cupboard to reach to far back corner and retrieve water bottles for hopefully the last time. It looks wonderful! I also spent a good portion of the day untangling kites. 7 kites just sort of thrown into the shed did not make for a happy mama. They didn't even wind up the string. But it's all better now, and I told them if it happens again, the kites are going in the garbage. :)<br />
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Sunday was nice and relaxing. Bill made us breakfast while I got to sleep in a little longer. The triplets had presents they made at school. Cheyenne gave me a purse that I bought for someone to give me. :) Natalie gave me candy, peanut butter M&Ms, always a great choice. And Billy (and everyone else, thanks to Bill) gave me a sno-cone maker! It is so fun!! It sure beats the Snoopy house sno-cone maker I always wanted. So after dinner yesterday, we introduced all the kids to the wonders of a sno-cone - I think Cheyenne is the only one who'd ever had one before. They loved them! <br />
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Like I said, yesterday was also our anniversary. I can't believe we've been married for 17 years now. We looked through our wedding pictures yesterday and boy, was I skinny then! lol Cheyenne and Natalie just laughed, not at us so much, but at everyone else who was so young. My sister and Bill's brother, my nieces and nephews who are in college now. It was fun doing a little reminiscing.<br />
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On to the real reason for the post, this week's menu.<br />
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Monday - Cheese tortellini - just frozen variety, quick and easy<br />
Tuesday - <a href="http://food-pusher.blogspot.com/2010/08/chile-colorado-burritos.html" target="_blank">Chile Colorado Burritos</a> - can't wait to try these<br />
Wednesday - BBQ chicken sandwiches - cook some chicken breasts in the crockpot for a few hours, shred <br />
it, and add some BBQ sauce for another hour or so.<br />
Thursday - Steak & Lemon Spaghetti (a recipe from <a href="http://www.americastestkitchen.com/" target="_blank">Americas Test Kitchen</a>)<br />
Friday - Pizza<br />
Saturday - Leftovers<br />
Sunday - hmm, I never decided, I guess, maybe chicken and rice.<br />
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And for some laughs today:<br />
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<img alt="Mind. Blown." src="http://media-cache4.pinterest.com/upload/9570217928547131_5vN3OFa6_b.jpg" />
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Now that would be some awesome Hunger Games!! lol Except who is the Gamemaster? He's the only one I don't recognize - probably a scary movie, huh, we don't watch scary movies.<br />
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<img align="left" src="http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo310/shabbycreations2/postsig-25.jpg" style="border: 0;" /><br />
<a href="javascript:void((function(){var%20e=document.createElement('script');e.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8');e.setAttribute('src','http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r='+Math.center()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());"><img alt="Pin It" class="aligncenter" src="http://www.clickinmoms.com/cmprodaily/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/pinit.jpg" /></a>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-59142690030707776132012-05-11T11:15:00.003-06:002012-05-23T08:21:06.987-06:00Thrifty Decorating - My Boys Room<div style="text-align: center;">
Last week in <a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2012/05/avengers.html" target="_blank">this</a> post about The Avengers, I told you we are big super hero fans here at our house. I also told you I'd share with you my boys' super hero room. It was not a big expensive redo, in fact it's been very thrifty.</div>
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My favorite part of their room, aside from the cute boys themselves, is this gallery wall.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-BQU48N1jc7LK9SycEj6wE7MzR3m2Z7rn9p2CxFoKuShgE9yh3n4ypzBUXJ4pRYXgk3xupPmtIb8M9aXqqUUgLFoHIJ_drXd0SDcRcMa1s2bQQvFN2nhkoY3_Tsi30-A27OKQ3f46GU/s1600/IMG_4740-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-BQU48N1jc7LK9SycEj6wE7MzR3m2Z7rn9p2CxFoKuShgE9yh3n4ypzBUXJ4pRYXgk3xupPmtIb8M9aXqqUUgLFoHIJ_drXd0SDcRcMa1s2bQQvFN2nhkoY3_Tsi30-A27OKQ3f46GU/s400/IMG_4740-001.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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There dresser has never been this clean since. :) We need to replace this dresser now, it's too small for their clothes now, they're growing up and getting taller. Decorating is a never ending process, isn't it?</div>
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Anyway, these awesome super hero pictures are old comic book covers, well, copies that were a calendar. When my sister, Leslie, and I went to visit my other sister, Kristen, in Colorado a couple of years ago we went shopping in Boulder one day. While walking around, we stumbled across this cool calendar and since both our boys were very into super heroes, it immediately caught our eye. However, it was a little pricey, so we left it. By the time we were clear down to the end of the whole shopping area and waiting for a table for dinner, we decided we did want it. lol So while Kristen and her family kept waiting, Leslie and I ran back down to the store and bought it, planning on sharing it with this purpose in mind. I know, random story, but I just love my sisters, and every time I look at these pictures it reminds me of our fun weekend.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJEjbT9D-UjKNXC8kadl7mZkTS2tmKjIWjYRso3cHQMxVKgKf52x83WIOVz6IYG4HcWQV9B2F2khtkOkIYd79_FzWKyAFwUvEzkEVdLhDxM_O67E03qrY2Pnt0uhPvTfuTqxGs3y8jjU/s1600/IMG_1966.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJEjbT9D-UjKNXC8kadl7mZkTS2tmKjIWjYRso3cHQMxVKgKf52x83WIOVz6IYG4HcWQV9B2F2khtkOkIYd79_FzWKyAFwUvEzkEVdLhDxM_O67E03qrY2Pnt0uhPvTfuTqxGs3y8jjU/s320/IMG_1966.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kristen, Leslie, and Me in 2010</td></tr>
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Here's a close up of the pictures so you can see how totally cool they are.</div>
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Along with these great super heroes, I wanted my boys to have some real heroes to look up to, so I found these posters:</div>
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This is right in their doorway. Boy, it is really hard to take good photos of pictures. Reflections are hard! </div>
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This is my favorite, I just framed this one, too, and it hangs over their desk. These are all scripture heroes - great men, great stories, plus they still have swords and stuff so the boys love them, too. I got these prints from <a href="http://ldsengine.com/heroposters/index.php?route=common/home" target="_blank">Real Hero Posters</a>. My older girls have some in their room, too, you can see them <a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2011/09/bulletin-board-revamp.html" target="_blank">here.</a> I'm not affiliated with Real Hero Posters in any way, I just think they are awesome!!</div>
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This is the rest of their room. Billy's shelf, filled with lego creations, beds with Superman and Spiderman bedding (just cheap Walmart sets, nothing expensive so we can change it later), and a tall bookshelf at the far end of the bed. A shelf full of books plus three shelves for pirate lego boats and accessories. In the spirit of keeping it real, I didn't even clean up the mess of legos under the bed. Guess what Billy and Jon will be doing when they get home today. :)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYIHxdgjW72nmD1Ee1jrr5bo_PZpBzrk6xYVURolDV8awHKz-DpxbXquYIW2MJnaPEerpJLvfbQaTsSNdAkXq_7g-psQ0ml3LZYfdm77IEXpXDfDM7km_Qj_FmgMk7VqPLIrCAWElr2o/s1600/IMG_9256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYIHxdgjW72nmD1Ee1jrr5bo_PZpBzrk6xYVURolDV8awHKz-DpxbXquYIW2MJnaPEerpJLvfbQaTsSNdAkXq_7g-psQ0ml3LZYfdm77IEXpXDfDM7km_Qj_FmgMk7VqPLIrCAWElr2o/s400/IMG_9256.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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So the moral of this post, calendars are a great, inexpensive way to have nice art work in your home. Now is a great time of year to buy calendars as they are marked down considerably. <a href="http://www.calendars.com/" target="_blank">Calendars.com</a> is one of my favorite places to buy calendars. There are calendars for every interest and every theme and decor. So next time you need some new art work for whatever room you're decorating, check into calendars first.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>This post was featured by:</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/%22target=%22blank%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx169/trendytreehouse/FeaturedButton.gif%22/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/" target="blank"><img border="0" height="125" src="http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx169/trendytreehouse/FeaturedButton.gif" width="125" /></a></i></b></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-28486376455254920212012-05-07T17:33:00.001-06:002012-05-07T17:33:31.154-06:00Menu for May 6-13 I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I sure did. We took all the kids to Avengers on Saturday morning/afternoon - it was awesome!! Chloe and Maddie looked a little bored during the movie, but after it was over they both said they loved it. Everyone else loved it, too, and we were already quoting (okay, everyone else was quoting - my memory is not that good) our favorite lines by the time we got to the car. We spent the rest of the afternoon and all of Sunday doing pretty much nothing, just relaxing, being together, I read a book I'm embarrassed to admit I read, it was just a nice weekend.<br />
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Anywho, it's a new week and unfortunately I have people here who insist on eating every day. ;) So here is this weeks menu. Bill's birthday is this week, and our anniversary is on Mother's Day so we'll have plenty of celebrating to do.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">Monday:</span><span style="font-size: large;"> Chicken/broccoli casserole </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">(one of the VERY few allowed in this house.) :)</span><br />
<span style="color: cyan; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">Tuesday: </span><span style="font-size: large;">Philly Steak Sandwiches I pinned from <a href="http://onceamomalwaysacook.blogspot.com/2012/03/must-try-monday-philly-cheese-steak.html" target="_blank">here</a></span><br />
<span style="color: cyan; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">Wednesday: </span><span style="font-size: large;">Breakfast for dinner</span><br />
<span style="color: cyan; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">Thursday: </span><span style="font-size: large;">Bill's birthday so it's Thai food and chocolate cake filled with Bavarian cream, I think, or pie</span><br />
<span style="color: cyan; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">Friday: </span><span style="font-size: large;">Pizza</span><br />
<span style="color: cyan; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">Saturday: </span><span style="font-size: large;">Leftovers</span><br />
<span style="color: cyan; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">Sunday: </span><span style="font-size: large;">Hamburgers on the grill, unless the kids come up with some other idea they want to do</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'll leave you with a great thought for the week:</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3h0_zcRIL03_XDX38yLqzBcR3gPZ8EKh301jeUErYxrFPLwY9_5Y3-_5dsZQ0-C4eiGUb4ujamN3GHPS8yoGQLfRI78T6LEI4wCBReVdLvgL6XPvbGSCVGup1TEwkJjQyKDuOgOep_f0/s1600/Happiness_Harold_B_Lee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3h0_zcRIL03_XDX38yLqzBcR3gPZ8EKh301jeUErYxrFPLwY9_5Y3-_5dsZQ0-C4eiGUb4ujamN3GHPS8yoGQLfRI78T6LEI4wCBReVdLvgL6XPvbGSCVGup1TEwkJjQyKDuOgOep_f0/s400/Happiness_Harold_B_Lee.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ayearoffhe.blogspot.com/2012/05/inspired-words-happiness-attitude.html" target="_blank">Souce</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Have a great week!</span></div>
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<img align="left" src="http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo310/shabbycreations2/postsig-25.jpg" style="border: 0;" /><br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-12661329051320953602012-05-04T10:01:00.000-06:002012-05-07T11:51:32.304-06:00The Avengers!We have a love of super heroes in our home, both boys and girls, the bigs and the littles. We all have our favorite heroes, our favorite cartoon episodes, our favorite movies, my older girls and I <strike>drool</strike> discuss our favorite actor super heroes (I'm a little partial to Thor!), the boys' room is all super heroes (I'll show you next week), our little 4 all dressed as super heroes a few years ago for Halloween and then lived in those costumes for a long time. In fact last night we were given a little music concert performed by Batman, Spiderman, and Harry Potter, they have grown into the bigger size costumes however. :) So, in honor of the movie coming out today, a little ode to The Avengers! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwWxKRm4m91cmRrU54li5yiZJKQUYt0v9GuC4_s_oFmx3PQBWszbg3YnsvMPxCzia1KeUfrB0MBzq4gqXSq3RiSNs3MzjSza6KKZU-QPZAwSHd3qDVWn30QHhWD1hRIdEl5bxdrfMG_Y/s1600/IMG_2918.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwWxKRm4m91cmRrU54li5yiZJKQUYt0v9GuC4_s_oFmx3PQBWszbg3YnsvMPxCzia1KeUfrB0MBzq4gqXSq3RiSNs3MzjSza6KKZU-QPZAwSHd3qDVWn30QHhWD1hRIdEl5bxdrfMG_Y/s400/IMG_2918.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They're so little!</td></tr>
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If only I had these skills:<br />
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I apologize for no sources on many of these. I found them on Pinterest and most didn't have any sources. If anyone knows where they came from, I'd love to give credit for them.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0OnoUQo955iJRxc4O_7u2wb56LgpLVeZ8QO7ViUBe2avoiaS0kRJRpTvg1UEozum0XhQA3aJFJI-3dS7WgzHmD_A0PbCry9UG5EbJSuZOEA9I3-gp7X70sB-zIvVlZiLTgpL1Jnp7XJ0/s1600/Avengers5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0OnoUQo955iJRxc4O_7u2wb56LgpLVeZ8QO7ViUBe2avoiaS0kRJRpTvg1UEozum0XhQA3aJFJI-3dS7WgzHmD_A0PbCry9UG5EbJSuZOEA9I3-gp7X70sB-zIvVlZiLTgpL1Jnp7XJ0/s400/Avengers5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://favim.com/image/21629/" target="_blank">Source</a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTV2IMiWTiAQ8D6iHozSyt5UDEh_9GBV0U867KLRoQfw1KXi56EgjtvBlsOmCaL2_ZV-gU778D1yC2mvELqQbOm8wZaOqeaFDkDeVRGTdtTjcYeKSXJ4vNc_jFMf-oFNUMaq5SyvS3LVg/s1600/Avengers4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTV2IMiWTiAQ8D6iHozSyt5UDEh_9GBV0U867KLRoQfw1KXi56EgjtvBlsOmCaL2_ZV-gU778D1yC2mvELqQbOm8wZaOqeaFDkDeVRGTdtTjcYeKSXJ4vNc_jFMf-oFNUMaq5SyvS3LVg/s400/Avengers4.jpg" width="270" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okay, so this one isn't technically all Avengers, it's still pretty dang cool!</td></tr>
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For the little (or big, actually) Avengers in your life:<br />
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<a href="http://www.iammommahearmeroar.net/2012/04/subtle-superhero-shirt.html" target="_blank">DIY Avengers Shirt - I Am Momma Hear Me Roar </a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT0ltf01l-jxKN218H0JbP5QmZsfK34m1scSDjMVzoIRwzBwz75EbX1iH5mcHyFJ4M6BhYhjcH29056YfGgdI6I56auAHIMS0NvLsjmdxaM2oK-oyAF0C3hYcyUF61BMqs9I8uBR4Tla8/s1600/Avengers6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT0ltf01l-jxKN218H0JbP5QmZsfK34m1scSDjMVzoIRwzBwz75EbX1iH5mcHyFJ4M6BhYhjcH29056YfGgdI6I56auAHIMS0NvLsjmdxaM2oK-oyAF0C3hYcyUF61BMqs9I8uBR4Tla8/s400/Avengers6.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyua9VoAaYvFttEjOhKLCOu7PdbAtkPSxd1t6eODs2aGSLHohNoWECj8ajTa9ic4iSFSMBlhYQ8x0w7Xt64j4HpfKssQtTN9jlFDH3APHBgGgCcsLzHfog6vdI1EYDjnMRMv82u2512wY/s1600/Avengers7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyua9VoAaYvFttEjOhKLCOu7PdbAtkPSxd1t6eODs2aGSLHohNoWECj8ajTa9ic4iSFSMBlhYQ8x0w7Xt64j4HpfKssQtTN9jlFDH3APHBgGgCcsLzHfog6vdI1EYDjnMRMv82u2512wY/s320/Avengers7.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>
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Who wouldn't love some Avengers Legos?! Billy must not have seen these or they would have been all over his birthday list. lol</div>
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For the girls:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRMTj9mvwpSIfSpnPu3ZWqv1GGtjwFMWzfb_w2d4rTSved-xnMwFuXS2b8qkAzamaTpxurCHGvFcWB6gIMehYU9rspOY_ddbGj2Hh6Gg4Ehv9McjydVcSdV2-fbQ5I4upewVRkyEL-RXk/s1600/Avengers3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRMTj9mvwpSIfSpnPu3ZWqv1GGtjwFMWzfb_w2d4rTSved-xnMwFuXS2b8qkAzamaTpxurCHGvFcWB6gIMehYU9rspOY_ddbGj2Hh6Gg4Ehv9McjydVcSdV2-fbQ5I4upewVRkyEL-RXk/s320/Avengers3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Feel like getting your Avengers groove on? Check these out:<br />
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<a href="http://jangsara.blogspot.com/2012/04/avengers-assemble.html" target="_blank">Source</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEgE2SZz7vnAQqlCCd7vcBqnvrCsyUauiTlx12wmf1kLJ-cHPzotLMLdseeMd_bJvauNEkT8qVwmymMYMIGwVpn1MMzA3d1wVhCwZbfJZ55470aCb0VNX1ytAqv3z1-juJWol3Ogsp8zU/s1600/Avengers1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEgE2SZz7vnAQqlCCd7vcBqnvrCsyUauiTlx12wmf1kLJ-cHPzotLMLdseeMd_bJvauNEkT8qVwmymMYMIGwVpn1MMzA3d1wVhCwZbfJZ55470aCb0VNX1ytAqv3z1-juJWol3Ogsp8zU/s640/Avengers1.jpg" width="188" /></a></div>
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She gives you detailed directions of how she created these fabulous looks.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsATpvVBR4KuNdUwa8pR084T8z2g3eLzSBwcSJelICvbC2AEHL4atrajtzqUlv2sl7T9zYxcHS0wEtHu6_g37X5bERtx-M8j9LGYdkS55f8Ds9n4JMGE6X63jC-5-CwyhBOWKhPV_d5Ok/s1600/Avengers2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsATpvVBR4KuNdUwa8pR084T8z2g3eLzSBwcSJelICvbC2AEHL4atrajtzqUlv2sl7T9zYxcHS0wEtHu6_g37X5bERtx-M8j9LGYdkS55f8Ds9n4JMGE6X63jC-5-CwyhBOWKhPV_d5Ok/s320/Avengers2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now wouldn't you love a manicure like that!</div>
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Ahh, so much fun! I can't wait to see the movie. I hope we're going tomorrow, of course that's after Bill sees it today. It's his Friday "training film" for work. :) So is your family as super hero crazy as mine is? Who's your favorite super hero? </div>
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P.S. We did go see it on Saturday and it was AWESOME!! The whole family ages 37 to 7 loved it!</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a></div>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-38705623100354312082012-05-03T11:55:00.000-06:002012-05-03T11:55:50.721-06:00Give Clothes a New Life
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We're starting the countdown to the end of school at our house. We even got a message yesterday that my youngest 4 get out a day earlier than planned. Yeah! Now if your kids are like my kids, their clothes are starting to look like it's the end of the school year. I don't think Maddie has one pair of jeans that don't have holes in them. The boys do, only because they grew and needed new pants a couple months ago. Many shirts are stained and my kids are starting to look like little rag-a-muffins. :) So a little DIY clothing rescue is in order.<br />
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First up:<br />
Seriously stained shirts, even my awesome <a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2012/01/diy-stain-pretreater.html" target="_blank">Stain Pretreater</a> couldn't get these really set-in stains out. At my children's school, Friday is "wear red day" so a red shirt is an absolute must (they get a prize if they wear red.) So these shirts had to be salvaged.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy-rdWLk8dwg5CmfWk71SDHWdaNKkRTQBY0GUgHBGTS93f0AGWpV0bD19eoihtiCaghASDioCfYHlgxI0QFYEjbb-MF9-CoKO1BGcdqEHhrFHm-GiIirDYZrWxmZZZpANcuR3yGvy2SjU/s1600/IMG_8949-002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy-rdWLk8dwg5CmfWk71SDHWdaNKkRTQBY0GUgHBGTS93f0AGWpV0bD19eoihtiCaghASDioCfYHlgxI0QFYEjbb-MF9-CoKO1BGcdqEHhrFHm-GiIirDYZrWxmZZZpANcuR3yGvy2SjU/s400/IMG_8949-002.JPG" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the best picture, after several, without Billy looking like a dork. lol They do like each other. :)</td></tr>
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Billy's shirt was a simple fix. I used iron on vinyl, very simple. It was Silhouette vinyl, however I cut it out with my Cricut. Iron it on and I'm the coolest mom because he now has an "infected" shirt (a version of play on "Halo" that uses that symbol.)<br />
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For Chole's shirt, I did a reverse applique, my first time ever. It was fun! I found <a href="http://sweet-verbena.blogspot.com/2011/08/reverse-applique-tutorial.html" target="_blank">this</a> great tutorial from Sweet Verbena. The shirt had a few more stains that the applique didn't cover so I added a few circles of the same material just stitched on (they were small enough that I didn't use interfacing on them.) I also decided to add a little more color by just dabbing on some fabric paint in the flower petals.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3kiEjG1npf5DI0WDMKHYg9O5RZTPEThbrq9Y4LANTHBI55e35uvtU1DCUuT-A5vH23_MKlfO1nwk0KooTEov39TD6BLZVX7AajPLM-W6mr8N_ZaBwBf7K0suMNI9qHH_fszmaJJupklg/s1600/IMG_9172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3kiEjG1npf5DI0WDMKHYg9O5RZTPEThbrq9Y4LANTHBI55e35uvtU1DCUuT-A5vH23_MKlfO1nwk0KooTEov39TD6BLZVX7AajPLM-W6mr8N_ZaBwBf7K0suMNI9qHH_fszmaJJupklg/s400/IMG_9172.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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Finally, I turned a shirt of mine, that was now to short into a shirt for Natalie. She doesn't like long-sleeved shirts, but 3/4 shirts are okay so I couldn't let this one go to waste.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3mupS4OM6dLsMqpxmljqys6bwEmM22U0JTJlcvAeyHLFvgghKLfdG_r0hthZFmIq5pO_FNqaN2g9kdl3o2A0MHI8UoqgMYcarmPZNtO9f_wkyal-RUbRvy8_MbwMHqhurf-k8KoTSh4/s1600/Shirt+Collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3mupS4OM6dLsMqpxmljqys6bwEmM22U0JTJlcvAeyHLFvgghKLfdG_r0hthZFmIq5pO_FNqaN2g9kdl3o2A0MHI8UoqgMYcarmPZNtO9f_wkyal-RUbRvy8_MbwMHqhurf-k8KoTSh4/s640/Shirt+Collage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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First of all lay down the shirt to be altered, inside out. Lay a shirt that fits on top of it. Match shoulder seams and center it. I use an old piece of soap - best tailor's chalk ever!, to carefully trace the edge of the top shirt. Then just stitch up the new seam and turn right side out. Since this was such a little adjustment and not a work of art, I just left the extra material because Natalie didn't care. If it was a big adjustment, you could cut off the extra and serge or just zig-zag the edges.<br />
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Just a little more fitted and a little shape to it now. Natalie liked it, yeah!<br />
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Here are a few more ideas I've shared for recycling and getting more use out of the clothes that you pay good money for:<br />
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<a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcycling-dress-into-shirt.html" target="_blank">Dress into Shirt</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9sJe8fxlld-TX-ALrbImx8KOwOPjUto1WSt1eEYVQ2z3l1Ym43KL4_4EAjzJOs3ctQbY8RFjZaOv3vu1gtUKpQpb6FYsjO3azqS5Pqp1FnM41unm-q7xxqhVew9_yy-jAHRSclhjmK7g/s1600/2011-07-01.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9sJe8fxlld-TX-ALrbImx8KOwOPjUto1WSt1eEYVQ2z3l1Ym43KL4_4EAjzJOs3ctQbY8RFjZaOv3vu1gtUKpQpb6FYsjO3azqS5Pqp1FnM41unm-q7xxqhVew9_yy-jAHRSclhjmK7g/s320/2011-07-01.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2011/07/new-from-old-skirts.html" target="_blank">Shirts into Skirts</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJxwR0eEIVUmfsDvZ3elwFS5V5u-oIU-urM7iBxkpHqWaUpK1AkliXSIWzxLpctwYPYancfXQhGYbMtytt_7MQcjEDdaOTCRBBjRYRV8gJP5LbRTJxdFKMCtll2VW8fGDyqOXt1GwKsI/s1600/IMG_6807.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJxwR0eEIVUmfsDvZ3elwFS5V5u-oIU-urM7iBxkpHqWaUpK1AkliXSIWzxLpctwYPYancfXQhGYbMtytt_7MQcjEDdaOTCRBBjRYRV8gJP5LbRTJxdFKMCtll2VW8fGDyqOXt1GwKsI/s320/IMG_6807.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2010/11/upcycling-and-recycling.html" target="_blank">Painting and Felt Applique</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwr0rlyKPClMGb8q8oIOSyOxvUf3X9ywzmOvaxTpGbMEzicvr_lSYqNmiyhdaLSu6oy8yagMELadDr_pmHs9ANt7c2lxEWryw1wRvS7mCbi7zLbVUro_4oGIOR3wSfSS4fri7vYvzbLjE/s1600/IMG_6255.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwr0rlyKPClMGb8q8oIOSyOxvUf3X9ywzmOvaxTpGbMEzicvr_lSYqNmiyhdaLSu6oy8yagMELadDr_pmHs9ANt7c2lxEWryw1wRvS7mCbi7zLbVUro_4oGIOR3wSfSS4fri7vYvzbLjE/s320/IMG_6255.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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Now to tackle the pile of pants I cleaned out of their drawers to turn them into shorts for the summer. :) What's your favorite way to extend the life of clothes at your house?</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-28953140304182496162012-04-30T12:26:00.000-06:002012-04-30T12:26:23.364-06:00I'm a judge!<div style="text-align: center;">
Hey guess what? It's official, I am a judge for One Artsy Mama's "One Crafty Contest". </div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ccenter%3E%3Ca%20href=%22http://oneartmama.blogspot.com/%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc86/dancers4life/craftcontest2.jpg%22/%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/center%3E" target="_blank"></a></div>
<center><a href="http://oneartmama.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc86/dancers4life/craftcontest2.jpg" /></a></center><br /><br />
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Go check out her post <a href="http://oneartmama.blogspot.com/2012/04/meet-judges.html?showComment=1335797934038#c2556306405724240583" target="_blank">here</a> announcing all the judges, our super hero names and powers, and some hilarious pictures. Amy is just awesome!</div>
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Everyone come sign up tomorrow and pass the word around. Lots of fun, lots of prizes, it's going to be a blast!!</div>
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<img align="left" src="http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo310/shabbycreations2/postsig-25.jpg" style="border: 0;" /><br />
<br />Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-30798836620842715022012-04-26T17:09:00.001-06:002012-05-07T17:34:27.286-06:00Weekly Menu: April 29 - May 5 I'm going to try something new today and see if this interests anybody. As I mentioned in my <a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2012/02/menu-planning.html" target="_blank">menu planning</a> post, I do my shopping on Wednesdays, so I'll share my weekly menu plan each Thursday or Friday. I know I have a hard time coming up with menus each week, so maybe this will help someone else. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk35Yw18yQ0PUjldbmH0i9V8MJKHgnnfAaFPYiLoU_8jLrnjpzP0FU7tqIneLwAc4jWNyKyPFNQuxrlF0mKCehaKfR9KtuhnazbW-T2WMy3R5b9hR0FLX8sl4COhFCYyLh_5qBpEHmOuA/s1600/menu+-+Page+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk35Yw18yQ0PUjldbmH0i9V8MJKHgnnfAaFPYiLoU_8jLrnjpzP0FU7tqIneLwAc4jWNyKyPFNQuxrlF0mKCehaKfR9KtuhnazbW-T2WMy3R5b9hR0FLX8sl4COhFCYyLh_5qBpEHmOuA/s1600/menu+-+Page+004.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paper from <a href="http://summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Summer Time Designs</a></td></tr>
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Black Bean Soup can be found <a href="http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/01/black-bean-soup/" target="_blank">here</a>. I really like their cookbook, too.<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ciframe%20src=%22http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=thbreyhait-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=1606419315%22%20style=%22width:120px;height:240px;%22%20scrolling=%22no%22%20marginwidth=%220%22%20marginheight=%220%22%20frameborder=%220%22%3E%3C/iframe%3E" target="_blank"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=thbreyhait-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=1606419315" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe> </a><br />
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<a href="http://www.chickenscratchny.com/2012/04/cabbage-strudel.html?showComment=1334531418692#c5720441269521891544" target="_blank">Cabbage Strudel</a> is something I've pinned - my new recipe for the week.<br />
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Making my own version of a local restaurants awesome Cluck n' Nuts (chicken salad sandwich) - but might incorporate the yogurt instead of mayo as mentioned <a href="http://tupelocreative.blogspot.com/2012/04/best-chicken-salad-ever.html?showComment=1334848047455#c1784348131126308687" target="_blank">here.</a><br />
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So what's your menu plan for the week? Is this something you'd like me to post every week?<br />
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<img align="left" src="http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo310/shabbycreations2/postsig-25.jpg" style="border: 0;" /><br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-44790890470068706472012-04-23T20:07:00.000-06:002012-04-23T20:07:37.271-06:00Fire truck birthday party<i>My sister, Leslie, is back with another great party idea:</i><br />
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My youngest son is a big fan of police, rescue and fire truck vehicles. We do daily "drive-bys" if we are anywhere near the vicinity of our town fire station (and even when we aren't we somehow manage to end up driving by). So, today we celebrated his 4th birthday in true Fire Truck Party style!<br />
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I knew he would love a t-shirt with a fire truck, but I could not find one in stores and what I could find online was either cheesy and/or expensive. So, I found an imagine online that I liked, printed it off, and cut fabric shapes mimicking the online image. I used knit fabric which does not fray (I actually used old t-shirts). Then I ironed the shapes onto <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thermoweb-Medium-Weight-Fusible-Interfacing-White/dp/B001C205PA">fusible interfacing</a> and then ironed them onto a basic black t-shirt. From past experience, I knew I would need to sew around the edges, but my sewing machine was giving me problems that night, so I decided to use embroidery floss which actually turned out a lot cuter, (I think).<br />
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He was pretty excited about it.<br />
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The fire fighters were awesome and the kids LOVED the tour.</div>
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We gave them this before we left.</div>
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Here are some of the ideas for the party we had after our trip to the fire station:</div>
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I am soooo not a cake decorator. However, I can print and cut : ) so I found pictures online of a fire station, hydrant, etc., added a new truck, and made them into a cake!</div>
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The guests each choose one of these on their way home. </div>
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We had a beautiful day and had the party outside.<br />
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Do you have any spring birthdays coming up? I will be back to post two more party ideas over the next few weeks: Skylanders and Batman!
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgln0vZesE9aOp3kKjtEZpu2Gv4Xrd9IjckNY6aCecbBVc-MI8gn43qF3aGosZDeT_Z1n7msOXZeqEr2l4NbCBQjrs7j0kbZAyRvbcsPW1F2NNe82AI6CmlFxdh3iphWTBNLCYpOR_8CDg/s1600/Leslie+sig+-+Page+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="72" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgln0vZesE9aOp3kKjtEZpu2Gv4Xrd9IjckNY6aCecbBVc-MI8gn43qF3aGosZDeT_Z1n7msOXZeqEr2l4NbCBQjrs7j0kbZAyRvbcsPW1F2NNe82AI6CmlFxdh3iphWTBNLCYpOR_8CDg/s200/Leslie+sig+-+Page+003.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06994173190414608552noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-71112981807057888482012-04-18T07:00:00.000-06:002012-04-18T07:00:14.405-06:00Recap of Birthdays PastBirthday season is rapidly approaching at our house. 5 of the 8 of us have birthday's within a couple weeks of each other. When Cheyenne was just little, Bill and I decided not to do a big birthday party for the kid's every year - what can I say, we're cheap. :) So we do a party when they turn 6 - now in school and they finally have friends to invite, and when they turn 8, 12, and 16 - those are all big years to us. So lucky for us, no parties to plan this year. While I do enjoy all the party planning and the idea of having a party, I tend to stress out a little the day of the party - it's all too crazy and chaotic. lol So I'll share a recap of parties we've done in the past and those my awesome sister, Leslie, who is the party queen, has shared with us. Click on the links to see more of each party.<br />
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<strong><em><u><a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2011/06/birthday-season-begins.html" target="_blank">Army Party</a></u></em></strong><br />
For Billy's 8th birthday we had so much fun with an Army Party. I think this was the only time Bill actually got involved much - and I think he had as much fun as the boys. I still, a year later, have one of the boys who every time he sees me says, "That was the funnest party ever!" <br />
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Invitation:</div>
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As they arrived, I gave them all dog tags I'd made them and let them fold/decorate/fly their own paper airplanes, while waiting for everyone to get here. Then we moved on to a little calisthenics "Simon Says". We set up a nerf gun shooting range upstairs in our bonus room, which was a huge hit! They even shot at a few stuffed animals with target vests on them. The last activity was a scavenger hunt "rescue mission" to find bags of army men for each of them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><em><u>Shooting range</u></em></strong></td></tr>
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<strong><em><u> </u></em></strong><a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2011/06/birthday-x3.html" target="_blank"><strong><em>Carnival Party</em></strong></a><br />
Since this was the Triplets birthday party, I had to make it fun for both boys and girls and enough to keep 20 kids entertained. Yes, we invited the whole kindergarten class. Luckily only about half came, and we actually had as many helpers as we did kids. :)<br />
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Invitation:</div>
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As the kids arrived we gave them paper bags to decorate with markers and lots of stickers. This is what they put their candy in from the pinata and we had carnival bags of popcorn and a few other things we added. We had 8 or 9 different stations set up and split the kids up into groups to rotate through them. We had face painting, a milk can toss, a fish pond game, dropping clothes pins into jars, scoop the ducks blindfolded, a football toss through a hoop, golf putting, a bean bag toss, and then a photo booth of sorts. This was so much fun! I highly recommend getting lots of helpers. We had enough help that I was able to just walk around and heard kids and take lots of pictures. It was great! We ended with a couple of group games and a pinata that would not break! lol Another great tip, with the possibility of that many kids I split all the candy up into snack size bags and wrote their names on each bag. That way everyone got plenty of candy and they didn't kill each other to get it. :)<br />
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<a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-little-boy-is-6.html" target="_blank"><strong><em>Lego Party</em></strong></a><br />
We did just basic party games - pin the door on the lego house, drop the lego into a jar, and a couple others. I know there are a million lego party ideas out there, so I'll just share the best part of ours. We gave the kids each a little lego vehicle set like this:<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ciframe%20src=%22http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&npa=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=thbreyhait-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B002RL7W0Q" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>" target="_blank"><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&npa=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=thbreyhait-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B002RL7W0Q" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0">iframe></a><br />
They each built one and then we raced them over and over again. They also took the cars home as their favor (along with some candy.) The boys had a blast! <br />
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<strong><em><u>Cooking/Pizza Party</u></em></strong><br />
This was back before I blogged at all, actually before I'd even heard of blogs, but it was really fun so I'll share it now. For Natalie's 7th birthday she wanted a cooking party. We had the girls bring an apron, or we had a few for those that didn't. While they arrived they decorated bands that we made into chef hats (stapled tissue paper inside.) Then they made their own pizzas. We gave them the dough and let them roll it out, and top it with whatever kinds of toppings they wanted. While the pizzas cooked, the girls went outside and played. Then they ate the pizza for lunch, opened presents, and that was about it. A little more prep work making the dough and stuff, but probably the easiest party I've done. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wow, how these girls have changed in 7 years! :)</td></tr>
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Now for Leslie's amazingness:<br />
<a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2011/10/angry-birds-birthday-party.html" target="_blank"><strong><em>Angry Birds Party</em></strong></a><br />
Go click on the link. Leslie gives great details of her super fun party. Every time my kids see these pictures they say with a big sigh, "I wish we could live by Aunt Leslie and go to their parties." My favorite part is the larger than life Angry Birds game.<br />
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The kids threw balls with angry bird faces on them at the tower of boxes. It was my brother's job to restack it each time. lol<br />
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And aren't these the coolest?! My boys would LOVE these for their backpacks. Leslie made one of these for each of the kids.<br />
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<a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2011/11/disney-cars-birthday-party.html" target="_blank"><strong><em>Disney Cars Party</em></strong></a><br />
Leslie floors me with her artistic ability. I have trouble with stick people. Check out the cars she made out of cardboard boxes.<br />
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The kids got to race IN the boxes!</div>
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<a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2012/01/where-wild-things-are-birthday-party.html" target="_blank"><strong><em>Where the Wild Things Are</em></strong></a></div>
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This was such a fun idea. She even let the kids have a wild rumpus! However, the best part is her decorations. They are amazing!!! Are those pictures the cutest things or what?! Go check out the cupcakes she made, too.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd_d2IVRCNXMWuuzReGM1UnlZPe5zx-NKWJSfjzQ8qMg1bs0fcU60vC56cvlGGz3Ztyoh7IR0ejGbDl9HNSNjiE8Xj4obvgsPLA-ZSS1GW12G8-zkHjM0cZT1OAE1y8iagwAq4GP_Nz5o/s1600/wild+things" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd_d2IVRCNXMWuuzReGM1UnlZPe5zx-NKWJSfjzQ8qMg1bs0fcU60vC56cvlGGz3Ztyoh7IR0ejGbDl9HNSNjiE8Xj4obvgsPLA-ZSS1GW12G8-zkHjM0cZT1OAE1y8iagwAq4GP_Nz5o/s1600/wild+things" /></a></div>
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Well, I hope that gives you some ideas for your next birthday party and makes planning that perfect party just a little easier. Leslie is also entering her month of birthdays as well (all three of her boys have birthdays within weeks of each other), so hopefully she'll be back soon with more great birthday ideas. <br />
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<img align="left" src="http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo310/shabbycreations2/postsig-25.jpg" style="border: 0px currentColor;" /><br />
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<span style="background: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri;"><o:p><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a></o:p></span></span></div>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-12383678104941004962012-04-16T10:14:00.000-06:002012-04-16T10:14:10.164-06:00"If" by Rudyard Kipling - PrintableMany, many years ago, I think I was in jr. high actually, I had to memorize a poem - "If" by Rudyard Kipling. I loved it from the moment I first read it. So I painstakingly worked and worked at memorizing this very long poem. I have vivid memories of repeating it over and over to my mom trying to get it all in the right order. And though I can't remember it all word for word now, the message has stuck with me.<br />
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Fast forward 20 years and when in 8th grade Cheyenne needed a good poem to memorize, I suggested "If" to her, too. She did the same thing, worked and worked at memorizing it and now she loves it, too. So a couple weeks ago when Natalie needed to memorize a poem (love that 8th grade English,) Cheyenne and I both suggested "If", and she memorized it, too. I decided I needed this posted somewhere since it's such a good reminder of how I want to live and how I want my children to live. So I made a printable and I'll share it with you, too.<br />
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<a href="http://www.box.com/s/b3d114420207c54853f8" target="_blank">If by Rudyard Kipling</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtfREjNM2M2AqapZEcA1cFfxowDrVarcRrpYmVioZtAcBPnH5jdWoAqzZ5A9HFsHD-tygs6X-TweQAzTOG_qcBVjD9xbw6HAQcBdZf8r69-lJaADvCqyUNb32o4tZCmr1N5Bmxfqbtpe8/s1600/8+x+11+Portrait+-+Page+009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtfREjNM2M2AqapZEcA1cFfxowDrVarcRrpYmVioZtAcBPnH5jdWoAqzZ5A9HFsHD-tygs6X-TweQAzTOG_qcBVjD9xbw6HAQcBdZf8r69-lJaADvCqyUNb32o4tZCmr1N5Bmxfqbtpe8/s640/8+x+11+Portrait+-+Page+009.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Thank you so much to </span><a href="http://persnicketyprints.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Persnickety Prints</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> for the great background and border.</span></div>
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A couple days after I made this and Natalie presented it to her class, she then tells me she had to take something for a prop/display. I told her I had made this and if she'd just told me, she could have taken it. Instead she took a few different varieties of the Met Life stuffed Snoopy's (taking the "If" out of life.) lol Thanks to Uncle Luke for providing a great prop!<br />
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Do you have a favorite poem? Do you remember any of those you memorized in school? I'd love to hear about it.<br />
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<img align="left" src="http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo310/shabbycreations2/postsig-25.jpg" style="border: 0px currentColor;" /><br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/%22%20class=%22pin-it-button%22%20count-layout=%22horizontal%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%22//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png%22%20title=%22Pin%20It%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"></a><a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-56285475462524847952012-04-11T16:00:00.000-06:002012-04-11T16:01:55.988-06:00Creamy Tomatillo Ranch DressingSorry for the lack of posts. We had our three days of spring break (yes, we only get 3 days!) and I enjoyed every second of having my kids home, even while watching the blizzard raging outside Friday. It's been so nice since then, I've been spending a lot of time outside, too. We had a great Easter, too, except for the part where I went to whip up some easy skirts for Chloe and Maddie on Saturday and my sewing machine wouldn't work. Nice! I spent a good couple of hours trying to fix it to no avail. Eventually, I gave up, ran to town to get them something different for their Easter baskets and borrowed my mom's sewing machine. So hopefully I'll get those done tomorrow and can show you. Then yesterday and today I've spent most of the time catching up on what I didn't do while we were playing (including taking my machine in to be repaired.) <br />
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Anyway, on to today's post. I'm having good run of Pinterest recipes for the past couple of weeks. It's been great, especially following the bad run I had about a month ago. My family was getting pretty leery of hearing me say, "I found it on Pinterest." Last week in our <a href="http://www3.bountifulbaskets.org/" target="_blank">Bountiful Basket</a> <span style="font-size: x-small;">(an awesome food co-op program, check and see if there's one by you)</span> I got several tomatillos. I'd never had one before and was excited to try them. A couple days later, several of my friends had pinned <a href="http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2009/07/recipe-favorites-cafe-rio-style-creamy.html" target="_blank">this</a> recipe from <a href="http://www.kalynskitchen.com/" target="_blank">Kalyn's Kitchen</a> for tomatillo ranch dressing, supposedly like Cafe Rio's. Since I had all the ingredients on hand, I made it for dinner to go along with our enchiladas we were having. I've never had Cafe Rio's so I can't compare it that way, but it was delicious! So yummy you'll want to try it too!<br />
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>Creamy Tomatillo Ranch Salad Dressing<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Makes about 2 ½ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cups of dressing</span></span></i><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
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</span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2 cups prepared Ranch Dressing </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(I used a packet of Ranch dressing mix, but you
can make your own dressing if you prefer)<br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1 small bunch cilantro, large stems removed
(about 1/2 cup chopped cilantro)<br />
2 large or 4 small tomatillos<br />
1/2 tsp. minced garlic<br />
2 T fresh lime juice<br />
1 tsp. Green Tabasco sauce or 1 diced jalapeno pepper </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(I used a Mexican red hot sauce.)<br />
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Prepare Ranch dressing according to directions on the package or recipe you're
following and set aside.<br />
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Remove large cilantro stems, then wash leaves and spin dry or dry with paper
towels. Add cilantro to food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse
until finely chopped. (If you don't have a food processor, chop all ingredients
well by hand and then blend dressing in a blender.)<br />
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Add tomatillos, garlic, lime juice, and Green Tabasco or chopped jalapeno to
the food processor and pulse until ingredients are finely pureed. Add the 2
cups of prepared dressing and pulse just a few times, until ingredients are
well combined. Chill dressing for an hour or two and serve.<br />
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Variations:<br />
~To make a roasted tomatillo dressing, dice tomatillos, place on a baking
sheet, and roast at 400F for 15-20 minutes before adding them to the food
processor.<br />
~If you'd like even more tomatillo flavor, use 4-5 large tomatillos and
decrease the buttermilk or milk in the Ranch dressing by about 1/4 cup.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So what are your new found favorite recipes from Pinterest? Are you finding it a good source for new inspiration? </span><br />
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<img align="left" src="http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo310/shabbycreations2/postsig-25.jpg" style="border: 0px currentColor;" /><br />
<a href="javascript:void((function(){var%20e=document.createElement('script');e.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8');e.setAttribute('src','http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r='+Math.center()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());"><img alt="Pin It" class="aligncenter" src="http://www.clickinmoms.com/cmprodaily/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/pinit.jpg" /></a>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-56231249221310077932012-04-06T16:13:00.002-06:002012-04-20T15:38:35.731-06:00Decorate My RoomOkay, I'm asking for your help, opinions, input, ideas, anything you can share with me to help me decorate my living room. <br />
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We recently sold our couch in our bonus room and moved our living room couch upstairs. So we got to go shopping, yeah! I didn't think I was going to get to replace these couches for a long time.<br />
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This is the before:<br />
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Well, I have changed things a little since this time, but these are the old couches. <br />
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We bought this couch and love seat, I think, or at least they are very similar to these and they'll be here in a week or two:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAsICgJL4siUZ-EZFfOzQ7e9XsgU65-LJdXkIKFPrZJtESpzxtZ8yZ-Z9nY24GtDsn0kctqGLXPJlqvtPA-RDRK-iSvawoBcmNfvyJwJXknghmipAPMN2z4hjI6re5KofbrzKRyHPQsHY/s1600/couch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAsICgJL4siUZ-EZFfOzQ7e9XsgU65-LJdXkIKFPrZJtESpzxtZ8yZ-Z9nY24GtDsn0kctqGLXPJlqvtPA-RDRK-iSvawoBcmNfvyJwJXknghmipAPMN2z4hjI6re5KofbrzKRyHPQsHY/s640/couch.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.coasterfurniture.com/Collection.aspx?CollectionID=Coby&CollectionNum=50299" target="_blank">source</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">So I'm going to do a little redecorating while we're at it. This is where I need your help. I'm not a decorator. This is what I have to work around, oak floors, floor to ceiling oak bookshelves that are "for books not decorations" as per Bill's instructions, a black gloss piano, and probably no painting of the walls - our floor plan is very open and I think if I painted in there I would have to paint the entryway, hallway, maybe kitchen, but I might stencil a wall or two (I just won a <a href="http://www.cuttingedgestencils.com/" target="_blank">Cutting Edge Stencil</a>. Yeah!)</span></div>
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So here's what it looks like now and a tour around the room:<br />
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So what would you do with this room? That green cabinet is my music cabinet and I'm thinking of painting it white or cream with sort of a french country feel. I'm debating between keeping things all neutral (rug/curtains) and then using throw pillows for color accents or using curtains, sort of like this:</div>
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in a slate blue (federal blue) kind of color and finding a bluish rug. However, if I add the blue, can I use lime green or tangerine tango orange pillows for the summer and change them to something more subdued come fall and winter. What about rugs, I'm terrible with rugs. Look at the top picture, this is how I've had the rug placed, does this look okay? Do I need it to bump it up under the furniture? Does it need to be bigger? Also should I flip it (or get a squarer rug) so the long side goes toward the bookshelf? Can you see any other furniture placement? I'm open to any and all suggestions, give me your best ideas, and give me some place to start with this room. What would you do with this room?<br />
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<a href="javascript:void((function(){var%20e=document.createElement('script');e.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8');e.setAttribute('src','http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r='+Math.center()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());"><img alt="Pin It" class="aligncenter" src="http://www.clickinmoms.com/cmprodaily/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/pinit.jpg" /></a>Kimberly T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02475678874274649978noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50428602201172024.post-15936330139437651912012-04-03T14:30:00.000-06:002012-04-20T17:21:30.222-06:00Spring Yarn Wreath
I'm so excited about this project. It's my first wreath, yes, I've never made a wreath before. I didn't know how to hang them on my metal front door without the over-the-door hanger, to which my husband would object, I'm sure. Then after <a href="http://bktribe.blogspot.com/2011/09/welcome-to-my-home.html" target="_blank">this</a> post, someone mentioned magnetic wreath hangers. I finally found one at Christmas time and have been itching for a good wreath ever since. I've been wanted to try a yarn wreath (because yarn wouldn't scratch my door) and have pinned several different yarn wreaths as inspiration. Finally, I needed a little burst of color and some springiness after this drab, boring, pretty much brown winter. So here it is:<br />
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And it was really quite simple, too. If you want to make one, here's what you need:<br />
Wreath form - I used a straw form and left the plastic wrapper on, it's just less messy that way<br />
Yarn<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ_QrG4-kL6pukfYhLvefdC-Q4WAAu1r-ItMMdHsSP61kGz_FCP89Pp_7cXCwz1qenpv6WvRSiJN4GpNtYm19XvF153VWiWTZttv7LpdU4v7nie1-OqE6kneN3pIbo3tk52GYkz0zVH1g/s1600/IMG_8728.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ_QrG4-kL6pukfYhLvefdC-Q4WAAu1r-ItMMdHsSP61kGz_FCP89Pp_7cXCwz1qenpv6WvRSiJN4GpNtYm19XvF153VWiWTZttv7LpdU4v7nie1-OqE6kneN3pIbo3tk52GYkz0zVH1g/s320/IMG_8728.JPG" width="320" /></a>Burlap<br />
Felt for flowers<br />
Ribbon - the rick rack I used is the BIG kind<br />
Chipboard letters<br />
Fusible interfacing<br />
Glue gun<br />
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Not necessary, but helpful:<br />
Lot's of family to tell you when your colors are even<br />
Good music - my sister introduced me to the Walt Disney channel on Pandora and we tortured my daughter by singing along with it<br />
Cadbury Mini Eggs - always good for a craft project, also good - chocolate covered cinnamon bears<br />
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So tried to be all scientific about measuring it all out and evenly dividing the wreath for colors, etc. But it ended up not working very well anyway, so I'd just pick your main color and start wrapping. In this case, I started a little off the top (there was supposed to be another section of the green at the top) with the turquoise yarn. I glued down the edge and started wrapping, occasionally gluing the yarn to the wreath. When I got to where the green was to start, I tied the two colors together and glued it in place, leaving me with tails all over the back. When it was all wrapped, I ended by gluing the last end down, and then trimming all the tails. Okay, so I'm a little meticulous when it comes to crafting, thus the anxiety over measuring and marking it all out to begin with. Luckily, my sister, Leslie, was here and she coaxed me through the "it's not coming out even" part above and it was fine. <br />
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However, for the banner, my exact measurements worked really well. I printed and cut out various sizes of triangles I had manipulated into banner shape so I could see which size fit best. I knew I wanted "spring" on the wreath, so I laid out that many triangles on a ruler across the wreath. I know Leslie is laughing at me right now, but it worked and saved me much frustration!<br />
And now I can tell you that my flags are exactly 2 1/2" tall each. :)<br />
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After deciding on which size, I traced the paper onto a piece of cardboard to use as a template for tracing and cutting out the burlap. Oh, after I traced the shapes but before I cut out the burlap, I ironed on some interfacing to the back side of the burlap. This made it easier to cut, stiffened up the flags, and kept them from fraying as much.<br />
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I fully intended on stenciling the letters on with paint, but wanting this wreath to be done, I looked through my stash of scrapbook stuff for something easier. That's when I came across some chipboard letters I had. Perfect!! I hot glued them on, then glued the flags on to the rick rack. Glue one edge of the rick rack on the front of the wreath, then wrap around to the back, and then stretch the banner taut, and do the same on the other side.<br />
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For the felt flowers, I did two different kinds: described <a href="http://wendyinflorida.blogspot.com/2011/02/rainbow-wreath.html" target="_blank">here</a> - just a circle cut into spiral and then rolled, and also my felt square just cut into one long strip and rolled. The circle way worked a little better. I glued all three of them together and then glued the whole group onto the wreath.<br />
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Finally, attach your ribbon to the top and hang it up. I'm no bow-tyer, so this is the best I could come up with, but I'm happy with it. My first wreath, it makes me happy every time I look at it. Now I'm just hoping the wind doesn't blow it off the door. <br />
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