Rose Rings

I'm guest posting for my blog buddy Jen of Tatertots & Jello today. I'm sharing the How To on these rose rings and my love for ginormous rings that make my digits look smaller. Come join me!

ps. One of these days I need to share my collection of big over the top rings, I have some rad ones!

Giveaway: A Book About Adoption

Once Upon a Time: An Adoption Story is a darling little book that helps children understand adoption and how much love is involved. Ashley Hansen Bigler (the Author) and Amy Hintze (The Illustrator) have done a wonderful job together in explaining adoption in a simple and very loving way.

My little family has been blessed by adoption. We adopted our son Aiden in 2008, and he has brought so much love to our home. We couldn't imagine our lives without him. This book will help us when it comes time to explain adoption to him. I love that we have simple resources like this to help show him how much love is involved in adoption.



I grew up with the Illustrator, Amy Hintze. She has such a talent, and really has made this book come to life. She included this picture of our kids (from last May) in a collage on the last page of the book. Which makes this book that much more special to me.



Can you find them?


If you or someone you know has been touched by adoption, this book would be such a sweet gift to give. If you'd like to buy it now, you can RIGHT HERE.


If you'd like to enter this Giveaway:
Please comment on this post by 10pm, Sunday March 15th to enter.

for extra entries: (please leave a new comment for each entry.)
1. facebook
2. blog
3. retweet my tweet about this giveaway with a link to this post.

The winner will be announced on Monday morning, March 15th.

Rainbows

Top O' the Mornin' to ya!

I'm over at Make and Takes today, making these Rainbow Cupcake Toppers. Come join me!

The Big 6-0!

We celebrated the big 6-0 with this guy over the weekend; his way. Which was very low key and just how he wanted it. Our family's favorite Mexican, lots of chips and (the best!) salsa and lots of laughs. It was perfect.

I feel so blessed to call him Dad, we all do.


Happy Birthday Dad!

Song Of The Week: Sweet Disposition

This Week's Song: The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

I've decided to start a weekly post for my song of the week (that can be found at the top left of my sidebar). Last night while watching the Oscars, I heard this song again. Oh how I love it. Good Job Diet Coke! Commercials with great music always get to me. I first heard this song on (500) Days of Summer. Such a cool song.

Have you heard any great music in commercials lately?

Friday Favorites →

image via ivan amezcua

- Sharing a little St. Patty's Day kid craft with Nickelodeon's Parents Connect, this week
- All these Alice in Wonderland inspired ETSY items. I think the Disney version of Alice will always be my favorite.
- The OSCARS this Sunday! Award shows plus Tivo is a matchmade in heaven.
- Shade Clothing's new Health and Fitness Expert. Way to go Ash! They picked the right girl.


This week I've been so inspired by Bloggers:

I have loved Marta's Blog & Business Workshop. You probably already know about this, but if you don't I highly suggest you go get inspired. Thank you Marta for all your efforts and inspiration!

Sarah on Clover Lane with her Photography 101 post. This post had me in tears last night. She is such a great writer. Lately I've had a bit of Mom guilt, that I am not documenting my kids lives very good. This post was such a great reminder for me to just keep it simple and real. Thank you Sarah.

ps. I'm postponing Rotisserie Chicken Week...a week. Lots going on next week. :)

Have a great weekend!

Thrifty Thursdee

The Before: As a bonus this frame came with a picture in it! I love a good open mouth smile, it's way more happy than a closed mouth smile.



And The After:


I really need to get better at printing pictures. I'm way behind (can you tell), unless it's for a Christmas card or a Valentine.

How about you, are you good at printing pictures?

Blue Box

Time now for another try to be wordy...Wednesday:

Wait a minute?! That's not a Redbox! That's a Bluebox. I guess that's what happens when "The Walmarts" get you. Speaking of Redbox, I waited and waited for 500 Days of Summer to come to a Redbox near me, and it never happened. So I had to take matters into my own hands and go to Hollywood video. While inside I asked the cashier how long it had been since our last rental, and she said 2006. Isn't that crazy?! Has it really been four years of being a Redbox customer? Doesn't it make you wish you had invented Redbox?!

Did you know that Redbox has an iPhone app? It's way cool. Try it, you'll like it.

I really liked 500 Days of Summer, (Did you see it?) even though I felt sad for him at the end.

My current song of the week (more like song of the month - oops)is from the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack. I really like it, you should take a listen.

One last thing... this is funny.

Quick Tips: In the laundry room

I was so excited about a front loading washing machine when we first got one. That is until I found out the hard way about the smells that can happen if you don't open the door once in a while. Now the door is found open more often then not, avoiding one of my least favorite words...MOIST! (ew!)

Another little quick tip is to re-use dryer sheets and or cut them in half to double your value.

ps. Thanks for all the feedback yesterday. Next week will be Rotisserie Chicken Week!

Welcome March, a Winner and a Question

our family calendar: made in 2004

I really like the month of March. It seems like a fresh start, Spring is so close you can almost feel it, you start to see your neighbors again, and Green...how can you not just love the color green?!

Also, this month, my Dad is turning 60! It's going to be a fun month, I just know it.



On with the Winner of the Ming Brands iPhone Accessories Giveaway (that's a mouth full): Congrats Shaunee! email me and I'll make sure these get to you asap.

Also, Ming Brands has generously offered No Biggie readers a buy one get one free discount at check out on their site. Just add two items into your online cart and use the code: nobiggie
to get the discount. Thanks Ming Brands!

And for the Question: I've been planning a weeks worth of recipes using a Rotisserie Chicken you buy from the store. I was feeling excited about it, because they are all great recipes that I use often and that our family loves.

But then I watched Food Inc. and I started questioning if I should do it. Also, since I'm not just a food blogger, I wonder if that would be too many food posts...a whole week of food?

Anyway, I'd love some feedback, if you have an opinion.

Friday Favorites →

mobile uploads

Giant gummy bears and giant gummy coke bottles spotted at It's Sugar last weekend in Vegas.

Two darling baby mobiles with the How To:
1. butterflies via The Mother Huddle
2. felt flowers via {create*loves}

Two really cute play kitchens made from old furniture:
1. a white one via Vintage Songbird shared by my friend Sylvia
2. a green one via Miranda of Narrating Life

-Being invited to be a Guest Sassy this month with the Sassy Scoops (thanks again girls!)
-Seeing the little birdcage I made for my sister featured on Ohdeedoh this week - So Fun!

Have a great weekend!

Thrifty Thurs. - Orange!

Orange! Orange is like totally the new black...I mean brown. ;)
While in St. George, I had to swing by the D.I. to check things out. This chair was $15 buckaroos and it's comfortable too! While checking out, two people complimented it saying "Nice Find!" One tried to trade for a lamp he had in hand (sorry, buddy). I love when that happens, it makes you feel like you scored.



and this embroidered wall hanging?! uh...I dunno. All I was thinking when I bought it, was that it had the word vintage all over it; and vintage stuff sells. It actually goes really well with the chair. Who knows, maybe it will be listed in my "someday" ETSY shop or on an ebay near you. ;)

My Girl...Gourmet

You haven't made cupcakes... er I mean cup cake until you've made them with "The Original Cupcake Maker" featuring the Cupcake Froster!


Step 1: Take Out of Box - cue cussing! If you hear voices during Step 1, it's the people at the toy packaging plant laughing out loud (LOL) as you struggle to complete step 1.


Step 2. Mise en place: Everything in it's place. That's all four cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles.


Step 3. Stir
Step 4. Place in microwave - first clean the heck out of your microwave to make it somewhat presentable.
Step 5. Cook for :30 seconds


Step 6. Remove from microwave - CAUTION - hot steam ahead!


Step 7. Frost - This is the fun part. Mix up the frosting, put it into the "Cupcake Froster", and then press down and release to find a perfectly frosted cupcake... almost perfect.


Step 8. Sprinkle and Enjoy!


Time spent removing from box? 8 minutes
Time spent wondering if it could technically be called food? Still in question.
Time spent with my girl? Priceless.

Giveaway: iPhone Accessories

Giveaway Now Closed

This is a fun little giveaway for iPhone users. Last year I declared my love for the iPhone, listing all the things that it has replaced. Well now I have one more to add to the list: your compact mirror.

This giveaway is from Ming Brands.
Ming Brands is giving away to one lucky reader, a 'Thins' iPhone skin (your choice from the two darling styles below), and a 'Reflect' mirrored screen protector (see above).



To give you an idea of what the mirrored screen protector actually looks like, here are two images of my iPhone with it on below.
What I love most about these iPhone protectors is that I can put them over the invisi-shield that I already have on my iPhone. Also, the mirrored screen protector can come off and on with ease.


If you'd like to enter this Giveaway:

Please comment on this post by 10pm, Sunday February 28th to enter. ...telling me your favorite iPhone App.

for extra entries: (please leave a new comment for each entry.)
1. facebook
2. blog
3. retweet my tweet about this giveaway with a link to this post.

Anonymous comments will be ignored.
The winner will be announced on Monday morning, March 1st.

A St. George Parade-y Kind of Weekend

Over the weekend I joined my Parents and my two sisters for the St. George Parade of Homes. We have gone to it for the last few years and it's a weekend I look forward to. The St. George Parade of Homes always has a couple of must see homes on the list (like the one above, from this year). I'm mean C'mon...that view every morning?! (YES, please!) They always make the most of their beautiful red rock surroundings.



Other than the over-the-top, Must-See-Homes, I love to take away little decorating ideas. Here are a few images I snapped at a smaller home that was decorated with more of my style. Most of the homes are pretty rustic and dark, so it's so refreshing to see a few with light, colorful decor.

We also went down to Vegas to the Town Square Mall to visit the two stores that we don't have: H&M and Sephora. Maybe one of these days we'll have those two here in Utah.

It was such a fun weekend together (with my besties ) , and I'm bummed we didn't take any pictures together. I owe a major big Thank YOU to Kyle for taking time off work so I could get away.