Co-hosting That Friday Blog Hop

Welcome to That Friday Blog Hop.

With your hosts: Rebecca @ xoxo Rebecca | Chrissy @ A Lil' Dash Of Diva |

Tiffany @ Life Of A Lost Muse

Hop around, have fun, and find lots of fun blogs to enjoy!

 

  

Click on the “Follow on Bloglovin” buttons above to follow each host

So here is what we ask from all of you lovely people.

1. Follow the three hosts
2. Follow the week's special co-host
3. Grab the button, share it everywhere to spread the word Tweet
   

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Our co-host this week is Nichole from Pinkie for Pink. Stop by her blog and show her some love! You can find her blog by clicking on her button below. Don't forget to leave a comment there as well. Everyone loves a wonderful comment!

So link up all your social networks and have a wonderful Friday and weekend!

Kid's Summer Art Projects

Today I am sharing these adorable painting projects that my daughter and I did in the spirit of summer. I tried sticking with the theme and of course used her cute little hands and feet to make the shapes of the projects. 

First I had my daughter make the shape of a sun by painting her hand yellow and pressing it onto the paper and doing that multiple times going in a circle to form the shape of a sun. Be sure to paint the hand with a coat of paint each time before pressing down. Once it is dry paint on a simple smiley face :)

My daughter loved this sun project!

Next I had her make a butterfly by using her feet print for the two wings then we used her thumb print for the center dots of the butterflies body. Once dry paint on a face with a small brush.      

This crab painting was totally easy and so much fun, just paint their hands red then press on the paper and once it is dry paint on the facial features of your choice. 

This caterpillar has to be my absolute favorite! It is the more complicated of these projects but still super easy to do. You want to pain the palm of the hand green and the fingers blue excluding your thumb, press that on the paper making the body. Then paint the palm of the hand red and only two fingers as well and paste on the picture for the head. Once this is try then use their finger print for the yellow part of the eyes and after that dries paint on the nose and black dots in the eyes. 

This lady bug was super easy and fun! Paint the foot red and the heal of the foot black. Press onto the paper and once that is dry add the black dots and face accents. 

If you are looking for some other fun art projects visit these other projects we have done: 4th of July,  Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, and Thanksgiving.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Happy Crafting!

Crockpot Pesto Chicken

Today I am sharing with you all another delicious chicken recipe. This one is a very simple recipe that is quick and easy to prepare then just toss into the crockpot. I hope you have a chance to try the recipe and enjoy it!

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breast

1 package ranch dressing mix (the packet of  powder mix)

6 oz prepared pesto

1 cup chicken broth

Directions: 

Place chicken in crock pot

In a small bowl mix together the pesto, ranch dressing mix and chicken broth.

 Pour over chicken and cook on low for 5-6 hours

Serve with rice and some vegetables and

ENJOY!

4th of July Kid's Art Projects

Today I am sharing with you some fun 4th of July inspired art projects that my daughter and I worked on this week. For each holiday I love doing art projects with my kids that fit the holiday and of course I love to use their hands, feet, finger prints or other fun items to make a fun masterpiece.

My favorite of the three projects that we did was painting fire works. To do this I took pipe cleaners and cut them into small pieces and twisted them together to get this piece below. Be sure to twist one going upward to create a handle for them to hang onto.

Dip it into red and blue paint and place onto paper.. Do 2-3 layers on each one to make them have multiple lines and colors. 

I love the way these turned out!

Next we did a very simple hand and finger painting of the red flag. As you can see it is a simple blue hand in the top left corner then have them make some red lines going across.

Totally simple and looks adorable in the end! 

Lastly we had to do a cookie cutter painting with starts to fit the theme. This is one of her favorite projects because it is a very simple project and she loves to use the different shapes and colors to make a collage.

Take a look at the heart painting she did for Valentine's day and the bunny painting for Easter all out of cookie cutters. Can't you tell this is her favorite? 

Here are some other holiday theme art projects we have done: Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, and Thanksgiving.

Thank you for stopping by today,

Italian Stuffed Chicken

Today I am sharing with you one of my favorite chicken recipes. This Italian Stuffed Chicken is loaded with delicious cheese, green onions, basil and topped with spaghetti sauce. The recipe is very easy so try it out and let me know how you like it!

Ingredients

4 oz cream cheese, softened

2 green onions, finely chopped

4 Tbsp chopped fresh basil, divided

1.5 cups shredded Italian 5 Cheese blend

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts pounded to 1/2-1/4 inch thickness

14 oz spaghetti sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix cream cheese, onions, 2 Tbsp basil and 1/2 cup shredded cheese until blended.

Using a spoon scoop the cheese mixture onto the chicken and roll up.

Place the chicken seam side down into a greased baking dish.

Top with spaghetti sauce and bake for 30 minutes or until done.

 Top with the remaining cheese and basil and bake 5 minutes or until melted.

Once it is done then ENJOY!

Thanks for stopping by today,

First Day of School DIY Sign

Our little girl had her first day of preschool last week!! Boy did that come so fast!

I of course had to take in the moment and have some fun with her big day. I made this chalkboard sign to write some information about her at this time in her life so that she can take her pictures with it before school.

We asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up as well as her favorite food. I thought these would be fun things to look back and see how they have changed over the years and after looking at the pictures I am so happy that I made this because it really made the pictures special and I look forward to many more pictures ahead like this!

To make this chalkboard sign it only takes a few VERY easy steps..

-Find a scrap piece of plywood or some type of wood and make sure it is cut to your desired size.

-Sand the wood (the more even the surface the better)

-Take chalkboard spray paint and paint your piece of wood until it is completely covered.

-Let dry then have fun and writing your special message!

It's that easy!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Homemade Mac & Cheese

I have decided to share my absolute favorite Macaroni and Cheese recipe that I have put together over the last couple years. It began with a recipe I found in a very old magazine that I thought needed some serious help so I started over and made my own.. It is extremely delicious, rich and just perfect! Give it a try and see if you like it as well:

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked Penne pasta
1/3 pound shredded sharp cheese
1/4 pound shredded Gruyere cheese
1/4 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
1 1/5 tablespoons butter
1 1/5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions
*Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray oven safe casserole dish with cooking spray. Cook pasta as directed on package.
*In a large bowl mix all cheeses together.
*Meanwhile melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Slowly whisk in milk then stir in onion powder, salt and cayenne. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in about 1 1/4 cups of the cheese mixture.
*After pasta is cooked drain and return to the pot. Stir together the cooked pasta and the cheese sauce. Pour half into the baking dish. Sprinkle with half of the remaining cheese. Put the rest of the pasta in the dish and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and bake for 20 minutes. After cooking turn oven to broil and bake for 3-5 minutes or until browned to your desire.

ENJOY!

Bow Holder Tutorial

 

If you have browsed my blog in the past you might have seen my post over a year ago showing off the bow holder I made to match our daughters bedroom. When we decided we would be moving I decided to make her new bedroom into a "big girl bedroom" and surprise her. So I of course re-did her bow holder to match the decor and thought I would share this project.

This has to be the easiest project ever. You literally take a frame, spray paint it to your desired color then take the glass or plastic that comes with the frame or if there isn't any you could even use cardboard, and you want to cover that with your fabric and tape it tightly to the back.

Pick out matching ribbon and tape the ends on the back side as well. I did 3 rows of ribbon on this frame. The frame was a cheap frame that I bought at ikea so it just had some thin plastic that I covered. Lastly you want to assemble the frame and hang it! It really was so easy.. the hardest part was deciding which color to paint the frame :)

Check out my daughters completed Big Girl Bedroom.

Thanks for taking a look today!

Farm Birthday Party Inspiration

This year our little guy will be turning 2 in September and I have decided to go with a Farm theme for his birthday party. Since recently moving out into the country my son has become obsessed with animals especially the horses that are right across from our driveway. After figuring out some fun ideas for the party I of course took to Pinterest for some inspiration as well. 

From the beginning I knew I was going for a more rustic, country type farm party and knew my base of decor colors would be this red gingham, cow print and burlap. I wanted to accent the party with hay bales, milk cans and bottles as well as older rusty looking milk cans, wagon wheels and other items.

Here are some of my favorite parties that I found inspiration from during my search through Pinterest:

First is this adorable Barnyard Party from A Blissful Nest. I LOVE the cow print backdrop!

Another favorite is this Chocolate Farm party that I found over on Kara's Party Ideas. I love the use of apples.

 I am loving these table center pieces from this Barnyard Birthday Bash from Shindig Diva.

Check out this totally cute Barnyard Buddies Brunch from Pizzazzerie

This combo of the cow print, red gingham and hay texture from this party by Bird's Party is SO cute and she even sells the printables from the entire party!

I found some great inspiration from this Farmer's Market Birthday party that was featured on Hostess with the Mostess.

And last but certainly not least my overall favorite party is this Cowboy Birthday Party that was featured on Kara's Party Ideas.. Such great ideas and work that they put into this party.

Visit my Pinterest Board and check out the rest of my inspiration for the party:

Check out my son's completed Barnyard-Farm party HERE

Thanks for taking a peak at my inspiration for my son's Farm Party. I cannot wait to celebrate this amazing time with our  family and of course in the end share it all with you!