Apple Sandwiches

I saw these cute apple sandwiches a few weeks ago, and I knew that these would be perfect to send when Grant's teacher asked me to bring an apple snack for their class! I can not remember where I saw them though, so if anyone knows the original source let me know so I can give them credit.

Five Easy Steps to Apple Sandwiches

1. Thinly slice apples. I used a mandolin, but a knife would work just fine too.

2. Use a small cookie cutter to remove the core of each apple slice.

3. Cover one side of each apple slice with peanut butter. The peanut butter sticks easier if you dry the apple slice off with a paper towel.

4. Coat half of the apple slices in mini chocolate chips by dipping the slices peanut butter side down into a small dish of chocolate chips.

5. Sandwich one peanut butter apple slice together with one peanut butter and chocolate chip apple slice.

Enjoy!

Cherry Red Table

I have to admit I didn't always love spray paint. But that was back when I was foolish enough to think that the cheapo spray paint was as good as the more expensive stuff. I would go through two or three of the $1.99 cans of spray paint on a project, and end up with poor coverage and a sore trigger finger! Then I discovered how wonderful name brand spray paint can be. I have used both Valspar and Krylon, and they are both WAY better than the cheapo cans I used to buy...and really they aren't that much more expensive!

******

My latest spray paint victim is this lovely but {oh-so} boring table that has been a resident of our foyer for quite a few years. My mom bought it for us at a thrift store a few years ago, and it fit perfectly in the space. I wasn't really thrilled with the ultra-traditional look of it, but it was good enough. I decided that spray paint was the way to go for this table redo mostly because I was so happy with how spray paint transformed my end table!

Jason helped me disassemble the table, we sanded it down just a little, I covered the mirror with newspaper, and then I got busy spray painted the table with Krylon Cherry Red!

{This is a close up of the color just because my 'after' picture didn't really show the true color.}

I am still amazed at how well the spray paint covered and how professional it looks....and it only took two cans of spray paint and two hours!

My newly spray painted Cherry Red table complete with new fabric covered lampshade:)

Have you spray painted anything lately?

Wordless Wednesday: First Tennis Practice

Me Put My Pants on Momma

Miscellany Monday

I'm thinking about starting a new thing on Fridays....I'm still not sure what I want to call it, but I would really love to feature some of my favorite bloggers! I am always SUPER excited when another blogger features me, so I thought it would be nice to return the favor:) I was thinking maybe Featured Friend Friday?!? What do you think about the name, and would you like to be featured here? I would love to feature your blog...big or small, beginner or old pro!! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog and/or send me an email and maybe I can get started on this soon!

*****

I somehow managed to use up all of my photo storage space through blogger! That means no more pictures until I pay for extra storage or go delete old pictures from my picassa account. I don't think $5 per year for a ton more storage is too unreasonable though. Hopefully I can share pictures of my fun {Cherry Red} table makeover with you soon:)

*****

Jason and I are doing the Cinch 5 Day Fast Forward cleanse again this week. I am hoping this time I can manage to stick with the plan after the first five days are over, and maybe I can read the Cinch book that I bought a month ago and then never read.

*****

Just in case you missed my post from Friday, click HERE to read a funny conversation I heard from my backseat:)

*****

Henry and Grant are starting tennis lessons today. We originally planned to let them play baseball this spring, but the closer ball season got the more I dreaded all those late nights at the ball fields. So we decided that tennis would be a fun spring sport instead....and the best part is that practices are right after school so no late nights at the ball fields for us:)

*****

My friend Amanda is having a SUPER fun Crafty Cutter Party today! If you've made any crafts using your Cricut or Silhoutte go link up. If you don't have a craft cutter you can still hop over and check out all the really great ideas!

*****

Don't forget to hop over to Carrisa to check out everyone else's miscellanies!!

Heard From the Backseat

Henry: Boys have red lips even if they don't wear chapstick or lipstick.

Grant: Yeah, and you can't wipe it off because that's how God made you!

How to Recover a Lampshade

I had this lamp.

It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't really great either.

It's just the right size for the table in my foyer, but the shade was a really weird green color that looked even worse once I painted the table it sits on red!

 Instead of just buying a new one, I decided to salvage the lamp by recovering the lampshade...a quick, easy no sew project. Start by tracing a pattern of your lampshade on some paper. Do this by rolling the lampshade while using a pencil to follow along the top and bottom edges of the lampshade. Then use a ruler to connect the two lines at both ends.

 Cut out your pattern and test fit it on your shade.

 Make any adjustments in size, then pin your pattern to your fabric and cut.

 Apply heavy duty spray adhesive to the wrong side of the fabric. Then carefully wrap the fabric onto your lampshade.

 The piping on my original shade matched the new fabric, so there was no need to do anything to the edges of the lampshade. If you want to cover the edges, make the fabric a little larger and fold over the edges. You can also hot glue on some matching ribbon to cover the rough edges of the fabric.

Now my lamp is much more fun and it matches my new red table perfectly!

Wordless Wednesday: Who Needs Blocks?

Cookie Inside a Cookie

Just in case you didn't get enough chocolate on Valentine's Day:)

I first saw these a few weeks ago on Be Different, Act Normal

...who saw them on Becky Bakes

...who saw them on Picky Palate!

Jenny at Picky Palate has an awesome step by step tutorial on how to make these along with the chocolate chip cookie recipe she used. I used my own tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe and they were awesome. I even think you might be able to get away with using store bought cookie dough:)

Valentine Eye Candy

Happy Valentine's Day!
Here are a few fun things that I found while looking for some Valentine inspiration:

 Gum Drop Wreath @ Sweet and Lovely Crafts

 Valentine Mantel @ Kelly is inspired

 Valentine Lunch Box @Three Pixie Lane

 Valentine T Shirts @ Crafts & Sutch

I Choo-Choose You Treats @ Craft Goodies

I hope everyone has a SUPER {chocolate-filled} Valentine's Day:)

Valentine Kissing Ball

This craft was on my original "Valentine To Do List" that I made back in January. It is such an easy craft that someone who thinks they have zero craftiness can do this with no problems! The fun part about this craft is that there are no special tools {not even a hot glue gun} required!

 Supplies:

Styrofoam ball

ribbon

tissue paper

paper clips

Start by adding a hanger to the top of the Styrofoam ball with a piece of ribbon and a paper clip.

 Cut your tissue paper into strips {mine were approximately 4 inches long by 1 inch wide} and then crumple the tissue paper up a little.

 Feed about three pieces of the crumpled tissue paper halfway through a paper clip and then fold the ends up...you will probably have to fluff the tissue paper a little after squeezing it through the paper clip:)

 Stick the paper clip into the Styrofoam ball until the tissue paper is flush with the outside of the ball.

 Continue filling in with your tissue paper. Put them close together for a fuller kissing ball and further apart for a not so fluffy look.

 Hang on a door knob to add a little Valentine fun to your house.

These are even more fun hung up high so you can actually use them as Kissing Balls, but everyone in our house has had the crud so I figured a door knob was a safer bet:)

**Tip Junkie has a whole post on different kinds of Kissing Balls...go check them out here!**

Wordless Wednesday:A Little Boy with Big Boy Toys

{I'm guest posting over here today...come over and visit!}

Tax Time Means New Furniture....and a CSN Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed! Congrats to Tanya @ Miller Racing Family!!
I know not everyone loves tax return time...but when you have more than a few kiddos and some great deductions, tax time isn't too bad! I actually love that we usually get a pretty big chunk of money around this time of the year. Jason on the other hand hates that we overpay the government throughout the year and basically give them interest free use of our money.

Because we almost always get a refund check, this is also the time of year when we do a little shopping for things we wouldn't normally buy during the rest of the year. I got my embroidery machine and my DSLR camera {Jason got a welding machine one year} after refund checks:) The top thing on Jason's list this year is a new TV. He has all kinds of technical reasons for wanting one...I'm just excited that a new TV equal the possibility of new furniture. I'm thinking we may just have to replace the old console table under our TV for a new LCD TV stand. Because if he gets a bigger TV, I will probably need a bigger table to make sure things in the living room look even:)

I hopped over to check out all the great TV stands that csnstores.com has and found these beauties:

Now I'm sure that if any of you have filed your taxes you know that there is a delay because of some technical/political mumbo jumbo. We filed our taxes a few weeks ago and they told us it could be toward the middle or end of February before we get our refund...so for now that new TV stand is on hold!

BUT I have great news for one of you because CSN Stores is partnering with me again to give away a $45 gift certificate to any of the their 200 plus stores:)

To enter:Mandatory entry: Head over to csnstore.com, come back here and tell me what you would spend the $45 gift certificate on.  For another entry, tell me if you LOVE or HATE tax time:)
For another entry, follow my blog and leave me a comment telling me that you do.
For another entry, follow me on twitter, and leave a comment telling me that you do.
For another entry, tweet about this giveaway and include @SUPERMOM_Kelli and a link http://tinyurl.com/4unmcrz to this giveaway in the tweet.
For FIVE extra entries, subscribe to my blog via feedburner...click on the icon in the right sidebar by the facebook and twitter icons. Make sure to leave 5 separate comments.
Please be sure to leave a comment for each thing that you do. This giveaway will end next Sunday, February 13th at 12:00 am. I will use random.org to pick a winner! Good Luck and thanks for entering!

Love Note in a Pancake!

I saw this really cute idea HERE a few weeks ago, and I knew it would be perfect for a fun Valentine's Day breakfast...or maybe even breakfast for dinner. While Henry and Grant were at school, Eli and I tested out the "recipe" and had a fun pancake lunch:) 

To make the Love Note in my pancakes, I added some red food coloring to a little bit of the pancake batter and my little helper stirred it up.

Then I put the colored batter into my squeeze bottles.

Here's a little tip....don't leave your opened squeeze bottle of red batter near your "helper"! They might just dump it all out and then you will have to remix your colored batter...and someone will be eating a giant red pancake for lunch.

I squeezed out the design on my griddle and let it cook for about a minute.

 Then I filled in the rest of the pancake with the un-colored batter, cooked it a few minutes {until the top is all bubbly}, and flipped it.

You can make shapes or letter....I even think some of the sayings from Conversation Hearts would be adorable! Just make sure to write all the letters backwards because they are reversed when you flip the pancake over:)

This is such an easy and fun way to serve up a plate full of love notes to your family {in the form of pancakes}!