Friday Funny

 

Friday Funny

 

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Sophia was having a playdate and she and her friend asked for some chocolate milk.  Naturally, both of the two bottles of chocolate syrup I found in the refrigerator were empty. So, I decided to make my own chocolate syrup. How hard could it be?

I googled recipes and the first few recipes I found made larger quantities than I thought I would want to commit to.  I did find this one that looked a little more reasonable.

½ cup cocoa powder
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla

Mix the cocoa powder and the water in a saucepan. 

Heat and stir to dissolve the cocoa. Add the sugar, and stir to dissolve. 

I didn't have any white sugar (weird, I know!), so I substituted brown sugar. Seemed to work out okay.

Boil for 3 minutes over medium heat. Be careful not to let it get too hot and boil over! 

Pay special attention to the tip to be careful and not let it boil over! It was quite a big mess to clean up!

Add the salt and the vanilla. Let cool. Pour into a clean glass jar, and store in the refrigerator. Keeps for several months, but trust me it will be gone before then. Yields two cups.

I was going to take a picture of my two taste-testers trying out their chocolate milk, but they drank it too fast! Said it was delicious! :)

 

Monster Mash Part 3 - More Halloween Fun!

My girls are so excited about Halloween approaching!  We have decided on and ordered their costumes, so I think, hopefully, crossing my fingers, that we are all set for the big day!  I won't spoil the surprise of what they decided to be, so I will share that info later, along with pictures!

Have your kids decided what they will be yet?

I love this idea for a little guy... a jetpack!

How stinkin' cute is that?! And, it doesn't look too hard to make!

Will you be having a Halloween Soiree this year? Yah, me neither. But, if I were, I would totally make these cutlery packets!  They rock - and they are a free printable! Yahoo!

And if I were having a rockin' Halloween party - I would totally channel my inner Martha and make one of these pumpkin coolers!

If you and your spouse are attending a costume party - here is a pretty funny costume idea!

It wouldn't be to difficult to make it out of felt...

One last idea to share with you today... a yummy Halloween snack - puppy chow!

 

Monster Mash Part 2 - More Great Halloween Ideas!

As I often volunteer to be a room Mom for my daughter's classrooms, I am always on the lookout for good class party games. I loved this idea - pumpkin bowling!
Just get one of those lightweight styro pumpkins from the craft store, and tape together some toilet paper rolls and make pumpkin faces on them!

How cute is this decoration? A complete tutorial is provided to help you make it! 

 

Friday Funny

 

Monster Mash! Halloween Ideas for all of us!

I love Pinterest. Love, love, love it.  I love looking at the ideas, the beautiful photographs, and saving the links for a rainy day in a variety of categories.  I have even been known to try some of the recipes, and crafts and decorating ideas that I have run across.

These are my favorite Halloween ideas:

How easy does this Pumpkin Quesadilla look?  My kids would love this!

Redbook shares how to make this glitter spider web using wax paper, elmer's glue, and glitter!

How adorable is this door? Crepe paper and some other items from around the house and you have a decoration to die for!

What great Halloween ideas have you run across lately?



 

Have you seen our new catalog?

Our new catalog is really beautiful! It features lots of looks from our Fall/Winter collection - San Diego.  All of the photography was done by a really outstanding photographer - Megan of A Beautiful Moment Photography.    Megan was pregnant at the time of our photo shoots and she was such a trooper to keep up with all of our models at our various locations around San Diego! And every picture she took was amazing!  Deciding on exactly which shots would appear in the catalog was a tremendously hard task.
I just cannot say enough to recommend her. If you have photography needs, give Megan a call!  Check out her facebook page too!

Some of my favorite pictures from our photo shoots:

You can see the digital version of our catalog here:

And if you would like to receive a real paper copy in the mail, just email us!

Queen Bee Market - Escondido

Queen Bee Market is one of our favorite craft shows to participate in. Mique is delightful to work with, and the other artisans and crafters who participate are positively inspirational! We just really get our creative juices flowing by being around such wonderfully talented (and genuinely nice) people!
I only snapped a few pictures at the most recent Queen Bee Market that was held in Escondido, but I wanted to share them with you.

Bottles by the Sea has the most beautiful bottle stoppers!

Are these little peg people not the cutest wooden toys ever?

The peg people can be found in the Bubba's Basics booth.

In addition to bringing our children's clothing, we also brought some handmade crafty items and tons of kits, patterns, and fabrics in our new Sweet Funky Vintage creates division!

Isn't our sign awesome?!

I love, love, loved this booth! They are new to Queen Bee, but I think they have some awesome things!

I bought this cute chalkboard sign for Georgia - it hangs on her bedroom door (I hung a wreath hook on the inside of the door and hung the ribbon over the top of the doorframe). This frame is a really good size and the inside is painted with chalkboard paint - perfect for my chalkboard markers!

 

Friday Funny

I have to say that I really do enjoy the vintage-y sketches with the witty captions that are popping up all over facebook and the web these days.  I know some people cannot stand them, so if you are one of those, please forgive. If you are like me, enjoy what cracked me up today!

 

Little things can make a big difference in decorating

Look at my new light fixture!!  I love Ballard Designs. Who doesn't love them? After my bathroom re-do, I needed a new bathroom rug. I found one that I liked and could not resist also putting this awesome light fixture in my online shopping cart!  We had a can light above our kitchen sink that we never turned on and used.  So, I bought this light from Ballard and it couldn't have been easier to install! I literally unscrewed the flood light style light bulb that was in the can light, and screwed in the new fixture, wrapped the cord to the level I wanted the light to hang and slipped the cover up and it fit snugly into place.
The new light fixture gives off the warmest glowing light. I just love it!!

You can do it - The Big Reveal... Our New Bathroom!

So, not long ago, I posted the in-progress pictures of our bathroom renovation project.  Well,a few weeks ago, we finally had applied all of the coats of stain and topcoat and waited for it to dry (the hardest part for me!) and put everything back together!
What do you think?

Silly me, I forgot to take a before picture, but the cabinets were a golden oak builder grade cabinet with no hardware at all.  I have the same cabinets (yuck!) in my kitchen too.  

We purchased these bin pulls at the local Home Depot store. There was no hardware on the doors or drawers before at all.

Whenever we paint, no matter how well I tape things off, my husband manages to get a smidge of paint somewhere! Here is a little smidge on the closet door casing. Oops!

So, the moral of this story is... if you don't like something about your house, it may be easier to change it than you think! And cheaper too!  We followed the excellent directions from the blog, Monica Wants It, and I ordered all my supplies online through her recommended sources, or bought them locally, and it cost approximately $50!