Another V-day find and project!

An entire book of Vintage Valentines! So cute, so cheap, only $5 and there are coupons for Borders ALL the time, get you a coupon and check these out in the kid section.. Entire Display of Valentines Stuff!

This is what they look like up close! Some are flocked ( like fuzzy posters ) I absolutely love these!

I had some old Ric Rac so I just sewed em on real quick and attached em to the Fireplace.. I have a obsession with ric rac and vintage things.. really how could I NOT do this!

Valentines Decorations and Exciting News!

Finally got my Valentines Decorations up, I would love to have more but this economy stinks and I am *trying* to be better about spending especially now that we are expecting BABY #3! Kind of surprised it happened so quickly, but very excited! I am only about 6 weeks along.. We have a LONG way to go, but now I will have all kinds of good baby stuff to blog about!

The little conversation heart plushes are one of my favorite finds, the kids LOVE them.. I am forever looking for them allover the house!

The white wreath I use year round, the red I only use on Valentines day and Christmas, The Red one is HUGE!

The Hurricane Jar I filled with some Conversation hearts Candy purchased on clearance 2 years ago.. Good reason NOT to eat them... EWW! I used the same candies in the little hanging candle holders, which I forgot to take a picture of!

I Love using Feather Boa's on the mantel, I think the color and whimsical factor are why I like it so much.I found the suckers in the dollar section at Target.. I had a few more but the wee one's got to em instantly! And I realize our paint color's really do not go well with Valentines Day at all!

Since I spend what feels like hours in front of the sink sometimes, I wanted to make sure there was some cute stuff over there, The Teapot is empty but the sugar bowl has a chocolate candle in it.. I really like that I can put the lid on it and pretend it's not there when I'm not burning it, that's one thing I don't like about the Jar Candles they are hard to hide!

The tiniest little heart shaped measuring spoons, might have been one of my first Valentines Day purchases, I love them and the little gingham ribbon was just perfect!

Found these cute little bonbon candles last year just after Valentine's Day.. They are just right for the little bell jar and Stand, which I use ALL the time!

Hope Everyone is having a fabulous week!

~Homemade Laundry Soap, My Weekend Project~

I feel like part of my job as a housewife is to make sure we aren't wasting money on things, if I can make it, I will, rather than buy it. I also have a mini obsession with the Duggars, you know "17 kids and counting" I loved their book, it was full of great tips and recipe's and it was very inspirational.. That many kids and debt free, Wow! Michelle ( the wife ) is SO organized and thrifty! Well I am no where close to THAT thrifty but I am willing to try one of her money saving tricks. Homemade Laundry Soap! Saw the recipe in the book then found it online.. Here it is.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap-
Front or top load machine


4 Cups Hot Tap Water
1 Bar Laundry soap ( Zote )
1 Cup Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Borax




Directions - Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted. -Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. -Stir well until all powder is dissolved.
*The Chopped (way to soft to grate, in my opinion) Zote Soap*

*Water and soap mixture before melting*

*Melting the soap and water mixture double boiler style..*

Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel) -Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads) -Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

I see the number 640 loads YOWSA! I usually buy HE tide Free and Clear for $13 for 36 loads so that was $0.36 PER load!With this method I will only be paying $0.02 per load! Next time I make it ( when I don't have to buy the bucket, or Borax, OR washing soda ( you don't need much ) I will get 10 loads for $.02. All I will have to buy is the Bar of soap, Just over $1! That is totally amazing to me! And I feel good that I won't be wasting the plastic Tide containers any longer!Hope this inspires some of you Wifey's to try it, it doesn't smell much and was fairly simple. The hardest part was grating the soap.. And I used a double boiler method because I didn't want to put the soap in my cooking pot.

~Keeping The House~

Just started reading this last night, a few pages in, there is a description of a "Happy Home" from a husbands perspective. It's a smiling wife in an apron and lovely dress with a colorful, balanced hot meal ready, and it hints that you should never serve the same meal more than 1 time per month and there should be 3-4 new recipe's per month.
Yikes I have a lot of work.. Got the aprons but more likely jeans than any dress.. I think if I made "colorful" dinners poor Ryan would starve! But I do like the idea of a few new recipes a month and maybe a little more variety.. Think I will try it in February! Wonder how many ways I can make meat and potatoes?
So far I like the book, easy enough to read and pretty interesting already.. if you are into the whole Vintage or "housewife" thing!

~Had to share my mini~

She has a new obsession with MY necklaces! But they do look awefully cute on her! And her shiny lips/mouth would be from her lipgloss! We were at Costco and she was being SO good!

Little Vantines Day things

I can't believe it is almost February! For Valentines day I am Decorating and planning what to do for the wee ones and my husband. I got some cute little mailboxes that I plan to fill with a little thing each day the week before Valentines day.. This is one of the little mailboxes. I have a few of them cause I think they are just too cute!

Got these for Ramsey. He loves baseball and guitars couldn't believe how easy it was to find them!The baseballs are heart Shaped!

Found these cuties at Gymboree (my addiction) I love how the elastic is little hearts, such a cute detail! The little cupcake is Lip Gloss, she loves it calls it shiny!

I think I will do 1 thing a day for 7 days. The kids have a ton of toys so I plan on getting them things they kinda need more than something they might want! I probably will give in and put some MnM's in on Valentines Day. The kids will do just about Anything for them!

Still working on getting the decorations out..Almost done!

~Cute Find~

I decorate seasonally and in the early summer I do farmish stuff.. Fruits and farm animals. We have lived in this house about a year and the seasonal stuff is new to me so I don't have much yet. I was at K-mart the other day (strange since I rarely go there) and they had THE cutest little juice cups for only a few dollars, I just couldn't pass them up.. I honestly probably won't drink out of them but I do think they will make great tea light holders on the mantel. They are Martha Stewart Brand, they also had a Martha Stewart candle in shortbread scent.. Smells SO good!

Making Cupcakes and Decorating for Valentines Day

Happy Inauguration Day! Nothing major going on at our house today. Decided to make some cupcakes during the little window of free time I had today. I totally cheated and used a cake mix but it got the job done. I used a Yellow cake mix and went a little short on the water since you need to dissolve the chai mix in a little water. Just followed the box directions other than that.

For the chai mix I put 1/2 C water in a sauce pan and added 6 Tablespoons of the chai mix heated and stirred until it was all dissolved.. Then I moved it to a bowl and put it in the fridge.. it needs to cool so it doesn't cook your eggs!Once cooled I just mixed the chai into the batter.

Baked according to the box...

Used some butter cream frosting and added some Caramel sauce to it, it is super sweet, so I am using as more of a glaze than frosting.. I wouldn't try to pipe with the glaze.

Glad I made them today. Her smooshy little face makes it ALL worth the extra dishes!

Ramsey will get some when he is home from Preschool..

I love the way baking cupcakes makes the house smell. I try to make sure I keep the house as cozy as can be for our family or anyone else that stops by, I wouldn't want anyone to feel like they couldn't sit down and stay a while. I am working on getting my Valentines Day stuff all the way put out, I know it's only mid January and I have had some out for weeks, but I love all the cupcake stuff for Valentines Day I have! I usually love the cold weather but this year for some reason I am SO ready for spring already!

I'm new to this Blogging thing!

But it seems like a fun adventure! Thanks Mrs. Heidi for naming it for me it really is perfect the name! Cupcakes are by far my favorite non living thing, I love to bake and cupcakes are just the right size. I also have a hard time resisting anything with a cupcake on it, shirts, shoes, pencils, backpack.. of course most of it is NOT for me but for my sweet Carsyn. She is almost 2 and has more cupcake backpacks than most kids need their entire life.. like I said I am addicted, if it were up to me Cupcake would have been her middle name!
Family is SO important to my husband and I. It wasn't a hard decision but we both had to make sacrifices so I am able to stay home and take care of our 2 kids ( Ramsey and Carsyn ) and home I am proud to say I am a housewife! I love being home and really could not imagine things being better any other way.. Not to say that there aren't struggles or hard times but how boring would life be without them.. Certainly makes me appreciate the easy days!
I have been called a Clean Freak a number of times.. at first I thought I wasn't but now I just embrace it and consider it a compliment!
I am not real sure what all I will blog about.. Certainly a few cupcake things here and there!