Tiffany & Co. Sweet 16

Schools out!! Yay, that means I actually have time to relax. But not the first day of summer. I was up all night helping decorate for my sister Sweet 16.
Her theme was Tiffany & Co. Very elegant and I love tiffany blue!
The party: Her friends got here at six o'clock mingled for a little bit and then sat down to eat. We decorated our family room for the "restaurant" feel. First they had a choice of two appetizers, two salads, two entrees, and two desserts. After that they all slept over having fun playing games, or whatever they wanted. The next morning they got up and everyone went to the beach. We spent the day there and then they came back home and had dinner then got picked up at nine.
Decorations:
 -Tiffany blue mason jars with tree sticks spray painted white in them. Pearls hanging from the sticks.
- Chairs had whit tool tied around them with a blue bow.
- In the center of the table we had some of the mason jars, also with a long piece of white tool and jewls (diamonds) and pearls on it.
-Napkin holder was a little strip of jewls with a huge diamond hot glued on the top.
- On the ceiling we taped table cloths to make a cool feature, with a chandelier and white tissue pom-poms with a jewel hanging. 
- Photo wall has baloons taped on it to make it look like pearls.
Party Favors:
- We got individual white boxes from Michaels, that we spray painted blue.
In there we had a flower headband and a chocolate bar with an adorable wrapper.

I apologize a head of time for the quality of the pictures. My camera isn't working so I had to live with my phone camera. :(

The candy bar wrappers

Party Favor Boxes

Name places

Menu Board

The table clothed ceiling.

Mason Jars and Menu

Pearl Balloon Wall

Napkin Holder

Flower Headbands

Triathlon Medal Board

My best friend just recently had her birthday and I wanted to get/make her something awesome! I saw this triathlon medal/bib holder on etsy that I loved, but it was $33 and would not be here in time for her party. So I decided to make her one myself!

Cost: Around $20
Fun: Super!

What you need:
- Piece of wood
- Sheet of foam (I used thin)
- Foam letters (Michael's)
- Hooks (I got a pack of 30 from Lowes)
- Paint (I used orange, her favorite color)
- Zots

First off your piece of wood should be big enough to fit 'I TRI' big at the top and 'swim•bike•run' in smaller letters underneath that.

I started by painting my wood orange. After it dried I screwed in holes for where I should put the hooks. (It is easy just to put a bib you have on there, to see the size). There are two bib sizes so I used four hooks for those. Once those were on I screwed holes in the bottom of the wood so I could put five hooks there to hold the medals.

Now I drew out letters on the foam the best I could. It took a couple tries to find the right size.

Underneath the I TRI letters I put on the already cut out ones that I got from Michael's. Since the pack didn't come with circles for in between the words I cut off the dot for the i.

I glued on the letters with Zots (glue dots) and it was done! I loved the turnout and I think she even loved it more than I did!
If you don't have the time to make one yourself let me know and I will make one for you! Email: mckenleyh@yahoo.com

Vintage Jewlery Holder

I say this on Pinterest and thought it would look adorable hanging on a wall in my room!
I had this amazing antique frame but it was a ugly gold color. I painted it and then scuffed it up for a better look. Then the lace was easy I just cut pieces of it and duck taped it really tight to the back. The frame was medal so it would not stay with glue. I had 2 different laces and put them up in a pattern. Just hang it up with a little wall hook and there you have a wonderful vintage Jewlery holder!

Christmas 2012

So Christmas is just around the corner and while everyone is out running store to store looking for the perfect gift I am sitting on my couch watching classic Hallmark movies while making sugar cookies, and decorations for bedroom doors. Haha no I wish.
Well I did make sugar cookies, we just haven't iced them yet. I got the recipe here.Sugar Cookie Recipe
I did watch a Hallmark movie today with almost the whole family. We also tried to drive around and see Christmas Lights but my little brother decided he wanted a nap, so that ended up as a no.
I got all my present wrapping done!! Halleluiah
For the bedroom decorations, I was playing with some glitter glue and made some really pretty snowflakes we will hang on our bedroom doors Christmas Eve.
 This Christmas has been pretty good and I can't believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow!

Here are some of the Christmas treats I took my Church Leaders today.

I sadly didn't get a picture of them before I gave them so I just got this picture off of pinterest.
Also, they were for my church leaders so instead of saying "You are an awesome Teacher!" mine said "This is for helping me sharpen my testimony"

Also today, I decided to glitter my nails for Christmas! So, I got this huge thing with like 32 different glitters from Michaels for my Birthday and decided to use them.
I painted my nails, then put a paper plate under and poured the glitter on(while nails were still wet).  After that I tapped my finger to get all the excess glitter off. After letting that dry I put a clear coat over and WALA wonderful glittery nails ♥ Sorry about the VERY and I mean VERY blurry picture my phone is broken so this was taken with my tablet.








Hopefully I can give you some Christmas Traditions in my Christmas post tomorrow with wrapping ideas, websites with good prices, helpful Christmas ideas, and so much more!!

Photoshop

Have you even gotten an adorable picture but then there's a house, car, or random person in the background? Well that's what happened this morning when I was taking pictures of my brother playing in leaves. I could not get an angle where I would not see the neighbors car in the background. 
I fell in love with one picture but the car was so noticable. 

Here is the before:

After an hour on Gimp working my magic:   

Tada! I don't know about you but I think this picture is Christmas card worthy! 

Award Winning Science Fair 2012

My least favorite part of the school year, having to do a Science Fair Project I don't really care about. I am not sure why they don't just let the kids who want to do them, do them, and kids who don't want to do them, not do them. Oh well, I have to do one anyway. 

Last year I really just wanted an easy experiment that wouldn't take up a lot of time but would get me a good grade, so my problem was "What brand of Diapers is the Most Absorbent" . I know, lame but I mean you can't argue with a 105%, can you? 

This year I wanted something fun, or at least that would interest me. One of my friends is anemic. That means she has very little iron in her blood cells. Which is a big problem and make you really tired, and dizzy. I was looking through Pinterest (go figure) a for some ideas when I came across this one: "Which cereal has the most iron". I thought it sounded interesting enough so I researched it some more and found that the experiment for it was super easy!


Iron, In my Cereal?:
Problem:
What dry cereal out of Frosted Mini Wheats, Smart Start, Cheerios, and Cinnamon Life have the most iron?

Purpose:
I did this experiment because many people are anemic (low iron in your blood) ,and knowing the right foods to eat can help with the iron intake in your body.

Hypothesis: If I test to see which dry cereal has the most iron, then I hypothesis that out of Froste Mini Wheats, Smart Start, Cheerios, and Life, Smart Start will have the most iron.
Procedures:
1. Choose four kinds of breakfast cereals to test with varying iron contents.
2. Cut off the bottom of all four plastic bottles. Take off the lids of the water bottles.
3. Tape the magnet on the outside of the bottle about half way down using duck tape.
4. Label the bottles with the types of cereals that you will test.
5. Put 250mL of one type of cereal in the Ninja and add 250mL of water.
6. Blend the water and cereal on high until there is a smooth mixture and there are no visible lumps or chuncks of the cereal left.
7. Carefully pour the slurry mixture into the measuring cup.
8. Rinse the Ninja with a small amount of water (20mL) and pour this rinse into the measuring cup.
9. Take the bottle that goes with the cereal you are using and hold it above the large bowl. Position it on it's side with the cut-off part slightly higher than the top and rotate it so that the magnet is on the bottom side of the bottle.
10. Slowly pour the slurry through the bottle, making sure the the slurry goes over the magnet and the liquid is collected in the large bowl.
11. After all the cereal slurry has been poured through the bottle, pour an additional 150mL of water through, to rinse out the cereal and clean the iron.
12. Leave the bottle to air-dry for 1-2 hours.
13. The iron should be visible.
14. Repeat 2 times so you have 3 trials.
15. Repeat steps 3-14 with the other three cereals.

Materials:  
- Duck Tape
- (4) Water Bottles
- Frosted Mini Wheats
- Cinnamon Life
- Cheerios
- Smart Start
- (2) Measuring Cups
- Large Bowl
- Strong magnet
- Sharpie
- Ninja (you could also use a blender)

Results:
In trial one: Mini Wheats had the most iron at 22mm, Smart Start had the second highest at 18mm, Cheerios was next at 14mm, and Life came in last with 12mm.                                                                                In trial two: Smart start came in first with 22mm, Cheerios in second with 18mm, Life in third at 12mm, and Mini Wheats in last at 5mm                        In trial three: Cheerios has the most at 25mm, Smart Start came in second with 21mm, Life was next with 11mm, and Mini Wheats was last again with 10mm
The averages are: Smart Start 22mm, Cheerios 19mm, Life 11.7mm, and Mini Wheats 12.3mm.
Overall Life had the most constant iron, while Mini Wheats had the least constant.

Conclusion: My hypothesis was supported because Smart Start's average was 3mm higher than any of the other averages.

I really just wanted a good grade, but I mean I don't mind getting second in my division ☻

School

School is always a lot of time, I swear it takes up more time in my life than anything else. So because of that I  have been lousy on my blog posts, but I have been working on a poem for L.A. based off of Water Dance (which is a different poem).

I-phone

I come in sizes 4 and 8 gb

I have a 2 megapixel camera

I can connect to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

I weigh 4.8 ounces

I can at most hold 2,000 songs

I have a screen size of 3.5 inches

I only come in black

I am only carried with At&t

I have a resolution of 480x320

I am an I-Phone

I come in sizes 8 and 16 gb

I have a 2 megapixel camera

I can connect to wifi, Bluetooth, and 3G

I weigh 4.7 ounces

I can hold at most 4,000 songs

I have a screen size of 3.5 inches

I come in black and white

I am only carried with At&t

I have a resolution of 480x320

I am an I-Phone 3G

I come in sizes 16 and 32 gb

I have a 3 megapixel camera

I can connect to Wi-Fi, 3G, and Bluetooth

I weigh 4.8 ounces

I can hold at most 8,000 songs

I have a screen size of 3.5 inches

I come in black and white

I am only carried with At&t

I have a resolution of 480x320

I am an I-Phone 3GS

I come in sizes 16 and 32 gb

I have 2, 5 megapixel cameras

I can connect to CDMA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G

I weigh 4.8 ounces

I can hold at most 8,000 songs

I have a screen size of 3.5 inches

I come in black and white

I am carried with At&t and Verizon

I have a resolution of 960x340

I have Facetime

I am an I-Phone 4

I come in sizes 16, 32, and 64 gb

I have 2, 8 megapixel cameras

I can connect to Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, and CDMA

I weigh 4.9 ounces

I can at most hold 16,000 songs

I have a screen size of 3.5 inches

I come in black and white

I am carried with At&t, Verizon, and Sprint

I have a resolution of 960x640

I have Siri and Facetime

I am an I-Phone 4S

I come in sizes 16, 32, and 64 gb

I have 2, 8 megapixel cameras and 720p HD

I can connect to Wi-Fi, 4Glite, 3G, and Bluetooth

I weigh 3.95 ounces

I can hold at most 16,000 songs

I have a screen size of 4 inches

I come in black and white

I am carried with At&t, Verizon, and Sprint

I have a resolution of 1136x640

I have Siri, and Facetime

I am an I-Phone 5

I hope you enjoyed it! It is also great if you are deciding which phone to get as a comparison. 

I am also working on my science fair project, so that should be up here soon as well.

Playing Outside

The outdoors is my favorite place to take pictures of my brother! He is always so smiley outside. Here are some of the pictures I took yesterday.

 He was so into the grass.

 

 He found an acorn!

This is my favorite because he is smiling at himself in the mirror.

Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls

Mmmm do I have a treat for you today! That will not only make your house smell good it is mouth watering too! And unless you have more willpower than me you won't be able to stop at just one! But since they're pumpkin, they're good for you right? Well that's why I've doubled the recipe because I know they'll be eaten tonight and I want to save some for breakfast tomorrow! This recipe is originally from Laurens Latest and you can get it here. But I changed some thing up to fit it into the pumpkin season. You do have to be a little patient while making them, but it's totally worth the wait!

Ingredients:
For the Dough-
3/4cup warm water
2 1/2teaspoons active dry yeast {use the fast acting kind!}
1/2cup granulated sugar
1teaspoon salt
1/4cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 egg
1/3cup canola or vegetable oil
4 1/2-5cups all purpose unbleached flour
3/4cup pumpkin
For the Filling-
1/2cup softened margarine
1 1/4cups packed light brown sugar
2 1/2tablespoons ground cinnamon
2tablespoons cornstarch
2teaspoons of cloves
2tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
For the Frosting-
2oz. pumpkin cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4cup softened margarine
1teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2tablespoon corn syrup
1 1/4cups powdered sugar
 Directions:

Making the Dough- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, pour in water, yeast and 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar. Stir and proof 5 minutes. Once mixture looks bubbly and frothy, pour in remaining sugar and salt. Stir on low for 15-20 seconds. In a small bowl, measure buttermilk, oil, pumpkin and egg. Whisk ingredients together until egg is incorporated to other two ingredients. Pour contents into the water and yeast mixture. Stir another 20 seconds in the mixer. Pour 2 cups of flour into mixer and stir on low until incorporated. Sprinkle flour in by 1/4 cup increments until dough cleans the sides and bottom of the bowl. Dough should be sticky but not sticky enough to stick to your hands when touched. Once it has reached this stage, turn mixer on and knead for 5 minutes. Remove dough from bowl, grease and replace back into same mixing bowl {since it’s practically clean anyways.} Cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel. Rise 1-2 hours or until dough has doubled in size.

Filling and Cutting Rolls- In a medium size bowl, stir brown sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch together until combined. Set aside. Punch down dough. Flour a large clean table liberally with flour. Lightly flour dough as well. Roll dough out to be a 20×30 rectangle {or as close to that as possible} while moving dough around to ensure it’s not sticking to your work surface. If it’s a little short or uneven, feel free to cut off the edges to even it all out. {FYI-I cut off some dough on one side and filled in a spot that needed more dough on the other side to make a more even rectangle.}

Spread softened margarine over dough, being sure to go right to the edges leaving a 1-inch strip untouched on one of the longer sides of dough. Dump brown sugar mixture onto the middle of the dough and spread with your hands, creating an even layer over top of the margarine, still leaving that 1-inch strip of dough untouched. If you have any filling that falls off the sides of the dough, use a bench scraper to replace. Lightly press the sugar mixture into the margarine using a rolling pin. Roll the dough up into a tight log, finishing with the plain dough on the bottom to seal the entire thing together. Cut off the uneven ends to even out the log. Score log every 2 inches and then slice your rolls using those marks.I slice it by using about 2 feet of thread and folding it in half. Then I put the thread under and cross it at the top.

 Place into parchment paper lined, margarine greased pans. 12 into a 9×13, 3 remaining into a loaf pan, or 8×8 with the small ends. Cover pans with plastic wrap and dish towels. Let rolls rise another 1-2 hours or until they are touching and have risen almost double. My rolls always spread out more than up, so just be aware that they will most likely spread out more than up. Bake in a preheated 350 degree for 17 minutes, or until tops start to brown. Watch them carefully!!

For the Frosting- While the rolls are baking, whip cream cheese and margarine together. Stir in vanilla, and corn syrup. Scrape sides and mix again. Pour in powdered sugar and stir slowly until it starts to incorporate. Then mix on high for 5 minutes or until frosting starts to lighten in color. Scrape sides and mix again briefly. Once rolls have been removed from the oven, frost using half the amount made. Then after they have cooled a few more minutes, frost again with remaining frosting. The first frosting will melt down into the rolls and the second layer should stay put. Serve warm.

Chevron Binder Cover

Being the Beehive president I like being unique, and creative. For my binder I decided to create this adorable chevron glitter binder cover.

I first started out by putting dark boxes on my graph paper I did 4x4.

I placed the graph paper under my computer paper. Then I went from the bottom of a square corner to the top of  a square corner. That was done to the whole paper.

 I wrote Beehive President with Permanent Marker then added my glitter paint to the chevron. My color pattern was silver, pink, yellow.

Now I have an adorable binder cover to put in a boring white binder.