DIY Cupcake Stand

The first item on my DIY list for Little Miss's 3rd birthday party was a cupcake stand. Last year, we bought one of those cheap cardboard cupcake stands that matched all of the Elmo supplies we bought at the party store. Considering the price, it really was a piece of crap. It barely held all the cupcakes and it was flimsy. When I decided to serve cupcakes again this year, I decided I was going to make my own cupcake stand.

I wanted to make a cupcake stand that I would be able to re-use and personalize for whatever occasion needed. Since we are going with a "Royal Tea Party" theme for the birthday party, I decorated the cupcake stand accordingly.

Its perfect for a little princess's birthday tea party!

I bought all of supplies at Michael's: 

Wilton Round Silver Cake Base 10in., 2 pack
Wilton Round Silver Cake Base 12in., 2 pack
Ribbon, 1in. wide
Tulle Fabric Bolt
3 Flower pots, 2.5 in.
4 Plastic Solo cups
Silver metallic spray-paint
Hot glue


First I spray painted the 3 flower pots and 4 plastic cups with the silver metallic spray-paint.

Next I simply glued the ribbon to the edge of the cake bases, except on the bottom base I glued the tulle down first then topped off with a ribbon. For the tulle, I glued then gathered, glued then gathered. Be prepared for hot glue on your fingers! The key is to allow a few moments for the glue to set before moving onto the next set of gathers. Otherwise you end up with hot glue & tulle all over in the wrong places.

For each base, I measured to find the exact center. Then I used hot glue to attach the flower pots to the bases. 

After waiting for all the glue to set, I glued the bottom base onto the 4 plastic cups.

Pretty simple, huh?

The only thing that I was unappeased about was how the hot glue did not dry clear on the flower pots, it looks yellowish to me. But I know once all of the cupcakes are on the tiers no one will be able to see that minor imperfection :)

You can use a variety of things to space the tiers instead of flowers pots. I almost used plain, wooden candle sticks but I wanted something wider. I found cute, plastic containers but they weren't as tall as I wanted. 

I spent a little more money on the cake bases because these are thick, sturdy, and wipe-able. They are also grease resistant and food-safe!

This will be the perfect cupcake stand for the birthday party, my aim is to have cupcakes on the bottom 3 tiers and place a small cake on the top tier!
 
 

A few of my NEW favorite things!

I am always willing to try out new makeup and hair products that have rave reviews. I recently added two more "must haves" to my beauty routine and I had to share!

Dry shampoo has to be one of my favorite hair products. I have thin hair and I hate to wash it every day because I color it so the ends get dry, the color fades, all sorts of problems obviously. I have been using Tresemme Fresh Start Volumizing Dry Shampoo for a while now, but it makes my hair feel gunky and full of product. While wasting time in Target one day, I came across Dove Refresh + Care Invigorating Dry Shampoo and I wanted to try it out.

I will never use another dry shampoo again, this is by far the best one I have ever used! It does a great job of refreshing my hair and taking away the oiliness. I have no problems with styling after using this product, its just like I washed my hair. It feels so light and cool, after spraying it in my hair I could run my fingers through and it didn't feel gunky. The smell is so refreshing! If I didn't love it so much for my hair, I would use this as air freshener in my house.


This summer I purchased a Sun Safety Kit from Sephora. Inside this kit were about 15 different deluxe, sample sized products. One of them was Dr. Jart+ Premium Beauty Balm SPF 45. I have been seeing commercials for BB creams and had no clue what they were, so I was excited to finally sample a BB cream to see what all the hype was about. 

What is a BB cream? Essentially it is makeup and skincare in one cream. Its really big over in Asia and from what I've read that is where "true" BB creams come from. Its not quite tinted moisturizer, full coverage makeup, or a treatment serum. Rather its a combination of all of the above! 

Dr. Jart's Premium BB makeup features "A moisturizer, sunscreen, and treatment serum, this all-in-one product also includes advanced brightening properties...natural looking coverage minimizes the appearance of imperfections and evens the skintone. Antioxidant bio-peptides and adenosine protect skin from harsh environmental factors while restoring firmness and elasticity."

I absolutely LOVE this BB cream! Its definitely a medium coverage and it applies so smoothly. After wearing it all day, it doesn't settle into my pores or fine lines (eek!). It provides a fantastic, even coverage and easily disguises my uneven skin tone. Another plus, my face doesn't feel gross or oily after wearing this all day. When I wash it off, my face doesn't feel dry or suffocated from wearing it all day. I also love that a little bit goes a long way with this product. What is even better, this BB cream only comes in one color! I was afraid of this at first because I am so pale, most of the time that "one shade fits all" ends up being too orange and dark on me. This was not the case with Dr. Jart's BB cream, this shade blended perfectly into my skin.

Some things are just too good to keep to myself, I just had to share these great finds!

DIY Explorer Backpack Tutorial

Saying my daughter loves Dora the Explorer is the understatement of the century. I have been searching for months for the perfect Dora Backpack and have come up with nothing. I found a few tutorials, but none of them were the right one. So I decided I should make one!

Turned out pretty cute!

I kind of winged it, meaning I didn't have a pattern and I just figured it out as I went along. I bought a couple yards of no-pill fleece in the perfect purple color and went to work.

First thing, I had to cut up the fleece. I needed to make the shape for the backpack, so I got creative and used one of my big dinner plates to trace the outline. After cutting out a front & back piece to the backback, I had to cut out a strip to connect the two pieces (I took measuring tape and measured the perimeter of the front piece). I made it about 4 inches wide. I decided to use a different fabric to line the backpack, so I cut out the previous 3 pieces again but on the lining fabric. Next, I needed to make straps. So I cut 2 pieces of fabric wide enough to fold each in half to make a strap. I needed to make a flap for the backpack, so I used my handy dandy dinner plate again.

First, I made the straps because this is the most annoying part. I folded the strap parts in half then sewed a 1/4 inch hem. This is the part I hate: turning the straps right-side out. Check out this easy video to help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn3YY4KYD9E

After turning the straps right-side out, I did a 1/4 inch hem on both sides.

To make the face, I cut out pieces of felt and used my Heat N Bond to adhere them to the backpack. Then I sewed it all down using a zig-zag stitch.

Next I attached the 4 inch wide strip to the right side of the front of the backpack (lets just call this the "smiley" side!).

Next I attached the final piece of the backpack body to the rest of the backpack, right sides facing.

Turn it right side out, then repeat the previous steps with the lining fabric.

Next put the lining fabric inside the fleece backpack. I folded the lining fabric 1/4 inch, then folded it over the fleece portion on the outside.

Before sewing, attach the flap AND the straps underneath the outside fold of the lining fabric.

Setting the flap underneath the outside fold of the lining fabric

Setting the straps underneath the flap AND the outside fold of the lining fabric

Sewing on the outside fold of the lining fabric.

After sewing on the outside fold of the lining fabric, fold this top part down into the backpack. At this point, you should not be able to see the lining fabric from the outside of the backpack. Now sew around the top of the backpack ensuring the lining fabric stays inside and is not peaking out.

For the final part, attach the other end of the strap to the backpack. To make sure the straps were the right length, I used my daughter and had her put on the backpack. After sewing down the straps, I cut off the excess material. 

Now add in an anxious toddler and what do you get...

 

A very happy Dora the Explorer fan :)

This project took about 2 hours with interruptions. It was much easier than I thought it would be. I hope my instructions aren't too confusing, this is my first attempt at making something from scratch using just the ideas in my head. Happy Sewing!




 

Running to the Deployment Finish Line!

Okay, I've had enough. I am DONE with this deployment. Where do I pick up my husband?

Can I swim there?

How about run? I can totally do that...as long as its not any farther than 13.1 miles...crap.

Nothing in particularly bad has happened this week or lately, I am just tired of it all. 

I am tired of solo parenting. I thought having a two year old was bad, but its only getting worse as we approach three. It used to be cute when she told me "No", not so much anymore. I want to be able to take a shower without worrying about what Little Miss is going to get into, Mommy is in the shower time for a makeover! I want to be able to spend time on the laptop without feeling guilty that Little Miss is having to play all by herself, at least if Hubs is home he can keep her entertained while I am starting endlessly at Pinterest. On the up side, I somehow managed to potty train her.

Oops, I just realized I put her to bed without her night time diaper on. Guess I'll be doing MORE laundry tomorrow...

I am tired of changing the cat litter, taking out the garbage, and mowing the lawn. I am ready for the man slave to come home.

I am tired of dealing with it all alone. So much has happened this deployment, its been nearly overwhelming. While Hubs has been there for me as much as he could be, its hard when they are thousands of miles away and in a different time zone. Honestly, I feel like I don't want him to stress out as much as I do so I don't make that big of a deal out of it (to him). How will Hubs being stressed on deployment help out at all? I am just exhausted. No matter how much sleep I get I am just drained by the end of the day. I have alot on my plate and even more on my mind; I am ready to have my husband home to help manage everything. 

I am ready to feel attractive again, to feel sexy. I have been working my ass off and I'm ready to have someone "appreciate it". I could expound on this even more, but I'll keep it classy folks. You all know where this is going...

So from here on out, I am jam-packing my schedule in the hopes that time will fly by even faster. Festivals for the next 3 weekends full of screaming kids? You betcha. Coming up with sewing projects just because? Definitely. Working out both at the gym AND running around the neighborhood? Damn right. 

Who knows, I may get so tired of waiting for Homecoming that I may have to run to get my sailor...better train hard.


 
 

Breaking Up With A Friend?

While I cook my breakfast every morning, I have my kitchen TV tuned into the Today Show. This week, Kathie Lee & Hoda were interviewing experts on how to break up with a friend. The discussion piqued my interests and I wanted to talk about it on my blog!

I have lots of friends, but not many who are lifelong friends. I do have close friends but its not a forever BFF sort of thing. Over time our lives change; whether we get married, moved away, had kids, PCS'd, or just drifted apart. These were all valid reasons and while I still keep in contact with most of these friends, we just aren't as close as we used to be. Sure, I miss what we once had as friends but I've come to realize that some people come into your life for a short time and some were meant to be around longer. I value each and every close friendship I've had, for each one has brought joy into my life and I hope I've brought some into theirs. I've also learned something with each friendship and created some great memories with these friends.

But what about friendships that have just become toxic? We all have had those friendships where you have tried to repair or address the issues but it has changed nothing. Or you find out a friend has betrayed you in such a way, you can never trust them again. This is when you have to figure out how to "break up" with this friend, severing ties,  instead of just letting the friendship drift apart naturally.
 
I thought once I was married, I was finished with this whole breaking up business! I haven't had to break up with many friends and I find the whole situation stressful, but to be honest it had to be done and we both needed closure. The friendship wasn't working for either of us, so why prolong the inevitable? My needs weren't being met and obviously I wasn't meeting their needs either.

Before you decide to break up with a friend, make sure you are really unable to salvage the relationship. Have you tried to talk to them about what they have done to offend or hurt you? At one point, this person was a close friend. You should give them the opportunity to explain themselves and salvage the friendship.

If you have already exhausted all friendship repair efforts and nothing has changed, then its time to move onto the break up stage. 

Here are my tips for breaking up with a friend:

1. Make it short, sweet, and to the point. Don't ignore their phone calls or texts just because you are too uncomfortable to discuss the situation. At one point, you were close friends and because we are all adults here, you owe them the closure of ending the friendship. 
2. While you may want to vent and list all of your so-called friends' offenses, don't do it. If you are at the point of having a break up talk, then you are at the point of not making up. Listing all their wrong-doings will do nothing more than make everyone angry and bring unneeded drama to the situation.
3. Don't suck mutual friends into the situation. The issue is between you and the offending friend and it should be kept that way. Remember we are all adults here...
4. Have the discussion either face to face or over the phone. Don't do it over text or Facebook! 
5. After the break up, its time to move on and leave the issues with that friendship alone. The friendship is done and over with, so there should be no more talking about it especially with mutual friends. Okay, you can talk about it but keep it limited to your parents and your spouse (they have taken a vow of secrecy, right?).

I would like to say the hardest part is over with, but I would be lying if I did. It is very likely you and this now un-friend have friends in common. You will probably have to face this person again in social situations down the road. You really have to deal with your hurt feelings as an adult here, no gossiping! You don't want to be involved in a "he said, she said" situation that erupts in drama the next time you see this person. Don't put your mutual friends in this position. If you can't say anything nice about the person you unfriended, then don't say anything at all. This goes back to not involving your mutual friends in the dispute, don't make them chose sides! How would you feel if they did the same to you? Just because the friendship didn't work out with you, doesn't mean they aren't good friends to someone else.

Likely you will have hurt feelings about the situation with this person. Trust me, I know this is hard to deal with. I encourage you to find a productive way to work through your hurt feelings. Sometimes, the hurt will go away soon after ending the friendship. I hope that is the case for you. But sometimes it takes alot longer to work through the betrayal you feel. I find when I start feeling negatively about a person, if I find a way to distract myself until its no longer in my head and I feel alot better. I hate harboring such angry feelings towards an individual and no matter how much I try to reason it out, my emotions get the best of me. It gets better as time passes but I think a part of me will always be hurt, especially because they think they did nothing wrong. I just have to let it go and move on, its no longer worth my time & worry. 

Its a natural part of life, people come and people go. Some people go from close friends you talk to daily to people you occasionally (s)talk to on Facebook. Life happens, we change, its an always evolving situation. Some people stick around forever, while some are there for short term. It doesn't mean you didn't value the time you had together because it wasn't a lifelong friendship. 

Usually, friendships just drift apart naturally and hopefully there isn't much drama associated with it. Sometimes though you find yourselves in a toxic friendship and you need to know when & how to sever those ties.

Have I always followed my rules for ending a friendship? Definitely not. Had I wished I had? Most definitely. Let my mistakes teach you, save yourself the heartache and drama.

My First Race, Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon!

Even though this race was a few weekends ago, I wanted to wait until I received my race photos before I posted about my first race!

This was right after crossing the finish line, I was very sweaty as you can see!

It has been on my "bucket list" to run a half marathon. After meeting all of my health and fitness goals last deployment, I decided to attempt my first race during this deployment. I wanted to run a 5k during the summer, but instead I pulled my quad a week before the race so needless to say I didn't run that one. 

After getting back into my workout routine after Hubs went back on deployment after his emergency leave, I saw a flyer at my gym for the Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach and I knew I wanted to run it. I had 10 weeks and even though I hadn't been running, I was doing alot of cardio already so I hoped endurance wouldn't be an issue. I talked to my marathon-pro buddy and she suggested I find a routine online for my running. Sure enough, I found one that suited my needs: running 4 days a week, only 2 days consecutively and gradually building up mileage every week. 

At the beginning of my training, I did really well. I still managed to do a few of my other classes at the gym as well. But as I added more mileage, my body wasn't too happy with me so I stopped doing the gym classes and concentrated just on running. I also went to a running shoe store in town and they were AMAZING! I felt like Cinderella, I must have tried on and jogged in a dozen different shoes before I found the perfect pair. Apparently, I run funny and need high stability shoes. The guy at the shoe store asks me, "Do you notice your knees occasionally colliding while you run?". My response is typical me, "Yah, but I figured its because I am a complete klutz and I was distracted by the TVs while I was on the treadmill." So it turns out I'm not a complete klutz, I just run funny (great excuse, right?). 

I would like to say I stuck to the running training schedule. Well if you have been a follower of my blog, you noticed that my life has been anything but predictable lately. In the middle of training, I began dealing with the problems concerning my niece and her custody situation. That took about 2 weeks out of my training. I was tempted to quit after that setback to my running, but I decided to go through with the race because I had already spent almost $100 on the registration for it (money is a good motivator, isn't it?). 

I did 90% of my training on the treadmill and while I was home visiting my family in Louisiana, I ran outside. 

The day before the race, I met up with 2 of my race experienced friends who held my hand and showed me what to do. We had the race expo to pick up our race packet and number. It was quite the experience and we picked up lots of free goodies. The race shirt was pretty awesome this year too!

The night before the race, I left Little Miss with a friend overnight because I had to be up at 4:30am! I met up with my friends and we took a shuttle to the start of the race. There were these very peppy racers next to us on the bus taking photos and stuff before 6am while I am still trying to figure out what in the world possessed me to think that running half marathon was a good idea...

The first pointer I got was to use the port-o-potty as soon as we got off the bus before the wait was bad. Then we walked around, dropped of my bag, and ate a hot banana. Yup, a hot banana. Apparently your body uses less calories digesting the banana when it is hot. Makes sense. But it also makes the banana taste like crap. After another trip to the port-o-potty, it was time to get into our corral!

The start of the race is pretty exciting, you see the first group of people start as they race in wheelchairs then the "professional" runners take off. Each corral starts cheering as we edge closer to the starting line, then we are off!

The first 4 miles, I had to keep reminding myself to slow down! Looking at my time, I can see I was really pushing myself the first part of the race. I just had so much adrenaline going, there were crowds gathered at the beginning of the race holding up signs and cheering!

On the advice from my friend, I stopped at the water/gatorade stations and drank only half of what was in the cups. The rest of the water I would splash on myself. It was over 80 degrees with high humidity during the race. I was so afraid of getting dehydrated I drank too much because I definitely had to stop at the halfway point to use the port-o-potty! I also had some energy jelly beans that I snacked on throughout the race to make sure my electrolytes weren't getting low or anything. They gave out the energy gels or goos along the race, but my friend told me how they felt in your mouth and she compared it to something that most women don't find appealing so it kind of scared me from using those...

I am very happy to say I ran most of the race. I only walked 3 times, the first time was at mile 7. I only walked about a half mile that time, then started running again. I stopped again to pee between miles 8-9. Then I walked again at mile 11, only for a quarter of a mile though. It was a nice race though, my favorite part was the people that had homes along the race path had their sprinklers set so they could spray us as we ran by. That was very very VERY nice of them :)

Almost finished!

By the end of the race, I was exhausted. As soon as you cross the finish line, I felt like I was on the red carpet or something because there are photogs EVERYWHERE. They hand you your race medal, then you take a photo with a backdrop, then you collect your goodies: sponges sitting in ice water, bottled water, chocolate milk, bananas, snickers energy bars, and popsicles! You could also get a free Michelob Ultra if you were 21, but that was the last thing I wanted after that race. My marathon pro friend finished about 10 minutes before me and my other friend wasn't too far behind me. 

The race ended at the oceanfront, and that is where we stayed for almost an hour after the race just relaxing. There were parts of my body that hurt that I didn't know could hurt! My lower back in particular, that hurt for a few days afterward too. After finally getting back home, I instantly regretted renting a 2 story townhome. Stairs are evil. 

The race was on a Sunday so on Tuesday I was back at the gym, but I only walked for a few miles on the treadmill. By the end of the week, I was surprised that I was back to normal and could work out like I did before the race. I cannot describe how sore I was after running 13.1 miles. 

Now that my first race is out of the way, I want to run another! I registered for a shorter race, the Wicked 10k, at the end of October. It is only 6 miles so that will be much easier than the half marathon I just ran. I am still running 3-4 days a week but I am working back in my gym classes.

Quite a few people have told me that they could never run a half marathon, but I beg to differ! With the proper training and the right mindset, you can do anything especially a race. Okay so maybe you aren't as crazy as me and don't want your first race to be a half-marathon. I don't blame you, that was kind of insane on my part. So start small, do a 5k. Just search online for free training programs for running a 5k and find one that works for you. Who knows, you may even start to like running! I know I sure do, its one of the only ways I can clear my head and just reset. I tend to let my mind go crazy and over-think situations, over-analyze everything. When I run, I just forget about all that stuff. 

I am so excited about the Wicked 10k! I am hoping I can get another friend to run with me, it will be her first race :)

DIY Fall Topiary!

I just couldn't wait any longer, I had to put out my fall decorations! I was going to wait until the official first day of fall but a good friend told me that since its past Labor Day it wasn't a faux pas to put out my decorations.
 
I love decorating my porch and since Michaels was having a massive sale, I couldn't resist. I found lots of inspiration on Pinterest and decided I wanted to create my own fall topiary!

This was so easy to make and it turned out so cute! Let me tell you how I did it:

All of the supplies came from Michaels (except the pots but I will explain that later) and were on sale this weekend.

The first part is cutting the tops off 2 of the 3 craft pumpkins. I used an old steak knife that I don't like to do this. 

Then I used hot glue to put the pumpkins together. Lots of hot glue...

I decided I wanted to personalize my topiary and added our initial onto the second pumpkin. I simply found a font I wanted (thanks Pinterest!) and printed it out. I cut out the initial and taped it onto the pumpkin so I could trace it.

After tracing it, I used some leftover acrylic paint to fill it and add a few swirly designs.

While this was drying, I went ahead and began using hot glue to attach the leaf garland in between the pumpkins. Once again, lots of hot glue.

Now it was time to attach the bow with hot glue (surprised huh?). I could've made it myself, but I had a 50% off one full priced item coupon!

At this point, the acrylic paint was dry so I used a high gloss varnish to seal the paint (same paint I used for THIS project).


Now about those pots I used. I have had these 2 pots for years now and I've killed everything I planted in them. Since the decorations not alive to begin with, I figured I was safe using them. The pots are 2 sizes, I simply turned one upside down and used the smaller one right side up. If you don't have 2 pots laying around, you can find pretty topiary pots at the craft store.

I used a grapevine wreath to go around the rim of the top pot. Then I used floral stems and stuck them into the grapevine wreath.

My tower of pumpkins fit perfectly into the top pot!

After making this fall topiary, I pulled out my other decorations and the new ones I bought at Michaels.

The garland around the door, the hay bale, and scarecrow were all from Michaels. Although the scarecrow was purchased years ago. The wreath on the door is from Homegoods. I found it at the end of the season on sale because it was missing a few embellishments, which I was able to find at Michaels and attach with hot glue!

I absolutely love how my front porch looks. It was so easy, I just had to share! Happy decorating :)