DIY Jewelry Organizer

Hello world!

This week I was in the mood for a project.

This is what I was up to, what do you think??  

I'm pretty pleased with it, I especially love the colors!

I've seen this earring holder idea all over Pinterest,
(so I'm not sure who to give credit to for this awesome idea...)

I knew I had to tackle this craft when I realized I had finally gotten sick of looking at this mess just looming on my night stand...

My necklaces were all tangled up in one big knot, and my earrings had all just been thrown into that cup.
I'm starting to sound like one of those over-dramatic infomercials...maybe I should have taken a picture of myself in black and white trying to untangle it, and then giving up and looking frustrated...
Sorry, I couldn't help that :)
Anyways, I had this old picture frame that we haven't used in years, but the corner was broken,
nothing a little glue couldn't fix!

My weapon of choice...I love this stuff!!

Supplies you'll need

any size/shape picture frame

paint

ribbon

thumb tacks
nails

jewelry!

We got our paint and ribbon from Michael's.

The paint was .50 cents, and the ribbon was $1.63, so I spent a total of 

$2.13 on this!

The first step is to paint the frame, top, side, and inside.
I didn't use any primer, we just went right at it with our paint.
We ended up doing 2 coats.

I had seen some other earring holders where they would use a staple gun to attach the ribbon, or string, or whatever they were using.

Well, I don't have a staple gun, so I figure thumb tacks were the next best thing.
I figured right!!

 I could have very easily just pushed the thumb tacks in, but I wanted let my son continue to help, so I let him hammer the tacks in.

We used 2 tacks on each side, I figured this would keep the ribbon from tearing.
I then cut out little holes along the middle of the ribbon for the earrings to go through.
I then decided to 'paint' each hole with clear nail polish, because I figured it would keep the earrings from tearing through the holes.

 Next, I measured out where I wanted the 'necklace hooks' (aka plain old nails) to go, and then hammered them in.

 Next, add your earrings...

 and your necklaces!

That's it!
See, I told you it was easy! :)

3 months until Christmas!

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you all that Christmas is just a short 3 MONTHS AWAY!!!!

(I wonder how many people I just sent into panic mode...)

In honor of that statement I wanted to share a little Christmas craft with you.

A countdown to Christmas!  Yay!

My son and I made this last Christmas, but when we moved (just a short 2 1/2 weeks ago), it got thrown away.  It's ok though, luckily, this is a very cheap and easy craft to make, so we'll probably be making it again this year!

* Since we made this before I had my blog, I don't have a precise step-by-step tutorial, but again it's really easy, and you can just make it your own.

Supplies you'll need

scissors

glue

construction paper

poster board
24 cotton balls

First, I typed up the poem and printed it onto the construction paper (yes, it will work), I then cut the poster board in half length-wise.

I next cut out Santa's face, hat, etc. out of construction paper.  To add a little 'decor' to it I cut out some snowflakes, and let my son cut out some as well.

 I also stapled a little Ziplock bag to the bottom corner and filled it with 24 cotton balls.
Starting December 1 put one cotton ball on each night.

Here is my son putting on the first cotton ball before bed.  We would just put a small amount of glue on the cotton ball to make them stick.

Christmas Eve!  The last cotton ball!

In case you're having a hard time reading the poem, it says;

'Santa's beard is very bare, on his chin there is no hair.  So each day add one puff so white, and when they're all on he'll come that night.

Idea adapted from here.

Made my day!

Is is sad that I have actually said this to my husband???!!!

Ha ha ha

Failure: Cleaning cookie sheets

The other day my son was playing at a friends house for a little while, I was kind of wandering around trying to figure out what project to start.  

While I was in my kitchen it donned on me, my old horrible-looking cookie sheets!

I had just found a 'trick' on Pinterest, it's supposed to clean off all that dark looking stuff and make them look all silver and shiny again.  All you need to do is grab some baking soda and  hydrogen peroxide, let it sit for a while, and it should wipe right off, NO scrubbing.  (That's the part that caught my eye!)
I am sad to say this is the first time something I've found on Pinterest has let me down :(

Here is what my cookie sheet looked like to start out with, not too pretty, I know...

 I did just what she did, I poured the baking soda on first,

 then the Hydrogen Peroxide,

then more baking soda, 

 and let it sit for 2 hours.

 Again, it was supposed to just wipe right off, but after trying that, and then 15 minutes of scrubbing, this is what it looked like...almost the exact same as before in my opinion...

Has anyone else tried this and had it actually work?
Does anyone have any suggestions for me on what I might have maybe done wrong??

Remember me??

I'M BAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello world!  Remember me??  I sure hope so!

What a crazy two weeks it's been.

I don't have any how-to's or recipes or anything tonight, 

but stayed tuned, I've got lots of good stuff coming!

We finally just got our internet set up today.

Let's see, since my last post we:

packed up everything we own 

loaded it into a moving truck

shed many tears

said a lot of heartfelt good-byes

drove about 14 hours 

and unloaded and unpacked everything.

My husband doesn't start his new job for another week, so we have been able to have a mini vacation here.  It's been so nice.  We've gone to an Angel's games, had a picnic at the beach, we've been to the pool here at  our apartment at least 8 times...I think...I lost count, we've been to 3 different parks that are within like a mile of us, there are parks everywhere down here, and we've also been able to make some new friends.

Getting ready to leave made me realize how blessed we were with such wonderful family and friends.

It's definitely something I took for granted.

Thank you to everyone for all your love and support, we miss you all!

Magic Cookie Bars (Gluten Free)

First of all, this will probably be my only post this week.  WE ARE MOVING ON FRIDAY!!  I figured we'll probably be busy with packing, saying good-byes, and lots of crying, so hang in there, I will come back as soon as I can!

First, a little history about my family and I.  My mom is a Celiac.  This means she has a severe allergy towards the gluten in wheat flour, rye, and barley.  She has had this allergy since she was in her early 20's.  In the last few years there have been a lot more cases of this allergy, which also means more knowledge about it has come out.  

I have been making this dessert for my family since I was about 8 or 9 years old.  We all love this dessert, but it's my mom's favorite by far.  I've made it for EVERY family get-together.  Sunday dinners, holidays, birthdays, you name it, it's there.

Last Sunday was our last Sunday dinner with my family, so I had to make it for them one more time.

When we left that night there were lots of tears.  I will miss both of our families very much, but I know this move will be good for us, and it will be a fun new adventure.  

Ok, on to the recipe!

Ingredients:

6 c. cereal (I normally use Frosted Flakes because they're already sweetened, but I've also used Corn Chex or other cereals, whatever I've got on hand, and just added a little sugar)

* When you are choosing any cereal for the crust, if you do have a gluten allergy, please check the ingredients label first, just to make sure it doesn't have gluten in it!

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 c. unsalted butter

Chocolate chips

sweetened shredded coconut 

Pour the cereal in a food processor and grind the cereal,

 Grease a 9x13 cakepan and pour in cereal. 

 Using a fork, mix the cereal and melted butter until it's all combined.  Then use the fork to press down the cereal to make a crust.

 Pour on all of the sweetened condensed milk, and spread it around to cover the crust.  Top with chocolate chips and coconut.

 Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes.

Let them cool before cutting them into bars.  

(Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the bars cut up and displayed all cute, we always just eat them right out of the pan)  ;) Enjoy!!