About Rita

I am a mother of 4, grandmother of 9 and married to my best friend

Dyed Tennis Shoes With a Matching Shirt!

I saw this idea on how to dye canvas tennies here and decided I wanted to give it a try, but I was worried that if I dyed the shoes that it would be difficult to match it with anything else, so I decided that I would dye an old t-shirt too!!  Now I have a new outfit with shoes to match!

So does anyone else want to make a new outfit?I bought these shoes at Wally World for $5.00!  I had the t-shirt and decided to buy the Kelly Green liquid dye.Remove the laces from the shoes before you start. I did mine all together in this big pot on my stove.  You can use your washing machine if you have a top loader, mine is a front loader so I had to do it on the stove.  Just follow the directions on the package. (I only needed half of the bottle so now I need to figure out something else to dye).  I did not let mine soak for as long as it said, just keep checking for how dark you want the color to be.

When you have achieved the color that you want  then wash them in your washing machine.  I ran mine through twice just to be on the safe side and then I did not have to wash out the washer either!Here is what they looked like.  I really liked the color!  And I love that the white trim and the soles do not take the dye.  How cute is that!I sewed a piece of elastic on the inside of the shoes, just to help hold them on.  I am not sure this step is necessary and if you are going to use your laces, you obviously don’t need the elastic.  I just hand sewed the elastic to the inside seam on each side so it does not show on the outside.So what do you think?I love that I got a new outfit for under $10!Now I think that perhaps I need a pink set…and maybe a yellow one…or perhaps red for the 4th of July!!!   What do you think?!

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Frosted Lemonade Cookies

This is a fun recipe that I made up from a couple of other recipes.  It is a tart yet sweet, soft sugar cookie!  The lemonade frosting is what puts it over the top!

It is perfect for those hot summer days.  Light and refreshing!  And they are pretty with the yellow edible glitter!

Frosted Lemonade Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1-12 oz can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed and divided
Frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoon butter softened
Frozen lemonade concentrate ,thawed

 

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time and mix well.  In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda.  Add 1/2 of dry mixture to creamed mixture and alternate with 1/3 cup lemonade concentrate.  Repeat and mix well after each addition.

 Scoop dough in small ice cream scoop and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  These spread out a bit so give them room to bake.  Bake at 400 degrees F. for 8-10 minutes.  Remove to a rack to cool.  Once cooled mix powdered sugar and butter and add frozen lemonade concentrate 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency of frosting.  Spread cookies with the frosting and sprinkle with your favorite sprinkles!  Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Oh so pretty!

And they are so light and refreshing, that you can’t eat just one!  I dare you!

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Italian Soda Bar

I got this idea last year from Your Home Based Mom and I have done it several times since.  It is a fun party idea and your guests will enjoy making their own Italian Soda!

We made these yesterday for our Mother’s Day get together!  So fun and festive.

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Minky Quilt as you Go, Quilt

I made this quilt for my grandson’s baptism.  It is made with all  minky fabric and so it is very soft and cuddly!  And it was fun to make because you quilt it as you go and so once you are done sewing the quilt together, you have also quilted it!

Is this not the cutest kid you ever did see?!! :) Continue reading

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Gerbera Daisies

Here is a quick, easy, cute way to plant  Gerbera Daisies!  I got this 3-pack at Costco and all I did was paint 3 terracotta pots with black acrylic paint.  I did not paint the rim, because I did not want to paint the inside of the pots.  

Spray paint will kill the plants if you paint inside the pot, and I am not sure what acrylic paint would do, but I did not want to take a chance!

I then just cut the three different vinyl words and applied them to the pots.  Next I tied a raffia bow around the rim.  I hot glued the back of the raffia and behind the bow so that the bow will not fall down every time the wind blows!  Plant your flowers and that is all there is to it!  I have this fun flower cart that I put them in, but they would look cute on your steps on your porch or down the middle of a table for some cute centerpieces, or grouped with a big planter pot!  If you have not gotten your Mother’s Day gift, this would be a fun idea!

I love this instant touch of color on my patio!

I got almost all of my pots planted yesterday and today, I have planted 18 different pots and I will probably do one or two more!  I love pots of flowers because they add a beautiful spot of color in your yard, but the best thing about planting pots is that you do not have to weed them!

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Buttermilk Syrup

This recipe is a great one to make for a Mother’s Day Breakfast or Brunch, even if you have to make it for yourself, you are totally worth it!

I got this recipe from a friend and fell in love with it.  It is like melted caramel and once you try it, you may never want to go back to maple syrup! I make this every once in awhile when I really want to splurge for breakfast, and then again for dessert, because the leftovers make a great caramel sauce for ice cream!

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Skirt Extender Slip

This project is a perfect fix for that skirt or dress that is just a tad too short and it makes your outfit look so cute with all the ruffles.  Don’t you agree?

I really like the look that this slip gives and it is really an easy project.  So does anyone want to make a skirt extender slip?

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Planting a Flower Pot

I planted a couple of my flower pots, but I am keeping them in the garage for another week or so, until our Utah weather is a little bit warmer!  My good friend, Susan, works at a nursery and a few years ago she taught a class on how to plant your flower pots.  I usually plant about 14-15 pots and baskets every year!  I love them, but I am nuts because I have to hand water most of them.  Crazy, I know. Continue reading

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SNAP Conference Recap

I know that I am a day late and dollar short on this post, but I wanted to show a few fun shots of when I was at the SNAP Conference a couple of weeks ago.  I learned a lot of what to do and what I do NOT want to do, so that was good.  It was great that it was at Thanksgiving Point and so close that I did not have to travel much.

This was the table setting at the dinner and welcome the first night.  How festive is that?

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May 2012 Visiting Teaching Handout

Here is the May Visiting Teaching Handout.

 The message should come from one of the conference talks of your own choosing.  So I decided that since it was the month of May that  I would put “May” we let ourselves be Blessed with the talks from Conference. (Get it?!)

I just stuck this card in a cute little potted plant that you can find anywhere right now.  But if you want to do something else with flowers, you could do sugar cookie flowers, Oreo Cookie Flowers, fresh cut flowers or paper flowers!

Here is the printable, just right click and go to copy.  Open your favorite program like Word or Presentations and right click again and go to paste.  Print and cut out.

Happy Visiting this month!

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