I feel so LOVED!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all had a great week-I've been enjoying every minute of my vacation. I got through 3 books including the 3rd book in the Iron Fey series I talked about {here}. It was as intense as the other two books-and now I just have to bide my time and wait for the fourth book to come out.

We've spent lots of time at the beach and with family-which is always the most important thing. I've gotten to know my brother and sister-in-law really well and am excited that their visiting from San Diego for another week!

We even drove an hour to a city called Logan and got a little shopping in. Unfortunately it wasn't for me-but for Mojo! He has been wearing holey jeans and t-shirts with 3 year old stains since before we were dating. And I was thinking with the new school year coming up and since we're married I figured I can play dress up with my husband! He got two new pairs of jeans (his old ones have a big hole right in the crotch area), a new pair of shorts, 4 t-shirts, and 5 Polo's. It was a great trip and Mojo is loving his new clothes-besides he looks so handsome. Wouldn't you agree?

Here's Mojo playing the gut-tar (a.k.a. Little C.) doesn't he look great?!

But the real reason of this post and title is that while I was playing at the beach and soaking up the sun cute Jessa over at Jessa Jill awarded me the Liebster Blog Award!

The Liebster Award is one you accept with the intention of paying it forward.  When you accept the award, choose 3-5 other blogs that you feel deserve more followers, and pass the word on to them.

After accepting the award, you are supposed to share 7 things that the blogging world doesn't know about you.

It's for small blogs that you think deserve new followers-thanks Jessa! It made my day when I read the comment she left telling me she had awarded it to me. 

So now for the fun part-I get to award it to 3-5 other new blogs as well as let you all in on 7 secrets of mine. So I think you should all go check out these lovely blogs:

A mommy's life with a touch of yellow

I'm busy procrastinating

Yeah, that's macho and tough

Turning a House into a Home

Each of them have their own unique voice-and I'm inspired by all of them. I had lots of other's I wanted to feature that had over 300 followers and so were disqualified-that may mean it's time for me to do a post spotlighting all the great blogs out there.

Anyway-back to the point, okay seven random things about me...

1-I have an intense fear of chainsaws-but I love going to Haunted Houses. It seems surprising that I would continue to go to Haunted Houses when just hearing a chainsaw makes me freeze. If ever I come upon a situation IRL where someone it trying to kill me with a chainsaw I will probably just give up and die-there's no escaping the wrath of a chain saw.

2-I'm the quiet one in my family. With 7 kids in my family and being #6 of 7-I've always been the quiet one. My family can be described in one word-LOUD. I know everyone says that-but for the Fletcher Clan it's very true. Growing up the thought of yelling over everyone to be heard didn't appeal to me-so I became quiet, not shy, just quiet.

3-I think whales are some of the most beautiful creatures on this Earth. I think their size and the sounds they make are amazing. Because of that the thought of countries giving the okay to slaughter Whales so they can eat them makes me absolutely sick-such beautiful creatures don't deserve to be killed in that way. 

4-I'm just beginning to realize how much I love to cook. Mojo has always been the cook in the family and I just accepted it-but recently I've started doing the cooking and each new entry or dessert I try makes me fall in love a little more.

5-One of my favorite memories growing up is when my mom would come pick me up from Kindergarten and we would go to Hardy's to share a mushroom burger and a diet coke. It seems like such a small thing but it was important to me because it was my time with mom. It was just the to of us and we would talk about whatever was important to me and whatever life crises I was going through as a five year old. My mom and I still have that relationship and she still helps me when I have life problems coming up.

6-Pizza is my favorite thing in the world. When Mojo and I went shopping this week we at the Firehouse Pizzeria in Logan and it was delish! To put it in perspective-my family went on a cruise when I was 15 and they had a 24 hours pizza parlor-my mom and I were seen there everyday of the 7 day cruise. Like mother like daughter.

7-It is REALLY hard to come up with 7 things-apparently I'm not that interesting. Okay for the 7th things-I've always wished I had magical powers. Weather it was to read minds like a superhero (or Mel Gibson from What Women Want) or to be a witch like in Harry Potter. I have a pretty active imagination and from the time I was young I loved the idea of having special powers.

Whew! That was seriously harder than I expected-apparently I need to become cooler so that I can have more interesting things to say. 

Thanks again to Jessa for the awesome award and to everyone who reads this blog of mine. And of course-if you haven't yet be sure to link up to this week's Tutorial Tuesday-the link party ends tonight!

Crafting at the Cabin

Hola! I'm thoroughly enjoying myself here at the Cabin with family and friends. I hope you are all having an amazing week as well. Thanks to everyone who's linked up to the party so far-if you haven't yet don't worry the party is up through Friday and you can link-up {here}.

We've been having lots of fun here up at the cabin. We've gone sailing, played at the beach, ate lots of delicious foods, felt an earthquake, and did some crafts!

My MIL asked me to come up with a craft that would be easy and fun to do for everyone. I had a hard time deciding what I thought would be a good idea and something that everyone would love. After looking around my apartment I realized that we desperetly needed some coasters-and so did the cabin. 

I'd seen lots of coasters around Pinterest like these:

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These are great and I thought it would be a fantastic way to craft and get something useful out of it. So Mojo and I headed to Lowe's and picked up some $.16 tiles and some of that cupboard liner-mesh stuff. 

I used the mesh stuff to put on the back of the tiles-most people use felts which works fine but I liked this better. I traced the outline of the tile and cut out the mesh to fit then used my glue gun to attach it to the back of the tile.

I put the backs on all the tiles at home so that we wouldn't have to worry about it when we got to the cabin. To decorate the tiles I took a book of scrapbook paper, some acrylic paint, and both matte and gloss modge podge to seal it and make it water proof. 

I made a couple different tiles using both the scrapbook paper and the paint. 

And here are our four-we did four for each family that was there.

I love how fun and colorful they turned out-and I think it was a hit with everyone else as well

Grandma and Miss J had fun painting their tiles

We had lots of fun crafting and talking about old memories

Even Mojo got in on the crafting

All in all it turned out to be a great project for everyone. The whole cost of the project was around $10-that was for the tiles and the cupboard liner-which was kind of expensive. But other then that we had everything on hand. 

Thanks for stopping by-I'm off to go to the beach, have a fantastic day!

Still riding the yellow train

Good Morning Everyone! If you've been around for a while you know I have a love of all things YELLOW! I just started a Yellow Love Pinboard. I have yellow in my Kitchen, on my door, on a wreath, and decorating my vases. So you can't be surprised that I have completed another project using yellow.

Remember these thrift store finds?

Well I'm slowing making my way through them all. That hideous purple/gold tray was spray painted and lined with that dark green fabric. It became this awesome coffee table tray. I left the purple vase as is using it to house the beautiful purple orchid my MIL gave me.

Now it's time to move onto the blue and brown vases in the back. I also used a sparkly yellow vase I found at a latter DI run-but forgot to picture. 

I started off with the brown vase which I bought because of it's beautiful shape and only paid $1 for. I put a couple coats of white on and let it dry over night. Then, using some masking tape, I taped off the areas I wanted to remain white and painted the rest with a beautiful light green color.

Then I painted over another vase that I had bought (no before picture) and the round blue vase that was in the picture above.

Here are all three vases-you can't tell very well in this picture (I'm in the process of convincing Mojo that we need a new camera-Picnik can only do so much) but there is masking tape on the yellow vase as well-I wanted to have one white strip at the top. I was worried that the masking tape wouldn't work but painter's tape is just to expensive. But I worried in vain, the masking tape did a great job making both myself and my wallet happy.

And here they are sitting proudly on the end table in our living room. This would be the time where I would run to the store and by flowers or whip something out of my huge craft collection to pretty these babies up. But in all honesty-I can't afford to buy flowers on a whim and my craft collection isn't all that big. But I'm happy with how they look-and when the day comes that Mojo surprises me with flowers or gets a job that can afford for me to have a bigger craft budget I'll be all over sprucing them up a bit.

But until then-here they are in all their glory. Enjoying the spotlight next to our remote/game control basket and the picture of our bench with a view of our park and the place the Mojo asked me to marry him. 

At this time in my life I can't afford to buy the things I want to make my crafts better in bulk. I have to by them piece by piece and mostly when their on sale. Sometimes it can be really frustrating, but even though at this stage in our lives our house won't ever look like Jen's from Tatertots and Jello or Ashley's over at Little Miss Momma, I'm okay with it. Not only are they older than me-but they have gone through the challenges of being a poor married couple. Which gives me hope that one day I'll look around my house (not apartment-house!) and love everything in it-both handmade and store bought. 

But until that day I'm grateful for the hand-me-down furniture, the creaky bed, and the crafts that don't have that "finished" look. Because even though I don't have all the things Pinterest makes me wish I had-I do have the more important things. A roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, and a husband who loves me unconditionally. 

Tutorial Tuesday #16

Good Morning Friends! I should have warned you that I am on vacation-for a WHOLE week! So posts may be scarce. I had grandiose plans of posting while on vacation-but now that I'm here I'm realizing that I'd much rather spend time with family making memories.

But never fear Tutorial Tuesday is going forward as planned! As usual you all inspire me and a BIG thanks to everyone who linked up! This little blog of mine is still growing so I would LOVE it if you could spread the word about Tutorial Tuesday so more people can party with us!

First up is this ADORABLE bread box re-do. I think she picked the PERFECT color. Head on over to The Old Block House and tell her what you think!

And if you've been around for a while you all know that I'm a big fan of Gin's. I'm sad she lives in Texas and I've been trying to convince her to come to Salt Lake for a Blog conference in April so that we can hang out. Because anyone that can make cake in a cup-would be a great friend! So head on over to Life as Topher's Mama oggle over her adorable baby boy and start whipping up gourmet cakes in the microwave!

I wish I had the luck of other people. I love love LOVE this vintage suitcase she inherited for her grandparents-and that she used it as a picnic basket-ingenious! Head on over to La Dee Da and check out her adorable suitcase transformation.

I generally only do four features but I have been playing with a certain adorable one year old that I think would look so cute in this dress! Thanks Artsy Fartsy Mama for the inspiration-I think I know what I might be making someone for Christmas.

Alright-now it's your turn! Show me all the fun stuff you've been up to and that I've missed since I've been on vacation. Be sure to take our button and let other's know about Tutorial Tuesday! 

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For those of you that were featured you can grab a button over on the sidebar ------------------->

Thanks again to all of my awesome readers and followers! You guys make me feel SO cool! Keep being your awesome selves.

P.S. We just felt a 3.5 earthquake (tiny) here at the Cabin in Bear Lake. Hoping it's the only one this trip-but if you don't hear from me after a week-well you know it's been nice knowing you.

The Nevermore

Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello

Wow-it's really echo-y in here isn't it?? 

Sorry about the lack of post yesterday you see I had to enter the Nevermore and help Princess Megan the daughter of King Oberon the Elking, rescue her half brother from the evil Iron King and stop him from destroying Nevermore forever. It was a pretty intense night full of magic and tough decisions and of course amore (that's love in Italian-I think)!

So in between fighting off goblins and watching Megan fall hopelessly in love with the Winter prince I was much to busy to sit down and write about the craft I finished over the weekend.

I'm sure you all understand. Because of course all my wonderful readers get sucked into other worlds and different times every time they open a book just like I do. Wait, that's just me? You mean other people don't call the Library at 8:30 pm to find out when they close and if they have the second book in a series they started that morning and have barely been able to put down since? 

And you mean other people don't drag their husband down to the library to get there in time before it closes to get said second book? 

Hmmm.....that seems strange. 

All growing up I was the reader in my family. My sister-in-law has commented that she remembers me as a young girl (around 6ish) sitting in the corner of the couch ignoring the chaos around me with my nose firmly pressed to the inside of a book. It describes me as a child to a T. 

Of course I still ran and played and used my overly creative imagination to make up elaborate stories that I would act out with my friend (thank you Liz for the great times). My mom wouldn't have let me sit inside the house all day-I used to think she made me go outside for my health-now I think it was more for her sanity.

But even though I ran around most of the day-when night fell you could always find me snuggled up in bed reading until my mom came in and took my book away.

Which she did, a lot. It was one of the worst forms of punishment for me-and it got me to do whatever she wanted. So all in all-it worked pretty well for her. 

Since I've grown up things have taken priority over reading. And most often I go months and months without reading-until I find a book that sucks me in and reminds me how much I miss getting so involved in a story. I love holding the book in my hands, holding my breath as I turn the page wondering what's going to happen on the next. 

And it all plays out like a movie in my head, each book I pick up I put myself in the story. When the hero is charging the dragon to save the princess-I'm right there watching in amazement wondering what will happen next. 

It's an addiction that I'll never be able to let go. And one that I hope to pass on to my children on day. 

So, while I love my readers and I think you are all awesome-you'll have to excuse me because I'm snuggled up and warm under my favorite blanket and I have to go help a Prince and Princess kill a King.

Wish me luck!

P.S. If you're wondering what book has me so enthralled-go buy The Iron Kin by Julie Kagawa-or you can check out their {website}-ya, their THAT cool!

Change is in the air

I hope you all had a fantastic week and have fun plans for the upcoming weekend! Today is a day of changes for me. Today is my last day at my current job. I've been here for just shy of 3 years and I'm having bittersweet emotions as I get ready to leave.

I'm excited for the road ahead of me but it's hard for me to leave the familiar. I know my place here-I know my job. I know the different dynamics of the office and I know how to do my job really well. But I'm saying goodbye to that safety to go off and explore a new world. The unknown can often be unnerving and scary.
Also, I learned yesterday that my high school job and the resturant my family has been eating at since my parents were first married will be closing next week. It's a sad day for the Fletcher family. Since Mojo and I will be out of town all next week we ate there last night for one last time. I ordered all my favorites and savored every bite. My family has a lot of fun memories there and it will be sad to see it go.

But despite the changes Mojo and I are so excited for the future! Mojo and I are headed up to Bear Lake again for the Reynolds family vacation. We'll be there for a week sailing, playing in the sand, and spending time with Mojo's family.

And next Monday the real fun begins as Mojo and I start off on a new path together.

Wish me luck!!

Tutorial Tuesday #15

You guys are seriously amazing! I had so much fun going through everyone's links and seeing all the amazing things you've been up to! I even found some great new blogs to follow-I can't wait to see what you guys have been up to this week.

Heather over at Heather's House to Home shares a delicious candy bar pie-I actually saw this in my weekly blog reading and was so glad that she linked up so I can share it all with you! Doesn't it look absolutely delish?

Ali over at Found in the "Ali" (love that name!) shares a great up-do! She used an old cigar box to make an adorable new ring organizer! I think it turned out fabulous. And she did a great job on taking something that didn't cost a lot, giving it a great makeover, and turning it into something chic and modern!

Dacia and Chelsea over at Creative Mommas wowed me with this fun ice cream party! Can I please adopt a 5 year old for a day so that I can host a party like this? I love how resourceful they are and how amazing it turned out. Good job!

Thanks for all the amazing bloggers who linked up last week! Each week the link party grows a little more and it makes me SO happy! Keep being awesome and spreading the word about Newlyweds on a Budget and Tutorial Tuesday! If you were featured today be sure to grab you featured button on the sidebar ----->

Now let's get this party started!

Remember there are no rules because rules tend to put a damper on things. But I would sure love it if you could take my button (or use a link) back here so other's can come join in on the fun!

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I had such grand plans

I had such grand plans for this weekend. I was going to deep clean my house and finally get around to washing the mountain of laundry that's been forming in my bedroom. We wanted to spend time with family and friends visiting from out of town and finish a mile long list of half finished crafts.

Needless to say my grand plans took a flying leap out the front window Friday night. We got a few essential things done (cleaning, grocery shopping, finishing half of the laundry). But I still have 10 or so in the process crafts that I need to finish. All weeked they sat on my craft table or spread throughout my "craft" room begging to be worked on.

But alas, it wasn't meant to be. As it often does-Real Life got in the way and the crafts got pushed back once more.

Our big Reynolds Family Summer Vacation took priority this weekend as we planned meals and activities, set up times to get the sail boat ready, and tried to find a way to accommodate the ever growing amount of people who are coming.

Although sleeping spaces are limited and a party for 31 people will be the main focus at the beginning of the vacation-I am so excited for this trip! It will be five day relaxing, sun filled vacation full of good books and even better company.

So to my grand plans I say, oh well. Planning time to play in the sand and the sun with these my nieces beats finishing a to-do list anyday!

Under Construction

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I apologize in advance-I'm working on updating this blog of mine and it might take a few days (I'm still new at this). But don't worry I'm stilling crafting away and getting together some great tutorials for you-including how to change a few things on your own blog!

Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY FRIDAY!

Changing things up a bit

Since I've gotten bit by the craft bug I can only stand certain things for a couple months-at most. Sometimes it's less that that. Such was the case with my shoe box wall art.

Remember this?

It was a huge success and I got lots of fun feed back on it. I'm glad you all loved it. I did as well and it sat proudly on my kitchen/living room wall. Well then I got really sick with the colors-they don't match the colors of my kitchen at all and I was ready for something new.  

Luckily for me Michael's has been hosting their annual dollar days sale and I got to go yesterday. I got lots of fun stuff-mostly essential things like paint and foam brushes (14 for $1!).

So here's the deal. I got some new scrap book paper (5 for $1) and some foam board (5 for $4) and got to work. These are nice and easy to make-here's what you'll need.

Take your foam board and simply wrap your paper around it like you would a present and then secure with the tape. Yup-that simple. 

Then to hang on the wall I just used more tape. We like tape in this house because it's CHEAP!

Here's the finished project-

I took these at night-so the lighting isn't the best. That's what you get for having tiny windows and not enough lights. But enough about my lights situation-what do you think???

It makes my kitchen SO much better now and it makes me a LOT happier! What are your thoughts?

Have you been busy crafting too? Well then head over and link up to this weeks Tutorial Tuesday and link up!

Enjoy your Thursday-only one more day till the weekend!!!!

And be sure to head over to my PARTIES page to see all the places I link up to!

Pinterest Love!

As you all know I'm a little addicted to Pinterest. I kind of suck at repinning things but I always go there for inspiration when I'm stuck on a project. I've found some amazing inspiration lately and I wanted to show you all the awesome things people create! If you still need an invite to Pinterest don't hesitate to jump on the band wagon and email me at kari (at) morganandkari (dot) com

So here are my pinterest loves for this week-

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Isn't this gorgeous? I could see myself in a 50's style dress riding a bike through these trees. Maybe one day I'll be able to visit Ferrara Italy-but until that day I'll just have to be happy with pictures and dreams of a better future where Mojo and I can afford vacations to far off places.

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I love absolutely EVERYTHING about this bedroom The canopy is amazing. The pillows are amazing. And that adorable little yellow night stand in the corner of the picture? Amazing. If you've been around this blog for a while you know that I have a small obsession with yellow and this is perfect! Maybe I could have a room like this, someday. When I don't have cinderblock walls....

I tried to find the source for this without any luck-if you know where this first originated PLEASE let me know so I can give credit where credit is due!

I SOOO wish that my craft room looked like this. Actually I just wish I had a craft room all to myself. Right now my craft room is also and office/closet for Mojo as well. Mojo and I have considered "faking" a child so that we can be moved into a 3 bedroom-but we haven't finialized that plans for that quite yet :). But one day-one day I will have this!

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Don't these look so amazingly delicous? And they are SO easy to make! I'm pretty excited about this one cause my Big Sis is headed up to her SIL's raspberry farm in Oregon and bringing me some home! I'll be sure to make some like this to statisfy my every growing sweet tooth!

I hope you're all loving Pinterest as much as I am! If your on Pinterest and I'm not following you yet please shoot me and email or write a comment-I would love to be inspired by all of you!!

Don't forget to link up to this weeks Tutorial Tuesday and show me all the fun stuff you guys have been up to! And if your new to Newlyweds on a Budget leave a comment and let me know you're new and where I can find your blog at-I love finding new blogs to stalk!