I Won and Eye Candy

One thing that I love about "Blogland" is that there are so many great people out there that you can make new friends, get inspired and inspire others. The other thing that I love are Giveaways! Michael from Inspired By Charm held a great Giveaway to celebrate having 300 followers! And I totally won!!! I am so excited and can't wait to drink my coffee from this adorable mug!

And the next thing is that I have been getting lost on Etsy a lot lately. It's so dang addictive! But last year when I went to the Farm Chick Show I passed up a red scale from this shop, the same place I got the little red stool from, and I have been kicking myself ever since!!!! I stumbled across this one and literally squealed and almost fell out of my chair.

This little beauty has been purchased and will be here soon! I'm so excited I'm about to piddle my pants.

Honest Chaos

The other day my husband emailed me this article about how parents sometimes "sugar coat" how things really are at their house. At first I was a little offended that he would send me this, but then I was honest with myself and realized that I am in that category that is not completely honest about how things go around this house. But who really wants to know how bad things can get around here?

Well, here it is. Honest pictures of how my house usually looks. No, I'm not proud of it, but it happens. I strive daily to make it better, but I feel like the longer it takes me to clean something, the faster my kids destroy it! Gotta love those little mess makers.

Here is my kitchen. This is actually fairly clean compared to other days. Those pans in the sink, yeah, I hate hand washing dishes. Not sure why, I just do.

This is how my living room usually looks. Littered with toys, the pillows are actually on the couch here but they are usually all over the floor, and blankets all over. We make a lot of forts in our house.

This is the basket of laundry that I have had to refold at least 7 times because my kids get a hold of it and scatter it all over the house. This happens on a regular basis, I try and finish a chore, get sidetracked due to kids beating each other up and I have to go be the referee, leaving my chore vulnerable to destruction.

This is my daughter's room. No matter how many times I try and organize her room, it looks like this every day. But at least her toys are getting loved and played with.

And this room is my arch nemesis. It's my son's room. He has lots of books, which he feels look better on the floor and not in his book shelf his grandpa built him, and all of his toys on the floor and not in the toy box his grandpa made him as well. I have reached a point with his room that I have given up. No matter how many times I clean his room, he comes up behind me and destroys it instantly. And, unlike his sister, he will not clean up his messes. He's two and his favorite word is "NO!" Go figure.

Lately I haven't been able to do a lot of sewing, crafting, or creating of any kind due to not only dealing with my two kids, but having the baby that I watch during the day be strapped in the Moby Wrap all day makes any kind of project nearly impossible. So there you have it. My honest life. We eat out way more than we should due to me not wanting to make anything after being on my feet all day. And I only let my kids watch tv from the time they get up until after breakfast and only PBS (because we don't have cable and public television is educational and teaches them something new.) I'm not perfect, but I do my best. Guess that's what really matters. I love my kids, even though they can drive me up the wall at times, but I wouldn't trade my life for anything!

Design Intervention

Alright ladies, I need your help to save my nerves and quite possibly my marriage. I'm kidding on the last one. The husband and I have very different ideas on what makes a room inviting and cozy. I have been feeling a little like we live in a cave with our living room. Don't get me wrong, I love the colors, but the walls are just so dark! I was the one that picked out the red and the chocolate brown but now I'm not loving it.

It's time for a change as I painted both walls over 4 years ago!

My husband wants to keep it dark as he loves the old lodge/tavern look. Dark wood, dark walls, warm lighting, a little color thrown in here and there. Like this:

And don't get me wrong, this look is warm and cozy and is nice...when you go out, not to live in.

This is my idea of a gorgeous room! Light, airy, a splash of color here and there. I would want a little more of a bright color splashing, but the idea is there. Now a white couch with my kids would be suicide, but we have nice suede beige colored furniture.

I am not opposed to dark wood or rich earth tones at all. But I need your help. What do you suggest we do?

Little Man Turned 2

Have you ever looked at your kids, knowing they aren't babies anymore, but you can still see a little glimmer of their baby selves? Well, I have been searching for that with my kids lately and what makes it harder is that my baby boy Cooper turned 2 on Friday. I know he's getting bigger, but is it so wrong to want to shrink him down to be my baby again?

I mean, why does this...

Need to turn into this?

Well, in true Kelsee fashion, I wanted to do a big fun thing for the little man. And due to the fact that his birthday is so close after the holidays, I waited until the last minute to do everything... again, in true Kelsee fashion. So I enlisted the help of my dear friend Chelsea from Reese's Pieces and Me to come and teach me the art of cake decorating! Ok, it wasn't so much as enlisting her help, it was bribing her with an apron and begging a bit. So she was kind enough to come over and help me, and by help I mean she did the majority of the hard things and I looked on in awe of her mad skills.

She found a great picture someone did of a tire cake with a monster truck on it, which was my original theme for the party. However, after getting "Cars" the movie for Christmas, the Lightning McQueen obsession started and I quickly changed the theme. But the tire was the same. We used the Duff brand fondant frosting, which actually doesn't taste too bad. I made a pound cake using this recipe that my mother-in-law sent me and has been using for years. It turned out really nice!

Pound Cake

6 eggs
1 cup cold butter
8 oz cream cheese, cold and cut up in small pieces
2 3/4 c sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
4 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups sifted cake flour


Let eggs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes or until at room temperature. Generously butter and flour either 2 loaf pans or 1 bundt pan. Beat cold butter approximately 2 minutes on low speed, add cream cheese, beat on low 3 minutes (until waxy and well blended). While still mixing add sugar in slow continuous stream. Add salt. Continue creaming for 5 minutes (scrap sides of mixer bowl halfway through). Increase mixing speed to medium, continue 2 minutes more. Add eggs, one at a time, beating 20 to 30 seconds after each egg. Beat vanilla in with last egg. Gradually add 2 1/2 cups flour on low speed, mixing until just blended. Turn off mixer. Fold in rest of flour just until combined. Turn batter into prepared pans, shake and drop pan on counter to release air bubbles. Place on center rack of cold oven. Turn oven to 300 degrees. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 1/2 hours without opening oven door. Test for doneness. Transfer to cooling rack, cool for 10 minutes before removing.

*1 hour and 45 min for bunt pan

Here is the finished product of the tire cake!

I loved the "Cooper's Tires" on there. Our little Cooper couldn't read it, but it was fun to see it anyway.

The best part about the cake was the kids excitement when the black fondant turned their tongues black.

Another fun thing I did for each of the kids was we made cars for each of them out of diaper boxes. We covered them in packing paper, cut out the bottoms, spray painted the backs of paper plates black, glued white paper in the centers and then secured the plates to the boxes with paper brads.

I got a bunch of stickers, got out the crayons and let the kids decorate their own cars.

They had so much fun!

Thanks again to Chelsea for coming over to help me with the cake and your apron will be done this week.

And happy birthday to my little man. No matter how big you get, you will always be my baby.

A New Pretty For Me

My sister-in-law finds these fun projects to do and came over on Sunday, bearing snacks and a craft for us to do. She found this tutorial over at Little Miss Momma and we made them! Here is my creation made from an old Jersey knit tee.

The thing that I love about this is that I can wear a basic t-shirt with it and it looks like the shirt itself is embellished! It was fun to make and very easy!

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Just A Couple of Things

Once again, I did a completely homemade Christmas for my family, not my kids. We were able to actually give our kids a nice Christmas this year, however, I would have liked to have made them something but time wouldn't allow. But for everyone else, I made things. As I had taken my sweet and precious time making everything, I didn't get pictures of everything. But here are a few of what I did make.

I saw this bag over at Bushel and a Peck a long time ago and I absolutely loved it! My sister does not own a purse. Not a single one. I know, she's nuts! But she has been asking for a tote to take with her to church. I made this out of cream burlap that I had and I used an old skirt for the lining. I loved the way it turned out but I HATED making it!!!!! Burlap is the devil. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking it's easy to sew with. Um, no! But I finished it and washed it with copious amounts of fabric softener so it made it a lot less rough. I love it and told my sister that the second she's done with it, I want it back. For the amount of time I put into this, I am NOT going to let it get tossed!

Remember a few weeks ago when I said that I won a Silhouette machine? Well I got it!!!! I'm still trying to figure it out, but here are a few things that I made using it.

Exhibit #1: A vintage looking shirt for one of my nephews.

Exhibit #2: A shirt that sums up my other nephew.

Now I wish those shirts were my idea, but I totally copied Cheri's ideas over at I Am Momma-Hear Me Roar. Yup, total copy cat with these. But the were just so dang cute and easy to make I couldn't help myself.

These last two pictures were taken on my phone, so they aren't the greatest, but I did a little bit of crocheting this year as well. My mother-in-law asked for a shawl for Christmas, so I made her one.

And this hat was for my brother in-law. He said it is the most comfortable hat he owns, which made me happy. He has a weird shaped head, so I was nervous it wasn't going to fit.

Items I did not take pictures of: A Jewelry Hanger made out of an old shudder I had, and a clutch bag that I made out of a pair of corduroys and fabric I had on hand, and two newsboy hats for my nieces that looked like the one I made my daughter.

What did I spend in making all these gifts? Less than $50 for all of it! Most of my gifts were free, things that I already had or refashioned and the rest was pretty cheap to get the stuff for. I loved making things this year, just felt a little stressed out. Next year I am going to start WAY earlier, like in July, and have everything done before Thanksgiving. Then I can just enjoy the holiday!

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New Year, New Directions

I hope I am finding you all happy and healthy and on the mend from last night. I love New Years! It makes you excited about all the new experiences you will have for the next year and reflect on the good and bad of the previous.

It also helps you to reevaluate your priorities and make goals to better yourself. Well, my goals are this:

1. Lose weight. Yes this was last years goal too, but this year I have a plan and I have help. I have read this book called "I Can Make You Thin" by Paul McKenna (the Dr. Phil of the UK). It has totally changed my thought process on food and why I eat as much as I do and how to deal with it. There were times while reading this book that I thought he was some kind of a psychic and had looked into my brain somehow and was talking to me. If you have ever tried every kind of diet and failed at it, then given up hope that you will ever lose weight. This book is for you!

2. I want to be a better mom! I have found that this past year I made a lot of things for kids other than my own! What's up with that?! So this year, I am focusing on my own kids and making them things that hopefully they will remember and cherish. Plus, I am so busy watching this new baby that I haven't had much time to play with them due to not being able to put her down for any amount of time. So I am going to start doing that and working with my kids and teaching them. It's what I'm home for. I need to play with them and teach them, because these years go so fast and I don't want to miss out on anything!

(This is an old picture but it's one of my favorites!)

3. I want to get better at photography! I know I have posted about this before, but I am truly hungry to learn! I do need a better camera, this I know, so I need to save all my pennies.

(This is the one I want. A Cannon Rebel T1i.)

4. I am most definitely going to start up an online shop of the things that I make this year. I had hoped to have it up and running this month, but it's not going to happen. So hopefully, early spring-ish I will be up and running. I want to do craft fairs and be a vendor at our local farmers market. Being home all the time makes you long for an adult conversation, so this will be my chance to get out there and make some new friends and connections. I am very excited about it.

5. I want to post more on this wee little blog. This past year has opened my eyes to a community that is so kind and supportive. The blog world can be an amazing thing if you do it right. So I hope to post more, do more features, giveaways, and just have some amazing projects on here, because I have big plans for our house this year as we are going to be in this house for one more year, then we are selling it. So this is the going to be the year of updating and sprucing up.

So, let's hope for a better and more productive year this year!