Ants and Crumbs

This is Eli's booster seat.

He eats most of his meals sitting in this seat....except when he eats breakfast in the living room while Henry and Grant are getting ready for school. I'm going to be real here and tell you that most days you will find crumbs and smears of food on, in, and under Eli's seat.
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Yes, that is a jelly smear on the side of his seat.

Yes, we had biscuits and jelly for breakfast on Saturday.

Yes, I knew it was there.

Yes, I took this picture on Tuesday.

Yes, I was being lazy and not cleaning it.

Yes, the jelly is still there...though now I'm kind of feeling bad, so I may have to clean it today:)

I'm also going to be real and tell you that I don't clean Eli's seat after every meal every day every week! Those goldfish crumbs have probably been there a while.
Not cleaning his seat has not really been a problem...until some way too smart ants figured out I was being lazy and started feasting on the buffet that was Eli's seat!
I spent an hour yesterday chasing down a mile long line of ants with the Dust Buster. And then I cleaned the crumbs and smears of food off of Eli's seat...well, except for that jelly smear!

Wordless Wednesday: These Boots...

Pottery Barn Inspired Wall Display

As I was browsing the Pottery Barn website last week, I came across this gorgeous wall display using platters, twine, and letters.

I was in love the second I saw it, and I knew that I had to make something similar for my dining room. I also knew it would be a pretty inexpensive project because I already had a few white plates sitting in the cabinet just waiting to be used for a craft project.

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I used two of my round plates and picked up a SUPER cute oval one at Marshall's for $2.99. I already had a roll of twine, and I found a few rubber bands {which I only ended up using one of}.

Using my Cricut, I cut the letters E, a, and t out of white card stock, and then I used spray adhesive to mount the letters onto some brown card stock.
I wrapped the twine around the plates and tied the two ends together in the back. There is a video on the Pottery Barn website that walks you through the steps of using the rubber band to make the twine elasticized....I tried it on one plate, but didn't do it on the other two.
I {technically my hubby} attached some inexpensive hooks to the back of the plates with two part epoxy and then let the hooks cure overnight.
I hung the plates above the doorway in our dining room. We have ten foot ceilings in our house, so sometimes the space over the doors seems really big and blank. If my hubby would let me, I would probably hang something over every doorway in our house:)
This is a great way to dress up a blank wall in your house...plus it is really inexpensive and SUPER easy to do. I also love that it will be really easy to change out the letters so I can also use that area to decorate for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I'm linking this project up with The CSI Projects Pottery Barn Inspired Challenge.

Subway Art

I'm sure you have all see the hundreds of different versions of Subway Art floating around blogland lately! It seems that everyone is in love with the graphic simplicity of white letters on a black background or black letters on a white background depending on the technique. I saw the first Subway Art over at Jen's place Tatertots and Jello. She has shared a few different versions, and even has a linky party set up for everyone to share their versions of Subway Art.

After seeing so many great versions, I knew I had to try and make my own Subway Art...and I knew the perfect occasion too. This was actually my second attempt on the same canvas. My first attempt included contact paper used as stencils....which just in case you were wondering....is NOT very effective. I had planned to place the contact paper stencils on the canvas, paint over them, and then remove the stencil leaving the white canvas behind. The contact paper did not adhere to the canvas surface very well, which led to major bleeding. I ended up having to paint the entire canvas black and continue on with another technique.

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For my successful version, I used my Cricut to cut out the letters on bright white card stock. Then I used Mod Podge to attach the letters to the already painted black canvas. With the help of a ruler, a pencil, and a foam craft brush, the letters went on the canvas pretty easily. I added a few layers of Mod Podge just to make sure the letters were securely attached and to make the canvas a little more durable.

I think it turned out pretty great for my first {well technically second} attempt at Subway Art, and I really hope my friend Ashley loves it!

Yummy No Bake Cheesecake

I love cheesecake.

I'm pretty sure that I admitted in one of my Not Me Monday posts, that I had eaten at The Cheesecake Factory twice in one week just because I love cheesecake so much!

If you have ever baked a real cheesecake, you know that it is a TON of work...and mine always end up with a huge crack right down the middle. So when I am craving cheesecake but don't want to deal with the ordeal of making a real baked one, this is my go to recipe. It is SUPER simple and oh so yummy!

No Bake Cheesecake

graham cracker crust

two 8 oz packages of cream cheese

1/3 cup of lemon juice

one can of sweetened condensed milk

one teaspoon of vanilla

Mix cream cheese until smooth. Add in the lemon juice, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. Mix until creamy. Pour into prepared crust and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Serve plain or with the fruit topping of your choice.

CSN Stores Table Ideas and More...

Lately, I've been thinking that maybe we need a new dining table.

Do you remember my post about my breakfast nook and all the great built-in benches that I was drooling over.I think that maybe we need a new table that fits the space better and will work well with a bench....but that means I have to find just the right table.

Enter CSN Stores.

Just about the time that I was thinking about getting a new table, I got an email from the awesome people at CSN Stores saying that I had been selected as a CSN Preferred Webmaster. How cool is that! And even more cool was that they wanted me to do a post including a few links to some dining tables!

I just couldn't say no to that!

Check out some of the awesome tables that can be found online at CSN Stores:

CSN Stores also carries a ton of other things in their 200+ stores...anything from:

SUPER cute rain boots

{which my youngest sister has been wanting forever}

to baby gear
{that we sadly don't need much of anymore}

to lamps!
{which my living room is in desperate need of}
One more great thing about being a CSN Preferred Webmaster is that I will get to share some great products and even do a few giveaways in the near future! Go check out all the great things that can be found at CSNStores.com!

Miscellany Monday

It doesn't feel like a Monday...or at least it doesn't feel like Monday should be here already. Eli had gymnastics on Mondays now, and that is completely throwing off my 'try to get all the chores done on Monday so I'm not constantly cleaning the house' plan! Oh well, I guess I will just have to clean the house on Tuesday instead:)

My kitchen will have to be first on the list for sure. Yesterday Jason said that we were on our way to being featured on the show Hoarders! It's not that bad, but there sure is a ton of stuff piled up on my kitchen counters right now.

I attempted to take a few pictures of Eli last week.

The overalls he has on were mine when I was little. My mom took pictures with me and my two sisters wearing them when we were around 18 months to 2 years old. Henry and Grant also had their picture taken wearing the same overalls. We've tried to take pictures twice in the overalls, but both times were major fails...and now Eli is almost too big to even get them on his behind! I got a few okay shots, but none of them were wonderful. I guess we will try again {soon}!

My uncle passed away Saturday after a long battle with cancer. I spent the majority of the weekend with family, either at the hospital or at my aunt's house. The services are tonight and tomorrow morning, and I'm sure we will be doing family stuff for most of the week. We haven't really talked to Henry and Grant about it yet. I figured when they started to ask more questions we would talk to them. Death is just such a hard thing to explain to a child....I mean I barely understand it sometimes!

I found a little time to craft last week while Jason was out of town for work and the boys were all asleep. For some reason, I do not sleep well when my hubby is away...so instead of sleeping, I worked on some crafts! I had a craft fail sitting on my dining room table, and I made another attempt at it. It turned out pretty good. After I get it in the mail to my friend {it is a wedding gift}, I will share my step by step do's and do not's!

Click on the button to check out everyone else's miscellany monday!

Grape Expectations

Last summer Jason planted 3 small grape vines in our backyard. This year, the vines were covered with gorgeous purple grapes.
So we spend one morning this summer picking grapes...

...lots of grapes...

...with our hands and with the help of a few tools.

After we collected two big bowls full of grapes,

we headed over to my parents' house to learn how to make....

...homemade grape jelly!

Concord Grape Jelly Recipe

{from the Sure Jell box}

Start with 3 1/2 lbs. Concord Grapes. Discard stems and place grapes in a big pot. Add 1 1/2 cups of water {or just enough to cover the grapes}. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Drail/strain juice using a cheesecloth {we used an old t-shirt}. Add 5 cups of the prepared juice, 7 cups of sugar, and one box of Sure Jell back to the pot {my dad also mixed in a little butter to keep the mixture from foaming}. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil on high heat for exactly one minute. Ladle the mixture into prepared jars, clean the rims of the jars, and screw the jar lid on tightly.