Crafting with Martha!

~ By Sam ~
                 
I love crafts, with or without the kids. It is fun to do them with the kids, but sometimes I need a grown up craft to make me feel "crafty." When I am looking for crafting ideas I like to turn to Martha Stewart. My Mom adores Martha and says she knew her way back when. Because my Mom has so much admiration for Martha Stewart, I do too. Her projects are relatively simple and always classic. I found this Bat Mobile from the Indoor Halloween Decorations page and knew it was the one for me to make this season. I love simple, black and I love things I can find for free, like the tree branch that the bats are dangling from.

Here is the original from Martha's site. 

                                  

And here is my attempt at making the "Bat Mobile"-

 I found a stick off of one of our trees outside and sprayed it with black spray paint.

While the spray paint dried, I printed out the bat template provided and got some black post board out. Card stock can be expensive so I just got a piece of black poster board at 2 for a $1.00 and cut it into pieces. 

Then I cut out the template, traced them by folding the paper in half. She gives you half of the bat so that you can trace it and both sides be equal. 

Last I got my dry branch, fishing string, and hole punch. I didn't punch it all the way through the paper, just punctured it a bit so I could slide the fishing string in. I hung the bats up randomly and at different lengths.

Here is my finished product! I hung it high enough over the sliding glass door to the deck so that the children couldn't reach it. It was late by the end of the day when I got it finished so there is a shadow from the light. But I think that makes it look a little spooky!

Finding the right fit

                                

Being a Mom is such an important job. You devote your time and energy into these little people and sometimes your needs and wants get put on the back burner. We tend to think that our needs are second, third or even further down the list. One thing that should be important and a necessity is the right post baby body undergarments. As much as we want to hold onto our pre-baby body pieces, most of the time after giving birth to children your body changes.

After your body changes and readjusts back to the "new normal" you should definitely have a bra fitting to ensure you are wearing the right fit for you. There are so many benefits to wearing the right bra, sometimes they can cause back pain and shoulder pain, and I don't know about you but I don't need another thing during the day to worry about. The good news is you don't have to substitute comfort for style. There are some great options out there that feel great but also look good. Just because I am a Mom that does not mean that I have to wear frumpy anything! Even under my clothes I like knowing I look good and feel good as I take on the day filled with kids, carpool, swimming lessons and everything else in between.
 
*This post is brought to you by Panache. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary from others.

Classico National Pasta Day Oct. 17th & Giveaway

As a Mom I love making pasts dishes for my family. Its simple to make a with so many varieties of sauce and noodles the varieties are endless. When I learned that October 17th is National Pasta Day I thought how fun would it be to celebrate with a delicious Pasta dinner using Classico pasta sauce.

 My son was just as excited as I was to use some great new cooking tools we received to celebrate National Pasta Day. I like to have my son "help" by watching me cook and stirring non heated items. He loves to be my little helper.

 I was really looking forward to tasting the New Classico Creamy Spinach & Parmesan. I LOVE spinach and mixing it with Parmesan in a pasta sauce, brilliant! I loved this flavor. I have been buying the Basil flavored sauces and the creamy alfredo and now I will be adding this one to my list of ones to buy. I need to try more of them. With all the varieties of Classico sauces I can add different meats and noodles to make many great dishes. As the winter approaches I look forward to a big bowl of warm and delicious pasta for dinner.

Pasta with Classico sauce, freash french bread, a glass of wine and family makes for a perfect way to celebrate National Pasta Day!

I was not sure if my son would like this variety of sauce but he LOVED it! He gobbled it up like crazy and told me it was good. I have found the variety he likes! I am happy that it happens to be the one that has spinach in it. I know he will be asking for leftovers for lunch of this!

A little bit of Parmesan grated on top and its perfect!! You never need a reason to eat a great pasta dish but National Pasta Day is a great reason to try a new flavor like the Classico Creamy Spinach and Parmesan variety.

What will you do to celebrate Classico National Pasta Day? We are hosting a giveaway of free product coupons of Classico coupons to encourage you to try new flavors of Classico.

Enter to Win in the Rafflecopter giveaway below:


a Rafflecopter giveaway  


*In the spirit of full-disclosure, I’ve partnered with Classico and received product, coupons, premium items and reader giveaway coupons as part of my participation. However, no payment was given or expected for posting about the program, and as always, all opinions given here are fully my own.

Weekend In Pictures

~ By Sam ~

I have dropped the ball a bit on the decorating for Halloween. I like to try to get things up by the first weekend in October, here we are almost right smack dab in the middle of the month and I am just now getting around to decorating. I am going to blame in on the rain, or errr lack of rain. The weather had been so sunny and beautiful I forgot it was October in Washington. The rain has rolled in this weekend and I was quickly reminded it was in fact October and Halloween is coming!! What's the point in decorating if you can't enjoy it for a bit? So we worked on the front porch, it is simple this year, way more simple than normal. But hey, I got a late start.

Cleaning off the porch and emptying the Halloween bucket before we get started.

JJ working hard on putting the spiders in the web!

The almost finished product, pretend there are a ton of pumpkins and spiders all over. It is a start right?

The Great Mouse Detective on Blu-ray

As Disney fans in our home I love to see the older movies released on Blu-ray for my son to enjoy. I remember watching The Great Mouse Detective when I was a kid. I think detective mystery movies for kids can be a fun way for them to see logical thinking to resolve a problem while it being fun and light hearted.

Have you see The Great Mouse Detective on Blu-ray in the stores? Its available now!

A Clever Little Hero, One Great Big Adventure

Mystery in the Mist Edition

The Sherlock Holmes of Mousedom Embarks on a Heroic Journey when 

“The Great Mouse Detective” Mystery in the Mist Edition

Film Synopsis:

 “The Great Mouse Detective” Mystery in the Mist Edition arrives on 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack and HD Digital. When the diabolical Professor Ratigan kidnaps London’s master toymaker, the brilliant Basil of Baker Street and his trusted sidekick Dawson try to elude the ultimate trap and foil the perfect crime. This family classic on Disney Blu-ray proves big heroes come in small packages.                

Mystery in the Mist Edition 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (1 Blu-ray Disc +1 DVD) =$29.99 U.S. and $35.99 Canada

HD Digital = Consumer should check with their preferred digital retailer for pricing and additional information

Rating: G in U.S. and Canada. Bonus material not rated. Approximately 74 minutes 

Bonus Features: 

“So You Think You Can Sleuth” – Viewers get an introduction to private investigating to kick off the “Great Mouse Detective” film.

“The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” Sing-A-Long Song – young fans can sing along with Vincent Price to the song’s villainous vocals.

“The Making of the Great Mouse Detective” – In this bonus feature, fans get a behind the scenes look at this classic film.

Aspect Ratio: Blu-ray: Widescreen 1.78:1 DVD: Widescreen 1.78:1 Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions

Audio: Blu-ray: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 DVD: English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1

I asked my son to look serious as if we were thinking about a mystery lol Apparently this is his serious face.

 
*I was not paid or compensated for this post. The opinions in this post are 100% mine and may vary from other opinions. I was provided for free a copy for my review.