Featured Friend Friday #4

Hi there, I'm Liz from Sugarplum Creations! When Kelli asked me to be her next Featured Friend I felt honored. And also unworthy. Kelli is a Crafting, Baking, and Bloggy Goddess, wouldn't y'all say?

Anyway, I am a stay at home Mama to three little girls {and another little princess on the way!}. And wife to Jeremy, my childhood sweetheart. We all live waaaay out in the country on twenty acres of land that we share with our dog {a hound}, cat, and some baby chicks and pheasants. We just completed a nearly year-long process of building our dream home, and are so happy to be moved in and semi-settled.

I signed up for a blogger account several years ago, but my poor blog sat neglected until my third daughter was born, two years ago. In all honesty, I wasn't really sure what a blog was for! I quickly found it to be a way to connect with other fabulous ladies for encouragement, support, and wonderful craft and home ideas, as well as a fantastic journal of sorts for my growing family.

In between homeschooling, my girls and I love to find spare moments for photography, shopping {you saw that coming, right? A house full of girls?}, creating snacks in the kitchen:

Crafting:

and jewelry making:

As if our days weren't full enough, I just opened my Etsy shop back up. At one time I had it stocked full of special gifts for babies and children, but have since switched over to photography ~ a passion I've had for years, and have just recently begun to make time for again. I love capturing moments and freezing them in time. I think it's so important to snap pictures daily. An otherwise ordinary grocery shopping trip deserves documentation too! :) Life's everyday moments are so special, yet often overlooked.

Thanks for reading, and please, stop by Sugarplum Creations and Sugarplum Dreams! And Kelli, thanks so much for having me! You're the greatest!!

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Liz is an awesome momma with some really cute little girlies! I would love to join them for a mani/pedi day:) Head over to Sugarplum Creations and leave some comment love for Liz and don't forget to check out her Etsy shop too!

Featured Friend Friday #3

Kelli asked if I would like to be featured at her Featured Friend Friday!!  

What? Who? Me?

 I was thrilled and honored immediately nervous about talking about myself :)

I love blabbing about others 

(totally not in the 'gossipy' way)

but I have a hard time yakking about myself.

BUT, in the event that someone cares to know.....here ya go!


I'm a (late) 30-something mama of 2 little ones.

The lizard (soon to be 5) and the ladybug (soon to be 3).

I started blogging last year.

Mainly it was my way to keep track of all the great ideas I see.

A way to organize all of the projects I wanted to try.

I'm a big fan of DIY'ing and I hope I inspire others to try diy'ing too.



A short list random facts:

I LOVE planning parties.

I hate letting people help me.

I eat candy in 2s.  (if there's one left, I won't eat it)

I run to old school rap music.

I am trying to teach myself graphic design

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Most of my projects/crafts/messes are centered 

around the lizard & ladybug.  

Simple, easy and practical are my main requirements!  

My take on cupcakes in a 'jar'

The lizard started preschool this year

so I've had a good time with classroom treats and teacher's gifts.  

These treats were super easy.

(and basically free)

Teacher's Gifts

I am currently planning a combo Pirate Birthday Party.

(the lizard & ladybug have birthdays 4 days apart)

Here is the latest 'big' party we had.

A Valentine's Party 

(we ended up with 25 kids, I think).  

I love sending people home with goodies from a party!

Thanks for reading all about me.

(I hope it wasn't too much)

Come over to lizard & ladybug and follow along.  

I'd love to have you!

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Staci thanks so much for sharing your creativity with us today! I've actually featured one of Staci's cute projects on my blog before HERE....she is just that creative! Be sure to hop over and give Staci a little comment love:)
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Have a great weekend and don't forget to enter the Shabby Apple giveaway and the Kari Machal Designs giveaway.

Featured Friend Friday #2

Hi! I'm Ashley from Read It & Eat and For A Rainy Day. I am so excited to be guest blogging for Kelli today. So, thank you Kelli!

I am a 23-year-old southern belle married to my high school sweetheart. I'm also a super blessed stay-at-home-mom to our handsome little man who is almost TWO! We share the same birthday...cool, huh? I was born in California, but have lived on the Gulf Coast my whole life, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I started Read It & Eat as a New Year's Resolution in 2010. My resolution was to try new things even if I didn't think I would like them, and to try new recipes whenever I could. Sometimes they are amazing and yummy, and sometimes they are BIG flops! I do post about the big flops, because I am open to any suggestions on how to make that recipe work for me. I am enjoying learning new recipes, and loving new foods that I thought I would or used to not like. Don't get me wrong, I have tried "new" foods that I thought I would hate, and I still hate em. This remains my resolution in 2011 and beyond. My true love in the kitchen is baking, so I post a lot of baked goods on my blog.

Like these yummy cupcakes. 

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

 Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

I also post some of our family favorites, like Sweet & Sour Sloppy Joes (we like ours really sloppy). I have yet to eat Sloppy Joes made from can mix since.

And, I throw in some snacks every now and then. This Vanilla Popcorn is totally addicting.

About a year after I started Read It & Eat, I decided to start a crafty blog, too. I have posted some birthday projects. Here are the Spongebob invitations I did for my son's 1st birthday.

Some other things I've done are my vintage shower sign, a Valentine "Heart-gyle" wreath, and a thrifty box makeover.

Thank you SO much for reading about my blogs. Come over and visit sometime! Thanks again to Kelli for letting me post!

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Ashley thanks so much for being my featured friend today! Ashley has two really cute blogs that are both worth checking out! Hop over and give her some comment love and tell her I sent you:)

Featured Friend Friday

Hi I'm Kmama. Kelli asked me to come over here to her blog to teach you how to sew craft paint cook something. Hmm. Kelli? Why did you ask me over to your blog? You know I can't do ANY of those things. Hmm. Well, since I can't teach any of you anything, I suppose I could entertain you.

Like I said, I'm Kmama. I blog over at The Daily Dribbles. I'm wife to Jdaddy, my wonderful husband of 8 years and mom to Buddy, 6 and Buster 3, my two little spit-fire boys. I work full-time outside the house, and while I love my job, my days are pretty hectic.

If you're not familiar with The Daily Dribbles, let me give you a little information. The Daily Dribbles is my sanity. No really. It is. I'm typically a pretty sarcastic person, but oftentimes, in real life, sarcasm doesn't go over so well. I obviously can't be too sarcastic when dealing with people at work (did I mention I work in Human Resources?) and my kids don't get my sarcasm yet, so I unleash it all on the blog. The Daily Dribbles is basically, as my tag-line reads, "A pinch or sarcasm and a dash of laughs, from a woman who wears many hats."

I sometimes do reviews and giveaways on my blog, but mostly you'll find posts with humor, sarcasm, and about our daily life. I have a few posts that I'm especially proud of and I hope you'll take a look at. In I'm a Full-Time Working Mom I talk about how I choose to work outside the home and how you don't have to feel bad for me because I work.

As I previously mentioned, my days are really hectic. In Two Minutes I share the time I chose to pause life and enjoy a special moment with my youngest son.

And now I can't tell you that I write with sarcasm and humor and then only link you to some of my more serious posts, so for some laughs, check out these posts:

The Annual

Because It's Funny

So Much for a Nice Dinner

Kelli, thank you so much for featuring me!
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Thanks so much for sharing your blog with us today Kmama! You really should head over and check out The Daily Dribbles. I love Kmama's wit, humor, and sarcasm {even if her boys don't get it just yet}!

SUPER Smart Scrapbook Paper Wreath

This is one of the cutest wreaths ideas I have seen in a long time...and I love how inexpensive it is to make!

Go check out Coley's blog and see how she made this SUPER smart and SUPER cute Halloween wreath!

Guest Post: Lizard & Ladybug

Hi everyone...I'm Staci from Lizard & Ladybug.  

I can't tell you how excited I am to be here!  

I a huge stalker fan of Kelli so I was THRILLED 

when she asked if I would 'guest blog'.   

What The What..was my first thought :)  

After I told everyone I knew that someone else was interested in what I had to say...

I had to come up with something to share.

I don't know about you but I LOVE Halloween.  Having 2 little ones really pushed me into "Halloween crazy town".  This year, my son began preschool (& loves it) so he wanted to invite his entire class to our Halloween party.  I decided that this year's theme would be 'Halloween Carnival' complete with games (sack races, eyeball toss, pumpkin bowling etc) and lots of treats (candy, candy and candy).  

I wanted something a little extra but I didn't want to spend too much extra moola.  

Candy skewers are what I really wanted for the carnival..and even though they are SO cute, it doesn't really fit in my budget when I need 25+.  

So I made my own!  And here's how you can too.  

So easy (and so versatile). 

Start with your supplies.  Candy (preferably gummy candy) & skewers 

(I intended on using the 10" ones but went with the 6" skewers).

I wanted to do a 'creepy' candy skewer and a 'gross' one.  

I bought gummy worms, bugs, spiders, body parts and sour gummy dots.  

Then it's time to get to work.  Slide your gummies onto the skewer.  

*I will tell you that the gummy worms were the easiest to slide.*

Here's a shot of the 10" skewer...

I realized that a longer skewer meant MUCH more candy..

I switched to the shorter one...

Here are the shorter ones with eyes, a finger and worms

I am really happy with how they turned out.  

If you were giving them as 'takeaways', 

put them in a clear cello bag & tie with a cute ribbon.  

If you want to display them..stick them in a floral foam brick covered with candy.

I tested these out on the kids...I passed with flying colors.
Looks like I'll be making more :)

Thank you for letting me share these creepy/gross little treats with all of you.  

BIG Thanks to Kelli for trusting me with her SUPER blog!!

Your bouquet of eyeballs, spiders and worms is on the way :)

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Thanks so much Staci for sharing such a fun {and kind of creepy} Halloween idea with us!
Make sure to head over to Staci's SUPER cute blog Lizard & Ladybug and check all of her other really great ideas!
Here are just a few of my favorites:
Sq'eek'y Clean Soap

 Candy Corn Pinecones

 School Spirit Bucket

 Dollar Store Spiders

Pudding Pop Party!

Do you remember these?!?

I have seen these popping up all over blogland since I posted about them in June. I even had a few people email and leave comments to let me know they had made Rainbow Pudding Pops and LOVED them! So I decided to feature a few of my favorite versions that I have seen.

Reader Spotlight: Rainbow Pudding Pops!

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Lesley at It's a Boys' World made some cute Rainbow Pudding Pops in her attempt to be SUPERMOM! I think she did a great job! Five Little Monkeys made Rainbow Pudding Pops along with a ton of other rainbow themed ideas!
My Rainbow Pudding Pops made it all the way to the other side of the world...India to be exact! Check out Delhi Bound for another fun version!
Sara @ It's Good to be Queen made some NEON pudding pops with her adorable boys.

Jenn @ Glorriedays and her kiddos had a SUPER messy time with their Rainbow Pudding Pops!