4th of July Decorations and treat!

The things I added this year to go with last years could easily be used for a picnic or bbq, whatever kind of get together you are having. I just leave mine out for a few weeks ahead of time! I wanted to do something different than the usual stars and stripes and flags and fireworks (not that I don't have plenty of those!) So my decorations this year are a little different. Last year I didn't have much but over the last year I have thought of some new ideas and found some great little things!


I have to be honest, I got inspiration from Twilight for my newest 4th of July decoration! Baseball is "Americas favorite past time" so I collected baseballs over the last year to fill this big vase. I think it's simple and perfect! Once I had that done I started thinking of other "All American" stuff.. Apple Pie made the list. I am not about to bake every few days in July just to have that yummy smell and of course the good looks of a pie.. I cheated..Found this amazing smellin' and absolutely adorable Apple Pie Candle, it's a mini, 5", but fits soo cute on the little cake stand. The white utensil holder has red and white gingham and polka dot silverware in it.

I know I have mentioned "Real Deals" before on here.. another great find, I went in there looking for a "Pledge of Allegience" sign and found this one instead! Still looking for the other, but maybe for back to school decorations! And the cute little bell tree is from TJ Maxx.

We already have our plans made for the holiday weekend.. I am excited to spend time with our family and to see the parade with the kids and swimming and fun 4th of July goodies!

I am planning on making a BIG batch of these... the kids love them and they are pretty darn easy!

*Mini S'mores Pops*
I used toothpicks (but won't next time.. too sharp for the kids)
mini marshmallows (Hoping I can use the star shaped ones for this holiday!)
chocolate chips or candy melts ( the red white and blue candy melts would be SO cute!)
and graham cracker crumbs

~First I line a cookie sheet with wax paper and put it in the fridge while I do the rest of the prep
~Get your graham crackers ready (if you crush them yourself) and put in a wide bowl
~Load your sticks with marshmallows (I did 2 mini's per stick)
~melt the chocolate in a wide bowl (enough so you can roll the marshmallows around)
~Get your cookie sheet out..

Then roll the marshmallows in the choc to cover then roll or sprinkle the graham crackers on ( prefer to roll, I think it sticks better)
place on cookie sheet then back into fridge to set! You can do sprinkles in red white and blue if S'mores aren't your thing!

Less than 2 weeks until the 4th.. Hoping it will be warm and NO rain.. it sure hasn't felt like summer here yet!

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Cotton Candy Pops!

I know how super cute the cake pops and marhsmallow pops are, and yummy of course. But my daughter won't touch the marshmallow pops and I am not about to bake any cake this summer, gets way to hot for that.. so I was thinking what other too much sugar treat can I do the basic same thing with.. and decided I would atleast try to make some chocolate covered cotton candy. It's a $1 experiment if you have eveyrthing but the cotton candy.  Took me a few tries on how to smoosh the cotton candy into a small ball, and they were ALL lumpy but I had about half of a naptime to work on them, and I was not about to spend more time if they didn't taste good! So I made just a few to try..

Candy Melts, Cotton Candy, and sucker sticks is all you need!

I start by putting a plate or cookie sheet in the fridge to chill. Then melt some of your candy melts, while they are melting I rolled a little of the Cotton Candy into a little bit smaller balls than a big Marshmallow. I only made about 10, rolled them (more like smooshing than rolling actually) and poked a hole with one of the sucker sticks and set them aside.. once the chocolate is melted, dip a sucker stick in the chocolate and then into the cotton candy puff hole, then place them onto the plate in the fridge. The chocolate holding the stick needs to harden up before you cover the rest.  Once they are hardened (just a couple minutes) I used a butter knife to spread the melts over the whole puff (they didnt hold up well to rolling them in the chocolate), then turned them upside down on the plate and back into the fridge to set.

The less you play with them to make them puffs, the better they stay together, the more they are handled the crumblier they get.

My kids thought they were yummy! They are definitely sweet, super sweet. But for those kids or parties that marshmallow pops or cake pops won't work, these might!

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Super Cute Yo Gabba Gabba Party!

Check out some of the pictures from Fresh Chicks!  An adorable Yo Gabba Gabba Party for her little guy!  And when you are done checking out ALL the party pictures, move on over and check out the nursery she did. It's wonderful too!

I can't wait to see some more Yo Gabba Gabba Birthday's!

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Felt Hair Clippies!

I LOVE them! Etsy.com has SO many adorable versions! We have a small, well tiny tiny collection of felt clippies, they can get pricey, especially when you can't decide between 2 or 3 of them.  A while back I finally decided to try to make one, I can barely sew, I am impatient with myself and too hard on myself so the other attempts I didn't take pictures of, but after a few attempts I was pretty happy with this one! It's a pie!  I was making it for Thanksgiving.. but forgot the outfit she had already had hair clippies, so instead I added a red rhinestone and it can be cherry pie instead right?  I found some small peices of real wool felt (not craft felt) at our local store, and free hand cut it, and attached it to a clip!  In my limited free time I am hoping to make a few more, just not sure what yet!

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Little Sneak Peak!

Of some cupcake toppers for the Woodland Birthday!

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