Crafty Creations: Diaper Wreath

Well hey again :)

Seriously I go from blog drought to blog flood! Sorry I will try to evenly space out my creativity and free time and give y'all a better Grin and Barrett spread (yeah right !) haha okay A LOT of my friends are having babies right now !  Soooo I wanted to be creative with gifts.  I made these last night but I still have some finishing touches before they are complete.

What you need
1 Styrofoam wreath - yeah could't find one ANYWHERE so I made my own out of a cardboard box (traced a large pizza pan for the outer circle and a small plate for the inner.  Cut out with a sharp pair of scissors and tried not to bend the cardboard.

Diapers - It took about 19-20 diapers per wreath.  I bought size 1 ... newborns seemed a little to small to wrap around the wreath form.

White no snag elastic bands - I got mine at the dollar tree, a pack of 500 for $1

Toys/Pacifiers/etc - To jazz it up !

Curling Ribbon - To tie on embelishments and to add some flair

1. Pick a spot on the wreath and begin ! 

2. I took each diaper, opened it up (held front and back and gave it a nice little tug). 

3. Folded each side of the diaper in (about an inch towards each other to meet in the middle and to make to smaller to fit around the form and not look bulky)

4. With design side (front side) facing out, put the crease of the diaper on the inside of the wreath.

5. Secure diaper on the outside of the wreath with one small rubber band

6. Repeat until your ring is full.

7. "Fluff" ends of diapers and rearrange to make sure most of the form is covered.

Beginning

Closer view of the diapers

Finished wreath !

I have seen other diaper wreaths where each diaper is tied with ribbon in a knot, and I thought the individual, small rubber band would be easier to take of when you actually need to use the diapers :)

Next, add embelishments (toys, pacifiers, ribbon,etc.)

I found these cute rattles/squeeky stuffed animals at Walmart for $2 a piece

Sorry I don't have a final finished product :(  I don't want to ruin the surprise if any of the mommy's to be actually read my blog !

From our kitchen to yours : Meat and Potatoes

mMm I can say it proudly ... we are DEFINITELY a meat and potatoes kinda family!  I think I could eat potatoes in some way, shape, or form EVERY SINGLE DAY OF MY LIFE !!!  My favorite are red potatoes but I will grab a bag or two of russet when they are on sale :)

Oh yes, and did I ever mention my husband works with farmers ??? Notice the AMAZING hunk of meat on that plate! (sorry for cutting off your head shug) Yep, FREE.  Yep, the most delicious steak I think I've ever eaten in my life ! 

His steak was so big he had to use a whole large plate for it ! No worries, he didn't eat it all :)

Oh okay back to potatoes :) I'm the unofficial mashed/roasted potato queen around here ... those two are perfected stapels in the Barrett house.  Soooo I thought I'd try something new :) Ever seen a Hasselback Potato ? Yeah me neither.

Basically, you take a potato, peel it, slice it many times, sprinkle it with EVOO, lots of garlic and seasoned bread crumbs, bake at a really high temp for a fairly long time, eat and enjoy !

Well, I was lazy so here's what I did :
1. Washed potatoes, didn't peel
2. Oven heated to like 425
3. Put the potato in a large plastic serving spoon and unscientifically cut little slits until I hit the sides of the spoon.
4. Melted butter and EVOO and rubbed/poured into the sliced spud
5. Took prepared bread crumbs and mixed with garlic/oregano/parmesan seasoning out of a shaker and sprinkled onto the top.
6. Placed on a well greased Pyrex pan and cooked for 50 minutes.

Yum !!! They looked great and tasted good :)  The skins did make the potato tough (will peel next time)... and I should have sliced down a little farther on the potato to let it fan out more.  Anyways, success and a great way to look like you're an amazing cook for company !

Blog Browsing : Cookie Crazy !

Amazing ! Simply AMAZING ! I have decorated a few cookies in my day, mainly for Christmas.  BUT WOW ! LOOK AT THESE TWO LADIES AND SEE THEIR INCREDIBLE WORK! Seriously this makes me want to go home and make cookies right now :) Enjoy !

http://sweetsugarbelle.blogspot.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34555769@N04/

Good Finds : It's been a while :)

Well hey blog friends :)

Have you missed me ??? While gone I traveled to LA with work, started volunteering at church with the children's ministry leading praise and worship, and I got the flu :( Sorry I neglected you ... I do hope you forgive me !

So, I'm back, but I really don't have much to share, haha. So here it goes :)

Praise the Lord my 2 year contract with US Cellular was up at the end of February so I started researching unlimited cell phone plans and phones.  Let me tell you, individual plans are EXPENSIVE !!! Charles has a phone as part of his work contract, so thankfully, we don't have that expense :)  He just switched to Verizon and got a Droid Incredible, I was jealous, and had never owned a smart phone so I began researching.  Verizon has the best service ... I like to call it "the Cadillac of Cell phone companies" and well I've always been the kinda girl to look for the best value, so Verizon was out for me ( yeah and just in case you were wondering, an individual unlimited plan with corporate email is like $115 a month ... not gonna happen in the Barrett household!!!)

Sooo I'm really not going to bore you with all the info... I'll just skip to the decision...

Virgin Mobile

Yep, I was really gutsy and tried out the el cheapo plan with the cheesy commercials :) haha And I am very happy with the decision so far !  Being a COM major with a concentration in Media and on the Marketing Team at work and not owning a smart phone was really getting me down. 


                                                                      So I got this one :)

No, it's not an iphone or even a "good" Android Phone ... but it is a smart phone with some awesome features.

The other great thing about this plan is ... NO CONTRACT !!! Say whaaaaaaaaaaaat ?! Yep, Unlimited EVERYTHING for only $60 a month thank you very much ! Virgin Mobile is on the Sprint network so you get whatever coverage Sprint has, for me... that's 3G baby :) Once again, great decision.

So Charles and I still think this plan is too good to be true :) haha So I said "oh no babe, they might not let me be a part of their club, "VIRGIN" Mobile ... I'm married and well ... haha Charles laughed and well, Virgin let me in the club and didn't even ask me if I was or wasn't a ... well you know !

So the best part is, I can go into a Sprint store and they can help me with whatever I need ! That great :) SO a good phone, a great plan, nice service, and excellent customer service, what a huge blessing !  Welp, I'm very happy to be a smartphone owner and I haven't stopped downloading apps since I activated my service ... feel free to share any fun apps with me !

Hope you have a great day !
It's good to be back :)