Check out this awesome recipe for single serve cookie dough. Got a craving? Make it for your self tonight! Yummmm!!!

Items you’ll need for this project:
**Vintage Tea cups
** floral foam (available at hobby stores)
** floral shears or knife
**flowers

Start by soaking your floral foam in water (if you have flower food packets, add this to the water to supply nutrients to your cut stems).  Cut and place a small square of wet foam into the vintage tea cups you’ve selected.  Next, using a sharp knife, cut flower stems at a 45 degree angle, 1 1/2-2 inches from the bloom, and gently insert into the foam.  When I placed my flowers, I started with the larger lisianthus blooms (one of my favorite garden flowers) to create my shape, then tucked spray roses around them for depth.  In the smaller tea cup I also placed a succulent for interest.  You can use any flower you like…….daisies, roses, mums…….It’s that simple!

Step One:  Select some vintage teacups

Step Two: Place wet floral foam into teacups

Step Three:  Place cut flowers (with stems cut short….1 1/2-2 inches from bloom) into foam

How precious these little gems will look clustered on the table…..and will make a great favor for each guest.

I also created a larger centerpiece in a crystal pitcher to set in the middle.  This will be my gift to enjoy

Happy Mother’s Day!!

REAL MOMS CAN DO-IT-THEMSELVES and Save!

]]> http://realmomsrealviews.com/2012/04/18/real-moms-diy-series-mothers-day-tea/feed/ 0 http://realmomsrealviews.com/2012/03/01/real-moms-diy-series-first-signs-of-spring/ http://realmomsrealviews.com/2012/03/01/real-moms-diy-series-first-signs-of-spring/#comments Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:28:46 +0000 Christina http://realmomsrealviews.com/?p=38999 Daffodils are blooming!  Bring them inside to enjoy the first signs of spring.

Here are some tips when harvesting and designing with Daffodils:

• when harvesting from your garden, try to break them off from the base of the stem instead of cutting them, allowing for better water absorption.
• once cut, daffodils exude a toxic sap from their hollow stems that can make other flowers their arranged with die more quickly.  To prevent this from happening you can place your cut daffodils in a vase with cool water by themselves for 12+ hours to “cure” before using in a mixed flower arrangement, or you can try the DIY below.
• Daffodils like shallow water, so no need to fill your containers to the top.  Just refill with some fresh water and floral food every couple days.

Want to cut your daffodils and use them right away with other flowers?  Try this:

Use two vases.  Place one inside of the other, and then fill both with water.  (I also use this concept when I want candy or other decorations to be seen through the vase in a design).  The water acted as a suction to keep my vases in place, but a bit of floral clay can also be used to secure the vases together.

Next, place greenery and coordinating flowers in the outer part of the vase.  I used berzelia foliage, trachelium and whimsical orange ranunculus.

Finally, group your daffodils and add them to the inner vase.

 Fresh from the garden……Enjoy!

REAL MOMS CAN DO-IT-THEMSELVES and Save!

Here’s some fun printables just in time for V-Day from Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax!
Simply click the picture below and you can download them all.
Happy Valentining!!!

DR. SEUSS’ THE LORAX WILL BE IN THEATERS MARCH 2, 2012.

Send a little love to the special people in your life this Valentine’s day by giving these sweet mailbox flower arrangements!

Simple enough to create that even the kiddos can help out………makes a special delivery for their teacher too!

Supplies you’ll need:

• a small mailbox (I found these for $1 at Target….BARGAIN!!, however, I’ve seen them at various craft stores)
• floral foam
• flowers
• Stickers or notions
• clippers to cut your flowers
• baggie or small cup

First, decorate your mailbox with stickers and notions to give it some personality.  I chose to use letter stickers, felt heart stickers, and puffy heart stickers.

Next, cut a small piece of floral foam to fit inside the mailbox or on the flap that hinges open (the one I purchased didn’t have a hinged flap so I put my foam inside…in this case I also taped the lid to the mailbox so it could remain as one piece).  Soak the foam in water by letting it rest on the waters surface and letting it sink on its own.  To make your flowers last longer, add floral food (the packet that comes with your flowers) to the water.

Now place the wet foam inside the mailbox.  It’s a good idea to set the foam in a baggie or paper cup to avoid the possibility of water rusting the metal or leaking out.

Time to add the flowers!  Start with greenery to hide the foam, then add in your focal flowers, and finish with filler.  Cut stems around 1-2″ long and press into the foam.

It took a single rose, 2-3 stems of filler and a stem of greenery to complete this project…….only costing me $5!!!

Try standing the mailbox up and creating a round design.
Wishing y’all lots of love this Valentine’s Day!

REAL MOMS CAN DO-IT-THEMSELVES and Save!

My yummy cake pops! Impressed???

They were easy to make and made such a fun colorful statement on the counter with our party theme!  Basically you use a box cake mix, bake, let cool, crumble and add in a can of frosting, then roll and chill in the fridge. Then the fun part-decorating.  Dip in chocolate and sprinkle with fun candies and coatings!  You must try them at your next party!

Here’s a step by step cake pops recipe if you want to try them yourself.

Another thing that I have been having fun with is my Tamron Lens.  I have loved having the opportunity to shoot with it.  I was able to take some fun pictures of the party and I have really loved getting to know the lens.  My hubby loves it too!  Especially when we are outdoors as he can zoom in on nature and our kids.  We get such great shots with every take.  I highly recommend you check out Tamron if you are in the market for a new lens. You won’t be disappointed.

Check out this lens:

Tamron 18-270mm all-in-one zoom lens, the world’s lightest, smallest 15x zoom optimized for use on APS-C- DSLRs, continues the pursuit of the ideal all-in one zoom lens. Combining prior award-winning achievements with new engineering breakthroughs yielded the remarkable 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD (Piezo Drive). Special piezoelectric technology now delivers faster, quieter precision autofocusing. Tamron’s exclusive tri-axial VC (Vibration Compensation) image stabilization, featuring three pairs of driving coils and low-function ball bearings placed around the VC optical group, combats camera shake-related image blur. It’s Tamron VC that allows handheld shooting at as many as four shutter speeds slower than otherwise possible with a dramatically stable viewfinder experience. Compactness and light weight are preserved, thanks in part to the VC mechanism’s newly-developed moving coil mechanism.

Defining compositional freedom the 18-270mm Di-II VC’s incredible 15x zoom range provides a 35mm picture angle equivalency of 28mm to 419mm, with image fidelity assured by advanced optical design featuring LD glass and aspherical optics, working in concert to render crisp, colorful and faithful images.

A 24% reduction in length and 18% reduction in weight

I most certainly am, and I LOVE this Make Up Magnet Board tutorial.

Go check it out!

…remember Real Moms Can Do It Themselves and SAVE some serious MOOLAH!

Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter Recipe

Doesn’t it look d-e-l-i-s-h?

What a great holiday gift for your friends and family. Their tummy’s will certainly thank you!

Check out these great do ideas:

Triple Max Tons

Braided Crown

Twist Braid

DIY this Holiday Season and look S-M-A-S-H-I-N-G-L-Y Cute at all your parties!

You can make them in any color and really spice up your family room!

I was thinking of doing red and gold ones for my Christmas tree!

Silver Glitter Ornaments tutorial

What color would you make?