Crafting for Baby

When I had Emmett, I wanted to make something special for his baby room. I decided to make an awesome pinwheel mobile. I wish I had a picture of it to share. It was huge and looked like an art installation. I believe we ended up leaving it at our old house, and I hate that.
Needless to say, I wanted to make something special for Oliver. I searched Pinterest and Etsy for inspiration ideas for his mobile. His room has a theme of the outdoors, foxes, and arrows, so that's the direction I went. I decide to create a Felted Fox and Arrow Mobile. I wasn't very difficult and doesn't take any crazy items or special skills. Everything can be bought at Joann's or your local craft store.

Felted Fox and Arrow Mobile

• felt sheets (dark & light gray, orange, turquoise, and white)
• ribbon (orange, white, turquoise, and green)
• twine
• 3 sticks (18" long, free from your favorite tree)
• hot glue gun
• poly fill
• scissors
• 6 buttons (small matching buttons for the foxes eyes and nose)

Draw you templates for the fox, tree, mountain, and triangles. Cut out four of each fox head and body, tree, mountain, and arrow tips & tails. Cut out a bunch of triangles. From the scraps, I cut out some stripes and wiggles for the mountain, tree, and arrow tails. Cut out the white for the fox's eyes and belly. 

Using your hot glue gun, glue the front side to the back side of each character, but remember to leave and opening in which you will "stuff" them. Once they are glued well and have cooled, put a little poly fill in each character and glue shut. 

Glue the fox's head to his body. Refer to the picture above to see what I cut out prior to gluing. Glue the arrow tips and tails to the sticks. Glue ribbons and buttons onto the characters.  I did the character's ribbon length as one long (18") and one short (14"). Glue the triangles to the ribbon, the same length (18" - 20"). I only put the triangles on one side of the ribbon. 

Tether the three "arrows" together into a triangle tying the tail of one near the tip of another with twine, see on picture above. Tie twine which will be used to hang to mobile to the arrows. 

Glue the ribbons with the characters and triangles to the sticks. On each stick you should have a character, triangle ribbon, and another character. Once they are all attached, TADA! You did it! Congrats on your awesome handmade mobile.  

Note: I recommend investing in a good, dual heat, hot glue gun. They don't cost much and are SSOOO much better than the $5 cheapo from Walmart. I have this one here. I use it on low 90% of the time and it works fantastic.

Feel free to comment if you have any questions. Thanks and have a great last day of 2016!

Christmas Wrap-up

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and got in some fun family time because we did. We packed up everyone and everything, and headed to my parents house for three days.

Emmett and Ollie at home. As you can tell, Oliver wasn't really into the picture taking.

My parent live in the country so we decide to pull out the metal detector and see what we could find. Emmett loved treasure hunting and we had to do it everyday we were there. If you need someone to find shell casings and fence wire, we are your team. I must admit, I got into it and would love to try it again somewhere where we might actually find something cool.

  

Christmas morning was a whirlwind and the kids had so much fun going through Santa's presents and opening all the gifts from family. I love watching the kids and my family's reactions as they open their gifts. I'm so glad we are able to give them presents but I also want them to be appreciative of what they get. Trying to instill that in a four year is hard, but he did say thank you for everything which was so sweet. 

 Rudolf pancakes for breakfast. As you can tell Emmett is all about Pokemon.

I got some great gifts myself and looking at them now, I see a trend... blue. Didn't realize that I did that but at least I'll coordinate. 

1. Coach Mini Christie Satchel

2. BaBylissPro Titanum Hair Dryer

3. Microplush Heated Throw

4. Wireless Bluetooth Headphones

5. Lucky Eller Ankle Bootie

I had a wonderful Christmas and hope you all did as well. As I get older I realize how quickly time goes back and that makes we want to treasure these times because they are so fleeting. So I'll hug my boys a little longer and breathe in that sweet baby smell because pretty soon it won't be there or they won't let me. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Holiday Treats

It's finally started to feel like winter here in the South and with that I have been in the mood to do some holiday baking. My husband has a salt-tooth and one of his favorite treats are these crispy cheese wafers. I love them too but they are not so nice for your waistline since they are full of butter, cheese, and secret ingredient that gives them to perfect crunch. Yum yum eat'm up. 

When I want to make something so bad it's good, I either make a small amount or share them. The recipe for these makes 5 to 6 dozen so I decided I would make the whole batch and give them to the neighbors as a Christmas treat. 

Crispy Cheese Wafers

Ingredients:

4 cups freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup salted butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper, depending on how spicy you like them

2 cups Rice Krispies

Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, salt, and ground red pepper then add softened butter and cheese. Beat on low/medium using stand mixer until it forms a ball. Gently stir/beat in the cereal until just mixed. Form into small balls, about 1" in diameter, place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Press each ball with a fork dipped in flour. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool or enjoy warm. They won't last long because they are fan-freak'n-tastic. 

Recipe based on this one from MyRecipes.

Emmett helped me package and deliver these lovelies to the neighbors. He's such a sweetie.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and a very Merry Christmas!

Getting to know me

What should a first post be?

Well I thought I'd share a little about what I love in order to give you an idea of who I am.

{FAMILY} My world revolves around my boys. Everything I do is done to bring them happiness. My husband and two boys are the lights in my life.

My boys, Emmett and Oliver, are the sweetest, kindest souls you will ever meet and I am so proud to be their mama. My husband and best friend, Pierce, is thoughtful and generous. My boys are very lucky in the dad department.

{EATING & ENTERTAINING} I love food. I love cooking it, sharing it, and eating it. I find preparing a meal to be cathartic and sharing that meal to be rewarding. I try to eat healthy 75% of the time but definitely appreciate and partake in deliciously unhealthy morsels as well. I'm a huge fan of Pinterest and love a good themed party or craft project.

{FASHION} My fashion mantra would have to be cute, quality, and budget friendly. I love to shop and be on trend but I also love a great deal. When the stars align and I find an item that meets all three, I am in shopping heaven!

{HOME, HOBBIES & HEALTH} My home is a work in progress. I have small projects as well as big plans that I hope to share as I work to make my house feel more like my home. 

As I said earlier, I find a lot of inspiration on Pinterest so you're likely to see some home, diy, and craft projects on here as well.

When it comes to health and fitness, I have dreams of grandeur but bringing those goals to fruition while trying to juggle family, work, and home life can be a struggle. I hope to share what I find works for me because eating well and being active are very important to me. 

Why as I doing this? Because I want to share the things in my life which bring me joy. I am all about happiness and lifting up one another.