End of the Year MAJOR Blog Challenge.

Well guys, based on my projects I have attempted on my blog this next one will be a much bigger one.   My cousin Taylor is 13 and she is coming into that teen girl stage where she likes nice girly things, so this project is for her and will hopefully remain a surprise until it is finished.  A few months back she moved her room to the basement of their home, and it is a lot of concrete and cinderblock, Essentially here is my plan; I plan to replace and redo her entire space for under $150.00.  That may not sound hard until I give you the list of everything that I am doing.

What I will be buying:
New Bed frame $49.99
New Desk $19.99
New Desk Chair $9.99
New Lamp $9.99
New Rugs $9.99
New Pillows $5.00
New Laundry Hamper $4.99
6 packs of 2 sheer white curtain panels $29.94
Curtain Wire 13.98
3 vases $2.37
artificial flowers $4.95
= $161.18  (Before I play with amounts and prices, goal is to get it below $150.00) 
**I may be using my desk that is exactly the same as I wanted to buy! 


Here is how I plan to accomplish this and what my plan is.

The room is nothing but  a large open basement, so my first task is to separate her room from the rest of the basement. Then I will be replacing her futon and desk with new ones, originally when I decided to replace her bed I wasnt sure what my plan was, but I decided on a full bed frame and I am buying the slates then I am getting a large sheet of plywood to place on top of the slates then I plan to reuse her futon mattress (Im doing this because of my budget).  I also would like to point of that I am doing this with pretty much everything coming from Ikea (one of my favorite places).

Bed Frame: Full size $49.99
I have yet to decided if I will leave this with just plain wood or if I will paint it.







Desk: $19.99 (The legs will be silver, not black)
I actually have this desk and I love it!  It is large enough that you don't feel cramped but still does not take a lot of space and it is extremely sturdy.


Desk Chair: $9.99

 

Lighting: #1 $4.99 + $5.00 for Cord. #2 $9.99
I have yet to decided between the two of these as to which I like.



                               OR
 

Rugs: $9.99 Faux Sheep skin rug

Window Panels: 8 x $4.99


Wires for Curtains: 2x $6.99


Laundry Hamper: $4.99

Vases: .79 x 3


Artificial Flowers: .99 x 5

To save on my budget I will be upcycling and reusing some things.  I am going to be repainting her dresser, it is currently wood, I will be repainting it white, and then the front of the drawers with chalkboard paint!  I will be using her futon mattress and I will be giving her my old Hana Floral Bedding from PB Teen that I barely used.



As you can see there is a lot going on and I cant wait to get started and done.  I will be starting the weekend after Christmas and her mom is going to get her out of the house so it will be a surprise for her!  I will have loads of before and after and in the process pictures!

Christmas wrapping.

I love wrapping paper and I am so picky when it comes to finding some that I like. But yesterday on my lunch I decided to run to Hallmark (my weakness) and I am so glad that I did because Hallmark has all of their Christmas Wrapping paper buy a roll get one for $1.00 and naturally I bought some. If you have not ever used Hallmark wrapping paper I am in love with that type of paper because they have a grid on the back that makes wrapping and cutting the paper much easier!  But I bought two rolls when I went in and bought two bigger rolls of a yarn type of ribbon that were $3.99 each and I spent $15.05.  The wrapping paper I bought the first time around where both red and white, one said "Naughty" and the other said "Nice" perfection! 


I used two wrapping papers to achieve this look and this is how :

I have 2 boxes that I am needing to wrap.

 

The first thing that I do is choose 2 different papers that I like and that mesh well together.

I choose one to wrap the gift with so it looks like this:

 

I chose to use the one that says "Naughty" on the bottom and this is just a simple wrap job.

Now is the time that I add the second paper.

 

This is showing the grid on the back of this paper which makes it easy to cut and fold.

I cut a strip of the paper about 4-6 inches smaller than the width of the present. (When you wrap it this will leave 2 or 3 inches on either side when you add it on.)

 

This is how I fold it over so the cut edges aren't displayed.

 

This is what it will look like right before you add it on.

 

This is showing how I have it folded so adding it goes smoothly.

 

And this is after both papers are on the gift.

 

I originally was going to use the red puffs and the yarn ribbon but ended up not using the puffs.

 

This is the easiest way to tie the ribbon on.

 

This way is easy too.  If you have trouble with how to tie either of the ribbons then let me know and I will post a video or pictures of how to..

 

But VOILA they are finished.

 

 

 

 Here are a couple of other wrap jobs, that I have pictures of.

 

This one was for my God Daughters 5th Birthday and BOTH wrapping papers here were from Hallmark as well.

This one had a lot going on, I HATE HATE HATE characters items like this paper BUT he loves spongebob which is why I used it for his 1st Birthday.

 

 

 

Christmas Surprise for the Kiddos

So Christmas is 50 days away and of course when I say that it sounds like an eternity, BUT it truly isn't, it is only a little over 7 weeks away and If you all are anything like me a week flies by! 

So I started to prepare a little early and I have started the planning process and a special little gift for my niece and nephews and I thought it was something that I would share with you all!

What You will need:
Card stock paper
Christmas Color ribbon (Small Ribbon and Gift wrapping ribbon.)
Square Gift Box
Oats
Glitter
Christmas Color Sprinkles
Pajamas
Christmas Story
Christmas Movie
Popcorn
Chocolate Milk

Essentially this is the plan, I have My nephews who are 8 and 2 months, and my niece who is 4 (All are siblings) and I know growing up Christmas Eve was so exciting and meaningful and I want them to feel the same way, I want them to think back to Christmas when they are older and think of how amazing it felt.  Kaydon is 8 and sadly he is on the fence about whether Santa Claus is real, we don't give him a chance to question it we just reassure him, though I know he hears different at school. So anything that includes a little magic and mystery I hope will at least let him believe again this year. You need a square gift box one of the ones with the lid roughly 12 inches by 12 inches. Christmas  wrapping Paper, a letter from Santa, reindeer food, pajamas for bed, a movie to watch in the early evening and a book to read before bed along with some popcorn and chocolate milk.  My plan is to park up the street from my sisters house so they wont see my car, and I plan to place the present on their doorstep and ring the bell and run an hide. Of course I will have coordinated all of this with my sister to make sure the kids get the door and that the blinds are closed and all.  But I will have the envelope on top of the box that is addressed from Santa to the Kids and then when they open the box they will have all of the best things to make for a fantastic Christmas Eve.

This holiday surprise has a lot going on so I will do my best to not leave anything out!

I was able to find a very cute Envelope Printable, I actually chose to print it on an old brown paper bag that I cut in half and I crinkled it up to make it look very used and rustic.

Envelope Layout
http://www.mr-printables.com/pdf.mrprintables.com/mrpch03-from-santa-env-ltr.pdf


As For the Tags for the Reindeer food I used the round ones but both are very cute!

Reindeer Food Tags
https://www.yousendit.com/dl?phi_action=app/orchestrateDownload&rurl=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.yousendit.com%252Ftransfer.php%253Faction%253Dbatch_download%2526batch_id%253DWUJad0VONmNENlFFSzhUQwd

I'm also including Chocolate Milk because they don't like Hot Chocolate.

I'm buying the individual Chocolate milk that are in clear bottles and I am putting Christmas Labels on them

 

The red Printables are drink labels for their Chocolate Milk.

http://party.catchmyparty.com/files/christmas/holiday-printable-set-by-love-party-printables.pdf



I have the pajamas ordered for the box I found them all at Gap, though Carters has some great ones but they wouldn't fit my nephew who wears 8-10.

My nephew Kaydon the oldest is very hot natured so I ordered him some little plaid pants and no shirt, Keylee and Kingston love to be bundled up so I have picked out outfits that will suit them.

 

 

And of course I am including A movie and A book.

Both of course are classics.

 

 

Here are some extra pictures of the items I have been working on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After you have all of the things together you put them in the box, wrap them up and be creative with how you deliver them..

 

 

 

Once I go through the process on Christmas Eve I plan to post a video and Pictures!

 

 

Spooky good Pretzels!

I absolutely Love chocolate covered pretzels (don't judge) I am very careful to only make them a few times a year because they are such a weakness for me!  But since it was Halloween and all of our classrooms were having Black and Orange parties I decided to make a bunch for my co workers!  They loved them, and they even earned me a spot on the Heart Principles Board at work :)..

But anyways I thought I would share these cute little buggers!

 What you will Need:
-Pretzel Rods I had 3 bags
-White Almond Bark
-Milk Chocolate Almond Bark
-Sprinkles

I have a double Boiler but I really really don't like to use it.  So I break some of the almond bark off into a bowl and pop it into the microwave in 1 minute increments and keep mixing making sure not to overcook! 

I then hold the pretzel rod over the bowl and spoon it onto the pretzel after I have the desired area covered I turn it straight up and down and slide the back of the spoon over the chocolate to get the excess off!

Then I add my sprinkles and pop it into the freezer for about 5 minutes and they are good to go!

**TID BIT

When I am starting my first bath I will play wax paper onto the baking sheet and pop it into the freezer empty to get the metal pan cold and when you lay the freshly done pretzels on it, it keeps the chocolate from spreading as much!

Mummy

 Candy Corn

 Halloween Sprinkles

 Some of the ones that I pulled out of the freezer.

**EXTRA LITTLE TID BIT

If you have ever made chocolate covered pretzels then you will probably already know how many little broken ones you have in the bag.  So I don't waste a lot I will break them of roughly the same size and load them into a bowl and pour chocolate over top and make little nugget pretzels.

Then Came the presentation and the packaging, I printed little cards that said Happy Halloween, (I found them on Pinterest) and took my candy bags and tied with Ribbon.

Some of the pretzel rods in the container

My bagged Chocolate pretzel nuggets

The finished presentation!

I made nearly 50 bags of pretzels and EVERY single one was eaten and gone by 2:00.. I got so many compliments on how cute and good they were, so I thought I would share!

YUMMY!