Pinterest Interest: Car Seat Coolers

As I'm sure many of you have already figured out, Pinterest is a great resource for what ever you fancy. If you haven't discovered Pinterest yet, you definitely should!

Anyway, I have found hundreds of ideas for crafting, decorating, and recipes. I have tried to make myself use these ideas instead of just collecting them and letting them sit in cyber space. One pin I recently came across, was how to make car seat coolers for your little ones. Riley hates getting into a hot car seat! So this was something that I really needed to make for him and Ellie as the summer heat drags on.

I got the directions from a blog eighteen25. She has a great tutorial and it's super easy to follow. I only made a few changes to my car seat coolers. 

• I only added 4 ice packs pockets 
• I trimmed my ribbons shorter and added a small hem to the ends of my tie
• I used a combination of beans, corn, and lentils for my weights (because I didn't have rice) 

The first time I used the coolers, I took my kids to the aquarium. We were there about 2 hours and when we came out their seats were nice and cool and the ice packs were still frozen. My mom also had the great idea to get a thermal tote to keep the coolers in while you're traveling from place to place. 

I keep all the ice packs in their pockets, roll up the cooler, and store it in the freezer. So all I have to do when we're ready to leave is grab it and go! 

(If you like my thermal tote it's a Picnic Tote by ThirtyOne and I know a great consultant!)   

Pickles!

This weekend I embarked on a new journey... canning! I have been gardening the last couple of years, but haven't been able to give my garden the time and attention it requires because every time I've planted a garden I've gotten pregnant. Must be something in the air. This year however, I am not pregnant and so although I'm now a busy Momma of two, I still have found a little time here and there to grow a few plants (and lots of weeds!) including cucumbers.

My cucumber plants have done really well this year and so I decided to try my hand at making pickles. I bought a "Ball" starter kit that included 3 pint jars, a canning basket for lowing the jars into a hot water bath, and INSTRUCTION! This has proved to be a great buy! I also bought a dill pickle spice packet. So all I had to do was combine water, vinegar, and the spice packet and bring it to a boil. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Now, I am not intending this to be a tutorial on making pickles because this was truly a test run. Maybe as I become more confident in my ability I will create one, but for now this is just a story of my canning adventure.

I decided on slices and spears for my pickles. So I cut them all up and added them to my jars. Then, once the pickling liquid was ready I added it to my cucumbers.  I then "finger" tightened my lids, loaded up my basket and lowered into the hot water bath.

5 minutes later I pulled them out and set them aside to cool. Amazingly all of my jars sealed correctly and in just a short 24 hours we will have homemade pickles ready to enjoy! 

DIY Pacifier Clips

I'm one of those people that enjoy accessorizing when ever possible and what better way to spruce up at little one's attire than a fun and colorful paci clip?! Now I'm not sure if any of ya'll have had this problem but we have lots of different kinds of pacis and not all of them have the ring that most paci clips attach to. So after some research and I've figured out how to make a paci clip that is universal to all pacifiers.


This is what you'll need:

• Ribbon of your choice (I've found that the 7/8 ribbon works best)
• thread
• suspender clips
• cording

Measure your ribbon to about 10 inches.  If you're going to layer your ribbon like I am in the pictures then now is when you'll want to sew them together. Then measure out a piece of cord about 5inches long.

Fold one end of your ribbon 1/4 inch and then fold again 1 inch. Now mark at the top of your fold. This is where you are going to add a button hole. If your sewing machine is compatible or if you have the know how add your button hole to where you placed your mark.








If you chose not to use a button hole you can fold the ribbon and cut a small half circle where you've placed your mark.



Once you've created the button hole insert your cording into the hole, making a loop about 3 inches long outside of the button hole. Fold your ribbon over again and stitch around the rectangle. (I've used a zig zag stitch) Then add a criss cross stitch through the center of your rectangle. This is what holds the cording in place.

On the other end of your ribbon place the ribbon through the suspender clip ring and then fold 1/4 inch and then another 1/2 inch fold. Stitch across to secure suspender clip.

TA DA! You have an universal pacifier clip ready for any paci you throw at it!

Thrift Store Treasure

Today I ran by my neighborhood thrift store looking for some odds and ends. While searching through the frames and wooden shelves I came across a bag that had a wooden giraffe in it. With closer inspection I discovered that it was handmade giraffe bank. The poor thing had fallen apart and was in desperate need of a makeover.

Recently one of my good friends had a little girl and they decorated her nursery with pink giraffes. Wahlah! My creative gears started turning.  Overall the bank was in good shape, just needed some TLC and she would look brand new. Plus she was only 99 cents!

As soon as I got home I started working on her. I wiped her down, sanded some rough spots, and took a dive in my paint box. I came up with a perfect hot pink and decided on white for the spots.

After several coats of pink I finally had a "well duh!" moment and realized if I primed her she would cover better. And of course she did. So once I got the base coat on and her reassembled everything else came together quickly. I added brown to her feet, horns, and tail, adorable white spots, and a pink heart to show she was made with love. Plus I dropped in a couple of coins to help get the savings started.

I think she turned out great and I know my friend is going to LOVE her! (I'm almost tempted to keep her myself) There is nothing like taking something old and forgotten and turning it into something new and shiny.

Happy Thrifting!

Getting Organized

Today Ryan sent me a link in an email called 30 Green How- To's from the re-nest website. I'm constantly looking for new ideas to be creative and Ryan had proved to be a very reliable source for passing on good ideas. The link he sent me was really neat with a lot of great tricks on how to reuse things around your house. But as I looked through all the different links one really caught my eye. Within this list was a link called "How to pare down your stuff". I like to refer to myself as an organized pack rat. Although I like to keep stuff and store it way for the long winter, its all pretty much organized and I'm not afraid to get rid of unless stuff. I currently have a room in my house that has become our catch all and it is completely out of control. My goal this week is to regain that control and to reorganize it so that it is usable and clean! So its time to dust off my organizing tip and tools and put them to good use.

Here are some of my own tips to getting organized:

1. Season Change Cleaning: Every change of season when I'm sifting my clothes from summer to winter I pull out the clothes I didn't wear for the entire season. If I didn't wear it chances are I don't need it. Unless its in bad condition I always donate my stuff to our local thrift store.

2. Old for the New: I love purses! I have lots of purses, but every time I get a new purse I get rid of another one. You can apply this idea to any area of your life where you have excess.

3. Containers and Labels: I use baskets, Rubbermaid's, and canvas boxes to hold a lot of my different odds and ins, and I label them so that I know whats what and where to find what I'm looking for.

4. Birds of a Feather Stay Together: When organizing my cabinets and pantry I keep all the items in family groups. Meaning can veggies all together, beans all together, can tomatoes all together. In the cabinet I sort foods by type of meal. I have 3 shelves on the bottom shelf are breakfast foods, baby food, and snacks, middle shelf is designated to side dishes, dinner type foods, and prepackaged meals, and my top shelf is baking needs such as cake mixes, corn meal, and baking powder.

5. Filing Folders: For papers that are important I have two filing folders. Sorted by type I keep all instruction booklets, warranties, Vet papers, and so on in these folders so when I need them I know right were they are without having to sift through piles and piles of papers. This has proved to be very handy with some of Riley's things that we have needed instructions on how to disassemble or when the universal remote needs to be reprogrammed.

And here are some additional tips for Getting Organized from the professionals:

Top 10 organizing tips from Chez Larsson

HGTV Organization

Simplify 101

Header designed by Ryan Saul

Sweet Sunshine Trail Mix

Thanks to my amazing husband I am on my first ever health kick. I am a true southern woman... God fearing and "It's always better fried!", but unfortunately that last motto doesn't fit into the lifestyle I want anymore. Please don't misunderstand I plan to stay southern to the bone, I've just got to do it a little bit healthier.

So to go a long with this new lifestyle I've been trying to find ways to make everyday meals healthier. Snacks have proved to be the toughest area so far. It is a lot easier to grab a bag of chips or M&Ms, but that's not going to help my cause. My latest snack creation is Sweet Sunshine Trail Mix. Great for movie night, afternoon snack or even a day out on the trails.

Sweet Sunshine Trail Mix

3 cups kettle corn

3/4 cup Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal

1/4 cup dried fruit bits

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix altogether and Enjoy!

Serves 4

serving size 1 cup

136 calories per serving

Cafe de Saul Pumpkin Spice Latte

As the days get shorter and weather gets cooler there is one thing that comes to mind that makes my heart sing... IT'S FALL! Fall is my favorite season for lots of reasons, but the one that inspired this post is the one and only Pumpkin Spice Latte! Every year I look forward to Starbucks releasing this wonderful drink and I can't wait to get my hands on one. However this year I decided that I wanted to save money and calories and that there had to be a better way to get my precious pumpkin latte. After a bit of research and experiments I have formed my own pumpkin spiced latte recipe that is low fat and easy to make at your own home. All you need is a few ingredients, a stove and a coffee maker. And wallah the pumpkin spiced latte is all yours!

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk *

2 tbsp sugar or 1 1/2 tsp splenda (three packets)

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 cup double strength coffee

whipped cream *

pinch of pumpkin pie spice

1) make 2 cups of coffee using 2 scoops of ground coffee

2) in a small pot mix together vanilla extract, milk, sugar or splenda, and pumpkin pie spice over medium heat. As milk mixture warms whisk until frothy and hot.

3) in coffee mug pour one cup of coffee and then add all of milk mixture.

4) top with whipped cream and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice

5) Drink and Enjoy!

*i used smart balance non-fat milk 1cup= 110 cal.

non-fat whipped cream 2 tbsp= 5 cal

three splenda packets

totaling: 115 calories!!

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte= 380 calories