New Baby Quilt Sneak Peak

I just wanted to give you (my readers) a sneak peak at the new quilt I am working on.  My sister-in-law is having a baby boy in August.  This will be their first boy so I wanted to make her a cute quilt for her baby. This is the colorway that she chose and I do approve.  These colors were great for this quilt.  Most of the patterns just weren't a fit for this quilt.  I decided to go ahead and design my own pattern.  It was so much fun to make this quilt!  I finished the quilt top from the start of cutting to the end of sewing the quilt top in about 3 1/2 hours.  I am planning on machine quilting this one on my own so I don't want to give the surprise away until I am completely finished with the quilt.  Keep watching for the finished product.  Hope you have a happy weekend!

Epica Stainless Steel Straws Reveiw

Epica Stainless Steel Drinking Straws, Set of 4

Epica Stainless Steel Straws are:

• Better for You 
• Better for the Environment 
• 18/10 Stainless Steel Won't Rust, Scratch, Chip or Break 
• Smart,  they have a Bent Design 
• Cleaning Brush is Included 

These straws would be great for use with your family and/or guests.

You can find your own set of Epica Stainless Steel Straws Here

My Review:

These straws are so much fun.  I love that they are not made of plastic and don't have BPA or other toxins in them.  I also really like that they are reusable and much better for the environment.  The straws even come with their own cleaning tool to help them stay sanitary.  These straws are great not only for kids but adults too.  Being metal they get just as cold or hot as the liquid you put in them so depending on what you are drinking or how sensitive your teeth are you may have to be a little careful.  My kids and I really enjoy using these straws.  They will last a very long time unlike the reusable plastic ones that you can buy.  Since they come with a cleaning tool it will be much easier to keep them from getting gross or moldy like some other reusable straw models.  We look forward to having these straws for a long time.  If your kids use straws a lot I recommend you try these straws. 

Epica Stainless Steel Straws come with their own tool for cleaning how handy!

Epica Stainless Steel Straws

My daughter has so much fun using these straws. :)

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Capris from Jeans Tutorial

  Recently I bought a pair of jeans with a big hole in hole in the knee with the plan of turning them into capris.  I didn't pay very much for the jeans so if it didn't work out how I wanted I wasn't too worried about it. 

I have included a step by step instruction at the bottom of this post.

 

  

I find when I do any altering on pants that the best way to get the best and even cut  is if you fold them in half with the back on the outside.  After I fold them in half I take my ruler and line it up even with the outside leg of the jeans to get the right kind of cut. (seen below) **You will want to add 1" to your desired length to be able to have your hem. When you are cutting off jeans you don't want it cut straight across because then when you wear them they won't be the right shape at the bottom of the leg.  When you open the pants they will have a slanted cut and that is exactly what you want, to end up with the right result.

I used a rotary cutter and cutting mat with my ruler to get the best possible cut.  It works amazing.  I recommend this method for a straight and quick cut. Shown below is my finished cut.

After cutting the jeans off all I did was fold it under about 1/2" and iron, then I folded it another 1/2" inch (rolled on top of the first fold), pinned the hem down and sewed my hem into the pants. I used yellow thread on the top of the hem because the thread on the rest of the jeans was yellow and I wanted it to match and look like they were made as capris.

I have repeated the instructions again for you here just in case there was any confusion.

Step 1:
Figure out your desired length

Step 2:
Fold your pants with the back facing the outside.

Step 3:
Using your ruler line up the line on your ruler with the outside edge of the leg on the pants.

Step 4:
Use a rotary cutter and mat and cut the legs off from your desired line on the ruler

Step 5:
Open the jeans.  They will be slanted but that is what you want.

Step 6:
Fold the bottom hem 1/2" and iron

Step 7:
Fold the bottom hem another 1/2" (so rolled on top of the first fold) and iron.

Step 8:
Pin your hem in place and sew at desired hem height.  I did mine about 3/8" seam allowance.

This was a very easy project. This project only takes about 20 minutes from start to finish.  If you decide to make your own shorts, I hope you enjoy your finished shorts as much as I do.

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Add Suddenly Salad to your Summer BBQ

"I received no compensation for my opinion.  No product was received.  My opinion is 100% my own and others may have a different opinion."

 

Who doesn't love a great summer BBQ!  I love having BBQs.  It always brings the family together and you get to eat great food.  No complaints from me about that.

Add something to your 4th of July celebration and bring it from ordinary to extraordinary.  Make Suddenly Salad® your specialty and make it your way.   There is so much you can do with Suddenly Salad mixes.  By using quick and easy stir-ins, Suddenly Salad can be whatever you want it to be.  It could be a simple side dish or the star of your back yard BBQ.

Suddenly Salad has seven delicious flavors.  There is a Suddenly Salad mix that could be a fit for everyone or any occasion.  You could either simply follow the directions on the box, or you could visit SuddenlySalad.com for some delicious recipes.  

Featured is one of their great recipes.  Try the Red, White & Blueberry Pasta Salad recipe for your 4th of July BBQ.

What is your favorite Suddenly Salad??? My favorite Suddenly Salad is the Ranch and Bacon variety.  I love to add the real bacon crumbles to it to add that extra bacon flavor.  I also like to add sliced string cheese.  These add-ins make it just delicious.  You can find many other ideas to add to your Suddenly Salad at SuddenlySalad.com

 

My favorite is the Ranch and Bacon Suddenly Salad.

 

What is your favorite variety??

From Heart zipper I hope you all are enjoying your summer!!

“Disclosure: The information has been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.”

Cake Mix Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

The other day I was craving chocolate which is weird for me because anyone that knows me knows that there aren't many chocolate things that I actually personally like.  I do like chocolate cake, brownies, or a chocolate candy bar.  I do not like chocolate ice cream, chocolate frosting, or chocolate pie (well most any pie for that matter).  People think I am pretty crazy for not liking those things but that is OK.  I decided to make some chocolate cookies to satisfy my craving.  They turned out pretty darn good so I thought I would share my recipe with you.  I decided to go ahead and throw in an extra recipe for the month of June.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

makes 30-32 cookies
1 box Chocolate Cake Mix, 18.25 oz
1 tsp Baking Powder
2 eggs
1/2 C Vegetable Oil

1/2 Bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and baking powder. In a small bowl, mix together the eggs and oil. Add the egg mixture to the cake mixture and stir to combine. Form into balls and place onto a cookie sheet.  In order to get my chips to stay in the cookie dough I pressed them into the dough as I was rolling them into balls.

  Once you have your cookie sheets filled and your oven preheated then bake the cookies at the 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  I like to cook mine for the 8 minutes because I like my cookies on the softer side.  If you like them crunchier then you can cook them at the 10 minutes and be satisfied. Let the cookies set on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing them.  After the 5 minutes remove them from the cookie sheet an enjoy.

 Hope you enjoyed another recipe from Heart Zipper!

If you have anything that you would like to see me make or have a recipe for, I would love to hear all of your requests.  To make a request you can either leave a comment on this post, on my facebook page, or you can find my email to contact me under my PR Welcome page & send me an email with your request.

Sheep by Martin D. Rothery ebook REVIEW

**The opinion shared here is 100% my own and others may have different opinions.  I received the product free of charge in order to do an honest review.  No other compensation was received.**

  

SHEEP

by Martin D. Rothery

From Fishcake Publications

Synopsis:

Sheep and Cows have been the dominant species’ on the planet for eons. With their superior intellect and cultural sociological ideals they have lived together peacefully for generations.
That was until the appearance of the mythical ‘hairless apes’.
Little did they know that these upright two-legged creatures seen as the next stage of evolution by the Sheep would cause division in their long allegiance with the Cows, would draw the innocent Squirrels into the conflict and ultimately lead to a battle to assert total dominance as well as a war that would last for millennia.
And a secret war that is still being fought to this day!

My REVIEW:

I recently received a copy of this eBook to do a review.  This book was very interesting.  I really enjoyed the imagination brought into this book.  Sheep is a book in the view of an animal.  It is so interesting to think about what animals can think of us as humans and this book does just that.  Sheep is a fun book.  This book is an excellent reader of small chapter book for children.  There are some big words contained in this book so it would be more suitable for older children.  Sheep contains action and adventure in the eyes of animals.  It also expresses the emotions of animals that we may never think about.  Sheep is a fun book and if you like books about animals or think you would like to hear more of an animal's point of view then I recommend this book for you.  I really enjoyed reading this book.

Like SHEEP on Facebook

Just for my readers I have a code for a free copy of this eBook for the next 30 Days!!!  All you need to do is go to this site.  Add the book to your cart and enter the code AS48X it will then take your total to $0.  Hope you enjoy this book too.

This book was a publication from Fishcake Publications

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil Giveaway WINNER

Thank you so much everyone for your great response and entries to this giveaway.  I am excited to announce that our newest winner for the Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil has been chosen.  The winner was chosen at random by rafflecopter.

And the WINNER is:

Entry #1471 Abby Schendt

Congratulations!!  The winner has been emailed and has 48 hours to respond or sadly a new winner will be chosen.  Thank you to everyone for taking the time to check out my blog.  Don't forget to enter all of my other current giveaways.

$20 FabricSeeds.com Gift Card Winner

 

Thank you so much everyone for your great response and entries to this giveaway.  I am excited to announce our newest winner for the FabricSeeds.com $20 Gift Card has been chosen.  The winner was chosen at random by rafflecopter.

And the WINNER is:

Entry #216 Samantha Czerpak

Congratulations!!  The winner has been emailed and has 48 hours to respond or sadly a new winner will be chosen.  Thank you to everyone for taking the time to check out my blog.  Don't forget to enter all of my other current giveaways.

Orb Factory Robot & Princess Palace Review and GIVEAWAY

**I was sent the product featured below free of charge in order to give my honest review.  No other compensation was received.  My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.**

 

My kids absolutely love crafts.  They love crafts of every kind.  I am surprised that my 9 year old son loves them as much as he does but he would rather do a craft than play with many toys.  He has a very creative mind.  My 6 year old daughter is the same way.  She loves girly things and loves crafts.  She also likes to follow her brother.  So when I had the opportunity to do a review for the Orb Factory I jumped at the chance. When they arrived it seemed like Christmas to them.  As my kids and I sat down to work on them they were so excited it seemed as if I couldn't get the boxes open fast enough. 

The Robot Sticky Mosiacs was so perfect for my son. 

 

The Robot Sticky Mosiacs Kit includes:

• 5 designs
• 10 FlipMotion™ stickers
• 5 stands
• 1200+ sticky foam pieces

 Both kits we reviewed were kind of like the color by number pictures in coloring books.  Each piece has little boxes with numbers in the box.  You look at the instructions and find the coordinating sticker and put it over the number on your craft.  So if it was a number "1" you would find the number one sticker and place it over the number one on your robot.   The instructions for this craft were very clear and easy to read.

He had a ton of fun working on this.  It was perfectly age appropriate.  He really liked the fact that he could be independent on this craft. 

  

He actually loved this project so much he wanted to do them all at once but I put some of them away for the next day to spread it out a little.  Once my kids get started on stuff they usually don't want to stop.  They can be pretty determined.

Here was his finished robot that he had made.  It also had a really fun FlipMotion™ sticker to go right at the end of the ray gun.  He thought that was pretty cool.

My daughter worked on the Princess Palace Treasure Box Kit.

The Princess Palace Treasure Box Kit Includes:

• 3 jewelry boxes
• 575+ jewels

 The only thing that I had to help her with was putting the spires on the lids.  It was also the only part in the instructions that says it needs a little parent help.  It was true because she definitely knows her numbers and did very well doing it herself.  It was also very age appropriate for her.  She really enjoyed decorating the boxes.  She was also so excited that she can keep stuff in the boxes.

She did very well looking at the instructions and finding the coordinating jewels for the coordinating numbers.

Here is her first finished box.  She felt very accomplished that she was able to finish this box all by herself.   The instructions on this craft were easy.  They were easy enough that she was able to read them herself.

 

If you are looking for a fun craft for your children then I highly recommend these products.  The Orb Factory also has many other great products to choose from. 

Check out the My First Creative Collage Princess,  Plush Crafts, &

Sticky Mosiacs Fairy Forest Jewlery Box

Don't forget to Like the Orb Factory on Facebook, follow them on twitter, and check out their blog at http://orbfactory.blogspot.com/

Enter to win:

Giveaway: Winner's choice of Orb Factory Princess Palace Treasure Box or Robot Sticky Mosiacs Kit Ends 7/13

To enter the Giveaway just fill out the rafflecopter bleow.  Good luck!!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

**I was sent the product featured below free of charge in order to give my honest review.  No other compensation was received.  My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. Others may have different opinions.**

Dial Body Wash Review and GIVEAWAY

**I was provided with the featured product for free in order to do an honest review.  My thoughts and opinion is 100% my own.**

Dial Body Wash Review and Giveaway

 

 My Review

I was recently given a bottle of Dial Body wash to review.  When I went to the store to pick my bottle I wasn't sure which one I would pick.  I have pretty sensitive skin so I was a little worried about having an allergic reaction.  I ended up choosing the triple moisture body wash as shown below.

 

 I was quite impressed with the feel of this wash.  It was smooth.  It also washed off very easily and didn't leave a film.  I have used other kinds of wash that didn't wash off very well.  I know hard water can play a part in that as well but the Dial was wonderful.  I also really enjoy the smell of this product.  It is really refreshing and enjoyable.  I look forward to continued use of this brand.  I am going to use it on my kids tonight and see if it helps get that outside stink off.  Or maybe this would be awesome to use on my home made slip n slide instead of the dish soap. :)  I really enjoy buying new products and was excited to try this new product.  If you are looking for a new body wash I would suggest you try Dial's new latest body wash collection.

Also Enter to WIN!!!

You can enter to win a coupon for a free bottle of body wash so you can have the opportunity to try your own in the rafflecopter below.  There will be 3 winners for the coupons.  You can also enter the Dial Gold Giveaway.

 Here:

WIN IT: Three (3) Lucky winners will win a coupon for a free bottle of Dial Body Wash Ends 7/26

From Dial $65K Gold Giveaway:

WIN: 1 Grand Prize of $65,000 in Gold Ends 8/19

WIN: 65 Lucky winners will receive a ONE YEAR Supply of Dial Body Wash Ends 8/19

The Dial $65K Gold Giveaway Ends August 19th

To commemorate the Dial brand's 65th anniversary, Dial is giving away $65,000 in Gold to one lucky winner!!  What's more, everyday from June 16th to August 19th 65 daily winners will receive a year's supply of Dial Body Wash. Participants may enter once a day at Facebook here.  Also to increase your chances of winning you could also share this sweepstakes through all other social media sites.  You can enter this facebook giveaway once a day!!

Don't waste any time on this one and go and get your entries in!!  Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 **I was provided with the featured product for free in order to do an honest review.  My thoughts and opinion is 100% my own.**

 

Maxi Skirt

I'm sure that many of you who are avid in sewing have already made a maxi skirt at some point.  If you haven't I can say it is so easy and if you like them you should try your hand at them.  I made this skirt on Memorial Day because I wanted something new to wear.  I love maxi skirts because they are so comfortable.  I love to dress up and wear skirts and dresses.  If I had enough dresses I would probably wear them everyday.  If you have never made a maxi skirt before you can find many tutorials via pinterest or a search on the internet.  I didn't make a tutorial for this because it seems like there is an abundance of them out there.  If you are an avid in sewing all you need is your body measurements and a little inspiration.  For this skirt I just measured my waist added an inch for sewing allowances and cut it at an "A" line down to the bottom adding 5" to the total bottom measurement.   I also made a waist band that folds over.  I like the ones that fold over more like yoga pants.  I have made a maxi skirt for my daughter and I in the past.  It is on this blog in one of my early posts.  It has been quite a while since I had made one.  I decided to make this one because I found a store in town that is my new favorite for knit fabric purchases.  I enjoy this skirt and look forward to wearing it more.  I have already worn it two times since I made it.  Good luck with all your sewing adventures.  Keep your eyes peeled for more projects to com.