Amazon.com $10 Gift Certificate Giveaway

I recently surpassed the 100 follower mark so I have decided to do my first official giveaway. I am giving away a $10.00 Gift Certificate to Amazon.com. This is not a sponsored giveaway. It is a reward I got and I am giving it to one of my readers. The contest will end August 10, 2010 at 11:59 pm EST. If you win, you must respond to the email within 48 hours or another winner will be picked. I will send the winner the claim code so they will have immediate access to the gift certificate.

It is pretty easy to enter:
You must publicly follow me and leave a comment saying you do along with your email address.

Extra Entry:
Blog about my giveaway on your blog and leave me a link to the actual post. Be sure to leave your email address.

Good Luck!!

I finally won a contest!!

YES, I finally won a contest over at Sugar Pop Ribbons. I won this yummy looking Deluxe Apple Gift Box from California Caramel Company. I don't think I will tell my husband and kids so I can have them all to myself (insert evil laugh here)!!

Tuesday Blog Hops

Paint Project #2: Breakfast Room Light Fixture

Well, I bought the light fixture for the breakfast room to replace to builder gold basic one that you see above. It matches the light fixture in my dining room. I got a good deal on this one as well at Lowe's. It ended up costing me about $25.00. It wasn't as great a deal as the other light but still a good deal. You probably guessed that I painted it my trusty Krylon Oil Rubbed Bronze. My husband kids that he is going to come home one day and the boys will be oil rubbed bronze in color because I decided they would look better that way :) So without further delay, here is the final result.

Paint Project 1: Dining Room Light Redo

I have hated this light fixture ever since I first saw it. It was that new build gold basic light fixture. I finally got around to replacing it. I was so excited about replacing it that I forgot to take a picture of the before. It was exactly like the picture above that I got off the Krylon site. You can see my old fixture in the mirror of the second picture and in the right hand corner as well. I was trying my best not to get it in this picture :)  The fixture had two lights that wouldn't work and the rings on the bottom of the light were always moving around from the boys touching them.

Anyway, we were at Lowe's one Saturday doing a project with the boys and decided to look at lights. We found the light above on clearance. It had been $178.00 but was reduced to $43.88. We had a $10.00 off coupon the boys had gotten with their Father's Day Frame they made at Lowe's. So, the final cost with tax was less than $35.00. Not bad, huh?! BUT, I didn't like the color so I got my trusty Krylon Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint and transformed it. I also hated seeing the chain so I made a chain cover out of extra fabric. I know it is OCD but you have to admit it does look better than the chain. I still want to touch up the edges with a little aged old rub but pretty much it is finished. Below are the pictures of the final product. I just love it! It has a matching fixture that I am also painting to go over my breakfast table. I will post pictures of that redo soon.

Teddy Grahams' Day at the Beach

Ok, so I know the title is a little goofy but I am open to suggestions for a better one. This a treat I made for my son's Pre-K Graduation Picnic. I didn't have a blog at the time so I don't have have pictures of the pudding by itself. For this treat you need:

* White Chocolate Instant Pudding Mix (or similar pudding that is white) & ingredients to make it
* Gel Food Coloring - mine was Neon Gel Colors (you can use regular colors but the gel works best)
* White Cake Mix & ingredients to make it* Teddy Grahams
* Gummy Lifesavers
* Drink Umbrellas - I got mine at Dollar Tree
* Container - Again, mine came from Dollar Tree...I just love that store!!

Make pudding according to package instructions. Add your blue coloring to the pudding to get the color of "water" you desire. Let it chill in the refrigerator for a few hours before assembly.

Make the cake according to the instructions. Be sure to use the egg whites only to make your colors more vibrant. As you can see from the picture above, the neon colors really pop in the white cake batter. A couple of tips to speed clean up and make the mixing super easy: put quart size Ziplock bags in cups that are all the same size and fold the top over the edges. Add the cake mix evenly in the cups and add the different colors to each. Zip up the bag, cut off the corner and spread cake mix in pan. This works great especially if you are making cupcakes with multiple colors in them. While the cake is cooling, grind up part of your Teddy Grahams in a food processor. These crumbs will be the "beach".

Finally, assemble. Break up the cake in small pieces and put into your cup/container then fill to top with pudding "water". You can do the cake and pudding in advance and keep them in the refrigerator but they look best if done a couple of hours in advance. The pudding will seep slightly into the cake if you do this step the night before. Trust me, I know. Mine still looked good and no one else knew BUT I did! Add a little Teddy "sand" on one side, stretch the Gummy Lifesaver around the Teddy Graham as his life preserver and insert in pudding " water". Add the umbrella and there you have it...a Teddy Grahams' Day at the Beach!

Tuesday Tag-Along

I am participating in

Pink and Brown Chocolate Dressed Up Cake

This is my latest dressed up cake inspired by Texas Monkey. I made it for my friend, Stephanie, for her birthday. I was originally going to add a strawberry ribbon around the cake with just plain Piroulines but I couldn't find the ribbon anywhere. Instead, I found this great chocolate brown and pink ribbon so I made the cake to match it. I colored Wilton white chips with a couple of drops of my Americolor Neon Pink Gel Paste to get the pink. It really is very simple to make this and the procedure is VERY forgiving. The layers actually split in the middle and I "glued" them together with chocolate icing. I also piped icing out of a bag along the inside of the Piroulines to make the cake level. When I put the strawberries on top, you couldn't see my repair work. BTW, the Piroulines can be found at Dollar Tree which makes them super cheap!

Below is a picture of my first cake I made like this which was featured on Texas Monkey.

Present for My Husband, Rich

This posting is a little late but I didn't want my husband to look at my blog and ruin part of his Father's Day surprise. Notice that the feet read "LUV U". This idea would actually work for about any occasion and any person...Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Moms, etc. Preston and Brett actually behaved for the 'photo shoot'. It was a miracle!!

Welcome Wednesday

I am participating in Welcome Wednesday hosted by Take It From Me.

Father's Day "Superhero Care Package"

First of all, I want to give credit where credit is due. I got this idea and the FREE printable from Alpha Mom.  Isn't it great that she took the time to make such a great printable and gives it to us for free?!

I looked at all the local craft stores and couldn't find a box like the one she used but I did find this great box on clearance at Michael's. I liked the colors but obviously, the shells weren't quite right.

So, I covered it with two sheets of cardstock. One sheet wouldn't fit over the entire top of the box. I put ribbon over the seams and attached my labels. Then, I put a scalloped tag over the shell on the side part of the lid.

Here are the "care" items below. The "Hero Juice" is a bottle of Jones Soda. My sons picked it out and Rich is just going to LOVE the flavor, Green Apple. Ok, maybe not so much but it looks great in the box. The "Jerky" is actually dried blueberries. Rich isn't wild about jerky so I thought that made a great substitution.

This is the final result. I am very happy with the way it turned out. I am sure Rich is just going to love it!

Coffee Filter Wreath

This is one of my latest projects. I found it at The Little Brown House and just loved it. I knew that I had to try to and make it. I didn't have a blog at the time so I didn't take pictures of the process. I followed all the directions found at The Little Brown House but I used greenery staples. I also figured out along the way that the wreath is more uniform if you fold the coffee filter in half then fold it over again two more times. Below are pictures of the process I used. The wreath with the ribbon hanger ended up costing me less than $5.00. What a deal!

I am linking this to: