Sneak Peek

Ok, I have been spending some time with my sewing machine and here is a sneak peek at what I have been doing!  This is the skirt that I made for myself....I have a few things to finish on it but I was trying it on for fit :)  I also have a dress for maddy and ties for the little men! We'll have more pictures soon!!!

stained glass crosses

It's Thursday!!!!  Yeah for Thursdays with Janell! 

Today we did an Easter project with the kids.  Here is what we did:

I cut crosses out of construction paper (you can use any kind).  I cut up a bunch of tissue paper and then put the crosses onto clear contact paper that I got at Target.  The kids went to work placing the tissue paper onto the sticky side of the contact paper!

After that was done I put another piece of contact paper on top and then we hung them in the window!  We also did eggs!

Now most of you would probably want to cut around the cross but my kiddos put the tissue paper all over and did not want any cut off!

This is a great project for kids of all ages.  The older ones can cut their own tissue paper and make designs.  It has NO GLUE so is pretty much mess free! Good fine moter and creativity!

Now don't forget to talk about the importance of the cross with your kids while doing the project!  Always a time to share the gospel!

Dressers

 I did this project a week ago and I am finally getting something posted!!  We have all miss match, free, garage sale dressers.  We knew we needed one 'new' dresser for our boys and I have been wanting 'matching' dressers for our room for the last 8 years!  After doing some pricing and not wanting to spend the money on new dressers I decided to take an idea that I pinned and paint two of the dressers black and antique them.  These I would put in our bedroom.  Then I saw this pin and thought it would be Perfect in Maddy's room!  So the three dressers that we had I was ready to paint!!

 

This is what they looked like before....above is the drawers for the tall dresser and that was for Eli.  I did chalk paint on the drawers for labels (more for my husband than Eli!!)  But it was time for a change. 

Below is the really cheap dresser that I had when I was in HIGH SCHOOL!!!  I won't tell you how long ago that was!  It is just a particle board dresser. 

 I sanded everything down to rough it up....and then put primer on all of it.

Ok, now that that part is done I waited, played with the kids, ate lunch...waited and then started painting!!

So here are the first coats of black paint: 

Lots of pictures, I know....It was such a nice day out!

So next step was to wait again....and wait and wait...and then when it is dry I took a sanding block and sanded it down again.  After cleaning it off I put coat number two of black paint on!

It is starting to look better!!  At this point It was getting later in the day and I let these coats dry over night.  The next day I was ready to start sanding!  So I sanded around the edges of the drawers and other spots that I wanted to look antiqued.  I sanded it down to the bare wood.  I used a stain pen then to give the wood a finished look.

Seriously, it was so nice out....March in Minnesota is not like this....so that is why everything got moved out of the garage to dry and be worked on!

Next step was to polish it up...I used a finishing paste to give it a shiny look. 

So after all of that we moved them into the bedroom and we now have MATCHING dressers!! 

I would really like to show you a finished picture but I keep forgetting and when I remember my little man is sleeping in there!  I also still need to spray paint the handles so they all match.  BUT I am almost done and I WILL HAVE A FINISHED PICTURE SOON!

Oh I almost forgot.  Here are the pics from my little Maddy's dresser.  I painted the main part white and then I started by painting the bottom drawer the pink color that I bought and then I kept adding white paint to get the lighter colors!

Yep, we still need to get new hardware on this dresser but it fits her room so well!! 

So there, a LONG post but 3 beautiful 'new' dressers!

Roasted peeps = YUM

Roasted peeps are a favorite around here.  I stock up on them when they go on clearance after Easter.  You can throw them in your freezer to keep longer, and pull them out whenever you have a bonfire.  When you get them just right...the outside forms a crunchy, sugary shell and the inside is melty and gooey.  YUM.

Homemade tortilla's

I have found that it is so rewarding to make things from scratch.  It not only makes me feel good about what I am feeding my family but I get comments like "you are the best mama ever!" and "Honey these are so good.  You can make it anytime!"

Those words are enough for me to keep making things!  So here is the recipe that I use for Tortilla's.  I got it from HERE.  It is so simple...four, baking soda, salt, butter and water!  I always have these on hand!

My tortillas are not perfect circles but they taste the same :)  We like a thinner tortilla so I rolled them out nice and thin.

Then I put just a tiny bit of butter in the pan to help brown and give a little more flavor..see it bubbling up nicely!?

Flip it over and brown both sides

And here are my not so perfect but really yummy D.I.Y tortilla's!

Not I just added a beef, bean, rice mixture and we had our own Chipotle :)

Vintage metal letters....made from cardboard and tin foil

I have seen a few different versions of this floating around pinterest and wanted to do it.  I didn't want to spend money on 3D letters (I'm that cheap) so while I love the look of THESE I wanted to use stuff I already had around the house.  Then I saw this PIN and thought...I can do that!

So here is what we did:

Cardboard (got it from Sam's club...used from all the boxes that my kids played in)
Tin foil (heavy duty)
I used Spray paint

I printed my letters out on the computer and then traced onto the cardboard to get....

....this, not too bad!

Then I started to put the tin foil on.  With my smaller letters I first put it around the edges and then the front.  In the tutorial it says to mod podge....not sure why....but I did it anyway.  I think I would put it on the bottom and top to keep tin foil in place if I do it again.



Here is the letters after they are covered

Then after the mod podge dried I spray painted with the same metallic paint that I had used on Making the old new.  This paint dries REALLY fast!  Right away I took an old rag and started to rub some of the paint off so the tin foil showed through.  It looked especially cool with the wrinkles. 

So here is the finished product.  I had a few problems along the way....like the tinfoil not staying down; but that is why I recommend securing it down before you paint!  The pictures are not the best but I will try to get some better ones up and Janelle will post a picture of how hers turned out too!!

Oh and I am going to put these on a wall with 3 pictures of my kids because there is much JOY in doing His will for my life!!

Thanks for reading and have fun trying it out yourself!

Donut muffins

This is such a treat in our house...these yummy little muffins dipped in butter and Cinnamon sugar.  I decided to make these today because it was my son's second day of preschool. My husband even delayed going into work just to take some with him!  They MUST be yummy!

They are so simple to make and besides the 15 min of baking time they don't take long to whip up (the 15 min is a very long time for a 4 and 2 year old who are waiting!).

I got the recipe from smashed peas and carrots.  She has lots of other yummy recipes too!! 

The BEST peanut butter frosting

So we were watching cake boss the other day and when you watch a show like that you get hungry for CAKE! There is one cake that my husband always ask for and that is a homemade chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.  This frosting is so yummy...take a spoon eat it all  yummy!  So do I keep something that good to myself?  NO!  I thought I must share this peanut butter goodness with the blog world. 

About 1 Cup of peanut butter (I always do a little more)

1/2 cup crisco

1 stick of butter softened

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2- 3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix the above ingredients

Then slowly add about 1/2 cup milk or until you get the right consistency

Then Enjoy!!

homemade coffee creamer

Good Morning!  After having my babies I decided I needed to become a grown up and start drinking coffee....and to give me a little get up and go in the morning!  Unlike my husband I cannot stand coffee black!  Although I love the taste of the store bought creamers have you ever looked at what they are made of??!!  So like so many other things in my home I decided it was about time to make my own flavored creamer.  I do like the recipe's from this PIN but like a little richer flavor so I am experimenting with that.  This morning I made the chocolate almond creamer.  I just love this idea and found the perfect jar just sitting in my cupboard collecting dust!! 

I hope that you try this also and share if you have any other great flavored creamer recipe's!!!  Have a wonderful Friday!