Ahoy there maties! I hope I spelled that right?! Anyhoo…

Help break the Guinness World Record for “Largest Gathering of Pirates” by enjoying pirate music, cannon and sword shows, entertainment, inflatables, games and pirate activities for the whole family! Visit Portland Pirate Festival for more information{HERE}

Check out some cool pictures are from previous years Portland Pirate Festival:

This event is for ALL AGES from located at Cathedral Park (Directions found HERE)

—–> There are a few rules to be considered a “Pirate”:

Costumes must consist of the following:

1. Pirate style Hat or head scarf
2. An Eye Patch
3. Sword
4. Appropriate Trousers & Shirt/Waistcoat or Dress

Participants must:

• Be old enough to sign the official Log Book (Those who are age 13 and under need an adult guardian to sign a release)
• Agree to be photographed/video taped
• Be gathered for a full 15 minutes after count is finished
• (Expect to be there for an hour or more)

Festival Hours:

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• 10am-10 pm Sept. 19th
• 10 am- 6 pm Sept. 20th

Cost:

• Ages 13 and up: $15
• Ages 3 to 12: $8
• 2 and under: FREE

This is a great short project that can be used with many things a lot of us have around the house and is easy clean up! Boys and Girls at all ages will love this and can take it with them wherever they want since it’s so portable.

Supplies:

• 1 Wooden popsicle stick
• Moldable clay or play-dough
• Thin bendable wire
• 2 Pipe cleaners
• 2 Google eyes
• Heavy duty scissors to cut wire (if needed)
• Liquid glue

Directions:

1. Wrap the wire near the bottom of the popsicle stick and leave the ends out to act as legs.

2. Secure and “hide” the middle of the wire with one pipe cleaner

3. Add small quarter size ammounts of clay to either size of the wire

4. Wrap other pipcleaner around the top of the popsicle stick while leaving the ends out on either side to act as arms

5. Glue google eyes to top of popsicle stick.

6. Make sure both sides of clay are even, you may need to add more clay.

7. When finished, balance the bottom of the popsicle stick on middle or index finger and “Bob” should balance!

Amanda over at KevinandAmanda.com the home of FREE handwriting fonts just posted a new set of Fonts for Peas including cute doodle styles. Amanda was looking for someone to make font charts (seen below) for her *NEW* fonts and since I have experience in Photoshop I thought I would help her out since she is so generous to provide fonts for us!

I created the font charts to : Pea Aimee’s Doodles and… Pea Deliah’s Doodles

Amanda was kind enough to post our TwoHeartsTogether heart button at the bottom of the templates I created!

—–> GO AHEAD AND SHARE THE LOVE, GRAB OUR BUTTON LOCATED IN OUR LEFT SIDEBAR!

If you are interested in ME doing any design work for your site or blog email me at samantha@twoheartstogether.com and I will be happy to work something out with you!

I am able to create:

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• Header Banners
• Backgrounds and Templates
• Sidebar Title Tabs
• Personal Signatures at the end of each post
• Post Dividers
• Change main font style/type
• Change blog title font style/type
• Site Representation Buttons
• Link Buttons ( Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Contact Us, etc..)

Anything I missed that you want and are looking for? Let me know and I will accommodate YOU!

contact me at:

I love the philosophy that Valerie has over at Frugal Family Fun Blog! She believes in that life on a budget doesn’t have to mean giving up hobbies or special interests! One things we all love in the summer is picnicking! Here is a lost of Top 15 Cheap Picnic Food ideas that Valerie posted for families to have be frugal, yet have a fun and fulfilling summer together.

1. German Potato Salad: Potatoes are very inexpensive. Season boiled potatoes with white wine vinegar, olive oil, parsley, and bits of bacon. Chill overnight, and serve cold.

2. Veggies and Dip: Your best cheap options here include carrots and celery with homemade ranch dip.

3. Pasta Salad: There are all sorts of variations on this. Our favorite is the tri-colored pasta with Italian salad dressing, halved cherry tomatoes, and black olives.

4. Hot Dogs: Hot Dogs are also very inexpensive, and they are a picnic/BBQ classic.

5. Deviled Eggs: Eggs are a good, cheap source of protein, and deviled eggs are an easy picnic food to prepare.

6. Fresh Fruit: Our favorites include watermelon, apples, grapes, and strawberries.

7. Corn on the Cob: Very inexpensive. We break the cobs in half so they stretch even further. Many times the kids don’t eat an entire ear of corn.

8. Baked Beans: Beans are also a cheap food, and canned baked beans are frequently on sale during the summer months.

9. Jell-O: I have purchased Jell-O for as little as $0.25 a box. We love to make parfaits with alternating scoops of red and blue Jell-O topped with whipped cream and a cherry.

10. Iced Tea/Lemonade: Skip the soda, and opt for ice water, iced sun tea or homemade lemonade instead.

11. Rotisserie Chicken: For around $5.00, a rotisserie chicken can be a real bargain. Serve cold for a picnic, and save leftovers to make chicken salad, or stock for soup.

12. Cheese and Crackers: A store like Big Lots has good deals on chips or crackers. Opt for hard cheeses that hold up better in the heat.

13. Garden Salad: Iceberg lettuce, a diced up tomato, shredded carrots, and a sliced cucumber make for a quick, easy, and cheap garden salad. Top with red wine vinegar and olive oil.

14. BLT Sandwiches: Pack sliced bread, cooked bacon, lettuce, and sliced tomato for people to build their own BLT sandwiches.

15. Waldorf Salad: This is one of our summer time favorites.

I love to bring nature and plant life into the home and make a smooth transition from outdoors to indoors and I have been on the search for some Curly Willow! This stuff is so funky and twisty and adds a unique touch to any space. I had been keeping my eye out in my local neighborhood area but couldn’t find it anywhere, until I did come across some at out of all places Fred Meyer! At 1.50 each I bought three branches and placed them in a vase with water, when I bought them the stems were lime green in some places but now are turning brown all over and slowly dying. But the funny thing is they are sprouting some greens on the branches! They don’t continue to grow, they last a month or so and then you toss and buy new ones if desired. My Grandma had planted some branches of curly willow along her fence in her backyard and have sprouted and gained roots beneath and act as a little tree. Who knows how big it will get in her yard but the greens sprouting are multiplying!

Here is a picture of the curly willow in my living room! Please excuse the dirty plant water, I know its gross!

Shabby Princess just released their FREE Shabby style September Desktop Calendar! I always visit them each month to snag mine to show off on my computer. Theirs are always so fun and uplifting and they create them to go with colors of themes of the month. This month their theme for the desktop is brown,mellow yellow, and sky blue. I think it is somewhat of an intro to fall. I LOVE FALL its my favorite season! I have tons of decorations to put up and love the smell of pumpkins, cinnamon, and fresh baked pie.

{CLICK HERE} to get your September Calendar!

It feels good to be back home and in our own space. Jeff and I spent the past 4 nights camping in the outdoors at Detroit Lake in Detroit Oregon. The weather was PERFECT! Warm and sunny during the day in the upper 70′s to mid 80′s with clear blue skies, and cool refreshing air temperatures at night perfect for campfires.

We rented a tent site in the campground overlooking the 9 mile long lake. The campground was full with residents all nights with busy RV’s and boat commuters going on and off the lake throughout the day. Jeff and I dont own a boat or water crafts, but we spent our days sitting on the dock of the lake watching others come and go as if it were a parade. Jeff brought his fishing pole and took that out for a few reels but with no luck there wasn’t a single bite.

My school/work schedule is changing a quite a bit now that I will be schooling on Saturdays, so we are not sure if we are going back next year or not but definitely want to. Detroit Lake was such a mini community! There were quite a few of Park Host residents and season “die hards” who live on the campground site in their elaborate RV’s and take very good care of the grounds and facilities, they even yelled out “Come Back Next Year” when we left early this morning. I thought that was too cute, all of them must be over 70 years old but still truck around everyday in their mini golf carts to pick up trash and chit chat with campers. Each morning Jeff and I would walk up to the visitor center to pick up a complementary cup of coffee and be greeter by an old married couple who would run the cashier and spout off information about the weather or what was going on for the day. At night we would walk to the shed to get ice and firewood for the night it was the same two old men sitting in their lounge chairs collecting money and giving smiles to passerbys.

My most favorite time camping was sitting around the campfire at night laughing about life stories and memories we forgot. It was really nice to reconnect with each other despite of all the changes happening between us with me changing careers and schools, and Jeff starting a new job away from home and going to school full time. We love eachother’s company more and more each day, I was so glad to share a mini trip camping with Jeff and learning again how much we love each other.

{CLICK HERE} to view a sideshow of our camping pictures!

This pencil box is made from a recycled shoebox! A perfect preschool craft that is fun to do when getting ready to go back to school. Not only can you store your crayons easily, but also store writing instruments and school supplies all in one place. Tutorial from PreschoolRock.

Supplies:

• Shoebox
• Paints, marking pens, stickers and other supplies for decorating
• Glue
• Pencil (for poking holes)
• School Supplies

Directions:

1. Help your preschooler paint the outside of the box, both the lid and the bottom. Let it dry.

2. Let your preschooler decorate the box however he/she would like. Use markers, stickers, glue on sequins, etc.

3. This step is for the parent. Carefully poke holes in the lid of the shoebox with the pencil. These holes will later hold pens, pencils, and crayons.

4. Fill with school supplies.

I’m going to be taking a mini bloggie break from posting because we are going CAMPING! We have not been on a vacation in a while so we are so excited to get away from town and relax! There has been a lot of changes going on between me switching careers and schools, and Jeff returning to full time school at Portland State University.
This is our second time camping together, the first time went went to Fort Stevens by the Oregon Coast. Jeff had been there many times growing up going there over the summers with his Aunt. He was excited to show me around there and teach me camping tricks because I HAD NEVER been camping by myself! I went with my parents when I was 12 or so I think, but I dont remember it very well and they did all the set up and meal cooking.

I shall return will lots of pictures!!!

I hope all of you are enjoying the last weeks of summer! Back to school is soon for kiddos (and me too!) so have fun and be safe in whatever you do!

Please take time to vote below and TELL US what your Labor Day plans are for 2009!?

Here is a cute and quick way to create a fabric key chain with minimal sewing. This is so great because you can choose the fabric you want and make a few so you can use the key chain to coordinate with what you’re wearing that day! This tutorial is from The Idea Room but I found it over at U Create! Hop on over to U Create for the full tutorial and TONS of great step by step pictures.

Supplies:

2 coordinating fabrics
1 strip of fusible interfacing (I used Pellon 809 DecorBond)
1 purse strap clip (I found mine at JoAnn’s Crafts)
4 inches ribbon (mine was 7/8 inch width)
matching thread

Directions:

1. First, cut your fabric so that you have a strip of each material that measures 2.75 (2 and 3/4) inches by 11 inches. Cut 1 strip of your fusible interfacing to measure 1 inch by 10.5 inches.

2. Iron both strips of coordinating fabrics a 1/4 of an inch down both sides with the right-side of the fabric facedown on your ironing board. I use a piece of cardstock paper to fold the material over to give me a nice even hem line.

3. When both fabrics have been ironed, fold the material in half length-wise and iron. Be careful to match the edges up nicely.

4.. Take your strip of fusible interfacing and place it evenly between your two coordinating fabrics. I make sure the folds of each ironed fabric are on opposite sides.

5. Iron these together. This will temporarily fuse the top and bottom materials together so they are easier to sew, and will make your key chain a little sturdier.

6. Now sew along both edges of the key chain. I sewed mine fairly close to the edge which was about an 1/8 inch seam.

7. Now, take your purse clip and slide it onto the key chain. Be sure that the clip is on top of the material you want to be on the outside of your key chain. Place the two raw edges so that one is overlapping the other one about 1/4 of an inch (or to the fusible interfacing).

8. Sew these together using a zig-zag stitch several times back and forth so that it does not come apart.

9. Take your strip of 4 inch ribbon and burn the edges with a lighter or a match to seal it so they do not unravel. Do this very carefully! Move the purse clip around the key chain until the seam is about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch above the clip. Take the ribbon and wrap it around the area where the two ends have been sewn together. Tuck both ends of the ribbon to the inside of the key chain.

10. Pin in place and sew the top and bottom of the ribbon. I changed my thread color so it matched the ribbon and was less noticeable. Remember to reinforce your seam. I went over it twice so it will hold up.