Credenza Makeover

This week I was able to get some time off work to go visit my family. My sister has been taking singing lessons and landed her first part in her middle schools musical. She was very excited so I knew I needed to go see her perform. Since I had a couple days off, I was able to spend a few days with the family and had some good quality time with all of them. I even got to go see Divergent with my sister and we were both very happy with it. 

Since I had a couple of days I decided to tackle the credenza I talked about in one of my earliest posts. This massive piece of furniture was a huge eyesore but still a very functional piece. It was too heavy to move and provided valuable storage space for all of my mom's work files. My solution was to paint it with chalk paint and decorate the top to help it blend in more with the rest of the room. 

Before the makeover, this credenza did not fit with the decor at all and was just a catch-all for random items.

Supplies:

• Paint (I used Valspar Signiture paint & primer in one in the color "cake batter")
• Plaster of Paris
• Water
• Wood wax
• Cloths
• Paint brush
• Painters tape
• Razor

Directions:

1. First thing I did was put drop cloths around my entire project. I also covered the pool table since it was near where I was going to be painting. I then taped off all of the metal on the credenza that I did not want paint to get on. Remove all of the drawers and set those evenly spaced on a tarp.
2. Next, I mixed 1/3 cup plaster of paris with 1/3 cup water and mixed until there were no lumps. After the mixture is smooth, add 1 cup paint and mix again. 
3. Take that mixture and paint your piece of furniture. Go with the grain of the wood and coat evenly. This project took three coats of paint to get the finish I wanted. I did not wait very long in between coats. By the time I got everything painted with one coat I just started back over at the beginning for the second coat.
4. Let the paint dry overnight. Remove the painters tape and use the razor to remove any paint that got onto the metal.
5. Next step is to coat the entire thing with the wax. I used some plain scrap cotton cloths to apply the wax. I think I will buy an actual wax brush for my next project though since the cloths get pretty torn up in the process. You will use three or more depending on the size of your piece.
6. Let the wax dry a few hours.
7. Decorate and you are finished!

After painting the credenza, me and my mom went shopping for some decorative pieces to tie everything together. My mom wanted the room to have an elegant yet still masculine feel. Many of the items we found at Hobby Lobby. Many of the smaller pieces where items that had been in storage for a while but had special meaning to my parents. They had put many of these things away while me and my siblings were younger to prevent them from getting broken. Now they get their chance to be out in the open again!

This box is the perfect size to hold all of the accessories my dad uses for the pool table.

The picture on the right was a gift from my sisters soccer team to my dad to say thank you for being the coach. It deserved a prominent spot to be displayed.

The mice in the love boat is actually a music box that my dad gave to my mom when they first started dating. She has an entire collection of these but this one was my favorite.

I was really happy with how the credenza turned out and so was my family. There are still a few more things I would like to do to the room but it is definitely coming along nicely!

Spring Rose Wreath

Spring is finally in the air! There are slowly starting to be more warm days than cold and to celebrate that I decided I needed to make a spring wreath. Since Easter is just around the corner I decided I wanted to do a wreath that had a little bit of Easter but not so much that I could not use it just for spring.

After looking at some other wreaths online for inspiration I decided to use the tutorial provided by the blog By Stephanie Lynn to make my own wreath. I loved her rose covered wreath. It looked so elegant and reminded me so much of spring. I love craft projects that use book pages but I had not done any yet because the thought of tearing up a book makes me cringe. I knew that this project needed to happen though so I toughed it out, found some books I was not going to read, and got to work. I thought her tutorial was very helpful and while making the flowers was the most time consuming and tedious part, they were worth every minute spent on them. I also decided to add the small colorful eggs to add some color and bring in some aspects of Easter. 

Supplies:

• Colorful mini Easter eggs (from the Dollar Tree) - $2.00
• Pool Noodle - $1.00
• Duct Tape - Free
• Hot glue gun - Free
• Hot glue sticks - $1.00
• Ribbon - $1.00
• Books - Free (took about 1 1/2 medium sized books or 500 pages)

Directions:

1. Take your pool noodle and tape the two ends together with duct tape to create your wreath form.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Rip out the pages from your books and cut the pages into squares. Each rose is made from three pages layered together. Next, cut circles out of those squares. Cut a swirl pattern out of the circles. By Stephanie Lynn has a very good tutorial that I used. She explains how to do this much better than me.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Roll your cut-up circles starting from the outside working your way in until you have a rose form. Glue the roses together and let dry.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Glue your roses onto the wreath for with your hot glue gun. Randomly glue the colorful mini eggs, alternating colors, in with the roses. 
5. When you have almost covered the entire wreath form, leave room for where the ribbon with go. Cut out a piece of one of your book pages and glue this onto that empty area. I did this because my ribbon was shear and I did not want the wreath form to show through.
6. Next, outline that paper with the remaining colorful mini eggs. Cut your ribbon to the length you want and glue the ends together around the wreath form. This is what you will use to hang it on your door wreath hanger.
7. All done! 

Close-up of where to tie the ribbon. 

This wreath took a while to do and is definitely a full weekend project. I love how it turned out and cannot wait to show it off on my door this spring. There is a little bit of Easter in it but not so much that I will need to take it down mid-April. I will be able to leave this up all spring long to help coax in more warm weather.

This wreath cost me very little and many of the supplies I can reuse. Hope you all had an amazing weekend and will use this as an inspiration to make your own spring wreath!

Cheesy Dairy Free Scalloped Potatoes

Yesterday was not only St. Patrick's Day but it was also my boyfriends birthday. One thing he had mention was that he wanted steak and potatoes for dinner. Usually he is the one who cooks any kind of meat (unless it is chicken or in a casserole) because he does such a good job. However, I was up for the challenge. I grab some T-bone steaks out of the freezer and looked up a new recipe for potatoes. I make baked potatoes all the time and decided I wanted to make something a little different. After searching on Pinterest, I found this recipe for Homemade Scalloped Potatoes from Six Sisters Stuff and adapted it to my own diet and taste. While I kept the basic foundation of the recipe, I did change quite a bit to fit my own needs.

Ingredients:

• 6 Medium Russet Potatoes
• 3 Tbls Vegan Butter
• 3 Tbls Flour
• 1 1/2 Cups Almond Milk
• 1 tsp Garlic Salt
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• 1/4 cup Monterrey Jack GoVeggie Cheese
• 3/4 cup Cheddar GoVeggie Cheese
• 1 tsp Paprika
• Bacon bits

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Skin and thinly slice russet potatoes.
2. In a small saucepan, whisk together butter and flour. Add milk, garlic salt, and cayenne pepper. Cook on medium-low heat until it boils then add cheese. Stir until cheese melts. Remove from heat.
3. Take a 9x9in baking pan and layer potatoes and sauce. Alternate layers until all has been used. Sprinkle remaining cheese, paprika, and bacon bits on top.
4. Bake uncovered for 50 minutes.

This recipe is definitely going on the keeper list and I cannot wait to make it again. It was so easy and simple. I even ate some leftovers for lunch today.. and I hate leftovers so that is saying something. Hope you all enjoy this recipe too! Let me know what you think.

Linking Up To:
What We Eat Wednesday

Pool Noodle Boot Shapers

I love when things are organized. When everything has a place and is where I can find it I feel at peace. There is no better feeling. One area that never seems to look very put together is where I keep all of my boots. They like to flop over and don't tend to look very nice all lined up. The boot shapers at the store can range from $10-$20 a pair. I did not want to pay $50+ to fill all of my boots so I came up with a solution.... Pool Noodles!

Supplies:

• Pool Noodles
• Knife

Directions:

1. Place the pool noodle inside of one of your boots.
2. Mark a few inches below the top of your boot. This is where you are going to cut. You don't need the noodle to go above the boot to get it to stand upright.
3. Cut the noodle with a knife of some kind. I used a steak knife because that is what I had on hand.
4. Do this for each of your boots and you're done!

Before the boot shapers. Flopping over and messy.

After the boot shapers. Looking neat, upright, and unwrinkled.

A view from the top, looking at the boot shapers from the inside.

This is a cheap, simple project that anyone can do. I bought the noodles at the Dollar Tree for $1 a piece and each noodle was enough for two pairs of boots. I think it's a pretty good deal getting my very own boot shapers for $3 rather than $60+. Hope you all enjoy!

Linking Up To
Link Party Palooza

Billiards Sign

So this last Christmas I was trying to come up with a present for my Dad who is very hard to buy for. He is happy with just getting to spend time with family and always says he doesn't need a gift but I always want to get him something extra special. This year after some long debating, I decided to make him something. He always enjoys seeing the craft projects I come up with so I thought this would be perfect.

Ultimately, I decided I wanted to make him some decorations for his new billiards room. He has always wanted a pool table and last year he finally got his wish. My parents turned our old family room off of the kitchen into a space for his pool table. The room is still a work in progress but all of the important things are there. They have the pool table with a good ceiling light, some comfy chairs, and some new curtains. I knew that a custom billiards sign would be perfect for the room.

Supplies:

• Plywood
• Acrylic paint in various colors: red, yellow, green, orange, white
• Black latex paint
• Wooden letters
• Spray adhesive
• Hot glue gun with glue sticks
• Wood glue
• Wooden balls
• Red felt
• Stain
• Painters tape
• Sandpaper

Directions:

1. First, stain the plywood and let dry overnight.
2. While you are letting the plywood dry work on painting your letters and wooden balls. Start by painting the edges of the letters in various colors (red, yellow, orange, green). Set aside and let dry. When they are finished drying paint them black, covering the colored edges. Let dry. Then take sandpaper and sand the edges of the letters so that the color will show through.
3. When your plywood has finished drying it is time to assemble everything. Take the felt and cut to fit the plywood the way you want. I bought a pre-cut piece from Michaels that ended up fitting the plywood perfectly. Use spray adhesive to attach it to the plywood. 
4. Next, glue the letters onto the sign using your hot glue gun. Attach the wooden balls around the edges using wood glue. 
5. Hang your new sign on the wall!
6. Tape off the wooden balls with painters tape. The un-taped space should be where the color will go. Half the balls will be "solids" and half will be "stripes". Paint them to match the colors of real pool balls. Once that part is dry, take off the tape and paint the empty space white. Let dry. To finish them paint the numbers in black on the balls. I made sure to match the pool balls colors and numbers to what the real balls look like.

I was really happy with how it turned out. I thought about putting some trim around the edges to make it look more finished but could not find any that I liked. I may add that later but for now I think it looks great how it is. My dad was really excited about his present and hung it on the wall the same day. Let me know what you think!

Linking Up To
Link Party Palooza

Craft Closet Update

For the past couple of weeks I have been slowly updating my guest bedroom to be more of a craft room. I am constantly making a mess everywhere in the apartment and it has been nice to have a designated area to do all of my crafts. There is a big sliding glass door too which will make it nice to work in in the summer. My latest project has been the closet. It is a pretty good size but the issue has been organization. Without any wall storage everything has been piling up on the floor and spilling out into the actual room.

After looking at several stores in the area for ideas on organizing the closet, I decided that I wanted some free-standing shelves on at least one of the walls. I did not want to hang any since I am in an apartment and free-standing shelves will be easy to take with. I looked at some shelves at the Container store that I liked but they were over $100 for their cheapest one. Next, I thought of using cheap Walmart bookcases but none of the options would fit well in the space.

Right when I was about to give up I found some plastic shelves meant for garage storage at Lowe's. They had several different sizes and colors and the best part was they were on sale for a decent price. I ended up finding one the was only $29.99 that would fit the space perfectly. After buying it I brought it home and put it together and boy was it easy. I didn't need any tools and it took about 10-15 minutes to do. The longest part was figuring out where I wanted to put everything once the shelves were up. (Lowe's did not endorse me or ask me to talk about their product I just really liked it and wanted to share!)

I am so happy with how much it opens up and organizes the closet. I am debating buying another one and putting it on the other side. Next step is making some cute storage bins to organize all my craft supplies!

DIY Ironing Board

Recently I found an iron at Goodwill for $6. It had never been used, worked great, and was an awesome find. I had been putting off buying an iron because I never saw the need to have one. Recently though I keep finding myself in the predicament of needing one and not having one. I am glad I looked at Goodwill before buying one at full price somewhere else. I love a good deal and nothing makes me happier than saving a few dollars. 

So now that I have an iron, I need an ironing board to go with it. I did debate on just buying one but I had a few problems with doing that. First, they can be a little pricey sometimes. Second, the cheap ones usually aren't very attractive; and lastly, the majority of them would not easily fit in my laundry room. After doing a search on Pinterest, I found that many people had made their own. So I took what those people had done and viola! my masterpiece was born. It only took me about an hour to do and it will fit perfectly between the wall and the washer in the laundry room while waiting to be used.

Supplies:

• 1 yard of fabric (I used cotton quilters fabric) - $3.59
• 1/4 inch x 2 foot x 2 foot piece of plywood - $5.85
• 1 yard cotton batting $1.20
• Staple gun - Free
• Staples - $3.00
• Drawer lining (I used a roll found at the Dollar Tree) - $1.00

Total: $14.64

Directions:

1. First, take your fabric and iron it if there are any wrinkles. You will also want to test your fabric for color fastness. To do this take a light colored scrap piece of fabric and iron it on top of your chosen fabric. If it does not bleed then you are good to go. This is especially important if you are using fabric with a bold, colorful pattern on it.
2. Next, lay your plywood on top of the batting and cut the batting to fit. Leave 1-2 inches around the edges so you have enough to fold over.
3. Fold the batting over the plywood and staple. Make sure you pull the batting taught so there aren't any lumps in your finished project. It is easiest to alternate sides when stapling rather than working your way around. You will get a nicer finish this way.
4. Then take your fabric and do the same thing you did with the batting. 
5. You can either leave your board like this or you can add the lining to the back so it will have more grip and won't slide as much. I used a roll I found at the Dollar Tree (maybe a yard long) so I did not have enough to cover the entire back. I just went around the edges to give it a more finished look. 

This is what the back looks like finished.

My ironing board is the perfect size to place on top of the cabinet where I fold clothes in the laundry room or even on my craft table when I am working on my various sewing projects. I got the batting from the remnants section on clearance and the fabric was 40% off, making this project fairly inexpensive. Let me know what you guys think and feel free to show me how yours all turn out!

Linking Up To:
Work It Wednesday
Whatever Goes Wednesday

Dairy Free Chip Dip

Sometimes I get a big craving for something salty and nothing satisfies that craving like chips and dip. During these times I want a dip that is quick and easy to make. Unfortunately there aren't a whole lot of dairy free chip dips at my local supermarket. My solution? Make my own!

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbls dairy free sour cream
• 1 Tbls low fat mayonnaise
• 2 tsp garlic salt
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp parsley
•  1 tsp onion powder

Directions:

1. Mix together all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Add more or less of the spices to fit your individual tastes. If you want it to be less salty you can replace the garlic salt with garlic powder.
2. Chill if desired or eat immediately!

This dip is pretty salty and the measurements are mostly estimates. I like to toss things in and taste as I go until I get the perfect dip. This makes enough for one person so increase the amounts if you are making it for a large group of people. This is my own personal dip that I make when I want a quick, salty, dairy free dip. Hope you enjoy!

Linking Up To:
Work It Wednesday
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Time Travel Thursday

Peach Coffee Cake

This weekend me and my boyfriend visited my family up north. We only had a couple of days due to another impending snow storm but we made the most of the short time we had. For breakfast on our second day there my mom made a coffee cake recipe she had gotten from one of my aunts. She added her own little twist to it and everyone loved it so much I had to share it on my blog. This recipe is simple to make and while it may not be the healthiest breakfast it sure was delicious! 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 21oz can peach pie filling

Topping Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Sift together flour, sugar, and baking powder. Next, cut in the butter.
3. Break egg into measuring cup then add enough milk to make 1 cup.
4. Mix milk mixture with dry mixture and pour into a 9x13 greased pan. Pour peaches on top.
5. Mix all of the topping ingredients together and pour on top of the peaches. 
6. Bake at 375 degrees F for 35 minutes.

Fresh out of the oven!

Ready to eat and looking delicious!

This coffee cake is very sugary but full of flavor. Instead of peaches, you can also try blueberries or cherries. I do not even like peaches very much (I am actually not a fan of any kind of cooked fruit) but I thought this coffee cake was wonderful and would definitely make in my own home. My mom is very new to making recipes that fit with my dairy free diet and this was one of her first recipes using almond milk. If you try this recipe let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Linking Up To:
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Whimsy Wednesdays
What We Eat Wednesday
Cast Party Wednesday