Guest Posting!

Hey all! I'm over at Olive & Love today! Check it out!

Make sure you go leave some comment love!

Have A Happy Day,


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A Glimpse Inside

Today I have a guest post from Allison at A Glimpse Inside- she is amazingly talented and I have a soft spot for her since she's a military wife too ;) We military wives just 'get' each other I think! Anyway we are blog swapping so I have a post up over there too! After you check out her post below make sure you go over and give her some comment love! Take it away Allison!

Hello! I am so excited to be blog swapping with Kristi today! Kristi is so sweet and I am so happy she wanted to have me over for a "visit" in her world today.


First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Allison and I am from A Glimpse Inside. I am an Army wife with a creative side. I LOVE to craft, paint, sew, take photos, decorate, go thrifting and more!

The dear husband, Travis, and I are currently living in KY. We just moved here in May from our first duty station in VA. We won't be here long but we enjoy being close to our home state of TN. He is super supportive and encourages me to create anything that comes to my mind.


But enough about me... I bet you all just want me to get to the good stuff. :)

On my blog, I share pictures and stories of our life along with my crafts, recipes, thrift finds, decor, and more. I started blogging almost a year ago and it has become quite an addiction.

Here are some things you'll find.

We bought these crates at a Flea Market and they are now a table in my husband's "man cave."

On Tuesdays, I share yummy recipes.
This one is AWESOME and a must try- Dalmatian Cupcakes.

I love to share furniture or project transformations. It is always so fun to see what something will turn into when you are finished.

Coffee Table Upcycle

Mail Center Redo


But I mostly share crafts! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to craft! I love to share the tutorials on how to make them too. Here are some of the Halloween and Fall crafts that I've created recently.

"Spooktacular" Subway Art

Fun Fall Garland using toilet paper and paper towel rolls

Glitter Painting Tutorial


That is just some of the things that I share on my blog.
You can find more of my tutorials here as well.


I would absolutely LOVE for you all to come visit me in my neck of the woods and take a glimpse inside my world. Stop by, take a look around, stay awhile and maybe leave a comment or two. Who doesn't love those comments? I know I do!


Thank you Kristi for having me over to share this tutorial and blog swapping with me!
You are a fabulous host! :)

Thanks so much Allison for coming over to share today!

Have A Happy Day, 



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I’m Guest Posting over at Top Notch Eats!

Hi all! Today I am guest posting over at Top Notch Eats!
Kaleena is a college friend of mine and boy if I knew the girl could cook when we were in college I would’ve hit her up for her leftovers at lunch! ;)

Please go read the post and check out the yummy recipes she posts!! :)
Have a happy day!

Project Organization

Hi all! I'm over at Sherbet Blossom today guest posting for Hannah's "Project Organization" series! Please go check it out & read back through the series! (She started on August 2) There have been some really good tips so far!






Have a Happy day,

Guest Post: A Few Short Cuts- a tutorial!

This is a guest post by Amanda Carlisle from A Few Short Cuts. She shows you how to save time and money in the kitchen and at the store with her recipes, coupons and more. She is a stay at home mom of 3, and loves to craft!




Back to School is just around the corner and I wanted to share this craft project with you guys. If you have a sewing machine and can sew a straight line, you can totally make this. I do not pretend to be a seamstress, or know how to sew anything but a straight line. Straight lines can get you pretty far in the world of sewing if you ask me, or my family. So far straight lines have gotten us pillows, curtain panels, and several crafts in between.

This time my straight lines made a grocery bag. Not just an ordinary grocery bag. A grocery bag made out of Capri Sun Pouches; empty of course! Did you know that you can not recycle a juice pouch? They just go sit in a landfill somewhere. Since I am trying to teach my crew not to be wasteful, we are re-purposing those pouches into a nifty grocery bag. Now, not only did we save pouches from a landfill, but we won’t need to use the bags from the store! Did I mention that it is super cute too?

What you will need

• 42 Empty Juice Pouches (easier to do than you would think)
• Sewing machine
• Thread (of course)
• 1” - 2" wide ribbon for handles

You are going to want to make sure the pouches have been washed thoroughly. The best way is to make a slit it the bottom and wash with dish soap! Then, Start by sewing 2 pouches together. Overlap them just slightly and do a zig zag stitch the whole way down.

This is how you will sew all of the pouches together. It is super simple. I used this as a lesson to teach my daughter how to use the sewing machine.

 

This is what the seam will look like

Now, to put the bag together you will need to assemble the different pieces. You will need the following...

• A Front 4 Pouches wide by 3 Pouches Tall (12 total)
• A back 4 Pouches wide by 3 Pouches Tall (12 total)
• 2 Sides 2 Pouches wide by 3 Pouches Tall (6 for each) (12 total)
• A Bottom 2 Pouches by 3 Pouches (6 total)

You can see all of the pieces above!

Now, for assembly.



Begin sewing each side to the bottom. Once they are all attached it will look like this.



Now this is the point where I goofed! I will tell you plain as day! I goofed! I should have sewn the handles on now, but did I?? NOPE! I waited until the bag was all finished, and it was a pain in the butt! Don't be like me! Sew your handles on now....You will thank me for my mistake later! :)

All you have to do is pin the 1"-2" wide ribbon to the inside of the front and back panels. Stitch in a square pattern to hold in place securely.

Back to what I did!

After the handles are attached, Sew the sides together! This is really simple.

That is it you should now have a finished grocery bag!

So far I have heard the following perks to making my own bag!

• It looks really cute!
• It smells really good (fruit punch I am guessing)
• It insulates well (added bonus)
• It is really sturdy!

So, start saving those pouches from the lunch boxes and make your own grocery bag!

Isn't that just the cutest idea? I wonder if it has 'insulating' properties (i.e. could be used as your 'meats' or 'frozen' items bag?) 
Thanks so much  Amanda for the awesome tutorial!

Have a happy day,

I'm Guest posting today!

Hey all! I'm over at Saving The Family Money guest posting today! Frugal Summer Family Fun ideas! Go check it out! Btw- this is one of my first guest posts so I'm a little nervous about it so leave me nice comments mmmkay? :)

Have a happy day,

Prepared.

Hi all! I'm back! This is my first post since having my baby girl "E" on June 6, 2010! She was born at 6:02am weighing a TINY 6lbs. 9oz. (My son was 9lbs. 4oz so she is tiny tiny to me!) she came into the world after only two pushes and only 6 hours of contractions that hurt (I was contracting all day the day before but they just were tight-not painful) She is healthy & D and Hubby both love and adore her!

Ok! Now onto the blog post! First a thank you to all the ladies who helped me out and did guests posts for me these last few weeks! Please go visit them soon & thank them! Kaleena @ Top Notch Eats, Birdie @ A Chirp in the Forest & Karen @ Saving the Family Money. Thanks so much ladies!

So a few weeks ago I decided that I wanted a bag in my vehicle that would allow D & I to just go to the playground or somewhere fun without any planning (an example would be: we were out running errands and just decided to stop by the playground). So I pulled out a tote bag I had and started to throw some things together. Here's what I ended up with in the back of my suv:

and here are a few pictures of what I included:

This is the full bag (above). The bag on top is the 'emergency supplies' bag which has band-aids, tissues, neosporin, bug spray, sunscreen, anti-itch spray, and travel sizes of advil and purell.

Then I added a bag of toys which as you can see included Mr. Potato Head. It also has bubbles, chalk & a small playground ball.

Then in the bottom is a change of clothes for him, a sweatshirt (in case it's colder all of a sudden), an empty sippy cup, two beach towels (one to wipe off the wet slides if it's a rainy day) and 1 washcloth. 

Then not pictured is a folding camping chair, a flashlight, our folding travel potty and my picnic blanket that is waterproof on one side.
I am going to have to add in clothes & diapers for little miss E now but other than that we are all prepared for those spur of the moment 'let's go have fun' times! Another bonus is that I don't have to worry my new 'mommy brain' will have me forget something important!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Baby Time Guest Post: Saving the Family Money

Today we have a fun tutorial from Karen at Saving the Family Money! Please be sure to visit her site because she has a ton of informative posts and plenty of great reading for you to do! Here she is:

Simple and easy steps to turn old picture frames into beautiful fabric covered bulletin boards.

The 2 picture frames and the gold shelf above I purchased at a garage sale for super cheap. I took out the pictures and glass and spray painted the frames and shelf black. This is the same wall that I took the before picture on, but I have since painted over the thin coat of builders paint. This is the hallway between the kitchen and the garage where everyone passes when coming and going. It will be a great place to put reminders and schedules!

Ok are you ready for me to tell you how easy it is to do? I decided I wanted to do a magnetic board because a cork board would mean I'd be putting holes in the fabric and I didn't want to do that. I went to JoAnn Fabric to look for inspiration fabric. I found these 2 coordinating fabrics and the best part is I was able to use a coupon on one of them and the other was a remnant fabric so it was discounted. I wanted it to look like artwork even if there was nothing displayed on it. Then I headed out to my favorite Home Depot where they accept competitor coupons, and got my supplies. You will need a piece of zinc-coated steel (aluminum and stainless steel will not hold magnets). I took a few magnets with me and the fabric so I could make sure it was going to work. You'll need heavy duty magnets and you should be able to buy these at the hardware store as well. My husband thinks it's funny that the Manager who was assisting me, didn't even know they carried magnets. I graciously showed him where they were..hehe. Now I chose a large piece that I could cut to size at home. It was cheaper than buying 2 smaller ones. Your hardware store might cut it to size for you if you take in your measurements or even the frame you will be using. If you do it yourself, you'll need a pair of scissors that will cut metal. They sell these for about $10 or you can borrow a pair from your sister. Thanks sis! I laid out the cardboard backing to the original picture frames and used them as a template to measure the cuts. Now you can begin your cuts. Remember it's always better to cut a piece too big and trim later, than cut it too small and waste a piece. You may want to use gloves for this part. Cut metal is sharp and I for one didn't want a cut! Once it's cut you'll want to place it inside your frame to make sure it fits. Mine was a little large so I had to trim some off of one side. Cut your fabric so you have about a 1-2 inch overhang all around the metal. I used spray adhesive to adhere the fabric. I started with a small piece on the back to get it lined up exactly the way I wanted it. Then I flipped it over and sprayed about 5 inches of metal at a time and laid down the fabric. This is where you have to be very careful because the adhesive is strong and you don't want any air bubbles or wrinkles. You might get someone to help you if you are working with a large piece. The only thing left is to place it inside the frame, secure it, then hang! I'm so excited about how well it turned out. I have not decided what to put on the shelf yet. Please let me know if you have any questions. I've also made cute teacher appreciation gifts that were a BIG hit.

Aren't those great? And EASY! Thanks so much Karen! 

Baby Time Guest Post:: Top Notch Eats

Today I'm lucky enough to be sharing with you a guest post from my favorite food blog Top Notch Eats. Kaleena has my style of cooking: easy, healthy & yummy  food! 

Today she is sharing a recipe for 'Blueberry Coconut Coffee Cake' sounds yummy! Take it away Kaleena!


Adapted from: Week of Menus

I love bringing treats into work. It can sometimes turn a person's day around. I know that I am certainly not a morning person, but when I have something that is so simple to enjoy with my coffee it makes sitting at my desk at 8:00am that much easier.

I also love to bake, but don't like to have the bake goods stay in my house for fear that they will be totally consumed. Usually I hang onto a recipe until I have collected all the items in my pantry or freezer then I bake away. Its wonderful. Baking is one of my favorite things to do because its so simple because all you need to do is take the recipe one step at a time.

This Blueberry Coconut Coffee cake is light, fluffy, and full of the right amount of sweetness. Start off by getting the topping together.

Topping

1. 1/3 cup of flour

2. 1/4 cup of butter at room temperature

3. 1 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut

4. 1.2 cup of brown sugar

5. 1 tsp of cinnamon

Then combine the 2 cups of all purpose flour in a separate bowl. Add in 2 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of salt.

Then mixture 1/2 cup of softened butter with 1 cup of sugar and 2 eggs. Add in 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 cup of milk.

Then butter and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan.

Then pour 1/2 of the cake batter into the pan.

Sprinkle a layer of thawed out frozen blueberries.

Then sprinkle half of the topping mixture on top of the blueberries.

Then pour the rest of the cake batter over the top. Then the rest of the topping mixture. Set your oven to 375 degrees and bake it for 40 minutes.

Slice it up, toss it into a container, and get ready to make your friends at work happy campers.

Enjoy !!!

Thanks again Kaleena & I hope you all find your way over to Top Notch Eats and find a new recipe or two!