Apothecary Soap Jars

I don't have any of my apothecary jars in the bathrooms (although I love the idea) because I am afraid of my little ones breaking them. And bleeding children and broken apothecary jars are not a good combination. Lots of crying from both me and the little ones. Not that I would know...

But one day...either when I have an extra bathroom that is off limits to kids or the kids get older I will be using this idea from 320 Sycamore:


Talk about easy, but still very attractive. She waited until dove soap went on sale and bought a ton. I think there are 16 in there. Unwrapped them and piled them in the jar. Just make sure your hands are dry!

Creative Ways to Display Photos

Mandi wanted to know if I had any suggestions for displaying art and photos besides sticking them in frames.

So here are some of my favorites that I have posted before...

Glass jars:



The mason jar look is fun, but doesn't really go with my style. But I do the same thing with my apothecary jars. One has a photo of all of the cousins and another has a wedding picture of me and Hubby.

Wooden hangers:


I have seen photos, posters, and signs hung this way. And I love it!

And then there is this ever popular way to hang children's art, that would work just as well for photos, postcards or any other art work:



Another easy and relatively inexpensive way to display photos is with mounting board (foam board):
It comes in all the basic colors (and I am guessing you could probably spray paint it if you wanted to). It is about 1/4 of an inch thick and very sturdy and works perfectly for a photo display.

And last but not least, you can stick snapshots on the wall with double sided tape like this display from HP:

Flower and Bird Garland

This Totally Tabletops tutorial (that is an alliteration...I *heart* alliterations!) is too cute. I couldn't think of a word that started with 't'. Sorry. I have failed you. And actually, I saw it on Totally Tabletops, but the tutorial actually came from Once Wed. But that is less fun to say.

So here is the garland:

And it is made from "Million Star" Gypsophilia that you might know as baby's breath and some sting, paper and wire. I think it would look beautiful without the birds too. But that might be because I have never caught on to the bird craze!

And here is the how to:

Before you get started on the garland, unwrap your bunch of Gypsophelia, trim the stems and place in warm water. Allow the flowers to drink for a couple of hours before proceeding.

1. Take your floral clippers, and trim all of the flower tufts off the end of the sprays, leaving just a little stem. (see figure 1)

2. Cut a 7 foot length of fabric coated wire. Twist the end of the wire to make a little loop at the end.

3. Take a tuft of Baby's Breath, and lay it on your support wire, just past the loop. Pick up your wire spool, and wrap the wire around the flower stem and support wire. (see figure 2)

4. Add another tuft, this time to the back side of the wire, and wrap again.

5. Keep adding the flower tufts, alternating front and back, and work your way down the wire. (see figure 3)

6. When you reach the end of the wire, cut the spool away and wrap the wire around the garland end several times to secure. Make a loop on the end with your support wire. Trim your flower stems to make the end of the garland tidy. (see figure 4)

To keep your garland fresh, coil it up, mist it lightly with water, and place it inside a plastic garbage bag. Put it in your refrigerator, or in the coolest spot available. It should stay fresh for 24-48 hours depending where you keep it.

7. Print out the bird template on a sheet of card stock. Cut out the birds, and trace them onto your decorative paper. ( I used 10 pairs for a six foot garland)

8. Cut all of your birds out, and punch a small hole in the middle of each bird's back. (see figure 5)

9. Cut a length of string about 14 inches long, and tie a bird to each end. (see figure 6)

10. Hang your garland from the wire loop ends and hang your birds over the garland, spacing them evenly apart. (see figure 7)

And here is their bird template in case you want to make this or anything else with birds!

Ice Necklaces

Maya Made posted this really fun idea for kids to keep cool this summer:

I don't know how long they will last when it gets to be 100 here, but I think they are worth a shot! And how fun would these be for the 4th of July! It is REALLY hot here on the 4th of July!

Ice Cream Cupcakes for Alisa

Alisa wanted to know if I had found any ideas for ice cream cupcakes and I DO!! I just made some for Hubby's birthday and I also found these from Joy The Baker:

I actually took pictures of the ones that I made, but my computer hates me at the moment so I won't be downloading them.
The key to ice cream cupcakes are aluminum cupcake wrappers. You can make them in a tin without the wrappers, but these suckers tend to melt pretty fast in the AZ heat, so the wrappers are helpful. Plus they make it a LOT easier to get these puppies out of the pan!

Once you have the wrappers (make sure to take the papers out from between the aluminum cups) you need to have a base to your cupcake. Joy has used brownies once and cake another time. I used an Oreo cookie crust. Whatever you use, you want it to fill about the bottom 1/3 of your cupcake.

Once the base is done you are ready for the ice cream. Let the ice cream soften up so that is is scoopable and spreadable. Scoop it into the cup on top of your 'base' and spread it so that it fills in all the spaces. Then comes the hard part. You need to find space in your freezer for the cupcake pans. I wish you luck. It took a small miracle and changing the dinner menu to find the space in mine. One of these days I will break down and get a second freezer.

Once the ice cream has hardened again, you are ready for the 'frosting'. Chocolate ganache works really well. So does Cool Whip. But I am not a Cool Whip fan, so I would stick with the the chocolate ganache. Whatever you choose, spread it on top of the ice cream and stick it back in the freezer to harden.

Then cover and leave in the freezer until you are ready to eat them.


PS - To make an Oreo crust for 24 cupcakes use half of a package of Oreos crushed up and 1/4 of a cup of butter mixed together. Press into the cupcake wrapper with a cup.

PPS - The 'frosting' I made was actually Cool Whip and Hershey's syrup mixed together.

PPPS - Oreo crust, mint chocolate chip ice cream and the crazy chocolate Cool Whip topping is the cake that Hubby always request for his birthday. You can make it in a 9x 13 Pyrex too. Just use the entire package of Oreos for the crust, then cover with an entire 1/2 gallon of ice cream, and then frost with the Cool Whip mixture.

PPPPS - Did you know that most ice creams don't come in 1/2 gallons anymore. They are now 2 quarts. Sneaky way to cut cost instead of raising prices.

PPPPPS - If you are ever looking for ideas, PLEASE email me at lorieblogs (at) gmail (dot) com. I would love to help you look for ideas for just about anything!