2 Birthday Parties 4 days= burn out

My daughter turned 6 last week, and of course everything in her life is Princess and all things girl!! She wanted a Princess only party. My job, to make the invites and come up with something to entertain a bunch of girls, and of course everything else that goes with a party!!
the invite-

While we were waiting for al the girls to arrive, we decorated princess crowns.
Then it was time for games-

1st game was my version of musical chairs. I enlarged the castle i used for the invites to use on the floor as musical castles (instead of chairs). Next time i will laminate them, they were ripped up by the time the game was over!!
2nd game was help the princess find the castle. I just used some stickers of princess'.
Then of course it was time for cupcakes!!

Birthdays and beyond.............

So my little buddy turned 4 this week !! He is really into the whole Toy Story scene. Here is my idea of a Toy Story Party-
Let's Party, the invite

I used the coloring ink for the Cricut machine and then hand cut out each of the images, LONG process. I am still new to using the inks, but i am loving them!!!!

 Bingo

 I found the templete for the alien with instructions on some Disney site. I didn't think it would hold up with just glue so i sewed it. I didn't follow all of the instructions, i also modified the antena and mouth.

 Overall i think he turned out cute! We used him to play hot potatoe

 bean bag game

 bought this board at the dollar store

I didn't like how Buzz' face turned out, a little too pink for me!! The kids loved the game. It could have used some reinforcement, next time i would attatch dowls to the back along the sides or something sturdy. For the images on this and the bingo boards i used the Toy Story Cricut cartridge.
                             It was a lot of work, so plan ahead!!!

Halloween Wreath

I know, I know...

I'm 2 months too late.  But I did want to share my Halloween wreath because it turned out so cute!

I made the shape from an old swimming noodle that I taped together.

I then cut up a maternity dress that I wasn't too fond of.  But I love the way the black and grey work together making it look Halloween.

I just cut strips and double tied it into knots around the noodle.  I also gave it a mummy kind of look.

I found the bows at Joann's on clearance.  So they were like $.50 each. 

Only paying $1 for this wreath made me feel...amazing!

~Ashley



Christmas Stockings & BYU Blanket

I love when you start and finish a project on the same day!! Yesterday I had a marathon craft day!!
4 Stockings done, 3 for my kids and a new one for me. I love how cute they turned out!!

I made a blanket for my husband for Christmas (forgot to take a picture before I wrapped it!) with the leftovers I made both of us a scarf!
         I am on my way to being done with projects for Christmas!!

~ Marcie

Chicken, Bacon, and Sour Cream Taquitos

                    Chicken, bacon and sour cream taquitos
                                        -Made 2 ways-
cooked,chopped bacon
2 cans of chicken- not a fan of this so we grilled the chicken
8 flour tortillas, for the GF I used corn ones
avacado-omitted, didn't have any
1/4 cup of mayonese
1/4 cup of sour cream
1 tablespoon of milk
1 1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar
1/8 teaspoon each of salt and parsley and onion powder (didn't have any onion powder so I left it out)
stir bacon and sour cream with chicken
spoon onto tortillas, roll and secure with toothpicks
fry
I decided to modify this a little. I added some Ranch seasoning mix and pepper also. I didn't follow the measurements, I did it by taste.
SUCCESS, man was it yummy!! Everyone loved it, we will do this one again for sure :)

the top one is GF

~Marcie

Cordon Bleu Pasta

Cordon Bleu Pasta (2 ways)

So I often get bored with making the same stuff over and over for dinner!! I like to go online and look for inspiration and then make it my own.
                              

This is the recipe I used-well sort of!! I did make some changes here and there.
pasta
1 cup of cooked,cubed chicken
1 cup of cooked,cubed ham
1 1/2 cup of milk
8oz of cream cheese
2 tbls of dried onion
2 cups of Swiss cheese, shredded
salt,pepper,cayenne pepper
1 cup of bread crumbs
1/2 cup of melted butter
I did two versions of this recipe because i have a daughter who can't eat wheat
I used left over rotisserie chicken (GF of course)
I didn't have dried onion so I sauteed a yellow onion with the ham
then combined that with the chicken and peas-my own addition
In a saucepan I combined the milk, and cheese, then melted in all together
I used it as a gravy for the noodles, then added the bread crumbs at the end. I used Italian for the regular one and gf bread crumbs for the other one.

The bottom one is GF
The result-
It was o.k. I think it was the Swiss cheese that really didn't work for the kids. I liked the idea and think that if I do try it again I will use a different type of cheese.

~Marcie

It's the busiest time of the year!!

 It is a busy time of year for all of us!! I hope that amongst all the chaos we find time to remember what is most important, the MEANING of the season NOT all of the stuff.

The first picture is of my Christmas card holder. I never have anywhere to hang all of my Christmas cards. I solved the problem!! I took a piece of posterboard and cut it to the shape I wanted, then covered it with material. The lettering was done with my cricut machine. I am going to paint some clothespins to hold the cards on. I think it turned out super cute. I love simple!!

 
  I actually made this wreath last year. It was really simple. I spray painted it blue and covered with ribbon and gave it a little glitter (you can NEVER have too much glitter). I found almost all the stuff at the Dollar Store.

I needed something cute to put in my window. It was so easy to do, I just added a little glitter, and hot glued the snowflakes on the ribbon, and as always the glitter :)

~Marcie

Carrots!!!

                          My first time blanching carrots, 10lbs worth.

                                      All ready for the freezer.
I was so excited when I found carrots on sale for .25 a lb. So i bought a bunch to put in the deep freeze.

~Marcie

Giving Thanks

I am the Activity Day leader for girls ages 8-11yrs. We do a lot of fun activites!! Last month we talked about giving thanks, what Thanksgiving is and how it began. We made these fun table decorations using beans.

~Marcie