We Did It Wednesday!!!

Check out all these GREAT tutorials and Crafty ladies! LOVE IT!!!

Mod Podge Letter Tutorial

I HEART FALL!!! Fall is pretty much my ALL TIME FAVORITE season!!! I love everything that comes with it. Sweaters, Chai Lattes, colored leaves, chilly mornings, scarfs, the earth tone colors, pumpkins, soup...the list goes ON & ON!!!! :) So, I pulled out my fall wreath the other day and hung it on the door, bought a new Pumpkin Spice Candle and had it burning and realized that since pumpkins aren't quite out yet that I needed some fall colors inside! This is what I came up with for my fire place mantel! Simple & easy...seriously took me about 10-15 minutes to make. Enjoy!

Items you will need:

Card Board or chip board letter
Scrap book paper (1 page)
Mod podge glue
A cheap nail file
A sponge applicator brush

First, be sure to purchase your letter of choice! I think this works best on the cardboard/chip board type letters. I bought mine from Craft warehouse for $2.50! Then go get out that scrapbook suitcase that is hidden away in your closet and find some paper with fall colors, or paper that has your house colors in it so you can have it up all year round!

Trace your letter backwards on the BACK of your scrap book paper of choice. Be sure to cut it out carefully along the line.



Then, I poured some mod podge glue on a paper plate and applied a light coat to the chip board letter with the sponge applicator.



I then place the cut out letter carefully on top of the glue pressing out any bubbles or bumps. Try to line it up as close as you can get it. Don't worry if a little is hanging off at this time.



Take your file out and go along the outside of your letter filing off any paper that is hanging over and making the edges nice and clean!

*At this time if you are wanting a glossy finish to your letter then you would wait 12 hrs. to let the glue underneath dry. Then you could apply another layer of the mod podge on top of your letter for the glossy finish. As you apply it, it will look milky...but once it has dried completely it will be clear! Be sure to let the letter dry fully before displaying! I liked the look mine had up to this point and decided against the glossy finish...it's your choice!



Now, display your handy work and enjoy your pumpkin spice candle! Happy Fall!!! :)

Baby Leg Warmer Tutorial

OK, so I have seen these baby legs every where online and just HAD to make some for our sweet little girl! There are a TON of tutorials out there on how to make these ADORABLE baby leg warmers, but I thought I would show you how I did them!

First, find a great deal on some women's dress/trouser socks (not women's knee socks...those would be too long) I found my socks at Target for $2.00 a pair!!! SCORE!!!! :)

Be sure to cut just above the ankle and toes taking off only the toe and heel section of your sock. I used a ruler and rotary cutter for this. Throw heel & toe scraps away and you will be left with 2 tubes. The leg tube & the foot tube!





Take your "foot tube" or the shorter tube and fold it in half lining up the raw edges with right sides together. Then place your leg tube into the folded foot tube and line up all of the raw edges.




Then be sure to pin the tubes together, only 3 layers down leaving an opening for where your sweet baby legs will come through! I may be a bit of an over pinner...but I hate things moving around! :P Sew 1/4 in. all the way around the sock making sure to back stitch for durability. Then take your pinking shears and pink around the outside to take off the raw edges.



Fold down legging and then put them on your sweet little baby!!! This was an easy 20 minute project & these make diaper changes so easy and keep those sweet legs warm! They look adorable under dresses and skirts as well. Aren't they just the CUTEST!?!?!?! I made 5 pair. ENJOY!!!!



*By the way, these are SUPER cute as arm warmers too for the older kids! My 3 year old can wear these on his arms with a regular t-shirt for the cooler fall days! LOVE IT!!! For more arm warmer ideas check this tutorial out! Btw, I LOVE the little birdie secret blog! :)

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/10/baby-legs-tutorial-make-your-own-leg.html

Is there such a thing as craft nesting!?!?

This summer has been CRAZY FUN!!! I can't even begin to tell you all that we have done, but let me just say we played HARD knowing that our 3rd baby (Morgan Olivia) arrives in November things will be slowing down a LOT! Here is what I have been up to!

I have to say that I have had a few bee's in my bonnet and it feels GREAT having some pink in the house. I whipped together a cheater blanket (semi-homemade), some birds for her bird mobile, & I'm working on her Birthday banner!

I also made her a girlie car seat cover which I think will work perfect for while she is sleeping. I sewed this paper garland for her room, and here was a side view of a few of her mobile birds!

I will be posting a few tutorials here in the next month on some fun baby & kid friendly things!!! Stay tuned! SeW hApPy!!!!

"Don't agonize, organize.” -Florynce R. Kennedy

Ok, so When I was expecting my first child I was encouraged to read Babywise by:Dr. Ezzo! I LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!!! Now, just know when I read this book I was a master procrastinator, the Queen of sleeping in and I had no clue what time management was!?!?! (TOTALLY being transparent here!) I just loved the idea of the book and how you had your child on a routine so the baby knew when to expect it's eat/wake/sleep times! It also made it easy for me to know when to meet all of his needs as well! Let me tell you...it worked and I had two boys who both started sleeping through the night at 9 & 10 weeks old! To this day I kiss them and lay them in their beds awake and walk away. They go to sleep on their own and it is an amazing thing!

So, now that my son is 3 he is still on somewhat of a routine (with eating and sleep). But he is soooo much more awake and active than any infant would ever be. So normally our day consist of waking up, eating breakfast, watching cartoons, and then whatever, whenever! It makes for a crazy and long day with "Mama...can I watch a movie!?" "Mama...wanna play cars!?" "Mama...can I _________" It seriously drove me bonkers. I didn't know how to entertain him. I wanted time with him, but I also felt a pull from my daily responsibilities...there was always dishes, laundry, dinner or SOMETHING! Then what about my free time!? What is that!? Seriously!

Last week my dear friend Charlene came over for a visit. While she was here she was talking to me about how she would have done things differently with her girls. (They are all 6yrs+) Char is also a Christian pre-school teacher as well. She was sharing with me how amazed she is at what pre-schoolers are capable of. She went on to tell me about her day at school and how these kids would do pretty much everything on their own and what kind of a schedule they had. She shared that she wished when she was a stay at home Mom that she would have put her girls on the same kind of routine/schedule when they were that age! That totally got my wheels turning! Why had it NEVER dawned on me to put my oldest on a scheduled routine like that!? I did it when he was a baby. Everything was scheduled then.

So I started googling example schedules for stay at home Moms! I came across one that sounded perfect for us! I just started implementing this routine and I have to say it has helped everyone at home to know what to do when! I didn't have my 3 year old wondering around wondering what to do & It has also helped me to organize my cleaning & Internet/free time. I had the kitchen spotless & the house picked up all by 8:30am this morning!!! It was AMAZING! So here it is...hope it helps someone else out there like it helped me!

7:30-8 -Wake up & have breakfast

8-8:30 -Cartoons (educational TV or Video): P watched Veggie Tales today

8:30-9:30 -Outside play (Summer) or Inside play (Winter): P played with play-dough

9:30-10:00 -Singing time: Put on pre-school songs and danced and sang like crazy with P.

10-10:15 -Snack Time: Cheese and crackers today

10:15-11:15 -Arts & Crafts: Payton made homemade Thank you cards to mail out from his Birthday party! He also colored his Pixar Cars coloring book!

11:15-12:00 -Free play while I prepare lunch: He played with his trains and then I had him clean up his toys before he ate!

12:00-12:30 -Lunch Time

12:30-1:30 -Relax time/story time: Winding down before nap...we read some fun books!

1:30-3:30 -NAP TIME & Mama's free time!!! I'm blogging today :)

3:30-4:00 -Snack time: Apples wedges

4:00-5:00 -Playtime & clean up while you prepare dinner

5:00pm -Daddy is HOME!!!!!


It is amazing to me how we TRULY THIRVE on a schedule! When I get to a point that I feel out of control and haven't been getting everything done or not having that sit down time with my boys, it's ALWAYS because we got off a schedule or routine...or never was on one! :P Sooooo happy for this new revelation! It will give me the opportunity to get everything in and have those teaching times with my boys. It will give me that time to teach them about God, creation, life lessons, motor skills and I'll be building a relationship at the same time! LOVE IT!!! :)

Mama's Famous Hawaiian Enchiladas

I FINALLY got these into a recipe format...if you know Mom she does everything by taste and what looks right! Hope you all enjoy this YUMMY family recipe!!! This is one of David's FAVORITES and I am sure it will be a hit at your house as well. We like the chicken as well as the beef ones...but the chicken are MY fave! These are EXCELLENT to freeze too, just double the recipe and have one pan for dinner tonight and have another pan in the freezer ready for unexpected company or a lazy night!!! This is a Family recipe and a favorite FOR SURE!!! ENJOY!

Love, Janell

Mama's Famous Hawaiian Enchiladas

Ingredients:
2 Large boneless chicken breasts (or 2lbs ground beef...Mama always does a tray of each!)
1 Large Green Bell pepper
1 Large onion
1 large can of olives
1 (10 1/2 oz) can cream of chicken soup
1 (20 oz) cans of crushed pineapples
3 (1.62oz) Enchilada sauce packets (found by gravy packets @ the store)
3 (6oz) cans tomato paste
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 package of burrito size flower tortillas
Salt & Pepper

Prep: Boil chicken until cooked through. While chicken is boiling, Strain crushed pineapple (let strain until added to chicken mixture -reserve juice) chop bell pepper, onion, and olives. Saute' onions and Bell pepper in butter or oil until translucent. Set aside. After Chicken has cooled, chop into bite size pieces and then add to the Bell/onion mixture. Add salt & pepper to taste and the can of cream of chicken to the chicken mixture and mix well. Add three quarters of your pineapple as well as your olives (just eye ball it) to your chicken mixture and reserve the rest for topping your enchiladas, mix well.

Sauce: In a pan add all 3 enchilada packets, only HALF the water that is called for on the back of your packet. (At this time I measured out the pineapple juice that we reserved and used it for part of the "water" called for in this sauce. This may vary depending on brand, mine called for 3c. water per packet originally and I only added 1 1/2c. per packet...part of that was the pineapple juice.) Then add the 3 cans of tomato paste and whisk together until well blended.

Assembly: Ladle a small amount of enchilada sauce in the bottom of your 9x13 dish. Take a flower tortilla and spoon a very small amount of enchilada sauce down the middle, then spoon the chicken mixture down the middle, and finish off with a sprinkle of cheese. Roll up the enchilada and place seam side down in your dish. Keep doing this until your dish is full and then top your dish with enchilada sauce just until tortillas are covered. Then top the tortillas with the remaining olives, pineapple, and some cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees until bubbly and all the cheese is melted...about 30ish minutes.

THAT'S A WRAP!!!

I have been looking into the Moby wraps for when our sweet little one comes. (in 3 1/2 months!!!) A Friend was sharing with me that she just bought fabric and made her own!? WHY hadn't I thought of that? So I started searching the web about how to make your own Moby type wrap! The original Moby runs about $40 bucks. I came across this thread today and I can just buy fabric and make my own for cheaper! Sounds like Walmart has the best deal on 100% cotton interlocking fabric & best of all it's a NO SEW project!!! Thought you might be interested in one too! ♥

http://community.babycenter.com/talk/a7701445/how_to_make_a_moby_wrap?cpg=1

Here is how to make & wrap it too! http://forum.baby-gaga.com/about492363.html

Both of these sites were VERY helpful!

Enjoy~ Janell