Mullet

To go along with the "Mustache" shirt I made a Mullet shirt for my brother.  If they wear the shirts together I think it would be pretty funny.  They have the personalities to be able to wear these kind of shirts. 

Following Ashley's tutorial using citrasolv 

Here's how I did this one...

Print off this great thing on my laser printer--remember to reverse the text.

Citrasolv-this is my new favorite medium.  Fun and easy to use.  The guy at the art store who was ringing me up was telling me how concentrated it was and that I should be careful when I was cleaning with it---I explained what I was doing with it and he just stared at me like I was crazy :o)  After rubbing the Citrasolv on and using a flat edge to help the transfer the shirt was complete...

Mustache

This was a Christmas present that I gave to my sister-in-law--that's why I'm waiting until now to show it to you :o)

First I printed off the design on Word

Using my super high-tech exacto knife I cut out each letter and the stache.  I did not cut out the dots above the i's--I just used the eraser from a pencil to get a perfect circle.

Then I painted with black velveteen fabric paint.

Cousin's Christmas Party

My hubby's family has had a little growth spurt in the last few years.  There are a lot of cousins all around the same ages.  It makes family gatherings so fun because it is just a huge playdate for the little guys.  This year I wanted to have a little party for the cousin's.

First we handed out invites at Thanksgiving.  The kids were excited to get the invitations.
A few days before the party I made some Applesauce-Cinnamon ornaments

The recipe called for 1 C cinnamon & 1/4 C applesauce and 1/4 Craft Glue.  I followed the recipe and found it to be too dry--I kept adding applesauce and glue until it felt right and wasn't too sticky.

I cut out girls and boys.  Use a straw to poke a hole for ribbon while you are cutting out the dough.  I kept the cutouts on paper towels.  Make sure to rotate every 6-8 hours to help the drying time go faster.  Saturday morning before the party I threw a few of them in a 200 degree oven for about 10 minutes just to make sure they were dry.
The day of the party all eleven children attended--yep, ages 6 and under.  It was so fun.  At one point my neighbors came to drop off a treat and rang the doorbell twice and pounded on the door.  My hubby even called downstairs to tell us that someone was at the door--we didn't even hear it.  We were able to get all 11 kids sitting on a couch for a fun picture.  To keep one of the kids on the couch I pulled out a dum-dum sucker and it worked magic-except all the other kids wanted one too.  So we have a picture of the kids sucking on a sucker, but they sat on the couch quietly and contently for a good five minutes worth of pictures.
After lunch and pictures the kids got to decorate their own ornament.

 I wrote the child's name and 2011 on the back before they started decorating.  The above ornament turned into a finger painting session soon after I took this picture.

 Everyone had a blast making their ornament.

 This was my little girls ornament, she said the gold at the top was curly hair.

This was the ornament I made the day before so everyone could get an idea of what to do.
After the ornaments we let the kids play while we cleaned up.  Then we moved on to a gift exchange.  I asked each child to bring a gift worth about $1--I just passed out the gifts and everyone opened all at once.  We just couldn't see a "real" white elephant gift exchange working well with toddlers.  Everyone got a gift that they loved.  After the gifts the kids played some more then we did one more art project.
I made puffy paint and everyone loved getting their hands messy finger painting.  They loved how their pictures would come to life in the microwave.
All the mom's were great and helped clean the house back up and it was spotless when all the kids left.
That night we had the missionaries over for dinner, while dinner was finishing cooking I gave them each an ornament to decorate.

These are some pretty cool looking gingerbread-missionaries.

5 Minute Infinity Scarf

As I was getting ready for church the other Sunday I was trying to pull together an outfit.  Do you ever have those mornings where you take out half of your closet trying to find the outfit that you will feel cute in?  Well it was turning out to be one of those mornings.  So I ended up pulling on a grey knit skirt and a long sleeve tee.  I have issues wearing a t-shirt to church, it just doesn't feel dressy enough to me.  I then went to my sewing room and found some winter-ish looking fabric, a red swiss dot with silver stripes woven into it.  The scarf took minutes to sew and I think dressed up the long-sleeve tee enough to wear to church.

Since it was so easy to sew I thought I would give you a tutorial on how I did it.

Need a New Phone?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LG DoublePlay™. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you think everyone else on the planet has a phone that is better, faster, cooler than yours?  I still have a basic flip phone, but I thought this one was pretty cool.

LG DoublePlay™

The LG DoublePlay is a neat phone.  It not only has a touchscreen it has TWO.  The screens can work independently or in tandem.

Here are some other cool specs of the phone:

5 megapixel camera, full slide out Qwerty keyboard and Swype for easy texting.

Speaking of texting the DoublePlay offers multiple messaging including Cloud Text and Group Text.

This phone would be a socializers dream.  You could multitask so many things at once and not have to use different devices to accomplish it all.  This phone would be a great fit in my life, I don't text a ton right now because I don't have a keyboard on my phone--but if I did I'm sure my friends and family would get a few more texts from me.  What Mom wouldn't want this phone?  Just think of the things you could accomplish while you are waiting at soccer practice, or after school?  You could check and respond to email, pay bills, keep in touch with friends and more.  

Check out the DoublePlay for yourself...This phone is available exclusively at T-Mobile.

How many hours do you spend texting or updating your status now?  This phone would help streamline the process.

What other ways would the DoublePlay change your socializing?

The Twister Shirt

We had a Christmas party to attend and I didn't like the clothes in my closet.  I went to several different stores and found some shirts I liked, but didn't want to fork out the dough.  So I did the next best thing...free pattern and went through the fabric stash.

I found the pattern for the shirt on Burda Style here.  There are no instructions on how to sew it together, but it wasn't too hard to figure out.  

I used a polyester knit, nice and silky.  All in all it was a comfortable easy to sew shirt.  If I use this pattern again I would add 2 inches to the length and a little to the arms.

Christmas Card 2011

I saw this idea in a catalog from a print company and used it for our family Christmas card.  It might be a new tradition for our family.

The family and friends that have received it have loved it.  It's a Christmas card/newsletter all wrapped up into one.  No picture with a separate newsletter to try to keep together.

I think you could make one in Word, I made mine in Photoshop.  It is really easy and fun to recap each month in just a few words.
Maybe someday I will show off my kiddos to you, but I like to keep some of my life offline :o)

Operation: Get your shake on!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Slim-Fast. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you have an annual Christmas party to attend in the next few weeks?  We do, ours in on Christmas eve--and everyone in the family will be there.  Not only will everyone be there, but their cameras will be clicking away too.  Christmas pictures from year to year bring back so many memories, but they can also remind me of how healthy I was or wasn't for that particular Christmas.

After I had my first baby the pounds shed off quickly and I felt so healthy and good.  During my second pregnancy I was put on house-rest (one move away from bed rest.)  I could not exercise or do much and I put on 50 pounds.  Three years later I still have an extra 10 pounds that just doesn't seem to want to move.  I was contacted by Slim-Fast and was asked to join their campaign and try out their new shakes--of course I wanted to try out something that could help me during the hectic holidays ahead.  Especially before the paparazzi show up on Christmas Eve.

Slim-Fast has launched NEW on-the-go shakes.  These great convenient shakes come in five delicious flavors to match anyone's cravings.  The shakes fit into the Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Plan.  What is the plan?

Slim-Fast

3  Nourishing Snacks a day--of course Slim-Fast has great options including their 100 Calorie Snack Bars

2 Slim Fast Shakes or Meal Bars per day--these provide balanced nutrition and because of the protein help you have 4 hours of hunger control

1 Balanced Meal.  Try to keep it to a 500 calorie meal.  Slim-Fast suggests trying to fill half your plate with veggies, a quarter with protein, and the remaining quarter with grains.

Our family got to try out the shakes.  All of the Slim-Fast products should be found at your local supermarket.  We have some special dietary needs in our family so I bought the shake powder-we added our own liquid to make a shake.

To make my shake I added our "milk", added the powder and added frozen strawberries. Adding ice or frozen fruit helps to make the shake thick.  I poured a cup and enjoyed the great vanilla-strawberry taste.  

My kids each enjoyed a cup too.  They thought it tasted great and haven't asked for a snack yet (a small victory in our house)  I was glad that I was able to mix my own shake and add fruit or veggies as I wanted.  I am looking forward to making many more shakes in the weeks to come.

Need some extra holiday cash?  Slim-Fast wants to help.  If you "Like" Slim-Fast on Facebook you could win $100,000--go check it out.

Slim-Fast

Present Topper

Amid all the holiday busy times my little girl was invited to a birthday party.  We found some Hello Kitty lip gloss to give.  We wrapped the present and then made this clip as a present too.

It is a simple flower glued on to an alligator clip.

I just tied a ribbon around the present and instead of tying a bow I clipped this one on.

It even holds a card well.

And of course I had to make one that matched.

Yum....wassail to humidifier

Have you ever walked into someone's house and a wonderful smell whiffs past your nose and you immediately feel at home?  That's how I feel about the smell of this mixture.

Here's what you'll need:

Cheesecloth

20 Allspice Berries

25 Whole Cloves

10 Cinnamon Sticks (about 3 inches long)

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Gallon Apple Juice

Pour the apple juice in a big pot, add the brown sugar-stir.  Wrap all the spices in the cheese cloth and tie closed.  Place the cheesecloth-ed spices in the apple juice and boil for 25-30 minutes.  If you like really strong flavored cider keep the spices in for longer.  After the 30 minutes remove the spices and turn off the stove.  Serve the drink in mugs or insulated cups.

We made wassail/apple cider last night and I had the cheesecloth wrapped spices still in the pan this morning.  I added water and turned the stove on.  Not only do the spices fill the air with a Christmas-y aroma it adds humidity to the air-something we desperately need this time of year.

So have yourself a cup and warm right up tonight.