Living In Upstate

How to Make Cute Reunion Shirts In A Matching Color Scheme

This summer my family and I had a reunion camping at Niagara Falls. My sister wanted custom shirts and we told her I could make them with the Cricut. I had a made a few custom shirts before. What was really important to me is they had a cute design and were comfortable to wear. She sent me the template that she liked and we came up with a design on Cricut Design Space.

Cricut Design Space really likes to get more money and has a subscription service. I already pay for the Adobe Suite and do not want to pay more money for fonts and simple designs. I found a picture of Niagara I liked and thickened the lines in photoshop. Then we found some fonts I had on my computer on designed the shirt. I tried using Adobe fonts, but they would not appear in Cricut Design Space. I could have designed the shirts in photoshop and saved it and brought it over, but we were short on time and I did not want to fuss with it.

After I got the design ready we found some vinyl, Target is a really good place to get vinyl. It is so much cheaper than Michael's. We did black for the light shirts and white for the darker shirts.

One of the most important things for us was that shirts were not all white and had some personality. Michaels and Joann Fabric have solid color shirts, but they are super scratchy. We decided to go to Target because I knew they had solid color shirts that are comfortable and cute fitting. My family were expecting bright color shirts. But the color scheme at Target was fall colors and I loved them so much more than the bright color shirts they were expecting. Here are all the light colored shirts with all the black vinyl. I did not have time to get all the dark shirts because we were making to the wire because we did not get the white vinyl until a few days later. There were no colors in toddlers that went with the color scheme. We found the toddler shirts at Old Navy.

I also wanted to incorporate the outdoors with the shirts and made sure to prominently feature the falls.

Here is my sister weeding the white vinyl. I really like the smart vinyl because I do not have to do any extra peeling. We ironed them on. For some reason they did not iron on as well this time maybe it's because we were making so many and just trying to get them done fast. I have to reiron mine and my daughters.

Here is my mom and dad wearing their shirts. We had such a fun time. I do not put pictures of kids on my website, but the family picture turned out so cute!

Decorating for the Holidays

Christmas is a special time for our family as I am sure it is a special time for everyone else. I decided that my Christmas decor needed an overhaul. Nothing matched and it was not any color themed at all. I picked out a bunch of things from Target and got some new pillows. For my living room I used the green, gold, red, black and white color scheme.

For the pillow I used a sham from Ikea that I found that perfectly matched my rug perfectly and a Poly-fil Premier Lumbar Pillow.

I think it looks great with all my Christmas decor.

Here is the tree with the pillow. I love it! I picked out all these ornaments from Target. Some of them are special ornaments we have picked up through the years too as our family has gotten bigger.

I used an existing vase that I had and filled it with gold bells from Target.

I got this great piece from Target to decorate my mantle.

I used this existing tin and I had an filled it with pine cones I got from Target.

I picked up this village set from Target and love it!

For our living room we have been cutting down real trees from our property. I decided to decorate this tree in white. The crocheted ornaments are made by my Grandmother who is no longer alive, the balls I got from Walmart and the snowflakes from Target. It is impossible to find a skirt big enough for this 12 foot tree so I used 4 blankets from Target to make a skirt. We need a skirt because the floor gets covered with pine needles.

The rest of the room is in greens. I picked up some new pieces for our mantle.

This tree was given to us by our church last year. I love its rustic look.

I picked up these trees from Target. I love the different shades of green with the white!

I hope you like my Holiday set up. I definitely feel more grown up with these set ups and it makes our home seem so cozy! I can not wait to add to it next year. Maybe we will get some stockings up since my daughter is getting older and will not pull them down.

Check out some other great ideas from other bloggers with holiday pillow ideas here!

I have teamed up with some other friends and there is an amazing giveaway for a $100 gift card plus a 10 pound box of Poly-fil!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make Something New by Thinking Outside the Box

Have you ever made something you did not like and your family adores? That happened to me in high school. I made the square container below in ceramics class in high school. When I brought it home I did not like it at all and gave it to my Grandma and Grandpa because they loved it. They thought it would be a perfect tissue holder and put it in their house for 20 years. That thing was there forever! It was kind of symbolic now that I think of it. Often times family members will love and cherish us despite our flaws. And they sure loved me.

My Grandpa died when I was in college and my Grandma died last year. I knew I had to take it when they died because it was something I had made for them that they cherished, much like they cherished me.

Here is a closeup of another side. It was an Ombre heart and star pattern ceramic piece.

They even found felt to put on the bottom they cared for it so much. There was NO WAY I could throw it away, but I tried keeping it on my counter with tissues and I really did not like it. I am a big proponent of Marie Kondo and she says to keep things that bring you joy. This brings me joy, but not with tissues in it. I decided I would put a plant in it instead. I was thinking I could get foam and stick the plants in. Or I could buy a prepotted plant from Target, take that out, get the foam and put that in the "tissue holder".
After I got the plant I realized it was a perfect size to put in the "tissue holder" as is. No foam or cutting required. My recycled project took me 5 seconds when I got home.This plant and "tissue holder" stays in my bathroom. Instead of making me cringe when it contained the tissue paper, now it brings me joy. I love the look of the plant I got and I picked out a cute clock from Target to go with. I can think of my Grandma and Grandpa and the love they had for me every time I go to my bathroom and that is several times a day.

I have joined with some other bloggers this week to showcase some more ways to recycle old crafts.

There is even a giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How to Save Space and Stuff Pillow Shams with Poly-fil

I love how this room has come together. Click here to see what it looked like before. We have a teal loveseat, green fireplace and green background from the windows in this room. I picked out some pillows for this room and wanted to make sure they did not clash. The last thing we have to do is paint the stair rail. We have a ton of greens in this room. I thought these tan pillow case covers from Bed Bath and Beyond were perfect! I also used these on my patio for some pillows that were green. I stuffed them with Poly-fil and am going to show how easy it is today. Fairfield World, the makers of Poly-fil is turning 80 years old this year! (#fairfield80, #polyfil, #poly-fil, #FFWcelebration) I received the Poly-fil and these goodies for this project.To make these pillows I got some pillow shams from Bed Bath and Beyond. I have one bag of 32 ounces of Poly-fil. I opened the bag and filled the pillows to my desired "stuffiness". That is the great thing about filling pillows, they can be as hard or soft as desired. We like medium stuffiness here.Here is the finished product. I love how they turned out. They fit in really well with the decor in the room and are super comfortable to sit and take a nap with! The perfect thing about this project is if we decide to change the pillows they can be changed out with other shams and folded, not taking up a lot of space!

How to Make a Pillow with a Pillow Using Poly-fil and Insulate a Bag

Who likes spending time outdoors? We love it here! One of our favorite spots to spend time is the deck. It overlooks the woods. We can hear the birds chirping and leaves rustling. It is the most relaxing thing ever. I have three kids so time by myself is hard to come by. But I try to get out for at least an hour without them and sit in piece on my patio and relax. I was super excited to do some projects with some products Poly-fil sent me. All opinions are my own.

This blog post contains affiliate links.

To make my time even more relaxing I stuff some pillow covers with Poly-fil Premium Polyster Fiber Fill and lined my bag with solarize. That way if I take out chocolate it will not melt in my bag.

I found a pillow cover at Bed Bath and Beyond. I honestly do not know why more pillow covers are not the norm. At Ikea they only sell pillow covers. Instead of buying pillows every season and storing them in a random closet pillow covers can be stored like pillow cases for a bed. And then taken off and washed from time to time.

I stuffed an old pillow in the pillow cover, but because the pillow was a little smaller than the pillow cover there was lots of extra room. I then stuffed the Poly-fil around the other pillow to make the new pillow nice and fluffy.

To insulate the bag I cut the inside of the bag and put the solarize inside. Then I sewed the bag back shut. Now I can keep chocolate in there and not have it melt super fast!

What do you like better the insulated bag or the stuffed pillows?

There is even a giveaway going on for more Poly-fil and a $100 JoAnn Gift card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Our Family Story Wall Hanging

We have been renovating our house like CRAZY. I am excited to finally start putting things on our walls. I thought a "Our Family Story" would be a great addition to our wall. It has the day we met, our anniversary, and birthdays of all the kiddos. It can be made to accomodate any size frame. For this project I used an 8x10.

This post contains affiliate links.

Click here to get the Cricut.

1. The first step is to select some paper.

white cardstock
black cardstock

2. The second step is to put in the correct dates and number of kids. To put in the dates change the text box. To add kids or change gender copy and paste the kids in front of each date. Here is the file. After the dates are changed weld the text together otherwise it will come out in separate circles.

3. Cut this file with the black cardstock.

4. The cutouts can be removed two ways, with this Cricut tool flat, or bending the board and gently separating the cardstock from the board. This helps prevent the paper from bending.

5. The first time I did this I did not cut deep enough and the letters were stuck in the circle. Instead of using the scissors, I opted to cut again deeper and save myself a headache.

MUCH BETTER!

6. The sixth step is to clean the extra letters off the mat and put it away. This way the mat will not get sticky.

7. The next step is to arrange and glue the letters to the white cardstock.

8. The final step is to put the cardstock in a frame and put on the wall. My kids love this! Enjoy!

Click here to get the Cricut.

Check out some other family fun craft ideas from some of my friends.

Thanks so much for 100 Directions, Mad in Crafts, 33 Minute Crafts and The Country Chic Cottage for putting this together!

The Perfect Maple Cookies

Two years ago we moved up to the Northeast, Upstate New York to be exact. I never saw myself living in upstate New York growing up, except maybe that one time I did a state report on New York and saw how pretty it was. But alas we ended up in Upstate New York and are loving it. Every place has traditions and one of the traditions in New York and Canada is Maple Syrup. Maple syrup is harvested in the late winter/early spring from maple trees. It is a super long process and one I was going to try to do until I saw how much goes into making the syrup. That is when I decided to buy the syrup instead. The syrup is pricey, but once I tried it for the first time I could not go back to imitation maple syrup.

When I bought my first jug of maple syrup I wanted to make sure it did not go to waste because I paid so much for it. I looked up recipes for maple everything, cookies and cakes. I made these maple cookies below and I was hooked. I made them for everything until I ran out of maple syrup. I had to patiently wait for maple harvesting season again and for the Coronavirus business restrictions to let up before I could get it. But once I got it I made my first batch of maple cookies and they were as good as I remembered. I hope you enjoy this recipe.

I have included some tricks and tips below to get amazing cookies.

Maple Cookies

Super Soft Delicious Flavorful Cookies

Author: Jennifer Crowther

Yield: 36

Prep Time: 15 Min Cook time: 12 Minutes

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg (room temperature)
1/3 cup Maple Syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
granulated sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cream the butter and the sugar.
Cream the egg with the butter mixture until fluffy.
Add the maple syrup and the maple syrup to the mixture.
Mix the dry ingredients, flour, cornstarch, slat, baking soda, and baking powder.
Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture.
Combine the dry ingredients, flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tarter.
Chill in fridge for 30-60 minutes before baking.
Form round balls and roll in granulated sugar.
Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes.
Let cool and enjoy!

*One of the secrets to getting amazing cookies is to mix the butter and eggs until they are light and fluffy.

I used a disher to make my cookies into balls. That way they come out uniform in shape and size. I also use parchment paper so the cookies do not stick to the bottom of the pan.

Don't these look scrumptous?

Here is the finished product!