Baby Gift Basket

Make your own personalized gift basket for any shower and you will be sure to impress.
-Basket (Dollar Store or just one you have lying around the house) try to choose one the new mom could use for other purposes later.
- Choose an outfit/pajamas or onesie and stuff it with tissue paper. This gives a unique look to the basket...and it looks like a little baby is sitting in the basket :) Just be creative! Add some coordinating tissue paper and a ribbon.
-Items that you could include:
diapers
washcloths
blankets
bibs
baby shampoo
baby booties
socks
lullaby cd

Popcorn n S'mores Gift Basket

This one makes a great gift for a family. You could customize it to include whatever items you like. Jazz it up with some cute tissue paper or ribbon and you've got a great gift!
-Plastic Popcorn Box (Dollar Store)
-S'mores ingredients (marshmallows, graham crackers, Hershey bars)
-Hot chocolate packets
-Microwave Popcorn

2 New Recipes

I like easy recipes with few ingredients and here are two that I tried this week and really liked!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 - Ready made pizza crust
3/4 cup BBQ sauce (you can add more or less depending on your tastes)
1/4 cup minced red onion
1/4 cup sliced jalapeno peppers
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1- 6oz can of chunk white chicken (or you could use leftover chicken)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread BBQ sauce onto crust. Sprinkle chicken, onion and peppers next, then top with the cheese. Bake for 15 min or until cheese is melted.  Serves 8


Easy Baked Chicken with Bacon

3 large or 6 small boneless, skinless chicken breast
Slices of bacon (one for each chicken breast)
8 oz. sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Salt and pepper to taste

Wrap chicken breast with bacon. Combine sour cream, soup and salt and pepper. Pour over the chicken breast and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.  If chicken is large, you will need to add additional cook time.

Polka Dot Pumpkins

Add POLKA DOTS to your pumpkins to dress them up a bit! Using acrylic paint and a round sponge brush, (can be purchased at the local craft store) simply paint round dots on any size pumpkin. Next, add your favorite fall ribbon or coordinating color ribbon. My favorite are the black and white polka dot ones. The acrylic paint dries fast and will even withstand rain if you decide to put these on your front porch.

Birthday Tablescape

Recently, my family celebrated my mom and sister's birthdays. I have a 4 year old niece that loves a party and so I wanted the decorations to be fun and exciting for her as well as my mom and sister. My inspiration piece was the brown/teal/pink and purple placemats that I purchsed from a local discount store for $5.00 (total).  My next stop was the local dollar store where I purchased  the plates, cups, napkins and other table decorations. I created a simple centerpiece of  varying shades of pink and purple artificial flowers that I found lying around in the garage (leftovers from other projects). For the two side centerpieces I purchased to glasses from the dollar store and filled them with gumballs and pixie sticks. The teal stones and pink gems scattered around are also from the local dollar store.

I wanted the cake to complement my decorations so I purchased a ready made, chocolate layer cake from the local bakery.  I placed the cake on a large round platter (dollar store) and placed some ready made teal cookies around it. The cake is embellished with pink gemstones purchased from the dollar store. Make sure you remove these before serving! :) The top ribbon is part of the three pack of ribbons purchased at the dollar store. The other two ribbons were used to decorate the bottom of the glasses with the gumballs and pixie sticks.

If I can do this, then ANYONE can do it too. All it takes is a few dollars and some creativity!

Thanks for taking a look. This is my first post and I hope there will be many more to come!