House Party Party Elizabeth's VELVEETA CHEESY SKILLETS House Party™

House Party Party Elizabeth's VELVEETA CHEESY SKILLETS House Party™

DIY: Customized wipey case!

I had so much fun doing this craft.  Not only does it come out great but you can customize it however you want!

I will show you step by step on how to customize your own wipey case.

You will need:
*a wipey case (and kind)
*hot glue gun
*scissors
*fabric to cover both sides
*ribbon
*adornments of your choice

Starting at the top of the case, I started placing little lines of hot glue and adhering the fabric.  Do not put the hot glue right up against the seam.   I did the top first, then the bottom, and the the sides.  Your goal is to make the fabric as tight as possible so stretch, stretch, stretch.  Leave just a little bit of space to allow you to cut off the extra fabric.    If you don't, your scissors will not be able to get off enough of the extra fabric (If you look closely, you will notice I made this mistake) 

Notice how sloppy my work is :)  Don't worry, it will be covered up.

This is what it looks like when top and bottom are done.

I chose this really cute ribbon to go around the edges.  Just remember, the ribbon doesn't need to be too wide or else it will be too big.

I started at the back of the wipey case in the middle so my seam wouldn't be as noticeable.

As I 'fed' the ribbon I would put a couple inches of hot glue, smooth the ribbon down and then move to the next 2 inches until I had completed the circle.

This is what it will look like when you finish.  You can choose to leave it or if you want to add more 'oomph' read on. :)

I chose this ribbon because of the matching colors and hot glued it about 1 1/2 inches from the top.

I had these cute little rounds of fabric that I purchased at Hobby Lobby and I added it to the top :)

Voila!!! How cute is that!!

Good-Bye Atlanta Speech School......for now

Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster for us.  It was filled with tears, laughter, sadness, anticipation, sadness again, and then relief.  You see, the Atlanta Speech School's graduation ceremony was yesterday  and being able to witness all these little miracles puts you into a different place.
For the past couple of days our whole family has come down with a terrible sickness.  A cold......I think.  We've gone through so many tissues I honestly think it would do us good to buy stock in Kleenex.  The night before graduation was filled with many groans.  Groans from the kids but most of all, groans from Doug and I. Against our better judgement, we made the decision to ingest a monster energy drink and 2 DayQuils.......at 9pm.  If you don't really know Doug and I, we are secret thrill-seekers.  We LOVE to put ourselves in that type of predicament.  I mean, who wouldn't love to stay up until 3am and have to get up at 5 to be in Atlanta by 7:30am.  If you REALLY know Doug and I, you would know this is far from the truth.  We ADORE sleep, we CRAVE sleep, and when we don't get it, watch out.

After a good night's sleep(ha!) we ended up leaving 30 minutes late.  Because of my sister's back being out and her amazing determination, I drove her car so I could drop her off at the door.  The ONLY complaint that I could give the Atlanta Speech School is the parking.  Especially days like yesterday.  The whole school was having their graduation and in order to fit everyone, you had to park down the road.  We were supposed  to be there at 7:30 to avoid having to park far off, but with our nightly excursion we arrived at 8:15.  I dropped Misty off at the door and started circling the parking lots.  We checked out the parking lot next door, nothing.  Same result at the next parking lot.  We finally had to park across the street and down the road in a residential neighborhood with the hopes that our car didn't get towed.  Whew........what we don't do for our kids.

After the mile trek to the school, me in heels, we got to eat breakfast with all of our teachers and fellow students.  The Atlanta Speech School spares no expense when it comes to their parents.  Fruit, oatmeal with all the fixings, sausage, donuts, and tons of muffins were laid out on the table for us to partake.  After a joyful breakfast, we all assembled in the Love Auditorium for the ceremony. 

At the beginning, Comer Yates the Executive Director, presented a couple of awards to children that had many accomplishments and to their parents in continuing support for their education.  Well guess who those kids were??

Yours truly!!!!

Natalie and Ella was awarded the Junior League Scholarship.  With it comes a $500 scholarship awarded to EACH child to go towards their tuition.  As we made our way to the stage, the room was filled with applause.  This wasn't your ordinary applause.  These people were our family.  They had been with us through our happiest hour and our darkest hour.  Most of these families were going through the same issues as we were.  One thing that you may not realize is that most of these families are not local.  They travel from afar so that their children can attend this school.

The rest of the ceremony was filled with songs from students and speeches from the graduates.  I wish everyone could experience what we did yesterday.  Kids who were born deaf and received cochlear implants were mainstreaming into public schools.  They read their own prepared speeches and if you didn't know it, you wouldn't realize that they were deaf.  This gives us hope.  Hope for the future and hope for our children that they will make a difference in this world.  Children who will have the same opportunities as the hearing child.  Children who can reach out to both worlds and help unite them.

Near the end of the program was a very special little guy who graduated.  His name is Eric and he was in Natalie's toddler class.  We have been with this family since Natalie started and he is dear to my heart.  If you ever have a chance, go to YouTube and search for "cochlear implant for eric."  This is one of the first videos that we saw, even before we started the Atlanta Speech School, of a child being activated for the first time.  If this doesn't bring tears to your eyes, then I don't know what will. 

As they started his video, I couldn't stop the waterfall that was forming in my eyes.  You come to the realization how important your kids are.  The sacrifices that each parent has made are more than you can count.  The fact that most of my beloved friends were leaving the speech school was very heartbreaking for me.  Now grant it, there are still lots of beloved friends still left at the school but sadly most of the ones that are leaving are the ones that have been with us from the very first day. 

After giving everyone a hug and promising to stay in touch, we left the speech school.  But we're not done yet.  We still have a long ways to go but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Her class was singing the "Bumblebee Song"

Natalie's best friend Brittany

Natalie with her teachers Mrs. Melissa and Mrs. Michelle.  Love these 2

Jake (Eric's brother), Eric, me, and Natalie

Root Beer

This is a warning to all the fans of the Faygo machine outside of WFO grocery store in town.

After leaving Wal-Mart, Doug and I realized that we were terribly thirsty.  Doug had the bright idea since we didn’t have much money, to go to the $.30 Faygo machine outside of WFO near K-Mart.  This idea excited me because who doesn’t like cheap can drinks?  Doug pulled me up to the curb and I eagerly hopped out to get our drinks.  Doug decided on punch while I had to have root beer.  As I hopped back in the car Doug started to drink his while I had to rearrange myself.  You see, I always have to travel with no fewer than 3 bags.  Before I got a chance to open mine he made the comment “Ooooh, it’s like a slushie!  It’s so cold it’s got ice floating around in it.” 

This should have been my warning but of course I didn’t think anything of it.  As we pulled up to the red light I eagerly opened up my can.  Let me just say that as soon as I started to open it I was suddenly sprayed with root beer.  It was going everywhere!  I opened up the car door and held it outside to try to keep the inside of the car as dry as I could.  Then the light turned green.  We couldn’t just sit there so I had no choice but to roll down the window and hold the can out.  It was still pouring!  Are you kidding me??  When I started to notice the can’s spewing come to an end, I pulled the can back inside and realized the entire can was FROZEN!

Talk about being upset.  I was looking forward to that root beer so much and Faygo let me down.  Doug and I figured out that his didn’t spew because it wasn’t carbonated.  I just HAD to have my root beer.

Witnessing a Miracle

After balancing my checkbook this morning, I started to wonder how we were going to afford food to put in the refrigerator.  It’s one of those moments where you honestly do not know how you’re going to make it.  As soon as I start having those thoughts though, a little voice inside of me whispers “everything’s going to be ok.”  You see, that voice is God, and every time I start to wonder what tomorrow will bring, he always places his arms around me and envelopes me with His love.  Only he knows what’s to come.  The only thing he asks of us is that we live for him and bring people to Christ.

Upon arriving at the speech school, I rushed Natalie upstairs to class while Doug sat in the car with Ella.  Today Natalie was by herself so when we arrived in the classroom is was just us and her teachers.  Mrs. Melissa, Naty’s teacher, handed me a couple of letters as I started to leave.  She said that one was from the nurse and one was an anonymous letter that Shelley, the program coordinator, had given her to deliver to me.  As I was walking downstairs, curiosity overcame me and I proceeded to open the letter that was entitled “The Miltimore’s.”  Inside was a card that said “Thinking of You” on the cover.  As I opened the letter, I was shocked to see an undisclosed amount of cash.  As tears started to form in my eyes, I quickly hurried out the door and walked to the car.  My mind was racing as I tried to figure out who “anonymous” was. 

When I sat down in the car it took me a minute to figure out how to tell Doug.  I finally found the words and opened up the anonymous letter.  As soon as he saw what it held he burst into tears.  These were tears of joy, tears of relief, and at the same time tears that we didn’t deserve this.  We thank God every day for where we are in life.  Sometimes, most of the time, life is hard for us.  With Doug being unemployed at the moment, and me being a stay at home mom, we wonder every day what’s to come.  What does God have in store for us?

The love and sacrifice that this one person showed us was somewhat incomprehensible.  I won’t disclose the amount but let’s just say that it’s definitely not something that I could easily fork over.   We realized there are still people out there like that.  You often wonder in the times we’re living in if there are still compassionate people in this world.  This is proof that there are. 

People always wonder why we drive an hour, hour and a half, to take the girls to school every day.  This is why.  This is where God has led us to be.  If we have to sacrifice a few years of our life in order for our girls to have the best opportunity available, then bring it on.  A few years is nothing compared to the impact our girls, all 3 of them, will have in this world.

My Tupperware Par-T!

This past Sunday, I had the privilege of hosting a Tupperware party for consultant Misty Huffman.  It was an afternoon filled with games, prizes, tupperware and blizzards.  That's right, I said blizzards!  We started off with a fun game where you can earn "Tupperware Bucks."  You can earn these throughout the party asking questions (no matter how stupid some of them are, believe me), answering questions, offering your opinion, and volunteering.  At the end of the party, she auctioned off 3 great items and we got to bid using our "Tupperware Bucks."  But I'm jumping ahead.

The afternoon was filled with laughter as we joked about products (not in a bad way :)) and just enjoyed each other's company.  Just for attending, we each received a free citrus peeler.  (You'll see a pic below)  I had already received one at the last party I attended and let me just tell you that this is an awesome tool.  If you peel a lot of oranges or even grapefruits you definitely need one.  You know how usually you get peelings stuck under your fingernails and you usually end up smelling like a air freshener all day?  Not with this, it does all the work for you! 

This is my free container, the citrus peeler, and widget.  All for free!

As a host, I received a free tupperware container (pictured above)  Boy, I love me some FREE stuff!  After Misty was finished explaining all the tupperware items and showing us the cool things you can do with them, it was time for the good part.  Blizzards!!!  We all congregated in my kitchen and got down to business.  We chopped up the oreos using the "Chop and Prep Chef"  works like a weed eater, you pull the cord to turn the blades.  Very cool..........We then mixed the milk and vanilla ice cream together in the "Quick Chef ProSystem" and then added in the oreos.  What do you know, it tasted like an actual oreo blizzard!  I would absolutely LOVE to make these in my house all day every day, then again I would probably grow as big as my house. 

After our blizzard we got to have our auction.  She had 3 sets of items she auctioned off and of course I had to get the last pair of items.  It was 2 tupperware dish sponges and a lemon tumbler.  So cute!  And all for free for earning "Tupperware Bucks!"

Right now I am currently working on getting $166 of FREEEEEE merchandise by paying only $10!  I just need a FEW more orders! 

If you would like to earn free tupperware or would like to place an order with me (to help me with free stuff

:(  ) just let me know!!

DIY: Teacher thank you gift

We made this cute gift for Cayli's homeroom teacher at school.  We baked a special batch of homemade cookies to go inside, yum yum!  I will show you step by step how to achieve this frugal and crafty gift that any teacher would love!

I started off with an empty formula can.  Make sure it is good and clean.   FYI: baby formula is not a good thing to leave behind:)

You then take a big rubberband and slide it around the middle.  I found these rubberbands at the Dollar General.  There's all different sizes and also different colors.  Start putting crayons (any kind) inside the rubberband to go around the can.

After you have put crayons around the whole can (about 1 1/2 packs) take 2 more little rubberbands and put them at the top and bottom to secure.

I then happened to have this pretty ribbon in my craft box so I wrapped it around the middle rubberband to hide it.  I secured it using hot glue.

I had found this cute bag at the Dollar Tree and it had a 3D banner on it that read "School Days School Days."  I thought this was a perfect (and easy) addition to put on the front of the ribbon.  You could also cut out anything that had to do with school and glue it to the ribbon (my first thought) OR you could made a bow out of ribbon to put on the front.

Because there was part of the can still showing, I came up with the ingenious idea to put different colored rubberbands around it to fill that space. :)

In order to cover up the seam, I had these little rhinestones and hot glued them on top of the seam. (Pay no attention to the rip in the ribbon) :(

In order to disguise the top of the formula can, I cute out a piece of denim from a ripped pair of jeans we had.  I made sure to cut bigger than the actual lid because you want the sides to hang over a little.

I hot glued around the edge of the lid and pressed the lid down on to the denim.

I then trimmed around the edges and hot glued around the lip of the can to create the overhang.  You don't want them too long because you don't want to cover up any of the details of the can.

I was able to find this cute little button that matched perfectly and stick it right on top to finish it off.

We then added cute tissue paper and placed our delicious cookies inside.  Voila!  A cute homemade gift that any teacher would love :)

 

~Pop-Top Birthday present~

Who doesn't love to open things using a pop top??  This was made for my 10 year old's boyfriend (mmm hmmm) for his birthday that's coming up.  She informed me that he liked Pokemon so I set out trying to find a cute craft to incorporate into his present.  I will show you step-by-step how to make your own pop-top presents for any occasion.

You will need the following items:

*a can containing a pop top (any size depending on contents)

*wrapping paper of your choice

*a can opener

*a gift to go inside the can

*scissors

* Easter grass or some sort of tissue to go inside the can

*any embellishments or decorations for the outside

*ribbon

*hot glue gun

Start off opening the BOTTOM of the can using the can opener.  This is a very important step.  Don't do what I did and open it using the pop top.  This defeats the purpose of the project.  Also do NOT throw the bottom of the lid away.  You will need it.

The next thing I did was put his pokemon cards that I had purchased in the can, followed by a note from my daughter :), and covered it with easter grass on top.  You've got to remember you're doing everything bottom side up.  The easter grass will also prevent hot glue from getting on your contents inside the can.

You will then hot glue the lid back on the can.  Notice this does not have to be pretty.  This is the bottom of the can so no one will really see it.

I then measured out the wrapping paper to fit the can.

After cutting out the wrapping paper, you wrap it around the can securing it with hot glue.  Don't worry, for some reason you'll always be off on your measurements so you always have to trim a little here and there.

Considering he likes Pokemon, I decided to find an image on the computer and print it off adding "Happy Birthday Jacob!!" below it. 

I used my handy dandy scissors to cut it out and hot glued it to the front of the can.

After adding curling ribbon to the pop top using coordinating colors, I was done!  You have your own personalized gift made just for them!

These are great for anything!  Chocolate and ear plugs for new moms, little tools for dad's....the possibilities are endless!

Thanks Money Saving Mom!!

The Love of a Mother

Recently while mowing the yard, I witnessed the selflessness and love of a true mother.  At this point, our grass was in desperate need of some TLC.  Down below our house is our “field.”  The grass in that part of the yard had grown a good foot since the last time it was mowed.  When I set out on the lawnmower heading towards the field, I noticed a bird fly up out of the grass.  Not thinking anything about it, I set out to mow.  When I started my 3^rd stripe, I looked down and to my dismay was this tiny bird, not 6 inches from death.  You would think that this bird would fly off to miss the repercussions from the blades but it just sat there.

I finished out the round pondering the agenda of the bird.  Was it hurt?  Was there a nest?  I came closer to the area and stepped off the mower to investigate.  As I neared, I expected a full blown attack.  I remembered that there are some birds that will chase you off if you come too close so I was prepared to run.  I slowly crept up to it and there it was, still nestled in the grass.  I could see its beady eyes staring me down as I edged closer.  Still it sat there, unmoving.  I realized at this point that she was guarding her precious eggs. 

This little bird was willing to sacrifice her life to guard her eggs.  I quietly crept back to the mower and cranked it up.  Needless to say there is a huge circle in our field that is a foot tall.

As I finished what I had set out to do, I couldn’t help thinking about that bird.  That one little selfless act had taught me so much.  We, as mothers, are just like that bird.  We will sacrifice anything to make sure that our little ones are safe and untouched, even if that means sacrificing our lives.   Speaking of sacrificing………another great man I know is just like that bird.  God.   He sent his son to die on the cross for us.  His only son…………How do you question such a selfless act?  He wrapped his arms around us to save us.  Would we be able to do something like that??

I think if more mothers took a lesson from that bird then maybe, just maybe, there wouldn’t be as  many kids on the street wondering what they did to end up there.

DIY: Kitchen Canisters

I have been wanting to do this craft for a long time and on the day of the Pampered Chef party and 1 energy shot later, I decided to try it out.  Now it didn't turn out as good as I had hoped.  I really need to stock up on scrap fabric but at the moment this was what I had and I think they turned out pretty well!

I started off with one of my infant formula cans and filled it with sugar.  I went ahead and filled it up so I could have the weight to better handle the container.

I then found a cute font on the computer and printed out my description on white cardstock.  I used the top of a ribbon spool to trace a circle around the description and cut it out.

To add more 'oomph' I stamped a flower and added a cute little rhinestone.  I just so happened to have these items in my craft box but you can do something as simple as using crayons to decorate the card.

I took a piece of decorative ribbon and wrapped it around the middle of the can adhering it with hot glue.  I then took the label and adhered it to the ribbon.  Cute huh?

I then used the same sheet of cardstock to trace out the lid of the can.  I used hot glue around the edges of the lid and adhered the cardstock. This is the part where I wished I had some scrap fabric.  The cardstock is ok but fabric would have given it a better look.

To finish off the can I also wrapped a piece of ribbon around the top and bottom of the can.

I made another one for suckers and little candies using different ribbon and a different stamp.  You can customize these however you want, that is the beauty of this craft. :)