This Week's Roundup

I had a very productive week! The temperatures have been insane lately (110 - 116) so we have stayed indoors mostly. Since I was able to accomplish so much I thought I would post pictures and do a roundup!

Chloe Jo was with me at Hobby Lobby on Monday and spied a piece of My Little Pony fabric. Since it was in the clearance bin priced at a measly $.81 I went ahead and let her put it in the cart. We got it home and I looked through my fabric and shirt stash and this is what I came up with.

It turned out pretty cute!

Chloe Jo was definitely happy with her new My Little Pony outfit.

Russ cleaned out Chloe Jo's pool and I filled it back up with water Tuesday morning so she could play. It is just too hot to play outside in the afternoons right now so we went out at 9:30. It was already well over 100 degrees, but that sure didn't deter CJ from having fun!

Sweet girl!

 Love those pool pictures!

Wednesday, we went with Aunty Chelle and cousins Brianna and Brenson to one of her friends houses to go swimming. We had a great time, but I didn't take any pictures.

Thursday we decided to try to make bouncy balls. Yeah...that didn't work out so good. We tried it two different ways and neither worked. From now on I'm going to leave the chemistry stuff to the chemists...until I find some other interesting looking thing to do on Pinterest. Stinky site!

CJ was so excited to get started.

We followed the directions to the letter.

This is the second batch which turned out much better than the first.

 But, alas, it didn't bounce. :( Not to mention the borax clumped really bad and it was just a mess to play with.

After scrapping the bouncy ball project, I resume my crafting. I made two Minnie Mouse bows. One is for cousin Brianna and one is for Chloe Jo.

Then I had to make a Minnie Mouse shirt to go with the bow. I already had the materials so I finished that up pretty quick.

I also finished up two shirts for my cousins boys. My cousin is an orthopedic surgeon and treated Russ when he tore his Achille's tendon earlier this year. These are just a little thank you for helping us out.

This is the last thing I have to share for this week. My sister ordered (ha! I say that like I have a business) one of my minky blankets for one of her friends who is having a little boy in a couple of months. She hasn't seen it in person, but I think it turned out great! I hope little Riggs will get lots of use out of it!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week!

Next week is going to be another scorcher so maybe I'll get some more things done!

Show Us Your Life: Window Treatments

Today, I am linking up with Kelly's Korner for Show Us Your Life.

The topic this week is Window Treatments.

The kitchen and dining area are the rooms with the most windows in our house. I think the treatments we chose (Russ actually picked the design) are perfect!

 The two windows on the flat wall are much wider than the other four so the long drapery panels worked great for them. 

The narrow windows just needed a little something-something so I chose to go with the valances for those.

This is Chloe Jo's room. She has had these curtains for a couple of years and I love them. They match a bright, girls room perfectly!

This is the master bedroom. I know they are just dark blue and not interesting, but I love them.

The craft/guest room is the room I had the most difficulty with the window. I love the idea of these round-on-top windows, but they are really impractical. I looked into getting a nice permanent blind for the top, but they were so expensive that we opted to not go that route at this time.

The temporary blind we did put up is too small, but it is just going to have to work for now. We'll fix it eventually!

Link up {here} to play along!

Oh, How Pinteresting!

It's half-week, ya'll!

I'm going to skip What I'm Loving Wednessday this week (I have lots of things I'm loving, but hardly any pictures and that is boring) and only link up with The Vintage Apple for Oh, How Pinteresting!

Link up {here} to show us some of your pins!

Today I am going to share some of the pins that I have actually done! Most of them are crafts and there are a few recipes. Hope you enjoy!

Source: babycakesbest.webs.com via Lisa on Pinterest

This is one of the inspiration cakes I used to make Chloe Jo's birthday cake this year.

Source: etsy.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Chloe Jo loves Strawberry Shortcake so I had to make her a Strawberry Shortcake bow!

Source: etsy.com via Lisa on Pinterest

This is another inspiration I used for CJ's birthday party. I made mine with several different colors and added strawberry ribbon.

Source: hwtm.com via Lisa on Pinterest

This was inspiration for our VBS this year. I ended up drawing on mine and we set it up in the foyer to welcome the children to VBS.

Source: parisbourke.com via Lisa on Pinterest

This was another VBS pin. Our theme this year was Treasure Hunting (Searching for Gems in the book of Proverbs) so I printed a map and a verse on vellum for our bottles.

Source: coolestfamilyontheblock.com via Lisa on Pinterest

I made two of these for a baby shower I threw earlier this year. I then used them for a second baby shower, Chloe Jo's birthday party and am letting my sister borrow them for a party she is throwing. I think they were a good investment. :)

Source: allthingsmamma.com via Lisa on Pinterest

I am obsessed with these tissue paper poms. I tried them out for the first time for that same baby shower I made the ribbon topiaries for. Since then, I have made several more for different things. They are easy to make, make a big statement and are cheap. Perfect for a party on a budget!

Here are a few of the recipes I have tried:

Cheesy Southwest Burritos

Source: melskitchencafe.com via Lisa on Pinterest

This was so yummy!

Crockpot Lasagna

Source: tablespoon.com via Lisa on Pinterest

A friend recommended this on her blog and it did not disappoint.

Chicken Pillows

Source: the-girl-who-ate-everything.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Another very yummy meal.

Zucchini Cakes

Source: justputzing.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

This is one of the best zucchini recipes ever! Delish!

That's it for today! Have a great rest of the week!

Summer Days

These summer days are so full of things to do! We've mostly been staying indoors because of the excessive heat. Example:

 Um, can I just say UGH! Yesterday there was a 30% chance of scattered thunderstorms, but today I didn't see that. We need rain so badly! My hydrangeas are dead and my rose bushes are not far from it. Oh well, that's what we get for move to Oklahoma!

I have been experimenting with my hair a lot lately. I'm so tired of boring pony tails or braids. I prefer my hair to be up off my neck in the summer so I've been pinning different ideas. I really like this style. It needs a little practice, I think. :)

 I especially like it dressed up with the headband.

Chloe Jo and I retried the suncatcher craft with translucent beads this morning. It is so pretty! The picture definitely doesn't do it justice.

I also tried to do melted crayon art this week. This is the pin that was my inspiration:

Source: lightandspoon.wordpress.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Um, it totally tanked. I'm going to have to find more detailed instructions on how to do it because this is what I came up with.

You can laugh! I won't be offended. It's horrible, yes? I don't know if I'll try it again. It seems fun to do, but what am I going to do with it after it is finished? It doesn't go with my decor at all. I was disappointed it was such a ginormous fail. I can usually salvage crafts that go awry.

I hope you all are having a great week so far. Stay cool if you can!

Kids Crafts: Suncatchers

Last night I was planning to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Unfortunately, that didn't work out due to TV troubles so it was scratched. Sob, sob, sniff, sniff, tear. So instead Chloe Jo and I did a craft I had pinned on Pinterest!

I already had the supplies I needed to do this craft, so I just had to go dig them out and we were ready to get started.

First, we decided on the colors we wanted to use. We chose pink, pink, pink, pink, white, purple and turquoise. Then we covered the bottom of a round cake pan.

 The instructions said that I didn't need a liner, but I actually did and this project ruined my cake pan!

 While we were putting the pony beads in the pan, I had the oven preheating to 400 degrees. After filling the pan, I put it in the oven for 25 minutes. It did smell like plastic burning so if you do this, don't be alarmed!

 After it was finished melting, I let it sit and cool down. There was a lot of cracking and popping while it was cooling. I dumped the suncatcher out of the pan, drilled a hole in the top, strung it on a piece of ribbon and hung it on a suction cup on the window.

It turned out pretty cute! I don't know which beads made the gold in the suncatcher, but I'm glad to know the process works. I obviously needed to use more transparent beads so we will be doing this project again. Maybe we'll even do it with cookie cutters to make fun shapes instead of just a round one!

I hope you all are having a fabulous Saturday!

I need to get going on a few things for the Anniversary party I am helping plan!

Family Pictures 2012

Waaaaaaay back in the summer of 2010 my sister decided she wanted to play photographer and take some family pictures for us. She did an amazing job so I was happy to be able to use her again for this year. Again, she took some great pictures and the best part of it was that she did it for free (unless you count a few times of babysitting, but I think Russ and I are still trying to break even from when we stayed with them so long during the move)!

Chloe Jo did great for a while...and then she was over it!

I yuv her wittle pouty face.

This one is my favorite. I am hoping to have it printed into wallets to give to friends and family.

I also wanted a few with just Russ and I. I think it's nice to have them just for our bedroom.

This is my favorite.

Although, I really like this one, too! Especially the artsy heart!

The family pictures all turned out so good that I could hardly choose which one to print to frame. I'm going to have an equally hard time choosing which ones to give out.

I eventually decided on this one to frame (without the border enhancement).

Chelley had this idea and I love it so much! It turned out fabulous!

I love my sister for doing this for us! The pictures turned out fantastic!