DIY cupcake liner piñata

I decided to make a piñata for my little one's fabulously pink birthday which was inexpensive and fun to do with my 3 year old.  

Things you'll need:

Water 

Flour 

Balloons

Cut newspaper

Cupcake liners 

Glue gun 

Rope 

Candy

Basic piñata requires a balloon and a 50/50 mixture of water and flour.

 

 Some cut newspaper works well for a piñata.  No one will see it so don't stress over making it coordinated with your party theme.  

 

Once your 50/50 flour and water mixture is made and balloon blown to desired size begin coating strips one at a time.

 

 Place strips on the balloon.  Cover balloon one full layer at a time.  Allow time to dry between layers (I did 10 layers) This is tedious but well worth it. 

Once your final layer is dried you can pop your balloon.  Cut a 3-sided trap door and drill a hole at the bottom.  After folding some clothes line I made a knot at the end and pulled the top of the rope threw the hole and out the top to hang.  

Fill the piñata with candy.  You can add additional layers over the trap door and secure around the rope or just duct tape it, which is what I did. 

For this piñata I found some really cute polka dot cupcake liners in pink and hot pink.  

After folding both packs of cup cake liners in half I began gluing away (starting at the bottom and covering the knot) alternating colors.

 Here's the finished product.  It could have come out better but really a piñata is destined to be broken before the party ends, so why stress over perfection?  

I hope this post helped :)

~XO

 

 

 

 

Tea Time

Olivia and I have been enjoying some homemade tea made from our little apartment garden.  

Cucumber Mint Tea:

10 Sweet Mint leaves (more if you want a darker stronger brew)

2 cucumber slices

2 cups water 

Sugar or honey to taste 

Directions: 

place cucumber and mint leaves in pot.  Pour boiling water then bring to a boil.  Sweetened as desired.

Our second brew was...

Mint Lavender Tea

some lavender flowers

10 -15 sweet mint leaves 

Directions:

The same as with the cucumber mint brew.

In the hammock we sipped our tea and talked about all sorts of things.  We talked about our "tasty" lavender mint tea, her dollies new names and taking her dollies to the park.  "Sally, Shelby, Sandy, and Shilly...and Shilly is a girl." ;)

I really enjoyed our morning tea time that I just couldn't resist buying some Mexican Tarragon to add to our tea garden. :) 

~XO

Our Little DIY Apartment Garden

I may not have a house with a nice yard. (yet) but it doesn't mean we can't have a little garden of our own.

The garden has been a cool project to do with Olivia.  First, we gathered old plant pots, mason, jam, and roasted pepper jars.  Then we began planting; Greek oregano, flat parsley, spicy basil, sweet basil, sweet mint, lavender and petunias.  I couldn't find chocolate mint or lemongrass for my homemade tea :( But, the outcome was pretty cool.  

I really like up-cycling it gave our garden a chic look. For the ones in plant pots I made use of some ugly old  cinder blocks I been hiding under our bed.  There's actually more blocks I can add but it was getting late.  Here's part 1 of the cinder block display.

It's nice to find new uses for old things we have hidden in our home.  The outcome is always unique, reduces your carbon print and it's CHEAP!! 

~XO

Mesomorph, Endomorph & Ectomorph...Butterflies or body types?

I admit fitness was a whole lot easier when I was single, lived in Belize, had a personal trainer and spent most of my free time at the gym.  Now, I am a working mom with very limited time and NO trainer.  So, where do I begin to get back into pre-mommy shape?

 

I tried exercising but the results were not what I was anticipating.  The more I exercised the smaller my waist became and my bottom was increasing in inches *grrr* What was I doing wrong?

Maybe the answer wasn't in the amount of time I exercised but exercising and dieting according to my body's natural framework.  So, what is my body type?

 

Body Types:

Ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph remind me of a Caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly....lol, but they are  are simply body types. 

Ectomorphs: Skinny
Mesomorphs: Athletic
Endomorphs: Fat retainers

 

Ectomorph	Mesomorph	Endomorph
Skinny, linear/ ruler appearance	Naturally lean	Smooth, round body
Lightly muscled	Naturally muscular	Gains muscle easily, but tends to be underdeveloped
Small joints/ boned	Medium size joints/ bones	Medium/ large joints/ bones
Low body fat (without exercising or following low calorie diets)	Naturally strong	High levels of body fat (may be overweight)
Small shoulders, chest and buttocks	Broad/ square shoulders	Small shoulders, high waist and large hips creating a pear-shaped physique
Long arms and legs	Body fat evenly distributed	Difficult to keep lost body fat off
Difficulty gaining weight	Losing fat is easy	Slow metabolic rate
Fast & efficient metabolism	Efficient metabolism	Attacks of tiredness/ fatigue
Hyperactive	Gaining muscle easy	Lose weight slowly
Difficulty gaining muscle	Responds quickly to exercise

 

I'm a mesomorph which makes sense because when I gain weight it's evenly distributed and when I exercise I tend to build muscle easily (too easily when talking about my butt).  When I do sit-ups the response is almost instant around my waist and stomach.  But, I have my issues especially since I haven't exercised in a long time.  I call it skinny fat and I'll upload a picture later so you can see what I'm talking about.  What's your body type and exercise/diet routine?

 

Next time: Exercise and diet for a mesomorph

 

Until then....

~XO