Portrait Pacifier Instructions

These petal pouts make adorable gifts for baby showers. Tuck them in an organza bag and you have a fabulous boutique baby gift. Break out the hot glue right now and you might even set the trend for Jennifer Garner and Ben's little Seraphina. You are just seconds away from pacie couture..

You Will Need:
A Hot Glue Gun
Flat back Pearl or Crystal Center
Small Flower Head

Pacifier

Instructions:
1. Break apart a flower by removing and discarding the plastic pieces.
2. Reassemble the flower by hot gluing the petals back together.
3. Glue the flower to the top of the pacifier.
4. Cover the small hole in the center of the flower by securely gluing a flat back crystal or pearl over it.
5. POOF! You're done. Now wasn't that easy?

Additional Tips:

Ranunculus and small roses work well. Stick to other petals like hydrangeas and cherry blossoms or you will cover up baby's cute face.

Get creative. Layer petals and blend different flower petals. You don't have to use the entire flower.

I just wish I had designed these for my first pacifier loving daughter. Instead the photographer and I had to play pull the pacifier. I would snag it, he would click and I would try to pop it back in before princess wreaked havoc on the earth.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
Portrait Pacifiers make wonderful photo props. However, never leave your baby unsupervised with anything that has small parts.

Please do not copy or duplicate any TuTu's Bliss photographs or blog content such as instructions. Copying other people's posts, instructions and creative endeavors without permission is not nice. I could quote legal jargon but my toddler sums it up the best, "MINE! MINE! MINE!".

Works-For-Me Wednesday carnival hosted weekly by We Are That Family. Check it out for fun tips!

Benadryl, Mango Salsa and Hair

Time to sweep up your bloggy crumbs and offer them up for Friday Fragments over at Half-Past Kissin' Time. Just click below to join in and link up..


1. I wonder how much Benadryl I would have to give my girls to get them to stay still long enough for me to try THIS on their rebellious hair?
2. Please don't send me hate mail. I would never coax my girls still with the help of Benadryl just for a cool hair do. What kind of mother do you think I am?

See! I am too busy feeding the baby suckers laced with red dye #40 and letting her use her sticky hands as hair gel on her shaggy bangs.

3. Mango Salsa goes with everything. Spoon it on tilapia or mix it with tuna/chicken and stuff it in a pita. It's healthy but I love it anyway. Plus you can always grease it up by eating it on cheese loaded nachos. Yummy and mangolicious!

Mango Salsa Recipe

2 ripe mangos (peeled and chopped) 2 TBS cilantro (chopped)
1 Red Bell Pepper (chopped)
1/2 Red Onion (diced)
1 Jalapeno (diced)
1 TBS Lemon juice
2 TBS Lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste and then toss. Voila!

11"x14" on canvas board acrylic, part of Cindy's Symmetry Sauce label series

Learn more about the talented and fun artist featured above by clicking HERE. You can visit with the artist, view more of her work and check out her cool chalkboards too!

Love, Millet Seed and Hope

This is Wilson. We found him hungry and chirping, "mama". My daughter wanted to feed him love. I couldn't find a nest, no anxious parents. He wouldn't take water. What to do? Bring him in and let her see the hard lesson that sometimes love is not enough. Is five too young to learn that you can't will someone to live? How long could we even keep him alive? Would it be cruel or kind? I googled nursing baby birds, bird sanctuaries and by the time I was done he was gone. I have my own cynical theories about his fate but my daughter keeps watering them down with her incessant hope. Every bird is Wilson. Wilson learned to fly. Wilson grew up.Wilson got married. Wilson had babies. Our home is now a Wilson sanctuary and we go through pounds of seed feeding his "family". Who knew that so much redemption, love and hope could fit in a seven pound bag of bird seed?

I had this post ready and waiting before I even popped over to check out Angie's post. Head over to 7 Clown Circus for Wordful fun and see how great minds think alike!!

My Food Angels

Letters to my Angels, bringers of all things great, may you be anointed with butter in the spirit of flavor....

"WHO CARES IF MY WINGS GET CHUBBY" is a painting by KJ. Her art is a very special kind of wonderful. You can find her HERE.

Dear Burger King Cashier,
My life was dull until you revealed the "bacon button". This little bacon revelation has put an extra bit of pep in my step. Now I know I can add bacon to ANYTHING on your grease loving menu with just a press of a button. I adore you for not raising your eyebrow when I asked you to hit it twice. I think the heavens parted and a ray of light shown on your beautiful nonjudgmental smile! Thank you!

Dear Starbucks Barista,
Thank you for letting me know that 2% milk is now the Starbucks standard. I can finally stop asking for 2% to mask my guilt for the extra whip request. And thanks for that extra squeeze of caramel that I didn't even have to ask for. We shared that moment. We locked eyes, slightly hidden by that extra ten pounds of weight gain and you just knew. Thank you.

Dear Hubby,
Thank you for adoring my new bacon spread and that extra bit of topping. Love you!!

CLICK HERE for some bloggy inspiration and to check out some fun letters. Write your own and link up!!

Or check out this list of GREAT MOMMY BLOGS created by NewParent.com. I'm on it, I'm on it!! I am so excited. They are on a mission to seek out fun and interesting mommy blogs and give some linky love. It is a special treat to see something that uplifts mothers and fellow bloggers. Thank you so much!

Two Cents: Daddy Magic

What makes a good father? Is there a Daddy checklist? Is it me or is there less pressure on men to be good fathers than there is on women to be good mothers? Do we do it to ourselves? Can bad husbands be good fathers?

I would love it if you would share your Two Cents. This month I'm going to try something a little different. Instead of signing Mr. Linky let me know about your two cents post in the comment section. I will highlight my favorite two cents posts throughout the entire month so feel free to jump in anytime. For a complete list of details and FAQ on Two Cents just Click Here

NOW FOR MY TWO CENTS....

My husband knows that there is a good chance our girls will either marry a man just like him or become him. Their relationships will be modeled after how we treat one another. He doesn't try to separate being a good husband from being a good father. He knows that part of being a good father is being a good husband. I adore that. I don't think you have to be a great husband to be a great father but I do believe that you have to treat the people in your life with respect and apologize when you make mistakes.

We are not perfect. We still fight and there are times we forget to treat each other with dignity and respect but he has mastered the apology. I am still learning. Some men are natural fathers. There are men who rock the diaper tool belt and deserve gold medals for their "scoop and tickle". My husband is not that kind of father. He makes a conscious effort and is always learning. He dresses the baby in her sister's clothes, backwards. He feeds them candy and bagels for dinner. He curls up on the couch for some "Jurassic Park" bonding with his princess divas. He stumbles from bed and cuddles them after their dinosaur induced nightmares. He wakes up with toy indentions in his back and grumpy eyes. Sometimes I say, "I told you so" and sometimes I say,

"Don't do that" but most of the time I say, "Thank You". It means so much to me that he works so hard. I know it doesn't come easy for him. Loving our daughters is effortless but fathering them takes work. My two cents is that sometimes love really is enough. It doesn't hurt to put all your theories on parenting aside and occasionally give trial and error a chance to work some magic.

YOUR TURN!!

Cool Contest Alert!!

Optimism:

Today the baby removed her diaper and finger painted the crib in poo during her morning nap time. I could be stressed, disturbed and nauseous. Instead I am optimistic that my "famous artist to be" will have experience dabbling in various mediums.
Resilience:

The baby can rotate her head in every direction while breastfeeding without every losing suction and my fun bags are still above my waistband. If that isn't resilience I don't know what is.

Empowerment:

My oldest managed to suck her two fingers and pick her nose all at the same time. It took much trial and error but she persevered.
Goal Setting/ Hope:

I have finally reached my goal of sparkling clean floors. I give both girls a washcloth and a bucket of soap while watching from the couch and singing "Sing Sweet Nightingale" from Cinderella. I hope I am not breaking any child labor laws.

Emotional Awareness: Well.....

Fishful Thinking is encouraging parents to create storybooks exploring optimism, empowerment, goal setting, resilience and emotional awareness. Create one and enter to win a 10,000 scholarship.

CLICK HERE

for all the details and to learn all the other cool things you might win with your very own storybook creation courtesy of my favorite ladies from SITS. You get to brag about your kids, share pictures and enter to win loads of stuff. Does it get any better than that? Now I'm off to work on my own storybook but first I need to clean the crib and the baby.

Time for your Your Two Cents ! You can share your two cents on anything or join in on this month's topic, fatherhood and everything daddy. My two Cents goes up the first Tuesday of every month but link up anytime!

I'm Teething

I've been teething and trying to get my learner's permit. My wisdom teeth are fashionably late. I am nearly thirty and cutting teeth. To top it off I let my driver's license expire. Since I am here in Hawaii and my original license is from Oklahoma I had to start from scratch. I took the written test, got my permit and then joined a bench full of anxious teens for the driving test. Luckily I passed! I eased in under the wire. Thank goodness the tester didn't make me parallel park. I think she knew my limits. My husband loved teasing me. I got him back by calling him "Daddy" while we waited in line for my permit.

What do you think of my blog lift? I have a navigation bar and I am so excited.

I wanted something classic and simple and Krystyn worked hard to make it happen. I am so excited about it. If you are craving a bloggy pick me up just click on the button above.

Now I am off to take the car for a spin. It feels great to be able to drive without a licensed driver over 21!!!