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Fall 2015 Hostess Exclusive
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Origami Owl Hostess Exclusive
Hello! The Hostess Exclusive for the months of October-December was just released and you are going to LOVE IT!
For hosting a party, you will have exclusive access to either purchase or earn FREE this stunning Suede Wrap Bracelet with crystals by Swarovski. These items will not be available to the general public and can only be ordered by our amazing hostesses!
In order to qualify for a party, there must be $125 in retail sales and have four (4) guest orders (one could be a hostess order). And the best part? All hostess rewards are transferable to online parties as well! So if your calendar is super busy this Fall, let’s plan for an Online or catalog party!
If you would love to book a party (either an in-home or an Online party), please contact me today as I would love to get you on my calendar!
Find Joy in the Journey!
DIY Fire Breathing Pink Dragon
My bigLittle knew way back in MAY what she wanted to be for Halloween: A Fire Breathing Pink Dragon with Red Spikes & a Heart. OK Good Ol’ Fashioned Homemade Halloween Costume COMING RIGHT UP! But I had my doubts. Is this even possible while on bedrest!? I had to try, because our other options were in the 30 to FORTY DOLLAR range, for a one time use costume.😳 And with another baby due soon, that $40 could get some better use.
I rummaged through my craft stash & my daughter’s closet to see what, if anything, I could use & not have to buy.
I had ribbons leftover from our wedding day, a pink hoodie, a pink tank top, half bottle of Fabri-tac (this had to be a no-sew project or it wasn’t going to happen!) A sheet of thick red felt (leftover from a Kai Lan headband I made for a past costume). My daughter had a pink hand me down hoodie, that was still in good condition, but she’ll grow out of it soon & she has a couple other hoodies she can still use. Underneath she can wear her all pink ballet outfit.
[fyi – Again, this is almost a complete No-Sew project, so when I say FT’d it, know that I Fabri-Tac’d the heck out of it.]
DIY DRAGON BELLY
First thing I tackled was the BODY. I cut up my light pink tank top for the belly skin. Then FT’d it to the front of the jacket.
Next, I cut to fit several strips of white sequin ribbon, a remnant from another past project. I call it dragon scales! I glued these across, to act like the belly plates of a dragon.
Then I trimmed around the tank top material with thin shiny white ribbon, remnant from my wedding day shoe accent. This hid a lot of crookedness of the tank top & gave it a finished & clean look. & My BigLittle helped me glue on random loose sequins…instead of tossing them.
DIY DRAGON SPIKES
I cut triangles from thick felt for the dragon spikes & attached with Fabri-Tac to a strip of ribbon. My bigLittle helped glue the spikes on a pink sash ribbon, that I suspect was from one of her first birthday gift wrap. Yes, I do hoard ribbon scraps. At first I was going to make the spikes detachable, so they wouldn’t get in the way when getting my kid into her car seat. But genius hubby said just attach them, cuz we can just remove her jacket. duh! ok, moving on. So, I FT’d it, starting from the front of the hoodie all the way down the back. Done! Instant dragon look. Could even be a dino costume.
(semi) DIY DRAGON WINGS
I had great plans of making the wings. But one trip to the local Savers & a pair of $7 red glittery “fairy wings” changed that.
All I did to Dragon-fy them was to bend the wire to give them more sharp angles & ripped off this huge red rose & replaced it with red dragon spikes. Done.
DIY DRAGON TAIL
DIY DRAGON BREATH AKA FIRE BREATHING DRAGON ACTION
My original plan, was to handmake this, using three party blowers, taped together, for more flame action. But I nixed that thought, since one party blower was plenty big already for my little one. I just tied varied lengths of red & orange ribbon around the straw, with forked tips. & added a few flame tips to the end of the paper roll, using trimmed petals from the flower I ripped off the store bought wings we found at Savers. Easy!
DIY DRAGON HEADBAND EARS/HORNS
I almost didn’t do this. Was feeling so done with this whole costume. But one morning, got a burst of Can-Do spirit & made it happen.
Sorry, no detail step-by-step shots here. I cut up one of Ava’s old baby blankets. FT’d it over a headband. Drew ear shapes onto card stock. Cut out the ears. FT’d the ears to the blanket material. Cut it out close to the edge. then flipped it over & FT’d it again to the blanket & this time, left about a 2 cm edge around the ear. Then I FT’d around that extra flap & folded it over to hide the cardstock edge.
Next, I cut in half a gold fabric covered hair curler (I never use ’em). Then glued them to the headband for dragon horns.
Then I finished it off with dragon scales aka sequin ribbon.
DIY DRAGON TOES + LEG WARMERS
DRAGON GIRL TUTU
Initially my husband was not a believer in tutu’d dragons. But I made him a believer with 1 1/2 yards each of pink & red tulle, a remnant piece of garter & scissors.
I didn’t bother to take too many detail shots of the tutu, since there are already plenty of diy’s around. Here’s a link to one from Cori @ Read.Write.Run.Mom
The one thing I’d note about this tutu, is that I folded the ends of each tulle strip & cut it at an angle, to give the skirt a more finished look.
DRAGON. DONE.
Because I’m a craft hoarder, we saved a ton by working with what I had in my stash. If you had to buy all the ribbons, fabric, hoodie, etc would easily bump your costs into the $30+ range. Fabri-Tac alone can cost $15.
We spent about $12, since we bought the wings ($7), my mom bought the tulle ($2) & party blowers ($2), and Ava’s ninang Margie picked up the tail at the dollar tree. Not bad!
The costume we almost bought:
So glad we didn’t. Even though this ended up taking me several weeks to finish. We love how this turned out. It was what my bigLittle wanted & then some.
Elijah’s Basket | Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month
Balloon Release, 2008 Walk to Remember, Banner Desert Arizona, photo by CACTUSmango
In October 1988, President Ronald Reagan Proclaimed October as National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. “When a child loses his parent, they are called an orphan. When a spouse loses her or his partner, they are called a widow or widower. When parents lose their child, there isn’t a word to describe them. This month recognizes the loss so many parents experience across the United States and around the world. It is also meant to inform and provide resources for parents who have lost children due to miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, stillbirths, birth defects, SIDS, and other causes.”
When we lost our first child, baby boy Elijah at 18 weeks gestation due to #incompetentcervix in November 2005, we were greatly comforted by the thoughtfully handmade & donated items of miniature clothing, blankets, rosaries & stuffed toys meant for babies born too soon. It was comforting in the sense that someone whom we never met cared enough to take the time for our little baby, during a time when no parent could ever possibly be prepared for.
The program gave us the opportunity to have precious photos of our Elijah with a blanket, mini rosary and mini stuffed bear which my husband carefully chose from the various donated items.
One of the donated items, that we have cherished over the years is the basket the nurses placed our tiny baby nestled in soft blankets, so that we could have time to be close to our baby.
Now almost 8 years later, on our 5th pregnancy, 2nd cervical cerclage & expecting our 2nd “Rainbow Baby”, it is our sincere hope that we can return our son’s basket to Banner Desert, on the day our baby Lucy is born, filled with items donated with love for families like us who have angel babies.
I received these teeny sweet #handmade #knitted #bows #bowties in the mail from my dear friend & fellow crafting enthusiast AdieElaine, all the way from Virginia! They come with the message: “These teeny bows made of yarn are tied together & bonded with a knot as you are with your baby’s soul.” Adie, your kindness, faith and love really shine through in your creations and will touch & comfort many families. Thank you so much for being there throughout all the years & distance.
I received a package from another east coast crafting buddy Anna of Anna Sganga Photography, who made These teeny crotchet hearts. They are so precious & have a special place in #elijahsbasket. She also included a copy of a beautiful poem by E.E. Cummings “I Carry Your Heart with Me”. Thank you so much Anna!
Our dear friends Todd & Erica put together these precious items to add to #ElijahsBasket Todd chose these cute blue nosed stuffed animals & Erica found these sweet little footprint pins on etsy with a bible verse on the cards. I love them – the items & my friends. Thank you so much Williams5!
If you would like to add donations to Elijah’s Basket – you can message me via facebook.com/cactusmango
If you are in Arizona & would like to make a donation or need information/support on coping with the loss of a little one, below is the contact information for the Bereavement Services/RTS at Banner Desert:
Bereavement Services/RTS, Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support Group
7 p.m. | 1st Monday of each month
Banner Desert Medical Center
1400 S. Dobson Road
Mesa, AZ 85202
(480) 412-3595
Coconut Cream Cheesecake Bites on a Pretzel Crust
ICEBOX CHEESECAKE
I started off with this ice box cheesecake recipe I spied on pinterest. With a few of my own substitutions/additions. Everything’s pretty muchthe same, except instead of whipping cream, I used whipped coconut milk. Instead of a graham cracker crust, I used crushed up pretzels. I added zest from one lemon and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
PRETZEL CRUST
For the crust, I followed the quantities in the recipe above. Subbing out graham crackers for crushed pretzels and it turned out delicious!
I put the pans with the pretzel crust in the fridge to firm up, while I tackled the whipped cream. (Note: This recipe was good for one pan of 24 mini cakes and two small springform cakes. I believe the springform pans are 4-5 inches.)
WHIPPED COCONUT CREAM
I pinned this recipe when I started looking into the Paleo diet & have always wanted to try it. Finally got to do just that, since I didn’t have regular whipped cream for this cheesecake recipe.
I was skeptical about this one. Plus, it calls for a “full fat” coconut milk and I only had “lite”. I stuck that light can in the fridge & hoped for the best. Luckily, we did a quick trip to the grocery store & they had the regular coconut milk. Stuck that in the fridge overnight too. The next day, opened the can, scooped out the thickened coconut milk, but it still didn’t seem like it would be enough, so I did open up the “light” can. It yielded even less than the full fat can. I combined the two & crossed my fingers!
Also, I couldn’t bust out my Kitchenaid Mixer because the thing weighs a ton & in my prego/incompetent cervix state, lifting it to the counter was not an option. So, I had to brave my first attempt at hand whipping cream! Boy was I relieved & surprised that it was actually working! I had to stop & ask my mom to video me whippin’ it real good! [Watch if you dare]
In this photo below, you can see the cream hadn’t fully firmed up, but I just couldn’t wait to taste it!
Here they are the next night, nice & firm. When it’s chilled well overnight, the little bites pop out of the pan easily without losing shape or crumbling.
RASPBERRY COMPOTE
The raspberry compote was a pure experiment! Never made nor ate compote before so I don’t know if what I made was a good compote! But it sure is tasty to me! I used a small carton of fresh organic raspberries, about a cup of boiling water, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, juice & zest from half a lemon and several sprigs of organic mint leaves. Threw it all in a little pot & boiled it for about 5 minutes. Took out the mint sprigs & transferred it to a mason jar to cool, before chilling in the fridge. It has a thin syrup sauce consistency and has a bright berry mint flavor. Delightful!
PICNIC PHOTOSHOOT PROP | DIY PICNIC BLANKET
A few weekends ago, we braved the Labor Day crowd at Ikea to pick up under bed storage for my daughter’s big girl bed. Which meant I got my upper arm work out using one of their complimentary wheel chairs. I missed my Amigo. But the rainbow at the end of our quick trip, was bumping into our friends near the end of the maze and finding a single panel Bollkaktus curtain for just $8 in the As-Is Section. SCORE! I thought it’d be perfect for my daughter’s window, however my husband did not. Which didn’t phase me. I knew I could make something with it.
Like this floral smile pillow. I have plenty of boring pillows needing some oomph & my linen napkins are looking drab. But It finally dawned on me that the heavy canvas-like curtain would be perfect for a picnic blanket! All it needed was a quick cut to size 57×57 and a straight stitch.
It’d also be ridiculously more affordable than this $155chevron waterproof picnic blanket I’ve been eyeing on etsy. My version of course is no where near as durable as this one. But it’s a price tag that doesn’t hurt.
My daughter even helped me sew it as the designated pedal pusher. Done!
You can get all fancy by adding a layer of cushion and line the bottom with a protective vinyl. For our purposes as a photo prop, it wouldn’t be worth the time & effort. But, definitely something I could go back and add later.
P.S. I confess I’m smitten by the name & inspiration of this fabric – cactus!
Designer thoughts
“When I designed BOLLKAKTUS curtain I was inspired by photos I took during my holidays near and far – of things like balloons on strings, stones, cacti and the surfaces of rocks and brick walls.” – Designer Henna Jaakkola
PICNIC PHOTOSHOOT PROP | DIY PINWHEELS
In a couple weeks we plan to attempt a DIY Family Photo Shoot. We really wish we could hire a professional photographer for an outdoors photoshoot, but it’s just not in the budget for us. Being a digiscrapper, I want all my photo files, not just a a couple choice prints. Plus, there’s this whole incompetent cervix & bedrest situation we’ve been living with this whole pregnancy. As a good compromise, we’ll be doing an outdoor picnic style photoshoot with the help of our brother. My “vision” is something fun, colorful and hip. Pinterest & Etsy have pumped my brain full of ideas.
My husband’s been patiently on board with all my ideas, so long as we don’t splurge. Got a baby coming soon. Hello.
So, I’m putting to good use my craft stash to make the props for our shoot. Starting with these easy DIY Pinwheels, a fun & whimsical picnic photo prop that will surely put a smile on my girl’s face.
Thankfully I had all the supplies already in my stockpile.
I didn’t snap a shot of cutting the paper. If you need a visual, this mommy blogger took some great ones – Bern Next, I let my little one go to town on the plain side of the scrapbook paper with a sponge & paint. Let it dry.
Then I bent the pin with pliers. At first i stuck it in the paper & straw & then tried bending the pin. No Bueno. The paper & straw got smooshed. So, I recommend bending the pin first!
With the bent pin, poke the alternating corners of the paper & then straight through the middle. On the back, slide a couple beads onto the pin. Then, pierce the straw.
Wiggle the bent pin through the straw, until you can lay it flat against the straw. Secure it with clear tape.
At this point you’re good to go. If you want a longer handle, slide a bbq skewer into two straws. Tape the straws at the joint. Tape the bottom to keep the straw in.
My daughter loves it. It’s bigger than her head & she spent 15 minutes straight running around the house with it to get it to spin. She calls it a “winpeel” which fits because it certainly was a diy win in my books.
On a side note: This is my first post using only my phone because of being on bedrest. But, I must say I could get used to this! Using the phone’s camera instead of dslr and instead of photoshop, i used the #rhonnadesigns app to add text and #snapseed to do a little photo tweeking. It’s made blogging this super easy. Now I have no excuse to slack on blogging my diy adventures. Next up, Diy Picnic Photo Shoot | Picnic Blanket.
BLUE AGAVE + CHIPOTLE “LONGANISA”
Here’s a semi-homemade pseudo healthy twist on the Filipino favorite sweet breakfast sausage Longanisa with fried garlic rice & a sunny side up egg, better known for it’s acronym Losilog = Longanisa + Sinangang + Itlog!
fair warning – I was cooking by sight & taste this morning, so I didn’t measure the ingredients!
Tip – If you’re cooking with fry pan like me, cook the cauliflower first before the Longanisa. The Longanisa will make the pan super messy & sticky, but if you use a non stick & rinse of the pan while it’s still hot – right away, it will be a quick clean up!
GARLIC CAULIFLOWER “RICE”
by CACTUSmango
::Ingredients::
• 1/4 head of Cauliflower (finely chopped)
• 1-2 Tablespoons of minced garlic (also from Costco)
• about 2 Tablespoons Virgin Cold pressed Coconut Oil (from Costco. & that’s a guesstimate again, I just squirted directly into pan without measuring!)
::STEPS::
1. Heat coconut oil in medium high heat pan & saute the garlic. You can cook your garlic lightly or til it’s crispy, both ways I like.
2. Pulse cauliflower in food processor or simply chop it up into rice sized bits.
3. Add to pan & toss with garlic oil until al dente.
BLUE AGAVE + CHIPOTLE “LONGANISA”
by CACTUSmango
::Ingredients::
• 4 Johnsonville Maple Sausage (frozen from Costco)
• 4 tablespoons of Organic Blue Agave Syrup (also from Costco. Qauntity is a guesstimate because I just drizzled a bunch over the sausage in the pan)
• Organic Ground Chipotle powder (add as much as you like)
• Water (just enough to, about half way up the sausage. Maybe i used 1/2 cup)
::STEPS::
1. Place all ingredients in non-stick pan over medium heat, boil then reduce heat to medium low. Cover & simmer until sausage is almost cooked through.
2. Uncover & increase to medium heat. Turn occasionally. Let liquids reduce. Ready to eat when caramelized!
I’m pleasantly surprised that the Cauliflower “Rice” went well with this. You can serve this atop rice of your choice with sunny side up or over medium for pregos like me.
After trying this, I could use a lot more heat! It is 4th of July after all! Add more spice to your liking & Have a great weekend!
CACTUSmango 