Tissue Paper Pom Poms

I've had lots of questions about these tissue paper pom poms that I made for Whitney's baby shower.  They are super easy to make, and are a fantastic shower/party decoration!  I made these about a week before the shower, and stored them in a large trash bag.  There's so much hustle and bustle days before a shower/party that it's nice to be able to do something ahead of time!

Here are some instructions on how to make these :) (Harry was extra needy so excuse him in the background!)

Supplies: Tissue paper, heavy duty scissors, hole punch, floral wire (not pictured: clear string {I used fishing line} to hang them).

I bought my tissue paper from Hobby Lobby.  They had all the color options I needed and I think it was $1 for the pack of 10 sheets.  One pack (10 sheets) will make 4 pom poms.  Open your 10 sheets of tissue paper.  Fold the paper stack in half and cut along the fold.

Next you will fold this large rectangle in half to make squares.  Cut along the fold again.

You should end up with 40 squares.

Stack 10 sheets of tissue paper.  You can make this next step as complicated as you want, or as simple as you want.  Fold up about 1 inch from the bottom.  I don't measure this, I just eyeball it.  We are going to "fan fold" this square. 

Flip the square over and fold up another inch.

Can you see the "fan"?  Keep folding until you get to the top.

It should look like this when you are done.

Cut a small piece of wire - 6 inches would be plenty long.

Wrap the wire around the center of your tissue paper

I like to fold the excess over.

It's important that your sides are even.  To check, fold in half at the wire.  If one side is a little longer (like mine is in the picture), then just scoot the wire down.

Even sides

I like the look of a rounded edge, but you can also do a pointy edge.  Use your heavy duty scissors and trim the edges on one side.

Trim the other side.

Next, open one side of the fan fold.

{Gently} Pull the first piece of tissue paper up.  If you don't do this step carefully, you can end up tearing the paper.

Pull up the first 5 sheets.

Turn it over and pull up the last 5 sheets. 

It will look similar to this once you've finished the first half.  Go ahead and unfold the other half.

Mine wasn't looking very circular once it was all unfolded and that's ok.  Just play around with it until you get it looking circular.

Looks pretty good to me!

You can see the inside here.

To hang, put together two sheets and punch a hole through them.  Like I said above, I used some fishing line to hang the balls with. 

Here's what it looks like all done! 

If you want one that's bigger, you will need more sheets of tissue paper.  These pom poms are very forgiving, so don't nit pick over every little detail.  When you have a whole cluster of them you can't see any imperfections!  Happy pom pom making!!!

Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Cashews

Kevin made a delicious dinner last week! He's on a roll with these new recipes!   We loved the broccoli dish he made so I wanted to share that recipe with you all!

Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Cashews

source: All Recipes

1 1/2lbs fresh broccoli, cut into bit sized pieces
1/3 C butter
1 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp white vinegar
1/4 tsp pepper
1 clove minced garlic (it calls for 2 cloves, but we thought it tasted better with 1!)
1/3 C chopped cashews

1. Place the broccoli into a large pot with about 1 inch of water in the bottom.  Bring to a boil, and cook for 7 minutes, or until tender but still crisp.  (I actually steamed my broccoli, and I like my broccoli really soft, so cook it however you prefer it!)  Arrange broccoli on a serving platter (I used a bowl).
2. White the broccoli is cooking, melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat.  Mix in the brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, pepper and garlic.  Bring to a boil, them remove from the heat.  Mix in the cashews, and pour the sauce over the broccoli.  Serve immediately.

We have had this dish with steaks and with fried rice.  We liked it with both!  It is a little tricky to make when you're cooking several things because it all has to be put together right before you're ready to serve your meal.  It may be a hectic 10 minutes, but it's worth it!  Give it a try! :)

Easter 2013 Part 3: Attemps at a Family Picture

I think I'm coming to grips with the fact I'll probably never get a "perfect" family picture where everyone is looking, all the kids are standing exactly where they are suppose to, no one is moving or dancing, smiling looks natural, no one has bunny ears...

I got a good laugh out of most of the pictures.  After our church service, which was held at the Ford Center, we asked my mom (the best free photographer I know) to take a few pictures with my camera. I made the girls outfits and the boys ties, and wanted to get a good picture of everyone all dressed up!  We went down by the river.  I thought since it was cloudy and overcast, we'd end up with great pictures, but it was still really bright out and Kevin and I have funny eyes (him) and head positions (me) in every picture! Here are some of the best attempts at a perfect family/kid picture...

This one is probably my favorite.

Thanks mom for trying to take a picture for us :)

Easter 2013 Part 2: The Hunt

We did our Easter egg hunt on Saturday afternoon.  I thought I'd have to help Allie to keep things even, but she was holding her own!  Hayden found 23 eggs and Allie found 18.  They didn't know I kept track, but I'm sure I'll have to do that as they get older.   We put dollar coins and chocolate in the eggs.  Here are some pictures from our egg hunt.

 Showing off all their eggs.

Next year she'll be knocking them down!

 Allie found it necessary to eat everything as she was opening it...

Easter 2013 Part 1: Dying Eggs

We decided to dye Easter eggs on the 24th.  It gets so busy the day or two before Easter and we really wanted to let the kids have a good time with it.  Krissy was napping during the egg coloring (I planned it that way), so if you're wondering why she wasn't in any pictures, that's why :) Here are some pictures from the egg dying!

I made some of those slice and bake cookies to snack on while coloring eggs.

The dyes.  I decided to use 100% vinegar to dye the eggs, and I won't be doing that again.. (The eggs turned out splotchy)

 Eating cookies while round one of eggs were dying.

Proud of the eggs they dyed.

Thumbs up to dying Easter eggs.

And the bunny ears...