best idea ever....for a toilet paper roll

1. Take an empty toilet paper roll and cut it in half.  

2. Pinch and staple one end shut.

3. Fill with dirt and seeds.  Place in your flower pot.  

This works wonderfully because they snuggle down in the dirt and stay upright, are watered when you water the big flowers, and are easily transplanted when they get big!

Enjoy,

Caribbean Christmas Tree

Last night, before supper we all went to the beach to walk around and explore.

The "Christmas Breeze" is blowing and it is soooo comfortable.

The crisp blue Caribbean was intertwined with swirls of foamy waves.

I love smelling the salty air and feeling the wind in my hair.

With a project in mind, I had the princesses help me gather up several sticks of driftwood.

This is what I came up with.

My little Caribbean Christmas Tree.

All from my beach!

 I had Prince help me....power tools are not my friends!

He had a dowel rod left over from a project.

This, in itself, is a miracle.  You can't buy them on the Island, his dad brought it from the States.

Thanks, Papa.

Merry Christmas,  Island style!  I love it!
 

Apple Cinnamon Party Mix

Recipe

5 cups wheat Chex cereal

1 cup lightly salted whole almonds

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup chopped dried apples

1/2 cup yogurt covered raisins or peanuts

1. In a large bowl mix cereal and almonds

2. In a sauce pan combine: butter, brown sugar, corn syrup,

 and cinnamon bring to a boil and cook for 30 seconds

3. Pour over cereal mixture until evenly coated

4. Stir in apples and spread on wax paper to cool (cools quickly, about 5 minutes)

optional: stir in raisins or peanuts and store in an airtight container

(from the kitchen of my sister, Rachel Tague)

Have a lovely day,

Count your blessings

#82 girl talk in the kitchen when you're preparing a family meal

#83 cinnamon...scent and flavor

#84 the fact that there's always something good to eat in mom's fridge

Remember "whoo" loves you

Let me start off with expressing my love for "felt".

It's pretty awesome stuff.

Inexpensive, comes in a bunch of great colors, easy to cut, doesn't unravel,

 I {seriously}could keep going.

My girls love tiny little things, so a few days ago, I cut them out small animal shapes

 and had them sew {itty bitty} little stuffed animals.

So keep in mind, these were mainly sewn by a 6 and 7 year old.  

We did a few redo's to make them look "the best they could".  

Felt is really great for teaching little kids to hand sew with.

I think they turned out precious.

Princess Alexis came up with the idea of making little finger puppets with them. 

She made this to send to Aunt Monica....very fitting.  If you know Aunt Monica. {snicker}

Moriah wanted a hoot owl.  These turned out to be really simple and adorable puppets!

The girls wanted the wings to be able to "flap".

Their creative little  minds decided to hide a secret "love note" inside.

little homes from coffee tins, scrap paper, and modge podge

count your blessings

#64 fresh coffee smell in the kitchen...reminds me of my dad

#65 a pack-n-play crib to hold busy little people

#66 my living room rug

loop di loop tutorial

I realize this is probably nothing new

moms have been making pretend shoes to teach the tying technique since shoelaces were invented

but, this is my version

Princess Eden has been asking me to teach her to tie laces for a long time.

Know what I discovered?

My kids all needed help in this area....something about living on an Island and wearing flip-flops or barefoot in' every day kinda put us behind.  

Who would have thought?

Princess Moriah can tie a dress bow (behind her back) as pretty as you please...but not her "tennies".

I started with a wooden board and had a willing little helper paint it her favorite color

I cut out a shape that vaguely resembled a shoe

oh...and the hole at the top

I used scrapbook paper that had a print and some cute vintage sayings

good ol' modge podge, where would I be without you?

a layer under neath and a layer on top

used the {scary} staple gun to hold my lace in place 

"hey, mom, that rhymed!"

cute rhyme for tying shoes

A Indian made a teepee (pull lace up and cross one under the other) 

and it collapsed! (pull first "knot" down). 

So he started another, (make first loop for bow) 

and he took this string and went around it, (wrap other lace around loop) 

and went inside, (push lace under new loop) 

and there he had it! Two Tents! (pull loops for bow) .

"loop di loop
and tie them up
tighten it
and then get up"

Have a lovely day,

count your blessing

#37 the feeling after the end of school time

#38 cold cup of water

#39 baby scented wet wipes

15 minute Baby Doll Diapers {Tutorial}

Don't miss out on any of the A-mazing Giveaways going on right now for the 

300 Followers Celebration!

If you have little girls then you probably have {naked} babies laying around your house.

Scandalous!

My girls all love playing with their baby dolls

and love changing the clothes

and love coming to me to help change their clothes

and love leaving them in the floor half-dressed!

The inspiration lightening bolt hit me a few weeks ago and I came up with these.

My girls love them and say I'm the "coolest mommy in the world".  {contented sigh}

DISCLAIMER: If I've said it once I've said it 50 times, "I'm not a seamstress."

I don't claim to be. This worked for me.

Take it or leave it...{small shrug, big smile}.

1. I found a real diaper that was left over from when my baby was... {sniff}...teeny tiny, laid it on a regular sheet of construction paper

2. marked around it with a pencil

3. folded the paper in half longways before cutting....this insured the sides were the same

4. tried the paper diaper on the very willing little model

5. as usual I had to trim and resize and trim some more till it was perfect

6. after the leg holes were nice,  I trimmed the top of the diaper to make me happy

7. pinned the finished "pattern" on

8. dealt with my little helper....according to her "anything on the floor is fair game"

9. laid the pattern on my material (material was doubled) you need 2 pieces cut

10. left some edging around the pattern for seam allowance....I know I kinda forgot on the top!
11. cut 2 layers of that "rough liner stuff".  A real seamstress would know the actual name of it AND how to use it.  Someone gave it to me, it looked kinda... well, old.  I wasn't sure if I was supposed to iron it on, so I tried that.  Didn't iron on so I just cut 2 layers to make my project stiffer.  I'm very happy with the effect...but I'm easy to please.
BACK to #11. made sure that my layers were correct.  2 layers of material (IMPORTANT: front side of material facing each other!) then my layers of "stiff stuff".
12.  sewed around leaving the necessary allowance

13. didn't forget to leave an opening to flip it all right side out
14. I notched the material around the leg curves
15. I trimmed the material around the bands so they'd lay nice when turned right side out

NOT SHOWN: I turned it right side out and stitched shut the little opening.
16. I considered putting buttons on it....but me making a button hole is a joke.  So I decided that the little princesses needed to practice her snaps.  Snaps worked lovely.
17. I ironed it flat then I ran a quick flat stitch across the front and back band to help it keep laying smooth

18. I sewed a little felt heart on to make it special {sweetness}

loving life,

count your blessings

#16  putting up fall decorations

#17 homemade cheesie sticks

#18 hearing my little princess read