I'm Lovin' It! - LOTS of Silhouette projects!

So are you getting excited about the Silhouette Giveaway yet? You DID enter to win one of your own right?

Click here to enter to WIN!

Well, I'm Lovin' my Silhouette.......and so are a lot of other uber creative ladies!!

Today I thought I'd share what some of them are making with their Silhouettes (most of these ladies are giving one away as well, so be sure to enter on their sites too, and increase your chances to win!)

Amy at The Idea Room made this fantastic indoor herb garden!
shhhh.....don't tell Amy, but I secretly want to be HER!



The How Does She? girls have a bazillion projects with the Silhouette!
This one is a favorite of mine, since I loved etching glass, this project is perfect with school starting back up! ~Teacher Appreciation Gift!

Cindy at Skip to My Lou used the markers in her Silhouette to make these ADORABLE lunch bags for her daughter's first day of school!!!......

I know! So CUTE!♥

Thanks to Kate at Centsational Girl, for giving me yet another project to tackle! She made these cute silhouette pillows!

Beckie of Infarrantly Creative came up with a unique baby gift idea!!
What new parents wouldn't LOVE this gift!


speaking of babies...........Kari of U Create made the cutest little onsie for a boy!

and Jill of Homemade by Jill made these adorable girlie onsies!

I have plans to make a t-shirt......but the t-shirts Ashley of Make It and Love It made are SO fun!

Jen at Tatertots and Jello made "oh so cool" Subway Art!

and
Traci on the Shilhouette Machine Blog made this ordinary gift bag into extraordinary!


WHEW!!!.........now I bet you REALLY want to win a Silhouette of your own!
or if you can't wait.......you can buy one using the code in this post!

How Does She has a full list of 15 bloggers giving away a Silhouette!
go enter at each one and increase your chances!!
Good Luck!

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Now it’s your turn, let us know what you’re lovin' this week! If you have something to share with us on your blog, add your link below.

What is I'm Lovin' It Fridays? get all the info, how to's and button here

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I'm Lovin' It - Kitchen Pantry Makeover

Welcome to the Party!!

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I'm such a sucker for a good makeover AND good organization!

When I saw Shelley's amazing pantry makeover it was instantly love at first sight!

I read EVERY single word, just soaking it all in. You see, not only did Shelley do a beautiful transformation with her pantry, but she shares almost EVERY last detail of what she did, how she did it, where she got it and how she uses it!!

She used this small tin, from IKEA for about $2.00... to hold all of her spice packets.

{Love this tip}

*Keep things you use OFTEN at eye level, for easy use!

Shelley says the things you use EVERYDAY should be easy to access.

Try to label things and make sure that it all makes sense.

If you have noodles in one area... then your sauce should be it's sidekick! :)

She suggests that you keep heavy, less used, clutter prone items down low.
Aren't these boxes GREAT?! ♥

Things like her large bottle of oil, vinegars, soy sauce, season salt... and such are stored low, and hidden.

The quatrefoil design-----incredible don't you think?! ♥

Need great vinyl labels for your pantry?

You're in luck! Shelley sells them here

I LOVE that she shows us that........

"things will stay in their place,
and your pantry will turn into a space that can FUNCTION
instead of a place you put food 'n JUNK IN."

Be sure to pop over to House of Smith's to see everything Shelley did with her pantry! While you're there, browse around for a while, you will fall in love with all of her ideas like I did!!

Thanks for letting me share Shelley!!

NOTICE: Be sure to check back in here at TidyMom on Monday for a huge giveaway I'll be announcing!

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Now it’s your turn, let us know what you’re lovin' this week! If you have something to share with us on your blog, add your link below.

What is I'm Lovin' It Fridays? get all the info, how to's and button here

Don't miss a post subscribe via Rss Reader or by E-Mail

Bridget {Bake at 350} comes to St. Louis!

*WARNING......this post is long!*

For all two of you who live under a rock don't know who Bridget is, she writes a fantastic baking blog called Bake at 350 and recently started up a video tutorial site called University of Cookie. She's a wonderful mom and wife and one wicked cookie decorator!!........and she is just as fabulous as I had imagined her being!

We finally got to meet in person!! Can you believe it? After more than a year and a half of emailing, tweeting, texting and phone calls, Bridget and I finally got to meet when she came to visit with me last Thursday and Friday.

I will admit, I felt like a stalker when I spotted a cute curly red haired girl in the air port and jumped up and hugged her.

We chatted, we laughed, we shopped, it was like we've been friends since childhood. Bridget was even MORE fabulous than I had imagined! We just clicked.....at least I think we did......I sure hope Bridget feels the same way ;-)

We spent SO much time enjoying each other's company, we did not take many pictures.

It was HOT here in St. Louis. The temps were in the upper 90's with heat index over 100. Luckily Bridget is used to that kind of summer heat in Houston.

Thursday after we left the airport we headed to Forest Park, it was WAY to hot to visit the zoo, but we had a wonderful lunch at The Boat House and made a quick stop at the Jewel Box on our way out.

Check out Bridget on the bottom left.....she's taking pictures too!



Thursday evening we spent at my house eating my Three Cheese Baked Mostaccioli with my crazy family. (I was trying to fatten her up while she was here because it quickly became obvious WHO eats more cookies!)

Seriously, I'm surprised that evening she didn't ask me to just take her back to the air port! My family felt so comfortable with her, they held nothing back!

I eventually took her back to her hotel room so she could get some peace! lol

Our blogging/twitter buddy, Ann Marie downloaded the flat friend files Cathe Holden made and sent a flat version of herself so she could join in on the fun!!

Ann Marie stayed with Bridget in the hotel, where she drank all of the coffee and enjoyed antiquing with us!





Back in May, you may remember, I was nominated over at i am mommy for "Best Overall Blog" and I won!! As a prize, Amanda sent me $50 cash!

Well, I promised to spend a day using the $50 to perform Random Acts of Kindness and thought it would be fun to do with Bridget!

Friday we spent part of our afternoon paying for people's groceries and lunch. It was fun and felt good! People were genuinely surprised, shocked, even embarrassed, but very grateful!!

When I paid for lunch for the ladies pictured below, one lady asked "Has the heat gone to your head?" We laughed and laughed......they even came over and gave us a big hug after they got their food.



My husband was SO excited that Bridget wanted to see his cats!! He volunteers at a wildlife center where he handles their tigers. Bridget quickly made friends with Leo the 700 pound African Lion!! She also got to feed chicken to the tigers. (we got that on video, but have not had time to work on that yet)



We did not have time to bake together, but Bridget made me some BEAUTIFUL cookies. You should read her tip about how she colored the sanding sugar, and made business connections on her flight while editing her pictures!



and of course, I made cupcakes for her. Unfortunately cupcakes don't travel well, so I couldn't send any home with her.



2 wonderful days flew by in no time!! I'm REALLY hoping to talk the Bug Man aka Mr. TidyMom or TidyDad on a trip to Houston some time!!

This picture was taken by the hostess at The Boat House after our lunch on Thursday. Can you believe how we color coordinated that day! lol....we did NOT plan that! I don't wear much purple, but I happened to wear that shirt that day, and look how perfectly it matched the purple Bridget had on!



I LOVED getting to know Bridget better and highly recommend it to any blogger who has made that "connection" with another blogger.

Thanks for letting me share our visit with all of you!!!

Meeting up with Blogging Buddies Works for ME!
I'm linking up at We Are That Family's Works For Me Wednesday

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Caramel Dipped Pretzel Rods

Today is MY big day! I'm SO excited to be a part of the Holiday Bake, Craft, and Sew Along with dozens of fabulous bloggers. Make sure you head on over to A Southern Fairy Tale to see how I make Caramel Dipped Pretzel Rods.

Be sure check out the other holiday gift and craft ideas being posted daily! Or click here to see all past projects in one place and all of the creative bloggers involved! Get started on your projects now and lose the stress during the holidays!!

**If you're wondering about my visit with the ADORABLE Ms. Bridget.....I hope to get a post together for you real soon!! A 2 day visit was NOT long enough! lol

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Christmas in July

I know for many of us, the temps outside are hot hot hot....but before you know it the leaves will be changing colors, temps will be dropping and the holidays will sneak up on us like they do every year!

I don't know about you, but many of my friends and I love to make handmade gifts and goodies for our loved ones, teachers, neighbors and friends!

Every year I wait until the last minute to gather my ideas and supplies and start whipping up gifts all while having a panic attack that time is running out!

This year the brilliant minds of Cindy of Skip to My Lou, Rachel of a Southern Fairytale and Kelly of According to Kelly have joined forces and will be hosting a Handmade Holiday Christmas in July extravaganza!

They have gathered over 3 dozen amazing bloggers who will share their talents and inspire us for the holidays! If we get started now, by the time the holidays are here we can be sitting around the tree sipping hot cocoa and eliminating some of the stress.

Starting this Monday each blog will feature a different blogger, and a new project. Rachel will have all the YUMMY edible goodies, Kelly the crafty gift ideas and Cindy all the sewing ideas. *I will be posting a holiday recipe on Sunday July 25 at A Southern Fairytale {squeal}

They have “listed” all of bakers, crafters & sewers HERE and will be using the hashtag #handmadeholiday on Twitter.

EVERYONE can upload photos of their handmade gifts to their flickr group HERE.

With that said...I'm off to pull out my new KitchenAid Mixer and dust off my sewing machine. :)

Do you make homemade gifts for the holidays? I'd love to hear what your plans are and if you start early!!

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I'm Lovin' It! - Trash to Treasure

Welcome to the Party!!

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While my daughter's and I are heading to The Windy City, one of my favorite bloggers has accepted my invitation to host I'm Lovin' It this week!!! Amanda is a creative mom who blogs about her life as a Christian mom and wife at i am mommy and does amazing things with food and her camera at i am baker. Amanda is one of those super funny people, who is every bit as sweet as she is funny.

So today while I'm Lovin' Chicago, and Amanda being here.......Amanda is going to share what SHE is Lovin'...........Enjoy!!........I think I see a cupcake with MY name on it down there......

I am so, so, so honored to be able to hang out at Tidymom's blog today! Hers is much cleaner then mine, and I have a feeling her kitchen always smells good... fresh cupcakes and fruit roll ups and Gooey Upside Down German Chocolate Cake? Um, yes please!

But anyway... since it is Friday and all, I thought I would share with you somethin' that I love. Ya know, for I'm Lovin' It Friday!

One thing that I love is finding a 'trash' and making it a 'treasure'.

I have a little baking blog and I really struggled to find ways to photograph cakes, cookies, and cupcakes. Cake stands are gorgeous, but can be so expensive! So one day at the thrift store, I spotted a candle stick for less then a $1 and an idea hit me. I would make my own!

I have made about 20 so far, and every single one is white! So I needed something new.

I picked up these little diddies at my local thrift store.

They are ok on their own, but not as pretty as I would like, and certainly not functional. Although I am drawn to all things shiny, these just dont work when trying to photograph a scrumptious dessert. Who wants to see me and my camera in the reflection?

I decided to spray paint these black. I normally choose satin, but I was drawn to the semi-gloss this time.

Since it has been so hot, it took all of 15 minutes to complete.

Wanna see how everything turned out???

(insert dramatic drum roll here please. What? I cant do that? Can someone please figure out a html code for dramatic drum roll and email it to me? Thanks.)

I painted this base white. Its perfect for those extra special cupcakes!

The black plate turned out beautifully if I dont say so myself.

And I love my little cupcake stand! (and apparently I heart Tidymom too!) :)

But my favorite it using the plate and cupcake stand as a cake pedestal!

Now.

I want you to know, since this is just spray paint, I wouldn't actually serve food off of them. These are more for decorative purposes, or for props. You certainly could use them for serving! You just purchase a special paint at home improvement and craft stores that seals the paint and is safe for eating off of.

So there you have it! Something that I'm Lovin'!

Thanks you SO much Cheryl for having me over... next time lets sample some of your refreshing Strawberry Lemonade drinks... its hot out there! :)

Thanks again Amanda the cupcake was D.E.L.C.I.O.U.S!! LOL......and after this post I can't WAIT to hit the resale shops with a new eye when I get back!

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Now it’s your turn, let us know what you’re lovin' this week! If you have something to share with us on your blog, add your link below.

What is I'm Lovin' It Fridays? get all the info, how to's and button here

Don't miss a post subscribe via Rss Reader or by E-Mail