Saturday, April 30, 2011

Dry Erase Board Made from a Picture Frame

I found this idea from one of my friends and I wanted to make something for our kitchen where I could write down a grocery list and a menu for the week.

My style for our place is mainly Traditional and I loved throwing this Toile de Jolie fabric in a picture frame to create this dry erase board for the kitchen.


I used my Cricut to put "just a note" on the board and I love it because by itself it is art but I can use it to write on with dry erase markers and it comes right off.
Here is is at an angle in our kitchen

I love it. You can't really tell but there is detail on the picture frame as well. I bought the frame 50% off at Hobby Lobby for $15. The fabric was from there too for a few bucks.
Here's what it looks like with notes and it is so easy to wipe it off

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Getting white residue off of dishes

For some reason we have been having trouble with our dishes becoming white.

Some reasons for white residue is:
Hard water
Too much detergent
Detergent not disolving properly

We are going to try this but ehow.com says to soak your white residue dishes in white vinegar for 30 mins then rinse and dry.

Ways you can help prevent the whiteness:You can also put 1/4 cup of white vinegar in the dishwasher when starting a load. (they said to put it in a cup/bowl in the top rack).
Sometimes you can run the water in your sink to heat up the water in the dishwasher when it goes.
You can also try running the dishwasher with no dishes to help clean it as well.

Cute Coasters to Make

My friend at work got hit by a drunk driver and many ppl have helped her out the last few weeks. To say thank you she made coasters and I just made some following her instructions.

What you need:
Tiles (Home Depot haas 4x4 ones for $0.16 each)
Modge podge
Paintbrush
Paper
Hot glue
Some kind of backing (felt, cork board which can be bought in squares at Hobby Lobby or in sheets from Home Depot)
Finishing spray


1) you cut squares with the paper you chose
2) use the modge podge to paste on the paper then use it on the top
3) spray the top with the finishing spray
4) with a hot glue gun, glue the backing you have chosen

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

To Chris: My Proposition for a Chincilla

Dear Chris: a Chinchilla is the next thing on my list of "100 things to do in life" under the category of "own a weird pet." By the end of this article, you should be fully educated of the sweet nature of Skittles (the new name of our future fluffy creature) and of their low maintenance so they can soon be a part of our family. The information below comes from wiki.






Background: South America in the Andes Mountains so we don't need to go there. They live in rock crevices. Behavior: sweet, cute, precious, oh yeah they can jump up to 6 ft.


Looks: Body: doesn't sweat, oh and when it gets overheated he will tell us bc his ears well get red. Oh and this is what they look like in cute Halloween costumes.

Upkeep: so apparently their teeth keep growing and growing and it can come to a point where these things can't eat. So you give it sticks to file them down. Don't want an angry chinchilla.

Baths: It takes dust baths. Yes weird, but the dust stuff is pumice and absorbs the oils and dirt. They can't take water baths bc their fur doesn't air dry and then their skin gets fungusy or their fur rots which is really gross. Your worries are also over bc their hair is hypo-allergenic and they don't have fleas bc their hair is so thick.


Eating patterns: Wiki says "Chinchillas eat and digest desert grasses and cannot efficiently process fatty foods, high protein foods, or too many green plants." They have a sensitive digestive tract but they love hay and we can't give him mixtures of food. No nuts, veggies, or fruit. Maybe dried stuff here or there



Defense Mechanism: Many things want to kill them in the wild, its two defense mechanisms: "spraying urine and releasing fur if bitten." So its saying they don't bit in defense like a cat or dog.
NO PIC NECESSARY




They usually live in groups or herds, but we'll just work on getting one then maybe we'll get him some friends :)



Chris, I hope you understand more about these cute loving creatures and hope it changes your mind about these little guys. Let me know what you think :)


~ Elise

Egg-shaped Rice Crispy Treats

Have you seen the cute commercials for making egg shaped Easter Eggs? I have really wanted to do it and it was so easy. You make rice crispies and then put them into plastic eggs to make a shape.

I had different colors of marshmellows and so we separated the colors and made different batches separately. (these are not the actual eggs we made, this was found on a blog)




Here is a picture I found. You use butter or cooking spray and put in a plastic egg and cram the crispy treats in the top and bottom and then lay them out onto wax paper or a paper plate.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Confident People Wave

So I don't get it, when there is no one around and you walk by someone what do you do?... You wave or say a quick hi. I've always been a waver so I really don't understand why ppl see someone they know our know of, and they don't say hi back and just don't know what to do when someone does say hi.

My answer its that confident ppl say hello. At work and church theres a long hallway that I'll occasionally walk down and someone usually passes me. Its not just me I swear bc ppl will be in front of me and give a hello to a person coming down and they'll put their head down like they didn't hear it or something. Whether I know the person or not I'll always give a quick hi bc you never know what's going on or how it can brighten their day. I'm just generalizing but the ppl who say hi to me when they pass are usually more confident than those who do not do anything and might be afraid of rejection and not getting a response back if they do say hello.

Eh anyways, just something I've observed the last few weeks. No matter what for me though I'll still wave.

Monday, April 18, 2011

History of the BYU "Y"

So my dad and Emma came in over the weekend from a long 25 hr drive from Michigan. They got in from doing the drive STRAIGHT and they wanted to hike the Y. I asked if they wanted to lau down, ready or sleep but no they wanted to do it and it was fun. The next is info from wiki:


Early 1906 -When the junior class of Brigham Young University High School wanted to paint '07 on the side of the mountain, the BYHS senior class became upset. To settle this conflict BYU President George H. Brimhall and BYHS Principal that year, Edwin S. Hinckley, proposed that they paint the letters BYU on the mountain instead.

April 1906 -The plans to construct the BYU on the mountain were begun. Professor Ernest D. Partridge was assigned to conduct a survey and designed the emblem. When this was complete, a line of high school and university students, and some faculty, passed buckets of lime, sand, and rocks up the mountain in order to fill up the letters. After six hours of hard labor, only the Y had been completed, so the filling in of the remaining two letters was postponed and later abandoned.

1907 -The BYU Y Day tradition began. This consisted of thousands of students hauling, by bucket brigade, gallons of whitewash up the mountain to paint the giant Y. This tradition lasted until 1973. It was abandoned due to erosion of the mountain.

1908 -A 3-foot-high (0.91 m) wall was erected around the letter to keep it together. This required an additional 20,000 pounds of concrete.

1911 -Serifs were added to the top and bottom of the Y, giving it its current look. 1924 -The tradition of "lighting the Y" began. Each year during special evenings (such as homecoming), mattress batting was placed in buckets and soaked in kerosene. The buckets were then set around the edges of the Y and lit with torches. Eventually, this process evolved into using mattress batting soaked in used vehicle oil whick was carried up the mountainside. Once at the Y the mixture was formed into "gook" balls (a little bigger than softballs) with a thumb size hole poked into the top. These were placed around the Y and just before lighting a bit of gasoline was poured into the holes to allow the torches to quickly light the entire Y. Using this method the Y would remain lit for about 20 minutes.

1975 -BYU began to use a helicopter to carry thousands of pounds of whitewash to repaint the Y. This is now redone about every 5 years.

1985 -As the previously used method of lighting the Y was long considered hazardous (due to the potential wildland fire risk) and because of the short duration of the time the Y would actually remain lit, it was discontinued after the lighting in the spring of 1985. A generator and strands of lights were purchased for exclusive use on the Y, with up to 14 strands of the 25-watt lights bulbs being needed to outline the Y. These lights were first used for homecoming in 1985 and provided several hours of much brighter light and lit for several consecutive nights per event rather than just a single evening. Intitially, the lights and generator were dropped off and picked up by helicopter, but after a few years a old military ammunition bunker was installed on the mountainside near the Y to securely store the equipment when not in use.

May 20, 2006 -The 100th anniversary of the Y was celebrated. Many people hiked the Y that day to commemorate the occasion.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

A successful baby boy shower

We helped throw a baby shower for Chris' cousin. Here is the food table where we had all kinds of blue treats. Another table in the kitchen we had salads and chicken salad sandwiches.Here is another angle where you can see the treats and decor all of us sister-in-laws helped arrange. I didn't help with everything, but all of us had a huge part in throwing this shower!
Here is from the front. The blue balls up top looked so good over the table. These are made from tissue paper that you put into an accordion and staple in the middle and peal all of the pieces out into a ball. We hung it up with fishing wire.
Cute cupcakes! The little pacifiers are made from two white lifesavers and a blue jelly bean. We made marshmallow pops and we stuck a stick into the mallow, then would dip it in chocolate and this other stuff. They were yummy. Here is another picture of the marshmallow pops
Here is a close up of the lolipops that were burp clothes wrapped up.

This sign was made by the Cricut and it was connected and hung up with cute ribbon and balloons.
These are so cute. Little cookie cutters and then Lynsi used white icing to go around the edges.
Diaper cake with a cute baby sign cut by a cricut. Next to it you can see a jar for advice from guest and some of the mallow pops. We also had burp clothes wrapped up to look like lolipops. So cute!


Saturday, April 9, 2011

Scoring at the DownEast Tent Sale again

I was supposed to get an email about the DownEast tent sale but I didn't hear anything. Inbetween conference sessions I was driving and all of the sudden I saw a huge tent and the signs for the sale and I did a mad turn around.

Needless to say, I made it to the sale and it was wonderful, everything was $5 and $2.50 for plain shirts! Here are some of my finds from this year:


American Eagle dress. Originally $44.50. Got it for $5.
Pink Juicy capris. Originally $100. Got it for $5.


American Eagle dress. Originally $44.50. Got it for $5. Also found some cute things for my sisters like Lucky shorts and Downeast basic shirts. YOU SHOULD GO TO THE SALE NEXT TIME, they usually have it in Provo/Orem twice a year.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Don't put off tomorrow what you can do today

So this phrase is so good that we can't just be putting things off or nothing gets done. We can't always be postponing what we can do today BUT....


I NEED THE WEEKEND!!! I'm glad it's coming so soon because I need a little time to get things done. I just need a few hours and I'll be good!!!!

I love to see the temple

I love to see the temple! We were up in SL for conference and it was so fun to be back where Chris and I were married 7 months ago. I loved how in General Conference the prophet and different leaders talked about the temples. Doesn't matter where they are, the same ordinances are performed there.

Something Chris and I are trying to do: trying to see how many temples we can go to in our lifetime. Its not a lot but we've made it to 4 together!

The Salt Lake Temple was beautiful on the Sunday we went up. You can see the newly budded tree covered in snow. I'm so glad we were married in the temple. There we can be married for not only time, but for eternity.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma Easter

Williams-Sonoma Easter: Easter Egg Hunt Kit

Egg Coloring Kit


Cute Easter Egg Stand



Ummm, hello. I'm finding some of these jars. So many cute things I can do for EVERY season. I love it! Filled with Jelly Beans



Bird's nest


Look at these jars too!!! Dang, I need to find jars


cute basket



Dang its hard to see but its an Easter bupcake decorating kit



Pottery Barn Easter:



Bunny salt/pepper shakers



Place settings (If you look to the side you can see the kinds of plate that we got for our wedding :))



Cute centerpiece or decorations with bird eggs