Make a Peeps S'mores Kit + Free Printable

My heart is swelling this Easter watching my oldest son start to understand the Easter story.

We talked a lot about how what Jesus did for us was a gift and we decided to make some gifts for our friends. I love teaching him to never miss an opportunity to love and celebrate the people in our lives and how good it feels to give (and not just get) a gift.

We went to the store and found everything we need to make some Peeps S'mores Kits.

We love to make s'more at home and use our microwave in lieu of a campfire so we thought our friends might too!

All you need is some graham crackers, some chocolate and some Peeps marshmallows to make it festive. Plus our printable tags and either a stapler to do a folder tab or some string if you want to make a regular tag.

Then get as many supplies as you need to make all your s'mores kits.

Super simple and easy to have your kids do!

That's all their is to it! Like I said the printables allow you to either do a fool over tag you can staple or you can cut them to use like a regular tag with string!

I've also included a tag version that doesn't specifically have to be for Easter.

So you can do these anytime for a special surprise for one of your favorite peeps! :)

Download the You are one of my favorite Peeps tags here.

And download the Happy Easter to one of our favorite Peeps tags here.

Happy Easter to all of you, my favorite peeps! 

Kitchen Counters on a Budget - Concrete Counters

When we were looking at houses online, I skimmed right over our house at first because I was like 'woof, that kitchen.'

But eventually I started to dream and imagine it not yellow.

And then we set out to do the work. Which started with painting. We used the same pretty light gray that we chose for our living room and hallways. 

And that helped a ton. But then we were left with the retro boomerang counters.

Which were kinda fun and made us feel like we were really in a diner when when

would sit in the booth but they just weren't our style.

So, Josh and I went and priced out counters.

And promptly came home and started researching alternate routes. 

Because the cheapest option was gonna cost about $1500 just for our small space and we weren't even in love with it.

So when I saw Young House Love's concrete counters, I showed Josh the tutorial and asked

 him what he thought. It was by far our cheapest option at only about $150 all in with materials but

it would definitely require the most man-hours on his part.

But that has never scared him.

Since the kitchen would be unusable for several days, I took the boys and headed to NY to stay with my best friend so that Josh could get the work done without worrying about us in the way and the boys getting into stuff! 

He followed the YHL tutorial using the feathering concrete.

So if you're wanting to try your hand at this, I suggest following their detailed and step by step tutorial because that's what we did.

We did take the extra step and remove the appliances and sink while doing the work though.

The sanding was the messiest part of the project.

And the drying times in between coats of concrete and then coats of sealer took the longest.

And when we got home the sealer was still drying, so we erred on the side of caution 

and didn't set anything on them for several days.

But once they were dry, I was beyond thrilled with how they looked!

The sealer gave them a nice sheen that made them look even more like a stone.

I can't tell you how much more I like this kitchen without yellow walls and blue counters.

After several months of using them, they have held up really well.

I chalk that up to the good job Josh did on them.

We do have some discolored spots behind our sink where it gets wet a lot and

also where I sit our butter dish, it seems some of the oils have seeped through.

But because of the variated look of the concrete anyways, it blends really well and even adds to the character and charm. 

And we've gotten to enjoy so many good times and great food in our feels-like-new kitchen!

Overall, we are super happy with our decision, they way they look, 

and the money that's still in our pockets. :)

Next up, new kitchen flooring!

DIY Seasonal Placemat Pillow

 Switching things up and making your place feel new again at the beginning of each season is so fun to me. And who doesn't love a seasonal pillow? How about for about $5?! 

I shared this easy DIY seasonal placemat pillow last year on my Instagram when I wasn't blogging and I had so many people tag me showing me how they did it too and it made my heart happy!

So this year I thought I'd share a more thorough breakdown and some of this year's 

placemats that I think would make the cutest seasonal pillows this fall!

Here's the super-easy steps:

1. Go to Target (or home decor store of your choice)

I'm just saying Target because they are carrying this placemat again and have other cute options for placemats.

2. Get some pillow-fill from the craft store (less than $3 usually)

3. Seam-rip a hole just big enough for your hand to be able to fill the placemat 

with poly-fill (I suggest the bottom right-hand corner)

4. Fill 'er up nice and full.

5. Sew back uptake section you opened

Took me less than 5 minutes by hand.

6. Enjoy your new seasonal pillow! And it's even got fringe!

Tag me on Instagram if you make one! I love to see homes being made cute and cozy on the cheap!

Easy Statement Cake + Printable Numbers

We celebrated our Griff's second birthday this past weekend!

It is so much fun when birthdays fall on the weekend because then we're free to celebrate without lame things like work cramping our style. ;)

We just had a small family party for him and so I didn't really do many decorations.

I just wanted to get some fun balloons and a fun birthday banner and call it good.

But day-of I realized I didn't think about anything for his cake.

Then I remembered a simple trick I had done for Grady's 2nd birthday party and

decided to do the same thing for Griff's cake.

It is so simple and really comes out cute and makes a statement in a pinch!

Here's all you need for this cake:

- sprinkles

- printable number

- card stock paper

That's it. And I've made it easy for you by creating a document with printable numbers 1-9 in a nice thick, sans serif font. 

Download your number, print it on card stock paper, cut it out, and then lay the number on top of your already frosted cake. You want your frosting to still be a tad sticky so the letter lays flush. And this is important so that your sprinkles stick too. Dried frosting will be a sprinkle disaster, trust me.

And I like to fold up one tiny corner of the number so it's easy to take off after the sprinkles go on.

Other helpful tips: Lay down a dish towel around where you'll be sprinkling because it's easy to catch the strays and then throw them away after and avoid unnecessary sweeping.

Once your number is laying flush on your cake, go to town with the sprinkles. Sprinkle your heart out. And make sure they especially fill in around the outline of your number.

When your cake is sufficiently sprinkled, take your folded up corner and slowly peel off your number.

Use an icing knife to smooth any icing that came off.

And behold your super easy statement cake!

I still like to add cake flags because I can't help myself.

And seeing my sprinkle-loving boy light up is the icing on the cake. ;)

Trying hard to blow out those candles.

Happy Birthday to my Griff, Griff.