Recipes

Now that Sean an I are living on our own, we are having to feed ourselves.  This has been a task for two people who can hardly fix a grilled cheese.  We have done pretty well so far but with summer coming and since we are working out every day, I feel like it is very important for us to start eating better meals.  This is why I have decided to add a Recipes page to my blog.  Be patient with me, it might take a while to get some really good recipes but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

St. Patrick's Day Wedding Ideas

Since St. Patty's Day is this Saturday, I thought this wedding inspiration was very appropriate.  Enjoy :)

A Wreath for a Friend

My friend Lauren from work bought supplies to make herself a yarn wreath but never go around to doing it.  So, being the great friend I am, I offered to do it for her.

Supplies:

* One straw wreath (leave the plastic wrapping on)

* Yarn

* Several pieces of felt

* Scissors

* Hot glue gun

I started out by tying the yarn in a knot to hold it on the wreath.  I then started wrapping the yarn around and around until all of the wreath's surface was covered.  You need time and patients for this step, it took me about 45mins to finish wrapping. You can either hot glue your yarn to the wreath when you are done, or tie in to another piece of yarn.

I wanted to try some different flowers this time, so I found a helpful tutorial on how to make wavy flowers. 

Here is the link --> No Sew Felt Flower Headband

 Once a had made about 15 different sized flowers, I arranged them on the wreath.  After some tweaking I finally came up with a what you see here.

 This was such an easy project, and was one of my more simple wreaths but it was still fun making it.
Check out my other wreaths here: Wonderful Wreaths

Mason Jar Pin Cushion

I finally brought another one of my Mason Jar Madness ideas to life.  This idea is actually a gift for Sutton :)  She's vertically challenged so she is always hemming her pants.  Since she is a little seamstress, this idea was perfect for her.  I used the mason jar to create a pin cushion/thread holder.

Supplies:

* 1 Mason jar

* Fabric of your choice

*Quilt Batting

* Hot glue gun

*Scissors

 Step 1: Lay out your batting and cut circles about the size of the lid of the mason jar. Cut as many as it take to get the height desired.

Step 2: Place your fabric over your batting

Step 3: Flip the fabric and batting over and place the flat part of the lid on the other side

Step 4: Flip back over and add the ring of the jar around the fabric and batting.  Adjust the amount of cushion you want on top.

 Step 5: Once you have the right size cushion, trim the extra fabric and then glue the rest down.

 Step 6: Add your needle and thread :)

Picture Perfect

Since I've been missing my family a lot lately, I decided to make I little gift to send them.  I found this idea on Pinterest but made some of my own changes.  Here is a link to the example if you want to check it out.

I found the maps on nationalatlas.gov, and had them printed at Walgreens. After I had the maps all I needed was some scrap book paper and a picture of our family.  I used the scrapbook paper for the back ground and to make the hearts of the cities we live in.  I found some rub on phrases in a craft bag at home so I stuck one of those on there too.  

This was such a fun easy project, and there are so many different ways to make it your own.  

Crazy Weather

The weather here in Louisville has been crazy this past week.  We went from 70 degrees and sunny one day, thunderstorms and tornado's the next, then 2 days later we got 4 inches of snow.  Tomorrows forecast, 60 and sunny. It's obvious why people here say "If you don't like weather here, stick around 5 minuets, it will change."

When the tornado's came through on Friday it ripped through a town about 20 miles away called Henryville, Indiana.  The impact of the storm was devastating. It left the town torn to pieces and killed at least 10 people.  I'm sure many thoughts and prayers are being sent to the people of the town, I know mine are.  Sean and I will be donating clothes and shoes this week to go to the victims of the storm.  For those of you that live in the Louisville, you can take your donations to any of the 5 ValuMarket locations.  The Salvation Army is also accepting donations 

Click here to see more information about the storm

On a happier note, the 4 inches we got was the first real snow we have all winter.  Since the temperature is supposed to get back up to 60 tomorrow, we knew it was sticking around very long.  I recruited Sean to go out and snap some pictures of the dogs. All three of them love the snow :)

Abby and Reese 

Quigley

Add caption

Abby likes to try and eat Quigley's tail

Reese looks a little windblown 

Quigs doing what he does best, barking.

Reese, ready to pounce 

My Frosted Jars

This weekend I decided to tackle one of the many projects I posted on Friday.  Since I already had everything for the frosted jars project, I chose that one.  It turned out to be really simple.

Supplies:

* Glass jars ( I used 4)

*Painters tape

* Marker

*X-Acto knife

* Frosted Finish spray paint

Follow these steps:

1. Take some painters tape and place layers on the jar until you have a good area to work with.

2. Draw your design on choice with a marker.  I free handed stars on my jars because they were simple and I liked that each one looked a little different.  

3. Step three is the most difficult.  If you have an X-Acto knife use it to trace your shape.  I didn't have one so I used a knife and it worked just the same.

4. After you have traced over your design, you can start taking off your tape. If you didn't cut through in some places, you can always do more as you go.

This is what they should look like when you are done taking off your tape.

5. Next take your frosted finish spray paint and give each jar 2 coats.  

6. Let dry and add candles :)

Mason Jar Madness

It's official...I'm mad about mason jars.  Before starting this post I actually went around the house to see how many mason jars I have in use. Please don't judge, Sean and Sutton already think I'm becoming a jar hoarder.

Here's the count:

3 on the kitchen table (See Mod Podge Rocks)

1 holding flowers in the garden window

1 holding dry erase markers (See DIY: Tinted Mason Jars)

1 holding cooking utensils (See More Mason Jars)

1 as a lotion dispenser (See Mason Jar Lotion Dispenser)

If that isn't crazy enough, I have 9 more sitting on my desk waiting to be used.  What's even more ridiculous is that I clean out the refrigerator just so I could clean out the glass jars we weren't going to use.

Ok, I admit it, I have a problem : /

BUT, just to prove I'm not a jar hoarder, I have been looking up more fun ways to use glass/mason jars.  First, I must say that I don't take credit for any of these ideas, but I do plan on putting my own twist on them when I do make them.  

Frosted Jars:

This first idea is amazing! I've been wanting to use frosted spray paint on some jars but all the ideas I came up with looked too wintery.  These are perfect! I can just see them still out on the deck or on the stone wall in front of the house.  Plus, if you notice the jars aren't mason jars, my pickle jars will work perfect for this craft. 

Frosted Jars

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Needle and Thread:
This next idea is very fitting for Sutton, she is 4'11 (sorry to call you out girl) so she is always having to hem her pants. She is so handy with needle and thread it's ridiculous.  I can't wait to get to Hobby Lobby and start this project for her.

Needle and Thread

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Growing Grass:

This idea is kind of silly but I thought it was so cute.  When I saw this I honestly thought of my Mom.  Since she's in Texas and there is hardly any green grass in the summer, this little project could help bring the green grass she wishes she had, in the house. I might just have to snag a couple baby food jars from work and try this myself.  Also, this could be a really cute idea for an Easter center piece by adding some little plastic eggs.

Growing Grass

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Matted Finish:

This is a super easy craft project to do with any glass jar.  All you need is some hot glue and matte finish spray paint.  Using the hot glue to write on the bottle then spray painting it makes it look as though the words are a part of the glass.  You can also use the glue to make designs on the glass. Simple and really cute. 

Matted Finish

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Staying Organized: 

This last idea is something I will for sure be recreating. As I'm sure you can imagine, I have a ton of craft supplies now!  This mason jar project is a perfect way to store your supplies in a cute but practical way.  I can't wait to get started on this one.

Staying Organized

At least I have come up with some ways to get some use out of the jars I have collected.  Stay tuned to see how the projects turn out :)

Life is better at the beach :)

I am more than ready for some warmer weather.  Not only has cabin fever set in, I am also suffering from a cold :( Needless to say, BRING ON THE SUNSHINE!! This little wedding collage is inspired by much warmer weather, the beach.  I just can't wait to soak up some vitamin D!