Crocheted Christmas Lights!

I LOVE this project - especially for beginner crocheters. It is so quick and easy, and the result is the perfect addition to your Christmas Decor. It's also a perfect little gift if you are on a budget (It literally uses next to no yarn). 

Where is this pattern you say?

I found it 

HERE

And it is amazing

Fall Wreath

I love wreaths 

1. They are CHEAP

2. They are EASY

My wreaths sound like prostit... nevermind.

Here is my FALL WREATH!!

My husband thinks it looks "too simple"

I disagree - I think it is perfect! 

What do you think? 

Cocheted Bumpy Blanket - Pattern

I LOVE this blanket that I am working on. It's about 1/3 of the way done, and the more I do, the more I love it!!
I know I crochet constantly, but I have NEVER tried a blanket
That's like a person from China who's never tried rice. It is THAT tragic. 

That being said here it is:

****I found the pattern for this blanket on Mooglyblog. It is amazing!! I wish I were this creative when it came to crocheting. you can go HERE to see the original source as well as some instructional videos and pictures that may be helpful to you****

A first birthday is coming!!

Holy crap, it's been almost a year since I pushed my little booger butt into the world! A year full of eating bugs, sucking your own spit up off the kitchen floor (don't ask... I threw up a little in my mouth just thinking about it...), and playing in the toilet. Yes, my child is disgusting. And perfect. Oh so perfect. So in honor of our Halloween Baby we are doing a Halloween party for the Zoster's first birthday.

I am so excited to show you the cake I made today!

It is my first attempt at cake decorating, but I think it turned out pretty awesome! 

I can't wait to show you more tomorrow!

Three Little Pigs Halloween Costume

I have a best friend. She came and visited this week with her super cute family. As a direct result, I have wet my pants no less than 3 times. 

She wanted her family to be the 3 little pigs for Halloween this year. We worked together and whipped these little beauties out!

They'll wear them with some pink/brown.

Pretty easy weekend project - for a grand total of 5 bucks!! 

Flowers: Pinned it and did it

Saw this sweet little flower on Pinterest the other day

Source

It looked just girly enough to make my husband cringe - which means, I HAD to do it.

Here is my go at it -

They were super easy to make, and they turned out beautiful. 

The only thing I did different is I cut the 3-D part and flipped it around (so you'd see the colorful side rather than the white side. How did I secure it, you ask? Tape. Lots and lots of tape. 

Also I added a little swirl in the middle to give it a center. Because I'm an over-achiever like that. 

Anyone else give the flowers a go?

Dresser Redos

I am SO close to being done with our house redo!! 14 gallons of paint and 10,000 brain cells later, we are so happy with the results! 

My favorite redo was the dressers my mom brought from Michigan for our nursery. I searched and searched and searched for a before photo - but apparently, I didn't take a single one. You'll just have to imagine dirty white dressers with royal blue drawers and random stains and paint drips all over. 

Total cost of redo? $30 bucks

Here are the afters -

I love them I love them I love them!!

How to EASILY Cut a Banana for a Toddler

My mom came into town a few weeks back and showed me this handy little trick. Moms are so smart. It makes the banana the PERFECT size for little toddler hands. I haven't done it any other way since.

Now all you have to do is give them to your naked baby to turn into body paint. Huzzah to cleaning banana out of armpits!

Coming out of the closet

Baby, I am coming out of the closet. Wait...no. I'm going INTO the closet. Because mama gots a new craft closet! 

Before:

After:

How could you not love that little girl!? She is so sweet and silly! 

HOLY CRAP 6 MONTHS?!?!

It's been six months I posted?! Crap. I gotta get back on this horse.

Alright, here's the deal. I stopped posting because I ran out of crap to post. Seriously. 
I almost made a baby butt picture post, but I refrained. 
What's that you say? You want to see it anyway? Well, if you insist. 

This little girl is NO stranger to food. She'll whine for it all day long

Okay, what was I saying? Oh yeah, I ran out of crap to post. And frankly, despite my best efforts to prank you, I am not the craftiest crayon in the box.
I'm more like the moss colored crayon that gets stuck in the heating vent and chewed on by the dog (take that 10th grade Creative Writing teacher!)

So this blog will be a-changing a bit. I'm just gonna post what I want. Sometimes crafty, sometimes personal, sometimes just random. What's that you say? ANOTHER butt picture? Uhhh YEAH!

Because that's how we roll on this blog. Free butt pics for EVERYONE! 

I'm Back - Kitchen Redo

We did it! We packed our bags, and drove from coast to coast. Seattle to Williamsburg. With a 9 month old baby!!
If you've ever done something similar with a baby, you'll know why I feel this is an accomplishment in and of itself. Zoey was quite the champ (most of the time), and was amazing on the drive. All it took was an entire box of cheerios. 

After a long stop in Utah, and a brief stop in Michigan, we arrived in Williamsburg late at night about a month ago

When we walked in the door our hearts sank. The house was a disaster - dead bugs and leaves covered the carpets, huge spiders in every corner, dirt tracked throughout the house, holes and cracks covering the wall and ceiling, mold, cracked blinds, the most disgusting kitchen I've been in, cockroaches.... the list goes on and on. I felt as if we had made a huge mistake. The house was barely livable. 

Luckily, my mom was on her way and drove out from Michigan to help me fix it up. In the week she was here we fixed up the kitchen, living room and dining room. I honestly couldn't have done it without her. She is the QUEEN of home repair. I actually feel like the place is livable!! 

Here are some before and after pictures of the kitchen!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Here's what we did - 

- Stripped, sanded, stained and sealed the cabinets back to their original color (This was my mom's project... it took 4 days.... she is AMAZING)

- Put in new hardware on all the cabinets

- Stripped the the wallpaper

- Scrubbed all the walls, and floors, including under the stove and dishwasher

- Scrubbed the junk out of the fridge to get rid of all the rust spots

- Spackled and sanded about 50 holes. 

- Painted all the walls a grey green color

- Painted the trim a bright white

- Installed new white switch plates

- created a kick board to go under the lower cupboards to cover up the nasty wood/ dishwasher bottom

- brought in rugs to cover sun damage near the sliding door as well as a matching one for the sink

- Replaced missing slats for the kitchen door as well as clean the track, and WD40 the door wheels

I am just so thankful my mom was here to help!!! I couldn't have done 1/10th of it without her!!

PI(E) DAY!!!!

Favorite holiday of the year.

Heck, we even had a parade. 

I was the 3.

In honor of pi(e) day, here is my favorite pie recipe...

Chocolate Cream Pie?

DELICIOUS

So how will you celebrate this math-tastic day?

Help...

I am not good at asking for help.

But I need help. I volunteer for Partners with Youth, which gives scholarships to families; allowing them to participate in swimming lessons, preschool, after school programs, and camp. 

With less than a week left, we are over $100,000 short of what we need to raise...

Meaning we will have to turn away kids.

I do not want to turn away kids.

Please help by donating. Anything you can. I know many of you don't have a lot. I don't either... but every dollar will go towards a child in need. 

I've decided for the next week (Now until next Thursday) I will send a free headband to anyone who donates $25 or more to help a family afford quality youth programs.

Donate today...because the first 5 donations will get a little something extra... if you like surprises, make sure you are one of the first 5 :)

DONATE HERE

Okay. That's it. I appreciate any and all donations...whether it be 1 dollar or 100 dollars!! Thank you so much

My Memories Digital Scrap booking Winner!!

The winner of the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking kit is....

**drumroll**

Kristal Williams!!

Congrats Kristal, you will be getting your copy of the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking kit within the week!

DISCOUNT

If you want to buy the My Memory Suite Software, you can get $10 off (bringing it down to just under 30 bucks) 

AND get $10 worth of free Scrapbooking packs (Not to mention all of the free packs on their site...)

Just use the coupon code:

STMMMS61291