Sweet Baby E

I had the pleasure of taking newborn pictures of Eden she is only 1 week old in this pictures.

I forgot how tiny they are

It was so fun to hold a newborn again!

Sweet baby was not happy during most of the shots but
I love this one showing daddy's love towards his new baby!

New family love!

My favorite I love how mom and dad are holding their new baby

Play dough recipe using Coconut Oil

This Winter has been pretty brutally cold -23 wind chill today yikes! Yet another day stuck at home. The kids are starting to go crazy... we are trying to stay busy with new activities or games. 

They love playing with Play dough 
however I feel like I am constantly 

buying new ones because they are getting dried out.  

So I checked out some recipes online but I added a new twist 

COCONUT OIL!

 I love coconut oil I could list off tons of reasons why it is good for you or the health benefits (maybe future blog post) but I love it! I even use in my coffee in the morning:) 

I gave the recipe a shot and it turn out perfect! Love that 

So here it is.... 

Coconut oil play dough recipe 

2 cups of Flour

1/2 cup of salt

2 tablespoons of cream of tartar

1 1/2 cups of boiling water

2 tablespoons of coconut oil

Food Coloring of your choice :) 

Mix all dry ingredients   

In a separate bowl put the coconut oil and food coloring 

together ( it won't mix up until the boiling 

water is in it) 

Add water to oil and food coloring stir up

Then quickly add to dry ingredients 

You want to make sure water is hot so the dough will

mix up well

Stir all together

After dough is mostly stirred up take out and knead it 

Your play dough should be ready to played with by little hands in no time. 

After the little ones are done playing for the day make sure you store it in a air tight container... so it will last longer :)  

Origami Owl tree ornament

I love Christmas time!

One of our favorite holiday traditions is decorating our tree

Every year we exchange ornaments with family 

and our kids get new ones from us every year.

We love setting up the tree because there are so 

many memories with each ornament.

This year I thought it would be fun to add some fun charm to it

So I added a Origami Owl locket 

with a peppermint candy charm and "Santa's Key" 

something so simple yet stunning! 

Have a Blessed Holiday Season! 

www.ashpage.origamiowl.com 

How to protect your tablet when cooking {Guest Post}

I love having guest post...
Kristine gave us some great ideas on how to protect our tablets while cooking 
Thank you for the awesome ideas!

How to protect your tablet when cooking

Both when I was growing up and when I was first married, there were tons of cookbooks around the kitchen with hundreds of recipes at my, my mother’s, and my grandmother’s fingertips. Now, thanks to the Internet, there are millions of recipes available! And as tablets have become an even easier way to bring a world of food into the kitchen. At the same time, however, it does create opportunities for your tablet to get dripped or spilled on, which can turn your tablet into a paperweight. Here are some ways to protect your tablet while cooking.

Kitchen Cabinet Mount: I don’t know about you, but in my kitchen, counter space is at a premium. I picked up this kitchen cabinet mount from Belkin and it is great! It keeps my tablet at a good reading level while saving me counter space at the same time. I have even used it to check out cooking videos if I am not sure how to do something!

Chef Sleeve: Even though I have a way to keep my tablet off the counter, I still always worry about splashes in the kitchen, like the bubbling that happens when I am letting my chili simmer for three hours. That’s a quick way to ruin a tablet with a splash of crushed tomato winding up on the screen. The Chef Sleeve is a great way to keep your tablet protected and still be able to have a reactive screen, which is obviously important when you need to move around the screen when following directions. If you are in a pinch however, consider using a freezer zipper lock bag. They don’t work as well as a Chef Sleeve for screen responsiveness, but it will at least help to protect your electronicsinvestment.

Tablet Coverage: Even when you are being careful and taking steps to try and prevent damage from your tablet in the kitchen, truth is, you are in a room with lots of wet, sticky stuff, which doesn’t react well to electronics. I have learned the hard way to make sure to keep my coffee away from everything because wet hands on a wet surface can be a bad combination.That’s why it is a good idea to have more than just standard tablet insurance. What is important is to make sure you have tablet coverage that will take care of liquid damage, like what can happen in a kitchen, so you can always have your tablet on hand. ProtectCELL provides comprehensive coverage for your tablet whether you spill a cup of milk on it or it slips out of your hand and cracks on the floor.

Using your tablet for cooking can bring a wealth of recipes to your kitchen so you have lots of ways to be creative in meal planning. It can also be an invitation for electronic disaster. So make sure you plan ahead before taking your tablet into your kitchen.

How to pose for pictures

I love this time of year.... Fall leaves, festivals, pumpkin spice lattes of course....
And the dreaded family pictures
I don't know about you but I have a love hate relationship with family pictures
I love picking out the clothes for the kids to wear but hate looking into my closet and trying on outfits. I never feel right or that my clothes fit how I want them to....
Oh being a women is a never ending struggle
This year I went simple, a flattering sweater, boots and blue jeans.
Now comes the fun part actually taking the pictures. Ugh!
Getting the kids to look at camera is a challenge sometimes or even getting them to smile
But what about me I want to look thin and good ( maybe I am too vain) but these are being sent out too so many people gosh I want to look decent.

So with that, here are some posing tricks to help eliminate some of the fear and putting your best look out there.

*Always always wear flattering clothes.... No need to slip into something that does not fit or squeeze those rolls in. That look is not good for anybody
*Place your arm away from your body ( makes your arms look way thinner)
*Turn your body to side
*Bend a leg a little gives it more of a sassy look
*Chin up
*smile
*But your best face on and show that you love yourself!
Hope that helps!
I love fall!!!!

Liberty's Strawberry Party

Liberty turned ONE on September 11th so perfect time to have a outdoor party ( almost too warm in AZ)  I am totally obsessed with chevron decor so I thought it would be cute for her first birthday! 

As I started searching for chevron party decor I came across these adorable strawberry baskets at The Tomkat studio I love her stuff! I purchased the strawberry baskets, chevron favor bags, paper straws and came up with Liberty's Strawberry Party

I searched around for vintage Strawberry Shortcake decor I could not find really anything in the time frame I needed. So I ended just buying few plates, cups napkins just so it didn't feel too overwhelming as Strawberry Shortcake party :0 

It was a awesome party!

We had fresh strawberries and strawberry candies through out the table 

We enjoy the weather outstide and BBQ for everyone!

Strawberry Candies in cartons with pink twine :) 
Twine from Domestic Charm

Totally obsessed with these chevron bags

party favors: bubbles, Strawberry candies, sunglasses, lipgloss and tiny note pads
most items were purchased at the Dollar Store :) 

table display 

Chevron name banner

DIY name banner: I found card stock that matched the theme color .  I cut the card stock into triangles and then first traced the Liberty's name in pencil ( a key to any project) I also purchased sharpies that match the theme color. I free handed the chevron design it was not perfect but who is perfect right? I attached all the triangles about 2 inches apart using pink twine :) 

ONE happy baby that turned ONE on a beautiful day 

Origami OWL!

I started a new business adventure ORIGAMI OWL! 

I am totally in love with this stuff! 

I love that you can change your living lockets as much as you want or keep the same charms in forever.

Let me know if you want to order anything

Perfect for Mother's Day, Birthday's, Graduations, Christmas etc... 

ashpage.origamiowl.com

~Ash 

Here are some examples of their awesome jewelry: