Candy Trees

Create your own candy tree with this step by step tutorial.

Each year at church we have a “Super Saturday.”  It is a whole day full of fun craft and projects.  You can sign up for various classes and it is a fun day!  This year they asked me to help teach a class on jars.  I’ll be sharing all kinds of fun ideas to do with jars – ways to decorate with jars, gift giving ideas using jars, ways to serve food in jars.  Lots and lots of jars!  In addition to all the fun ideas they will be learning, they will also be making this fun little jar project.  It is just two jars that were in my refrigerator that I emptied out.  I spray painted the lid black and also painted two different size glass candleholders I found at Goodwill.  I then glued the jar to the candleholder, filled it with candy and added some ribbon.  The best part is you can change it out for the season.  Candy corn at Halloween, eggs at Easter – the possibilities are endless!!

Last week I got a call from my friend Meg who was on the committee that was putting the whole day together and she was in charge of putting a display table together for Sunday showing all the different projects.  She asked if I had some ideas and if I could help.  Let’s just say you don’t say no to a 41 week pregnant woman!  Even if she wasn’t pregnant I would have loved to help her.  So we brainstormed a bit and then I headed to the Dollar Store.  We needed to do this quick and we needed to do it cheap!  What did we do before Dollar Stores!?!?

This is what I brought home with me along with a few things I already had.

I picked up two styrofoam shaped trees, a couple bags of starlight mints, some oasis (the green foam stuff).  At home I had some chopsticks, bamboo skewers, hot glue gun, ribbon and some glass votive holders from Ikea.

We had decided that we wanted to have a banner that went across the table that had the name of our ward (congregation) on it since there is more than one ward that meets in our building and we wanted people to know whose ward the projects were for.  We also needed to have the projects named and numbered so people could sign up for the ones they were interested in.

Meg made a darling banner using old sheet music and then just stamped some letters on it.

We decided the candy trees would be the perfect thing to attach some of the information for the day onto.  The date and time…

as well as the theme…

Each project sat on a piece of brown paper bag cut into a circle and then crunched up and distressed a bit.

We then made little pennant banners with numbers on them.  Meg stamped a number onto some old sheet music she had cut up (she did the same thing with the banner too.)

I put some oasis into the votive, covered them with a little Spanish moss and glued the pennant to a bamboo skewer and then put it into the oasis. A little ribbon around it finished it off.

The easels held frames on each end of the table with more information about the event.

All in all I think it turned out pretty darn nice without a lot of effort or money.

Here’s how I made the candy trees.

I just unwrapped all the peppermint candy and started gluing, using my well used hot glue gun.

Just around and around you go.

I did not put a candy on top because I knew we were going to be putting a skewer into it to hold some of the signage but if you aren’t doing that just pop one more candy on the top to finish it off.

I put a piece of oasis into each of the votive holders and broke a chop stick in half and stuck it into the middle.

I then just attached the tree to the votive using the chopstick.

And then tied a piece of ribbon around each container.

Quick and easy!

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Me and My Girls

For the last two years I have had this little idea/dream in my head.  I wanted to do a fun, beautiful, magical photo shoot with my two girls.  I knew who I wanted to do the shoot, it was just the logistics of having both my girls home and finding the time to do it.  Well, I decided this summer had to be it.  Tessa was headed to college and it was just going to get harder and harder.

Thanks to my two pretty girls and my amazing photographer friend Meg my dream became a reality.  Meg and I both had a vision in our head what we wanted this to be and I think we both realized that vision.

And also, thanks to my husband Jim, the prop man!  He followed us around, hung clotheslines, moved chairs  and did what he was asked to do!  He’s a good man.

There were so many wonderful pictures it was really hard to choose but here are some of my favorites.

Now do you think I could get my boys to do a photo shoot with me??

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Decorating with Portraits

I love filling my home with photographs and today I’m sharing how easy Decorating with Portraits can be.

This was originally posted over part of Decorating with Portraits at Kristen Duke Photography.

My husband and I recently became empty nesters when our baby, the youngest of four, left for college.  I have always loved surrounding myself with pictures of my family but it has become even more important to me now that my children are no longer living at home.

I have the spent the last 20 years of my life teaching people the importance of preserving their photographs and their stories.  I have completed over a hundred of these beautiful albums during those twenty years.  I love them and it is important to have our photos preserved in a safe environment.

I have always been good at displaying our most current family photos too.

But a few years ago I got to thinking about all of those lovely family photos we have had taken over the years, all those photos that I had spent so much money on that were tucked away in their nice safe environment.  Photos that we weren’t enjoying on a daily basis.

So I decided to create a family gallery using every family portrait we had ever had taken.  Since I am pretty good at having family photos taken there were quite a few.  Enough to line the walls of my dining room.  Not only do I love having them where I can enjoy them, they make for great dinner conversation too.  We have had many laughs over how mom’s hair style and color has changed over the years and how funny dad looks with a mustache!!

I also love including some fun quotes/artwork about family in and amongst our pictures.

Having grown up with a mother that loves family history and who displayed old family heritage photos in our home I too love to include them with our family photos.  That is where everything started!

Several of my children were named after ancestors.  My daughter Calista has 3 great grandmothers with whom she shares a name.  To help her know these great ladies better her picture hangs with their pictures in her room.

Photos are another way we can reinforce religious beliefs and values in our home.  Having portraits taken of special events in a child’s life such as their baby blessing, baptism etc.  help show the importance of those events and beliefs.  Each of my girls has a picture in their baby blessing dress and their baptism dress.  There is a third frame waiting for that third white dress they will wear one day.

For several years I have wanted to do a photo shoot with my two girls.  This summer, the summer my youngest left for college, seemed like the perfect time.  My dear friend Meg helped me make this dream come true.  I love displaying these photos of my daughters and I in my pretty craft room.  A room where I spend a lot of time and where we have fun playing together when they are home.

I know that sometimes the cost of framing photos can prevent some people from displaying their photos.  It doesn’t have to be expensive.  In fact, the majority of the frames you have seen in my photos have come from Goodwill.  Just add a little spray paint and you can do wonders!

Some frames don’t even have to have glass!

Now I just need to get my two boys to do a photo shoot with me!?  One of my favorite pictures of my boys is one we had taken several years ago.  Both of my boys served two year missions for our church.  They served back to back.  In fact, in four years they were only home one month together.  Of course I had to take advantage of that month and have their picture taken together.  Both of them in their missionary suits.  Aren’t they handsome!?

I then found another photo of when they were four and two – almost in the same pose.  How cute is that?

I love surrounding myself with photos of my family.  I also enjoy displaying photos of other things I love like flowers from my garden.

The important thing is that we surround ourselves with things we love, pretty things.  We  need to get those photos off of the computer, out of the camera, out of the boxes and put them where we can see them and enjoy them.

“When we look at a picture, a moment of magic occurs. It is as if someone had laid a sheet of translucent paper over our thought and made a tracing of our memories.”

Author:Tom Bentkowski

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A Girl Weekend and a Guest Post

I had a Girl Weekend this past weekend.  Yes, that is singular. Girl.   Just me.  My husband was in Utah with the kids (I tried not to be too jealous since this was his birthday present from the kids.)

He went to attend the “never to be mentioned again, soon to be forgotten” football game.

When you are an empty nester and your husband goes out of town that leaves just you home alone.  I LOVED IT!   A Girl Weekend!  For those of you with little ones at home who hate it when your husband leaves home I totally get it – but some day you will love it.

I decided there were two things I was not going to do this weekend – cook and clean.  And I didn’t.  Meals consisted of leftovers, takeout and frozen pizza! And believe me I didn’t clean, in fact I did the total opposite.  I made a bunch of messes!

I spent the weekend working on lots of fun projects.  These projects required trips to three different Goodwills (and one Goodwill twice), two trips to Home Depot, and a few trips to the craft store and the Dollar Store.

Today I am be guest posting over at Kristen Duke Photography.  I am part of her Decorating with Portraits series she has been doing all month.  If you want to be inspired be sure and check out her blog!

So before you get to see the fun things I’ve been putting together for my guest post, do you want to see the messes I made getting ready?

This is what the garage looked like when my husband arrived home from the airport.  I did prepare him so he didn’t have a heart attack on me!

Let’s just say there was a lot of spray paint being used as well as my first adventure in painting furniture!

Good thing I wasn’t doing any cooking because there was no room to eat at my kitchen table.

If you are looking for any picture frames at Goodwill in my area, don’t bother.  I bought them all!

And then the craft room (formerly known as the Boy’s Room)

Hopefully the boys aren’t coming home anytime soon because this is what their beds look like. That is another advantage of being an empty nester, you end up with a bunch of empty bedrooms that you can make a mess in and nobody is around to see it!!

Yes, I made a lot of messes but I had fun!  So head on over to Kristen’s blog and check me out!  Be sure and say hi!!

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The Grilled Cheese Grill – Portland

One of my favorite new areas to explore in Portland is the NE Alberta area.  That is where my new favorite ice cream spot is.

There are lots of fun eateries in the area too and I’ll be sharing some of my favorites in the upcoming weeks.  Today’s featured spot is a food cart.  Anyone who knows Portland knows we are a mecca for food carts.  This food cart specializes in one of my favorite comfort foods – grilled cheese and tomato soup! I think we grew up on grilled cheese and tomato soup at our house.

The Grilled Cheese Grill is located at 1027 NE Alberta Ave., Portland, 97211 and is open starting at 11:30 each day except for Mondays when they are closed. Check out their website for specific closing hours.

The kitchen is run out of a little trailer.

There is outside seating but the best place to sit is in the bus.

They have brought in an old school bus and outfitted it with booths and a nice long counter and stools. Hundreds of old school photos decorate the table top and counter top. Maybe you’ll see someone you know!

The painting on the ceiling is amazing and will keep you entertained for hours!

There are lots of fun grilled cheese combos on the menu or you can make up your own. Any combination you can think of they will make! (as long as the ingredient is listed on the menu)

We went with The Gabby which was a combination of cheddar, colby jack, swiss, mozzarella on white bread. We lived dangerous and added potato chips to it – yes, potato chips. I loved the addition of the salt and the crunch.

Our second choice was The Pops which was a combination of tomato, Havarti and honey mustard on Dave’s Killer Cracked Wheat – so good and my favorite. Of course we added the tomato soup too!

For dessert we couldn’t resist The Jaime especially when it said that “you might need to eat this in private.”

The Jaime was a combination of marscapone, Nutella, and grilled banana on grilled cinnamon swirl. It was amazing and I don’t even like bananas!!!

The food was great and how fun is it to be able to eat lunch in a school bus! Check out The Grilled Cheese Grill!!

Do you have a favorite neighborhood in Portland you like to explore?

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Flower Belt Tutorial

Each year my girls and I come up with an inexpensive, handmade item they can give all their girlfriends as a Christmas gift.

With two teenage daughters (alright, one is now in her early 20’s) there are always a lot of girlfriends on the Christmas gift list. That can get a little expensive.

Several years ago we decided if they were going to give gifts to so many of their friends it needed to be inexpensive, handmade and something they can help make. Over the years, we have done some fun things. Last year we made everyone cute little felt flower pins and the year before it was decorative clothes pins.

Recently, my daughters and I did a fun mother/daughter photo shoot. In trying to coordinate our outfits we decided we needed Tessa to have some type of green belt to tie in with the green in everyone else’s outfit. We decided it was almost as easy to make one as to run out to the store and try to find one, and a lot cheaper too.

We came up with this cute flower belt.

It is just about as cute in the back as it is in the front.

This last minute little creation will also be the girlfriend gift for this year!

I also came up with a few other inexpensive options that are a little quicker and easier to make although this flower belt goes together super fast and easy. And there is no sewing involved! All you need is a hot glue gun.

I used a combination of three to four different fabrics. All the same color but different textures. Satins, silks, lace and tulle all work great but you can also use cottons. You will also need a coordinating ribbon – satin or grosgrain.

I cut the fabric into about 4 inch squares. They are not perfectly measured by any means and I used my rotary cutter. To help prevent the fabric from raveling as much I used a wavy blade on my cutter.

The next step is to layer the fabric pieces on top of one another. I stagger them so they don’t line up perfectly.

Then using your hot glue gun (make sure it is a well used one like mine!) just squeeze a dab or two of hot glue between each layer of fabric.

Add one more squeeze on top and then carefully (remember it is HOT glue) squeeze it together to form a flower. Please excuse my dirty hand. I have been busy spray painting in the garage!!

Then use a clothespin to keep the flower together and allow it to dry. Saves on the burned fingers too!

I made five little flower buds for the one main flower.

Use a piece of felt to adhere the flower buds to.

Place four of the buds with their bottoms facing into the center of the felt piece. Glue to the felt. Then add your fifth flower bud right into the middle of the flower, using another squeeze of glue. Again excuse the spray paint covered fingers!

Then squeeze the whole thing together to make sure everything stays stuck! Trim away the felt on the backside so none of it shows from the front.

Next, just glue it to your ribbon. I used about 2 yards because I like to tie a bow in the back and have the ends hang down.

If you’d like a little easier version just pick up some embellishments from the craft store. These are actually meant to be scrapbook embellishments but they worked perfect for our belts too! Use 50% off coupon and they are a great deal.

All I had to do was glue it to some felt to give it a little more support and then glued it onto the ribbon.

Flowers from the craft store or Dollar Store work great too.

Just hot glue them right onto the ribbon.

For some of the belts I decided I didn’t want to have to tie the ribbon in the back so I added a D ring. This does require just a tiny bit of machine sewing but is totally optional!

Just attach both D rings to one end of the ribbon. It is easiest to use your zipper foot so you can get nice and close.

Then I just hot glued the flower close to the D ring.

Aren’t they cute! What teenage girl or any girl wouldn’t love receiving a fun flower belt as a gift!

The best part is they go together quick and easy and each cost less than five dollars.

Here are the pretties all in a row!

And because I thought you might ask – I picked up that cute little shirt dress this week at Target.

The hard part is going to be not keeping all the belts for ourselves!

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Portland} Provo Addition

Remember, this blog is about all the things I love. One of them is where I live – Portland, Oregon.  Each Saturday I share one of my favorite places to eat, see or play in Portland.

Since Provo, Utah will be my home away from home for at least the next 3 years or so I decided that it would be O.K. to do an occasional post on Provo.  All four of my children are currently living in Provo, Utah.  The oldest boy is working and has an amazing job he loves, the second oldest boy is in law school at BYU and the oldest girl is currently a senior at BYU and my baby is a freshman.  I love having them all one one place and thus, we will be spending a lot of time in Provo the next several years.

Each time I visit I try to find somewhere new to check out.  This time it was this fun, little hole in the wall BBQ place.  Logan had heard great things about it so we decided to have dinner there the night before we went to the Brian McKnight concert (oh, talk about a voice as smooth as butter – yum!)  Five Star BBQ is a little off the beaten track.  Just head down University Parkway, go under or over (I can’t remember) the freeway and turn right on Geneva Road and you will find it amongst a lot of business/industrial type buildings down the road a bit on the right hand side.

But the food is oh so good but you must like meat.

We like meat in our family.  The portions are nice and  big so go hungry or plan on sharing. I had the brisket and it was wonderful and the cole slaw was yummy too

Cali had the pork ribs and they were delicious!

Be sure and check out the yummy sauces that are on each table too.

When I was in Provo a few weeks ago it was hot.  It does that in Provo, it gets hot.  A lot hotter and for a lot longer than we are use to in Portland.  Thank goodness you can find a shave ice stand on just about every other corner in Provo.  It is the perfect way to cool off.

Lucky for us there is a great one right across the street from Tessa’s dorm.  We just might have gone there every day that I was (except for Sunday)

Hokulia Shave Ice is located at 1445 N. Canyon in Provo – right across the street from Helaman Halls.  She makes all her syrups from scratch.  The flavor combinations are endless!

Our favorite was mango, guava and pina colada – so good and of course the best way to eat shave ice is with ice cream in the middle!! Just like in Hawaii.  One day I also tried out the Snow Cap which is shave ice with sweetened condensed milk drizzled over the top, oh my goodness!!!  To die for!!

So if you are in Provo in the summer and need to cool off check out Hokulia Shave Ice.   Be sure and sign your name to the door.

We also made a trip to Smash Burger while I was there.  I have been there before but it is a definite return visit in my book.

One of the juiciest burgers I’ve had.  Cali and I went one day because she was starving.  I had already had lunch but decided a chocolate milk shake was just what I needed.  Remember, it was hot!  It’s made with Haagen Daz ice cream, my favorite!  Fortunately for me Cali can’t have dairy so I didn’t have to share.

Since Cali can’t eat red meat she went for the chicken burger and a side of Smash Burger’s delicious fries.

Wishing a Smash Burger would open up here in Portland!

One last stop we made was again a repeat for us – Malawi Pizza which is located at The Riverwoods, a fun shopping area in Provo.

They have lots of fun flavor combinations.  They even have a gluten free pizza crust.  Cali got hers without dairy too but lots of meat (no beef though) and she was in heaven.

Call me boring but I got  cheese.  I love cheese pizza.

Their pasta is also great and they have amazing dessert pizzas!  But the best part of it was being there with all four of my kids.

Moving freshman girls with lots of clothes into a small dorm room burns a lot of calories!

But lest you thing all I did wast eat, I did make a quick trip up to Salt Lake City to check out Standard Restaurant supply. O.K., so it kinda had to do with food too but I didn’t buy anything you could eat!!  All I can say is it is a good thing I was flying home and only had one suitcase.  So many fun things!!

Next time I go I’m taking a empty suitcase.  Also, on my next trip to Utah I am definitely checking out Orson Gygi’s which I have heard so much about!!

Hope you enjoyed my Provo Addition and if you have any fun places I should check out on my next trip – in the Provo or Salt Lake area please leave a comment and let me know!

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Salt & Straw – Portland

We love ice cream at our house.  We love it so much we are willing to drive clear across town for it.

Several weeks ago Tessa and I headed over to the NE Alberta area to check out the Alberta Street Fair. We had fun eating our way up and down the street.  One of the places we stopped was Salt & Straw, a brand new ice creamery that had opened up the day before.  There was a line out the door but we soon discovered that it was so worth the wait – in fact I would have waited longer!!  Their motto is Portland’s farm to cone ice cream shop.  This sign tells it all:

They have the most unique selection of flavors I have ever seen.  My favorite, and the one I dream about is Sea Salt Ice Cream with Caramel Ribbon – to die for!!  I didn’t get it the first time but Tessa did and I wish I had.  We both got it on our second trip!

They also have flavors such as Lemon Basil Sorbet, Honey Balsamic Strawberry with Cracked Pepper and of course there was Vanilla.  Another favorite of ours was the Cinnamon Snickerdoodle.  The one flavor I couldn’t even imagine was the   Pear with Blue Cheese.  I don’t like blue cheese but I got brave and asked for a taste and it was amazing!  Who would have thought.

Their flavors change seasonally so you can check out their website to see what they are currently offering.  I am hoping that Sea Salt Ice Cream with Caramel Ribbon doesn’t go away too soon!

Just so you know, I didn’t have two cones.  I was holding Tessa’s when she took the photo!  But I wished I had had two after I tasted Tessa’s!

Next time you get a craving for some amazing ice cream, head over to Salt & Straw.

Do you have a favorite ice cream shop in the Portland area?

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