Guest Posting Over At...

Hello readers! 

I'm excited to be guest posting over at One Artsy Mama today as part of her Fun In The Sun Series today!

Come on over & check out the yummy recipe I'm sharing there...

See you there!

The Dish Soap Challenge. Week Six: Walls

This Dish Soap Challenge is rocking my cleaning world! I have yet to be disappointed by this stuff! 

Okay, I guess I just blew the outcome of today's challenge...

Oh well, you were bound to find out soon anyway. :)

So, I was working on washing the walls around our house last week. With all the little fingers that touch these walls, I have to clean them several times a year. 

At this time of year, the walls are usually particularly bad because the kids are outside gettin' dirty!

It's kind of hard to tell, but can you see the dirty fingerprints on the photo above?

I used the same rule as I did with the windows from last week's challenge: Fill the bucket with lukewarm water, THEN add a couple drops of dish soap & mix with your hand. 

Wipe off with a clean rag & watch the dish soap do the work. It took off the minor scuffs too. There are some bigger scuffs that it didn't remove, but I'm okay with that. The other cleaners I've used in the past don't remove them either. I've always had to use a Magic Eraser for those.

To check out the other stuff I've tried dish soap out on, click on these links:

• Week One: The Bathtub
• Week Two: The Toilet
• Week Three: Patio Furniture
• Week Four: Sinks
• Week Five: Windows

Thanks for reading! Enjoy your day!

Check out the great parties I link up to

Greek Potato Salad

  Hello friends! How was your weekend? Ours was wonderful! We were able to spend lots of time outdoors with family & friends. My mom-in-law is staying with us for a week, so it is nice to have her here to join us. 

  Is barbecue & picnic season in full swing in your house? It's going full-speed-ahead in ours! I love cooking outside at the grill, with a cold iced tea to sip on while I keep an eye on the cooking (or in some cases, burning) food.

  This is one of our favourite side dishes in the warm summer months. Potato salad is pretty all-American right? But this potato salad takes a bit of a different turn with the addition of some Greek ingredients. I'm sure you'll like it as much as we do. 

  I cannot take credit for this recipe. I first tasted it at a barbecue / potluck a few summers ago. A friend of ours brought this salad & it was a huge hit! I begged for the recipe & was so happy to make it myself when our friend graciously shared it with us.

Greek Potato Salad {Print recipe}
serves 6


salad:
3 cups cooked, peeled, cubed potatoes
8 cherry tomatoes
1/2 a green pepper, diced
1/2 cup feta cheese, cubed or crumbled
1/2 cup black olives (whatever kind you like. I use Kalamata olives.)

dressing:
1 cup mayonaise
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
a few shakes of black pepper
a pinch of crushed chili flakes

Mix together salad ingredients in a medium bowl.

Mix together dressing ingredients. Add to salad, mixing well. Garnish with olives, tomatoes, & a bit of crumbled feta cheese.

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

~~~~~

Thanks for reading / subscribing!

Keep enjoying barbecue & picnic season!

I link up to these great parties!

One Month Until Disney! Disneyland Layout {Echo Park}

Have you gone of a trip yet this summer? We leave on our big Disneyland trip one month away from today!!  We are beyond excited!

To celebrate & to kick off our vacation scrapbook, I did a pre-made page that I'll add a 5x7 photo to as well as some journalling when we get home & have some of our photos printed.

I have never done this kind of pre-made page before, so this was kind of wild. I usually work off of the photos I plan to use as to the colours of the page & products I use, but because I had no photos to work off of, I had free reign to do whatever I wanted! I figured that I could always print a photo in black & white if the colours of the photo I want to use doesn't work with the layout.

I had Mickey & Minnie in mind when I started this layout. 

The red & white polka dot paper & letters are just like Minnie's dress, right? 

The jewels I used in the centre of the canvas flowers are actually little Mickey's! 

Supplies Used:

• Cardstock - Bazzill Basics
• Patterned Paper - Echo Park (dots) & Sandy Lion (Mickey Mouse)
• Canvas Flowers - Making Memories
• Mickey Jewels - EK Success
• Ribbon - unknown
• Chipboard Letters - American Crafts
• Scallop Punch - Stampin' Up!

The countdown is on!

Enjoy your day!

The Dish Soap Challenge. Week Five: Windows

  I've been working on finishing off my spring cleaning list in full force for the last few days. It's still technically spring, right? Well, for one more day anyway. I've been able to cross off several big tasks off of my lists. And yes, I actually did the work, I didn't just cross it off. ;)

  Continuing in the theme with my Dish Soap Challenge, I decided to use dish soap to clean my windows. I did a bit of "googling" about it before hand to see if this is at all common. From what I read, some professional window washers use it all the time! Did you know that? I. Did. Not. But I'm happy to know now!

  There are a few tricks to keep in mind when using dish soap to wash windows:

• First of all, you should know that if you clean your windows with the sun shining on them, you will almost always end up with streaks. It was sunny on the day I cleaned my windows so I did the back of the house first (it was still shady there), then in the afternoon when the front of the house was in the shade, I did those windows. Or you can just wait for an overcast day to do it.
• Fill your bucket with lukewarm water FIRST, then add just a couple drops of dish soap. Then mix it with your hand. This is one case when the bubbles & suds can work against you.
• Use a squeegee & a dry, lint free rag.
• Use the squeegee to wash & squeegee the window. Then wipe any stray drops of water with the rag.

Your windows will look amazing!

It's hard to see all the spots on the window in the before shots, but trust me, after going through another Saskatchewan winter, these windows are dirty!

  SUCH great results!

To check out the other stuff I've tried dish soap out on, check out these links:

• Week One: The Bathtub
• Week Two: The Toilet
• Week Three: Patio Furniture
• Week Four: Sinks

If you enjoy my blog, please consider following along / subscribing. Thanks for reading! 

Enjoy your day!

I link up to these great parties

Strawberry Daiquiri Pie

  Are frozen, fruity, slushy drinks a favourite part of your summer? We sure like them! So much so that we frequent convenience stores much more in the summer than any other part of the year. You too? Oh good, I'm glad we're not alone.  ;) I like fruity, but my family is more into the soda flavoured slushees. What's your favourite?

Speaking of slushy drinks, this is a way to take the yummy flavours of a non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri & make it into a delicious, cool dessert. 

Strawberry Daiquiri Pie

Makes 8 servings

Crust:

1 1/4 cups Oreo baking crumbs

2 Tbsp sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

Filling:

1 can sweetened condensed milk (the low-fat version works too)

1/2 cup frozen strawberry daiquiri concentrate, thawed (1/2 a can) *See note below

1 cup frozen strawberries in light syrup, thawed

2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed (the light version works too)

Fresh strawberries for garnish

Spray an 8 or 9 inch springform pan with non-stick spray.

Crust: Combine crumbs, sugar, & melted butter in a small bowl. Press crumbs evenly over bottom of the springform pan. Place in the freezer while you mix up the filling.

Filling: Beat sweetened condensed milk & daiquiri mix on low speed of an electric mixer. Add strawberries & beat again until well blended. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap & freeze overnight. 

To serve, run a knife around the edge of pan & remove sides. Garnish individual pieces with fresh strawberries.

*Note: If you're not sure what frozen strawberry daiquiri concentrate is, this is the kind I use. It can be found in the freezer section of most grocery stores near the frozen juice.

Mmm, are you craving a slushee now??? ;)

Enjoy your day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

This recipe was featured on:

Favourite Son Layout {My Mind's Eye}

  It's not very often that I do a boy themed layout in pinks & butterflies. :) In fact, I think I could safely say I've never done this before. But since I'm also in the photo & the colours in the photo worked to nicely with these papers, I figured "why not?"

Again, using co-ordinating products, this page came together quickly. 

It really takes a lot of the guess work out of this hobby.

Products Used:

• Patterned Papers - My Mind's Eye
• Stickers - My Mind's Eye
• Journalling Tag - My Mind's Eye
• Alphabet Stickers - My Mind's Eye
• Chipboard Alphabet - American Crafts

It's Friday, Friday!! Any special plans this weekend?

Whatever you're doing, enjoy!

Map Wall Art

Several weeks ago, I posted about our family room & a few of the changes I wanted to make in the space.

I'm happy to say I have another project complete!

Here was my original list:

• New artwork above the couch - done!
• New artwork for T.V. wall - done!
• Makeover the little table my map lamp sits on
• Paint the dress-up box (to the right of the couch)

I wanted something a little less boxy to go on the wall over the T.V. Because the T.V. isn't centred on the wall, it was awkward to hang rectangular art on that wall. I needed something more free form.

I had these embroidery hoops in my crafting box & a bag of maps from my parent's travels. I put the two together & in about 10 minutes, I had new art!

I also really like how the maps nod to the map lamp that's in the room too. :)

Enjoy your day!

I link up to these great parties

This project was featured at:

The Dish Soap Challenge. Week Four: Sinks

Wow, I can't believe it's week four of my Dish Soap Challenge already! June is flying by!

This week I tackled my dirty sinks with dish soap. I've actually used dish soap on my kitchen sink for years simply because it's always handy. :) I've always been happy with the results.

Before

After

Even though I've used it with great success on the kitchen sink, I'd never used it on the bathroom sinks... 

until this week, that is.

Before

After

It's kind of hard to see any difference between these two photos, but the dish soap really made things sparkle & shine.

Another success!

  If you've missed the first three weeks of my dish soap cleaning challenge, check out these links:

• Week One: The Bathtub
• Week Two: The Toilet
• Week Three: Patio Furniture

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy your day!

I link up to these great parties

Mango Lemonade Pops

Are you enjoying the summer so far? 

We're starting to cross a few things off the 100 Things To Do This Summer list... This being one of them!

These are like popsicles for the grown ups, but the kids love them too!

Mango Lemonade Pops

makes 6 pops

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1 cup peeled, chopped fresh or frozen mango (about 1 mango)

3/4 cup water

2 Tbsp lemon juice

A couple of fresh mint leaves

Plastic cups or Dixie cups

Popsicle sticks

1. Make a syrup with the sugar & water by combining the two in a small saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil. Cook until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat & let cool completely.

2. In a blender, combine remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth. Stir in syrup, mixing well. 

3. To make pops, divide mixture evenly into 6 plastic cups. I just used disposable party cups.

4. Freeze for about an hour or until a popsicle stick can be inserted into the mixture & stay standing upright. :)

5. Freeze until firm. To remove pop from cup, run the plastic end under hot water for a few seconds until you can pull the pop out by the stick.

Enjoy this fun summer treat!

~~~~~

I want to say thank you to all my new followers on all the social media sites as well as to those of you who have subscribed by email! I look forward to getting to know you all a bit better. :)

Just a quick note, Facebook has made some changes to the fan pages recently. You may not be seeing my posts in your newsfeed if you haven't checked the "Show in News Feed" option. All you have to do is go to my Facebook page, hover over the "Liked" button as shown below & make sure it's checked so you don't miss a thing!

Thanks!

Enjoy your day!

I link up to these great parties!

This recipe was featured on:

Father's Day Card {My Mind's Eye}

Are you all busy planning a special time for your Dads on Father's Day? 

Our kids are busy crafting & planning happy surprises for their Daddy.

I made these simple but heartfelt Father's Day cards for the Daddies in our lives.

Supplies Used:

• Kraft Cardstock - Bazzill Basics
• Patterned Paper - My Mind's Eye
• Chipboard letters - My Mind's Eye
• Rub-on - Stampin' Up!

What kinds of Father's Day gifts are you making?

Enjoy your day!

Tissue Paper Flowers to Embellish a Gift Package

Don't you think that a beautifully wrapped package adds to the thoughtfulness of a gift? 

I sure feel that way & love when people put in a bit of extra effort to add some beauty to a gift's packaging.

This is such a cute little gift embellishment that easy to make yourself. I just learned how to make the tissue paper flowers from Michael Ann Made & simply took them a couple of steps further. 

Supplies Needed:

• Wrapped gift
• Wide ribbon or strip of paper
• 3 Sheets of tissue paper
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun

Starting with your wrapped gift (I just recycled some brown paper), lay a length of wide ribbon across the gift. 

You'll need enough to wrap around the gift & glue to the ends together.

For the tissue paper flowers, you start with a sheet of tissue paper. Obvious much? ;)

Fold it into a square to whatever size flower you want.

This is where I differed slightly from the original tutorial. I used a full sheet folded up with makes quite a full flower - it looks much like a peony, in fact.

Cut out flower.

Once your flowers are cut out (I did 3 - one pink & 2 yellow), place them on the ribbon.

One you have them placed the way you want, staple them to the ribbon.

Starting with the top layer or two of tissue, bring it up & gently pinch it together.

Working by layer (or two), pinch all the layers. 

There you have it! Your flower is finished!

Now hot glue the ribbon together at the bottom of the gift.

Done! Give your super cute gift with pride in a job well done.

Have a wonderful weekend!

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This project was featured on: