Infinite P the Leprechaun

St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Craft

and his name is "Infinite P!"

My friend saw some cute Leprechaun crafts online, but I have no idea where she saw this so no link, sorry!  But I love how my daughter glued his hat on kind of tilted to the side and gave him creepy teeth! cracks me up....and then she randomly named him Infinite P!  I never get tired of the things she comes up with! My friend and I were laughing because of the way his hat was off to the side she said "He looks like a pimp" when the girls weren't around and then when she came back and named him Infinite P, we just thought it was too funny.  

She also made up a character named Racoona, who has a braid on top of her ponytail and a sponge on top of her head... and we have started jotting down her adventures.  

Love is in the Air....

Love is in the Air...

at the zoo at least

We went to the zoo yesterday with the grandparents and as we were leaving the butterfly exhibit, saw the most amazing, double winged butterfly!!!  Until we looked a little closer and realized it was TWO butterflies which were mating...huh....never really thought about butterflies mating before...or ginormous grasshopper like insects...which were going at it in the insect exhibit right up on the glass....or the huge "sea" turtles (They were in the water with alligators so I don't know if they were actually sea turtles or have some other name) and there were a couple other exhibits that had some "wild things" going on as well...lol.  Every time my preschooler saw this action going on she said "AWWW! Look mommy the baby is riding on it's mommy's back!" Yup....that's EXACTLY what is going on...yeah...that's it.....

Scrappy Saturdays

Scrappy Saturdays

Happy Saturday!  I'm excited about the number of entries so far on my current giveaway...check it out HERE  if you haven't entered yet it ends on Monday!  It's been a productive week as I got the Candace Creations Facebook Page set up, so if you want to get updates on the latest tutorials, reminders for scrappy saturdays, giveaways, gluten free recipes and other fun stuff be sure to like my fb page :)  Just click "Like" over on the right hand side of the page where it says "follow on facebook".  I also FINALLY got my etsy shop set up and have slowly been listing items.  If your curious to see what it looks like, you can check it out HERE. (be sure to check back as I'll be adding plenty of more items soon!)

And now, some highlights from last week's  link party

Ruffle Lace Leggings Tutorial by Sew Fantastic

Check out this Upcycled Coat created by Red Headed Mommy Can

Faux Pinched Tin Tutorial by Susy's Artsy Craft Sitcom

Shabby chic Crate Bookshelves by My Darling Days

Printed Dictionary Page Note Cards by Ellens Creative Passage

If you've been featured, you can grab a brag button here

Now link up your awesome projects using scraps (of any kind), upcycling, redo/makeovers, and anything you made including materials you found or had on hand.  We love thrifty, resourceful creativity!

if you like this linky/blog you can follow me on GFC, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs...:)

Visit some of the other links and leave some comment love :)

No Giveaways

grab a button below and post it with your other linky lists

Joint Pain, Gluten and Little Girls Hairstyles

Joint Pain and Gluten

In my previous post featuring a recipe for gluten free banana chocolate chip muffins, I mentioned that when I gave up gluten I got my joints back and thought I would share more about that.  As I also mentioned, I LOVED muffins....and waffles, pancakes, cookies, cereal, etc.  So when my sister was diagnosed with celiac several years ago while I was still in college, we all began to learn more about it.  As I learned what some of the symptoms were, I thought "I think I might have that" but also thought "I would die if I couldn't eat gluten...seriously I would surely die!"  So I remained in denial.  I'm not going to go into everything because this could turn into a novel, but 2 years ago things had progressed to the point where I just had so many symptoms I could no longer ignore...including severe joint pain.  I could hardly grab or grip lids to open things, typing/playing piano was painful and braiding my daughters hair was excruciating, I couldn't do it, I would have the sections of braids and my joints were so painful and rigid I couldn't make my fingers do what they needed to do to make a simple braid.  I remember being on the verge of tears many times in frustration complaining to my husband "I'm in my mid-twenties! Why does it feel like I have arthritis!?!?!?"  

Around the same time, my daughter was also having many issues that pointed to gluten intolerance and if you've ever looked into it, you  know it's pretty genetic and if one family member has it, mostly like other members of the family have it also.  In our family, it fits right in with the various autoimmune issues that also run in the family such as juvenile diabetes, hashimotos-hypothyroidism, etc.  So we went off gluten, one year ago.  2 weeks later my daughter was a completely different person and I was feeling much better as well.  Now, I do all sorts of hairstyles on my daughter with ease.  The other night after bath time I quickly gave her two tidy looking french braids and it hit me, I got a little bit emotional remembering that exactly one year ago that was not even possible for me to accomplish.  Now one of our favorite things to do is visit Cute Girls Hairstyles youtube channel and I let her pick out any hairstyle, we watch the video and I do her hair.  It's so fun for both of us.  Now anytime I look upon a gluten containing food with envy, or feel burdened by the extra preparation, making so many things from scratch, running around to various stores for specific ingredients or products. the extra expense of gluten free products...I quickly remember where we were a year ago and it is so easy to not be bothered that we can't eat things that most people enjoy and the convenience they take for granted.  

Here are some of the cute hairstyles we have done...unfortunately some of my favorite ones we didn't get photos of and my daughter won't let me redo them because she always wants to do something "new"...she's like "I already did that one!" lol...reminds me of Hilary Banks from Fresh Prince...could never wear an outfit twice! 

Oh and now she's gotten "inspired" and made up her own hairstyle...I was going to do two braids but she insisted this was the most wonderful hairstyle and spent the day showing it off to everyone.  When she showed her teachers "Do you like my hair? I made it up!" while wearing rainbowy clothes from head to toe, the response was "you remind me of punky brewster!" Anyways, she things this look is FABULOUS! So if you need a new hairstyle for you daughter...the one you are about to see is a total hit with the 4 year olds! lol

Look at that proud grin, so please with her hairstyle invention

Don't forget to enter my current giveaway!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Gluten and Dairy Free

One of the things my kids and I share a deep love for is MUFFINS!  I have fond memories of my childhood going to the mall with my mom, smelling the wonderful smell of fresh baked muffins and sniffing my way to a MMMuffins! I chain in Canada where I always found my favorite treat...a big chocolate chip muffin!  I mean, just check out this muffin...wouldn't YOU want to dig in?  You have no idea how good these muffins are....unless of course you've had them...

mmmuffins

Then in my young adult years (up until I gave up gluten and got my joints back...I'm still 27...till my b-day in a week and a half...that's still young adult right??)  I would indulge in the chocolate chip muffins from Dunkin' Donuts when we made trips to the East Coast and then more frequently when we moved to Dallas.  Now....If I want to buy a good muffin, I'll pick up a 4 pack of Udi's blueberry muffins...but I'm not really allowed to eat them, my 4 year old will disown me  unless I sneak it, she's pretty possessive of her muffins....wonder where she gets that from!!!

Udi's blueberry muffins

So when it comes to having muffins enough to share, yummy enough to still want to hoard all 12 of them to yourself anyways, muffins that don't contain gluten or dairy and also don't break the bank we make our own.  We have a few good recipes we've shared previously such as

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin with Coconut Struesel
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Muffins
Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

And our newest favorite ....

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

gluten free dairy free

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour gf flour blend*

3/4 cup sugar

1 TBsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1/4 applesauce

3/4 milk (coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk, etc)

2 tsp vanilla

1 large banana (mashed)

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (ghiridelli semi sweet are dairy free)

*I use Silvana Nardone's Gluten Free Flour Blend if you have another gluten free flour blend you like, just use that but if there is not xanthan gum already in your blend, add 1 tsp xanthan gum to recipe.  I just love the texture of Silvana's blend, just like regular flour, light and smooth.

Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper muffin cups

Combine dry ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl.

In separate bowl, combine wet ingredients

Mix all together, add chocolate chips and gently fold and mix till just moistened

Divide into muffin cups and bake for 22-25 minutes til slightly golden on top.

Dig in while still steamy and chocolate chips are melting all over your face and hands......dare I say....mmmmmmmm....muffins!!!

Before you go, enter my current giveaway HERE!!!

Giveaway Time!!!

Headband Giveaway

I got my Candace Creations Facebook page launched this weekend and said I would do a giveaway when it received 25 likes... when I woke up this morning I was at 26! yay!  I have be meaning to get that started for a long time but just haven't had time.  

Anyways, to celebrate the occasion (OK I know 25 is not a ton but giveaways are fun and I haven't done one in a while!)  I'm going to be giving away one of my Chubby Cheeks Collection Headbands!  Here is a sneak peak at some of the items that are about to be posted in my Etsy shop! (YES I AM FINALLY OPENING IT!  haha haven't had time to do that either and I know I originally planned to open in in the fall last year!)

Here are some of the girls' headbands I made that fit size infant-child (some are extra stretchy and can fit up to adult size)

Now I'm going to be giving away the following headband to one lucky winner! 

This one fits size infant-adult (a lil' tight though so if you have a bigger head probably won't fit)

Enter using Rafflecopter, there are LOTS of ways to win!

Scrappy Saturday Linky

Scrappy Saturdays

Weekend Linkup

Happy Scrappy Saturday everyone!  I can't wait to see what you have in store for this week's linky!  This week I have been missing Dallas as I remember this being the time of year flowers start popping up...Here we keep going back and forth to piles of snow that all melt completely, seeming like winter is finished only to get more.  At least it's still sunny here for the most part....After living in Seattle area and getting used to weeks of grey I feel in LOVE with the sun when we moved to Dallas and I don't think I can go without it very long after getting used to always having it.  ANYWAYS...enough rambling...here are some of the fun projects from last week

LOVE this ruffle skirt made from a T-shirt by Artsy Fartsy Mama

Check out this cute Gift Wrap job done by Meeha Meeha using an old pencil box, craft paper and I love the puffy yarn clouds, rain and tiny umbrellas!

This is an awesome inexpensive knock off of the popular Restoration Hardware Blueprint art by From Gardners 2 Bergers

I'm a sucker for sweater refashions!  Check out Men's Sweaters into Skirts by So Here's My Life

Lovin' this furniture makeover by Start at Home

If you've been featured, you can grab a brag button here

Now link up your awesome projects using scraps (of any kind), upcycling, redo/makeovers, and anything you made including materials you found or had on hand.  We love thrifty, resourceful creativity!

if you like this linky/blog you can follow me on GFC, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs...:)

Visit some of the other links and leave some comment love :)

No Giveaways

grab a button below and post it with your other linky lists