I was in a crochet flower kick awhile back and I think I must have made about a zillion of them…so of course I have been trying to come up with some different things to use them for.  My daughter was invited to a birthday party and all I had was this really plain white gift bag {not bad, but still, it could definitely be improved}:

So, I got my glue gun out, some lace, and a nice pink crochet flower and this is what I came up with! I thought it turned out super cute, and it turned my $1 dollar plain bag into a bag that well, looks like it cost a lot more…but it didn’t & that my friends is the best part!

All I can say, is that crochet flowers make everything look better! {wouldn’t you agree!?! ha ha}

You can find the crochet flower pattern that I used HERE!

Wow, I can’t believe how much I have been missing my blog lately. Seems like I haven’t done a thing with it in for-ev-er! And I can’t even use the excuse that we are building our house because, well, we haven’t started yet! BAH! I am hoping, hoping, hoping that we will start in the next few weeks…but, who knows. really. ?. That little question mark pretty much sums up life right now…exciting huh! hmmm?

In the meantime I have been spending a lot of time practicing my new knitting skills. I am so happy because I really really really enjoy it! If I wasn’t a true blue through and through crocheter I might consider liking it better than crochet…but I’m not going to venture that far yet. I would feel like too much of a traitor…and besides both knit and crochet have their own ups and downs. For instance: crocheting is lots faster {take that knitting!} but you can make really cool patterns in knitting {take that crochet} hmm. Someday, I’ll make a definitive decision. maybe

Anyhow, the point is that I finished the scarf I was making for my little Emerson. This is the first knitting project that I successfully started…though I completed a few others before I finished it. {A scarf sure can take a long time when you are a beginner!} I am currently working on an army of washcloths. I’m going to put together an awesome post with some really cool crochet & knitted washcloth patterns…it’s in the works…but we’ll just have to wait and see how long it takes me to get it done. If I keep going on the way I have been…it could be years from now. oh dear.

Signing off. Hope you have a fabulous day.

k l/k0/..

/kll[=-=

{that was just my son saying bye!}

I can’t believe another year has gone by, and that I am now the mother of a 4 year old. Holy Moly! Life just seems to go by so fast…especially lately…seems like just yesterday Audrey was a tiny baby and now she’s sporting stick on earrings and ring pops and she is quite the big lady (or so she told me today… )

This year for her birthday, I made this cute butterfly M&M cake:

I actually got the idea from a recipe on the back of a package of some Easter M&Ms, which I saved…for 5 long months, just so I could make this cake! (believe me, I was tempted a few times to eat all that chocolate…but I resisted…)

Here is what you will need:

-2 big bags of regular M&Ms (you will need 2 bags so you will have enough of the same color to make a pattern, I used Easter M&Ms which is how I got such girly colors, but I also know you can order M&Ms in any color that you want if you go to the M&Ms website)
-1 round cake.
-1 tub of yummy white store bought frosting

How To:

Cut your cake in half, flip the two halves out and cut little triangles out for the notch in the wings. Use the cut out triangles to make the center (body) of your butterfly. Then freeze your cake for an hour or so, (which will make it easier to frost) frost your cake, and decorate with your M&Ms.

I then just added squiggle candles (that you can buy at Walmart) for the antennas…I added 2 more after I took the picture since my daughter was turning 4.

And there you have it….a fun, easy, beautiful butterfly cake. woot!

ENJOY!

You can check out a few of the other cakes I have made here, here & here!

My husband has always claimed that he could ride a 2 wheel bike (with no training wheels) by the time he was three.  I have argued that one with him a time or two because, well, I never 100% believed  him…until:

yup…that is my 3 year old daughter out mastering skills I didn’t even have until I was 8. (embarrassing thing to admit huh?  ha ha. ) I guess it is possible my husband was telling the truth…oh boy, don’t I feel bad. :-]

So, here are a few bike tricks (taught to me by my landlord) that ought to help your little one learn to ride a bike, in only a few days (no joke!)

***If you are trying to teach a fairly young child, make sure that they are comfortable with riding the bike with training wheels first. They should be able to steer, pedal, and most importantly break…once they have mastered those skills I think they would be ready to try to learn how to ride***

1. Take off the  training wheels AND the pedals. Yup. Using a wrench just do like I said and take  ’em off!

2. Lower the seat so that your child can touch the ground using flat feet. (both feet should be flat…not just one)

3. Let your child learn how to balance and “glide”. (Always, with a helmet…Audrey was just posing for me so she didn’t have hers on)Have them kick start down the sidewalk and try to lift up their feet while they ride…it took my daughter about 5 minutes to understand what I was trying to make her do…but then she just went off and did it.

4. Put the pedals back on. After you feel like your child has mastered the technique of balancing that is. I let Audrey ride her bike for a good 4 days without pedals before we put them back on.

5. Watch your child ride away…and realize that they don’t need you anymore. ha ha. just kidding. I’m still the one who makes lunch.

Over at a soft place to land, they are having a giveaway where you could win one of these:

Good luck to all who want to win (because there are a gagillion of us!) Go! Enter! And if you win, I will be very jealous…