Chicka Takes Seattle

Oh the places you will go one day, my little Chicka...

Just thought I'd share with you some of the places you have already been {around the Seattle area}

{Lots of boats and a beautiful sunset on the dock here}

{Went to Dad's friend, Ken's wedding here}

{Threw rocks into the lake per Aunt Leslie's recommendation here}

{Dad wants to golf here some day}

{Enjoyed / Spilled delicious ice cream here}

{Enjoyed beautiful scenery and ugly fishies here}

And many other places, these are only the ones I remembered to take pictures at.

And for good measure a picture of your parents...

 

{Here's to hoping you think we're cool one day}

Vacation {All I Ever Wanted}

Well it appears I disappeared...

I have a good reason, one of our good friends got married in Seattle last week and so we got our vacation on...

Seattle spoiled me so much that I'm having a tough time getting back into the swing of things!

Be back with more pictures, soon.

Backyard Water Pinatas

Grocery bags that double as Water Pinatas?

A little bit of white trash, a lotta bit of F-U-N!!

I actually heard this idea from a lady in my neighbor who had a Grandma Camp (totally cool idea of it's own) and they did these pinatas that her Grandkids loved.

Since I babysit on a regular basis and our budget is usually, well cheap...I thought we would try these out...

Gather up your grocery bags, I even had my sister's send some from their houses up with their kids...

And they sort them holes, no holes...

The ones with no holes can be doubled-up, filled with water, and then tied up, ready to be hit.

The ones with smaller holes can be layered a few more times and done the same as above. Sometime these ones will leak but the kids loved running underneath them.

We first tried to hit them with a bat, but it failed!! So then I let the kids use a tennis racket and the water and bags came trickling down.

We had a ton of bags, and the excitement lasted for hours.

Near the end my we were joking about this being 'white trash' pinatas...either way we were having a lot of fun.

I even hit a few!

Here are some of my favorite faces...

**When we were done with our grocery bags, we laid them in the sun to dry and then threw them into the recycling bin.**

One Month To Win It {Re-Cap + Your Projects}

I still can't believe I won the competition over at One Month To Win It!!

After I dropped out of SYTYC, I felt like something was still missing... I had followed OMTWI for awhile and felt like maybe I should give it a try, and am so glad I did!

**If you are debating whether to particpate in anything like this, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DO, I loved having the themes and the competition...every Monday was like Christmas morning....

Here's a re-cap of my projects...

Week 1 BURLAP -- Chevron Ombray Bag & Clutch

Week 2 FRAMES - Picture This Pillows

Week 3 KIDS CRAFT -- Toothbrush Bracelets

Week 4 BEACH BASH -- Beach Towel Rompers

It's been fun to see people who have used the tutorials and created projects of their own..

Ashley @ Cute As A Fox made these two darling Beach Towel Rompers usings cute towels from Target.....

{swooon for Target, I love that place!}

These turned out super cute and look just perfect on her cute little models!

and then my SIL Katie made some toothbrush bracelets with her kids and some of their friends, so much fun!!

**If you have any projects you had tried, I'd LOVE TO SEE THEM!! Shoot me an e-mail at apostrophydesign{at}gmail.com**

Have a good weekend!! :)

The Perfect Corner Baby Blanket {Tutorial}

 

I am a mere week away from my last trimester and I FEEL SO UNPREPARED! Whoa is me, pregnant lady...

The nice thing about having another girl, is that I already have a lot of baby girl stuff, however Bergen tends to think all of her blankets are her blankets... so I whipped out a few more of these Perfect Corner Blankets I shared over at Made in Monday with Jill.

I thought I would repost and share this tutorial on my blog as well...

Literally if you have never made these before you will love them, such a quick project that is perfect for baby gifts or for yourself once you start nesting!!

I feel so honored to be guest posting over on Made it on Monday with the fabulous Jill!

I have been trying to think of a tutorial that would fit in with Jill's blog and be fun. Since I will have babies on the brain until October, I thought I would combine everything with a cute and easy baby blanket.

I call this blanket the Perfect Corner Blanket and it is my go to baby present or baby essential.

Step 1 -- Start out with a square piece that is 46" (BROWN) or 1 1/4 yard.

Step 2 -- Cut another square piece that is 36" (PINK) or 1 yard.

Step 3 -- With right sides facing each other, center PINK over BROWN and pin. Start 1/4" away from the edge and sew along the side leaving another 1/4" from the end.

Step 4 -- Repeat Step 3, with the opposite side. And then the remaining sides **REMEMBER TO LEAVE A 4"-5"OPENING IN THE LAST SIDE TO ALLOW FOR FLIPPING THE BLANKET INSIDE OUT.

Step 5 -- You will have excess material in the corner's, so start with one corner and fold it to a point.

Step 6 -- Fold the tip of the point to meet where the sewing starts on the side.

Step 7 -- Cut along the diagnol of the fold. Start where sewing edge ends and sew along the diagnol (this is what makes the perfect corner PERFECT!)

Step 8 -- Turn blanket inside out and press. I typically don't like pressing things but this will give the blanket a finished feel.

Step 9 -- To help the PINK layer stay inline with the BROWN layer I did a zig zag stitch on the PINK side where it meets the BROWN.

Step 10 -- Fold the blanket and you are ready to give it as a gift or keep it as yourself!

**This blanket can easily be made using any measurements ( I simply make the bigger backing piece a bigger square by 10", this will allow for a nice border.)

The Summer Park Tour

Remember this guy? And how awesome of a Dad he is?

Well last week he decided to take Bergen on a bike ride to visit NOT ONE park but EIGHT in the SAME night...

 

 We are very fortunate to live in an area with so many parks, needless to say, some hills had to be climbed in order to get to a few...

And just how do you get a two-year old to leave park after park??

 You tell her a BIG DOGGY is coming!!! 

(ha ha!)

Needless to say, they had a lot of fun on their park tour and Bergen is still talking about it (and the BIG DOGGIES) a week later!

It's also fun to hear from Bergen what she liked about the different parks (crazy slides, small slides, horsies, crazy stairs).

They also saw a few of the same people at each of the parks, apparently they weren't the only ones on a park tour.

Chatstick + A Pregnancy Confession

Lately my lips have been chapped, and it's because this little one and developed a deep love with chatstick or stick as she likes to call it!

Every single tube of stick we find is automatically claimed by her and devoured within the day.

I literally find myself hiding my face anytime I go to apply it these days...

But atleast in her words "She's beautiful princess!!"

And lastly I have a confession, due to my pregnancy laziness...I broke down and got eyelash extensions.

I don't need to worry about mascara these days and so when I'm feeling lazy or having a blah day I just put on a tiny bit of make-up and go... IT'S PERFECT!!

This truly has been a lifesaver these past few months.

**Remember when I tried the eyelash growing stuff? I also really enjoyed it but this way I don't need the mascara!**

Have a good weekend!!

Sunkist Creamsicle Cupcakes {Recipe}

 

Part of our Bucket List for Summer with the kids I babysit is we try to cook something {new-ish} once a week for the WHOLE Summer {and because there's a pregnant lady involved we tend to be baking treats}.

We have been wanting to make these for awhile but it kept getting put on our back burner, so we were really excited to have finally whipped these Sunkist Creamsicle Cupcakes out!

Did you know you can make a cake/cupcakes with just a cake mix and a can of diet soda? No eggs necessary...and the cupcakes are delicious!! In the words of my niece they won't even go to your hips, well of course until you add the marshmallow fluff and butter right?? 

So we started out with a funfetti cake mix {I would've prefered vanilla but we just used what was on hand} and my nephew Kole dumped a WHOLE can of Diet Sunkist Soda in...

The youngest kids couldn't believe I was letting Kole dump a whole can of soda into the cupcake batter. I did add a little bit of vegetable oil to help the cake from sticking the liners. If you don't have liners I would grease the cupcake tins too.

 After our cupcakes cooled down, we stuck a straw in the middle of all the cupcakes to create a hole and then we filled them with our marshmallow filling:

1 c. marshmallow fluff

1/2 c. butter

1/4 - 1/2 c powered sugar

Cream all together and let stiffen{add only enough sugar to help stiffen the mixture}... Then the kids took turns piping the marshmallow filling into the cupcakes with a plastic sandwich bag... they love this part.

To finish the cupcakes we then made an Orangey Frosting by adding fresh orange juice and zest to our original frosting recipe:

1/2 c. butter

4 c. powered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Fresh juice from and orange and zest to taste... we used probably about a tablespoon of juice but you can definitely use more depending how orangey you want your frosting

Mix together and pipe onto the cupcakes using another zip lock baggy with a corner cut off...

Anyone will squeal with delight after they taste these babies! I think I had about 2 cupcakes {each for me and baby}...but it won't go to my thighs right?? :)

**If you don't have time to make frosting I am sure kids would love to frost and decorate these cupcakes with frosting bought at the store and sprinkles, either way I really love the option of making cupcakes with diet soda, sure beats having to borrow eggs from the neighbors!**

4th of July {Re-Cap More Pictures to Come}

We had a great fourth of July weekend!

However, they legalized aerial fireworks here in Utah and as great as they are to watch...our crazy neighbors have been lighting them into wee hours of the morning. 

This does not bode well for Bergen who is afraid of the "loud bang"...we have had a heck of a time getting her to bed at a decent hour {coupled with the pregnant mom laying on the floor next to her big girl bed!}

None the less, I still love July because we celebrate all month long...

Plus, I have some fun projects and recipes up my sleeve!!