Favorite Things!

Melissa at 320 Sycamore is having a Favorite Things Party! It's too hard to choose! But here are a few(or more) of my favorite things...

I have a confession. My first "favorites" is more of an addiction. Obsession.

I'm proud to say that I waited over 6 hours to see New Moon last night. Worth it? God, yes.
If you're one of the three people in the world that hasn't read the series... do it now!

Number two...

Sugar free Rockstars! Only 20 calories and enough caffeine to get me through the next few hours!

And 3.

Silver Jeans. I absolutely love these! It's so hard to find jeans that I feel comfortable in. Silver Jeans have just the right amount of stretch to fit over my curves without any muffin top :) And I'll definitely pay $80 for a good pair of jeans.

Favorite flower...

Purple anemone. LOVE these. Send me a bouquet of purple anemones and I will love you forever. My favorite color and the most beautiful flower EVER. Don't you think?!

And finally... my favorite perfume(at least for this month ;) )

Ralph Lauren HOT. SO yummy... warm and sweet and perfect.

There's just a tiny peek at a few of my favorite things! So what do you love?

Go check out My Favorite Things @ 320 Sycamore!

Lamp Rejuvenation

I love lamps. I think they give the perfect amount of light to make any room look cozy! I've had this silver ball lamp for awhile now, but it has never made me want to cuddle next to it and read one of my favorite books with a warm cup of coffee... Aaah.
Anyways...

Cool, right? Too bad it doesn't match the warm, natural colors of our living room! Looks like a project for me! A couple coats of Heirloom White, and she's all set.

I bought this basic shade at Walmart and hot glued this ribbon to the bottom to give it a little more life.

And here it is! Finally done... Maybe?

It still looked a little lonely to me...

So I added this wreath that I've had just waiting for a new home! I think I love it... but I'm not sure if it looks a little too "giant egg sitting in a nest"...?!

What do you think? Wreath or no wreath?

Don't forget to go check out DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land!

Vase Revamp

I've had this awful glass vase that I've been wanting to "revamp" for months! I knew I had to do something to cover the entire vase because of the discoloration on the inside.

I was going through my supplies to see what I had and came across my hemp twine.

Perfect.

I got out my hot glue gun and went to work.I hot glued the twine to the vase.

Around and around and around...

And finally I had this!

Add a few flowers and it's done!

Wouldn't this be cute with a candle too?
I love the way a little twine brought a sad, old vase back to life!

I'm linking up to DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land. Go check it out!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

It's finally a couple degrees cooler here in Southern California. Definitely not cold! But not in the 90's! Perfect weather to bake cookies :) This morning we made Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Here's what you need:

1 cup flour

1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

6 (1 ounce) squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Beat butter, sugars and peanut butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well.

Gradually add flour mixture, mixing until well blended after each addition.

Stir in chocolate.
Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 10 to 12 min. or until lightly browned.

Cool for one minutes and put onto your cooling racks!

Now your cookies are ready to love :)

These cookies are delicious! I definitely recommend dipping in milk! The flavor is really intensified. So good!

Laundry Detergent Adventure

I saw this great post from Superchikk about making your own laundry detergent. I've been wanting to try this for a long time, I just haven't found the right recipe that sounded easy enough for me! This one is so simple. Three ingredients? I guess I could give it a try.

After I made the SIMPLE laundry detergent... I realized I didn't have anything fun to put it in. I could have just thrown it into my (almost)empty detergent box, but that's just too boring. So I got out an empty coffee can instead :)



I got out my trusty chalkboard paint and went to work. Any time I can use chalkboard paint, I do. I'm sure you could use any number of things to cover the can... mod podge some scrapbook paper, or fabric! Add some ribbon... which I may still do to my can :)
I painted the lid with acrylic paint and added ribbon to the edge. A few more coats of chalk paint and it's ready to go!



Ta-Da!


Now add the detergent:



I'll do anything to make laundry a little more fun around here.



Click HERE to check out DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land!

Halloween Punch Hand

We're having a Halloween Party tomorrow! I had most of the food planned out, then realized I didn't have anything fun for drinks...

So I set out to make a fun Halloween punch, with a CrEePy frozen hand. This was so easy but I think it added a nice kick to an otherwise boring punch.

Here's how I did it...

I started with:

1 baking pan
1 nonlatex, no powder glove
1 tiny rubberband (but you could probably use a twist-tie... or just tie the hand shut!)

Paper towels

And water!

Rinse the glove really well, then fill about 3/4 with water. Try to push as much air out as you can, then close the glove with your rubberband. Lay the water-filled glove flat on your pan, make sure you put a paper towel down first so it doesn't stick!

Put your pan in the freezer overnight...

When you're ready to make your punch, take the hand out!

Here's my frozen hand.

Next, cut off the tied off end...

I rinsed the hand before I started to take the glove off, running the water into the glove helped it come off a little easier too!

Oops!

One of my fingers fell off when I was peeling the glove off... but won't it look kind of cool floating around in the punch??

And voila!

I think maybe next time I'll add frozen raspberries or strawberries

to the glove... make it look more fleshy :) And I'll have to look for a recipe for a darker punch. Hmm... any ideas?

Introduction

Hello! Welcome to my blog. My name is Mrs. Eff.

This is me with my smallest. Princess Rory Katherine. She's 1 1/2 and very spicy, as I like to call her.

And this would be Conall Andrew. 2 1/2, loves all things boy, but loves to cuddle.

And finally, the man of the house. Andrew Eff.

I'm a mom of two kiddies under three. I get to stay home with them and watch them grow! I am so fortunate.

I love to craft and sew and make, make, make! This blog will follow the ups and downs of my crafting adventures! I'll also post some fun and easy family meals here and there too.

I hope I can inspire you to make something too :)

Thanks for stopping by!