Valentine Project for Kids

I did this little Valentine project when BBC was three years old. It was a lot of fun then although I did most of the work. I decided we would try it again this weekend (he just turned six, remember) while were were iced in. I must say it was even more fun now because it helped him practice a lot of skills in a totally fun way... Warning: lots of pictures but they tell the story!

Painting
(look at that JOY in his little face!)

Tracing Hearts With Cookie Cutter

(he also drew some free-handed)

Cutting

Writing

Pasting

And sending a Little Piece of ART to some special peeps!
Isn't that adorable???

I'm linking up with...

Kimba's DIY Party
Hoosier Homemade's Valentine Party. They are doing a giveaway!

Making the World CUTER Party

The Girl Creative Just Something I Whipped Up Party! Giveaway!

Life as Lori's Get Your Craft On Party.

Somewhat Simple's Valentine Strut Your Stuff Party.

I'm also linking up with Cheri's It's So Very Creative Party. She is doing a month of giveaways!!!

Be sure to head over and check it all out!

Happy crafting!

~Southern Fried Gal

Southern Fried Sundays

Do you ever find yourself asking God for a big NEON sign that says GOOD with an arrow pointing in the right direction? Or have your ever asked HIM to hit you over the head with the answer? I often find myself whispering these prayers.

I have been in a very melancholy mood this past week. Things haven't exactly gone the way I would have planned over the past few months and I find myself trying to fix everything in my own strength. It would be so easy to go back to corporate life and work the proverbial 9-5 and earn a living. Except everything is not as it appears on the other side of the fence. Is it ever really a 40 hour work week? Could I even find a job in this economy? And what other things are being sacrificed along the wayside?

So this week I had to do some major soul-searching. Get back to the basics. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt leaving corporate life to stay home with BBC three years ago was a God-ordained decision in our lives. I had total and complete peace about that then.

We had originally planned for me to go back to corporate once he started school but I have found over the past six months that my son needs me to be here for him more than ever. He needs structure. He needs discipline. He needs spiritual nurturing. After all this my husband and I still firmly believe me being home with BBC is God's will for our lives.

So why is it so hard to trust that God will provide even when things don't look or go as WE plan? This week the LORD gave me the NEON sign. He sent many people to speak into my life - many without even knowing (my dear friend Kimberly, John Maxwell, a new blog friend Amy Kinser, and many others). Here's what they all said to me in a round about way...

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Proverbs 16:3 NIV

Thank you, LORD for NEON signs! Now I pray I can follow through and do so... I'm a hard-headed child!

Have you gotten a NEON sign, lately? If so are you following it?

~Southern Fried Gal

At HOME Saturdays

This week I have been doing some heavy duty soul-searching in regard to my Southern Living at HOME business. I needed to get back to basics and remember WHY I continue this business. You are looking at the number one reason above!

I have weighed my options heavily over the past week and so far I haven't found another opportunity out there that allows me the flexibility to be there for BBC (pick up daily at 2:30 from school, not worry about spring/summer/winter breaks, etc.) with the same earning potential and perks as Southern Living at HOME.

I find myself at a place of rebuilding now. I know this business works if you work the business. I have experienced the joy (new friends, personal development, being there for my family) and rewards (full time income, free vacations, cash bonuses) first hand.

This next week I will be booking parties like a mad woman! Feel free to drop me a note for accountability (and/or if you want to look at our opportunity or hosting a home/blog party!). And if you don't mind please pray for me as I enter this rebuilding phase.

As always, thanks for letting me share my heart!

~Southern Fried Gal

P.S. Next Friday I will be hosting a Show Your At HOME Style party. Then we'll do a giveaway and recap some favorites for the At HOME Saturday post. Get your pictures ready!!! Help me spread the word!

My Boy's Birthday - Sniffs, Laughs, and Tips

It's hard to believe that around this time six years ago I was heading to the hospital to have my precious boy. I have been reminiscing this morning which means I have been alternating sniffing and laughing. Also while looking at pictures I saw a few tips I've done over the years that I thought were share-worthy. So if you can handle all the pictures please join me on a walk down memory lane...

The BIG Day

I hate to have my picture taken. But here I am in all my glory the morning of. I chose not to wear mascara for obvious reasons then - rethinking that decision now! (Oh that is a good picture of my master bedroom before - will be sharing redo soon).

And here's my sweet BBC just moments after entering this world...sniff.

First Birthday

How cute (and the birthday boy ain't bad looking, either). I loved the party stuff we got for his first birthday and especially his smash cake!

Tip 1: Hire a photographer that is trying to build a business to take pictures. I had a friend that took pictures for birthdays. Her fee was $300 for the party and you got to pick 35 photos - yowsers! So I asked a photographer that was trying to build her business if she had thought about doing parties. She had not so this was a win-win opportunity. She charged me $50 to take photos for 2 hours and then gave me a CD with about 200 pictures. She even did cool stuff to some of the photos. Then I took her business cards and gave her referrals. She now charges a $300 minimum and upwards of $800! Fun to know I had a hand in helping her get started.

This is one of my favorite family photos that she snapped that day. What a memory...sniff.

Second Birthday

We hired her again the second year. More cool photos. She honored her original price for me, too! It is so awesome to have someone do this for you - especially at the young ages. I cannot recommend it highly enough. You get to focus on the fun and you get GREAT photos. Best money I have spent at a birthday party to date!

Tip 2: Use what you have. We did a transportation theme for this birthday. So I cleaned up his dump truck to display the party favors.

Tip 3: See the photo display of BBC through the years? This is a fun way to help everyone reminisce the years during the party.

He had a big fit just before this picture. Hands down one of my favorites pictures and memories.

Third Birthday

Didn't book the VERY popular photographer in time. Photo quality down hill from here!

This was my first birthday party as a stay-at-home mom. I went a little too crafty - oh my! The theme was Thomas so I made an appetizer train with pretzel logs, chocolate graham coal and chocolate chip cheesecake boulder. I even made the lopsided cake (my first half chocolate half white cake)! Laugh!

Tip 4: See those scrapbook pages to the right of the picture? Each year I buy scrapbook paper that goes with the theme of the party and then I have the guests leave a special message for the birthday boy. LOVE this.

Fourth Birthday

Pirates! We ventured out to a pizza joint for this affair. All the kids dressed up. Lots of fun! I even stepped up my skills and made a 3D pirate ship cake with cannons and all. Complete camera failure. I only salvaged a couple of pictures. Why didn't get I continue with the photographer? Arghhh...

Fifth Birthday

He's not a baby anymore...sniff.

Tip 5: We decided to only throw a big shindig every few years. This is the year we decided to go to the local Jump Zone. Second best birthday party money I ever spent because all I had to do was bring cupcakes - they did EVERYTHING else! And the kids were all worn out and ready for nap after the party!

Sixth Birthday

And that leads us up to today. Happy Birthday BBC! He's a big SIX years old. Sniff. He's in kindergarten now and he is learning so much.

Tip 6: It's OK to keep it SIMPLE! It's all about the memories! He's having a small party at school this morning. Because of this we decided to skip all the big birthday hoopla and just enjoy this year as our little family. We are taking him to his favorite place to eat - Larry's Pizza - and then to see a movie. I love that we are keeping it simple this year.

Well thanks for walking with me down memory lane. I hope you enjoyed as much as I did.

What is your best birthday party tip?

~Southern Fried Gal

P.S. I'm linking up with We Are THAT Family for Works for Me Wednesday to share these tips. Be sure to head over there to see Kristen's only beauty tip along with lots of other great ideas!

Funny How Things Come Together Bathroom Redo

It's about dang time I revealed our upstairs bathroom redo. It really isn't anything special. I just love the story of how it all came together. And as per usual, I was hasty (well, sorta) and didn't take before pics.

This is the nasty tile that was in there before. It looked dirty all the time - especially when allowing BBC to do marble art.

And here you can see the washed out color on the walls. We went with builder's beige when we first moved in because we were in shock from the red white and painter's blue left from the previous homeowners.We also updated the hardware when we first moved in many moons ago. We bought that all at Lowe's on clearance because I'm cheap like that.

And here's how she looks today! We've only had the tile in the closet for 3 years now -about time we did something with it! And the wall color that picks up that chocolate-caramelly color perfectly (like my new color name?) was a stroke of genius (read cheapness) on my part. I didn't want to spend money on brown paint when we had two perfectly half-used cans in the garage. So we mixed them together and voila!

Continuing on my "I don't want to spend another penny out of pocket rampage" I headed to TJ Maxx where I had a $65 gift card. I found the rug and fell in love with it. So glad it worked with the other colors - got lucky on that one. And the towels that were a PERFECT match from the clearance aisle!

I had just enough on my gift card to get this white waffle shower curtain to complete the look. This bathroom is dual purpose - BBC's main bathroom AND guest bathroom so I like that it has a spa/manly feel to it. I was super excited about Susie Harris' Waffles in the Bathroom Post because now I know how I can add hand towels in here on the cheap and cute! Thanks, girl!

For the HUGE mirror, we decided to just frame that out with trim. We would have to break it to get it out and I didn't want to spend that much cash on this room. So DH bought a couple of pieces of trim (under $10, I believe) and Gorilla Glue (that is a funny story for another day-have you ever used that stuff?) and trimmed out the mirror. Works for me!

Don't look up or you will bust me on the ugly Hollywood lights. I'm still on the lookout for light fixtures to complete the look (shopping clearance of course - why stop now?). I really want to find some fabric for the windows. And we could stand to slap something on the walls - maybe some of BBC's marble art will do...hmmm.

Overall not a bad overhaul using the resources we had on hand! I am actually surprised at the transformation the $50 in tiles and a gallon of paint provided.

I'm joining up with Kimba's DIY Day party. If you are looking for DIY inspiration be sure to head over there and check it out!

Thanks for taking a look!

~Southern Fried Gal

Beauty in Fungus?

This is one of those Southern Fried {brain} moments! I was walking down the road last week and this caught my eye. I kept walking a bit and then felt the sudden urge to come back and snap a picture with my iPhone. I know the guy that caught me snapping the photo must have thought I was crazy and, well, maybe you will, too. I just thought it was so interesting and beautiful! The colors and shapes just spoke to me. Weird, I know.

Speaking of weird, can you see what looks like a face in the green on the top left side of the photo...you can click the photo to see it bigger...kinda creepy.

I can't wait to see what hits I get from google with this post! Especially since I already posted about fungus once before...

Hope you find beauty in the weird stuff today!

~Southern Fried Gal

Southern Fried Sundays

I attended a funeral for a suicide victim this week. Tough to understand. The church was jam packed with people that were touched by the life of the victim. He left behind a three year old son. He left behind close friends and family that loved him. He was well respected in the community. All this made it even more difficult to understand how it could come to such a finality.

The minister delivered an excellent message during the funeral. It was of hope and healing. One reference of scripture in particular stuck out in my mind.

"Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul." Psalm 94:17-19 NIV

It is easy to quote this passage and believe when times are good. Maybe even when times are not so good. I wonder if it is as easy when it feels like there is not hope left at all? I came away from this funeral with a desire to hide these words deeper in my heart. The LORD will console, support and bring joy despite inner turmoil. He is bigger than any mountain I face!!

I'm not quite sure why this is what I'm sharing today. It has been heavy on my heart this week. Maybe I just need to get it off my chest to process the situation. Maybe the Lord is prompting me to share. I'm not sure. Whatever the reason, I pray that these words continue to provide hope and healing to all those reading and that you too will hide them a bit deeper in your heart.

~Southern Fried Gal

Photo courtesy Louann Parker 2009

At Home Saturdays

Time for some SWEET decor for Valentine's day! Dress up your Southern Living at HOME glass products on the cheap with conversation hearts and red hots.

Any size and shape works nicely and makes a fun statement.

(One of these flames is not like the other one...
not sure what happened but too lazy to retake!)

I'm always trying different ideas with my products to get more value out of them. For example, remember the tall glass dome (pg 30, spring catalog) from last week? This week I removed the glass cylinder from the Small Galveston Hurricane (pg 37, spring catalog) and replaced with an upside Tall Glass Dome for a different scale and look.

Nothing new about this look - our classic and timeless Hemingway Hurricane (pg 31, spring catalog) with red hots and a candle. Secret: these red hots are going on their third Valentine's day! I put them back in a Ziploc bag and they keep from year to year. Plus that gives you a good reason to deny the kids the extra sugar intake!

Even our Estate Canister (pg 28, spring catalog) gets in on the fun! This is one of my favorite products. I have several. This is one piece that I update every month (if not more often). BBC loves to come in to a new look - which means we are creating memories! That makes me love this product even more!

What other ideas do you have for Valentine's day and these products? I love to hear all your creative ideas!

~Southern Fried Gal

p.s. I did get new conversation hearts this year and those blue raspberry ones are awesome.

Chicken Pot Pie

I made Chicken Pot Pie for dinner last night. I got the recipe from a friend at church almost 8 years ago (sniff). She brought it to us for dinner one night shortly after BBC was born. What I love about this recipe is that it is pretty simple and it makes two batches at once. I usually cook one right away and freeze the other for a really easy and tasty future meal. Or you can pay it forward as my friend did!

Chicken Pot Pie
1 cup onions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup evaporated milk
4 cups chicken, cooked
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
pie crusts (in a pinch I use Pillsbury refrigerated crusts)


Saute onions, celery, and carrots in butter in a large skillet over medium heat until tender. Add flour and stir until smooth. Cook one minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth and evaporated milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Stir in chicken, peas, salt and pepper. (I omit the onions - the things you do for love - and add mushrooms). Divide filling in half.


If freezing, allow to cool and freeze in one gallon freezer bags.


To serve, thaw filling. Bring pie crusts to room temperature. Shape bottom pie crust. Add filling. Cover with top crust. Pinch the edges of the two crusts together and then flute or crimp. Make a few slits in the top of the crust for the steam to escape. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350. Then bake covered with foil for 30 more minutes.


Let stand 10 minutes before serving.


Enjoy!

 

Come join Love the Pie with TidyMom  sponsored by Cherokee USA, Le Creuset, Wilton, Bags by Bloom and  Harvard Common Press

~Southern Fried Gal

Girls Trip - Vegas!

I wanted to share a recap of our FREE girl's trip to Vegas. These pics are absolutely horrible and I think that adds to the cheesiness of a Vegas trip (not dissing the trip or the city - just think flying Elvis, neon lights, etc.). The trip was compliments of Southern Living at HOME. This was our annual leadership experience to connect with other leaders in the company, to be updated on our business including a sneak peek at the fall 2010 products, (fabulous) and to enhance our skills with training. Mission accomplished in all these areas so won't bore you with those details...Now on to the fun!

We stayed at the Red Rock Casino and Resort. It was a nice resort but not on the strip (probably by design so we would attend meetings and such). One of the girls I was with (won't mention any names) asked if the resort was named for one of the rocks out here. Our driver smiled, gave her a grin and told her it was the red one. And then we got to stare at it out our window all week!

We made it to the strip plenty of times. Mostly to SHOP! Vegas is hard on the budget!

We had tasty (and pretty) food the entire week long. I'm proud to say we didn't do a single buffet. Praise the LORD on that one. (Buffets freak me out - it's a germaphobe thing).

One day we went to the newly opened City Center. I was in heaven! Awesome architecture...

Like this super thin building. I'm not sure I could have gotten in this one with my hips!

I wish I had my real camera instead of my iPhone but I still had fun.

There were lots of water features. Even though it is on the strip the way it is designed (or maybe because it is so new) there wasn't any street noise. It was a beautiful day and I could have stayed in the outside area forever. It was so soothing and calming.

See, isn't this a great pic? We were about to see the Phantom of the Opera. I enjoyed it much. The chandelier scenes were amazing. And the dude playing Raoul was very tall and handsome.

I had to include a picture of the lamp that freaked me out. The first night we couldn't get it to turn on. A couple of nights in I finally got it to come on but when we were completely across the room the shade just fell off. On the last night the lamp kept coming on randomly when we were trying to go to bed. I got up and unplugged it. I'm not really into the whole paranormal thing but I was outta there if it came back on after that - just saying.

Anyway - it was a lovely week in Vegas with my BFF and around 300 company leaders. We are currently working on a FREE trip to Atlantis via Southern Living at HOME this summer. I've got to get busy booking parties and sharing the excitement of our opportunity! Wanna go with? Ask me how!

~Southern Fried Gal

January 2010 Door Decor

Found this cute fella at an after Christmas sale at Silks A Bloom. He is probably cute enough to hang on the door all by himself but I wanted to dress him up a bit. I wired him to a grapevine wreath (one that has been with me years. I use wire instead of hot glue). It needed a bit more so I went into my junk closet and found 3 picks of evergreen.

Their ends were tipped with glitter to look like snow. Perfect! I wired those around and bent the branches here and there just so. Then I hung from the door with a burlap sash. What a cutie!

What's on your door in January?

Edited: I'm joining Cheri for her weekly Celebrations party. Be sure to head over there and see what everyone is up to this week!

Southern Fried Sundays

With a week of tragedy in Haiti and tragedy that hit closer to home in my own life this weekend, it would be tempting to fall into a downward spiral of thinking. Praise God we have hope in something bigger. We can maintain JOY in the midst of sorrow.

Darrell Evans is one of my favorite Christian Artists. I love what he has to say regarding joy and hard times. "Joy isn't tested when things are great," says Darrell. "Joy is tested and strength is tested when things are difficult. Where are you going to run when things get hard and you don't understand? I'm going to run to you, God. I don't get it, but I'm going to trade this in for joy and just know that walking with You is more than enough to carry me through."

This is the song that is on my heart today...

Trading My Sorrows, Darrell Evans

I'm trading my sorrow
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord

I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord

Chorus:
And we say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord Amen

I'm pressed but not crushed persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I'm blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure
And his joy's gonna be my strength

Though the sorrow may last for the night
His joy comes with the morning

Read more about Darrell Evans and Trading my Sorrows lyrics.

Praying the JOY of the LORD will flood your soul today...

~Southern Fried Gal

At HOME Saturdays

Here's a WOW Southern Living at HOME product trio idea that came together on a whim...

First let's look at the practicality of the Cinnabar Tidbits (pg 64, spring catalog), Cinnabar Accent Plates (pg 64, spring catalog), and Tall Glass Dome (pg 30, spring catalog). Cinnabar is one of our most popular pottery lines. Of course it is beautiful to use for service pieces. I also like to mix and match with my other dishes and serving pieces. And because it is oven safe, I like to bake individual serving spinach and artichoke dip in the tidbits bowls. Practical uses of the dome speak for themselves (or you can check out a couple of ideas here and here).

In addition to these practical uses, I use my pottery in my home decor as well. As Gail Pittman says, a pop of red in a room is like lipstick for decor. I wanted to do a little nook with snowmen for an element of fun in my January home. I needed a way to bring importance, height, and wow factor to a cute little snow fella. Here's what I came up with...

To the right, upside down tidbit bowl coupled with accent plate to create a pedestal. Add snowman and dome and voila! Now while this is fine for a display up out of the kiddos reach. I wouldn't recommend serving using this setup unless you wanted to commit to the look and epoxy the tidbit and plate together. You know me - I commit to NOTHING in my home decor!

Now I am on the lookout for something sweet to feature in it for Valentine's day...any suggestions?

I am renaming Saturdays with Southern Living at HOME series to At HOME Saturdays and committed to posting this series again. Please help me spread the word!

Happy Saturday!

~Southern Fried Gal

P.S. I'm linking up with The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday. Be sure to head over there and see what other folks are transforming!