Come on by for a looksy!

I am finally getting around to starting up my Etsy shop The BG Boutique for reals. It has taken me awhile but now that I am getting settled I feel I can give it a try again. I've updated 6 of my listings so far and they are now active! More to come soon. I'd also like to know what else you all would like to see on there. Come on by and leave me a comment on what item is your favorite.

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Curtain Rod Reveal

I finished my curtain rod the other day! I love love love it. I certainly can't tell it is PVC. And it is so nice to finally have privacy again. That was one huge window!

 

 Now I am just playing around with curtain ties. Haven't quite decided what to do yet but have a few ideas.

What I've Been Up To #2...Curtain Rods

What do you do when you have a 4 yr old who loves to hide behind and play in your 4 panels of 83" long curtains but your cheapo metal curtain rod can't take it?
You make a better one! And you DIY (do it yourself).

Here's what I did:

I found these 2 two-packs of cute rod brackets at our beloved orange store (The Home Depot) for around $7 a pack. I however needed five and didn't want to spend another $7 so what do I do? I make my own replica of course! And then spray painted them all black to match.

This is one from the store

And this is the one I made from a piece of ply wood and our jigsaw. Not bad eh?

Then I found these cute decorative rod ends also in a two-pack for just $1! They were oak colored but no need to fear....I've got black spray paint for that too!

The rod part was easy too. We just got a piece of PVC pipe for around $2. Then, cut it down to the 101" that I needed and painted that too! Our free stash of black spray paint ran out so I just got out our left over jar of black paint and brushed it on. Can't beat free!

So total cost for the new 101" rod came to around $10! I can't wait til I can paint the last coat of acrylic sealer on and then hang my 4 navy blue panels!

Then, its all the hide-and-seek a 4 yr old could ever want...

What I've Been Up To...Wedding Cake

I got roped into doing a wedding cake for a daughter of a friend. She was asking around if anyone knew anyone who did cakes and a couple people shot my name out there and told her I might be up for the challenge (how do I ever get myself into these things?). Honestly, I was flattered and I hesitantly but happily agreed and said I'd give it a try.

The bride had her cake all planned out and told me what she wanted. White cake, strawberry filling, butter cream frosting and blue snowflakes. Simple enough right? NOT!
First off she wanted a triangle cake. NO ONE carries triangle cake pans! At least not that I could find, so I had to rig up my own using my rectangle ones. And the snowflakes?.....Well, lets just say this was a chore too. She didn't want just cute snowflakes piped onto the cake. She wanted them 3-D!

At first I tried piping snowflakes out of royal icing and letting those dry to use as decoration but they just shattered when I picked them up. So I had to come up with SOMETHING that was sturdy and that could last more than 24 hours on a cookie sheet (that's another story you'll read about below).

I decided to try gum paste and luckily found a friend who owned a set of snowflake cookie cutters! WHEW! Who would have thought snowflake cutters were seasonal merchandise? Right, yeah I know now. So, those were rolled, cut, and then painted with luster dust so they'd be all shimmery, purdy and ready for me to layer them when they dried. Gladly that was my first victory...well for a couple hours anyway. I learned really quickly that 2 year olds cannot, and I repeat CANNOT be trusted. I also learned that setting my cakes on the counter to cool was a bad choice too. I'll just say that I make LOTS of cakes and a few different batches of snowflakes.

Enter the great invention of baby gates!!!.......

Whew! After the kitchen was blocked off I got things done. Good thing too! I was running out of time. I layered the cakes, added the strawberry filling, added cake supports for the second tier, and frosted away. I think the scariest part was putting the second tier on after it was frosted too! But I did manage it.

The cake sat in the fridge overnight since 3-4 hours was all my pregnant legs and feet could take. Then, the next day a second coat of frosting to cover up the crumb layer and the fun really began. I added the blue border and the long awaited snowflakes. Ta DAH! It was done! And after two days of sitting, there were no sags or sinking I was relieved.

I was very pleased with how it turned out. What do you think?

 

Busy Hands Make Happy Hearts.

I have a sign that reads "Busy Hands Make Happy Hearts" that usually hangs in my craft room above the sewing machine, but at this point the craft room hasn't even reached "unpacked" status. However the signs phrase sticks with me today.

Mornings have been really rough for me lately. I want to do nothing but stay in bed and sleep. I dread the efforts of sitting up and hobbling around the house like a penguin. I am now 30 weeks and 6 days along. Only about 5 more weeks to go! I can do this! Or as a dear friend of mine says, "I can do HARD things." My body is tired and sore but I will make it.

Anyway, today has gone well for the most part. The morning may have been slow at first, and I did spend most of the morning laying on the couch watching cartoons with my kids but I don't feel guilty about it at all.

Once the drowsiness subsided I got a burst of energy. And what better way to use it than to do dishes! (yeah right, I am sure we all could think of better things to spend it on) but it had to be done. Then I got the urge to bake bread. So I made up a batch of carrot rolls; and while the dough for that was rising I decided to start baking cakes. (I was recently asked to do a wedding cake for a friend that is getting married next weekend). It is going to be so fun!

And with all that busyness and work I feel so much better about myself! I am in such a better mood, the kids are happy and well behaved, and the house smells wonderful.

Yes I do believe busy hands make happy hearts...

I Had a Little Turtle, His Name Was Tiny Tim

For part of FHE (Family Home Evening) last night we did a fun little craft project. These projects seem to be the kid's favorite part of the night, next to the treat at the end of course. Anyway, Kiera had requested awhile ago that she wanted to make turtle puppets. So we did.

It was fun to watch the kids color their little turtles. They were so excited.

Such concentration

Ethan's

 Kiera's

If you want to make one too all you need is:
 -a paper bowl
-1 craft stick (tongue depressor)
-recycled manilla envelope (you can use construction paper too)
-scotch tape
-googly eyes
-glue
-markers

Directions:
Cut a tiny slit in the side of your bowl that the craft stick can fit into. This will become the turtle's retractable neck. Cut out an oval shape for the head out of your envelope of construction paper and 4 feet. Tape the feet to the underside of the bowl and the head piece to one end of the craft stick. At this point you can just let the kids at it but I decided to draw circles/octagons on the backs of the turtle shells to give my kids something to color in. After everything is colored glue two googly eyes on and there you go!

After we were done we sang the song I Had a Little Turtle...  The kids loved it! I think it would be a good craft for preschool if the lesson was on reptiles or turtles too.

Song Lyrics:
I had a little turtle.
His name was Tiny Tim.
I put him in the bathtub
To see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water.
He ate up all the soap.
And now he's sick in bed
With a bubble in his throat!
Bubble, Bubble, Bubble!
Bubble, Bubble, Bubble!
Bubble, Bubble, POP!

Christmas Break (Christmas Day)

Christmas Day was unlike any others I've ever had. The kids wore themselves out the night before so much that they didn't get up until around 9:30! And even then they had to be woken up. But that also meant that I got to sleep in too! What a lovely Christmas present that was.

We opened up the stockings first and then watched the kids unwrapped the goodies that Santa had brought them. It was so fun to watch them get excited and anxiously wait for the next one to be passed out. I don't think Dan unwrapped hardly anything til the end since he was so busy handing things out to everyone and worked on putting batteries in toys and getting them out of the packaging so the kids could play with their gifts. I loved every minute of it. I too got distracted from the gift opening and took pictures. Hence the reason there aren't any of me here.

 Kiera had wanted a bell for her bike for the longest time. She finally got one. Oh the simple requests and joys of toddlers! So easy to please.

Yea! Toy Story 3!

Yes, those really are french fried onions. Santa puts some in his stocking every year. I think he knows how irritated I get when I go to the pantry only to find they've been eaten already by you know who...

All Ethan asked for this year was a "BUZZ LIGHTYEAR" This toy did not get put down for the longest time.

Must have been a Toy Story theme this year. And can I just say that this game is the coolest thing ever. The kids love it and can do it on their own too. It is just right at their level. It is great!

I couldn't get a clear shot of Kiera when she opened up her pillow pet. She was so excited! But I love the look on Grandpa's face in the background.

Dan asked for a Guitar this year. He got his wish. What a lucky guy. 

(and yes he has been practicing with it)

 

 

After gifts we had sat down to one of Dan's family traditional breakfasts. Breakfast pizzas, and coconut covered orange slices. mmmmm. 

Christmas Break (Christmas Eve Party)

This year we spent Christmas in Oregon at Dan's parent's house. It was good to see family that we don't see as often anymore since we graduated from College and left Rexburg behind. We were able to attend the Draper family annual Christmas Eve Party this year. We haven't been able to do that since before Ethan was born. It was a lot of fun and the kids were spoiled with all the attention they got since they were the ONLY little kids there.

Our favorite cousin Linda and I

Our lovely hostess Aunt Carol

Uncle Cuz and Aunt Lib (Carol's Parents)

Kiera and Danica

Danica's intended James and Ethan

 

 Danica and Linda running chair races with the kids. They loved it!

Ethan adopted one of their stockings while we were there.

The food was great! We had ham, turkey, orange rolls, green bean casserole, "funeral" potatoes, and more. Needless to say we didn't go hungry.

After the meal we had a little Christmas program where people read stories, shared songs, and played games with prizes. It was very nice. Then it was time for the goodies buffet! And I don't say that lightly either. Just look at that spread!

 

I think the kids were in heaven don't you?

I think Daddy had a little too much to eat.

I think Dan would kill me if he knew I put this picture on here. Shhh.