Sweet Saylor's Nautical Birthday Celebration

It's Tuesday! My favorite day of the week :)  I'm just getting around to editing birthday pictures from my sweet Saylor Brooke's Nautical themed party this weekend!  We had so much fun celebrating her 2nd birthday, and the theme choice was a given!  Here are some pictures from her party! Enjoy :)

 These were her party favors

 "cheeeeese"

Big Momma and "Sail-Boat"

 the craft table- painting is SO much easier to clean up when done Outside!

 Sweet girl got a four wheeler!

 Painting with Aunt Erin

Aunt Lindsey and my sweet nieces painting their masterpieces.  I truly couldn't have pulled this party together without her!  If you have a best friend, you are truly blessed! I am blessed to have you Lindsey!

 Kids table

When i move Saylor in to  a "big girl bed" i will be incorporating the "nautical theme" I'm so in love with the colors and textures i used in her party!  Everyone at her party signed and wrote a sweet note to Saylor on her oar (paddle).  I will be hanging this in her room :)

 Big Sissy painting her lighthouse!

starfish hair candy i whipped up before the party ;) Lily Grace was convinced she was "Ariel" from "The Little Mermaid"

Laughing at her cousins



low country boil! 

Inside of the cake i made her, she loved the different colors!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my beautiful, hilarious, rough and tumble, sweet Saylor Brooke!  May all your wishes come true! Blessed to be your Mommy.



DIY Canvas Photo Tutorial

Hey! and happy Tuesday :) Have i told you lately that i LOVE Tuesday??  Tuesday is our day.  Derek and i spent last week in beautiful Punta Cana....But, boy was i missing my sweet girls!  No worries, the girls and i made up for time lost today :).

How gorgeous is this? Gah.....so much fun was had!

As promised,  I'll leave you with a tutorial that i found on the beloved  pinterest website.  My version of the tutorial is a little different as i don't have a lot of time (I'm completely impatient and can't stand to watch "paint dry") to wait between steps.  here goes!

1.  Buy a canvas in the size you would like for your print to be and visit shutterfly or website of your choosing to enlarge your print.  (i always use shutterfly! great deals and tons of online promo codes!)



This is an 11x14 canvas i bought in a two pack at Michael's. i think i paid 5.99 (they were 50% off:) also, if you download the "app" for Michael's they can scan coupons right from your phone! What did we do before iPhones?!

2.  Once you receive your photo, cut it to fit your canvas. (I cut mine slightly smaller to expose some of the canvas edge on all sides.  This helps it look more like a "professional" canvas print once you paint the edges.)

3.  Use a paint brush and spread a thin layer of Mod-Podge onto the canvas and smooth your picture down.



3.  This is where i deviate from the original instructions a bit.  They want you to wait an hour and let the Mod-Podge dry before you add the second layer....I. Can't. Wait....sad but true....patience is not one of my strong points ;)  Use the same technique, except this time you will Mod-Podge over the photo.



It will look "filmy" like this until it dries.

4.  When it dries (only takes about 10 minutes) Take your acrylic paint and apply it to the edges of your canvas with a sponge brush.  Lightly brush over the exposed (photo) edge of your canvas with the paint.  This will blend your picture in with the canvas and make it look professional.  When choosing a color to paint the edge of my canvas i look for the color that stands out in the picture. usually, black or brown.  I have painted them with a lighter color (antique white) but wasn't as happy with it once i got it on the wall.  I generally like the look of them with dark edges better.



finished product! well....probably not totally finished, since I'm completely obsessed with making these!  P.S.  the quote pictured here used to hang on our bedroom door in our first home:) I found it by accident when i went in the attic to look for something....i think it looks perfect here :)

Hope wherever you are, you're having a fabulous Tuesday!  If you use this tutorial and make your own canvas prints I'd love to see them! Tag me in your pictures on Facebook or email them to me and I'll feature them here!

terriffic tuesday

today was a good day. I typically think of Tuesday as "our" day.  A day with my girls to do whatever we want to do! no work, no deadlines and no set plan.  I live for Tuesday....and so do my girls.  We spent our day with our favorite people...at our favorite, well....the girls favorite place....chick-fil-a!

we wore dessert cards as hats and even had a few brawls (i won't name any names ;) in the play area with some "naughty little boys".

Lindsey and i even got two minutes of uninterrupted adult conversation until somebody had to use the bathroom :)

Today also marked a first for Lily Grace!

She got her very first Hair Cut! (at four....okay....it took me four years to get up the nerve to cut it...so sue me ;)

Thank you Aunt Amy for making me look so beautiful :)

There really is no greater joy in this whole world than being a mother!

did i say i loved Tuesday already?

hope you're having a terrific tuesday!

Made from scratch strawberry cake

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter!  Ours was indeed wonderful; surrounded by family, giving thanks to Christ for his sacrifice and enjoying a meal together around the table.  Not to mention the laughter of children running through the house, Easter baskets in tow relishing their recent finds.  In my world, it doesn't get much better than that.

As requested from a few of you, I'm going to share the made from scratch strawberry cake i served as my dessert.  I think i had one piece leftover when lunch was over....nuff said ;)  Here goes!

Ingredients

2 C. White Sugar

1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin

1 cup butter, softened

4 eggs (room temperature)

2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup whole milk, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup strawberry puree made from frozen sweetened strawberries ( i used fresh strawberries, halved them, and popped them in the blender for a few seconds. instant strawberry puree! yum!)

Method

1  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour Three 9 inch round cake pans.

2.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and dry strawberry gelatin until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter alternately with the milk. Blend in vanilla and strawberry puree. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.               

3.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a small knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in their pans over a wire rack for at least 10 minutes, before tapping out to cool completely.               

*After the cakes cool, spread your butter cream icing (recipe here) and strawberry puree between each layer, then cover the entire cake in butter cream icing. 

*I halved the rest of my strawberries to decorate the top of my cake and placed a whole strawberry in the middle.  super easy and sooooooo good!

* In the future when i make this cake again i will probably separate the yolk from the white of the eggs and use my hand mixer to whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then fold into the cake batter.  I think this would make for a fluffier cake.  The cake was wonderful, but a little dense.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did! I'll definitely be making this again!

I'll leave you with a few pictures of our Easter Sunday.... God has truly blessed us...so thankful

Everyone at lunch (minus a few munchkins:)

as you can tell, Lily Grace had already stripped of her Sunday best into her t shirt and jeans :)

Big Momma and Sweet Saylor

My Precious Family

The reasons i breathe

DIY handwritten covered lampshade

Today, while the girls were sleeping, i crafted... I got this idea from the beloved Pinterest but i couldn't find a tutorial so..... i made my own!  It was super easy, only took me about an hour from start to finish and i love the way it turned out!  The best part is, it didn't cost me a thing!  I used the lampshade that was on the lamp and i had the rest of the materials in my craft area (aka: millions of hobby lobby bags and plastic totes that i had to dig through to find what i needed:) 

All you need is:  Lampshade, sharpie, hot glue gun and burlap or fabric of your choosing!

1.  Start by unrolling the fabric off your lampshade.  This can be a little tricky depending on the thickness of the fabric.  Take your time so you don't rip through it.  This is going to be your pattern!

2. Once you get the whole lampshade unrolled, lay it on top of your fabric and trace around it, or if you're impatient like me you can just freehand around it with some scissors :) it should look something like this when you're done.

3.  Now you're on to the fun part!  hot glue the two pieces of fabric and start writing!  I chose a song from our wedding, "That's what love is" to write on my lampshade.  The possibilities are endless with this project.  You could write your favorite quotes, bible verse or even a letter to your child (to put in their room).

This is what it looked like when i was done (before i glued it onto the lampshade)

4.  Glue your fabric back on to your lampshade, and Voila!  You have a beautiful, personalized lampshade to display in your home!

Happy Crafting Friends!  Have a blessed Easter!

Prodigal or Princess?

I'm back from a rather long hiatus (sorry about that) and what better time to return than refreshed and restored from a retreat to Montreat, NC with some fabulous women!  I can't say enough about the wonderful time i had there. We laughed, we cried .........and......we cried....... and....... we cried some more.  I'm well aware that statement sounds like a total contradiction, but they weren't sad tears.  They were tears of joy and tears of release and forgiveness for others and ourselves.

My best friend Lindsey and i on a break from our session

Since returning home, two words from our "sessions" have been echoing in my mind.  Princess and Prodigal.  At one time or another, i can imagine that both have described all of us...I know they have described me.  You see, I've never had a problem with thinking of myself as God's princess.  He is the King and i am his daughter, so that makes me a princess, right?  That brings me to the Prodigal.  I used to relate the word Prodigal with the parable in the bible about the prodigal son, you know, the one that took his inheritance early and squandered it all, eventually coming back in to the welcoming arms of his father? Until recently, i often related this story to big events in a persons life that caused them to run from God or do something drastic.  Since returning home and having really thought about this word and prayed about it, I'm realizing that anything that causes us to take our eyes off God and go away from him  makes us a "prodigal".  Aren't we constantly running back to our "father" just like the boy in the story?  Aren't his forgiving arms always welcoming, ready to receive us when we do?   I'm so thankful that they are.  I know they have welcomed this prodigal back time after time.  I hope that wherever you are,  you always realize that no matter what you've done, big or small, it's all the same to God.  If you are a child of God, it says in his word that he not only forgives us of our sins but that he doesn't even remember them!

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance; let us contend together; state your case, that you may be acquitted.” (Isaiah 43:25-26 )

so what are you waiting for?  run back in to his arms like i did and will continue to do.  He's waiting....arms open wide.