Happy Friday

I am loving catching up on the Royal Wedding and seeing all the stunning photos of Kate's dress.

We are wrapping up a busy week, and heading in to a very busy weekend!  Here's to hoping for more balance next week and more blog posts ...

Happy Friday to all of you!

Easter Weekend

 How is it already Wednesday?!  This week is too busy and flying by!

Luckily we had a charming, relaxing Easter weekend.

Sunday morning we started off with a visit from the Easter Bunny who left Presley all sorts of sweet treats!  Then a yummy breakfast and off to church in the afternoon.

 My bunnies, I hope Dan doesn't kill me for posting this pic...

 We filled Presley's Easter eggs with little toys and bunny snacks, and only bought one bag of candy!  It was nice to not have so much sugar, I think we all had a sugar hangover the next morning ... so glad to get rid of the sweets!

 Dan and Presley before church

 After church we headed to my Aunt and Uncle's homes where we had a delicious dinner, and a huge Easter egg hunt in my Uncle's backyard that backs up to a vineyard.  The kids all loved it!

Some of the kids, who are mainly my cousins, but I'm pretty sure Presley thinks they are all hers.

I hope you all had a great Easter as well, I always love the holidays and the excuse to get together with family.

Paper Flower Tutorial Link

Flat center

You might remember when I blogged about Brittany's beautiful wedding here.

I was so inspired by her amazing oversized paper flowers, that I knew I had to use them for something!

She was kind enough to post a tutorial for everyone.

(and be sure to check out her Royal Wedding souvenirs!)

Thanks Brittany!

I used paper from Paper Source.  They have great colors and their square paper was a good size.

I fit one petal per square sheet.

I hadn't read through the tutorial until after I bought my supplies, and I wish I would have bought more paper - I only had enough for 5 petals for each flower, and I think the recommended 6-7 would look better.

My addition was one more fringed circle in some of the flowers.

I liked the mix of flat centers and fringed centers.

 Follow Brittany's instructions for the first two fringed circles.

 Make a third smaller circle and cut the fring close to the middle.

Make one larger cut and cross over gluing about an inch in.

 Curl or crinkle your fringe,

Glue in the center of flower.

Fringed center

These were really so fun to make and have a big impact!

I have mine up as Easter & Spring decoration.

Try and make some last minute flowers for your Easter decor.

Have a great Easter weekend!

Garden Inspired Bridal Shower

A twist on a welcoming wreath.

I helped my mom pull together some decor for a bridal shower at her home last weekend.

She wanted something that felt like a simple spring garden.

I made these oversized paper flowers (tutorial link and my DIY up tomorrow)

Wrapped old milk bottles and kerr bottles in crinkled craft paper, tied with twine - filled with some of our flower garden favorites.

 The gorgeous bride and groom and a tiny flower using the same method.

 We found these beautiful cherry branches and flanked them with our two matching beverage dispensers.

One had lemon lime water, the other orange water.

Unfortunately this was the only photo of the food I took.

The menu was delish!

Parfait, mini cinnamon rolls, fruit skewers, salad and quiche!

Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

This cookie is one of our very favorites!

My friend Brooke (who is an amazing baker) first made it for me, and at first I turned it down - I'm not big on marshmallows. But she assured me I better give them a try, and good thing she did!

These things are unreal.

Here is my recipe that I've been using, not sure if it is exactly right? 

Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

1 box chocolate cake mix

(this is the only cookie that I make with cake mix, and I prefer it to homemade versions I've tried?!)

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

1 bag large marshmallows

Ghiradelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa powder

(Follow recipe for chocolate frosting on back.

You can use any chocolate frosting recipe, but I always use homemade and I love the taste of Ghiradelli.)

Mix all ingredients together and place balls of dough on greased cookie sheet.

(I like my cookies to be small so that marshmallow is in every bite.  I use a scoop that is about 1" wide)

Bake in 350 degree oven for about 6 minutes.

While baking, cut large marshmallows in half.

Take cookies out of oven at 6 minutes and place one half of marshmallow - sticky (cut) side down!

Bake in oven for additional 2 minutes.

Marshmallows will come out puffy, I gently smash them down with spatula, then transfer to cooling rack.

Make desired chocolate frosting.

Frost tops of cookies.

And enjoy!

I like them way more the day of, and Dan likes them the day after.

Day of: gooey and doesn't taste like a marshmallow out of the bag

Day after: hardened frosting and marshmallow is like out of bag

DIY Tutorial for Wood Stained Painting

I received a ton of comments and emails about doing a tutorial on the above piece.  I am happy to share how I made the above artwork for our master bedroom, it is really simple!

What you'll need:

One large scrap or custom cut piece of wood, take note of the grain on the wood so that it is as much or as little as you want (I found mine at Home Depot)

A small scrap of wood to hang your finished art

Wood stain in any color.  (I used classic black gloss)

A paint brush and rag

A small tip paint brush

Paint for the lettering (I used white acrylic paint)

Paint tarp, or anything to protect your working surface

 First, generously apply stain onto wood with a paintbrush.  Let it sit for a couple minutes.

 Rub stain with a rag, rubbing the stain in to wood as well as taking excess off.

Let dry, I gave mine a couple hours.

 Decide on lyrics, phrase, or something personal to you or who you are making your piece for.

Using a very small brush tip begin to paint letters on.  You might want to practice this on scrap paper if you are not comfortable with it.  Also, you could use tape to help you create straight lines?  Just a thought!  My brush was a square flat brush that was only about a 1/4" wide.
(I was short on time, so I did a short phrase, for lyrics I started at the top left corner and when you run out of room, start as far over to the right that the rest of that line will fit.)

Glue scrap wood onto back with wood glue, I'm sure a hot glue gun would be fine as well.

Let cool and you are ready to hang!

Have fun and email me your finished products!  I'd love to see them!

Our Weekend in Photos

We had a great weekend.  It was the perfect combination of busy and relaxing.

We started off the weekend with a play date with Tate in the sunshine.

Splashed in puddles.

Crafted the night away.  Literally.

Baked up a batch of one of our favorite cookies.

Ate said cookies on Mommy's lap

Presley loves marshmallow cookies!

Helped my mom throw a bridal shower.

Finished up The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton and loved it!

Enjoyed dinner at my parents house.  Sunday dinners never disappoint!

On the menu: Grilled salmon, roasted asparagus, salad and whole grain bread.

I captured one of my favorite moments between Presley and Dan.  

Presley lights up when she watches her Daddy play.

I love it.

I love a lazy weekend in the sun, but I am looking forward to getting a lot done this week before Easter weekend!

xo

Giveaway winner + a Feature

Thank you all for the love in the giveaway comments!  I am excited to let one of you have one of these amazing keys!  Our winner is Rachelle!

Email me at meohmyblog@gmail.com with your address so that we can get your key to you.

And remember to head over to Tuvaluhome.com to get 50% off these keys until this Sunday, April 17th!

Use the code "musthavekey"

Also, check out the blog Third Floor Design Studio for a feature on our home!  Thanks again Kimberly!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

xo

TRADhome

Am I so out of the loop??  Or is this new to us all?

I was looking at Lonny's site today and saw this new e-mag collaboration.  Lonny and Traditional Home have created TRADhome.

(I can't get enough of the chandelier on the cover!)

I am only halfway through the Premiere issue, but it looks like it is 300 plus pages of goods.  

Check it out and don't forget to enter in this weeks giveaway from Tuvalu!

Must Have Key at Tuvalu + a GIVEAWAY! -- CLOSED!

This week Tuvalu's "Must Have" are these beautiful keys.

This is also one of my must haves and favorite things.  I have the peace sign key and it makes me happy on a daily basis!

Don't miss getting 50% off these keys this week at Tuvaluhome.com!

.................................................................................

And Lucky for us, Tuvalu would like to do a giveaway of their Key To My Heart (schlage) Key!

All you have to do is become a follower of Me Oh My! and leave a comment on this post.

I will be drawing the winner on Friday, April 15th, at 12 noon PST.

Good Luck!