Hi everyone! I hope your week has been fabulous. I have been scouring the internet looking for yummy snack ideas for myself and my girls since my oldest is home from school for summer break. She is always complaining that she’s hungry, but she’s getting tired of the same snacks that we seem to purchase all.the.time.

I thought I would do a round up of Snack Idea recipes for my reference and for you from some of our fabulous party linkers.

So, here are EIGHT yummy Snack Ideas. Enjoy!

 S’mores Treats from Shop Girl. These look so delicious!

Pig Pickin’ Cake in a Jar from Shaken Together Life. Oh my word. I am drooling.

Homemade Granola from Dukes & Duchesses. I love granola and this would be a yummy and frugal snack or breakfast for everyone!

Frozen Yogurt Cupcake Sundaes from The Creative Princess. Healthy yummy-ness. ‘Nuff Said!

1-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream from All Things Walker. Really? 1 ingredient?? That’s what I am talking about! I have got to try this. This would make an awesome cool summer treat for my girls!

Sugar Cookie Pizza from Cooking with Curls. The color of that icing is BEAUTIFUL! It looks almost too pretty to eat.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from There is Grace. This is my FAVORITE type of cookie and I love that this post also has an allergy-free option. Yum!

And last, I made these Mocha Latte Sugar Cookies over a year ago and I thought they were super yummy! They are rich and buttery, just the way I like them.

Thanks for checking out my features. Please check back next week as I will be featuring more themed link-ups!

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***Before we begin, my heart goes out to those affected by the Oklahoma tornadoes these past few days. The storms were too close for comfort and my heart aches for those who lost loved ones in these devastating storms. Please keep Oklahoma in your prayers!***

Welcome to our Make Bake Create Party! Every Wednesday come and link up your favorite projects from the week. This could be any food, recipes, crafts or DIY! Since there are 5 hosts… your link will be seen on 5 blogs at once. SWEET! Meet your hosts:

MBC Hosts: Rachel from Bubbly Nature Creations, Sarah from Hope In Every Season, Kristy from Mommy Hates Cooking, Brandi from The Creative Princess and Vanessa from The Rookie Seamstress.

We would love for you to follow us on Google+!

Bubbly Nature Creations

Hope In Every Season

Mommy Hates Cooking

The Creative Princess

The Rookie Seamstress

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Get to linking!

Thursday is the last day of kinder for my oldest. I cannot believe it! In just a few short months she will be a 1st grader.

Man, that’s just weird!

Anyway, I am glad I have this link party to refer to to get some quick ideas for gifts for her teachers, since I only have two days to whip something up.

So, enjoy this roundup for last minute teacher’s gift ideas and get to creating. I know I will!

Nourishing Body Butter from Homespun with Love. This sounds so awesome for your skin.

White Chocolate Biscotti in a Jar from Mommy Hates Cooking. These are delish. I have taste-tasted these so it’s Rookie Seamstress-approved!

Orange you Glad it’s Summer Gift Basket from Shaken Together Life. How cute!

Lemon Foot Soak from The Creative Princess Brandi. Your teacher’s piggies would squeal with delight when they get this for a gift!

Duct Tape Beads from Crafty Night Owls would be a great project to do with the kiddos and I am sure their teacher will appreciate the fact they helped make them!

and last, but not least,  my FABULOUS Fabric Bookmarks would make a great teacher’s gift as well since they are super simple to make!

I hope these ideas will help you get those gifts made and to your teachers before the school year is over.

Happy End of the School Year!

Welcome to our Make Bake Create Party! Every Wednesday come and link up your favorite projects from the week. This could be any food, recipes, crafts or DIY! Since there are 5 hosts… your link will be seen on 5 blogs at once. SWEET! Meet your hosts:

MBC Hosts: Rachel from Bubbly Nature Creations, Sarah from Hope In Every Season, Kristy from Mommy Hates Cooking, Brandi from The Creative Princess and Vanessa from The Rookie Seamstress.

We would love for you to follow us on Facebook!

Bubbly Nature Creations

Hope In Every Season

Mommy Hates Cooking

The Creative Princess

The Rookie Seamstress

<div align="center"><a href="http://therookieseamstress.com" title="The Rookie Seamstress"><img src="http://therookieseamstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/155712_10151394733132153_1850891358_n.jpg" alt="The Rookie Seamstress" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Get to linking!

Eight years ago my life changed.

Eight years ago I walked down the isle in a pretty white dress and said I DO to a handsome, tall, rough-around-the edges guy with the most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen.

Eight years ago, I left the umbrella of my parents and clung to a man who I vowed to spend the rest of my life with.

Eight years ago, I made a spiritual covenant with a man to love, cherish, and remain faithful him until the day that death comes to one or both of us.

Eight years ago I married the man that God picked especially for me.

In the passing of these past eight years, we:

Bought a home.

Had a child.

Had another child.Sent the first child to her first year of school.

Experienced the first child commit her life to loving Jesus.

And then be baptized, professing her faith openly.

We have also watched our youngest grow in leaps in bounds.

Crawl, walk and run in just a few short months.

And become the best of friends with her big sissy.In this year, our eighth year of marriage, we have a family of beautiful girls and a marriage that has experienced a lot of love.

Looking back, I cannot express the gratitude I have for all the blessings God has poured out on us.  I have the best family, and my cup runs over.

So, Happy 8th Anniversary, my love. I can’t wait to spend the next many goofy years with you. You rock!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms out there! I hope you’re enjoying your weekend being spoiled and pampered by your family.

I just wanted to take a moment and share with you two reasons why I’m called mom. Back in 2007 and then again in 2011, I was blessed with two beautiful daughters. Before I was pregnant with the first, I only wanted boys because I thought boys were better to handle and in all honesty, more fun.

But, God had different plans for me and now I wouldn’t change having my girls for the world. They make me laugh, they bring me joy. Yes, they sometimes make me want to pull my hair out, but the good always outweighs the bad and I could not imagine my life without my beautiful girls.

God has richly blessed me!

So, enjoy some photos of the two reasons why I’m called mom. You will see why my cup overflows.

Happy Mother’s Day!

**Photos by Kindred Spirit Photography. There is no permission granted to use these pictures in any way, shape or form.***

Earlier this week I visited a new grocery store in our town called Sprouts. It’s an awesome Farmer’s Market-inspired store that has incredible prices!

When I went, I stocked up on a ton of vegetables. Last night, I realized that since they are organic and super fresh, they were starting to look a little sad and needed to be used up pretty quickly.

Instead of panicking, so I came up with this super easy recipe that incorporated all those veggies and some smoked sausage that I found the freezer.

Let’s say that I lovingly call this a “kitchen sink” recipe because you can put almost any veggie in this recipe and it will work great! You can also put any meat you want and it will probably still taste good. I really love that about this recipe. So versatile!

So, here it is, Oven Roasted Veggies with Smoked Sausage. Enjoy!

This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day. YAY! Sadly, I did not realize this until yesterday. Fail.

Thankfully, I have a sewing machine, a ton of fabric, and an imagination.  So, I came up with these fabulous bookmarks for mi madre.

My mom loves to read, so I know this will be a perfect gift for her.  Although, I do tend to laugh at the genre of books she reads.

I won’t tell you what they are because I might embarrass her.  And then she might throw my bookmarks that I toiled over in the trash.

Nah, she’d never do that. My momma loves me. And I love her, so, let’s get right to what I made for her.

Shoot, I’ll even show you how to make them too!

Fabric Bookmark Supplies:

• Coordinating Fabrics
• Heat & Bond (The Sewable kind if you are going to sew, the non-sewable kind if you aren’t going to sew)
• Iron
• Ironing Board
• Sewing Machine (optional)
• Thread (optional)
• Cutting Mat
• Straight Edge
• Rotary Cutter
• Pinking Shears

First, get your iron and set it to medium temp. Then, gather your fabric. You won’t need much, so if you have fabric scraps laying around, this would be a great way to use them up!

I made 2 bookmarks and used 2 coordinating fabrics for each bookmark. I cut them into 3″x7″ pieces. Below is what it should look like. I laid the fabric right side down to get ready for doing the next step.

For those who don’t know. This what what Heat & Bond looks like in the package. See at the top where it says sewable? That’s what you’ll need if you plan on using a sewing machine for this project. This is very important!

Then, take your heat and bond and cut a piece 3″x7″ as well. Lay it SHINY SIDE DOWN on top of your first piece of fabric. the SHINY side of the Heat & Bond should touch the WRONG (or back) side of the fabric.Take your iron and lay it on top of the Heat & Bond fabric for 2 seconds. It will adhere to the fabric pretty quickly. Make sure you heat the entire piece of Heat & Bond to the fabric.

Then, you will peel the Heat & Bond backing paper off of the fabric. This is what the wrong side of your fabric should look like when done right. Shiny.Take your 2nd piece of coordinating fabric and lay the wrong side to shiny side of the fabric you were first working with. Then you will set your iron on top and the heat from the iron will adhere the two pieces of fabric together.Since both pieces of fabric are now completely adhered together, thanks to the Heat & Bond, it is totally optional to sew.

Below is what the two pieces of fabric look like completely bonded together. The Heat & Bond gives the fabric somewhat of a stiffness, which is good when you’re making a bookmark!Now, If you do not have a sewing machine or if you do not want to sew, skip down to the part where I cut the edges with pinking shears.

If you do want to sew it, keep looking on. The sewing is really for embellishment.

If you’re sewing your bookmark, make your seam allowance about 5/8″ on each side. Sew a complete rectangle.If you have alphanumeric stitching capabilities on your machine, why not go ahead and add some fun little messages to your bookmark like I did?I wanted to put “Mom Rocks” on the first bookmark, but I started the fabric wrong in the machine, so all I could do was “Mom” before the fabric ran out. Oops!

That’s ok. This is a new machine–and I am a rookie seamstress, after all.

Once you’re all sewed up, take your pinking shears and cut around each edge.And that’s it. You’re done!

This took me hardly any time to complete. I was surprised how quick I whipped two of them out. I think I will be making up some more for teachers, friends, and book lovers like my mom.Think my mom will like these? I sure hope she does.

Feel free to whip some up for the momma figures in your life. Any homemade gift is special in my book (pun intended, ha!)!

**OK, so as I was posting this, I realized that I forgot add an 8 in the verse. The verse I was referencing was Proverbs 31:28, not Proverbs 31:2! Ahh!!

The scripture that I was wanting to put on there was:

Proverbs 31:28 “Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her.”

Proverbs 31:2 is “Listen my son! Listen, son of my womb! Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers!”

Totally not the scripture I was going for. Whoops!

I guess every rookie seamstress makes mistakes.

Thankfully I can go back and add to it so it won’t be totally awkward when I give it to my mom and she decides to go look it up! HA!****

Welcome to our Make Bake Create Party! Every Wednesday come and link up your favorite projects from the week. This could be any food, recipes, crafts or DIY! Since there are 5 hosts… your link will be seen on 5 blogs at once. SWEET! Meet your hosts:

MBC Hosts: Rachel from Bubbly Nature Creations, Sarah from Hope In Every Season, Kristy from Mommy Hates Cooking, Brandi from The Creative Princess and Vanessa from The Rookie Seamstress.

If you haven’t already we would love for you to follow us on Pinterest:

Rachel @ Bubbly Nature Creations

Sarah Coller

Kristy Still (Mommy Hates Cooking)

Brandi @ The Creative Princess

Vanessa {The Rookie Seamstress}

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Hey everyone! How as your week been? It’s been absolutely hectic around here. I have been busting my tail trying to get everything ready to go to SoFabCon, my very first blogger conference! I am so excited!

Anyway, I wanted to take the time to share with you my favorite link-ups from last week’s Make Bake Create Party. I get so excited when I see all the creative flair out there. It’s so inspirational!

So let’s get to it! Here are my favorites from week #4.

These PB&J Cookies from Circus Berry have me over the moon! I am drooling worse than a teething baby. Nom Nom!

These Doily Picture Frames from Shabby Gals are awesome and so creative! I must raid my grandmothers doily stash and make some of these.

This Girls Room Reveal from A Little of This, a Little of That  is ADORBS! I am loving everything about it. From the striped walls to bedding, I dream of having a room for my 2 little girls like this. Oh to dream!

Thanks to everyone who linked up last week. Week #5 of our Make Bake Create Party is up and running right now. If you have projects you’ve recently completed and want to share it, come link up with us. We would LOVE to see it.

Have a great week!