CSN Review

I was contacted by CSN Store to review one of there products. If you have not been to CSN then you don't know what your missing, they have it all, with over 200+ stores to choose from it made it very difficult to decide what it was that I wanted to try, but also needed. I researched for a few weeks before I finally decided on...... Drum Role Please......

The DeLonghi Espresso Machine

For everyone that has followed my blog, close, friends and family all know that I have a few small addictions, One is to the fabric store, but what sewer doesn't have that addiction. The other would have to be that I'm a dye hard Starbucks junkie, I live and breathe Starbucks but my checkbook never likes the tally at the end of the week, and neither does the hubby. I decided that I would venture and get something that might not only work for our household but save us a bit of cash also. I found out thru a good friend of our families that Starbucks sells thier syrups and sauces, they will also ground the espresso beans by the half pound or pound. So I ventured out bought my syrup $6.95 the Carmel sauce $4.95 and the half pound of espresso $6.00 Grand total $17.90.

On to the review, I wasn't sure if I was going to like my homemade Carmel Machiattos or not but I figured I had this wonderful machine to try out why not give it a try. The machine itself has a few features that I love, the first one is that the tank is cast iron and the cover has a locking mechanism on it so that if the pressure and steam are built up in the machine, it will not allow you to open the cover which is a great feature if you have kiddos around.

Some Cons that I have found with the machine are, that the only way that you can steam the milk is if you are brewing the espresso so I make a double batch each time just in case I need two glasses but it isn't as much of a pain in the bottom as I thought it would be. It takes me about 5 minutes from start to finish to make a Venti Carmel Machiatto in the morning, and I am saving myself $5.50 so I figured at 7 days a week at one drink a day, That is roughly $38.50 a week, and you can get about 3 weeks worth of coffees out of a half pound bag and 6 weeks worth out of full pound bag so over a 3 week period that would be $115.50 and I paid $17.90 for my supplies in the end I think that our investment was worth it. I have learned to make it just like my good ole Starbucks, so no more detours to the drive thru just a pit stop to the kitchen before heading out to our daily schedules.

I would highly recommend this machine to anyone, it is very easy to use if you have never used an espresso machine before, you can not only make lattes, cappuccinos, but I get my Carmel machiattos as well. Look forward to my new morning tradition. If you get a free moment stitch on over to CSN stores and check out what wonderful products they have to offer.

Tuesday Tag-along

WOW !!!! Summer is almost over can you believe is the 24th already... School starts soon........

Can you Believe its Tuesday again and its that time to link up with some amazing bloggers. Come on over grab a seat and Stitch awhile, meet some new friends, chat about the new things in our life and just take a break from reality. Hope everyone is doing well and look forward to our blog hop this week. If you get a moment come join the fun with us Grab the link over at Twee Poppets. Happy Blogging Tuesday.

And the winner is

The winner of the Easy Lunch Box System is #2 Heather over at Raising Memories. Congrats Heather and I hope that you enjoy the easy lunch box system as much as we do.

This winner was selected using Random.org

Easy Lunch Boxes Giveaway

Its Back to School Time so what better way to celebrate than to get free stuff.

Kelly over at Easylunchboxes.com is offering one of my readers her wonderful lunch box system EasyLunchbox Compartmentalized BPA-Free Plastic Food Storage Containers and one of her Insulated Lunch Bags in your choice of color.

A little about Kelly, she is a mom of 3 who envisioned healthy lunches for her daughters that were not only simple, but healthy with little to no extra packaging or ingredients. She developed Easylunchboxes.com with her ability to do things efficiently while on a shoestring budget. " The EasyLunchbox system makes it simple to organize, and quickly pack healthy lunches without wasting money, time, paper or plastic."

Easy lunch boxes also participates in the go green campaign to eliminate 1 million pounds of waste by being 1 of 15,000 families to pledge to pack a waste-free lunch.

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

This giveaway is offered to US & Canadian residents only.
Please do not enter this giveaway if have won or received free product from
EasyLunchboxes within the past 3 months.

Mandatory Entry: Go to easylunchboxes.com and have a look around then come back and let me know something that you learned about this lunch box system that I did not already mention. Also make sure that you include the color of the lunch bag that you would like if you win.

Please make sure you include your email address if you are not already a friend via google friend. This will make it easier to contact you if you are the winner.

NOTE: If you skip the mandatory entry, none of your entries will count for the giveaway.

Extra Entries (please leave separate comment for each entry)

* Follow Me (or tell me you already do) (1 entry)
* Like easy lunch boxes On Facebook. (3 entries)
* Follow Me and easy lunch boxes on Twitter and Tweet This....(2 entries)
* Blog About This Awesome Giveaway (4 entries)

Giveaway closes August 13th@ 11:00 pm (EST) Winner will be picked August 14th by Random.org and notified by email, a post will follow. Winner will have 48 hours to reply to my email otherwise a new winner will be picked.

Disclaimer: I was contacted via email by a easylunchboxes.com and received the above mentioned product to review. Any and all opinions are mine and are unbiased

Easy Lunch Boxes Review

Easy Lunch Boxes is an economical way to head back to school this year. As Moms we are always looking for an easy way to not only provide the healthiest options for our children, but to make our life simpler. I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with Kelly at Easylunchboxes.com.

I have to say when I first spoke with Kelly I wasn't sure if the easy lunch box system was going to work for our family, hubby works outside in the heat and the kiddos and I are always on the run, between school events and various other activities. I have to say when I received our package not only was I excited but my little Red was happy she thought she got a new purse in the mail. Thank you Kelly for the wonderful purple lunch box for Bug she absolutely loved it. Hubby wasn't sure at first he looked at the system as just Tupperware, but were we ever wrong. I LOVE OUR EASY LUNCH BOX SYSTEM.

I woke up normal time, we were running behind but in 10 minutes I was able to through together a alphabet themed healthy lunch for the kiddos and faux sushi style lunch for me, hubby even got in on the action and loved his healthy lunch. I loved how the system makes it so easy to not only eat healthy but the compartments are roomy enough to fit a sandwich, 2 to 3 snacks and then you can fit up to 3 of the containers in the lunch bag with ease.

I have to say that at first I was a sceptic but now I'm in love with the easy lunch box system. I love that I no longer have to fish for those unwanted plastic baggies I can just grab our containers and fill them up with lunch or a healthy snack. The lunch bag is roomy enough to fit 2 lunch box systems comfortably with other snacks a drink and a ice pack.

If you get a free moment stitch on over to Easylunchboxes.com and check out this wonderful lunch box system.

Upholstered Headboards

Well its time for one of those fun teaser posts from CSN. I want to start by talking about upholstered headboards - think elegance and luxury. When I go on vacation or to a hotel I just love the look and feel of the rooms and the atmosphere, the way the rooms are put together the feel of the elegant furniture and most of all the comfort and style.

Most of us think comfort and not luxury when shopping for a bed, but why not have both. CSN has a wide variety of different styles that will fit anyone's budget.

Have you been to bedroomfurniture.com lately (this is just one of over 200+ stores that CSN has to offer). They have a huge selection of upholstered headboards.

How beautiful are these two headboard I think Luxury, glamours, I think of something I would see in a magazine.

If your in the market for a new headboard or maybe your redoing your room head on over to CSN and check out one of there fabulous stores and maybe you can find everything you need in one spot. Happy shopping !

Yard Sale Treasure

We have been in the process of doing some summer cleaning out at our house. School is getting ready to start back up here in another month and we are preparing by redoing ours sons room. I have envisioned to have a captains bed instead of this wonderful loft bed that we had.
My Husband passed by a yard sale and found this wonderful bed.... but I didn't like the color as I wanted to redo his room a little lighter and more natural.

So I decided that I wanted to redo the bed, I took the kiddos and we headed to home depot and I got the materials I needed, dug thru the shed and got the palm sander and spent the whole weekend redoing this bed....

Here is a preview of how much different the natural wood verses the original... I just loved how it came together, hubby and I finished with a natural oak stain on the pine and loved how it turned out.... but that wasn't the end of our room redo because we still had to conquer the room..

Well This is how we started our room renovation.... Scary isn't it.... But the end product turned out so cute, I'm so proud of my little man because he donated 7 bags of toys, clothes and books to goodwill.

But after all the mess of throwing stuff away and going thru the toys and reorganizing and deep cleaning the carpets, my 5 yr old was so helpful and I was so proud of how much stuff he got rid of and how much he donated to other children that might not have toys, and this was the final product.

We just loved how the new bed turned out, To top it all off it was the captains bed that we had been wanting and it only cost $ 40.00 for the bed and $35.00 in materials to refinish. This was a savings of $275.00 since we looked at the unfinished wood store and these beds start at $350.00.

I hope you enjoyed our weekend project makeover...

~Crafty MOM~

Duct Tape and Tape Measure = Perfection

So Question of the day... When you see this picture what do you think of........

Do you give up yet.......

Okay... is the suspense killing you ... Duct Tape and a Tape measure actually are some of the greatest inventions ever created... and wouldn't you know that they can be used for more that what we thought. I mean who hasn't used duct tape to do a quick home repair but probably not to sew with... Yes I said sew, and why would I ever use a tape measure other than its purpose. Remember that old saying don't judge a book by its cover well that is exactly what I did... I have to say that after doing this project I will never look at things the same.

I am always on the lookout for great products, patterns, things that make my life simpler as a mom or things that are super crafty that allow me to use my imagination and creative flare. I have to say that I'm so excited to share with you these 2 patterns that I came across today.

A little about the creators over at Stitchin Sisters, it was originally crated by two friends in 2001 as an avenue to minister to women using there combined talents, it eventually became a one woman show as life happens sometimes. The idea behind stitch in sis is that they believe in giving back to others to encourage others thru your talents and helping others thru missions.

Now off to my wonderful finds today here are two of Stitching Sisters Snap Happy Patterns. They are very well written for either the beginner seamstress to the most advanced sewer. The use of Duct Tape, Tape Measure, Needle, thread and fabric come together in these wonderful patterns to make wonderful gifts or keepsakes for families to share.

These are wonderful patterns can you believe you use a tape measure for the closure.

Here is a picture of the bag I thru together today, it took me about an hour and half from start to finish. The instructions are very detailed with many illustrations, and helpful hints throughout to keep you on task.

The inside of the bag opened, it automatically shuts, just pull handles to open bag.

I hope you all enjoy these wonderful patterns as much as I have. Thank you Rosemary

Southern Banana Bread

I love baking and finding new recipes to try, I had bought some bananas but with the 100+ weather we have been having the last couple of weeks fruit doesn't seem to last long in our house. My poor bananas turned within 2 days so instead of throwing them away I wanted to make a super yummy snack for the kiddos to eat. I knew I wanted a sweet recipe but wasn't sure what I was looking for until I came across this Southern Banana Bread recipe It caught my eye because who doesn't like banana Bread, and this one had a frosting so the best of both worlds.

Southern Banana Bread

Recipe For Southern Banana Nut Bread

1/2 cup Butter Flavored Shortening

1-1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Topping

1/4 to 1/3 cup ripe bananas

1-1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Additional chopped pecans

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs blend in bananas and vanilla. Add flour alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition. Fold in pecans

2. Pour into two greased 8in x 4in x 2 in loaf pans. Bake 350 for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing pans to wire racks to cool completely.

3. For Topping combine the banana, confectioners sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl, spread over loaves sprinkle with pecans.

HINT~if you don't have self rising flour place 3 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt in a measuring cup add all purpose flour to equal 1 cup then add another cup of all purpose flour.

~APRIL

Tuesday Tag-Along

Well its Tuesday again and I know I have been rather busy in life to get blogging with some of my blogging friends and Oh how I have missed my Linky Parties , So to kick off this week we are linky up with Twee Poppets and enjoying some blog hopping to make some new friends this week. So if you get a chance stop on by.... Grad your Linky and Start Blog Hopping