You can't see me!

Our youngest child, and only son, will be turning 3 in June. I am both happy and sad, like most mothers :o) 

His newest interest in wrestling. Not just any wrestling but WWE wrestling! What can I say.... he is 100% boy! A few of his favorites are John Cena (of course), The Rock, Sheamus, Big Show, and Kane.... just to name a few :o) 

When I asked him what kind of party he wanted he looked at me with that serious little face of his and said "Mom, don't know." So I started naming off stuff, Spiderman... Cars.... Construction (Diggers, Trucks).... and then I said wrestling! He shouted "Yeah! Yeah, Mom! Me want Cena party! Cena's great!" So a couple weeks went by and I asked again what kind of party he wanted and he still insisted on a John Cena party, not wrestling in general, John Cena! 

I sat down and made his invite for the party last night, graphic design is yet another one of my many crafty hobbies I enjoy doing! :o) I wanted to share the invite now, even though I am sure I will eventually share more Cena party pictures after the party, but I just couldn't wait that long to share this!!! I knew what I wanted in my head and upon searching and searching for what seemed like forever I could NOT find the fonts I wanted to use. So what did I do you might ask..... I made the font look the way I wanted it to look by simply editing it using my favorite program, gimp! When our son woke up today and after breakfast I showed him the invite, hoping to get his approval :o) He loved it!!! 

So what do you all think? Is this a worthy John Cena birthday invite??

Cherry Tomatoes anyone...??

I thought that I would post something a little different then my normal blog entry. Instead of sharing a fun craft to do with your kids I thought I would share one of my little kitchen tricks or tip, what ever you would prefer to call it.

My middle child, Abigayle (4 yrs) loves Cherry Tomatoes! Like LOVES them! She also loves to have them sliced for salads or tacos. Have you ever tried to slice a small tomato ? Seeds and juice squirts out all over the place! So here is my little tip on how to slice a small tomato such as a Cherry or a Grape tomato without making a huge mess and squeezing out the guts to the tomato.

First gather your materials :
- Tomatoes
- 2 Bowl Lids (need to be the same lid and have an edge/rim to them) *see picture
- Knife, I would suggest a larger knife then I used, but I have bad luck with knives so I like to use the same small one for everything I slice :o)
- Bowl or dish to place the nicely sliced tomatoes in.

First you start by placing a handful (or two) of tomatoes in the groove on the top of one of the lids.

 Then you will take and place the other lid on top of the tomatoes, tops of the lids need to be pointing towards each other. Now bare with me on the picture of me slicing the tomatoes. My 5 1/2 yr old was taking the picture and this was the best of 4 attempts :o) After you have your lids and tomatoes ready begin to slowly slice/work your knife though the center of the lids. Continue until you have sliced through to the other side.

And there you have it! Perfectly sliced tomatoes! Perfect for salads, tacos, nachos, etc.

Marbled Nails

I love pinterest as much as any other crafty person I am sure! Sometimes I find myself being a touch addicted to it and end up pinning the majority of my night away! Could be worse things I could be doing right....!?!

While pinning away I have stumbled upon several water marbled nails. Reading the directions and seeing how awesome it looks I thought to myself "Pin this, I will try that one day." While secretly knowing that most likely I wouldn't do it one day as many things that I pin I never will do... oh well :o) But, I actually decided to attempt this particular pin. My nails have been super strong lately and are currently long enough for something as stunning as this to be displayed on.

So I gathered my materials...

- Nail Polish (I tried several kinds until I found ones that worked) I used 2 colors but want to try 3 next time
- Q Tips and Tooth Picks  (these will be used to clean fingers and polish removal)
- Vaseline
- Cup of Water
- Paper Plate **this is just for trash reasons**

Now get comfy where you are sitting as this is not a quick nail job, but so worth it!!!

Fill your cup with luke warm or room temperature water, almost all the way full. Then you will need to swab the Vaseline all around your finger covering all your skin but not the nail. This will ensure the polish doesn't stick to you but the nail instead.

Now slowly dip your polishes in the water, do this by taking 1 drip from one color and just touching the surface of the water until the color 'spreads' outwards. Continue dropping 1 dip while alternating colors. I do between 10-15 drips. I also found it easier if all bottles of polish were opened and ready to grab for quick dripping.

Once all drips are in place you will have  a pretty circle of colors, grab a tooth pick and SLOWLY go from the outside of the circle towards the middle. Do this a few times to create your marbled look of choice. Then very slowly dip your nail in the part of the design you want on your nail, works best if the nail is on a slight angle towards the polish. While your nail is still in the water (under water) take your toothpick and gather all the polish by swirling in slow circular motions to clear it from your finger. Then remove your finger, slowly, and use a q-tip to clean your finger tip and remove all excess polish. Spot clean with nail polish remover if needed.

Be sure to top with a clear top coat after several minutes of air drying.  Continues these steps for all or as few nails as you wish.

The colors choices are endless and the more you do it the better you get. Can you imagine different color schemes for holidays?!?! How cute!!!

Now when I did this my camera was not charged so I had to use my daughter's iPad, the picture quality isn't the best but it shows the finished product! I didn't put a top coat on soon enough as when I was cleaning my bathroom the next day most of my polish chipped off before I could get better pictures.

And you know once my daughter's seen my nails they wanted theirs done the same way :o) I did try to do their nails and for being only 4 yrs and 5 1/2 yrs they sat still very good and ended up with some cute nails! The pictures are again not the best and due to the fact that their nails are so dang TINY the design didn't have much room to really show up.