a pillow for the tooth fairy

We hit a big milestone in our house this week with a first wiggly tooth.

Naturally I knew this day was coming, so I had a cute little pillow sewn and waiting for the tooth fairy.

Ha!

Martha to the rescue.
I love her tooth fairy pillow.  I love the description, too:

Martha makes a charming pillow to hold baby teeth awaiting pickup by the Tooth Fairy.

So Martha.

Description of my project:

Cheryl starts sewing a pillow with a slightly crooked tooth on it at 11:30 at night because her child will only eat applesauce in fear of said wiggly tooth falling out before we have the proper pillow.

Ha ha.
So not Martha.
Very Cheryl, though. ;)

Anywho, I followed her basic pattern and got this done in about an hour last night.
I made my pillow 9 x 9 and used her tooth template.  The only changes I made were appliqueing the tooth to a larger pocket, and I used a regular quilting cotton for the tooth.

And now we're ready for that little tooth to come out anytime! :)
xoxo

find me!
: : facebook
: : pinterest
: : instagram
: : twitter

instagrammed.

Here's a teeny glimpse of the past week in our lives through filtered iphone pics.
If you'd like to follow along on instagram, I'm @aprettycoollife :)

Baby Sister is turning 2.

This summer.

I'm planning now.

It's overkill and I know it. ;)

25 cent thrifted treasures.

8 am in the lumber section.
Just the contractors and the girl with a stroller.
It's cool.

I was all set to start.
And then a tiny human in this house decided not to nap.
Bummer.

Getting crafty with the grandma bling again.

Sometimes I sit down to sew and the tension on my machine is all off.
And I wonder how that happened.
I give you exhibit A.

All our Friday dinners during Lent look the same.
Fish and chips.

All baby dolls must be lined up before naps.
And then she doesn't nap anyway.

And so when aforementioned tiny human does not nap.
And her brothers are bouncing off the walls.
I send them downstairs to play with Dad.
And I hide and eat raw cookie dough. ;)

Have a good week, friends!
xoxo

find me!
: : facebook
: : pinterest
: : instagram
: : twitter

easy DIY: cinnamon sugar donuts

Over the weekend I made cinnamon sugar donuts as a special treat.

I posted a few pics of them on instagram and promised to share my "recipe" {it's seriously too easy to be called that!!}

All you need is a can of Grands biscuits, oil in a frying pan, and a mix of cinnamon and sugar.

Valentine's Day may be over, but I'm not ready to ditch the heart cookie cutters just yet.
Heart donuts it is!
{ps. save the scraps and make donut holes!!}

But regular old circles or just cutting the biscuits into bite size pieces works, too. :)

I didn't take a picture of the pan of oil, but the next step is to heat the oil over medium heat.  I put in enough to be about a half inch deep.
Cranking the heat up to save time doesn't really work, it just burns the biscuits, so stick with medium heat.
The oil is ready when a splatter of water bounces back.

Then just gently place a few donuts in the hot oil and fry them.
Flip them with tongs when they are brown.

The process goes REALLY fast...so only do a few at a time and don't look away!!

After they're brown on both sides, take them out and let them sit on a few paper towels while the others are cooking.

Pour a little sugar and cinnamon in a big Ziploc, put your donuts in, and toss them in the sugar mix until they're pretty well coated.

And that's it...warm, sugary donuts made fresh at home!

xoxo

find me!
: : facebook
: : pinterest
: : instagram
: : twitter

instagramming.

A few peeks into our lives over the past week, through filtered iPhone pics.

Warning: they're very valentiney!!

Not that that's a bad thing...

Follow along on instagram if you'd like...I'm @aprettycoollife :)

Breakfast of champions.

Poor little succulent got a death sentence when I bought it.

But my black thumb and I are going to try our hardest. ;)

I tried out my new pie press for TJ's cookie butter sandwiches.

And then for some cherry pocket pies.

I had a feeling my cute little lovey pies were going to end up more like bleeding hearts.  

I was right.
They were delicious anyway.

Fresh dose of blonde.

Paratrooper valentines.

Done just in the nick of time.

Anything pink, red, or heart shaped.
I'm powerless against it.

Cinnamon honey butter.
Whip it.  Whip it good.
Still cracking myself up! :)

When exactly did school Valentine parties get to the trick or treating level?

Ruffly streamers.  Pre-ruffle.

Confession:  I really don't like the Play Doh colors mixed together.
Truth:  little boys love mixing the Play Doh colors together.

Haha.

Deep breaths.
Deep breaths.
Deep breaths. :)

My 6 year old was looking for something to do while the littler ones napped.
I asked him to untangle a drawer full of ribbon and roll it up.
He did a fantastic job!!

It might be after Valentine's Day, but the heart cookie cutters needed some more use.
Heart shaped donuts coming right up!

xoxo

find me!
: : facebook
: : pinterest
: : instagram
: : twitter

a valentine gift for our teachers

The day before Valentine's Day I instagrammed a few pics of the valentines I was making for the boys' teachers.
I got a few questions about them, so here are the deets...

I nestled a tea towel, English muffins, a jar of strawberry jam, and a jar of cinnamon honey butter into a box.

The cinnamon honey butter is a recipe I've had scribbled down from a blog/the internet/can't remember it was before Pinterest for a long time.  I usually make it as a hostess gift at Christmastime.

This is enough for two little mason jars, plus a little bit leftover for you. ;)

1 stick butter, softened to room temp.
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Then all you do is whip it.
Whip it good.
Haha.  I crack myself up! :)

I made the tags for the lids the same way I made them for cupcake in a jar party favors.

The English muffins and jam are store bought.  I took out a few muffins and tied them up in simple cellophane bags.

If I were an overachiever, I'd make my own jam.

But if you do buy the cute little Bonne Maman jars, you could always turn a few into tiny salt & pepper shakers. :)

And last but not least, the tea towels are just a simple red version of my DIY rainbow dish towels.

Happy weekend, friends!
xoxo

find me!
: : facebook
: : pinterest
: : instagram
: : twitter

Be mine.

Hi friends!

I hope you all had a super day full of pink fluffy hearts, all that mushy gushy stuff, and plenty of sweets. :)
The boys were loving every minute of it...they both came home from school with a sack full of candy and treats from their parties.

I made pocket cherry pies for my valentine.
They don't quite look like something out of a Williams Sonoma catalog...
But they tasted pretty darn good!
We'll go with my love is overflowing. ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!
xoxo

find me!
: : facebook
: : pinterest
: : instagram
: : twitter

Paratrooper Valentines {with printable tags!}

The boys change their minds about Valentines the way they change their minds about Halloween costumes...

about a dozen times. ;)

We finally came to an agreement on paratroopers.

Luckily, I had everything on hand and we bought the paratrooper party favors from Target {in the party/gift wrap section}

I used kraft paper and baker's twine for the tags.

To punch the tags I used an extra large heart punch I bought at Michael's and a 1/8" circle punch for the holes.

Freehand cutting the hearts or just plain circles would look cute too if you don't have a heart punch!

There's plenty of room for your little guy to sign his name at the bottom.

Then I just tied them on, assembly line style!

Just Dropping in to Say Paratrooper Valentine 

I always have to do a little sweet talking to my printer when it comes to card stock, so you may want to just feed one sheet at a time...or just go to the copy store. :)

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!
xoxo

find me!
: : facebook
: : pinterest
: : instagram
: : twitter

instagrammy catch up part 2

Like I said, a whole bunch more of my instagrams...
If you'd like to follow along, I'm @aprettycoollife
:)

The craft room cleaning is coming right along.
And these are just scraps...

Order restored with the rest of the fabric.

My new chair fits in just perfectly!

Shelves are starting to look better too...

My 4 yr old saw this guy from across Trader Joe's and proceeded to scream, "look Mom!!! A rockstar!!" :)

Slow cooker whole chicken has officially made it's way into the weekly rotation.

Enough with the snow already, Old Man Winter.

Foxy Target socks.
Love.

Little girl on her way to crash soccer practice one more time.

Six loads.
Washed.
Folded.
Still not completely put away.

My thrifting luck continues.

Gorgeous sheet in mint condition.

Rainbowy mug.

And a little shelf just begging to be spray painted white.

Score.

BFFs.
Picnicking on the kitchen floor.

I am a wimp.
And I was a wimp with a flat tire.

40 bags in 40 days has only just begun.
I can't wait!!

xoxo

find me!
: : facebook
: : pinterest
: : instagram
: : twitter