September 2011
  

Heart Shaped Egg in the Basket

We made heart-shaped Egg in the Basket with a heart shaped cookie cutter. It was fun, simple, & yummy! :)



Talia said (very seriously), "We should have this more often!" ..and I agree :)


Redesign

I've redesigned my blog!
This is the biggest change it has had in a LONG time!



I'd love for you to pop over & have a look- let me know what you think of it!

Is there anything missing that you wish I had included in the change?

Fairy Wing Balloons!



We ran into the coolest balloon man ever at the market! Look what he made for Talia!!

1st & 2nd Talk in Primary

Talia gave her first talk in Primary (Sunday School for Kids) this year, in May, on the Book of Mormon.

Then she gave her second talk in August, on the Plan of Salvation.



She did great- so proud of her! :)

...I see a trend... that is my new favourite way to do her hair- it looks cute, it keeps it out of her face, & I've done it enough times that it's easy for me now.

Pinkalicious Mini Cupcake Morning

Oh, why not spend a pinkalicious morning, baking pink mini cupcakes- lots of them...


(This was only a third of them)

...and decorating them with various shades of pink & purple frosting & fun sprinkles?


(but don't forget to start the day with pink nail polish)



...it really did take ALL morning- see how many we made??



It was a good day :)

Sidewalk Paint



We made sidewalk paint again this year. Definitely a favourite & SO EASY to make!! I don't know why we don't do it more often!

abc button

FHE Idea (Family Proclamation)

I'm posting about an FHE idea over at Chocolate on My Cranium today, as part of "Celebrating Family". You can link up your ideas over there, and enter a giveaway, too!

Bubbling Science Experiment

We tried this magic trick and then had some fun with the science behind it. So cool! The girls thought it was great. It was so easy to do and not hard to clean up- go try it! :)



For this trick all we needed was half a cup of vinegar and a spoonful of baking soda (with a little food colouring mixed in ;)

Chocolate Orange Apple Gift for Teacher

Back in June, I made a teacher thank-you gift for Talia's teacher out of a Chocolate Orange. I'm posting a tutorial for it over at Brown Paper Packages today, so be sure to check it out!



You can find the mini version of this project here!


For more ideas from the School-Themed shower, click here. :)

Amber's School Themed Bridal Shower

School Themed Bridal Shower

I've been sharing bits & pieces from the bridal shower that my cousin & I threw for my sister and now I'm finally ready to share photos from the whole thing! It seemed like the perfect theme for someone who is engaged to her highschool sweetheart (and who also happens to be a teacher) :)

Creative School Themed Party Decorations
I stacked these books on each end table, to give guests a hard surface to write on for a game we'd be playing- they were a good last minute addition to the decor, too :)

Bridal Shower Engagement Photo Decor Ideas
I also decorated with garlands made of photos of the engaged couple over their years together & their engagement photos.

Creative high school themed bridal shower invitation idea
These are the invitations we delivered ahead of time (more about them here).

Bridal Shower Photo Decor
Above the food table, there was another garland of photos of the bride-to-be with each of the shower guests, throughout her life.

High School Theme Party Food
The food table which included:


Berry Parfaits


Party Food for School Theme Decor
Oreo Cheesecake Truffles (in the shape of apples)

Games & activities included:

"Toss the Bouquet" (my cousin made little flowers out of candy sticks for each person to toss and attempt to get into the hat)

DIY Bridal Shower Party Games
"He Said/She Said" with little hats for people to hold over their heads to indicate their answers. (Inspired by this)

Bridal Shower Games for High School Theme
How well do you know the bride- a quiz



Bridal Shower Games for High School Theme
...and what would a shower be without advice from the guests? ;)


Of course we unwrapped gifts.

Apple Theme Chocolate Party Favors
...and here are the little chocolate apple thank yous that I made for the guests.

It was so fun to do this project for my sister! I loved searching the web for ideas and coming up with my own spin on a few things. I'm already getting excited about planning Katrina's birthday party- and that's not for another 3 months! ;) (I do not know what happened to me- I never thought I was crafty before- and I used to think spending time on something like this was a bit of a waste- now I see how much fun it can be & how nice it is to do something thoughtful for someone you love and have them see the work & care you put into it... and I guess anyone can be crafty (if you choose the right crafts ;)... there were some I wanted to do but had to take off my list b/c they were too complicated or time consuming!

Celebrate Family 2011


Have you heard of Celebrate Family? Four bloggers have gotten together to run a celebration of the family. For a 2 week period, each of the 4 bloggers has different people guest posting on their blogs about different topics, views, crafts, and activities related to families.


"The Family: A Proclamation to the World is truly for everyone. And our posts will be geared to everyone who is looking for ways to find more happiness in family life and in life in general."
- Jocelyn of "We Talk of Christ"


That 2 week period starts... TODAY! :)
So, go check it out!



Oh, and this celebration doesn't just include guest posts, it includes giveaways and 4 chances for YOU to link up YOUR ideas!
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Here are the topics for the linkys so you can plan ahead if you want to share a post:

Monday, Sept. 12th – Family Mission Statements – Do you have a family mission statement? Share it with us! How did you come up with your mission statement?
Thursday, Sept. 15th - Photo Essay: Photos that "say" something about the Family Proclamation. For example, a picture of your family playing a game with the caption from the proclamation that says, "Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on . . .wholesome recreational activities."
Monday, Sept. 19th – Family Home Evening (FHE) Lessons pertaining to some part of the Proclamation.
Thursday, Sept. 22nd – How the Proclamation has impacted your family personally.



I'll be guest posting at Chocolate on My Cranium on September 9th (the day of the FHE linky), so I hope you'll come say hi! :)

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Here are the 4 Blogs where you can find all the fun:

Chocolate on My Cranium
We Talk of Christ
The Red Headed Hostess
Welcome to the Madness

Oh & if you just can't wait for more, you can check out the posts from 2010 here.

High School Themed Invitation

Here is the invitation I made for my sister's School-themed bridal shower. It looks like a note we used to pass in school & I got the idea online, here.

I also made a little envelope for mine, so that they could be delivered to mailboxes, and as a little clue as to why they were receiving a high-school themed note in their mailbox ;)



Here's what they found in their envelopes:



And here's a look at what the invite looked like:


I wrote one out with pens on a piece of lined paper, then scanned it & printed it onto lined paper- it worked great & a few people thought I had written them all individually- that's how 'real' they looked.

For more ideas from the School-Themed shower, click here. :)

Celebrating Moon Festival (DIY Paper Lanterns, Good Food & A Giveaway)

Have you ever heard of Moon Festival? It's a chinese celebration also known as Mid-Autumn Festival. It's on September 12th this year, and celebration involves gathering as families with brightly coloured lanterns & great chinese cuisine!

We had our own little celebration for Moon Festival this year, with a recipe we found on VH's website and some paper lanterns that the girls made with me.

I tried these origami paper lanterns and decided while they were cute, they'd be too tricky for the girls, so we put some other lanterns (a mini take on these) together and strung them all up on a piece of ribbon. (We decorated them by folding the paper in half & cutting pieces out like you do with paper snowflakes, before assembling them)



The food turned out good- and let me tell you, I am NOT a good cook. I struggle with cooking! I was happy with VH's website for finding a recipe though- the recipes were simple and you could search for a recipe by type of meat, type of sauce, food allergy, time to prepare, and more. That was really cool & I think I'll use it again!

I made "Mandarin Chicken with Broccoli":



Have you tried introducing culture into your meals?
Leave a comment letting me know how you've done so or how you'd like to, & you'll be entered in a contest to win a $50 grocery card! (you could put it toward your own Moon Festival Celebration!) (One of my readers will win!) This contest will run until Sept. 20th, 2011 and is open to Canadian residents only. Please include your email address if it's not in your profile.

You can get an extra entry for following my feed, facebook, twitter, or pinterest. (Just leave a comment for each one you do)

Oh & while I'm sharing easy dinner tips- if you're like me and you need a really easy, really quick dinner solution a lot of the time (either because you're busy running out or because you tend to realize it's dinner time before you've thought of what to make... you might want to give VH Steamers a try! (They're Asian-inspired meals that are ready in less than 5 minutes) I'm looking forward to giving them a try!

Disclosure – I am participating in the VH Moon Festival program by Mom Central Canada on behalf of VH. I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own, as always!

Sock Bouquet! (A Tutorial)


I had the idea to make a sock bouquet for my dad for Father's Day this year. I'm sharing how to make one on HowDoesShe today- go check it out! :)

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If you're looking for more gift ideas for men, check out this Love Letter Book idea!



Or for Christmas, here's a fun one: Dad's Root Deer


or click here 

to see a list of 100 great gift ideas!

Moments- Twirling & Dipping

My mom's been working on flower girl skirts for Talia, Katrina, & their cousin who will be flower girls at my sister's wedding.

When my mom first tried one of the skirts on Katrina she immediately began standing on her toes with her arms up over her head, twirling and dancing- it was so cute!



Talia joined in & started dancing with her & dipped her. So cute! I love these girls! :)

Baby & You (New Community for Parents)

I think the community that exists among bloggers is really neat. I love to see how bloggers work together (and with brands) to do great things, to support each other, and to get positive vibes and information out.

Have you heard of the new Facebook Community called Baby and You? It's pretty new and already growing fast. It's created by Lowlaw Companies, and it's exciting to see how they're working with bloggers- they've teamed up with bloggers who post on their page, on subjects that are important to parents. You'll find Jody from mommymoment.ca and Lisa from growingyourbaby.com.

On their page, you'll find contests, coupons, and conversations with other parents. How great is it to be able to ask questions and advice from other parents who've "been there, done that" or are struggling through the same challenges you are?!

Disclosure – I am participating in the Baby and You program by Mom Central Canada on behalf of Loblaw Companies. I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own, as always.

Mini Rainbow Pancakes



Katrina requested pancakes for lunch. We went with it & added food colouring for extra fun.
 

If you're looking for other rainbow ideas, there are a bunch in my St. Patrick's Day Ideas Roundup!

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