DIY Numbered Burlap Buckets

Wow, what a crazy week (yet again!!). Sorry for being so absent, but as we all know sometimes life really doesn't allow time for the extras in life. And sadly, this is an extra for me and lots of changes and weird things have made it harder for me to keep on top of blogging even when I do have spare time.

Either way, here I am with a fun little (quick) project. Well, mostly quick. You may remember my real life inspiration that I shared earlier this month here and a picture that looked like this:

(taken by me at my local Joann Fabrics store)... well here is my version and a how-to.

(and yes, we had snow on Monday... so much for spring being here!!)

 

 

 

 

Basically, I statrted with these pretty, shiny buckets found at Hobby Lobby for $1.99/ea (I think, don't quote me on it.) I didn't really like how SHINY and NEW they looked, so I headed to the basement and hubby's stash of wood stain. I picked out a darker one grabbed some gloves and a rag and began to cover inside and out.

 

 

Once I was satisfied with the shade, I let it dry and went to work on the numbers portion.

 

 

I painted each swatch of burlap with white paint and let that dry





 

Later, I came back to it with my handy, dandy paint pen and wrote my numbers. Cute, right??

 

 

Once everything was all dry and ready to go- it was time to attach the numbers to the buckets. How you might ask???

 

 

(pardon the odd picture) I used my cropidile to punch holes both in the buckets

 

and in the burlap swatches. Once holes were in both, I lined them up and used an eyelet to attach them. The cropodile is such a super fun tool and I was so lucky to get mine a few years back at Walmart of all places on clearance. Major Win!!

 

 

There's one a little more up close where you can see the cute little eyelets.

 

 

 

There you have it.. buckets in the snow. And yet another use for BURLAP, my love affair.

 

Happy Friday to you all. Hope you all have a wonderful and warm weekend. (wishful thinking on my own part too!!!) Take care crafty friends.

 



Inspiring quotes #4

I didn't expect my first post from this (annoyingly) long break to be my inspiring quotes, but here we are. I hope this Thursday finds everyone happy, healthy, and maybe sunny!?!

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This week's is a little short, but hopefully inspirational nonetheless :)

 

Happy Thursday loves!!

 

Buffalo Roasted Chickpeas

Ok, in an effort to be real and honest.. I am posting a very imperfect picture of my chickpeas. Don't judge them. Even though they were not perfect looking, they were absolutely fabulous and I couldn't stop eating them. So feast your eyes.....

 

I actually did a google search for chickepea recipes and stumbled upon this recipe at Modern Mom food.

The recipe is really simple and I have adjusted the recipe I found to what I used. Although mine resulted in some dark chickpeas, I think I can attribute this to areas where there was more or less sauce. Anyway, here is the recipe.

1 Tablespoon Margerine

¼ cup hot sauce (I used Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce)

A 15 oz can garbanzo beans

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (optional).
• Drain and rinse garbanzo beans. Pat dry with towel.
• Spread garbanzo beans onto baking sheet.
• In a small sauce pan over medium-low heat melt margerine. Add hot sauce and stir until combined.
• Pour the hot sauce mixture over the beans. Toss to coat evenly.
• Bake for approximately 30 to 40 minutes, until browned.

I actually put mine in the toaster oven on convection (since our regular oven doesn't have it) for about 30 minutes. Man, I can't wait to make these again. I ate some as a snack and used about 1/4 of them as "croutons" on a salad. I have already decided I will be making a double (at least!!) batch next time.. they are just seriously way too delicious.

Have you ever tried roasted chickpeas? What is your favorite recipe- please link up in the comments.. I would love to learn other ways... YUMM!!!

See you all Monday with a little project I have been up to- based off a past real life inspiration. Have a great weekend!!

Inspiration Thursday #3

Ok ok. I did get a chance to work on and complete 2 fun projects last night. Sadly, no time to get pictures this morning. I will probably hold off until Monday to post anything crafty-like because Friday and Saturday will mostly be taken up getting ready for my long-time friend's wedding!!! So this is what you get for now :)

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(perfect for us crafters, right??)
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 (also true.. so attracted to imperfect finds)
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too often we forget to love ourselves in the midst of all the craziness of life.
Be your own best friend... love YOU
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I hope you enjoyed this installation of inspiration thursdays. Have a great rest of the week and wonderful weekend... maybe spring will find us? It was flurrying as I left home this morning... give me a break!

Quick little update

Hi friends. Two kinda big deal moments today.
#1 Switched all my stuff from google to Bloglovin since the end of the google reader world is coming this summer I figured I would just get it over with and do it.
#2 I finally just went ahead and added those gosh darn social media buttons. I still don't know what half of the ones I opted out of adding are. You would think that in my age I would be totally on top of all this jazz and I am just not. Way to a kick a girl when she's down.

But seriously these things are a big deal to me as I am constantly finding myself saying.. man I wish there were more hours in the day!!

Hopefully I can post something of real substance this week.. Probably not for Wednesday since I spent the whole evening getting my awesome icons from here, uploading to Photobucket and well.. you know non online activities.

With that being said, I hope you all are having a great week and follow me on facebook because I tend to update with random pictures or other things to stay connected.

Take care all :)

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DIY Hobby Statement Jars

After a bumpy start to the week, here I am as promised with a new post. this project is quick, easy and pretty darn cute. Who doesn't love that??



As you will see shortly, there really isn't too much to these bad boys, other than some burlap, glue, jars and paint pen. Seriously.



Since my poor cricut is still out of commission I used the good old pc to print different fonts to trace through the burlap using my handy dandy paint pen. I didn't really take step by steps, if you want to see more you can refer back to my Coffee Jar project.

I cut strips of each color of burlap (olive, light tan, regular) to fit the jars, traced my words and added some doodles....who doesn't love a good doodle?

I leave you with a little paint and preview (not much of one though, really.)

Either way, happy Wednesday everyone.

What would you put on your jars??

So I found this on Pinterest..

We all say it. Probably more than we would like to admit. But seriously. There are really not too many things you might want to find- whether recipe, craft, workout, DIY, you name it- that are not pinned to someone's boards.

Oddly enough, I really wasn't looking for anything in particular this time. On a daily regular basis I tend to check out whats new in a few categories: Food, crafts/diy, humor (hello, ecards!), and health/fitness. This is how I stumbled upon this delicious number.


Sweet & Sour Chicken

Oh My Goodness. The original recipe came from Made it, Ate it, Loved it. I just so happened to change it up a little.  I used a package of chicken tenderloins from Wegmans instead of the chicken breasts called for.

Chicken Breading:
salt and pepper
1 cup Wheat flour (instead of cornstarch)
2 eggs, beaten
Vegetable oil (instead of canola and I just put enough in the pan to use- didn't measure)

I cut my tenderloins up into chunks and seasoned with the salt and pepper. Dipped the pieces into egg then the flour and set aside on a plate. Once they were all done, I popped them in the oil, just letting them get a little browned on each side. I am a little scared of OVER-frying things so I probably don't let them in as long as a should. Anyway, as I took the chicken out of the pan I put them in baking dishes small enough to fit in our toaster oven (yay electric saving!). Then you pour the sauce over!!

Sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp kethcup
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tsp garlic salt

I ended up making closer to a double sauce recipe since I had mine split into 2 dishes. I also put the chicken and some sauce on a cookie sheet covered with foil for a few extra minutes on either side to get it a little crispier.

Sides:
I cut up half a small avocado and some tomato which I cooked on the stove. I also used my rice cooker to make some yummy rice (should have been whole grain, but oh well!)
With leftovers I steamed some Mukamame, also a good, healthy choice.. just sayin!

Just a small hint and toot my own on how good this is... hubby came home from work, none the wiser of what I had made, said "It smells like chinese in here." Dearest hubby.. thats because I made it :)

Go make it.. seriously!!

Inspiring quotes #2

Last week I decided to do something different.. share my love for quotes with you all. They weren't all super serious (we can't be serious 100% of the time- in fact I'd rather not) and some were more of just quotes I really enjoy.

So I am back this week to share some more.. hope you don't mind!! I have a super huge love of quotes and enjoy it if even just one of them inspires you.. or reminds you that you are someone special.

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Sometimes we just need little reminders- to take time to sleep, laugh, smell the roses.. whatever we need to refocus and tell ourselves to MOVE ON, that we are all IMPERFECT and to LOVE OURSELVES ANYWAY, it is OK to FALL APART, and to just ENJOY life however we can.

 

I think too often as women we get caught up in the every day to do lists- paying bills, cooking meals, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, the this that and the other thing that we forget. We forget all the things we are blessed with. That we can't please every one, can't be everywhere at once, and sometimes we need reminded that we are AMAZING in our flaws. 

 

 

 

 

Kindle Fire & Thank you...

I have to start this off to say that I never win anything. EVER. Seriously. So imagine my surprise when Jonie @ Just Between Friends emailed me a while ago telling me I won the Kindle fire give-away that she and the incredible bloggers listed below had teamed up to offer.

Ashlee imtopsyturvy.com

Lindsay artsyfartsymama.com

Leanne organizeyourstuffnow.com

Meg & Steph doityourselfdivas.blogspot.com

Becky utahsweetsavings.com

Jesseca onesweetappetite.com

 

 

It was a rafflecopter giveaway and I enter lots and lots of these any time there is something I take interest in but never really expect to win.. like seriously EVER! So like I said I was blown away when I got the email.

 

Needless to say, the minute I told hubby of my good fortune, he claimed that sucker. And yes, I was nice and gave it up to him. Mainly because I am a wonderful loving wife. No really, mostly because we purchased a Samsung Tablet back in September and I pretty much claimed that for my unlimited use. So fair is only fair.

 

He really loves it. We were a little surprised at the weight for how small it is, but it is really the perfect size to sit in your hand. He actually recieved the original style Kindle a few years ago at Christmas from my parents.. but you know how men are with their toys. He loves being able to read books on that thing but loves that the Kindle Fire is color and allows him to do a lot of the same things I can on my tablet. I did tell him he needed to share the other Kindle for trips and such so I can have books on it instead of the big 10" tablet.. seriously, there's a place and time.

 

Hubby couldn't get over the fact that the Fire fits perfectly in his hands and allows him to have access to so much with it. He discovered that because he recently signed up for Amazon Prime, he has lots of movies at his instant touch. The colors and look of the screen are pretty amazing too, not going to lie. He was like a kid on Christmas when he came home from work the night I told him it had arrived.

 

What a wonderful "toy" and it certainly made our hubby's day. So thanks to all these wonderful ladies for teaming up and offering such a wonderful piece of technology. Definitely lots of smiles abound.

If you don't already, you should visit and follow each of them. What a talented group of women!!!

DIY Door Curtain

Hey Strangers!!! I know, I know I have been so slackerific here it is not even funny.

To make up for it, I am going to reveal something really super dooper embarrasing.

So we have this back door. And it has a window in it. When we moved in almost 2 years ago, I was at Walmart (despised) with my mom getting some supplies to make it more HOME and one of the items was a curtain for said window... Well little did I know it wouldn't FIT!! Now, I don't mean it was too big... it was too short!!

Seriously friend. I kid you not. We looked at this until SUNDAY evening. I kept thinking of how I could fix this issue and just never "got around to it." I have looked a few places but kept forgetting to measure the darn window to see how long it needed to be. Yea, can we say LAZY??! Pretty much. No excuse really.  UNTIL.... I found a really awesome, and by awesome I mean less than $4 clearance curtain panel at .. my favorite place on earth.. TARGET!!!

I immediately hugged  grabbed it and said to my sister "I bet I could make a new back door curtain out of this." And so I did!!!

 I don't really have any "along the way" pictures.. mostly because I was embarrassed to take a million and one while hubby was here. Haha. When its just me, game on 100 pictures of the same darn thing.  I did have two that I took, but they were so awful that they aren't worth posting. Basically, I hung up the full length curtain, eye-balled where I wanted it to be, measured, cut and no-sew glued.

Little better right?? I think I will a portion of what is left to make a second panel.. I think it looks a little silly with just one. What do you all think??



Although one picture is closer than the other, it makes a huge difference that the WHOLE window is covered. And all for less than $4. I will say it over and over again that I love Target and LOVE the clearance end caps (although in this case it was one side of an entire aisle). I will stand by this because I have gotten many a great item on clearance at Target. Every. Single. Time.

On a side note, I finally sat to see what all the picmonkey craziness is all about and had an "oooooh I get it" moment. Seriously a really neat fun photo editor which doesn't require another username and password (thank GOODNESS!) Life changed.

That is all.