Hi it's me, Shawna's amazingly talented and beautiful sister Tifani........

Okay so now that I have you here I won't lead you on any longer!!! I really am not that Talented and Not very beautiful either but I try to find things that interest me and go with it!!!!
I love accessorizing with my outfits and when I find a cute and cheap thing to do I am always loving it!!!
This is cheap and oh so easy and there are endless things you can make these out of!!!

First you cut out 3 different sizes of circles out of felt, and one large circle about the size of a cup opening!!

You then find some ribbon of your choice or zippers, I have seen these done out of zippers and they are stinkin cute!!! You start on the outside of each felt piece with hot glue as you go and twirl your way to the middle,cutting off the xtra, tuck with hot glue in the middle and you are done!!! seriously that easy!!!

Then you position all three to the big piece of felt as you wish, I put a pin on the back of this one but you can also do an alligator clip and use it for your clothes, handbags or hair!!! Oh the possibilities they're endless, I need to scream!!!!

I didn't have a pic of me actually doing it so if you have ?'s go here! I hope to take pic's soon of more!!! SO go, go get some ribbon or zippers or what ever your fancy and start twirling!!!

Thanks to my Amazing sis shawna for asking me to guest her blog today!!!! Love ya shamom's

Happy Mother's Day

There's still about an hour left before Mother's Day is over. So, instead of cleaning up a bit before I go to bed, I'm blogging.

A cute friend of mine had to spend Mother's Day alone since her husband is out of town for a job interview. I thought she needed a little something on Mother's Day since she is an awesome mother and such a good example to me. I whipped up these little cups of goodness. I know they were goodness because I had 2 of them and spouse probably had 3. He knows a good baked good too.

The reason for this post is not to share some amazing cupcake recipe that I use. It is to give you a little trick that I have found that makes boxed cake mixes a lot better. Maybe it's not new to anyone, maybe it's not a trick, maybe it's not as good for you as I think it is. I don't care. It makes me feel so much better about eating a cupcake, thinking that is better for me.

Here's my trick: Whenever I am making a cake out of a box I follow a few rules.

* never add the yolk of the egg, only whites plus one more white

*never add oil, add applesauce

For example, the box my mix came from said to add:

1 1/3 C water

1/2 C vegetable oil

3 eggs

I added:

1 1/3 C water

1/2 C applesauce

4 egg whites

I also fill the paper baking cups to the top and bake it for the minimum amount of minutes. So, if it says to bake cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, I bake them for 20

I have used this on all different kinds of cake mixes and it has never not worked. They come out so fluffy, moist and light. Never undercooked. I don't know why, it just does. Try it!

Let me know if you have any questions...

The cute cupcake toppers I got from TomKat Studio

They just happened to match some cupcake liners I got from hobby lobby a while back.

I also used this recipe for the icing and it was delicious! I think it was from Wilton but I can't remember.

Icing

1 stick softened butter

1 stick softened neufchatel cheese (cream cheese)

4 C powdered sugar (1 box)

1 Tbsp. milk

cream butter and cheese until smooth

add sugar one cup at a time

add milk and mix until smooth (about 30 seconds)

This was the perfect amount for 18 cupcakes. Double the recipe and you'll get 5 1/2 cups of icing.

Sugar Cookies

My friend Deb posted this recipe on her blog. She really is an amazing cook so when she talked about how good these cookies tasted I really wanted to try them. She was right. They're amazing. They're thick, soft, moist and really good. Here's the recipe.

Sugar Cookies (Marcae R's recipe)

6 c flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 c salted butter (softened)
2 1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
4 TBSP milk


preheat oven to 375

whisk together flour/salt and set aside

cream together butter and sugar

add eggs, milk, vanilla

add flour mixture slowly and beat on low until combined

Divde dough in half and form into two balls. Flatten into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour

On a floured (or p sugared) surface roll out dough to desired thickness (they will not puff up a ton so if you want them thick- as she made them- roll them out as thick as you want them to be). She used a big flower cookie cutter so they were delightfully giant.

Bake for 10-12 minutes- she usually takes them out early- like 8/9 minutes. Let them set on pan for a min or two if you do.

Cool and frost (delightful receipe to follow)

ICING

8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/4 c butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla
powder sugar

mix cream cheese, butter and vanilla til creamy then add powdered sugar to desired consistency.

I didn't make the icing but I will on the next batch

Valentine Jars...

If you've read my blog before you know I have a hard time throwing things away. One thing I keep a stash of is jars. Spaghetti, salsa, spices, you name it. There is so much potential. I made these jars pretty much like the Thankful jars here. Just different goodies. You really can't mess these up and can make them for any holiday. Cut a strip of paper wide enough and wrap it around your jar. I decoupage mine but you could use tape or a glue stick or whatever you have to make your paper stick together at the ends. Just make sure you pull it tight so it stays after the glue dries. Then do the same thing to the edge of your jar lid. Then fill jar with sweets. So easy!

Don't forget to give it a little bling bling. I used ribbons and chip board letters on these. I just used a hole punch on the chip board letter big enough to feed thin ribbon through and tied it.

I have a space in my cupboard that I keep my stash of jars. Some are ones I decorated a while ago, waiting to be used. And don't worry about the sticky labels on the jars. A little goo gone and they come right off.

What do I use the cinnamon jars for?

It just so happens that when you buy these on clearance after the holidays. Like cheaper than a quarter clearance.

You can mash them up into fine powder (or really fine chunks) and they make a cute little jar of something sweet to give away with hot chocolate or sugar cookies or whatever you can add peppermint powder on. It takes a good beating to get them powdery so it might help if you think of something really frustrating and let it all go as you're beating your candy canes.

They already come with the little tops for dispensing powder so it's perfect.

Next time you make spaghetti or nachos don't throw the jars away. Store them for a rainy day and [re]beautify them into something cute!

Help Me Say Thanks...

So, I have this super, awesome, amazing sister. Tiff...

(Tiff and Brian 11/06)

She has helped me in so many ways. She has bent over backwards many many times to help me out. I had a harder time than I thought while Ben was gone on his rotation. When I told Tiff that after him being gone for about a week she said, "we'll get you up there, we'll find a way".She came and got my kids for me and watched them so that I could make the trip up to see Ben.

While I was in Alamosa I went to shop after shop looking for the perfect thing to say Thank You! I couldn't find anything that really did the trick. I left bummed thinking I was going to make her something for the baby. The drive home from Alamosa was about 11 hours so she ended up bringing the kids back to me so that I wouldn't have to travel the 3 extra hours (on top of the 11 hours) to Safford to pick them up. She brought them all the way back to me. She is so caring. This isn't the first time she has helped me out either. She'll call and ask me when she can take the kids so that Ben and I can get away. Not only is she this way to me but she is this way to everyone she knows. She's a great example of serving others.

A very talented photographer, Holly Brimhall is having a little contest for a newborn photo shoot and I nominated my sister as a way to say thanks for everything she has done for me. Her baby is due in March and it was perfect timing to qualify for this photo shoot. I was so excited when I saw this morning that Holly had chosen her as a finalist in the contest. Here's where I need your help. Vote for her. Tifani Cluff.

She is an amazing person and has also endured a very tough pregnancy and she deserves this. She'll pee her pants if she wins. Not only from being 8 months pregnant but from excitement too! Help me tell her Thanks for everything she has done by voting for her!

Go here and vote

Thanks a million!

Tomato Cage Trees

Every year at Thanksgiving my mom, sisters, aunt and I do a craft. This year we did tomato cage trees. My sister's ward did them as a craft and we loved the idea. So here's how we made ours...

Start with tomato cages. I bought all of these at home depot for about $2.80 each. They were the larger 4 tier ones.

Then we started by bending down the points. This was a team effort. The purpose for this was to give a place on top of the tree to add the bow. It would just sit in the middle of the bent wire.

Then we found some garland at wal mart $4 for 9 ft. Later I found some for $2 for 9ft but it wasn't as thick. I bought it later and used and it worked fine though.

Start at the bottom and work your way up. We wrapped the garland around the outside of the straight sides and then every once in a while wrapped it around the round layers to hold it in place. Once you get to the top you can just cut the excess garland off with wire cutters.

They work perfect in kids rooms. As soon as we got home the kids each picked a tree and took it in their rooms to decorate. A strand of 100 lights filled the trees perfectly. I had other ideas for the trees but the kids were so excited about them that I just let them have them and decorate them how they wish. I had bought some pretty Christmas ribbon for a bow, some berry garland and red beaded garland but oh well.

Sorry for the bad photos.

A purple one for Sydney...

and blue lights for Theron. Seriously, how cute is this...

I think the total cost per tree was about $12 including the lights!

Awesome giveaway!

Totally want to win THIS! Check it out!

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year? cricut, pots &pans, wheat grinder, camera strap

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received? hand made ornaments from my son

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle? a quilt, the binding is scary.

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child? my cabbage patch kid, I was sooo excited!

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?scooters, leapsters and anything princess and star wars

6. What is your favorite holiday food? easy, mom's yams

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays? necklaces

8. What is your favorite holiday movie? White Christmas & Miracle on 34th street

9. Favorite holiday song? All I want for Christmas is you

10. Favorite holiday pastime? Our Annual Family Xmas party