Love is the Answer

Floating Shelves Storage Solution

I love my home but it seems like it sure could use more storage space on the main floor! Especially in the tiny little powder room in my master bathroom. (Click the blue bar below to see more!)

A Delicious Keto-Friendly Chocolate Mousse

Soooo we have a wedding coming up & in an never ending effort to slim down, I am giving the keto diet a try. I'm not an expert at all & I'm definitely learning as I go. I started a "Where Did My Waste Go?" page on Pinterest where I am collecting information & recipes for keto. You can find it here.  Anywho, keto food is delicious & really satisfying but sometimes I do miss sugar. {Click the blue bar below for more . . .}

Raspberry Bread Pudding Deliciousness

One of my favorite restaurants

serves a delectable 

Raspberry Bread Pudding.

I Googled it & found a recipe on recipe4living.com.

I've made a few small changes

to their original recipe,

but no matter how you slice it, this is such a yummy dish!

{I'm using my version of the recipe. I'll list it all at once at the bottom of the post.}

1. Start by cutting a loaf of bread into squares.

2. Spread it on a cookie tray & dry it out overnight.

3. Combine 3 cups of heavy cream, 2 1/4 cups of sugar, 1 egg, & 3 tsp. vanilla in a large bowl.

4. Add dried-out bread squares & gently fold until bread is well-coated.

5. In a separate bowl, combine 12 oz. frozen raspberries, 1 cup sugar, & 1/2 cup apple juice.

6. Place bread mixture in a 11x15 baking dish.

7. Top with raspberry, apple juice, & sugar mixture.

8. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. After baking, broil {watching closely} on high for a few minutes to brown the top.

9. While baking, make vanilla sauce: melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a saucepan. Add 2 Tbsp. flour & cook, stirring - for a few minutes. Slowly add 1 1/2 cups heavy cream. Stir in 4 tsp. vanilla & 1/2 cup sugar. Cook & thicken over medium heat. 

10. Serve warm topped with vanilla sauce.

Kneaders Raspberry Pudding

{Original recipe from recipe4living.com}

• 1 loaf sandwich bread
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tsp. vanilla extract

          * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

• 12 oz. frozen raspberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup apple juice

        * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Vanilla Sauce:

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 
• 4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar

1. Start by cutting a loaf of bread into squares.
2. Spread it on a cookie tray & dry it out overnight.
3. Combine 3 cups of heavy cream, 2 1/4 cups of sugar, 1 egg, & 3    tsp. vanilla in a large bowl.
4. Add dried-out bread squares & gently fold until bread is well-coated.
5. In a separate bowl, combine 12 oz. frozen raspberries, 1 cup sugar, & 1/2 cup apple juice.
6. Place bread mixture in a 11x15 baking dish.

7. Top with raspberry, apple juice, & sugar mixture.

8. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. After baking, broil {watching closely} on high for a few minutes to brown the top.

9. While baking, make vanilla sauce: melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a saucepan. Add 2 Tbsp. flour & cook, stirring - for a few minutes. Slowly add 1 1/2 cups heavy cream. Stir in 4 tsp. vanilla & 1/2 cup sugar. Cook & thicken over medium heat. 

10. Serve warm topped with vanilla sauce.

Nellie's Colorful Tea Party

Want to know a secret?

My sweet little granddaughter just turned 4.
{Keep in mind I am a mother of three SONS!}

We invited all the local royalty  to celebrate

with a Tea Party.

{By the way, Nellie wore her great-grandmother's jewelry at the party.}

I made some of the decorations in advance & 

I'll link you to the posts about them.

{For instance, CLICK HERE if you want to read

about the pink mirror in the photo below.}

Here's my sweet Nellie sipping Jones soda.

To read about how I made the 

teacup centerpiece, CLICK HERE.

{PS - the little teapot in the foreground is from 

TJ Maxx. I was able to find green, blue,

& orange & they were only $5.99 each!}

I bought the large picture frame {below} at our local 

thrift store {D.I.} for $10 & sprayed it pink.

It made a great "photo booth"!

We {and of course when I say "we" I mean Hunny!} 

hung it from the tree, because we knew it

would probably be too heavy for the girls to hold.

By the way, if you're having a tea party for 

little girls, I recommend getting help from

some older girls with lots of energy!

Chloe & Bailey were so great to dress up

& help keep the little princesses happy.

Here's the adorable Princess Brinley . . . 

I just love this turquoise mirror. 
It's another thrift store find. 
CLICK HERE to see the before & after 
of the mirror & how I made the 
colorful pendant on the fence.

For the sandwiches, I called the bakery & asked

them to make pink, green & blue bread for me.

They asked if I wanted it bright & I said "Yes!".

I had pictured a green a little darker than mint.

Well, when they said "bright", they meant "bright"

as you can see in the photo below!

{I wish I'd been more specific.}

I just love these striped & polka dot straws -
ordered from Shop Sweet Lulu. So fun.

For my post about the pink chandelier
which we hung from the trees,
CLICK HERE!
{Hint - it used to be brass - I paid $10 for it!}

Happy Birthday 
my little princess!

Where's "Maldo"? A Fun Game to Play With a Youth Group

Looking for a fun game to play with a youth group 

or a party? How about "Where's Waldo Maldo"?

We had a blast playing it with our church group.

"Verda" - One of our "Where's Maldo?" characters 

1 -First of all, I recommend you obtain permission

to play the game from the mall 

(or I heard that Walmart will let you play in their stores).

NOTE - We asked the kids not to run in the mall.

2 -We divided the kids into teams &

 instructed them to find six "characters" 

(people they know - in disguise)

milling around amongst the shoppers.

(Our mall asked us not to go in the stores, so all our characters were in the halls.)

"George" (who's actually my Hunny in disguise!)

3. Once they found each of the characters, 

the youth had to find out what they "needed"

& perform an act of service for them.

(See a partial list of the characters below.)

If you want, you can have your characters wear 

red & white (like Waldo), but we didn't.

4. The teams received a token as

they completed each task.

(I made mine with a 2" hole punch & card stock.)

5. When all the tokens were

collected, the teams returned to the

starting place. The first team to

finish wins!

Here's a partial list of the characters & the "need" the youth had to discover in order to help them:

• Old Lady - was supposed to meet someone at the mall, but she was waiting in the wrong place. You could only help by talking to her to figure out why she was distressed. The youth helped her find her loved ones.
• Young Mother {with a doll wrapped in a blanket} - needed someone trustworthy to hold her baby while she used the rest room.
• Shopper From Out-of-Town  {with lots of shopping bags} - Needed to find somewhere to catch the bus back to her hotel. {PS - this character hardly dressed in disguise at all, but the kids had a hard time finding her!}
• Middle-aged Gentleman  {AKA - my Honey!} - Was sad that he didn't have any facebook friends. His request was that the kids snap a photo with him & post it on their facebook page. {It was hilarious!}

We had prizes for the winning team & 

a treat for everyone. 

(I also got a trophy from the thrift store to give out!)

If you play, please let me know how it went.
It's good, clean fun!

A Gift That Lasts Forever - Well Almost!

My son & I recently went on

a trip to Arkansas.

{Click here to read more about it.}

Our mission: to hand deliver a special home-made gift

to each of my siblings who live there.

Alex Haley said, 

"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, 

to know our heritage, to know who we are

& where we came from".

I got these scrapbooks for a great deal at Costco.

I've been researching my family's history for years!

This is one of my ways of keeping track of it . . .

My Hunny calls these the "Dead Sea Scrolls"!

Using the information that I've gathered,

I made a scrapbook about our ancestors 

for each of my siblings.

Ancestry.com has been an invaluable resource

for my research. 

{I only needed the US membership & it was so worth it!}

Another website I love is Find a Grave.

Here you can find photos of grave markers for your ancestors.

{This is helpful in confirming birth or death dates, marriage information, etc.}

If you don't want to purchase an Ancestry.com

membership, Family Search has a lot of great 

information & it's FREE!

The draft cards {above} were signed by my ancestor.

I got them from Ancestry.com.

Hopefully, these books will be passed down from

generation to generation, so that those who went

before us will

be remembered.

If you've never researched your genealogy, 

I encourage you to try it. It's so fun & never boring!

"Tickled Pink" - A Statement Necklace Tutorial

I recently made a "statement necklace"

& I thought I'd share how to make them.

You all know how I love the thrift store!

I started this project by picking out some sweaters 

{with colors that I thought look great together}

at D.I. Then I just basically made lots of little sweater

flowers. CLICK HERE for a detailed tutorial on

how to make them.  To make the rosette above, I just kept

wrapping the sweater strip around & stitching it into 

place until it was the size I desired.

I sewed beading or buttons in the centers of some of the flowers.

Then I placed the flowers on a piece of felt until I liked the

way they were arranged. 

I used a hot glue gun to affix the sweater flowers to the felt.

I also used various buttons in the design.

Once all the flowers & buttons were glued on, 

I cut off the excess felt around the flowers.

This is how it looks on the back. You can see the stitching where

I sewed some of the embellishments on & the silver necklace

that attaches to the ribbon. I usually hot glue another piece of

felt on the back to make the necklace stiffer & to hide the stitching.

I've made some others as well.

The one below has rosettes made from book pages in it . . .

I'm wearing this one in my profile photo . . .

Here's another look at the latest . . . 

I'm linking up to these great parties . . .


A Diamond in the Stuff
Talent Tuesday at Vintage Wanna Bee
Tutorials & Tips Tuesday at The Stories of A 2 Z
Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring
Pinkalicious Thursday at Frugalicious Me
Friday Flair at Whipperberry

Only 21 Days 'Til Halloween - Adding to My Entryway Vignette

Halloween is coming up fast!

But there was still time to add

a few new elements to my 

Entryway Halloween Vignette . . .

Click here for my original post

about these decorations.

To add to my creepy apothecary vignette,

I found this "Happy Halloween" vinyl sign on sale at Shopko. 

I adhered it right on my mirror & it easily comes off.

(In fact, it took me a few tries of re-applying it to get it straight.)

I also found this little owl at a store called Tai Pan Trading.

I put him, along with an abandoned nest from the yard,

in this "cage" from Southern Living. 

My son's response, 
"Why do we have little animals all over our house now Mom?". 

Some people just have no artistic vision. Hmh.

For more Halloween fun, click below:
Halloween Porch Decor & Bling Pumpkins
Poe Inspired Halloween Mantle Decor
Halloween Lantern Fun

Shared at:

Halloween Link-Up Party at Design Dazzle