Swim Meet Outfit
We've had a couple of swim meets to go to this year. Here's what I'd love to wear to the next one! (Orange is our swim team's colors.)
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
DIY Orange Julius Smoothie
Aside from homemade popsicles, I also like to make smoothies. This summer we're experimenting with more flavors and recipes. Here's one we love, using ingredients you probably already have in your home!
Orange Julius Smoothie
(makes 8 servings)
12 oz frozen orange juice concentrate
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 - 2 1/2 cups ice
DIRECTIONS
Put all ingredients in a blender and blend on the smoothie setting.
That's it! A delicious (and somewhat nutritious - thanks to the milk) cold treat to serve your kids this summer. Enjoy!
Orange Julius Smoothie
(makes 8 servings)
12 oz frozen orange juice concentrate
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 - 2 1/2 cups ice
Put all ingredients in a blender and blend on the smoothie setting.
That's it! A delicious (and somewhat nutritious - thanks to the milk) cold treat to serve your kids this summer. Enjoy!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Before & Afters: Garage Sale Finds
A few weeks ago our little town hosted its annual city-wide garage sale. It goes over like gangbusters. I kid you not. Even through rain, the die-hard treasure hunters will keep going in their cars.
For me and mycheapness thrifty-ness, it's better than a trip to Goodwill, and that's saying a lot!
What have I found at garage sales in the past? Well, let's have a look-see, shall we?
This pretty clock with its pretty gold and burgundy colors:
How about a little ORB spray paint? That took all of 20 minutes to makeover!
This mail organizer costed 50 cents. That's a steal!
And of course the famous cheese domes and candlesticks.
For me and my
What have I found at garage sales in the past? Well, let's have a look-see, shall we?
This pretty clock with its pretty gold and burgundy colors:
How about a little ORB spray paint? That took all of 20 minutes to makeover!
This mail organizer costed 50 cents. That's a steal!
A little white spray paint and chalkboard paint certainly gave it an updated look.
And of course the famous cheese domes and candlesticks.
From ugly to pretty with some more ORB!
Have you been to any garage sales this summer? What have you found?
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Kids Artwork: A DIY Father's Day Present
Husband is not a fan of the made-up holidays. I on the other hand, want to celebrate everything. Because as the years pass and I see our three children growing up, I have a tendency to want to cling and hold on a little tighter.
This year I wanted to create a very special heartfelt Father's Day present. Husband loves to see our family photos and the kids' artwork displayed in our house. I feel the same way, why invest in pricey art when we have our own budding artists right in our house!
Our kids, like yours I'm sure, bring home a ton of artwork from school. I tried several ways to keep it all (in plastic bins, displayed in cheap garage sale frames and just plain taped to the wall as seen in these photos.)
I even tried to get fancy and use iPhone apps to archive all that creativity to one day turn into a book. But that was just like scrapbooking, and I never did that well either.
Then I picked up the book Playful Home and was inspired by this photograph and the framed art in a child's room:
How cool. A retrospective of three kids artwork, beautifully designed and framed. As usual, I wanted to make a similar version to that one, and still not spend a lot of money.
I started by taking pics of their drawings, paintings and projects from this school year. Then I cropped the photos to be approximately the same size. I created a similar design as in the inspirational photo in Adobe InDesign and inserted the photos and wrote my own text. (If you don't do graphic design work like I do and don't have this software, I was thinking that you could create something similar in Pic Monkey, which is free.)
I debated whether to print from my own printer, but I didn't want to do any cutting and gluing, I wanted it to look professional, as if you could have bought this somewhere. So I turned my design into a *jpeg file took it to Walgreens to have them print a 14x20 poster size (which was the size of an old frame I had.) With an in-store coupon, I saved a nice chunk of change.
*I had to specify the type of file because FYI, their photo machines cannot read PDFs.
I might do this every year and put them side by side along one wall to make a nice wall gallery!
Now mind you, I hung this up in the laundry room just to photograph it because that room had the best light. But Husband has yet to see this since Father's Day is still thirteen days away, on June 16th. So shhh...I'm taking it down now and hiding it in a closet.
Hopefully I've inspired you to think of a new way to preserve your kids' artwork and maybe to make a beautiful DIY Father's Day gift.
This year I wanted to create a very special heartfelt Father's Day present. Husband loves to see our family photos and the kids' artwork displayed in our house. I feel the same way, why invest in pricey art when we have our own budding artists right in our house!
I even tried to get fancy and use iPhone apps to archive all that creativity to one day turn into a book. But that was just like scrapbooking, and I never did that well either.
Then I picked up the book Playful Home and was inspired by this photograph and the framed art in a child's room:
How cool. A retrospective of three kids artwork, beautifully designed and framed. As usual, I wanted to make a similar version to that one, and still not spend a lot of money.
I started by taking pics of their drawings, paintings and projects from this school year. Then I cropped the photos to be approximately the same size. I created a similar design as in the inspirational photo in Adobe InDesign and inserted the photos and wrote my own text. (If you don't do graphic design work like I do and don't have this software, I was thinking that you could create something similar in Pic Monkey, which is free.)
I debated whether to print from my own printer, but I didn't want to do any cutting and gluing, I wanted it to look professional, as if you could have bought this somewhere. So I turned my design into a *jpeg file took it to Walgreens to have them print a 14x20 poster size (which was the size of an old frame I had.) With an in-store coupon, I saved a nice chunk of change.
*I had to specify the type of file because FYI, their photo machines cannot read PDFs.
I might do this every year and put them side by side along one wall to make a nice wall gallery!
Now mind you, I hung this up in the laundry room just to photograph it because that room had the best light. But Husband has yet to see this since Father's Day is still thirteen days away, on June 16th. So shhh...I'm taking it down now and hiding it in a closet.
Hopefully I've inspired you to think of a new way to preserve your kids' artwork and maybe to make a beautiful DIY Father's Day gift.