New look!

One thing about me: I love Photoshop.

As a result, my blog look will probably change frequently, so you might want to get used to it. ;)

This layout features my two favorite colors:  dark red and tiffany blue.  It's also clean and simple, which I love.  And the fonts... I'm kind of obsessed with fonts.  I had fun with these!

Still working on fixing little bugs here and there, so bear with me! :)

Bippity Boppity BUTTER!

Apologies for the lack of posts the last few weeks!  We've been battling diarrhea and RSV in our house.  Fun.  I've started like five different projects, but haven't finished them.  Obviously I can't post an unfinished project. LOL.

But anyway.  Today I made butter.

Yes, butter.

And no, I don't have a churn.  But I do have a KitchenAid mixer!

I got the idea from my brother-in-law who made some over Easter week.  When he told me how easy it was, I knew I just had to try it.  It's not cheaper than buying butter from the store, but it's more about the fun of making it, I think. ;)

All you need is heavy whipping cream... and salt, if desired (I didn't use any).

Pour the cream into the mixer and let it go on 'whipping' speed.  It'll make whipped cream pretty quickly, but let it keep going.  

Pretty soon (maybe like 8-10 minutes in), you'll hear the mixture start sloshing around and you'll see the has butter separated from the buttermilk.  And here is where I failed with the picture-taking. :|

Drain off the buttermilk.  You can save it, but I didn't.  I should have, but I just didn't.  Another fail, I guess.  Knead the butter to get rid of the rest of the buttermilk.  Then I rinsed the butter, kneaded some more, and repeated a few times.

See how pretty and yellow it is?  After it was finished being kneaded to death, I stuck it in the fridge.  And washed my hands.  So greasy!

-sigh- I wish I had some fresh homemade bread to slather it on... but I don't. :/ Guess I'll have to settle for the store-bought type.

(Post title is an inside joke in my hubby's family, adapted from Jim Gaffigan.)

SoverM Week

SoverM.  Sisters over Misters.

That was the theme of the week I spent with my three sisters.  Poor hubby! ;)

Don't worry, we had lots of fun with him, too, getting my sisters hooked on Downton Abbey (his idea)!

Here's a quick post about our week together.

We made scarves following this tutorial found -- where else? -- via Pinterest.  We didn't use old t-shirts, but purchased some cute tanks from Wal-Mart for less than $4 a piece!

We did Bible studies.  One of my sisters taught a little bit about what she'd learned in a lesson from Beth Moore's Mercy Triumphs study on the book of James.  We told her that she was going to be the next Beth Moore.

We did watched this one do crazy things like hoola hooping in Wal-Mart.

We cooked.  A lot.

We made awesome SoverM t-shirts using my Silhouette and freezer paper.  They turned out awesome, as you can see!  (Also found these shirts at Wal-Mart for around $5 each.)

My son got a much-needed haircut from his hairdresser auntie.

 The same auntie made something special for Hallie-girl's room. :)

And, of course, we hung out.  Talked.  Listened to music.  Watched Downton Abbey.  Instagram-ed (obviously). Talked some more.

And Gabriel and Hallie got to know their aunties better. <3

Happy March!

Happy March, y'all!

March is my favorite month -- birthday and wedding anniversary!

Yesterday, I made chocolate chip banana bread.

Gabriel and I ate about half a loaf together after it cooled a bit.  Oops!

On Sunday night, three of my sisters are flying in for a girls week.  I couldn't be more excited!  The last time we did this was like four years ago!

Look how young we are! :O

I've got lots of fun crafts planned for this month... so stay tuned! :)

Car Love Shirt

I've been searching for something cute to make for my little man that would be easy and fun and Dad-approved. (Ha!)

When I came across the Car Love Shirt by Polly at Helping Little Hands, I knew I'd found it!  Plus, I'd been wanting to try out freezer paper stenciling for a long time.

I wanted to make the shirt in time for Valentine's day, but I had trouble finding a plain shirt.  Finally, I had to buy one at Walmart that had a pocket on it and make use of my handy seam ripper to take it off.  I freaking love that little tool!

Oh well, it's not really that Valentine-y of a shirt -- one of the reasons it's Dad-approved! (I did get the shirt a size bigger in hopes that he can wear it next V-day, though!)

Polly provides stencils to cut out with her tutorial, but I really wanted to use my Silhouette, so I imported her heart shape and bought some of Echo Park's adorable car shapes from the Silhouette store.  I had a lot of fun designing it. :D

Then I cut the shapes out separately (the heart, then the cars) and ironed them on.

The freezer paper was curling, but it still stuck beautifully.

I thought I would be saving myself some work by using the Silhouette to cut out the car shapes... and I suppose I did, but only a little.  It took forever to pull all the little wheels off!

Finally I got them all ironed on.  Looks pretty cute already, doesn't it?

I picked up some acrylic paint from Walmart to do this project, which is what Polly used in order to get the distressed look.  I liked how hers turned out, so thought I'd try it, too (although I did use two coats).

Then I let it dry overnight, just to be safe.  The next morning, I washed and dried it and it was ready to wear!

Bribing him to take pictures by
letting him hold trucks.  Fitting.

I think he likes it!

His favorites:  "Een" (Lightning McQueen),
"Da Da" (Chuck), and "Moo Moo" (Boomer)

Guess it won't be fitting him next February.  Who knew that my 21-month-old could fit into a 3T??  Big boy!

About to try it on.

As you can see, "Mama's" SUV is strategically placed... as is "Daddy's" pickup.

And up close.

The only thing I wish I'd done differently was white paint.  Oh well, guess I'll just have to make him another one! ;)

Yeah... I'm pretty much obsessed with these shapes.  My mind is spinning with all sorts of projects including them... in every medium. :/ I also downloaded Echo Park's cute train shape (which Gabriel also loves).

Uh oh.

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