Changes

So as you all know, last I spoke we were expecting a new little addition to be joining our family. Well he arrived! July 9th to be exact. He didn't come into the world as I had hoped but it was perfect still the same. He is doing wonderfully, sleeping at night perfectly between feedings, eats like a champ and tolerates his older brother better than I expected. Now his older brother is still adjusting and we are working with him on how to better express his feelings but its tough being 22 months old and suddenly your world goes changes in a BIG way. Thankfully my wonderful husband has been home for the last 2 weeks and he will be home with us one more week before he returns to work. His company is quite awesome I do have to say, all this PAID paternity leave and then they still send us cookie basket welcoming our new addition in, pretty awesome if I do say so.

Pretty awesome huh? And they don't taste half bad though I am going to be a good girl and pace myself, maybe throw a few in the freezer so I can't get into too much trouble.

So anyways the family is adjusting I think pretty well, getting back into our daily routine and guess what I have even started crafting again! *gasp* Yup that is right, starting to work on stocking Lollipop's Boutique for the Grand Opening. Looks like that will be around early August at the rate I am going, I really wasn't expecting to have a baby at 41 weeks so that has put me a touch behind.

So with the grand opening approaching and the family getting settled into a routine there are some changes I want to make to this blog, changes I hope for the better. As it stands now I post whenever I get a moment, write about whatever is on my mind and so on. I want to get myself into a routine, a schedule of sorts, a more regular posting about specific topics. It might take me a bit to fully get the routine down but here is what I am tentatively thinking:

* Monday : Make it Mondays -- Here is where I share any DIY projects I have been up to
* Tuesday : Thoughtful Tuesday -- Thoughts on the week, anything, even completely random off the wall inside my brain scariness :)
* Wednesday : Workin' for it Wednesday -- Get the 411 on everything Lollipop's Boutique, anything from sales to new items to giveaways
* Thursday : Thankful Thursday -- A day to write a review of sorts of products, companies, groups, etc I am thankful to have in my life
* Friday : Feed me Fridays -- That is right a post about one of my favorite subjects FOOD, whether its a recipe or just a commentary on its greatness
* Weekends : OFF -- everyone needs a break right? exactly

So with that idea, what should I DIY this weekend? hmmmm..........

Push Presents

So not sure how many of you are familiar with push presents, but the general concept is you get a gift for simply having a baby be removed from your body (ideally pushing them through the birth canal). I have thought this idea pretty much stupid, as at least I know in my case its me saying to my husband 'lets have a baby' so why should I be rewarded for something I asked for? I do like some of the presents I have heard about over the years, for example one of hubs co-workers got his wife a maid service for 2 months so she could focus on bonding with baby as opposed to keeping up with the house AWESOME. 

Well so I guess here is where my post maybe starts to make sense. I have had a TON of friends lately get pregnant and have babies, like 2 born in May, 1 due any day now, then there is me in 2 weeks (eek!) and another due late July. Oh! and lets not forget those due this Fall! But anyways, I wanted to do something for everyone, something simple as well lots of preggo moms while I'm pregnant means lower will to craft on a specific timeline. So I went with something simple yet practical: HEADBANDS. That's right, perfect for before baby for those days lets face it you'd rather live in your jammies, great for the delivery room hospital stay to keep your hair out of your face, and lets not forget about those sleepless nights with a newborn when its Thursday and you remember you haven't showered since Monday.

So I thought I'd take a moment and show off some of the cute little headbands that have gone on to live their lives with some wonderful mamas.

Now yes everyone so far has gotten the Frayed Fabric Headbands :)

A little green for V. Its classy and chic just like her


A little cool blue for L. I thought this one would be best for her relaxed look and work wonderfully in coordination with her nursery (as yes I thought about that)


A little lavender and yellow for J. Some of her favorite colors with just a bit of country charm, help her remember her time down south.


R got this gorgeous purple one, as its something she had been asking for. But sadly I didn't get that one out in time before she had her precious girl (epic fail on my part) AND to make matters worse I never snapped a picture :(


BUT here is a little one I made for me to wear when I get to the hospital to keep me pretty while I go for my VBAC. I think it will look great with the charcoal grey Pretty Pushers that hubby bought me. Yes I plan to try and look as beautiful as I can while pushing a baby out. You know I won't look pretty but at least I will have tried ;)

Apple Dump Cake Pancakes

So I woke up yesterday morning with another one of my slightly unusual pregnancy cravings. I wanted pancakes and apple pie, don't ask me I generally dislike apple pie even. But I decided it had to be done and quickly as my little man does not like to wait for his 'num nums'.

Last week while searching on Pinterest and Google I came across a recipe of how to convert a plain box of cake mix into pancakes and let me tell you I am addicted to it. So yesterday morning I modified it to suit my needs, here is what I came up with.

Apple Dump Cake Pancakes
1/2 box of cake mix (white, yellow, funfetti whatever plain flavor you have on hand)
1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp brown sugar (NOT packed)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup quick stove top pie filling, recipe to follow (can substitute can pie filling but I never have that on hand)

So lets start with the quick stove top pie filling as it needs to cook down while you gather the rest of the ingredients.

Quick Stove Top Pie Filling
1 granny smith apple cut into 1/4" chunks
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
mini pinch of nutmeg

Dump all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring up to a gentle boil over med/med-high heat. Cook for roughly 8-10 minutes until the water and sugar create a caramel sauce around the apples and the apples are fork tender.
Pull off the heat and cool.

Now back to the pancakes....dump all ingredients into one bowl, stir. Simple as that no need to do wet and dry bowls just mix all together. Gently fold in the pie filling, if you went with a canned pie filling you might want to chop up your apples a bit as big slices won't work as well here. Now here is the real trick to pancake making stop what you are doing and let the batter rest at least 5 minutes. You heard me don't go making pancakes right away.

Now turn on your electric griddle if you have on to 300 degrees and allow it to preheat, if you are doing this stove top I'd say over med/med-high heat but you hopefully know your stove best to know what temp works. Spray with cooking spray and get to making pancakes. Now I do find these take a bit longer to cook on each side than the traditional buttermilk pancakes so be patient and don't try flipping them too soon. They will be slightly gummy still in spots due to the apple pie filling 'sauce'.

Enjoy! We sure did. They are truly sweet enough to eat on their own but a little syrup and butter never hurt.....or if you are pregnant like me wait till your child is taking a nap and smear it with a little frosting YUM!

My husband had these cold later when he got home and exclaimed BEST apple pancake he had ever eaten! Now that makes me smile as we are big time apple eaters here :)

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

Such a hard question to answer am I ready to open the new shop, YES and NO. Starting to get into the swing of things and having a ball making new stuff up but I also know its a short lived high as soon my attentions will be to full on baby prep.
Am I ready for this new baby? I like to say I am as ready as I can be, but sometimes I wonder if that is true or not. Sure all his clothes have been washed, folded and put away for weeks. Sure his bed that he won't sleep in for a month or so is set up. But no I still don't have a rocking chair/glider and no we still don't have enough cloth diapers for both boys (YAY for 2 in diapers).

But at the same time this is going to be an amazingly fun new adventure and that I AM ready for.

soooooooooooo back to shop business. Later today/tonight you will see some items actually make it onto Etsy, so EXCITED! I do have to warn though I apparently couldn't spell when I ordered my packaging so there is a spelling error but because I failed to catch it in time you will gain. Any orders bought between now and the Grand Opening will be eligible for a 10% discount with coupon code WHOOPS. Sure the product is just the same but I'm a tad embarrassed that I didn't catch the mistake before they arrived.

You will see a few everyday items going into the shop but I am also putting a BIG focus on the 4th of July as I will be on maternity leave during those festivities. If though for some reason you do not see a color combo you had hoped for feel free to email me or contact me thru Etsy and I will see what I can do. The closer it gets to July though the harder it will be for me, so keep that in mind.

And just in case you missed the sneak peak on Facebook, you should be following me on there by the way (Lollipops on FB) here is a quick sneak peak of a few items to be posted.

Also if you would like to keep up with any and all news as I know Facebook has been crappy lately please shoot me an email at lollipops.cp@gmail.com, subject: newsletter to be signed up for any and all news. I promise not to SPAM you

Red, White and Blue Sale!

Make sure you stop by Mommy's Little Treasures, my other Etsy shop, to find some awesome sales on everything Red, White and Blue!!! You will find some adorable earrings, a rosary or two and even some super special seasonal bracelets!

Crafty Randomness - Cake Stand and Pearl Ribbon Necklace

Looks like I am in full crafting mode. So this weekend I completed a few projects, did a little work on items in the shop but then also had some fun with other things, like what you ask?

Well how about a posh pearl and ribbon necklace!

Isn't it just precious, but I couldn't stop at one so I made another!!

Here you can see me modeling it, okay you get my neck mostly but hey it was the one day I said no to makeup so my face was not included for your own safety ;)

So by now I was pretty pleased with myself figured out how to make those gorgeous necklaces I love so much, I had to do something else crafty and only had a little time left before my son woke up, so what is a girl to do? Spray paint!! Actually I didn't do the spray painting, my sweet husband did, afraid of all those nasty fumes affecting the baby baking in my belly.

Why were we spray painting? Well I saw this adorable Cake Stand  on The Brown House's blog and just had to try it out for myself. I did tweak her design a little as she modge podged on some craft paper and we spray painted. I also was unable to find the tin burner covers like she used but I did find a pizza pan, which I think should hold up better as its sturdier on its own. The rest of her directions I followed.
*Note if you do use gorilla glue like she did and as did I it will leak while being weighted down, I even put on less than it looks like in her picture and no it does not dry clear :/ BUT it holds up very well so that makes me happy!

So now that I woke up to a perfectly glued cake stand I had to make come cupcakes to put on it! These are some boxed funfetti cupcakes I dressed up with lime zest and juice in the mix and festive cupcake wrappers brought from Pick Your Plum (addicted to this crafty deal of the day site). O and don't forget my yummy coconut frosting, I again cheated and just added some coconut extract to vanilla frosting, yes it was a lazy morning. Isn't it just perfect! And kudos to hubs and doing an amazing job on that pink paint.

So now I am not sure what else I will be doing this week, mostly as we leave in a few short days for a mini family vacation before the new baby arrives. I will post more as I go and if ever you need/want a tutorial about any of the craft projects I have done. Leave me a note and I will try my hardest to get them all done.

Dream, Play, Create!

Crafty Randomness - Teething Necklace

Okay so I have been doing some serious slacking with posting updates but I am going to try and get better.

So here is a sneak peak of an item headed to the shop soon, well if I can get past this 3rd trimester laziness. Made it on a whim this afternoon and have to say I am in love!

So now that I have made one that I love, made another earlier this week that's pretty blah in comparison. I am wondering what other colors I should make. Help me with my color inspiration block!

I am also working on a few other DIY projects that won't end up on the shop, so if and when I get them completed I will try and write up and photograph a simple tutorial so you all can become your crafty nerdiness on too ;)

until then.....Dream, Play, Create!!!!