I think I am on a "Felt Kick"............

I LOVE FELT as many of you have figured out by now!!! But ohhhhh I think these slippers are my favorite felt items ever!!!!!!! I love Martha Stewart and the trillions of ideas on her site!!! Here are some fun things from her (or should I say her employees, the ones who I am sure find all these cute things!!)............. Felt Slippers

Childrens Felt Board

Felt Cherry Pie - Fun for a play kitchen

Have fun FELT-ING!!

Cutest pillow idea.....

Saw this on Martha's website and had to share!! I am loving this for my preschooler!! And what a fun gift idea for the little one you know! Click here for the details...........

LAPTOP LUNCHBOXES (are the coolest things ever)...

Anyone out there looking for healthier lunch options for your kids??? I dont know if any of you have seen these cool things called "Laptop Lunchboxes" yet but let me just tell you they are so great!!! I just purchased three of them for my 8th, 6th and 2nd grader and just received them yesterday! They are earth friendly lunchboxes that have all these containers (even a little one that holds ranch dressing, peanut butter or any kind of sauce) and they come with a fork and a spoon too... all dishwasher safe! So you can give your child leftovers from the night before along with whatever else and you dont have to use baggies or pre-packaged items! Can I tell you how many baggies I used go through on a daily basis... At least 15 a day with all of the lunches I pack and I also think of the amount of money I spent on all of the pre-packed stuff! It is crazy! Here are some of the ideas from the Laptop Lunch website:

If you make chicken breasts, prepare an extra serving and slice it for sandwiches the next day instead of purchasing deli lunch meat.
If you’re making a salad for dinner, slice some extra vegetables, such as cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, and celery, or make an extra undressed salad directly in the Laptop Lunch. (Make extra dressing and pour it into the dip container.)
While you’re making dinner, boil a few eggs. Pack the eggs whole, make deviled eggs, or use them in egg salad.
Make extra pasta, couscous, or rice and make side salads for lunch by cutting up vegetables and adding salad dressing.
Grill extra vegetables and use them in sandwiches.
Make an extra baked potato and pack it with nutritious toppings.

They come with a little paperback book of all these different healthy recipes for children's lunches! Now the only thing, is that they are not cheap but over time I think they will pay for themselves!!

Go here to read all about them............ If you look around on the internet you can find pretty good deals on them. I found mine through a company called http://www.nubiusorganics.com/ for $17.80 each (they are normally $22-28 each) They come in fun colors too!

Anyways, just thought I would share this info with all of you...... Hope you are having a great day today!!

FREE ~ FREE ~ FREE.....I love free things!

CAME ACROSS THIS GREAT WEBSITE TODAY!!! FREE PATTERNS!!!! CLICK HERE

A Happy Valentines a day late..........

Did you all have a wonderful VALENTINES DAY??? I hope so! Ours lasted until tonight.....that is because I didn't make our Valentines Dinner until tonight.... So here are a bunch of pics of what we ate to how I decorated...
These were yummy Napoleons that I found off of another great blog...Caddywumpus (thanks...:o)

Our dinner was delish!! We had a yummy chicken dish that had crusted stuffing over the top, a strawberry salad with red onions, candied nuts and apples with Raspberry vinigerette mmmmm and some crunchy french bread and steamed broccoli! My kids loved it (yay!!!)

Here I am putting the food on the table.......

Here is my family with one extra friend eating our Valentines breakfast which cosisted of... our family favorite, German pancakes that I dyed red, fruit salad with pink yogurt over the top and of course dyed pink milk! It was very fun and my family loved all of the RED AND PINK!!

A look at our table...(the cute black cake stand with the glass cover... are you ready for this.... 9.97 at Sams Club last week!!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!)

Another look (Pre-food) :o)

Here is what we ended up with for Valentines this year... The classic red heart rice crispy treats in cello bags and our GREEN ALIENS with a handwritten note inside..."Happy V-alien-tines" My boys loved these and so did their classmates!! I am making the felt fortune cookies to send to our extended family (I know it is late...)

Here is the decor I did for our house, not too much but just enough to add the Valentines spirit! (Above pic and below pics)

These hearts are just cut out of cardstock and hung with embroidery thread from my chandelier! ( I added some glitter to a few for some sparkliness!

Lollipop heart flowers...

I am loving this left over Christmas ribbon....

Some chipboard hearts that I "glitterized". They turned out cute above my big mirror! (Also left over Christmas berries that I thought worked for V-Day as well!!

Bigger pic of the glitterization...like my word???

This is truly one of favorite Valentine decoration items...a string of these paper hearts that my daughter made about 6 years ago when she was in 2nd grade!!

I hope you all had a fun Valentines Day with your families!!!!!!

Linking up to Tablescape Thursday

Looky at this darling Tic Tac Toe Idea....

Fun huh?? I think this is just A-DOR-A-BLE!!! Found this through Little Window Shoppe who found it through Alpha Mom... Click here to make this fun game for your kids!

KID CLUTTER....an invitation from Shabby Nest

Hello to all of my blogging buddies............ I went over to Shabby Nest and she is having "The Taming Kid Clutter Party" where you put your ideas on your blog and then go to hers and leave your info on Mr. Linky!! There are some GREAT ideas to look at so go on over and look at the fun things!! Here are some of my ideas for organizing my kids stuff......... some you may have seen before ;o)

I am a BIG fan of shoe organizers... I love this because I put all of their gloves in the pockets so it is easy for them to find the mates!!! Plus it always looks pretty neat!

Here is another use for a shoe holder. (this is the one you have probably seen on my blog before) Anyways, this holds a variety of the "kid craft" items such as glue, tape, scissors, paintbrushes, glitter, etc...

I am also a basket lover and my daughter is a yarn lover so this is where all of her yarn goes and it slips right underneath her bed!!

This fun tin came from Anthropologie and I fell in love with it! It holds two of my sons little items that usually would end up all over the dresser, like watches, cameras, and other little odds and ends!

I bought a train table from Costco a couple of years back and it worked great but then over time we were running out of room for it so I dissassembled it and just used the drawers and now they fit perfectly under their bed holding train sets other bins with little toys. I also love rolling clear storage bins that hold all of the LEGOS!

I came up with this idea when I had all 3 of my boys in one room! They had a lot of clothes in drawers and I used to fold them and lay them in the drawers one on top of the other and then I thought wait a minute.... they can't even see what they have! Soooooooo, I decided on this new invention of folding the shirts and putting them in the drawer like this (see above pic - ariel view of the open drawer) so that they can see what shirts they have!

Bins are a mother's BEST FRIEND!!! We have a ton of these from Walmart and they are the best!! These are the large ones and they hold everything from toy cars, animals, tinker toys and lincoln logs!! These are must!!

Hope you join the party so I can see all of your GREAT ideas!

Look at this "Heart-Felt Bag" from Martha....

So cute huh!!! Here are her instructions:

This adorable felt handbag is the perfect accessory for Valentine's Day.

Tools and Materials:
Wool felt
Rotary cutter and mat
Double-sided iron-on adhesive
Decorative quilting cotton
Sewing machine
Coordinating thread
Pins
Iron
Magnetic-snap closures
Heart template
Scissors
Fabric glue

Heart Felt Bag How-To
1. Cut a piece of 11-by-17-inch felt. Cut a piece of double-sided iron-on adhesive slightly larger.
2. Iron adhesive onto decorative quilting cotton and trim around the paper-backed adhesive. Peel the paper backing away and iron the cotton onto the felt piece, following the adhesive manufacturer's instructions. Trim around the felt piece.
3. Cut four 1/2-inch-wide 6-inch strips of felt. Match two together, pin, and sew down the center lengthwise with a zigzag stitch to create half of the bag handle. Repeat to create the other half.
4. Lay the cotton-backed felt with the cotton side facing up. Fold 1 inch down on both short sides and press.
5. Attach a magnet closure to the flap on each side. Pin a handle piece in place at the center of each short side.
6. Using a zipper foot and less than a 1/8-inch seam allowance, stitch the folded sides down to create a hem at each short end, being sure to catch the strap piece in the seam.
7. Fold the piece in half with felt sides facing. Using a 1/4-inch seam allowance, sew up the sides of the bag. Create a 2-inch gusset at the bottom of each corner.
8. Turn the bag right-side out and sew the bag handle pieces together in the center to form a heart shape.
9. Print template and trace hearts onto different colors of felt. Cut hearts from felt and use fabric glue to attach to bag.

More fun treats your kids can help with for Valentines...

click here to make these delicious looking lollipops.......

photo: courtesy of BH&G

RED VELVET CUPCAKES....mmmmmmm

Ingredients:
3 eggs
3/4 cup butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2-1/4 cups sugar
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1-oz. bottle red food coloring (2 Tbsp.)
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 tsp. vinegar
Small chocolate heart-shaped cookies (optional)
Powdered sugar (optional)
Directions
1. Let eggs and butter stand 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 28 2-1/2-inch cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside.
2. In medium bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, and 3/4 tsp. salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl beat butter on medium-high 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until combined. One at a time, add eggs; beat on medium after each. Beat in food coloring on low.
3. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to egg mixture; beat on low to medium sped after each just until combined. Stir together baking soda and vinegar. Add to batter; beat just until combined.
4. Spoon batter into prepared pans, filling each about two-thirds full. Bake 15 to 17 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely. Top with small chocolate cookies, if desired. Dust with powdered sugar. Makes 28 servings.

Hope you are all doing fun things with your kidlets this Valentines :o)

A couple of fun treats for VALENTINES!!

Rice crispy treats cut in the shape of a heart......... then wrapped in cellophane bags and tied with tiny twine or ribbon......great for classroom treats! I have done this for about every holdiay!!

A basic cake mix done up and frosted with homemade frosting and decorated with candy hearts!!

SO SIMPLE BUT SO CUTE AND YUMMY!!!!