Mother's Day wish

Good Morning my beautiful friends!  Did you know that Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day is from a small town in West Virginia not far from where I grew up?  I think it's pretty cool!  I would like to wish each and everyone one of you a beautifully peaceful Mother's Day!  I hope you all get pampered and treated like the queens you are!  Even if you aren't a mother yet, enjoy the day with your mom, grandma, aunt, or just that special lady that deserves the best!

Happy Mother's Day

I love you mom, and Becki!

You're the best

Handpainted Glasswear

Are you still looking for the perfect Mother's Day gift?  There is still time to make your mom, mother-in-law, or special lady a beautiful hand painted glass.  I know personally that all women don't like wine.  Keeping that in mind,  I knew exactly what to do for my mother-in-law.

What you'll need:
Glass of your choice (I found mine at the dollar store for $1 each)
Acrylic for Glass (Hobby Lobby and Michael's carries them)
or Vitrea 160 paint for glass markers
Paint brushes
oven
stencils if desired
alcohol

I made each glass differently and personalized for each person.
I introduced my mother-in-law to Captain Morgan years ago, and we haven't looked back since.

Be sure to wash your glass with soap and water.
Run a rag with alcohol over it to make sure it is super clean
I found a cool outline of The Captain, and had my wonderful husband cut it out for me(so it would be right, and perfect)
Taped it onto the glass and painted

On the back side, I found a cool pirate-like font, printed it out and chalked the back.  I taped it where I wanted it and traced the letters.  It left the outline for me to paint the letters exactly the way I wanted.

Here is her finished mug!

On the other hand, my mom is more of a wine drinker.  I used the glass paint pens for hers.

The pens make it easier to free write and draw.  Using the paint brush is harder to write and do small lines with.  Here is the wine glass finished product

Once your paint has dried you have to bake them in the oven according to the paint directions.  For the pens, it is 40 mins at 325, the paint is 30 mins at 325.  This is so the paint doesn't wash off when you wash them.  They can be hand washed or top rack dishwasher safe.  Be sure to let the glasses cool before removing them from the oven.

I love that you can create anything you want on glasses and personalize them for each person you make them for.  You find them at the store for  $15 or more, it cost less than $10 to make these depending on if you get the paint on sale.

These glasses not only give you the opportunity to show off your talents, but gives the recipient a handmade piece of art made especially for them with love and affection!

Have a FABULOUS Friday my dear friends, it's almost the weekend!

Cinco de Mayo drinks, drinks, drinks

Since tons of people will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo today, I thought I would share a few drinks.

Maya Magic
1oz Pineapple Vodka                                              
1 oz gogh Vanilla vodka
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz cranberry

Pour into shaker and add crushed ice, shake vigorously.
Strain into glass
Garnish with a pineapple chunk

El Toro
2 oz White tequila
1 oz Kahula Coffee liqueur

Add over ice in glass

Virgin Pina Colada
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup crushed pineapple                                    
1/2 cup coconut milk
juice from 1 lime
ice to top of blender

Blend well, pour into glass, and ENJOY

I hope you all have a Safe Cinco de Mayo and a very happy Thirsty Thursday!

Making a Mother's Day Card

I used to be really big on buying cards for everything.  I was pretty good at picking them out too, the perfect card.  A few years ago I started making cards, they are cheaper (usually), more personal, and most likely a hole lot cuter! I thought I would share the mother's day card I made this year.  The great thing is, if you have a 12x12 sheet of card stock you can make one for your mom and one for your mother-in-law.  (2 birds, 1 stone) Or any special lady in your life, deserving of a nice card.

What you'll need:

1- 12x12 card stock
2- 4.5x6.5 card stock
ribbon
velum

I'm not good at writing on the outside of my cards, so I use my printer and a piece of velum to get the words I want with the fonts I love.
On this card I made an M with dearest mom below it.  I used a little glue on the edges to adhere it to the card stock.  Since I was putting small squares around the card, it would cover the glue marks.  You could also use brads or eyelets to set it.
Cut your 4.5x6.5 card stock into small squares of equal size, you need 8
Adhere the squares and add the ribbon.  Super simple and pretty adorable (I think)
Here is the finished product:

You could always print the wording right onto the card stock if you'd like.  Write what you feel in the inside and viola, a personal Mother's day card.

Have a Happy Humpday!

Cucumber salad and sandwich

I love cucumbers, they are healthy and delicious.  I thought I might share 2 of my favorite recipes that you might be able to use for your Mother's day celebration.  


Cucumber Salad
4 cucumbers, thinly sliced

1 small white onion                                       
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon dill or to taste


Add onions and cucumbers in a bowl
Heat vinegar, water and white sugar in saucepan to boil. 
Pour over cucumbers and onions, refrigerate until cool, about 1 hour add dill


*Another great quick and easy cucumber salad is cut the onion and cucumbers, and add your favorite Italian dressing, let cool, simple and easy and super yummy! 


Cucumber Sandwiches
1 package cream cheese softened
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 (.7) package dry Italian-style salad dressing 

1 loaf bread (I like white without crust, but rye is also good)
2 cucumbers cleaned, not peeled and sliced


Combine cream cheese, sour cream and dressing mix together.  Spread on bread and top with cucumbers.


I hope you enjoy and have a Tasty Tuesday!

A boob-less bachelor party!

I know what you are thinking, how can it be. How can men celebrate the last few days of bachelor life with out grotesque amounts of booze, or naked women.  I am here to tell you that it is possible. It was a true test of friendship to abide by the rules however. I racked my brains to think of a suitable alternative. I imagined a lame bowling alley bachelor party with gutter punks, a retro skating rink bash, and also entertained the idea of going to Chunky Cheese’s. These ideas just were not enough to show one of my best friends how great exiting bachelor hood could be.

I can dredge up only minuscule amounts of vague recollection when it concerns my friend’s first bachelor party, and the parts I can remember are too gratuitous for this post. I can speak for most of the participants in attendance that none of us can truly recall the finer points of that night. This made me realize that even with out gallons of liquor, or “entertainers” a group of old friends can get together and have an unforgettable day. The going out with a bang bachelor party idea was born. 

A light bulb appeared over my head and I thought if I can’t get my boys trashed and have their squeaky clean reputations tarnished a bit, I could send them out with a bang. I called all of the guys going and dropped the plan of having a zombie apocalypse take place at our farm. We amassed all of our firepower and reloaded all of the ammo that we could for this glorious event.  The day had arrived and we congregated at my parent’s house.

My mother blew our minds with a dinner that was amazing! My mother saved my ass; I was going to grill some burgers and be done with it. If you do not know my mother, the enthusiasm obtained by entertaining and the love that she puts into her food is second to none. It is a bit overwhelming to witness and to be a part of. She had thought of everything and it was spectacular. Once we had eaten our fill and found the motivation to leave the table it was off to the farm.

Our group consisted of a few veteran shoots, a novice or two and a bloke that had never shot a firearm in his life. The guys did not disappoint; the quantity and quality of firepower was impressive to say the least. We had amassed an arsenal of battle rifles, combat handguns, shotguns and hi-capacity magazines that would have made any gun lover jealous. Then the zombies arrived. It was a total riot, thank you Birchwood-Casey for your new shoot and see Darkotic zombie targets. They supplied us with hours of endless entertainment. We tested our skills and ability during this epic battle with the undead. The veterans took care to show the newbie shooters proper technique and operations with the various firearms. Soon, they too were taking out zombies with crucial head shots required to neutralize the hoard of undead. The look on everybody’s faces at the end of the day was priceless. 

When we were out of ammo and when every one got their fill of shooting all of the different guns, including my wife’s cute little pink Walther P22 it was time to go. One of the guys had asked if he thought that my mom would mind us going back for second helpings of her wonderful food and I assured him that it would be no problem and it sounded like a great idea to me! We all ate our fill and lingered on some of the more impressive parts of the day.

All in all, it was a blast that we will not soon forget, and will be easily remembered. He is to be married by the time you read this, the best mans speech will no doubt be censored and edited for the tales that I can tell about our previous lives are sordid and off color for such an occasion. Let there be no doubt friends and neighbors that a boob-less bachelor party can be far better than the alternative, and the lives that we are currently enjoying make us realize just how lucky we are to have our wives. BTW with out the creator of this blog I may never have met mine. Thanks Bobbi Jo, I love you too.

Barry

Cupcake weakness

Yesterday I talked about how I have weaknesses when I come to WV.  I thought I would share one of my weaknesses with you.  This is one of the reasons why I just love to eat here!

Mini cupcakes, with the most amazing icing, and to make them better....

Yes, that is raspberry filling!!!!

OMG, these little things are AMAZING!

When they are this little, it makes it harder to judge how many you should eat.

When they are large, you eat one, when they are mini you eat 2? 4?  

I don't know, they are to good to have just one, that's for sure.

I'm sorry if I now have you tempted!

I hope you all have a delicious weekend!