Miscellany Monday Morning Blues

I made a huge mess on the floor in my kitchen while trying to make myself a snack last week. I ended up throwing away all of the spilled food because Jason had just sprayed for ants {who by the way are completely evil and will take over your house if you leave it unattended for a week}!

Can you tell what I spilled?!?

I'm taking Eli back to the ENT today for a check-up on his ears. I'm hoping everything is okay...he has taken more than a few accidental underwater dips in the pool this summer even though his ears aren't supposed to get wet. Henry is tagging along too for a consult on his tonsils/adenoids. That child snores like a bear...and I didn't realize how bad it was until we all slept in the same hotel room in Atlanta.

I tried on and order my bridesmaids dress for my friend's wedding in September. All I could think about the whole time was the movie 27 Dresses and how ugly and outrageous all the bridesmaid dresses were. Thankfully, the dress my friend picked out is pretty cute:)

Someone tweeted last week that their kiddos started school in 3 1/2 weeks. I thought they were crazy...then I looked at the calendar! We start back in 3 weeks and 4 days from today. It seems like the summer has just flown by...and we still have vacation coming up before school starts back!

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

SUPER Easy Covered Books

This craft project is quick, easy, and cheap...3 of my favorite things for a craft project to be! It is also a really great way to introduce a little bit of color into a room without making a big commitment. You can always change out the paper and/or books if you decide you don't like the color. To get started, gather your supplies.

*A few old books*

{I suggest using old books from college. You know the ones you kept because they cost you a fortune, even though you have no intention of ever reading them again}

*scrapbook paper*

*hot glue gun*

Lay your book onto the paper and measure where it needs to be cut. Cut the paper to the correct length. If the paper isn't quite big enough to cover the whole book, make sure that the back cover of the book is what you leave uncovered.
Line up the edge of the paper with the front cover of the book. Hot glue the paper into place. Make sure to crease the edges around the spine of the book and glue the spine down well.
You can do any combination of colors or patterns. I also covered one book with the spine of the book covered with a patterned paper and the front cover with a solid colored coordinating paper.
Covered books are great just sitting on a table, or they can be used to add height to smaller objects on a table or shelf.

Patience Pays Off

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
Jean Jacques Rousseau

Wordless Wednesday: Mail Time

{on a cloudy, almost-rainy afternoon}

A Cake Fail of Historic Proportions

When I saw this post at 17 and Baking a few weeks ago, I knew that I really wanted to attempt this SUPER cute flag cake for the 4th of July.

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Here is what the cake is supposed to look like:

And here is what my cake looked like:

When the first two layers broke into a million pieces as I tried to turn them out of the pan, I kind of figured my flag cake wasn't going to happen this year. I finished baking the last layer, and tried my best to cut the cake the way the original recipe said. I even put the layers in the freezer to make them easier to cut.

Nothing was helping this sad, crumbly, red, white, and blue mess! In my frustration, I just dumped the cake into the lid of my cake keeper and moved on to making cupcakes with the remaining batter. Unfortunately, the cupcakes came out just as crumbly!

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Needless to say, I showed up to my family's 4th of July cook out with a store bought Angel Food cake, some strawberries, and Cool Whip:)

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. ********************************

The boys and I did NOT tag along with Jason on a business trip to Atlanta, GA this week. For some reason, I did NOT think that a week in a hotel with my three {very rambunctious} boys would be more relaxing than a week at home without daddy. I might have been a little wrong!

We did NOT a pretty good time despite all the rambunctiousness.

We did NOT go swimming,

go the movies for free,

go to an Atlanta Braves game,and eat lots of yummy food from

here
{picture from our last visit to Atlanta in 2008} and here!

We also did NOT stop over in Birmingham for a little trip to the zoo while Jason was at a meeting. I did NOT tweet that when we got to the zoo, we increased their wild animal population by three!
I think I was right on that one:)

Happy 4th of July!

Art in the Hall

This project has been on my to do list for a few months now. While the boys were at VBS last week, I finally got out my supplies and started working on it.

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The clothes line for the boys' art has been hanging in the hallway for a few years now, but it always seemed kind of boring...you know, except for all the cute art hanging on it. So after I got my Cricut in January, I knew that I had to find the perfect quote to hang above the boys' art.

What do you think?!?
I decided on this Pablo Picasso quote a while back when I did a blog post using the quote. I printed it out just to make sure that I got all the letters cut correctly. Then I went to work {or really the Cricut did} cutting out the letters on black vinyl.

I laid out all my letters and then worked out the spacing. I used transfer tape to line up the words and then attach them to the wall. I also drew a pencil line on the wall to help keep the quote as straight as possible.

Now the hallway seems much more complete!

I love what a little bit of vinyl and a little bit of time can do for a space!

Do you have any vinyl words or decorations in your house?

{For those of you that have asked, you can click here to see a little bit more detail on how to make the art clothesline.}