Fun With Vinyl

I have been having so much fun since I jumped into the world of vinyl cutting on my Silhouette.

I made this beauty for my mother in law for Mother's Day:

I was surprised by how many people asked if I could make them a sign. I sat down and calculated the cost of all the materials and supplies and finally settled on a price. I am excited that I might actually get to sell some of these!

Then tonight I decided to try my hand at personalizing water bottles for some of our nieces.

I used the font Cutie Pop for the purple and pink bottle and the font Handwriting for the blue bottle. All the images are from the Silhouette store. I found the bottles at Hobby Lobby.  I am really anxious to see how well these hold up. If they do well then I will be making more, possibly to sell (with different graphics and fonts).

I am just so excited about all the possibilities of things I can do with vinyl. :)

Another finished project: Our Photo Wall

After being married for 6 months, I finally put our wedding pictures on the wall! Our photographer did such a wonderful job taking and editing the photos and I wanted to do them justice by displaying them nicely. This is what I finally decided on:

 

The view headed down the hall from our main areas to the bedrooms.

 

Close up view of The Family Proclamation

I have wanted some sort of personalized frame to display The Family: A Proclamation to the World for a while. I found this awesome, wide frame at Michael's on sale for less than $10! I ordered the proclamation from the Church website for only 50 cents in an 11 by 17. I framed it and then added Bradley Family and our wedding date in viny cut on my Silhouette. I love this personal touch that shows that we claim the Proclamation on the Family as truth and apply the teachings to our family!


I bought this frame set during Black Friday sale at Walmart for around $6. I chose to put wedding pictures of us and our families in the frames. One of the frames was for a 5x7. I didn't have that size picture printed so I decided to put our initial there instead. I had some matting paper in 5x7 and I cut a B on cardstock using my Silhouette. I just glued it to the mat and used it in the space. Love it!

 

Final view of the whole thing as seen from the hallway looking toward the living room.

 

My first Glogster and feedback needed!

I had to create a Glogster for an assignment in my Educational Technology class. We could select any topic that we wanted. Since I did a booth at a preparedness night at church on food dehydration I thought I would make my Glogster on that. I need feedback from peers for my written reflection on the assignment so please take a look and share any feedback below in the comments section! Thanks!

TBT. Nothing but ball ya'll.

I am going to jump on the Throwback Thursday bandwagon. 

I started playing baseball when I was 5. My Nonny was a feminist who thought that a girl could do anything a boy could do. And since we didn't have a girl's softball league in White Hall yet, she signed me up for baseball. There were only 2 or 3 girls in the whole league. I was bullied horribly, but I learned to play ball. I played in the boys league for 2 years before I was old enough for the girl's softball league. I was ahead of the game (pun intended) because the other girls hadn't played. I really loved playing sports and played in baseball, softball, basketball, and volleyball leagues. My Nonny wasn't okay with me playing football, but I probably would have if she had let me. I wasn't a tom boy though! I love cooking with my grandmother and wearing dresses and having pig tails. I just really loved sports!  I plan to strongly encourage my kids to be involved in sports!
So today's TBT:

Me at age 5. I was serious about ball. :)

Never too old for an Easter basket

My sweet husband is going to be out of town working this weekend and won't be home for Easter. This necessitated rearranging some plans, including giving his Easter basket early. I firmly believe that my good, hard working husband needs to be shown how much I appreciate him. One of the little ways that I do this is by taking the time to make him something special.
So here is Jason's 2013 (early) Easter basket:

 

 

I added some of his favorite things: eclipse chewing gum, Butter finger eggs, beef jerky, cheese dipping snacks, Reese's Eggs, different kinds of snack crackers, bread sticks, Jolly Ranchers, suckers, a new Iphone case, Iphone screen protectors, playing cards, and a little stick anywhere basketball hoop. Oh, and a rubber duck dressed as a super hero. Since he spends so much time on the road, I wanted him to have lots of snacks in his basket so he knows that I support him while he supports our family. It doesn't cost a fortune to make your husband a basket for Easter. Go for it! The big kid in him will appreciate your effort. :)

Sweet baby Gracie Marie

I realized that I have few pics of my sweet little baby on my blog! Her pictures cover my facebook but not here. Prepare for cuteness overload!

Gracie Marie Bradley was born in late Spring 2010. She was so tiny and so needy. She had a rough start to life. She was born so small and had to be taken from her mom. She was the only survivor of her litter and nearly died from hypoglycemia herself. My sister saved her from the breeder but didn't have the time to spend with her that Gracie needed. So I adopted her in August 2010.
She saved me more than I saved her. She is my sweet baby and I love her so much!



 



 



Spaghetti Squash

I have mentioned spaghetti squash to several people and have been surprised when they either hadn't heard about it or had no idea how to prepare it. It is a fabulous, lower carb alternative to pasta. Here is how to prepare it:

You will need
1 spaghetti squash
olive oil
salt
pepper

Using a large, very sharp knife, cut the squash in half and use a spoon to remove all the seeds. Rub the inside with olive oil and season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Place cut side up on a baking sheet and bake at 375 for about 40 minutes. Keep an eye on it and pull it before it burns. You will know when it is done when it pulls away from the skin easily. It should look like this:

Let it cool for a few minutes and then use a fork to scrape the inside of the squash out. See how easy it is to do?

You can use this in place of pasta with most any sauce. Be sure and drain the liquid off. Otherwise your dish will be watery. I will often lay it out on a flour sack cloth towel to absorb some of the moisture.
It is also delicious when tossed with just olive oil and herbs and garlic.

Give spaghetti squash a try instead of carb loaded pasta!