Milk Jug Skeleton

Due to a death in the family, I haven't been crafting much, but you know when someone loves crafts when they feel the need to craft even when they're out of town. You also know when your mom loves you when she is willing to call around to her friends and see who has empty milk jugs of all things :)

I'd like to introduce you all to Horace:

Paper Mache Ghost

I have been seeing these adorable cheesecloth ghosts all over bloggy land and was dying to try it, but since we didn't have cheesecloth, I thought I would give paper mache a try!
This is cheap, easy, messy and fun for your kids, especially if they actually want to help :). I had fun at least...

Bats, Bats, Bats

If you're anything like me, you usually don't want to spend a fortune on holiday decorations, or have to store those decorations, but since you have kids or guests or whatever, you feel like you need to do at least something...

When I read Dana's post on her bats and saw how amazing her walls look with her flock (do bats fly in flocks?) of bats, I wanted to give it a shot. You really must click over to her post to see what inspired me!

With the two sheets of black paper I had, I drew a bat wing template (using Country Living's PDF as a guide)  that would fit 4 bats to a page, folded lengthwise. I just held the template on the paper as I cut and with my 8 cute little bats, we flew all over my apartment looking for somewhere to liven up.   Apartment living really puts a kink in decorating, especially when you're limited on where you're allowed to hang stuff up(!). So, we stuck with the wall in our living area. I doubt they'll stay up long with how fascinated K was with my bats, but for now it looks fun and festive...and it cost me nothing!
If these get ruined, or I don't want to store them, I can make them again next year :).

Newspaper Tree

For the past two weeks I have been blessed with a free trial of the local newspaper. I had thought about subscribing and wanted to try it out. This also meant that a huge stack of newspapers has been growing next to my garbage can because I can't bear to throw it all out.

As I threw a new wad of paper into the stack the other day my mind randomly flashed back to elementary school and a fuzzy memory of making trees out of newspaper. I suddenly had the insatiable need to show my boys how to make a tree out of newspaper and off we went (with grateful help from Making Science Fun since my memory really was that fuzzy).

All you need is tape, newspaper (about 6 large sheets), scissors, and if desired a paper towel or similar size tube.

How to get rid of fruit flies

Before I start, please promise you'll still read my blog after seeing the picture I'm posting below...

But, I feel it is crucial to share with you the secret way my husband discovered on how to rid your home of a fruit fly infestation. Those little bugs are so annoying and look nasty!

The best part...it's natural; no chemicals or baits. All you need is apple cider vinegar and dish soap! Fill a cup/glass 1/4ish of the way full with your apple cider vinegar and pour a few drops of dish soap on top.

The dish soap releases the surface tension of the vinegar so when those pesky flies land on top of the cider, because it smells so much like the rotting fruit they love, they will sink right in and meet a cider-y grave! Want proof? Check out how many we've caught this last week: Yeah, all those brown spots...fruit flies. Gross huh?!

Yes, it stinks and drives my nose nuts, but I'd rather see those little bugs drown (sorry for the violence) than fly around my head while I wash dishes! Make sure you set your cup somewhere you're less likely to knock it over :)

I'm linking up to Homemaking Monday @ 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven and Works for me Wednesday @ We Are That Family.

Almond Butter

One of the earlier memories I have of my father-in-law is hearing him talk about the almond butter in his fridge. I had never even heard of almond butter, but it is a well loved commodity in my husband's family. My very health conscious father-in-law is justified in loving almonds! They provide wonderful nutrients such as protein, fiber, calcium, vitamin E and B6, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc (thanks Wikipedia!). In Utah it was fairly easy to find it, but I don't think I've seen almond butter anywhere out where we are now. 

Never fear, if you want to try almond butter, all you need is almonds. Those are much easier to find!

Start by spreading your almonds in a cookie sheet with an edge all around it. Roast in the oven at 300 degrees for at least 10 minutes or until the almonds are a bit darker. Allow to cool until you are comfortable handling the almonds.
Pour your almonds into a food processor
and process those almonds until they are butter. As you slice/chop/whatever your almonds, you are causing the oils to be released which over time helps create almond butter.

You'll have a flour type mixture for a while, just keep going (it takes quite a while to get to the butter point). If necessary, scrape the sides when your processor is off. In the above picture you can see the oils starting to spread. And finally, I present you with almond butter. My husband loves it on celery or apple slices, or wherever he would normally put peanut butter...even in our chocolate banana shakes! Pour into a tupperware type container and if it's still warm, allow to cool before you put your almond butter into the fridge, where it should be kept until it's all gone.

Zero preservatives or sugar added! Enjoy!

I'm linking up to Family Food Friday @ Get Healthy Cheap, Homemaking Monday @ 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven,

Tie Onesie

Every little boy deserves to have fun clothes to wear, and the complaint is all too common that you just can't dress boys up the same you can with girls. It's true, there's nothing like walking through the baby section and running your fingers over the frilly dresses, but when all you have is boys to work with, you've got to find something to have fun with right?

I'd like to thank my friend for expecting a boy so I could try making this tie onesie!
All you need is a white onesie...whatever size works best for your little one, Wonder Under or similar product, tie worthy fabric, an iron, and a sewing machine.

1. Draw or print out a tie template. My tie measures about 6 inches long, and 2.5 inches wide at the widest parts.
2. Trace your tie to Wonder Under and iron that to your fabric. I used one of my husband's plaid shirts (with permission of course) which made for a super cute tie! I separated the top from the bottom and laid them in different directions to make the tie look more authentic.

3. Cut your tie out, remove the paper backing of the Wonder Under and lay on your onesie. Make sure it's centered, and press according to the Wonder Under instructions.
4. Sew around your tie with a zig zag stitch to secure.

5. Use as a baby shower gift or put on your little man for special occasions and adore the cuteness of it all!

I wish I could give credit to whoever inspired me, but I have no idea who that was! If you have made these and blogged about it, please share so we can see how cute everyone else's are!

I'm linking up to Making It with Allie @ What Allie's Making Now,  Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple, What are Little Boys Made of? @ Seven Thirty Three, Get Your Craft on Thursday @ Life as Lori, Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage, Show off Your Stuff @ Fireflies and Jellybeans, and Crafty Soiree @ Yesterday on Tuesday.

Chocolate Banana Shake

Since I first saw Money Saving Mom's post on her shakes, my husband and I have had one of our own chocolate banana shakes almost every night...it's like a ritual for us now and these shakes are so good! I will take these over ice cream any night and it's so much healthier.
A lot of the shake depends on personal preferences, but for our shakes we have:

• 2 bananas fresh or frozen*
• 1 cup(ish) of milk
• chocolate syrup to taste
• a huge glob of peanut or almond butter
• honey to taste
• if your bananas are fresh, you'll want some vanilla or chocolate ice cream. If you use chocolate, you can forgo the syrup. Add more for a thicker shake.

Throw all this in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into cups and savor the wonderful flavor of banana, chocolate and peanut butter mixed together. Delicious!

I usually throw in some of my sneaky veggie cubes if my husband isn't looking and his most recent complaint was that there was too much peanut butter...I couldn't even taste them.

*To freeze bananas, peel and lay on a cookie sheet. Flash freeze for an hour and put into freezer bags until ready to be used. If you freeze your bananas, you will not need any ice cream making this even healthier!

I'm linking up to WFMW @ We Are That Family,  Real Food Wednesdays @ Kelly The Kitchen Kop,

Earning Money Online

I still consider my blog to be in its infancy...after all, it's not even a year old yet, and while I am hoping to increase revenue through my blog over time, I have been using a few other sites to earn a bit of money in the mean time that I wanted to share. It is definitely not a solid income, but every little bit helps, right? :)

Inbox Dollars sends several advertising e-mails a day. When you click through the e-mails, you will earn 2 cents. You can take surveys or shop through them as well to earn money.

Just like Inbox Dollars, you will earn 2 cents per e-mail you click through with Send Earnings. You can cash out when you reach $30.

Search through SwagBucks to earn points. You only need 450 points to get a $5 amazon.com giftcard!

Opinion Outpost is a survey site that I have heard great things about. Many people I have talked to have great success qualifying for surveys and earn quickly.

I have heard others recommend getting a separate e-mail account purely for surveys or ad e-mails...I haven't so far but have definitely thought about it.

I am still exploring all of the options and different ways to earn money through the internet, but between my boys and crafting :), I find myself pretty busy. If you have any sites that you just love, please tell us about them in the comments!

Disclaimer: Many of these links are referral links and if you sign up through them I may receive credit to my account. 

Car Caddy 2

I have been waiting and waiting for a reason to make a second car caddy because K's caddy has been such a success. Finally, we were invited to a little boy's birthday party this coming Saturday.

I did a few things differently this time around. Instead of snaps, I used a strap with velcro to make it easier for kids to open and close. I cut a strip of the same exterior fabric, which in this case was corduroy, 2 1/2 inches wide, and 3 1/2 inches long. Fold it in half lengthwise with right sides together and sew along that seam. Turn right side out, tuck one end in and sew along that end.

Sew  the hook part of the velcro (or the scratchy side) onto the end you just finished.

Insert the strap before you sew the front and back to each other, with the strap's raw edge lined up with the caddy's raw edge. Make sure you have it facing the right way so when it's turned right side out, the velcro side will face in when you wrap it around.

Cut a piece of loop, or soft, velcro the size of your tire, and sew it to your tire...make sure the strap reaches that far or else you'll have to just sew it wherever the strap will reach.

Everything else I did exactly the same and had so much fun making this! I can't wait to fill this up with cars and give it to this little boy! For the rest of the instructions, head over to my first car caddy.

I love that each time I make one of these, I can make it as unique as I want based on the fabric I have on hand. I definitely love the corduroy for the front!

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

When I made these cookies, all my husband would say is that I'm obsessed. Who can blame me? These turned out pretty darn cute if I do say so myself!

It is really easy to make these and they are such a fun variation of traditional sugar cookies. They're so cute you don't have to ice them...or you could in a continued candy corn theme.

Mix up a batch of sugar cookies. Separate your dough into 3 bowls. One bowl with about half of your dough. With the other half, take about a third and put that into another bowl, and the rest into your last bowl.

Using food coloring, make your largest bowl of dough yellow, the second largest orange, and leave the smallest bowl white. Mix, mush and smash until you have a uniform color.

Divide each of your colors in half. Take one half of your yellow dough and roll it into a snake. Flatten the top and bottom of it and lay it on wax paper.

Roll half of your orange into a snake the same length as your yellow, flatten the top and bottom a bit and lay that on top of your yellow snake.

Do the same with half of your white dough, but shape into a triangle and lay on top of your orange.

I had a request to explain the white layer better...hopefully this makes more sense... The above picture is just to show the general shape of your candy corn log (the log is lying on it's side, already chilled). Roll half of your white dough into a log the same length as your orange/yellow log and flatten the sides into a triangle. Put that on top of the orange layer.

Wrap up your tricolored snake with the wax paper and run your hands along the sides to flatten/smooth it out until your snake is more of a long triangle.

Do the same with your other half and allow to chill in the fridge for 2 hours.

Unwrap your logs and either using floss by wrapping it around the log and pulling it across each other, or a knife, cut your dough into 1/4 inch wide slices.
Lay on your cookie sheet and cook for 8-12 minutes.
 
Wish like crazy you had a window in your oven...pull out and allow to cool on the sheet for 1 minute.

Remove to a cooling rack and devour as soon as they are cool enough to handle. Enjoy!
I absolutely love C's new cheese smile :)

I'm linking up to Made By You Monday @ Skip to My Lou, Making the World Cuter Monday @ Making the World Cuter, Creative Share Blog Hop @ Trendy Treehouse, Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping it Simple,  Mad Skills Monday @ Super Stinky Boys, It's So Very Creative Monday @ It's So Very Creative, and the DIY Project Parade @ The DIY Showoff, Tasty Tuesday @ Beauty and Bedlam, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday @ Blessed with Grace.

Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes

Until I was 13, we lived in my grandpa's basement. Every Sunday after church, my brother and I would go upstairs and cook pancakes for the whole family. My grandpa would come in and tell us tales of how his father could flip pancakes without a spatula and to a little girl, that sounded absolutely amazing...it still is (I can't do it even today). My grandpa taught me to wait until bubbles form before flipping it, and to only flip once if at all possible to avoid losing the fluffiness of the pancakes...I miss that man!

I found this pumpkin pancake recipe from The Mother Load and am reposting it because it is amazing! They are so moist and fluffy I can't get enough of them. We tripled the recipe and froze most of it for later use and I'm so glad we did! These are perfect for fall!

So without further delay:


Light & Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch clove
1 1/4 cup low-fat milk
1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg


Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together milk, pumpkin, melted butter, and egg. Fold mixture into dry ingredients. Spray or grease a skillet and heat over medium heat: pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side. This recipe makes six 6-inch pancakes.

Side Note- This can easily be doubled and frozen or stored in the refrigerator for a great breakfast later in the week.
I'm linking up to Family Food Fridays @ Get Healthy Cheap,  All Things Pumpkin @ Henthome Handmade,  Tasty Tuesday@ Beauty and Bedlam,  Tempt My Tummy Tuesday @ Blessed with Grace, and ...