Tuesday's Recipe... Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Oh my... heavenly looking picture! Check out the recipe for these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars at Brandy's Baking! You won't be sad you did.

Tuesday's Recipe... Homemade Pickles

I am severely depressed about the condition of my garden. You see... it was hailed on horribly, some were almost baseball size. All of my beautiful plants look a little sad, but hopefully aren't dead. I was going to post a few pictures of the hail damage but decided I didn't need to create a pity party for my garden. My husbands corn fields are probably what I should be whining about and as far as whining goes... at least my house isn't being flooded out by the Missouri River and we weren't hit by a tornado. (P.S. take a moment and say little prayer for the flood and tornado victims, they need lots of prayers)
In my depressed state... I was blog hopping and found this interesting pickle recipe. I love homemade pickles but mine always seem to be mushy. I hope to have a crop so I can try this one this year from Cooking With K. It looks easy and yummy!

To view the recipe click HERE!

Another Freezer Paper Stencil Tutorial... with Cuteness!

I love to attempt original photos of my children. When I became pregnant a 4th time and realized I was going to have 4 children, six and under I was definitely overwhelmed but knew it would make the cutest card:) haha... that must make me completely insane! Most people stress about affording another child and things of that nature (I leave the worrying up to the hubs). I worry about things like making sure their are equal number of photos of each child hanging on the wall and making sure I take each one individually to Disney on Ice... you know important stuff like that:)

I have done another post on freezer paper stenciling, you can view HERE. This one is more or less the same thing:) I just can't get enough freezer paper stenciling... you need Freezer Paper, a pattern, knife, mat, textile medium, craft paint, and iron. With the pattern taped to the mat, cover with a piece of freezer paper, shiny side down and tape the freezer paper down as well.

Using the knife, carefully cut around your pattern, creating a stencil out of the freezer paper.

You will need to heat the iron without steam. WITHOUT is important. Mix your paint and textile medium. (The textile medium is sold at craft stores and allows you to wash your garment.) The recipe is two parts paint, one part textile medium.

You will want to take a blank piece of freezer paper and placing it shiny side up, gently iron it to the inside of the shirt so your paint doesn't bleed through. Once you have that in place, lay your stencil down where you wish to place it and then carefully iron the freezer paper stencil onto your garment, shiny side down... this creates a temporary bond.
Take a paint brush and paint on your paint in one thick even coat. Allow this to sit 1 minute... make sure the entire area is covered.
Very carefully pull off the stencil. Allow the paint to dry overnight or at least 6 hours.
Just for fun I wanted to trace mine in glitter.

The bottle said it would hold up in the washer but not the case. However it still made for cute pictures.

So cute... so easy! BTW... the plain white tees came from Hobby Lobby.

Linking up to...
Skip to my Lou
Polly Want a Crafter
At Home With K
Somewhat Simple

Summer Subway Art

I have an addiction to Subway Art and think I'm getting pretty good. I have had this post ready for weeks and finally found a little peace to get it up on my lovely little blog. I have a couple more fun ones coming for any of you lake/river lovers:)

I like the framed look, but you can also make it a background piece as a tray under a centerpiece.
Click HERE if you want the rose ball tutorial. Or click HERE to view all my tutorials.

Hope you enjoy the summer!

Click HERE for the free printable.
Check back soon for more printables or follow me:)

Linking up to...
Somewhat Simple
Tatertots and Jello
Sunday Showcase
Skip to my Lou
I Heart Naptime

Tuesday's Recipe...??? New Baby

Sorry Dear Friends... no recipe today... I'm sorta on maternity leave from cooking:) Not blogging... just cooking thanks to my wonderful friends and family, whom spoil us rotten I probably won't be cooking for a short while. So instead of a delicious recipe enjoy a picture of our newest little ladybug, Rebecca.

Coffee Filter Lamp Shade Tutorial

I know what you are thinking... I've seen that before:) I can't deny that... however after spending days gluing coffee filters to a lamp shade I had to post a tutorial... I just had too!
My 2-year-old is sorta girly but not in an over-the-top princess kind of way... in a sweet way. I have been looking for a matching fabric to cover her lamp shade when I came across these coffee filter lamp shade coverings. There are several posts out there, however some of the tutorials are rather mediocre so I decided to post my way. Hope you enjoy and if you decide to create one, I suggest a bottle of wine, and a friend or two, to ease the monotony:) Enjoy!

Above is the before of my plain old lamp.
Picked up a pack of these at the market. (turned out I needed two)
Individually flatten each one out,
then fold in half,

then fold that half into thirds,

you will have a slice of pie looking thing,
then fold your tip up in half again and place hot glue in the gray areas as shown,

start at the bottom and get to gluing; fill in the holes as you glue upwards; try to consciously make sure you are working upwards evenly. About half way through mine I was getting tired and started spacing more... and you can tell. I would say start out spacing generously because you can always come back and fill in the holes. When you get close to the top, do a few layers where you turn the triangles downward. When your rows from the top and bottom meet you will have to trim the triangle tips off before gluing. I did about two rows this way. When you are through if you see any holes just fill in here and there. This small shade took 250 filters and 10 glue sticks:) I love it though and it fits into the decor of my daughters room perfectly.

Tuesday's Recipe...Black Bean Salsa

Black Bean Salsa... YUMMY!

So easy... and so Good!
I make mine a little different sometimes depending on what I have on hand. The dressing always stays the same though. In the summer it is fun to put fresh garden produce in this and in the winter I usually just use stuff out of a can because the produce quality isn't that great. Doesn't matter... this is a hit every time!!!

Recipe:
1 can golden sweet corn (15 oz.)
1 can black beans (15 oz.)
1 can mexicorn (11 oz.)
1 tomato (diced bite size, I prefer Roma)
1 red bell pepper (diced bite size)
1/2 cucumber (diced bite size)
Dressing:
1/4 cup Red wine vinegar
1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Directions:
I throw in all the veggies and then build my dressing right on top of that. Stir until well combined and then refrigerate for an hour or so. Before serving I drain the excess liquid and put in an entertaining-friendly serving dish. Serve with scoop tortilla chips.

Spring Spruce-UP!

These/this post isn't all that exciting, but I did make the effort of taking before and after pictures, so I thought I would post. Below is the lovely before of some garage-sale finds I tried to turn into mini-planters.

Below is the after... a little ladybug garland and vinca vine should be lovely.

I'm hoping the vinca will really take off and cascade down.

These beautiful patriotic stars have seen better days. I decided to remove the handles and sprayed them white.

Aren't they just cute... and the white matched the trim on the house. My handwriting stinks and I thought if I made it sloppy enough it would look cute, but not really... oh well I am looking forward to some summer nights on the patio with good food, drinks, and friends!

Linking up to...
Sunday Showcase
I Heart Naptime