Homemade Halloween

This year we decided we would host our first Halloween party in our New House.  I set to work on holiday decorations. I didn't want it to be too cheesy or childish so I decided on a goth theme.

I made a wreath with a raven which was super easy with the help of Hobby Lobby:

I also painted a few wooden plaques to place around the kitchen:

I also added a few little details here and there such as paper mâché skulls and some bottle decals that I bought and attached to bottles and mason jars.

I made a banner for a wall in our kitchen that was pretty bare using brown paper bags, spray paint and stencils, and some string.

The last thing that I did turned out awesome but sadly I didn't take a photo.  I covered my table with a cream table cloth and layered a spiderweb runner over it (you can see it in the picture with the plaques). I then lined up about six empty wine bottles that I had removed the labels and then inserted white candles in the openings.  I then lit them and turned on the fan for a little which made them drip down the bottle.  At night I put other random candles around and the effect was pretty nice.

Succulents

I love succulents! They are so pretty and because they have shallow roots they can be planted in almost anything. Here I took a pumpkin and cut out a whole then planted my succulents in the pumpkin.



I've also planted them in coffee cups, jars, cigar boxes, and I've cut holes in books and planted them in those (make sure you put plastic in the book so it doesn't rot.)

Here is my coffee cup succulent gift I made:


Here is a book that I planted a succulent in:


Succulents make such great gifts and they are inexpensive and easy to work with.

More Artwork for the Bedroom

So, again I was in the mood to create another painting for our bedroom and found another old canvas that my fiancé had from art school. I decided to create an abstracted landscape inspired by our trip to Portland. I used my favorite material, newspaper to create the buildings and added some paint, metallic sharpies, and colored pencils to create my cityscape. I like how it turned out and it adds a little more color to our bedroom.

Labor Day BBQ

So this past labor day weekend we decided to have some friends over for a Barbecue. I took this opportunity to experiment with decor. Since it was a Barbecue I thought I would keep it casual, so I covered our dining table with newspaper. It looked cool and made clean up really easy! I then went with a black, white, and red color scheme. I put my plastic silverware in a mason jar and painted a wine bottle with chalkboard paint so I could write a message or doodle. I also put some marshmallows in a mason jar which turned out cute. I also took my serving tray from a previous post and used it as a sign. It was all quick and easy and looked somewhat put together.

Artwork for the bedroom

So our walls are in desperate need of artwork and pictures so I set out to create something for our bedroom. I found some old canvases in our office from when my fiancé was at art school. I was just messing around with some oops paints I bought from Home Depot, painting things that came to mind. I ended up with a cool tree. I then took some vinyl letters I got from staples for making posters and spelled out a song lyric from one of our favorite songs. Then I rolled some white paint over the whole thing. I peeled off the letters and decided it looked a little plain so I added some more paint and added another tree. When I paint its more about the process, the journey to the finished product, luckily I liked the finished product and it is hanging in our bedroom.

If you are not much of a painter, you could always buy a cheap painting from a thrift shop and add letters and some paint to create a similar effect.

Candles and Corks

So I have a surplus of corks due to my many friends and family who are avid wine drinkers and I'm trying to come up with fun and crafty ways to use them.

Here are my new dining table candles:

They were crazy cheap to make, the large vases were each a dollar at the dollar tree.  The tiny cups were each a dollar at Michaels and I happened to have the candles and corks at home.  Pretty and simple!

Girls Night Cheese Tray

So I just finished spending some time with my girlfriends for our usual girls night gathering and I got to use my cheese tray I made today.

I found this cool magnetic bulletin board from Hobby Lobby and couldn't decide what to do with it.  Today I painted the middle part using chalkboard paint to create a chalkboard.  I ended up with a cool cheese tray where you can now label the cheeses or whatever party snacks you want.  I haven't added handles yet to the sides but I will.

I've also used this idea to paint a board and put it in a picture frame to create a menu board.

I LOVE chalkboard paint!

Delicious Gluten Free Donut Muffins

So Daniel and I usually have a date night every Friday night.  This past Friday we decided to stay in and cook breakfast for dinner, my favorite!  I was in a baking mood and decided that we should have a breakfasty dessert.   As a gluten free eater one of my major weaknesses is donuts so I found a recipe that claimed to taste like old fashion donuts.  I adapted the recipe to be gluten free.  They were amazing! Pretty much a yummy spice muffin with a glaze on them.  Here is the recipe I adapted from sweetpeaskitchen.com.  

Ingredients:

Muffins-

1/4 c. Butter

1/4 c. Vegetable oil

1/2 c. Granulated sugar

1/3 c. Brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 2/3 c. Gluten free flour blend

1 c. Milk

1 tsp. xanthan gum

Glaze-

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 c. Powdered sugar sifted

3/4 tsp. vanilla

2 tablespoons hot water

Makes 12 muffins

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Line muffin pan with liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a bowl (or stand up mixer) beat together butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth.

Beat in eggs one at a time.  With the mixer on low, add baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, xanthan gum, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla until just combined.

Alternately stir in the flour and the milk starting and ending with the flour. Mix until combined but don't over mix!

Spoon batter into cups, filling cups and smoothing tops.

Bake until muffin tops are golden, approximately 15 minutes.  Cool muffins for 5 minutes and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool for 10 minutes.

To make the glaze, whisk all ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth.

When muffins are mostly cool, dip them into the glaze.  Once the glaze has hardened you can dip them a second time. (If the muffins aren't cool enough the glaze will just melt off the muffin).

Note: these muffins don't keep very long so plan on eating them right away :-)

Mixed Match Centerpiece

I decided I was bored with just a vase and fresh flowers on my coffee table so I thought a nice visit to the thrift shop would help by find some inexpensive decorative pieces that would inspire my center piece.

My living room is mostly neutrals so I thought gold would be a nice accent.  At the thrift shop I found the vase with a gold rim and my candle holder for a few bucks.  I then found a cheap green candle at Hobby Lobby that matched a green picture frame I found at World Market a while back.  I took the picture frame and put some old book pages inside to create a decorative tray.  Now . . . I mostly keep fresh flowers in the vase, however, I found these cool paper roses from West Elm on sale so I bought a few.  I think they are a nice hint of color and I will later dissect them to figure out how I can make my own :-)

Picture frames make awesome trays! You can always add different scrapbook papers to match or compliment your space.  You can even add handles and paint the glass with chalk board paint to make a cheese plate where you can label your cheeses . . . Just an idea.

Dumpster Diving for Treasure

So, there is often furniture and things sitting around the neighborhood that I am often tempted to take and repurpose.  The other day I saw some old mattresses stacked up near the dumpster at the end of our street and next to it a small wooden ladder, obviously parts of a bunk bed set.  I drove by twice thinking of the ladder and decided if it was still there in the afternoon it would be mine! Luckily on my way home it was still there so I decided to rescue it.  

I cleaned off what I presume are little boy germs with spray cleaner and unscrewed the brackets from the top so they wouldn't scratch my wall.  Now it is a lovely bookcase or shelf for my knick-knacks.  I haven't decided whether or not I will paint it but if I do I will try milk paint which seems very intriguing.

Delicious Gluten Free Zucchini Bread

Yesterday, after a nice healthy lunch I had a major sweet tooth attack.  I wandered into Pete's Coffee to see if they had any gluten free cookies. Unfortunately they didn't.  As I was pondering the next place to go I realized I could probably go home and bake something.  I had the time, probably enough baking ingredients, and I loved to bake anyway.  

Remembering that my France's parents brought us some giant zucchinis from their garden I decided to sit in my car and look up zucchini bread recipes.  The first one that popped up looked simple and I knew I had all the ingredients.  After blasting some dance music and baking while my dog followed me around waiting for me to drop ingredients I made a delicious loaf of gluten free zucchini bread.  Thank you Betty Crocker for your amazing recipes! Here is the recipe :

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/gluten-free-zucchini-bread/dee2700b-e662-40a7-baef-c68943c6779f?p=1

Since I can't eat almonds or peanuts and I'm not a fan of walnuts, I used chopped pecans and I feel like it really made to bread. I highly recommend it!

Travel Memories

So, my fiancé and I love to travel and I have made it a habit to start collecting maps from the places we've traveled to. So I decided to use my maps to decoupage the matting in some frames and then framed my favorite picture from that particular trip. I also make sure to decoupage the name of the city so I can remember where we were when we took the picture.

Check them out:

I have a large world map hanging in my living room (if you can't tell I am a little obsessed with maps) and I am starting to add my photos with my map frames to the outside of the world map as we travel. Hopefully we will fill the whole wall :)

DIY Cake Stand and Plate

So for mother's day I decided to have some family over to celebrate at our house. I really wanted to make my favorite cake but unfortunately I did not have a lovely cake stand to display my cake. Luckily for Pinterest and the Dollor Tree I was able to make a rather inexpensive cake plate just in time for my party.

Basically, I just took a cheap plate and goblet from the Dollar Tree and glued them together using E-6000 adhesive. I then spray painted it red and viola!

Then I created a fun plate to go on top for other occasions and fun desserts. Here I took a plate which was a Second . . . I didn't know what that meant until the day I bought it so apparently that is when a store sells them for cheaper because there is a flaw or something. So I got the plate cheap and then doodled on the plate using sharpie then baked it to seal it. They also sell markers specifically for writing on glass, this would probably be a better choice as the sharpie seems to come off when it gets hot.

I thought I would make a lovely mini cheesecake to celebrate my special plate :)

DIY Schedule Board

So because my fiancé's and my schedules are so out of whack, I decided to create a schedule board so that we can keep track. Here is a simple schedule board made using paint swatches to match the colors of my kitchen (which is where it is hanging).


Check out How to Create a Schedule Board by Amberleigh Quinn on Snapguide.