Cereal Box Repurposed

I found this awesome idea in a series called 31 Days to Cheaply Organize Your Home by Organizing Made Fun!  She has so many awesome ideas and I'm always trying to organize something.  You'd think someone with only a 3 bdr 2 bth home, and only 1 child wouldn't have that much organizing to do.  But seriously it seems like that is ALL I do.  I guess it's my personality and even after I've organized a room, a month later I have a different idea or the organizing that I did is no longer working?  Anyways....I have been looking for cheap ways to organize my computer paper, you know keep regular paper, card stock paper, colored printing paper....separated!  Okay, to be honest I'm still looking for a way to keep my paper separated but I love that she used cereal boxes to do this!  So I decided to try it myself...

I pulled out my Scrapbook paper tote, an  empty cereal box, ruler for straight edges, scissors, Mod Podge and a paint brush to apply the Mod Podge with.

I cut my cereal box

I then started applying the Mod Podge and putting the paper on my cereal box

This is my end result...it doesn't take much time at all to do but I then let is try over night...it was kind of messy but I guess that is to be expected!  Well...as I said "I'm still looking for ways to organize my paper"....why?  Because my cereal box was not big enough to hold paper.  So it sits on a cabinet where I sort my mail!  I continue to search for cereal boxes that are big enough for my paper though!!



Inspired by Organizing Made Fun



Parties I'm Attending:



Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Tasty Tuesda/Lots of Christmas Goodies!

I know, I know...I've already posted today!  But even though I wanted to start 2012 with a BIG project doesn't mean that we are canceling Tasty Tuesday!  So you're in for a Double Dose of G Inspires!

Today you're in for even more of a treat as I share several recipes from our big Christmas baking party!

Although the main event for today are Cake Balls!  Have you had them?  They are phenominal!!!


Ingredients:
1 box cake mix
1 canister of frosting
Candy Coating

First bake a cake as directed on the package, just so you can crumble it up...I just used my "clean" hands!

Mix in 3/4 of a canister of frosting...I also used my hands on this part b/c a spoon was just not blending it well.  Obviously I don't have a picture of this as my hands were a mess!

Roll the mixture into balls and place them in the freezer for 20 minutes

Heat up your Candy Coating

Dip your Cake Balls in...this proved to be quite a mess and after MANY cake balls I couldn't find an easy or non-messy way to do this.

Let the cake balls sit for the chocolate to dry...takes maybe 10 minutes and ENJOY!

BONUS Material!

No Bake Cookies

Ingredients:
-1/2 C Milk
-1/2 C Butter
-4 tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
-1/2 C Peanut Butter
-3 C Quick Cooking Oats
-1 tsp Vanilla Extract

In a medium sauce pan; combine sugar, milk, butter and cocoa.  Bring to a boil and cook for 1 1/2 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, oats and vanilla extract. 

Drop by tsp fulls onto wax paper.  Let cool until hardened (or sneak some mid-hardened b/c that is really yummy!)

We also made some Kiss Cookies

Simply make the cookie as directed on the package...we did sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies.  Place the Kiss in the center of the cookie after you pull them out of the oven while they are still soft so the Kiss sinks into the warm cookies!

We also make Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies per the directions on the package

Then cookie cut out sugar cookies....make sure you have plenty of flour so that you can cut the shapes out and then cook as the package says.

No guys sorry...for the most part we aren't "homemade" type people but it was fun and made A LOT of goodies that we are still trying to get rid of!



Inspired by Christmas Baking!



Parties I'm Attending:



Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Refurbished Desk/The BIG Reveal!

Do you remember this?

I showed off this find here....

Well it's done and I'm in love! 



I took the hardware off, I let my dad take degreaser to it and I sanded it a little

All so I could paint it!

I painted the entire desk, even though I was going to cover the top with some scrapbook paper I found that matched the colors and look I was going for.  The top of the desk isn't pure wood so I was advised that painting it wasn't going to work as it would scratch easily.  So I decided I would try my hand at mod podging the top!  I lined up the papers and cut them down to size as the cover the whole top of the desk.

Covered big enough sections to place one sheet at a time

There are words on the paper that talk about dreams and inspirations....PERFECT!  I mod podged them all down.

This is where I came to an issue.  After that first coat of Mod Podge dried I had really horrible air bubbles in my paper!  After a lot of thought I decided to cut out the sections with air bubbles.  There were four big air bubbles and I think that putting a layer of paint down on the top before laying my paper really helped when I cut out the section using an xacto knife...it came right up.  I then traced my cut outs onto pieces of the same kind of paper and mod podged those pieces in where I had cut out sections.

(In hindsight I would do this in smaller sections...I think that would help me not get big air bubbles.)

The BIG reveal!!

Brush Nickel hardware was added to match all of the hardware in my bedroom.....I think it looks fabulous!

This was my first refurbished piece....what do you think?

Before:

After:

Inspired by my "Craft Corner"

Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop

Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

New Years Goals 2012!?

            Our little family Christmas morning!  Obviously Gregory was too busy to cooperate!

    So I've never been one to make resolutions and anytime I thought...you know I want to loose weight or I want to quit smoking this year; I never started on January 1!  I mean come on we have a big New Years dinner on January 1 and as far as the smokeing...I have horrible self discipline.  However with that being said.  Last year in February I did get to it and start exercising and I did loose 10 pounds.  I must say I've gotten lazy...I haven't gained it back but Lordy I want to loose more!  I am also very happy to be able to say I am no longer a smoker either but I didn't quite that as a New Years resolution either.  It was a combination of my father in law dieing of lung cancer few years ago and me wanting to have a healthy baby and be a healthy momma.  So I make this "goal" blog just letting you know what I hope happens in 2012...not because I'm going to start it on January 1 but that I will be able to look at this blog entry and remember that I have goals.

                                          Gregory and I this time last year! (Me 10 lbs ago)


*Loose weight!  Who doesn't want to loose weight!?  My son is almost 21 months and I'm still carrying around 5 extra pounds...and that may not seem like a lot but I'm telling you now I was much smaller so the weight is just in new places because most of my pre-baby clothes are not fitting.  This does not mean I'm entering into some crazy diet.  This means I need to get back to doing what I started doing this past February.  Get myself back down to 1 soda a day, drink more water, make health"ier" food decisions, get on and stay on an exercise routine.  I lost 10 lbs last year so I hope to loose 10 lbs this year....maybe....I'll explain in another entry. 

Me in 2009 pregnant with Gregory

*So "I" could wait until Gregory is 5 before having another baby.  Seriously....I'm pretty sure I'd be fine w/ it.  That was actually my plan until I had such a hard time getting pregnant in the first place.  Turns out I have Endometriosis and PCOS, I got pregnant after having laproscopic surgery to remove the adhesions the Endometriosis had created.  So of course the question for the dr was...how long can I wait before having another child w/ Endometriosis.  For those who don't know it doesn't just go away because you have surgery to remove the mess it created...it continues to grow.  But can sometimes totally disappear after having a baby...pregnancy can do crazy things to your body.  There is no way to tell if I still have it or how fast it's growing so the dr said we should wait no longer than 2-3 years to have another child.  With a goal of 2 children...hehe...like I have control over that  :) Mike and I have to make our next move soon.  With Gregory's 2nd birthday approaching way too quickly on April 1, 2012 we will drop the birth control and put it in God's hands.  I say this b/c I still am just enjoying Gregory and have no desire to start taking medications to get pregnant, counting days and forcing sex b/c I'm ovulating.  If  I have to do all of that I'd rather wait until I am totally ready...whether that is when Gregory is 5 or if by some miracle I'm ready before that.  So....that is why I say...loose weight MAYBE.  If I get pregnant...that wont happen.  So a sort of resolution is to try to get pregnant without medical assistance.  This will not start January 1st either!

              At the zoo with my guys...we got zoo passes for Christmas so we will be doing this a lot!


*Enjoy my Weekends...duh I always do that right!?  Well I've noticed that my 4 day weekends are incredibly more enjoyable than my 2 day weekends.  Well DUH right!?  What I mean is that after a 4 day weekend I feel like I've had the best weekend ever and I don't always feel that way after a 2 day weekend.  Maybe this is because of the length of time I've had w/ my boys on our long holiday weekends.  But I think it has a lot to do with the quality of the weekend.  On four day weekends we visit w/ family, just hang out w/ one another, eat good food, go shopping together, being productive together, just breath together!  I want to just breath with my guys on my 2 day weekends too!

*Print more pictures!  I take tons of pictures...I may not be the best at taking pictures for tutorials but I'm obsessed with taking pictures of Gregory!  I need to print them!!!!

                                             Duct Tape Money Envelopes...Tutorial Here!

*Stick to it!  So I went a really long time where I didn't do many crafts but then I started again and started blogging.  I hope to stick to blogging and sticking to my "me" time in DIYing! 

*I would also like to do better at making sure I give credit where credit is do.  I always say if I found something somewhere else but usually forget to write down where I saw it.  I'm going to do better!


*Be a Servant-I've never been a good servant.  I always think of the other things I could do with the money I'm giving, what else I could be doing with the time I'm spending to do whatever it is.  I go to church, I do work as a Sunday School teacher but I need to do more.  Help more...serve at the soup kitchen, hug someone who needs it, just volunteer for things instead of just taking a seat.

                                                               Mike and I in 2009


*I want to work on my marriage....a good marriage we do have but a great marriage I want!  Having Gregory really changed things for us and it seems we have to work a lot harder in our marriage w/ Mike on 2nd shift.  I need to put in the effort!

I may add to this here and there as I think of things but that is all for now.  What do you hope to acheive in 2012?  I'd say 2011 has been pretty good to us and I hope 2012 is as good!

Inspired by New Years!

Craft Corner Post/Ribbon

I did not want my last craft post of 2011 to be a failed flower hair pin. So I want to share with you a super simple piece that is going to be going into my "Craft Corner", organizing some craft supplies...ribbon! 

So I'm definitely NOT the first person to do this.  Especially considering I saw this on someone elses blog.  I played with several different ideas on how to organize my ribbon and this idea stuck.  A lot because of how easy it was obviously and just plain clever!  Simply purchase a pants hanger and slide your ribbon on.  I had some scrap ribbon so I clipped those to where I could slide those on too!   I did end up having to buy two of these pants hangers to be able to cover all of my ribbon but I found them at the Dollar General store for $3 a piece. That is the cheapest I've seen and was pretty stoked by this find! I can't wait to put it in my "Craft Corner"

As mentioned before in my blog, I'm creating myself what I like to call a "Craft Corner"...big things coming in 2012!!!  I think my first post of 2012 is going to have to be a project I've been working on for probably the last month a little at a time but I'm so proud!  Anyways..... My "Craft Corner" is a pretty small corner in my bedroom b/c we don't have the space for me to have a whole room...oh but I really wish we did!!!  However, I love my house, I love having a job that allows me to stay home but it does take up a room for a play room for the babysitting kids and of course I love my son who takes up the other room....so I'll take my little nook for crafting!  With this "Craft Corner" being in my bedroom I want it to be as neat and organized as possible as to not make my room look like a crafting fiasco all the time!  So I am really excited about all of the great organizing ideas out in blogland!

What are some clever ways you have organized your craft supplies?  Seriously...I'm very interested...I have a lot of stuff to try and fit into a very little space!

Inspired by my Craft Corner



Parties I'm attending:

Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Flower Hair Pin *FAIL*

    So I share all of the projects I'm proud of but here is one I was NOT proud of.  I had a diaper shower to attend so I bought the diapers but I wanted to put a little something extra with them and just like everyone else we are limited on funds.  But hey, I've been wanting to try a flower hair pin.  Well I saw a really neat tututorial of a star flower or something like that.  As usual I cannot locate the name of the person who did a really great job on this hair pin.  I on the other hand did not.  But here it is.

I had some white fabric, scissory, a compass to make circles b/c I don't have cool gadgets like a lot of you and a hot glue gun.

I cut out my circles...you need 6 for this project.  Three bigger ones and 3 smaller ones.  The bigger ones go ont he bottom and the smaller ones go on top but I'm sure you got that!

You fold the circle in half and then in half again.  Then you cut the corners to shape the petals and spread them out like a hand full of playing cards so that they fan out.  You then glue the corner to another cicle which is your base.  You glue all of these down.

Put a button in the middle and there you have it.

 It is so sloppy and I was ashamed to give it to my friend but I did b/c it's all I had and with it being my first it took me a while to do.

I hot glued a hair clip to the back.

What do you do with your *FAILS*?

Inspired by Unknown (I can't remember that blog!)



Parties I'm attending:

Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Tasty Tuesday/Hot Salsa Soup

Here I am again admitting that I wrote down a recipe off of someone's blog and did not write their information down to give credit where credit is due.  One of these days I'll stop making the same mistakes over and over.  Therefore if the person who should get credit for this recipe sees this blog please comment and I'll make sure you get the credit!
  Today I would like to introduce you to Hot Salsa Soup

Ingredients:
1 Green Pepper (seeded and chopped)
1 Onion (chopped)
2 Cloves of Garlic (minced)
2 14oz Cans Diced Tomatodes
1 14.5 oz Can Chicken Broth
1 6oz Can Tomato Paste
2 Cans of canned chicken (My addition b/c after it was all together I realized it needed some meat)
Rice
basil, cumin, chili powder (go easy), salt and pepper
(I didn't have any chili powder so I didn't use any)

(Can add cilantro, lim, sour cream, cheese) I didn't

Coat bottom of a large pot w/ Olive Oil and place over med/high heat. 

Add Green Peppers, Onions and Garlic.  Once the Green Pepper is tender and starts to look a little translucent.  Be careful it will start to stick to the bottom.  I added more Olive Oil because it was sticking so bad.

 Add diced tomatoes, chicken broth, tomato paste and all of your spices.  Stir until paste is dissolved

This is where I knew I needed to add something.  Meat!  It was all veggies and we are meat eaters...of course I hadn't thawed anything out because the recipe didn't call for anything.  So I remembered that my stepmom had told me one time that she had used some canned chicken and what she made turned out really good.  Well I had a few cans because I like to have things on hand in case of an emergency I guess.  Well...here was my emergency!

Stirred in the chicken and simmered for a few hours! 
Serve...yes that is it!

It was good, I didn't give much to the 20 month old, just didn't seem like he was all that interested but my husband and I enjoyed it and had enough for another meal.  My husband mentioned that I should add rice next time.  So I made some rice to go with our leftovers...I love quick meals that taste good!  It was good the first go 'round but I'm telling you the rice made it super yummy!

Inspired by Tasty Tuesday



Parties I'm attending:

Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On