Spring Into April-Kelly at Live Laugh Rowe


Hi sweet readers of Debbie Does Creations!  I’m  Kelly, visiting from Live Laugh Rowe.  I’m sooo jealous that Debbie is off enjoying some time in the sun, BUT I’m super glad to be here with all of you!

I {love} Mantels!  I have one myself; however, we have a 46″ Flat Screen hanging above it that doesn’t necessarily allow for too much creative fun.  Boo!  Until I can figure out how to make a faux mantel to style for the holidays, I’ll live vicariously through those of you who are able to create visual art through the mantel.  I thought I’d share some Mantel Inspiration with all of you today as we Spring into April – maybe you’ll find some fun ideas for decorating amongst the colors, fabrics, shapes and sizes.  I know always do.
 Enjoy!
Spring has Sprung!!  
Here are a couple from Better Home & Gardens
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I’ve also had some fabulous Spring Mantels link up at my Live Laugh Linky Thursday party recently.  These are fabulous — so are their blogs.  Take a looksy!  If you have a few extra minutes, you might stop by and say a quick hello too.
Creatively Living
Imprintalish
My Sister’s Suitcase
52 Mantels
Thanks again for having me today!  I hope you enjoyed.
Have a lovely day and Happy Easter.
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Cheers!
Kelly

Blog: www.livelaughrowe.com
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/krowe74/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/livelaughrowe
Shop: www.house129.etsy.com

Spring Into April-Erika at Southern Belle as an Army Wife

Today I get to introduce Erika at Southern Belle As An Army Wife. She was one of the first girls I met blogging and I’m so stinkin excited that we might be meeting soon at Bloggy Boot Camp. She has something special to share with you that will WOW your guests this Easter!

Follow Here: {Website}   {Facebook}   {Twitter}

Hey ya’ll! I am so excited to be able to guest post for Debbie while she is gone. This is my first guest post, so bear with me here. Debbie wants to Spring into April, so I have something pretty adorable to share with you that will do just that! I did this last year and got so many compliments and “Aw-I-Love-It”s that I decided to do it again this year. This is very easy to do and will take maybe 5 minutes of your time. The hardest part is convincing your kids that they can’t eat the peeps!!
  • Find a super cute bowl that you have laying around the house to use as the display
  • Gather up 6 ceramic brown eggs (or however many you need to fill yours)
  • Gather up 4 REAL brown eggs…and if you don’t have chickens, store bought will work too ;)
  • Gather up 4 chick Peeps (It’s spring, I’m in a “gathering type mood)
  •  Crack open the eggs, emptying the yolk and white, and rinse the shell thoroughly.
  •  Place 4 peeps inside the eggs and arrange the ceramic eggs around your eggs with Peeps
  • TA-DA! Adorable spring décor in no time!!

 

 


 

Spring Into April-Jennifer at Living the Creative Life

I met Jennifer from Living the Creative Life at my weekly Toot Your Horn Tuesday party. She is one sweet gal. There is nothing like Spring and fresh fruit for breakfast. Jennifer is going to be sharing a yummy recipe with us this week. I hope you enjoy it!

Follow Jennifer here: {Website}    {Twitter}    {Etsy}

Hi! I’m Jennifer from Living the Creative Life and I’m so excited that Debbie asked me to guest post for her this week while she’s on vacation! Today I’ve prepared for you a fun breakfast recipe that’s perfect for cool Spring mornings! You can substitute any fruits you have on hand, which makes it really a versatile recipe to use throughout the upcoming growing season!!
Oatmeal w/ Brown Sugar, Walnuts, and Fruit

Step 1: Add about a 1/4 cup of oats per serving to a pot, with just enough water to cover the oats. Put this on the stove at just under medium-high heat.

 

 
Step 2: When the water is about halfway boiled off, add chopped walnuts to the pot. You’ll only need about a tablespoon of nuts, but add more or less according to your tastes.
 

Step 3: Right after you add the nuts, chop a 1/2 a banana into whatever size chunks you like and put those into the pot as well.

 

 
Step 4: When the water has just about finished boiling off, add a handful of frozen blueberries (fresh works great, too!). Gently fold them into the oatmeal, being careful not to squish them or your oatmeal will turn blue! Stir continuously for about 20 seconds, or until the blueberries seem to be slightly warm.

 Step 5: As soon as the blueberries are warm, scoop the oatmeal out and into your bowl. Top with 1 teaspoon of brown sugar and a little soy milk! Serve with freshly brewed coffee and you’ve got yourself a great meal!

 

Spring Into April-Morgan at Thnx Pinterest

I get to introduce Morgan today from Thnx Pinterest.

Thnx Pinterest
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We both started our blogs all due to something in common…Pinterest. I hope you enjoy this yummy drink she shares with us today. I personally can’t wait to make one with the infusion of alcohol ;) If this doesn’t get you in the mood for Spring and warmer weather, I don’t know what will.

Yummy Berry-Melony-Lemony slushy

Hi! My name is Morgan and my thnxpinterest.com blog is dedicated to the crafts, projects, parties and recipes I create based on pinspiration from Pinterest. Here is a recipe that I know will become a family favorite in the spring and summer for years to come.

My son, C, has two favorite foods watermelon and berries, so when I saw this pin for Watermelon, Strawberry Lemonade I knew I had to try it. Lucky, this weekend we finally had some amazing spring weather and this slushy seemed like the perfect drink to enjoy while sitting outside in the sunshine. I made a few changes to the recipe and can’t wait to try many more variations on sunny spring and summer days!

Pinspiration

Pinterest Yumm Board from Amy at Frosted Bakeshop

Photo & Recipe courtesy of Amy at Frosted Bakeshop

 

Loved

  • Sweet and sugar free (kind of). The original recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar but I decided to try it without sugar first as my preference is not to give little C any refined sugar (there is enough in all of the watermelon he eats). And guess what, it was still really good and pretty sweet. I also tried it with agave nectar and it was also tasty.
  • Berry berry good. I love raspberries and so does C, so obviously I had to add some to this recipe. They added a bit of tartness (which I love) and were a little bit seedy (which I’ve grown to accept is a side effect of eating raspberries) so if you aren’t a huge raspberry fan you might want to stick to just strawberries.
  • Rich color. If I could design a crayon color I think it would be this deep dark fruity red (the picture doesn’t do it justice)
  • Slushy texture.I used frozen berries and refrigerated watermelon and was very happy with the slushy texture. The crush ice setting on my Kitchenaid blender did a great jobblending everything without making it runny but also not leaving large chunks. If the fruit was all fresh I think the texture may not have been as slushy.

 

Learned

  • Berry-melony-lemony ratio. I used the following measurements; any combination of this ratio would work just fine.
    • 3 cups large chunks of watermelon (approx. ½ small watermelon)
    • 2 cups frozen berries (I did ½ strawberry, ½ raspberry)
    • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • Freeze it. I thought it would be fun to try freezing this in a mason jar. My hope was that the texture would stay nice and slushy and I would be able to freeze the night before and then put out in a big bucket for a party so that they would still be frosty cool slushy drinks even on a hot sunny day. Luckily I was right and they defrosted nicely…now for the sun to come back out!
  • Seedless watermelon. No one wants to suck a watermelon seed through a straw.
  • So many possibilities that I can’t wait to try with this recipe! Here are a few ideas:
    • Freezing it in ice cubes and then serving with Sprite, Champaign or Sparkling water
    • Use the watermelon as a punch bowl to serve the slush
    • Add a little liquor to make it into a Daiquiri, Margarita or Mimosa (had to try that one out – Yummy!)

Thnx

Spring Into April-Kelly at Here Comes the Sun

This week I am on vacation visiting my Mom, seeing the beautiful Siesta Key, FL and going to my son’s favorite, Legoland. I put together a really great series this week called Spring Into April and I have 5 fabulous friends who have graciously agreed to be guests this week. Today you are going to meet Kelly. I love her blog. She is such a sweet lady and I hope you will follow along with her on her journey. Meet Kelly:
Hello!  I’m Kelly and I blog over at Here Comes the Sun.

Here Comes the Sun

I’m very excited to be guest posting today here at Debbie Does Creations.  Today, I’m going to show you how I made a Spring Frame for my mantel.  I was inspired by this post that was linked up to my weekly link party.

 

 

Here is how I made mine:

 

MATERIALS
Frame
Spray Paint
String
Scrapbook Paper
Thumbtacks
Adhesive dots
DIRECTIONS

1. Spray paint your frame whatever color you want.  I chose an aqua because it is “Springy”.  To be honest, I already had this frame spray painted and designated for another project but when I decided to do my Spring Frame, I swiped it.  Mainly because the aqua color was going to work with my color scheme.

2. I used my Cricut to cut out diamond shapes and a flower.  I used the George and Basic Shapes cartridge. Fold the diamonds in half to make pennants.

3.  Attach the string to the back of your frame using a thumbtack.  Tie the end of the string around the thumbtack.

4. Fold your pennants over the string and secure with an adhesive dot.  String the flower on and secure with an adhesive dot.

5. Attach the other end of your string to the opposite corner using a thumbtack.

Turn over and you’re done!  You can either hang it on the wall or lean it on a shelf.

 

 

This is the perfect addition to my Spring Mantel.
Thanks so much, Debbie for having me today!
Stop on by Here Comes the Sun to see some of my other projects and join my Fabulous Friday link party.  You can also follow Here Comes the Sun on Facebook.

Spring Into April and 5 Days of Giveaways Winners

If you can, please vote for me here. It only takes one click and you can do this daily :)

Y’all I am leaving for vacation this afternoon and I am so excited. But, don’t fret, I haven’t forgotten about YOU! Next week, while I am gone on vacation I have put together a cute series called Spring Into April. I have 5 wonderful blogs stopping over to be our guest and get you ready for Spring. So please don’t miss out on getting to meet them. They have some amazing things to share :)

 

Last week was our 5 Days of Giveaways. Below are the winners that were chosen via Random.org

Thanks for the Memories: Dana McWilliams # 117

Kelli Designs: Kristie Donelson #318

Lisa Marie Invitations and Design: Kristin Whitlock #9

Stella & Dot: Tender Allure

Debbie Does Creations: Jackie in MI