Saturday, February 18, 2012

"Definitely Do" Top Three DIY Picks: Nursery Design

I've had just a touch of baby fever lately and thought I would try and kick it by posting some of my favorite nursery designs and ideas from Pinterest. When you find out your having a little one, and some of us start doing this years in advance, but we dream of how our little peanuts room will look when they arrive. Themes, color, design, decor, stuffed animals, furniture... the list goes on and on with the items that we ponder for the picture perfect nursery for our picture perfect newborn. Through our favorite pin board site I gathered my top three favs this week. Hope you love and enjoy them just as much as I do.


1. Pink & Brown

I am totally a sucker for pink and brown together, especially for a little girls nursery or room. It is classy, earthy, girly, warm, sophisticated, and delicate enough for your princess. The chandelier lighting is just the right touch to give this nursery the perfect ambiance.

My Tip: I would recommend putting your lighting on a dimmer switch. This comes in handy for midnight diaper changes and creating a calm atmosphere for baby while you rock her to sleep(my favorite).


2. MOD Baby


I'm in love with this modern themed nursery for the little man in your life. The blues, greens, tans, and grays are the perfect combo of colors and make this the hippest nursery in the neighborhood.

My Tip: Of course the blue chair is the highlighted piece of this room, however I don't recommend spending an arm and leg to get this "must-have" piece of furniture. I would purchase a used chair or use one already in your home and reupholster the fabric. Then buy a fun, funky pillow to complete the look (or make one, you crafty mom you).









3. The SURPRISE nursery


For those of you (not me, I don't do surprises) that choose to wait until the D-day to find out if your having a boy or girl will appreciate this gender neutral themed nursery which is possibly the most creative one I've seen. The pinstriping on the ceiling is a perfect touch if your not looking to commit to one color on the walls but want to give it some personality. The best part of this nursery is the wall of books, such a simple yet fun loving idea for your little ones first room. We shall call it the wall of imagination and learning. <3

My Tip: To fill your book shelves purchase at used book stores and even get in the attic to find your books from when you were a little one. This nursery will definitely create memories that will last a lifetime.







"Now get out there and make something beautiful and from the heart"



Sunday, February 12, 2012

"Definitely Do" Top Three DIY Picks: Valentine's Day Coloring Pages

If you have children and if they love to color then these top three coloring page sites will be perfect for your little ones to express their colorful creativeness. Whether you use markers, crayons, or paint you cannot go wrong with these fun coloring pages.


1. Babble colors too

My new thing is the Flipboard ap (only the coolest social magazine EVER) and while reading it this morning I came across these fun and adorable coloring pages on Babble. There are 8 to choose from and they are perfect for little hands  because the images are larger and are very easy to color ( I tried and stayed in the lines the entire time).












2. Flower Heart


This coloring page was found on Pinterest via Print n' Learn.com. Again, the image is larger making it easier for the little artists.















4. Personalized Coloring Pages




How cute are these? Not only do you get adorable coloring pages but before you print them you get to personalize the page! I found these on Color My Day and am printing them right now. Cute, cute cute!














"Now get out there and make something beautiful and from the heart"



Saturday, February 11, 2012

Greek is Great

In our household we go through yogurt on a daily basis, it's a great snack for the kids and comes in a variety of flavors. For awhile now though I have found a different use for it and thought I would share this fabulous secret if you haven't already discovered it for yourself.


Do you have these items in your refrigerator?
- sour cream
-cream cheese
- ice cream
- dips

If you answered yes to any of those then you are in for a pleasant surprise. Plain Greek yogurt can be used as a substitution to all of the above and much more. Not only is this delicious treat that is creamy and nutritious but it is so versatile in the kitchen.

Some of my favorite dishes that I use Greek yogurt in is anything Mexican, smoothies, spinach dip, cucumber dip, use as a dip for fruit, parfaits, on top of tomato soup (or any soup for that matter), and that is just to name a few. 

Now, I probably pay around $6.00 for a pint of Greek yogurt, however, when you stop buying all the other items above it balances out and is definitely worth it at the check out line.

This is a "Definitely Do" and hope that some of you are on your way to the grocery store right NOW, well after you finish reading of course. And I will share some of my Greek yogurt recipes with you soon. I'll get to working on that A.S.A.P. just for y'all. 

My Tip: My kids love ice cream so in place of ice cream (and I was sneaky about it) I take the Greek yogurt and put semi sweet choc chips in it and they LoVe it!


"Now get out there and make something beautiful and from the heart"


Do you have any must have Greek yogurt recipes to share?



Thursday, February 9, 2012

Love Fortunes

This is yet another of the "Definitely Do" Top Three DIY Picks that I posted a few weeks ago from The Wonder Forest. I decided to make these for Jonah and create a Valentine's Day scavenger hunt. They turned out pretty darn good, I must say.



You all that know me and by reading the blog have figured out that I am ALL about economical, easy, and fun DIY crafts and this one is all three of those adjectives.

What you need:

- Red felt sheets ( you get about 4 cookies out of each sheet) - $.20 per sheet
- Red craft pipe cleaners - $ 2.00
- Fortunes printed out on paper and the cut out - $ FREE
- Scissors - you totally have a pair at home - $ FREE
- Craft glue or a hot glue gun -$2.00
- Something to put your fortune cookies in when your done - I used a heart decorated craft Chinese food box from Wal - Mart - $ .97


To make your fortunes find something around the house that is circular and trace it onto your felt sheets.
Cut your circles out and put a straight line of craft glue across the diameter. Cut a piece of  pipe cleaner the length of the circle and place over glue mark. Once dry place your fortune over the pipe cleaner and fold your circle in half and then bend to form fortune cookie(half moon) shape. Repeat! Ta- Da!


These were so much fun to make and took no time at all. This is obviously a "Definitely Do" and is perfect for anyone trying to put together a last minute gift, someone who is not super crafty, a mom who doesn't have a bunch of time to make something, and everyone in between, you'r sweetheart will be sure to love and appreciate these fortune cookies.

My Tip:  As I said in the beginning of the post I'm creating a scavenger hunt with these. I took note cards and wrote little hints to lead him around the house to find each of the cookies. Each time he finds one, he opens it, reads his love fortune, and then is given a hint to find the next. Don't make your hints too easy though, make him work to find them! :-)


"Now get out there and make something beautiful and from the heart"



Monday, February 6, 2012

Heart Shaped Crayons

A few weeks ago one of my "Definitely Do" Top Three DIY Picks was these adorable heart shaped crayons. I loved this for a craft time idea with the kids to make for their friends at Sunday school.



What you need:

- 96 crayons (made 10 heart crayons -  $ 2.00)
- Heart shaped silicon muffin pan ( Wal - Mart for $3.50)

To get started you want to take all the wrappers off the crayons, this was actually more difficult than I expected. My husband took each crayon and with a knife sliced a line down each crayon to make peeling the wrapper much easier. Then, preheat your over to 230 degrees, break up your crayons into a medium size bowl. Once all the crayons are broken fill (all the way to the top) each heart on the muffin pan with the crayon pieces. Put them in the oven for 15 minutes. Take them out once your crayons are liquid. To help mine cool faster I put them in the refrigerator to harden for about 30 minutes. When they are cool all you have to do is pop them out of the silicon pan, this was the easiest part because they slide right out. And Ta-Da!






My Tip: Once the heart crayons were finished we headed to the dollar store to crate a fun little bag to give them to our friends. In the wedding section you can find fold-able cardboard bags then we bought heart stickers to decorate them with. 


"Now get out there and make something beautiful and from the heart"


Saturday, February 4, 2012

"Definitely Do" Top Three DIY Picks: Valentine's Day Printables

Everyone loves a free printable, especially when it comes to organizing our home, planning meals, and the top reason... holidays. So, today I am going to share with you my top three picks for Valentine's Day printables that you can print and share with the ones you love most. 

1.  I love you today because...



Creative Juice has some very cute printables that everyone will enjoy. I found this one via none other than Pinterest. The gals from this blog have different styles of this same printable plus so many other ones that will catch your eye, including school printables, as well!

My Tip: Print this out, put it in a frame and write dry erase love notes. Gift it on Valentine's Day for the ones you love and there you have it -- a gift that you can use every day after to show your love.






2. A hundred hearts...


I am a little biased with posting these printables because they were made by my cousin and we shared them right here on Didterest. They really are some of the cutest ones I've seen and the quotes are perfectly worded for expressing your love this Valentine's Day.


My Tip: You can turn these FIVE whimsical printables into love note cards and hide them in different places around the house for your loved one to find throughout the day. Don't forget to leave little clues on the back of each one to lead them to the next.


3. Circular Printables


I found these and immediately fell in love with them. Anything but Perfect shared these adorable circular printables and are perfect for jars or bags of candy, note card making, cupcake toppers, and all of these ideas and more which you can find on Angela's blog.

My Tip: On the back of each circular printable write or type up a little note with the date on the back. The one you give them too can scrap book them or just save them as a memory from their favorite Valentine's Day EVER!








I hope you all enjoyed these whimiscal, creative, fun, loving, and inspiring Valentine's Day printables. If you print any be sure to leave a comment showing our creators some love! I also enjoy seeing designs you have created and would love to share them on the blog. Just send me an email with your design to didterest@gmail.com.

"Now get out there and make something beautiful and from the heart"


Friday, February 3, 2012

Memory Jar


When the kids were first born I had a journal for both of them that I wrote in every single day, it was kinda exhausting and after awhile I started to feel pressure to sit down and write in it. If I missed a day I had this feeling of guilt that when my kids moved out and we gave them the journal that they would have blank days and never know what happened on August 15, 2009.

So I did eventually stop with the journals and recently discovered another fun, guilt free way to track those memories and revisit them later. A memory jar! We keep it on the kitchen table and when the kids do something funny, sweet, or crazy we write it down on a scrap of paper and put it in our memory jar. For the kids, since they are not writing, they can put in a drawing or anything that will track a memory. Make sure to date your pieces of paper such as A hot Wednesday morning, June 5, 2011.

When a birthday, holiday, or anniversary comes around sit down as a family, open your memory jar, and let the good times begin.  Everyone in the family will enjoy sharing their thoughts on paper, putting them in the jar, and then maybe in 6 months or a year going back and reading them.

This is a "Definitely Do" for any family who loves to jot down thoughts, notes, memories and have them as keepsakes. 

My Tip: Once your jar is full and you have read your memories take your memories and tape or glue them into a scrap book so that one day when the kids are older they can go back through it and see all the notes you wrote as a family. This creates a lasting memory for the whole family.

"Now get out there and make something beautiful and from the heart"