Doll Closet

My daughter is obsessed with 18" dolls. Her goal is to eventually save up enough money to buy an American Girl doll, but for now she has the 18" dolls from places like Target and Toys R Us. She not only loves her dolls, but she loves to dress her dolls, which means we have an abundance of doll clothes. She had a big bag that she kept all of the clothes in but it was really hard for her to find specific outfits because she would have to dump the whole bag out to search through it. So I decided to make a little closet for all of her doll clothes!

I went to a thrift store and found an old cupboard. Luckily it was in really good condition, and it was already white which is the color I wanted it to be. And it was only $15! I took it home and cleaned it up really good, then cut some vinyl using our Silhouette machine. I put the vinyl on the doors to make it look cute and girly.

The Original cupboard

The cupboard with the vinyl on it

The next thing I did was add a bar inside for the clothes to hang on. I also got some little baskets to put the shoes in at the bottom of the closet. For the hangers, I got children hangers at Target and then used gardening sheers and cut them so they were the right size for the doll clothes.

(I hadn't put many clothes in the closet yet when I took this picture)

 I think it turned out pretty cute! My daughter loves it and it definitely helps keep her doll clothes more organized! 

~Megan

Legwarmers

This time of year, I always end up making a lot of legwarmers.  Little girls love them!  I take custom orders for the legwarmers on our etsy shop, Fabulously Frazzled.

Here are some examples of the legwarmers:

 They have a fun texture and either a flower or a bow-which I don't have a picture of on here.

If you would like a custom pair, please go to our etsy shop and request a custom order.  In order to make a custom pair, I need a few measurements.  Around the ankle, just below the knee (or lower if you don't want them as long) and the length between those two measurements.  I also need the legwarmer color request, I can do a big variety, whether you want a flower or a bow and what color you would like that item to be.  Any adjustments other than these may be available for an extra fee.

~Andrea

Flower and Feather Headband

I experimented today with making a new headband for my daughter. I have made lots of different headbands and flowers for her before but I wanted to try something different this time. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some feathers, a fabric flower, and a jewel. I curled the ends of the feathers and then hot glued it all together. I didn't take any pictures of how I did it because I was short on time, and I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing, but I have the stuff to make another one so I will do a tutorial on it soon!

~Megan

Oreo Truffles

Our family has great traditions that we have done for years.  One of my favorites is our annual Red Elf party.  My Grandparents started it when we were quite young.  I honestly don't remember a year without this party.  It included a pinata, fish pond and a room with a bed filled with Stuffed animals that we would all take turn picking from.  When it was time to pick stuffed animals my cute grandparents would come out dressed up in red long johns topped off with elf hats, a big red nose and Christmas striped toe socks.  I still look forward to this party all year.  My kids now enjoy going, even though the details have changed.  I love sharing this tradition with my kids.

A new tradition I love is making Oreo Truffles every year.  A friend of mine gave us Oreo Truffles for a neighbor gift one year and I couldn't get enough of them.  I get so excited thinking about these truffles, they are so yummy!  The best part is, that they are quite simple to make.  Just a few ingredients.

Here you go:

Oreo Truffles
1 package Oreos (just traditional type)
1 package Cream Cheese, softened
Milk chocolate chips


Blend up the Oreos, I use my Bosch and blended them until pretty smooth.
Pour the blended Oreos into a mixing bowl and add the cream cheese.  Mix the Oreos and Cream Cheese until mixed well.  I usually end up having to use my hands to get it mixed all the way.  Yes, wash them first!  Next, I roll them into small balls  maybe about 3/4 inch.  I just grab and roll the mix around my palms until it forms a ball.  While you are doing this, you can have the chocolate melting.  I usually just use a pie pan and put it over a pan of boiling water.  Stir fairly often so it doesn't get burnt at all.

Once the balls are all ready, roll them in the chocolate and lay on wax or parchment paper to cool.  If you want to make them more decorative, you could use white chocolate or colored candy melts and put them in a cake bag or even just a ziplock bag.  Cut the tip and drizzle it over the Oreos.   You could also try other chocolates to dip them in.  Have fun!

I was hoping to post a picture but have had a yucky cold bug so I haven't been up to making them.

Hope you love them as much as we all do!

~Andrea

Thoughts on Christmas

I have been thinking a lot about Christmas lately.  Who hasn’t?  While I am not “old” yet, I have been around for a lot of Christmases.  There are a lot of things which have changed over the years, and a lot of other things which are the same.  One thing that hasn’t changed over the many Christmases of my life time is the interest in special treats for the holiday.  My mom was one who loved to make holiday treats.  She made holiday breads, candies, cookies, and even a sweet roll Christmas wreath.  I was usually her helper, being the only daughter, and have fond memories of making treats with Mom.  Many of the treats were gifts for the neighbors.  She would even leave a loaf of sweet bread on the mailbox for the mailman and one on our garbage can at the curb for the garbage man.  I don’t make many of those treats any more, but one of my daughters really likes the cookies we used to make with a cookie press (which I now own) and my other 2 daughters love the peanut butter fudge.  Occasionally we make some of the treats that my mom did, and we always think of my mom when we do. Even my nieces and nephews think of Grandma when they make the family’s traditional treats.

Shopping for gifts or making gifts is still the norm for Christmas, even though malls were not around when I was younger.  I would have enjoyed going to the mall just to see the decorations then, now I try at all costs to avoid the mall at Christmas time.

Christmas lights are the same and yet different now.  I used to love when we would pile into the car (without seatbelts) to drive around the wealthier parts of town to see the decorated houses.  I loved one house that always looked like a castle from a distance.  Now, we go to a place that has light displays, where we pay to drive around slowly and let the grandkids ohhh and ahhh over the lighted reindeer jumping over the road and a large Santa waving at us.  I would probably make my husband take me each year to see the lights even if we didn’t have grandkids around to go with. 

As our lives become more busy and hectic, it seems harder each year to take time to remember the reason we celebrate the season.  I pulled out some nativity storybooks today to read to my grandchildren tonight as we go to see the lights, so that we can talk about the real meaning of the things we do at this Christmas season. And when we are done, maybe we will come back here to drink hot chocolate and eat peanut butter fudge.

~Gayle

My Experience with Planks

Just over a month ago, a friend shared on Facebook a 30 day plank challenge.  It consisted of doing elbow plank exercises on a specified schedule for a month.  It included an illustration showing the ab, shoulder, back and arm muscles that are strengthened by doing planks, and said it is so easy that anyone can do it. Since midlife has not been kind to my midsection, I decided to take the challenge.  It started out okay, with slow increases in time to hold the position, but quickly accelerated at a pace I was not able to keep up with. My husband (a very patient man) kept saying to just proceed at the pace I could and not worry about keeping up with the now unattainable goal.  I kept falling further behind the goal, but kept trying daily to improve.  I actually started feeling stronger in my side muscles! Then, nearing the end of the 30 days, my bad shoulder started causing pain while doing the plank exercise.  I was now having trouble with sore elbows from the hard floor and slight rub burn as well.  I tried doing planks on pillows, blankets, even a foam pad.  One day I realized that I had calluses on the sides of my elbows, most likely from the planks.  The 30 days has now ended.  I am still trying to do planks most days of the week.  Was I successful in the challenge?  With a sore shoulder, callused elbows and not accomplishing the desired outcome, I am tempted to say no.  But then I remember the (only) day I was able to hold the position for 3 whole minutes, when before the challenge I could hardly hold it for 90 seconds.  I feel my sides and know there is more muscle there, hidden under the layer of fat, and I feel like maybe I am a midlife success.  But PLEASE don't send me any exercise challenges any time soon.

~Gayle

5 Dollar 5 Minute Christmas Wreath

Last year after Christmas I bought a wreath on clearance for $2 and never got around to doing anything with it. This year when I pulled out my Christmas decorations I saw and decided I needed to make a new wreath for my front door. I went to the dollar store and bought a tube of ornaments, a glittery bow, and a door hanger that had three ornaments hanging down on ribbon. I arranged everything how I wanted it on the wreath then used my hot glue gun and glued it all in place. It only took me about 5 minutes to make it and it only cost me $5!

These are all of the supplies I used for this project:

This is the finished wreath! I love how it turned out and it looks so good on my front door.

~Megan

Snowman Ornament

Today we experimented with making Christmas ornaments.I bought this little wooden shape at Micheal's for $0.29 and painted it dark blue. I then traced the shape onto a piece of scrapbook paper, cut it out and attached it to the wood using mod podge. When it was dry I put the snowman on, which was cut out of black vinyl. My awesome husband drew the snowman for me and then I cut it with the Silhouette machine. I painted a little bit of the dark blue paint around the edges and then added a little glitter on top. Now all I

have left to do is attach a string so it can hang on our Christmas tree!

~Megan