Christmas Fun...Quick and Easy!

This weekend was filled with some fun Christmas activities that required some homemade happiness!!

Besides baking a forest of Sugar Cookie Christmas trees (darn, I should have taken a picture! sorry), these Brownie Christmas trees were a yummy addition to a fundraiser.  

9x13 Brownie mix (made according to instructions)

Bake in a 9 x 13 pan lined with foil coated with cooking spray according to directions.  Make sure the foil comes up the sides of the pan so the brownies can be easily lifted out of the pan in the foil.

Cool brownies to make them easy to cut by popping them in the freezer for about 45 minutes.

Remove from the freezer and cut into 3" strips.  Cut triangles from the strips.  Poke candy cane sticks in bottom of "tree".  Drizzle green frosting on the top and sprinkle with decorations.

Ta Da!  The world's yummiest Christmas tree!

 

The party theme was "Ugly Christmas Sweater"....so here's our attempt at a Pinterest favorite

Dissected a stuffed Gingerbread Man from the Dollar Store and sewed it on a sweater from Goodwill.  Add a little ric rac and there you have a first prize winner of the Ugly Sweater contest.  Extra points because it was "homemade"!

I've been featured!

My Umbrella Cupcake toppers have been featured on  

Bravo Bride!

 

10 Must Haves for a Beach Wedding

Although winter is upon us, walking down a white sandy beach instead of an aisle is not out of the question. Check out these 10 must haves for beach and destination weddings!

Invite family and friends to your wedding with these festive invitations by The Stylish Scribe! Tickets to paradise anyone?

How unique! Watch out when throwing this Shell Bouquet! I Do Artsy Weddings has a variety of of other shell bouquets, decor and boutonnieres that are absolutely stunning!

Looking for unique bridesmaids gifts? Symbolizing hope and reliability, these personalized anchor lockets from The Dedication Company are precious and meaningful, just like your bridal party.

Check this out! Doodle Birdie offers thimbles filled with reindeer moss spiked with sea shells, making perfect decorations for any beach wedding. They’re also great as wedding favors!

These natural heart shaped beach stones from MedBeachStones can be given as gifts or used for decor. Check out what else this shop does with these natural love stones!

Jam Jewels features these white gold orchid earrings paired with a tear drop fresh water pearl, making it perfect for destination wedding jewelry!

Instead of trying to walk with heels in the sand, check out these beautiful bead sandals by Jewels By Michele! Pamper your feet on your special day.

Don’t forget about your cake! This adorable cake topper from Bunny With A Tool Belt is simple, unique and absolutely precious!

Not having a cake? Keep theme alive with these beach cupcake toppers from  

GiggleBees and Clevor 1!

Looking for a wedding gift for your groom? These custom map cuff-links are a loving reminder of your special day. Contact Tomato-Made with your location details to create a sentimental gift he can use over and over again

Invisible Book Shelf

Our living room has been the center of my attention lately.  

I'm changing it up without spending much $$....I love that!  

 I'll reveal the entire before and after later.  

For now, here's an addition to the room.

Stacks of floating books.

"Book" Shelves.  

 

I've been known to judge a book by its cover 

but this time it was a requirement!  

I wanted the right color combination.  Some of the books were from our 

own collection (most of the dust jackets removed) and a few were from Goodwill; 

brackets from Home Depot and lots of ez-anchors!

"Invisible" Shelf Brackets can be bought online like here

but I didn't want to wait!  So, check out here for some d.i.y!!

Brunch recipes

Sunday Brunch....yum!  

Baked French Toast Recipes I used this weekend.

OH-SO-GOOD!

Bake French Toast

cooks.com 

The original recipe calls for sourdough bread.  I used a sliced Italian bread instead and it worked well.  Next time I have left over sourdough I will use that!

4 large slices soudough bread, crust removed, bread cubed (ah! I tore the pieces, maybe it would have looked better cubed!)
1  - 8 oz package cream cheese
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and chopped
6 eggs
1 C milk
1 1/2 tsp gound cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

• Place half the bread cubes in greased 11x7 baking dish.  Cover with cream cheese cubes, distributing evenly.  Sprinkle with chopped apple.  Top evenly with remaining bread cubes.
• Beat together eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon until well blended; pour over bread mixture in dish.  Bake in a preheated 375 oven about 35 minutes until set.  

Serve with syrup.
4-5 servings.  

 Orange Pecan French Toast Casserole

myrecipes.com 

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
Cooking spray
1/3 cup chopped pecans 
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup fat-free milk
3 tablespoons granulated sugar 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
3 large egg whites
2 large eggs 
12 (1-inch-thick) slices French bread (about 1 pound)

• Combine brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup; pour into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle chopped pecans evenly over sugar mixture.
• Combine rind and next 7 ingredients (rind through eggs); stir with a whisk. Arrange bread slices over pecans in dish; pour egg mixture over bread. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or up to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Carefully turn bread slices over to absorb excess egg mixture. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until lightly browned.

A Banner Year.....ready for Halloween!

One more fun way to enjoy the Halloween Holiday!

CUTE (not too scary!) colorful, hand painted, glittery door or wall decor

Find these and one very cute Birthday Banner 

in my ETSY shop:

I LOVE CL-EVOR!

Teen Bedroom Oasis!

Everything a shop-a-holic teen girl wants in a bedroom!  Pink.  Green.  Sparkle. Glam.

We bargain shopped too!!  The PB Teen vanity set would have cost $800.  We found our pieces at IKEA for less than $200!

Starting to fall for FALL!

The cooler weather has given me a reason to start thinking towards my favorite time of the year...FALL...AUTUMN....This Friday, September 23 is the official start!

Here's what I've come up with for our mantel.  The painting is another great idea straight from the Lowe's Creative Ideas magazine.  Filled in with some accessories from around our house and a simple bag of decorative gourds picked up at the grocery store, I think this mantel screams FALL in a non-traditional way!

Silhouette Artwork....decorate your walls with custom wall art!

I recently received Lowe's Creative Ideas magazine in the mail.
I always love when it's in my mailbox!  So many great ideas.
One of the many ideas in the magazine is this silhouette artwork.
My s-i-l enjoyed this gift of her 3 kids and their family "monogram" with all of their initials.

Follow these instructions or get a copy of this very resourceful magazine of your own at www.LowesCreativeIdeas.com/subscribe

SILHOUETTE ART BOARDS

• Cut  1/2" plywood to desired size.  I used 12" squares.
• Take a photo of your model's profile against a lightly colored background and print in the size you would like.
• Cut out the silhouette, tape it to the plywood and trace around it with a pencil.
• Paint carefully around the outline on the outside of the profile in a dark colored paint.  I used craft paint raw umber.
• Seal with matte or satin finish spray.
• MONOGRAM tile:  I used my SilhouetteSD cutting machine to cut vinyl 6" square letters for the family monogram.  You could also use the same painting technique described above and paint the letters.  Paint a slogan or last name over it all in a different color.
• Attach picture wire to the back of each square of plywood and they are ready to hang!

Happy Birthday to.....ME!

Newest creation.... Check it out in my etsy shop  www.etsy.com/shop/clevor1

Extra fun date this year for my birthday:  9-10-11!

It's been a great day and the picture above is on our front door right now!  

It's a cute banner that can be used for anyone's birthday.  

Hand painted (by me!) and oh, so, colorful and sparkly!  

Check out this BIRTHDAY BANNER in my ETSY shop!!

Back to School Party....for the moms!

The First Day of School....Some Moms are sad.  Some Moms are happy.  

(A local school calls it:  BOO HOO YAHOO)

After the kids get on the bus and head off to a new school year, gather your neighbors and friends and enjoy a Back-To-School breakfast.

 

 Add "blackboard" graffiti on a disposable tablecloth with a white paint pen.

Pencil vase instructions HERE.

Use notebooks and textbooks as "trivets".

Wrapped utensil holder is a pocket folder.

What to do with that zucchini from our garden!

So the largest zucchini from our garden this year weighs in at a hefty 7.5 pounds.  The thing is as big as a newborn....so much so that you want to hold it like a baby!

 I found some great recipes at Our Best Bites.  Check out these two recipes that I've used in the past couple of weeks to make some very good zucchini bread....one is orange flavored and one is chocolate (okay, they can call it "bread"....it's really cake but let's pretend the vegetables in it make it actually nutritious!)

Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe  

Zucchini Bread with a bit of orange flavor 

Memory T-Shirt Quilt

Four years of high school memories; countless t-shirts narrowed down to 17; a few days of work; a couple broken needles; yards of fleece; one comforter; two crying sessions as "You'll be in my Heart" shuffled on my ipod....and the memory quilt to send with my 18 year old baby to college is (finally) finished.  

Quilting it with batting and a cotton panel may have been easier but he likes the extra weight so I sewed the panels onto his twin xl comforter.  Ready for his dorm room!  Now to make some pillows to use on the futon and a pillow sham and he'll be one step closer to ready-for-school. 

Back to School Teacher Gift

Have you seen the Shredded Wheat commercials that say 

"Happy New Year" as the kids go off to their first day of school?  

They copied me!  Okay....maybe not but... 

Eleven years ago, my son's first day of first grade, I presented the teacher with a 

"Happy New School Year!" gift filled with fun teacher supplies. 

Never hurts to make a good impression....for your child!  =)

Here's another idea that is SO easy to get ready for your child's first day of school.

 

A pencil vase.

Hot glue new unsharpened pencils around a glass jar.  Tie it with a ribbon.

Fill this unique, fun, school-daze vase with flowers and give to your favorite teacher!

Baby Shower Cupcakes

We're in baby shower mode.  Well, ehem, not at MY house.  My first baby is getting ready to head off to UW-Madison in a couple of weeks (sniff, sniff, wipe my tears!)

My husband's sweet cousin is having a baby and we're celebrating!  Last night was the family baby shower.  A week night baby shower works well for our family.  Frees up weekend days and the atmosphere is light hearted and festive.  Dinner was a huge buffet of salads: Chicken curry salad, spinach pasta salad, fruit salad, tomato bread salad, black bean jalapeno, couscous.  All were yummy!  A few of us made them so there's less pressure on the hostess getting the house and drinks ready.

Here's a picture of  a very simple cupcake dessert dressed up for the baby shower!

 

The shower umbrellas are die-cut paper and dressed up with glitter and pearl dots and all tied up with a bow.  These can be cut out in many different colors or imagine them all in white for a wedding shower.  Showers of happiness!

You can buy these cupcake picks in my etsy shop:  

http://www.etsy.com/listing/79619191/shower-cupcake-topper-umbrella-for-baby 

How to make a Diaper Cake for a Baby Shower

Blogger The Social Secretary's BFF is having a baby!  I know the BFF and we're so lucky to have her in our family.  The BFF has so many friends too! SS has so many cute ideas for her baby shower in a couple of weeks (see her blog!)

Here's my gift to the best-mom-to-be...

a super cute and useful Baby Shower Diaper Cake!

You can make one too!  

This "cake" is made of:

• Bottle of Dreft detergent (hidden in the center)
• 50 size 1 diapers
• 36 size 2 diapers
• 6 onsies
• 5 receiving blankets
• teething toy
• lots o'links
• baby spoons
• thermometer
• brush & comb
• aspirator

The foundation of the cake is made of the bottle of the detergent and the diapers.  The rest can be whatever you want to buy!  The toys and receiving blankets just happened to be in coordinating colors so I bought spools of gross grain ribbon to match.  The possibilities are endless!
You'll also need:

• a platform (I cut out a 14" circle of foam board but you could use sturdy cardboard or a large platter)
• rubber bands
• safety pins
• duct or packing tape
• coordinating ribbon

Secure bottle of detergent to center of platform with duct tape.

Make bundles of diapers by rolling the diapers and securing a few together with a rubber band. 

Stack bundles around bottle of detergent to fill the platform to make the first "layer".  Tie all of the bundles around the bottle.  (You can use any ribbon or string....it'll be hidden; it's just used to keep the layer together)


Make more bundles of diapers and stack to make a layered cake tying each "layer" with string to secure to bottle.

Roll the onsies and secure with rubber bands.  Use the onsies as the top "layer" of the cake.

Fold receiving blankets diagonally and then roll to form a long strip.  Wrap each "layer" with a blanket and secure with a large safety pin.

Tie gross grain ribbon around each layer.  Add on the extra toys and supplies by securing with safety pins and tucking into each "layer".

Make sure to include a list of "ingredients" with your gift!

Convo me at my Etsy site:  www.etsy.com/shop/clevor1 with any questions if you need help or would like to purchase a Baby Shower Diaper Cake.  We can discuss colors, "ingredients", pricing and shipping!