Free Winter Wonderland Christmas Cupcake Toppers

The holiday season is now in full swing!

I know many of you will be hosting Christmas parties in the next few weeks here, so I've decided to share some cupcake toppers that I've made - for FREE! These toppers can also double as gift tags or embellishments if you wish, too. Kinda like getting a two-for-one! OR You could use some as cupcake toppers and print a second sheet as favor/gift tags. Let your imagination run wild!

If you are downloading this, please like Oh, Boy. Oh, Joy! on Facebook. Thanks!

Simply like download here and print out on cardstock or heavy weight paper, 

cut out with tool of your choice, and

for cupcake toppers: glue top 1/3 of toothpick to back of cut circles

for gift tags: punch hole in outer layer of cut circles and add twine, string, or ribbon to attach to {well just about ANYTHING}

 If you use these this holiday, I would love to see pictures!

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Zucchini Night! - 2 Healthy and Delicious Ways to Incorporate Squash

Let me start off by saying I love zucchini. I could eat it in almost any form, but for those of you who aren't so fond of it I'll share some great recipes that might make you change your mind.

The first comes from Gina at Skinnytaste.com. {If you haven't checked her page out she has TONS of mouth-watering/health conscious recipes and tips.} She also allows provides Weight Watchers numbers for each recipe, so if you're watching your figure this is the lady to go to. Last night I made her Cream of Zucchini Soup and my taste buds are still craving more.

Here's how you make it:

Chop up all vegetables. (I prefer to do all the chopping first)

Combine 1/2 small onion chopped, 2 cloves of garlic, 3 small zucchini (I like mine quartered), and 32 oz. of chicken stock in a large pot and set to medium heat.

Gradually bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Then add 2 tablespoons of reduced fat sour cream (I used fat free) to your mixture and pour in a blender. Puree until smooth. Then add salt and pepper to taste. 

And voila! A perfect delicious winter warm up, and healthy too!

The second recipe is partly my own. I love to cook chicken breast for my family. It's lean, it's inexpensive, and there are so many ways to cook it. I prefer to cook my chicken in a pan.

I add 1-2 tsp of olive oil. Add my chicken breasts and lightly sprinkle each side with dry mustard, garlic salt, oregano, basil, and parsley and cook chicken until done. [To me the dry mustard really makes the chicken flavor pop, but if you prefer you can leave it out.]

This is the part of the recipe that's NOT mine. I love this quick and simple marinara, again from skinnytaste.com. I followed her recipe exactly. 

Next, I ladled the marinara on top of my chicken breasts and added chopped zucchini. Check this dish out!

I think it would also be divine with some freshly grated mozzarella on top!

This entire meal for 2 (and a half), the soup and the zucchini dish, only cost me $7! Who says you can't eat healthy on the cheap?

Photo Shoot Style for Little Man

So I had my son's holiday photos taken at a studio on Wednesday. They were not at all what I had in mind. I've had his pictures taken at this studio 5 or 6 times since he's been born and have always been extremely happy, except for this time. It's the holiday season, they were training new staff, the place was a zoo, we were feeling rushed, and on top of that I got the newest photographer. Great. So needless to say the pictures didn't come out to either mine nor my mother's liking. :(

Here's one of them that I actually like.

Although, somewhat reminiscent of ones we've had taken before, like these:

Anyhow, we might go back and have them redone. {Hopefully} We still have to talk to the manager of the studio again before that can happen. But again, I've been browsing the net for inspiration to style my little one and here are some great options that I've found, many of them you can make yourself and personalize [which has to be one of the greatest parts]!

This look, which I found at Green Wedding Shoes, was originally intended for a ring bearer. How could anyone resist this classic 30's look complete with suspenders, bow tie, and saddle shoes? ADORABLE. I love the idea of just black and white for the Christmas photos, too, because I felt it would be a classic look I would always love.

Although not a bow tie, lucky for me (and now you) I found a great free tutorial on how to make a tie for your own little guy. Ashley at Lil Blue Boo did a great job with this free PDF downloadable pattern!

This free pattern for toddler suspenders from Courtenay at Days Like This would make the whole look complete.

If you don't have time for making several different pieces, this tie and vest onesie from Rock n Rags' Etsy shop would be perfect.

Unfortunately for me, my little one won't wear a hat (at least most of the time). But if he would, something like this look{only not as summery} would be an awesome casual laid back look! This one is compliments of The Gap.

Oh, how I wished I owned all of these outfits for him, but then again making them for him would be so much fun! Maybe I'll have time to whip something up before the next scheduled shoot. ;) Fingers crossed!

It Can Officially Be Winter Now!

I'm enjoying my first cup of hot chocolate for the year {also in a mug I got at the after-Christmas clearance from Pier 1 last year;)} to warm my frigid hands. Have a feeling this winter's going to be extremely cold, we already got about 6 inches of snow here on Tuesday.

Also, if you haven't checked out Better Homes and Garden's version of Yankee candle [available at Walmart] they're not to shabby either. Here I've lit one of their new holiday scents Spiced Apple Wreath, and I'm not even a bit disappointed. 

Pier 1 Imports Holiday 2011

I have to admit, Pier 1 Imports is one of my favorite stores. I swoon over almost everything in there. I just have one tiny problem when attempting to purchase from there - I wouldn't know where to put all of it!

My other problem when it comes to Pier 1? I want all the BIG expensive stuff. Like the custom upholstered chairs, or the extremely large and tall entryway mirrors. There's always so many things that catch my eye when I'm in there, I can't even pick one thing to take home for fear that I should've gotten some other great thing later. Sad, and curiously puzzling, but that's just me.

Another thing, Christmas time at Pier 1 is my favorite. Everything seems to just have the *bling* factor that other times of the year don't seem to attract as much. So I stopped into one of my local Pier 1 stores today to check out their holiday merchandise.

Here are some things I found that I think are just peachy:

Beaded Reindeer Pillow

Alpine Sparkle Dining Set

Um, hello. Look at that silverware!

How cute is this "Santa Stop Here" Lighted Sign? 

My son would definitely be amazed by this one.

I want this Purple Damask Dining Chair, mostly just for the back.

I love the bling on this Velvet Snowflake Pillow.

This Christmas spatulas bring new meaning to whipping up some Christmas cheer.

These mercury glass candle stands would make staying warm 

on cold winters nights look so elegant.

Yep! You can tell that nothing with bright lights or shiny accents is getting past me! I went in hoping to spend the gift card from LAST CHRISTMAS that I've been saving for that "perfect" purchase, but again walked away with nothing because I couldn't make up my mind. Shhh! Don't tell my boyfriend I still have credit left on it or else I might not get another one this year. ;) 

Or better yet, I might just wait until the after Christmas clearance to snatch some of these things up. Because yes, I am that frugal.

My Photo Editing Secret - And It's Free!

I love taking pictures of my little boy. I love taking pictures of my family. These are moments to treasure and the great thing about photos is they'll be around forever {or at least as long as you're around!}, so it's very important to me that I get quality photos of my family at each of our different life stages. My little boy will only be little once!

Here are some pictures I took of my little one just over a month ago.

Being a TOTALLY amateur photographer myself, I was pretty impressed with the way my little fall photo shoot came out. However, I have a dirty little secret. It's ALL editing. As I'm sure every professional photographer will tell you, editing is the key to a successful and B-E-A-utiful picture. I'm sure many of you could capture wonderful images through your wonderful cameras alone, but unfortunately I don't have a fancy schmancy camera or a fancy photoshop program. I simply used my three year old little dinky point and shoot for these. Yep, that little crappy thing made these awesome images!

Don't believe me? Here are some of the raw originals. Eeek!

Not too bad, but the edited ones *pop* so much more!

Luckily, it's your lucky day! LOL I'm going to share my suppppeeeer inexpensive editing secret with you. It's called Picnik and I think I'm in love with it. Picnik.com is a free photo editing software online, however many of it's features are not available if you do not pay the yearly fee to access all of it's content. So me, being the frugal one that I am, broke down and paid the $24.95 a year to join. But let me tell you it's been one of the best investments I've ever made!

It doubles as an awesome graphic design aid. I was even able to make my son's first birthday party invitations and decorations with it.

here's a sample of his invitations (he LOVES Super Why!)

and water bottle labels

and cupcake toppers

They ended up looking like this:

I mean you can make soooo much stuff  very easily with Picnik!

So now that I've shared my editing secret with you, hopefully now you can go out and make some great stuff of your own with it. Later, I'll show you how I actually edit each photo and my favorite actions in Picnik.  Happy editing!

Playroom Inspiration!

So I'm no sure how many of you out there reading this have kids, but if you have a toddler or small child like I do, I'm sure this will be a post you will be able to relate to. I love my toddler, but let me tell you he is work! He is one of the most curious busy-bodies I have ever seen!

Unfortunately, the only space in our house that is currently safe for him to play and roam freely is our teeny teeny tiny little office. Our house has three stairways (all of which have gates, but he has figured out how to open), two fireplaces, and one of the main living areas of our home is concrete {yea - not so safe for a baby}. The main reason we stay in the office: it has a door.

He can usually play in the office without fear of seriously injuring himself and he can spread out all his toys and go at it, but on the other hand the space is sooo confining he gets bored extremely easily. He occasionally looks out the sliding glass door from the patio onto our attached balcony, but mostly the view isn't very enticing for him. We have a small television in the room, but it is sitting very high for his little neck to crane up and look at all the time. The television in the office also doesn't have a DVD player due to the fact that he tries to rip all the cords out of a DVD player if we attach one, and mommy is SERIOUSLY going to go insane if I have to watch the same episode of Sesame Street one more time! As he gets older, this space will just seem more and more confining and less and less hospitable for him. So in conclusion, we have a problem.

But alas, most problems have practical solutions, and we think we might have found one. We have a large room in our finished basement that is currently unfinished, and guess what? It also has a door!  We plan to convert this space into a finished playroom for our son and any future children. It's pretty large, approximately 35 by 18 feet, so we could add everything from a craft station to an entertainment center, to bookshelves, to a sectional, and whatever else his little heart desires. Ahhh! So exciting, renovation and a new room for the little one all in one fowl swoop!

So of course, like everything else in my life lately, I've been finding TONS of inspiration from Pinterest for our new undertaking. Here are some ideas that I like love:

I found this one via Modern Parents Messy Kids and the space was featured in the spring edition of Lonny Magazine. It was featured to highlight the LARGE scale wall quote, but I really love the space for it's color and that sectional! It is also reminiscent of our unfinished space, very long. Check it out.

I actually found this one from HGTV's rate my space boards. The one pictured isn't actually IN a playroom, but I'd like to incorporate something like this into mine. The large scale magnet board, chalk board, and pin board are so brilliant. You can showcase your child's work in a random fashion and still maintain an organized look and feel. Love it.

I also really like this idea of a magnetic art center to add to the magnet boards from Angie over at Burton Avenue.

And who can deny the utter adorable-ness of these boy statements? I mean, my boys are my joy after all. 

This one was found via Spearmint Baby.

And this one from Offthewallexpression's Etsy Shop.

We were also thinking of adding some sort of built ins along an entire wall for book, toy, movie storage, etc. Kind of like this one I found on houzz.com:

And of course, how could I forget to mention these super cool rain gutter/baseboard inspiried bookshelves from Courtney at And Then There Was Home.

If you couldn't tell by now, I'm a very visual person! These pictures have definitely inspired me to make an AWESOME playroom of my own for my little one. What does our playroom have in store? Only time will tell. Stay tuned for updates to our playroom renovation.