Desk Makeover

I picked up this desk off of Craigslist last month for $40 in the hopes of replacing my wobbly folding table sewing area (the one that was supposed to be temporary, but has been set up for over a year now!). I loved the lines and the hardware, but there were some water damaged and warped areas on the top so I immediately knew that I wanted to paint it a bright color to give it some new life.

The first step was to recruit my handy hubby for some serious sanding and smoothing. I started to do the task myself, but it was SO loud even inside the house that it freaked out the baby, and I switched over to distract-the-baby-upstairs-mode and left the tools to the guys instead.

Step two: recruit some pajama clad helpers to assist with the priming. It was a good thing that he only "helped" with the back side of the desk because he didn't pay very much attention to the instructions about keeping your brush strokes going in one direction! :)

I ended up giving it two coats of primer to make sure that every little nook and cranny was smooth and ready for paint.

I wanted the desk to be a light shade of aqua, so I mixed some of the remaining teal paint that we used on the big boys' bedroom walls with some light blue that we had leftover from Sawyer's baby nursery to create the perfect shade. I gave it two coats and topped it with a coat of poly to seal it since I knew that its future life as a craft table will require it to be washed and wiped off frequently.

In its new home all ready for crafting! The color is more true-to-life in the previous picture since the windows above the desk let in SO much light that it washed it out. I'll try to get another picture of it when everything is all set up and ready for sewing (and once I finish the bottoms of the legs too...didn't think that part would slip by y'all unnoticed!)!

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Kids Cook! Pumpkin Bread {Recipe}

Nothing says "Welcome, fall!" like baking a big batch of pumpkin bread. This year the big boys decided to bake it all by themselves, and they did a fantastic job! It looks like all those years of helping out in the kitchen (and doing Kids Cook! nights) has really paid off!

If you have two kids, I highly recommend giving them each a bowl for wet/dry ingredients and letting them be in charge of measuring all of the ingredients for their own bowl. Eggs, of course, are the exception since everyone loves to crack eggs!

Combine the bowls, and make sure to switch off so that everyone gets a turn mixing it all up. Pumpkin bread has a tendency to end up with tiny lumps of unincorporated flour mixture in it, so let them have at it and stir away until you're sure it's adequately combined.

Pouring the batter into the pan and putting it in/out of the oven are still "Mom jobs" in our house, so I didn't get any pictures of the rest of the process. After about an hour we had hot pumpkin loaves, and our house smelled fantastic! We welcomed fall with our fresh baked goods, mugs of tea, and a dollop of cream cheese frosting. Yum!

RECIPE (adapted from NoBiggie):

* 3 Cups Sugar
* 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

* 1/2 Cup Applesauce
* 4 Eggs
* 1 15oz. Can of Pumpkin Puree
* 2/3 Cup Water

* 3 1/2 Cups Flour
* 2 tsp. Baking Soda
* 2 tsp. Salt
* 1 tsp. Baking Powder
* 1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
* 1 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
* 1 tsp. Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl #1 combine oil, applesauce, eggs, pumpkin puree and water. In bowl #2 combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and spices. Combine both bowls and mix well. Prepare two loaf pans by lightly spraying with cooking spray. Pour batter into loaf pans and bake for approximately an hour.

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{Print Candee} Paper Jewelry Tutorial

I posted a quick and easy tutorial over at Print Candee today for how to make fun jewelry using your favorite scrapbook papers! Stop by and say hi (and while you're there, check out their huge selection of digital scrapbook papers that you can print from your home printer!).

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Embrace the Camera {2: Friday Morning}

Sutton reminded me this morning that I need to take more pictures of myself "for the computer," and he was happy to pick up the camera to assist. He told me that he wants to be a "picture taker" when he grows up because he's "way better than everyone at it, and people will give me lots of money." Good plan. Nevermind the fact that it's 8 am, and I haven't had my caffeine yet. Gotta take advantage of those photo ops when you have the chance!

Playing Pat-a-Cake with Simon, even though it looks like I'm trying to do something incredibly weird to his arms LOL.

Happy first day of fall! We're celebrating by baking pumpkin bread and cinnamon applesauce. The house is going to smell sooo yummy this afernoon! Hope you're doing something fun to celebrate too!

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Bird Nest Necklace

I whipped up this bird nest necklace at my last Girls Day Out, and it's one of my new favorite pieces of everyday jewelry. It only took a few minutes, but it always catches people's eye. I've gotten so many compliments on it! I just sort of made it up as I went along, but there's a fantastic tutorial at Sarah Ortega Photography (via Tip Junkie) that shows you step-by-step how you can create one of your own.

Three sweet little blue eggs for this Mama ♥

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Bandana Necklace {Tutorial}

Once a month I get together with a group of lovely and inspiring women, sometimes for brunch, sometimes to craft, but always to gossip and enjoy some "grown-up time" for awhile. This month we decided that we all wanted to create our own jewelry, and it was so much fun! We made unique jewelry with everything from basic clasps and beads to recycled buttons and even paint chips! I'll be showing off a few of my creations on the blog this week, and I'm going to see if I can snatch some pictures from the other girls to show off their creations too.

The first thing I wanted to make was a piece of jewelry that I could wear to Simon's Little Cowboy Birthday Party. I love the look of red paisley, but I knew I didn't want to wear an entire bandana at the party so I came up with this fun, fast and simple solution!

I laid out my bandana and cut a 3" wide strip running diagonally from the furthest two corners. I rounded up nine of my boys' marbles and laid them in the center of the bandana strip (upcycling beads from an old necklace would work great too!). Working from the center out, carefully wrap the marble up until it in completely enclosed in the fabric and tightly tie the ends off with a piece of matching embroidery floss. Continue until all the marbles have been twisted and tied. I left the raw edges on mine because I thought that it added to the rustic charm.

It's that easy peasy! The whole project took less than five minutes, and I had the perfect cowgirl accessory for my party!

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{Print Candee} Little Cowboy 1st Birthday Party!

Come stop by the Print Candee blog today to see more of Simon's adorable Little Cowboy 1st Birthday Party! We had such a fantastic time, and everyone remarked at how amazing it all looked!

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Stuffed Zucchini {Recipe}

Is anyone else still swimming in an abundance of summer squash? Around here we've had just about as much zucchini as we can handle, but I couldn't resist creating one more straight-from-the-garden Summer recipe before I start shredding and freezing the rest of our garden's bounty.

This dinner is incredibly simple, but it looks and tastes like something extra special. It's a great basic recipe that can be tweaked to add your favorite flavors or to add whatever is overflowing in your garden - in our case, tomatoes!

Ingredients:

* Zucchini or yellow squash, cut into chunks at least 2" across and 2" tall

* 1 lb. ground turkey

* 3 roma tomatoes, finely chopped

* 1 1/2 cups shredded mozarella cheese (divided into 1 cup and 1/2 cup portions)

* 2 tbs minced garlic

* 2 cups pasta sauce

* 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped

* 1 tsp. Italian seasoning

* 2 tsp. olive oil

Directions:

* Begin by using a melon baller (or similar tool) to hollow out your zucchini cups. Be sure to leave a 1/4" thick bottom on the zucchini so that your filling won't fall out! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place the zucchini cups on to a foil lined baking sheet (lightly greased with cooking spray).

* Sautee the onions and garlic in the olive oil. Add the turkey and chopped tomatoes and cook until almost done. You can also add in some of the zucchini that you removed from your shells, if desired.

* Remove from heat and stir in pasta sauce and 1 cup of mozarella cheese.

* Stuff your meat mixture into your zucchini cups making sure to press the mixture down with a spoon so that your cups are as packed full as can be! Bake for 20 minutes.

* Remove from the oven, top with remaining cheese, and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until cheese is lightly browned and zucchini is tender.

Easy peasy! Bon appetite!

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Glue Batik, Again {Tutorial}

The boys and I were looking back at some of our past tutorials, and they were anxious to revisit the glue batik craft that we created last Summer. This time around we decided to use plain fabric squares instead of t-shirts because they wanted to turn their creations into pillows. We repurposed an old bed sheet and cut it into 14" squares.

 

First, choose a design that you like and draw it on your fabric using Elmer's Gel Glue. It must be the blue gel glue as regular glue will not work! Sawyer wanted his pillow to depict our trampoline and shooting stars...sort of a long story, but essentially it reminds him that he's not scared of the dark anymore. Once you finish drawing your design, allow it to dry completely (overnight works well).

Sutton chose a Mario toadstool, naturally!

Cover your work surface and your clothing, and paint your fabric with slightly watered down acrylic paint. If you choose to use contrasting colors you'll want to allow it to dry (at least slightly) between colors to avoid a muddied look.

Hang up the fabric and allow it to dry completely.

Now the magic really happens! Submerge the fabric in warm water for about 10 minutes, and then scrub off the gel glue. An old toothbrush really comes in handy for this step. It takes a little elbow grease!

Time for the big reveal!

Hang it one more time to dry and then do what you wish with it! We chose to make pillows this time because the boys wanted some practice on the sewing machine, but we've also made t-shirts with this technique, and we're hoping to make a set of prayer flags for the garden too.

All stitched up and ready for bedtime!

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Wheat Mantle Display

A few days ago I harvested our wheat and made this cute and simple little mantle decoration that I think will go nicely with the cowboy theme of Simon's 1st birthday party coming up this weekend. Yeah, that's right, I harvested our wheat.

In April the boys and I attempted to grow wheatgrass in cookie cutters to spell out their names, but a strong wind tossed all of our efforts aside and in to the nearby garden bed. At the time I didn't think much of it, and when the wheatgrass started to sprout under the tiny zucchini seedlings I lazily assumed that it would probably die out as the zucchini grew and overshadowed it. I was wrong, and the result was that we accidentally grew a tiny crop of wheat. There is actually still a good bit of it left among our zucchini, but I didn't want to dig around the prickly leaves to get it all out since I already had enough to make my mantle decoration. So, if you like what you see for Fall, remember to toss some wheat berries in the dirt in Spring! I love how our happy accident turned out!

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Spice Rack Bookshelves

I finally remembered to take a few quick pictures of the Ikea spice rack bookshelves that we installed in the big boys' room a few weeks ago! After initially debating rain gutter bookshelves vs. fabric book racks to no avail, I decided to research other options.

I was SO excited to discover that there was a pre-made option that was only going to set me back $3.99 each! The racks come in bare wood so you can paint, stain or decoupage your heart out. My boys have their own brightly colored artwork hanging over their beds, so I decided just to give our shelves a quick coat of warm honey varnish to match their beds (but I do still have another set to play with for Simon's room!).  

 

I can't even tell you how much these inexpensive little shelves have revolutionized our nightly "can we read a book in bed?" routine! The floor stays exponentially cleaner, but the best part is that we never waste another 15 minutes waiting for the boys to choose a book or two from their large bookshelf. I just swap out the titles every few days, and everything moves like clockwork. Easy peasy!

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Embrace the Camera {1: Friday Afternoon}

Okay, I'm doing it! I realize that one day my kids are going to look back on old photos and there will be very few pictures of their mom (usually because I'm the one behind the camera!). Emily over at The Anderson Crew hosts a weekly Embrace the Camera link up, because (as she puts it):

have you ever embraced the camera? if you haven't, why not?

it's important for your kids/family members/etc. to have memories of YOU. one day, you won't be around, and all they will have are those 2 pictures you let someone take of you at christmas time.

stop messing around and make some memories...and capture those memories...with YOU IN THEM.

it's that important.

 

So, I decided it's about time to stop shying away from the lens and pass it off to someone else for a change. I handed the camera to Sutton and told him to start snapping away.

Sawyer was annoyed that I wanted to post this one since he was in the middle of chewing his snack (on the couch, of course), but it was the only one of Sutton's shots that wasn't extra blurry. He got over it once we passed the camera over to him.  

Me & Sutton

I LOVE this one because it's totally genuine...the camera is right in our faces because his hands are on both of our bellies tickling us like crazy! He was shouting "show me those smiles!" the whole time. Hysterical. We'll definitely be doing this more often!

So there you have it...me! Just in case you were wondering what I look like :P

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