Last Day for entries $20 Amazon or Walmart Gift Card

 


Thanks to everyone for their great response on the $20 Amazon or Walmart Gift Card Giveaway.  There is still time to get more entries before tonight. This giveaway ends tonight. Get your tweets and other entries in.  If you haven't entered or want to share this giveaway you can find the link here.


Good Luck!!
Britney

Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil Reveiw and Giveaway

**Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil Review and GIVEAWAY Ends 6/21

Win 1 quart of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil!

Tropical Traditions is America’s source for coconut oil. Their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is hand crafted in small batches by family producers, and it is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. You can read more about how virgin coconut oil is different from other coconut oils on their website: What is Virgin Coconut Oil?

You can also watch the video they produced about Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil:

Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil. Visit their website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses of coconut oil, and to read about all the advantages of buying coconut oil online. Since the FDA does not want us to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil on a page where it is being sold or given away, here is the best website to read about the health benefits of coconut oil.

How to Use Coconut oil: There are hundreds of uses for coconut oil! 

Tropical Traditions also has several very popular recipe videos on their YouTube channel that you are free to use: http://www.youtube.com/user/TropicalTraditions 


I LOVE coconut oil!  I have actually been using it for quite a while.  I love using it on my skin and cooking with it.  There are many uses for coconut oil as found in links on this page.  I have also used it on my hair and scalp.  My favorite thing to do with coconut oil is to cook with it.  I use it for sauteing vegetables and replacements for oils in pan cooking.  Most of all I love to just use it on my toast in place of butter or margarine.  It is a lot lighter and not so heavy on your stomach. Even my husband and kids love it on toast.

Giveaway: 1 Quart Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil

a Rafflecopter giveaway



**Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product. 

Birthday at the Zoo

Last Thursday was my little girl's birthday.  Her favorite thing to do to celebrate her birthday is go to the zoo. What a fun way to celebrate a birthday. She loves animals of every kind.  Her birthday is usually the only day of the year that we go to the zoo.  It is so fun to watch her get so excited about the animals and run from exhibit to exhibit.  We ended up checking our son out of school just a little bit early so he could attend the zoo with us.  Many times he has gotten left out because of school so I decided not to leave him out this time.  He was so excited to be able to go with us.  A couple of years ago we took her to the Living Planet Aquarium on her birthday without him and he was disappointed.  She loved the Aquarium just as much as the zoo because of all the animals. 

 

She had a friend and her family come with us.  It was a lot of fun for her. She is always asking for a friend birthday party but I have never done one for either of my kids. Having a friend birthday party just sounds like so much work.  She was so excited to have someone come with her to the zoo.  She really enjoyed having more than just our family there.

This exhibit is called Rocky Shores.  It is a pretty new exhibit.  It features a polar bear, seals, otters, and bears.  Last year when we went for her birthday this exhibit wasn't open yet.  It didn't open until 2 weeks after we went which we were disappointed about. The kids were so excited this year to see it.  This year about half the zoo was closed again undergoing construction for new renovations and new exhibits.  I look forward to seeing the new exhibits next year.

Of course we had to take a picture of them sitting on the seal as our little girl pulled her brother into the picture and insisted he be in the picture with her.

The seals were one of their favorite exhibits.  I think it was because it didn't stink like the monkeys.  Anyone that knows our daughter knows her gag reflex.  She will start gagging at the slightest smell that bothers her.  Glad she didn't do it on this trip because it would have been so embarrassing to have my child throw up in the middle of the walkway because a smell bothered her.

The polar bear was fun for the kids to see. There hasn't been one at our zoo for quite some time.  This polar bear was pacing back and forth and the kids thought it was funny to go back and forth trying to see it.  It was sure hard to get a good picture of the bear with it not sitting still.

 This year they had a special feature at the zoo.  They have animals made out of LEGOS.  This was so exciting for our son because he just loves legos.  They are his favorite toy.  This polar bear and its display stand were made completely out of legos.  It was really cool.  I wish I had that kind of creativity.  Our son was in heaven seeing all the lego animals.

  

These portraits were made from legos to look like a gorilla and orangutang.  

The penguin legos were of my favorite.  I love penguins.  There weren't any real penguins at the zoo so this is what we had to settle for instead.  Very creative and fun.

And last but not least the little Tamarin monkey made out of legos. 

We were so lucky to have such a nice day.  It was about 75 degrees.  The perfect weather for the zoo.  It was so nice to finally be outside in the sun after such a long winter.  I look forward to many more birthdays and zoo trips to come.

Teacher Gift Wristlets

"You were the KEY to my success" Teacher Gift

I realized that my daughter's last day of Kindergarten is tomorrow and I didn't have a teacher gift for her teacher.  I decided I wanted to just try and make something with things I already had from home rather than having to go and buy stuff.  I found this tutorial for key chain wristlets from Teaginny Designs.  I think they are cute and they are also popular right now.   I decided not to do the ruffle on these ones just because I didn't have too much time today.  I will probably make one for myself later on with a ruffle because I love how girly it makes it feel.  I think they turned out so cute.  I had this fabric laying around and hadn't done anything with it yet so I thought it would be perfectly age appropriate for the teachers.   I love it and hope they will as well.  I also decided to use a key ring instead of a D ring so then you can put your keys right on it rather than having to attach another ring. I thought a tag with a key and the saying that I chose would be perfect to go with this key strap.  I made some quick stamped tags just with the scrap booking supplies that I have.  The saying that I came up with to put on the tags is "You were the KEY to my success".  I think it will fit perfectly and it is absolutely true.

$20 Amazon or Walmart Gift Card Giveaway

There is only Four days left to enter to win the $20 Amazon or Walmart Gift Card.  Share with your friends and get your entries in before it is too late. Good Luck!

If you haven't already entered you can click here to enter.




Britney

$20 FabricSeeds.com Gift Card GIVEAWAY

 

**This giveaway is sponsored by me and is no way affiliated with Fabric Seeds or any other company.

It's Giveaway time!

An online fabric shop

GIVEAWAY: $20 Gift Card for FabricSeeds.com Ends 6/21

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite online fabric shops Fabric Seeds.  This fabric shop is owned by my good friend Sarah.  Sarah is very talented and has a passion for quilting and crafting.  I want to share this company with you you because I think it is a great company.  The service rendered from this company is great.  Fabric Seeds sells many pre-cuts of fabrics such as Moda and Riley Blake.  There is so much you can do with a pre-cut these days, or you can use your imagination and come up with something of your own.  Fabric Seeds does carry some yardage and patterns as well as some other notions.  Whenever and order is made it is shipped in a timely manner.  I also love the customer service of Fabric Seeds.  If you have any questions at all she is always quick to respond. 

GIVEAWAY: $20 Gift Card for FabricSeeds.com ends 6/21

Fabric Seeds also has a blog that features tutorials, projects, and great products.  Come meet Sarah and have a glimpse into her life and learn a little more about things she loves.

Just recently there was another market for new fabric and products. Fabric Seeds has some of these new products featured and will have more products on order to come in the future. 

 This is one of the quilts that is featured on the Fabric Seeds blog made by Sarah. She is an amazing seamstress.  She does many quilts for herself and she has also done machine quilting which I think is pretty amazing.

 

Happy Go Lucky by Moda

Moda Happy Go Lucky pre-cuts featured in the coming soon section of the Fabric Seeds site.  These are a couple of the featured coming soon products that I really love.  You can find Fabric Seeds here. Go check out her site and see what you can fall in love with and have for your next project.

 

Road 15 by Moda

Go on over and check out the blog, site, and meet Sarah.  Leave her a message and say Hi!

To enter just use the rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  **This giveaway is sponsored by me and is no way affiliated with Fabric Seeds or any other company.

Wilton Frosting Tip & Frosting Bag Review

 

**This is my honest review.  I did not receive any product or compensation.  This content is 100% my own opinion. 

Have you ever tried frosting a cake?  Having the right tools makes all the difference!

I just recently made a "Hello Kitty" cake and cupcakes for my daughter's birthday.  It wasn't my first cake and hopefully it won't be my last.  I had a cake decorating lesson about 5 years ago so I learned a few tips for frosting a cake, but I am definitely not a pro.  I would definitely like to learn more about cake decorating and maybe take some classes.

For this review I used the Wilton Featherweight Reusable Decorating Bag.  (I used the 14" size)

I also used the Wilton Coupler Set

I had a leaf tip, a round tip, a drop flower tip, and a star tip.  The only tip that I ended up using for this project was the star tip.  I look forward to practicing with the other tips in the near future. You can find some tips here.

Overall I thought the products were pretty easy to use.  They didn't come with much instruction so you kinda just have to know what you are doing.  Since I have used frosting bags before I was able to do it pretty easy.  The bags are just the right thickness.  They are not too stiff so they are easy to squeeze.  The only thing that I had a hard time with is my tiny hands. It is hard to hold a large bag in my tiny hands and squeeze the frosting out at the same time.  I have seen many people use one hand and do it so easily. Maybe again that just might mean many years of practice.  I ended up using both my hands to steady the bag since it seemed too big for my hands.  Next time I will try a smaller bag and see if it is easier for me to handle.  Overall the product worked wonderful and went together very easily.  I liked the sizes that I have but I look forward to trying different sizes and being able to make a different design.  It is amazing how just the size of the tip can change the look of your frosting and design.  

I had a lot of fun on this cake and the cupcakes.  I had used a homemade butter cream frosting.  It is a recipe that my husband loves and makes often.  I also tried my hand at fondant for the very first time.  I think it turned out pretty amazing for my first fondant experience. I really do not like the taste of fondant so I decided to make my own.  If you don't want to make your own you can purchase that as well and Wilton has a great fondant product. 

 It took me so long to smooth the frosting and to do the fondant that I didn't end up outlining the head.  I wished that I would have but I was too tired after all the cake and cupcakes that I did, I decided it was good enough.  I did the frosting and fondant on this cake completely by myself.  The cake took me about 2 hours because I am a perfectionist and my cupcakes took me about another 2 hours the next day.  I didn't have the energy to do them all in one day. 

I didn't really know how I was going to end up making all these cupcake toppers but somehow I did it.  I decided to cut circles and then shaped them into kitty heads.  Then I added black color to some fondant (it is not easy to get black or to color fondant for that matter).  I also made just a little bit of yellow since I knew I wouldn't need that much for the noses.  The longest part was rolling all the pieces and trying to get them to stick exactly where I wanted them on the heads. 

I look forward to having more Wilton products to use and to share. 

This project took a little longer than I had anticipated but it was just because I can't let my perfectionism go. It was worth it because my daughter loved it.  I also loved being the artist and creating it.

They tasted good and I hope you enjoyed seeing my creation. 

**This is my honest review.  I did not receive any product or compensation.  This content is 100% my own opinion. 

Giveaway fixed

If any of you noticed there were some glitches with my rafflecopter.  I think I now have them fixed so all the links should work.  If they still don't all work you can leave a comment and let me know.  Sorry about the problem.  Keep entering for more entries!!!  Watch for more giveaways. 

Nature

Sometimes it is so nice to just sit outside and enjoy the nature. I was sitting outside watching my little girl ride her bike and started to just look at the things around me. We are blessed with so many beautiful things around us. Sometimes my kids even think the weeds are pretty flowers. Some obnoxious weeds do look like flowers and although they do annoy us we can look at them in a light of beauty. My kids love picking the yellow dandy lions and giving them as gifts. Hearing sounds of the birds and different animals outdoors can be so soothing. We have an owl that lives outside our home and I love to hear it hoot. It can sound like music with the other birds. Although I don't really like to hear it when I'm trying to fall asleep.   Sometimes wishing I was a bird with none of the humanly worries of the world can sound really nice sometimes. I'm so grateful for all the beauties around us. Maybe someday I will take up my oil painting again. Take time in your day to be grateful for the little things around you. See things as a blessing and not a curse. Help yourself to be just a little more optimistic each day. Someday we will get to where we want to be.

Learning Resources Smart Snacks® Shape Sorting Cupcakes Review & Giveaway

Check out another one of Rachel's Giveaways!! here.  Good luck!!!

Quilt Labels & Mother's Day

I had decided a while ago that my quilts needed some labels.  It took me quite a while of researching to look for ideas just to end up coming up with something of my own anyway.  I designed these labels myself just using my office program.  These labels I made quickly last week because I decided I needed to hurry and get a label on the quilt that I am giving away for Mother's Day. Since it is nearing I had to hurry and get my label on so she could always remember where this quilt came from.  I was able to fit 8 of my labels on one sheet of iron on paper. I am very frugal so I tried to fit as many as I could on one sheet of paper.  I really love how simple they were and how they turned out.  Although I will probably edit them as I go and add touches here and there I like what I came up with for now.  If you were looking for a little inspiration or motivation I hope you got it here. :)

Here is my Mother's Day quilt gift lablel

 (For some reason this picture would only load sideways and wouldn't let me rotate. Sorry for the view.)

 Recently I have been working on a scrappy quilt all of my own design out of batiks.  (Images to come later on.  I want this one to be a surprise until it is finished)  I made a little TV tray ironing table for convenience.  (You can see a little of what the cover looks like) I didn't follow any tutorials because I again wanted it my own way.  I wanted my cover to be washable and not stapled on to the tray like others I have seen.  I have been using my regular Rowenta Iron that I do love.  Unfortunately it is a bit gigantic for this table.  Yesterday my husband surprised me with an early Mother's Day gift.  He gave me a new baby Rowenta Iron.  I LOVE IT!!!! Now I get to use it on my little table and not have it take up almost half the table. Thanks honey!

Busy Day Cake

I got this recipe about 22 years ago when I was in girl scouts.  We had to learn to bake something to earn a badge.  I don't know if I actually earned the badge or not because I wasn't actually in girl scouts for very long.  

I'm not sure why this recipe is called a cake.  It is more like the yummy crumbly corn bread you make homemade minus the cornmeal.  It is a sweet treat that is more of a side dish than a dessert.  My kids seem to think they always need a dessert or treat around the house.  It doesn't hurt that I LOVE to bake just about anything.  The taste of this recipe also reminds me a lot of one of my favorite muffin recipes that I will share later on.  

Busy Day Cake 

1 1/2 Cups Flour

3/4 Cup Sugar

2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

3/4 Cup Milk

1/3 Cup Shortning

1 Egg

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp Salt

Combine all the dry ingredients

Add the shortning and all the wet ingredients

Grease and flour a circle cake pan or a 9X9X2 square pan

Mix all ingredients well and place in floured pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 Minutes.  Top should crack just a little when done.

Enjoy your easy treat!!

Winner's choice of a $20 Amazon or Walmart gift card Giveaway.

**This Giveaway is sponsored by me and Rachel from Second Time Around. It is in no way affiliated with Walmart or Amazon  

GIVEAWAY: Winner's Choice of $20 Amazon or Walmart Gift Card

 If you are just starting to follow my blog my name is Britney. I have been married for 11 years now and have 2 kids. I have a son that is 9 and a daughter that will be 6 this month. Life can be a little crazy sometimes and throws you many curve balls. Seems like there are many beginnings in our lives lately and many things are starting over from the beginning. My husband just started school to have a start at a new career. We have many events starting from the beginning in our lives coming up. My daughter was born with a congenital heart defect and has been through a lot. We are awaiting her next open heart surgery which again will be just another start in our life. She is such a joy in our lives. I would love to share my blog with you. I created this blog to share a little about the things that I love. I love to cook, sew, craft, and most of all being a wife and a mother. I will continue with tutorials, recipes, and things I love. I wanted to get this blog off with a bang so I am doing a giveaway! This giveaway is for a winner's choice of a $20 gift card for Amazon or Walmart.

Britney

GIVEAWAY: Winner's Choice of $20 Amazon or Walmart Gift Card

Just fill out the Rafflecopter Form Below! Don't see it? Just give it a second to load or click the READ MORE link.. If you have any problems or don't know how to fill out the form, feel free to email me with any questions.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

*Disclosure: This gift card was bought by me and Rachel. It is in no way affiliated with Walmart or Amazon or anyone else. No compensation or product was received.**

Flip Flop Refashion

Recently when I was surfing Pinterest I found the cutest flip flop refashion.  I decided I wanted to make matching pairs for both my little girl and I.  They turned out so cute.   I am not a huge shoe person so I like to just have one pair of sandals or flip flops to wear with everything.  So that being said my dilemma was choosing colors that I thought could go with pretty much any outfit.  I settled on  a white flip flop with grey fabric.  In my opinion this was  a good choice to be able to wear with almost any outfit.  I was also really excited about this refashion because I have a hard time finding shoes I like for summer in the first place.  I am allergic to so many things I have to be careful about shoes.  Most people don't know but shoes are made up with formaldehyde resin as part of the glue that glues the shoe together.  Well I am allergic to formaldehyde and it is in everything.  Pretty much my enemy.  I don't have as bad of a reaction in the winter because I can use my socks as a barrier but for summer it is a nightmare.  So after cutting off the yucky plastic, silicone, or whatever straps they were I replaced it with fabric.  (I am allergic to latex and silicone as well as many other things)  I found the tutorial I used here.  These were really cute.  I decided not to do the flower because for one I was lazy and for two I didn't want to do that exact flower.  I may eventually add one but for now I like them just the way they are. :)

Of course I had to take pictures of them on my little girl because my feet just aren't nearly as attractive. ;)