Tiny Prints Giveaway ~

As you all know I am a huge fan of Tiny Prints and I am thrilled to be offering a giveaway to their lovely site! 

They have a great Valentine's Day line filled with super cute cards (I just ordered one for my hubby)....the designs are great and I love that you can personalize them with text and photos!

Tiny Prints wants to give YOU $50 towards their site - Valentine's Day cards or any other great products they have! They have amazing invitations, announcements, greeting cards and a full line of photo gifts. I just placed an order I can't wait to show.

**Giveaway Closed**

Here's how to enter:

1. Leave a comment telling me how you would spend the $50

2. Become a follower or let me know you are already a follower

3. Blog, Tweet, Facebook about the giveaway

(make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry)

Winner will be randomly selected Friday February 4th.

Good Luck!

Mini Love Banner (using my Silhouette) ~

Valentine | Project Inspiration

Have I told you lately how much I love my Silhouette machine? Well if not, I do! It is so super easy to use and the options are truly endless. Here is a little project I made with with my bad boy (aka Silhouette).

I simply laid out "love" with the pendent shape in Silhouette Studio.  

I printed it on my HP printer and then cut it with the Silhouette. Be sure to use the registration marks so the image and the cutter are able to line up.

And instantly, I have my shapes printed, cut and ready to go.

Grab a little jute.

And you have a super easy, festive Valentine banner.

Have an amazing weekend!

My New Favorite Cookie ~

Yummy Recipe | Inspiration

I had to share this fabulous cookie recipe that I made for the kiddos latest Birthday party. They were SO yummy...really addictive-ly yummy (and they are also great frozen)! 

I got the recipe from my friend Val over at Heartland Interiors. She made them with pink frosting - which was of course super fabulous.

Melting Moments

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
Cream butter, add sugar & cornstarch, mix well.
Add vanilla, mix well.
Add flour, mix well.
(Recipe says to refrigerate dough for 1 hour, but you don't need to)
Shape dough into little balls and bake @ 350° for about 10 - 12 minutes
(or until cookies barely turn golden).
Frost with your favorite butter cream frosting!

I was in a huge hurry and didn't have time to make butter cream frosting, so I will let you in on my "cheater" way of making frosting. Simply start with store bought frosting (yes, the completely artificial kind by the cake mixes) and start adding a little almond favoring until it makes you smile (if you want, this is a good time to add a little food coloring too). Then mix in as much powdered sugar as you need to to get the consistency back to were it was before you added the flavoring. Like I said "cheater" frosting...but it is super easy in a pinch and better than straight out of the "can"!

A Simple Frame Project ~

DIY | Project Inspiration

My Mom recently embellished this frame for her dear friend who loves this aqua blue color.

This is a super easy project that you can personalize with any color your heart desires.

Supplies:

Frame

Beads from the craft store (Michaels)

Glue

Simply take apart the string of beads, run a stripe of glue on all sides and set in your beads.

A great personalized gift or a frame to update your own bookcase.

This would be a great Valentine gift! Just insert a black and white photo. 

 Or maybe a few sweet words...

Superhero Party - Part 3 ~

Entertaining | Kids Birthday Inspiration

Wrapping up the Superhero party decorations...

I used the images from their invitations - found here.

When I asked my kids what snacks they wanted for their party, they said berries and carrots - ah, I love these kids!

It was a "super" party indeed...

And one of the best parts was this guy here, my darling hubby...and the best Daddy.

My superhero for sure!

Superhero Party - Part 2 ~

Entertaining | Kids Birthday Inspiration

The capes, the obstacle course, the Superhero art project and the bingo were so much fun - 

but now for the decorations! I had a little tough coming up with a "gender neutral" Superhero theme at first, but then I decided to just go with a little pink, blue and black - that way everyone was happy!

I used a few cardboard boxes I had on hand and painted two cityscapes for the backdrops.

A few treats...

(These cookies are SO yummy - I will be sure to post the recipe).

Of course a Funfetti cupcakes for all...

with a light dusting of decorative sugar.

In order to keep this post from being way to long, I will wrap up the decorations tomorrow....

Superhero Party - Part 1 ~

Entertaining | Kids Party Inspiration

My kiddos Superhero party was a hit! They had so much fun. 

As each hero arrived, they got suited up in their own personalized disguises. 

 

I created the design in the Silhouette layout program, it was super easy! And I simply used the heat transfer paper I had on hand. I made the masks with felt (I downloaded the mask template from here) and sewed on an elastic band. Although the sewing of the capes was a bit challenging, I absolutely love how they turned out.

I even made one for Mom and Dad.

When they were all duded up, Super Diesel and Super Fia led a race around the city...aka an obstacle course around our playroom.

With a book exchange at the end...this was such a great substitute to traditional gifts. Everyone came with a book and everyone left with a book. It allowed the party to be less about stuff and more about having fun with friends.

Then it was onto "make your own superhero"!

I picked up the boy/girl cardboard cut-outs from Michaels and simply double stick taped on a cape and mask. It was super fun to see all of the decorated heroes...plus to was nice to get them calmed down after the obstacle course.

Then a little bingo...what party is complete without bingo? I personalized the bingo boards and used fruit snacks for the markers. And yes, everyone was a winner because they all got to eat up the snacks at the end!

Tomorrow I will show you the party decorations, this was a fun theme to decorate...