School's In!

 I sent these two cuties off to school today.  Sadie's in 3rd grade & Claire is starting Kindergarten.  Everything went well.  The girls both really like their teachers & I like them too.  The day was a bit rocky at times.  They start an hour earlier than last year with the first bell ringing at 7:50am.  So I blame all emotional flare ups on that one.  We've got to get used to being early risers.  The good news is that they went to bed early tonight!  We were wiped out!  Fingers crossed tomorrow is even better!

How'd they get so big?!!

Birthday Banners for Boys & Girls

Yay!  I'm super excited to finally reveal my new color variations of our Happy Birthday Banners!  Our original banner has been quite popular in the shop.  So much so that I keep having to put it on back order while I order & wait for more fabric to ship to me.  It makes me so happy to have my product be so well accepted & loved.  

I thought it would be fun to do some banners that were set in a couple colorways.  One geared towards girls & one towards boys.  Once again, I enlisted the help of my graphic designer sister, Kimberly Church & I am pleased as punch with the color combinations we came up with!  

On a side note, you may have noticed that I've been blogging less.  Life with three kids has been so busy for me.  Especially, this summer with all of my kids home from school.  We also moved into a new home & that has been quite a bit of work.  I have just found that my focus needs to be with my family.  And maybe instagram is a bit to blame for taking my time as well.  :)  

Anyway, I hope to be around here a bit more once school starts back up & we settle into a routine this fall.  Either way, thank you for visiting & taking the time to read.  :)

Baby Loves Otter Pops

Finn loves otter pops.  And we love feeding them to him. 
Can you believe that he's 10 months old already?  Me either.
I think it may be time for him to get some kind of a haircut.  I feel so torn.  I never knew how hard making that decision can be. 
I never had a boy with such cute curls before.  :)

Giveaway:: Shabby Apple

Alright.  It's time for a giveaway!  My lovely friends, you have a chance to win $75 towards a purchase at Shabby Apple!  Shabby Apple is an really great online dress boutique, but the also sell skirts, tops, swimwear, accessories & shoes.  I spent some time browsing their site & here are a few of my favorites:

Pretty, right?!  So here's what you need to do to be entered:

1.  "like" Shabby Apple on Facebook then come back & leave a comment saying you did so.  (mandatory for entry)

2.  For one additional entry, leave a comment on this post letting me know which Shabby Apple item is your favorite.

Please leave your e-mail address with your comments.  Open for US residents only.  I will announce a winner on Monday, July 16th.

 

:: DISCOUNT ::
In addition to the giveaway, Shabby Apple is offering Sparkle Power readers a 10% discount through the month of July.  Just enter the code sparklepower10off!

Good luck!

Girls Camp

Last week I spent 4 days up in the mountains with a group of 12-18 year old girls.  I went to girls camp every summer when I was a girl, but this was my first year as a leader.  It was a really great & fun experience & I'm so happy that I got to go.

Having to listen to those girls talk about boys in their tents until the wee hours of the morning every single night has taken it's toll on this old lady body of mine though.  I am exhausted, but need to push through & get caught up around the house.

Kids Summer Camp at Home - Letter Writing Day

For letter writing day, I picked up a few supplies at the dollar store: decorative printer paper, envelopes & stickers.  We started with a list of friends & cousins that the kids wanted to write to.  Then they got to work.  Claire told me what she wanted to say, I'd write it out & then she'd copy it onto her own paper.  We had a little lesson on where the address, return address & stamp are placed on the envelope & they were good to go.  We may do this again before the summer is over.  :)

I hope some of our letter recipients write us back!

Weekly DIY

Sharing some of my favorite DIY projects found this week via pinterest!


1. Wooden necklace
2. Chevron painting
3.  Painted wood bowl
4.  Printable weekly to do list
5.  Etched mason jars
6.  Painted wood magnets
7.  Maxi skirt tutorial
8.  Cardboard stackers
9.  Embroidered notebook

Kids Summer Camp at Home - Box City

Other than swimming lessons, I don't plan to put my kids in any other classes or camps this summer.  So I'm hoping to fill their summer days with lots of fun & inexpensive activities around the house.  The type of activities that will keep them engaged & off of the computer.  :)

I saw this amazing box city on pinterest & knew my girls would have fun making their own.  So we pulled all of the saved shipping boxes out of the closet & they got to work.  They spent a whole afternoon building it & I helped with the glue gun.  We finished it around bath time & I really had to work hard to pull them away to get ready for bed.  They were so happy with their creation & they just wanted to play!

I think that if my girls were a little bit older they would have spent more time building their city & adding details.  They were just so very excited to get this thing made. 

Thumbs up for this activity.  They are still playing with it a week later! 

Paper Bag Skirts

I was asked to make skirts for 4 little girls (my two + two cousins) for my sister-in-law's (Dylan's sister's) wedding this past weekend.  Did you catch all that?  Anyway.  They turned out super darling!

It was a really busy day with a jam packed schedule & because Dylan & I were passing the baby back & forth throughout the day, I totally forgot to take photos until we were tearing down all of the decorations.  These girls had danced so hard!  They were looking a bit worn out at this point!

So I used a tutorial that I had pinned on pinterest a while back.  It's the Paper Bag Skirt pattern from Make it and Love it.  The tutorial was so easy to follow.  I just adjusted the measurements to make the correct sizes for all four girls.  I'm so happy with them.  The great thing is that the sash hides most of your sewing.  So it's a very forgiving pattern.

I love how they turned out & I'm happy that my girls each have a cute new skirt to add to their wardrobes.

Hooray For Dads

Happy Father's Day! 

We gave Dylan something that he's been wanting for some time, but they've been hard to find in stores....Hulk hands!  Yep.  We have a fun Dad.  :)

Weekly DIY

Sharing some of my favorite DIY projects found this week via pinterest!

1.  Plant Pots
2.  Cheap mirror given a wide wood frame
3.  Metal waste basket into end table
4.  Arrow/Chevron Mobile
5.  Tank top + pillowcase = dress
6.  Mason jar wall herb garden
7.  Metal grate display board
8.  Shoe holder for under cupboard storage
9.  Striped/chevron onesies

Styled by Tori Spelling

I am super excited to share a new product line with you today!  Styled by Tori Spelling is a brand new interchangeable jewelry collection.  I was lucky enough to receive a package last month that contained the Boho & Glam collections.  It was like Christmas for me & I couldn't wait to start playing with all the pieces.

It's super easy to combine the individual components to create your own custom jewelry look.  There are necklace tops, necklace bottoms, pendants, bracelet builders, & earring danglers.

I thought that I'd show you a few of my very favorite pieces.  These are the ones that I've been wearing around lately.  And you can see from my photos that they are super easy to assemble.  No tools required & it takes just a few seconds.

I love this long necklace & those knots at the top are super cute.  (Makes me think nautical, which is a trend that I have totally fallen for.)  I wore this necklace on our anniversary date last month.  :)

Aren't these earrings cool!  You just have to slide them onto earring findings of your choice.  Super easy!  I wore these to church a few times.

There are lots of variations of these multi strand bracelets & they are all super cute!  This was the first thing I made & I put it on while I was barbecuing dinner.  :)

While I didn't completely love every piece that I pulled out of the box, I will say that I fell in love with SO many of them, like 75% of the pieces.  They are really pretty & really stylish.  Tori did a great job designing these!  And there is something for everyone, from teenage girls to much more mature women. 

Styled by Tori Spelling is available at Jo-ann & Michaels stores.  Pieces may vary by store. 

Check out the Styled by Tori Spelling facebook page for lots more photos. 

I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Darice and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.

Check it Out: Thirty-One

Have you heard of Thirty-One?  I just found out about it recently when my friend, Brandee, became a consultant & invited me to a home party.

Thirty-One carries lots of really cute storage & organizational containers & bags.  A few months back, I bought the Large Utility Tote, to use for holding packages when I make post office runs.  Wouldn't you know, it's the special for this month!  When you spend $35 you get the Large Utility Tote for only $10!  That's a great deal.

If you'd like to check out the catalog, or place an order, please visit Brandee's site.  When you go to place an order, you can choose my name to have it added to my party, or select any other name if mine is no longer there.  Hope you have fun looking through the catalog!  :)

Easy Crockpot Turkey Meatballs

I found this recipe on pinterest a while back.  Here's a link to the site that the recipe comes from.

I'm on the lookout for really simple & easy meals for the summer.  For this one, you just throw these ingredients into the crockpot.  A jar of chili sauce & a jar of grape jelly.  Mix them together & then add frozen turkey meatballs.  Cook on low for 2-5 hours.

They can be served over rice or egg noodles.  

I have the most awesome, crockpot, you guys.  It is hunter green & has a beautiful ivy motif on the side.  It is lovely.  I chickened out on showing you a photo of it.  But it works & truly that's all that matters to me.  :)

Now, I realize that these meatballs are not the most nutritious.  I skipped out or serving them with rice or noodles because we are trying to cut back our carbs around here.  I couldn't pass up these beautiful vegetables though when I saw them on my weekly shopping trip to Fresh & Easy.  So I heated them up & called it good!

Do you have any go to summer meals that are easy to prepare & that everybody in the family will eat?

Updates

I'm on instagram now & let me tell you...that is where the party is! Seems I haven't taken any photos with my actual camera in a few weeks. Oops! Anyway, come find me on intagram. My name is candacetodd.

Dylan & I celebrated our 12th anniversary this weekend.  We went out to eat at a nice french restaraunt & spent the weekend telling each other why we love each other so much.  We even did the math & figured out that we've been married for 4,383 days.  Well, 4,385 days now.  :)

We ended up in the ER with Finn a few weeks back.  He had another asthma flare up which seemed to be triggered by a day when there was a ton of dust in the air outside.  After a few days of breathing treatments with no improvements to his wheezing + a fairly high temperature, we took him in & after he was given an oral steroid, he started improving.  Each day got better & he's been doing great.  We are continuing to give him breathing treatments until we go to see a pediatric lung specialist late in June.  I'm anxious to meet with this new doctor & eager to get more information about buddy boy's condition.  I'm pleased that he is doing well & that we are headed in the right direction with becoming educated about his medical needs.

I'm anxious for school to be out for summer & so is Sadie.  We're feeling like we're ready to be done with school drop off & pick up + homework!  Yes, few more weeks & we can start sleeping in...maybe.

Anyway, come find me on instagram to see a little bit more of our day to day.  I'm addicted.  :)