Special Occasion Jewelry and Picture Trials

Three strand, white, glass pearl and swarovski crystal necklace I made. Great for special occasions. Also some trial pictures to see how to best display jewelry.

Grilled Mozzarella, Sauteed Mushroom, and Tomato Sauce Sandwich

I think I found my new favorite dinner and cookie (later post) all in the same week! Kyle was off playing basketball tonight so I had only to fend for myself for dinner and decided to try something new. To make this you will need:

*2 slices of bread
*Butter
*Olive oil
*Mushrooms (I used canned but you could use fresh for a healthier sandwich)
*Mozzarella Cheese; shredded or sliced would work
*Dei Fratelli Pizza Sauce
*Chopped Onion
*Pepper and Salt

Start by sauteeing your mushrooms in a small frying pan:
 Pour in some olive oil then put in your mushrooms, chopped onion, pepper and salt. Toss the mushrooms around in your pan when the oil is hot.

Leave the mushrooms in the pan on low heat. Take another frying pan, butter a side of each piece of bread and put both in the pan butter side down (grilled cheese style). On one piece put your mozarella cheese. On the other put a thin layer of Pizza Sauce. Let the cheese get melty, but do this over low heat so your bread doesn't burn. Once the cheese is getting melty but your mushrooms on the piece of bread with the sauce and then top with your cheesy bread. I let mine warm together for a few minutes. So delicious!

Took under ten minutes to make.
With my ingredients the whole sandwich was under 300 calories and quite filling.

I hope the picture does it some justice. I don't think I'm going to be a food photographer.

Heatlhy Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Cookies

I found a recipe on pinterest (of course) for healthy breakfast cookies. I thought these would be great for when I'm running out the door at the last minute in the morning. The best thing is there are only five ingredients.

You will need:

*1 1/2 cups oats
*1 cup of unsweetened applesauce (I used 1/2 sweet and 1/2 unsweet b/c it's what I had)
* 1/2 cup of craisins
*3 ripe bananas
*cinnamon

The recipe says that if your bananas aren't ripe that you can expedite the process by baking them on a cookie sheet, in their skins, for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. I tried this and starting hearing weird noises after about 6 minutes so I took them out, but I do think it was working.

I think the reason the bananas need to be ripe is b/c they will mush up easier and be a binding agent. I took my bananas out of their skins and put them in the blender and mixed them up so they were mush, then added them to the recipe.

Now that your bananas are ready mix everything together.

The recipe did not specify to grease your cookie sheet so I didn't. I think it would be better to grease the sheet because my cookies stuck pretty bad.

Drop your cookies onto a greased cookie sheet. (I was able to get 16). Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.


Yields:  approx. 16 cookies
Calories: 70 calories for one cookie (less if use all unsweetened applesauce)

Art Work/ Home Decor

Today I finally cleaned up my living room floor by finishing two pinterest inspired ideas.

Project 1

 The first is based on a subway sign. I really like the subway sign look with inspirational sayings. I thought it would be neat to do this on a piece of wood. However, I didn't have one and didn't want to spend much money. So I took a trip to Hobby Lobby to weigh my options. I settled on using a piece of foam board because they were on sale and because the sign is for above the fireplace and I figure the base won't be that noticeable. I chose a black foam board so I wouldn't have to spend extra money painting a base color.

There are several ways to accomplish this project. Vinyl can be used and painted over or stencils can be used if you don't want to paint the whole board.

If you have the patience you could make your own stencils using a font picked from your computer; print the words onto card stock, and cut out the letters with an xacto knife.

 I chose the lazier option and bought stencils with my 40% off coupon. Overall this project probably cost me about $18. Though keep in mind the stencils can be used again.

I first stenciled my letters onto the black board using a pencil. I wanted to make sure the letters would all fit before painting. The first attempt at this didn't go well so I flipped the board over and used the other side.

Then I took white acrylic paint (.60 cents a bottle), lined my stencils up with the pencil marks and painted the stencils with a foam/sponge brush. TIP: You will probably want to skip around and paint letters all over the board because you don't want your stencils rubbing against the wet paint of other letters.

The good news is the paint dries really fast on the foam board.

My biggest problem with this project is that I cannot write straight and evidently I also cannot stencil straight. I really didn't realize how crooked my lettering was until I was finished. Oh well, I suppose it has my own imperfect touch to it. I hate doing projects that require precision. If you have more patience you could use a ruler and draw faint lines across the entire board before stenciling.

Project 2

The second project I worked on has a sort of Japanese cherry blossom tree look.

                           

For the project you will need:

Different colors of acrylic paint (.60 cents + each) Though this could be awesome in black and white.

a paint pen ($4)

round sponge brushes (.99 cents)

Canvas, size of your choice (mine cost about $5 and is 16 x 20)

I started by painting my entire canvas with two coats of a vanilla color. It gave the canvas a softer look.  After this dried, I drew branches on the canvas using the paint pen. You can make as many or as few as you like; depends how much white space you want to leave. Next put your paint on a palate or plastic plate, like I used. Use your round sponges to create the blooms all over your branches.

It's really that simple to have your own custom art work.





Refinishing Project #2 Blackboard Night Stand

I found this little dresser on Craigslist and picked it up for $20. I figure it will make a good night stand or a good organizer for a craft room. It was a pretty boring piece before and smelled like cigarette smoke.

I started by taking off the knobs and putting a coat of a stripping agent all over the thing. This time I used an orange goo stripping agent that is recommended for indoor use. Last time, for the big dresser, I used a more toxic chemical that could easily knock a person on their butt. The orange agent was a lot more friendly on the nose, as it smelled like oranges and didn't burn the skin as quickly, however it didn't work as well. The harsh chemical would dry quickly so you had to work quickly; but this isn't such a bad thing when you are trying to move on to other steps. The harsher chemical also stripped the varnish off quicker. The orange goo can be left on for up to 24 hours and it will still be wet. This is problematic when you really want to move on to other steps. I tried to wipe off the excess and let it dry so that I could move on to painting the next day but it never dried. If you miss spots it stays wet and your paint won't stick. Also it was a lot messier to clean up. So if you get the harsher chemicals, because they work better, make sure to ventilate your area and get a respirator mask ($5 at Lowe's).

After stripping the varnish with the stripping agent and a scrapper, wiping down with mineral spirits, and letting the piece dry, I hand sanded the rough spots. There were a ton of rough spots and I wasn't able to get it all smooth without getting rid of a lot of the wood. I used a wood putty on the top to fill in a few deeper scratches. The putty didn't seem to go well under the blackboard paint I used.

I used blackboard paint on the top of the little dresser. It comes in spray paint and is really quick and easy to apply. (about $4 at Walmart). I think a blackboard top will be functional because how many times are you in bed at night when you suddenly remember something you forgot to set out, or something you need for tomorrow. Just make yourself a note on your dresser and you will have a reminder without having to get out of bed.

I then painted the drawers and the dresser with a sunny dale green from Valspar. It took about three coats but a sample size paint from Lowe's was sufficient.  I then spray painted some old knobs that I had (the old ones from the dresser I refinished). This is really simple. Just get some metallic spray paint.

I decided since this was a cheaper piece I would experiment with some different crafting skills and decided to stencil a design on one of the drawers. I created the stencil using my cricut and home accents cartridge. 

I also wanted to cover the inside of the drawers so they would feel fresher and look fancy. I didn't have any scrapbook paper on hand that met my design needs so I decided to create my own. I took four pieces of white scrapbook paper and cut them to fit the drawers. I then used a stamp and black ink to stamp patterns on the paper.

And now the mini dresser has been turned from blah and stinky to a fun and functional piece of furniture.







Tip #3: Light Switches

If you are replacing your light switches, and have a lot, it can get expensive. If it's a 2-way it's not too bad to buy the switches at a home improvement store, 3-way switches are a bit pricier but manageable, 4-way switches at home improvement stores are pricey! Roughly $14 a piece. Look online. We were able to find them for about 5 dollars a piece. Also if you have a 4-way switch you only need one 4 way to complete the circuit. You can use 3-way switches for the other two switches in the circuit.

Scrapbook Canvas Artwork

I found a cute idea on Pinterest for a scrapbook canvas picture. I had to give it a try. The wall behind my tv has been missing something so hopefully this helps it.

I won't put down the details on how to make it since I think the other blog did it well, so here is the link:  http://itsdoable.squarespace.com/blog/2012/1/23/its-doablethe-flower-wall-art.html

It's a very simple project and doesn't take long at all. Great for leftover scrapbook paper. I used glue dots instead of the hot glue gun b/c I didn't feel like burning my fingers. However, I think it could use a few more in some places to hold down the paper better. The dots can be a bit of a pricier option. Next time I think I'll try the hot glue gun. It's all about what you have on hand. I did not put any protective coat over it.

Have fun!

I later created another picture to balance out the wall. This time I used a glue gun and had much better results. It gives the picture a more finished look.



Picture I made for Mom.