Personalized Baby Gift

One of my greatest friends from highschool and his wife recently had a baby boy. Tom is the ultimate St. Louis Cardinals Fan so I wanted to get Baby Aiden some Cardinals gear. I am sure Aiden has tons of Cardinals items so I wanted to personalize the gifts a little bit. This is something ANYONE can do. First of all let me reassure you that I do not have a fancy embroidry sewing machine. I wish I did but I do not. So I did the next best thing.

Instructions:I went to one of my favorite stores....Hobby Lobby. My husband calls it Hob Lob :) Anyways I purchased some iron on letters. Next I cut out the letters I needed for Aiden's outfit. Then I put the onsie and shirt on a hard surface. I use a wooden puzzle.

I placed my iron on the cotton setting and pressed it on each letter for 20-25 seconds. After that I turned the shirt/onsie inside out and ironed over the letters again. After one minute of cooling I revealed the final product.



Final Product of the t-shirt: Front of shirt
Back of T-shirt


Final product: Front of Onsie

Back of Onsie

I can't wait to see Baby Aiden sporting these outfits. I made two sizes. One for now and one for next spring when Tommy and Beth go to spring training. Now it's your turn. See what you can do to personalize your childrens items or gifts. It's easy. If I can do it you can do it.

I also made one for my cousin, Jen. Her little man is due in December. The gift was more for my Uncle Wayne...the baby's grandfather because he LOVES the Chicago Cubs.

Taco Soup

Today is a rainy, cold fall day so Zachary and I decided to make some Taco Soup. It's super easy, healthy and almost better as a leftover. Enjoy!

P.S. Ignore my messy countertops...


TACO SOUP

16 oz. can chili beans
16 oz. kidney beans
16 oz. can black beans
8 oz. can tomato sauce
15 oz. can diced stewed tomatoes
16 oz. can whole corn
16 oz. creamed corn
pkg. taco seasoning
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 sm. can chopped green chilies (I omit these because I do not like hot or spicy)

Do not drain any of the canned foods. Add all ingredients to a crock pot and add taco seasoning to the soup. Brown the ground beef in a pan with the chopped onion and add this combination to the crock pot. Simmer for at least a couple of hours. Serve warm and garnish with optional toppings: shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla strips (cooked in frying pan with olive oil and grated parmesan cheese). Another idea: Eat with large Fritos chips.

Happy Fall Y'all

Welcome to our home! Come in side and visit for awhile. I would love to have company in my home everyday. The blog world has made it happen. Enjoy!

I have had my fall decorations up for a couple weeks but I have been too lazy to take photos of all of it. I finally did it. I hope you enjoy the tour of fall in our home. It's my favorite time of year!<

These little trick or treaters are new to my decor this year.... I think they are cute! You'll have to look past the Santa & Zachary picture. I keep it up year round because it is my favorite picture. Someone very special is in that photo. You'll have to look real close to see if you can see who it is. Also in my candy jars I have faux pumpkins and peppermint lifesavers. Since Kevin and I are watching what we eat we opted not to put candy corns or yummy candies in there this year. :(

These pumpkin plates are new this year too. I got them at Homegoods in KC when we were up there for a wedding. I wish they would of had three of them.
I painted this pumpkin for Z when he was just 4 weeks old. I love it.

Another Chalkboard Paint Project

A couple years ago my sister was selling this mirror in a garage sale. I quickly snagged it from her "for sale" pile and gave it a new home. I hung the mirror on our mantle for about two months until we got a canvased family photo to replace it. It was not until I saw the mirror in photos that I realized it was incredibly streaky.

This mirror has been sitting around for over a year without a purpose. Fast-forward to a couple weeks ago. I was in my kitchen thinking about changing out the decorations on my wall by my fridge. I keep a red berry heart in this spot and thought I needed something else up there for fall. However I realized that if I put something fall-ish up there, then I would need something Christmas-y up there, and the cycle would be never ending. I thought what could I put up their that would stay, and would be useful? Ah-HA! A Chalkboard! Immediately I started thinking about that mirror and painting it with chalkboard paint. Here was the process...

Tape the edges of the mirror to paint the frame. Once that dried I did a second coat. Then I had to tape the frame to spray paint the chalk board paint. After two coats of that...I was ready to hang and post my first message. I love the new look and I think I will get a lot more use out of the chalkboard than I will seasonal decor. Total price of project....NOTHING. I already had the paint, paintbrushes, and the mirror. YEAH!