Archive for ‘Favorite Thing Of The Week’

A Trick for Easter Tots!

By Em, 22 April, 2011, No Comment

If you long to have beautifully dyed Easter eggs by your 2 and 3 year olds this trick will help you have those eggs you have been eyeing.

As Easter is fast approaching and everyone is getting ready to make the perfect Easter egg grab that Easter egg kit, set up the counter and let the dyeing commence.

Use a wire cooking whisk and insert your eggs for easy egg dyeing for tots. This will let you keep that mess to a minimum and let your tot have tons of fun! I prefer the whisk myself when I dye eggs. I thought this method is actually ten times easier than using a spoon or the weird utensil that comes in the Easter egg kits. (What are those things? They are useless!)

We first tried this trick last Easter and our eggs turned out great! We plan on dyeing eggs this way again over the weekend. Happy egg dyeing!

How to make an Easter Shirt!

By Em, 20 April, 2011, 1 Comment

Last night I got creative and made this shirt for Graysen for Easter. I thought I would share how I made it.

First thing I did was type in Bunny Silhouette into Google Image Search to find a bunny shape to make. When you find a shape save it to your desktop and then print it onto freezer paper. See image below:

I printed my image as a 5 by 7. I then cut out the inside of my image making a stencil. I then fixed the freezer paper to some light green printed fabric using my iron. I used white fabric paint to put a light coat of paint on the fabric.

After the paint was dry I cut out my painted bunny and fused it to Heat and Bond no sew fabric iron on fusion stuff. See below:

Once fused I attached the bunny to more fabric this time the pretty printed kind. Then added more no sew iron on fusion to the back and attached it to my shirt. Once in place I sewed around the whole bunny with pink thread and added a bow to make it girlie. I loved the result! Enjoy. Happy Easter Early!

Devo Olive Oil (Review)

By Em, 2 April, 2011, No Comment

On a recent trip to Branson, Mo I discovered a little boutique store called Devo Olive Oil. I loved it so much I begged them to let me do a review.

Not only does Devo Olive Oil have an amazing selection of flavored olive oil’s and balsamic oil’s but it is run by a young entrepreneur. I love it when young people start a business and I love to see that business do well. This is such a great store. I love to cook and love to try new recipes with special spices or oils.

Devo Olive Oil has many great recipes such as the one below on their blog each using the Devo specialty oils. I can not wait to try these potatoes.

Perfect Roasted Potatoes

6-8 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered

4 tbsp. semolina flour

2 tbsp. fine cornmeal

¼ cup Devo Tuscan Herb EVOO

¼ cup Devo Garlic EVOO

Salt and white pepper

¼ cup Devo 18 yr Traditional Balsamic

Preheat oven to 450. Put potatoes in a large pot with salted water, bring to a boil. Boil for 4 minutes, drain. Place potatoes back in the pot, sprinkle with semolina and cornmeal, toss to coat. Combine Tuscan Herb and Garlic EVOO with salt and pepper. Brush bottom of heavy duty sheet pan generously with oil mixture. Spread potatoes evenly on sheet, and gently baste the potatoes with ½ of the remaining oil mixture with a gentle hand so as not to disturb the semolina and cornmeal crust (a silicone basting brush works best). Roast for 18 minutes, toss and baste with remaining oil. Return to oven and roast an additional 10-18 minutes, until golden brown. Drizzle potatoes with Devo 18 yr Traditional Balsamic and toss to coat. Enjoy!

I enjoyed the 18year Balsamic that Devo stocks. It is great with french bread and it is my husbands absolute favorite balsamic. My favorite oil is the Garlic Olive Oil. I used it to make a Garlic Cream Sauce for my pasta. I must say it turned out quite delicious. Below is my recipe for the Garlic Cream Sauce. ( Note: this is not healthy but it tastes incredible. )

Garlic Cream Sauce:

Ingredients:

1/4 chopped yellow sweet onion

2 table spoons roasted minced garlic

2 tablespoons Devo Garlic Olive Oil

1/4 cup real butter

Salt – to taste

Pepper- to taste

1 cup whipping cream or half and half

(Note: You may need more than one cup as you may have to adjust based on thickness. )

( Note: if you use half and half you may need to add a tiny bit of flour to thicken. )

Spice if you desire. Sometimes I leave it as is and sometimes I add Rosemary, Oregano or Parsley.

Directions:

Cook on medium heat.

Cook garlic and onion in Devo Olive Oil until onions are caramelized.

Add salt and pepper.

Add whipping cream and butter then simmer.

cook mixture until it thickens mildly then pour on pasta of your choice. I love Penne or Bowtie.

I have made this recipe several times but really enjoyed it with the Devo Oil Oil. The quality of the Oil is much better than store bought.

The best april fool’s prank I have ever pulled:

By Em, 1 April, 2011, 1 Comment

Last year I pulled the greatest prank of my life. My daughters birthday is in April and so I decided after seeing something similar on Prudent Baby that I would send IRS tax audit letters as my daughters birthday invitations.

My friends and family were livid to be exact. I definitely made some heads roll.

These are not just your typical letters oh no. I used the real logo and tax envelopes. They looked legit. The best person’s reaction had to be hearing my husband’s voice when he was opening the letter I sent to his business. It was priceless.

My boss actually helped me put them together and make them look as official as possible, he’s a lawyer.

My daughters birthday invitation was put on the last page but I think only 2 people saw it. Most people just started freaking out then when they got to the signature and saw my name they called me immediately. It was awesome! I can’t recall the number of times I heard ” I hate you!” but it was a lot! They also said they were going to kill me. Ha! I’m still alive!

Here is the letter, I don’t have my original but I found this one on Prudent Baby which is where I originally got the template before I tweaked it.

You can download your own copy to customize HERE.

I picked up some of these envelopes at Staples. You can get them at any office supply store.

I sent them out two days before April Fool’s and all of them arrived on April Fool’s day! It was a SUCCESS!

Beanie Designs-(Review)

By Em, 28 March, 2011, 1 Comment

Are you under the impression that knitted/crotched hats are for the winter?

I recently came across the site Beanie Designs and saw their super cute knitted sun hats. To the right there is a photo of Graysen modeling her new sun hat. She can not wait to wear it to the zoo. Let me just say they are adorable on. Graysen received this infant hat from their website this past week. She loves it and it will be a great Easter hat.

It is light weight and easy for Graysen to put on herself. These sun hats are designed for both comfort and style. Plus, they will protect your child’s head, face and eyes from the sun!

These beautifully designed handmade baby beanie hats come in most attractive colors. They have made use of colors like pink, brown, orange, red and sea blue, which will surely make your kid to be a center of everyone’s eyes. Moreover, the research says that these colors are kid’s favorite and mostly liked by them. Furthermore, Their exclusive stock caters to a wide age group of kids, majority including newborn, 6 months and toddlers.

You have to check out their beanie hats for newborns. They are so cute and would make a great gift.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

A Site I Love:

By Em, 13 March, 2011, No Comment

Ana-White.com is awesome. It actually started as Knock Off Wood then the name changed and Ana is still doing amazing things.

This is an amazing website. If you are handy or crafty or just like to look at other people being handy and crafty then you will love this site.

This site is your ” HOW TO” on all that is out of my budget. Think Pottery Barn plans. Ana takes popular designs for furniture, etc and makes plans where you can make the items yourself at home. ( This is assuming you have any coordination at all.) I do not. My husband on the other hand may be able to pull off some of these plans. Maybe one day when we get less busy.

Well enjoy this awesome site. Check it out HERE.

A Site I LOVE!

By Em, 6 March, 2011, No Comment

I love the internet and especially all of the sources that are at your disposal with all of the great websites around. I love party planning. I love every aspect of it. My absolute favorite party planning site has to be Hostess With The Mostess. They have the cutest ideas for basically any event. Sometimes seeing their blog makes me want to have a party for no reason at all. I love it so I thought I would share it!