Dolan - Party of FIVE

Kitchen Re-Paint

2012-04-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

So last week with the help of my mom, I repainted our kitchen. I was so tired of blah beige and went for Mossy Rock by Behr at Home Depot. Green is supposed to bring calm and peace {just what I need in my kitchen}

Before

After

Final thing to do is hang my beauty chandi that I got from a dear friend. To be continued ......

Stale Kitchen Walls

2012-03-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

I am so excited for today! Anyone that knows me knows I have to paint every wall in my house. I have been looking at stale walls in the kitchen of our new home for seven months now and today I get to PAINT it! Stay tuned for the reveal!

Chalk Board Frame

2012-03-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

I picked this frame up at a yard sale for $3.00 so I could give it a face lift and make a chalkboard frame. My son looks pretty cute in the frame but his arms may get tired just hanging around like that!

First I cleaned all the gunk off the frame and then painted it with some “Eden” green spray paint by Rustoleum that I picked up at Home Depot.

I then cut a piece of wood to fit the inside of the frame and painted that with black chalk board paint.

Once it dried, I put it in the frame and secured it with nails. Walaa ….. a place for me to put some words of encouragement for our family of 5!

Exciting Events This Week!

2012-02-28T14:16:00.000-08:00

So this week has been exciting so far. Gavin lost his first tooth and Nash started preschool. These boys continue to amaze me in their own special ways.

This tooth has been loose since October and Gavin has been so excited to loose it! Here is how the story of the first tooth went down in the Dolan house. Jeff pulled Gavin's tooth out at bedtime and Nash ran into our room to tell me "something exciting just happened mom, you need to come see". When we got them settled down and Gavin was sooo excited to put it under his pillow, Nash said he was scared to sleep. When Jeff asked him why, Nash replied, "I don't want the tooth fairy to touch me while I am sleeping". Jeff told him he could sleep in our room and then Gavin replied, "I don't want to sleep alone when the tooth fairy comes". So both boys ended up sleeping on the floor of our room, safe and sound. I guess they felt Jeff and I could take on the tooth fairy if she tried something crazy! Glad our kids have faith in us.

As for this little "big" guy

Nash was so excited to go to school today. When I took him to class, I gave him a big hug and he went in and never turned around. I am so proud of him, yet deep down inside, I do wish he would miss me.

Tofu-shi

2012-01-30T10:28:00.000-08:00

This is a must try quick and healthy snack. All you need is a container of soft silken tofu, a package of Trader Joe's Roasted Seaweed Snack and soy sauce. Drain water from tofu, slice in half lengthwise and then slice across the width so you end with small squares. Wrap them in a piece of seaweed and dip into soy sauce. Sounds crazy but yummy!

The kids love it!

{don't let that face fool you, she's learning to smile for the camera}

{Dairy Free} Red Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip

2012-01-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

Let me share a little something Yummy! For years I have had parties and gone to parties where they serve a red hot buffalo chicken dip. I thought hmmmmm, this could be dairy free, so here is my creation.

Ingredients

1 – 8oz package of "tofutti" cream cheese, softened in microwave

½ cp blue cheese salad dressing "Walden Farms" {yes, it's dairy free}

½ cp Franks Red Hot Sauce

4 oz. shredded "Daiya" mozzarella dairy free cheese

2 – 9.72oz cans of Chunk Chicken, drained

Heat oven 350*

Stir cream cheese till smooth

Add dressing, pepper sauce, blue cheese and stir together

Bake 20 min, stir and serve

Santa Baby

2011-12-22T08:27:00.000-08:00

We went to see Santa yesterday and our little girl was overwhelmed with JOY! {Check out those teeth}

Fool Proof Tips on Drawing Designs on Your Walls

2011-12-19T21:45:00.000-08:00

I know that decals are hot, but custom decals can be pricey.

So what is my tip you ask???

CHALK. All you have to do is draw your idea on your wall and wipe if you make an error. So easy.

Cheap sponge brush from Home Depot {$0.59} for those small creations.

Laser levels aren't just for hanging pictures or contractors! I bought mine at Home Depot for $16.00 and have used it a million times. It has a 3M tape on the backside that sticks to your wall and is safe on your paint.

Here are just a few rooms I did using my three little items.

Boys Ocean room, I used Behr eggshell on the top color and Behr high gloss on the lower color. I started with my laser level to find my straight line and then used chalk to draw my waves. I used a sponge brush at Home Depot to paint my waves and then rolled the rest.

My sweet baby girls room, I did in a Behr pink eggshell and her name I did in a high gloss. Here I used my trustee laser lever so I knew where my straight line was. I then used my chalk and wrote out her name, followed by paint, using my small sponge brush.

This was our powder bath and I painted a palm on the wall. I wish I had a complete pic of the palm, it wrapped around two walls. Here I used chalk and started off by drawing a tear shape. I then drew in, so I got the "leaf" look, followed by paint using none other than my sponge brush.

Now go get some CHALK and get creative!

Murphy Bed Makeover

2011-12-17T14:56:00.000-08:00

Here is a murphy bed we purchased on craigslist for $500.00. It was quite a site when we bought it and was in desperate need for a makeover. It had about four layers of paint, light blue, a layer of plaster for texture, white, oh and let's not leave out the sponge paint of green and blue!! Yikes, what were they thinking?

I was pregnant at the time so a stripping agent was not an option, so we went the sanding route. We started by sanding down to the bare wood using an electric sander with 60 grit sandpaper and once we were down to the wood, we switched paper to a 150 grit to remove any swirls from the sanding.

My vision was high gloss white for the shelves on both sides and chalkboard green for the "underside" of the queen size bed. Once the bed was sanded, we primed, painted and preped the wall it was going to go on. We were installing it in our over sized playroom which I previously painted an overlapping circle patten that I saw in Pottery Barn Kids on the opposite wall.

This was alot of work so I opted to measure the wall and the murphy bed and only paint the parts of the wall that would be exposed after install.

Now the install. We made sure to sink the screws into the wall studs for the safety of our children.

The final reveal! A fun chalkboard for the kids, a comfortable place for our guests.

Fun Reindeer Craft

2011-12-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

My son wanted to give his classmates a gift for Christmas, so here is what we made.

The items you'll need for this fun craft is: glue gun, spoons, felt, pipe cleaners, suckers, sharpie and small puff balls.

Have your cute crafting helper draw eyes on the spoons.

Cut antlers out by cutting out small squares and folding them in half and cut an antler shape. Then glue onto the back of the spoon.

Glue on a small red puff nose.

Take your pipe cleaners and cut on half so they aren't so long.

Get a spoon, sucker and a cut pipe cleaner and assemble by twisting together.

And walah! A cute Reindeer treat to share with your friends.

Merry Christmas

Here We Go

2011-12-14T08:39:00.000-08:00

So I am now up and running. I am currently doing a dramatic makeover in our master bedroom. Pictures will come today, so stay tuned!