DIY Bendable Fabric Cake Flags

A few days ago, I saw on Pinterest a tutorial for making your own reusable wired fabric cake flags. I KNEW right away that I had to make a stash of these! I followed this super easy tutorial from Poppytalk. Just head on over there to get the instructions. I only had 2 inch wide masking tape on hand, so I experimented and made some large flags, and then also made some the same as her size by cutting my tape in half.

 The wide ones will look great on a big cake, and it also helps with larger patterned fabrics. I wouldn't have been able to do the Paris and green quatrefoil fabrics if I made them 1 inch wide.

 One other tip I realized, was that I could make them twice as long and then after the mod podge dries, cut them in half and easily make two flags out of one longer strip. It was less cutting in the first steps, and much easier to cut in half when it's already dried together.

 These were my first batch and I loved them so much that I spent the rest of the night in front of the tv making more, to go with lots of occasions. I think I want to make some 4th of July flags soon. They look even better in person than in the pictures! :)

Homemade Rosemary Garlic Tomato Sauce

I recently discovered  Market on the Move.  It's a Fruit and vegetable co-op that happens every Saturday around the Phoenix area. You get about 60 lbs of fruit and veggies for $10.  The selection for type of veggie is limited, but you can get a ton of what they do have. Last time I got a lot of zucchini and yellow squash that is currently shredded and sitting in my freezer.  This time I got a lot of tomatoes because I wanted to make my own tomato sauce.  I found a recipe in the Ball Blue book that I modified slightly.  Here's what I did:

Rosemary-Garlic Tomato Sauce

Wash 20 lbs of tomatoes.  I used vinegar in the water to help clean them well.

Prepare a large stock pot with boiling water.  Place tomatoes in the water a few at a time and leave in for about 4 minutes or until the skins start to split.  Remove tomatoes and place in sink or large bowl with ice water to quickly cool them.

 Using your paring knife, slip the skins off the tomatoes and remove the stem.

I put my tomatoes, about 3-4 at a time in my blender and mixed to puree the tomatoes.

Mince 1 whole garlic clove and finely chop one onion.

 Remove the leaves from 2-3 sprigs of rosemary and chop finely.  Saute the garlic and onion in 1 Tbsp olive oil until tender.

Combine the tomato puree and the sauteed garlic and onion in a large stock pot.  Add chopped rosemary.  You can also substitute fresh basil for the rosemary, about 1/4 cup.

Cook over medium-high heat until the sauce has reduced down to desired consistency.  I did mine down about 1/3, the book says down by 1/2.  It's up to you.  Stir occationally to prevent sticking.

This was my favorite step because my house smelled like a little Italian Bistro.  So yummy!

Prepare your jars and get out your boiling water or steam canner.Place lids in a small saucepan with about 1 inch of water.  Heat on Medium-low or until bubbles just start to form.  This softens the rubber on the lids to ensure a good seal on the jars.

In each pint jar, add 1 Tbsp bottled lemon juice, then fill with the reduced tomato sauce.  Adjust lids and rings and place in canner.  Process for 35 minutes.

Remove and place on cooling rack.  Let sit for 24 hours, then write the date and contents on the lid and add to your pantry.

 Homemade Rosemary Garlic Sauce.
Delish!

Picture Me Domestic---My Self Portrait

I was inspired by this Picture Me Domestic, a self portrait contest that consists of one taking their own picture in their domestic and everyday setting. 

There will be three winners, who will each receive a prize from Pick Your Plum! I totally love it!

I am going to enter, humbly, of course, as I do not consider myself a creative or even competent photographer. 

So, here we go...

The photo is meant to show how and who you are in your domesticity every day.  Being domestic to me is, first, being a Mom, then being a wife, then attempting to be a home keeper, cook, gardener, etc:-)  In that order!

With 3 kiddos running around, it can get pretty chaotic and loud at times!  But amongst the chaos, there is always time for a quiet moment...like when someone needs first-aid.  Usually a kiss will do the trick, or maybe a colorful band-aid or two or three. 
Sometime a little more is needed, as in this case:

attempting to remove a sliver out of my little guys foot...

My tweezers came to the rescue and saved the little foot, along with a band-aid, of course!  This is just one moment in a crazy day in my life, a life that I look back on at night while the everyone is sleeping and the house is quiet, and thank God for!

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Beachy Kneen Party

My husband LOVES the beach! When the time came to celebrate his day, we knew we want to do a beachy theme!! Both of us were born and raised by the ocean and for the first time we are living miles away from the beach. All the props used for this party are part of our family room decor. Since our daddy is not too crazy about sweets, we combined the sweet and salty treats on one table.  I found a gorgeous free printable beach bags tags on The House of Smiths site, that I used as food tent cards, cupcake toppers and favors(embellished with seashells buttons), they were designed by

Jones Design Company. 

For the sweets, we had taffy, starfish s'mores, pearly bites(family fun recipe), pearl cake balls and mini cupcakes. We also had herb focaccia and tuna dip served inside real shells, crabwish(chicken sandwich - family fun), shrimp cocktail, sea salt chips and whale crackers(kids favorite). We served dad's favorite drinks, caipirinha and LandShark larger. We also had lemonade for the children.

As for the children's actives, I set up an under the sea painting station for the kids to make sea creatures handprints for the dads to take home as a keepsake. They all came out so cute! 

It was a perfect day to relax by the pool and play with the children.

Styling, food and Photography by Crissy's Crafts 

As seen on Amy Atlas

Disneyland Vacation

 Last week we were SUPER happy to welcome my mom, brother, sister in law, and niece to California! For some reason, my pictures loaded in reverse order, so I guess I'll narrate backwards. ;)

Here is the cutest niece you ever did see! We ate at Rainforest Cafe in downtown Disney before heading home.

Cousins waiting for World of Color. 

My brother and his family at Disney Junior Live on Stage. It was a live show that included all of Rory's favorite tv shows.

Her favorite show is Jake and the Neverland Pirates, so she got a sword. :)

My girls meeting Tinkerbell and Terrance in Pixie Hollow.

Emma looks so grown up!

We did the Surf's Up with Mickey and Friends breakfast. What a easy way to ensure you meet your favorite characters! I love how she has a hold of Minnie's cheek!

 I took all three girls on the teacups, since no one else wanted to spin. Ha ha. I love the teacups!

The girls rode a few things for the first time, like Goofy's Fly School (CRAZY-deceiving ride in CA Adventure! lol), Haunted Mansion, and even Indiana Jones! I can't believe they rode Indiana Jones! They wanted to try the Matterhorn for the first time but it was closed. The Little Mermaid ride was open this time so we rode that twice.

It's a Small World. Nothing makes me happier than hearing my girls sing to the top of their lungs on this ride.  Total joy!

 We stayed at the Grand Californian hotel...WOW! It was amazing! These little chairs are right next to registration so that kids can watch old Mickey cartoons while their parents are checking in and out. Right when we pulled up, the cast member that came to get our luggage wrote us out two magical yellow tickets. Well, they were "magical" to us! They were each good for 6 people to go to the front of any line! Sa-weet! THEN he asked the girls if they like popcorn, and wrote us out a ticket for 6 free popcorns. Brandon joked that the popcorn ticket probably had a value of $78. Ha ha!

The hotel was completely wonderful! We had our own entrance into Downtown Disney and also directly into California Adventure. One of the pools has a really fun water slide that we couldn't get Emma off of. She was in heaven. My mom even treated us to a couples massage in the hotel spa. It was fabulous. I am so thankful for this time with my family, I can't believe it's already over, and they are already back in Ohio.