My daughter recently discovered my stash of beauty products under the bathroom sink. Don’t worry, I’ve moved it now that she’s found it! I keep them  in a small basket and it houses things such as lotion, hair products, nail polish remover, hair clips, brush etc. I would have thought with so many things available for her to get into she would go from one thing to another, but nope, she went straight for the blue nail polish remover.

I watched as she shook it and passed it from hand to hand mesmerized by the blue water moving back and forth. Until now we’ve only given her water bottles to play with (which she loves!) Watching her stare at the colored water inspired me to add a little color to one of her favorite toys.

I filled the bottles to varying degrees and added two to three drops of food coloring in each. Instant new toy! Giving her a new color each day makes the novelty last a little longer.

Tried & true recipes!

Before Cathy and I had kids, we had dinner and movie nights pretty frequently. The husbands really enjoyed it too because it was our opportunity to try something new and be creative with our dishes, whether the recipe came from one of our trusted cookbooks or from an episode of “Everyday Italian” or “Barefoot Contessa” that we watched earlier in the week.

Of course, Cathy and I did all the planning, first figuring out who would host that week. The host would prepare the meal and the other couple would bring wine or dessert which usually fit the theme for the night (i.e. Asian, American, Italian, Mexican, etc.). We even had movie themes…comedy, Johnny Depp, horror, action, and so on. We had our share of bad movie picks, but the evening was fun, nonetheless, sharing a good meal with good company.

Our dinner get-togethers (pre-baby!)

We haven’t had a dinner/movie night in a while, but with the kids being a little older and sleeping better at night, I think it would be fun to start them up again…my cookbooks will be happy to see me, and it has been a while since I’ve had a date with Johnny Depp!

Since I already had a collection of fabric, I thought it would be cute to make each of them their very own personalized apron. I made the apron pattern from an existing apron I made way back in the 7th grade for home economics class (yikes, that was a long time ago!). I embellished each apron with cute iron-on shapes and hand-embroidered their names on it. For one of the aprons, I just used ribbon for the neck and waist ties. Within a day, I had completed two unique and girly-cute aprons!

Along with their very own custom apron, I purchased each of them a kid cookbook and fun measuring spoons to finish off their gift. So, not only did they receive a birthday gift made from the heart, they received a something that could last them for years and also spark some creativity of their own (I’m guessing their mothers would call that a mess!). And to top it all off, I didn’t have to spend a fortune. After receiving “thank you” calls and promises for some real food the next time I visit them, spending the time to make their gifts was totally worth it.

NOTE: You can totally do this for boys as well (my nephew also loves to play “cook”!). Just use “boy” colors for the apron and adhere sports or animal appliques!

Like every every expecting mother I went through a nesting phase. Unfortunately we live in a 2 bedroom condo that was converted into a large 1 bedroom and I had no space to “nest.” To curb the feeling I would go online, pretend shop and bookmark everything I liked and I soon had a darling nursery for my daughter… even if it is virtual! My husband (and wallet!) should be thankful that we don’t have the space or we’d be in a small mountain of debt.

This is just a snipit of my list… in my dream world we have a monster sized nursery that can have a small seating/reading area where the ottomans and floor pillows will go with one of the two rugs while the other rug covers the sleeping/changing area. The monster sized room will also allow me to have two walls with vinyl decals without making the room too busy.

Ahhh dreams are great aren’t they?

From top going clockwise:

1. Jcaroline 26 inch floor pillows and 18 inch ottoman covered in Jessica Jones fabric.

2. Litto Kids Manhattan dresser/changing table from Arte Bebe in espresso.

3. Litto Kids Manhattan crib from Arte Bebe in espresso.

4. Figgyandwink pink alphabet set (vinyl wall decal).

5. Name Your Design stacked digits wall art set.

6. Avalisa Bubble wool rug from Modern Nursery & Lolli trees rug from Rosenberry Rooms.

7. Figgyandwink mod tree in black (more vinyl wall decal).

picture gallery

After I’ve watched a great “Divine Design” makeover, I dream of giving one of my own rooms (actually all my rooms!) the Candace Olson touch. But unfortunately I don’t have $20,000 to spare. With bills to pay and mouths to feed, re-decorating is a luxury I can’t afford. To fill that urge, I get creative and learn how to stretch my decorating dollar. Here are some quick tips to bring some life back into any room in the house:

1) Go shopping…at home! If you’re like me, you have furniture in other parts of the house that you’ve forgotten about. Swap out furniture pieces and/or artwork and it will transform your room immediately!

2) Re-arrange your furniture. I can’t tell you what a big difference this makes. It’ll make your room feel totally new and you’ll be able to do some deep cleaning in the process! Just remember the new layout or else you’ll wind up with bruises if you get up in the middle of the night

3) Color! Color! Color! Try painting your walls a different color (or try an accent wall). If you’re afraid of that kind of commitment, try different drapery or bedding.

4) Accessorize. Pillows are great accessories for your sofa and bed and are super-inexpensive to make. Or try hanging up some picture frames or putting a flower arrangment in the room. Accent rugs are fun too (it’ll also hide the food stains your kid decided to put there!).

make-up desk turned accent table

Accent wall, accessories and brown curtains

That’s what I scribbled at the top of this super moist melt in your mouth scone recepie – YUM! Before our little one came along we weren’t ones to have breakfast but we did enjoy a good scone every now and then whenever we made a stop at Caribou Coffee or Starbucks.

One day I was surfing the Food Network’s website and came across a quick and easy recipie for scones called Dried Fruit Cream Scones and thought I’d give them a go. They fit my criteria for baking- fast to make and they use very few ingredients. The only thing I had to add to the shopping list was the heavy cream as I had everything else in the pantry.

As with most things I make there were a few modifications. Instead of apricots I used chocolate chips since they’re my husbands favorite kind. I’ve also tried them with raisons and cinnemon. Both turned out great! I also added little morsels of butter to each piece before placing it on the baking pan. This requires some work to cut the butter and stuff inside but I think it adds to the moistness of it!

Here’s my version of the recipie:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine-
2 cups flour
1 table spoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar

Stir with fork and mix well.

Add chocolate chips.

Stir in and mix 1 small carton of heavy cream (aprox. 1 1/4 cups). Dough will be sticky.

Flour a cutting board and hands and kneed dough 8-9 times.

Cut about 1 tablespoon of butter (I use salted) into 1/8th squares.

Flour hands and pull off about 1 tablespoon of dough (about the size of a dounut hole). Press in 2-3 pieces of butter into the middle. Place onto baking pan and flatten a little with fingers.

For the glaze- melt about 2 tablespoons of butter and brush liberally onto scones. Sprinkle, also liberally, sugar on top.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

I do have to add that with the sheer amount of butter I use in and on the scones Paula Dean should adopt me.

When my son Isaac was around 9-10 months, he started offering his food to me. Whether it was a cracker or some cereal he was snacking on, he’d stick out his chubby hands and gave me a look as if to ask “Mommy, would you like some?”. Most of the time I’d politely say “Oh no Isaac, you eat it…Mommy’s full but thank you!”.

The infamous apple

Well, one day he was munching on some apple and again, he offered me a piece. This time I accepted his offer and decided to take a bite. Not only did I take a bite of the apple, but I also accidentally bit his little finger! It took him a few seconds to register what his mommy just did, and his eyes began to swell with tears, his mouth began pouting and then the floodgates opened! I felt horrible for hurting him, but the thought of what had just happened was so funny that I couldn’t stop laughing! It didn’t take long to console him, and I took his offering me another piece as his accepting my apology.

Later on that day, I was sitting on the stool in the kitchen surfing the Internet. Isaac was playing and cruising around the furniture. Normally he makes enough noise for me to know where he is at all times, but on this particular day, he made his presence known to me when he snuck up beside me and bit me in the thigh…OUCH! I let out a yell (I managed to contain it so that I wouldn’t scare him) and saw two little bite marks!

Now, I know kids that age are too young to know what payback is, but I couldn’t help but think how fitting it was!

As a proud new parent we always have the camera on hand for those firsts. Ideally I would love to put all those photos into scrapbooks but it’s hard to find the time – and the space – to do it. By the time I get all my supplies laid out it’s time for a feeding, nap or my own bedtime.

Enter in Scrapblog.com – an online scrapbooking website. You do everything online and don’t have to worry about cleanup! It’s great to work on during naptime (when I’m not napping myself!) or when my little one is playing nearby.

There are dozens of themes to chose from or you can mix and match from various themes. With the abundance of backgrounds, stickers (elements you can put on the page) and frames the possibilities are endless.

My current favorite are the Baby Enstine themes. They feature the puppets and stickers for a lot of baby firsts and activities. The perfect thing for making a first year scrapblog.

Just recently Scrapblog added a printing service where you can order books and cards of your creations. While I haven’t ordered any myself I plan on it once I finish the first year album for my little one.

Some of the fondest memories I have of my childhood were all the games and toys we made growing up. Being one of seven kids of immigrant parents, we didn’t have much, and we learned quickly not to ask for much either. So we had to be really creative with what we did have. I remember my older sisters making game cards from notebook paper. They drew pictures of different types of flowers (two of a kind) and we’d spread them face down on the carpet and play the memory/matching game. Not only did it show the creativity that my sisters had, but also their talent for drawing. The flowers weren’t just cartoon pencil drawings, they were real-life looking (some flowers were even exotic!).

I also remember my oldest sister making a Raggedy Ann and Andy doll for the younger sisters. She even sewed clothes for it! She also made clothes for the one Barbie doll that we five sisters shared. When I became old enough to make my own toys, I made little people out of paper and made clothes that could be taken on and off. Oh, that was a lot of fun–making the house out of a cardboard box and “building”  furniture for each room, i.e. stove, chairs, cabinets, etc…all out of paper! I recall most of my playtime lying on the carpet, entering a whole other world of make-belief.

Sometimes I wish that we could rewind and go back to the good ‘ole days where kids used their imagination more and learned how to live and play more simply. I didn’t have much growing up, but I’m thankful that my childhood experiences taught me how to be creative and to enjoy the simple things in life.

Since my daughter started sitting unassisted we setup a play area up against our bed for her and proped up a few pillows so that she doesn’t hit her head on the frame. The pillows were grabbed from the couch and looked to grown up for her space. I decided to give them some new covers to make them more kid friendly (ie. washable!) and to give her something interesting to look at.

We found this great animal print that matches her bed set and picked up a few extra yards of yellow and blue as accents. I wanted to do something different for each pillow and created different stripes and blocks of color. The backs are overlaps (similar to our own embe pillow covers!) so that they can be removed and washed if soiled.

I also wanted to add a personal touch and created a “birth pillow” (you can see it peeking out behind in the photo). I was inspired by some of the posters I saw on ohdeeoh.com. I used inDesign to layout the words with her name, birth day, time, and weight. Then I printed it on iron-on transfer paper in order to place it on the pillow.

My daughter really finds it interesting to look at and enjoys touching it… which has made the iron on transfer start to peel. Hehe. I guess it’s going to be more for decoration then use!

We’ve only been using them for a few days but I think they really help define her play area (not that the toys don’t already do that!) and help keep her safe.