DATE ARCHIVES : February 2015

DIY Heart Elbow Patch Cardigan

DIY Heart Elbow Patch Sweater

Even though we really don’t celebrate Valentine’s day here in the Todd household, it’s still really fun to decorate and dress for!  Let’s be real, when do I ever turn down a chance to craft? Lol! Last year, I made this super fun heart shaped wreath out of a pool noodle, and this year it’s a fun elbow patch sweater! Valentine’s day just gives us all a chance to wear our hearts on our sleeve…yes, pun intended!

Heart Elbow Patch Cardigan DIY

This years Valentine’s craft is so easy it isn’t even funny. All you need is a cardigan, some fabric, and one of the following: thread, iron-on adhesive, or double sided tape. It really depends on how permanent you want your patches to be! Just get together all of your supplies and then follow the steps below!

Make your own heart elbow patches

Directions:

  1. Google image search “heart” and find one that suits your liking.
  2. Save the image to your computer and print it out on card stock- you may have to re-size the heart a few times to get the size you want.
  3. Cut out your card stock heart.
  4. Use your heart as a stencil to cut out your fabric pieces.
  5. Put on your cardigan and pin your heart to your elbow where you want it to be.
  6. Take off the cardigan and decide which type of adhesive you are going to use.
  7. If you want a permanent patch and have a sewing machine, sew around the perimeter of the hearts on each elbow.
  8. If you want a permanent patch, but don’t have a sewing machine (or aren’t very good at it;-)) stick your iron on adhesive between the patches and the sweater- iron.
  9. If you want a less permanent solution and would like to wear your sweater again without the patches grab some double sided tape like this. You will wants extra strong kind. This will allow you to wear the sweater with patches once, and then you can remove them and reapply as needed using more tape.

DIY Heart Elbow Patches

Ta da! Isn’t it adorable? I think it’s the perfect little Valentine’s sweater without being too overly gaudy! Have a fun Valentine craft or post? Link to it in the comments so I can come check them out!

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Don’t forget to check out last years Valentine’s posts:

Valentine's Day Roundupheart wreath from a pool noodle 1-29-14 Valentines Outfits

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making The Average Pop

Black and white and pink outfit- from Kendra Scott and Old Navy

What an absolutely beautiful weekend we had here! The sun was shining, it was a beautiful temperature, and I wore dresses the entire time:) It felt like such a productive weekend too! I got in over 17,000 steps on my Jawbone Saturday, went for a 2.63 mile run, made a great new recipe, did some housework, and still managed to spend some time hangin’ with the husband watching New Girl on Netflix! <Sigh> Is it Friday again yet?

Today’s outfit is one from the beautiful weekend. This dress from Old Navy has been one of my favorites since I bought it last fall and I have been dying to wear it again in some warm weather, WITHOUT tights! Sometimes all it takes to add a little pizazz (yes, I just said the word pizazz) to an outfit is throwing in a pop of color. It’s amazing how one bright color can liven up the entire black and white outfit! For those of your questioning a Kendra Scott purchase like the Rayne necklace, let me just tell you I LOVE mine. I had thought about this magenta one for MONTHS before I actually bought up the courage to spend the $$$, but it was well worth the wait. I have worn this baby with so many different outfits and it always, without a doubt MAKES the entire outfit. Pick a color that will pop, but will match a lot of your clothing and you should be good to go. I also have it in the black and gold which I love for outfits that are already bright, but the magenta is by far my favorite. I am a pink girl after all:) #ilovepink

Leopard print bangle from Sweet Southern Things Etsy Shop Black and white dress with pink accessories Leopard monogrammed bangle bracelet- Sweet Southern Things Black and white striped dress with pink pops Black and white with pink accents- outfit inspiration Black and white striped Old Navt Dress with pink necklace and purse Black and white dress with pink accents- great spring outfitGet The Look:

Old Navy Dress  //  Target Wedges (Similar)  //  Michael Kors Crossbody  //  Kendra Scott Necklace & Earrings  //  Sweet and Southern Things Leopard Bangle  //  Charming Charlie Bracelets & Sunglasses  //  Jawbone

Well, I hope that everyone has a wonderful Monday and I will see you back here tomorrow for a fun little Valentine’s tutorial! Thanks for reading!

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Food and Drink,

 

Jawbone UP24

Jawbone Up24
Happy Friday, Everyone! Fit Friday is back and today we are talking all about fitness trackers, specifically the UP24 by Jawbone. Our company is having a fitness challenge and is paying $100 towards a fit tracker for each of us. I think that this is such an awesome way to get your employees thinking about health and fitness in a new light. It has already helped a lot of the people at my company to realize how much we do or don’t walk in an average day. For my device, I chose the UP24. It counts your steps and work out, but also tells you how much sleep you are getting and how good or bad the food you are eating is. So far, I am a huge fan!
On average they say you should strive for 10,000 steps per day. If you are like me, you have a job where you walk around a lot and this is no big deal for you. On average, I walk about 9,000-11,000 steps just at my job. Then I get home and take Sophie for a walk, go for a run, or just walk around in my house. I am a pretty active person to say the least. There are some people at my company though, who have jobs that involve being on the phone for the entire day and they don’t get in more than 1,500 steps while at work. Trackers are great for these people because they can see how little they actually do move throughout the day and make adjustments to their lifestyle in order to work in those extra steps. Even as someone who walks a lot throughout the day, I benefit because I set my goals even higher than 10,000 and work towards some pretty high steps. I’m really striving towards being even more active person and the tracker has helped me along the way!
Jawbone App Steps
The feature I love the most besides the steps is the sleep app. It’s super cool how it detects when you fall asleep and tracks how long you are in a deep sleep. Then, you can set a smart alarm that will vibrate to wake you up within 30 minutes of your alarm time. It detects when you are in a lighter sleep and wakes you up gently during that time so that you aren’t all groggy an sleepy! I don’t know how it all works, but so far it has done very well!
Jawbone App Sleep
This post is not sponsored by Jawbone, or anyone else for that matter, I just really love my UP24 and wanted to share all the info with you guys for Fit Friday! If you do decide to get a tracker, shoot me an email (allthatglitters810 at gmail.com) so we can be friends on the UP app or we can compete on matchup.io! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and I’m going to leave y’all with some of my favorite ways to get extra steps in throughout your day! Enjoy and be healthy!

Ways to get your steps in:

  • Talk a long walk on your lunch break
  • Walk to other people’s offices or cubes instead of calling or messaging them
  • Place things that you need or want in inconvenient places
  • Walk to the grocery store
  • Park in the farthest spot from the door
  • Walk down every aisle in the grocery store
  • Pace while you talk on the phone
  • Only take small amounts of water from the cooler/fridge so that you have to get up to refill often
  • Play with your/the neighbor’s/your sister’s kids
  • Walk to/from any place that is under 1 mile from your home
  • Take the stairs
  • Take your dog for a walk
  • Go for a run

You can buy the Jawbone UP24 here in black for $92.87 or in red for $69.78 with free Prime shipping. If you want pink like I have it’s hard to find, but they have it at Kohls for $124 (usually $129) here.

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Green Chile Mac & Cheese: AKA The Best Mac & Cheese You Have Ever Tasted

Mac and cheese with green chiles- to die for

Mac and cheese is one of my favorite things to eat, I’m pretty sure anyone in my family will tell you that. There’s just something about two of my favorite things, pasta and cheese, mixed together like that…it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. It doesn’t matter if we are at a 5 star restaurant or a dive bar, if there is mac and cheese on the menu, I want it.

There’s a specific mac and cheese that they have at the Alamo Drafthouse here in Texas called green chile mac and cheese. It is to die for. They took it off the menu for a short time a while back and I wrote an email to the owners because it is the only reason I spend the extra money to go to the Alamo Drafthouse. (I’m pretty sure that this only happens to me, but if I like something at a restaurant they end up taking it off the menu. I don’t know if I have weird taste in food or what, but it’s true. That’s besides the point though….) I guess I wasn’t the only upset customer because they ended up bringing it back to the menu, which made me SO happy!

Well, this mac and cheese, it’s great and all…but it’s not worth seeing a movie I don’t want to see in order to get, so I decided that since I found the best mac and cheese recipe ever I would make the green chile mac and cheese with it. It was delish! Absolutely great….dare I say BETTER than the Alamo Drafthouse’s? I think I dare to say it. You have to give it a try…and if it’s not fantastic then you are doing something wrong!! Green chile mac and cheese- the best i have evr had

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 3 cups milk
  • 1/2 stick of butter
  • Noodles
  • 2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar
  • 1/2 cup of shredded romano cheese
  • 1 can diced green chiles
  • Crushed Red Pepper
  • salt & pepper to taste

Green Chile Mac and Cheese Recipe

Directions:

  1. First, get a pot of water boiling for your noodles and put them in there.
  2. Put the 3 cups of milk into your saucepan on high until it boils. Once it is boiling remove it from the heat.
  3. Melt your butter in a saucepan.
  4. Take butter away from heat and whisk your flour into the melted butter until it is a creamy brown color.
  5. Take your hot milk and whisk it into the butter and flour concoction.
  6. Turn your heat back on and cook the sauce until it is thick.
  7. Once the sauce is thick and creamy start to stir in your shredded cheeses. 
  8. Once all the cheese is melted you have what we call the “mac sauce”- you can add salt and pepper here if you would like.
  9. Add your noodles to the mac sauce and mix it up.
  10. Open your can on diced green chiles and drain the liquid from it.
  11. Stir those babies in to your mac and cheese.
  12. Add some crushed red pepper for a little bit more heat.
  13. Put your mac and cheese in to a oven safe casserole dish and bake for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Great recipe for green chile mac and cheese

You have no idea how happy I was eating this. I probably looked like a 5 year old eating a giant piece of chocolate cake on her birthday…..<sigh> it’s the little things in life! Enjoy everyone! I will see you all back here tomorrow for Fit Friday! You know, to work off all of the calories from the mac and cheese! :)

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Nautical Is The New Black

Navy and white dress with mint handbag

You’ll have to excuse the blurryish pictures today. I’m not really sure what was up with my camera this past weekend when I took these. <sigh> This outfit makes me happy. Nautical themed is one of my favorite ways to dress and when I saw this dress at Target I knew I was going to need it. It’s cute, it’s comfortable, and it was only $25. Score for Megan! This past weekend was beautiful here, as you can tell from the photos. So far this week, not so beautiful. It rained all day long yesterday and has been chilly. I want my spring weather to come back so that I can continue to wear pretty spring dresses like this one! Navy and white nautical striped dress from Target Nautical striped dress with mint handbag and gold jewelry Nautical look- Navy and white stripes with mint Target blue and white striped dress with mint handbag Nautical dress with pink lips and mint crossbody Mint riveted handbag with gold accessories and striped dressGet The Look:

Target Dress  & Wedges  //  Charming Charlie Handbag, Necklace, Sunglasses, & Bracelets

I have been doing so well with my steps on my Jawbone! I still absolutely love it! I took over 16,000 steps yesterday and over 11,000 the day before! Woot woot! I’m kicking everyone at work’s behinds which is always fun since I’m the girl. I’ve also been keeping track of my food on My Fitness Pal which has really been an eye opener for how many calories I am actually consuming. Sugar too…I have a sugar addiction and it’s a problem. I really think this is the beginning of a new lifestyle for me which is awesome. I have always worked out, but now I have a little bit more motivation to do so and these apps are super great for keeping yourself in check! I hope everyone else is having a wonderful (and healthy) week! Thanks for stopping by!

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