Pink Hippo Party #75!

Happy Monday Pink Hippos!  Hope you had a wonderful weekend and a fun spring break (if yours was this week!)  We spent some time at home, with friends and of course with the hubs in Philly for a day!

Now, it's been awhile since I had featured.. but here are this week's 3 most viewed links!

First up is Terri from http://acreativeprincess.blogspot.com/   who made these positively A-dorable

Next up is Lindsay from  http://www.craftbuds.com/  who made this

sweet little felt flower button snake for her little lovey!

And last but not least my fellow Trophy Wife, Tara  at  http://trophyw.blogspot.com/ created this awesome

 "Night Owl" themed sleepover party for her daughter!

Mickey and Minnie Mouse washer necklaces!

I can't wait to see what you have to share with me this week!  Want to be featured too?  Link up, grab a button,

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be a follower and share the love.. as for me, I'm heading to the gym for some "me" time now that the kiddos will be back in school!

Love,

Pinkapotamus

Avocado Smoothie

The hubs and I decided that after our huge Easter dinner and sugary sweet eating that we are going to do some detoxing healthy eating for the next two weeks!  I thought it would fun to start out our week with some creatively  healthy smoothies!  So with no further ado... here is the Avocado Smoothie!

Ingredients

1/2 avocado

4 pineapple spears

1/2 cup frozen mango chunks

1 banana

1 tbls honey

1 cup orange juice

1 cup plain greek yogurt

Start by putting all of your fruit in the blender.

Then add your orange juice and yogurt.

Blend. Blend. Blend...

Until smooth, creamy and delicious!

Here's my little lovey enjoying hers!

That's one satisfied customer.. and she doesn't even LIKE avocado!

Hope you Love it too!

Oh and here are the foods I ate for the rest of the day!

Arugala salad for lunch with cranberries, sunflower seeds, feta cheese, grilled chicken and carrots with an orange vinagrette.

Then for dinner it was Grilled chicken in a tarragon marinade with Arugala pasta salad (recipe to follow!).

And I have to say after day 1 of detoxing.. I feel like I have more energy and I actually made it until after 9pm and cleaned a whole lot of my house!

Love,

Pinkapotamus

"Blue Jean" Bouquet

My sweet friend Phyllis has an amazing son who is autistic.  They are hosting a "Blue Jean" ball at his school to raise money for the school and autism awareness and she asked me to create some fun "Blue Jean" themed centerpieces for the event.

So here's what I came up with!

Yup.. a bouquet of roses made out of my old blue jeans!  Plus I added some sweet burlap leaves and a puzzle piece painted blue for autism awareness.

They were super easy to make.  Here's a quick sort of photo tutorial.. I missed a few steps cause I was kind of busy burning the fingerprints off of my thumb with hot glue!  Ouch!

Ingredients

Blue jeans

burlap

wood dowel

sewing machine (yes I said sewing machine)

Cutting tool

cutting mat

vase or watering can

Start by cutting the top off of your jeans so that all you are left with are the legs.

Next cut your legs into 3 strips per leg.  I saved the seams so that I would only have to sew 1 seam per leg!  And you get 3 strips per leg.

Next sew the two strips together if you are using an unseamed piece.  Otherwise cut the fabric so that you have a 3" straight piece and then 2" inch scallops thereafter.

Pin and sew the scalloped edge.

Then grab your handy dandy hot glue gun and glue the straight edge to a dowel. (Length will depend on how long you want your flowers to be)

Keep glueing all the way around to make the desired effect of a rose... remember that flowers are all different so some can be loose and open

and others will be tight and closed.

Once you have the flowers grab your burlap and cut it into strips.

Then fold it in half and cut into leaf shapes.

Then sew around the leaf's edges.

Last glue it under your roses.. two leaves or more per flower and arrange in your vehicle of choice!

I love this project.  It's for a wonderful event and of course a great way to reuse those old worn out jeans!
I am sharing with

Love,

Pinkapotamus

Balsamic Plum "Plaid" Pie

When life hands you plums.. make plum pie!

At the farmer's market they have giant bags of fruit or veggies for a whopping $2.  So we ALWAYS buy atleast two bags of SOMETHING!  This week it was plums (and avocados.. yum!) so of course we had to find some creative way to use about 4lbs of plums.. enter the Plum Pie!

Ingredients

Filling

8 plums peeled and chopped

1/3 cup sugar (we used organic)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Crust (1/2 batch)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tsp sugar

1 cup butter

1 egg lightly beaten

1/2  teaspoon balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons icy water

Start by grabbing a friend to peel your plums!

Once peeled, chop into small pieces.

Then toss with sugar, salt and vinegar.

Let the plums marinate while you make the crust.

Now for the crust.

In your mixer blend flour, sugar and salt. 

Then add in cold butter cut into pats.

Mix until flour becomes crumbly.

Then mix the egg, vinegar and ice water so that it makes 1/2 cup of liquid.

Add to the dry ingredients.

Mix until dough becomes sticky.

Flour your counter and roll out your crust.

Place your crust in your pie plate and pour in the plum filling.

Top with a "plaid" (as my lovey calls it) or lattice crust.
Heart is optional!

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and bubbly.. about 45 minutes.

Delicious!

And of course kid approved!

Enjoy!  And stop by tomorrow when I share my recipe for Lemon Plum Bread!
I am sharing with

Love,

Pinkapotamus