Very busy weekend for the family and I.  We attended a New Wine conference at our church all weekend.  So didnt get much of anything done crafting wise or house cleaning wise.  Now Im taking the day to play catch up and get some things done around here. 

But, Check me out over at Twelve Crafts till Christmas' blog.  My beautiful button was featured.  Go on over and read about. 

Fabulous Finds Friday #3

Welcome back guys.  Time for another linky party!!

I really love all of the entries.  It gives me a lot of inspiration to do more things around the house and in the kitchen. 

This is my Fab Find for the week.

I bought this at a garage sale for $5.00.  Had no idea what I would use it for and it sat in the living room for about a week or so.  Originally it is supposed to be a coat rack, but we have no place for one in our living room. 

So i turned it into a towel rack instead.  I put it right in a corner of the bathroom where the scale (that was never used) was sitting.  It fits perfect in that corner and I dont have any more towels on the floor or flung over the curtain rod. 

I even put these cute letters on the top so we know which hook is ours.

Time for you guys to show off what you found / made this week.

The Rules

1. Link up below with a Fabulous find. It could be something you bought that you love, something you found on the side of the road and made into something fabulous, a Fab recipe, or whatever. It could be something you found last week or last year. Im not picky.
If you think its Fabulous, then be proud and show it off!
2. Become a follower of 6 inches of Ribbon! We all liked to be followed.

3. Post my new Fabulous Finds button somewhere on your blog. Sidebar, underneath the post, or on your link party page. Any will do.  Ive seen a few without the button.  Come on guys, its super cute!


4. Invite others to join and visit the others that join the link party.
We all like comment love!

<center><a href="http://6 Inches of Ribbon" target="_blank"><img alt="6 Inches of Ribbon" src="http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac260/ashley_russell726/Friday6Inches.jpg" /></a></center>




** Go here to see what parties I"m linking up with **

Fabulous Features

We had some great link ups this week with the Fabulous Finds Friday. 

Thanks to everyone who linked up. 

These are a few on my favorites.

These cute homemade cards from Inside BruCrew Life

I lvoe making homemade cards and arent these just the cutest.

Here is a cute Fab Find wristlest from Just a thought-by Alex Twigg.

I think I need to head to the store to find one of these.  Except, where will I put all my stuff?  I guess these are good for a night on the town.

 

And look at these oh so yummy Peanut Butter Cups from Still Waters.

They look amazing! 

If you were featured, dont forget to grab my Featured button.

<center><a href="http://6 Inches of Ribbon" target="_blank"><img alt="6 Inches of Ribbon" src="http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac260/ashley_russell726/featured6Inches.jpg" /></a></center>

Thanks again everyone for linking up with me. 

Come back tomorrow and link up again! 

Ten Tasks in Ten Days

Ten Tasks ... Ten Days

Im going to be joining the Ten Tasks in Ten Days challenge over at The Sabby Chic Cottage. 

I know it might not sound like much fun to some, but i think it will be.  Basically it is to jump start any procrastinations you have been having.   That's something I struggle with every day.  I dont know if its just the summer blues and I dont feel like doing anything or if its just that the schedule is all wacky because of summer. 

So here's my list. 

(In no special order)

1. Paint / Complete new bookshelf for the office.

2.  Finish boys dresser

3.  Drop clothes and items off at Orphan Relief house and goodwill.

4.  Start planning sister in laws baby shower.

5.  Clean out refrigerater.  Not just get the old stuff out, but acutally wipe it down and disinfect.  Some of those shelfs can get dirty.

6.  Clean out car.  Clean windows and vacuum!!

7.  Get ready / prepare for july 4th celebrations

8.  Finish decor in boys bedroom.

9.  Make craft binder

10.  Organize Office

Alright.  Wish me luck and I shall update as I finish the projects.

Ohh So Good Dump Cake

Before I talk about my Dump Cake Recipe, Please go link up to my Fabulous Finds Friday.  Its my brand new link party and we are on week two.  I have eight entries so far and I know that you guys have a lot more crafts, recipes, and fabulous things to share with me and others.  So go link up before the party ends tonight and I will feature my favs sometime later this week!! 

Ok, go right now... Ill wait...

... (waiting) ... 

Ok, now on to the recipe. 

I know "Dump Cake" doesn't sound really appetizing, but it is so good and so easy to make.  Let me share with you the easiest recipe EVER!!

Here are the ingredients.

! box of yellow cake mix

2 Cans of Pie filling (your choice.. it can be apple, berry, whatever you like)

1 Stick of Butter

Wow, see not many ingredients at all.

First, pick your pan size.  I used a 13x9 in this tutorial.  But I have used round pans before and 8x8's so it just depends on how thick of a cake you would like.

  

Spray a little Pam on the pan, then dump the pie filling in.  Spread it out evenly in the pan. 

 Next take your dry cake mix and sprinkle it on top of the pie filling.  I know its not cooked, just trust me.

Next, take your butter and cut it into thin slices and place on top of the dry cake mix.  Make sure butter is all over the place.  I should have put more butter on mine, but it still turned out ok.  The butter will make a crust on top while baking. 

Place in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  Let cool and enjoy!!

Its so easy and simple.  My hubby LOVES this dump cake.  His father acutally taught me how to make it.  We have had Mixed berry dump cakes, pinapple dump cakes, Caramel apple dump cakes.  The options are endless.

Enjoy your cake and let me know what you think!

Miscellany Monday

Im linking up with Carissa at Lowercase letters.  She's a real life friend of mine and I have yet to do a link up to her Miscellany Monday, so why not start now.

1. I didnt do much crafting this past week or weekend.  The boys had Vacation bible school everyday last week, so I did alot of running around and errands while they were occupied there.  I hope to do some things this week to share with you guys.

2.  Jon had a great Father's Day.  He was awakend by breakfast in bed.  A very RARE occasion.  But he enjoyed it. 

3.  This one is very Miscellany... Jon, the boys, and I went garage saling together on Saturday.  We have been married 5 1/2 years and have never garage saled together. It was fun and we got some good deals.

4.  I went running this morning.  The one thing I hate about running on a Monday morning is that you have to run by everyones trash cans.  They are stinky and smelly!  Eww.

5.  The boys, for some odd reason, like to wear my shoes around the house.  Not sure if its the clicking noise of the heal or not, but here is a pic of Caden.  I caught him in the act.

Fabulous Finds Friday - The Mason Jar

Alright Guys, Its another week for the

Fabulous Finds Friday!

First, I would like to thank the ones that linked up with me this past friday. 
I enjoyed reading all of them and there were all great ideas.

Ok, now on to the Fab find.

This week my Fab Find is The Mason Jar.

Its an oldie but goodie.  There are endless possibilities with the Mason Jar.  Here are a few ideas that I use/used them for around my house.

A table centerpiece

(done two ways)

Here's a better picture of the whole table.

Sugar, spice, and everything nice in the pantry.

and finally the "I'm bored jar".  I found this idea at Skip to my Lou.  It was a guest post by Somewhat Simple.  Super cute idea and already the boys are saying "Im bored" just so they can see what bright idea they will pull out of the jar. 

This is my version of the jar.

Ok Its your turn to show me something you have that is Fabulous!

The Rules

1. Link up below with a Fabulous find. It could be something you bought that you love, something you found on the side of the road and made into something fabulous, a Fab recipe, or whatever. It could be something you found last week or last year.  Im not picky. 
If you think its Fabulous, then be proud and show it off!

2.  Become a follower of 6 inches of Ribbon!  We all liked to be followed.

3. Post my new Fabulous Finds button somewhere on your blog. Sidebar, underneath the post, or on your link party page.  Any will do.

4. Invite others to join and visit the others that join the link party!
We all like comment love.

<center><a href="http://6 Inches of Ribbon" target="_blank"><img alt="6 Inches of Ribbon" src="http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac260/ashley_russell726/Friday6Inches.jpg" /></a></center>


Im excited to see what this week holds!




** Go here to see what parties im linking up with **

Party Punch Recipe

I was researching a party punch for a baby shower a while back.  I tried to think of something easy, yet really tasty.

Here's what I came up with. 

(Im sure it has been made before, but it was new to me)

Ingredients Needed:

Now, the day I made the punch for the party, I used Sprite.  There not much of a difference so use whatever you have on hand.

Basically, I use 2 Daiquiri Mixes per one 2 liter. 

I like my punches tangy and this gives it the right amount of kick.

Add some slices of lemons into the mix and it makes for a cute punch display.

I like to make this punch for my boys on any random day.  They love it. 

Hope you do too!

Kitchen / Dining Room tour

Today Im linking up with Extraordinary Love to show off my kitchen and dining room.  Natalie is doing a tour of each part of her house every Tuesday.  Check out her blog and take a peek.

Ok, on to my house.

This is a picture of my dining room. 

(A little history - we live in a three bedroom town house.  Its a little over 1300sqft.  So our kitchen and dining space is not huge)

When Jon and I bought the house, we decided to redo everything.  Walls, floors, appliances, ect.  So we choose to have hard wood floors throughout the downstairs, except for the main kitchen area and laundry room.  Those have tile (which I hate, you dont want to get me started)  But this dining room table is a fairly new addition.  I believe we I bought it back in february or March.  Cant remember.  Got it for a super deal at Bassett Furniture.  The green drawer thingy in the corner was something that I just "had' to have.  Ha!  Its used for the boys school stuff.  They can keep their weekly homework in it and things like that.

Moving along to the kitchen area.

It looks smaller than it really is. 

Here is another view.

I love my pot rack!!  Jon got it for me for our 2nd anniversary.  He did well that year.

And another view.

I will say that our kitchen does look "well lived in".  I think this is the second place that I spend the most time in.  I think Im always in the kitchen.  Ha!

Hope you enjoyed your tour!

**Last day to link up your fabulous finds or Fabulous Redo's
with Fabulous Finds Friday!!

DIY Chalk boards

While desperately needing to finish my office, I had decided that I wanted both a dry erase board and a chalk board in my office.  I found this huge dry erase board on clearance at walmart a while back so that was checked off the list.  I did a lot of research, and blog reading, and decided I really wanted to redo something and make it into a chalk board.  Of course I wasnt sure what that "something" was yet. 

So I searched and searched and found nothing!  I mean I searched at goodwill, habitat for humanity, Ross, TJ Maxx/Marshalls, Target, EVERYWHERE and still NOTHING I found interesting or liked. 

I searched for a good 3 or 4 months.  But little did I know, what I was looking for was right underneath my nose in my own house.

While repainting the boys room this weekend, we took everything down off the walls and just stuck it somewhere to be delt with later.  They used to have a sports theme in their room and I had bought them some dry erase boards for them to draw on, plus it put a little decor in their room.  This is what they looked like before I got a hold of them.  Hehehe!

Now remember, these are really smooth, so I had to sand them down with a medium grit sanding block just to get the paint to stick to them. 

Here what they look like now!

Now they hang nicely in my office right by my monthly Calendar.  I can now stay on top of everything with all these reminders and To Do lists.

So tell me what ya think about them?

*Im linking up with these parties this week**

Dont forget to link up with the Fabulous Finds Friday right

 here on 6 Inches of Ribbon.  Link up and show me what you found or made that was Fabulous this week!

Fabulous Finds Friday

Welcome to my first...

Fabulous Finds Friday!!

This is what I found this week for my Fabulous Find. 
(actually my sister found this for me a Target, but i went back for a few more).

They are these great orange and blue cloth storage bins. 
They fit perfectly underneath my boys beds. 

I recently decided to redo their room in an orange, teal, and blue surf theme.  So far we have painted and built the boys bunkbeds.  Now I have these wonderful bins to put underneath the bed.  They are the perfect color and make the room look much more organized. 

The best part was that they were on Clearance for $6.48!  Doesnt get any better than that.  Plus I got a smaller bin (same style, same color) for their video game storage for $4.48! 

-----------------------------------------------

Ok, So here are the rules for my brand spankin' new linky party.

1. Link up below with a Fabulous find.  It could be something you bought that you love, something you found on the side of the road and made into something fabulous, or whatever.  If you think its Fabulous, then be proud and show it off! 

2. Post my new Fabulous Finds button somewhere on your blog.  Sidebar, underneath the post, or on your link party page will do. 

3. Invite others to join and visit the others that join the link party!

<center><a href="http://6 Inches of Ribbon" target="_blank"><img alt="6 Inches of Ribbon" src="http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac260/ashley_russell726/Friday6Inches.jpg" /></a></center>

Sometime next week, I will post my Favorite Fab Finds.

Alright guys, Link up and let me see whatcha got!

Workin' on new stuff

Ok, So, I want to see what you guys think about me doing my own link party.  I just started linking to other peoples blog over the past few weeks and I really enjoy it.  Its a way to visit other peoples worlds and get all sorts of cool ideas for crafts.  So I was wanting to start my own link party on Fridays. 

It will be called:

Fabulous Finds Friday

I will have all the logistics up tomorrow.  Im working on a new button and the Mclinky.  (which is all new to me, but Im determined)

So tell me what you think about it and hopefully you will link up with me!

See you here bright and early tomorrow!

Friends - Fake Accents

Homemade Brownies

No cake this week guys.  My hubby had a special request for brownies and with no box brownie mix in the house, I was forced  lovingly asked to come up with something.  So I made my first batch of homemade brownies.  They were delicious!!!

Let me take you though the picture process.  Its so hard not to just lick the bowl and forget the baked part. 

First you have to melt butter and sugar together.

Then you add the cocoa powder.  (This is when it gets GOOOD)

Finally you add the flour and chocolate chips. 

And oh my goodness, they will make you slap yo' momma!!

The final result equals ooey gooey chocolate deliciousness!

Here is the recipe if you want to try it.  (I recommend it!)

Homemade Chocolate Brownies

•2 sticks (1 Cup)of butter

•4 large eggs

•2 1/4 cups sugar

•1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
•1 teaspoon baking powder

•1 teaspoon salt

•1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
•1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

•1 tablespoon vanilla extract

•2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1.Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 baking dish

2. In small saucepan over low heat, melt butter completely. Stir in sugar and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Do not allow sugar mixture to boil.

3. Pour butter mixture into a large bowl or stand mixer, beat in cocoa powder, eggs, salt, baking powder, espresso powder(optional), and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.

4. Stir in the flour and chocolate chips until well combined.

5. Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes, until a tester comes out mostly clean. The edges should be set and the center should still look slightly moist, but not uncooked. Cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes.

6. Enjoy!