We Have a Winner!

I said I would post this on Monday, but decided that since we already had a winner, I couldn't keep you in suspense any longer. 

Soooo...

The lucky girl who gets to enjoy this AWESOME All-In-One Organizer from Thirty-One gifts is...

MelindaB, who said, "I am a follower! And I love the Cindy tote in brown!"

I do, too, MelindaB! Congrats!

Send me your email by Monday at 11:59 pm and I'll put you in touch with Lauren, who will get you squared away. 

Be my guest?

I am lining up some guest bloggers for the last part of March. 

If you are interested and your blog is crafty, recipe-y, or DIY-y, shoot me an email, wontcha? I'm looking for great ideas with great photos.

in_between_laundry@yahoo.com

It's Friday and the weather is glorious, which means

this mama will be outside soaking up that marvelous sunshine and 

playing with two of my top three favorite people in the whole world.

Don't forget to enter to win the big prize from Thirty-One! 

The giveaway ends tomorrow night at 11:59 pm central.

Click here for details.

I'm Guest Posting at I Heart Naptime! What-What

Jamielyn at I Heart Naptime asked me to guest post today! 

She is so sweet and cute and her blog is full of inspiration. 

I'm sharing my Switch-a-roo Shoes, so go check it out, y'all! 

The Baby's Room: A Makeover Story, Part 2 (Using Picnik for Creative Paint Ideas)

Missed the wallpaper-licious post? (the BEFORE pictures) Click here.

Here's where we left off. It's okay, but a little blah, blah, boring.

Using Picnik, I uploaded a few pictures and played around with paint ideas.

I added circles in different sizes and in a color that was just a shade lighter than the room color. I also experimented with how a quote would look in vinyl on one wall.

Here's how:

1. After you've uploaded your picture, select the "Create" tab and then "Stickers" (at the top, under the "Library" tab)

2. Now select "Basic Geometric" from the column on the left and pick the circle.

3. Your circle will show up black. I wanted the look to be the same color as the room, just a shade lighter, so I changed the color to white using the "Sticker Properties" box over the picture.

4. Then I adjusted the Fade to about 60%.

5. From here, I repeated these steps until I had different sized circles in a bar through the center of the walls.

6. For the side walls, use the oval shape.

I'm so glad I did this first because I originally thought I'd paint the circles white. After playing around in Picnik, I didn't like the white circles at all--too stark.

I made this image in Picnik, too. It isn't what I ended up doing, but I was glad that I was able to get a clearer idea of what I wanted regarding text on the wall.

Stay tuned for more...

Win this fabulous All-In-One Organizer from Thirty-One Gifts. 

Click the picture for details.

I linked to Tatertots and Jello, Be Different, Act Normal, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sugar Bee Craft Edition

The Baby's Room: A Makeover Story, Part 1

AKA: How many TLC shows can I rip off in one blog title?

We're not completely finished in here yet, but I wanted to show the work we've done in the nursery.

Before:

bad wallpaper upon bad wallpaper upon bad wallpaper

I'm telling you, this is why we had kids.

Do you know how much fun he had riiiiiiiping away at that wallpaper?

It was better than any toy.

Making a little progress:

We retextured the walls and the ceiling, painted, changed out the fan (Do you like it? Just kidding.), and threw in a few pieces of furniture and some curtains.

It's much better, but not where I want it yet.

If you dig that pom pom mobile and my $12 change table redo (and if you want to see more child-labor pictures), click here and here.

If you want to learn how to retexture your own popcorn ceilings, you're a freak like us, but click here.

More to come,

Looking for the Thirty-One giveaway? Click below.

Giveaway Time with Thirty-One

This giveaway is now closed.

Do you love

Thirty-One products?

I spent the weekend with my sissy, Lauren (whom I do NOT get to see often enough), and we oohed and aahed over the catalog, especially their new spring prints and BABY/KID stuff! 

I ordered a couple of cute, personalized items and CANNOT wait to get them in!

Lauren is a stay-at-home mama to my two precious nephews and has started her own business with Thirty-One.

My sweet sister has offered
In Between Laundry followers
the chance to win one of these, an 

All-In-One Organizer ($18 value)

{insert raucous applause}!

Here's how this one product can help you stay organized

 (and why I need about six):

• Keep your current craft project together and easily portable.
• Carry files
• Kid's books, markers, and stuff for traveling
• Organizing DVDs and video games
• a lunch bag
• a small gym bag

***********************

To win the All-In-One:

1. Leave a comment saying that you are a follower of In Between Laundry (1 entry), AND

2. Check out Lauren's web site at Thirty-One, here, and leave a comment saying what COOL products you love the most (1 entry).


The giveaway ends promptly at 11:59 pm central-time on Saturday night (the 26th) and I'll announce the winner on Monday morning. 

***********************

And here's what I'm giving you little sweeties.

When you order from Lauren through In Between Laundry (details at the bottom), your name will go in a hat to win a PERSONALIZED Littles Carry-All Caddy.

To order through In Between Laundry 

and be entered for the Caddy

1. Go to Lauren's website for Thirty-One, here. 

2. Click on "My Events" (underneath her photo on the homepage).

3. At the next screen, select "In Between Laundry" and "Shop Now".
4. Select "Shop Now" again.

5. At Check-out, leave the "Ship to Host" box UN-checked.

6. Save and Continue and complete your order.


This offer ends promptly at 11:59 pm central-time Saturday night (the 26th).

***You absolutely MUST follow these steps and come back here to LEAVE A COMMENT telling me what you ordered to be entered in the drawing.

***********************

AWESOME SPECIAL OFFER: 

Thirty-One is running a great deal right now! Spend $31 and receive 31% off the next item.

***********************

Good luck!

Cirque du Soleil

We took the Little to see Alegria by Cirque du Soleil, and

"How?"

was all I could manage to get-out after the show was over.

Have you seen any of their performances?

I am convinced they're all aliens.

And this morning, we caught our four-year-old stretching out and taking poses that loosely resembled

acrobatics.

He then told me, "I need to go put on my costume and do some flipping." 

Oh dear.

Here's homeboy on the trampoline; he's got some skills, I must say. 

Easy, Personal Thank-You Notes

To create these personal thank-you post cards, I used a word processing program (Pages for Macs) and inserted a few pictures of my little boy enjoying his new birthday loot. Each card has pictures of him playing with the gift from that person.

We didn't have a huge party, so I only needed to make a couple.

(I'm a little bit of a privacy freak...in case you were wondering why it looks like a drunk wrote some of the words.)

Now the gift-giver (Granna, in this case) can see how much her gift was loved, even if she couldn't be here to see his eyes light up when he ripped into the package.

Strawberry Hi-Hat Cupcakes

When a cupcake recipe calls for enough frosting to measure in inches, I'm in.

When a cupcake recipe calls for dipping said frosting in melted chocolate, I'm in trouble.

Cupcakes, take me away.

Strawberry Cake:

1 box white cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sweetened strawberries in juice
1 small package strawberry jell-o (combined with 1/2 c. water)

Combine all ingredients and blend for 2-3 minutes. Pour into cupcake pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

The light, fluffy frosting recipe is Martha's and I found it here.

I used a 12 oz. bag of white chocolate chips (instead of semi-sweet) and followed her instructions for dipping.

Happy {Heart} Day!

Spread the love.

Enjoy your family and lovey-doveys today.

For the mister and me, it's all about the heart-shaped waffles.

It's Official: My Baby is a Big Boy {4th Birthday Party}

Four years ago, I remember where I was... oh mercy.

The eight pound baby that I held in my arms is four years old today.

Waaaaahhhh!

We had a lovely little celebration with zero mushy-mommy-tears.

I was a very brave girl.

Our family ate at a local Mexican food place so this child could order a great big plate of his favorite food...

enchiladas (is that normal for a four year old?).

And an entire restaurant-full of people sang my boy "Happy Birthday" 

while he wore a cute little sombrero and **blushed**. 

But where was my camera? 

Oh it was with me.

The memory card, however, 

was still in the computer at home.

Waaaahhhhh!

PS: Want the recipe for those strawberry cupcakes? Yes, you do. Here it is. A few of you asked where I got his shirt (I didn't make it); it came from Carter's.