LaForce Be With You

LaForce Likes #11

2012-05-23T12:38:00.002-07:00

This week's LaForce Likes is beach themed bathrooms! What better way to end up with a peaceful space than using a beachy theme. Love love the beach!

Our guest bath is currently a "wanna be beach theme" meaning that is the vision I have for it but currently it only has a few beach things in it: 2 silver buckets with sand and shells on the counter, a big shell on the counter and sand/khaki colored rug and shower curtain.

It definitely needs some wall art, colorful towels, and possibly a shelf. Here is some inspiration I found for a beach bathroom.

source

I want it to be calm and peaceful without overdoing the beach theme or it being tacky.

I see some trips to Homegoods in my future! Any beach inspiration you would like to share?

My new plate wall

2012-05-18T16:20:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned here, I have always known I wanted a white plate wall on a wall in my living room. Not too long after getting the house we got 2 eggplant armless chairs for the space and then in the fall I finally got the round pedestal table I was desperately wishing for to go in between the 2 chairs.

All this time I had also been collecting white plates here and there from Goodwill, Salvation Army, clearance aisles at TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Homegoods.

Finally I thought I had enough. Over the Christmas holiday my mom helped me arrange them all on brown paper. There was a lot of maneuvering around and then we traced them onto the paper and numbered them. I numbered the corresponding plates too with tape.

We taped up the brown paper onto the wall and then later err... like 2 1/2 months later we decided to hang them. You can see the brown paper in the background here.

I had bought those yellow Disc things that you wet and put on the backs of the plates. Well let me tell you how I feel about those discs... EPIC FAIL. We followed the instructions exactly but some of them still didn't stick well to the plates. I read about others having similar problems so I duct taped the discs on.

the evil disc hangers

I cut out the shapes for the plates in the brown paper and we hung them. Hanging went pretty smoothly since nothing had to be exact since none of the plates were lined up or anything.

Then I cut the paper away and just a wonderful plate wall was left!

Just to reinforce my thoughts on the Discs... a day after hanging the plate in the bottom right (the flower one) fell and luckily landed on the purple chair with no damage. The disc was still hanging by the nail in the wall and the plate with duct tape still on it had slipped right off! I reinforced that one with even more duct tape. There have been no problems since but I definitely would NOT recommend using these to hang anything that is really precious to you. For me, the most one of these plates cost was $10 and most were $1. If anyone knows of a better product where you don't see the hanging hardware let me know!

If you are hanging a plate wall or any plates the brown paper tracing method was a big success for us. I really love the white contrast with the purple chairs. I need to figure out something a little taller to put on the round table and I'm still trying to figure out lighting (table lamp vs. floor lamps vs. both) in this space and selling that tree so more to come!!

Linking up at these fun parties

Southern Caribbean Cruise: St. Maarten

2012-05-16T19:35:00.002-07:00

In case you didn't sea (see.. haha I know that must be the best joke you've seen today) here we took a 7 day cruise in February which I will be recapping over several posts. This one is about Day 2 St. Maarten on Feb 13th.

For the day in St. Maarten, we had a relaxing morning and after eating an early lunch headed off the ship. The Caribbean Princess and a Fred Olsen ship below (UK cruise line) were in dock that day too too.

At the dock shops area, I had to get a picture with this same St. Maarten sign we got a picture with during our first cruise in 2007. (That was the Carnival Glory and we went to Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten with a bunch of friends)

Then we grabbed a taxi to Divi Little Bay which Megan had researched as a nice beach where you could rent umbrellas and chairs and was only about 15 min away. We decided to just do a nice beach day since we had been to the island previously and all our other port days had excursions.

We had a great time laying on the beach and walking in the sand and taking pictures. We were in a little cove like area with mountains around so the views were gorgeous. There was a bathroom and little restaurant/bar right there too. Get ready for picture overload... or just skip down further.

ahhh beach... oh how I've missed you

The boys swam out in their snorkel gear but they said there wasn't anything to see.

We left the beach a little before being due back on board to take some pictures of the ship from where we picked up a taxi back. The Serenade was the big ship behind the other 2 ships.

The whole time we were in St. Maarten we wondered about the foggy island we could see in the distance. The taxi driver on the way back to the dock told us it was Saba Island and that it is known for scuba diving. It is about 30 miles away from St. Maarten hence it being hard to see so if you are ever there wondering now you're in the know. The driver also said there should be no need for Valentine's Day (it was the next day) because you should show love every day. So true.

super foggy outlined in the distance - look VERY closely to see it

We lucked out and got a shot of the 4 of us in the shopping area of St. Maarten close to the dock.

Once aboard we headed up to the Seaview cafe on the back of the ship on deck 12. It was this place that was open from like 2pm-midnight and had burgers, sandwiches, small bites, etc. We liked to get the guacamole and chips and the fruit/cottage cheese plate for a nice snack to hold us over until dinner and watch the ship as it left port. It was a great spot for that!

Farewell St. Maarten!

We got cleaned up and were off to dinner.

My shrimp salad appetizer

Megan's quiche

We took some of the professional pictures that the cruise line sets up for you to take in different areas on some of the main floors that you can choose to buy after looking at them later in the week. Some of the 4 of us turned out hilarious due to the poses they have you make. We also took some ourselves below.

We were both rockin' purple dresses (although not planned). This was outside one of the lounge/bar areas on the ship.

We had our first towel animal awaiting us that night in our room from our steward Al. We took some photos with our new pet elephant and gave him a snack.

I was super disappointed this ended up fuzzy when in a printable size but that's what I get for not checking it close enough.. I have a non fuzzy one of us 3 but we don't have the glasses on.

Megan and Keith's pet was a bit of a cabin drinker.

I really am enjoying reliving our trip. Next up is St. Kitts and then Dominica which was our most adventurous day!

LaForce Likes #10

2012-05-12T05:49:00.001-07:00

This edition of LaForce Likes are these fun friendship bracelets I saw on pinterest. I definitely made some friendship bracelets back in the day for my BFFs!

I could totally see myself making these with my niece Abby - she is only going on 5 but likes everything crafty. A girl after my own heart! I seriously cannot wait until she gets a little older and I can teach her more.

I really like this one the best but it's only the picture someone uploaded with no instructions. But perhaps someone with more crafting expertise a.k.a mom could figure it out. It looks like it only uses rope and ribbons.

It's possible that these (which do have instructions) might be put together the same way as those above. Regardless, they are cute too!

Have you DIY'ed any great crafts with kids lately? Do share!

Simple Creamy Pasta Salad

2012-05-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

I love pasta salad and it is such a great side dish for cookouts and to take anywhere since you can make it ahead of time and it even keeps for a couple of days just fine. It's also one of those dishes most everyone likes.

I did some searching for a new pasta salad while I was planning for our Cinco de Mayo get together. The easiest kind is just using zesty italian dressing over everything but I wanted something creamier without using mayonnaise so I came up with this.

Simple Creamy Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
16 oz box of garden rotini (or other pasta)
1 medium cucumber
1 bell pepper - I used a sweet orange pepper but red would work great too
Creamy Italian dressing
Zesty Italian dressing
1/2 cup or more Kraft grated parmesan cheese
pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to the directions and rinse with cool water. While pasta is cooling, chop your cucumber and pepper into pieces about half the the size of a piece of pasta or smaller. Add pasta and veggies to mixing bowl. Add parmesan cheese and both dressings - 2 parts creamy italian to 1 part zesty italian until pasta is coated and to your liking. Then include ground pepper to taste. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving. Check to make sure pasta is still moist - you may need to add a little more dressing before serving.

The great thing about this is you can easily adjust the vegetables - diced tomato, red onion, black olives, celery.... the options are endless!! Or add in cubed turkey or some grilled chicken to make it more filling.

I definitely would have used tomato but we had it in a bunch of other dishes at the cookout so I decided against it. This makes plenty... I think we had 14 people and there was more than enough served with other items.

Hope you enjoy!

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Southern Caribbean Cruise: Departing and Tortola

2012-05-06T18:42:00.002-07:00

I am finally getting around to writing about our Southern Caribbean Cruise from the middle of February! What can I say... travel posts are more work due to all the pictures and the story but better late than never :)

We went on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas departing from San Juan, PR on Feb 11 with our trusty travel partners/family, Keith and Megan (Eric's brother and his wife). Eric and I flew down to San Juan on the 10th originally planning for a day before the cruise and a buffer for travel. Unfortunately I ended up coming down with a cold a couple days before we left so we didn't do anything in San Juan other than rest but fortunately I did not let having a cold ruin our trip at all.

Here was the schedule for our cruise:
Feb 11 Depart from San Juan
Feb 12 Tortola BVI
Feb 13 St Maarten
Feb 14 St Kitts
Feb 15 Dominica
Feb 16 Barbados
Feb 17 Cruising
Feb 18 Disembark in San Juan

Eric and I arrived at the ship right after noon on that Saturday and were on the ship less than 20 minutes later with our ship cards and all.

The rooms weren't ready just yet so we went and had lunch in the buffet area called the Windjammer.

out the window of where we ate lunch

Then we went back to the room to relax and unpack and our 1 large suitcase arrived shortly after.

Once Keith and Megan arrived later that afternoon we did some exploring around the ship which was good to figure out where everything was and enjoy the serenade. Then it was about time for dinner.

We did My Time Dining which is a really nice option and usually you can just tell them your time for the next night as you leave the dining room but since there was a large group of like 500 on our ship as part of a company rewards program they must have booked all the MTD slots around 7pm so our options were usually either 6:30 or 8. Not a big deal since those are better than 6 or 8:30 (first and second seating times) but now we know how it really works. Next time I will book them all in advance and just change them later if needed.

Eric's chocolate mousse dessert

We then had the muster drill but sadly they don't make you wear your life jacket for it so we didn't get any fun life jacket pictures.

The ship left around 8:30ish (it was a little late leaving) so we went up to the highest deck on the front of the ship and sat in lounge chairs enjoying sail away.

One of the forts all lit up

The other fort which was not as well lit and you can see a cruise ship that left right before us in the distance.

Sunday was Tortola. I had researched (YES I did lots of research for this vacation too just like Italy since being better informed really pays off making the best of your time and money based on your interests thank you cruisecritic) our options and we decided on a trip to the Baths in Virgin Gorda on our own which many said was easy to do.

Shortly after ship docking, we walked to the Tortola ferry dock to purchase round trip ferry tickets on Speedy's ferry. It included a round trip open van ride to the Baths upon ferry arrival in Virgin Gorda. The ferry trip was around 30 minutes and 10 minute taxi ride.

At the Baths we wandered down through many rocks on this trail. We had read comments about it being wet and cave like which did not match what we saw.

Once we got down through that trail there was the beach, bathrooms, and a little restaurant. We saw a sign to some more rocks that said to Cave and Devil's Bay and decided to check that out since the first trail was a bit of a disappointment.

Well this certainly was not a disappointment and must have been the cavernous waters we read about so don't be turned off by the first little trail to get to this. We heard a guide from a group that was there explain that this is where a photo shoot led to Tyra Banks really making a name for herself. With the rocks and water it would be a gorgeous but difficult place for a shoot with the mixed dark and bright lighting due to the caves.

It was beautiful and magnificent to see how the rocks had formed and how there were ways to get through albeit hunched at times back out to the beach but further down with many more rocks to climb on.

Megan and I climbed up on some rocks and sat and enjoyed the ocean view while the boys did a little snorkeling. They said there wasn't a ton to see there and the rocks made it harder. Later we went back to the beach/restaurant area to sit in the shade and have some snacks.

Knowing what time our ferry back was (there are only a couple of ferry trips each day) we left time to hike back up to the road and catch the taxi van back and board the ferry. We arrived back in Tortola around 2 and headed to the Windjammer for a late lunch.

Sunday night was one of the formal nights so we got all dressed up for our dinner in the dining room. Even with MTD you usually get the same server each night which is nice. Ours was okay, not the easiest to understand or talk to. Before dinner we took a ton of picture of course.

This is Eric's "I'm so hungry" pose while I was adjusting camera settings.

Of course we took plenty of posed shots but we really got some great candid ones that I think are so cute.

And I think this is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip since it has all 4 of us looking fabulous... as I was trying to set up my camera to do the timer, a nice man offered to take it instead :)

I will leave you with a couple of food shots from dinner. We always ended up with great appetizers and meals but the desserts really could have stepped it up a notch. There were a couple of good ones but the rest were not good and few of those were even really bad. If only they had offered chocolate lava cake every night!

Next up will be St. Maarten and then St. Kitts!

LaForce Likes #9

2012-05-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

You may be wondering where I have been over the last week with my lack of posts. Well.... at night instead of making time for post writing I've been reading the Hunger Games series.

LaForce Likes number 9 is therefore the Hunger Games trilogy.

I had heard all the hype about Hunger Games and even saw some of the filming crew vans and such around uptown Charlotte but it never went past that. After some friends recently raved about the books and the movie, Eric and I went to see the movie a few weeks ago. The movie was great and reminded me a little of 1984 and Brave New World which are books I read in high school and liked.

So I went and bought the books and was completely engrossed, reading wherever and whenever I found time. I really enjoyed the series and I think my favorite book was the 2nd one. The 3rd wasn't as good as the first 2 in my opinion... the ending was a little disappointing although I can sort of understand why it ended like it did but it was a bit rushed for me. I will also say I liked the Twilight series more because the love story was more of a focus but I would definitely recommend reading the Hunger Games series! Hunger Games first book does draw you in faster than Twilight and is more thrilling.

Anyone else read the Hunger Games series? What did you think? Any one else enjoy Twilight series more or less? Would like to hear your thoughts!

LaForce Likes #8

2012-04-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you are like me but if you are them you like drooling over gorgeously decorated rooms in magazines, on pinterest, in other people's homes, etc. Through Home Stories A 2 Z, I happened upon an interior design site called Fieldstone Hill Designs.

Each Monday they do something call Ditto - where they post a gorgeous picture and talk about things to "ditto" from that space. This is a picture of one Darlene did on a post for A2Z.

source

Definitely a dreamy living room! I like the colors in this room and the open feel. I really love open layouts especially for living rooms and kitchens.

The little light teal table has inspired me to think about how I can paint a piece of furniture for our loft room (the room with the dresser redo and teal lamps) that color. Like it a whole lot!

What great sources do you go to for interior design and decor inspiration?

Closet redo with bracketless shelves

2012-04-22T16:22:00.002-07:00

To the tune of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Now this is a story all about how my hubby and dad built closet shelves. And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there. I'll tell you how I ended up with extra storage space.

Eric previously posted about our half bath transformation into a smaller half bath which allowed for making a new closet accessible from our living room and so he's baaaaack with a post about the closet!

Hi everyone, back with an addendum post to our bathroom/closet redo. This is part two where I explain how we built shelves in the new closet. Emily's Dad helped us out with these. He likes to joke that we would be rich men if we worked by the hour. While it's true that we worked at a snail's pace, I think it worked to our advantage and ensured we created some quality shelves.

Now Emily and I envisioned these shelves being a step up from your typical wire frame closet shelves that most home builders use. We wanted some nice wooden shelves that had clean lines. Emily's Dad had the good idea of building "bracket less" shelves. This is the type of shelves they have in their kitchen pantry. It has two benefits. First, you don't see some ugly brackets sticking out from the bottom of the shelves. Second more practical use is that it allows you to utilize the full space between shelves.

As you can see, we used some simple pine wood to build out the framing of the shelves. We build the frames such that we could simply lay down the shelves on top of the framing with minimal fuss. I bought some prefabricated shelves so they would look polished and clean. They were of course not the right size for the closet, but it was just a simple matter of using the miter saw to chop them down to the right length.

The closet was big enough for four shelves, but as you can see we chose to only put in 3. This gives us a very large space up top if we want to any tall items in this new closet.

yes we like games

The light from the bathroom redo came in handy here and really lights up the closet to make it easy to find things.

Thanks to hubby for sharing the closet building process. Hope this helps with your closet redo endeavors!

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Ruffle Butt Onesies

2012-04-18T18:34:00.002-07:00

I recently made some onesies for a friend's sister who wanted them for a baby shower she was going to. She told me what she wanted them to say and that she wanted all pink. I came up with the designs using my silhouette software and used heat transfer to make them.

I think the little pink elephant is so cute and I love playing around with all the different fonts with designs.

As you can see and read in the title she also wanted ruffles on the butt of two of them. I decided to do those on the ones with her first name. Doing the ruffling is definitely not my favorite due to all the hand basting and since I don't have a serger to make finishing really easy, I used lace hem facing and ribbon so the long edges were already finished. Even though the ruffles are a challenge for me I do admit they make the onesies so darn cute so it's all worth it in the end!

This little girl will be all decked out in pink for sure! If you want to make onesies and you don't have a silhouette you can always try the freezer paper and fabric paint method.

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LaForce Likes #7

2012-04-16T04:35:00.001-07:00

LaForce Likes lucky number 7 is... the "how did I totally luck out and find t-strap black sandals that fit me and are cute!" post.

Swivvel by Steve Madden

Let me briefly back up... I have narrow feet. And I mean very narrow. I have even bought narrow width shoes before and my heels slipped right out the backs. Finding pumps for work is a job in itself.

I have been wanting a pair of black t-strap sandals for awhile now but every pair seemed to be too wide for me where the t-strap part was loose and not fitting against the top of my foot.

I was ordering something else and decided to order a few t-strap sandals from piperlime since I noticed they started doing free shipping both ways. The first couple pairs I got were exactly the same as others, but then when I got to these beauties from Steve Madden they were perfect! Bless you Steve Madden. Not only did they fit my very narrow feet but they were cute and comfy and I can tell they were well made.

If anyone else has a narrow foot out there, this one is for you!

Ravioli Veggie Soup

2012-04-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

Of course I found this on none other than pinterest and immediately pinned it on my main dish board. We made it a couple of weeks ago and I thought I should share it with all of my lovely readers.

Ravioli and Vegetable Soup

From eating well, Serves 4 with 2 cups each (we ended up with about 5 servings)
264 calories per serving

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups frozen bell pepper and onion mix, thawed and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
15 oz can vegetable broth or red. sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups hot water
1 teaspoon dried basil or marjoram
6-9 oz package fresh or frozen cheese (or meat) ravioli, preferably whole-wheat
2 cups diced zucchini (2 medium)
ground pepper to taste

Heat oil in large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add pepper-onion mix, garlic, and red pepper (if using) and cook stirring for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, broth, water, and basil/marjoram. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Add ravioli (I used frozen mini cheese ravioli and used a little more than it called for) and cook for 3 minutes less than the package directions. Add zucchini and return to boil. Cook until the zucchini is crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Season with pepper and serve.

As you can see I got to make use of my colorful dutch oven. It was delicious and pretty easy. Tips: Next time I make this I will increase the spices for a little more flavor and I will put in the zucchini at the same time I put in the ravioli because it needed more than 3 minutes.

Oh and the leftovers are just as good. Bon Appetit!

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Spring and Summer Wreath

2012-04-05T18:04:00.002-07:00

Craft day with the girls for this past weekend was spring wreaths. After pinning many wreaths I decided to do a grapevine wreath with fabric flowers and a wooden letter so it combined aspects of various wreaths I liked.

I wanted this to be a spring and summer wreath so I chose fabric colors that would work for both. I made some rosettes, yo-yo's, a new spin on the pom-pom using squares instead of circles, and gathered burlap flowers from the tutorial here. I arranged them all to my liking and hot glued them to the wreath. The green ribbed yo-yo is from an old Old Navy tank.

I had just purchased a wooden L in a scripty font for the wreath at the same time I bought a much bigger L I plan to hang in our bedroom. I debated for awhile on what color for the L but finally landed on yellow and it looks great with the green door. I painted it with some craft paint and hot glued it on.

I let it sit for a little bit and I hung it on the door. I really like my new wreath and I think it will be perfect for all spring and summer long with the exception of may be putting out a patriotic wreath (if I make or buy one) for a little bit of July.

If you are looking for a cheap and easy wreath, this is a great project. I had all the fabric/burlap on hand so I just had to buy the 18 inch wreath ($2.50 with Michael's coupon) and the wooden L (about $3.50 ordered online).

Danielle did a similar type wreath to mine but spray painted her wreath yellow. Katie did a fabric scrap wreath which uses a wire wreath where you tie a bunch of fabric pieces around to your liking.

Then she made a cute mini spring bunting to go across the middle. Nice and colorful!

Hope you enjoyed seeing the results of our craft day!

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LaForce Likes #6

2012-04-03T18:48:00.003-07:00

LaForce Likes DIY wreaths... spring/summer wreaths to be exact since I was in need of one! Spring and summer wreaths have really caught my eye recently (which is why I was pinning a bunch of them if you are a pinterest follower) as I was planning what wreath I wanted to make at girls craft day last Saturday. These here were great inspiration and you will have to stay tuned to see what I ended up creating!

My Blessed Nest

Craftaholics Anonymous

A Turtle's Life for Me

Liz Marie Blog

Goodwill Dresser Redo (finally!)

2012-04-02T18:40:00.002-07:00

You may recall the dresser I bought at goodwill in August 2010. Yes, 2010. What can I say, other things got in the way or took priority. When I saw it in the store, I immediately had to have it. Especially for the price of $25. Yeah, twenty-five bucks... it was a great day in goodwill.

I did some work over the next couple months cleaning it out and wiping it down. Taking off the hardware and sanding it. Then I primed it and it sat a very long time in the garage until this past fall when I decided to finally getter done. It's about time, right?

I wasn't totally thrilled with the first sanding job I had done on the top with an old sander and we had since purchased a new sander. I re-sanded the top (the rest was fine) and primed again with Kilz.

Then I painted 2 coats all over of SW Alabaster - a white creamy color. I ended up doing a third coat of paint just on the top. A big thanks to Cassie at Primitive and Proper (now I can finally link up at her furniture party!) for suggesting this color to me and letting me know that having brush strokes on the top is normal and adds to the character of the piece. The only way to get it perfectly smooth is with a sprayer and with this being a hobby I just can't justify buying that.

I got Eric and my dad around Christmas time to fix a couple of the drawer hinges. One of them is still not that great, but that's okay by me for such a cheap dresser.

I spray painted the hardware with an oil rubbed bronze and reattached them to the drawers. I let it sit about a week before moving it upstairs to the loft. Then I did 2 coats of polycrylic on the top since that is where I wanted to put lamps and such. I could have done it all over but I didn't think it was really necessary since I will use this for storage and not be opening the drawers on a daily basis.

Then I waited a week before placing anything on top. I added 2 teal lamps that I purchased from HomeGoods shortly after getting the dresser. They are the main inspiration for the color scheme that will be in this room.

I am happy to say I finished this up before the new year so at least it was only a year-ish since I bought it before completing it :) It also taken me awhile to get around to taking pictures of it and writing a post about it...

I think it is worth it to get something when you see it, even if you plan on waiting awhile to work on it because who knows when land a great find again. Case in point, I have a buffet type piece (cabinets on the bottom with shelves above) in the garage now that I bought a year ago waiting to be redone. Maybe since the dresser is all done, I will be motivated to start on that.

It's hard to believe what a $25 dresser, a can of paint, and a can of spray paint can become!

I am totally in love with my redo dresser and I hope you like it too! I need advice of what else should go on top of the dresser or should be hung above it so leave your thoughts here!

Linking up at these fun parties

LaForce Likes #5

2012-03-30T10:34:00.001-07:00

LaForce Likes numero cinco is all about decorated bookshelves. Almost everyone has a bookshelf in their home that is decorated and sometimes needs to also serve a functional purpose... like say storing books. Who would have thought that's what a bookshelf would need to do?!
This picture from Lovely etc. is a perfect example of making your functional shelves also look decorated. She has a wonderful post explaining how.

Just A Girl just built a wall of bookcases using those Billy bookcases from IKEA and decorated them. They look mighty nice.. especially how they seem to just fit right in with the wall.

These next 2 come from Real simple:

I love all the white here with the book covers.

This one really pops with the back of the bookshelf being a few shades darker than the room.

How do you like to decorate your bookshelves?

The Bapron

2012-03-27T18:19:00.002-07:00

The Bapron.. or Baby Apron. Really its like a super-powered bib. After seeing the tutorial for this adorable bib, we decided to make it for our craft day in January.

My mom had already made one following the tutorial and gave me a few tips like hand basting on the bias tape. This really helped us beginning sewers get the bias tape on well... even with basting it, stitching ended up not catching the bias tape in a few spots on the back of the bib so I had to redo those. I can only imagine how much I would of had to redo without it!

I snapped a pic of how Katie's turned out right before the girls left. I didn't get a picture of Danielle's because she hadn't quite finished but she used a print for her fleece back instead of white which I hadn't thought of and it was really cute.

I don't have a cute baby to put it on like in the tutorial post so the tiger is modeling it. Clearly he has not grown into it yet.

This will make a really great gift for a baby girl. I can see these things preventing all kinds of mess since it covers such a big area while also being cute.

The tutorial is very detailed and the project took awhile as beginners but definitely doable so GO FOR IT! Let me know how it goes :)

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LaForce Likes #4

2012-03-21T13:58:00.004-07:00

Sometimes we dread doing weekly meal planning.. who am I kidding, it's more than sometimes and I'm sure many of you do too so this week's LaForce Likes is Healthy Recipe sites! I use these sites to find tasty and healthy recipes for our dinners to make meal planning easier. Of course we have some usual standbys and cookbook favorites that we can often pull from but it is nice to have lists of recipes to try from blogs/websites that aren't a ton of calories.

1. Skinny Taste

Just last week I shared the delicious Chicken Enchilada Soup recipe.

2. Eat Yourself Skinny

There are some mini broccoli and cheese casseroles I want to try soon.

3. Eat Better America

This is where I got the 100 calorie Chocolate Whoopie pies recipe from. I also really like the chicken pot pie recipe because so many pot pie recipes are so high in calories or the low calorie ones taste too bland.

4. Real Simple

Not everything is healthy but they do have some great healthy recipes. The Honey Chicken Skewers and Grilled Corn Salad are yummy and make me yearn for summer.This is also a fantastic magazine.. I've been a subscriber for many years.

5. FitnessMagazine

They brought the Crock pot Cajun Shrimp recipe into my life.

I would really like to hear where you get healthy recipes from! Comment and share your knowledge!

Pottery Barn Knock Off Lamp Tutorial

2012-03-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

This post is brought to you by my mom who has been tackling many renovation projects by redoing various rooms in their home. This is one project she is very proud of.

Last year I came across this blog about making a floor lamp similar to one from Pottery Barn. It's not in their current catalog so it may be discontinued. The PB lamp was $150 but it was perfect for our study. I originally planned to make my copycat lamp like the one from the blog.

I started looking for a table lamp with a wooden base. Then I was going to buy a mailbox post for the bottom part. I found my first lamp in Goodwill for $6. I also bought a smaller one for $4. A few days later I found another lamp at GW for $6 and a fourth one at a thrift store for $4. The last one was a rectangular shape and would be perfect for the bottom of the floor lamp, so I scrapped the idea of using a mailbox post and decided to just stack all the lamps to make my lamp. The first thing I did was take all the lamps apart.

I only used the wooden parts (some of the bases were that "plasticky" brass). One lamp was painted white and the other three were stained various shades of brown. I sanded all the lamps and a couple of extra small blocks of wood I needed to get the height I needed . Then the hubby and I went to Lowe's to get a long metal cord rod, extra cord, and a new lamp socket kit. Since all the parts came from existing lamps, they already had holes drilled down the center. I used wood glue to put the pieces together, and then hubby added the rod and other hardware. Then I stained everything a dark brown. The stain I used was Minwax Provencal. I knew I wanted to distress the lamp after painting it and I wanted the same brown color to show through.

After the stain dried, I painted the lamp a pale ecru color. I used a mixture of white and tan craft paint.

After painting, I distressed with sandpaper.

I added a lampshade from Walmart and VOILA, I had my "pottery barn" floor lamp for less than $50! I love the finished product and it's perfect in the room.

So how PB-ish is that lamp?! Hope you enjoyed the tutorial! If you have questions/comments leave 'em and I'll get my mom to help answer. Hopefully I can feature more of her renovations soon.

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LaForce Likes #3

2012-03-14T19:24:00.001-07:00

I really like all the patterned chairs that are out there. I saw these on pinterest last week and it really got me thinking about patterned chairs and where one would fit well in our house.

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We have been needing a chair in our master bedroom. I started thinking I could get one of the many target patterned chairs even thought they probably aren't the most comfortable and are a tad on the small side.... but I was tired of waiting.

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I had been holding out since a lot of what we saw was too large/puffy or not comfortable or didn't fit with the colors and style.... until I randomly ~~suggested~~ begged we go to Homegoods when we had some time to kill last Friday night before dinner with friends. We stumbled upon this absolutely perfect chair! It was tan and white with a great pattern and our master colors are tans, blues, and white.

So of course I get my mom on the phone while in the store (after sending her a picture) to discuss if she thinks it will look good. I always like her opinion because she has good sense when it comes to decor and fabrics that go well together in room. I tell her it's by Lane and she says "oh that's who made our 2 nice reclining chairs". I mouth this to hubby who was sitting in the chair in the middle of Homegoods and he leans back and SURPRISE! It also reclines!!

Well if I wasn't already convinced, I am now :) Somehow we missed this sign... to be fair it was behind the Lane logo sign.

It was a great price and looks great in the room. Homegoods for the win! To see a pic of the other side of our master bedroom go here.

Healthy Chicken Enchilada Soup

2012-03-12T19:23:00.001-07:00

We made a crock pot recipe from one of my favorite healthy recipe sites, Skinny Taste. We made just a minor adjustment and the Chicken Enchilada Soup was wonderful!

Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup

from skinnytaste, serves 6, 261 calories for 1 1/2 cups and cheese

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups low sodium fat-free chicken broth
8 oz can tomato sauce
1-2 tsp chipotle chili in adobo sauce (or more to taste)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (plus more for garnish)
15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (original recipe used black beans instead)
14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes - I got the no salt added
2 cups frozen corn
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
16 oz skinless chicken breasts
For topping
1/4 cup chopped scallions
3/4 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
fat free sour cream

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft, 3-4 minutes. Slowly add the chicken broth, tomato sauce and chipotle adobo sauce and bring to a boil. Add cilantro and remove from heat. Pour into crock pot.

In crockpot, add drained beans, diced tomatoes, corn, cumin, oregano and stir. Add the chicken breasts; cover and cook on low heat for 4-6 hours.

Remove chicken and shred with two forks. Add chicken back into the soup, adjust salt and cumin to taste. Serve in bowls and top with sour cream, cheese, scallions and cilantro or whatever other toppings you wish!

You know I love me some sour cream and cheese! This was delicious and has a little smokiness to it from the adobe chilies but not too spicy (of course you could add many more if you want it spicy). Try this one out before the really warm weather hits!

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LaForce Likes #2

2012-03-07T19:22:00.000-08:00

The 2nd edition of LaForce Likes features the very popular purse trend or should I say non-purse trend of...

CLUTCHES!

We are attempting to make a clutch at craft day this weekend so this fits right in. Here are some of my faves from around blogland.

Gathered clutch

Scrappy clutch

Bow clutch

Ruffled clutch

Envelope clutch

What are some of your favorite clutches??

Burlap Napkin Rings

2012-03-04T15:58:00.001-08:00

I realized I never posted about one of the crafts Katie and I did awhile back at a crafting day and it would be a perfect winter/spring project to try! I found the idea years ago on Tatertots and Jello and favorited it until I had time to try it out.

Supplies:
burlap - 1/4 yard would be enough, not the burlap garland
napkin rings or pvc pipe in the size of napkin rings - found super cheap plain napkin rings at a thrift store
ribbon
embellishments or buttons
hot glue

You cut the burlap into a strip big enough so that you can cover the napkin ring while tucking the burlap on the inside of the ring and hot gluing it there. The inside of the rings won't look really pretty but that won't be seen when you put them on napkins :) Then repeat this process for all your napkin rings. I did 8 of 'em.

Once they dry you can add ribbon and your embellishments using hot glue or tacky glue. I got mine at the hob-lob.

This is how Katie's turned out with using gray felt and buttons. I think they would work in any kitchen.

I went with a sheer dark purple ribbon since that went with our eggplant and bright green living room and kitchen pallet.I suppose I could have ironed the napkins first... just keepin it real for yall. I despise ironing.

I love that these dress up the table just enough!

Give this a try!

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LaForce Likes #1

2012-02-27T13:54:00.002-08:00

I thought it would be fun to start a series where I post about things that I (or the LaForce family) like. It might be products, tips, clothes, websites, a cool craft or project... anything really. No one is paying me to talk about any products, although I would certainly welcome that!

I am going to start the first LaForce Likes with one of my favorite kitchen utensils. They are from Williams Sonoma. They are silicon and stainless steel. These babies scrape well, clean easily, and work great in my non-stick cookware. I use them all of the time. They are heat resistant up to 600F - holy cow I don't think I've cooked anything close to that hot. They are dishwasher safe too. May I present..

Ici Silicon Tools:

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I have 3 of the 4 which we got from wedding registry. The blunt end spoon is probably my favorite. They didn't have the slotted spatula then but I have since put it on my wish list for the in-laws for the birthday celebration this coming weekend. Yes I know my birthday was a month ago but this was the time we were all able to plan for. We will be celebrating 3 birthdays - mine, hubby's, and hubby's brother. So perhaps after this weekend I will have all 4 :)

They are really amazing! They make a really nice gift - tie them up with a bow and put them in a utensil holder or in an oven mitt. I got all 4 for my mom for Christmas. My SIL has them too and loves them.

Creamy Veggie Dip

2012-02-23T14:16:00.002-08:00

I was looking for a dip recipe to take to a friend's for watching Miss America. She was making soup and little sandwiches and fruit so I searched for a vegetable dip on pinterest. I wanted something different than the typical sour cream or yogurt mixed with a packet and this fit the bill!

Creamy Vegetable Dip
From Life's Ambrosia, Serves 6
Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese, softened - I used reduced fat
2 Tbsp mayonnaise - I used light
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried dill
1 red bell pepper, diced small
1 carrot, diced small
2 green onions, diced
salt and pepper to taste

Use a hand mixer to whip together cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and allow to refrigerate for 1 hour. Serve with crackers and vegetables.

It is really more of a spread that a dip but is very flavorful! The Olive Oil Cracked Pepper Triscuits paired fabulously with it. Definitely will be making again and using the healthier ingredients did not sacrifice taste. Hope you try it!

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