Quick & Easy Breadsticks

These breadsticks live up to their name!! I made them to go with spaghetti & meatballs, and my family devoured them!!

I found the recipe HERE from Our Scoop.

**the recipe calls for 4-5 cups of flour. My dough was still really sticky after 5 cups, so I added more flour until it wasn't so sticky.
**I didn't have any parsley or garlic salt, so I mixed some garlic powder and melted butter together, brushed that on the dough, and then sprinkled Parmesan cheese over the breadsticks before baking.

This is definitely going into my recipe file box. My 7-year-old kept telling me these were the best breadsticks she'd ever had! It always makes me happy when I find a recipe that everyone in my house likes!!

Thrifty Valentine M&M Cookies

As I've mentioned before, we love M&M cookies at our house. But I don't always love the price of the M&M's! As I was checking out the Christmas clearance candy at the grocery store, I saw tons of the Christmas M&M's. In fact, there's still a box of them there. So I grabbed several bags, knowing exactly what I would do with them.

My 2-year-old helped me sort them, then we used the red M&M's to bake our favorite cookies. Perfect for Valentine's Day!!
And what's even better? We're going to save the green M&M's and use them to bake some more cookies for St. Patrick's Day next month! I love it when I get a good deal!

**Edited to add: You can find the recipe for these M&M Cookies HERE from taste buds. Seriously...they are the best!!

Sewing Machine Cover

I've been using my 2-year-old's blanket as a makeshift cover for my sewing machine for a few weeks now. He's been missing his blanket (especially at night), so I decided it was time to make a real sewing machine cover.

I used THIS tutorial from Naptime Journal as a guide. It was really simple to make, but I did make a few mistakes. The things I'll do differently next time are:

**add 2" to the measurement of the width of my machine (I only added 1" this time, and my cover isn't as wide as I wanted it)
**measure better before I sew the velcro on the ribbon on the side! (the tutorial I used didn't use velcro, but I thought it would work better for my needs).

Other than that, I'm happy with how it turned out. And my little boy is thrilled to have his blanket back!

I'm linking to these parties:

A Soft Place to Land, Making the World Cuter, Keeping it Simple, Somewhat Simple

What to do....

I picked up this piece of burlap at my local DI yesterday for.....get this......25 cents!! It's a pretty good sized piece (it measures 16.5" x 37"). Now I have to decide what to do with it....decisions, decisions!

**I'm happy (and relieved) to let you know that the 2nd winner of my Birthday Cards giveaway, Lori, contacted me a few days ago. Yay!! I was beginning to think that nobody wanted my prize! Lori, your cards are on their way!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

{Cute Jewelry made by my 10-year-old!}

I just had to post about this cute jewelry that my 10-year-old made recently. She loves to make jewelry, but hasn't been able to lately because we're out of the stretchy string. So far, we haven't found any stores in our small town that sells it. So she came up with her own solution. Rubberbands!! I never would have thought of that, but they worked perfectly for all these cute little rings!! And it's a great way to recycle rubberbands that would have otherwise gone in the trash!
This ring is her favorite. So adorable!!
I'm so proud of my daughter and how creative (and thrifty) she is! I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!!

Scripture Covers

THIS IDEA immediately went on my "To Do" list as soon as I saw it! I'm glad to say that it's a project on my "Done" list now!!
I did this for my older 2 girls, and decided to cover their Bibles too....(I have an obsession with making sure everything matches!). They turned out cute, and my girls love them!!

And the New Winner is...

dpschad never contacted me....I'm so sad! So I went to Random.org to choose another winner.

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

39
Timestamp: 2010-01-18 17:10:19 UTC

#39 was:
Lori who said...
I am a follower. Your cards are really so cute!! Great job.

Lori, please email me at creativeitchblog AT gmail DOT com with your address so I can get your prize sent out to you!

******Edited to add:******
Lori, you have until Friday at 10:00 am (MST) to contact me. If I do not hear from you by then, I will choose another winner!

Winner.....where are you?

So, it's been a week since I picked a winner for my birthday card giveaway, and I still haven't heard from dpschad. To be fair, I'm going to give dpschad until Monday at 10:00am (MST) to contact me (creativeitchblog AT gmail DOT com). If I haven't heard from them by then, I will pick a new winner. We'll see what happens!!

Stick of Gum Valentine

Here's another cute, inexpensive idea for Valentine's Day. I originally saw THIS idea from Inking Idaho back in October, and knew it would be perfect for Valentine's Day. My kids are obsessed with gum, so I know they'd LOVE to get something like this!

Pixie Stix Valentines...

So I thought I was being totally original with this idea....until I walked down the Valentine candy aisle at the grocery store and saw some Pixie Stix Valentine kits.....

Oh well! We'll call mine the 'homemade version'!! (Plus, they're WAY cheaper to make yourself!)

Let's compare prices, shall we?

**Pixie Stix Valentine Kit- $3.59 (at my grocery store). Makes 32 valentines.

**My Homemade Version- $1.25 (you can buy Pixie Stix for $1.00 at the dollar store. Didn't know that until after I bought mine at the grocery store. And I used paper that I already had at home). Makes 49 valentines.

I think I'll stick with my homemade version!

On a side note...My 10-year-old daughter has been helping me put these together, and she looked over at me the other night as we were busy glueing and inking edges and said, "This is really fun....and relaxing!" My thoughts EXACTLY! I think I may have gained a crafting partner {Woo Hoo}!!

DIY Heart Candy Boxes...

Have you decided what are you're giving your sweetheart for Valentine's Day this year? How about making them a custom Heart Candy Box filled with their favorite treats?




This is my kind of project......quick, simple, and cheap!

Want to make your own? Here's what you'll need:

*Posterboard
*Hot Glue Gun/Glue Sticks or your favorite adhesive
*Patterned Paper/Embellishments

How to assemble:

1. First decide what size you want your box, then make your heart templates. (I made mine on my computer, but you could draw them out too. Just make sure their measurements are similar). My small box measures 6" wide, so these are the sizes of my templates.
*1- 6" wide heart
*1- 5"wide heart
*1- 4.75" wide heart

2. Once you have your templates cut out, trace them onto the posterboard and cut them out. (I found that it's best to trace onto the front of the posterboard, because you'll be covering up that part of it anyways.)

Trace and cut:

*2- 6" wide hearts
*1- 5" wide heart
*1- 4.75 wide heart
*4- 1"x7.75" strips


3. Use adhesive/glue stick to adhere the smaller hearts onto the 6" wide hearts.

4. Glue 2 of the strips at a 90 degree angle along the edge of each of the smaller hearts to form the box. (I used hot glue for this part). Start at the top of the heart and work your way down. You may have to trim the strips just a smidge when you get to the bottom.

5. That's it!! You're done with assembling them.....

Now for the best part.....decorating!!






What I LOVE about these boxes (besides how {CUTE} they are!), is that you can really customize them however you want. They can be made big or small, and probably into different shapes too. I'm thinking of making some out of cereal boxes....then they'd be FREE to make!!

My girls want to make one for each of their teachers and fill them up with their favorite candies. I can't wait to get started!!

Winner!!

After a hectic morning where nothing went as I had planned (don't we just LOVE those days?!).....I FINALLY was able to pick a winner! Yay! To be fair, I went to Random.org and this is the number that came up....

Here are your random numbers:

43
Timestamp: 2010-01-08 16:18:58 UTC

So let's see who lucky #43 was...

dpschad said...
I still need help getting organized. But, the one rule I like to follow is that there is a place for everything and everything in it's place. That saves time searching for things.

Congratulations dpschad!! Please email me at creativeitchblog (at) gmail (dot) com with your address so that I can get your cards sent to you!

Thank you to all who entered this giveaway. I loved all the organization tips that you shared! One tip that was mentioned a few times was to have a place for everything! I plan to work on that!

Organization & A Giveaway!!

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to work on organization.....in my home, in my family, in my life! I'm normally a pretty organized person, but at times I slack off and need to get back on track.

I always make homemade birthday cards to give to family and friends, but for the last couple of years it's been a last minute thing to hurry and get some made. This year I decided to make them in advance, like I do for my parents' Christmas gift. So far I've gotten 3 months worth made.....yay!! I ran out of adhesive and blank cards, so once I get stocked back up on those, I'll get the rest of them made (I have to make 62 total, just for my family!).

These are some of the cards I've made so far. To make it easier on me, I try to make them all the same style, but use different papers so they're not all exactly the same.

So in honor of my New Year's Resolution, why not help you to be a bit more organized when it comes to birthday cards? How would you like to win a set of 8 birthday cards?!

The winner will receive 2 of each style shown here, along with the envelopes. Each card is 4"x5.5", and was handmade by your's truly!

So, now for the fun stuff.....to enter to win, here's what you need to do:

1. Become a follower and leave a comment letting me know you're one. If you're already a follower, just leave a comment saying so.

2. Leave me a comment telling me your tips on organization.

That's it! If you do both of these, then you have 2 chances to win! Oh, please leave a way for me to contact you in the event that you win in one or both of your comments too. I can only ship in the US, so no international entries, please!

This giveaway will close on Thursday, January 7th at midnight (MST), and I'll announce the winner Friday morning!

Good luck, and I can't wait to hear your tips on organization!