a little happiness

I started this blog only to stop after a few posts. What's wrong with me?? So the Sabbatical is over (even if it wasn't originally planned!)!! I'll update this blog with things I've done in the last few months, but I wanted to share with you what I did today.

I realized a while back that we all should do more things to help make this world a better place. It can be something as simple as buying a stranger their coffee in the drive thru (pay it forward!) or more complex as donating your time at an animal shelter. Whatever you choose I bet it will bring a sense of well-being to you (and to the lucky person) and you've now accomplished what you set out to do.
I asked my son's kindergarten class to make greeting cards for the kids at our local Children's Hospital. The hospital pass out these cards with a child's meal to help lift their spirits and bring a little happiness while they battle an illness. The class made me a ton of cards and I want to share a few.

Here's a closer look of the one my little man made :)

I also added a little letter thanking them for all they do

So go out and do something nice for someone. Karma is GOOD!!

xoxo,
elle

Martha Tips - How to tie a bow

I, just like some of you, strives to be there own version of Martha Stewart (or Maria Stewart). So here is a tip on how to create a perfect bow for those of you who are bow challenged (like myself)... Enjoy!

Martha Stewart - How to Tie a Bow Video

xoxo,
Elle

How To Train Your Dragon Party

Here is some pictures of what I've been working on this past week... My cousins daughter's 7th birthday party... We worked for HOURS to get things ready for the party... Everything we did was very budget friendly and fairly easy if you're the crafty type... btw if you haven't seen this movie, I HIGHLY suggest it. It was AWESOME.

The colors of the party were Purple, Red & Black...

Chocolate lollipops - Purple candy melts and a candy mold... VERY EASY!

Cupcake Toppers that I made (We searched the web and there was very little party decor for this movie). The cupcakes are Red Velvet with Chocolate Ganache filling. However in this pic the frosting looks grey. It wasn't; it was purple. They were heavenly nonetheless.

Viking Ship my crafty cousin made courtesy of Looledo. Great craft website if you like building things out of milk cartons and paper towel rolls. 

We made swords for the kids to color out of foam board... 

Nutter Butter Balls and S'mores Marshmallows. The NBBs recipe is from one of my FAVORITE bloggers and new author Bakerella. She has some fantastic baking ideas and she posts step by step pictures. I can not remember what blog/website it was that inspired the S'mores marshmallows but thank you for them.

More cupcake toppers :)

Another Viking Ship...

Food place cards... My other cousin makes this super yummy salad; hence the name Monica's Salad. Genius huh?

Water bottles with this cool dragon figure we picked up at... wait for it... the 99 cents store. Got to love that place sometimes.

Here is the cake we made... The Dragon was German Chocolate with a semi-homemade (love it) Cream Cheese frosting. I was mighty impressed with the outcome since neither one of us have ever made a stand up cake. The design was courtesy of Instructables.  



Here was the invite to the party that I made... I think it's cute.

For lunch we made Finger Sandwiches (Turkey & Cheese, Ham & Cheese, & Tuna), Potato Salad, Mac & Cheese, Monica Salad, Veggies with dip & Fruit. It was so hot that we literally served and then put everything away. The kids played games then jumped in the pool. It was a great day.

We were sooo busy running around that these were the only pictures I captured of the party (besides guests). Next time I need to hire someone to follow us around snapping pictures... next time...

xoxo, Elle

Late (or Early) Valentine's Day Cupcakes

So I think to get my blog going I'm going to randomly start showing some of the things I've made in the past... Let me just tell you that everything I do is a learning process... some days my crafts are ehhh and some days they are wow! Don't worry I'll show both... Although it's still odd to write as if I'm talking to someone BUT I do have to say that it's nice to know that someone out there is reading this :).

So I wanted to share with you all the cupcakes I made for my lil man's pre-k class for V-Day 2010.
(Next time I make something I will be sure to take pics of the process rather than just the end result...)

Strawberry Cupcakes with a semi-homemade (my favorite kind of homemade) cream cheese frosting and chocolate red hearts... You should have seen how fast these 5 years olds DEVOURED these things... Not a single one left; it was awesome!

Enjoy!!

My 1st Post!!!

How exciting is this!!! It's my first post! I hope to keep those who are soon to follow entertained with my many attempts to be "that" Mom...
I would like to point out that I strive to be "that" Mom not to make other Moms feel as if I'm trying to show them up (so to speak), BUT to put a huge smile on my lil man's face. He LOVES when I make things for his birthday/class/friends/etc... so that just inspires me to keep it up.

Since I can not decide what crafty pic to post first I'm going to post this awesome pic of the last time we went to Seaword... Sweet!