Super Simple STAR Spangled Pizza

Let me just be up front with you,

this idea was STOLEN!

Well, at least modified.

For Valentine's Day the oh so adorable Kate from 

See Kate Sew

made this heart pizza.

I copied her then too.

The Cuban Cowboy loved showing off his left overs. 

You know those construction guys are easily impressed.

I thought that I should bless him with lovely leftovers again,

so I grabbed out my star cookie cutter.

Picked up my Costco Pizza

and  together

they went to work.

Costco pepperoni is RIDICULOUS.

Really, does anyone need that much pepperoni?

This is a great way to get rid of some,

plus it cuts back on the calories.

Woo hoo for that.

I cut each star out,

since Costco pepperoni is super thin it is easier to cut if you stack multiple pieces.

Easier and faster.

Then I began to place them in the pizza

'til it looked all pretty like this.

Bake that bad boy.

Sizzlin' goodness awaits only minutes later.

If you feel bad about tossing all of that excess pepperoni,

you can do as I did and save it for an antipasti salad the next day.

Muah hahahahaha 

GENIUS.

Okay, not really.

Just cheap.

Lots of love.

Go be festive for your kidlets 

and leave the hubby some left overs

 so that he can show off how much his wifey cares.

A Birthday/ Fourth of July Countdown

Okay, so count downs aren't really anything new under the sun.

This is just the QUICKEST countdown I could make.

We haven't really counted down before

because Monster never really understood the concept before.

However, he keeps wanting things that he KNOWS

are for his birthday and pirate party.

So I knew it was time to start the count down tradition.

I waited until this week

because I didn't think that he could handle counting down for more than a week.

That is

FOREVER AND EVER

in almost three-year-old time.

I just hung it on a little wall between living rooms

at a height he could reach.

I used a push pin that I glued a felt star to.

Each morning he can take a number of

until he sees this on next Monday.

Do you countdown with your kiddos?

What tricks are helpful?

What age did you start?

Born On The Fourth of JULY Mantel

I have mentioned to some of you out there that my oldest son,

MONSTER,

was born on the Fourth of July.

This makes celebrating both fun and, well, complicated.

Since it is a week until his birthday,

I have decided to bombard you all with festive Fourth of July 

and Birthday posts.

Look for things like:

• a glimpse at his past birthdays
• decor
• a birthday/100 followers (yeah, I'm late on that) giveaway(s)
• Mommy party attire

Hopefully, this will be both a fun and productive week for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so on to the first post of this week.

My newly, festively decorated mantel.

This idea originated from Eighteen25

around Easter time when they posted this pom garland.

When I saw it I instantly knew that
I was going to make one for Fourth of July 

because I had all of these poms 
left over from Monster's First birthday party.

I just knew that they would be perfect.

So on Saturday night

I got out the red Gutermann thread, a needle, 
and this jar full of left over goodies.

After some untangling of thread and about an hour of designing,

I ended up with this.

After the garland was complete,

I took some festive fabric that I also had left over from the first birthday 

and wrapped a canvas that I am actually in the midst of redoing.

I stapled the fabric to itself 

so that it wouldn't ruin the canvas.

I then added some ribbon, photos from Monster's birth,

and a little sign that says, 

"Born on the Fourth of July."

The blue frame and candle holders are always on the mantel

(except holidays).

I am quite pleased with the outcome.

Do you decorate for the Fourth?

{Frugal Friday} A Summer Wreath

It's back.
This little feature has been MIA for about 
three weeks now.


Sorry about that.


However, today's little beauty is fun and cheap.
How cheap?


Well, for me it was FREE
because I already had all of the supplies.


I finally thought that I should 

change my wreath out from the Spring Sweater Nest one that I made

a months back.

Sorry, no tutorial,
but I can give you some details.

Just look at the deliciousness of these two colors. 

I sort of want to make my entire front porch 

look something like this.

I used two sweaters that I had in my scrap box.

They were supposedly larges, 

maybe they should've been in the children's section.

Additional supplies were a green wreath form from the DollarTree 

and a frame that I broke the glass on the other day 

while attempting to prep it for an entirely different purpose.

Anyway, I bought the sweaters several years back for $6 each.

I wore each a handful of time, 

enough to get my money out of them.

Now here they are.

I created two textures, one with each color.
The coral is a layer wrap,
while the blue is flat and smoother.
I love the depth that this adds.


I put a contrasting bow in the bottom corner of the frame.

And . . . 

my favorite detail is the buttons from the collar.

I used the entire henley/hoodie trim 

as a wrap around the center wreath.

The buttons are just too cute.

I still have enough scraps left to make some sweateralls 

in the Fall/Winter for my ETSY shop.

I love it all.

Any thoughts?

What sort of Summer Splashes are you currently adding to your home?

{What I Wore Wednesday} A Sunny Plaid

I haven't worn this dress in probably three or four years.

Yeah. 
That's right because the last time I wore it was 
about a week before I discovered that I was prego with Monster.

Anyway, when I purchased this awesome vintage dress 
from Ebay I was immediately excited.

When it arrived I loved that the buttons 
are a faux placard hiding a zipper.

Psst . . . check out the temp on the thermometer behind my head.
It's only 9 AM.


Another great feature of this dress is the pocket.
It only has one,
but I think that all dresses should have pockets.
They are so handy.
I am glad that designers are starting to return to this.

Yesterday's house dress is perfect 
for today's retro Summer style.

I actually have typically seen this as a Fall dress,

but this morning I realized that 
yellow and orange are oh so Summery.
It is indeed a sunny,Summery plaid.

Just see.

Dress: Vintage via EBAY, Belt: Forever 21 Clearance ($1.99),
Shoes: Shiek (a little store in my mall), Earrings: Thrifted,
None of the pics show it but I also have a yellow bow in my hair from Nordstrom.
It must be on my bad side.

I paired it with these awesome wedges,

and I added the fun green skinny belt

 instead of the matching plaid belt that came with it.

Topped with a quick hairstyle

and some big green button earrings.

I feel quite chic today.

Invitation Preparation

There are two birthday's in our household in July.

Monster will be three July Fourth and 

Roly Poly will be turning one at the end of the month.

Thus, I am in the midst of invitation preparation.

Although Monster's party is first,

and I am mailing the invites out today, 

I am going to share with you 
Roly Poly's invitations in this post.

His party is going to be bigger since it is his first one,
and there will be several posts 

covering party projects.

For Monster's Party I am planning on doing one or two 
posts to cover it all.

Okay, so on with the show.

I had Roly Poly's invitations made by my friend Melissa

of Bella Artista.

Check out her other work.

She is so much fun to work with and has great ideas.

This was my second time working with her.

So she created these beauties based on Roly Poly's high chair.

You know you love the blacking out of info. 

Yes, we are having an owl theme.

Aren't they cute?

Well, we planned from the beginning that after printing the invites 

I was going to corner round the edges to soften them up and mimic the center design.

Melissa had done something similar in the Fall for her kiddos birthdays and it turned out soooo great.

Here are the before and afters.

Isn't it amazing how such a small detail 
makes such a BIG difference.

I am glad to have another small thing 
out of the way for his party,

especially because the next two weeks
 have to be dedicated to Monster's

Pirate Party on the Fourth.

Nothing says Fourth of July like Pirates after all.

Oops! I almost forgot to pick a winner today.

The winner from my Summer Daze giveaway,

and future owner of this

 lovely headband is . . .

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:20

Suze said...

I love summer because I get to spend a lot of time outside with my kids :)

June 11, 2011 9:30 AM 

Yay!!! Suze. Another fun hair piece to add to your collection.

Contact me with your info.

Thanks!!!!

{What I Wore Wednesday} Simple Style

Well, this feature has been MIA for the past two weeks,

but alas, it has returned.

Today's outfit is nothing special . . . really.

However, I wanted to share the importance of simple style,

especially for us mommies.

It is awesome to get SUPER cute once or twice a week,

but,  let's face it, most of the time we are running amuck with our kiddos.

So what is a fashionista to do?

Well, take those simple piece and accessorize quickly.

Most of this time this doesn't even require me to truly style my hair.

I am not kidding.

It is a practice that I have long embraced.

So here is a glimpse of how I rocked some simple style for an errand day.

Jeans: Levi's (Costco), Wedges: ALDO outlet, Black Tank: Target under $3, Hair Scarf: Coach Outlet,

Bracelet: made by ME, Ring: Thrifted .75, Necklace: Nordstrom BP

Gotta love the way the sun bleached out the shot above.

Really, I do like it, which is why I am sharing it.

Little Pink Earrings for a contrast to all the Teal.

Claire's.

In case you are wondering, it only takes me about 3-5 minutes to do my make-up.

Someday I will get around to sharing some of my make-up how tos.

Okay, so really all I have on is jeans and a tank top.

However, I swear by the fact that heels or wedges make people think that you tried.

The same goes for a scarf.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

YUMMY!!!

This is seriously one of my favorite recipes that I use.

I adapted it from author/musician Kelly Minter's recipe,

which can be found in her Bible Study on RUTH.

purchase here

Not only is her study AMAZING

because it shows what an important role Ruth has in God's plan

and demonstrates so many key things that we can learn from her, 

but it is FUN!!!!

Each week has a suggested play list and recipes to serve at the study.

These recipes ROCK too.

I just started another study of her's,

No other Gods, with a group of ladies.

purchase here

I am not sure if I am more excited about getting into the word

or eating some delicious food from her recipes.

The first one from last week including a ridiculously awesome
Butterfinger cake.

Well, anyway,

here is one of my FAVORITES altered just a bit to suit my ridiculously picky tastes.

If you would like to check out her recipe,

you can pick up a copy of the study here.

The * mark an alteration, most likely in measurement.
The ** marks an addition that I have made.
She does also call for Picante sauce, but I don't eat tomatoes.

Okay, so . . . 

INGREDIENTS:
*4-6 chicken breasts boiled
*3 cups canned chicken broth
8 burrito sized flour tortillas
1/2 cup tightly packed cilantro
**1 small can green enchilada sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
**1/4 cup cream cheese
1 Tbl flour
1/2 stick butter
*Jack cheese (preferred amount)
*Cheddar cheese (preferred amount)
1 can of black beans

DIRECTIONS:
In a blender combine cumin, cilantro, sour cream, cream cheese, enchilada sauce,
and 2 cups of the chicken broth.
In skillet or sauce pan, heat butter and add flour until smooth.
Slowly add the remaining cup of chicken broth until smooth and creamy
(more flour can be added to make it thicker).
Add sauce to the blender.
This is the "gravy."

To make enchiladas:
Take each tortilla and fill with chicken, cheese, and beans.
Roll and then add to a 9x13 pan, seam side down.
 Fill pan with gravy, completely covering the enchiladas.
Sprinkle more cheese on top (I use a profuse amount)

Bake at 350 uncovered for 30 minutes.

YUMMY DELICIOUSNESS IS ON IT"S WAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yes, and here are some cute new items that my auntie sent me 

last month for my birthday that I wore while making 

this delish dish.

She did such a great job sewing these,

and they just fit my kitchen perfectly.