Mother’s Day Bliss!

May 6th, 2009



Can you guess what I got for Mother’s Day? I am feeling a little giddy and geeking out quite a bit, but my husband upgraded my camera equipment as a gift to me. It still doesn’t seem real that I am now the proud owner of a Canon Rebel T1i with an EF-S 17-55 mm lens. Yes, it was completely extravagant and not normal for us at all, but to his credit the lens was used by another photographer who happened to be upgrading his equipment.

When I asked him why he would spend that much, he simply said, “I believe in you and your business.” He has been pricing, bidding, and researching for months what would be best to buy me, without disclosing any of it to me. He believes that this investment will pay off.

So if things start to shape up in the photography department around here, you will know why! These are my first shots and I haven’t read the manual or figured a thing out yet, but I am already pleased as can be with what I am able to do with this upgraded equipment.

Thank you to my husband for believing in me and what I can do!

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Gifts | 22 Comments »

Notebook Experiment: Can I Make A Pretty Wreath for Our Door?

May 6th, 2009


Experiment: Can I make a pretty spring wreath for our door OR can I attempt one of the most craftiest crafts ever for Mother’s Day?

Experiment Taken From: Notebook Entry03.18.09

Materials Needed: Please see A Soft Place to Land for the full instructions. I did everything that was instructed by Kimba to create this beautiful wreath.

Results: This has to be one of the most ambitious projects that I have ever done, but it certainly does make for a great story.

My best friend & I decided to attempt Kimba’s infamous lemonhead wreath after I featured it in our notebook. We agreed to split the cost on supplies and each make three of these wreaths- one for ourselves and two for each of the moms in our life.

First, we ordered SIX POUNDS of ping pongs. I swear, the guy that we ordered them from (off of eBay) thought that we were throwing the world’s biggest beer pong tournament. I can’t say that explaining we were making wreaths out of them cleared up any of the confusion. After we spent $65 to buy enough ping pongs, we then set off to buy the rest of the craft supplies to complete them.

Spray paint, flowers, glitter, adhesive, wreath forms, ribbon, hot glue- another $65 was spent to get these babies yellow and sugared for our front doors. Kimba never said that this was the most frugal craft, but wreaths are expensive and our mom’s are worth it so we got the supplies and headed over to my house to start plugging away at putting these together.

Spray painting ensued, 144 ping pongs glued around each wreath, more spray paint, adhesive, glitter, attaching flowers, bow-making craziness. Two days of truly hard work, but my gawd, I was getting this craft done and they were going to be the best gifts in the whole dang world.

After all of the blood, sweat, and still picking the yellow paint out of my fingernails, here is our final look:




And one more picture that is exactly the same, but I deserve it after all of that work:

Conclusion: I am so happy with my wreaths, but trying to tackle three of these might have been a tad bit TOO ambitious. In all seriousness, I am so proud of these and I know my moms will absolutely love them. May I also say that if THIS happens to any of these precious wreaths, you may need to lock me up in the mental institution.

This will go down in history, as the most ambitious Mother’s Day craft in the history of my life!

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I am so excited to open our Notebook Experiments up to everyone and I hope that you will be able to participate this week or in weeks to come! I will be posting this each Wednesday so please mark your calendars if you plan to participate. You can post your entries at any time throughout the week and then leave your entry in the links below.

We have this handy banner that you are more than welcome to use, but it is not a requirement! It is just something you can add to add a little sparkle to your entry.

Rules for Participation:

1. Choose anything from any of our notebook entries (past or present) to do with your family. We have hundreds of bookmarked links of crafts, ways to save money, and organizing ideas.
2. Complete an experiment from the notebook and share about it on your blog or website. We would love to see pictures of what you accomplished or a detailed description of how your projects turned out. Please include a link to this entry, a link to the original posting of the entry (at the original crafster’s blog), and (to help us relocate the project) the date or link of the notebook entry where you found it. You can use the same formatting as our entries or you can just include that information in your post in your own unique way!
3. Post a link below. Please include your name or blog name & a fast description of your project. Example- MomAdvice (WHO bread)

I can’t wait to see what you create and what you find inspiring!

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Posted in Amy's Notebook | 14 Comments »

The Mother’s Day Notebook Edition

May 6th, 2009


Sometimes we need to offer our own families a little creative inspiration for Mother’s Day. Perhaps, you need a few fun ideas for your own mother? Better yet, many of these wonderful ideas could double as teacher appreciation gifts for the end of the school season!

Here is my notebook of Mother’s Day gift ideas for all of our sweet mom readers:

Photo Credit: Giver’s Log

This hand soap featuring your kids’ art would make a wonderful gift.

Photo Credit: A Spoonful of Sugar

A restaurant binder to organize all of those take-out menus and a gift card to a favorite restaurant would make a wonderful gift (@ A Spoonful of Sugar)

Photo Credit: design sponge

For a mom on the go, this tin travel picture frame made from an Altoid tin is absolutely adorable (@ design sponge)

A mix of new music for the mom in your life wrapped creatively in your kid’s beautiful pictures.

Picture Credit: the object project

This Mother’s Day corsage would be a lovely addition to any mom’s wardrobe (@ the object project)

A bag of yummy coffee with a pretty coffee mug painted by your sweet children.

Photo Credit: Make & Takes

This project would be an easy one to do with your children- a beautiful etched glass vase (@ Make & Takes)

A coffee cup or waffle-weave dishcloth with a bottle of hand soap tied with a little raffia.

Photo Credit: Crafty Crow

Another adorable craft to do with your small children- sweet little drawer sachets (@ The Crafty Crow)
A little breakfast in bed is always appreciated by moms. How about some of these lighter than air waffles with a cup of homemade vanilla chai tea?

Photo Credit: zakka life

Here is another sweet little sachet for Mother’s Day- these are filled with lavender (@ zakka life)

Photo Credit: Three Peas in a Pod

I don’t know very many moms who would not appreciate homemade bath salts in a pretty jar (@ Three Peas in a Pod)

What fun crafts or gifts have you done with your children for Mother’s Day? What gift has meant the most to you?

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Posted in Amy's Notebook | 7 Comments »

Personalizing Our Home

May 5th, 2009

Living Room Before

We have been living in our little tri-level home for over five years now. When I think back to the house we moved into, I can honestly say that there is very little that has not been touched and retooled. We have a few things lingering that will require some time and money, but our house barely resembles the home we moved into.

The very first room that we tackled was our front living room. We had never done any real painting before and chose a neutral color that we thought would look good on the walls. The art in the room said little about our family and more about Linens ‘N Things. The color, just one tiny shade away from white and had pinkish tones to it that I just did not like. I did not have the heart or time to rethink our decisions, but five years later we have returned to that first room to revamp it.

This lamp, for instance, was one of my least favorite pieces in the room. The lampshade was dirty from years of use and abuse from my children and the brass spoke of another era altogether. I purchased a $3.99 can of black spray paint and visited Hobby Lobby where I found a new lampshade (marked at $40, but on sale for $20) and gave this little piece a makeover.

This tired old lamp now looks positively perfect in my house. With the coat of black paint and chocolate shade, it reminds me of a piece I would love in Restoration Hardware. Notice the walls? That is the new color we chose Dutch Boy in Honey Bear. It was the perfect neutral yellow that brightened our room up and made it look more modern.

That Linens ‘N Things art that spoke nothing of our family and our life has been replaced with three black-and-white 8×10’s that I had printed at Sam’s Club for a total of $4.38.

The first picture was taken just a couple of weeks ago of Emily’s foot dangling as she was swinging in the air at the park. Her little lacy socks and Mary Jane shoes were too perfect not to photograph. It spoke volumes about Emily’s girly-girl attitude even for a day of playing in the mulch.

The second picture, was a shot I took this fall of my entryway with all of the pretty fallen leaves and my sweet little white pumpkins. My favorite fall boots are resting in the corner after I had come in from raking.

The last picture was my most glamorous day ever- a photo shoot in my home with Redbook Magazine. Those shoes aren’t even mine, they are my friend’s, Kathy Friend from Flourish Boutique, who had supplied the wardrobe for the day. It was one of the most fun & exciting days for our family and that moment sealed the deal on our credit card free life.

I found beautiful picture frames at Hobby Lobby in black, to match our “new” lamp for $8 each. When you walk in, it brings people into a conversation about what those moments mean to us, who photographed them, and that our family is more than stock art from a home supplies store.

The furniture remained the same, but the curtains were switched to a cotton beige that would match the lampshade in the room. I found these for $19.99 at Target, but did four panels instead of two since this window is larger. The only other addition to the room was the leather ottoman resting next to our new personalized corner to add a little storage space for $59 from Target.

Faucet Before

Faucet After

Some of the changes we have been making, have been necessary ones because of the age of our house. A new roof was installed last summer and new gutters because they were broken, old, and leaking.

Little changes like a dripping and corroded faucet replaced with an oil-rubbed bronze one was a quick simple fix that brings me a lot of joy and less hassle when washing my dishes. We could have bought another white faucet, which would have been a lot less expensive, but it didn’t speak of our personal taste or have our personal stamp on it. These add personalization to our space and with each project behind us, the house becomes more about us and less about the previous owners that owned it before us.

With each project, we are able to modernize the house that I thought said nothing about our family. As we complete these projects that personalize our space, I find myself falling in love with corners in our home that I never thought I would love.

What have you done to personalize your home that you are most proud of?

Related Links:

Patio Renovation on a Budget

Our Kitchen Makeover

Our New Double Workspace

After Photos: Making Our Home More Inviting

Maximizing Your Space

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Posted in DIY, Family | 24 Comments »

Apron Full of Giveaways 05.04.09

May 5th, 2009
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Andrus

Welcome to this week’s Apron Full of Giveaways. Please feel free to share your contests here or visit this list to enter to win some of the best contests on the web.

This week on MomAdvice, we have onereakkt great giveaway closing out at 8PM EST tonight! Make sure to get your entry in for the Kodak Easyshare Wireless Digital Picture Frame. This would make a great gift to yourself for Mother’s Day or for a loved one.

Our new giveaway this week is another great gift for moms- a brand new stick vacuum from Hoover! This fancy new stick vacuum from the Hoover Platinum Edition would have your floors looking like new in no time and I have one to giveaway to one lucky winner!

Follow the links below to find out how to enter to win these fabulous giveaways!

Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we aren’t giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Children’s Movies).”

Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck to each of you!


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Posted in Giveaways | 9 Comments »

Presto Pesto Rice

May 4th, 2009


My kids love rice as a side dish and I have been looking for recipes that can add a little sparkle to our typical side dish. When hosting my Chari-Tea Bunco night, I bought a large jar of pesto at Sam’s Club for a Pesto Pasta Salad that I served. Since I had plenty leftover, we have been working it into other dishes throughout the week. One night I smeared bread with pesto and Italian cheese and let it sit under the broiler for a couple of minutes as a side with an afternoon salad. Another night, we feasted on paninis with pesto, turkey, and swiss on sourdough.

When I ran across a recipe in one of my cookbooks for rice with pesto, I knew this would make a lovely side with our herb baked tilapia. I honestly wasn’t sure if the kids would eat it though since it did have a light green color to it. They ended up gobbling it up just like those rice mixes in a box and the pesto added delicious flavor as a side to fish. It felt a little more grown-up than the Rice-A-Roni and we all enjoyed this very much.

Rice With Pesto or Herb Oil (from “How To Cook Everything“)
Serves Four

1 tablespoon canola or other neutral oil
1 1/2 cups basmati or other long-grain rice (I used white long grain rice for this)
2 1/4 cups water
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup pesto or 1 cup fresh herb of your choice: chives, parsley, chervil, or cilantro, 1/4 cup canola or other neutral oil, & 1-2 tablespoons water if needed.

Heat the tablespoon of oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until the rice is coated with oil. Add the water and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat up a bit and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and turn the heat to medium-low.

After 15 minutes, turn off the heat under the rice, but leave the cover on. Wait 10 minutes, then stir in the pesto or herb oil. Check the seasoning and serve immediately.

If you do not have pesto: While the rice is cooking, rinse the herb and place it in the container of a blender or small food processor. Turn the machine on and gradually add teh 1/4 cup oil. Blend or process until smooth, stopping the machine now and then to stir down the mixture. If necessary, add a tablespoon or two of water to the mixture; it should be the texture of heavy cream.

Related Links:

Yummy Mexican Rice

Lemony Rice Pilaf

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Posted in Desserts | 11 Comments »

MomAdvice Monthly Recap: April ’09

May 1st, 2009


I just want to say a special thank you to each of you for visiting my website and sharing it with your friends, family, and your own readers. We had another great month and it is all thanks to you. I hope to continue offering support through our site, lots of giveaways for our readers, and a place where you feel valued and cared for. If there is anything you would like to see on here, please contact me (amy@momadvice.com) and let me know what you would like to see in the upcoming year.

Don’t forget, you can subscribe to my feeds and never miss another thing on our site again! We have a landing page where it makes it easy to subscribe to our blogs and you can even subscribe to my article feed.

This month’s top referrers were:

1. Freebies 4 Mom
2. Craftzine Blog
3. Deal Seeking Mom
4. Money Saving Mom
5. Nesting Place
6. Facebook
7. Twitter
8. Simple Mom
9. A Soft Place to Land
10. Feels Like Home

Please take some time this month to check out each of their sites. They are amazing at what they do and we are thankful that we have such great supporters!

This month’s top articles & entries were:

1. World’s Greatest Homemade Slushies
2. Notebook Experiment: Homemade Bunny Bread
3. Roasted Green Beans
4. Simply Scoring the Best Freebies Resource List
5. Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
6. Notebook Experiment: A Chicken Cooked in Milk
7. Day Old Bread Gets a Makeover… Or Four
8. Fashion Forward Birkenstocks? Believe It!
9. At-Home Hair Coloring Savings
10.Throwing a Baby Shower on a Budget

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Posted in Announcements | 3 Comments »

Freebie Friday: May 1, 2009

May 1st, 2009

Happy Freebie Friday! A huge thanks goes out to Heather, from Freebies 4 Mom, for helping contribute to our list this week. Heather came out with a REALLY great birthday freebie list so make sure you check her updated list for all of the latest and greatest in freebie goodness for your special day.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Health & Beauty

Caress, Pond’s, Degree (click on Offers For You)
Axe Just Clean shampoo for men
Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards
Sephora Birthday Gift (sign-up and visit store, no purchase required)
Zyrtec (Walmart)
Always Infinity (Walmart)

Food

Hellmann’s (click on Offers For You)
Rita’s Italian Ice (month of your birthday)
Captain D’s (free meal for your birthday)
White Castle BBQ Pork Sliders (free with coupon)

Entertainment

LeapFrog Music CD
Baltimore Orioles (free ticket month of your birthday)
Wood Magazine (4 issues from StartSampling)
Oscar Meyer Top Tasting Dog House Party
TNT HawthoRNe House Party

Home & Garden

Dots $10 off $10 purchase

Upcoming Freebie Events:
Please call your local store or restaurant to confirm they are participating in these freebie events.


MAY
2 – The Home Depot Kids Workshop – Wheel Barrow 9 to noon
2 – Free Comic Book Day
2 – Red Mango – free frozen yogurt 12 to 4pm
2 – Lakeshore Crafts for Kids – Cinco de Mayo sombrero 11am to 3pm
8-9 – The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal – Free Book Download
9 – Lowe’s Build and Grow Clinic – Planter 10 to 11am
9 – Lakeshore Crafts for Kids – Mother’s Day purse 11am to 3pm
12 – Haggen-Dazs Free Flavor Day – free scoop of any bee-built flavor 4 to 8pm
14 – The Home Depot Do-It-Herself Workshop – Yard and Garden Maintenance 7 to 8:30pm

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Posted in Freebies | 5 Comments »

Simplifying Our Cleaning Routine Resource List

April 30th, 2009

What a fun interview that was and I want to thank Trish Suhr for taking time out of her busy schedule to speak with me. I hope that you learned a lot in that half hour and I enjoyed getting to share all of our giveaways this week too.

Click above to listen to this episode at anytime or visit our sidebar on the left-hand side to listen to the episodes anytime throughout the week. These episodes are also available in iTunes format for you to take on the go!

Here are some of the resources that were highlighted in today’s episode:

Pledge Cleaning Quiz We uploaded this fun little quiz from Pledge to figure out what type of cleaning habits you have. A huge thank you to Pledge Multi-Surface for sponsoring the giveaways for our show this week.

Clean House– Trish hosts this great show on the Style Network. You can catch the show Wednesdays at 10/9 Central.

Gearing Up for Summer– This article will offer some helpful little tips for getting your house ready as summer quickly approaches. Get that grill gleaming again and tidy up that patio furniture so you can really enjoy your time outside this year.

Spring Cleaning For Today’s Mom– This article offers some insight on how to make that spring cleaning a little more manageable this year.

Happy Homemaking the Homemade Way– If you can’t afford the expensive cleaners, this article will guide you into making cleaners at home that are better for the earth and easier on the wallet!

On next week’s show…

Next week we will be joined by Charlene, from My Frugal Adventures, who will be sharing with us her tips on choosing a budget-friendly wine. Charlene has over nine years of experience in the wine industry and brings with that a lot of knowledge on how to spot the best deals on great wines, what pitfalls to watch out for when choosing a wine, and how to care for/store wine so it will last longer.

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Posted in Cleaning | No Comments »

MomAdvice Simplified: Simplifying Our Cleaning Routines

April 30th, 2009

On MomAdvice Simplified, we are joined by Trish Suhr, the amazing co-host of “Clean House” on the Style Network, to help offer us tips on keeping our homes in tip top shape. Trish has some great tips for making our homes the sanctuaries that they should be and offers valuable advice on ditching the clutter in our homes so we can truly enjoy it. Trish is lovely and dynamic and I had the best time interviewing her. Talking to her was like chatting with an old friend and I hope you will enjoy this interview half as much as I enjoyed conducting it!

This podcast airs weekly at 2PM EST each Thursday. Due to Trish’s busy schedule, we did have to pre-record the interview portion, but we will be offering a great giveaway for five of our listeners sponsored by Pledge Multi Surface.

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Posted in Cleaning | 1 Comment »

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