Tell the Truth Thursday on a Photo Friday... oops

So I am behind again but it was for good reason my most recent confession is time sensitive...

I had to wait for a certain someone to receive a certain something in the mail...

You may or may not recall that a few months back (read November...) I had my first GIVEAWAY! I was so exited to throw a giveaway and see what others thought about my handy work... I choose a winner of all the entries and a lovely fellow blogger Terry over at These Peas Taste Funny won! I was so excited to get started on her piece... However holding this giveaway in the first place was a huge mistake! I was in no way shape or from ready for a giveaway and I never should have held it.

I held the giveaway because I wanted to gain more followers, keep up with other bloggers and get more traffic... I know that this is what giveaways are about but that isn't why I started this blog... I also had many other things creating issues for me at that time... between moving and a newborn and the holiday season and just the stress of everyday life I got sidetracked and ended up never completing my end of the bargain, I finished the piece that the winner had chosen but I never sent it...

Fast forward to last week when I completed a new project and a bonus for her and mailed it off, I sent along a note not only apologizing but also thanking her... I felt horrible for not sending the item she had won but I also felt good in knowing that I had made it right, I had to thank her for teaching me something about myself.

I am a good person and a good blogger, I do NOT need to keep up with all the other bloggers out there, or start measuring myself by others standards. I started this blog to connect with others, to showcase what I made/make and to give me something to focus on and feel proud of (other than my kiddos...). I never thought that one person would read what I thought/wrote, look at what I had made or even be bothered to leave wonderful uplifting comments that made me feel like what I do, no matter how big or small mattered or brightened the day of someone else.

Holding this giveaway and not following through made me sick with stress and feelings of not being faithful to me and my goals as a person or as a blogger and I am glad that I could rectify the situation and make a mends with not only Terry but also with myself!

So here is what I made for Terry.

She said in an email she sent me yesterday after receiving her winnings "There is no way you could have known, but my office is green and the green in the pen on the Writers Write plaque goes perfectly." 
She is right... I had no idea I just kinda ran with the colors and ideas from her blog (shows you that designing your blog has more to do with your personality and your individuality than you thought...). I'm so glad that she likes the two signs I made for her and I hope that she get lots of use out of the book mark too! 


Finally I have to Thank You! To all of you who read this blog, comment on what I do or just plain lurk and have a look at what is new around here... It means a lot that you are here at all! I know that I will be thinking long and hard before my next giveaway, maybe they just aren't for me and I will be sure if I have another that the timing is right and that I am doing the giveaway for the right reasons... at least the right reasons for me!


Happy Friday!

Mothers Day Kid Craft! Hand Print Garden!

Excuse me for a moment....

HEY! Mom and Mom in-law, yes you...
Avert your eyes, look away, stop reading!
Seriously STOP NOW!

Now on to the post!

Have you ever played around with those fingerprint art kits with your kids??

Delaney got this super cute one as a gift from my sister when she returned from vacation. We had lots of fun with it and it inspired me to make something similar with Delaney for her Mothers Day cards for her Nanny and her Nana!

It was super simple and you can make one too!
All you need is paint, paper, a pen or sharpie and your kid!

EASY!

To start I wrote our greeting on the bottom of our paper and got Delaney (who is getting better and better at tracing her name all of the time) to trace it over for her Nanny and her Nana but this is optional of course if your kids can do that them selves or if they are too young for that just yet.

Then use a paint brush and paint green color paint on your child's hands (yes you do need to paint it on with a brush, it keeps the paint from blobing up and becoming a mess plus you can still see the ridges of their little finger prints and all the lines in their hands!) then get them to place their hand or hands on the paper. Then clean their hands... and paint just one finger any color they like for flowers... Delaney loves PINK so thats what we went with and then put a few finger prints above and on each finger of the hand, clean the fingers again and paint just one with yellow, clean again and paint one finger purple and make two finger prints right next to each other. then with a sharpie or other pen draw wings and lines on your bumble bees! Then add a body and antenna to your butterfly!

AND there you have a hand print garden!

Do you like to make homemade cards for your family for holidays? I love it and I know that these beauties will be cherished by Delaney's Nana and Nanny!

Happy Early Mother's Day!


Sharing over at The shaddy Porch and at It's just called Spicy

Make It Monday! M&M Cookies!

Ok so I'm late with Make it Monday again... I've started to workout on Monday nights lately and I have been forgetting to post in the morning to avoid forgetting completely. However in my defence, I have to go to the gym more as all I have been making for Make it Monday has been COOKIES!!!


Now I love a good cookie, but I love, love, love M&M's... so why not put them together right... well there is that but also I get sucked into all the after holiday sales and I buy the ridiculously cheap bags of candy and chocolate... so this recipe uses up both Easter M&M's as well as a small solid Easter bunny.

I always buy that cheap chocolate and think this will be great for baking (because that was what my mom always said) but I tend to just chop it up and use it in chocolate chunk cookies. Oh well... at least they taste good!

M&M Cookies!

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup of margarine (softened)

1 egg

1 tbsp vanilla

1 3/4 cups flour 

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup M&M's

Small Easter bunny chopped into chunks or 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt, once combined add M&M's and chocolate. Bake on a prepared baking sheet at 350 for 8 minutes. 

These are a cakeyer cookie then I usually like but they are super yummy!

I also tried out this tip from the Fooducate blog!

Have you seen this tip floating around pinterest? Putting cookie dough into an ice cube tray and freezing it for later use! SO HELPFUL! I can now have a half dozen of these cookies or even just one or two of them for the kiddos lunch at anytime! 

How do you use up candy and chocolate from the holidays? Do you buy extra like me and what do you do with your extras? Let me know so I can use mine up... Haha