DIY Wednesday Cheap Wall Art

I dont know about y'all but I adore Pinterest. There are days when I find nothing at all worth pinning and others that I find awesome stuff. My husband always looks at me all crazy when I get excited over something on pinterest. He knows that either I have a new DIY project I want to do or a new recipe to try out and half the time its no good! After seeing several pins about using frames with scrapbook papers I decided to make a few to hang above my couch. So here is my DIY easy-peasy, cheap, take up plenty of space on my wall so it doesnt look so bare project. you need only 3 things to make em:

 

~ $5 10x13" frames from wally world

~ 8.5x11" scrapbook papers 

~ paint & brushes.

 

 

 

 

 

Simple right? I used 4 frames and painted the inside of the backing a creamy white. After its dry just use double stick tape to adhere your fav scrapbook paper in the center. Hang in whatever order you like with command picture velcro strips and you are DONE! I can change then out with every holiday and season, add pictures to the center, or use free printables from blogs I love. SUPER EASY! I like buying the $5 packs of paper from walmart because the papers inside are already coordinated to work well together!

Total cost $25.

Even the husband couldn't argue with that.

 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out one of my fav DIY projects.  :)

(ps: sorry about the crappy picture. I have yet to hang these in the new house and this is the only pic I have of them hanging in the old one! eeek! I will post an update once I get them up here!! Thanks for understanding!!!!!)

Resolutions

Hows that new years resolution going? .....Yea mine either. I say that because I am guessing you are like me and still struggling to keep going with it. I wanted one small thing: to write in my journal EVERY SINGLE DAY. Even just two sentences. I'm only 7 for 14. Whoops!!! So here is my challenge for you. Well actually there are two parts. 1) forgive yourself & keep trying. I know it sounds too easy but seriously, I guilt the heck out of myself when I fail at a goal. I need to forgive myself & keep moving forward. 2) Encourage someone in your life with their resolution. We all know how important it is to have people cheering us on when we make changes. Especially hard ones. So call that friend who is trying to get back in shape and ask her to go for a walk. Buy that friend who stopped smoking a pack of gum. Offer to make a meal for the friend who wants to learn to cook healthier. Make sure to include the recipe! By encouraging others around you, you may just find the motivation or returned encouragement you need for your own goals. Good luck!! This weeks preview: Wednesday: cheap wall art! Friday: Pumpkin bread muffins. I know its more of a fall thing but I love it all year!!!

New year

Yea so this blog fell off then face of the earth. Sorry y'all! A lot has happened! In October we got Jeremy's orders to leave Ft Drum. 3 weeks later on Halloween night we began our 2 day trip to our new home in Kansas City. Yes you read that right, we arranged everything to move halfway across the country in 3 weeks. Luckily we had plenty of help from our amazing friends at Drum! After arriving in KC we signed up for the new Google fiber for TV/internet. Yea it just got installed yesterday!!! Since we are a test city and it all had to be wired for the neighborhood, it took a while. We were confined to internet via our smart phones. Any blogger can tell you that blogging from your phone is not easy or enjoyable. So I was on hiatus until we could get real internet. Here is the quick version of what's happened so far:

J started at his new school and really likes it. We have yet to find a new school for B though (I'm working on it!). We had a wonderful Christmas and have gotten to enjoy having our extended families around. ;-) Jeremy starts school next week after 2 months of being home 24/7. I adore my husband but we were not meant to both be home all day everyday! Lol so I am very thankful he is starting school. Its a new beginning for us. I'm still trying to get the house arranged the way I want it. Thank goodness for paint + primer and a husband who will move furniture over & over for me! I promise pictures are coming!

There have been so many changes in the last couple months for us and I am very sorry to say that they have taken a major toll on me. I miss our old life a lot and I am having a hard time starting over here. I hope you all can bear with me as I restart this blog and try to help it grow. As I try to restart my life and help it grow. I know we will continue to move forward as a family and the hard spot we found ourselves thrown into with retirement will pass. Patience is not my finest quality though so I ask all of you to pray for us as we embark on this new part of our lives. Thank you for being part of our journey.

Monday funday

Ok ok ok, got a little off track, again. Going to 4 posts a week to try and keep up better. So today is Simon Says Monday. And I say educate yourself. Before you post anything political or start bad-mouthing a candidate please do your honest research. And really, name calling? Ok, so that's my soapbox for tonight. Have a fabulous week!
Here's what's coming up this week:
Wednesday Crafts: interchangeable frames (see below)
Yum-o Friday: Banana pancakes

Food Junkie Wednesday ~ Broccoli Cheese soup

Happy Wednesday y'all! As you will hopefully come to learn, I LOVE to cook. However, I do not like cleaning up after my creations are made. So one pot dishes are by far my favorite. I cant believe I am sharing this one as it is a family recipe handed down to me from my grandmother. Its fairly cheap, easy, and a huge hit with my kids. Plus the leftovers are fabulous. I plan on tweaking this in the near future to make it less "processed" but for now I am giving you my current version of the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
olive oil
1/2 medium onion diced
2-3 large carrots diced
2-3 ribs of celery diced
1 clove garlic finely chopped or grated
1 carton (26oz) Chicken stock (or veg if you want to keep it vegetarian, never tried though!)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 bag of baby broccoli florets
1 qt milk
2-3 cups of dry mashed potato flakes (do not use "buds", wont work!)
2 cups shredded white cheddar + more for topping if desired
1/2 tsp salt/pepper (or to taste)
optional: 1 cup cooked shredded chicken

 Prep time: 5 min    Cook time: 30 min    Start to table: approx 45 min

 

After dicing veggies, sautee in a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat with a 1/2tsp each of salt and pepper until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic during the last minute to prevent from burning.

Add the carton of chicken stock and bring to a low boil. Simmer on low-medium for 10 minutes.

Add frozen broccoli and cream of mushroom soup. Stir to combine. Bring to simmer and cook on low for 5-10 minutes or until broccoli is hot and begins to get tender.

Slowly add in 1 qt of milk (I use 2%). Stir to combine. (Add in shredded chicken here if desired) Continue to cook on low stirring often for 10 minutes until all veggies are tender (not mushy).

Add in shredded cheese and stir until totally incorporated. Add in mashed potato flakes one cup at a time and stir until well combined. I use about 3 1/2 cups total flakes. Make sure to wait a minute between adding each cup in to allow it to thicken up. Much easier to add in more flakes for a thicker texture than to try and thin it out.

Allow to thicken/cool for a couple minutes before serving. Top with more shredded cheese if desired. Serve with warm bread.

So there it is. Hope you enjoy this warm, thick, and creamy soup on a cool fall night soon! If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Halloween Frame on Kid Craft Tuesday

I love the Halloween craft the kids and I made last year

 

 

My inspiration came from this blog last year:

A Diamond in the Stuff - Googly Eye Halloween Frame

I cant begin to tell you how easy and fun these were. We added something else to ours. Thumbprint spiders! I believe I found the idea for those in a magazine last year though for the life of me I cant find the exact source! (If you know it please tell me so I can update!)

 

Since I used the above link to make mine I wont go into details on how to paint/glue on the eyes. Its pretty easy to follow. The thumbprint spiders were just as easy.

• Cut the cardstock to fit inside frame.
• Have little ones dip their thumb into desired paint color and press onto center of paper.
• Let dry!
• Using a ball point pen (or in our case a Sharpie no-bleed fine tipped pen), draw on the string and all 8 legs. I did the one on my 3yo's but I let my 6yo do his own.
•  Finally glue on the google eyes and let dry. Place in your finished google eye frame and enjoy!

FYI: The spiders in the frame are from this last week. I decided I will let the kids do new ones every year. Last years were just as cute though!

Happy Halloween crafting!

Faith Monday 2

Here goes nothing! Again, my apologies about basically shutting down this blog for the summer. Things here have been CRAZY! So as per my posted schedule, today is all about my faith and what I have learned over the past week. hmmmm. Where to begin?

I learned a lot about my faith in the last few weeks really. God has been challenging our family hardcore. We have been forced to make big decisions in a very short period of time. We have been required to trust how God is working in our lives, even without being able to see where that is leading us. Part of me has wanted to just crawl into bed, not deal with anything, and let my depression cloud get the better of me. The other part is reminded, especially this last 2 weeks, that EVERYTHING happens for a reason. Did I want Jeremy to be injured? Heck no! I wouldn't wish this journey on anyone....wait. maybe I would. This whole terrible, traumatic, painful journey has forced us to take a hard look at what we believe to be true, to trust like never before, and to be blessed with riches far greater than we hoped. So many prayers were answered in this last year for us.

some small, some big, some selfish, some honest, some just because.

We have been so blessed. People are honestly still amazed when I say that. Why? Why cant we take the pain and hurt and turn it into something good that glorifies God? This IS our testimony. This is our chance to show others how much God cares, how He loves, and how we are to love. I admit, I am amazed that we made it to the year mark. It seems like just yesterday that I was walking in his ICU room praying that he would be okay.

I think the fact that this year has gone by so fast is part of the reason I am so scared to move away. I'm worried I will lose sight of the God I have come to know and love so much more deeply when we leave here. His presence is very evident here to me. This is the place where I have developed my strongest relationship with both God and my family. I know in heart though that I have to keep trusting Him. I have to keep trusting that everything we are going through now is part of the same great plan that I trusted him through a year ago. I knew then that God was taking care of us in the midst of the storm. And He still is. He will forever. I just need to continue to seek His face and trust that there is purpose in our lives, and we will be provided for.

Hear my voice when I call Lord;

be merciful to me and answer me.

My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"

Your face Lord, I will seek.

Psalm 27: 7-8 NIV