Free Fonts

For those of you looking for a great place to download free fonts for your scrap booking, blogs, cards etc.... I have a great site for you!! 

 at www.kevinandamanda.com/fonts 

They are ridiculously cute... and again FREE!! Here are just a sample of the ones I downloaded

She also has a section where she turns submitted handwriting into a font, called Fonts for Peas. 

my husband has always told me I have ZaNeY handwriting so maybe I should submit mine!

If you don't know what to do after you have downloaded your fonts... they can help you with that as well (don't worry, I needed some)

It's just a really cute site, you should check it out

and not only does she have cute fonts, her site has a section of delicious recipes and a blog with really amazing pictures.. you know, one of those women who is amazing at everything :)

Felt Squares for Babies

I saw this idea over at Crafting Chicks and LOVED it!! Felt Squares for babies- Did you know that babies love black, white and bright colors? I have learned that until your child is about six months, he/she will respond best to bold, contrasting colors and graphics. SO how perfect are these?? 

Supplies:

-Felt: black, white, and some colors

-Hot glue gun

-Sharp fabric scissors

-Paper to make square pattern

check out directions here

I love this idea and am going to try it out! I am thinking of making mine into a book though- I will post pics when I finish. Wouldn't this be a fun/ quick/ simple gift to give. I know I would love having one!!

Anyone made anything similar to this before? If so I would love to see!

Costco Essentials

I am a Costco shopper. I love Costco and love going there. Have I mentioned that about three sample people know my son's name (should I be way embarrassed??) Anyway, my mom came out to visit recently, and while she was here, we took a trip to Costco to get some essentials. While there she showed me a couple or her and my dad's favorite things to get- two being Organic Chocolate Milk (in little cartons with a funny little straw) and Brothers All Natural Fruit Crisps- and I had never seen either of them before.  We bought them and loved them- they were a hit with my son. Now they have been added to our Costco list!

So now  I wanna know what else I am missing out on! What are some of your favorite things to get at Costco?? Anything that I need to buy next time I am there?? :)  I would love to hear!

Some of our favorties include:  Uncooked Flour Tortillas (so so so good), Chicken Nuggets (can't remember the name but they have lost of good nutrients in them...) Rotisserie Chicken, Salmon Patties, Cinnamon Rolls and just discovered their Kirkland's Organic Tortilla Chips. 

ABC Quiet Book

My secret project is finally done!! I know you have been just on the edge of your seats- and not able to eat/ sleep kind of  excited to see it so sorry about the wait :)

I have been trying to teach my son his letters for awhile now and thought it would be fun to make a little ABC book for him to help.

It's a lot like my other quiet book but boy did this take less than half the time to make. All the letters are attached with Velcro to allow for matching and quizzing! 

You obviously could go all out with the objects but I tried to keep it simple. 

Of course felt played a big role with this project- along with muslin, embroidery floss, some yarn and buttons. I bound it with 2 metal rings as I did before.

It was a lot of fun to make and a great size- making it easy to bring it along wherever you go!!

Matching!

This was an original idea- I am going to try and get a pattern available if  anyone is interested. Feel free to ask any questions!!

Go Diego Go Party!!

This past week was my little boy's birthday!! He is totally in a Diego Stage and since our family is far far away, I thought it was appropriate to invite some of his little friends and throw him a Diego party. It was a lot of fun. I found many cute "jungle/diego" themed birthday party ideas at various sites online but one site was my favorite!!!

Nick Jr party planning page

If your child is wanting a Nickelodeon themed party, this is the place to go

They have recipes, party games and activities, invitations, iron on printables, decor and much more!!! It was a great resource and helped alleviate much of the stress that accompaines planning a party.

I really loved the recipes I found and used these two for our fiesta!

Here is how my cake turned out!!

Diego Cake

My cupcakes were not as awesome but they served their purpose!! Forgot to take a pic, but trust me the example is MUCH cuter!!

Baby jaguar cupcakes 

I also tried to tie in our food with the whole jungle theme!! So for our little lunch we served

dried ants- dried cranberries

bettle wings- chips

crocodile teeth- apple slices

jungle juice- juice boxes

snake skin- fruit roll-ups

Quesadillas

I also made some fun headbands for our guests to wear. These were SO easy to make and a lot of fun. At Hobby Lobby (and I am sure many other places) I found some jungle print felt and knew I had to use it for the party. All I did was cut 1.5 x 12 inch strips of the printed felt and sew it onto a 2 X 31 ish inch piece of solid print felt. The kids loved them. My favorite was the giraffe- how cute to put this onto some pink fabric... (too bad no pink was allowed at my boys party!!)

Here are the three types I made

We also hit a pinata, decorated paper bag diego vests and colored!! Such a fun morning!!

A Birthday Fit for a King

I have been dying to make one of these felt party crowns for along time now. There are seriously so many tutorials and examples of these all over the internet- I found a great video tutorial here that helped get me started. She has templates you can print off for two different crowns too!!

I printed off the template that looked more "boyish" and altered it a bit to make it bigger.

I also attatched some velcro so I could change the crown up over the years (or until it doesn't fit my son's head anymore!

So here are the steps that I did.....

to make this

Using your pattern- cut out two crowns out of any color of felt. These pieces are the front and the back of the crown

Then take your top piece and add your embellishments to it. (ribbon, buttons, jewels, etc...) I sewed on a strip of ribbon and then a piece of velcro in the center.

Once you are done adding your embellishments, you can then place a single sheet of interfacing in between the two- This stiffens your crown so it wont be so floppy.

Make sure your cut it down a bit smaller than the felt so it doesn't show.

Now take some elastic and tuck one end between the back piece of felt and the interfacing. With that tacked in place, measure your kiddos head with the elastic. Once you have your measurement bring it in a little and pin the other side in place. (making the elastic smaller than your child's head will keep the crown on their head)

Now pin and sew together!!

That's it!! Super easy and quick. My son loved his- Such a fun way to make your child's birthday EXTRA special!!

f.y.i. - If for some reason a half a bottle of bubbles spills onto your newly made crown- don't fret- it does dry and you can't even tell in the pictures :) just saying!

(p.s.- I would love to post some patterns/templates on here but just don't know the best way to do it.. any tips?? I guess a scanner would be necessary but really I'm clueless!!! Thanks)

It's Birthday Time

This week my son turns TWO!!! Can't believe it. Some fun birthday/party projects coming your way!!

Apple Dumplings

(these may change your life)

Apple Dumplings- Pioneer Woman

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 40 Minutes Difficulty: Easy Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 whole Granny Smith Apples

2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls

2 sticks Butter

1-½ cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Cinnamon, To Taste

1 can (12 Oz.) Mountain Dew Soda

Preparation Instructions

Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan.

Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour entire mixture over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

WARNING: Prepare this dish at your own risk. It is beyond imaginable.

Sneak Peak....

at my project for my son's birthday present.

 I told myself I would never make anything like this again... mostly because it took so much time, but I guess I forgot. This project has gone a lot smoother and faster though and I'm really excited for it!!!

Stay tuned!!

Hot Prints

Have you heard of Hot Prints??? Well its an awesome site that offers one FREE Photo Book each month. FREE BOOK * FREE SHIPPING * FREE. Such a great deal. HotBook is a photo book with 16 pages (including the covers) that you can design and create yourself online, using your own photos. HotBook is 20cm wide x 25cm high. I have made two now and am happy with how they turned out.  My latest creation was an ABC book for my little guy. It will be perfect for his birthday next week. 

 They also offer an option to make your own calendar for a pretty low price.

So go check it out

These can make great gifts for Fathers Day, Mothers Day or Birthdays. You could make a book with your favorite recipes, a Christmas recap, vacations (the other book I did was our trip to Hawaii) etc... SO many options.

I am trying to decide what I want to do this month.... any ideas??

Sweet & Sour Baked Beans

With the weather getting warmer (at least for me) I thought I would share this wonderful recipe. This is another from my amazing Mother in Law and is served great with any barbeque. It's by far one of my husband's favorite things to eat!!

Sweet & Sour Baked Beans-

Serves 12 or more

2 lg cans pork n beans

1/2 lb bacon cut in small pieces

1 lg onion- chopped

1 medium green pepper chopped

1 can pineapple chunks, drained

1 sm bottle ketchip

1 cup brown sugar

2 T worchester sauce

Mix together- Bake 3 hrs at 250 or in crockpot

Enjoy!!

Last Minute Easter Ideas

Here are a couple things I was able to make for my little guy just in time for Easter

Some felt finger puppets- (just like my brown bear brown bear finger puppets)

Quick and easy

Some Easter bunny attachments for his Mr Potato Head-

and then a T shirt to wear as he is hunting for his eggs!!!