Yeah! A Blog Award! Thanks!!

Thank You Brittney from Brittney's Budget Crafts for honoring me with a blog award!

If you haven't visited Brittney's blog before - you really really should! She has some GREAT ideas to share!! ;)

Rules of receiving this award:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic! (in no particular order...)

4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

Here we go:

7 things about Me..(This is not easy!)

1. I am a mom - with 2 little ones. As if that's not obvious by the themes for my crafts. ;) I have a 3 year old and and a 4 month old! They give me total joy & purpose....sometimes stress too...but they are AMAZING blessings. I thank God for them every day!

2. I wish I were more organized. My husband loves techy things & I love crafty things & between the two of us & our two kiddos, we keep a pretty crazy home. It's still a home - but I wish it were a completely organized place. I just don't quite know where to begin. I really need someone to help me know what to go ahead and get rid of! ;) Organization is a MAJOR goal of mine.

3. I'm just learning how to sew. I'm not very good yet, but I'm having a great time learning. My Nana is an amazing seamstress & I'm learning what I can from her. She & my mom have the ability to make anything imaginable & I hope to be able to be that way too!

4. I love traveling, visiting new places, new faces & new adventures. I am a pretty spontaneous person with very varied interests. I love exploring & have several places I'd love to visit...but I've lived in OK most of my life. ;)

5. I'm in school, studying Speech Language Pathology.  I have a tremendous desire to use my gifts to help people.  I am currently taking a little bit of time off for our newest addition & I'm very thankful for this time with my sweet kiddos.

6. I really enjoy creating new things. I find it very soothing to make something on my own & extremely rewarding to be able to share my creations with friends who appreciate them.

7. I really enjoy cooking fancy meals...but everyday dinner isn't my cup of tea.  I'm working on that though!!!

I'm supposed to pass this award on to 15 blogs that I found recently & enjoy. It was SO hard to pick 15 - I have so many that I love!  Here are a few of my recent finds (in no particular order) which I think you might enjoy checking out! 
Macey @ Macey's Daily Parade
Shelley@ House of Smiths
Aura@Aura-Joon
Bev @ @ FlamingoToes.com
Bec @ theiheartblog.com
Sonia @Kosmic Chai
Ann @ makethebestofthings
Allison @ Design LIFE
Cole @ Letters From Coco
Dana @ Surviving 4 Kids
Suzanne@ Just Another Hang Up
Diane @ Perfectly Imperfect Life 
Morgan @ Mama Loves Papa
Amy @ Varnish Design
LeAna @ A Small Snippet of Our Lives
Bonus Blog Award! Stephanie @ Sabbe Spot

Why not? :)

T-Shirt Dress & Tie-Tees for Tots - Take 2

After Jonas showed up to Pre-K in one of his tie t-shirts, the teachers there sweetly asked me to make all of the students outfits for the end of the year "graduation" program out of plain white t-shirts.  This motivated me to create my first t-shirt dress.

I was really happy with how that turned out, and was going to go for the same thing...but ran into some difficulties.  When sewing the skirt on, my bobbin ran out of thread after sewing half way around the shirt. I didn't notice & after fixing my mistake, I ended up with a portion of the shirt that I couldn't get the thread off of because it was so deeply woven into the t-shirt that to take the thread out would create HUGE holes. So, I had to get creative.

I had some jersey material on hand that I was planning on using for flowers, but instead decided to make a cute waist-band ruffle. They turned out great!

The Pre-K class made such cute little models for my outfits. That's the biggest task I've tackled sewing so far. I was very proud to see my work on all of those cute little kiddos. I am also excited that now they have something to be proud of  - created all from a simple white t-shirt!

You should definitley give this project a try! It's fun & relatively easy. If you make a mistake - you CAN fix it & your outfit might even look better because of it! Your little one also probably won't complain about being uncomfortable. I know that is a bonus!

Easy Caprese Salad

Easy Caprese Salad

I'm always on the lookout for great recipes that are easy & convenient. After looking at some ingredients I had on hand the other day, I came up with this idea to make an Easy Caprese Salad.  It only took a few minutes (which is very important in my home with 2 little ones) and it tasted delicious.  

A traditional Caprese Salad is usually made up of slices or balls of mozzarella cheese, basil and fresh sliced tomatos. 

I wanted to use my Caprese salad as a complete meal, so I added pasta & baby spinach.  This time, I used Ronzoni Smart Taste Spiral pasta this time, but have also used whole wheat pasta with success. Then, I simply used baby spinach & basil leaves as my base, put one serving of pasta on top, sliced some small grape tomatos (that's what I had on hand) and sliced up some reduced fat low moisture mozzarella string cheese.  I lightly coated the pasta in Kraft's Fat Free Zesty Italian. 

It was SO good & fresh tasting, I just wanted to share.

Hope you enjoy. If you have some quick and easy meals that take minutes, using fresh ingredients, I'd love to know about them.