Head band and clippie holder

If you have a little girl, or in my case three, then you might have a large supply of head bands, pony tail holders, clips, bows, etc..  It might even look something like this...



I looked all over for a storage solution for the cute head bands and bow clips for my girls and struck out. 

Many etsy sellers sell a cute padded clippie holder

Picture source

(I love her idea for the headbands on the bottom but for me it wouldn't hold enough)

 and some sell a ribbon to hold headbands

Picture source

What I wanted was a combination of the them both so I created my own.

To get started I grabbed a canvas that I had in my craft closet and I wrapped it in padding (I actually used the white snow padding after Christmas that was on clearance).  You wrap around the canvas and simply staple it all the way around.  Then pick out your fabric and wrap and staple, super simple!!

Pick out a couple of coordinating ribbons cut and staple, I did 5 strands in the middle for clips.

You then need to sew loops into a ribbon about every 1 1/2" and staple that looped ribbon on at the ends.

(close up of looped ribbon)

Add your clips and head bands, staple on some extra ribbon to tie into a bow and hang, DONE!

Pecan Divinity

My husband is a HUGE fan of pecan divinity.  When he was a kid he went on a trip to Gatlinburg, TN and visited a little candy store called Ole Smokey Candy Kitchen and had his first taste of Pecan Divinity, he was hooked.  Over the years he found it locally but never as good as the cute little store in the Smokey Mountains.  Luckily some of his relatives still live in that area and when we go to visit we make a little stop and pick some up. 

So...I decided to try and make it for him.  He said that it tastes JUST like it.  An early Valentines present for the love of my life, my soul mate and best friend.

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup light corn syrup

1/2 c water

2 large egg whites

1 tsp vanilla

3 drops food color, if desired

2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Directions:

Cook sugar, corn syrup and water in 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved.  Cook about 20 minutes, WITHOUT STIRRING, to 260 degrees on a candy thermometer.  (If you do not have a candy thermometer you can test it by dropping a small amount of mixture into a cup of very cold water, if it forms a hard ball that holds it shape but is pliable it is done).

Beat egg whites in a small bowl with stand mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 7-9 minutes.  Gently transfer egg whites to large bowl.  Continue beating constantly on medium speed while pouring hot syrup in a thin stream into egg whites.

Add vanilla and food color.  Beat until mixture holds its shape and becomes slightly dull, scraping bowl occasionally.  Stir in the pecans.

Quickly drop heaping teaspoonfuls of mixture onto waxed paper.  You will want the lightly butter the spoon (or if you are like me the melon baller) so that the mixture doesn't stick.

Let stand uncovered for about 3 hours or until the candies feel firm and are dry to the touch.  Store in airtight container for up to 2 weeks. 

You can also freeze them for up to 6 months.

I cut some out into cute little hearts with a small heart cookie cutter after they had sit for about 20 minutes.  I think they would also be adorable as a "Divinity Pop" by putting a stick into the bottom of the shape that you cut out.  I tinted mine pink but the possibilities are endless, I just might need to try green shamrock divinity pops for St. Patricks Day!





*  This recipe was originally found in my Betty Crocker cookbook, but I made a few minor changes.

Vanity makeover

When I found this old vanity at a garage sale only 3 houses away I was very excited.  The table with attached mirror (not shown or even attempted YET) was only $10.  The ideas of what to do with this table were racing in my head.  I loved all the little details of this table.

It needed a little love and attention but I was up for the challenge.  I started off by sanding it and found a few spots that I needed to glue down a little:

Once that step was done I began priming it in basic white primer:

Then I decided on a color for the twins room, and did the top coat in a glossy Aqua spray paint and changed out the knobs.

I love how this looks in the twins room:



and here is a little close up of the adorable frame on their desk

They were so tiny and cute!  Wow they grow up fast!

Here is the

BEFORE:

 

and AFTER:

 

and in my next post I will show you how I made the bow and headband holder above the table!

Mirror makeover for under $50

I am LOVING making our new house our HOME.  When we moved we decided to give our twin girls, now 2 1/2 years old, a big girl room.  No more crib, no more toddler beds, TWIN BEDS!  They have done great in their new beds and I have loved decorating their room and making it as girly as possible.
I decided to show you all one section of the room at a time and then I will show off how adorable it is all together.

When we purchased this dresser at Art Van,

they were out of stock of the matching mirror and now...I am so glad that they were.

I found this mirror at Ikea:

It is called the Ung Drill mirror and I picked it up on sale for $29.99

I also picked up two of these frames from Ikea:

They are called the Kvill frames and were on sale for $1.99 each, bringing my total to $33.97

The mirror frame and both picture frames were made of plastic so now I just needed to find the right paint.

I found exactly what I needed at Lowes.  They sell Valspar brand spray paint.  I picked up one can of the Valspar Plastic Primer and one can of Valspar Gloss in the color Frosty Berry.  I paid $2.94 for each can bringing my new total to $39.85

I sprayed this first coat of plastic primer on all three frames, waited the recommeneded 10 minutes and sprayed the second coat.  I set my timer for 1 hour and then applied my first coat of the Frosty Berry color.  I waited 1 hour and checked them, the small picutre frames were perfect, no touch up needed.  I did need to apply 3 more coats to the larger frame to cover up the black and to make sure I got into every crack but I still only needed one can of the Frosty Berry spray paint.

Once dry I decided that I wanted to put a silhouette of each of my girls into the frames so I took a quick profile picture of each of them:

 

 

I then just printed the pictures on my printer on to card stock, slowly cut out the silhouette, placed the cut out down onto another piece of cardstock and using spray paint that I all ready had handy (chalkboard paint of course) I sprayed the cut out black.  I then just taped the black silhouette to a another piece of cardstock that I had cut to 5 x 7 to fit the frame.  To be fair since most of you do not have a can of black paint laying around the price online for the Krylon Chalkboard paint that I used is $7.42 bringing my total for this entire project to:

$47.27

and here are pictures of the finished project:

BTW, if you look at the last picture you might just get a hint to the next post!

We are moving, home renovations in progress!

I am so sorry that I have been MIA.  Our movers are coming in three days and we have been at the new house everyday for the last 2 weeks getting it ready.  We purchased a new lake home that is in the perfect location and is double our current homes size but we wanted to paint and make it "Our Own" before moving in.  Here are a few pictures to show you some of the before pictures, stay tuned for the after!!

and a few quick sneak peaks at some of the changes:

BEFORE

AFTER (so far)

BEFORE

AFTER

And a couple of crafty items that I am working on:

 Full picture and tutorial coming soon

 and my favorite, a garage sale find, you are going to LOVE the after of this one:

STAY TUNED!!

Rockin Slumber Party

I receive many emails in my inbox and several of them are coupons.  When I received an email from Zulily and noticed that they had Ed Hardy at a 50% discount I had to check it out.  Once there I instantly had 3 pair of cute PJ's in my cart and then I noticed the T-Shirts, suddenly I had PJ's ordered for not only my girls but also for my nieces and nephews and the idea of a Rockin Slumber Party started in my head.

I contacted my sweet friend Jennifer from Passion-For-Parties knowing that she was just getting started on her new printable party line and mentioned it to her.  She was VERY excited to jump on board and create adorable printables for the party. (FYI her shop is not technically open YET  but you can still contact her if interested in this line)

Then...my dear friend Aimee Broussard started to make and sell her Party to Geaux boxes and I realized how perfect it would be, she was happy to create a custom box for me in my party colors.

 I ordered a plain white cake from our local grocery store and was not happy with the appearance.  I tried to smooth out its imperfections but it was not easy.  I added the colored sixlets to the bottom, made a large chocolate guitar by tracing the printable guitar under waxed paper and YES, the two other guitars on the cake are Terri's Party Treasures cake balls.

I loved making the little push pop containers into little microphones.  I just added a black styrofoam ball, some black vinyl and of course black licorice for the cord.  Inside were little Dandy Delights cookies frosted in the party colors!



Some FUN instruments for the kids to play!

Time to eat! Plates and adorable plasticwear with napkin included in my Party To Geaux box

Each child had their own cake ball on a cute glittered star stir stick.  I also made them each a guitar glass using my cricut and a little black vinyl, inexpensive way to dress up dollar store glasses

RULES, of course there were rules at our party but not like any rules that are normally in my house!

We ALL had a blast!  We played soccer, dodge ball, musical chairs, freeze dance, sang karaoke and colored rock star pictures.  The boys played video games while the girls got rock star makeovers.

Everyone loved their green hair and Ed Hardy pajamas and tshirts.

and of course one of me, I even have a little Rock Star in me!

Vendor Credits:

Printable party line: Passion-For-Parties

Party To Geaux Box: Aimme Broussard

Shortbread Cookies: Dandy Delights

Push Pop Containers: OhGoodieDesigns