Be inspired. Be thrifty. Be informed. Be*YOU*tiful.
Monday, September 12, 2011
The Best time for Photos!
Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Fall is almost here! It is my FAVORITE season! I personally think it is the best time for outdoor pictures. When the season is turning you get that mix of vibrant greens and rustic browns topped with crisp blue skies! *LOVE* So we are getting our family pictures taken October 1st, I cannot wait! I also enjoy just taking pictures myself and editing them on fun websites like Picnik.com! Here are some of my past faves!
My husband is from Western Kansas and it is absolutely stunning there! This Illinois born girl is always amazed by the very neat scenery. The old schoolhouse photo and sunflower photo was taken in his hometown region by my husband on one of our visits. I love the sunflower fields that adorn the sides of the roads, unfortunately we have missed their peak blooms the last couple years. I want a family photo in one of the fields!!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Minnie Mouse First Birthday Party
A neat trick for the giant cupcake cake is to use the cake mold to make a candy shell cupcake liner. I used yellow candy melts for this cake. Just melt candy in microwave then pour into mold (i sprayed my mold with cooking spray to make sure it didn't stick) using spatula to coat the sides all the way up to the top. Then place in the freezer for at least an hour. You have to do a bit of shaving on the bottom of the cupcake cake but it looks pretty darn cute in its own liner!!
I also made an adorable dum dum sucker display in the shape of Minnie Mouse's head. It was very easy but a bit time consuming. Use one larger styrofoam ball and two smaller styrofoam balls. I cut the sucker sticks in half then covered all three balls leaving a bit of a small circle shape bare spot in the bottom of each smaller ball. Then using wooden grill skews I attached the two smaller balls to the large one. I then filled in all the bare spots and placed it on top of a tin pail. I wanted to use a flower pot but during our car trip to Illinois it broke! I would suggest a flower pot for better stability. You could also decorate the pot to make it pretty! This was a big hit with the kids!!
The rest of the party was in the details. I used pretty flowers in vases. I had a friend make cake pops (since I already had a ton on my plate) and I made minnie mouse shaped sugar cookies (I bought the cookie cutter from Disney.com) wrapped in clear plastic bags tied with minnie mouse ribbon as gift favors! I also used minnie mouse napkins and plates that I purchased at Party City. Since her party was in the spring I lined our sidewalk with pretty pink and yellow Pinwheels and minnie mouse shaped pink cardstock that I hot glued to wooden gril skewers!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
"Being" Be-YOU-tiful
**Weeeeeeeee** Don't know how you landed here but I hope you enjoy the ride!! :) Its Thursday and I'm lounging and browsing the internet having some "me time" while Baby K takes a nap. I'm having one of those "I don't want to get out of my pajamas until she smears her lunch all over me" days. My hair is piled on top of my head, I'm wearing my glasses and I don't have ANY makeup on (eek!) but I'm feeling okay with this.
Baby K is 16 months now and let me tell you she is my first and only child (as of now) and no one could prepare me for that first year! I'm just now losing the last of the baby weight and hoping to lose some more...and it wasn't until a few months ago that I finally conquered the task of taking a shower AND styling my hair while keeping her entertained! That first year was rough and I felt anything but BEAUTIFUL in fact I can remember many moments (okay minutes, er hours) where I felt like a disgrace to the word "woman". I'm fortunate to have fellow mommy friends who have shared their own feelings about that first year and what it does to the woman we were before our sweet cheeked little blessings came into this world. It does indeed make us different. That is okay. We are still Beautiful. I was browsing through my facebook album of when she was just a little pink blob and I noticed I hardly have any pictures of myself posted. Imagine that. So I searched through my files on the computer and found some. Yes they are unflattering but there really is something beautiful about them. Yes my husband has told me this before, but when you are covered in baby spit up, have milk leaking through your tee shirt and your last shower is turning into a memory the word beautiful feels like a harsh reminder.
We of course have the beautiful moments with our little angels to help sugar coat the emotional obstacles most of us try to overcome when we are thrown into Mommyhood. These moments combined with the power of overcoming these obstacles and becoming a stronger woman for ourselves and our loved ones make us more BEAUTIFUL than ever! I honestly try my hardest to see the beauty in everyone and everything and my biggest challenge was looking for this beauty in myself.
I came acrossed this play on words accidentally on Pinterest.com (If you haven't checked it out yet it's life changing!) stamped acrossed a pretty vintaged framed chalkboard....
Be*YOU*tiful.
I though what a very cute and empowering phrase to put in my daughters room! LOL! Then I thought hmmmm maybe I need to pay better attention to this message!
I hope YOU continue on this journey with me as I continue searching for myself and searching for beautiful inspiration, products, gear, recipes, etc.....
P.S. I'm also often beautifully grammatically incorrect!!
Baby K is 16 months now and let me tell you she is my first and only child (as of now) and no one could prepare me for that first year! I'm just now losing the last of the baby weight and hoping to lose some more...and it wasn't until a few months ago that I finally conquered the task of taking a shower AND styling my hair while keeping her entertained! That first year was rough and I felt anything but BEAUTIFUL in fact I can remember many moments (okay minutes, er hours) where I felt like a disgrace to the word "woman". I'm fortunate to have fellow mommy friends who have shared their own feelings about that first year and what it does to the woman we were before our sweet cheeked little blessings came into this world. It does indeed make us different. That is okay. We are still Beautiful. I was browsing through my facebook album of when she was just a little pink blob and I noticed I hardly have any pictures of myself posted. Imagine that. So I searched through my files on the computer and found some. Yes they are unflattering but there really is something beautiful about them. Yes my husband has told me this before, but when you are covered in baby spit up, have milk leaking through your tee shirt and your last shower is turning into a memory the word beautiful feels like a harsh reminder.
We of course have the beautiful moments with our little angels to help sugar coat the emotional obstacles most of us try to overcome when we are thrown into Mommyhood. These moments combined with the power of overcoming these obstacles and becoming a stronger woman for ourselves and our loved ones make us more BEAUTIFUL than ever! I honestly try my hardest to see the beauty in everyone and everything and my biggest challenge was looking for this beauty in myself.
I came acrossed this play on words accidentally on Pinterest.com (If you haven't checked it out yet it's life changing!) stamped acrossed a pretty vintaged framed chalkboard....
Be*YOU*tiful.
I though what a very cute and empowering phrase to put in my daughters room! LOL! Then I thought hmmmm maybe I need to pay better attention to this message!
I hope YOU continue on this journey with me as I continue searching for myself and searching for beautiful inspiration, products, gear, recipes, etc.....
P.S. I'm also often beautifully grammatically incorrect!!
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