The Best of 2014

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and I hope you were able to spend it with loved ones.

As the year comes to an end I wanted to look back at the top 5 posts from 2014.

The ones that were viewed the most by you.

Thank you.
5. DIY Reversible Bibs

DIY Burlap Stockings

Disclosure: I received one or more products for free in exchange for an honest review on my blog.

I feel like my blog has been a little bah-humbug, Christmas is just 1 short week away and I haven't had a chance to do much!

It makes my heart happy to finally get my butt in gear and bring you a cratfy Christmas related post!

I was contacted a few weeks ago by a representative of a company called Burlapfabric.com to see if I would like to receive some of their products to review.

(Ok, you HAVE to go check out their website, they have so many types of burlap to choose from!

Light, dark, chevron print, ribbon, bags, colored, banners, you name it!)

I have been wanting to make my own stockings for years.

I never got around to it because I never knew where to start.

When I opened the box from the company and I saw the contents I knew what I wanted to make.

It was like the stars aligned so I could finally check this off of my crating bucket list.

This is the only stocking I have completed so far, it's mine if you can't tell :)

Over the next couple of days I will be whipping some up for my husband and my 2 boys.

I just LOVE how this one turned out, so I had to share it with you!

No-bake Chocolate Cookies

These are one of my husband's favorite cookies.

I had actually never had these cookies until one day my son and I were baking and my husband requested some.

I searched Pinterest and found a recipe.

These are so easy to make!

I have made these no-bake cookies for baby blessings, family get-togethers, and holidays.

I love that I can make them in advance and they stay delicious!

Since these cookies are also gluten-free, it's nice to have them for those who won't be able to eat other desserts.

eShakti Clothing Company: An honest review

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a company called eShakti to see if I was interested in receiving an article of clothing in exchange for an honest review here on my blog.

If you have never heard of them before (don't worry, I hadn't either), it is an online clothing company for women.

They sell shirts, skirts, pants, dresses, etc. 

In my opinion they are kind of pricey, but the thing that makes them different is they will do custom sizing for an additional fee.

The word custom had me sold.

I, like pretty much everyone else on the planet, sometimes have a hard time finding clothes that fit.

It will be too loose here, too tight there, short, long, etc.

I'm sure we all know how this feels.

Here I was being offered an article of clothing that would be made to fit ME.

I was ecstatic.

Giddy.

Thrilled.

You get the point.

There were only certain articles of clothing available for review, so I scoured the list.

I wanted something to speak to me.

I saw a lot of dresses that would make my 'Fashion I love board' on Pinterest very happy.

But, due to the fact that they didn't want too many bloggers reviewing the same dress, there was a limited availability, and I quickly found out that when I would click on one it wasn't available.

Understandable though.

There are apparently a lot of us with good taste :).

Super Easy DIY Spider Costume

Yes this is a Halloween post.
In the middle of November.
Just think of it as me helping you be really prepared for next Halloween.
You're welcome :)

A few weeks before Halloween I asked my son what he would like to dress up as. His immediate response was something scary so he could scare people. 

If I can use what I have around the house and not spend a lot of money on something he will only be wearing for a few hours, I am all for it.
So, I started looking through his closet to see what we had to work with, and we found almost everything we needed for a vampire costume!

He was so excited because he knew that would scare people :), and I was excited because it didn't cost me anything!

However, we found out that his vampire costume would just have to be for trick-or-treating though.

He is in Kindergarten this year and at his school the kids aren't allowed to wear anything gorey, undead, bloody, violent, etc.

If the kids wanted to dress up, they needed to choose something from history or something from classical literature.

Dracula is a classical character, but his behavior and story are quite dark, so vampires were out.

My son still wanted to dress up at school so I told him we had to pick something we could make that would be super easy and cheap.

After some thought we chose a spider, because in my son's mind it is still something he thought would scare people, but it is also in some classical stories and nursery rhymes.

So here is our super easy and cheap spider costume.

How to make custom invitations

My son's birthday is coming up and we have been in the party planning mode!
He originally wanted a Skylanders themed party, and had been asking for that for a while.
The other day however, I started making up the invitations, and my husband and son were playing the newest version of Angry Birds (Transformers), and my son decided he wanted to change the theme to Angry Birds Transformers instead.
I am so happy that I was making the invitations myself and was able to do a quick change!
I know I'm not the only one who has a child who changes their mind last minute, so I thought I would share this super easy method :)
This is what we came up with. I of course filled it all in with my son's name, the date of the party, time, and other info, I left the details off of this one so you could see what the finished product would look like :)

I actually just googled 'Angry Birds transformers' and clicked on the images results.
My son and I looked through the pictures until we found one he liked.

Halloween 2x4 craft

With Halloween being next Friday I thought I would finally get around to a Halloween post!

Back at the beginning of October I thought to myself, 'I don't want to start decorating now, it's way too early'...and then the month snuck by without me even knowing! Oops.

I know I'm not the only one this has happened to...right? :)

Anyways, back to our craft.

A couple of weeks ago there were some guys finishing the basement in the house next to ours. I had come home from picking my son up from school and I noticed a huge pile of 2x4 and plywood scraps lying on the driveway.

I went to the basement window and called down to the workers to see what their plans were for the wood. They told me it was all to be thrown away, but if I wanted to I could take any of it.

GOLD MINE!

I ran to the other few homes on our street and told the other moms about our awesome opportunity, you should have seen us, we were like vultures buzzing around picking out what we wanted. We all had our kids loading up their arms with little piles of wood, and ideas were racing through my mind of what we would should make.

This is our first project.

Priority Chef Garlic Press Review

I have a review for you that I am super excited about!

This is a garlic press from Priority Chef.

And it is my new best friend :)

 I don't know how I have been cooking for so long and have never had one of these, I love it!

I haven't ever minded mincing garlic with a knife, but I can never get the pieces small enough, well this press sure takes care of that for me.

Mickey Mouse Hooded Towel

One of my sweet little nephews celebrated his first birthday not too long ago, and his birthday was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed.

My baby has a hooded towel, and I love that I can wrap him up all snug and warm after a bath, so that's what I wanted to make for my nephew.

At first I thought about making a cute animal towel, but as soon as I saw some black and red towels at the store one day I knew I wanted to try and make him a Mickey Mouse hooded towel to go along with his birthday theme.

I searched online for some ideas, but I wanted to make something different than what I had seen, so this is what I came up with.
To get an idea of the finished size here we have my 14 month old modeling for you.
(This towel also fit my almost 6 year old, it went down to his calf).

Avengers Super Hero Capes

Do you remember from my last post I mentioned that I had been designing and crafting?
Well, I am here now to show you what I was up to!

I had someone place an order for some super hero masks, and she then asked if I could do capes as well.

I have made capes in the past, but nothing like this.

 I told her I could make some, and I was so excited to come up with these templates!

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus

Alright, so I am finally getting around to a post here!

That took a lot longer than I anticipated. I was all excited to dive back into blogging, but for the last week I was designing and creating, and I am so excited to post that for you soon, but for now I really wanted to share this amazing recipe!

About a year ago I really wanted to try making hummus.

I searched through recipes to get an idea of how it should all come together and then my husband and I kind of created this one.

I am not going to lie, it is a little time consuming, but the results are SO worth it!!

Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta

I have a new recipe to share with you!

This dish is delicious folks!!

The great thing about this recipe is that it can work with whatever pasta you have on hand. We've used shells and tortellini. You could use ravioli, penne, spaghetti, anything! You can even go gluten-free here.

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

I am so excited to share this soup with you today!

This recipe was added to our rotation just a few short months ago, and we've made it A LOT :)

Before making this I had never cooked with cauliflower...ever...weird, I know.

I was intrigued when the recipe said to roast the cauliflower first, and was excited to try this new technique.
I have to tell you, after I roasted the cauliflower, I snuck a couple because I wanted to see what flavors I was dealing with, and it was so good! You could actually just eat it like that. But, you should also try it in this amazing soup :)

Just a quick note, if you recall, my mom is a celiac and my parents were over one night while I was making this. I wanted them to have a chance to try it, so I decided to substitute 1 Tbsp corn starch for the 1 Tbsp flour, and it became gluten-free!

Square By Square Game {Review}

Disclosure: I received this product for free in exchange for an honest review on my blog. All opinions are 100% my own.
This post may contain affiliate links.

Hi everyone!

I have a review for you today that I am really excited about.

This is a game called Square by Square.

As soon as I had read a little about it I knew I wanted it for my son. 

Are you wondering why?

Well, I love anything that will challenge his growing and developing little mind, and it's fun!

How can you go wrong with that?!

Flannel Baby Blanket

I'm really on a baby kick here lately.

I feel bad though.

When I was pregnant last year there were so many things I wanted to make for my baby, but I just didn't have the time or resources to get much done.

I think I'm making up for not making my baby as much stuff by making stuff for others :)

I found this adorable soft flannel fabric at my mom's house and knew I wanted to make something with it.

 My sister-in-law is pregnant with a boy, so I had an idea for a baby blanket, one you could use to lay on the ground if your at someone's house, or outside on the grass.

So this is what I came up with...I think I this project only took me about 35-40 minutes.

Grapefruit and Blood Orange Popsicles

With the warm weather approaching I have the perfect healthy treat to help your family cool down!

Popsicles are a staple at our house during the summer months.

It's one of my favorite things. 

Sitting on the porch with my son, talking, and cooling down with some popsicles make for some good memories.

Make it some homemade popsicles and it can't get any better. I love these because I know exactly what's in them :)

A big shout-out goes to my husband who introduced me to this delicious concoction :)

15 Minute Burp Cloths

I am in love with these burp cloths.

They are so quick and easy to make, and can we just say, adorable?!

If you remember, a few weeks ago, I did a post for DIY Reversible Bibs.

Check out that post for a free template for the bibs. Once you are done with that, you use the same fat quarter and make a matching burp cloth!

'Yoda Best' FREE Valentine Printable

Yes. This is a Valentine's post, in March...
I feel like I have kind of been all over the place lately...Don't worry people, I'm trying to get organized!
So, this will hopefully come in handy for you next year :)
My son is in preschool this year, which means it was going to be his first time handing out Valentines.

I had been thinking about what he would take to school for weeks...I get really excited around holidays, especially since I have kids. They make everything more fun and magical :)

So if you remember, a few months ago my son requested a Star Wars themed birthday party.

Well, we were still loving Star Wars, so my son said he wanted to do that for Valentine's Day.

This was so fun to make because we did all of the planning together.

I gave my son some ideas and he said he wanted to give out something with Yoda and light sabers (glow sticks).
This is what we came up with.

DIY Reversible Bibs

My beautiful little chunky baby is 7 1/2 months old already!

It's true :( it's going by so quickly.

After I had my first son I held onto everything.

I knew I would be using it all again.

There are a couple of things I didn't use as much with my first that I am constantly using with my second. I had received some bibs during my first pregnancy where there is fabric on one side and a towel on the other. Well, my second baby is a drooler :). He is always sucking or chomping on everything, and his shirts get kind of soaked. So, I have been using those towel/fabric bibs, but I only had 2. 

These bibs are the best for catching drool, so I decided I needed to make some more for myself.

How to Remove Carpet Stains

Today I have a cleaning post for you.

Let's start out with our before and afters, shall we?

Looks pretty good, eh?

I first saw this carpet cleaning method over at DIY & Crafts and I pinned it for a time when I would need it.

Well as you can tell in the before picture, I needed it :)

This was our apartment in California. This was our family room area, just after walking in through the front door.

When we first moved in they had just cleaned the carpets.

It looked beautiful.

Crispy Chicken with a Lemon Cream Sauce

I've still been keeping up with my goal of finding and trying out new recipes.

I was really excited to try this one when I found it on Pinterest, and my family LOVED it!

I think I've made this chicken dish 5 or 6 times now.

I did modify the recipe from the original, just a little bit.

DIY Indoor Golf Game

I must say I have kind of really been loving the warmer winter we've been having here.

Don't get me wrong, I love the snow, but it's nice to not have it so harshly cold with my baby only being 6 months old.

There have been a couple of days where we did get some snow and we didn't really want to venture outside, so my son and I got our crafting on.

I pinned this idea last year, but when I clicked on the picture that's all it was. No website, no instructions, nothing.

It looked simple enough to figure out, so we made our own version.

This was really easy to put together.

DynaPro Direct Resistance Band Review

*Disclosure: I received this product as part of an advertorial. 

For the past month or so I have been thinking about working out.

Within a couple of weeks of having my second baby I had lost all of the weight from my pregnancy. I hadn't gained a lot throughout, so it just kind of came off.

However, I have noticed that I am not as toned as I would like to be.

How do I fix this dilemma you might ask?

Well I should go to the gym, right?

Wrong.

My baby is only 6 months old, and to be 100% honest, I just don't feel comfortable leaving him in a gym daycare yet. Especially in the winter months with all of the germs...gross...and my poor husband has been working crazy long hours this month...like gets home after myself and the rest of the country is already asleep. So I can't leave my kids with him and go to the gym.

So, what is my solution?

Working out at home!

The Pro Grade Resistance Bands are perfect for my situation, and I'm sure many of you will feel the same way.

Southwestern Quinoa Salad

I have a new recipe for you!

This was my second attempt making quinoa and I must say I love having it as an option to throw in the mix of dinners.

This dish had really great flavor.

We actually ended up having some left over, so the next night for dinner I actually made nachos with it. I just added tortilla chips, cheese, and lettuce for a meatless version of nachos, and it was really good.

And it doesn't hurt that this is super simple to throw together :)

Snow Paint

Last year I saw this idea for snow paint on Pinterest, but we were living in California at the time, so I put it in the back of my mind.
Well, since we moved from California I knew I wanted to try this once it snowed.
The first snowfall we had my son REALLY wanted to build a fort.
So that's what we did.
It looks smaller in the picture than it really is...
The next time we went to play in the snow my husband wanted to take my son out to play, so we made some snow paint for them.

It's SO super simple!

Robot Snacks

I was looking through the pictures on my camera the other day, and I found these and realized I had totally forgotten I had wanted to write this post!

So, my son's birthday was back in November. When a child in his class has a birthday, that child will bring in treats to share with the other kids. 

When I asked him what he would like to take he flat out told me he didn't want to take doughnuts or cupcakes.  Those were common birthday items other kids had brought. My son's not a big fan of doughnuts, and I didn't want to just go pick up a pack of something. I wanted us to make something together.

About a year ago I had seen a variation of these robot snacks on Pinterest, I showed a picture to my son and he LOVED the idea.

So these are the ones we came up with.

These were so easy and fun to make.

My son continually referred to these as 'his robot army'.

It was so cute.

So here are our supplies.