Posh Baby Gift Sets-Now Available!

My oh my, where does the time go?  I can't believe my kids only have eight more days of school left.  Wasn't it just yesterday we were taking pictures on the front porch before their first day of the school year?!?!  Just like the school year has flown by, so has the time since they were little tykes.  Yet again, it was just the other day I was snapping pictures of their milestone moments.  My personal favorite, those first bites of food.  Oh the reaction, priceless!!

Do you know someone having a baby that would love to receive one of these adorable baby gift sets?  Look no further!  These precious boutique quality baby gift sets are now available in the Posh Pink Giraffe shop!!

There are currently four trendy baby patterns to choose from.  

  

Each gift set contains a charming personalized spoon.  I can't get over how cute these are....new moms always have the coolest collection of baby stuff!!

 The gift set is neatly folded and placed inside a Chinese take-out container which makes it the absolute perfect posh gift for a new mom!!

I hope you like these cute fabrics as much as I do.  

Visit the Posh Pink Giraffe Etsy shop to see even more pictures of these gift sets.  

A shop link is available by clicking here....

Posh Pink Giraffe

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you have a fabulous week!

Lemon Chess Squares-the recipe box

Can summer officially begin now?!?!?  Actually, yesterday would have been better.  This is about the time each year where I look forward to those lazy days of summer.  No alarm clock blaring in my ear at 6 o'clock, no breakfast battles, and no tangles to fight as we rush out the door.  Pretty sure I look forward to counting down the days more than they do.  ;)  

Nothing says summer time better than lemons....and these Lemon Chess Squares make the perfect summer time treat!

LEMON CHESS SQUARES

[print recipe here]

1 box cake mix

3 egg

1 stick of butter (softened)

8oz. cream cheese (softened)

1 box powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix the cake mix, 1 egg and butter together and press into a greased 9x13" pan.  This will be the crust.  Next mix together the cream cheese, two eggs, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth.  Pour over crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until lightly browned on top.  Let cool.  Sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

 These tasty treats are simple to make and they are delicious. (They're my husband's favorite!)

We'll start by mixing the ingredients for the first layer.

It will be about the consistancy of cookie dough.

 That layer is then pressed into the baking dish.  It doesn't have to be perfect because the next layer will cover it.

 Just pour the second layer over and you're ready to stick it into the oven.

That's all there is to it.  Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar, slice and serve!

These usually don't last for very long around my house.  Now if I could just figure out how to make the next twenty days go just as fast!  ;)

Thanks for visiting today!

A Night at the Museum

These pictures are less than desirable, but I have to tell you about the exciting weekend we had!  We were looking forward to this weekend for a month....a night at the museum.  The Museum of Science and Industry to be more specific, and it was such a blast!   

 We began the evening by staking out our little corner of the museum to call home for the evening.  The kids were elated when they realized no one had claimed the greenhouse.  (So, so glad I planned for the possibility of light all night and packed accordingly!) :)  After we dropped off our stuff we went to grab a bite to eat and develop a strategy for completing the scavenger hunt.  Prior to arriving we got stuck in Chicago gridlock for over an hour making our arrival slightly later than we had originally planned.   Luckily we completed the scavenger hunt and still had a little time to spare.

It was so nice to enjoy the museum without the crowd.  Check out the kid in the yellow shirt, he's driving his remote control car around, that would never happen any other time. Usually that space is packed full of people!

We had a chance to catch an Omni Max film called Space Junk, and just before calling it a night we munched on our midnight snack.  They thought that was a treat, it was more like a meal than a snack to them!

Of course getting everyone to settle down for the evening was  a bit of a challenge because they were all entirely to excited to sleep! 

Pretty sure the train engineer didn't visit the Farm Tech exhibit, but doesn't he look so life like?!?!?  I slept with one eye open watching for him. ;)

Thanks for dropping by!

Princess Crown-DIY

Most people use foil for cooking, but around here it's used for much more than that.  With a little imagination we use it for so many other things, like crowns for sweet princess', or in this case, from years ago....

Body armor for this super hero little boy!   That is strength ready to take down any monster right there!  (He has no idea I posted this picture.  Shhh!)  Where does the time go?!?!? Sigh.

The last craft I worked on was pretty complex, so I decided we'd go for something much simpler this week.  

Here's what you'll need:

Aluminum Foil

Scrapbook Paper

Tape

Scissors

I started by cutting the headband from some left over scrapbook paper I had.  The two strips measuring 11" x 1.5".  I taped together two ends to have a seamless connection.  After measuring my little princess' head, I cut a slit into the scrapbook paper.  One cut down and the other cut going up at the right spot so it would fit just right.

The next step was to cut the foil.  I tore off a piece of foil about 18" and cut six strips approximately 3" wide.  

After that I rolled the foil up.  This first time it was pretty loose, just smaller than a pencil.

I then went back and twisted it again, until it was compacted tightly.

Now it was time to start making shapes.  This crown was decorated with heart.  (Notice they are just taped on.)

Of course every little princess needs a little variety, so here are some other options you could use.  You could use all sorts of embellishments to decorate the front.  In this case she decide it needed star stickers.

The dimple gives it away, someone sure does like being a little princess!

Thanks for visiting!

Painted Clock {Pottery Barn Knock-off} DIY

Would you believe me if I told you I didn't spend a single dime on this project, not even a penny for that matter?  It's the truth, I promise.  The reason is, I make this Painted Clock from a side table that I have been hauling around in the back of my car for a month.  I had good intentions of donating  it, along with the pots and pans that have been clanking around back there.  Not sure why, it really needed to be trashed considering the leg that screwed on had been stripped.  It was worse than a snaggletooth until I used packing tape to hold it on!!  Luck for me, it never made it out of the trunk, and I came up with this brilliant idea instead!!

I am so happy with the way it turned out!!  If I remember correctly, I picked the table up at a Hancock Fabric Store for less than $20 years ago.  That makes it a whole lot less than the $149 price tag Pottery Barn is asking for it!!!

This is really easy, it just looks complicated.  I will not mislead you though, it does require a little bit of time.  The good news is, I'm going to walk you through what I did, so you can make one too (hopefully in less time)!!!  I spent about six hours on it, but I think it was well worth it!

I used a small jar of Annie Sloan Chalk "Pure White" Paint, and coated the front and side twice.  It was sloppy I might add.  I gave that about thirty minutes and then I scratched the paint up with the end of a screwdriver to get a rustic look.  After that I went over it with a coat of clear wax, and then dark wax.  While I let that dry I worked on the fonts and getting them sized correctly.
Click this link for the Material List and Stencils: Painted Clock

I started by cutting out the letters.  If you will notice it was at this point I realized I'd done some things wrong.  The roman numeral wasn't IV, but rather IIII, and they needed to be curved, not straight across.  In the next step I used a yard stick to make sure that I placed the Roman Numeral straight across.

Once I got them all like I wanted them I used a plate as a guide to achieve the arch.  They aren't perfect but close enough.  I used scotch taped to hold the top half of each paper down to the face.

At this point I removed the brackets that the legs screwed into.  It was just a matter of transferring the font onto the face, using the good old fashion transfer method now.  I scribble some graphite onto a scratch paper, placed it under the font (graphite side down), and traced the font.  Once I completed the transfer I went over the marks with a fine tip black paint marker.

The Pottery Barn version has the center cut out but I don't have the tools for that, so I used a small glass to trace a circle into the center.  Then using a screwdriver I outlined the circle and scrapped out the paint.  Once that was complete, I went over that section with more of the Annie Sloan Dark Wax.  In order to draw the lines around the edge, I placed a pencil at the end of a ruler, and a finger at half an inch and followed the perimeter of the circle marking a line.  Then I made a second line the same way, at an inch in from the edge.  I think if were going to do it again I would have made them closer to the edge.

So here is what the Pottery Barn version looks like:

And here is what my side table converted to a Painted Clock looks like.  So what do you think, how did I do?

Thanks for visiting!

Just for fun, I'm linking up at these great sites: 
black berry vine, today's creative blog, kathe with an e, do small things with love, lil luna, my girlish whims, creations by kara, someday crafts, 733 blog, mom on timeout, the crafty blog stalker, the shabby creek cottage, house of hepworths, artsy fartsy mama, easy living mom, a jennuine life, liz marie blog, the shabby nest, chic on a shoestring decorating, one artsy mama, cheerios and lattes, keeping it simple crafts, diy showoff, making the world cuter, C.R.A.F.T., watch out martha