Kids' Table

We always pull our card table out for the kids when we have people over for dinner. I have an inexpensive (and pretty ugly) tablecloth that I usually throw on top, but last time we had dinner guests I grabbed my daughter's roll of butcher paper to cover the surface. I had fun doodling pictures for the kids to color, and it was a hit. We ended up keeping it up overnight, and my daughter did some more coloring the next morning. Simple, inexpensive, and interactive - win-win-win.

A Sweet Tradition

When I had my first baby, my sister-in-law brought a couple dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies along with a little card to set out in my post-partum room. The card thanked the doctors and nurses for taking such good care of me. It got a huge positive response, and several of the nurses would just drop in to grab a cookie. It was also nice to have something sweet to offer all of our visitors.

It's become somewhat of a tradition in my circle of friends and family, and I loved sharing it with a friend who just had her second baby recently. Since she loves, loves, loves all things s'mores, I went with that theme. I made Golden Graham s'mores bars inspired by this recipe, cut them into 2" squares, stuck them in a plastic bag, and tied it with an "It's a Girl!" ribbon. I printed the sign above, and stuck everything in a cute gift bag for her to carry to the hospital. This might be one of my very favorite baby-related traditions now!

Garlic and Herb Pull-Apart Bread

I saw a delicious-looking recipe for pull-apart bread that I was dying to try. The problem is that it used homemade bread dough that incorporated most of the flavorings. Sure, it's ideal. But I don't often have time for all that. So, after consulting my sister, I came up with a shortcut recipe that was a huge hit.

Garlic and Herb Pull-Apart Bread

2 tubes of refrigerated flaky biscuits

1 1/2 sticks of butter, melted

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried basil

2 tsp dried oregano

seasoned salt

black pepper

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Heavily grease a bundt pan, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile, open your biscuit tubes, separate them, and cut them into quarters.

Combine the melted butter and seasonings in a bowl. Dunk each piece of biscuit in the butter mixture, and toss it into your greased bundt pan. Repeat with half of the biscuit pieces. Then sprinkle one half cup of the cheese over this layer making sure it falls between each nook and cranny.

Top with the rest of the biscuit pieces dunked in butter, and finish with the rest of the Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Turn onto a plate, and serve warm.

Rainbow Ice

We've been HOT in Texas this summer and have had to keep most of our activities indoors. One afternoon my 3-year-old and I made a tray of rainbow ice cubes, and they were a huge hit! I just filled up a small plastic tea pot with water for her to fill each cube, then we squeezed one small drop of food coloring into each one. We stuck to mainly primary colors. She used a toothpick to stir each cube.

Once these were frozen, the possibilities are absolutely endless. My daughter had so much fun mixing a couple of cubes into a Sprite to see what color it would turn. I always cool her oatmeal with 2 ice cubes after it's cooked, so I used a blue and a red one. As she stirred and her oatmeal turned purple, she was thrilled. You can also stick a toothpick in these as they're freezing to use as a handle. Then, when they're frozen, the kids can use the toothpick to hold it to paint on paper outside. They could also use the colored cubes as a sensory activity floating in water in the sink.

Hope you have as much fun with these as we did!

Long-distance Baby Shower

Some of our great friends from our neighborhood had their second child, a baby girl, Saturday. They are a part of our neighborhood group of 4 couples who meet every other weekend for Bible study and dinner, and we are so incredibly blessed by them. They moved here a year ago from the west coast, so most of their close friends and family are way too far away to have made it in for a baby shower. The rest of us girls from the group wanted to throw an unforgettable shower that somehow included the long-distance friends and family. We had so much fun, and it turned out to be a hit.

We decided to send invitations to everyone with information on the when's and where's of the shower in case they wanted to send a gift. We also included a little note asking everyone to email a family photo along with a message or favorite quote that we could turn into a photobook for the nursery. The invitations were simple - plain cardstock cards (sold in bulk at Hobby Lobby) with a 2D cupcake sticker. I just ran them through my printer before attaching the stickers.

Since the guests were our four couples, we wanted to do something a little different than traditional shower foods. Instead we made up a menu of the mom-to-be's pregnancy cravings. Chili-cheese dogs, french fries, strawberry limeades, and some crunchy snack-food appetizers rounded out the menu. She also loves all-things-s'mores, so dessert were these delicious s'mores cupcakes (recipe here).

We really wanted to keep the decor simple too and focus our budget more on our gifts. We made tissue paper pom poms in the nursery colors to hang from the chandelier.

We also used my Onesie Kit (more in the shop asap!) to make a clothesline filled with precious girly gifts.

It was so fun to have a table filled with gifts from friends and family from so far away.

We wanted to be sure to include something special from our kids. So we gathered them all up (including the baby's big brother secretly), and used their fingerprints as "sprinkles" on this cupcake decoration for the nursery.

We played two fun shower games - Math the Mom-to-Be, and Celebrity Baby Names.

And then we opened gifts. The finished photobook was priceless. I used Mixbook for the first time, and it was quick, easy, and precious!

What a neat memory of such a special evening.

We had such a great night celebrating!

Freezer Paper Stenciling

Have you ever tried freezer paper stenciling? I tried my hand at it a few weeks ago for the first time, and I am hooked! I offered to make a t-shirt for a friend's little boy's first birthday. It was an Uno themed party, and she couldn't find the shirt she had in mind. She described it to me, and I got to work. I wanted a very clean, almost screen-printed look - not a handmade, artsy look. I bought a handful of shirts thinking this probably wouldn't work, and I had a Plan B and Plan C. I was shocked when it turned out almost flawless after my first attempt! The design itself was the most complicated part as I had to create it from scratch. But I used my SCAL software, Inkscape, and my Cricut to cut the stencil. But it was a lot easier than I imagined despite the many steps. Then I just ironed the freezer paper onto the shirt, and painted 3 thin coats of white fabric paint. I held my breath as I peeled the freezer paper off, and I was so pleased with how crisp the lines were. If you haven't tried this, you should!

Here's a great tutorial if you're interested. Happy stenciling!

Infant Carrier Tent

I'm so sorry for my blog hiatus. Life just sneaks up on me sometimes, and I can't find a spare moment. I'm hoping to be a bit more disciplined now that Fall is almost here and things have started back into a much more normal routine.

For now, I wanted to share my latest project. We had some friends in town last weekend, and they brought their precious twins over one night for dinner. A friend had made them infant carrier tents that I thought were so clever! I had never seen one before, and I instantly knew I had to make one for one of my good friends who actually delivered baby #2 this morning. The twins' mommy went over the features she loved and the features she thought could be improved upon. And I set to work...

I love the finished product (so much so that my baby fever hit an all-time high after completing this! I better get out to meet that new baby asap to cure the fever!).

I copied the binding on the twins' tents, and I think it is precious. Basically I just sewed the top and bottom pieces together wrong-sides facing. Then I cut the edge into fringe. It should fray a bit when washed. So cute and unique.

I also gave the straps a little ruffle decor which I think adds so much to what could be a very plain piece.

Since my friend plans to nurse, I made this strap that matched which can be thrown in the diaper bag to turn any blanket into a nursing cover.

I love whipping up quick, easy, and precious baby goodies!