It's Friday and it's Fresh!

I am so happy it's Friday!  I can't wait for the sun to shine and to head out this evening to watch both of my babies play baseball!  Life is good.


Time for my Fresh Friday link-up with The Real Food Runner.

Three fresh, fantastic, fabulous things from this week:

Goodies from my pen pal.  I have been slacking as of late in the pen pal department and this amazing package of treats from my dearest pal in San Diego has lit the fire under me to get some snail mail shipped out!  Bonus:  I finally have matcha powder!  Bring on the green tea frappucinos at home!

Being powered by bits!  Loving how I am feeling more and more each day!

The start of something fun.  I hope.  I followed a Pinterest tutorial on how to plant lemon seeds to have fragrant and hearty lemon leaves.  I planted on Wednesday.  Fingers crossed that my little seedlings will be blooming soon!

How was your week?  Care to share 3 things that made your week F R E S H ?

Join the blog link-up here or leave your comments below.

For my Friday fun head over to Sometimes Sweet for the always fun Weekend Links post :)

How will you be spending this Friday?

Have the happiest of weekends and happy Mother's Day!

Cutie Cases Giveaway!

Fun, functional and well made.  That pretty much sums up Cutie Cases.  Hand-made and custom designed to order by Rachel Pharris, you can order a Cutie Case in  any pattern and color scheme you would like.
  I have had my case for several years and it still is in great shape, despite that fact that I tend to be pretty hard on my belongings.
I bought the case for it's primary purpose, to keep baby wipes in my purse for when the boys (or I) need a quick clean-up while we are on the go.  It also works well to keep make-up and other small things in to cut down on clutter in your bag.  Most recently, I used my case to store my index cards for studying Pilates while traveling.  It was a great way to keep them from getting bent or torn while traveling.
I also had one made in Nebraska Cornhuskers material for JF to give a buddy as a "manly" baby shower gift.

 Like with any great product, once you have one, you will find hundreds of uses for it and you will probably end up wanting more than one :)

Visit's Rachel's page to order Cutie Cases just in time for the holidays!  Shop local and support a small, crafty business!

Rachel is kindly partnering with me to offer a Cutie Case for one lucky reader!  You will be able to have a custom-designed case (value up to $15) made to your liking and shipped to you!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't miss this!

Hi friends!
My fellow blogger-penpal-FRIEND Michele has something incredibly awesome going on this month on her blog.  She is hosting a giveaway EVERY DAY for the month of December.  That's right.  Each day will be a new, fun, exciting giveaway and all you have to do is follow the Rafflecopter prompts to be entered.  Simple things like commenting on her blog, heading to Twitter or Facebook...you know...things you already do!  
So, whether you visit blogs all the time or you never have before, make sure you check this out!  
So far this month:

This wonderful Weekdazed shirt.

Professor Fancy Fox Pin, by grrfeisty

And speaking of foxes, a t-shirt scarf made by the foxy lady in the picture ;)

Each contest runs for 10 days and you can enter each one multiple times!  What are you waiting for, go check out Short Girl, Long Island NOW!

Your favorite sweater, three ways!

Okay, so first let me give a little disclaimer.  I am not a super-crafty person.  I can't sew, knit, crochet or quilt.  But I do love crafts.  I am a sucker for anything handmade.  This is, obviously, not a craft blog.  But, just like with my cooking, I would like to share with you whenever I have come up with something that I love.  I do like to try to make different crafts and I absolutely love re-purposing my favorite things.  A few weeks ago the boys had a little too much fun playing ball in the house and the glass from a gallery-style picture frame broke.  I just couldn't bear to throw the wooden frame away and brainstormed on what I could do with it.  This craft combines some of my favorite things:  wool sweaters, glass jars, and upcycling.  It is easy to do and only took about thirty minutes total!

Your Favorite Sweater, 3 Ways!

Supplies Needed: 

• A gallery-style frame with no glass
• A sweater - I don't know about you but I have several old sweaters that I can't bear to get rid of because I love the colors, texture or history behind them.  If you aren't a sweater-saver, pick up one at a thrift store in your favorite color.
• 1 or two jars - spaghetti sauce size works best
• Scissors

Project One - Frame the sweater!

Place the wooden insert from the frame on the sweater, after turning the sweater inside out.  The sweater I used had a pattern going down the center so I made sure to line it up.  But I free-cut the rectangle--no measuring or tracing needed!

Place the cut out piece of sweater into the frame, with the outside of the sweater facing out.

Place the wooden insert into the frame.  Try to center it how you would like it, but even once you have it in place you can move it around a bit to get it to look how you would like.

And there you go!  Finished product, a cute wall hanging!

Favorite Sweater, framed!

Project Two - Covered Jar

 I love saving jars.  They come in handy for everything from flower vases to crafty projects.  Or even Squinkie storage :)  After I finished my sweater frame I looked at the sleeves and knew what had to be done.

Cut the sleeve off of the sweater.

Place it over your favorite empty jar.  It will make a great candle holder, pen holder, or any sort of storage for extra things.  I hung my sweater frame in my bathroom, so I placed my jar on the counter.  They look quite well together.

Project Three - Make a headband!

I know my friends (and mom) are laughing at this one.  Yes, it is really stretching the upcycling a bit, but, again, I had adorable sweater scraps that I hated to throw away.  For the headband I used the part of the sleeve closer to the upper arm area.  I cut a thin strip, stretched it out, and there you go.  Fun wool headband!  And I match my wall art ;)

If you try any of these, let me know!  I love to hear from you!