Making Accessories for my "Stella & Dot"

Back in June I had a trunk show for "Stella & Dot" at my house.  My friend Amanda Wetekamp gave my friends and myself a really great time dressing up in lots of beautful jewelry.  It took me a few weeks to decide what I wanted.  Since I don't have a lot of jewelry or money I tried to pick things that were versatile.  

Here is two of the items that I got.

These items have a really great feature, they both have a clasp on each side.  The gold one actually has an extension  for adding accessories to the chain or it can be used as a bracelet.

So even before getting the necklaces, I stayed up one evening making these:

After wearing it a few times.  I realized I had a problem.

Can you guess from these pictures what it is?  I needed to find a way to keep it from flipping over all the time.

So I attached a bar pin to the back and now I just pin it to my top when I wear it.

It works great!

  I got a lot of compliments.  Why don't you give it a try, first go on over to the E-Boutique of 

Stella & Dot's stylist, Amanda Wetekamp and get yourself some great jewelry!

My favorite posts of the week!

I love reading blogs, or should I say looking at the photo's and if they call to me, reading the blog.  It's one way I enjoy spending my down time.  So I decided I should use that time spent for good by sharing my favorite posts for the week with everyone else.

Today, I will be not be putting these in any special order.

hearthandmadeuk, posted  

Inspiration Station | Vintage Suitcases part 2 | Uses and Inspiration. 

           There is some really great ideas.  This are some of my favorites:

This is a great Travel idea for kids!

        
        Next, is a  Party Wishes' blog.  The post Mary Poppins Down Under caught my eye because I love Mary Poppins and party planning!  Here are some of my favorite shots from her post:

They really went all out, it's like being in the movie!


Because I'm hungry while writing this, here is some amazing looking food:


Little Birdie Secrets did a post on this Chicken Burrito Pizza she found in  Shape Magazine.  It looks really good!

          And last but not least, a post Delicious Desserts by I heart Nap Time with mouth watering desserts.  Here are my favorite:

   

Yum!!


I hope you enjoy these post as much as I did!

Rice Crispy Cake- My attempt!

Today I am watching my sister's son and of course I have my little girl Ella here with me.  Pretty much from the start of the day they have been a challenge.  They found everything and anything to fight about and to be disobedient about.  I thought "OK, I will take them to the park for a picnic and then they can play on the playground."  Well, we had lunch, that went OK, minus a little fighting over food and me having to confront two young teenage boys about making fun of another person on the playground.  We went to play on the playground, then the thunder began.  It was time to head home...

     What next???  I may be crazy but I'm going to attempt to make a Rice Crisy Cake with a 3 year old and an almost 3 year old.  This is where I got my idea.

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Tracy on Pinterest

Since little ones will be eating this and it's not a special occasion (other then me trying to keep my sanity) I decided to try not to use things like chocolate or frosting.  Not healthy, just hopefully not too horrible.  To add another challenge to it, I'm not really prepared.  I don't have a cool pedestal cake stand, or round pans to mold the Rice Crispy's but we'll give in a try

Ingredients:
*Rice Crispies
*Marshsmallows
*Fruit by the Foot
 *Organic Buddy Fruits
 *Butter

Here are my two little helpers.
They did a lot more eating then helping.

I found the tin on the left to use as a mold and was able to make the first layer.

I didn't know the Fruit by the Foot had this design
until I opened it up.  It worked out good.

Picture of the first layer.

      I used a small sauce pan for the top layer's mold.  I tried putting the fruit snacks on it and it looked horrible.  I couldn't even take a picture.  So I went shopping later and because I guess I care more about how this looks than how healthy it is, I bought M&M's and put this together (below).

I was much happier with it and decided now that it looked decent, it was time to dig in!!

Bringing Creativity to Playtime, in the Park

My favorite way to play with my little girl is to go outside, collect whatever we can, and make something.  I told my husband it's because I get to do my favorite things all at once: sit (relax), scavange, and create.  So these pictures are actually from two different days, once with my husband.  I have to tell you my husband is so awesome, he likes joining in the fun in his own creative way.

This is the Fairy House, in the center Ella put some green berries
(which she calls peas) on the "table" for the fairies to eat".

(Ok, this is the first try so really use your imagination)  This is a fairy prince,

and this is the fairy princess.

Then there is Daddy's addition to the fun:

She's so excited because she thinks she  looks like Pistachio from Veggie Tales.

So crafty people, how do you get crafty with your kids?

I'm loving all the different types of banners I've been seeing out there.  I tried my hand at these ones:

It's really easy to make.  Also almost no sew.  The clues to making this easy is iron-on adhesive and double side quilt binding.  After you stick the triangles side together with the iron-on adhesive just put them into the fold of the binding and pin them there.  Then sew the length of the binder and tada!

Here is some other cool style banners you can check out on my Pinterest.

Source: ashleyannphotography.com via Tracy on Pinterest

Source: lisaleonardonline.com via Tracy on Pinterest

Source: ashleyannphotography.com via Tracy on Pinterest

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Tracy on Pinterest