14 Days until...

We are in the most magical place on earth- DISNEY WORLD! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. My mom and I wanted to wait until Jadyn was able to really enjoy it and tall enough to ride things! Well, she is 6 years old and 46 inches tall which, in my book, qualifies as being the perfect time to go. Instead of throwing up Disney World updates on Facebook, I am going to try and blog about it at the end of every day. Of course, I will still post pictures on Facebook during the day! Here are some pictures of the shirts I made for our first day- yes, we are going to be one of THOSE families that wear a themed shirt during vacation! Obviously, the first one is for Jadyn, middle is for my mom and the last one is mine!

Rolled Fabric Flowers

Simple Circle Fabric Flowers

Cut out different size circles. I use a lighter to burn around the edges for a more worn look. Using hot glue, glue the circles together. While each layer is drying, crinkle the center to add texture. Add some embellishments and you are done!

If you use satin fabric, burn the edges with a lighter. It will darken the fabric around the edges while causing the edges to curl up. It looks amazing! If I can't get the flower to crinkle the way I want, I spray some water and hairspray and set it with the blow dryer! *There is no need in buying the fancy tools when you can use what you have at home!*

Bulletin Board Bling!

Jadyn is at an age where she wants pictures of her friends in her room so she asked for a bulletin board. I was not about to hang some ugly, tan thing in her cute room OR spend $15 for a new bulletin board. Luckily, there was a garage sale down the street and they had a few bulletin boards- aren't there always bulletin boards at garage sales?! It was ugly and a little beat up, but only $1. We painted the wood frame and added a few embellishments. Using spray adhesive and some fabric, we covered the cork. It is best to use fabric with simple patterns so the pictures don't get lost in the design. Using a knife, I cut the excess fabric from around the edges. To make the fabric lines look cleaner, I took a butter knife and tucked them under the wood frame. TA-DA! Now, it's time to hang pictures on it and we only have plain silver push pins. Use a little E-6000 and buttons, rhinestones or whatever you can find and glue them on the push pins! Jadyn was pretty proud of her creation! She did all of the push pins by herself!

30 Day Challenge: Days 5-7

Day 5: Favorite Quote

Day 6: Whatever tickles your fancy
*Since I am still on a 'quote kick', here is another one of my favorites! When it is my time to leave this world, I want there to be proof I lived and loved.

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

-Marjorie Pay Hinkley

Day 7: A photo that makes you happy

This is a picture of Jadyn and her sweet friend, Ruby at kindergarten graduation. They were in the same pre-k class and spent lots of time together after school playing. (I work with Ruby's mom!) In the spring of last year, Ruby was diagnosed with leukemia. Jadyn wasn't really sure what this meant. I tried to explain what was going on while trying to make sure she felt informed and not scared. She was concerned and upset that Ruby's "blood was sick" and she wouldn't be able to go to school. Ruby's mom, Shelly, is amazing and made sure Ruby's life stayed as normal as possible. She would take Jadyn home after school to play and the girls would record videos for each other. When Ruby started to lose her hair, Jadyn came home and said, "Isn't Ruby's head so cute and fuzzy? She looks beautiful!" Ruby was finally able to come back to school for a short time and play with the other kids. Jadyn was SO excited! Right now, Ruby is rockin' a cute, little pixie cut! Of course there are some kids that don't know what Ruby went through or why her hair is short (or there parents have not taught them any manners!) so they made a comment in front of Jadyn (BAD IDEA!) about Ruby looking like a boy. I wish I would have recorded Jadyn when she was telling me about this- she was LIVID. I asked her what she said to the kid and she said, "Well, I told him- You know, Ruby had leukemia and her blood got sick. She had to take medicine that made her hair fall out so she could get better." I am pretty sure this was all said with her hand on her hip, one finger pointing in their face and head moving around with lots of attitude. When I look at this picture, I am reminded of how truly blessed I am. I am also reminded of what friendship really is and about the innocence of children. I mean, look at their eyes and smiles... they genuinely care about each other. There are no ulterior motives to their friendship- they just like being together and having fun!

Exfoliating could rid your body of cellulite- WHAT?!

While attempting to tan, I received a horrible sunburn. (I know, I know- wear sunscreen.) The sunburn progression started with pain, started to itch and is now peeling. I needed an exfoliant to help speed up the awful peeling phase, but couldn't find one and wasn't in the mood to leave the house. I've always heard of people making their own bath products but never actually tried to make them myself. I figured I probably had all of the things needed to make my own scrub, but had to find a recipe. While searching for the PERFECT sugar scrub recipe, I came across an article about coffee scrubs. Apparently they are used in a lot of spas and are "absolutely wonderful" for your skin. Most people take their coffee in a cup with a little sugar and cream, or whatever your preference, to give them a little caffeine boost. The caffeine is also what makes the coffee body scrub so wonderful! The caffeine helps RID YOUR BODY OF UNWANTED CELLULITE (ladies, you paying attention now?!) by redistributing the fat cells and decreasing the appearance of cellulite. It also helps shrink blood vessels which reduces the appearance of varicose veins. This whole coffee scrub sounded pretty interesting so I decided to test it out... and it is ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! I do NOT recommend using this in the bath. I made this mistake and it looked like someone poured their spit cup in my bath water. Gross! After I got past the fact that I appeared to be bathing in a spit cup, I started to notice how great this scrub was! It doesn't burn your skin or leave you feeling oily. After using, my skin is silky smooth and I think the smell of the coffee gave me some energy! Below is the recipe I used (it was a combination of what I could find in the pantry) but I am sure you can find a lot more online!


Jadyn made her own sugar scrub and wanted me to post her recipe! So here it is!