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last minute Easter basket

so there are a lot of cute Easter baskets out there. the one i wanted was from Target, but was $12 and i couldn't get myself to spend that much on a one-time use (because they ALWAYS get thrown out no matter how hard i try to save them...). but i also didn't want to buy one of the $2 ones you see everywhere either. i think those ones are ugg. hmm. yeah, i'm picky. so now what do i do? i want need to have an Easter basket for Easter.

well, i was cleaning out my fridge Thursday when i came across an almost empty butter tub. light bulb!


yes. i made an Easter basket out of a tub of butter. call me a genius why dontcha. ha ha. (just kidding) but this turned out better than i expected so i decided to share. who knows, maybe someone reading will be in the same predicament as me and need a last-minute basket fix. :)



prepare to be amazed. here's what i did:

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the supplies: (all found around the house=score)
• empty tub of butter
• wire hanger
• fabric scraps
• fabric scissors
• mod podge
• foam brush
• paper plate
• duct tape

the steps:
1//i washed out an empty tub of butter and found an old hanger from the closet. this was surprising actually, because we have all white plastic hangers now. but luckily this wire one was one of two that we still have somehow. perfect. i bent it as best i could to form a handle.

2//i gathered my basket filling, mod podge, and fabric scraps. you'll soon see that i opted for a white handle instead of the polka-dotted green fabric you see.

3//mod podged the tub of butter with grey chevron fabric. looking better already, right? (i got distracted here and also started mod podging plastic Easter eggs, but gave up because it was taking way too much time. and i didn't have that kind of patience. ha ha. so those are the two eggs you see in the pics.)

4//duct taped the wire frame to the inside of the tub.

5//cut up lots of white fabric into strips about 1/2'' wide (doesn't matter how long as long as you can tie it). began to tie the strips of fabric to the wire frame. this part took the longest.

6//tada! not a shabby basket eh? now fill it with lots of goodies!

happy Easter weekend!

the table: easter decor

i don't know if it's because i have a kid now, or i've simply been being lazy, but i have been so slow at getting my decorations up this year! (i think it might just be the latter reason...heheh) Easter is in two more days. two! and i barely changed out my table decor for the holiday. but better late than never. would you like to see?

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i take back what i said about being lazy. i know the reason it took me so long to set up this table was because i didn't have any real direction, and i didn't know how i wanted it to look. however, i randomly remembered this post that Geri wrote and viola! i had a place to start.

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lets start from the top.

 • pom poms: hands down these are my favorite things about the table. and like i said, the inspiration came from Geri's blog, over here. i was worried that making my own pom poms would take forever, but no! they are quick. i promise. and i might just go on a rampage over here and make myself a pom pom garland soon...seriously. so easy!
• the bunny: i cut using my MTC software with my SilhouetteSD. the frame is from Hobby Lobby.
• the banners: the triangle one i first made and used here, for Valentine's Day. the purple scalloped one i cut using my SilhouetteSD. it's the same scrapbook paper that's behind the "happy easter" sign.
• the jars: like the many times before, i employ pickle jars filled with tulle. and more pom poms! the lids are just spray painted white. the stands they are on are from Walmart. i actually was wishing i had kept my glitter eggs from last year, to put in a jar, but i'm pretty sure they got thrown away in one of our recent moves. however, i do love that the tulle looks like cotton candy!
• happy easter sign: i cut a grey cardstock paper, and placed a piece of purple scrapbook paper behind it. the fonts are:
"happy"=Stars From Our Eyes(download here) and
"easter"=Tan Patty(download here).

we were at the mall earlier this week and i took Bronx by the "Easter bunny" in hopes that it would spike his interest, but no. he barely glanced at the ginormous pink bunny. he was way more interested in the little kids skipping around beside us. ah well... even though B is really young, and doesn't get what's going on,  i still find myself getting more and more excited for it to be his first Easter. there's just something cool about the "firsts".

i hope you have a fun filled weekend that involves awesome candy and a cool scavenger hunt!

*what is your favorite Easter candy?
mini Cadbury eggs. oh man i love those caramel-filled delights!

*do you have any Easter traditions besides the egg hunt?
getting down more into the true meaning of Easter-my mom would always give a cool lesson about Christ's death and the Resurrection. she had this egg carton filled with symbolic items that would coordinate to the scriptures as we read. and all of us kids looooved being able to open each egg and see what was inside as the story progressed :) it definitely held my attention, and i can't wait to do something similar for Bronx.

homemade granola

i typically don't post recipes, but i wanted to share this one with you because it's the perfect snack or breakfast. and it is oh so easy to make.

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i copied this recipe from home before i left for college and i've used pleeenty of times since then. i'm not the world's greatest cook, and so besides being easy, it's fast to make. i love that. it makes a lot (2 gallon bags full), so sometimes i will just half the recipe. if i don't half it then i put one gallon bag in the freezer until the first bag is gone. my favorite way to eat it, is as an afternoon snack with some yogurt and chopped up bananas!

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{just right click and "save image as" to take a copy for yourself}

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*do you have a favorite fast recipe? what is it?!

my favorite yellow nail polish

i've tried a handful of different yellow nail polishes. nothing fancy or expensive (i didn't even try Essie, because of what i discovered, here). but none of the yellows i tried were any good. they were all too watered down, which required 3+ coats. or the yellow looked similar to a burnt brown. ha ha.

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however, i have found a keeper!

on my last grocery run i picked up this yellow on my way to the checkout and whaddu ya know. it works. i don't know how i missed it before because i love Sally Hansen. it's called mellow yellow, and i think it's perfect for spring. maybe it's a new spring color this year? i haven't checked. anyways, i painted my nails Sunday night and was so excited to find this yellow thick and pretty. one coat could have done it, but of course i did two, just because(...habit...). i just want to kiss it i love it so much!

here's the colors for these nails:

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» sally hansen: hard as nails xtreme wear, mellow yellow
» pure ice: beware (haha i love that name. like beware of the shiny, glittery look?)
» sally hansen: hard as nails, crystal clear

this yellow will definitely be seen on my hand more this spring.

*do you have a favorite yellow polish you use? what brand?

i like: running + abs

i was on my family blog last night looking over some posts when i started getting distracted by the linkwithin boxes at the bottom(darn those things, they just suck ya right in! ha ha). i found all sorts of good memories and i also found some of my old fitness posts. the one i'm sharing today, i wrote back in 2010 and originally came from here.

...................

Lately I've been getting questions -both from family and friends- as to what I do to stay in shape.  So I've used my little brain and decided to make a post out of it to share.  Plus, I will do even better at following my routine knowing it's up for all to see...


First, you've got to understand that I just love running. Plain and simple. I started running for myself back in the ninth grade and haven't stopped. I feel that this is kind of like my "staple" or the best way for me to keep the pounds off, ESPECIALLY around my waist.

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Second, I also am kind of obsessed with working my abs.  This might sound crazy, but I remember starting my first ab routine when I was in sixth grade.  I would go into my parent's room because that's where my dad kept his weights...I guess looking at those got me "in the zone" and I would make myself stay in there for at least 30min. a day.

So mostly throughout highschool I did those two things: Ran and then lots of crunches.  Then came college and I VOWED to not gain the dreaded "freshman 15".  That's when I formed more of a workout schedule -  what I've been going off of ever sinse.  Here's a breakdown:

•I run 4.5 miles Tuesday,Thursday, and Saturday.
•Monday and Wednesday I will run 2 miles and then hit the gym and do weights and focus on my arms and legs.
•Friday and Sunday are my rest days.
»After running I always ALWAYS make sure to do crunches.

If I don't feel like going to the gym, but still want a workout, I bust out P90X.  By the way, I highly recommend this set of dvds. They are the bomb and kick trash. (Kenpo X, and Plyometrics are two of my favorites)
So that's the physical part, but the real key for me is food. I can totally tell when I eat too much and I HATE THAT FEELING! Yea. Who doesn't. So this is what I do:



Yep, a food log.  I keep it on the fridge so that I am reminded to write it down. Also, it makes me think twice before I eat a big bowl of ice cream or fudge brownie. 
....................

whew. even reading that makes me a little tired. ha! ^^and what the heck was my food schedule like up there?cuz it doesn't look good. haha^^ so obviously it's been 3 years and i've had a baby. things change. body's change. but that doesn't mean they have to stay that way. i was probably in my best shape around this time, and re-reading this makes me want to try harder to get back to that body. all in good time, right? even though i am officially back at my pre-preggo weight (and probably weighed the exact same when i wrote this post 3 years ago) my body itself is not. it's crazy how muscle and tone make such a big difference.

for example, these freaking love handles. they just persist in staying here at my sides and i hate them so much! i never had a problem with these before Bronx. never. but alas, they are here and i need to work harder to lose them. they are most definitely the most hated part of my body right now. (and don't take that to mean that i hate my body-i love it!) i think working smarter, by being a little more diligent in getting up earlier to get in a full workout, adding a different variety of crunches in, and drinking lots more water will help. i've been slacking in those departments. doh.

in regards to my running addiction: since moving to Oregon my running has been scattered. i still do it, just not everyday like i have previous to being preggo. plain and simple? it just sucks to run in the rain. i seriously hate it. i was just talking last night to K about how much the weather affects my running "mood". i grew up in Idaho where the sky is always so blue and inviting. going running outside was my release. it was my de-stresser. but here where it rains 95% of the week....man, it's just not fun to come home from each run drenched and soaking. i told him: i'd much rather live somewhere cold and sunny, than somewhere lukewarm and grey. but Insanity has been doing good things for me lately, and i'm glad i can keep that up inside on those rainy, soggy days. :)

*What do you do to stay in shape? 

*Do you have a favorite workout vid? I would love to hear your ideas!

the plank idea

i don't know what has gotten into my husband lately, but i think it's something good. about a week ago he randomly suggested that we start doing planks before bed. "And we could do it together and make it a little competition...what do you think?" what do i think? i think that's an awesome idea! wait. are you just kidding me?
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in order to better appreciate the significance of this comment, you need to understand my husband's history of working out. let me give some background:
he hates it. he was extremely active in sports growing up(any and every sport), and he lifted with sets in his room. he hates going to a gym or working out in public. if he does run, it's at night so no one sees him. and he rarely will go running with me. like, i can count all the times he's exercised with me on one hand. ha ha. so to have him suggest this idea was amazing to me. he has even started looking more in depth at buying us our own gym equipment for our garage. you guys, this is like a dream come true for me!! i would LOVE to have a home gym!! but now i'm starting to stray from the point. do you see how cool it was for him to have this idea?! very cool.

so each night we've been timing ourselves. i laugh every single time we start...and all the way through until i drop. i can't help myself-it's so fun to work out with my hubby, and even though this is one tiny way of doing it, it's still something. and that's a start.

we decided we wanted to track our progress, so i created a quick sheet to display our times:

(i actually need to modify it so that we can write the date in above each time...)
it hangs in our kitchen so that we can see it and have it as a reminder to "up our game" each night. haha...ah i love it. i love fitness activities! ha. aaannnnd do you see that i regressed up there? by a whole 20 seconds. daaaang. i don't know why i let myself fall, because i shouldn't have! our goal is to try and beat our previous night's record by 10 seconds. wish us luck!

*does your hubby/significant other like to work out with you?

*what fun activities do you guys do together to stay active?

spring nails: coral

spring has sprung. and i'm so excited to say that it's officially spring today! i started by making my nails more colorful and pretty:

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i am looooving coral right now!

here are the colors of choice:

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Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear, coral reef (4860-66)
Pure Ice, starstruck
NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel, Extra Shiny Top Coat(271)
nail plate: Konad, m78

*what are you doing to celebrate the first day of spring?

two books:a witchy wife and fablehaven

for Christmas this year, my parents surprised me with two books. well, really a book and a book series. i opened this one first:
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and thought oh boy. mom and dad...are you trying to tell me something?

ha ha. i am actually on the last chapter of this one. i began reading it in January, and stopped all of a sudden to work on other projects. it constantly sits on my counter and isn't even long, so i don't know why i haven't finished it. it's one that i think all women-married or not-should read. just to get a feel for motherhood and life. Linda(the author) gives so many hilarious laugh-so-hard-tears-come examples and that's what i love the best. there have been numerous times that i would sneak off to bed just to read one more chapter, and the hubs would pop his head in when he heard me laughing uncontrollably. but examples i can relate to or not...this is a great read!

the series they got me is Fablehaven.


ever heard of it? i feel like my family has owned this book series forever, and they always told me it was a good one, but i never picked it up. for some reason i always thought it was about a gerbil or something...? yeah, i don't even know(it's not, ps). i finally pulled the first book(there are five in this series) down from the shelf Sunday afternoon, and bam. read. i can guarantee book two will be finished today. it's fantasy, if you hadn't gathered from the cover :) and just the fun read i have been needing lately.

*have you read either of these books?

*what are you reading right now? (i always love hearing about new good books to read!)

lucky you (5x7) printable

here's the promised freebie! sorry i didn't get it up sooner today, i've had a sicky little baby boy for the past week. it's no bueno over here :(

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dimensions: 5x7
just click the link below and then click "download".
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0UILDmk-TAdSmxwVjNzaGxXdk0/edit?usp=sharing

*update: download from here(you'll notice i also centered the letters more as well):



green is the theme

how in the heck is it March already?! somebody, please tell me where January and February slipped off to! over the past weekend i decided i should probably change out all my pink and grey for green and yellow.


i kept it suuuper simple, but i still have some plans for it (we'll see if i can actually squeeze them in this week before the actual holiday arrives...).

here's the breakdown:


i used fabric for the yellow polka-dotted banner, and as you can see i just hot glued it together. yeah baby. i did it with my chevron banner too(see here).


i used this "mambi sheets"(me&myBIGideas) paper pack i got at Hobby Lobby to create a clover banner. i looked for a link to share with you guys for this pack (because i think it rocks), but couldn't find this exact one. although i'm sure if you go into a store near you, you'd be able to find it. i got mine in January.

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and for those wondering, this is how i set it up in my Silhouette Studio^^ trace a circle, trace a clover...very simple. yay! and here are some templates if you want to create your own:
moving on...


on the left: here is our "pot of gold", or rather our jars of gold. these are just pickle jars with spray-painted lids, and stuffed with sheer yellow fabric (i chose fabric over tulle here because i liked this shade of yellow better). on the right: another apothecary jar filled with green tulle, and a FREE PRINTABLE from eighteen25. love her stuff.

check back tomorrow for another free printable i'm working on!

*are you all decked out for St. Patty's Day? have any fun traditions?
my mom always had a cool treasure hunt that we went on for our own pot of "gold", and green milk and pancakes were always a huge hit, but it grosses the Mr. out. haha! i will most definitely be starting it next year when B is older though...

march nails: green zebra

i honestly think these are my favorite nails so far. at least this half and half design:

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i needed something a little more "wow" because green really isn't my favorite color, and neither is March. but of course i wanted to paint my nails and incorporate some "St. Patty's Day" flare for this upcoming Sunday (weird, i don't remember it ever being on a Sunday growing up..). ha. so when i stumbled across these nails below (via Pinterest) i knew i wanted to try something like them.

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arn't they so cool?! i love the neon yellow contrasted with the black stripes, and think it's even cooler that Alice was inspired to do these from looking at a dress! (see her post here) i however, am the worst at free-handing stripes on myself so i opted for an easier option. nail plates. the zebra print specifically (m57). here's what i used:

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so if you didn't catch it from my first pic, i used 

» white (pure ice:starstruck) as my basecoat, let dry.
» took scotch tape and taped half my nails, painted half green(pure ice: wild thing. 1 coat works fine, but i used 2...it's habit), let dry.
» taped the other half of my nails and stamped them with (wet n' wild: black creme; nail plate m57)
» top coat (NYC:matte me crazy)

one thing that's suuuuuper important any time you use tape: let it dry completely! i can't say it enough. i actually did the white and green last night during movie time with the hubs, and then did the zebra half this morning.


*by the way, do you have a favorite yellow polish you use? one that's good and thick?
i haven't had much luck with yellow, but then again i think i have only bought one(haha!). it's super watery and i hate it-it's a Salon Perfect brand...