Baby Safe Christmas Ornaments

No glass here!!.... I have tons of glass ornaments that are so pretty and shiny, and are exactly the type of thing my 18 month old has to get his hands on!!  So they are not going on the tree this year! :(  But I still wanted to have circular pretty baubles on my tree, so here's what I did:

Step One
Got a circle paper punch 2.5", some glitter cardstock ( or you can use plain cardstock if ya like!), Extreme glue stick and a brown or green embroidery floss.

 


Step Two
Punch the paper and fold each circle in half.

Step Three
With a super heavy duty Elmer's Glue Stick Extreme ( non toxic stuff that works really well with paper projects and is safe just in case the little one decides he wants to make a meal out of your projects!) I glued the first 2 halves, then I cut a piece of embroidery floss to about a foots length and glued each end to the seam of the two halves.  Then I continued to glue the last 2 folded circles to the project to make a 3D circle!

Step 4
Now this is crucial...... You have to squeeze the new ornament together for at least 30 seconds to make sure it is thoroughly adhered.

Now you have a fantastic new ornament that your little angel ( or animal!) can't smash on the floor! :)

Click Here if you rather buy these than make them :)

Merry Christmas!! Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year!!

P.S.  If you don't have the time to make these ornaments on your own, buy some here.

Craft Show Display Ideas

I recently did my second craft show!  It was so much fun.  I decided to make all of my displays white because all of my items are so colorful, I didn't want the displays to distract the buyers.  Here I spray painted a cookie sheet and sat it upright on a white painted mini eisle to display my Halloween magnets.

 I also painted a small step ladder to give height to some of my smaller items.  ( This shot is kinda sloppy because I was still in the setting up process, but it totally helped with sales!)

 And lastly I decided to buy a card display.  It's more professional and looks alot better than having your cards boringly lying flat on a table.

 The End! :)  I hope this gives people some ideas for their craft shows!!  What are some of your ideas?

Halloween!! I love it so!

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday!  You get to play dress up and eat candy all day; who wouldn't love it?  I dressed up as a black cat every year until I was about 10, then decided I wanted to be a witch.  I never wanted to do the whole fairy princess thing....I don't know why, I guess it just wasn't my style.  I was such a little tom boy; always climbing trees and playing in dirt with my Hot Wheels. heh, I'm so girly now...... It's so weird and wonderful how we all change over time. I guess that is what Halloween is all about though, isn't it?  You know, exploring a new persona.  You could try out a perfect little angel or a mischievous little devil, but more than likely you are somewhere in the middle... that is unless you are my little Alexander.....  I think he should try being a little angel this Halloween.....  It may be too much of a challenge for him....hmmmm.... rambling thoughts :)

Here are some Halloween garlands I've handmade and they are for sale in my etsy store.

Click here to shop

Click here for more info about this item :)

Click here for more item info

Interested in buying? click here

Click here if you would like more info on this item :)

Embriodered Rain Cloud Gift Box

This is the newest item in my shop and I was just so pleased with it I had to share it here!!
It's an embroidered raincloud gift box.   It measures 3" by 3" by 2" inches so you could fit jewlery, candy or a sweet note inside it! I love it!

Buy it Here

DIY - Upcycle Tissue Paper - How To Make a Decorative Pom!!!

Whenever you go to a shop or specialty boutique the cashier always piles alot of tissue paper in your bag. It's so pretty that it always makes me feel guilty throwing it away.... so I decided to make something with all the pretty pink tissue paper I got the other day from Victoria's Secret. I turned it into a decorative pom!  They are so easy and fun! I can't remember where I learned how to make them; I think maybe in elementary school art class. . . I remember being in a classroom type setting. 
  They are great for adding that extra special touch to a birthday party, when you have leftover tissue paper from bagging presents and you end up with extras.  The poms will match the gifts!  How cute!

Here's what you need:
*At least 8 sheets of tissue paper ( any size will do, as long as the 8 sheets are all the same size)
*A piece of jewlery wire ( if you don't have that, a paperclip will do or a bread bag twist tie)
*Scissors
*String, thread or yarn to use for hanging.

First stack and line up the edges of the tissue paper.
Begin to fold the stack like a fan.

Once totally folded, bend the fan in half to make a crease in the middle.
Wrap your wire along the crease, twist it and curve the end so it can hold the hanging string.
Cut the string to desired length then loop the string through the curved end of wire ( or twist tie) and fashion a not at the end.
Cut the ends of your tissue paper either into a curve or a point. ( I think curved edges look better)

Unfold the accordian so it looks like you have a flower, then begin to pull up each individual sheet gently.... and voila! You have a pom!!

Etsy Finds - Rainy Days

It hasn't rained here in Plano, TX in forever, but this morning while it was still pitch black outside I was awoken by a thunderous clash followed by a roaring wave of rain.  It made me jump out of bed, I was so startled! It is now early morning and everything outside looks so full of life.  It makes me happy!

Here are some beautiful rain related gems I found on etsy!! Have a look and a great day!! :)

Springtime Limited Edtion Print by Jaimers

Whimsical Rain Cloud Mobile by Leptitpapillon

B&W Raindrops on Bleeding Heart Leaves by AFortunateEvent

.....And The Winner is....

The winner of the Mini Bird Notebooks is....
.....sillycyclops!

Congrats!! And thankyou to everybody that entered! There will be another giveaway at the end of the month for another item from my shop ElisabethNicole.

...or should it be another set of bird notebooks?  What do you guys think?

The Whale!!



***Click here to see it in my shop***

I really love this new piece in my shop and I thought I would share it here.  It's called the whale and it was drawn using prisma color pencils on acid free "upcycled" davey-board.
*** Don't forget to enter my giveaway here Mini Bird Notebooks Giveaway!!
Have a great day!! :)

Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I found the best cookie recipe the other day.  They came out really chewy and stayed that way even after they became room temperature. The recipe was for chocolate chip cookies but I mixed it up a bit ( because I didn't have enough choco-chips) and tried to make snickerdoodle cookies with the leftover dough.  I also made m&m ones . . . Mmmmmm&mmmmmmm! . .  While the cookies were still piping hot from the oven I sprinkled them with sugar and cinnamon.  They were so good!!... So good in fact that I ate 4 of them right then and there and decided my husband should get the last one. If you try it, don't put the cinnamon on before baking because it gets burned :(
Also, don't refrigerate the dough; bake it right after making it for the best cookies.  It should be really sticky and goo-ey.  So goo-ey it's hard to get off the spoon, or fingers!! If you do put it in the fridge, the cookies will turn out kinda hard... like store bought cookies.

Alexander loved them lots.  Here's some pics of the fabulous cookies ( minus the Snickerdoodle!) and my little cookie monster!

Baby Cookie Monster!!!

                Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

              Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Here's where I found the recipe Link  Thank you ELIZABETHBH for your fantastic recipe!!
Oh', and 15 minutes was just the right amount of time in the oven :)

What's some of your favorite treats or recipes?  Please share them with me!! :)

***********Don't forget to enter my giveaway here ----> Link **************

Give Away!

I will be giving away this cute little 4 pack of notebooks.
All you have to do is follow this blog or leave a comment and you will be entered for your chance to win.

*To purchase this item or to look at similar ones click here*

Specs:

*4 handmade eco friendly notebooks

*Size- 3.5" by 2.5" folded

*20 pages ( 40 front and back)

*Printed on speckled recycled sand colored cardstock

*Uses- Grocery lists, jotting down ideas

*Easily fit in a pocket

*Great as party favors!

****Good luck!!!!! Deadline to enter is August 15th 2011.  The winner will be announced the following day :)****

(I think I'm going to do a give away once a month, so keep a look out. If you don't win this time you could next time!!)  :)

New Shop!

Here are a few images of my brand new line of cards in my brand spanking new shop.

Here's the link if you would like to see more :) http://www.etsy.com/shop/CuteCardsandStuff?ref=ss_profile
and here's the profile http://www.etsy.com/people/CuteCardsandStuff

Zoo Day

We went to the zoo today and had tons of fun seeing the "ele-friends", tigers, giraffes, zebras, among other things, not to mention some turtles doing it! Alexander liked looking at the fish and sea turtles swim. We got a video of the turtles swimming ( not the ones doing it you dirty minded reader!) so Alexander can watch him swim whenever he wants! He saw lots but his favorite part was walking up and down all the stair cases..... I never realized the Fort Worth Zoo had so many stair cases before!!!  I feel inspired to make some zoo animal goodies!  Here are some pics of our day, but first the swimming turtle



My Beautiful little grumpy bear!

The "Stair Master"

"Mommy, I'm done with this bird!"

"Ele-friends!!"  Alexander loves elephants!!

I couldn't tell if this bird was real or fake?

Update

Turns out I have a hiatal hernia.... that's why I am always hungry and feel like I'm going to barf.... and sometimes do barf, because food gets trapped in my esophogus and it just hangs out there, gets really nasty, and then my body makes me puke it back up. yay!........

On a happier, less disgusting note- my little Alexander took his first steps when he was about 10 months and began really walking on his birthday..... He's my little cutie!!! I love him oh' so much!  It's kinda weird to think about how a person you have only known for a very short time and doesn't even really know himself can become your most favorite person you have ever met!

 Here Alexander is drawing, just like his mommy and daddy.  He is so talented!!!! ha!

Grocery shopping

Valentines Day

We tried to go on a picnic.  Alex decided that wasn't going to happen. I wrote a poem for Patrick and I want to remember it forever so I'm going to post it here.... I have already spilled tea on the original.  ( I'm a slob!)


I like that you're sweet,
I'm glad that you're kind;
you get on my nerves,
but I'm glad that you're mine!

You have soft brown hair,
and "sunflower" eyes;
you cry like a girl,
not " one of the guys".

I love the sound of your laugh,
and the smile on your face;
I never feel at home,
until you're in the place.

You can be stubborn,
but then so can I;
that's why I forgive you;
you're MY kind of guy.

You make the bathroom stink!
You take forever to poo;
but if you weren't in my life,
I don't know what I'd do!


.... And that's as far as little Zander would let me get before I could give Patrick the poem... He's such a girl, and teared up! I love my girly man!  I wasn't sure about the poo verse, but it wouldn't have been right without it! I think it added the finishing touch!

Foxy Valentine

This is my latest design for a Valentines Day card! I love Valentines!.... Not because it's a day of love, but because of the fond memories I have of blowing up over a 1000 heart shaped balloons for the holiday at my old job.

                                                                             

 

(Want to purchase this card? Click Here)

PCOS, What is it?

It effects 5 to 10 percent of women worldwide. Even though it's name tells you that it is an ovary problem, it is actually an endocrine disorder. The ovary symptoms were among the first problems doctors discovered with the syndrome. Instead of the body producing progesterone, to finish up the maturation and release of an egg, it makes and uses excess amounts of testosterone, which causes the egg to never be released from the ovary. The egg fills up with fluid and becomes a cyst. Doctors aren't exactly sure why but they believe there to be a correlation between pcos and diabetes because the majority of pcos women develop or have someone in their family that has diabetes. ( but who doesn't these days?!)
Symptoms vary greatly because any one of the 7 organs making up the endocrine system could be outta whack! So this makes it difficult to study and help everyone but the main ones are:
-Mood swings
- Foggy minded
-fatigue
-pelvic pain
-heavy painful periods ( what the egg doesn't release but there is still a period?) yeah, when estrogen levels drop or the uterine lining becomes so heavy it collapses you have a "period" that lasts 8 to 14 days, but the good news is you don't have one every month! ha! but again, everyone varies.
-hair loss
-hair growth
-bladder infections
-irregular bowel movements
-obesity
-insulin sensitivity
- Also, at high risk for diabetes, heart disease, and ovarian and cervical cancer

PCOS and Breastfeeding

  I'm totally spaced out all the time, and nauseous! It sucks! I'm so dizzy, I can"t drive, let alone walk down the 3 flights of stairs to get to my car from the apartment. . . . I began to think that maybe I have developed agoraphobia or something, but when I feel good, I'm outside taking a walk or running errands.... so that can"t be it! Just wishful thinking, I guess. ( If it were agoraphobia, I could get over it!) Whatever it is, it's just as debilitating.  I wish it would just go away, so I could enjoy life.
  I have also been getting a severe pain in my left side.  It starts inside the front of my hip, then extends up my back and down into my groin.  The pain is so severe... worse than labor pain! There's no organs there, except for the ovary, intestines and kidney ( ok, there's a few) so I thought it might be a kidney stone. I mean the pain felt like something was burning and melting and about to burst out of me!  I keep scheduling doctors appointments and then don't go to them because by the time I'm suppose to go, the "episode" is over.
  One day the pain got so severe, I decided to go to the ER! I thought to myself," Hey, the pain is occurring right at this very moment, so maybe they will find something!"  They ran a few tests and I was at the ER all day.  (The nurse was a complete wreck! But that's a completely different story in and of itself! OMG! Which I will tell later!) The dr comes in and tells me I was severely dehydrated and probably had a virus! A VIRUS!?!?! That has lasted for 7 months! I don't think so! Then before I could say, Doctor?" he was out of the room.  I was so drugged up on morphine and dizzy, I couldn't think fast enough or clear enough to do anything about it at the time.

So what does this have to do with PCOS and breast feeding?


Well, first of all, what is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome?         PCOS LINK 

                                                                                        

Here's the gist if you don"t wanna go to the link: Symptoms vary greatly because any one of the 7 organs and glands making up the endocrine system don't function at their optimum level at various times.  This makes it difficult to study. No one knows what causes it.


So my hormones are crazy! My baby Chunky Monkey gets plenty of milk, but I am dehydrated all the time.   The reason I think there is a correlation between the way I feel and nursing is because I feel worse after feedings and when you breastfeed the organs and glands that make up the endocrine system are busy releasing hormones. It doesn't matter how much water I drink, I feel like I have a hangover from hell! I've cut out all alcohol and caffeine and thought I was maybe drinking too much water a day, but the er doc said I was dehydrated!!! I don't know what to do!!! I'm thinking this is the cause of the spaced out dizzy headache vomit feeling  ( Shikaka, I'm repeating myself because I can't think!)... and am hoping it is the cause of the side pain. ....Either way, feels good to write about it.

Alexander is 9 months now, so I am trying (key word trying) to wean him, but there is no guarantee I will feel better if I do this. ...I am a very stubborn person`.  Doctors told me I would probably never have a child without medical intervention- I proved them wrong!! (WOOO HOO, go me! My precious little miracle, accident!) Then they told me I wouldn't be able to breastfeed because of my hormones, inverted nipples, and Alex's palette was shaped oddly- Apparently Chunky Monkey is stubborn like his mama, because we have been breastfeeding like champs! and I don't want to give it up because of my gimp body! That's like saying the Doctors were right!  I know, I know, I have been doing it for 9 months, that's probably good enough and I should be proud. But I want to stop when I am ready, not when my body is!!! That is the story of my life.... My stupid body always gets in the way!

But I am proud.... I just have to convince my son it's time to stop! I wonder who is more stubborn? ha

oh, drinking pedialyte helps somewhat, but it has sooo many calories!