Ideas for Easter Baskets, that you won't be throwing away in a day!

Part #1

One of my biggest pet peeves is spending an arm and a leg on things that only last a week.  I've decided to share some of the great things I have found for their baskets this year that you won't be throwing in the trash super fast. Best of all most of it is off of Amazon.  Making it to the store without one of my 3 kids is impossible with my husband's work schedule and since I don't want to ruin the surprise...   Amazon it is!  I know that not everyone wants to spend hours looking through amazon for all this stuff I did all the work for you.  All the links are below! Happy Easter.

The first thing I always put in my girls Easter baskets are books, books are awesome for one they take up a large amount of space! yep, they are a great space filler.  Books are one of those items that doesn't get used up in a week and thrown away.  They last for YEARS! For my 1 year old I found these little board books, super easy for her to carry around with her and flip the pages around without being able to tear them up super fast.
*YOU NEED TO READ MUSTACHE BABY* if you just need to go to your library and check it out to read it you should. Seriously, it is hilarious!



Now if you haven't read The Pout Pout Fish, it is awesome! I can't wait to read the Happy Easter Pout-Pout Fish.  I won't be buying all of these things for my girls but I hope you can find things that you like!

For my 3 year old and my 5 year old I wanted two things, and activity book that we could do together and a book before bedtime.



Activity books:

If you haven't seen Melissa and Doug's water wow you are seriously missing out! This is one thing that you need.  You can sit with your younger kids and talk about the animals, number, and alphabet or just let them loose in their car seats, church, or boring lobbies with these.  The best part, they are reusable.  Yes, another one of those magical items that won't be thrown away in 10 minutes. Or a coloring book that the kids will scribble in and throw away the next day.




Of course it is time for the super cute Easter outfit.  Once again I found the perfect thing!  Amazon has this great Disney section that have tops and bottoms for super cute.  Roll them up together and you have a fun outfit that wasn't too expensive. Ok, look at the sizes you need.  DIFFERENT SIZES ARE DIFFERENT PRICES!!! So you can score some of these outfits from $8-$15 if you are lucky! Also, when I buy these clothes I tend to go one size up, sometimes they are fitted a little small.

Size 6x is only $7.71


Size 4 is only $15.00 



 If you get this Minnie Mouse outfit in 24 month it is only $11.06


These two costs a little more but they are soooo cute I couldn't resist!



The last thing I found that doesn't last a terribly long time but I wanted to throw in are:

 Stickers and temporary tattoos are great they are also great if you don't want your kids to have a crazy insane amount of candy in all of their Easter Eggs. My kids love them.  I personally love temporary tattoos, they go on the kid and I am not spending hours of my time pealing them off of my furniture or floors.  I found these super cute ones!  We have the rule that you have to let your old ones wear off all the way before you get a new one one.  So they do last a few weeks.




Lastly I wanted to put a little toy for each of the girls.  My oldest daughter is collecting Tsum Tsums.  I thought this set with Thumper would be adorable.



If you want a few more I found this set on Sale too!


I would probably open this set and stick the tsum tsums in my oldest two daughters Easter Eggs.

More ideas are coming soon. Subscribe and I'll be scouring places for more ideas for you!

Good Luck with those baskets!!!

*Please note that all prices are subject to change*

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Bread

I love bread.  I love fresh bread, and I actually love making bread.  Something about that smell of fresh bread coming out of the oven, my mouth is already watering.  Spread a bunch of melted butter over the top and I'm done.  Here are my favorite bread recipes and what I use them for; enjoy!

First, Rolls.

Dinner Rolls, These are my favorite to make from scratch.  You do need a Bosch or a Kitchen aid unless you want to get a great workout.  I found the recipe from this website. http://www.howdoesshe.com/delicious-dinner-rolls/

I have made them with butter and margarine and it works with both.   I prefer butter but it does work with margarine especially if you are on a budget it helps.  Don't forget the butter in the middle of the rolls it is super important. Also, make sure that the hot milk mixture is cooled down enough to comfortably stick your, clean, finger in it. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons yeast
• 2 cups of warm water
• about 9-10 cups of all purpose flour
• at least 1 cup of butter

Instructions

1. Scald 1 1/2 cups of milk, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of butter, in a microwave safe bowl, for about 2 minutes. Cutting the butter into pieces helps it melt faster. There will probably be some little cubes of butter still floating in the hot mixture, they will melt.
2. add yeast to this hot mixture, but it will be too hot to just dump the yeast straight in (it would kill it!). To cool it down stir in 1-2 cups of flour, then add 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of salt, and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, in a measuring cup dissolve 2 Tablespoons of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Let it sit for a couple of minutes until it is bubbly.
3. Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not boiling and add the yeast mixture!
4. Using a fork or wooden spoon, gradually stir in 9-10 cups of flour (counting the flour you have already added to cool it earlier). I would recommend only adding 2 cups at time and stirring in between. These rolls turn out so much better when they are mixed by hand.
5. At the end the dough will be dense and sticky, and may be hard to stir, you can use your hands to incorporate the rest of the flour if needed. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it rise.
6. When your dough is close to raising completely, butter 2 cookie sheets and set them aside.
7. Let the dough raise until it has doubled in size.
8. Cover your working space with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Dump your dough out and divide it into 4 balls. Eyeball the sizes, then lift them up and feel the weight of each ball. Try to make them even, but they don’t have to be perfect.
9. Using one ball of dough at a time: roll the dough into a circle on a floured counter. Once it is rolled out spread the top with butter from edge to edge. You will use about 2 Tablespoons per circle of dough.
10. Cut the dough into quarters using a pizza cutter.
11. Then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. You should end up with 12 triangles from each circle of dough.
12. Roll the dough starting with the wide end of the triangle
13. Tuck the tail of the triangle under the roll and place it on the buttered cookie sheet. You will make 3 rows, with 8 rolls per row. This will give you 24 rolls per pan. Two balls of dough will fill 1 pan. You will get a total of 48 rolls!
14. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pans of rolls in a warm place (on top of the oven if possible) to let them rise. Once they are touching and full in size, cook (one pan at a time) in the oven ’till they are golden brown. About 10 – 15 minutes, It may take longer depending on how hot your oven cooks. Keep a close eye on your first pan to get the right time for the second.
15. While they are still hot and fresh out of the oven run a stick of butter over the tops of the rolls for a delicious buttery glaze.

This is directly copied from this website:  http://www.howdoesshe.com/delicious-dinner-rolls/ if you would like step by step pictures I would recommend checking it out.

(I have never gotten 48 rolls out of this recipe, I usually get one pan full.  I also cut my sections a little bigger.)

Money Savers

Coupons Coupons Coupons.

taken from the Hobby Lobby Website please print coupon from their website

I love to be the one that is pulling out coupons when we go out to eat.  I keep coupon books in my diaper bag, I check the internet before I buy something in the store, and I scan clearance racks before I buy anything at my favorite stores.

One of the biggest savers is breaking down and signing up for emails from your favorite stores.   Most of the places I shop will even take discounts from my phone!! Here are a few stores that are awesome and will send you major discounts!

Old Navy: I get emails from them for their 20% discounts.  Great for baby clothes! I just go in bust down the clearance rack and then get an ADDITIONAL 20%.  Yeah, I get clothes for $2.00 sometimes from there that are adorable. oldnavy.com to sign up.

Kohls: I love to spend an afternoon at Kohls with my mom and they will send you email discounts just show them the email at checkout! kohls.com to sign up.

American Eagle:  This one isn't an email but a text message.  Every friday I can count on my phone going off with a great discount! sign up at ae.com.

Joann's: Once more a text message you can sign up online to get text messages.  They also have a sign inside their store that you can text to get a discount.  I love my weekend discounts from Joann's probably a little too much!

Michaels: They will send you an email and text messages!! But they only take one coupon at a time.  You can also just go to their website and print coupons.  Michaels.com.

Hobby Lobby: They provide a weekly 40% off coupon on their website! hobbylobby.com

The biggest money saver I do as well is price matching at Walmart you can take in you weekly ads or I go online to freshmarket.com and smiths.com pick out what I usually buy and Walmart will price match for me.  I don't have to drive around and I can get the best prices.


Go out there and look for your neighborhood's coupon books too.  If you can get something like Hometown Values. Hometownvalues.net.  At you house you can save on everything! I highly recommend it!  Anyway just a few ideas.


Have a great day!

Cotton Body Suite

I saw this fabric and had to make something for Riley :) So here is how I made this super cute little cotton body suite!!

I started out by grabbing one of Riley's body suites and laid it out on the fabric cutting it out bigger. Make sure to make the leg holes huge!! Because they need to be gathered up when it is sewn together.

I then cut out an identical one and made the crotch area skinnier and the neck hole bigger on the front.  I then set the two pieces on top of my liner fabric; and cut out the same pieces.

I then put the right side and the liner together and sewed them together making the seam on the inside. After I sewed the two together I left a few inches to turn it right side out. But, before you turn it make sure you clip all of the curves so that it lays flat.

 Make sure you don't cut your stitches though, that just makes a mess in the end!! After it is flipped right side out I ironed it really well and brought out all of my curves and tough corners.  Here is the trickier part. Elastic, I measured Riley's thighs and she had 9 1/2" circumference, So I cut my 1/4" elastic to be 4 1/4" length on each side of the legs so together they will equal her 9 1/2". Pull the elastic all of the way across the leg holes you have and put a stitch all the way down while pulled.  When you release it will be super cute and gathered.

After the legs are done on four sides I stitched the sides together up to the arm holes. I wanted to make little sleeves; so I cut out a strip of fabric about 9"x3" and stitched 3" elastic down it to make it really gathered and cute.

I tucked it under the little sleeve and stitched it around the arm holes. I wanted her head to fit easily through the head hole so I put another elastic gather on the front so it would stretch over her head.

The last step I just put snaps together on the bottom like a normal body suite. Boda Bing Boda Boom.  I had a super cute body suite!!

Chicken Enchilada Bean Dip

So in college I picked up this great recipe for a Chicken Enchilada dip.  I think we would make it at least once a week and down a whole bag of chips with it.  I like to eat it for dinner especially if it is a night where there is a great movie or show to watch.  This last time I made it I decided to throw a little twist to it and added beans.


Here is how to make it.

2 C. Cheddar Cheese
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 C. Milk
1 C. Sour Cream
1 can Green Chilies
1 can Enchilada sauce
8 Corn Tortillas
1 can Refried Beans
2 Chicken Breasts

1 bag of Tortilla Chips


First, I chop up my chicken into tiny pieces, you could also shred it.  Then I boil it, I find that boiling the chicken keeps it nice and moist.  I usually let it boil for about 15 mins if it is already chopped up.  Just make sure it is cooked all the way through.  Next in a sauce pan I put together 1 cup of the cheddar cheese, the cream of chicken soup, milk, sour cream, enchilada sauce, and chilies.  I let this simmer for a bit and get all mixed together.  Once the chicken is cooked I drain it and add it to the mixture in the sauce pan.  Mean while I take the can of refried beans and cover the entire bottom of a 9x9 pan with the can. Then I take half of my tortillas and rip them into 2x2 pieces.  I cover the beans with the tortilla strips then pour half of my sauce over the top.  then I take the rest of the tortillas rip them up into small pieces and coat the top of the sauce and pour the rest of over that layer.  I like the take the last cup of cheese and cover the whole shebang with it. Throw the pan in the oven for 30 mins. Then pop open a bag of your favorite tortilla chips and you have a killer dip dinner :)

Patchwork Skirt

Here in Logan there is this great bead store called Beatles and Beads.  They have this fun little boutique section.  It was there about two years ago that I saw this adorable patch work  baby skirt.  I could believe it when I saw that it was $25 bucks though.  So, I took a mental picture of the skirt and saved some cute fabric scraps to make the skirt in the future. Luckily, I made a great car seat cover and had a bunch of left over fabric.   

To start off I cut my fabric scraps into six 4"x5" strips of each color that I was using.  (I only used two colors). Then I cut a 4"x2" of each color.

Then I laid them out like so and pinned the right sides together. 

After I sewed them together I found a scrap piece of fabric to use as a lining.  I just set this on top of the lining and cut around it. I wanted a border piece on the bottom so I just measured out how long I needed it and made it 3" wide. 

with the bottom border This is what is what I had.  This is only half of the skirt, I made it in two sections that I stitched together. 

Here is what the back looks like with the lining piece stitched in. Next I went along the top seam and pinned in my elastic.  and did a loose stitch by hand beneath it.  taking the stitch I tried my best to make a even gathering pattern. Then restitched it together with my sewing machine.

So to finish it off I stitched both of my half skirts and this is what I ended up with :)

After I made the skirt I realized that it was a little short so I thought it would be really cute to make a diaper cover out of the same material.  I grabbed a diaper cover and traced it onto what fabric I had left. Leaving enough space for seams and elastic. I didn't take any pictures of how to make the diaper cover so I'll have to make another one for a different post. Here is what it turned out like. 

Sorry about the bum shots but it was the best way to show the diaper cover :)

Happy Crafting!

The not so Scrapy Scrap Baby Blanket

I have a bunch of fabric scraps and decided it was time to put them together to finish Riley's Crib bedding.   Here is what I had to start with.

  I had a large piece of my foe fur white fabric along with a few scrap pieces.  Then I had two pieces of pink rosette fabric.  I also had a bag of about 4 yds of lace that I was going to use on a different pattern and decided not to. 

*WARNING if you work with the fabrics I chose you will get very messy but it is worth it!!!*

I wanted to use as much of the fabric as I could, so I played with it in as many different ways as I could think of.  Deciding that having the entire back be white and the other side have a white middle with a pink border would use the most fabric.  Then border the entire blanket with my thick white lace. 

So here it is with the pieces put together.  I wanted the blanket to be as large as I could make it.  I love to be able to Wrap Riley all the way up in her blankets. So with it laying out it is 35"x36".   I had to make the middle piece with Three scrap pieces of the white foe fur.  Luckily, because it is shaggy it is easy to hide the seams.   I stitched them all together.  Making sure to put right sides together.

Make sure to pin everything together really well before you sew it together.  Both of these fabrics are silky and stretchy (great combination :) ) So keeping them pinned well keeps the sliding and the stretching to a minimum.  I went through and pinned the entire front of the blanket together then started to push it through my machine.

Once I had the front put together I added the lace around the outside.  I pinned it to the front about 1/4" of the way in. On the corners I gathered it a little bit to make the turn nice and smooth around the edges.

The next part became a little tricky.  I needed to add the back without losing the lace.  So putting right sides together.  I carefully tucked the lace inside and pinned  it down.  I was worried it would get caught in my seams.  I sewed all the way around the blanket except for the last 4".  I then turned it right side out. 

Here is where I left the seam open.

The next part I did by hand.  Simply stitch the remaining hole closed and lay the blanket out flat.  In the corners where the white meets the pink I put a few stitches to hold the blanket together. 

Make sure you wash your blankets before you let your baby have the blanket. :) Especially with how many loose fibers get stuck to this blanket I didn't want her to have to worry about eating those fibers or breathing them in.

Here she is sleeping with my finished project!!! I think her bedding is finally finished.. At least until I decide to make something else :)

Happy Crafting!!!

One more picture of cute Riley :)