Our Backyard BBQ Menu with Reviews

Jalapeno Creamed Corn via BlogHer

Oh my God ya'll, this corn was amazing! Someone came back into the house from the pool and said, "I was told that I must have the corn". It was really that good!

 Summer Pineapple Strawberry Cooler via Mom Magazine

I honestly didn't love this punch- it needed something else. Maybe less of the concentrated juices and more water. It was too punch-syrup like. I do think it would be good with Malibu Rum. Just sayin'!

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes via Cate's World Kitchen

I didn't end up making these, although I do love them. We had fruit with dip instead. We needed something healthy to balance the corn!

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all who sacrificed for our wonderful country to live, speak, and worship freely.

Making Rainbows- Memorial Day Snack

Abby and I made rainbows for her friends at school last week and had so much fun! When strawberries look this good, you can't help but want to buy them up!

Here is our rainbow of colors. I really wanted green grapes, but not at $2.98/pound. Crazy talk! Abby loves honeydew, so she was thrilled with our back up choice.

We put the in rainbow order onto our kebab sticks and the morning of, we added marshmallow clouds on the ends! This was super fun to do with a three year old and really enforced the rainbow colors and her fruits for her.

We plan to make more rainbows for summer parties- they would be great for Memorial Day!

My New Bathroom...

We have lived in our house for 4 years and I finally love our master bathroom! It has the perfect combination of relaxing neutrals and bright colors to suit me! Here is the before of my bathroom- blue and brown with some bird accents.

Now, I have a more tuscan feel with rusts, golds and some greens. It is so much more me! 

I tried really hard to limit my spending in this room. I had to buy fabric and towels, but reused many accessories from other places. Only the towels are new in this corner.

Rather than keep all my everyday products in the plastic container they were in, I put them in a brown basket. It is the perfect size and I honestly wasn't ever responsible enough to put my things away! The basket works much better. I found the white containers at Target. They hold cotton balls and q-tips and blend right in. I love the crackle finish and the matte brown tops. The green and red bowls I already owned- they are from Anthropologie.

My husbands little corner of the counter has the q-tips and a little birdie.

This wall really shows the play on red and blue in the room. The print above the towel is also from Target, but I've had it a few years. You can also see the new green glass soap dispensers I found at Target. (Target isn't paying me to tell you about my bathroom, but they should!)

The new fabric valence really inspired the colors in this room. I first saw it on Big Mama's blog. Holly Mathis recommended it to her from her living room. I found it on fabric.com and my Mom took my one yard purchase and made a long valence for me. 

 The art below the window was a Pinterest find and the funky frames were at Hobby Lobby. I bought them shortly after the fabric hoping it would all come together. The frames were only $10 each (they were 50% off) and I think that is a great deal! 

The final touch on the bathroom was converting the frosted glass covers to seeded glass like I did in the other bathrooms in our house.  It makes the bathroom much brighter and gives it a more custom feel.

Thanks for visiting my new bathroom- I hope you love it, too!

Pinwheel Fiesta

After making my Mom's pinwheel wreath, I knew I wanted one of my own! It is summery and fun and just what my sad porch needed. After seeing the ribbons hanging on Big Mama's wreath post a few weeks ago, I married the two ideas and my pinwheel fiesta was born!

Directions for the pinwheels can be found here. My biggest piece of advice- use 2-sided paper from a pack. You know it matches and will work well together! To attach the ribbons, I strung a piece of floral wire from the back left side to the back right side of the wreath and wired it on each end. I could then just tie all of my scrap ribbons with a knot. It worked perfectly!

My new summer wreath cost just $2.50 for the $4.99 grapevine wreath that was half price. I love when I can make something new without spending much and I can use up some scraps to make room for more!

Mother's Day Gifts

Abby and I made homemade wreaths for my Mom and MIL this year! Both live in identical apartments, about an hour apart and while they have numbers on their front door, parking is more accessible at the back door and it is unlabeled. So, off to Hobby Lobby with an idea and small budget Abby and I went!

Abby selected the green and white gerber bushel for my MIL and I based the wreath off this Pinterest find. Abby was involved by painting the letter as well. She had lots of fun and was clearly proud to give her gifts. My Mom commented Abby is just as happy giving as receiving. That makes this Momma proud!

For my Mom, I used pinwheels shared in the tutorial earlier this month. She had no idea and I like that! She recently spray painted an old metal bench red, so I tried to add that into her wreath. 

I hope you all had a great day celebrating with your own Moms or kids!

Pipe Cleaner Rings

Me and Lulu had our first craft show in late April. While it was fun and educational, it wasn't super successful. It was a small show and the attendance was low. Everyone who came in the booth with Fabulous Shab and I liked our stuff, we just didn't have many people come in the booth!

While we were waiting on customers, another friend in the booth with us taught me how to make pipe cleaner rings. She was selling them to all the little girls and they were quite popular!

Simple directions- take 4 pipe cleaners and wrap the middle around a battery or chapstick tube to create the  size ring you need, twist it a couple of times.

Now take a green pipe cleaner (your leaves) and twist it around the top of your formed ring.

Using pliers or your fingers, tightly wrap the ends of the pipe cleaner to tuck the wired piece away. We don't want our rings to scratch anyone :)

Now you simple coil the end of the pipe cleaner in toward the middle. I did the leaves first and then moved onto the flower petals.

You can see how the coiling looks midway through the process.

My daughter and her two friends loved their new rings!

Chuckwagon Casserole

I am a casserole girl- I will not deny it. I like to mix my meat, veggies and carb all together and cook them. Dinner in a big bowl is my favorite!

This Chuckwagon Casserole meets my requirements and tastes like chili and cornbread all mixed up!

Chuckwagon Casserole


1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped green bell pepper
1 pound lean ground beef
1 can (15 ounces) mild chili beans
3/4 c. BBQ sauce
1/2 t. salt
1 package (8.5 ounces) corn muffin mix (plus what it calls for)
1 can (11 ounces) Mexican-style corn, drained

Preheat oven to 400.

Brown hamburger meat with onions and bell pepper. Drain.

Stir in beans, BBQ sauce and salt. Bring to a boil. Pour into 9x9 casserole dish.

Prepare corn muffin mix according to directions and stir in canned corn.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

Paper Pinwheels Tutorial and a Winner!

Congratulations to my friend Carrie! She won the Me and Lulu Giveaway! There were no comments, but I saw Carrie post on Facebook and Pinterest. Thanks for the love Carrie!

I am a little obsessed with pinwheels- nothing says summer like pinwheels in my mind! I want to make these and put them everywhere.... on a wreath, on notecards, on gift boxes, on picture frames. Cuteness! And, they are super easy and inexpensive.

You will need scrapbook paper and brads. The 2-sided printed paper works best... you will see why. 

Cut your paper down to a square size, I recommend 4" - 6" for your pinwheel. Fold you paper in half to make a triangle.

Fold it again to make a smaller triangle.

Open your triangles back up and punch a whole just off of the fold line in each corner. Your brad will be going in the hole, so nothing too big.

Now, cut your paper along the fold lines leaving about 1/2" in the middle still in tact. This will form the base of the pinwheel.

One by one, lift the corner up and place the brad through the punched hole.

Once all four side are in the brad, press down to poke a hole in the middle of the back (where you didn't cut) and then open up your brad.

The back should look like this...

I bought a 6x6 pad of coordinating papers and made a handful of pinwheels. These are part of the Mother's Day project, so stay tuned!

May Desktop

Have a great month!