Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Chicks update...

Remember a while back Ryan brought home some new Chicks?  Well they are getting a little bit bigger.  We had them out in the yard the other day, so I thought I would share with you a pic of how they are growing...

 
I've been working on Madi's party.  Staying up late at night and getting up early to get the things done that I need to.  I am hoping to get everything that I want to completed!  I will share everything with you, I promise. This party has involved, baking, sewing, fabric, building and some cement.   Wish me luck.  I'm going to need it!

As Always,
With Much Love & Gratitude,



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Friday, May 24, 2013

Photo tip! Using Contrast in a photo setting...

 I wanted to share with you a picture that is one of my most favorite pics ever of my Boys!  I cannot take credit for shooting this picture.  The only credit I can take is the boys in the photo are mine!  

This photo was taken almost 11 years ago at my sister's wedding.  

I think the photographer did one of the most clever things ever...



 Both boys were wearing tuxes, but the photographer had Parker remove his jacket to create contrast. I think if both boys were wearing Jackets, Parker would have been lost in the shot.  I also love how he had McKay put his arm around Parker's shoulder to show connection. 

So if you have any occasions coming up where pictures will be taken, there is a quick tip on creating contrast!

I can't believe how much my boys have grown since this photo!  They are now 17 and 15!  McKay can grow a full beard and Parker will be in High School next year!  Seriously where does the time go? (weep, weep).


Have a fabulous weekend!
With Much Love & Gratitude,













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Monday, May 20, 2013

Class Treats

We had a birthday over the weekend, along with a Marathon, kudos to my husband for running in the pouring rain for 26.2 miles and still pulling off his best time yet!! 

Madi wanted to take some treats to her classmates to celebrate.  I bought some big, yummy Nestle cookies from the bakery, some glassine bags, printed off some lables, tickets and pictures and this is the idea we came up with...

A Cookie in an individually labeled treat sack for each classmate!





 I found some bags at Michaels...



I printed off some Pictures of Madi on Cardstock.  Created a ticket in Silhouette Studio and printed that off on Cardstock. 
 I downloaded some Bakery labels from an Etsy store, here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/130041474/buy-1-get-1-free-cute-bakery-labels? , put Madi's name on it so it appeared as if the cookie was from Madi's own Bakery and printed them off on label paper...




  We next cut all of the pieces out.  We stuck the labels on the bags...


Stuffed a cookie inside the sack, folded it over, stapled it closed with her picture and a ticket, wrapped it up with some bakers twine...

Placed them in the box ready to go to school!


Madi and I had a lot of fun putting these treats together!



P.S.  I'm in the process of working on her Birthday party. It's taking me a little longer than I thought to get all the things done for it that I have planned. The month of May is just so fun and crazy all at the same time!  I'll keep you posted on how it turns out!  

With Much Love & Gratitude,











 

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Monday, May 13, 2013

DIY Baseball board decor


 
  I'm excited to share with you a fun sign you could make to accent a Boy's or Girls Athletic Themed Room!

I made this Baseball sign for my son who loves everything to do with Baseball!


The finished sign measures 16 1/2 in. by 16 1/2 in.

I took One pine board measuring 5 1/2 inches wide by 8 feet long.  ( I didn't end up using the whole 8 feet).   


I pre-stained and painted my board before I cut it.  I stained it first with a dark stain.  When that dried  I painted it white.  I did this so when you sand down some of the white in places, the stain shows through giving it a weathered or worn look.

Using a miter saw, I cut 3 boards each measuring 16 1/2 in long.  
I laid all 3 boards side by side.



I cut two scrap boards 14 in long.  These acted as my braces to hold the three boards together from the back.  I used some wood glue and glued the boards across all three boards at the back to hold them all together.  If you need to,  you can also brad nail these  2 brace boards into the three boards to anchor them better.



Once the glue dried, I flipped the sign over and  roughly sketched out where I might want the stencils to appear


In Silhouette studio I created my stencils using the reverse or negative space for the stencil.  I wanted to have some baseball treads, but I needed to create my own.  I wanted something that resembled a tread of a baseball.  


 I created a stencil using a download of leaves from a tree download.   I chose one leaf, resized it to about 1/2 in. long and rotated it to the angle I needed it.    I next copied it and made another one exactly across from it, rotating it in the other direction kind of resembling the letter V. Still in Silhouette studio, I next copied and pasted that pair over and over, rotating the pair as I made a  quarter circle arch until I had what I needed. 
 To make sure  I had enough stencils for each corner, I cut two sets of stencils per corner, for a total of 4 stencils. Each measuring around 5 1/2 in. long.   I did not use all of the tread stencils.  I over lapped them and had to trim them down.

I used the same stencil design for the upper and lower corner stencils.

I cut all of my stencils using vinyl this time.




 I laid out my stencils.  They did overlap each other in each of the corners.  I just lined them up and trimmed them until they fit a perfect quarter circle arch.  The top tread starts at roughly the middle center of the entire sign and ends roughly 5 1/2 inches down from the top on the right side. The lower tread begins in the middle of the bottom of the board and ends roughly 5 1/2 inches up the left side.






stuck the vinyl down and painted in the treads with red paint.

 I peeled off the stencil to reveal the tread!


 I also made our last name out of a College or athletic font. The font i used was called Princetown. It measures 2 1/8 inches high by 9 1/2 inches long.  Once the treads were stenciled on, I laid out the name stencil.  It is about 5 1/2 inches down from the top of the board.

This athletic font had a middle filler that I also had to stick in the middle of each letter to create the white space.

I painted over it in black

peeled that off to reveal the name


I cut out the number 33 as a stencil because that is the number my son plays.  Each number measures 2 1/4 inches wide by 3 1/2 inches high.   I centered the stencil of the 33 roughly 8 1/2 inches from the top and in the center of the sign .  Repeated the same steps as I outlined above for doing a stencil, stuck the vinyl on,  and painted it in with red, peeled off the stencil to reveal the numbers!




I did do a little bit of touch up work freehand with a small paint brush where the stencils bled through, but for the most part, it was pretty easy to do!  When that was finished, I sanded the edges and in various places to make it look weathered!






This will be a  great accent to a Boys or Girl's athletic themed room! 

It was his birthday a couple weeks ago, so I put the sign up on our old window/shutters and put a banner across that I used for his birthday last year..




With Much Love & Gratitude,




Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Cinnamon Roll Cake.... A Testimonial!

If you follow me on Pinterest, you might notice I have this cake pinned under my board "Food Crush"

On Sunday, I decided to try this recipe for Cinnamon Roll Cake.  It was FABULOUS!  I highly recommend you try it also!  To Access the recipe you can do so Here or by clicking on the photo below!



I did make a little more glaze than the recipe called for, even made my glaze more like a frosting, a little bit thicker.  This cake turns out so moist and dreamy and melts in your mouth.  My family loved it!!  

Give it a try.  I'm glad I did.  

Speaking of Cake, we had a birthday here yesterday.  I didn't do a huge party for my Birthday boy, who just turned 17,   (I know, I can't believe he's 17, weep weep!).  He wanted a new Baseball glove instead.  He also had a baseball game yesterday and didn't show up until 9:00 last night.  So we had a Late night celebration! (here's whats left of the party cake!)


 I did however, make him a sign that he really likes!  I'll share it with you in an up coming post!   

I'm working on getting the house cleaned and a little more in order.  My baseball boy is a Pitcher and unfortunately has had some trouble with his shoulder, requiring a surgery to repair it.     He has not been able to pitch this Season and my heart aches for him.  He is hopeful that his surgery will help him in the future.  Our ultimate goal is to get him back on that mound!!!

I'm getting things prepped and ready around here so I can help him recover!  While he's recovering over the next few weeks, I have several projects I will be working on!  


Wish us luck with everything, I'll keep you updated on his situation and I hope you try that cinnamon roll cake recipe, it's fabulous!


With Much Love & Gratitude,













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