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2 Little Hooligans

Using canning jars for weight loss.

So I officially started a diet. Spring weather has already hit here in New Hampshire and I have no clothes that fit other then my black yoga pants. Plus with my belly still being swollen from surgery I am at even more of a loss for clothes that fit. So a diet I will start!

For breakfast I like to have cereal with fruit. But let’s face it measuring out your cereal is no fun, plus looking at that 3/4 of a cup of cereal in a big bowl makes me want to quit my diet already. So this morning I decided to put my cereal in a canning jar. As most of you know the sides of a canning jar have measurements on them, so no need for dirtying your measuring cups. But the best part is by putting my cereal in a canning jar it looks like I’m eating a lot…I like that!

So hopefully these little canning jars will help me loose some weight. Any other great tips for me?

How to make Teggings {tutorial}

So we have all heard of leggings and jeggings, but teggings? I will be honest, I thought I created this design and term, but it seems as though teggings are a real thing, at least for women. I know because I googled it. It’s funny how we always think we have come up with the newest and greatest idea only to find out someone else has already thought of it. So anyways, I still love the idea of these. Turn all those too short, outgrown tights into leggings…I mean Teggings! Plus, I don’t know about you but I have a ton of kids tights with stained feet and really they are going to be too small come next winter to be worn again anyways. So why not turn those tights into teggings?!

Teggings Tutorial

(Beginner level: takes about 5 minutes to make one pair)

Materials Needed:

* 1 pair of worn or slightly outgrown tights or you can use new tights.
First I am going to show you how I made one pair of teggings using two pairs of tights. I had a few pairs of tights that were too short but had really cute designs on them that I didn’t want to get rid of so I used two pairs of tights to make one pair of Teggings. Start by cutting off the feet right about the heel. Now cut at the top of the design. I think mine was about 6 inches long once cut. Take another pair of tights that were either too short or had holes in those toes and cut off the bottom of the feet about 3 or so inches above the heel. Take the cut piece from the decorated tights and fold wrong sides together. Make sure cut edges line up. Slide the cut part of tights into the folded decorated piece. Pin. Zig-zag or serge edges. Fold down and that is it. A new pair of Teggings! Now to make a pair of Teggings from one pair of tights. Take your pair of tights and cut like so. I cut my hemmed piece about 4″ long. You can cut it longer or shorter. It’s your choice here. Discard the toes and fold the hemmed piece in half with wrong sides facing. Again slide tights inside. Make sure all the edges line up. Pin in place. Zig-zag or serge. And there you have it…another pair of Teggins! They are so quick and easy to make. I made a bunch of these within 30 minutes. Tights that were headed for the trash, now have a new and fun use…gotta love that!




Shoveling snow at the beach.

It was an amazing 70 degrees outside yesterday, so we decided to head to the beach for the afternoon.

When we got to the beach we found out that it was still snow covered.

We should have realized that since we could still see people skiing on the mountains.
But the weather was so nice we didn’t care if the beach was snow covered or not. Shoveling snow at the beach is much more fun then playing in the sand anyways.
My littlest decided to hang out with momma on the dry patch of grass most of the time.
While I would like to think she was hanging out with me, she was actually hanging out with the big bag of “pottorn” and the bug juices.
Daddy helped the other two build a dam and a river that ended up going all the way to the water.


Once their river was done they decided to start chopping at the ice.
Apparently these two found chopping ice out of the water more fun then shoveling snow at the beach. We didn’t care what they were doing…they were having fun, even if they were soaking wet in freezing cold water.
It wasn’t their first ride home in their undies and I’m pretty sure its not their last.

Guest Post from The Cards We Drew.

So I’m on the mend and cannot wait to get behind that sewing machine of mine! While recovering from surgery I spent way too many hours watching trashy tv and design shows on Netflix. Really, I’m embarrassed to admit how many I watched, but I did get a ton of inspiration from some of them. I never knew how many design related shows there were out there. So as you can imagine I have so many new designs I want to create and cannot wait to start creating them.

I know my blog has been really quiet lately, so today I have a blog swap to share with all of you from The Cards We Drew…enjoy! Thanks again Abbey for inviting me to swap blogs for the day with you.

Hey everyone! I’m Abbey from The Cards We Drew.

My blog is The Cards We Drew and it is kind of a montage to my life. I LOVE crafting, party planning, DIYing, but I also like talk about my family, my feisty little redheaded toddler, weight loss and working out, and more. I consider myself a blogger that kind of dabbles a little in all different areas and I write about what I love and what I’m into at the moment.

You can find me each week contributing at I Heart Nap Time with her Top 20 Sundae Scoop post and also contributing once a month at Craft-O-Maniac (first post is March 21st). I also am the blogger for the Etsy party printables shop, DimplePrints, which is my go to source for all my parties! So yes, I’m busy blogging, but I love every minute of it and definitely consider it a passion.

Here’s some of my favorite and more recent projects so you can get a better sense of what I like to do!

Love Sweet Love Bridal Shower

And I also am in the middle of completing a craft room makeover that has taken me quite a while to complete, but that I cannot wait to debut!

I have a Project Gallery page where you can check out some of my different projects.

I hope you’ll stop by The Cards We Drew sometime to say hello and 100x thanks to Christina for having me here today!

xoxo, Abbey

Thanks again Abbey and I cannot wait to see the reveal of your craft room. I LOVE that color!

A little fabric shopping to calm the nerves.

First of all, thanks for all of your sweet comments and well wishes on my upcoming surgery. They are so kind of you and I really appreciate each and every one of them!

Now let’s talk fabric! How many of you have seen the insane amount of coupons in the latest JoAnn’s flyer? I sure did. Plus they have another flyer full of coupons at the front of the store, so make sure you snag one before heading in to shop. I used every single coupon that I could. Isn’t fabric shopping more fun when everything is 40% off?! I guess I have a little spring fever. I just fell in love with all of these bright cheery colors!
This pretty white embellished cotton fabric catches my eye every time I go to JoAnn’s. It was time I finally brought some home. Now what to make with it?
Some yellow knit and yellow seersucker fabric.
And some pretty turquoise linen.
Nothing like a little fabric shopping to calm the nerves!
I also snagged a few yards of knit fabric to make some yoga pants. I have the hardest time finding clothes that fit properly, especially pants. So hopefully I can make a few pairs that will fit…wish me luck on that one!

** I also wanted to mention that I have all of my templates stored on 4shared now. Go here to view my folder and download any of my templates. Hopefully this site will be easier to use then scribd has been for some of you.**

One of my new favorite things {Tap N’ Hang}

The walls are finally getting decorated around here. It’s funny how I couldn’t wait to start decorating, yet it has been one of the hardest things for me to do. I was so stuck on what to hang and how to hang them.

And then one day it just came to me and the next thing I knew I was banging tiny holes in our walls and hanging frames. I should have been more organized and pre-hung pieces of paper so I could see where I wanted the frames to go ahead of time, but I was too impatient and just wung it. Sometimes that just works for me.
In the past I used screws or nails to hang our picture frames by. But a few weeks ago I found these Tap N’ Hangs at Walmart and now I have found my new favorite way of hanging pictures.
Seriously, I love these things and they are so easy to use. They have two little spikes that easily anchor into sheet rock or wood studs and can even hold about 25 pounds of weight. Of course I wouldn’t hang something that heavy on them, but I would definitely trust something that weighed a good 5 pounds or so.
What I love most about these hangers is how they are so easy to get the exact location for your frame. I just take the Tap N’ Hang and slide it into the hanger on the back of the picture frame then hold the picture frame up on the wall in the desired location. Then gently press the Tap N’ Hang into the wall to give yourself the exact location of where you want the frame to be. Then take your frame off the wall and tap in the Tap N’ Hangs. So quick and easy with great results.
These Tap N’ Hangs keep picture frames secure and from moving around too much. In the past I always found myself adjusting and readjusting my frames because they were always moving around on me, but now they stay put.
Really, I love these things! Almost as much as I love my newly decorated walls.
It’s so true on how surrounding yourself with things you love can just make you happy. So what do you use to hang your pictures with? Any other great products I need to try?
**And no, I did not get paid at all to post about these Tap N’ Hangs. I just wanted to share one of my new favorite things with all of you.**

my pretty little surgery bag

This week I’m heading to the hospital for exploratory surgery. It’s a minor procedure but it may end with me having my 4th c-section to clean up all the scar tissue from my previous deliveries.

I’ve been having a lot of anxiety over this. My first child’s delivery was a pretty traumatic one for me and I ended up having some PTSD due to it. Thankfully after some therapy I was able to deal with my fears and have two more little ones.
But this time it’s different, I will be going in for exploratory surgery and don’t know the outcome and findings until it’s finished. That scares me…a lot! Some of my old feelings and fears have been coming back. I’m working through them and know that everything will turn out just fine. At least I will finally have the answers that I have needed. Anyways, I thought that if I made myself a new pretty little surgery bag then I would feel better about the whole situation, or at the very least, sewing it will help me relax my nerves and calm my fears.
I’m pretty happy with the finished product but I do have to be honest, there are a ton of mistakes on this bag. For some reason I had a hard time with this one. I’m not sure if it was the pattern or me. The pattern was a little vague at times and I guess I just needed an easy sew. Ever feel that way?
I may not be excited for surgery but I sure am excited to tote around my pretty little surgery bag, even if it is to the hospital. So what does one pack in a surgery bag? I’m not sure but I’m all about filling mine with some trashy magazines, rice krispie treats, lip gloss, new yoga pants and my favorite hoodie. So what would you bring? Any good tips for lessening my anxiety?

Make your own roman shades from mini blinds

I think this is one of the greatest ideas I have seen in awhile…you can make roman shades from mini blinds. I already knew I was going to make roman shades for the living room, but with 8 windows in that one room making them myself was going to be really costly. Then I saw this post from Nest Candy and immediately fell in love with this idea, how brilliant!

All you need is some cheap mini blinds, fabric and glue. I followed this tutorial here. They were super easy to make and cost about $6 per shade to make thanks to some cheap fabric is purchased this summer. The fabric is home decor weight so it is a little thicker then your regular cotton fabric. It shows the light through a little bit, but its not too bad. Eventually I plan on adding some fabric to the back so you don’t see the backside of the blinds. It kind of bothers me seeing unfinished edges, but not enough to have paid $20 plus dollars for a kit to sew my own.
It is such a cheap way to make your own roman shades.

"Momma, these don’t look like Lorax fries."

I’m pretty sure you all know that The Lorax is in theatres today and sadly we wont be going. We are so bummed, but the hubby has to work. So instead I thought I would plan a fun Lorax filled meal for the kiddos tonight, but it was much harder then I thought…especially with an empty fridge. The only thing I could come up with was some Lorax fries made from sweet potatoes and some swomee-swans made out of fish cakes. Lets just say they looked more like gluppidty-glupp and schloppity-schlopp and therefore no pictures were taken. But we did have a fun night watching the older version of The Lorax and the kids even acted out there favorite scenes. I’m pretty sure you can guess which scene this is and who the super axe hacker was.
My little girl played the part of one of the swomee-swans, although she looked more like a chicken then a swan. But the funniest part was when we had a surprise visit from a one eye one horned flying purple people eater…hmm! Not sure why, but very funny nonetheless. I love these kids and their imaginations.
But what I love the most is how they were just as happy as can be watching the older version of The Lorax and the trailers for the new one.
Since I totally botched our special meal tonight I thought I would share with you some of the amazing Lorax treats I have seen.

Birthday Cake at Amandalynjones

cake pops from Bakerella

The Lorax Bento from Annathered

How amazing are those?! Have a great weekend and hope some of you are headed out to the theaters this weekend even though we wont be.

Pinafore Summer Dress

I made this cute little pinafore summer dress the other day and now I am wondering why I haven’t made one of these dresses before? They are quicker and easier to make then a peasant dress. This is a great little starter dress or the perfect dress to make when you need a quick gift.

I made this one in about 30 minutes along with some matching bloomers.


I added two button holes on each strap to allow for more growth.
I used a pattern to make mine, but if you are looking for a free tutorial Smashed Peas and Carrots has a great one here.