5 Question Fridays

I found this fun little way to get to know each other over at My Little Life.  It's called 5 Questions Friday.  Join in!

1. Do you have any nicknames and if so how did it come about?  

I have a couple.  When I was little, like 4-ish, my family all called me Cory, which is just a shortened version of Courtney.  There's also Starfish, which came from one year at girls camp when my friends and I decided to give each other fish-related nicknames.  And Squirts.  This one is a little more complicated to explain: so in 11th grade, I took the PSAT.  Colleges use the info you provide, like your name and address, to send you information.  There weren't enough spaces for my entire first name, so all that fit was Courtn.  Well, appartently, the College Board people thought that my "O" looked like a "Q" so when I started getting things from colleges in the mail, they were addressed to Cqurtn Kanar.  My mom was sounding it out-"C-quirtin'.  Squirtin'.  Squirts!"  And thus Squirts was born.

2. What is your birth order amongst your siblings?

I'm the oldest.  My younger sister is about 5 years younger than me.  Next after her is my brother Ethan and he's almost exactly 2 years younger than my sister.  And lastly, there's my brother Josh, who is 2 years younger than Ethan.  So there's a span of 9 years between the oldest and the youngest.

3. In a movie of your life, who would play your significant other?

Hmmm....I'm not really sure.  I can't think of any actor that reminds me of my hubby, both in looks and personality.  He's one-of-a-kind : )

4. What is currently your favorite song?

I'm really loving Believe by The Bravery.

5. Are you saving your money for anything right now? Big or small purchase?

There are two things I'm currently saving for: #1 is for my anniversary in December.  I've got a great present idea for my hubby.  The other thing I'm saving for is this dress from Mod Cloth.  I just fell in love with it when I saw it.  Hopefully they'll still have it in stock by the time I have the money for it!

So head on over to My Little Life and get to know some other bloggers!

Hand-made Goodie of the Week: Interchangeable Wreath

 

Interchangeable Wreath

It all started with this wreath.  I've had it for a few months and it's just been sitting in my closet because I've been indecisive about what I wanted to do with it.  I didn't want to "commit" it to one look.  So I racked my brain and came up with a way to make it interchangable!  And since fall is right around the corner, I decided to start off with a fall-ish look.

I made several different kinds of burlap flowers.  This one I ruffled by sewing a line down the center, 

Then gathered it tight.

I formed it into a circle and stitched it together so it wouldn't come apart. 

I also made a few rolled flowers by cutting a strip of burlap about 1/2 inch wide, folded it in half and rolled it.

Then stitched the bottom.

I also made some orange burlap rosettes and some layered "flowers" out of the tan and orange burlap.

Here comes the "interchangeable" part: I then arranged them how I wanted on the wreath then moved them onto a piece of brown felt and hot glued them in place.  Then I trimmed the felt around the outline of the arrangement. 

I then cut two half inch pieces of velcro.

I hot glued the loop (fuzzy) side to the back of the felt.

And hot glued the hook (rough plastic) side onto the wreath.  Then I attached the felt piece onto the wreath.

There you go!  I've got a lovely fall wreath that I can change out when the idea strikes.

Here are some of the other embellishments I've made for my wreath:

I was inspired by this cute burlap wreath by Jen from Tatertots and Jello-go check hers out!  

I'm linking up to the usual parties (see the right sidebar) as well as the CSI Project's Fall challenge. 

Who's That: Along for the Ride (and a giveaway!)-CLOSED

First things first, it's time to announce the winner of the Freckled Bug giveaway.  The lucky lady receiving Andrea's super-cute hair bows is:

#7-Stephanie from Coupon Clippin' Mommy!

Congrats, Stephanie!  Shoot me an email by Monday so I can you and Andrea in touch!

I'm so excited to introduce you all to Laura from Along for the Ride today.  She and I are doing a blog swap and she was gracious enough to let me "interview" her!  I hope you all enjoy getting to know her as much as I have!

Could you tell my readers just a little bit about yourself?- I have been married to a cute, funny, kind man named Kyle for a little over a year. We have a little kitty named Jupiter. And we live in a residence hall with 400 college students! I am a hall coordinator- I have a masters degree in higher education and hope to work at a college forever! Kyle just started his masters in library science this fall. We love working with college students and watching them grow!

Tell me a little bit about your blog.  What prompted you to start Along For The Ride and why? I started along for the ride as a way to stay connected to our family back home. Then I was introduced to the world of craft blogs...and I started crafting more myself. I love sharing my projects  and being inspired by others. I host a weekly craft party on Saturdays called Saturday is Crafty Day. Since I started it last fall, my blog has turned into a space where I share my love of crafting, love of my family and my job, and my love of Jesus Christ.

What inspires you?  What type of things do you find yourself being drawn to? I am inspired by women who lead simple, God-filled lives, who love their families, and relish in the little things. On the crafty side of things, I am inspired by bright colors, flowers, and all kinds of jewelry.

What are your favorite things to create? My first love is jewelry! I have recently gotten in to sewing and love making coffee cozies. I also really love making decorations for the different holidays and making our apartment nice and festive.

What have you enjoyed most about blogging? I love meeting new women who have similar interests as I do in faith, family, and crafty endeavors. I feel like we're a little family. I also really love readings others' blogs and getting inspired.

What do you hope your readers take away from your blog? I always hope that I bring a little sunshine to my readers. I also hope that my faith will shine through. And if they pick up a craft idea or two, that's great too!

If you could blog swap with any one person for a day, who would it be and why? I would love to blog swap with Lisa Leonard. I just love her blog and her pictures and her story. What a beautiful heart.

I collect quotes for my blog.  Do you have a favorite quote you'd like to share? Currently my favorite is

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." Mark Twain

What one skill do you wish you were better at? Sewing!

How would you describe your personality? I think I'm a bit quirky, sparkly, and down to earth.

List your 3 favorite blog posts that you've written. A post I wrote for my husband on our one year anniversary, one about my 90 days of kindness challenge, and one about my favorite bible verse.

What is your favorite product that you have reviewed? I haven't really reviewed any but would love the opportunity.

What advertiser would you like to work with given a chance? I'd love to work with DaySpring. I love their items and their message. 

What is one thing you wish you had known before you started you blog? What a time commitment it can be. It can literally take all your time if you let it. My husband always tells me "your run your blog, your blog doesn't run you." I've gotten a lot better at not feeling guilty if I don't post every day or don't return every e-mail super quickly.

How do you balance blogging, family and free time? Some days better than others. My job is very unique (i'm a hall coordinator and live and work in a residence hall) so family, free time, work, and blogging is quite a balancing act. I have never been one to silo my life into different compartments and the various roles I play bleed into one another. That's how it is for my blog. I don't just write about one thing. I try to keep my readers on their toes!

Thanks so much for letting me pick your brain today, Laura!  

And as if that weren't enough, Laura is giving away this adorable cozy to one lucky Scraps and Scribbles reader:

Want it?  Here's what you do to enter:

*Mandatory Entry-Be a follower of Scraps and Scribbles and show me your lovely face on my sidebar.  Then head on over to Laura's shop and tell me what tickles your fancy (please leave in all in one comment!)

For additional entries, you can:

*Become a follower of Along for the Ride

*Follow Along for the Ride on Facebook

*Follow Scraps and Scribbles on Facebook

*Follow Scraps and Scribbles on Twitter

*Blog, tweet or Facebook about the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment for additional item you do, it makes it easier for me when it's time to choose  a winner : )  The giveaway will end Tuesday, August 24th at midnight EST and the winner will be announced August 25th!  Good luck!

Guesting

I'm blog swappin' with the lovely Laura of Along for the Ride today!  Go check it out!

And I'm giving something from my shop away, so go enter!

The Flood and The Aftermath

Don't forget to enter the Freckled Bug giveaway!  It ends tonight at midnight!

You may have noticed that there has been a lack of crafts around here.  And there have been.  Let me tell you why:

Last Monday, it was business as usual.  There was a load of laundry going in the wash, the little man was watching his Sesame Street and I was getting some work done on the computer.  Knock, knock on my door.  I opened it and found the maintence man for our apartment complex standing there.  "Do you have a leak? 'Cause it's raining downstairs."  Shoot.  To my knowledge, nothing in our apartment was leaking.  Then I turn around and look down my hall, where the washer is and can see that the carpet is wet.  We go over to take a look and squish! the carpet is soaked!!!!  And there's about an inch of standing water all around the washer, the bathroom floor and the it's starting to creep into the kitchen.  My washer had overflowed-instead of filling up for the rinse cycle and stopping when it was full, it just kept filling and dumping water everywhere.  We unplugged the washer, took all the clothes out and began sucking out all the water (somewhere in the drum, there must have been a hole because even after it was unplugged, the washer kept draining.)  Next, they sent up the carpet guy and he vacuumed up all of the water out of the carpet and set up an air mover to dry it all out, so our carpet wouldn't mold.  The damage: for us, just a busted washer, but it managed to "rain" on the apartment below us and the one below that-3 floors!!!  Needless to say, my plans for that Monday went right out the door and the next day was spent putting my apartment back in order and the rest of the week was spent trying to catch up on two missed days.  This weekend, we went shopping for a new washer and got an AMAZING deal on a Samsung front-loading washer.

Here it is:

And with washers, come washer boxes:

which was very quickly turned into a fort for the little man.  He absolutely loves it!  He takes his breakfast in there every morning and opens his "window" and watches Sesame Street through it. 

This Monday was spent cleaning the apartment after the mess of removing the old washer, putting in the new one and not being home the rest of the weekend.

But I did get a goodie made today, and it will be up for your viewing pleasure tomorrow, along with a great guest!

Good Eats and Yummy Treats: Surprise Cupcakes

In case you didn't get over to The Freckled Bug to check out my guest post (you should go check it out-I'm giving away something fun from my Etsy shop), here's what you missed (speaking of The Freckled Bug, don't forget to enter the hairbow giveaway!):

Today I'm going to share with you a delicious and easy cupcake recipe.  It was one of my favorites as a little girl.  Here we go!

Surprise Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. white vinegar

1 cup water

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup sugar

Filling:

1 egg, unbeaten

1 cup chocolate chips

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all cupcake ingredients together and blend until smooth.  In a separate bowl, blend filling ingredients together.  Line or spray a muffin tray.

Fill muffin cups 1/3 full with cupcake batter,

drop in a large spoonful of filling

and cover with a spoonful of cupcake batter.  Bake for 25 minutes.  This recipe makes 24 cupcakes.  Or you can do them in a mini muffin pan for parties!

And there you have it-a simple, delish desert!  

Fashion Fridays: Holey Tees and What I'm Wearing

Don't forget to enter the Freckled Bug giveaway (ends Tuesday, August 17th at midnight) and submit your button designs for the contest!  And head on over to Facebook to enter the Facebook fan giveaway!

My clothes went through a phase about a year ago where about 50% (well, maybe not quite 50%) of my tees would get all holey at the bottom, dead center.  Most after only being worn ONCE!  It was infuriating.  I still don't know what caused it because my tees since are hole-free.  And I've got some shirts that I've had since I got married that are hole-free, too.  It's a mystery that I don't think will ever be solved.  It almost makes me wonder if some tiny animal was living in my drawer and chewing them up at night.  But whatever it was, it left me with a bunch of perfectly good shirts-well, perfectly good minus the hole at the bottom.  So now I have to come up with clever ways to camouflage my holey tees without it being obvious that I'm covering something up.

Some of them aren't even small holes!

This one is kind of hard to see, but there's a bunch of little holes and I only wore this shirt 5 times!  5 times is not a lot!

This one started out small enough that I could just mend it, but then it grew and multiplied and became a big mess.

My stack of tees in need of repair.  Each one of these has mystery holes.

  I've managed to come up with solutions for each and will be showing you my progress as I get each one "fixed."

And, as promised, here's a look at one of my H&M pieces:

My brother-in-law graciously snapped this pic for me before we went to run our errands today.  What I've got on:
Plaid Button Up Top: H&M-I love their button-ups because, as a woman with a bigger bust, I have the hardest time finding shirts that fit me across the chest and still have that tailored look and theirs fit me all over!
Dark skinny jeans: thrifted American Eagle
Shades: mark.

Tipping Thursday: Traveling with a Baby

Don't forget to enter our Freckled Bug giveaway and the blog button design contest!

Finishing up last week's thread of packing light but still having what you need, I thought I'd share my tips on packing for your baby.  Traveling with a baby or toddler can be rough, especially when you're going to be gone a while.  Here are some tips I've learned through my travels with the little man:

1.)  Make a list.  I know, I know, this was my Number One last week, too.  But trust me!  It works!  Mentally go through your day: what things to you use in a typical day for your baby?  Think about your baby's mealtime, playtime and bed time routine and what you use and write it all down.  Then look over what you'll actually need.  You don't need to bring your own baby towel-wherever you're going will have towels, be it to a hotel or to see the family.  You don't need to bring your baby's entire toy box.  Just bring a couple of his favorite toys to keep him occupied.  And if your baby has a snuggly, DON'T forget it!  Or be prepared to not sleep your whole trip.

2.)  Long haul or weekend getaway?  The length of your trip obviously determines how much you'll need to bring, especially with a baby.  Things like diapers, wipes and baby food can get heavy and take up space.  If you're going to be gone more than a couple days, consider buying them once you reach your destination.  Example:  I flew to Washington last summer, just me and the little man, to visit my in-laws.  We were there for 8 days.  I brought enough diapers and baby food for two days, then bought a small pack of diapers, wipes and enough baby food for the rest of our trip once we got there. It gave me more space in our bags, since I was limited on what I could bring and was much cheaper than having to pay for an overweight bag.

3.)  Sleeping Arrangements.  Do you co-sleep or does your baby need his own space?  Schlepping around the pack-n-play can be difficult and cumbersome.  Plus, if you're traveling with baby by yourself, you're limited to the number of items you can check.  If you can, find ways to leave it at home.  If you're going to see family, see if someone has one that you can use while you're there.  Some hotels offer cribs for their rooms-you just have to request one, like you would an extra cot or pop-up bed.  If you do co-sleep and are staying with family, make sure your bed away from home will accommodate the both of you (or three of you.)

4.)  Just 'cause you're gone for 2 weeks doesn't mean you need 2 weeks' worth of stuff.  One week of outfits, with a back-up outfit is plenty.  After all, there is this magical thing called a washing machine : )  And it's ok to wear an outfit more than once.  Same thing with bowls and utensils-if you're little person is eating solids, you don't need to bring a set of silverware for every day you're there.  One set is just fine.

5.)  Even baby stuff comes in travel size.  You can get shampoo, baby powder and rash ointment in travel sizes.  Even wipes come in travel packs.

6.)  Know what you're getting into.  Try and find out what the plans will be, activity-wise, while you're away so that you can be prepared for them.  

What are your tips for traveling with a little one?