Keepin Cozy

Last night I called my good friend, who is also my neighbor, to ask if I could borrow a shovel so that my husband and I could shovel together since we only have one shovel.  She said she could bring it to me and the next thing I know I hear the scraping of shoveling outside.  I hurry out my front door to ask what she is doing, and her and her husband were out there with shovels and salt to help me shovel the 7 inches of snow we got that day!  I was so humbled by their kindness, they helped me at 9:30 at night shovel the whole drive!  I love the kindness and generosity that comes out around this time of year and we should all try to keep that spirit year round.

Christmas may be here and almost over, but Winter is just starting!  Echo Park Keepin Cozy is the perfect line to scrap and make cute projects with for all your winter fun.  And just because Christmas is almost done doesn't mean the gift giving has to stop.  This project would be a perfect thank you to my dear friend for helping me shovel.

Hope you enjoy the ideas and as always be sure to check out Echo Park's Blog for more ideas!

Happy Crafting!

Party Ideas My Minds Eye Chalk Studio

A few weeks ago we got to celebrate my mother in-law's 65 Birthday.  My father in-law decided to have it be a surprise party and asked my husband and I to do the decorations, I knew what to use right away!  I wanted to use My Minds Eye's Chalk Studio because it has a banner already cut out and ready to assemble. It also works that it has pink in it, with it being her favorite color and all.

I put the banner together, made a special place mat just for her, put some fun cut out sayings on the tables, wrapped washi tape around the forks and got balloons and plates to match. I also made her a mini notebook using the same product. Hope you enjoy the ideas!

It was so fun to set up a party for my mother in-law, she is an amazing women and very much deserved to have a day just for her! Love you Kathy!

Happy Crafting!

Easter Centerpiece

Today I walked outside and was pleasantly surprised at the beautiful weather.  A 65 degree day, in March, in Utah is indeed a wonderful Spring day!  I was very excited to start my Easter centerpiece project to welcome this beautiful Spring and the Easter holiday.  This is what I came up with!

The paper, stickers, and twine I used are from the Doodlebug Take Note line.  This project was very easy to throw together!  I'm no usually a fan a fake flowers but these adorable polka dot Gerber Daisies just jumped out at me and I love all of the bright colors of the flowers and paper together.  I also made these pom poms and will be making more for yard decor and I will post a tutorial about them on Friday!

The paper inside the tall Mason Jar is 4 1/8 x12. I just rolled it up to fit inside the top and let it just sit how it unrolled.  Then I added some special touches to the outside of each jar with burlap, twine, more paper, and/or stickers!  I also put paper on top of the small jar with the lid on it just by tracing the lid and cutting it out by hand.  The best part about this project, you can make it all your own with whatever flowers or paper you want to use!

I am very excited to show off this piece when the whole family comes over this weekend for Easter activities!  I hope you all have a wonderful Easter holiday as well.

Happy Crafting!

Tasty Treat and Valentine's Day Gift

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!  Sorry my Tasty Tuesday is a little late, I was helping my pregnant sister clean her house all day yesterday to get ready for her baby.  But hey, better late than never!  This tasty treat is SO delicious and I always get asked for the recipe.  These little babies are called Caramlitas - and are sure to be a hit!

What you will need:
1c. flour
1c. instant oats
3/4c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4c. melted butter
1c. milk chocolate chips
1/2 jar of Mrs. Richardsons Butterscotch



Set your oven to 350 degrees.  Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Melt the butter and add it to the flour mixture until completely combined.  Press half of the mixture in a greased 11x7 pan and bake for 10 minutes.  Take out of oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over it and then drizzle the butterscotch over that.  Then, crumble the rest of the flour mixture over it and bake for another 15 minutes.  After it is done cool it and then refrigerate for an hour or so before cutting it.  Either cut into squares or be festive and use cookie cutters to make shapes for whatever holiday it may be!



Next, I have a little last minute gift idea for you.  I LOVE Hot Chocolate, it is by far one of my favorite treats to have!  So I thought it would be a cute idea to give my hubby a festive mug with some marshmallows and chocolate chips, and a cute little sign that explains exactly how I feel about him ;).  The sticker I used to make the sign was from the Doodlebug Lovebirds Cardstock Stickers.  

I hope you enjoy this very tasty treat and gift idea! I hope you all have a fabulous Valentine's Day!  Don't forget to post a comment on the 14 Reasons Why I Love You post to win this months Giveaway!  We will be announcing the winners at the end of the week so be sure to check back to see if you won and how to redeem your prize!!

Happy Crafting!

14 Reasons Why I Love You

Sorry I have been a little absent the past few weeks!  I had a sick infant, and wasn't feeling too good myself.  But I am back, feeling good, and have a cute new Valentine's Day project for you! Plus, it is time to do this months Giveaway!!!


For this project, I essentially used the same concept I used for the Christmas Advent calendar for a cute countdown of "14 Reasons Why I Love You".  This was very easy to put together, and it was fun too.  I used the Doodlebug Lovebirds and the Echo Park Love Story lines, I couldn't decide which to use, I love them both so much, so I used both!

I started by cutting 14 different patterns to use, I cut them 4x6 and put them in the order I wanted to use them.  Then, I cut a bunch of 2x4 pieces of the same paper and a few squares that were 3x3 and did a little mixing and matching to coordinate with the cute pages. 

Some other products I used were: numbers from the Echo Park Love Story Alpha Stickers, as well as Doodlebug Lovebirds Cardstock Stickers, Beetle Black Love Letters Stickers, Bubblegum Heart Pearls, and the adorable Mini Love Notes. 

Lastly, I tied it all together with a few different colors of Bakers Twine from the Doodlebugs Valentine's Assortments Pack.

This little project was fun to make, and I enjoyed thinking of 14 special reasons why I love my husband to share with him!

Now, to enter to win this months Giveaway please comment below of your favorite things about Valentine's Day.  Weather you have a special someone to share it with or not, think of somethings you like about this special holiday! I hope you and your Valentine enjoy this project as much as we do!





Happy Crafting!

Wrapping up your Sweets: part 2

The first Idea I want to share I saw on a segment of Good Things Utah last year for Valentine's Day and I just tweeked it a little to make it my own! 

These are Conversation Hearts Ipods! I love them so much, I think they are just the cutest things ever!  You would be the coolest mom on the block if you made these for your kids classmates. All you have to do is choose a pattern paper to wrap around your box, cut a circle and a square to go on them and add a heart in the middle for the button. I used Doodlebug Glitter Sweetheart Brads  Then think of some fun love songs to write on there like Call Me Maybe or Can I be Your Boyfriend. Cut a long piece of our Doodlebug Twine and tape it to some Hersey Kisses for the ear buds.  It did take a bit to put them together but I think the outcome is worth it!



The second idea is a bottle of Crush orange soda, one of my husbands favorites.  I covered it with paper and embellished it.  Then attached a tag that say's "I have a crush on you".  I didn't like the look of the bottle cap since it clashed with the colors so I used Doodle Bug Love Birds and Echo Park Love Story. Washi Tape, in a coordinating color, to cover up the cap.  So simple and so cute!  For both of these ideas I used Doodle Bug I hope you enjoy these ideas and there are more to come!  I Love Valentine's Day!!






Happy Crafting

Wrapping Up Your Sweets

Today is the first of many Valentines Day craft blog posts.  I just absolutely love Valentines Day!  I'm not even really sure why I love it so much.  I was usually between boyfriends on valentines day growing up and it just recently became good now that I have a husband, but it has always been one of my favorites.  Maybe it is all the fun happy colors, hearts, love birds, Valentines Day boxes, getting Valentines from friends and of course, chocolate!  Lets be honest, this holiday is really all about getting and giving chocolate.  So for this post I want to share some fun, crafty ideas on how to dress up your chocolate bars.

For these crafts, I used the new Echo Parks Love Story and Doodlebug Designs Inc. Love Birds.  Both of these lines have been so fun to use and are very easy to use together - which I love!  There will be more crafts to come that use these lines as well.



































As you can see, these are very simple to make. Simply measure the candy bar, wrap the pattern paper around it, and decorate to your hearts content with all of the accessory stickers, chipboard shapes, and pops that these lines provide.  With all of the different product you have when these two lines are combined, the possibilities are endless!








Have fun and stay tuned for more Valentines Day crafts soon!




 Happy Crafting


P.S.
I still haven't recieved any of the winners addresses to send them their prize!  Please be sure to email me at chefsinda@hotmail.com to redeem your prize!!