10 Easter-Shaped Yummy Eats!

Did you miss me yesterday? I sure missed you lovely lovely people. Apparently, I am channeling Mr. Rogers right now or maybe my cuz, Bob Ross.

Earlier this week we checked out some snazzy Easter decorations. Easter certainly getting any further away so let's take a gander into the world of food shaped like Easter bunnies and other Easter-y things!

Bunny Breakfast! Cantaloupe, blueberries, strawberry, honey, and, marshmallows on a pancake. You know you like it!

Coconut Bunny Cake! Deliciously cute. 

A snack tray in an egg carton. People these days are crafty! 

Someone lost their mind when they called this pizza. It is a cute idea and a fun snack, but everyone knows that in NO WAY is that pizza.

Once again, someone decided that this is pizza. People are acting a fool up in here. Take some inspiration from this photo and make a cute egg-shaped vegetable tray. Leave off the questionable purple food though.

Bunny mask cookies. I KNOW that's right! 

The only problem with this super adorable carrot patch treat is that everyone knows wafers are the grossest! 

Mmmm Cheetos, the most delicious junk food in the world.

 A noodle shaped chicken. Yesssss!

And, the last thing I have for you on this fabulous Friday is some cute bunny biscuits. 

Happy happy happy Friday! I hope your weekend is just what you need. Stay tuned to The Etc. Lists tomorrow for a some Cora time.

sources: Bunny Biscuits, Bunny Mask, Coconut Bunny, Carrot Patch Wafers, Cheeto Carrots, Egg Carton, Bunny Pancake, Carrot "Pizza", Egg Veggies, Chick Pasta

Exciting Art News!

A friend of mine, who is an amazing artist, asked if I wanted to put some paintings up on a wall she had reserved for her daughter at a local interior design marketplace called Slate Interiors. I jumped at the opportunity. Cora and I headed over there this morning to hang the art. The place is unbelievable! I could find anything I ever needed in that store. It is super fun, funky, colorful. It is located in the Plaza Midwood area of Charlotte, NC. If you haven't been there before you need to check it out.

Here is a photo of Cora helping me with the finishing touches on my art wall!

Wish me luck!

Making Over A Kid's Table & Chairs, Part 1

I am a bit behind... I still owe you a 2nd post about our Christmas 2012. You will see it over on The Etc Lists within the next couple weeks. For Christmas, I gave a little table and chairs set. It is called Latt and it is from Ikea. As usual, I couldn't leave the set just like I bought it. I had to dress it up a bit. Also, as usual, it took me about 10 extra tries to get it right. You get to see all of my exciting spazzy errors in Part 2 of the Ikea Table.

Here is the before and after:

I do love some green!

I always start a project with some serious brainstorming. I think about the colors I want to use and I picture what kind of vibe I want to end up with. As soon as my brain has exhausted all of its ideas I head on over to the Google machine. I like to see what other people have come up with. 

From my brainstorming I knew that I wanted a chalkboard top and plenty of color.

Here are some of my favorites Latt Hacks (the sources are at the end of this post):

A colorful top! I hadn't even considered just painting one area. Google was already up 1 on me.

Fabric and paint! Fantastic! I loved the idea, but was worried about the durability. 

Another inspired person wrapped their Latt chairs in fabric. Pretty funky! 

Who doesn't love a map! This one is super neat, but not quite the vibe I was going for. 

This Map Latt was closer to my vibe, but I do not have near enough talent to make that.

A chalkboard top! And, they color-blocked the chairs. A great idea! 

I was excited to find this one. Ikea green was one of the colors I was considering. So, I was happy to see that someone else had already tested it out for me. And, with a chalkboard top! This was about as close as I was going to get to what I was looking for. 

I drew up a possible design for the chair tops in my favorite program, Microsoft Paint. I wasn't sure what colors I wanted to use so I drew up 4 possibilities.

Now you know the riveting process that went into my Latt-hacking. I'm sure you are losing your mind with excitement about Part 2 coming up soon. 

I will give you one more sneak peak. This photo is from the first time I showed Cora that you could write on the table with chalk. I wrote, "Cora's Big Girl Table" and she insisted that I also draw a hat. So, a sombrero was drawn.

Time for Wednesday's Weekly Rather Question:

WYR:

dfsf be caught in a serious nose pick on national TV (like this guy)

or

have to wear a very strange cartoon-looking sombrero (like the one I drew above) 2 hours per day every day for the next year?

sources: fabric topped, yarn wrapped, maps, color blocked- green, color blocked- yellow, red with map

Nose Picking Shenanigan

Today is Tuesday. That usually means no post. But I thought I would share a random funny article with you just to keep you entertained. Please be warned- if you do not feel like acting like a 3rd grader right now or you think that my standards should be higher than that of a 3rd grader, please do not read this post!

Scott has a good friend, Chris Chase, who writes for USA Today online. He is one funny dude in person and the hilarity stays strong in his writing. I often find Scott giggling like a crazy man at the computer. 99% of the time* it is because he is watching ridiculous Ric Flair (<--- click there if you want to see a grown man (Scott) look mind-bogglingly-insane) videos on YouTube. This time it wasn't Mr. Woooooooooooo himself. It was due to some good ol' fashioned nose digging and a fantastic handling of it.

Chris Chase wrote this article about a guy who was caught in the background of a sports commentary. You may have guessed by the title of this post that the man in question was digging for gold like a champion. However, that is not the funny part. We all know that people pick there nose constantly. Honestly, as I write this I just caught Scott doing a little pick-scratch action.

Here is he going to town on national TV.

He is definitely looking pretty cool. Don't you worry; this smooth player only gets smoother.
How does he handle getting caught in a serious pick on TV?
The most awesome wink I've ever seen. The video is way funnier. So, be sure to check Chase's article to see the snippet.

The 2nd best thing about this situation is what he does when he checks out the haul from his booger paradise. 
He gives himself a humble mental high five. This cannot be conveyed by photo. I know because I freeze-framed this video for entirely too long trying to bring the exact moment to you. It turns out that a mental high five is more of a video than a picture. So watch the full video if you must see it.

At the end of the article, Chase writes, 

"He owned it, like a boss. Try to get that unsettling image out of your head the rest of the day. Hint: You won't be able to."

He is right. Not only have those images been stuck in my head for two days, but now I also have "He owned it, like a boss." To be honest, I kind of love having that stuck in my head though.

I will be back tomorrow with a slightly more Never-Listless-y post for you and the weekly Would You Rather Question. I know you wouldn't want to miss that!

*slighttttttttt exaggeration. It may only be 98% of the time.

14 Nifty Easter/ Spring Decorations To Get You Inspired!

Spring is in the air and Easter is only a couple weeks away. 

To those crazy-holiday-decorating-fools: The time has come! Let's see some Easter eggs and bunnies lining your driveway! If you don't have a Spring wreath on your door yet I am just going to pretend I don't know you (I hope you caught my sarcasm there. Read on to see how far from the truth that is).

Myyyyyy goodness, do I like things decorated with branches!!! I have never used branches in my decorating, but apparently it is what is missing in my life. Isn't this a happy colorful branchy situation! As soon as I host a big Easter gathering something like this is going to happen. At the very least I will print out this photo and show my guests that I found some good decorating ideas!

Here is a more subdued branchy-situation:

While we are talking about things I love, but have never decorated with... WREATHS! I am a fraud! I wrote a whole post about St. Patrick's Day Wreaths, Christmas Wreaths, and Thanksgiving Wreaths. But a single wreath has never graced my front door or any space in my house. Let's take a look at 2 cute Spring-ish wreaths that are almost inspiring me to make the no-wreath-change.

A bunny! Oh, the cleverness!

For something else that I think is pretty but would never do see below.

I could never bring myself to waste that much candy even though jelly beans are not so impressive.

Something I could get into:

Growing my own decorations! Wheat grass can = Easter grass!

And, you can dress it all up like this:

Now is the time that I would like to show you photos of one of my favorite ways to decorate... Garland! I love it! I am a bare bones decorator when it comes to special occasions, but garland (as long as I can reuse it) is the best!

More lovely garland!

One more! Make sure to click on the links at the end of this post for tutorials or more information on these fantastic decorations.

Fancy Schmancy!

A fun and practical Easter centerpiece. 

Rainbow bunnies in a frame! So pretty! Carrot garland! The coolest!

To wrap up these snazzy Easter decorations, I have plastic eggs in egg cartons. Fun stuff, people. Fun stuff is what is happening around these parts. 

Are you inspired? What new decorations are going up this year?

Sources: Egg Garland, Easter Grass, Branches, Bunny Cut-Out, Eggs On Stairs, Egg Centerpiece, Bunny Wreath, Blue Egg Wreath, Grow Grass, Jelly Bean Flowers, String Egg Garland, Egg Carton, Easter Mantel

Birthday Numero Uno! Part 3!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you! Go get your green on!

Welcome back to 1st birthday celebration time! It was the simplest celebration you can imagine. So, you may wonder why it takes me 3 posts to finish it up. Because that is the way I roll people; that's the way I roll. 

In our first glimpse into Cora's birthday party, I showed you the things that were not at her party (creepy clowns, above-ground swimming pool, chocolate pizza). In part 2, we took a closer look at what actually did happen at her party. Now, in the 3rd edition of Birthday Numero Uno, I am going to show you the decorations aka BANNERS GALORE!


I made a fancy contact-papered Happy Birthday, Cora sign that I will put up every single year forever... even when she is out of the house. That sign will be up and I will spend the whole day looking at The Etc. Lists and all of my favorite photos of her. #creepymomtakeachillpill

Let's get on with the show. 
Here is how I made the contact-paper-infested banner:

• My best friend, scrapbook paper, entered the scene and got cut to pieces. It took me forever to decide what size each piece should be. Finally, I decided to choose what size I wanted the letters to be and then it was easier to choose the paper size. I made a template of the triangle, traced it, and cut it.

• For the letters, I looked at some fonts online and just hand drew them on thick pink paper. I played around with them a bit and realized they looked better with one more layer. So, I cut out a piece of letter-shaped white paper that was a bit bigger than each pink letter. FYI- when I say "I" I mean me and my wonderful mom who gave up her evening to sit on the floor with me and cut out letters.

• The layout was the trickiest part, but also the most fun! I spent at least an hour moving all of the papers around until I found the perfect order.

• Next, I added the contact paper so it would stand the test of time! Then I punched holes in the top corners of each triangle and looped some green ribbon through the whole thing. I added a pretty yellow ribbon to each end and Bam Boom Bam! It was done... about 10 minutes before the party!

Hold your horses, folks, there is more! THERE WAS ANOTHER BANNER! Craziness, I know!

I took a weekly photo of Cora during her first year. I picked about 20 of my favorites and turned them into a banner. I cut scrapbook paper into thirds. Then I glued each photo on a sheet and added a little title box that said what week the photo was from. Contact paper time. Then hole punching and ribbon stringing.

Tada. All done!

Here are a couple close-up shots of the banner.

There was also crepe paper streamers and tissue paper balls! Check it out!

As a favor, we gave out coloring books that we made with a bundle of 5 crayons wrapped in green raffia.
This was the cover:

And that wraps up Cora's very simple numero uno birthday! Less than 6th months left until Cora hits numero dos!