Candle Holders

Here is another project my mom made for her Super Saturday event along with the JOY blocks. I am so glad she gave them to me, I freaking love them! They are so easy to make, and can you believe they only cost a few dollars to make. You can find the tutorial over at Mark Montano's decor blog. It is super easy though, you just need some glass jars, twine or rubber bands, and some spray paint. Ribbon or fabric strips add a great accent to it. My mom found the glass jars at the dollar store. Then she used yarn and wrapped it around them and then spray painted it with white paint. She also added some extra flair to it by spraying it with some glitter spray paint too. 

{Tutorial for the Chalkboard Christmas Countdown HERE}

She then used two kinds of ribbon, a silver one and then a sheer kinda glittery one. Fabric scraps are used by Mark Montano which I also really love, its definitely cheaper. Then you just put little tealights in them and let them glow! I didn't feel like lighting the tea lights though, so that is why they aren't glowing, but you can see how they look with the tealights over HERE

I am totally loving them. 

Joy and BOO blocks

So right before Halloween my mom gave me these wood blocks that she made. She had to plan a Super Saturday event for our church, which is just a day where you go and make crafts and stuff, so my mom had to plan each craft that they were going to have available and buy all the material for everyone, and so she asked me for some ideas that were budget friendly and easy for people to do. So I went on Pinterest and gave her a whole big list of ideas for her to try out. She then picked her favorites and made the craft for samples and stuff. After the event she gave the stuff she made to me, cause she loves me I guess. 

She loved these wooden blocks that say JOY from Happy Scraps, These blocks are super easy, its just three wood blocks, she got the wood at Home Depot and asked them to cut it for her into different shapes, and then you just mod-podge some holiday paper on them and then some letters cut out from the cricut that say JOY! 

The awesome thing about this is that you can use them for two holidays if you put BOO on the opposite side. Now you have a super easy project that you get to put up twice a year, not just one time! 

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

So over the summer I bought this mirror at a garage sale for two bucks! Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it before I spray painted it, but it was gold, like old ugly horrible gold, that looked like it belonged in the 70's. But I loved the design of the mirror, so I bought it. I had it in storage for a while, deciding where I wanted to put it and what color I wanted it. Eventually I decided it would be perfect for my kitchen wall! Since my kitchen colors are yellow and red, I thought yellow would rock. 

{Tutorial for the Home Sweet Home frame HERE, and the wreath is a coffee filter wreath that I did not make, but I love! }

Here is just the mirror, and there I am waving at ya! It is impossible to take a straight on shot of a mirror  without taking a picture of yourself. It was after 8 so I was in my pj's! 

My sweet baby girl

One week ago today I was in the hospital giving birth to my beautiful baby girl. 

I began having some irregular contractions at around 11 pm last Saturday (Dec. 3rd) but I didn't really think much of them, because I had been having the same contractions off an on for the past two weeks. They were super annoying, they would come at night and be pretty painful and keep me up all night, and then morning would come and they would be gone. So I didn't really pay much attention to them and finally went to sleep around 1 a.m. Dec. 4th. I woke up at 3:30 am to super duper crazy painful contractions. Like seriously, those things hurt! So I started to time them while I was lying in bed and they were about 8 minutes apart. Since the hospital is like 20 minutes away I woke up my husband and told him we should go to his mom's house and wait there since she lives like a minute from the hospital. But once I started to get dressed and stuff the contractions jumped from 8 minutes apart to 1-2 minutes apart, I could barely walk out to the car. My husband was freaking out so he sped all the way to the hospital. 

I knew I wasn't going to end up having the baby in the car or anything, but I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to have an epidural, which is a freaking miracle drug! No natural childbirth for me. 

So we got to the hospital and they put me in that triage room to monitor my contractions and see if they could admit me. I had been dilated to a 3.5 the wednesday before this, and was 80 % effaced and the baby's head was like seriously primed for the action, the doctor had been feeling her head there for the past three weeks... When they checked me at the hospital I was dilated to a 5, so they admitted me and took me to the labor room. Luckily I was at a hospital that lets you get the epidural as soon as you are admitted, which was AMAZING! Because I don't really handle pain very well, and the contractions were getting worse! I am such a baby. 

But my hero the anesthesiologist set me up real nice with the drugs and after a bit I couldn't feel a thing. After the epidural the nurse checked me again and I was at a 9! Like this was only like 45 minutes later  so she called the doctor (who was not my actual Dr, I guess she wasn't on call that night, so I had to have a guy doctor, which I had been really hoping wouldn't happen, I always see girl doctors, but by that point I couldn't care less) He walked in and said lets push and at 7:52 am my beautiful little Analiese was born.

She was 5 lbs 12 oz and 19 inches long and born on her due date (she is very prompt). 

It was a super quick labor, we probably arrived at the hospital at quarter to 5 and I had her just over three hours later, so that was amazingly lucky!

Her daddy loves her so much. 

Analiese, 1 day old

Analiese, 3 days old

She is growing bigger every day, which makes me a little bit sad, I want her to get bigger, but at the same time want her to stay small forever. 

Spider Wreath

I am so excited for Halloween! And even more excited for when we move in a few weeks and I can have everything decorated for Halloween. So right now everything is in my basement not really being seen by anyone, and half my halloween decor is boxed up somewhere, but it will be out soon enough. 

I had to make a wreath for my door that I soon will have, and I wanted it to be spooky and creepy, not cutsie. I saw this one on Pinterest and I fell in love. It was a snake wreath! Amber over at The Mcillece Spot is a genius I tell you. Don't you just love this wreath?

So I set out to make my own, I found a grape vine wreath, but sadly couldn't find any fake snakes. I was so bummed. I went to a few stores but couldn't find any (I swear I have seen them all over until right when I need them) so I gave up and found some cheap plastic spiders at the dollar store, I bought those, they were rings so I cut the ring part off and then spray painted them, cause they were orange for some reason. Who makes orange spiders?! Then I bought some webbing at the dollar store too. 

I just spray-painted the spiders and the the wreath with black krylon paint and then glued the spiders all over and then put on the webbing. It seriously took like ten minutes, plus the time for the paint to dry... Easy!

I was unsure at first how I liked it, the spiders kinda blended in with the wreath when you are far away, but then I kinda liked it more cause when you got close and saw it covered in spiders it was super duper creepy. At least to me cause I really really hate spiders. 

It actually isn't hanging up outside, my mother-in-law already has a fall wreath outside, so I just hung my wreath up for pictures, but it will be up soon when I have my own door. right now its hanging on my wall. 

I am trying to decide if I should add a bow to it, or if that will defeat the creepiness of it... 

Date Night with Waldo

I love dates with my hubby. I seriously like to go on one with him every Friday or Saturday night. We always have so much fun. But sometimes it can be a bit pricey. So last week I decided I needed to be more creative. I looked online forever for cheap date ideas, but I knew my hubby wouldn't go for a lot of them. They were all cheesy. But I finally found one that I thought he would like. It said to get some Where's Waldo or I-Spy books and look at them together. My husband loves Where's Waldo, he even had a game on his phone for it. So I figured I could pull that one off without it being too corny. So I planned  a picnic at the park for us. 

I went to the library and got a few I-Spy books and a big Waldo book and then went to the store to get a few fixins' for sandwiches. 

We went to this park that I found by our house, it has a super great view of the valley and is gorgeous. 

We ate some great decked out sandwiches that put Subway to shame and some cheetos and peaches. It was great. Then we settled in to look at our Waldo book for a while. We actually only got to find everything on one page, it took us forever to find all those guys, but we did find Waldo quickly. But by the time we found the dog and stuff it was getting dark. But it was soo much fun! 

Jeremy with his sandwich. 

Cheetos!

The great view of small little Salt Lake City

Waldo!

Trying to find that stupid dog! We had to look up online to see where he was, it was ridiculous. 

Once it got dark we went nearby to Jamba Juice and each got a small smoothie since I had a gift card there. Then we watched our Netflix DVD that we had, RED, which was a pretty good show. It was an excellent night. And what a cheap date night! I think sometimes those are our best dates, the ones where we are creative and don't spend a ton of money!

My belly is getting huge!

So I feel like a blimp! I swear my cheeks have gotten chubbier along with my tummy, and I want this baby out of me! I want to see her cute chubby cheeks and not mine! But just a bit longer to go. I am now 31 weeks, so it is getting closer! 

I had a doctor's appointment last week and the nurse thought that the baby's heart beat was a little high so she hooked me up to this monitor thing to monitor the baby's heart beat for like 20 minutes or so. They turned it up so they could hear it out in the hall to make sure it wasn't irregular or anything, and the baby kept moving so much. She did not like having that thing strapped on my tummy that is for sure. You could hear every movement she made and all the nurses were shocked at how active she was. Finally after being hooked to the monitor for a while my doctor came back from the hospital (she had an emergency surgery or something there so she was late for my appt.) but she said the baby's heartbeat was totally fine and sent me home while telling me that I had one crazy baby cause she moved so much. Tell me about it, when is that baby not moving?

I also had a second ultrasound a few weeks ago and little Analiese was holding her cute little toes! It was adorable! 

I can't wait to meet my little girl. She is going to be so cute. I am making her wear dresses and tutus every day I tell you! 

Halloween Pennant

     I am so excited for Halloween. Except that I live in a basement so I can't really decorate at all, so that has been kind of a bummer. But we just found out we can move into the town-home that we are going to rent on Oct. 25th! I was so excited, I immediately went on Pinterest and looked for Halloween stuff. 

I didn't want anything too difficult or expensive since it basically will be seen for like six days. So I came across this super cute pennant banner at Organize and Decorate Everything

Here is her freakin' cute one!

It really was so easy. All you need is some card-stock. So it was way cheap to make. I had everything on hand already. I made mine a tiny bit different than the original. I didn't do the owl and I did a mummy instead of the ghost. 

Yeah mine is hanging over a door frame. Kinda ghetto. But as I said, I live in a basement and don't have a cute little mantle. When we move it is going to go in this window by the door along with my Jar-O'-Lanterns I made last year. It is going to be so cute, I can't wait. I will show you a picture of it when I move. 

Can I tell you how excited I am to move. My MIL has been so great to let us live with her for a few months, and the basement has been pretty great, but I am getting a little stir crazy. I need my own space. I have barely crafted like the whole 6 months we have been there cause I just have no motivation, I think, what the heck am I going to do with this once I finish it? It will just get ruined waiting to be hung up, so I haven't been able to create anything.  I am also like in crazy baby nesting phase but can't do anything, so I am having a hard time and getting anxious cause I haven't really prepared for the baby that well...  So Oct. 25th, you can't come fast enough! 

A few must try recipes

Do you ever get in a recipe funk? Where none of the recipes in any of your cookbooks sound good? I know I do. Plus I usually like to cook, so making the same foods all the time totally is boring. I think making a new recipe is exciting. So I have been on the hunt for some new recipes to try out. I had a few fails, I swear, I always fail at a recipe when I am making it for other people. I tried out this new smore's bar recipe and I was supposed to take it to a bbq, yeah they were so gross, I could not show up with those. That always happens. 

But along with the fails I have come across some outstanding recipes from my fellow bloggers. These are some must try recipes that are delicious

These P.F. Changs knock off lettuce wraps from Iowa Girl Eats are amazing! They don't tast exactly like the ones at P.F. Changs, but they are still really good, and ten times more healthy for you too. They were pretty simple to make too.

Ok this Olive Oil Rosemary Bread is superb! I made it and dipped it in some olive oil and man it was awesome! Head over to A Hint of Honey for the recipe

So are you ever walking through the mall and you smell those delicious soft pretzels from Pretzel Maker? Seriously those things are like foods of the gods! I found this recip surprisingly e on Pinterest a month ago and made it and it was so amazing, seriously just as good as the ones at Pretzel Maker, and really easy to make. But I just went back to the blog I had pinned the recipe from and its moved and I can't find it now.... I am so upset. But luckily I had also pinned one from All Recipes that is pretty much the same and it got five stars, so it will be amazing I am sure. You have to make these, they are wonderful! I tried them with salt and some with cinnamon and sugar. Both ways were excellent. 

Also I read you can just use Rhode's Dough for the pretzels too, need to try that!

And lastly, two nights ago I made homemade chicken nuggets. I got the recipe for them over at My Name is Snickerdoodle.   They taste just like CHICK-FIl-A nuggets! They were soo good. My husband raved about them for days. And they were seriously like the easiest things ever to make. Although I did sustain a burn from the oil while I was frying them, but that is an every day occurrence for me... Try them dipped in honey, Delicious. 

Now I just have to get around to cooking everything else on my recipe pinboard on pinterest. Seriously every time I get on there I get hungry. 

Homemade Pizza Rolls

So those frozen pizza rolls always look amazing to me, but since they have cheese inside of them, I can't eat them... But I just found a recipe for homemade ones and I was intrigued because homemade means I can make them without cheese. And let me tell you, these were some of the best things I have ever eaten. They were sooo amazing!! I am seriously in love with this meal. 

I did make half of them with cheese for my husband so he could eat them too. 

They were super duper easy to make too. The hardest part is frying them in oil, cause I hate frying things, it freaks me out, but I dealt with it, and have made this twice in like a week and a half. 

So here is what you need. 

 1 pckg egg roll wraps

Pepperonis

Mozzarella Cheese

Pizza Sauce (I used two of the small Ragu Pizza Sauce Jars, one for the sauce inside the rolls, and one jar for dipping the rolls in)

So I didn't like measure it or anything, with this meal you don't really need to measure, its pretty easy to eye it. But if you want the full recipe and more detailed instructions over at Fantastical Sharing of Recipes, she explains it so well. She mixes everything in a bowl first and then fills it in the egg roll wraps, but I just kept everything separate cause it was easier to do since I didn't add cheese to my half. 

So first get your egg roll wraps

I laid a wrap out on my cutting board in a diamond shape and then put some Ragu pizza sauce on it, just like a spoonful of it. 

Then I piled on the pepperonis and the cheese on top of the sauce. 

I found the cutest little pepperonis, they are mini and fit so perfectly in the rolls, but if you don't have them you can just cut your pepperonis. 

Once you have everything in your wrap you bring up the bottom corner and fold the top under like it shows in the pic below. The instructions should also be on your egg roll wrap pckg on how to roll it 

Now bring the two sides over to the middle. 

Then bring the top part down, you will have a little corner like I have shown left, put some water on the corner with your fingers and then press it into the middle of the wrap.

Get some oil really hot in a pot, once oil is hot enough place the pizza rolls in there, let them fry until crispy and browned and then turn over and cook on the other side. 

Put on a paper towel when they are done to absorb oil. Serve with warmed pizza sauce to dip them in. 

So easy and seriously amazing to eat. Totally unhealthy for you, but soo worth it. And I am sure kids would love them! 

Despicable Me Cupcakes.

So I have a new love, Pinterest. I just got an account a couple weeks ago and I am so obsessed. But I was browsing on it the other day and came across these cupcakes from Plucky Momo, they are like the minions from Despicable Me. I liked the show but it wasn't one of my favorites, but I was in love with these cupcakes and I wanted to make them so bad cause they were so freaking cute. My sister-in-law however loves, loves, loves that show, and she was coming over that day, so I ran to the store, got my ingredients and quickly made them up. They were really easy to make. 

I did however kindof over fill the cupcake tins, so my cupcakes were hanging off the side a bit... so they were a nightmare to frost. I hate frosting things really really badly. So try not to look at my white frosting job on the cupcake... Cause I just didn't care. 

So all you do is you get some twinkies, cut them in half and pipe on some black frosting. You need some for the mouth, and then some for the glasses, I made little lines for the glasses and then two dots where the lenses should be, I put white smarties on the two little dots and then two more dots on the smarties. Next just place some chocolate sprinkles on top of them for the hair and stick the twinkie onto a frosted cupcake. EASY! 

Here is the picture on Pinterest of them. I couldn't find the actual page of them on Plucky Momo's blog, when the pin was made it was made on her site, and then she moved her site, so the pinterest pic works best. Hers are cuter than mine, but I was in kindof a hurry and I'm just not a perfectionist when it comes to frosting... 

And just in case you haven't seen the show, this is what they look like in the movie. 

Source

A is for...

Well I am now 24 weeks along. I feel really great, but feel ready for the baby to come and not to be pregnant anymore and I still have so long to go. 

But I have been making a lot of crafts for our little girl. I am so excited for her to come. 

I have most of our stuff for her too, a cradle, a play pen, carseat and stroller, changing table, crib bedding. I mainly just need a crib now, but we aren't getting that until she is closer to coming. 

I want her to like have everything pink! I am going to make such a girly girl out of her. 

So I went to the craft store, got some pink paint and a wooden A and painted it for her room. Her name is going to be Analiese Kayla Pierson. I got the name Analiese from Barbie Princess and the Pauper movie, it is a great show. And my wonderful husband liked the name luckily, of course he tells me to quit telling everyone its from a Barbie movie, but whatever. 

I just added a ribbon bow and sanded the edges a tad to give it dimension. 

Here is me at 24 weeks, I took the pic yesterday. 

Onesie Love

 I am finally inspired to start crafting again, babies can do that to you I guess. I want to make so much cute pink stuff for the little girl growing inside me. So my first project was one I saw on pinterest, it is so freaking cute. 

A cute little necklace on the shirt!

All I did was paint it with some fabric paint with an eraser tip, and sew on a couple buttons and a bow, it seriously was so easy. You can find the original HERE along with the entire tutorial and all the details on how to make it. I looked at the original pic again and the paint dots were a bit closer together, which I should have done, but I like my big pink buttons, so I guess its all good. And I think it still turned out cute. But man, even sewing on buttons was getting me frusterated. I am not a sewer at all, no talent in that area whatsoever.

But I have a few more baby projects I am working on, and also some other projects that are not for baby, and just pretty for my future home. I am excited to get back into crafting! I just barely got a pinterest account and I am obsessed, so that probably has something to do with all my new inspiration too... 

You can follow me on pinterest here. 

Looks like I am gonna be able to buy a lot of pink stuff!

So last week I had my ultrasound and got to take our second look at our baby! Our first look at it, it was the size of a bean, so seeing its little face and body was so cute and amazing! And we found out we are having a little girl. A super active girl the ultrasound tech told us, she kept wiggling sooo much! I figured she was pretty active cause she moves ALL DAY! But I love feeling her little kicks. And as of a few days ago my hubby can feel her kicks too, sometimes. 

I already bought cute pink crib bedding and my mom was wonderful enough to buy us a stroller carseat combo, so that was awesome, so we are almost there! Just the crib is the main thing we need, and I am not going to buy that until later in the fall since right now we live in a basement, but in November we move into a town house, so that will be awesome! 

Her name is Analiese Kayla Pierson! 

Me at 19 weeks, I need to take a new pic soon cause I am now at 21 weeks, but I am pretty much this size...