August 2025

There’s only one way to survive an Arizona summer–spend as much time as you can in the water! When we bought this, our first home, ten years ago, we emphatically declared we did NOT want a pool! After all, we were about to begin our family, and with the many dangers small children are already exposed to, we did not want to have to add the stress of preventing child drownings. Now, my kids are 9,7, and almost 5. And man, I really, really wish we had a pool! When it is 109 degrees and all you can do is sit in your A/C- cooled home because it’s better than sitting in your 140 degree car and going somewhere, the kids get cabin fever pretty quickly! So, we decided to buy a pop-up pool! The store had a great sale on a 12- foot metal frame pool, so we bought it, installed, it, and tried to figure out how to take care of it! Let me say, thank goodness for HTH® Pool Care Products! They have made caring for our pool so easy that we can focus on having tons of fun instead of working hard to keep the pool clean! We clean and vacuum it every day, add products such as HTH® chlorinated tablets as needed to balance the water, and shock the pool once a week. Really, it couldn’t be easier. My kids are part fish, I swear. They want to swim every day for as long as I will let them. We have been on Summer Break since Memorial Day,and I think I can count on one hand the number of days we haven’t been in the pool! Look how clear the water is! We put up the pool Memorial Day weekend and the water still looks great! Because HTH® makes caring for the pool so easy, I can use our “out-of-the-pool” time for fun activities with the kids, instead of slaving over the water. We got to tie-dye these awesome pool towels, and I’m going to show you an easy way to do your own!

I let my kids pick from some patterns included in our kit, and they were completely in charge of the colors. We used bright red, yellow, and blue.

Pattern #1: Swirl

1. Lay your towel out flat. Pinch up a piece of fabric in the middle and carefully twist the fabric in a circular motion, adding more fabric with each turn. You’ll soon have a spiral. Keep it loose but flat so the dye can sink in better (ours was a little too tight!) Place rubber bands around the towel to keep it in place.

2. Add dye in “pie slices”, with the same color in slices across from each other. After the top is done, flip it over and follow the same pattern on the back.

Pattern #2: Circles

1. Lay your towel out flat. Pinch fabric up and wrap rubber bands tightly around it. Repeat wherever you want circles to appear. My son did his in two rows. 2. Add one color to the fabric in the rubber bands, or alternate colors as desired. Use other dye on the open spaces in the towels in whatever pattern you desire. My son just kind of chose spots and put color on. I thought it would look horrible but I think his ended up the best!

Pattern #3: Brain

1. Lay your towel out flat. Starting in the center, pull the fabric up by scrunching it tightly into the center. Repeat on the other side until all the fabric is bunched up together. Then place rubber bands around the towel to hold it in place. Apply dye as desired.

We were kind of running out of dye and my son wanted lots of white space in his towel for some reason, so this one didn’t turn out the best. But hey- he likes it!

We had so much fun making these! Now we have the perfect towels to use when we’re finished swimming. If you don’t use HTH® products for your pool, you really need to switch! I love them! When you use HTH®, you take care of your kids! HTH® takes care of the pool!

Find tips and tricks for taking care of your pool with HTH at all these places:

Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Pinterest | Website

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of HTH Pool Care via Burst Media. The opinions and text are all mine.  HOWEVER, I was already an HTH® customer and have been for several years. I am thrilled to be a brand ambassador for them because I love their products!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BiteSizedBitsOfJoy #CollectiveBias

My parents never met a sale they didn’t like.  Their motto was basically “Why pay full price when you can buy it on sale, used, or secondhand?”

Brand names weren’t a thing in my house.  We grew up on generics for everything, from our shoes to our potato chips.

There were two things my mom splurged on, however– Oberweis Dairy milk and Keebler Soft Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies.

It was always a thrill when you were the one unloading the grocery bags in the kitchen, when you saw that red package peeking out of one of the paper bags.  “SOFT BATCH COOKIES!”  we would yell to the other kids.  

They rarely lasted more than a day.

Well, what’s old is cool again, and for the first time in my adult life, I picked up a package of Keebler Soft Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies from Fry’s Food and Drug (a Kroger banner store) for MY kids,

this time in a cool yellow package.  

My kids are way more spoiled than I was.  Packaged cookies and treats are no big deal to my kids.  So I don’t think they were all that excited.  But once I told them my plan to make them into delicious ice cream sandwiches, we were all suddenly starving for cookies!

First up, you need to make your no-churn vanilla chocolate chip ice cream.  This is super easy to do, but it takes a bit of time to freeze up.

Mix 2 cups heavy whipping cream in a stand mixer or with beaters until stiff peaks form.

Carefully stir in 1 tbsp vanilla extract, a 14 oz can of sweetened, condensed milk, and 2 cups of mini chocolate chips.  (Regular or chunk chocolate works too!)

Put into a loaf pan or other container and cover tightly.  I save old plastic ice cream tubs so I put mine in those.

Freeze for at least 2 hours or overnight for firmer ice cream.

Once your ice cream is ready, open your Soft Batch cookies.  Place a small scoop of ice cream on the flat side of one cookie,

then place another cookie on top and flatten slightly.

Place cookie sandwiches on a tray in the freezer and freeze for about an hour.  Then enjoy your sandwiches and wrap any leftover in cling wrap.

This is the perfect way to enjoy an old favorite in a new way- and perfect for the summer heat!

Keebler Cookies at Kroger: Summer 2016  Enter this fun contest for a chance to win Kroger gift cards up to $1000.  That’s a lot of cookies 🙂

Printable Recipe here:

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups mini chocolate chips
Keebler Soft-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

1.  Beat heavy whipping cream on high until stiff peaks form.
2.  Gently stir in sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips.
3.  Mix until a soft batter forms.
4.  Transfer batter to loaf pan or other container and cover tightly.
5.  Freeze for 2-6 hours depending on firmness desired.
6.  Place small scoop of ice cream on a chocolate chip cookie.
7.  Place another cookie on top of ice cream and flatten slightly.
8.  Place sandwiches on cookie sheet in freezer for 30 min-1 hour.
9.  Wrap sandwiches in cling wrap until ready to eat.

What was your favorite treat as a kid?  Have your kids tried it?

You can find tons more great Keebler Cookie inspiration here!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, INC. and The Coca-Cola Company. All opinions are mine alone. #USOCarePacks #CollectiveBias

Want to share some love with the servicemen or women in your life this summer?  Make this easy Patriotic Pop Up Card and share the love with our troops!

Our family is fascinated by researching family history. In our family, generations of men have served in the military in some way or another. One great-great-great grandfather even died (many years after the fact) from a bullet he received as a Confederate soldier in the Battle of Chickamauga. 

My dad was the last of our immediate family to serve in the military.  He was in the Navy as a young man.  Now, our tradition of military service is carried on by my brother-in-law, who is serving in the US Army.  We are proud of him and thankful for the service he and each our of our servicemen and women give for our country.

One of the ways you and I can show our support for the troops is by buying Coca-Cola™ products at your local Sam’s Club!  Look for the cans with the custom patriotic packaging!  My Sam’s Club didn’t stock these special cans but they are available in most Sam’s Club locations.

When you purchase Coca-Cola products at Sam’s Club this summer, you’ll be helping to provide care packages to the troops overseas!  Sam’s Club is partnering with the USO and is hoping to provide 3000-5000 care packages this summer.

If you can’t make it to the club anytime soon, or if you’re like me and your club doesn’t carry the special products, you can order Coca-Cola products with the special USO packaging online, or you can simply donate to the USO for care packages here.

I can’t think of an easier way to give back to our troops this summer.

To make it extra special, I’ve put together a tutorial for an easy patriotic pop up card you can include with a care package or give to your favorite serviceman or woman.

I was inspired by this tutorial for a pop up card, but I know a lot of people don’t have fancy cutting machines.  So, I figured out a way to make a similar card with just paper, scissors, and glue!

You will need the following supplies:
2 pieces 12x 12 solid Cardstock- different colors.  
1-2 pieces of coordinating patterned paper 
Glue dots 
Tape runner
Scissors
Xacto knife.
Template for stars (download here)

Instructions:
1. Cut a 4.75×12 inch strip of solid cardstock. Fold in half at the center. Using my template, trace and cut with Xacto knife, two stars evenly spaced from the center of the strip, leaving the feet closest to the center attached. (my Xacto knife was so dull!  It took some work to cover those rough edges up.) Glue stars together at the center tips. 2. Cut 2 4×4 inch squares to back the star cutouts. (solid contrasting paper) Use a tape runner or other adhesive and glue to the front and back of your card. You should see the contrasting paper through star shaped holes. 3.  Cut a 4×8 piece of patterned paper.  Trace and cut two stars evenly spaced from center of the strip, again leaving the feet closest to the center attached.  Glue stars at center tips. 4.  Cut these stars out at the feet, making sure they stay connected.  There should be a hexagon at the bottom. 5. Add strong tape to the bottom of hexagon. Cut up the fold to remove the hexagon, leaving the taped feet of the stars. 6. Push the fold of the patterned stars right up against the feet of the solid stars. 7. Repeat steps 3-6 for the other side of the card. 8. Use leftover patterned scraps as embellishments for the card. You can add embellishments as desired.  You can cut small stars and swirls to glue to the card.  Use glue dots.  Smaller stars layered in different colors make even more interest. Trace and cut label frames for a greeting.  I actually printed out the phrase I wanted in a cute font and traced it onto my label 🙂

This patriotic pop-up card and a Coca-Cola care package are sure to brighten anyone’s day this summer!  How are you going to celebrate the 4th of July?

****This Giveaway is Now Closed****

Welcome to a “special” edition of Scrappin’ Wednesday- on Tuesday!  I’m moving things up a day this week so I can have my Thanksgiving free!

If you’ve been reading my blog this year, you know that every week, I share a digitally-scrapbooked page that I created.  It’s really helped motivate me to catch up on my scrapbooking.  So, I was super excited when I was contacted by the company that makes My Memories Suite, a top rated, best-selling digital scrapbook software.  I was offered the opportunity a free copy of their product to use, review it, and give one away to one of you!  (more on that in a minute-) Many people use Photoshop or Photoshop Elements for their digital scrapbooking.  Those programs are great, but expensive- often prohibitively so.  They also have a steep learning curve.  So, I know lots of people are on the lookout for good alternatives to those programs.  My Memories Suite might be what you’re looking for.

1.  It is affordable– the full software costs $39.97, and that includes a good amount of papers, embellishments, and such.  If you use my coupon code that I’ll give you later, you can save $10 on your purchase, making it even more affordable!

2.  It is easy to understand and navigate.  You can choose pictures and embellishments from the menu on the left, then use the menu on the right to edit them.  On the page, you simply drag and drop.

3.  You can use all the digital “stuff” you already own.  This was a big concern of mine.  I’ve spent a lot of hours, and a decent amount of money collecting digital scrapbooking kits, elements, word art, etc.  I was worried I’d be unable to use them, but you can simply add them as a photo, or even import them into the program and organize them as you desire.

Remember this page from last week?  All my own elements, created with My Memories Suite.

4.  You can create other things besides digital scrapbooks.  I used MMS to create a holiday card.  (This is an old picture, so I’m not actually sending these ones out).  It was so easy to do!

You could also use it to create a “slideshow” of sorts from a recent trip.  You even have the options to share your albums by printing them, exporting as JPEG so you can have them printed, creating a hardbound book, creating an interactive “movie”, or sharing on Facebook.

5.  It is compatible with Windows/PC and MAC.  If you’re a MAC user, you’ve got a version just for you!

Now, the few concerns I have: 1.  Pictures Pixelate.  I have used other software that enables my digital elements to change sizes without pixelating.  On My Memories Suite, I have to be much more careful in the dimensions I choose.  It seems like there is less leeway there. 2.  Albums v. Pages-  I wish I could just create a page at a time, instead of having to create a new album each time.  I currently have to create or open an album,create a new page in the album, and then save that page to the album.  It’s just not the way I usually work- sometimes I create out of order- my pages don’t necessarily go together, so it’s just clunkier for me. 3.  I would love a “group” option for my elements/text, so I could move things all together.  Though I hear that version 3 will be offering that….. __________________________________________________________________________________

Want a Free copy of My Memories Suite?  Simply visit MyMemories.com, choose your favorite kit/paper pack/element pack and leave a comment telling me what it is.

For extra entries:  (please leave a separate comment for each!) 1.  Follow Occasionally Crafty on GFC (1 entry)

2.  Follow the My Memories blog here:  (1 entry)

3.  “Like” My Memories on Facebook:  (1 entry)
4.  Follow My Memories on Twitter (1 entry) 5.  Blog, Facebook, or Tweet about the giveaway (1 entry for each)

Want it now?  Use my coupon code to save $10 off your purchase, and a $10 coupon for the My Memories Store.  Nice.  The coupon code is STMMMS33532.  This coupon code is good from today through….forever!  It might make a great gift for the scrapbooker in your life!  

The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, November 29th at midnight Arizona time  (Mountain Standard, I think).  A winner will be chosen by random.org and announced on Wednesday, Nov 30th.  Good luck!

In light of the recent bombing at the Boston Marathon, I’m grateful to live in a country where such things are NOT common.  When they do happen, we pull together as a country in support of each other– at least for a little while :).  I know it’s a little early, but I’m feeling patriotic.  And of course, we have both Memorial Day and the 4th of July coming up over the summer.  So, you will have plenty of time to make this Vinyl Land of Liberty Sign.

I used Silhoutte’s Premium Vinyl in Navy Blue, along with some red I had in my stash, for this project.  I love the premium vinyl- it adheres so well to whatever project I’m using.

Here’s a quick and easy tutorial:

1.  If desired paint your frame.  I loved the distressed look of this frame.  The tan one cost $9.99, and the white cost $19.99.  What?!?  I bought the tan and added some white paint, rubbed on with a paper towel, then sanded smooth.  That’s an easy $10 savings!  (Plus I used a 40% off coupon to save even more.)

2.  Cut your vinyl.   You can download the .studio file here if you so choose 🙂

2.  Apply your transfer tape and place your vinyl on the glass of the frame.  Be careful– I HAVE broken glass this way.

3.  Scrape it firmly to adhere to your surface.  Then remove transfer tape, leaving the vinyl behind.  Don’t mind the green folder- I just put it there so you could see the design on the glass.

4.  If you are layering two colors like me, just keep your transfer tape trimmed tight to the shape so you don’t have to deal with unnecessary sticking.

5.  Put the glass back into your frame and place a white piece of paper behind it.  Replace the back and

that’s it– easy peasy!  Laura thinks this is minimalist but I kind of like it that way.  Feel free to embellish however you’d like.

If you don’t want to make this in vinyl, you can download it as a free printable.  Right click the image to open it in a new tab or window and save it to your computer.  Or click here to download the file.

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Sugar Bee Crafts- Take a Look Tuesday

Someday Crafts-Whatever Goes Wednesday

Lil’ Luna- Link Party

Somewhat Simple- Strut Your Stuff

Naptime Crafters- Friday Favs

I Heart Naptime- Sundae Scoop Weekend Wrap-up

Welcome to the Red, White, and Blue Blog Hop, featuring recipes, crafts, party ideas, and more from 90+ Creative Bloggers!  You’re going to love what we’ve put together for you!

Today I’m sharing how I dressed up this IKEA candle plate for the 4th of July by turning it into a Patriotic Vinyl Charger!

Pair it with some other patriotic decor, like my Stars and Stripes Sheet Music Banner, and you have the perfect decor for the 4th of July!

Make your own custom craft table from stock cabinets, plywood, and peel & stick vinyl tiles!

One of the first things I did when we moved into our home was hire someone to finish the storage room in our basement.  It was this huge empty space that needed to be something else!

After much debate and design, we decided to make it into a large guest bedroom suite with room for a custom craft nook for me!

Truth time: we finished the room in November and I still haven’t really decorated the room yet!  But I did spend time making my craft nook the way I wanted it to be.

First we made this custom craft table.  We bought these stock cabinets from Lowe’s.  They are actually from the closet organization section.  Our nook is deeper than the cabinets, but that gives me room to run cords down behind them and stuff, so it worked out perfectly.

Next, we cut a sheet of 3/4 inch-thick plywood to fit from wall to wall for the desk.  It is supported in the front by the cabinets on each end, and to support the back, we made these heavy-duty wall braces from 1×4 pine boards.  You can see from the pictures below that we screwed some flat to the wall for the back of the table to rest on, and the braces went in the middle for support for this extra-long desk. 

We drilled a circle hole in the top of the cabinet for cords, and then the top of the plywood desk and braces were painted white (mostly so the adhesive vinyl tiles would stick better) Finally we screwed the desktop into the cabinets and braces.  You could paint the bottom white but I’m lazy 🙂

We finished off the desk with these wood grain style adhesive vinyl tiles.  Simply cut to size if needed, peel, and stick.  We did have to use some extra glue for the small piece that line the front of the plywood.

The tile looks brownish but it is actually a lovely gray color.  Chalk it up to basement lighting 🙂

Want to hear about this awesome giant pegboard we made?  Tune in next week and I’ll share how we made it, where I got my cute buckets and baskets, and more!  Plus someday I’ll show you the finished guest suite, if I ever get around to making it cute.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I receive a small commission. That’s what helps fund this blog so I can keep bringing you fun new craft projects to try at home!

No Crafternize post today!  Things have been a bit crazy…..

I thought I’d post the project I made for week two of SYTYC.  If you haven’t voted for this week’s projects, please do!  I could use some more votes! 🙂   The poll closes tomorrow night.

Now for the post: If you are the mom of a boy, then it is likely that he is now or someday soon will be obsessed with Star Wars.  If it hasn’t happened yet, prepare yourself–it most likely will.  Even if you never show them the movies, somehow, they will learn about light sabers  Luke and Han Solo, and of course the big baddy himself- Darth Vader. My oldest son is no exception:   he’s learned how to turn almost anything into a light saber  only wants to check out Star Wars books from the library, and tells everyone he meets about all the characters and what they do.  So, when I heard the theme for this week was “For the Boys”, I knew I had to make something Star-Wars related.  Here is my Darth Vader Stenciled Shirt. I sketched out a Darth Vader head, based on some different clip art images I found online.  Once I had a sketch I was happy with, I traced it onto freezer paper. Normally I would use my Silhouette to cut out the stencil, but I’m having trouble with my blade.  Since I was on a deadline, I used the old-fashioned method:  X-acto knife and a cutting board.  I cut out all the parts that I wanted to be painted.  Then I ironed the freezer paper onto my t-shirt.  I used two coats of black fabric paint to fill in all the openings, and when it was dry to the touch, I peeled the freezer paper off to showcase my design. My son LOVED his shirt.  Knowing it would look even cooler on a black background, I made him a matching pillow for his bed. If you would like the Silhouette file I attempted to use, drop me a note in the comments or via email, and I’ll be happy to share it with you!

I’m linking up to some of these parties this week.  Have a great week, all!

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