Living Room Updates

Well, it looks like my vacation time seems to be the time when I blog. So as Spring Break begins, I've got something new to blog about!

Saturday I started making a to do list and decided it was time to give the living room an updated look with some new pillows. Right now we have red pillows that I picked out from Kohls when I got the couch about 4 years ago. They are still in great shape (and therefore will be recovered instead of replaced), but I've found that my taste has changed some since then.

Here is the mood board I put together:
1)The fabrics are from Joann's- the floral is by Keepsake Calico, the light blue is by Waverly, 2)The couch is from Cindy Crawford Home which is found at the Room Store 3) One of my inspiration rooms-you should check it out! 4)Target Avington furniture 5) I'm hoping to cover our IKEA lamp shade with some fun yellow print like this by Waverly. 6) Another fun yellow accent -I can't remember the blog I found this on :-/ 7) A fun geometric rug like this may come in the future if we move somewhere with hardwoods... (In my dreams ;) )

I went to Joann's fabric and World Market today, however, I am absolutely horrible at making quick decisions. So my shopping trip turned into a "looking trip" where I took a ton of pictures of different fabrics that I liked. Overwhelmed, I then started to put the pictures of fabric together in publisher, and was able to find what I liked best (which are in the top left hand corner of the mood board).

I still have another fabric store to go to, but at least now I have a little better handle of what I want.

ATTENTION MOM (or any other helpful person reading this):
The next step will be to make envelope pillow covers. I've found several tutorials, with slightly different instructions and dimensions. Any ideas of which one would be easiest or turn out the nicest? I'm still somewhat of a novice when it comes to sewing, and this will be my first ever pillow cover!

* http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/08/easy-envelope-pillow-cover-tutorial.html
To make a 17" pillow they recommend 17"x 38"
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4LJnPEvjdDo#!
To make a 17" pillow she recommends 3 panels: 18"x 13", 18"x 14", 18"x 18"
*http://www.marthastewart.com/270503/three-ways-to-make-a-pillow-cover
The make a 17" pillow she recommends 18"x 32"

I'll be sure to post an update soon--and NOT wait until my summer vacation starts!

Blessings,
S + B

Fall Decor

We've broken out our fall decor! Fall is possibly my favorite season-it might have something to do with my obsession with cardigans and cool weather clothing, but it could also have to do with candy corn and the beautiful weather.

My decorating started when my mom sent me a fall care package filled with pine cones, and other festive things like a candle, black cat, and fall towels.

I added pine cones to a bowl on our entry table, and to a mason jar that I then added some fake fall leaves and a twine bow to (we sadly don't have real fall leaves down here in Texas otherwise I would put some fall branches in there!

I added the cute black cat to add a little fall personality to our entry table, and some blocks to spell out fall. I

And of course it was time to make the front door say "hello fall" as well. I got my pumpkin welcome sign during an after fall sale a few years ago from either Hobby Lobby or Michael's, I can't remember which one.

Our regular kitchen towels are getting a little break while we use these.

And here is a little project we did to decorate at school:

You can find the directions for our pumpkin lanterns here. I teach 3rd grade, and the kids enjoyed making these (with a little help and direction)! 

So, do you have any fall decorating ideas or crafts that you enjoy? Are you excited that the weather and scenery is changing? 

24 Hours of Gifts and a DIY Birthday Project

Over a month ago, we celebrated our 24th birthdays... Several things have happened since then, but this is where I will pick our life story back up since we have had a little bit of a blog-break ;).

My birthday in 2008

  Let me start off by saying that my husband and I are somewhat funny when it comes to gifts. We both agree that we would rather give time or memories instead of items. I'm not going to lie--when it comes time to get gifts for Christmas I go off on an annual rant about how we should just skip gift giving all together because we don't need more "things" (which we have actually done one Christmas). 

  Anyway, when we were first starting to date we decided that instead of just giving birthday gifts we would plan a fun day for the other. For example, Brian once took me to Galveston  where we went to Moody Gardens and then we had a picnic on the beach which he packed in a new picnic basket/backpack. 

So far we have had more fun with our birthday adventures than simply giving a gift to unwrap, so I think our tradition will carry on.

This is how we spent our birthdays this year:

His birthday:

Keeping with the 24th birthday theme I decided to do 24 hours worth of gifts/activities (I only did it during normal hours of the day so it really took two days). We budgeted ourselves to $50, so I had to get creative with our day of activities/gifts/meals (free Chick-fil-A lunch for example). Some of his favorite gifts included a puzzle, which our friends who came over that evening helped us put together, a speed square and torpedo level (tools), Oreos and angel food cake.

24 hours worth of gifts

Free Chick-Fil-A day.

 Finding all of the gifts and planning out the day was a blast! I'd like to think that opening all of the gifts and spending the day together was fun too, right Brian?

  

Her Birthday:

 Brian knows how much I enjoy DIY projects, so he decided to plan a birthday project that was on my Pinterest to-do list that we could make together and blog about later. A few days before my birthday, we swung by Michaels and Home Depot and ended up with these (I was not aware of the specific project at the time but he made sure I liked the "pieces" of the project): 

A frame, hooks and scrapbook paper. 

Brian chose a key holder project where you use a picture frame and he sketched out a plan to make it just right for our house.

Here were the other tools that we used for the project:

(we also used the Cricut Classic Font cartridge, and the Printing 101 cartridge for the letters and plus sign)

 Brian put the hooks into the picture frame, measuring and drilling out starter holes (they just screwed in but pre-drilling made it easier).

 I played around with the sizes and font of the letters. We knew we wanted it to say S+B since that is a common theme with us.

 All in all, this project took less than 30 minutes, was simple and fun. Here is our final project:

 And here it is fulfilling its purpose in our home: to hold our keys.

Now we have a fun little reminder of our time spent together on my birthday! 

Anyone else do something different to celebrate birthdays? I'm always looking for more ideas of fun ways to celebrate together! 

Many Blessings,

       S+B

Back to School Progress

Just so that you know we're still alive and not just sitting around avoiding our blog, here are a few pictures of some of the things we've been up to. School starts this Thursday for me, so I have put some posts -and just about everything else- on the back burner. 

 Here are some of the new additions to the room:

*Construction paper organizer made from boxes, and wrapping paper

*New rules from here.

 *My Must Do/May do board was revamped with some labels (before I simply wrote "Must Do" and "May Do" on the board... I will try to post the document I made in case anyone else wants to make this as well. (Inspiration)

*I made curtains to cover up the open shelving I have. (It always looked messy to me)

They are a touch long, but I'm waiting until after the craziness of back to school settles down to hem the bottom. 

Now back to lesson plans, job board updates, and hopefully SLEEP! 

What can you do with a window?

That is the question that actually bugged me for 2 years. Yes, I held on to an old window for TWO years debating which DIY project I wanted to use it for.

Before I get into the inspiration that I had and what I ended up doing, I HAVE to share the best potato salad recipe with you!! My belly is happily full...so I have food on the mind!

It is from The Pioneer Woman and Brian actually found it and whipped it up to go with some brisket we had.
Here is the recipe for the perfect potato salad. You should seriously try it!

Anyway--back to window DIY! My blank canvas of a window frame had several possibilities.
Here are some of the inspirations from Our Small-Town Idaho Life, Lovely Nest, Dollar Store Crafts, and the Bees Knees Bungalow :

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In the end, I decided I would make it a.......bulletin board! I took one of my long weekends and sanded, painted, waited, painted, and then glued in 6 cork tiles (from Michaels). The tiles had to be cut down to fit in the widow frames snugly, and was much harder than I initially thought (each pane was a slightly different size).

Here is the finished product hanging above my desk. I love how it turned out and how practical it is for the office area. I've noticed that I might need to do something else to reinforce the wood glue that I used to hold the panels in place because there is a little bit of give when you push a tack in--but it's not broken yet! 

A Texan take on Fish & Chips

Cue the Olympic music and let the games begin!! We welcomed in the 2012 Summer Olympics last night by having some friends over and eating Fish and Chips--since that is one of the traditional dishes from England. We debated between going the easy route and buying frozen fish sticks and fries...or finding a legitimate recipe and well... here was our choice

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We made a few adaptations to make it serve 6 (1 1/2 times the original recipe), and use what was available at our grocery store...and to get it out of Celsius. So here is our take on the recipe:


Ingredients:
6 Tilapia frozen fillets *thawed and cut in half lengthwise to better fit in our deep fryer
2 Cups Flour, plus some extra
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 Bottle of beer *We used Ziegenbock (our favorite Texas beer), but the recipe really called for a British beer
2 Tablespoons lemon juice from concentrate 
salt and pepper
5 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into fries
good cooking fat or oil (we used lard)


Directions:
1. Heat up fat/oil in deep fryer to 375°F.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut into fry size pieces. Rinse off and then dry.
3. Fry potatoes for about 3 minutes or when they are soft but not completely done (haven't changed color). 
4. Drain and set the fries on a plate or in a bowl off to the side.
5. Pour some flour on a plate and dredge the fish fillets in the flour -this makes the batter stick to the fish when fried. Let fillets rest in the flour while you work on the batter.
6. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and pepper into a nice big bowl. Then gradually add the beer until it is a thick batter (we added our whole 12 ounce beer, but you can add less if you want a little drink). Whisk until all the lumps are gone. Add the lemon juice and mix thoroughly again. 
7. Change the temperature of the deep fryer to 325°F.
8. Now start taking individual fish fillets and dip them in the batter and put them straight into the deep fryer. Add one at a time and don't crowd them before batter is crisped up. We cooked 2 at a time for 3-4 minutes since we had small pieces (the original recipe said 6-10 min depending on thickness). When done the batter is a light brown.  Put them on a plate and keep warm in microwave or oven.
9. Crank up the heat to 375°F again and cook the fries until they look done. Put on a plate and add salt.
10. Serve and enjoy!!!


This recipe was pretty simple, and very tasty! While we really enjoyed the fish, I think we were more impressed with the simplicity and tastiness of the fries. I don't think we will go back to buying frozen french fries again (unless we are feeling lazy -which we sometimes do)! 


Anyone else as excited about the Olympics as we are? Did you make anything tasty to celebrate?

Many Blessings,
S + B

Welcome-- Make yourself at home!

Hello Blogging World!
  We have been meaning to start a blog since...well what seems like a long time. We're a somewhat newly married couple ready to share our daily lives filled with DIY projects, cooking, and other fun things. I'm a 3rd grade teacher who loves making things for my classroom and home, while my husband, Brian, is an engineer who likes building things and being handy. Brian is the chef in the house, but I get involved with baking, we both like trying new recipes and experimenting a little. We hope you'll stay tuned! 


Many Blessings,
S+B