I'm Baaaaack! Updating a Blog & Birthday Boards

Oh my gosh! I don't even know if I still know how to do this! Pardon my rustiness :) It has been 18 months since I've posted on here. What?!?! Obviously, life got in the way... in a big way. I am, however, happy to report that during my hiatus I finished my Master's degree and gave birth to my 3rd child! I suppose that warrants a little bit of slack, huh? :)

Now that I'm done with school again and getting settled into a new routine as a mom of 3, I've been trying to make more time for projects!! And, I really have missed blogging, so I'm going to try to spend a few posts catching up on the highlights of my favorite projects over the past 18 months that I've been MIA. 

I'm going to start off with something I did yesterday, which is actually an update of a project from a few years ago. You've probably seen the birthday boards floating around the blogosphere and Pinterest. Well, that's exactly what I made for my parents and in-laws for Christmas 2010! Please pardon the poor quality pictures. I took pictures, lost them in a hard drive crash, had more taken, misplaced them somewhere, and finally just asked for some quick snaps to be sent to my phone yesterday so I'd have a copy of each one!

Here's what I did for my parents:

And Ryan's parents (LSU colors... they're big fans):

Anyway, back to my update for yesterday. We've had a few new babies born since I made these (2 of them being mine!), and I hadn't gotten around to updating them. I finally got them done yesterday. 

*drumroll please*

Now for the rundown... I got the wood circles HERE from Craft America. I used the 1-1/2" Diameter x 3/16" thick. They come in a package of 100 for right around $10 (plus shipping). I painted them with good ole acrylic paint. The hardware I used (though it's likely there is an easier method) is 5/8" screw eyes with an inside eye opening of 3/16" from Ace Hardware. My husband drilled starter holes so it was easier to screw them into the thin wood circles. But the really annoying part is that you have to use pliers to stretch open the screw eye so you can attach them to each other. Like I said, there's probably a much easier method to put these together! Finally, I slapped on the vinyl with the names and dates that I cut out using my Silhouette, and that's it!

Ryan really wants me to make one for us, and I've been putting it off for YEARS (literally). My typical projects take no more than a day to complete, so this was a little harder to wrap my brain (and motivation) around. BUT, he wants it so bad that he recently got out a piece of wood and sanded it and told me it was all ready to paint... My husband has never been known for his subtlety :) So, what does all this mean? Well, seeing as my husband generally gets what he wants.... You will probably be seeing a walkthrough of the whole birthday board soon! Just let me get a few more minor projects out of the way first, ok?

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Somehow, throughout all of the madness and chaos in my life as of late, I found the time to do a few crafty things for Valentine's Day for my hunny-bunny-boo-boo-hubby... hehe.. Ok, so I promise I don't really talk like that... much ;)


I was so proud of myself for creating again that I just had to put off my textbook reading for a few minutes and share it with you guys!


Let's start with the 5-layer monstrosity of a dessert I created! Oh. My. Goodness. Seriously, guys... This dessert was SOOOO GOOD! 

I started out brainstorming a few weeks ago about what I wanted to do for Ryan this year. I try to do homemade gifts as much as possible. I thought about doing some kind of cheesecake, but I've done that before. Then I remembered this heart shaped cookie cake pan I bought at Wal-Mart last year on the day after Valentine's Day for about $4! But, I had already made him a cookie cake with it last year... That's when the ole wheels started really turning. I envisioned this crazy cookie/brownie/cheesecake extravaganza! It seemed so good and simple enough in my head that I just had to do it. (Isn't it funny how easy things always seem.... until they make their way OUT of your head?)

So, Ryan left yesterday right after lunch to study for a test in his night class, and he wouldn't be home until late so here was my window of opportunity! Little did I realize, it was going to take pretty much this whole time to finish this project! 

Enough of the dramatization... Here's the lowdown on what I did:

Layer 1: Chocolate Chip Cookie
I just used a roll of the pre-made Great Value chocolate chip cookie dough.

Layer 2: Cheesecake
This is where I really ran into problems. There are no pictures of the cheesecake layers AFTER cooking, because they were a DISASTER! First of all, they were very thin. Second, parchment paper was a BAD idea... Although it wasn't much better just using cooking spray on the 2nd try. Last, I just need to use a different cheesecake recipe if I ever attempt a feat like this again!

Layer 3: Brownie
I took the easy way out again and just used a brownie mix from a box. Originally, this was meant to be a 6-layer dessert, but after the trouble I had with the cheesecake, I decided one thick brownie layer was a better choice :)

Layers 4 & 5 were a repeat of cheesecake, then chocolate chip cookie on top. Between each layer was filled with whipped topping, which also went on top! So, to total it up on this 1 massive dessert: 2 rolls of chocolate chip cookie dough, 2 cheesecake fillings, 1 box brownie mix, and 1 large tub of whipped topping! Oh, and of course the sprinkles on top :)

I must also mention that I had quite a bit of help :)
Isaac LOVES helping me in the kitchen!

And this was what I had for dessert after lunch today!
I'm telling you... So. Good.

Ok, so that was my biggie project, but I also have to share the cards I made that are sure to make you smile. They are both adaptations of ideas is saw on blogs or Pinterest. Sorry for the poor quality pics. Ryan took them with his phone, and I didn't get around to taking my own or editing them.

From Isaac

... and from Me.
I know, I know... We're a real classy couple ;)

Last Name Family Pictures

I have done several projects over the past few years involving family names and personalized projects similar to the last post, so I figured now would be as good a time as any to post about the others :)

This is a project I put together for Mother's Day 2010. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out!

It worked out perfectly with my family because there are 7 children and 7 letters in out last name :) Each sibling took a family picture, holding a letter of our last name. Then I printed them out and framed them. (This is the one for my mom. I did GREEN for my mother-in-law too, but I STILL haven't gotten a picture of it... UGH.)

We loved these so much, we made copies for our home too!

FYI, here's a little more about what we did: We edited the photos and made them all sepia tone because we liked the way it looked. You could leave them color if you prefer that :) I printed them out as 4x6 prints, then bought a frame from Hobby Lobby that they would fit in. Pick any frame that is large enough, because you're going to have to get a mat cut anyway. Of course, Ryan put it all together for me, and it was really a simple but AWESOME gift!

I know I really need to get better at taking pictures of things I make! I promise to try harder on that in the future!

Family Name Gifts

So, I see I'm starting to average about 1 post a month... pitiful! I'm a little ashamed, but hey! I'm here doing it again :) Christmas was WONDERFUL! We got to spend time with family, and Isaac was old enough to really enjoy it this year. We kept it very modest and low key this year (just like our budget.. hehe). There was a time when I gave presents to everyone in our family, and even other friends and acquaintances, but that time is far spent. Then, we started just giving gifts to our parents and the kids in our families. But now, our family has grown! We have 19 nieces and nephews! Yeah, definitely no way we could even get something small for each of them, so we decided it was better to just skip out on that too. I do have a goal of, one of these years, planning enough ahead to make gifts for all of the kids... We'll see how that goes ;)


Anyway, so this year we did a couple gifts for each our own children, and made gifts for our parents. We have the most amazing parents anyone could ever dream of, so we have to show our appreciation any time we have the chance :)


I wanted to do something personalized, and I had seen several cool ideas of printables floating around Pinterest and etsy so I decided to do my version of 2 of them using family names. Here's what I came up with:

I printed them each out and framed them, but of course I didn't think to take a picture of the finished project. I have definitely not been thinking about blogging much lately (obviously), so it didn't even occur to me that I might want a pic of the finished project. Use your imagination though :)


I think they turned out pretty cute! I also made photo books on Snapfish for each of them using pictures of them with the kids and quotes about grandparents. I might post more about that another time :)


That's all for tonight, and hopefully it won't be another month before you hear from me again!

I BELIEVE I've gotten a little behind!

Wow! It's been a LONG time since I've posted. Sickness, travel, holidays, you name it... Life has definitely put a damper on my holidays. Add that to a sweet baby girl that doesn't want to sleep more than about an hour without eating between 8pm and 1am... and there goes my productive window of time! 


Last year was different. I made things... created things... crafted things. So, I'm going to blog about some of those things tonight :)

Ok, so I've got to tell you that I'm pretty proud of this BELIEVE project. Not that it turned out so wonderful or anything, but for another very special reason. This was an original creative idea... straight from my brain! Woohoo! I didn't see it or copy it from anyone else! (This is a pretty huge accomplishment for me.) So, how did I do it?

I bought the wood plaques from the Wal-Mart craft department and painted them with acrylic paint. Then I cut the letters out of adhesive vinyl with my Silhouette. I discarded the actual vinyl letters and used the negative space as a stencil, and painted the letters in gold. Then I hot glued some cute wire ribbon to the backs, and there you have it!

Here it is hanging on my wall.
Sorry... this is probably just about the crappiest pic ever,
 but I'm afraid if I take the time to go take another,
my precious window of time might pass by :)

Another project I made last year, for a gift, was kind of a hybrid of my own creative genius (haha) and a few other ideas I had seen floating around blogland...

Simple wood block (scrap left over from another project), sand papered edges, Mod Podged scrapbook paper, drilled holes the size of sucker sticks, Merry Christmas cut out in vinyl, and attached a bow. The suckers are oreos dipped in white chocolate and decorated with sprinkles. The secret to making these Oreo pops is to dip the end of the sucker stick into the melted chocolate before putting it inside the cookie so it will all stick together before dipping! The amazing thing about this project is that I threw it together with only things I had lying around the house! Score!

I'm hoping to get a few more of my Christmas projects posted before Christmas passes, but time seems to be moving in hyper drive lately! I mean seriously? It's already mid-December? Phew... Where did my November go? :)

Headband/Hair Bow Holder

I had very little time or energy for crafting by the time I found out I was having a girl when I was pregnant with Ada. The little energy I had on the days I didn't feel like death was spent chasing Isaac around. Needless to say, I'm not one of those women who love being pregnant. In fact, I pretty much despise it. If the end products weren't so perfect and miraculous, I would never have done it a 2nd time or consider any more!


Sorry. I got a little sidetracked there. The point is that my poor little Ada hardly got anything made for her by her mommy... and I'm still waiting for the day that I can take the time to do some things for her. However, I did get just a couple things done and I want to share one of those today!


When I realized all the ruffles and frills and bows that having a baby girl entailed, I also realized I needed somewhere to put these cute, mostly pink, items :)  That's when I decided I needed some type of hair accessory holder. 


Of course I consulted with Etsy, and got a few ideas. This is what I came up with:

I got a wood plaque from the craft department at Wal-Mart and painted it with acrylic craft paint. Then I cut Ada and the dots out of vinyl with my Silhouette. I discarded the vinyl name and dots and used what was left as a stencil and painted. If I were to do it again, I wouldn't have used 2 shades of pink paint. I'm not sure what I was thinking making the name a different color... I'm going to blame the pregnancy hormones :)


Moving on... I just hot glued the ribbons and screwed in hooks (that I also got at Wal-Mart in the... ummm.. section where all the screws and hooks are). I also would have used bigger hooks if I were to do it again. Obviously, I had no idea just how many headbands my baby girl would need :)


And here it is doing the job it was meant for! Of course I didn't have any bows to attach to the ribbons at the time this picture was taken, and now my hooks are so overloaded with headbands, the bows won't really fit behind or beside them.

If nothing else, this post has told you what not to do if you want to make an effective hair accessory holder! I think sometimes showing our mistakes and trial and error process can be just as helpful as a flawless tutorial. Overall, I'm pretty happy with my little project and I love the personalized touch in Ada's room!

Candy Cakes

Yes, it's yet another post involving candy. I just can't help myself! I made my first candy cake for Halloween last year (2010).

These cakes are so easy to do! For this one, I made a plain yellow cake mix with chocolate frosting, then stuck Kit Kat bars to the frosting on the outside to form a sort of chocolate bowl or barrel, then covered the top with Reese's pieces:

The peanut butter and chocolate was super rich and so yummy! One of the best things about these cakes is that it doesn't matter what the cake looks like on the inside. I mean, I'm sure your cakes always turn out perfectly shaped with no cracks or anything... but I'm just saying... In case by some freak chance something did happen ;)


My husband liked this cake so much, he requested one for his birthday this year.

He wanted Twix and peanut butter M&M's. I decided to go with the mini Twix because I thought the full sized ones would be too big (not to mention cost a fortune to get enough to go around the whole cake!)

As you can see, they weren't quite tall enough, so I did a row of M&M's around the bottom to boost them up to the top of the cake.


Here's the finished cake with candles and all:

These cakes are so much fun and would be great for kid's (or kid at heart, right Ryan?) party!