Gift Wrapping with recycled Christmas cards.

Gift Wrap with Recycled Christmas Cards

Gift Wrapping

This handmade card is so perfect for adorning a small gift.

Gift bags are so easy and convenient to throw a gift into with a little tissue paper and instantly without much effort you have a pretty gift ready to give. The only thing missing is the satisfaction of tearing into that beautiful gift wrap and discovering the very present you were wishing for under that lovely wrapping paper. It seems that everyone has there style of opening gifts. Some love to carefully open the box from the ends, making sure not to tear anything, while others rip open the wrapping so fast you end up with shreds of paper everywhere. I am somewhere in between.With the popularity of gift bags, the wrapped gift is not as popular it seems. Don’t get me wrong, I love an easy and beautiful gift bag! This year I had started saving boxes for wrapping some gifts in, and bought some new paper, and we had a ton of left over ribbon from last year just waiting to adorn a pretty wrapped box. The girls love to wrap presents, so they were a big help this year with that process. I came across a big stack of Christmas cards from years past, too pretty to throw away, but not really having a use anymore. I thought it would be a great idea to use them to trim our packages. (read more)

MelindaGift Wrap with Recycled Christmas Cards
Fleur De Lis 8 Symbols of Happiness

8 Symbols of Happiness

My good friend Arianna has recently launched her blog, seekingabetterlife.com,  that explores her journey in uncovering the truth about nutrition and health. She recently shared her 8 symbols of happiness and challenged her readers to come up with theirs. The concept is based on her favorite writer, blogger and podcaster, Gretchen Rubin’s The 8 symbols of happiness which was inspired by the 8 Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism.

My 8 symbols of happiness are…

Heart. I think without love there would be little that would make me happy. Romantic love, parental love, love for kindred souls, friends and my family… (read more)

Melinda8 Symbols of Happiness
How to make Candy Sushi

Candy Sushi!

Candy Sushi

Candy Sushi made with Rice Crispy Treats, Fruit Roll Ups and other candy.

I have a friend I work with who is leaving for greener pastures, and I wanted to make her something special as a goodbye gift. She loves candy and sushi, so I thought the perfect thing would be Candy Sushi! I saw various versions of it on Pinterest, and it looked easy and adorable. It is a sweet treat and a crafty no bake one at that. They would be really fun for a Japanese themed party or even as dessert for a real sushi dinner.

They are easy to make with some assembly. There is a lot of candy involved and it made my grocery cart look like I had a serious sugar addiction! It turned out to be fun for Coda and I as an after school activity to do together. We did end up eating way more candy than is usual in our house for sure. (read more)

MelindaCandy Sushi!
Lemon Bars, Lemonies, Lemon Brownies.

Lemonies! Sweet Lemon Bar Alternative

Lemon Bars, Lemonies, Lemon Brownies.

Lemon Yellowies are more firm like a brownie or dense cake.

We went to a potluck in the Cherry Creek district of Denver this weekend. What a beautiful home! The hosts were so gracious and generous with tons of food and drinks. They even organized a canned food drive. They had an artist doing charcoal portraits, and we had one done of Makayla. I met some really interesting people too, some of them artists as well.

Lemonies, Lemon Brownies, Lemon Bars.

The hosts requested that we bring either a dessert or a side dish, so we opted for dessert. Makayla made these Lemonies on her own with no help from me at all. We named these delicious treats Lemonies since they are like a brownie, but obviously not brown! They are different than a traditional lemon bar in that they are firm and more dense, which I happen to love. They have a great lemon flavor, but are not too sweet either. They are not gluten free or vegan or low carb or anything else as far as being friendly to any particular diet. But! They are totally delish for those who may stray from time to time or don’t really have to restrict their diets. I have ambition and goals of including treats for other restricted diets here, as I have been having to go more low carb for health reasons lately and have other friends that have other issues and choices as well. (read more)

MelindaLemonies! Sweet Lemon Bar Alternative
Bohemian Nail Art

Bohemian Nail Art~Kiss Nail Stickers Review

Kiss Nail StickersToday we did manicures and I tried nail polish stickers from Kiss. The nails were very easy to apply and they had a lot of lovely designs. I picked this classy black and gold one. It also comes with little shapes and such you can add to customize it. You can see a few of the designs above. I was really sad to see, hours later, the stickers peeling off. I’m sure they will work fine with some nail glue or something to make them a little more permanent.

Royal Flush Nail Stickers by Kiss

These nails were so edgy and bohemian and really classy looking on.

I tried Kiss Gel Dress, gel polish solution stickers in Royal Flush. (read more)

MelindaBohemian Nail Art~Kiss Nail Stickers Review
Chicken Caprese Pizza from bohemiancottage.com

Caprese Chicken Pizza

Chicken Caprese Pizza. Bohemiancottage.com

Easy and Healthy Chicken Caprese Pizza.

Browsing magazines never fails to make me inspired. Whether its a craft or a dinner, magazines are full of opportunities.  I came across a picture of  chicken caprese pizza in seventeen magazine. This seemed like the perfect meal to satisfy the appetite of the picky eaters of our house, while still keeping it healthy. This pizza is truly easy to make and will make everyone’s mouth water.

Ingredients:

Pizza dough. We used pre-made dough.

1 Roma tomato- sliced

Shredded mozzarella- 1 cup

1 grilled chicken breast- sliced (read more)

MelindaCaprese Chicken Pizza