by Mandi | diy, personal
I am sure some of you can relate to me. You go to grade school and high school in the same town and create these wonderful friendships that will last a life time. Then… you go to college and there you meet the most amazing people. They do not have your background, they know nothing about your family or childhood – but somehow these people become friends – amazing friends that fill a new special place in your heart.
The 4 short years are over and you all go your separate ways. These people you just recently met have become your best friends, your everyday companions and now you’re off – back home or to a new place for a job and you say good bye. You see each other at mutual friends weddings and the occasional homecoming football game but the rest is up to you. Will you stay in touch and if so… how?
This particular post is about one of those special friends to me. We have seen each other a few times throughout the 12 (ugh…12) years we have been out of college, but mostly we text. And if I am being honest, we do not text much more than song lyrics back and forth. It may sound strange, but for us… it works. It is a guessing game of sorts – I send a text and see if he can guess the song. I usually send a lyric that makes me think of him and to my surprise, he normally is right. This can happen once every few months or once a day, either way – I know he is there, on the other side of the text still being my amazing friend.
So… this post goes out to him.
I fill my home with things I love and often times have quotes printed out in frames. My next one to frame is below from “our song” – Come on Eileen. Feel free to download it and use it in your home by clicking on the image to get full size – it is sized for an 8 x 10 .
Other printable quotes are below – yep – from past texts with my friend. These are also free for download at 8×10
by heather | creative tips, diy
My husband’s birthday was this past weekend and we decided to have a little get together at our house. My husband LOVES candy, so I put together a candy themed event!
First, when he woke up on the morning of his birthday, I surprised him with this giant candy card. He absolutely loved it – thanks Pinterest for the inspiration!
For the birthday party, I set up a big candy/dessert spread. I found a bunch of the clear bowls, candy scoops and tongs at my local dollar store. Then I found the clear plastic jars and at my local craft store. Along with a brand new cake pop machine! (I used a Michael’s 40% off coupon to purchase it. STEAL!
I had to-go boxes so our guest could take some of the treats home and the birthday boy even wore his tuxedo tshirt to the party!
I must say, I was a little nervous making cake pops for the first time. I am not much of a baker, and you can’t use the boxed mix for these things. It was way more time consuming than I thought it would be, but totally worth it. They were delicious! Here are some tips that helped me…
• The recommended amount of batter for each cooking reservoir is approximately 1
tablespoon. Use caution not to overfill the cooking reservoirs.
• After pouring batter into the cooking reservoirs, try not to check the food during the first
minute. Opening the lid may cause the uncooked batter to separate before it is cooked.
• Baked cake pops and donut holes will be darker on the bottom half when compared to
the top half. This is a result of the batter rising. The bottom halves of the cake pops and
donut holes are in closer contact to the cooking plates compared to the upper halves.
• For glazing or coating, use a deep, narrow bowl so cake pops and donut holes can be
submerged completely in the glaze or coating.
• For best decorating results, after cake pops have cooled, place them in the freezer for 15
minutes or until well chilled, then dip quickly in the warm coating or glaze.
• To help keep the cake pop on the paper lollipop stick, dip ½” to 1” of the stick in the
melted candy melts and then insert it into a chilled cake pop. Let this cool for about 5-10 minutes.
• Dip cake pops in the coating or glaze once and hold over the bowl to allow excess to
drip back into the bowl. Work gently so cakes do not break apart or shake off the stick.
Repeat dipping will cause the coating to become thick and heavy.
• To help set the coating or glaze, place the decorated cake pop in the freezer for 5 minutes.
• I purchased a foam block from my local craft store to hold the cake pops. I liked this one because it had plastic over it. I was able to easily wipe up any spilt icing.
Remember that Harlem Shake post from last week I did? Well, I was inspired to make my own at this birthday party. I pulled out the box of costumes from the attic and let everyone have a few drinks before starting the dance party. The video isn’t quite ready yet, but here are a few still shots. It was so much FUN!
That’s me in the big orange hat 🙂
by Mandi | creative tips, diy
I love playing cards.
I am the first to volunteer to play a good game of Rummy, Rook, UNO, Speed, etc. You name it, I’ll play it! On my mom’s side of the family, every Thanksgiving and Christmas get-together ends in a game of Rook and on my dad’s side – you better come ready to play UNO!
When I started dating The Mister I was SO happy to find out that he loves a good game of cards. Many nights we have a card and wine night. The two of us grab some wine and sit around for hours playing cards.
When Valentines Day came around this year I wanted to do something special for The Mister with cards, but I wasn’t sure what to do until I realized that I could go online and make him a custom set of cards…. for around $10 (including shipping). I was SOLD!!! I used printers studio. It was a simple/quick process and the cards showed up about a week later in their own plastic case. I will use this again. You could do this for SO many occasions and there is no minimum order.
For The Mister I did a simple design with his last name. It was so easy that I wanted to create a few free card backgrounds for you to download and use as your own! With the pantone color of the year being Emerald Green, I decided to go that route for my designs!
Here is a look at all of the designs. These are designed for the Poker Size Cards – 2.5″ x 3.5″ design. You can download the full sizes below!
Here are a few that are just for fun! I love all of the random things you say during a normal game of cards! Use one or all four below on your custom deck of cards!
Click on the thumbnails below for the full size images to download!
If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below and I’ll answer the best I can!
