4 Men 1 Lady

a lifestyle blog about the persuit of bringing beauty to a house full of men.

When life gives you lemons, make cake.

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I’ve often seen older generations quickly spiral mentally and physically after retiring from their life-long careers.  Taking away one’s sense of purpose has a huge effect.  In the very mildest sense I feel like I can relate.  The after effects of selling our vintage shop in January has been challenging.  I went from having every second of my day filled with work and activity to having it all gone in a snap.  I stand by our decision to sell, as everything in my life was suffering during store ownership (family, spiritual, physical, emotional) but I wasn’t prepared for the tricky transition of letting go of my “other” career baby.  Don’t get me wrong, raising a family and managing a household gives me a tremendous purpose even though I’m running around like a loco chicken.  On the other hand, I also long for a creative outlet in addition to being a mother.

The past 6 months have been a journey of self-discovery.  I’m extraordinarily blessed to be able to stay at home, raise my family, and explore my next creative venture.  I get a huge sense of purpose from creating beautiful things…whether that is beautifying my home, creating thoughtful gifts or making exquisite food.  I want to do more of that.  But my game has changed a bit.  Blogging about my home is tricky because every inch has been renovated (twice) so I’m searching for how I now want to use my voice and leave my mark in the world. Home maintenance, more DIY, house flipping, design for clients, move and start over with a new house, expand my online store, become Molly Homemaker?  All questions I’m wrestling with.

In my pursuits I ran in to Cake by Courtney who is also a fellow contributor on the Studio 5 Show.

Her cakes leave me spellbound, speachless and in total awe.  That are works of art.  But what I love best is that she wants everyone to have the same enjoyment and shares her knowledge of cake making.  Her easy to follow tutorials will make you believe that you too are a closeted cake maker just waiting to come out.

After stalking her instagram, then website, then YouTube channel I made my first cake.

Seven hours later and flour bomb explosion in the kitchen, I had my first cake.

It wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t too shabby either for a first cake.
The biggest delight was the reaction from my middle son who praised my cake making skills like I was a pro.

If the past six months has taught me anything it’s that the purpose of life doesn’t have to be all about accomplishments and results.  Learning, struggling, and wrestling with issues is okay and necessary for growth.  We are all on different trajectories and it is healthy to take time to smell the roses.  Valleys and peaks is all a part of the process for everyone.  And during my journey to the next door of opportunity, I’ll be in the kitchen making cake.

Birthday gifts for kids under $15.

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Do you follow @TheMotherOctopus on Instagram?
You should.
She is seriously hilarious.
I completely related to this post of hers after my 3 kids had been invited to 6 birthday parties between them in 1 month.

Don’t get me wrong…I love a good party and am all for celebrating with friends on their special day. I especially love that two hour break on a long Saturday but 6 parties in 1 month can get very expensive when you add up the cost of all the birthday gifts you have to buy. After looking at all the invitations I had that month I decided to give myself a $15 budget per present. (Call me cheap but momma’s got to send three boys to college one day).  Here’s a list of my best go-to birthday gifts for a boy or girl under $15.

1. You can’t tell from the picture but this glider air plane is huge. It has a 4 foot wing span and can fly up to 150 in the right conditions.  You can find it at Hobby Lobby and it’s pretty darn impressive when you wrap this huge present and walk in to a the party.  Guaranteed to get a wow from all the kids. At only $10.99 it won’t break your gift budget.  (Tip: I always pull up the 40% off coupon on my phone when I’m standing in line at Hobby Lobby for an added discount).
2. Bunch of Balloons are a hit for any kid, any age, any gender.  You’ll never go back to old school water balloons that you have to fill one-at-a-time after using these.  Watching 100 water balloons fill up in less than 60 seconds looks like some kind of magic trick.
3.  Have you seen the science experiment where you drop Mentos in a 2 liter of Coke and it creates a Coke volcano? With the Mentos Geyser Tube you can count on the kids wanting to stop everything and beg to do the experiment right then and there.
4. The Stomp Rocket is one of those toys that will entertain kids for a long time.  Whenever my boys go out in our cult-de-sac it attracts a lot of kids all wanting a turn to see how high in the air they can launch the foam rockets in to the air.
5. A Yard Of Bubblegum is another one of those gifts that will definitely have every kid at the party saying, “YOU’RE SO LUCKY!”.  It literally is a tube a yard long filled with jumbo bubblegum balls.  Show up with this gift and it will be the hit of the party.  Whenever I’m at World Market I always but at least 5 at a time and keep them on hand for birthdays.  Perfect for a boy or girl.
6.  Slime is the trending item of the moment.  I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve spend way to much time watching people play with slime on Instagram.  I don’t know why but it just sucks you in. Kids will love it (and likely their parents will as well).
7. If you’ve ever seen a Zoom-O on the store shelf you can’t help but push the button and spin the disks.  They are so much fun to play with.  I’ve yet to see one kid who doesn’t love these.

I’ve found that the best gifts for kids are those that are interactive.  No clothes…(been there, done that…big mistake).  Another tip, I always stay away from Nerf anything or Legos, they are popular gifts and inevitably they end of getting duplicates of them.   Also, when I find a gift that is a great buy but also something that went over well in the past at other parties I will always buy multiples.  It’s annoying to have to make a special trip just for a birthday gift each time you need one.

What birthday gifts have you found to be great for kids?

Vintage and DIY Pennants

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On my design radar, as of late, has been vintage pennants. They don’t actually have to be vintage for me to love them.
New or old, I have a soft spot for all of them. They add such a fun touch of nostalgia and character.
Check out some of my pennant inspiration pics.

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I have quite a collection of vintage pennants I’ve found over the years.
After studying the construction of how they are made I decided to see how hard (or easy) it would be to make my own using one of my son’s middle name, “Sailor” as inspiration.

I took a trip to my local craft store, Hobby Lobby and found that they sell two types of felt.  One is stiffer than the other and perfect for the flag component of a pennant.

For $.33 you can buy a softer, more pliable felt that is perfect for cutting out letters or shapes to glue on to your pennant flag.

Step 1: Cut a triangle shape similar to a flag.

Step 2:

There are several ways to do this. You can simply free-hand cutting letters out of your felt, you can use a stencil to trace letters then cut them out or use a cutting device like a Cricut.

Next, use a thin bead of glue on each letter or shape.  I found this glue specially formulated for felt and foam.
If you use too much it will dry clear but you don’t want glue popping out so use sparingly.

Step 4: Lay pennant between two pieces of parchment paper then set something heavy on top to help glue adhere.

I recommend parchment paper because just in case you used too much glue it will go on the parchment but will also remove easily once dry.

I gave mine a couple of hours to dry then it was ready to hang.

Another fabulous way to display pennants is sewing them on to a pillow which is what the Vintage Pennant Peddler does.

I also love this DIY handmade flag from The Fox That Made on Etsy which I love for displaying collected pins.

I recently made an appearance on the Studio 5 show and talked about my love for pennants.

1: Vintage Pennants and Flags: Haight and Ashbury
2. “Be Kind” flag: The Fox That Made
3. Sailor Pennant (DIY)
4. Red and White Flags: PickinNPeddlin 
5. Utah Pennant Pillow: Vintage Pennant Peddler
6. “Brave” Pennant: Hobby Lobby

Many of these are mine but I have to give a huge shout out to Haight and Ashbury Vintage shop here in Salt Lake City for loaning me their collection to display on the show.
(By the way, the majority of these are for sale at their shop now).

Check out my appearance on the Studio 5 show:

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