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...)

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, the construction paper will work in the printer), I then cut the poster board in half length-wise.

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,

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!

This recipe makes 24 bars.

Ingredients:

6 c. cereal (I normally use Frosted Flakes because they're already sweetened, but I've also used Corn Chex, Corn Flakes, 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 

Avengers Birthday Cake

This is my new favorite way to decorate cakes, the possibilities are ENDLESS!!
First off, I just want to let you all know how much this cake cost to make...
Just over $5.00!!!  Yes, you read that right!
All I had to pay for was the two boxes of cake mix (on sale for 99 cents each), and two tubs of
frosting, ($1.50 each). 

So, my two previous posts were how to make a Captain America Shield Pinata, and how to make Avengers masks, add this awesome birthday cake, and you've got a super sweet Avengers themed birthday party!!
I was SOOO excited to do this post!
I love to bake and decorate, but I'm still learning, so when I saw this idea on Pinterest, and knew I had to tackle it.  

I picked out a coloring page that had my son's 4 favorite Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America.  I didn't know how long this process would take, the party was on a Wednesday, so I started Monday night.  I worked on it for 1 hour, put it in the fridge so it wouldn't get ruined, and then another 1 1/2 on Tuesday night, and that was it!  I had a lot of fun making this cake. 

What you'll need:

the coloring page you want for the final design

wax paper

tape

a piece of glass large enough to tape the paper on to

food coloring

frosting (I just purchased the  Betty Crocker frosting, the one in the small tub)

sandwich bag (I only used 1 sandwich bag!  See how below) or (frosting bag with tips)

Tape your picture underneath the glass so you can see it.

DIY Avengers Masks

* I have a GIVEAWAY going on right now for a chance to win some super hero masks of your choice! It's the most recent post on my blog, just click on the header at the top of the blog (or Home) and it will take you there. Make sure to enter!

Ok, here is my second post from my son's Avengers birthday party.  See my previous post on how to make your own Captain America shield pinata if you missed that one, 'cause it's freaking awesome!

I saw these on Pinterest like a month ago and pinned them immediately.  I had this genius idea, instead of doing little goody bags for the kids, (because my son really never plays with the little toys he gets in there, and they would get enough candy and treats from the pinata), so I would make a mask for each of them.  This way they could also run around with the masks at the party and be little super heroes!

I started these a couple of weeks in advance, mostly so I could just work on them at night while my son was sleeping, and also because I didn't know how long it would take to make all 18 of them! 

Supplies you'll need
sheets of felt in the colors you will need Iron Man (red and yellow), Captain America (blue and white), Hulk (green and black), and Thor (a creamish, skin color, and grey).  (They were 29 cents per sheet at Michael;s, I've heard since you can get them at Wal-mart for 23 cents, saving you money folks!)
scissors
white stretchy elastic
FREE template of the masks found at Cutesy Crafts (this lady did a great job making these templates!  She also has a few other super heroes, and princess crown templates)

black and see-through thread

*Update, I did have someone email me, she said she didn't have a sewing machine, and was wondering if these could be made with a hot glue gun instead.

I whipped up a mask using ONLY a hot glue gun, and it does work just as well! 

I got 4 sheets of each color to use as the base of the mask, then 1 sheet for the colors which are the details on the masks.

For the base of the mask (the main color), use 2 sheets on top of each other, pin the mask and cut out the shape.

DIY Captain America Shield Pinata

I am so so so excited about the next couple of posts coming up!  Follow my blog so you can see what's coming!  (Just a little teaser, they are related to Avengers birthday party ideas!) 

First of all, I am very happy to have my camera back :).  Note to self: do not leave an expensive camera on top of papers on the edge of the table, because when a toddler wants to grab those papers, everything comes crashing down.  Totally my fault.  I am guilty.  

Anyways, my son's birthday isn't until November, but since we are moving in two weeks (AHHHH!!!), we decided to do an early birthday party for him so he could celebrate with friends and family one last time, and the party was yesterday!  I have been SO excited about this party.  I love planning things like this, and I love to be able to use my crafty skills :)  If you've been following my blog, you may remember I did a post about letting your little ones make their own Captain America Shield, well, after making that shield, and playing super heroes, I think it might have just kept the super hero obsession burning bright :), because my son requested an Avengers party!

Warning:  There are lots of pictures ahead!  I really did miss my camera...Also, guess how much it cost me to make this pinata...anyone?  Nothing!  0!  Zilch!  What made me really happy was I had all these supplies at my house already, (except the cardboard box, I had to find that, but it was free!)

Supplies you'll need:

• cardboard box
• a thinner box, ex: cereal, pop can, etc.
• duct tape
• scissors
• glue
• tissue paper

I thought this was going to take forever, so I started it a few days in advance.  It only took like an hour and a half TOTAL, and that was with 'my little helper' helping me.

Ok, here we go:

First cut out 2 identical shapes of what  you want your pinata to be.  (As you can see my box has black paint all over it, that's because I've been redoing furniture, I will post that later!)

 Then cut your thinner box into strips.  This is what will go between the shapes, so cut them as wide as you want.  Don't cut off the flaps on the box, you will need those in a minute.