Wooden Pallet DIYs

For some reason, I am a tad late finding out about pinterest.com!!!  I have absolutely fallen in love!  There are so many genius diy's out there just waiting to be created.  Some of my favorite that I have found are giving life back to old wooden pallets!  For the icing on the cake, these are GREEN projects.  They are incredible, and I never would have thought about doing anything like this!  Here they are!  Happy Crafting!

outdoor coffee table

indoor coffee table

indoor lounge couch

outdoor couch

wine bar

kitchen island

indoor pallet bench/couch

I am lovin wreaths right now!!

I don't know what it is, but I am in love with wreaths right now!  I would make some if I didn't have to travel an hour away to go to Hobby Lobby. lol  But, it will happen at some point.  Here are a few that I have seen on other blogs.  I want to encourage you to go check out their blogs.  They've got some pretty good stuff on there.  I'll have to post when i actually make my own versions.  I just thought that these wreaths were out of the box and just perfect.  When your guest say, "Oh, I love your wreath, where did you get it?!?, " you can proudly say "I made it!"

 With this one, you can easily transform season to season with a change of ribbon and a can of spray paint.
Lima Bean Wreath!!

Book Paper Wreath

Shabby Chic Rosette Wreath

Your's Truly,
Des

DIY Covered Matches and Save-the-Dates

I am currently planning for my big day.  It is going to be June 3, 2011, and it will be here before I know it!!  There is so much to do!  Here are a couple of diy ideas that I came across and loved.  

Covered Matches- I used damask paper from Hobby Lobby and doubled-tape.  The wedding is going to be hot pink, apple green and touches of damask. ;o)

I plan to pair these up with sparklers for a dazzling exit!

Next up, the infamous Save-the-Dates with a twist.

 
I came across these super cute save the dates on The Wedding Bee Blog.  Neatly cut out the numbers for your date, string them up with some ribbon and attach the info on a little cardstock.  They have several cute ideas for Save-the-Dates and lots of other diy projects.  Unfortunately, I have waited a bit too late, so I have decided to skip the save the dates and mail out the invites next month.   

I've got the Baking Fever!

I grew up around cooking all my life.  My grannie loved to put a meal on the table for her family, and it sure has rubbed off on me.  I love the feeling I get when I spend time cooking a meal and then watching as they enjoy the end product.  It gives me great satisfaction knowing that I pleased some taste buds!  BUT, baking puts the biggest smile on my face.  I don't know what it is for sure.  Maybe it's the science of it all and getting it right.  Or, maybe it's the fact that most baked goods are sweet.  ;o)  I can't forget to mention that playing some feel-good music and singing is a necessity.  I also love the process- starting with basic ingredients and seeing it slowly turning into yummy goodness.  To be honest, it is probably all of these wonderful things combined.  

So, today I cooked Rachel Ray's Orange Balsamic Glazed Chicken with green beans and  sauteed sweet potatoes.  After looking over some recipes on epicurious.com, it got me in the mood to bake something.  Unfortunately, my future hubby doesn't love love baked goods, so it's hard for me to make stuff and not waste.  On the website I came across Cinnamon, Pecan, and Currant Cream Scones.  They seemed delicious, and I talked myself into them being a little healthy.  So, I used 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup bread flour to substitute for the all-purpose flour.  I only had a touch of pecans, so I used part pecans and part crushed almonds.  It added a nice crunch.  The texture in general was nice.  I didn't have any heavy cream, so I used the fat free milk.  Overall, the scone was wonderful.  Grant seemed to like it, and he said that it would be good with some sort of icing.  

Sorry the picture isn't so great, but they really are beauties.  ;o)
Happy Baking!!

Pineapple Glazed Chicken with Jalapeno Salsa

Epicurious Recipe Number 2 was a success!  Here it is!

 The grocer store didn't have chicken breast with the skin still intact so I had to use skinless.  It didn't dry out thankfully.  The salsa was not too spicy, and it added a wonderful color to the plate.  I served the chicken with some green beans with toasted almonds.  Until next time, Your's Truly

Spice Rubbed Steak with White Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

Remember when I said that I wanted to start planning out meals for the week?  Well, epicurious came to the rescue!  Grant and I found out about this website and even better the app on our phones!  We got out of church on Sunday, drove to Walmart, and by that time we had a shopping list ready to go on the phone.  Gotta love technology (well when it's working right).  Simply download the app to your phone, pick out some recipes and click on the "add to shopping list" button, and presto, the work is done for you.  It even separates the list into categories.  So the first meal we chose was Spice Rubbed Steak with White Beans and Cherry Tomatoes.

The flavor was great.  Grant loved it, and he even liked the white beans and tomatoes.  The only thing I changed was used grape tomatoes instead of cherry.  That's just what the store had.  I followed the timing for the steak like it says, and it turned out so tender.  Until next time, Happy Cooking!

Banana Nut Bread

Hello lovelies.  I made banana nut bread for my boss and her mother.  You still have time before Christmas!!!  I got the recipe from the Vintage Victuals blog.  Here it is.  I used about 3 bananas and baked them in 3 mini aluminum bread pans.  Happy Baking and Merry Christmas!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

HOHOHO!  Merry Christmas!  Actually not quite yet.  You still have time to bake up some treats for your loved ones.  Here is a Chocolate Sugar Cookie recipe that is delicious and looks like they were dusted with snow!  I would use at least semi-sweet baking chocolate instead of unsweetened unless you like really dark chocolate.  A lot of the reviews said it wasn't sweet enough, and I agree.  I also used powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar.  Don't be afraid of over-coating the dough with sugar.  They will need it.  I also sprinkled more when they were done. ;o)  Happy Baking!!

Repurpose a Flour Sifter!

Hello ladies and gents! Do you have an old flour sifter that is just too old to use??  Well here is a solution.  Use it to hold flatware or serving utensils like I've done here.  Flour sifters always remind me of my Grannie.  I guess that is why I love them so much. ;o)

It's Snowing in Martin!!! Dec 12, 2010

It's snowing, and it's gorgeous!  I didn't expect us to get this much, and it's my daddy's birthday!  Happy b-day!

Grant and I wanted some hot chocolate, and I thought today was a great day to make some homemade hot chocolate!  My Grannie makes the best and I use her recipe.  Her it is!

 I love the fact that I have the recipe in her writing! 

 Just put everything in a pot and let it heat up until you like it.  Make sure you top it off with some marshmallows or whipped cream! ;0)

Eco-Friendly Wreaths and Muffin Tin Advent Calendar

Here are some great ways to repurpose everyday items and decorated for Christmas at the same time!
Eco-Friendly Wreaths

 Advent Calendars can be very expensive, but this is so simple and cute!  Great for kids to find a small treasure inside each day!
muffin tin advent calendar This is from another blogger- (Musings, Memories, and Mayhem)

Homemade Funky Cute Ornaments

Last year at Christmas, my cousin gave me the cutest glitter ornament with polka dots all over.  A light bulb went off in my head, and I thought, " Hey, I can make these!"  So I purchased some ornament balls on sale after Christmas last year (love love shopping on the 26th!).  Then, I painted polka dots carefully with circular sponges on a stick and put a big bow on top for icing on the cake!  Check them out!  In the pic below the green one near the bottom is the one I received as a gift and the pink one is homemade!

I used small plastic cups to set the ornaments on when drying.  You'll also have to do 2 or 3 coats on the polka dots for them to look solid and nice.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Cheesesteak= YUM

So last night's cheesesteak went well.  My brother, his roommate, and my fiance all ate it with no complaints.  I would have liked it a little more juicy though.  But who knows I might have overcooked the meet just a touch.  Now on to the next one!

Feeling Froggy

Today instead of studying like a good student, I've been reading cooking blogs!  It started off when I saw one about planning a weeks worth of meals.  This is something I need to do, but in the mean time, I plan on making cheesesteaks for supper!  We'll see how this turns out.  The blogger is from Philadelphia, and she knows her cheesesteaks!  Well my fiance is excited to say the least bc I haven't been cooking as much due to school and lack of a dishwasher.  

 http://mecookingcreations.blogspot.com/2009/09/cheesesteaks.html

The recipe link is posted above.  Happy Cooking!

Florida = Rain??

Grant, my fiance, Joben, our shwinnie dog, and I went to Florida this past weekend.  Do you think rain when you think of Florida in late August?  We certainly didn't.  The plan was to go camping at Henderson Beach State Park.  We got there, checked in, and drove to our site.  God must have a sense of humor because it definitely started to rain.  It started sprinkling a little, and then it poured.  All the while, we were putting up our tent.  Our thought was that it would stop raining and we'd be able to dry out the inside and sleep there.  Nope!  It did not stop raining, and the rain guard was not keeping the rain out.  Poor Joben was not a happy camper.  He stays inside and rarely gets out in the rain, so he was miserable. 
  We ended up getting the cheapest motel we could find for the two nights and managed to have fun through our rain-filled weekend.  We went shopping and got some clothes for this semester, walked on the beach in the rain, ate some amazing snow crab legs, watched the fights at Hooters where I got my tapout hooters tank top!, and enjoyed each others company.  www.floridastateparks.org/hendersonbeach/  I recomend this park for camping.  It was very clean and they have a private beach.  Hopefully we'll be able to go back. 

Really Inspired!

  I work at Claire and Schuster Interiors.  We sell mainly traditional artwork, home accessories, and furniture.  My passion is for modern design.  In reality it's probably more eclectic than anything. 
  Work is slow in a small town.  So, I try to occupy myself on the internet.  Today, I was on HGTV's Rate My Space website and found nyclq.  I absolutely love love her style and she has inspired me to rethink and rearrange.  She is all about using paint to freshen up accessories, thrift store finds, and changing out items with items she already has.  I want to use her concept of decorating when my fiance and I graduate and get our own place.  Hopefully we'll have a bit more money than we do now. lol
http://www.athomewith.com/community/nyclq/style.esi?userid=8169082