DIY Hairties

I always see cute hairties on Pinterest and the price tag always seems so high.  I did a quick search on Pinterest and found a DIY fromm Oceanside Daydreams.  The whole thing seems really simple it is just fold over elastic that can be found at fabric stores or even craft stores and you tie a knot and prevent the ends from fraying.

I did a Google search for fold over elastic and I found this cute shop Sunshine Shoppe.  They have a huge selection of fold over elastic that they sell by the yard for $0.50-$1.10 (and they have sales).

They have glitter elastic, neon elastic, chevron elastic, stripes, velvet elastic, and hair ties already made starting at $0.75.  (This is not a sponsored post, I just like to share where I find good deals or supplies to use in crafting.  I like that you can purchase a little or a lot as long it is in one yard increments.)  You can find the elastic from The Sunshine Shoppe here.

To make the hairties you just cut the elastic to whatever length you desire - the red, white and blue ones are 8 inches and the neon ones are 6 inches, for my daughter.  I can wrap the 8 inch ones twice around my hair when I have it all up and the 6 inch ones wrap twice around my daughter's hair when it is all up.  I read somewhere that you should cut the elastic to 9 inches.  

Once the elastic is cut you tie a knot and heat seal the ends (which means just passing the elastic near a flame to prevent fraying) and that's it.  I made four hair ties out of a yard at the 8 inch size and there was a little leftover to do a 5 inch for my daughter too. 

Update 7/16/13: I made some hair ties for me at 10 inches and I like them much better.  They wrap around all my hair three times.

Linking up at :
 and Chef in Training.

Summer Fun with National Holidays

One of the things I like to do for summer fun is look up weird and funny holidays to celebrate with my kids.  We read books about it, do crafts, or eat food and watch movies.  Here are some fun holidays coming up in July and August.

July
1-International Joke Day
2-UFO Day -my husband is so excited
4-Independence Day USA
5-Apple turnover day
7-National Strawberry Sundae Day
8-Video Game Day
9-Sugar Cookie Day
10-Teddy Bear Picnic Day and Pina Colada Day
13-Embrace your Geekness day
15-Cow appreciation Day
20-Moon Day
21-Junk Food Day
22-Hammock Day
23-Hot Dog Day
26-Aunt and Uncle Day
30-National Cheesecake Day
31-International Dance Day

August
3-Watermelon Day
4-Friendship Day
6-Root Beer Float Day
9-Book lovers Day
10-S'mores Day
12-Middle Child Day
14-Creamsicle Day
15-Relaxation Day
16-Roller Coaster Day
17-Thriftshop Day
19-Aviation Day
22-Tooth Fairy Day
24-Waffle Day
30-Frankenstein Day
31-Trail Mix Day

For more holidays check out this link for July and this link for August.

Cupcakes and Wedding Cake

My mom and my sisters and I joke, only a little, about someday having a reception center that we run and a small bakery/craft store at the front.  My mom and sister Alisha took the cake decorating classes at Michaels Craft store and my mom has been decorating my kids birthday cakes ever since.  Well my sister's friends and one of my brother's friends asked my mom to bake and decorate their wedding cake.  They found a picture and my mom tried to recreate it as best as she could.  For being an amateur I think she does a great job.

Cake made for one of my sister's friend's wedding.

Cake made for my brother's friend's wedding.

This past weekend my cousin had her wedding reception and my mom was asked to make her cake and about 300 cupcakes.  This time I got to help with all the fun.  We made an assembly line and just used cake mix boxes that we bought.  (Someday we hope to have recipes that are our own that taste phenomenal.)  

Anyways we baked the cupcakes and we decided to add filling to most of the cupcakes.  The filling was premixed and purchased from Orson Gygi.  We used lemon, cream cheese, raspberry, and Bavarian cream.  Then we decorated each cupcake differently so we could tell them apart and boxed them for the reception.

Pre-made fillings.

Cupcakes in a row.

Toppings, flowers my mom made and pearls.

For the cake we used fondant to decorate the top and bottom layer.  This was my moms first time using fondant on a cake, it was something that she was really nervous about.  We smoothed it out as best as we could and added the zigzags and polka dots which were also made from fondant.  The whole family stepped into help with this project.  For the petals we used fondant to shape them and then let them harden.

Here are the cupcakes all ready to eat at the reception.

Have you Read the Book of Mormon?

I have mentioned this before but I belong to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I am a Mormon. This past Sunday we had a great opportunity to listen to a broadcast about missionary work. It was brought up that we need to be better as members at sharing our beliefs. My youngest brother Jeremy is currently serving an LDS mission in Armenia and I want to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon. 

Image taken from http://www.lds.org/

I know that the book is true. I know that it was translated by Joseph Smith, a true prophet of the Lord. I know that it is relevant to me and was written for me, there are so many times in my life that I am struggling with things and I pull out my scriptures and I find the answer to exactly what I need. There are blogs all over the internet that are devoted to sharing good books and I want to ask the question, "Have you read the Book of Mormon? Why not? It's a great book." 

You can request a copy of the Book of Mormon here or you can read it online here, or you can chat with a Mormon missionary here.

Ice Cream In A Bag

When I was a little girl I remember making tin can ice cream where we rolled coffee cans back and forth stuffed with ice, salt, and a white mixture that made ice cream.  Then I grew up and had kids and I forgot about that for awhile, until I was searching for some perfect summer fun to try.  I found a recipe from Pinterest for ice cream in a bag and it is fun, chilling and delicious.

The recipe can be found at allrecipes and uses cream, half and half, vanilla, suagr, ice and coarse salt.

We mixed it all together and I added some vanilla beans- its the black spots that you might see in the photograph.

Then I split the mixture into four bags-easier to share and I double bagged them to keep the salt flavor from tainting my ice cream.

Then we pass it around and shake it until it becomes firm and we enjoy it immediately straight from the bag.

It's a funny easy was to cool off in the summer, get everyone involved, and have a treat!

Linking up at Keeping it Simple.

Vanilla Berry Parfait

My Sister used these parfaits as one of the desserts at her friend's bridal shower.  My mom mixed it up and she just threw things together as she went until it looked the way she wanted, so I am attempting to sum it up as recipe that the rest of the world could follow.

For the Filling:

You take a package of Strawberry glaze, for pies and shortcake, that is usually found by pound cakes and or by the fruit and strawberries (apparently not at Walmart).  If you want to make your own glaze you can try out this recipe.  Cut up fresh strawberries, raspberries and blackberries  I would say about 3 cups of cut up fruit.  We had enough to fill up 15 4oz cups and make a pie for us to eat.

For the Pudding

You take one small heavy whipping cream and whip it.  As it starts to thicken add 1 large package of vanilla pudding.  Then as you mix add milk until it looks and tastes the way you like it.  Its not real thick and not real runny- my mother's very helpful words.  It is a little thicker than the pudding if you follow it from the box.  (If you find that it is a little too runny you just need to add another small box of pudding.)

For the Crust

For the Parfaits just crush up vanilla wafers and place in the bottom of the cup.  For pie, use 1 pie crust.

Then just chill until ready to eat.  

Summer Solstice

Did you know that yesterday June 21st was the summer solstice, or the longest day of the year?  I decided that we should celebrate the start of summer with a BBQ.  I love all the parties on Pinterest that have amazing details and coordinating color schemes.  Even the tiniest detail can make an impression.  Well this party was not even close to any of those drool worthy parties, but it was perfect for the occasion and my kids had fun (that to me is all that really matters).

We invited our a few of our friends over for hamburgers and hot dogs.  I made homemade root beer in a 5 gallon jug.

I also made cupcakes, I tried adding things to make a cake mix taste homemade and it improved the taste, with French Vanilla Whipped frosting and cake batter muddy buddies.

Then we asked everyone to bring a side to share and their own chairs.  The kids played and the grownups talked.  Then we had live entertainment with a local band that we hired, The Stars, which consisted of two of my sons and one of their friends.  Then we just enjoyed the slightly cold summer night and good company, a great way to welcome summer.