Nail Art

I go through phases where I really enjoy decorating my nails. Sometimes, I'll do my nails, take a picture then take it off immediately. People often ask me how often I do my nails and I really don't have an answer for that.  It just depends... sometimes I'll do them once a week and other times, I'll go 3 or 4 weeks without touching them.

Here's are some designs I've done this year.  Hope you enjoy :O)

Glittery French

Simple Valentine Message

Cute "Corset"

Simple Nude with Black

Cherry Blossoms (purple, yeah I know)

Cute Pink and Black flower design

Nude with White Lines accented with Gold

Black and Gold Marble design with Zebra accents

Zig-Zag Red, White and Blue

Simple Marble Watermelon design

Cute and easy Halloween design

Black and Silver with White Zebra stripe accents

Fun and simple Dice design

Red, Gray and Gold design using the tape method

on the ring finger

Thanks for visiting! :O)

I Am a Hallo-Weenie!

Could it be because my parents lacked the holiday spirit that I too have little spirit when it comes to Halloween? I do remember being little, wishing I could dress up and wishing I could go trick-or-treating... but I don't remember going on very many outings for Halloween, or carving a pumpkin, or putting up decorations.

I've tried to do things different for my kids.  Since they were little, I went over and beyond on birthday parties and holidays.  I tried to buy all the spooky decor and all the orange and purple lights and decorate our home, inside and out but my boys weren't really interested.  And as they grow older, the interest in the mess of carving a pumpkin has reduced... the interest helping decorate has reduced... and so has the interest in dressing up.  Does it bother me?.............nah... not too much.  I can tell you that I have NO problem not throwing down $40+ on a Halloween costume that they'll wear for only 2 - 4 hours or breaking my back over a sewing machine for a week sewing up intricate costumes.

With that said, what I do enjoy about this month is the drop in temperature and the smell of apples and cinnamon.  Then it's NOVEMBER!  That means it's baking time!  Thanksgiving feast with loved ones! And taking a moment to be thankful for all that I have in my life!  Then it's DECEMBER!  Shopping!  Christmas trees! Going to the craft stores and looking at all the amazing new Christmas decorations! (possibly buying a few more too! LOL)  And of course Christmas day... Watching my sons with my husband and being so thankful that he has made it possible for us to provide our children with so much more than we ever had.  Not only gifts but heaping amounts of LOVE that we show them everyday!

I guess you could say that the month of October and Halloween are just a "warmer-uppers" for what's to come!

We get very little change in color in AZ until January usually.

One of my favorites... Cold M&M's!

"Jack" From Nightmare Before Christmas

My Halloween costume that I wore to a contest at a nearby

Grill and Cantina....... I won second place!! $50!

Fun Nail art that I did on myself :O)

2012 Fall Wreath

Although we are still in the high 90's here in AZ, I can't help but feel excited about the Fall.  All the stores are filled with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas decor.  I figured, since we are officially in the Fall season now, why not make a Fall wreath?

Here's a super simple wreath that I put together in about an hour or less:

I bought a medium size wreath a few months back.

Ribbon $2.79 ea (sale)

4x6 Letter "S" $2.99

Velvety Maple Bouquet  $1.99 (sale)

2 - Daisy/Mum Fall bouquet  $3.49 ea. (sale)

Supplies needed:

Glue gun

Diagonal cutting pliers

Thin wire

I wrapped one spool of ribbon loosely around

the wreath and secured it in the back.

I created a bow with the second spool of ribbon

and secured it with thin crafting wire.

Make sure to leave a little ribbon at the end

to hand you letter from.  This ended up being

too much so I simply made a few more loops

in my bow :O)

Attach the bow to the wreath with wire.

Cut the flowers off the bouquet as close to the

base as possible.

Arrange the flowers on the wreath simple by

weaving through the twigs of the wreath.  This is

where you might need your glue gun.  There

were a few flowers that were loose and not

fitting snugly through the vines of the wreath

so I just put a little glue and secured them

into place.

I wasn't planning on putting all the flowers

on but it just kind of ended up this way.

I could have gotten away with not wrapping

the first spool of ribbon around the wreath

since you can't even really see it.  I could

have used both spools on making a

larger bow.  (lesson learned!)

I spray painted the "S" with gold paint,

created a loop with the remainder of 

the ribbon and secured it in the back...

Hung the "S"...

and Taaaaa-Daaaaaa!

Here you have a monogrammed wreath for Fall!

Hope you enjoyed :O) xoxo

NAIL ART: Watermelon Marbling

Nail art is just another way for me to express my creativity.  I have been a licensed nail technician for 17 years now.  I've only worked in a salon for 6 months, (and will never go back!)... LOL! but I stay current with my license because I have continued to do my own nails throughout the years, as well as family and friends.



This type of nail art is called Marbling.  It's a bit of a process and a bit time consuming but it's fun because you don't ever know what kind of design you'll end up with!!

WHAT YOU NEED:

 

Small plastic container filled with water, toothpicks or orange stick,

tape, paper towel, nail polishes, nail polish remover.

STEP ONE:

 Polish your nails a base color.  I only did one coat. When it's

done, place tape around your nail for easy clean up.

STEP TWO:

Choose your nail polish colors and place one drop at a time

in whatever pattern you want the colors to be. You must

work quickly because the polish starts to dry.  Also, you will

have to experiment a bit because not all colors work!  These

are the colors I wanted to use originally but the white was

drying out too fast, not allowing me to make my design.

You will see in the next photo that I had to use different colors.

STEP THREE:

With a toothpick, manipulate the colors to create a design.

Here I just pulled the polish to the center. Usually it's much

neater than this but I was on a caffeine high and empty stomach!

Steady hands are KEY!!

As you can see I replaced the white polish with the green one.

These are the polishes that I used:

STEP FOUR:

 Carefully dip your finger into an area of the design that you like best.

While your finger is still dipped in the water, use a toothpick

or orange stick to remove the excess polish that is still floating in the

water.  Once you've scooped it all out with your toothpick

or orange stick, slowly pull your finger out and see your design!

May take several tries! This was my third try! I

recommend that you use fresh water every time! ;o)

Carefully remove the tape around your finger and clean up

any extra polish that may have gotten on your skin.

STEP FIVE:

 

I added a few watermelon seeds (Again, sorry for the shakey

hands!) Add a top coat and your done!  I'm a bit

disappointed that the photo does not show how vibrant

the colors really are.  But this gives you a general idea of

how it turns out.

Here is another design I did using the marbling technique, black polish

and gold polish, and I added a few zebra stripes at the bottom.

(You can dip two fingers in at a time if you'd like!)

Have you ever tried this technique? If so, what did you do different to make it easier?

Back Label Recipes

How many times do you notice a recipe on the back label of a jar or can and think to yourself, "That would probably be pretty good!" .........but you never end up trying it?  I have done that a gazillion times!!

I posted a monthly menu calendar on my old blog so if you had the chance to see it, you know that I have at least 30 different meals to cook.  Even then, we grow tired of it!  For the past few months, my hubs and I have been talking about why we haven't tried these back label recipes and followed it up with a review.  So today I was writing up my grocery list and noticed we had a couple of cans of Cream of Broccoli by Campbell's Soup.  Why I originally bought them? I dunno! I can't remember! BUT... I peeked at the back and I decided to try that back label recipe!

Here's the label with all the info on the recipe: (click to enlarge)

CHICKEN   BROCCOLI   DIVAN

1 lb. fresh broccoli, cut into spears or 1 pkg (about 10oz) frozen broccoli spears, cooked and drained.
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey
2 tbsp. dry bread crumbs
1 tbsp. butter, melted
1 can (10 3/4 oz) Campbell's Condensed Broccoli Cheese Soup
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

1. Place broccoli and chicken in 9" pie plate. Stir bread crumbs and butter in a small bowl.
2. Stir soup and milk in small bowl until mixture is smooth. Pour over broccoli and chicken. Top with cheese, if desired. Sprinkle with bread crumb mix.
3. Bake at 400 degrees F. about 25 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

Results:  It was pretty good!

The label states that each can serves 4 people.  There's four in my family and we had my nephew over for dinner last night so I had to use two cans and double my batch.  Good thing I did because we ended up with only one serving left!! My sons, nephew and hubby really liked it!  This is not something that I would want to cook once a week though.  I think I would tire of the broccoli cheese taste.  I did do a couple of things different.  I can never follow a recipe to a tee...  I put more milk in the soup than the label called for.  I wanted it a little more runny than thick.  I also added more butter (1/2 stick).  Next time I think I'll add more bread crumbs for more of a crunch!!  I served it over white rice and although I added broccoli to the mix, we ate them all so I added a few fresh ones just for the photo ;o)

Have you ever tried a back label recipe? I'd love to hear about it!



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Refashion a T-shirt

Hello Monday...

So, my hubs gave me a couple of t-shirts to donate a few days ago and I thought, why not try to refashion these?  There are so many ladies that refashion old, ugly t-shirts into adorable tops!  There's a site I used to go to that belonged to a young girl that refashioned just about EVERYTHING! She made bikinis, underwear, dresses, skirts and shorts out of old t-shirts! I tried to make a bikini last year but I felt that the t-shirt material was too thin and there was not enough support for my girls... I'm having trouble finding her blog as it's been over a year but I did run across another gal that has made some really cute tops out of t-shirts.  Her name is Christie at Sew What's Happening?  Check out her site!

I'm not going to post a tutorial on my refashion because like I said before, I am not an experienced seamstress and I was kinda just figuring it out as I went.  I tried to follow Christie's photos but there are a few extra steps that I had to take...

Here is a before photo. I was going to leave it just like this but then I realized that there were a couple of large stains towards the bottom.  But I didn't want to cut it there because then the shirt would be too short.  I decided to bleach the bottom half!! Yikes! I've never done that before so I didn't know what to expect!

 

I wasn't sure how long to leave it soaking so I did a quick "google" and found that if you leave it in too long, the bleach will start to eat away at the fabric.  I figured I'd better take it out.  After I washed and dried it, this was the result.

 

Not too bad.  Those crazy stains didn't come out but at least they're not so noticeable.  Looks like it's suppose to be that way! Haha!  Here is the finished result...

I cut off the sleeves and the neck, sewed it all up and added an elastic band to the bottom.  I wore it with a white tank top underneath because I don't like my bra straps showing.  I'm not "in love" with the results but it turned out ok!

Have you ever refashioned a t-shirt?

Canyon Lake

The end of summer vacation is nearing! So bummed! I feel like I ran out of time to do things with my boys.  The weather forecast for yesterday read that we were going to be having thunderstorms.  The weather is kind of tricky in Arizona.  They might say we are having a storm and it'll sprinkle for about 5 minutes and it's done.  Mother nature loves to leave us longing for more!

I'm an Arizona native so I know that a few clouds doesn't mean a thing! We packed up some lunches and headed to Canyon Lake.  It's been years since I've been there on a weekend.  It's gets packed pretty quick and we got a late start but we were fortunate enough to score the last picnic table under one of the ramadas.

Watching the kids splash around in the water brings back so many memories of my childhood.  My parents used to take me there before my little brother was born (we are 8 years apart). I've always loved the water and I was never fearful of venturing out a little deeper than I should.  My mom would get so scared so my father decided to tell me that there were sharks in the lake and they would get me if I went out too far. That story stayed with me until I was 19yrs old when my hubs (he was my boyfriend at that time) laughed and told me there were no sharks in this man-made lake! I felt like an idiot.  Daughters always want to believe what their daddy's tell them.........

 We arrived around noon yesterday, just in time to eat our lunch.  It was slightly cloudy until about 2pm.

More clouds started to roll in and it started to get a bit windy.  The boys didn't seem to mind at all because the waves picked up too!

After a couple of hours of swimming and unsuccessful fishing, we decided to head out when we spotted some lightening east of us.  I was hoping to get some good shots on our drive down the windy mountain before the rain caught up to us.

My goal was to get some daytime lightening shots.  I pulled over when we got by the beautiful Superstition mountains just outside of Canyon Lake.  The sky to the west of us was glowing light but the sky to the east of us was quickly turning black.

I waited here for about 10 minutes, hoping for some lightening........ Score!

Drove down a little ways and ran across this little church... it was starting to rain, lightly, but the rain drops were huge!

You can see here that the rain was sweeping its way across the Superstition Mountains as they are hardly visible anymore!

Monsoon season in Arizona is so beautiful.  Besides the Fall season (which doesn't last very long), I have to say monsoon season is definitely my favorite!

What's your favorite season where you live?