Fall Garland

If your looking for something fun and easy to "Fall" up the place a bit, try this festive garland!

First gather up some fun card stock, twine, a glue stick, and a circle die cut (found at any craft store).

 

 Next cut as many circles as you want (you will need two sides for each one)

Measure out your twine and begin gluing on each circle

place one on top without any glue and hold firm.

 

 And Ta Da you have a fun festive garland!

 

xoxo-Tara

Fridge Pickles.

I tried making my own pickles for the first time last week and OH MY GOODNESS.... so delicious!!! We  I gobbled up both jars in a matter of days. I have always wanted to try my hand at it but for some reason thought it would be complicated. Well the good new is, it is actually quite the opposite! I did a quick pinterest search and found this post as my inspiration. I can't tell you exact measurements of everything because I kind of just guessed but I will give you an approximate. I will say that next time I will be adding more dill and a tad less garlic though :)

Does anyone else have any cucumbers still growing in their garden? If so, you definitely need to try this ASAP if you are a pickle lover too!

For one pint sized jar, you will need approximately:

• 1-2 cucumbers
• Fresh dill (2x more than pictured below probably)
• ~1/2 cup white vinegar
• ~1/2 cup water
• 1 heaping tsp black peppercorns
• 2 tsp salt
• 1-2 garlic cloves 
• 48 hours of patience and self control

Chop cucumbers into spears (or whatever shape you desire):

Fill each jar about 1/4 -1/3 of the way full with vinegar and then add water until it is about half full (you can always add more liquid at the end if needed but the picture below shows how much liquid I used and after adding my cucumbers it was the perfect amount). Next add 2 teaspoons of salt to each jar:

Add a clove or two of garlic to each jar:

And the peppercorns:

Add some dill (I added more at the end as well) and your jars are ready for your cucumber spears!

Shove as many cucumbers as you can into your jars and then add more dill to the top and sides:

Now just put a lid on your jar and stick it in the fridge for 48 hours. I couldn't wait nearly that long to try them... but although they were tasty, they get better the longer they sit! That is it. Pretty easy and the result is so delicious. Supposedly you can re-use the liquid and just revamp it with some more spices... I have not tried that yet though.

 

This was my fist attempt at making pickles so I am no expert by any means but I thought they were super tasty! Have you ever tried making pickles before? What tips or favorite recipes do you have for me?

Ideas for your summer list.

Last week I wrote this post about making the most of your summer by writting the activites down that you would like to do then putting them on your calendar. But what do you put on your list?

Here are a few activities that I put down on my summer list:

- farmers market
- outdoor movies (do an internet search to see what your city has to offer)
- outdoor concerts
- kid's summer movie program (like this one put on by Cinemark)
- camping
- go to a baseball game
- tube the river
- play on a sandy beach (for us that means at a lake)
- bbq and bonfire with friends (we bought a little fire pit last year for our backyard and love it!)
- library events (ours does all kinds of free activities: puppet shows, mommy & me yoga, story time, etc)
- swim lessons for Madelyn
- water park
-  hiking
- pick wild raspberries
- drive-in theater
- outdoor waterbed (my daughter keeps asking when we are doing this again)
- fair/rodeo

What are some other ideas on your own list???

Making the most of your summer {write it down}.

When summer time rolls around there are always so many things that my husand and I want to do (catch an outdoor movie, go camping, watch a baseball game, ect). However, it seems like we are always busy. In the past, the summers just flew by and we never got around to doing a lot of the things we intended on doing. But last summer was different... and we had a lot more fun!

So as I prepared for this coming summer, I thought I would share with you what I do now. It doesn't take a ton of time and you will be so so happy you did it.

Step 1: Gather what you need to get started: a note pad, a few different colored pens (if desired) and your calendar. I recommend printing off a regular page size calendar for each month in the summer (just google the month and year and you will have a ton to choose from).

Step 2: Write down all the things you want to do this summer. It is highly likely you will not be able to do every single thing you list, but put it all down on paper anyways. I made two (loose) lists. One for things that have a specific date/need to be scheduled out on the calendar. And the other for smaller activites that I would like to do but that don't necessarily need be planned for ahead of time (visiting that new park or going to a movie at the drive-in for example). Also, be sure to ask your spouse what he wants to do to, he will appreciate being including in some of the planning :)

 

Step 3: Start filling in your calendar now. This is where the different colored pens come in handy because you can assign a different color for each person/category. I started with our work schedules and also put down the days we would be out of town and when people would be visiting. Next, go off of your list you made with activities that need to be scheduled ahead of time. First, I put down all the actvities that had a specific date/time. I just did a search on the internet and if the date/time didn't work for us, I didn't add it. After this you should be left with a few bigger things that need to be scheduled out (that camping trip with friends for example). Although you might not be able to set the date in stone right now, you can at least look at your calendar and see what days could possibly work. That way later on when you are cosulting your spouse or friends, you have a few dates in mind. 

Step 4: Put the list of things that did not get added to the calendar on the fridge or some place you will see it. Now when you have time to do a family activity or  are trying to come up with a playdate idea, you will have a list of great ideas to choose from.

Step 5: Now enjoy your organized summer! Being able to look at the whole summer and schedule out some of the activites ahead of time has so many benifits. You will be able to make the most of the time you have because you have already laid out a plan. For us, the biggest thing is that knowing about an activity ahead of time allows my husband to do more things with the family. His work schedule changes slightly each week and so this way he is able to ask for time off or switch shifts with a coworker ahead of time.

Tip: We have a whiteboard calendar that stays on top of our fridge with the current months' schedules and activities. So at the beginning of the month I will just pull out the paper version of the calendar that I made for the summer months and fill out our main one. I like having the whiteboard calendar because there is more space and I add things such as our dinners for the week or maybe a few of the smaller summer activities off my list.  

DIY Love canvas

If you need any gift ideas here's one! I wish I could have posted this before Mother's Day but I didn't want to give away my surprise for my mom and mother-in-law (They both read the blog!)

supplies:
     ~ small canvas, we chose black
     ~ pointed paint brush like this one
     ~oil based paint
     ~ a happy baby and a helper:)
you can find all of this at any craft store, well besides the baby and helper!

I fee handed the "L" and then had my husband hold Bentley while I lathered up his hand and placed it on the canvas. Make sure to press the whole hand down and lift straight up. Wash the hand and move on to baby's feet. I would suggest doing one at a time and washing in between. lastly free hand the "E". If you are uncomfortable with free handing it you can always write it in pencil first.

And Viola!

DIY Birthday board

With my little boy's first birthday rushing towards me like a freight train in March I was scouring the Internet and Pinterest for ideas for his first birthday. I was totally horrified overwhelmed with all of the resources, information, and seemingly endless number of moms who spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars and plan for months to throw their babies their very first birthday party. Of course there is nothing wrong with going all out for a first birthday if that's how you roll but I just couldn't get it together. I'm just not that organized/crafty/imaginative/etc, etc, etc. I did want to do something for the little man's big day and was so thankful when I ran across the idea for a birthday board on Etsy. While they are super cute I just couldn't justify spending upwards of $50 on something I could feasibly make myself.

After a quick trip to the store for materials I got to work. Here's what you'll need:

I had most everything on hand so I just had to pick up the poster board and colors, only about $12 all together. I got black foam poster board so that it would stand on its own and so that the colors would pop. Initially I had planned to use colored pencils but they ended up not being bright enough against the black board. In the end I used chalk pastels which were very vibrant but also extremely messy. Next time I will defnitely do more research before hand and pick up some brightly colored paint pens.

 Begin by finding a board on Pinterest or Etsy that you like so that you can have something to refer back to when you are designing the layout for your birthday board. Draw the letters,shapes, and designs you like on your board with a pencil (mechanical are nice because of the fine tip), touching up any mistakes along the way with the eraser. The ruler is very handy for keeping lines straight and for measuring letters

After all of the words are in place and you like the way the outline looks, begin to color everything in. If using a black board, test your colors out on the back before starting on the letters, just to make sure they show up well! One benefit of using chalk pastels is that they can be easily erased with a normal eraser if you make a mistake. 

And ta-da! Here is my finished board. We set it up and tried to do a little photo shoot but greatly underestimated the difficulty of getting a 1 year old sit still. After his birthday we found a plain black frame and hung the board in Lewis's room, it looks great!

Happy crafting!

xoxo - Leah

Routine Chart.

A few months ago we decided it was time to create a routine chart for our 3 1/2 year old in hopes that getting ready for the day and bedtime would go more smoothly. Before we used the chart these times of the day were often chaotic and filled with nonstop whining. In addition to that, things would get overlooked/not done all the time. So, in came our awesome routine chart, completely and totally inspired by this one here. I used her exact same concept and printed off the labels that she offers but created a new chart.

Currently we only use the morning and bedtime routines. As you can see we have a "my day" routine chart hanging up but we don't really use it right now... mostly because I forget to change out the labels for the next day (something you do not have to worry about with the other two routines). Her morning and bedtime routines stay the exact same every day so after I created the charts I figured out what I wanted to include and stuck the labels on in the order I wanted. 

So basically when it is time to start on her routine she just goes down the list starting at the top and completes the task, moving over the labels to the other side of the chart as she completes them. She can see what each thing is since there is a little picture on the label. Also it is super easy for her to see how much she has accomplished and how much she has left. After all the little labels are moved over she is done. I just leave the labels as they are and the next day she just moves them back the other way (this way I don't have to worry about resetting it).

Although I will not say that the whining has completely stopped (she is a three year old after all), most days it is dramatically reduced by this routine chart. She knows exactly what is expected of her and is able to complete (almost) everything on her list all by herself. I also love that I don't have to constantly remind her what to do (only point her towards her list if she gets sidetracked). Let me know if you wany my version of the charts and I will email them to you. I only wish we had started using this chart earlier!

It is hard to see in these pictures, but at the very bottom of her morning routine list is a label that says roomtime. This is another thing I do with her (that we started at about 12 months) that helps tremendously! Roomtime deserves a post all to itself so I will do one on it in the near future.

What things do you do with your littles to make your day go more smoothly???

Felt heart Valentines Day banner

As a new mom I'm especially excited for the chance to have a whole day to be over the top romantic with my hubby, to dress up in a pretty dress, and to leave the babe at home for a night on the town. We aren't technically going out on a fancy date or anything like that this year but I do plan on making the day ooey gooey romantic. I found the idea for this sweet heart banner on, you guessed it, pinterest. It is a super simple, fun, and adorable project for Valentines day. Felt is very easy to work with and fairly cheap as well

Choose your felt - lots of people will only buy 100% wool felt but I found it to be too expensive ($14.99/yard) so I stuck with a mixed felt.

Cut out your hearts - I didn't use a pattern or anything. A simple way to make symmetrical hearts is to simply fold your felt in half and cut 1/2 of a heart right on the edge, open to reveal the whole heart

Sew your hearts together - Originally I was planning on sewing my hearts together top to bottom rather than side to side. I quickly realized this wouldn't work due to the differing size and shapes of the hearts so I went with side to side. Begin by placing one heart under the presser foot and sewing all the way across the width of the heart, adding another heart before you come to the end of the first.

Hang and enjoy!

xoxo-Leah

DIY painted hair clips.

Nail polish + silver clips = cute hair accessories

This super simple project took me only a few minutes and the girl is loving them. I think I will need to make a few more because she wants the clip to perfectly match the outfit she is wearing that day. I think they would turn out even better if you were more patient and let the nail polish dry completely before trying them out :) The nice part is it just took a little nail polish remover and a cotton ball when I needed to start one over.

The supplies:

The clips before (not sure why there little holes in them... but these are what I had on hand):

The process of one {stripes}:

And all the finished clips:

So there you have it, an easy project to add some color to your hair clips. I might have to try this on bobby pins and also break out the glitter next time to add some sparkle.

Home made nutella

I'm a big fan of nutella. I have always just eaten it spread on a piece of buttery toast but in pinterest land it is used to dress up cookies, cakes, bread, milk shakes, icing, cupcakes, and even martinis! Probably the most versatile spread around, here is a simple and delicious recipe for home made nutella. This would be the perfect home made holiday gift for a hostess or for family!

Nutella (original recipe from bon appetit)

Yeilds: 4 cups ( I doubled the recipe and got enough for about 10 jars)

Ingredients:

• 2 heaping cups hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 lb semisweet or bittersweet chocolate ( I used a mixture of both)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt ( I used fine sea salt)
• 4 -8oz jars

Method:

• preheat oven to 350 degrees and spread hazelnuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast nuts for 15 minutes, shaking a few times to evenly roast the nuts. To remove skins place nuts in a slightly damp kitchen towel and rub them together

• Place hazelnuts and sugar in the food processor and grind until a smooth nut butter forms

• place chocolate in a double boiler or a metal bowl over a simmering saucepan of water. Stir until melted and smooth. 

• Remove from heat and stir in butter until fully incorporated. Stir in cream and salt, whisk until combined. Stir in hazelnut paste

• Pour nutella into jars and let cool

Can stand at room temperature for up to 4 days, store in the refrigerator

Enjoy!

xoxo - Leah