Craft Bake Domesticate

It’s not that I haven’t been creating..

2011-04-04T18:22:00.001-04:00

It’s just that the creating is taking up so much time! I have done a ton of stuff in the last month, but just haven’t sat down and blogged about any of it. I have a ton of pictures on the camera that haven’t been uploaded.

I added 400 square feet of office to my house from what was a concrete-unfinished-basement section.

But I’m still trying to finish organizing…

I’ve started painting over the orange part of the basement that was a rec room (or wreck room is probably a better use of the term) and where the old office was. Because heaven forbid I finish one project before moving onto the next :)

I have more than that done now, but it was the first picture I took. The colors are way off on that too, the orange isn’t quite so ORANGE and the green is a light olive color.

In the midst of this my hubby and I took a trip to Las Vegas for the construction expo and took a day to drive out to Valley of Fire State Park. Beautiful and breathtaking doesn’t even begin to describe it. (these were all taken with my iPhone…I have to say I’m impressed with the first one and how cool it looks!)

And my favorite of them all…

So I’m hoping that life will slow down, though I’m sure that’s more of wishful thinking anything, so that I can share more details of the stuff that has been keeping me so busy and hopefully inspire you all.

IKEA Can Change the World…

2011-02-14T18:10:00.001-05:00

Or at least my living room! In summary, 3 years ago I bought a matching set of Lane chairs. Biggest mistake EVER! Long ordeal in a shorter version? It took 5 chairs to get two that were passable, and even one of the ones that I finally kept needed repair. Well, they were marginal at best, but I settled with the two I had. One has always had a chronic problem of the pillow top getting wedged to the back, and last week after hubby reclined the chair, it broke. And by broke, I mean you have one side of your body 5 inches lower than the other. The back looks worse, but here’s the picture I have:

So we went shopping. And we ended up with a nearly new living room. So here are the before:

The bookshelves are all IKEA as are the end tables, and as soon as the TV is replaced with a flat screen, I have the matching TV cabinet that fits neatly between. But in the meantime, here’s what a new rug, two new chairs/ottomans, a new couch, and a new coffee table will get you! (Note, the first picture is closest to the true wall color)

Notice the reflection of the dog in the window below, kind of creepy, but he has a bad habit of getting in every picture!

Shockingly this is what the couch looked like before assembly:

Simply stunning.

Now I just need to do some updating and rearranging of décor (almost time for snowman stuff to go away) and this room will be just perfect.

Homemade Egg Bread

2011-02-02T19:51:00.002-05:00

I ventured into trying a different bread today instead of my standby Honey Wheat Bread. Instead I tried Egg Bread. I’ve had Egg Bread from an Amish store in my area before and love the light sweet taste of it. So here’s how it’s done.

Ingredients

5 1/2 – 6 cups of bread flour or all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 packages or about 2 Tablespoons of yeast
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1 egg white, beaten (optional)

Combine 2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Melt margarine and milk together to about 110 degrees F. (You can microwave it at this step, but keep a close eye on it and make sure it is just melted, NOT boiling or you will kill the yeast) Pour mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Add the eggs and mix well.

Gradually add in the remaining flour until you have a soft dough. I mixed with the spatula until it got too difficult then I dug in with my hands. It took me about 6 cups total to get a dough that wasn’t stuck to my hands and was smooth enough to knead. Knead lightly on a floured surface for a minute or two. Place dough in a clean bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled. (This took about an hour and half today, but it’s COLD today)

Punch down dough and divide into two loaf pans and let rise for another 45 minutes or so until it’s coming up over the top of the pans. You can brush the top with egg white if you want, I chose not to. Place the pans in the oven at 350 degrees on a low rack for 20-25 minutes. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.

If it sounds hollow when you tap on the top of the loaf and it’s golden brown, then it’s done!

Slice and enjoy the sweet goodness. I can’t wait to have a peanut butter and jelly tomorrow…or maybe peanut butter and honey…decisions, decisions.

Linking up!

All Thingz Related

Giving Empty Space Function

2011-02-02T15:40:00.002-05:00

When my husband and I were building our house, the initial plan was for the kitchen cabinets to run along the outside wall and have the sink looking out the window. Well, I came in, changed husband’s mind and go the kitchen area moved to the other side where there was more room, and made the small window that was supposed to be above the sink a large double window (6 feet wide by 5 feet tall).

Over the years I have struggled to give the empty space a function. A variety of things have been in that area (desk, bakers rack, china cabinet, etc.), but I eventually end up hating it and moving things around.

So this past fall when we were making the decision to put a woodstove in the house, we were looking for a large space to accommodate the stove and a hearth. I had just the place for it. The big empty corner.

In lieu of a tile hearth, we called up a good friend who does stamped concrete and he agreed to help us out. We marked off the area that would meet the specifications of the woodstove (Vermont Castings Defiant). We laid down Durarock concrete boards 3 layers thick on the floor and screwed sheets to the wall as well. Then Jason came and worked his magic and we have this:

The concrete was stamped, then sections were stained various colors, and then sealed.

But it still wasn’t complete. The space in front of the windows was in dire need of something. So I went on a road trip to IKEA (my most favorite store in the world!) there I found the most fabulous chair and pillows to complete my space. (excuse the funky light pouring through the window!)

This has become a favorite place in the house for all of us, and we tend to fight for the chair. The dog however, has no problem finding his favorite spot…as long as his nose doesn’t combust!

The only thing I’d like to do to finish this space is to put up a nice big mantle. It’s on my to do list!

Linking up!

Sew Much Ado, Night Owl Crafting, My Backyard Eden, Someday Crafts

Hardware … Repurposed

2011-01-26T18:21:00.002-05:00

While working on updating the kitchen, I REALLY wanted to get new pulls and knobs. I’ve always heard it’s an inexpensive way to really change the look of a kitchen. That and the brass ones I have are getting pitted after 8 1/2 years of use. So I went shopping. With 21 pulls and 17 knobs there was no “inexpensive” about it. Even if I settled for $4-ish replacements, that would have been well over $150!

So I went to the spray paint aisle. And bought this:

It was around $8.00. Rust-oleum Satin black spray paint. No primer needed, just a little scuffing with sandpaper.

I took all the knobs off, screwed them to cardboard and did 3 light coats, careful to make sure I got it on the under side too. (I did have to touch up about 6 of them on the underside)

Befores: (I don’t have pictures of the island…let’s just say the cleaning fairy is fired)

And the afters:

Completely new look, $8.00 and a little bit of time. Not bad if I do say so myself!

Linking up at these fabulous parties!

Night Owl Crafting, My Backyard Eden, Creations by Kara, Someday Crafts, Sister's Stuff, Blue Cricket, The Trendy Treehouse,

Fun Little Boy Quilt

2011-01-19T13:48:00.002-05:00

My kids love quilts. I made a big one that is kept in the living room and we usually fight over it, or race to be the first to lay claim on it.

So since it only took me 6 years to make that one (Long story, but 182 applique petals. Enough said.) I decided to make one for each of the kids rooms. I waited until the snuggle flannel was on sale at Jo-Ann’s (back in October, but it goes on sale frequently) and spent close to 2 hours browsing and choosing fabrics that reflect their personalities.

I found a pattern for this on McCall’s Quilting website for a full sized quilt.

It said beginner, so I thought maybe I could actually complete it in a timely manner. I cut the pieces out for my son’s quilt right after I bought the fabric, but took a long break around the holidays. I picked it back up last week and banged it out completely in about 3 or 4 good days worth of work (not the whole day! Just a few hours here and there!)

The instructions show some of the blocks turned around. I made mine all the same (2 different 12 x 12 blocks) and kept them all turned the same direction.

I decided to tie the quilt instead of traditional quilting because it would be faster and I thought it would be cute. But I’m not a huge fan of regular yarn, so I picked out some 4 thread yarn called Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Twists that I got at Hobby Lobby.

After pinning the top, the batting and the backing flannel all together about every 6 inches, I put a tie at each of the 4 corners per block and one in the center.

I spent 2 nights finishing the binding and was able to cover Pierce up with his new quilt while he slept last night. He was so excited it was done!

Now if I can get Camryn’s finished in a timely manner! I’m off to go start cutting!

Honey Wheat Bread

2011-01-18T10:35:00.002-05:00

You just can’t beat fresh bread. A little secret? When it comes out of the oven, I slice some off warm and eat it without even adding anything on top. I don’t need it, and I’m too impatient to sample the bread to take the time to spread something on top.

My grandma gave me a bread maker last year that was in her closet, still in the box. That changed my bread making ways. No more kneading and messes of flour. (Although I do find that somewhat therapeutic) I don’t however bake the loaf in the bread machine, I just use the dough cycle and put it in the oven.

But you can do whatever makes you happy.

Since the grocery stores in my area insist on not selling the healthy bread I like anymore, I have begun a quest to make all of my own bread. No more store bought. Cheaper, healthier, tastier. Win, Win, Win. I know the recipe by heart now and bake one loaf a day, sometimes I can skip a day but usually not; we like carbs.

I found a recipe at allrecipes.com and tweaked it to my liking and wanted to share it with everyone.

Honey Wheat Bread

1 1/8 cup warm water
1/4 cup honey
2 Tablespoons oil (I use canola)
1/3 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Put the ingredients in the bread machine pan in order listed. If you chose to bake it, set your machine and go. If you just use the dough cycle, after it is complete, dump the dough into a greased loaf pan, spread it out a little and cover with a kitchen towel to keep it from drying out. Let it rise for about 45 minutes to an hour until it’s domed up pretty.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350. The loaf is done when it’s pretty brown on top and it sounds hollow when you tap the top.

Enjoy however you wish. I prefer it plain or with homemade red raspberry jam. Or a sandwich is good too. Mmmmm!

Custom Made Glass Tile Backsplash

2011-01-16T11:36:00.010-05:00

So it’s been a while since I last blogged. But great things take great amounts of time. I’ve been obsessing over tiling the backsplash in the kitchen for about a month now. This is what I had:

And while the vinyl quote was quite fitting for my kitchen, it was time for a change.
I was greatly discouraged when I couldn’t find red glass tile that a.) I liked and b.) didn’t cost a fortune ($20+ per square foot!). So I came home and started searching the internet for ideas. Why can’t I just make my own glass tile?
Well, it seems that not much will stick to glass. You can’t simply paint the back of the glass because it will pull off and make a mess. You could buy special paint, but it’s over $200 for a gallon and I don’t need that much for this project. Hmmm, what to do. Then I stumbled on alcohol inks. They are made by Ranger and are called Adirondack Inks. Youtube had a few videos of people inking glass vases and the like, but no tile.

So I took my coupon to Michaels, and bought two packages of inks that had different shades of red in them. Apparently you can buy individual bottles online, but I couldn’t find any like that locally, so I just bought the 3 packs. I used “currant” and “cranberry.”
I went to a local glass cutting place who was generous enough to give me 3 tiles to practice on. I colored a couple of them and glued them to a scrap piece of wallboard and I loved it! Next I drew up a blueprint on graph paper for how I would mix the glass tiles with some tumbled marble tiles. I got boxes of tumbled marble tiles at Lowe’s for $50. I ordered 34 more glass tiles for just over $50.
The tiles are all 3 x 6 subway style tiles, but the tumbled marble are about 3/8 inch thick and the glass are 1/4 inch thick.
I set about inking all of the glass tiles. This task goes pretty quickly because the ink dries in about a minute. I used the ink applicator that is sold separately and just dabbed all over using 5 drops of Currant and 2 drops of Cranberry for each coat per tile.

After about 5 coats, the color was deep enough for me. *Note, there will be some lint that comes off the felt applicator. It is okay, you don’t have to rush to remove all the ink and start over. Seriously, learn from my rash mistake! You can lighten and blend using the alcohol solution they sell, but I didn’t like it as much, but did use it to correct any errors. Oh and wear rubber gloves, because it stains your hands.

The tiles are somewhat transparent still, but will be put against white tile adhesive.

When it’s time to tile, find the center and start placing tiles. I used 1/8 inch spacers, and with the help of my husband got done a lot faster than if I had to do it alone!
The adhesive behind tile is usually spread with a notched trowel. We did that behind the stone tiles, but behind the glass tiles we used smoothed it out so there wasn’t air pockets behind the glass that could be seen. It is very important to lay the glass with the colored side against the adhesive. This way it won’t get worn off over time. I did find the adhesive did pull the ink off if you rubbed it around, so just place and push. Don’t butter the back of the tiles with the adhesive either, big pink smears is all I’m going to say.

After all the tiles are hung according to plan:

And the smaller section between the corner and the refrigerator:

Today was grouting day. The stone is porous and has small holes that we wanted to fill with grout so they don’t get filled with kitchen mess. So we first wiped the fronts with a wet cloth to prevent the faces of the tiles from soaking in too much of the grout and then my hubby went to work pressing grout into the spaces and holes. Instead of the normal rubber float though, he found with such small spaces, good old messy hands worked better. I followed behind and wiped them off and down, smoothing the lines as I went.

And the almost finished project (still need to wipe off the haze, seal the tile tomorrow and put the outlet covers back on)
I’m totally in love. I love the imperfect look to it, and that is surprising with my type A perfectionist tendencies. I also love that it is completely a creation of my own and it executed into reality exactly how I imagined.

Hope you love it as much as I do, if you do follow my page or fan me on Facebook!

I'm joining a few link up parties throughout the week to try to increase my traffic, and because I think these tiles are gorgeous and should be shared throughout the world. These are some of my favorite places, check them out for more crafty inspiration!

Mad in Crafts, A Little Lovely, I Heart Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming,
Simpsonized Crafts, Making the World Cuter, Between Naps on the Porch, Craftomaniac, Skip to my Lou, Sumos Sweet Stuff, Dittle Dattle, Little Eme, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, All Thingz Related, Todays Creative Blog, Hope Studios, Sugar Bee - Craft Edition, Boogie Board Cottage, My Backyard Eden, Someday Crafts, Creations by Kara, The Trendy Treehouse, Blue Cricket Design, Lil Luna, Sisters Stuff

Weekly Menu Board

2010-12-30T21:12:00.002-05:00

I’ve been a meal planner for years. I have changed my methods as the situation suits. Before kids when I worked full time, I would plan for about 3 weeks at a time. Now that we have kids, are more health conscious, and are buying more fresh foods, I shop about once a week so I plan for about 7 or 8 meals at a time.

This helps a ton with the shopping. Execution…not so much.

It seems that I always forget to thaw something or don’t get the stuff in the crock pot early enough on days that I’m planning a slow cooker meal.

I usually write down a tentative menu and put it on my fridge, but it’s so small, I rarely look at it on a regular business and just try to commit it to memory.

Big fail this week. I thawed a whole roaster chicken, a chuck roast, and a sirloin roast all this week and have failed miserably at getting them cooked. (come on! The sirloin roast is supposed to take 8-10 hours! That’s a lot of forethought!)

So I’ve seen different “dry-erase” menu boards across the blogosphere like this one at Under the Table. So I put my own spin it tonight and it took me all of an hour to make.

I found this art frame at Wal-Mart for $14.00. It’s 12 x 16 inches. Nice and big

It swings open so you can store more kids art behind the frame, but instead I’m going to take advantage of the space and store the recipe cards for any recipes that I need that week. Then they aren’t being moved all over the kitchen throughout the week after I pick them out.

I bought a couple different fabrics at Jo-Ann’s. The red one is like the material of reusable grocery bags that are being sold EVERYWHERE. I was kind of surprised that they sold this kind of fabric and will have to file that away in my head for future use.

The white one is some kind of towel fabric. It’s cotton, has just a little bit of texture, and I was able to fray the edges after I cut the selvage off. I found them both by the utility/burlap fabric. That’s all I needed to know.

I bought a half yard of each for $4.00 total. I could have used my coupon, but I forgot…oh well. (There was a lot of extra red because it’s 60 inch wide fabric)

I cut the fabrics down to size, the red to fit snug (12 x 16) and the white an inch smaller all the way around (10 x 14). I frayed the white edges some and glued them both to the paper sample picture that came in the frame.

Then using my Silhouette and Core’dinations cardstock, I cut out letters for the title and the first letter for each day of the week. I lightly sanded the black Core’dinations to show the dark red through on the edges.

Space them out where I wanted them (about every two inches down the side) and pop it back in the frame! Easy Breezy!

I hung it on the blank end of my kitchen cabinets in a highly visible place using a couple of command hooks. Then just use a dry erase marker on the glass to write down the meal for each day and it is an instant erasable surface!

Now if this doesn’t help me be more organized, then I’m a lost cause!

Kitchen Canister Set

2010-12-26T22:38:00.002-05:00

I have a set of old Tupperware kitchen canisters. They aren’t really pretty. But they worked, and I hid them in the kitchen utility garage.
I also have a glass corner cabinet above that garage. It has gone widely unused. There is a ton of space up there, so I mainly stash large bake ware that doesn’t have a home. And the knives to keep them away from little fingers.
I never really knew how to make it look right. I thought about etching the glass on the cabinet, but was a little afraid I would mess it up and then have to call the custom cabinet place and say “whoops!”
Instead, I found a solution that is functional and pretty at the same time. This is the first of a several projects I have in mind to upgrade my kitchen décor over the next couple months.
I started with these large jars found in the craft section at Hobby Lobby (another home away from home for me). I got two of each size last week when they were on sale 50% off. They also have a giant sized one that makes an awesome cookie jar that I once made for a gift. The lids have a rubber gasket on them to keep them airtight.

Next I pulled out my Silhouette and my brand new red vinyl that I bought when everything was 40% off at the silhouette store on Black Friday weekend.
I made a simple design in Silhouette Studio using the font “Café Rojo” and some simple brackets that I had in my Silhouette library.
I was blown away by the Studio program when I discovered how to use the “align” tools and line up and center my designs. “Wow that was easy!” was all I could say.
Next I pulled away the negative portion

Put the design on transfer paper

Eyeballed it onto one of the larger canisters

Pull away the transfer tape and viola!

Repeat for each jar and fill them with the appropriate baking supplies

Put them in the cabinet like so

I just need to clean the glass (haha) and organize the other stuff in there so it’s farther back in the cabinet and not showing. It’s really mainly stuff I rarely use anyhow.

Christmas Garland Dilemma

2010-12-13T12:21:00.002-05:00

So this year, I wanted a more classic look for the house. My Christmas décor is mostly made up of cheap stuff that I’ve collected over the years. I never really bought Christmas decorations intentionally and with a purpose.
So after browsing many pictures I determined that I needed some good quality greenery/garland. I have a lot of long surfaces in my house that needed something. Entertainment center in the living room, china cabinet in the kitchen, space above the cabinets in the kitchen…you get the idea.
I went on a hunt and was determined to not let money be the determining factor of a purchase because it was something I could use year after year. And it would make me happy. Which is priceless. Well after hunting several craft stores for a couple hours, I was empty handed and sad. Not only was the garland I found expensive, it just didn’t look good. It was small and looked fake.
There is nothing I hate more than the ideas in my head not translating into reality. It is aggravating beyond words.
So my husband suggested buying some real garland.
But but but….it will die and dry out and it’s expensive! But I was game and tried to let go of my thrifty ways just once.
We took the kids on a trip to a local nursery Hensler’s nursery and found 25 feet of mixed garland for $32. Boy was that worth it. I used it for so much around the house, and since we have an artificial tree, we were able to get some real greenery in the house for less than the cost of a real tree.
Here’s how I used it.
Across the top of the entertainment center, accented with giant poinsettia stems from WalMart.

Top of the china cabinet with tinsel trees and Christmas subway art.

Then in the dining room, I draped the chandelier and made the centerpiece from what was left over.

So at least for now, until I can find garland that is up to my standards, I will be buying a rope of the real stuff, especially since it goes so far!

Christmas Subway Art

2010-12-13T11:41:00.002-05:00

I seen this idea on Crafty Chic Momma’s blog and loved it. I whipped one up Saturday and was in love with it!
First you need a board. Any size/kind will do. I used MDF that was about 10 inches by 15 inches. Then paint it. I didn’t use primer, I just used glossy acrylic paint from Walmart. The same one I used in my laundry room. It’s quite the Christmas-y color.

Then I used Silhouette Studio to layout different Christmas words and played around with the sizes and fonts until it looked good.

I used my stand by of white Contact vinyl and cut all the words out, peeled away the excess, and used transfer to tape to lay the words onto my board.

Excuse the mess. I’m not a very neat crafter. Oh and I didn’t paint the bottom because you’ll never see it when it’s sitting on a shelf.
Keep adding words until you get them all on and you’re satisfied.

Just beautiful. I love it so much and other than the time for the paint to dry, I finished this in under an hour!

Don’t tease me

2010-12-07T13:33:00.001-05:00

So my cousin Regina texted me today and said that I’d been slacking on my blog. I know that. You don’t have to tell me So for your enjoyment I have a video to share of her dancing at Thanksgiving while playing Just Dance with Camryn.

Oh and she didn’t know I was recording her.

Enjoy and leave your comments for her to see Sorry it’s mostly on it’s side, I must have turned the camera!

Easy Tinsel Trees

2010-12-07T11:01:00.002-05:00

I know I’ve seen them everywhere. Glittery, sparkly, tinsel trees. Well wouldn’t you know when I decided I needed a couple, I couldn’t find any. Grrrr! So I figured they can’t be very hard to make and the results turned out better than store bought in my opinion. You can make the shape (fat or skinny) and size (tall or short) that you want and decorate it to your own desires.
I confess my husband cut the wood out for me. He’s such a great husband and very helpful I might add. I was busy doing other decorating things so he cut out a couple triangles from scrap wood (MDF or whatever you have!) and some rectangle bases. The pieces don’t have to be perfect because you’ll be covering the triangle and my bases weren’t going to be seen, so they can be a little off too.
So you take your triangle piece and your rectangle piece and attach them so you have a nice tree shape.

Then you just start at the top with your tinsel and wrap away. I tented mine over the tip a little bit and then started wrapping.

When you get to the bottom just cut the tinsel garland and tuck the end underneath.

Take a couple of these in different heights, pair it with a shiny metal tree from Gordman’s and you have a pretty trio of trees!

Mish-Mash, Jibber Jabber…boy have I been busy!

2010-12-01T19:56:00.002-05:00

I know I’ve not had much to blog about. I’ve been SO busy these past few weeks. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I know I did. Followed by late Thursday all through black Friday shopping. I was delirious by time I got home late Friday night, but I got a majority of my shopping done and scored some great deals. Now I just hope that I can sit back and enjoy the season without the hustle of trying to buy presents.
There are a few big things in the works for us. I’ve been trying to decorate my house (which I’m convinced a majority of my decorations have seen their life span go by!), craving to a chance to get into my craft room, and doing the regular mom things with my kids (Pierce’s wrestling starts tomorrow twice a week, and Camryn still has gymnastics once a week. I need one more thing on my plate before it will topple!)
Yesterday my husband picked up our new wood stove. It’s a Vermont Castings Defiant. Living in this big house in the country, we don’t have access to natural gas unless we get propane. We got a small tank a couple years ago when we switched to a gas cooktop due to my propensity to break the electric glass top ones. But when we built the house we went with Geothermal heating. Now I love the geo, the air conditioning works great and it’s far more efficient all year round than a standard electric furnace would be. However. There have been times when the electric bill has been on the high side of $400 a month. Once there was a bill that was $650. I almost cried, but it was a series of bad events that lead to a bill that high, it’s a long story.
So we bought this pretty thing:

Obviously that’s not the permanent install, but it weighs over 500 pounds so we put it on these casters to get it moved around to lay out where it will go. This weekend, a friend of ours is coming to lay a stamped concrete hearth which will also go about 5 feet up the wall on both sides. I then can put a mantel in above that, which I’m very excited about decorating.
With this stove we also bought a new log splitter to get us plenty of wood in hopes of lowering the winter time electric bills significantly. So the next few weeks will be busy trying to get this thing up and going since today was our first accumulating snow fall and it’s COLD!
I have hopes for a few crafty projects in the next few days to finish up my decorating in the living room. I’m not sure if I have the energy to decorate for Christmas, but I do plan on hitting the stores up after Christmas in hopes of getting some new décor for next year.
So here’s to hoping I can find some time for some serious crafting. I’m getting antsy and need to use the creative side of my brain soon before it melts!

Storage Shelves

2010-11-29T16:02:00.002-05:00

I like shelving. It uses perfectly good vertical space for storage and it can be pretty.
My laundry room used to have a large wooden cabinet in it, but with the gigantic counter I installed from this previous post, there isn’t room for the cabinet anymore. Therefore, I decided to put in two shelves for cleaning supplies. I used the same glued on edge shelving that I used for the counters, but they are only 12 inches deep. The shelves looked a little “weak” so I beefed them up by gluing and finish nailing 1 x 2 poplar boards on the ends first and then one across the front.

Next I filled in any gaps with wood filler and sanded the shelves smooth.
I painted the shelves with the same Valspar “Betsey’s Linen” color that I used on the counters. But to spice them up a bit, I taped off a skinny stripe using Frog tape and painted it with the same glossy red acrylic paint I used on my counter stenciling.

Peel off the tape after two coats dry and follow with two coats of polycrylic sealer and they are ready to be put up! I used two double slot tracks and two brackets per shelf.

My hubby helped put these up because I was afraid I would miss the stud and they would be crooked. Well guess what…he missed. I totally could have done that myself. Hehehe.

Once they are secured to the wall, they are ready for the shelves to be put on and secured. I think the beefed up edges and stripes give them a little something extra.

You can see the pile of laundry already on the counter under the shelves. I couldn’t wait for total completion of this project before doing more laundry, or I’d be buried under the clothes.
Now the shelves are nice and sturdy to hold my various jugs, bottles, and boxes of cleaning supplies. I have plans for some fabric totes, but that’ll have to wait for “some other day.”

Pineapple and Chicken Quesadillas with Homemade Tortillas

2010-11-24T09:55:00.002-05:00

Last nights dinner was delicious. The kids even asked for more. That’s big feat when both of them eat everything on their plate AND say they liked it.
I used recipes from two websites and brought them together for totally yummy-ness.
First I made homemade flour tortillas from here. The Homesick Texan blog and this recipe was brought to my attention by a friend of mine. I have made these a few times now and it shocks me how easy they are.
Mix everything together with my Kitchenaid.

Let it rest and then cut into 8 pieces. Let those rest again and roll them out. (I don’t measure things and I also can’t roll out a perfect circle…they taste just as good in awkward shapes!)

Grill them in a hot, dry pan for about 30 seconds or so each side. (this one is REALLY not round!)

Then I used these instructions from the Pioneer Woman website here.
Basically you grill pineapple and chicken, chop it up and layer them with cheese and barbeque sauce on one tortilla and top it off with another. I microwaved them for about 30 seconds to melt the cheese because I didn’t want to burn my tortillas or add a bunch of butter to the pan to toast it more.
There is nothing like these homemade tortillas, definitely worth a little bit of effort.

Super Simple Valance

2010-11-24T09:33:00.002-05:00

Really, it’s simple. Anyone can do it if you have a sewing machine that you know how to thread, and are able to step on the foot pedal to go fast. You may want to be skilled in how to sew a semi-straight line too, but that’s optional.
First you pick out your fabric. I was doing this one for my laundry room makeover and wanted something bright red to match the washer and dryer. The best thing I found was red taffeta. Now before you get visions of 1980’s prom dress, it wasn’t quite like that and I thought it was pretty. I did however call my mom first and ask her if taffeta was a weird material for curtains. She didn’t give me a straight answer, but we decided that not all curtains you buy in the store are cotton, so it should be fine. LOL

This fabric was 52 inches wide for a 24 inch window, so I didn’t cut any off the width so there would be sufficient “scrunch.” I did have to cut it to length because I bought a yard. I decided to have a 12 inch drop on the valance, so I just double that and add 1 inch for seams. So I cut off 25 inches of fabric from the yard and set the rest aside for another project.
First you have to hem each side. You want to roll it twice so the unfinished edge doesn’t fray on you. Like so:

I actually just eyeballed this until it was even and then stitched using clear thread along the side of the hem closest to the unfinished material (on the right side of the folded area in this picture)
After you do this down both of the shorter sides, fold your fabric with right sides together and the remaining two unfinished edges (long sides) matched up.

Stitch all the way along the length of the unfinished edges about 1/4 inch from the edge. I used the side of the presser foot on my sewing machine as a guide.
Turn the valance right side out and then if you have a standard sized rod (READ: not really big around) stitch another seam about an inch and a half from the hem you just put in for the top of the valance to make a pocket for the rod.
Hang it on the rod and enjoy!

Note: I also put this rod up myself. I measured about 2 inches out and 2 inches up from the edge of the window to make the window appear bigger and to not cover it so much with the valance.

Busy-ness and Recipes

2010-11-21T21:43:00.002-05:00

I’ve really wanted to have something to blog about. And I could blog about the busy-ness of life. But I haven’t had time!
Last week was a crazy busy week for me. I’m not sure why it seemed so chaotic, but it did. Looking back, I’ve forgotten half of what I did last week. That’s probably a good thing.
I am working on the laundry room shelves and am nearly finished, but the drying time is slowing progress. But they will be done hopefully tomorrow and I’ll have a post to add then.
In the meantime, I have been in the mood to try some new recipes. I require that half my recipes be easy and this past week they were ultra-easy. Spaghetti and meatballs, hot dogs with mac and cheese, kielbasa, sloppy joes…you get the picture.
So last night and tonight I’ve been printing out recipes from http://thepioneerwoman.com/ and http://mealmakeovermoms.com/
We bought a half a beef a few months ago, and I’m at a loss of what to do with anything besides ground beef since I rarely buy other “hunks” of meat. Pioneer woman is helping with that. The other link I was directed to by a podcast that I found yesterday called Manic Mommies. It’s very funny and great to listen to while cleaning up the house. They interviewed the ladies behind Meal Makeover Moms, and I checked out there sight this evening. There were several recipes that I thought sounded easy and tasty, so I printed them out as well.
Now, my recipe collection is totally out of control and unorganized. It is such a daunting task that I am trying to start from the point forward with being more organized and then slowly working through the older stuff I have.
So to start I purchased some postcards/index cards made by Avery. They come 4 to a sheet with perforations on them to make 4 X 6 cards. I found a template on their website and then copy and paste the recipes to them using Microsoft Word. It takes a little bit of editing to get them to fit right, but this way I don’t have a million full sheets and no way to organize them! I can easily pop them into either a 4 x 6 index card box, or even a photo album to keep them protected from messy hands.
So this begs the question…are your recipes organized?

Laundry Room Counter

2010-11-17T19:56:00.002-05:00

I am in the process of a huge overhaul of my laundry room. Everything but the floor and trim is being changed out. I’m doing this across a few blog posts because it’s been time consuming and a large project.
I stumbled on a set of high efficiency washer and dryer on clearance last month, and was immediately drawn to the pretty shiny red. That, and my old set has been through the wringer (no pun intended) washing my husband’s incredibly dirty clothes for 9 years. As a water and sewer contractor, you can imagine how messy and yucky the later can be.
So I bought them, brought them home, and stacked them up to give me room to fold laundry. I also painted the walls with the leftover paint from the closet that I did last year. I had intended to do a counter space in here for a long time so that I could get away from emptying the dryer into a basket and never routinely folding laundry. I know I’m not the only one out there who dresses their family out of the laundry basket regularly!
So as a temporary fixture, I put in this table which is only 2 foot by 3 foot and doesn’t allow for much stacking considering the capacity of those babies!

So I set about a more permanent fix and there starts my big, time consuming project. Keep in mind that my husband did help me cut the counter boards and hang the brackets (which really is a two person job anyhow) but the rest is my ideas, creativity, and hard work. I’m very proud of how it’s turning out.
So first you measure how high you want the counter and make it level!

Then take two of these glued-on-edge shelves found in the wood working section of Lowes. (Let me insert here that I looked at some laminate counters, but for the price and the boring factor, I was determined to do my own)

Then you get a handsome man like this to cut the 45 degree angle to fit the corner. Notice we are using a power tool in our hallway (we don’t currently have a garage) and it’s 9:30pm. I hoped we didn’t wake the kids, but nothing can stand in the way of progress.

Then we put up 4 brackets like these from Lowe’s. Since we were both working on it, I don’t think we took a picture. Just make sure they are screwed into the studs! I put two on each wall with one in the corner to ensure that it spanned across the joint between the two pieces.

I took over from here and did everything else. First I glued the angled part together and screwed a couple small boards to the bottom to hold it together

I wanted the counters to look a little nicer, so I put a 1 x 2 edging on the front faces and the side that would not be against the wall. It helps to have a cute assistant to hold the boards upright to nail the pieces on.

When you get them all nailed on you have to wrestle the heavy thing through the deck door, down the hall way, through the laundry room door, and nearly break your back, neck, and arms trying to get it up on the brackets without putting a hole in the wall, the window, or bash the washer/dryer.
IF you survive that, it will look like this:

Next task is to screw the brackets from the bottom, fill the cracks with wood filler and sand, then prime and paint. I chose Valspar’s Betsey’s Linen. Here it is primed I think. (The paint is just a shade off white)

This is where I lost my mind and after the fact figure out that a camera doesn’t take and keep pictures without a Compact Flash card in it. So I will explain what I did.
I taped a line of frog painters tape 3 inches and 4 inches from both the front edge and back edge to create a stripe. Cut away the excess to give a nice angle where they meet. Then I used my silhouette to create a stencil with Contact paper. I put one stencil in the corner between my stripes and then eyeballed the remaining 5 stencils along the length of the counter.
I painted lightly over all my stencils and tape with the same Betsy’s Linen as the counter to “seal” the edges and prevent the red paint I used next from bleeding under the tape.
After that dried I put on two coats of glossy red acrylic craft pain in the negative spaces of the stencil and the taped lines. This is what the stenciled areas looked like after I pulled the Contact paper off:

I wanted to seal the paint to make it stronger and somewhat waterproof, so I added two coats of Polycrylic. It’s a water based version of polyurethane that can go over latex paint.
And the final product of the counter looks like this!

Next on tap I made a new curtain that needs hung, I am working on shelving for the longer wall, and intend to make some fabric baskets to hide my laundry clutter.
Hope you enjoy!

Rummage Sale Fix

2010-11-15T17:21:00.002-05:00

So I love rummage/garage sales. I always have and I think it comes from the connection to my grandma Mahler who LOVED garage sales. In the last couple years, I haven’t gone to as many as I’d have liked, but dragging two kids in and out of the car takes some of the fun out of it.
My daughter’s preschool had a rummage sale a couple weeks ago and I wandered through just out out of curiosity. They had a bunch of women’s clothes that were really nice, name brand, and priced cheap (50 cents each!) I’m not brand obsessed, but I do admire some brands because they are made very well.
Anyhow, with my arms piled full of some various shirts, I came across a J.Crew long sleeved button down shirt. I tossed it on my pile and kept shopping, only I realized when I got home that someone had cut off the cuffs of the shirt. Arg, only me! I was determined to fix it and make it work though.
So, today I pulled up to my sewing machine, got out my scissors, and went to work.
Here’s what I started with:

And the sleeves looked like this:

Using another shirt as an example of the angle, I cut the sleeves off to a shorter length (I measured 10 inches from the shoulder seam and cut, so it was quite a bit longer than the purple shirt)

I hemmed each side. I’m not much for measuring, and I know I probably should, but I just eyeballed it. (Ignore my chipped polish, I need to remove it, but I was to busy fixing this shirt!)

Next, I turned the shirt right side out and rolled the sleeve twice to make a cuff. I made sure that both sleeves were even and sewed a seam close to the edge

I thought it looked pretty good at this point, but it needed something else. On the bottom there was some detailing with some extra buttons to cinch in the bottom hem.

I took those buttons and the edging from what used to be the cuff that I cut off (rectangle):

I used those pieces to add some detailing on each of my new cuffed sleeves

I think it came out really cute and can’t wait to wear it!
So if there is something wrong with a piece of clothing that you have, make sure you think about a way to fix it, make it better, or hide the problem before you just toss it!
For 50 cents and a little time, I have a really great shirt! I checked the jcrew website and most of the shirts that looked like this were around $70.00!!

Greatest Pizza Crust–Take 2

2010-11-11T21:51:00.002-05:00

Well today was slightly better than yesterday. That is until I tried to make pizza again for dinner.
I buy bread flour in bulk at Sam’s Club. It’s a 25 pound bag and isn’t easily managed, so I dump some into a large square container and refill that as needed. So today before I started the crust, I needed to refill the container with flour.
I know you’re thinking there was a problem when I dumped flour from the giant bag to the smaller container. Well you’re wrong. The problem came when I temporarily lost my mind, forgot what I was doing, and started measuring my ingredients. Instead of putting the oil in the bread maker pan, I dumped it into the container of flour.
I ruined about 3 cups of flour trying to scoop out all of the canola oil I accidently dumped into the wrong place.
Anyhow, the crust came out fabulous, as it does when you use bread flour. Just remember, if you want to make this healthier, don’t use more than half whole wheat flour. Unless you like eating a brick. (see my post from yesterday if you’re confused)
So here’s the recipe to make two pizza crusts. Add the ingredients to the bread maker in the following order.
You can also mix this with a mixer with a dough hook, or by hand (I’ve done all three methods, and there is something to be said for kneading dough by hand. It’s quite therapeutic) If you choose one of the latter two methods, just let the dough rise for about 30 minutes after it’s kneaded.

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons of oil (I use canola)
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 Tablespoons of dry milk powder (a must have)
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons of active dry yeast

Let the bread maker do it’s thing on the pizza dough cycle and when you’re done dump it out on a pizza pan and cut it into two pieces (or tear, whatever) and it should look something like this

Start rolling out each piece on separate pans (I only have one round and one square stone, so that’s what I use, dough is dumb, it doesn’t care what shape it’s in!)

You may get to a point where the dough springs back and won’t stay rolled out. Relax! Just let it sit for 5 minutes and think about how it’s misbehaving while your roll the other one out. When you come back, I promise it’ll behave and roll out smooth.

If you look close, you can see I stabbed the crust with a fork before I bake it, otherwise it tends to get air bubbles and blow up like a flying saucer.
Prebake your crusts at 350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. The tops don’t get really brown, but a little tan and not sticky anymore.

Top it any way you like. I used pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and real bacon pieces for this one. Pop it bake in the oven for 5 minutes to melt everything into ooey-gooey-goodness, and there you have it!

I finished the partial jar of pizza sauce I had on this pizza, so the other I made with alfredo sauce (I prefer Newman’s Own brand; all natural and really tasty!) and cheese. I didn’t take a picture because my hubby took it out of the oven and by time I got upstairs it was cut up and half gone.
Anyhow, hope you give this a try and top it any way you like…barbecue sauce, grilled chicken, bacon, pineapple, and onion
or add crumbled hamburger to the one I made today and have a bacon cheeseburger pizza.
You could also brush the crust with butter and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Or do the whole thing like that and cut into bread sticks.
The possibilities are endless, but the crust is always a hit. My kids say there’s no reason to go to a pizza place anymore because “mom’s crust is the best-est”

A flop of a day

2010-11-10T20:15:00.002-05:00

So today I was going to blog about something. I’m working on a big project that I will hopefully have done and be able to write the whole story here soon.
So I was going to make homemade pizza tonight and figured I would write about that. However, much to my dismay, the world just isn’t on my side today. You know about Murphy’s law? Everything that can go wrong, does go wrong? Yeah that’s my day in spades.
I had a mishap with my big project. It involved a very large board, a wall, a window, and a door in a small space.
Then, I was supposed to help sort Market Day orders after I picked my son up from school. Well, I took the dog for a car ride to go pick my son up. Makes it a little difficult to go in and help when I have a 90 pound dog in the back of my car. Fortunately I have great friends, and one offered to take the dog home for me.
I then went to go buy some cheese after we left the school so I could make the pizzas. Got to the store and realized my purse was not in the car. (took the dog and not my purse…really smart)
I came home and started the crust in the machine, went back out to get the cheese. As soon as we got home I pulled the crust out and found that just because I want it to be whole wheat, doesn’t mean you can substitute all the flour with whole wheat. (I’ve done 50/50 in the past and it worked fine)
So I had a brick of pizza dough. Loaded the kids back up in the car (fourth trip into town for the day), went to Taco Bell for dinner and then McDonald’s drive thru for cookies as dessert. I’m not a perfect mom, and I’m glad there is fast food when it’s 6:00 and you can’t exactly serve a brick for dinner.
Anyhow, not to leave you hanging, but check back tomorrow night, I’ll have the recipe and pictures of the pizza crust take 2!
I hope tomorrow is a better day.

A Birthday to Die For

2010-11-08T11:19:00.002-05:00

Today is my wonderful husband’s 34th birthday. We got married when he was just 24 years old. We’ve been through a lot, and I couldn’t ask for a better husband. So I get excited for his birthday. It’s an excuse to bust out my baking-groove-thing and make something that I know he will love.
In the last 9 years that we’ve been together, I’ve discovered a lot about him. First and foremost, he’s strange when it comes to knowing what tastes good. He hates creamy stuff. That means, no whipped cream, no pudding, no yogurt, not cottage cheese, no cheesecake, nothing that has a mushy texture. However, I have worked diligently at converting him to my way of thinking and he now eats some things if they are on the firmer side, like cheesecake that is still firm.
So to my surprise, this past summer he tried some Death by Chocolate dessert (which I love, but rarely make) that my mom made while we were camping. He LOVED it. There is a lot of brownie in it, but there is also a fair share of creamy mixed in to it. Today while I was laboring over the choices of what to make for his birthday, I decided to make the Death by Chocolate. Only I’m doing it my way. Brownies from scratch. And real whipped cream. No containers and boxes in my kitchen today (well maybe the butter box and the egg container, but I didn’t want to try to find a chicken to get a fresh egg from and a cow to milk to make the butter!)
So I pulled out my prettified Kitchen Aid mixer and made brownies first:
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla (real stuff is better!)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Preheat the oven 350 and spray a 9 x13 with olive oil spray (or whatever you prefer)
Mix together the melted butter with the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Then beat in the cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread to the greased pan.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Don’t overcook.
Cool your brownies completely (or in my case, put them on the porch to speed things along and hope they get done in time to finish everything before you have to run and pick up your daughter from preschool)

While they cooled I made the whipped cream:
Put 1 cup of heavy whipping cream and 2 Tablespoons of sugar into the mixer with the wire whisk on it and whip until soft peaks form.

Delicious. Really, I would know
Next you need to mix one small box of instant chocolate pudding with a cup and a half of milk until it thickens.
Then fold in half of the whipped topping and put the rest of the whipped topping and the pudding mix aside. (Got lazy on the pictures here, I was really trying to hurry)
So I brought my brownies in from the porch and cut them up into small pieces

I know you think I ate the one from the middle. I didn’t. Here it is:

After I took this picture, I’ll have to plead the fifth on where the brownie went.
Now it’s time to put it all together:
Crumble the brownies in the bottom of a large bowl:

Top this with the pudding mixture. I’d' show a picture of that, but apparently I was in a rush to lick the spatula clean and didn’t take one.
Next you need to top it with chopped up Heath toffee bars. I cheated and saved money by buying these

It will look like this so far:

Crumble the rest of the brownies (minus MAYBE one or two squares, but again, I plead the 5th)

Top this off with the remaining whipped cream and some more Heath pieces. I didn’t have a lot of whipped cream left so it’s light on the top, but since Mark’s not into so much creamy, it should be enough.

Chill this for 2 hours and enjoy. Can’t wait to eat it tonight!
Then I blog about it, and rush out the door to pick up Camryn!
Death by Chocolate
9 x 13 pan of brownies, cooked and cooled
1 (8 oz) container of whipped topping
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 1/2 cups cold milk
Heath baking chips or crumbled Heath bars
Whisk together the chocolate pudding and milk until it thickens and fold in half of the whipped topping. Set aside.
Crumble half of the brownies in the bottom of a bowl, top with pudding mix, then a layer of candy. Finish off with another layer of brownies, remaining whipped topping, and candy pieces.

Domestication isn’t all fun…

2010-11-06T21:42:00.002-04:00

So I was bound and determined to do something crafty today that I could blog about. Unfortunately the guilt of how messy the basement was getting (and my craft area) won out over the desire to do something more fun. I was a little disappointed by the thought of not having something to add to my blog since I haven’t posted in a couple days, but then I remember the name of the blog includes “domesticate” and the boring jobs of cleaning and keeping house fall under that category. So I took pictures of the mess to motivate myself and set to work.
A lot of my friends seem to be under the illusion that I am a perfect person when in fact the messes usually creep up on me when I’m trying to have it all…so here’s the proof. (forgive the less than optimal pictures, the light down here is so fluorescent and orange it’s hard to fix!)

Oh how mortifying! Anyone up for a game of I –Spy? I spy a baseball, a pink bear, and a dog toy. I definitely spy a mess!!!
So I pushed up my sleeves and got to work. In the process of cleaning up the desk, where we keep all our business paperwork (you can see it’s meticulously organized…LOL) I got the piles together of receipts that needed scanned and was determined to conquer this pile:

Now this is a job that I’m not particularly fond of (judging by the receipts from July thru October) because it takes a very long time to get them all scanned into this:

But I succeeded in getting all that you see in the first picture scanned and backed up. This task took me a couple HOURS! But at least it’s caught up for now.
I took a short break and came back to finish it out and here’s the resulting clean space that will be all ready for me to mess up with that crafty project I want to do tomorrow: (notice the trash in the bucket needs dumped again already)

I’m glad that the task is done and I can see my desk. I did capture a few great pictures of Mark and the kids today while I was cleaning that will make fun scrapbook pages later.

Hope everyone has a fabulous rest of the weekend!