Easy Fruit Dip

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day!  We enjoyed time with friends and lots of good food!  

Here's a recipe I made for the get together...

All you need is cream cheese, marshmallow fluff and vanilla.

Blend it all together and garnish with fruit!

I also made fruit kabobs to go with the dip.

They are a little time consuming to make, but are definitely worth the work!

Yummo!

Here's the recipes...

Fruit Dip

8 oz. cream cheese (softened)

7 oz. marshmallow fluff

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat together and garnish with fresh fruit.

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Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Guest Post: DIY Magnetic Board

 I am so excited to have my friend Hannah guest posting for me today!  She doesn't have her own craft blog, so I get the privilege of showing off her wonderful creativity at The Tidy Nest.  

Here is a super cute magnetic board that she made, along with step-by-step instructions on how she put it together.  

 

It is similar to the one I made here, but she used cardboard along with the sheet metal to make it thicker and more sturdy.  She also added some adorable embellishments and stitching!

Here are the instructions...

I started with a 36x24 sheet of galvanized sheet metal from Home Depot for $9.34.  My husband cut it into 8 9x12 sheets.  Then cut the cardboard the same size.

Then I mod podge the sheet metal to the cardboard for a little support.

He drilled the holes through all.

I then laid the magnetic board onto the (facing down) fabric that I purchased at Walmart for $5.44 per yard (I purchased ½ yard and I was able to do 3 boards with it) then took a pen and traced the outline of the board onto the fabric.  I took the fabric to my sewing machine and followed the tracing to sew a fun border.  (you’ll actually sew on the wrong side so you can follow the tracing).  Sorry I didn’t take a picture of this step, but this picture shows the border well. 

I then laid the fabric back onto the magnetic board and hot glued one side, so I could get the border straight with the board.  Then I flipped it over and pulled tight the fabric and glued it down.

I actually cut the corners so there wasn’t so much material to work with.  But make sure you leave enough room to cover the corners.

I also folded the raw edges on the corners over to give a finished look.

I cut a piece of burlap and sewed the edges in a zip zag to keep from fraying.

Hot glued the burlap on the back.

Cut through fabric where the holes were for the ribbon.

Found these embellishments at Michaels for $2.50 (got 2 of them).  The magnets came from there too  (I paid $4.40 for 50 of them, since I had a 40% off coupon)

Hot glue the magnet to the embellishment.

To make the flowers I followed the instructions from the DYI Dish…found here on the end of this video http://www.thediydish.com/2010/02/how-to-make-chic-pillows-thediydish-on-studio5/

Then hot glued them on.

So Cute!!

Thanks for sharing this awesome tutorial, Hannah!  

Hopefully we will get to see more of her wonderful creativity soon!

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Yummo Cinnamon Granola

I love to eat granola for breakfast.  It is so filling and really yummy!  

My favorite granola recipe is from All Recipes.  

{By the way, I love this site!  I always go to All Recipes to brainstorm for great dinner recipes.} 

Anyway, this granola recipe is fabulous!  I always follow the recipe exactly and it turns out great every time!   

{Be sure to stir often and watch it carefully so that it doesn't get too dark.} 

I usually double the recipe to make enough for a couple of weeks...

 It tastes great over yogurt and my husband likes to eat it in his ice cream!  He says it makes his ice cream "healthy".

Go HERE to try this great recipe!

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Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Hobo Sack

While my mom was visiting last week, she helped me make this hobo sack from the tutorial over at MADE!

  We made our own version by adding an appliqued snail on the front.  It was pretty easy to put together and I learned quite a bit about my sewing machine in the process.  I am so inspired to make a couple more of these adorable bags!  They would be super cute as gift bags and I might even try to make a little bit larger one for myself. 

This bag is the perfect size to use for a small diaper bag or as an activity bag to hold toys and snacks!

My little guy loves to carry it around the house!

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