Everyday Inspirations

Guest blogger: Jessica Trump

I'm a 29-year-old stay-at-home-mom to a wonderful little man named James. I'm married, very happily, to a sweet and wonderful man referred to as E.

I love to craft and have been doing so for as long as I remember. I also adore travel. Some of my favorite experiences I've documented on my blog including traveling to Japan, crossing the ocean on the Queen Mary 2, and having a baby.

My little boy just turned one, and in addition to crafting and blogging, I also love photography, playing outside on warm days, and making my baby boy laugh by doing stupid things in public.

I love homemade children's clothing. Something about it just makes me smile; the little details, the lace, the tiny buttons. But when your baby is a boy there is very little out there that is homemade, not too cutesy, and is within my budget. So being the crafty mama that I am, I decided to come up with my own shirts for my one-year-old son. They were super inexpensive to make, can be made for any age, can be added to any piece of clothing, and are easy.

Here is what I did:

1. Find a plain piece of clothing that you want to embellish. I found a simple navy blue tee for $3.50 (and it is organic cotton!) and a simple burnt orange tee that was $1.00 at a thrift shop.
2. Pick a pattern. This is the most fun and creative step of the entire process. For the owl tee I used an image that was on a baby card that I was given and enlarged it for the shirt freehand. For the polar bear tee I just did a simple Google search for "polar bear silhouettes" and came up with the image. I re-sized the image in Word (yep, you don't need any fancy software) and printed it out.
3. Decide if you want one solid piece of felt or multiple pieces. For the owl I stacked pieces; for the polar bear I used one solid piece.
4. Cut the pattern out on felt in the color of your choosing. I used acrylic felt as it is easy to find and quite inexpensive.
5. Place the felt on the clothing item. Move around until you have the look you are after.

 6. Sew around each piece of felt. This can either be done by hand or machine. I used the machine on both of these projects. For the owl tee I changed the color of thread each time the felt color changed. And on the polar bear tee I went with a fun simple look by just crisscrossing the polar bear with colored thread before sewing him onto the tee.
7. Add any last embellishments. I added a handful of tiny buttons to the toadstool on the owl tee, as well as button eyes. On the polar bear tee I didn't like how the bear was floating in space so I used two simple parallel lines to created the ground.

Once done, these shirts are washer and dryer safe. Have fun crafting! Happy holidays!

{angie}

The pup or dog lover in your life will LOVE this gift! While opening the presents and enjoying the treats the holidays bring you certainly don't want little Fido to feel left out. Why not make him/her a personalized stocking and homemade doggy biscuits? Here's how to do it yourself this holiday season.

What you need:
1 piece of felt for each color of the dog
Thread to match
Scissors
Pre-assembled stocking (can purchase a plain one or make one yourself)
Needle and pins
Optional: Ribbon for collar, rhinestones, dog tag charm, etc

Do It Yourself Dog Stocking
Step 1: Make the pattern. Look at your dog's face and break it down into basic shapes. Generally it will be an oval for the head and a heart-like shape for the muzzle. Draw half then fold your paper in half so it's symmetrical. If your dog has floppy ears (like my Daisy) pull the ears up so you can see the full shape before you draw. Add any spots or distinguishing marks. You see I add the white stripe down Daisy's nose.

Step 2: Pin the pattern to felt, cut it out, and assemble together by pinning.

Step 3: Stitch pieces together by hand or with a sewing machine. Add buttons for eyes and nose.

Step 4: Pin in place and attach to stocking. If adding a collar, attach ribbon in center, adding stitches at neck width before sewing down muzzle so it covers the collar. Tie ribbon, then sew down muzzle. Add any embellishments desired and fill with doggy treats and toys!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Doggy Biscuits
These biscuits are loaded with vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, and anti-oxidants which are good for a healthy heart and preventing cancer. After all, we want many more Christmases with our puppies.

Ingredients
1 15 ounce can pumpkin
3/4 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup wheat flour
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and form into balls or push into cookie cutter shapes. Put onto a greased pan and cook for 14-16 minutes.

{ash}

I love that the holidays are a time to care for one another. While it's fun to give and receive gifts, nothing feels quite as good as knowing you made a difference in someone's life. In fact, I believe that taking time to think of others is an imperative part of learning to be truly, deeply thankful for our own blessings.

It's incredible to watch people join together with the sole purpose of spreading love. It doesn't have to be something big, like donating gobs of money. It can be as simple as buying a gift for one child, dropping a turkey off to a family in need, or giving away a coat you know you're not going to wear.

I've gathered just a few ways to spread holiday cheer. Please feel free to share yours in the comments section.

• Feed a family by making a donation to your local food bank
• Keep someone warm this winter by donating a coat
• Brighten a kid's holiday by dropping off a gift or making a donation to Toys for Tots
• Send a holiday card to a soldier through the Red Cross
• Send a care package to a homeless child
• Donate the gift of time by volunteering for an organization or cause that's important to you

{ash}

The other day I was inspired while reading Jasmine Star's blog. In "Starting the Day with Thankfulness," she writes, "Every morning I blink my eyes open. I lay for a few seconds, then squeeze them real tight. And thank God. For everything."

I needed to hear these words. Even though I write about inspiration every other day, I still have moments of pure frustration, both with others and with myself. Life is full of them. Last week alone I found myself upset with people pushing past me at the grocery store (I almost guarantee your grocery store cannot be filled with more inconsiderate shoppers than mine) and with myself for not getting up in time to ride my exercise bike.

As I've grown up, I've learned the key to handling stress is to not let minor frustrations affect who we are. It's way too easy to become negative. Like anything else worth having, happiness takes dedication and love -- of yourself, of life, of others.

We always remember to be thankful during the holiday season, but we often let those thoughts go by the wayside after it passes. We don't mean to. I know this. Every person wants to be happy and feel fulfilled. That's why we should use the next couple months to remind us how we should be thinking the rest of the year.

Like Jasmine, we can all get into a thankful state of mind by simply training ourselves to focus on blessings. Set aside a time of day to be grateful, whether it's first thing in the morning, when you lie in bed at night, or somewhere in between. Train yourself to stop every negative thought in its tracks -- then replace it with three things you're thankful for today.

You're brilliant, unique, and wonderful. You deserve all the happiness in the world.

Happy Halloween! If you haven't already heard how much we love fall here at Everyday Inspirations (like here, here and here), let me tell you one of my very favorite things about fall--pumpkins! Here are ten creative ways to use pumpkin.

Make a pumpkin vase. This makes such a cute centerpiece or decoration. After the top is cut off and inside hollowed out, fill your pumpkin with water and add autumn florals like sunflowers or reeds.

Make your pumpkin seeds sweet or spicy: Take your roasted pumpkin seeds up a notch! Here are a couple easy recipes. 
Sweet: pumpkin seeds, melted butter, cinnamon, sugar, a pinch of nutmeg and allspice. Coat seeds in butter and sprinkle with sugar and spices.
Spicy: pumpkins seeds, olive oil, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt. Coat seeds in olive oil and sprinkle on cumin and cayenne pepper to taste.
For either recipe, bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
 
Make a pumpkin face mask. Rich in vitamins A and C and zinc, pumpkins are great for your skin. Bella Sugar has a great DIY face mask.

Drink your pumpkin: Make your own pumpkin spice latte at home. Love this recipe from Fearless Homemaker.

Keep your drinks cool in a pumpkin. Turn your pumpkin into a festive party cooler. Leave it to Martha for the best instructions.

Use pumpkin to enrich your garden. After you're done with your jack-o-lantern or pumpkin vase, cut it into pieces and bury it in your garden. It makes wonderful fertilizer for your soil.

Serve your pumpkin like Harry Potter. Make pumpkin juice or pumpkin pasties. Even muggles can enjoy these recipes.

Use a pumpkin body scrub. Mix up this do it yourself body scrub recipe courtesy of Get Green Be Well.

Serve drinks in a pumpkin punch bowl. Cut it a very large pumpkin in half (usually wider is better) and insert a glass bowl that will fit inside it. Serve your favorite fall beverage.

and last but not least...

Whip up something pumpkin. Okay, this may sound like a pretty normal concept, but I had to share some of these amazing recipes because I love cooking with (and more importantly eating) pumpkin. This season's pumpkin recipes from ABC Design, Ina Garten's pumpkin cupcakes with maple frosting,  baked pumpkin from The Produce Lady, pumpkin soup in a pumpkin bowl from Make and Takes, and a wonderful array of pumpkin recipes listed at Blogher.

{ash}

Cool air. Pumpkins. Kids in costumes. Yes, folks, we love fall (in case you haven't been able to tell from all the autumn-themed posts on EI).

By the way, snow is in the Utah forecast for this week, but I'm not giving up on fall until after Halloween.

Anyway. It wouldn't be fall without the background noise of college and professional football. If you're like me and relatively fresh to the sport, you enjoy football and have the basics down (touchdowns, first downs, end zone, field goals). However, there are a few things you're a little unclear on. No worries -- EI has a resident football expert who's here to introduce a few terms. He happens to be my boyfriend, but no worries, he's totally qualified. ;)

Hello, all. My name is Dan. I have been a football fan all of my life. My dad brought me up watching the game. I have continued my love of the game and have continued to try my best to understand the ins and outs of what goes on every Saturday, Sunday, and Monday during the fall. I was asked to give a few examples of terms used during a football broadcast that might not be as easy to understand without some explanation. The game of football continues to evolve and it gets more and more confusing every year. Here are a few terms that you will hear on a pretty regular basis that might not always be as clear as some of the more basic terms.

Safety. The term "safety" can be confusing because it's also a defensive position. In this case, a safety refers to when an offensive team gets tackled in its own end zone. The defensive team is awarded two points and the offensive team has to kick the ball off to the defensive team.

Touchback. A touchback is when a kickoff that goes into the end zone is either knealt down by the receiving player or goes out the back of the end zone. On a punt, the ball just has to cross the goal line to be a touchback if it isn't caught by a player on the receiving team.

Blitz. A blitz is when the defense sends more than the normal amount of players toward the offensive side of the ball to try to sack the quarterback or stuff a running play. {Ash's note: "Stuff" means to allow the team little or no gain.} A blitz can lead to a big offensive play if it fails.

Instant replay. In the NFL, instant replay can be used for almost any questionable play. Each team has two challenges per game. The coach can throw out a red challenge flag if he wants the official to take a look a the instant replay. A coach will do this if he thinks the play could be reversed in his team's favor. If the coach loses the challenge, a timeout is taken away from his team. If two challenges are won by a team in a game, that team is awarded an extra challenge. During the last two minutes of each half, all replays are controlled by a replay official in the press box.

Helpful? Need more clarification? Leave us a comment and we'll be happy to chat with you! Or you can tweet Dan @datweezy.

I just got back from Blog World Expo and I am gushing with new exciting information! I have a feeling we'll have some fun changes around here! It's still taking time to process it all, but I thought I'd share some common themes on how to make your blog better. Here are my top five tips for my fellow bloggers based on advice from all the amazing, inspiring presenters at Blog World. These are somewhat intuitive, but it never hurts to be reminded.

Content is key. Make sure your posts are well-written and interesting. Quality should be valued over quantity. 

Make good connections. Find other blogs like yours and rather than seeing them as the competition, make friends! The more connections you have will help spread your message further. Plus, they will inspire you in new ways. Ash and I are always looking for more friends at EI, so be sure to drop us a line or tweet us @365inspirations, @amfairbanks or @ashbunk. 

Optimize for search engines. People are more likely to find you if you're optimized...which we already knew but there are so many ways you should implement SEO. Keywords, categories, making your page accessible to people with disabilities, podcasts, videos, image tags, metatags, the list goes on. Do your research and figure out how you can be found.

Make your page delicious. Good to read content is a must, but good to look at is too! Compelling photos and images often determines whether or not people read a story. 

You need to be everywhere. Don't always use the same methods of sharing. Share on Facebook and Twitter but don't forget about all the other places people can connect with you. Podcasts, YouTube videos, Google Connect, BlogFrog, and through linking posts to name a few.

How will you make your blog better? We'd love to hear what you love and what you think we can do better at Everyday Inspirations! Be sure to leave us a comment.

Enjoy the opening keynote from Blog World. Hilarious and tons of great tips.

{ash}

I realize what I'm about to say may cause people to want to throw things at me or call a party pooper. But I think it's worth the conversation.

I'm an active Facebooker and have read status after status about where my friends like to keep their handbags (on the floor, the couch, etc.). Last year, it was the color of our bras. Even though it's supposed to be fun, it keeps bugging me because of the "meaning" behind these silly statuses. According to invitational emails I have received, these statuses are meant to increase awareness of breast cancer during the month of October. The Huffington Post reported that the game "is an attempt for women to unite around that cause in a top secret way."

Sorry, but how?

I'd understand if that was actually stated ("I like it on top of the fridge... and I just gave $100 to the American Cancer Society") or, even if it wasn't stated, it was encouraged in the email passed around. But just trying to increase awareness? I don't quite know if I buy that, particularly since everything turns pink in October. The awareness is out. In fact, I didn't even know breast cancer awareness was the point of the Facebook game until a week or so ago. I just thought it was something girls did to leave out the boys.

My problem isn't with the game but with the idea that simply putting something on your status somehow makes a difference. Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't it much more effective to actually encourage your friends and family to give to a cause you believe in?

Yesterday I participated in Salt Lake's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. I also donated money to the cause -- not a crazy amount, but something I felt would be beneficial and actually make a difference to a woman struggling with one of the scariest things she's ever had to go through. This is not me saying, "Hey look! I'm so much better than anyone else!" It is me trying not to be a hypocrite when I say it's time we really start to put our money where our mouths are. To not just talk, but to act.

The organizers of yesterday's walk did a great job helping me understand that any donation (even five bucks) is generous and makes a big difference. For example, my money could go toward keeping phone lines open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That is so awesome: a resource for women who need to talk, even at 4 a.m. This could one day be someone I love -- or me. It's worth it to help out a family for that reason alone.

What I'm trying to say is don't stop playing the games. Enjoy them. Have fun. Giggle with your friends. But also make sure you're doing something besides just talking. Donate to a cause you believe in, whether you're able to give $5 or $5,000 (truly, any amount helps). You can also make a big difference by volunteering your time. Giving back to others is part of being human and will inspire you more than you will believe.

A few weeks ago during a Foodies Night In Twitter party, we were discussing wine pairings and serving a different wine with each course. I usually only cook for two so the thought of four bottles of wine for just me and my husband seemed like a bit much. However, this scenario with a party of six was simply fabulous. After a good chat with Ash we decided to make it happen and invited our friends Lindsey and Mario to join in the fun.

For our party we decided on four courses: hors d'oeuvres, salad, entree, and dessert. Each couple chose one smaller course to make and, because the entree is more expensive, we picked it together and split the cost three ways. Then we all got to use our food and wine pairing creativity to make a truly gourmet four course dinner while only needing to prepare and pay for one course and our entree. 

The time and expense it would have taken for one couple to host this kind of party would have been beyond all of our means. This was more fun anyway because we all got to search for dishes to make and taste what everyone came up with. It was truly a blast (complete with a good game of Crainium to follow) and we will definitely be doing this again. Check out our menu and recipes below.

Hors d'oeuvres
Bruchetta with Tomato Basil Salsa

Salad
Fall Salad with Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette

Entree
Grilled Steak with Balsamic-Rosemary Butter

Dessert
Hazelnut Souffle with Spiced Apple Cider