Coconut Oil

I've hopped on the coconut oil band wagon.  It seems everywhere I look people are raving about the wonderful benefits of this product.  You can cook with it, eat it, slather it on your skin, put it in your hair...the list seems endless.  

 I'm going to try it.  For now I'm using it as a moisturizer.  I have also tried it in my hair.  We'll see.  I've also heard rumors of it clearing up breakouts.  I'm a little hesitant to spread oil all over my face, but I'm tempted.  I'll let you all know in a few weeks if this wonder product is actually the wonder product everyone is making it out to be.

A little bit of spring

Last week I saw this on Pinterest. 

Pretty cool.

When I went to locate the website an Asian site came up.  I did some hunting and found the original site. Click here  if you want to have a look.

  Tulips are being sold at my local grocery store.  Since they were on sale I bought two bundles of 20.  Here is my spur of the moment version of this arrangement.  

Of course, I didn't take the time to go back and look at it when  I decided to do it.  

I just started right in.

I would like you to think I actually thought this through and used scotch tape on purpose, since my bowl is clear.  But really, I couldn't find masking tape and this was the first roll of tape I found.  Turns out, it wasn't such a bad thing.

So here we go.  You start out making a grid on the top of your bowl with the tape.  Don't place your rows to close together or your flower stems won't fit.  

You would think 40 tulips would have filled up a bowl...but they didn't.  If you look closely you can see some empty spots.  AND since I didn't go back and look at the directions and tried to do it from memory, I didn't trim my tulips short enough.

However, I still like it.  It makes our kitchen table cheery.  Especially since the outside is still covered in snow.

Here's to hoping for an early and warm Spring!

Late Valentines Day Project

I made one more decoration for Valentines day.  Last year I made a paper chain of hearts.  This year I saw something on pinterest that was very similar, but made out of felt.  So here's my version.

 You will need a couple of large pieces of felt.  I chose red, a traditional Valentines day color, and blue for the boys in my little family.

Next, cut two strips of each color, 2.5 inches wide.

Take the two pieces you just cut, lay one on top of the other and sew a seam down one side, sewing them together.

Take the felt and open it and fold it back down to form your heart.

(sorry for the color change, I forgot to take pictures with the red and had to continue on with the blue felt)

Sew the edges together to form your heart tube.

Cut 1 inch strips to form individual hearts.

Don't worry if they look flat. Bend and form them to make a pretty heart.

How you do this next part is up to you.  But I wanted mine on a long string.  So I used some red thread and strung them together, alternating heart colors.  

Ta Da!

You could use different colors and use them for any special occasion, not just Valentines day.  I think they could be cool for birthday parties, baby showers, or just because.

Happy heart making.

Valentine Fail

I had a great plan to make chocolate covered strawberries for Valentines day.  I bought some on Monday and got them out yesterday afternoon ready to create.  This is what I found...

MOLD!  

It doesn't look so bad in this picture.  But believe me - mold was growing on every single one.  

There wasn't one salvageable piece of fruit.

Needless to say, I didn't make chocolate covered strawberries.  

I guess that's what I get for buying fruit out of season. 

Valentines Week

Valentines day isn't all that big here.  On one side I'm kind of glad.  On the other side I'm a little sad.  I want my boys to know some traditions that I grew up with.  They won't get to go to the grocery store to pick out valentines for their classroom friends.  They most likely won't make a special bag or mail box to receive all of the others valentine cards.  I'm a little disappointed about that.  So I decided to try and decorate a little and talk about it with the boys.  It's not much, but it makes me happy.

The boys think they are fun.  But they quickly lost interest and went back to playing boy stuff.  I'm alright with that.  Adrian told me they looked nice and Ryan said, "Cool mom!"  I figured it was worth it just for those two comments.  

Happy Valentines day planning!