My attempt at a Ribbon and Bead Necklace

My oh my! Let me first say that I thought this would be much easier then what I made it out to be. I was going in between two tutorials. The first one was done by Amy on Style Crush and featured on A Beautiful Mess . These looked so cute and I thought it looked pretty easy. The second tutorial I checked out was from Elizabeth on To Be Charmed and featured on the idea room. My intent was to use some embroidery thread that I had which was on one of the tutorials. I spent about 15 minutes trying to find my embroidery thread. I seriously need some better organization. After finding the embroidery thread I opened up my beads to realize the hole was too small for the embroidery thread to go through. The other tutorial used jewelry cord. I didn't have any jewelry cord (which looks like fishing line) but there was a little bit that the pearl beads came on. So, I took all the beads off the jewelry cord so I could use it. Then the little pearls rolled all over the place. I was attempting to keep them at one spot on the table but that didn't happen. This all took place around midnight. Why was I trying to do a new project around midnight? Who knows? I used 42" of ribbon which was on one of the tutorials and that ended up not being long enough. I was only able to do 3 beads in between the ruffles or it would have been even shorter. The only way I could get it to lay down where it didn't show the underside of the embroidery floss would be to wear it almost like a choker. Needless to say, I probably won't be trying it again. If so, I will do a few things differently like having beads that a needle will go through. Oh, that was another thing. Since the holes in the beads were so small I had to unthread the needle every time I added a bead. I will also have everything together before I decide to start on the project and I would use more then 42" of ribbon. Now, I would like to show you the pictures of what I was trying to attempt then how mine turned out.


Featured on A Beautiful Mess



Featured on The Idea Room



Featured on A Little Bit of Everything :)

I won't let this get my hopes up for jewelry making, but will try something different next time.

Product Review for Cookies N Cream

Hand decorated sugar cookies from Cookies N Cream


I recently won a giveaway on Bird Crafts from Cookies N Cream, which I posted about here... http://tanya-alittlebitofeverything.blogspot.com/2010/06/i-hope-to-keep-this-up.html. Today was mine and my hubby's wedding anniversary and I happened to receive them today also. I was hoping they would get here in time but just wasn't sure.


Aren't they the cutest things? My camera/picture and presentation isn't anywhere close to being as cute as hers but I just wanted to show you the letters.

So, not only were they some of the cutest cookies I've seen but they were packaged very carefully. I was very impressed how there were only 2-3 cookies per bag and they were all packaged next to each other. I was concerned with the temps being in the mid to upper 90's that they may arrive melted. They were in great condition though. I'm not a huge cookie fan unless it comes to chocolate chip but I tasted one and they even taste good. Since they were so cute to look at I had a hard time biting into one but I did it anyway. I just wanted to share her site with you so you can see some of the other adorable things she has created. My hubby was stuffed from dinner so he will be taking some with him to work tomorrow. As soon as my son and daughter saw them they had to have one. My daughter loved them and has already asked if she can have another tomorrow.

Here are a few I thought you might enjoy.

Reconstructed shirt

The kids have been to VBS all week and tonight was the commencement with an ice cream social afterward. Tatiana had made a shirt during VBS that said "Thumbody loves me God does". It had her thumbprints made into a caterpillar. It was really cute except that I don't like oversized shirts. So, I just cut the sleeves to make them look like fringe then tied a bow on the side and there you go.



Tyler and Tatiana both sang their songs. I was so proud of them. It's typical for Tyler to do it but not so typical for Tatiana. She can be super shy but she was singing along and even doing the hand movements.


The 3 and 4 year old class



The 1st grade class

4th of July Strawberries...

I just saw this post on these 4th of July Strawberries. They are the cutest things. I think I may have to make some myself.


The picture and tutorial is on Baking Bites.

My daughter loves strawberries, but I'm not sure if she has ever had chocolate on them. If she doesn't like them my hubby and myself will finish them off. :) Still not sure what we will be doing for the holiday. My hubby is working but there is a local parade in town that we may sweat it out and go to. They also have a Christmas in July festival closer towards the mountain that we may do. My Dad had also mentioned going to an event they have yearly around the 4th with tractors and all types of farm equipment. We may do that. So many choices...

Tastefully Simple Birthday Bash Winner!!

I had a Tastefully Simple party last night and my host and myself were winners! June was Tastefully Simple's birthday month of 15 years. 15 parties were called per region per week. My party last night just happened to be one of them. I was so excited, it was a great way to start off a party.

The host and I both won $115 in Tastefully Simple products. I was SOOOO excited!

I was very tired after last night. Yesterday I had been getting stuff together all day for a yard sale that I had today. At first I thought it wasn't worth it because I really hadn't sold hardly anything. Luckily before getting ready to pack up I had a lady come and buy a lot. I was so happy because she bought some of the larger items also. I didn't have to move them again.

Also a funny yesterday.... my tea cup Chihuahua was outside with me for a little while as I was getting stuff together. This Collie comes into our yard and my little Appy proceeds to chase it away. She went running up to him like you know I'm boss, barks at it then he goes on his merrily little way. It was the funniest thing. Here is this dog so much larger then her and she scares it away.

Here is a picture of her back in December with a little bit of snow on the ground. I need to get some updated pictures of her. She is just hard to take a picture of when I'm her favorite person. She either wants to be sitting on my lap or jumping up my leg.


Here is a comparison to our Great Dane. We have a miniature dog and a giant dog. :)

I was going to post a few other things tonight also. Hopefully I will remember them the next time I post. I'm falling asleep at the computer. This means it is time to go to bed.

Great use for a peeler

I've been trying to cut back on the carbs a little. I seriously could easily eat them every meal and do sometimes. Toast, muffin, cereal or bagel for breakfast, sandwich for lunch then pasta, rice or potatoes for dinner. For lunch to keep away from so many sandwiches I will do turkey or ham with cheese wrapped up in it then some fresh cucumbers from the garden or some grapes or other fruit. I like to get the cheddar, colby jack or monterey jack cheese in the blocks. I have been just cutting the cheese with a small knife, but sometimes it's not so easy to cut. A vegetable peeler does a great job. It slices the cheese thin and is easy peasy.

I also found these uses for a vegetable peeler. http://www.rd.com/home-garden/extraordinary-uses-for-vegetable-peelers/article24047.html I just did the search while making this post and it even mentions cheese so several of you may already know this.

Speaking of food. This is what I'm having for dinner tonight. Bacon Ranch Slow Cooker Chicken

Bacon Ranch Slow Cooker Chicken
Submitted by Kelly Arnold (MN)

Ingredients
3 Tbsp. Bacon Bacon™
1 tsp. Garlic Garlic™
1 pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch® salad dressing mix
10.75 oz. can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Egg noodles, prepared

Directions
Combine first 6 ingredients. Pour mixture over chicken in slow cooker. Cook 3-4 hours on high or until chicken is cooked through. Serve over hot noodles. Makes 4-6 servings.

We have a Bacon Ranch Dip Mix that I'm going to use in place of the Hidden Valley Ranch® salad dressing mix. For those of you unfamiliar with Bacon Bacon, and Garlic Garlic . You're missing out. :) If you don't know, I'm a Tastefully Simple Consultant and would love to help you in purchasing some of these great items. Anyway, enough of my sales pitch, ha! I do use Tastefully Simple items daily though. They are awesome. I'll be sharing more recipes later on.

Why am I still up?

Umm I'm going to regret this in the morn. It's already past 1:30 am and I'm still messing around on the computer.

I've been researching insurance rates for individuals. Yep, I'm one of those crazy people who don't have insurance. This is something I know I need to get in case of emergency but have been majorly procrastinating on. I'm hoping by tomorrow I can get something figured out.

Another reason I'm still up is because last night I went to bed at a reasonable time and was awake half the night with this awful cough. I did go to the doc on Monday and was told I had a sinus infection. The only thing that is bothering me now is the cough though. It's been going on now for almost 2 weeks! I was put on an antibiotic and codene cough syrup. I've taken some of the cough syrup each night before bed. I can't take any during the day due to the way it makes my head feel. A good example of that would be Monday night. I took some and thought I'd just play around on the computer for a bit. After about 15 minutes of taking it, it hit me out of the blue. I felt as if I was going to pass out or get sick. I carefully took myself to bed then slept pretty good. Last night I waited until I was getting ready to lay down before taking it and I'm getting ready to do the same tonight. I even used my husbands inhaler tonight hoping that may help. It may have momentarily, but it isn't helping now. I may use it again before bed along with my cough syrup. Something has just got to give!

Alright, off to take my meds then to never never land. :)

Facebook Badge

Yay! I just figured out to add a Facebook Badge to my Blog and it was so easy. I found it on Alex Wilke's blog just by doing a search.

Our pet Guinea Pigs

Tyler and Tatiana just loved the rabbits and guinea pigs Sunday night at the little petting zoo. So, my husband took them to pick out their own guinea pigs Monday afternoon. My son also has a salt water fish/reef tank. He got it last year for his birthday so he's had it about a year and a half. The thing is just a lot to take care of. My hubby decided it would be best to just get rid of it. His original plans were to keep the tank and stand and use it in the future. He also thought he would let Tyler pick out some type of simple fish, prob for a fresh water tank. When I told hubby how much they both loved the guinea pigs he decided on that. They can get more enjoyment and interaction with the guinea pigs then they can fish. I was searching through some of my pictures trying to find pictures of our clown fish to no avail. I did find one of the kids and I with one of them in the background so I will post that. He was a little upset that his clown fish were going bye bye but the guinea pigs definitely helped that situation. He wasn't nearly as upset then.


One of Tyler's clown fish in the background.


Tatiana named her guinea pig Lucky and Tyler named his Johnny


Tatiana's is the smaller of the two.


Tyler's is rather big. They are both 4 weeks old.

I also set up a Facebook page for A Little Bit of Everything today. I just checked it and already have 26 Fans. That's not bad for just setting it up several hours ago! :) Thanks all!

I found these ideas a few days ago and want to make them for my kids.


Fabric Scrap Dolls from This Mama Makes Stuff


The printout is on that site along with the tutorial. It mentions using glue to attach the fabric to the dolls. I'm thinking I may have some velcro. If so, I'll attach a piece to the doll then to the cardboard. That way she can continue to use the same printouts.

I also want to do the Tie Rattle Snake

The tutorial is also included in the link above and this is by V and Co.

VBS kick off

Today was Father's Day. We went to church this morning then met my family out for a late lunch. Have I mentioned I'm so blessed to have such a close family? I'm glad that we are able to spend most holidays with each other.

This evening was Vacation Bible School kick off. Our church isn't having one this year so I took the kids to another one close by. The kick off party was great. They had lots of things going on and the kids had a blast.



FACE PAINTING






PETTING ZOO



THEY BOTH WANT A PET RABBIT NOW



BOUNCE HOUSE


Not an attractive picture of me but wanted to show I made it up that thing with a toddler! :)

INFLATABLE SLIDE



And... for those of you not from this area V.F.D. stands for volunteer fire department. That's right, these guys and gals work on a volunteer basis.

The fire truck sprayed out the water for the kids. How cool is that?

The drenched gals afterward. :)

Sorry about the picture overload!

Fireflies

The kids have been asking me to go out with them to catch fireflies ever since they saw the first one this season. I've been wanting to get out there with them but usually by the time it gets dark enough to go catch them I've already bathed them and don't want to go outside in their pajamas. Well, my parents just got back from a trip to TN and they bought both of them this neat little gadget. It looks like a giant light bulb but the bottom opens up so you can put fireflies in it. It is also ventilated throughout. I couldn't resist letting them catch fireflies or lightening bugs (as I was brought up calling them) after seeing how excited they were.









I had them let all the fireflies go before we went back inside. Tatiana let them go then was trying to catch them and put them back in again. I had to eventually let the rest of hers out. They wanted to keep them but I new if they stayed in there for too long they wouldn't be shining so brightly, so I told them they needed to let them go so they could catch them again. This was last night that they caught them and Tyler was especially asking me tonight if they could go out and catch them again tonight. After a long day, me still not feeling 100%, Tatiana not having a nap and starting to complain about her ear hurting again I decided tonight wasn't the best night and put them both in the bed at a reasonable time. Took both the kids to the doc Monday after Tati woke up early Mon morning complaining about her ear and both of them had had a pretty bad cough the entire week before. I thought it may just be allergies with Tyler but thought I should bring him in just in case. I figured Tatiana had an ear infection. Tyler's diagnosis was walking pneumonia and Tatiana's was sinus and ear infection. I was totally floored with Tyler's diagnosis since he acted like he had felt fine and no fever, just a cough. They were both put on the same antibiotic which was only for 5 days. Tyler still acts like he feels ok but Tatiana is complaining about her ear again. We went to the pool today and I didn't even think anything about her getting water in her ears. When she started complaining about them this evening it then donned on me that we shouldn't have went to the pool or I should have put something in her ears to prevent the water getting in. It was one of those what was I thinking moments.



See, she looked happy at the pool. It was after the fact when that ear started hurting her.

We also went to a local festival tonight and here are a few pictures from that.


Tatiana going down the big inflatable slide


Tyler throwing some baseballs


The inflatable obstacle course that I thought Tatiana was going to win.


Tyler finished just a second before Tatiana.

I found a really cute printable tonight for a wedding gift that I need to wrap. I've got several cute printable tags bookmarked. I will share those in a post soon!

Guess that is about it for tonight. Happy Father's Day to all you Daddy's. My hubby has to work tomorrow for Father's Day but we will spend it with my Dad. Church in the morning then lunch with the extended family.