Hunger Games Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!!
It's time again for another giveaway!

Summer is here, and reading season has started.

I find it mind boggling that so many people only read during the summer.

What do they do the rest of the year?

Just kidding, my time would still be spent wisely, even if I wasn't reading.

And I guess if you are at least reading at some point that is better than never.

Well, onto the giveaway.

You have the chance to win the most awesome book of the year.

"Hunger Games", by Suzanne Collins.

Hardcover as well.

It is very simple to enter.

Leave a comment about what book you plan to read next,

 or recently finished.

Remember to leave your email address when you comment.

And for a bonus point (an extra chance to win), follow my blog!
Make sure that you comment a second time to say that you follow my blog.
That's how you will have 2 chances.

And sadly I am going to restrict this to the United States only!

Giveaway Begins: May 31st, 2012

Giveaway Ends: June 9th, 2012

Winner will be annouced: June 10th, 2012

Thanks for stopping by "Through Betsy's Looking Glass".

Happy Commenting!
THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!!

Wedding Worthy Cupcakes!

I realized last night that I need to catch up on a lot of things on my post today.

I haven't shown you my sunflowers progress for the last 2 weeks,

you haven't heard about the awesome new book that I finished,

and I haven't told you about the cupcakes I recently made for a bridal shower.

First off I was so excited when I was asked to make cupcakes for this bridal shower.

This was my first time asked to make something for a price. Yay!

So, sadly I don't know if they were a hit or not.

Normally I get to enjoy, and know if they were a hit from others,

but with making them and then leaving I realized I don't know what the cupcake eaters are saying.

I made lemon cupcakes!

It's hard to see, but their are edible sparkles on top.

Perfect for a wedding celebration.

All I can do is think that they enjoyed them.

Up next is a wedding celebration.

My friend is getting married, and

surprisingly they asked me to do their wedding cake/cupcakes.

I am so excited!

Anyways onto the Sunflower Progress:

By week 6 the sunflowers are almost as tall as Cameron.

Last year when we went on vacation, we came back to the sunflowers full in bloom.

I'm kind of hoping the sunflowers will wait to bloom until we come back from vacation.

We will see!

And onto my Recently Shelved Book:

"Cinder"

by: Marissa Meyer

Teen Fantasy Fiction

Rating: 5 Stars

I love the idea of a cyborg Cinderella. Okay, it does sound a little weird, but who doesn't love a good fairytale? Retellings of fairytales have been done hundreds of times, but Cinderella ends up being flowery, and gentle, while "Cinder" by Meyer has a darker, more adult feel to it. While still capturing the hype of the dystopian fab that seems to be occurring, you will face new twist and turns in this retelling of Cinderella. Meyer was able to transport me back to my Cinderella dream days, and I was able to fall in love with the story of Cinderella all over again.

And lastly I have to release the beginning of Peter's Garden!

We realize that this time of year it's hard to plant anything, and have it grow.

But, we did a little researching, and discovered that this is the perfect time to plant pumpkins.

Hopefully they will grow, and be the perfect size by Halloween.

Remember Peter is in charge of this project!

Hopefully everyone had a good Memorial Day Weekend!

Refurbished Finds!

My husband finds it crazy that I am one of those people that sees 

something on the side of the road, and I stop.

The first few times I did this I was skeptical, and 

nervous that people were watching me, but now I could care less, 

because I have found some awesome finds.

And of course they were FREE, because I found them on the side of the road.

Well, recently I did find another awesome find.

A pink toy box!

Truthfully I found this a few months ago, 

and it's been sitting in my garage, with me 

trying to figure out what I want to do with it. 

My original plan was to repaint, fix the missing leg,

 and put the top back on.

But for some reason I could never get the motivation to start this project. 

But I finally came up with an idea for the toy box.

I first had to clean it all up.

So I scrubbed it down, and made it look like new, well at least an antique new. 

And as you probably noticed it's missing a leg. 

And I'm not really confident with replacing the leg myself so I did the next best thing

since I decided to make this an outside toy box.

Keep scrolling down to see what I decided to do with it.

I know this isn't real classy with the brick underneath, but

I'm hoping my dad will fix this later for me.

Finally, I decided I wanted to make this into a planter.

How cute is that?

I love the antique pink look with the pink flowers inside.

Other Things I have found along the side of the Road:

I found this chair years ago, and it is absolutely my favorite.

Obviously it is not an outside chair I just moved it outside so I could get a better photo of it.

This chair I found last year.
I still can't figure out why it was on the side of the road.
It's awesome.

Probably one of the most interesting finds I found on the side of the road was a bassinet.
I was prego with Cameron at the time, and I was driving along when I saw a bassinet.
I stopped, and inspected it.
Found out that their was one broken part, but otherwise in good condition.
I knew it was fate!
Well, this is the funny part.
Everyone was a work at this time of day, and I was driving a mini cooper.
How was I going to get this home?
Well, I was only a block from my parents house, and I wasn't leaving the bassinet.
So, I carried the bassinet up the hill while 6 months pregnant.
Not the best idea, and not to be tried at home.
We later got 6 months of use out of it.

I didn't take a photo of the bassinet, because it's in our basement, covered
 in toys that Cameron no longer plays with.

Good Luck Searching For Awesome Finds!

Ducktape Bows

Has anyone else noticed that ducktape is a big thing right now?

There are a lot of things that you can do with ducktape, that I 

haven't even dreamed of doing, or am even going to try to create (ducktape prom dress).

But one thing that did catch my eye was a ducktape bow.

I actually was at a local coffee shop, and when getting a 

double shot on ice with caramel I noticed these adorable bows in a variety of 

different patterns, and colors for sale.

A young girl here in town is making them for only $2.

How cute, and awesome!

So, I bought 3 of them knowing I needed to contribute to this girls passion, 

before I went home and started making my own.

I would feel so guilty if I didn't buy one from her.

Well, here is the step by step on how to make them:

1. Cut 2 strips depending on how long you want the bow to be.

And cut a small thin strip to secure the bow in the center.

I know they aren't evenly cut. I trimmed them later!

2. Put the 2 larger strips together. Sticky side together.

3. Fold the large strip like a fan.

(Hopefully the picture explains a little better.)

Make sure you crease it well.

4. Take the then strip of ducktape and put a bobby pin through the center.

5. Wrap the thin strip around the center of the bow to secure it. 

Make sure the bobby pin is on the bottom.

I will add a photo of Cameron wearing one later.

I couldn't get her to hold still!

Thanks for stopping by "Through Betsy's Looking Glass"!

Happy Ducktaping!

Grandma's Garden!

I gallantly dream of having my own garden.

So when wanting to make a tomato caprese salad I could

walk to the back and pick my own fresh tomatoes, and basil. 

How easy and exciting would that be?

Well, sadly I don't have a garden of my own!

They take a lot of money, and time commitment.

But, instead of having a garden of my own I have the next best thing.

My grandparents have for as long as I could remember had a 

garden of their own.

And the exciting thing is that it seems to be getting bigger and bigger each year.

They plant more of a variety every oncoming summer.

This is their garden!
I had to stand far back to be able to fit the whole garden into the photo.

My grandma knows we have a large family, and that we

all get excited about the fresh fruit, and vegetables 

that are known to come.

Cameron, and her cousin Sarah have recently discovered the strawberries.

They ran along the line of strawberries picking, and making hands red.

Their was no stopping them. 

I wouldn't even want to, because we couldn't resist the 

enjoyment, and excitement you could see in their eyes.

I love that this small thing could give them such pleasure.

Last week my grandparents were pulling asparagus.

Enough for them to eat asparagus each night, and more

for the family.

This photo is a little harder to see,

but this is the beginning of broccoli.

The most amazing part of this whole thing is that my grandparents

take care of this garden mainly by themselves.

I know, I know your probably thinking "yah I could do that when I'm retired too".

But, guess what!

They both still work!

My grandmother caters, and my grandfather works for 

a remodeling company.

They babysit for all of their loving grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

They have their hands full, but they still make sure that they make time for

one of their passions. And I am very thankful for it!

Fresh potatoes right out of the ground.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and Happy Planting!

Oh, and guess what Peter told my last night.

"I think I'm going to start my own garden!"

More power to him. 

Maybe you will see future post featuring my husbands new garden.

From Caterpillar to Butterfly!

"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" 

has always been one of my favorite stories. 

It is such a cute story about life, and rebirth. 

Perfect for little ones!

Recently a friend of Peter's (my hubs), had a baby.

I instinctively told Peter we had to get the babe a book.

I'm always worried that parents will forget books, and

go for toys.

I knew immediately that I wanted to get this book for them,

but I had to get them more than a $4 dollar book.

So, started researching very hungry caterpillar ideas on Pinterest, and 

yes I saw tons of cute ideas, but nothing that screamed 

"make me".

So I turned the computer off,

picked up my newest addition of "Handmade Living",

and guess what?

The most adorable onesie was inside the magazine.

I knew I had to recreate it!

So I did!

This is a very easy craft, and

it only takes about half an hour.

The supplies needed are:

needle

thread

buttons

onesie, or t-shirt

This has gotten me so excited to create other fun button shirts, and bags!

What I'm Loving This Week:

I'm so excited to try these new Duncan Hines Frosting Creations!

You buy the frosting, then choose the flavor. 

How simple!

I'll let you know how they work. 

I'm Almost Done!

Finals are almost done!

Tonight I take my last final for this semester, and then 

I'm free for the remainder of summer, well from school work at least!

I am so giddy, I feel like a little school girl!

I have been planning, and am looking forward to the free time that I will 

have to spend doing crafts, and making goodies!

Well, sadly since this was finals week I didn't have time to do, or make 

any fun crafts or goodies.

But, I never the less have to keep up with the sunflower progress.

I have now lost 2 sunflowers to rain, 

1 by being trampled on (by who I do not know),

1 from being dug up by some mysterious animal (sunflower is no where to be found),

and finally 1 more that was eaten completely down to the base.

Will I have any by the time they bloom?

Well, I do still have about 10 left.

Wooh!

I just have to pray that they will make it.

So, anyways on to their weekly progressive states!

Day One:

Week Two:

Week Three:

Week Four:

OH,  and I was wondering about these mysterious plants. 

I planted them from a bulb last summer, and they

didn't come up so I just assumed that they would never come up.

Here they are though, and what are they I can't remember.

If anyone has any ideas let me know!

Happy Mothers Day!

Celebrate Spring!

Spring has finally sprung, officially

with the rain-sun combo.

I love this time of year!

And to celebrate this time of year is May Day (May 1st).

I couldn't wait to celebrate this little known holiday that seems to become lost in todays time.

My husband even questioned me when I began talking about it. May Day? What?

What's May Day? Baskets, flowers, running, and hiding? Hugh?

Well, here began my journey.

I can remember one specific May Day. I was probably 6 (guesstimation)!

My mother and I made May Day baskets out of card stock, and stuffed them with 

freshly grown flowers from our very own flower bed.

We then strolled throughout the neighborhood with our basket of blooms.

I would choose a house that caught my eye, and would hang the May Day baskets upon the door knobs. I would then as sly as a ninja, ring the doorbell, and run away, all the while still in sight of the door, and watch as the basket receiver would look on with joy.

We were most definitely enjoying all the fun, but the one lasting moment would have to be when I chose a house that I knew was the owner of the oldest woman in the world (slight exaggeration). 

I swore she was at least a hundred years old, and she moved in reverse time, but I was determined to give her a May Day basket. So, I ran to her door, hung the basket, rang the door bell, and ran

as if this one moment in time she would move faster than normal. But I waited, and waited, and waited some more. When we were about to walk away she slowly opened the door. I remember feeling so good inside, because I could see how happy it made her to receive her May Day basket.

I don't want to miss out on these little moments in life, and I knew this year I wanted the kiddos to 

experience the same thing.

Well, as you probably have guessed, I had the kids make May Day baskets (tins).

They had so much fun planting flowers in these tea tins that were generously 

donated by Barnes and Noble.

And of course they got all dirty, but what child doesn't like to get dirty?

We also went around the neighborhood, and delivered the May Day tins.

We sadly did not ring, and run. I was a little skeptical that the receivers would

have no idea what May Day was, and would be completely confused.

This photo looks like the flowers are dead, but they actually were doing fine!

But each person that did receive their May Day tins were very excited, and appreciative.

And the kids had so much fun!

*Thank you Barnes and Noble for donating the tea tins!

What I'm Loving This Week:

I'm not sure what to call these!

But they are cupcake liners that are amazing.

Even after the baking process is done they still are just as vibrant (the color).

They come in a variety of colors!

On my first test run I did not realize that you have to put less cupcake batter

 into the cupcake liners than normal.

The cup will have runnith-over.

I had to show you this picture just so you could see how amazing these cupcake liners are.

I baked the same kind of cupcakes, but in light purple liners as well, and the color of the other liners gets completely washed out by the cupcakes, while the yellow ones still are just as vibrant.

Cameron thought they looked like mini cups of ice-cream!

My only hesitation was when it came time to take the cupcake out of the liner, but they

actually came right out. With one small squeeze the cupcake came right out, and it didn't leave large chunks of cupcake inside. Success!

Happy Spring!

What's your favorite thing about Spring?