Casa Mom in Pictures

1. Blythe postcard from Gina G., 2. Pizza Mau, 3. Seminole Indian bronze sculptures, 4. Purple Passion, 5. Ami, 6. Pepsi Red, 7. DIY RV, 8. Chocolate Cupcakes, 9. Vegas! Showgirls 7, 10. Madre e hija (y la jauría) - Mother & daughter (and the dog pack), 11. luv u Goofy, 12. The End


Questions:
1. What is your first name? Gina

2. What is your favorite food? Pizza

3. What high school did you go to? Seminole

4. What is your favorite color? Purple

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Ami James

6. What is your favorite drink? Pepsi

7. What is your dream vacation? RV

8. What is your favorite dessert? chocolate

9. What did you want to be when you grew up? Vegas showgirl

10. What do you love most in life? my daughter

11. What is one word that describes you? goofy

Sew Crafty Friday - Flower Bouquet

This is a cute "flower" bouquet I made with my Cricut for my daughter's teacher. For the flowers, I used the George and Doodlecharms cartridge. For "Many Thanks" I used the Jasmine cart. The bucket came from the $1 bin at Target. On the left you can see a little pocket. I used Doodlecharms for the pocket and the tag that goes inside it. On the tag I wrote a poem and attached a ribbon. I also tucked in a Target gift card and attached a ribbon to that too. The buttons came from my own stash.

(click on the pic for a closer look)

I really liked the way this turned out. It was really easy to put together and looks great! I hope you like it. Check out Shereen's blog for more crafty goodies.

Got Milk?

My poor husband...he's been waiting for me to make this cake since April. It was supposed to be for his birthday. The date came and went, so I promised to make it for Father's Day. Yeah...that day passed too. So today, out of the blue, I decided to finally bake it. Normally I would put a little wax paper under the cake to avoid getting frosting on the plate but I'm too tired to be so picky, and my husband will be so happy he finally got his cake, that he won't even notice.

Check out more crafty goodness over at Waiting for Him. I'm off to get me a cold glass of milk.

Retro Housewife...Not!

21 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

Not sure what it takes to be a good 1930's wife but whatever it is I ain't got it!

Sew Crafty Friday-Gift Bags

These are some gift bags I made for my daughter's Qianjiang sisters. The girls are from the same orphanage and were in our travel group. The girls and their families are having a reunion in Pensacola beach this weekend but unfortunately we cannot attend. One of the families lives nearby and is taking the bags with them.




The bags are gift bags purchased at a local party supply store. I used my Cricut for the embellishments. The seahorse was cut with the Doodlecharms cart and for the tag I used George.

Every family is bringing inexpensive gifts for all seven girls in the group so once it's all said and done; they will each have a ton of goodies to enjoy.


For my giftbags I purchased the following: washable watercolor set, small plaster kitty or dog to paint, one tanktop, sandal-shaped notepad, fish stickers, bag of panda shaped cookies, crazy straw, inflatable fish, and a painted wooden letter of their initial.

On this day...

Personality Test

DIY: Smelling Bottles

I am so thrilled to have found these nifty mini salt and pepper shakers at my local Jo*Ann's.

They only measure a couple of inches tall. The lid at the bottom can hold spices, herbs, or even a cotton ball soaked with scented oil. The best part, they are only $1 each. I was able to use my 40% off coupon that came in the paper and a M*chael's coupon as well. I paid full price for the rest of them but you can definitely just buy a couple at a time. ;-)

(I didn't realize that I didn't take a picture of the pepper shakers.)

Even at $1 a piece they're definitely cheaper than these. So run to the store and get yourselves a set.

Room Under Construction

Dh and I have been working hard on our learning/craft/guest room. The room, as you can tell, has to serve many functions. All in a very small space. The rooms is only about 11x10.

The first thing we did was install an adjustable shelving system in the closet. That's were I'll store most of my crafting supplies, and any Montessori materials we're not using. Here you can see part of the closet shelving system

Next, and most important, is the shelves for the Montessori material. We decided to go with these bookcases from IKEA. The bottom 3 shelves will be for the Montessori materials and the top 3 I can use for picture frames, decorative boxes, etc. I plan on making it uncluttered as much as possible.

For the past few months this room had become a catch-all for all kinds of stuff.

Disaster!

dh taking apart some of the existing storage

We had to shove everything to one side of the room in order to get the bookshelves in there. I'll post more pics as we work on the room. I can almost see it. I think it will be real nice once it's done.

What Type of Mom Are You?

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

A Little Valentine

Here's a gift tag I made using my Cricut. It's for my dd's best friend, Hannah.I was able to assemble it pretty fast except for the lettering. The letters are 1/2 inch except for the capital 'H' and the last 'h' which are an inch. They are hard to hold on to without tweezers. LOL!

click on the picture for a close-up look.

Want to see what other creative ladies have done? Check out Waiting For Him.

Narnia Quiz

Which Chronicles of Narnia character are you most like? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Lucy Pevensie Lucy Pevensie 66% Edmund Pevensie 63% Susan Pevensie 60% Mr. Tumnus 56% Mrs. Beaver 53% Oreius 43% Mr. Beaver 43% Peter Pevensie 37% Aslan 33% Ginarrbrik 20% The White Witch 7%

Book Meme

I've seen this MEME on several blogs and thought I'd give it a try. All you have to do is:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages.)
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

This is what I got:

These subtle adjustments allow us to stabilize our bodies, to correct and maintain our balance and to move easily. The child with vestibular dysfunction has problems with movement and balance. She moves too little or too much, with too much or too little caution. Her movements may be uncoordinated and awkward.


And that description happens to fit my daughter perfectly. That's why I'm reading:

Intro to Montessori - Videos

Want to know more about Montessori education? Here are 3 very informative videos.

MONTESSORI: PLANTING THE SEEDS OF LEARNING



JOYFUL SCHOLARS: MONTESSORI FOR THE ELEMENTARY YEARS


WHAT CHILDREN REALLY GET OUT OF A MONTESSORI EDUCATION
This is a recording of a talk given by Montessori Foundation President, Tim Seldin, to Montessori educators on the outcomes of a Montessori education that we typically see in children by age twelve.

Moveable Alphabet

Also from Lakeshore, a Magnetic Letters Kit that could work really well as a moveable alphabet, and much cheaper.

Sandpaper Letters & Numbers

Montessori materials can be somewhat expensive. I ran across this set of sandpaper letters and numbers from Lakeshore. They are a less expensive alternative.

Sew Crafty Friday - Coquito Tags

These are some cute little gift tags I made using my Cricut with the Doodlecharms cartridge.

Every year I make Coquito, which is a Puerto Rican version of traditional eggnog. What makes it Puerto Rican? Add Bacardi of course! Over the years I've switched over from a raw-egg recipe to a cooked-egg version. Some people just freak out if you tell them they're drinking raw eggs. Personally I've never gotten sick from drinking raw-egg Coquito. If there was ever any chance of salmonella being in those eggs, surely the Bacardi would've taken care of that.

12/24/2008

*Edited to add:

I realized I should've shared my Coquito recipe. You can click here for the original recipe.

*********PLEASE NOTE: I DIDN'T MAKE IT EXACTLY LIKE THE RECIPE. SEE CHANGES BELOW********

EGG YOLKS - I don't have double boiler so I cooked mine in a pan and stirred the whole time. Just be careful with the heat. You don't want to cook the eggs. I'd say start with a medium heat and adjust from there. Take your time or it will scorch. I used a candy thermometer clipped to the pan until it reached 160.

CREAM OF COCONUT - Use coconut milk instead. It comes in a can too. Cream of coconut is too sweet.

GROUND CLOVES & GROUND CINNAMON - I used whole cloves (about 4-5) and cinnamon sticks (about 3) and boiled them in about 1 1/2 cups of water. Let it boil (slowly) until the water turns light brown and you have about a cup of water left. Then add this "cinammon/clove" water to the mix.

VANILLA EXTRACT - I did one batch with it and one without. I really couldn't tell the difference.

WHITE RUM - BACARDI Need I say more?

Anyway, back to the gift tags. My husband asked me to make some Coquito to give as Christmas gifts to his co-workers. The bottles looked a little plain and boring but adding the gift tags really made a difference. This was the first time I had used the Cricut since I got it. The machine ROCKS! It is so awesome. The cartridge I used to cut the snowman has a "charm" setting so it cuts a little hole above it. All I did was thread curling ribbon through the hole, and tie on to the bottle. Oh...before that I added some sparkle to the edges of the snowman by using a glue pen and glitter. I think they turned out super cute.

Check out more crafty goodness at Shereen's blog. Just click on the Sew Crafty Friday button above.