10 Hot Sunglasses Under $50

10 Favorite Sunnies Under $50

Daisy Fuentes aviator sunglasses / 2b rhinestone sunglasses / Charlotte Russe sunglasses / Mango sunglasses / Mango sunglasses / Cateye sunglasses / Mango aviator sunglasses / ASOS oversized round sunglasses / Tortoise shell sunglasses / Dollhouse wayfarer style sunglasses

Summer is here (at least here in Northern Califorina, it's 92 degrees today!) - and I'm on the search for some trendy sunglasses that don't cost a fortune.  I used the ever so handy Polyvore and narrowed it down to my ten favorites.  Aviators are always my old stand by but how fun are those pink retro and the tortoise shell glasses!?

Which do you like the best? 

Zoey found these cool ones in the boy's section at Target (she wore them throughout the whole store):

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A Very Home Made Bird House

I'm not the craftiest person when it comes to throwing together a project at times, but I will make things with love and for fun with Stella. We have been wanting to make a bird feeder or bird house of our own, instead of just buying a pre-made one or one you decorate yourself. One day I thought it would be fun to just go outside and start gathering up some sticks to build our own little bird house. We have a ton of trees on our property and have even more random branches lying around. I found a lot of sticks that were pretty close in diameter and cut them all the same length with some big pruners. Then I cut the remaining sticks into a smaller length for the ends. We essentially were planning on building something that resembled a smaller log cabin for the birds.

After all the branches were cut to size I started by picking out the ones that were closest in size so they would lay as flush as possible. I then stacked the two smaller branches across the top ends of the larger sticks. Using hot glue (probably not the best choice in adhesive, but it was what we had around at the time) I glued my foundation together.

I continued doing the same thing until I reached a height we were happy with. I let the glue set as best as I could, even filling in areas where the sticks barely touched with hot glue as a filler. After the glue dried we had some random pieces of wood lying around that we used for the roof. I glued those onto the top to make a pitch. I had some thicker wire that I cut quite long to wrap to the outer bottom sticks of each side to help create a handle for the tree. We decided not to paint the wood and leave it more natural in hopes of attracting a possible renter. We put a little potting grass in the bottom to entice any birds to make a nest.

We found a nice branch in one of our red woods to hang our house in. If we do happen to end up with a little family of birds in our little home it will be fun to be able to see through the house and see the family that decided to make use of our house we made.

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Release Your Inner Artist

Monster truck that I painted for Heidi's oldest son, Sawyer.

Growing up as a kid, our grandmommy always enticed us to release our inner artist.  She would constantly introduce us to ample art supplies including markers (the ones that smelled like different flavors), colored pencils, stamps, ink pads, paints, glitter glue, watercolors and anything to draw or paint on such as paper, card board, and even rocks.  We were always asked to create a new picture for her refrigerator when we visited. 

I strongly believe that it was through her mentoring that provoked my love for art (well, that mixed with my dad sitting us in front of endless episodes of Bob Ross: The Happy Painter on PBS).  She taught me to explore my creative side as a child early on, and from that I developed a stong passion for drawing and painting that I hope to pass along to my kids one day. 

I love sitting Zane down with crayons, sidewalk chalk, or washable paints and letting him just have at it (regardless of the huge mess that typically follows).  On days where I have no energy to clean up after him, we'll usually stick with the Magna-Doodle or fun, drawing apps on the iPad.  Either way, I find it important to pass on what I've learned from my grandma (who was also a painter, herself).

If you ever have those moments where your kids are just bored and looking for something to do, never under estimate the power of a crayon, a piece of paper, and imagination! 

Happy painting!

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Swamp Birthday Party

Wow, I can't believe today is our 200th post!

Now here is a boy's birthday party that was straight out of the swamp! My friend threw her son's 3rd birthday party at a really cool science museum in Rocklin, CA. It was the perfect setting for this creature-filled birthday. I was so impressed and inspired I just had to share! Thanks Kelly!

Bug catcher party favors from the Dollar Tree Store with hand-painted names.

School of Shark sammies

Turtle Cupcake Cake

Swamp Water made from Odwalla Superfood's Simple Lemon and Simple Apple

Serpent Salad

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Strawberry Peach Fruit Bar Popsicles

It's been hot, hot, HOT here in California, so we've been breaking out our favorite popsicle molds and trying our hand at some new flavor combinations. This Strawberry Peach Fruit Bar recipe is one that we came up with on the spur of the moment, and it was a big hit with all three of my boys.

You will need:

• (1) 15 oz. can of peaches (in fruit juice or light syrup)
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries
• 1/2 frozen banana
• Small splash of milk or cream (optional)

Blend all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor, and pour into popsicle molds. Freeze and enjoy!

If you're looking for more recipes for cool summer treats, be sure to head over to Mom's Crafty Space to check out our new summer series that kicked off today, Hot Days, Cool Treats! 

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Happy Mother's Day

As we discover what being a mom is all about, it gives us a greater appreciation for the hard work that all moms do- from working moms, to stay-at-home moms, to work-from-home moms, etc...... it's definitely a tough job!  We all need to take a moment, pat ourselves on the back, and recognize our god-given talent of multi-tasking!  Being a mom is the most challenging yet highly rewarding job there is. 

Us ladies at Eight By Five want to wish all of our mommy readers a very special (and hopefully relaxing) Mother's Day! 

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Sweet and Savory Pork Roast

One day while cruising the grocery store I was trying to decide what to make for dinner. Of course I never go with a list or a plan for our meals so I find myself making the same stuff often. While looking around the meat area I came across these nice looking lean pork roasts and I thought what the heck I'll give this a try, I've never done a pork roast yet and figured how hard can it be. So I went home and took out some stuff to throw together.

Here's the recipe for our pork roast. 
2 lb. lean pork roast
Mix together:
1/8 cup. olive oil
3 TBS. pepper
2 TBS. cinnamon
 2 TBS. nutmeg
Rub this all over the roast, I found myself mixing up a little more just to make sure everything was covered nicely.

I had some red potatoes, peppers, onions, and mushrooms that I cut up and placed around the roast pan. When I was just about ready to put it all in the oven I
sprinkled the top of the roast with some brown sugar, a splash of soy sauce, and optional A-1 sauce. If you want a little spice sprinkle a small amount of cayenne pepper over the top also. I LOVE pork with some sweetness and a little bite so I always add a dash of cayenne. Make sure to drizzle and toss the veggies with a little olive oil too so they don't stick in the pan.

Bake it in the oven for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Next time I make this I will probably leave the veggies a little thicker since it does stay in the oven for a while, so nothing gets over cooked.

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Baby Shower Cookies

Remember my Sesame Street Sugar Cookie Recipe that I posted a while back?  Well, here's a great one to do for baby showers!  All you need is a onesie cookie cutter like this one, some fun sprinkles, icing, and a steady hand!  SO CUTE!

Here are some photos from the cookies that were done for my baby shower.  I didn't even want to eat them because they were so amazing!

 

 

 

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Outdoor Barstool Re-Do

I have had these two bar stools on my side yard collecting dust and cobwebs for about 2 years. I looked into buying new ones but they were just too expensive. This project took very little time and very little money. Here's my 'how-to'!

Step 1: Recover the seat - use the old seat for sizing and cut out some foam (we used two pieces of foam) and a new board for the bottom, use spray adhesive to glue the board and foam pieces together and finally staple gun the new fabric to the top.

Step 2: Paint the chair - lay down a tarp and coat the chairs with two rounds of spray paint (leave a few hours in between coats).

Ready to use on our back porch!

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How to Frame a Mirror That Is Close to a Wall

I had wanted to frame out our builder-grade bathroom mirrors for a really long time, but I wasn't sure how to make it work since my mirrors are all closely wedged between two walls or set into an alcove. I forgot to take a "before" photo of my bathroom mirror, but it was identical to this one in my boys' bathroom (which will also be getting framed soon!). 

I read a few DIY blogs to see if I could find a solution for framing mirrors in close quarters, and many of the posts that I read dealt with the situation by notching out the back side of their trim. That sounded like WAY too much work for me. When I mentioned my conumdrum to my husband he had a quick and simple solution for me...

Simply fill the gaps between the mirror and the wall with wood pieces that sit flush with the mirror. This allows you to set the frame/trim pieces right on top of the wood/mirror and attach the frame to the wood using a nail gun. We used scrap wood that we had laying around the garage to make our filler pieces, but wood shims would also work well. Finish by caulking the joints and filling the nail holes. Easy peasy!

Stand back and admire how much better your mirrors look - for only 20 minutes and a few bucks! Now if I could only find the time and money to swap out that light fixture and faucet!

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