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Sunday, May 29, 2011

DIY Pallet Projects

This is soo cute! Love the colors used. Found it here at House Tweaking.
I love this idea! I found the picture and tutorial here at Life on the Balcony.
Photo found at Care2.com
Photo found at The Stir by Pia Jane Bijkerk
Photo found at Artessen here.


I love how creative everyone has gotten with pallets! I've seen lots of the pallet beds out there, but seems like you can make just about anything out of a pallet. I love the creative and rustic feel that they give.

Wedding Craft Party








One of my friends is getting married in just a few weeks and we gathered a bunch of the girls together to help her assemble some of her DIY wedding projects. We assembled her centerpieces; which are branches she found in a tree grove with tiny yellow silk flowers glued onto them. Those turned out really great, however I forgot to get a picture of them. The other project wasn't such a success; however we are going to give it another go. We attempted to make a doily lamp that can be found here at More Design Please. I think where we went wrong was using Mod Podge instead of wall paper glue like the tutorial said to. We thought it would be the same thing, but when I popped the balloon the doilies all stuck to the balloon. We still had a great time hanging out and crafting together. We had grapefruit mojitos, you can get the recipe below or here. I made chocolate covered oreos, strawberry whoopie pies, cake pops, and popcorn. 
Tip 
Junkie handmade projects

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Grapefruit Mojitos


 
Ingredients:
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 cup fresh grapefruit juice, plus slices for garnish
  • 4 limes juiced into mixture, plus 1 more for garnish
  • 10-15 mint leaves
  • 6 TBS sugar - fine
  • 8 oz rum 
Directions:

Bring the water to a boil on the stove top or in the microwave. Stir in the sugar until dissolved and then add the mint leaves. Let the mixture cool. Juice your limes and grapefruit and pour into a pitcher. Add the rum and the simple syrup mixture. Add sliced limes, grapefruit, and mint leaves to garnish. I tend to make my drinks a bit weaker then most people may like, so you can add more rum if you please! :) I doubled this recipe to make a pitcher full.


Chalkboard Labeled Glasses

When I came across a picture of glasses with chalkboard labels the other day I knew I had to make some. I saw the picture here at Adrianne Elizabeth Events, the picture also inspired me to make some grapefruit cocktails. I love the label idea, and whenever you're at a dinner party everyone is always trying to figure out which glass is theirs. I bought three 4-packs of glasses at Target for about $3.50 for each set.
First I used painter tape to make rectangles on the center of the glasses. You could measure them so they are all even, but I just estimated.
Spray paint the glasses and let them dry.
Once they dry pull back the tape and you're done. I hand washed my glasses with warm soapy water and the labels held up great. Not sure how they would do in the dishwasher.


Friday, May 27, 2011

Liquid Sidewalk Chalk

You can find this recipe on a lot of different blogs out there, when I first saw the idea I knew I had to make some for Hudson. He loves it!
All you do is mix 1 cup of water with 1 cup of cornstarch. Then pour it into muffin tins or small cups. Next, add food coloring to make the colors you would like. I used food coloring gels and it made some very bright and vibrant colors! I found my recipe here at Smashed Peas and Carrots.

This was Hudson when we started...I should have taken an after picture. By the end he was down to his undies and covered in chalk! He had more fun painting himself then the sidewalk.



Thursday, May 26, 2011

Oreo Pops

So I've done the cakes on a stick and the pies on a stick...this time it's Oreos! I thought I was being original when I thought about putting a chocolate covered Oreo on a stick, but apparently it's been done many times before. It's really easy, and you only need 4 things: Oreos (I used double stuffed), white chocolate candy coating, sprinkles, and lollipop sticks.
If you use double stuffed it will give you more room for the stick to be placed in the middle of the cookie.
Dip one end of the lollipop stick into the candy coating and then into the middle of the Oreo.
Let them sit for about 5 minutes so that the candy coating can harden. Next Using a spoon cover the Oreos in the white chocolate. Tap off any excess chocolate and place sprinkles on them while the chocolate is still wet. You can place them in a piece of Styrofoam until they are dry. Or you could always lay them flat on a piece of parchment paper if you only want to decorate one side.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Restored Glass Jars

I bought these glass jars at a garage sale, they originally had plain wooden knobs on the lids. I decided to replace the knobs with Anthropologie style knobs that I found on sale at Hobby Lobby. I also painted the lids using a white primer and white and grey spray paints. Once I had them painted I gently sanded the lids to make them look distressed. I am still trying to decide what to fill my jars with.
Here are the jars before I painted the lids, however I had already removed the wooden knobs.

Linking up HERE!

Southwestern Grilled Chicken Salad with Tomato and Black Bean Salsa

This salad is really yummy! I found the recipe in the Fine Cooking, Cook Fresh Magazine. I added goat cheese on top of the salad. This makes a great summer dinner, and would be great served with corn on the cob.

 Ingredients:
  • 1 boneless skinless chicken breast half (6 to 7 oz.), trimmed
  • 1/2 Tbs. chili powder
  • 1 tsp. light or dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
  • Kosher salt
  • 6 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil; more for the grill
  • 2 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. fresh lime juice
  • 1 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. chopped fresh cilantro, plus leaves for garnish
  • 2 tsp. honey
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Green Tabasco (optional)
  • 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 4 oz. small cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered or halved (about 3/4 cup)
  • 1 large scallion, thinly sliced
  • 2 small heads Bibb lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces (about 9 cups)
  • 1 medium firm-ripe avocado
  • 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Prepare a medium-high gas or charcoal grill fire.

Trim and then butterfly the chicken breast by slicing it horizontally almost but not entirely in half so you can open it like a book.

Combine the chili powder, brown sugar, coriander, cumin, and 3/4 tsp. salt in a small bowl. Rub some of the spice mix over both sides of the butterflied chicken breast (you won’t need it all) and let sit while the grill heats.

Clean and oil the grill grate. Grill the breast until the edges of the top side are white, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until just done, 1 to 2 minutes more. Let the chicken rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

In a small bowl or a glass jar with a tight lid, combine the olive oil, lime juice, 1 Tbs. of the cilantro, the honey, 1/2 tsp. salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a few shakes of green Tabasco (if using). Whisk or shake well to combine.

Combine the black beans, tomatoes, scallion, the remaining 2 tsp. cilantro, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Add 2 Tbs. of the dressing and toss gently.

Put the lettuce in a bowl, season with a little salt, and toss with just enough of the dressing to lightly coat. (Reserve a little to drizzle on the chicken.) Arrange the lettuce on a platter or four dinner plates. Slice the chicken breast very thinly. Pit and slice the avocado. Arrange the chicken, avocado, and salsa on the lettuce. Drizzle a little of the remaining dressing over the chicken and avocado. Garnish with the pine nuts and the cilantro leaves.


Recipe is on the cover of The Best of Fine Cooking Cook Fresh 2011 Magazine. You can also find it online here

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Patriotic Party







This Patriotic Pinwheel themed party is great inspiration for Memorial Day and 4th of July parties. It has all kinds of adorable details! You can get all the details and more pictures over at Hostess With the Mostess here. The cake is really cute and I love the chocolate covered apples and pretzels! All the vendor credits and resources are listed below:




– Event Styling, Graphic Design/4th of July Printables: Anders Ruff Custom Designs
– Photography: Becca Bond Photography
– Candy: Candy Warehouse
– Custom Cake and Cupcakes: Got What It Cakes
– Cookies: Oh! So Yummy Cookies and Confections
– Chocolate Covered Pretzels and Apples: Pretzels Pleaze
– Tutu and Tank: Sweet Things Kids
– Hair Accessory: Tadpole and Lily
– Label Material: OnlineLabels.com
– Cupcake Wrappers: Bella Cupcake Couture
– Cello Bags, Kraft Paper, Metal Favor Tins, Kraft Coffee/favor Bags: Nashville Wraps

Make a Pillow from a Sweater

I love these pillows that are made from an old sweater, what a great idea! Found these on Tip Junkie and they are made by Megan at Brassy Apple. You can get all the details here.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Grilled Banana Splits

I thought this was an interesting idea, and I have never heard of it before. Grilled Banana Splits! A fun and different dessert idea for your next Summer Barbecue.  You can find the recipe here at the Food Network.

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:
  • 1 1/2 frozen sliced bananas
  • 1/4 cup natural peanut butter (I buy mine at Sprouts)
  • 1/2 cup of unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup of ice
Place all of the ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth. Makes 1 to 2 servings. Taste like a milkshake! You can slice your ripened bananas and store in a freezer zip lock baggie in the freezer.




Want to make this smoothie a little healthier? 
Once you have added all of your ingredients fill the rest of the blender with fresh organic baby spinach! About 3-4 cups! It hardly changes the taste of the smoothie, but packs it with antioxidants,  vitamin A  (especially high in lutein), vitamin E, vitamin K, magnesium, folate, betaine, iron, vitamin B2, calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, folic acid, and omega-3 fatty acids. It is a great way to get you and your kids loaded up on their greens! Hudson loves drinking these for breakfast, tastes like peanut butter and bananas and he thinks the green color is fun!


 I added 1/2 -1 tablespoon of raw cacoa to this one. It made the green color a little darker. I found my raw cacoa at Whole Foods. Raw Cacoa is a great source of antioxidants, iron, and magnesium.