DIY Cupcake Tin Advent

There are lots of awesome advent calendars out there...but they can cost a fortune. Last year, I started making my own. In this season of life, I like to keep it simple.
Last year, I started using the cupcake tin idea. I am sure this idea came from Pinterst. It was quite an undertaking because I had to cut out all of the circles and numbers...thankfully I saved all the covers and was able to assemble quickly this year. If you have more than one child, just get some more cupcake tins!

What you need:
Mini cupcake tin
24 pieces of miniature candies or small toys
Holiday paper
1-24 Stickers or cutouts from Cricut
24 Circles 2 inch circles (use Cricut or hole punch) 
24 Circles 2 1/2 inch circles (use Cricut or hole punch)
Glue or adhesive
Glue dots

Directions:
Cut out the numbers 1-24 (to save time you can buy stickers).
Cut out the circles. Place the numbers on each of the smaller circles and layer on top of a larger circle.
Place a piece of chocolate or small toy in each of the circles. Place a glue dot on the top and bottom the assembled circle and stick to cover the opening.

As you can see by the finished product, gluing the small numbers made a bit of a mess....so stickers would definitely be a cleaner, quicker option.

 

DIY Gallery Wall Obessesion

Ever since I started stalking Pinterest, I have been looking for ways to spruce up my 5-year-old home decor. Enter: The Gallery Wall. I love it! It's busy, random and totally out of my comfort zone. I tried to make it symettrical, but my husband says sometimes you have to be random...I like it! I did measure the spot on the wall where I wanted to put it (about 5 by 5) and used the floor to lay it out.

Of course, as we hung it, it transformed. Well, let's be truthful, I stood back and gave directions while he hung it. I am not the most adept at hammers and nails...and forget screws.

In the process, we added and deleted. And, with another baby on the way...there had to be room to add some more photos. I still want to incorporate a few more funky pieces (we were thinking old saw or shot gun...ha). I also would like to color the "S" a tan to contrast, but that won't take long. I have seen a lot of gallery walls that I love, but of course, when you make your own...it's right at home.

On Raising an Independent Daughter

I am no expert on raising children. I don't hold a fancy degree in child development and haven't penned any best-selling books. I wake up every day equipped only with my childhood experience and my daily interactions with teenagers as a high school special education teacher. I am intuitive and compassionate. I am aware and available. I am determined and dependable. Because my mother made me so, I am a huge proponent of making children independent from an early age. This may come up against great debate among many of today's parents who think I am too hard on my child.

"She's just a kid."
"Aww, help her out."
"Why don't you just give her what she wants?"

I am not afraid of what other parents think of me.

But what I do fear and what keeps me awake at night is the question: Will I raise an independent daughter?
My parents and stepparents did not give me money or fancy cars or a free ride to college, but they gave me so much more. They taught me to be independent, resourceful and hard working.

In a world that will eat you alive, I want my child to be equipped with the resources she needs to survive and thrive on her own, just like I was.

I may be hard on my kid, but my kid, my beautiful, witty and wonderful daughter, deserves a shot at independence.

In my small world, there has to be a balance of love and discipline, and this is how I will raise my independent daughter. So here are the promises I will make to her.

1. I promise to always push you to try to do it by yourself first. And I will be patient while you try. When you say you can't, I will push you harder.
2. I promise to always celebrate your successes, no matter how small they are.
3. I promise to encourage you to take risks and always learn from your mistakes.
4. I promise to give you appropriate choices and trust you to make the right ones.
5. I promise to never hover over you while you learn your own way.
6. I promise to mind my own business but be there for you when you need me.
7. I promise to teach you the way I do it and model appropriate behavior, but let you make your own path.
8. I promise to let you make your own decisions about what you wear, even if it means a too-tight princess tutu with tights and sneakers.
9. I promise to let you pick your friends and to encourage you to treat them kindly and fairly, no matter who they are.
10. I promise to laugh with you when you make silly mistakes.
11. I promise to cry with you when you make devastating mistakes.
12. I promise to always be your mother and never to stand against you.
13. I promise to love you unconditionally without judgement or bias because you deserve to grow into the girl you want to be.
14. I promise that as an independent and smart woman, you will be valued far beyond any perfect body or beautiful face you have.

15. I promise it will be hard at times not to give you exactly what you want when you want it...it doesn't mean I love you less...it means I love you more, so much more.  

Cuban sandwich from leftovers

In my house, we love sandwiches and soup. I also hate to waste food (which we are trying to do better). One constant in our house is Cuban sandwiches after pork roast for dinner. It's a great way to use leftovers for another meal. This week, it was pork and sauerkraut. A few days later, I dug out the griddle.

Cuban sandwiches:

Leftover pork (3 ounces per sandwich)

Chipped or thin sliced deli ham (3 ounces  per sandwich)

Potato rolls (1 per sandwich)

Cheese if choice (1 slice per sandwich)

Mayo

Mustard

Hamburger dill pickles

Butter

Directions: 

Spray electric griddle with Pam and heat to 300-350. Butter both outsides of potato rolls and set aside. Warm ham and pork on griddle. When the meat is warm, place the rolls (butter side down on the griddle). While the outsides are grilling: spread bottom piece of roll with mayo and mustard and top with pickles. Top with pork, ham and cheese (Swiss is traditional I believe) and flip the top. Grill additional time if needed. 

Broken clock dodges landfill

5.5 years ago we got a clock for a wedding gift. It never got hung up and when I dug it back out...it didn't work. Even a new battery didn't solve the problem. We didn't need it anyway, so i skipped getting a new clock kit. Instead, I turned it into the centerpiece for our gallery wall.

I cut out some decorative paper to fit and used my Cricut to cut out the letters and for my own personal touch I turned the fluer de lis upside down. I used mod podge matte to adhere the letters. I put the clock back exactly as it was (in case I ever need a clock again) and hung it up. Voila, broken clock avoids landfill!

Redone desk

This little beauty wasn't so bad before in the left picture, however, it was a very poor paint job, and I wanted to give it new life. The paint was chipping and bubbly in spots. It was also really, really shiny. The color is very popular right now, but I still felt like it needed something to revive it. And who doesn't love shabby chic.

I started off with some paint stripper only to find that whomever painted it really didn't take their time nor have concern for the nice piece of real workmanship of this desk. The tongue and groove drawers and great construction showed that this desk was very sturdy and would certainly stand the test of time. The stripper was making a such a royal mess, I asked my little princess to help me clean up.

So after attempting to strip without success (blisters, sweat and curse words later), I decided this was a candidate for a good sanding job, primer and a fresh coat of paint.  I ended up just cleaning it up the best that I could and sanding it as smooth as I could. I applied a coat or white primer. Then took to painting.  Instead of painting, then sanding to make the distressed look, I decided to experiment with some painting techniques. This is what the drawer looked like before as I was trying to strip.Then the after. To get the look, I painted the drawer with primer. Painted a layer of green called Canteen.

                                                                                                                   After that dried, I took a lighter aqua color. I dipped my brush in water first, then in paint. I lightly brushed the drawer and then dabbed off the excess with a paper towel. When that dried, I drug a little stain over the drawer. And that was all. I decided to avoid a lot of distress, I only accented the drawers with the paint technique and used the canteen green and aqua to paint the rest. I am pleased with the results. I finished it off with a wax instead of polyurethane because I wanted it to look more natural and less shiny. I am please. The plan now is to sell the desk, however, I am not sure where to even start. How much to I charge, where do I list it? This is the first piece that I didn't do for myself, even though I think it would look awesome in Ayla's room!                                    

 

Shopping to save

I'm not sure where the excitement comes from saving money...but it's what fuels me to scour sales and cut and now print coupons. I'm definitely not an extreme couponer, but I do stock up if something is on sale that we will use and won't go bad. My most recent save was on Cottonelle flushable wipes at Giant. These are a luxury I don't think we need, except they come in handy now that Ayla is potty trained. 

The small refill packs were $2, the large $5.99. If you bought two packs of Cottonelle bath tissue on sale for $5.99, you got $3 off the large wipes. So, I bought:

Cottonelle 12 pack: $5.99

Cottonelle 12 pack: $5.99

Cottonelle large wipe refill: $5.99

Cottonelle small wipe refill: $2

Total: $20

Less $1 coupon off two wipes

Less $1 off coupon two packs off toilet paper

Less $3 in-store instant savings

Less $4 in-store coupons off any purchase 

Total: $11

Not too shabby for 24 rolls of toilet paper and two packs of refills.