Key Holder

I'm trying to get in touch with my creative side. It's a pretty hard shell to crack but, I think I'm getting there. Since I'm at home I've had some time on my hands to discover things that annoy me about our house. Room for improvement. Peanut is at that age of discovery. Well, he discovered the trash can. We had to temporarily move it into the utility room away from his curious hands. Unfortunately, the placement was less than ideal. It was directly under our keys which were only hanging by pathetic thumb tacks hanging loosely in the wall. Do you see where I'm going with this? After fishing the keys out of the trash not once, but twice something HAD to be done. We were in the process of finding a trash can with a lid but of course the only one Wal-Mart had was the last one and it was broken. Ugh! I decided to make my own key holder. Those little boogers are pretty pricey at the store. So, I found some items that we had just lying around the house. I used a wooden picture frame that was pretty thick, 4 mug/cup hooks, some scrapbook paper, and I printed out the work "Keys" from the computer. Put it all together and this is what you get:

To hang it I had to put hangers on both corners for stability. Now I don't have to worry about those tricky little things falling anywhere.

Chewy Granola Bars

I found a wonderful recipe for homemade granola bars at http://www.smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/. They are the best ones I have made. There are very few ingredients and they don't fall apart or super stick to the pan. They have the perfect amount of sweetness too. We love having them for snack.

Chewy Granola Bars

3 cups oatmeal

1 cup slivered almonds (I omitted these due to a nut allergy)

1 cup shredded coconut

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1-2 cups favorite add-ins (dried fruit, chocolate chips, etc)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Mix all ingredients together and pour into the pan. Pat it out. Bake for 20-27 minutes.

Happy Snacking

~Tabitha~

P.S. I highly recommend dried cranberries with white chocolate chips.

Donut Muffins

Donut Muffins (http://www.oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/)

1/2 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Butter, melted

1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/2 cup Milk

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 cup Flour

Topping

1/4 cup Butter, melted

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Grease your muffin tin. Mix 1st 3 ingredients. Then add last 3 and mix until just combined. Bake 10-15 minutes  or until knife comes out clean. In one bowl have your melted butter. In your second bowl your cinnamon and sugar mixture. Dip your muffin in the butter and then roll it in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

These taste like donut holes! Very light and fluffy. This recipe only makes 6 regular sized muffins. So, if your family likes these as much as mine you will want to quadruple this recipe! These didn't even last an hour in our house. next time I am going to try substituting pumpkin pie spice for the nutmed and hopefully make them pumpkin flavored donuts.

Happy Baking!

~Tabitha~

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

I love fall! I love pulling out the jeans and long sleeved t-shirts. Time for snuggling by the fire outside while making  smores. Crunching the crispy falling leaves. Visiting the local pumpkin patch. Beautiful mums. It also puts me in the mood to bake. For some reason as the seasons change so do my tastes. Right now I only want to bake things with pumpkin or cinnamon and sugar or all three. While blog hopping I found 2 incredible recipes that have been added to my family's favs list. These are going to be baked a lot!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes (http://www.oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/)
2 cups Flour
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Butter, Melted
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla

Topping
1 cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare your muffin tin. In one bowl mix all the dry ingredients. In a second bowl combine the butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix lightly with a fork. Fill your muffin tins. Top each one with the cinnamon/sugar mixture. To make it even better mix a little of the sugar/cinnamon in with the batter. Bake for 15-20.

These are melt in your mouth yummy!

Happy Fall Baking!

~Tabitha~

Toddler Table Saver Tip

One of my friends pre-children introduced me to a wonderful way to protect pretty tablecloths. She had a toddler at the time. If you have children you know that you can't use a pretty tablecloth because it will be destroyed after one meal. For a while my table went bare because it was easier. Now I have a wonderful table saver that my friend had. It's just clear plastic that you can purchase in different thickness in your local fabric department. I chose the medium thickness for durability. The one drawback is if your plate or bowl is really hot it will stick to the plastic a little. One tip is not to buy the premade ones that are in the tablecloth aisle. They are like $6. I got mine for $2. It was a much better deal. They do last quite a while. Now, I can dress up my table anytime and not worry. Here is my pretty little table all dressed up for fall:

I added fabric leaves under the plastic cover that I bought for $1 at the Dollar Tree. So fun!

I know these are blue. They may get a coat of paint to help them blend. These table holder clips are awesome! My lil man figured out that if he pulled on the tablecloth he could reach things on the table. Big messes for mommy. Thank goodness for these little lifesavers! Now every momma can have a pretty table even with a toddler!

~Tabitha~

Money Saving Tip: Momma Style

You spend a fortune on the necessities for your infant/toddler so you want to use it to the last drop. You know what I mean. Even a "large" tube of store brand Desitin is over $2. Just like toothpaste diaper cream is a pain in the "butt" (Ha Ha) to use it up. You get to the end of the tube and almost break your fingers trying to get the last drop! I fight with the tube while wrestling my toddler. I swear I've become the fastest diaper changer in the world! So, I found an ingenius solution to this problem:

I'm sure everyone will recognize this simple, fabulous little contraption. It's the tube squeezer for toothpaste! Guess what? It fits on your diaper cream tube too!! I discovered it this week. The Story: Ok, I am like the last person on the planet who didn't have one of these toothpaste squeezer thing a ma bobs. I found one at the Dollar Tree while shopping and bought it for our toothpaste. My diaper cream is getting low and I had one of those light bulb moments, "Maybe the toothpaste thing will fit the diaper cream. They look about the same size." Low and behold it does. So, now my toothpaste will have to be naked until I make another trip to the Dollar Tree. I love the simple things! I hope this tip makes diaper wrestling a little easier on ya!

~Tabitha~

Subway Art

Have you heard of Subway Art? It is sooo much fun. The first I heard of it was here:

http://www.infarrantlycreative.blogspot.com/. I so admire this very creative, talented momma. She linked to http://www.tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/. I checked out her site as well and LOVED it! She has so many examples of subway art in her blog and tutorials. My bathroom has been a work in progress for....let's just say a very long time! ; ) I haven't been able to find the right decorative hangings so it just has blank walls. So boring. So, after seeing these awesome examples of Subway Art I thought our bathroom would be a fun place to try it out. Plus, it gave me a great excuse to play with my Silhouette SD. If you haven't heard of them check out http://www.silhouette.com/ and http://www.howdoesshe.com/ for the cute projects and what it's all about. So, here is what I came up with:

Sorry that it's a little hazy. My camera is seriously outdated and it was late so the lighting wasn't the greatest. I think it turned out adorable! I just sat down with a notebook and thought of all the crazy things that happen in our bathroom, found a fun font, and then played with the arrangement until I liked it. You could do this with any room or even holidays or your children. The craft options are limitless. Now I just have to find the perfect 11x14 frame. I am thinking one of those floating frames or a regular frame with some fun scrapbook paper matting. Input would be great! I'll post another pic when it's hanging!

Happy Crafting

~Tabitha~