Free Canon 5D Mark III

Pin It Great news everyone.  Pictureline is now giving away a FREE Canon 5D Mark III.  I shoot with the 5D Mark II and I absolutely love it.  I've entered to win, but I also think you should.  It's super easy to enter too!  You just have to "like" their facebook page and then fill out the entry form.  Click HERE to enter.

Sesame Street Birthday Party

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My friend has a daughter who turned two ten days before my little girl.  We decided to do a combined birthday party.  It was so fun and our daughters loved every minute of the party.  We did a Sesame Street themed party.  Here are some of the things we had at the party:

Sesame Street Sign

Sugar Cookie Bars

Sugar Cookie Bars

                             1 Cup Butter, room temperature

                             2 Cups Sugar

                             4 Eggs

                             2 tsp. Vanilla

                             5 Cups Flour

                             1 tsp. Salt

                             1/2 tsp. Baking soda

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Mix butter and sugar together until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Add vanilla and mix until well combined.  In a separate bowl add the dry ingredients and stir.  Then slowly add the dry ingredients to your mixer.  Once all of the ingredients are incorporated, spread the dough onto a well greased cookie sheet (I use my hands to spread the dough out since it is so tough).  Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (it won't really be golden brown).  Let the cookies cool and then frost them.

Basic Sugar Cookie Frosting

                             4 Cups Powdered Sugar

                             4 tsp. Vanilla

                             1/2 Cup Butter, softened

                             3-4 tsp. Milk

Peanut M&M's 

They were the perfect little addition for the table since they are Sesame Street colors.

Giant Elmo Balloon
 We bought it on Amazon for $12.  The kids loved it, until it got body slammed by some boys and popped.  I also saw the other day at the Dollar Tree that they have a normal sized Mylar balloon that's Elmo's head.  It's only a dollar!  That's a steal.

Fishing with Dorothy 
The children fished over a sheet and would catch a prize.

Sesame Street Bowling

The kids loved rolling and throwing the ball and the "pins".  

Oscar's Trash Basketball 

Elmo and Big Bird Party Favors

Sesame Street Character Oreo Pops

Cookie Monster Cake
We got this at Smith's for about $15, which was a great deal considering we didn't have to spend the time decorating it ourselves!

Free Nikon D800

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Pictureline is giving away a FREE Nikon D800 Camera.  You simply "like" their facebook page and then click on the giveaway section on the side and fill out the form.  So easy!  Click here to enter!

Tiered Ruffle Skirt

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My daughter turned two this last week.  For one of her birthday presents, I made her this cute tiered ruffle skirt.  While it took a little bit to make, it wasn't that difficult.  I used this tutorial by a girl and a glue gun you should definitely make one for yourself, your daughter, your niece or anyone else you can think of.  I seriously love it!

New Addition

Pin It Sorry for the break in posts.  I have been a bit busy lately.  A couple weeks ago I found out my baby was IUGR (intrauterine growth restricted).  He was measuring nearly 4 weeks too small.  I was just over 36 weeks along when we found this out.  They decided to induce me early so he could get the nourishment he needed outside of the womb since he wasn't getting enough inside.

So on Monday December 26th I was induced.  Baby's heart rate started to drop every contraction, so I had to get a c-section.  Baby boy was born at 11:54 a.m. weighing in at 4 pounds 15 ounces and 17 inches long.

He's had a bit of a challenge eating and is currently in the NICU.  We're hoping he can come home soon. We sure do love our little guy!

Car Seat Cover Tutorial

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I realize there are a lot of tutorials for car seat covers out there, but I decided to make one of my own.  I tried to make it a little more easy to follow than some of the tutorials I've seen.  Let me know if you have any questions!

What you will need:
1 yard of main material
1 yard of contrasting material
Sewable Velcro
Thread
Straight pins
Scissors
Fabric marker
Tape measurer
Straight edge
Plate
Embellishments (buttons, ribbons, etc)

Not necessary, but nice to have:
Rotary mat
Rotary cutter
Rotary ruler
Binding tape

First you'll want to fold your fabric in half and cut it 17" wide and 42" long.  This will leave you with a rectangle that is 34"x 42".  You also need to cut 2 rectangles of each fabric that are 3"x 7 1/2" for your straps.

 Once you have cut both fabrics to the correct size, use a plate to help you round the edges of your rectangles.  I found it best to cut both fabrics at the same time so the corners would match up.  If you have a really sharp rotary cutter, you are able to cut all the corners and both fabrics at the same time.  If you don't have a good rotary cutter, you can use a fabric marker to draw the rounded edge and then cut it with scissors.

 Here's the cut corners.

 Line up fabrics right sides together and sew around the outside using a 1/4" seam.  Make sure to leave a few inches open though so you can flip it right side out.

 Before flipping it right-side-out, cut little notches in the around the corners (careful not to cut your seam) to help your edges to stay nice and round.  

You can finish your edge however you like.  I decided to use binding tape.  Some other options are to just leave it as is, but make sure to iron the seams so they are nice and sharp, you could go around the outside edge with a 1/8" seam, or your could serge around the outside.

With your 3" x 7 1/2" rectangles, sew right sides together.  Once again leaving an opening so you can flip it right-side-out.

 Cut the corners a bit before flipping it so you can have a sharper edge.

 Once it's been flipped right-side-out, iron the seams and then sew a 1/8" seam around the outside - making sure to close up the open area.

 Figure out which fabric you'd like to show on your straps.  I wanted to keep them matching the top fabric and attach velcro accordingly.  

 Fold your cover in half and measure 18" from the top and then 3" over and draw a 2" line.  Do this on both sides.  These lines are where you will sew on your straps.  FYI the 18" side is the back of your cover.

 Here is my line.

 Next take your straps and draw lines at 2 1/2" from the top and from the bottom.

 Here is a little diagram to show you the measurements of those lines.

Line up the line you drew on your strap with the line you previously drew on your cover.  You'll want to line them up so that the part of your strap that you want to be on top will be on the drawn line.  Make sure that the 18 inches is the back part of your cover.  Once you have pinned the straps in place sew a square around those two lines.  Attach your straps to the car seat and you're done!

 Here is the finished product.

I apologize if that was confusing.  Please ask me questions if you have any!

Thumbprint Cookies

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I had a recipe exchange party last night.  I tried out a new recipe, and people seemed to like it, so I thought I'd share it with you!  The one nice thing about them is that they aren't a super sweet cookie, though that could also be a negative because you can trick yourself into eating too many of them haha.


Ingredients (will make about 12 - 18 cookies)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg, separated

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

2/3 cup any flavor fruit jam

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. Separate egg, reserving egg white. Cream butter or margarine, sugar, and egg yolk. Add vanilla, flour and salt, mix well. Shape dough into balls. Roll in slightly whipped (I whipped them for about 30 seconds with a fork) egg white, then walnuts. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from oven. With thumb or spoon, dent each cookie. Put jelly or preserves in each thumbprint. Bake for another 10-12 minutes.