Hanna

Back to School Clothes Shopping Printable and Tips

posted in kids, money saving tips, printable, Uncategorized by Hanna on August 6, 2014

Getting ready for the kids to go back to school is an exciting and crazy time! As mothers, we are inwardly looking forward to at the very least a couple hours a day that are kid free, or short a few kids to lessen the chaos. On the other hand it’s quite the chore to round up all the supplies the kids need, make sign-up deadlines, get back into a fixed schedule and do everything else that comes along with school starting. However, today Sara and I are teaming up with 14 other bloggers to bring you some great Back to School projects to help you get ready for the new school year and make your life a little easier!

1. Elizabeth Joan Designs 2. Making It In The Mountains 3. Stripes and Polka Dots
4. For My Love Of 5. Home. Made. Interest. 6. Restless Arrow
7. Little Red Brick House 8. Little House Of Four 9. Cuddles and Chaos
10. Our House Now A Home 11. Kent Heartstrings 12. The DIY Mommy
13. Curly Crafty Mom 14. Houseologie 15. Canary Street Crafts

Today I’m sharing a FREE printable and tips for back to school clothes shopping that will hopefully make it more fun and meaningful, by getting the kids involved, as well as making that “to-do” list to get ready for school less stressful!

This idea originated from my own childhood memories. Growing up in a small town we would have to travel into the city (4 hours away) to do a lot of our shopping. So every summer before school started we would take a “school shopping” trip and make a weekend out of it. Some of my favorite memories are when my mom would take Sara and I in by ourselves and we would have a girl’s weekend shopping for clothes, going to movies and out to dinner. Reading this I’m sure some of you are getting more stressed out thinking about adding more to your plate and subtracting even more out of your bank accounts to do a whole shop and play weekend, but really something similar can be done on just about any budget and with any schedule. I’ll show you how!

TIP 1: When thinking about school clothes, here are the two things I go by: first, make sure each child has at least 5 complete outfits, one for each day of the school week. This is also a good time to get some new shoes, underwear, church clothes and a jacket/coat. Second, save the nice new clothes you buy for just the school week and let the kids wear their old clothes on the weekends when they will probably tend to be a little harder on clothes.

TIP 2: Before you do any shopping go through your kids things and decide what still fits and what will work for the coming school year. If you’re like me and have young kids chances are you won’t find too much as they’ve either grown out of everything or most clothes are worn out from all the summer playing.

TIP 3: Now that you know what you need, make a budget for how much you want to spend on school clothes. You’ll be surprised at how this can fit just about any budget depending on where you shop. If you live in, or near, a city you will be able to shop the sales and use coupons. You can also check out our post on “How to Save Big on Kids Clothes”.

TIP 4: Although it’s not necessary to go all out when school shopping it’s a great time to make it a fun date with you’r child, make it about them and make some memories. One way is to use the free printable checklist I created that you can download below. This will allow kids who can’t read yet to see what they need and then get to color in or mark off items as they get them. This is much better then having you’re kids laying bored on the ground or wondering around the store as you search through clothes that will work.

DOWNLOAD BACK TO SCHOOL CLOTHES SHOPPING CHECKLIST HERE

Over the weekend I took my daughter on a mommy-daughter date clothes shopping. She’s had a growing spurt this summer so pretty much everything is too short. I gave her her checklist and let her help me pick out clothes for her. After we were done at a store she colored in each item we got. Once we were done shopping we got some ice cream for a job well done! I’m looking forward to making more memories with my girls and this being an every year tradition!

What are some tips or traditions you have when shopping for school clothes?

12 Healthy and Easy Snacks

posted in food, health by Hanna on July 30, 2014

We’re so thrilled to have Anne Imsick back again today to share with us some easy and healthy snack ideas! In case you missed it, a while ago she shared her tasty, healthy Chicken Taco Soup recipe.

Finding food in between meals that is easy and healthy can be a hard thing for me. I always seem to gravitate to what is the easiest and most convenient which in my house is usually something filled with carbs! I’m really excited to give Anne’s list of snack a try and I know you will be too!

When I think of easy snack ideas I like to think of it in terms of “what will fill up my hungry family?” and these snacks are definitely easy and filling! I like to make an easy “smorgasbord” of color & options. Lately my fave snack has consisted of making a plate of these 4 things, all of which I purchased at Costco:

– Raspberries
– Mozzarella Cheese Stick
– Baby carrots
– Krave beef jerkey (Cherry BBQ flavor – yum!)

Other healthy snack ideas include:

– Celery, broccoli, or grape tomatoes with hummus
– A hard-boiled egg (SO easy)
– Kale chips (Trader Joe’s has a dynamite cheddar nacho flavor)
-Snap Pea crisps (huge bag from Costco – I call them “green cheetos”)
-SkinnyPop popcorn
– Veggie chips from Trader Joe’s
– Unsalted almonds
– Apple with a little almond butter

Mix it up, have fun, and play with COLOR!

Your Designs This Time – No. 20

posted in Uncategorized by Hanna on July 28, 2014

Hi! Welcome to Your Designs This Time! Today, and every Monday from here on out, we’ve teamed up with four other talented bloggers to bring you this weekly linky party! It is our way for making new friends and finding new inspiration. Feel free to browse around, follow all our lovely hosts, visit links, and link up all your ideas and projects!

We’d love for you to follow your hosts is some way!

Stripes and Polka Dots

Blog – Pinterest – Facebook – Twitter

The Queen and Her Court

Blog – Pinterest – Facebook – Google +

Be Purposed

Blog – Pinterest – Facebook – Google + – Twitter

Little House of Four

Blog – Pinterest – Facebook – Google +

Elizabeth Joan Designs

Blog – Pinterest – Facebook – Google + – Twitter

This awesome Industrial Raised Dog Feeder, by The Charming Farmer, would make any pup drool with envy.

Do It Yourself Fun Ideas shared an amazingly fun way to reuse paper towel rolls to make Concrete Tea Light Candlesticks.

Draven Made’s straight forward tutorial for making a DIY West Elm Tall Tufted Headboard for Under $50 would help add a touch of modern elegance to any bedroom.

Check out this creative idea for a cool re-purposed Shutter End Table from Flimsy Pi.

This beautifully sweet Lavender and Peach First Birthday Party, by Tshirt & Jeans, has so many lovely colors and details.

If you have been featured today, grab our button and proudly display it somewhere on your blog.

– Each week, a few of our favorites will be featured on all five of our blogs. By submitting a link, you authorize Brepurposed,

Elizabeth Joan Designs, Little House Of Four, Stripes and Polka Dots, and The Queen and Her Court to feature your project on our blogs and social media. (This includes a photo from your project’s post and a link back to your blog.)

– Link up only YOUR OWN new designs, projects, or ideas.

– No Etsy stores, giveaways, or link parties please.

– We love seeing your latest projects, and by linking up, you are giving authorize to be sent a weekly invitation to Your Designs This Time.

-Please feel free to add our button to your blog or a visible link back to the this post, so others can join in.

YourDesignsThisTime- No.20

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Pottery Barn Knock-Off: Seagrass Headboard

posted in decor, diy, home, thrifted, tutorial by Hanna on July 22, 2014

One of the first rooms I wanted to put together upon moving into our new house was the guest room. It’s located in the basement, which is actually perfect as it gives guest their own space and is on the opposite end of the house where the kids are not. However, it’s a little dark down there and the green walls sure don’t help. In my effort to try and fix up the guest room without immediately painting the walls (although it’s something I still want to do) I started looking for other ways to brighten up the room and make it more cozy and relaxing.

In my search I stumbled upon THIS Seagrass Headboard from Pottery Barn’s. I thought the texture and color of the seagrass would go great against the green walls of the guest room, giving it that natural feel, but that $340 price tag didn’t seem so “natural” for me to spend! So in my attempt to be crafty and save some money I started to look for some way to do many own. I came up with this DIY seagrass headboard using a seagrass rug I found on Craigslist. The whole headboard cast me just under $75 to make!

The supplies:

– 4’x8’x3/4″ MDF board or OSB

(Use whatever is cheapest. We found ours in the clearance bin at Home Depot.)

– Seagrass rug

– King size quilt batting: Thick

– staple gun and staples

(I would recommend getting some longer staples when doing the rug since it’s so thick)

– jigsaw

– heavy duty hanging hooks or 1×3’s for the legs cut at desired height.

I’ll be honest in saying that there would be a few things that I would do differently if I did this project over again or maybe that’s just the perfectionist talking in me. All in all though I’m happy with how the headboard turned out!

I still have a few more projects for the guest room before I call it “complete” including painting it, a dresser redo and some more wall art. For now, it still gives our guests a nice place to sleep!

Linked To:

Share your Fun Creations – From Dream To Reality #127

http://www.bravenewhome.com/diyers-link-party-10/

http://www.tinysidekick.com/makers-link-party-27/

http://theblissfulbee.com/work-it-wednesday-no-57/

http://lifeinvelvet.com/2014/07/thursday-style-link-party-30/

Friday Finds #16: Yellow (Under $15)

posted in Friday Finds by Hanna on July 18, 2014

Sara and her cute family left our house this week. We had such a fun time together and the 2 weeks they stayed went by way too fast as usual. In the 2 weeks they were here we managed to go swimming, go to the children’s museum, to the new “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” movie, have a dinner party, had our new blog go live, did some photo shoots, sewed, watched many episodes of ‘Impractical Jokers, had a couple game nights, a sushi night, visited BYU campus and watched the kids while the guys had a weekend fishing trip and much more! It’s basically been one big party and I’m missing it already!

So now that all our company is gone I’ve got a huge list of things to do and a weekend full of catching up around the house. However on the bright side we’re having our family pictures done this weekend. I decided to try something a little different for us and have the pictures done at our house with a more relaxed feel. I’m excited to see how it goes. Also on a “bright” note today’s Friday’s finds is all about yellow and once again all for under $15! Take a look!

1|2|3|4|5|6|7

Just a little plug for the wall art “How bright will you be” by Sarah Jane…it’s free and she is one of my favorite artists! I am saving up my pennies to get some of her artwork for the girl’s playroom.

Hope you all have a fantastic and bright weekend! We also want to congratulate the winners of our Popular posts giveaway; Whitney Batty and MarKay Anderson! Thank you all for entering and once again for ALL your support! We love our readers!

How to Lengthen A Dress/Skirt

posted in diy, sewing for women, women's fashion by Hanna on July 16, 2014

I don’t know about you, but I am seeing SO many cute dresses out there on the market! When I was in Oregon a few months back visiting Sara we found this super cute, summery dress at Old Navy. I just fell in love with it, especially the shift style of the dress. They are my favorite kind of dress since I don’t have much of a defined waist. The only problem with this dress was that is was a little too short for my liking. Standing up was an OK length, but if I tried to walk or sit down it just wasn’t working for me.

Sara and I got this great idea to just sew an extender piece to the lining of the dress and have it hang down underneath the top part of it. So I bought the dress and we went home with a plan to make it my “perfect” summer dress.

Here is the before picture.

Most dresses and skirts have sewed in lining or slips in them so this is the perfect opportunity to sew on an extending piece of fabric without bothering the hem of the actual dress/skirt. Plus color blocking is so in right now! Just ask Sara and her Color Block Party Skirts that are coming soon to the shop!

So if you have a dress/skirt that needs to be a tad longer here is a simply “how-to” on making that happen.

1. First you’ll need to find some fabric that will go well with your dress/skirt. I used a navy linen fabric that Sara had on hand that worked perfect with the dress!

2. Next measure the width of the lining of the dress and how much longer you want your dress. Take the width and add 1/2 inch for seam allowance and double the length you want the extender to be plus add 1/2 to that for seam allowance. Then cut out two pieces at those measurements. So for my dress, the lining was 22.5 inches wide and I wanted it to extend 5 inches in length. Therefore my 2 pieces were 23 x 10.5 inches.

3. With right sides together, sew/serge the two sides of your pieces together. Afterwards you should have a tube of fabric

4. Fold that tube of fabric in half with the seams inside and iron.

5. Lastly, sew/serge your extender piece to the lining of your dress and iron that seam.

Linked To:

http://lifeinvelvet.com/2014/07/thursday-style-link-party-29/

http://staceyembracingchange.com/2014/07/17/creative-inspirations-linky-party-93/

http://placeofmytaste.com/2014/07/work-wednesday-58.html

The Creative Exchange #10

http://www.thegirlcreative.com/2014/07/18/link-party-diy-inspired-10.html

http://www.delineateyourdwelling.com/2014/07/link-it-or-lump-it-party-number-47-plus.html

Outdoor Summer Dinner Party: The Menu

posted in family, food, party, recipe by Hanna on July 10, 2014

You can’t have a successful dinner party without an awesome menu to go along with the beautiful decorations and for this outdoor dinner party we planned nothing short of it with delicious recipes for the menu. In case you missed part 1 of this dinner party showing the table setting and decorations you can check it out {HERE}.

Menu

Arugula Pear Salad with Candied Walnuts and Creamy Balsamic Dressing

Grilled Potato Salad with Honey Mustard and Dill Dressing

Blueberry and Jalapeno BBQ Pork Ribs (Recipe below)

Homemade Vanilla Ice cream with Grilled Peaches and Candied Pecans

When coming up with the menu for this outdoor dinner party we definitely wanted to take advantage of the grill with it being summer and beautiful weather. We also decided to step outside our usual recipes and take a risk making some thing new. However when making new recipes and you’re cooking for a big crowd and don’t want to take the risk of having it not turn out I would recommend trying them ahead of time! It’s quite possible that we ran into some problems with this as we were making our homemade ice cream for the first time for the party. Luckily it was just us, our families and a close friend; all who are very forgiving and it helped that we had a back-up gallon of ice cream in the freezer.

Minus our little dessert mishap the rest of the menu was a complete success! My husband gets all the credit for the Blueberry and Jalapeno BBQ sauce that went on the ribs. He’s always loved experimenting with food and recipes and this was a sauce he came up with completely on his own. He’s pretty amazing like that! So far we’ve had this BBQ sauce on chicken, pulled pork and now on pork ribs; all of which taste SO good! It’s must try!

Blueberry and Jalapeno BBQ Sauce

Print

This sweet BBQ sauce with a kick goes great on both chicken and pork.

Make By: Stripes and Polka Dots

What You'll Need

1¼ cup Ketchup
1 cup Honey
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1-3 Jalapeno (depending on how spicy you want it)
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 clove minced Garlic
1 cup Blueberries

How To Make

Slice the jalapeno(s). Pour some olive oil in a pan and saute jalapenos and blueberries on medium heat for 3 minutes. Then put that mixture in a blender along with all the other ingredients and blend into a smooth sauce.

Notes

For making the Blueberry and Jalapeno BBQ sauce with ribs follow the directions below:

1. Place ribs side by side on an oven pan.
2. Add ¼" of water in the bottom of the pan to prevent burning.
3. Coat ribs with the BBQ sauce and cover with tin foil.
4. Cook ribs in the oven for 1½ hours at 450 degrees.
5. Remove foil and reapply sauce
6. Place ribs back in the over for 30 minutes without foil, or place ribs on the grill and baste them for approximately 30 minutes making sure to turn them frequently to prevent burning.
7. Remove from grill or oven, adding extra sauce as necessary.

Linked to:

http://www.thepinjunkie.com/2014/07/pin-junkie-pin-party-75.html

http://gracelangdon.blogspot.com/2014/07/making-monday-49.html

http://www.flourmewithlove.com/2014/07/mix-it-up-monday_13.html#more

Author: Hanna