Spring Topiary

Hi there!  We are so glad you stopped by!

This past weekend my Best Friends and I hosted a Baby Shower, for one of the precious daughters, of said Best Friends.   Breaking news: I love to decorate and make crafts.  So, I was in charge of making the door prizes. Here is one of them that I made.  A Spring Topiary.

Here is what you will need if you would like to make one, too. Clay pot, styrofoam ball, a half styrofoam ball, moss, ribbon, flowers and a dowel. As you see in the picture, I started with white roses.  I bought 2 bunches.   This plan did not work out for me.  You will hear more about that later in the post.

I started by placing the styrofoam ball on the table and pushing the dowel through the middle.  I added hot glue to the bottom of the dowel and placed it in the clay pot.  It fit perfectly in to the hole in the bottom of the pot.

Take the ribbon and add a dab of hot glue to the end and attach it to the bottom of the dowel. Wrap the ribbon around the dowel moving upward, placing a dab of hot glue every now and then, just to keep it in place.  You don't need much, just enough to keep it from coming undone.

Next, add the round styrofoam ball to the top of the dowel.   Again, I put hot glue on the dowel, to keep the ball in place.   A little tip on getting it directly in the middle; take the extra dowel that you have, place the ball on the table and put it in from the top.  That way you can see that you are putting it directly in the middle.

I took the moss and glued it on top of the styrofoam ball, in the clay pot.   I have never used this kind of moss before and was so surprised at how easy it was to work with.

Now you are ready to start adding the flowers.   Cut the flower, leaving about 3/4" of the stem.  This way you just push the stem in to the ball.  As you can see from this picture I started with roses, but that is not what I ended up using.   Let 's just say, I underestimated the amount of flowers, by a LOT.  

I then proceeded to remove all of the roses.  Well, there weren't that many, so this did not take long.  I had quite a few of these other little white flowers, so I thought I was good to go.  No, not so much. I then took all of these out! Then I tried making some flowers out of tulle.  Then I tried paper flowers.   Finally, I jumped in the car and drove over to Michael's. It was 7:30 at night. Michael's is 20 minutes from my house, one way.  I still had 3 more projects to do before morning.  Can you say, "cold sweat"? Off I went!

I found these adorable daisies and loved them more than the roses.  I ended up buying 10 stems, each with 5 flowers on them.  So, this project took 50 flowers.   You can see in this picture how much trauma this ball went through during this project. Thank goodness it was all going to be covered up! Keep this in mind when buying your supplies, unless you like taking a project that would take about an hour and turning it in to a 3 hour project. 

Last, tie a ribbon around the top of the "stem".  There you have it. A super easy, (if you aren't as scatter brained as I was), Spring Topiary. I like it so much, I may just make one for me. Thank you so much for stopping by.  It means the world to us.

Making Barbie Houses

Hi there!  We are so glad you stopped by.  We have 2 granddaughters with birthdays in March.   Our daughter called and asked us if we would make a Barbie House for her daughter.   This got us thinking.  Let's make a Barbie House for each of the girls. 

We started with 1" X 12" pine boards.  3 were 8' foot long and 1 was 4' long. As you know, I am NOT a power tool girl, yet. That is on my to do list for the summer.  Learn how to use power tools and not lose a finger, or hand.  Enter, my assistant in all things wood.

We my assistant made a square box.  Put in dividers for the rooms and put on the roof.   Pretty easy, for my assistant.    Maybe, just maybe, I'm the assistant.............hmmm.

Next, start the painting and decorating.  My favorite part! I LOVE to paint, my house.  My son tells people our rooms used to be a foot wider, but I've painted so much that the rooms are now smaller.  This might be true. Because of my love for painting my rooms every few years, I have a huge supply of paint.  I'm talking 15-20 cans of left over paint.  This is a good thing when making a Barbie House.

I had picked up this really pretty, brighter than the sun, pink.  I'm telling you it did not look that bright in the store. Imagine my horror as I started to paint, thinking it was barbie pink. I'm telling you, I started to sweat. I had to fix this, but didn't have time to go out and find the right pink.  So, I poured it in an ice cream pail and started adding cream paint to it.  It worked. Thank you Jesus! I got my composure and moved on.......

This is the point in the blog where I tell you about my epic fail.  I had this brilliant crazy idea to use wrapping paper as wallpaper.  Great idea in my head, not such a great idea on the walls. If I were to do it again, I would only attach it in the corners, instead of slathering Mod Podge all over the back of it. It wrinkles.  Yep, like old pantyhose after a night at the club, wrinkles.   I pushed on, leaning from my mistake and hoping that my granddaughters would over look my boo boo.

I used a stencil sponge to make the polka dot look in the lavender room.  I used mirrored butterflies, with sticky backs for the pink room.   I also had some white foam stars with sticky backs, so I attached them to the wall in the striped room.

For the rooms downstairs, I took craft paper and put it behind squares to look like pictures hanging on the walls.  In the room on the right, you can see I added a butterfly to the middle.  The floors are contact paper that looks like wood.  I cannot tell you how easy that was to work with.  I'm talking a "4 year old could do it, easy"!  It's the peel and stick type so you can pick it up and move it and it does not lose the stickiness.  It's kind of like working with post it notes.  Who came up with this idea?  They are brilliant I tell you, brilliant.

Where is the other Barbie House you ask.  Our daughter, Tiffany, my Side Kick Blogging Partner on this here blog, took it home and worked her magic. If you don't have a painting addiction like I do, you could just go to Lowe's or Home Depot, like Tiffany did.  She bought those little paint samples in a jar, and they mixed all the colors she wanted.   I don't want to say she was like a kid in a candy store, or her mother in a paint store, but...........she was.

Here is Barbie's new living room.   That adorable picture on the wall is made from a frame in the dollar section at Target.   She also took craft paper and a sticker to make a picture.  They are the perfect size for Barbie.

Barbie's Kitchen.   

Barbie's laundry room.   I love how she used the stickers that look like laundry hanging on the line.   Seriously, what will they think of next?

Last, but not least, Barbie's attic.   I love how Tiffany's house turned out.  It is so modern, bright and sunny.  Exactly what little girls love! This is a great example of how you can take the exact same piece and make it look completely different?   Our granddaughters are loving their new Barbie Houses.   My daughter-in-law emailed me the day after Elle got hers and said she played with hers all night. The night Presley got hers, Tiffany woke up in the middle of night and could hear her playing in her room.  When I say middle of the night, I'm talking 2:00 am!  There was Presley, playing with her new Barbie House.  She was too excited to sleep, which makes this grandma very happy. Thank you so much for stopping by.  It means so much to us!

Chicken Enchiladas

Hi there!  We're so glad you stopped by!  Today I am going to share my most requested dinner recipe with you.  Here is my version of chicken enchiladas!!   

  What you'll need:    2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into 1" pieces   Fajita style flour tortillas 2 cans cream of chicken soup 1 tsp garlic powder 2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp ground coriander 1/2 C diced green chilies 1 C cheddar cheese 1/2 C milk   Preheat oven to 375.    In a large bowl, mix the soup, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, coriander, and green chilies.    Put 1/3 of the mixture in a small bowl.   Add the cooked chicken, and 1/2 C cheese to the large bowl.    Add the milk to the mixture in the small bowl. Stir.   Spoon a small amount of the mixture in the large bowl down the middle of each tortilla shell, roll it up, and place in an ungreased 9x13 pan, seam side down.    Once all the tortillas are filled, pour the mixture in the small bowl over the tortillas and top with the remaining cheese.     Bake for 20 minutes.      This usually makes at least 10 enchiladas.  If you don't want your enchiladas to be as full, or if you're making a smaller portion, cut the recipe in half.

Potting Bench

Hi there!  We are so glad you stopped by! I have been out of the blogging scene for a little while, taking a little break.   I was blessed with a trip to Cancun, with my Sister-in-Law, for 8 glorious days!  It was a much needed trip, for both of us. Getting away from our cold, cloudy, Minnesota days and having some wonderful bonding time that we haven't had in years, was way over due. So, I'm feeling refreshed and ready to get back to blogging and sharing some things I've been up to. When one of the guys at work came back from a job site with a stainless steel sink, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. One of my girlfriends had a birthday coming up and she L.O.V.E.S. gardening. What do you give a girl that loves to garden?  A potting bench of course! I figured as long as we were making one for her, we should also make one for me.   We used treated wood because I wanted it to hold up to the "Minnesota Elements". 

Once the bench was made, my assistant, aka Husband/Partner in All Things Wood, we cut out a hole for the sink and dropped it in. 

The best part of this bench is it has water.  Well, actually it's a hose.   All we did was use the existing hole that was already in the sink, for the faucet.   Hook the other end of the hose up to your outside spigot and waa laa!  A potting bench, with water!

We did not add a drain/strainer to the sink bowls.  Here's why. When potting a plant, you spill dirt everywhere.  Well, I do.  I wanted to be able to take the spilled dirt and push it right through the holes back in to the bag or bucket, depending on where you keep your potting soil.  It works perfectly.

I'm in love with the shelf underneath.  You can keep your pots or baskets under there.   If you're like me, I have to decorate everything.  I'm serious, everything! I'm pretty sure this is a sickness. So, when you're done with potting your plants, decorate the bottom shelf so you have another pretty thing to look at in your backyard.

See what I mean......a sickness!

Now that my potting bench is complete and in my backyard, I'm hoping that these 27 degree days will stop. I'm starting to feel a great need to "Smell Dirt", as my friend Wendy, would say. Sunshine and dirt.  Yep, that's what makes me happy.   Well, okay, an occasional glass of wine makes me happy, too!

I would love your feedback on our Potting Bench.  What would you change, what is your favorite part? P.S. A special thank you to my amazing daughter, Tiffany, for picking up the slack while I took my little hiatus, and for always being my cheerleader.   Thank you so much for stopping by.  It means the world to us!

Beef Tips

Need a quick and easy dinner idea?  I desperately need to go grocery shopping so I needed to throw something together.  We have had beef stew meat sitting in our freezer for months now - and we have had beef strew one too many times since October, so I wanted to try something new.  Since my pantry looks like Mother Hubbard's cupboard I didn't have much to work with... but my husband described this as "delectable" - so I figured it was blog worthy!     Beef Tips Serving size: 4

What you'll need: 

1 lb beef stew meat 

1 pkg Onion soup mix

1 pkg brown gravy

1 can Campbell's golden mushroom soup

1 C. Sprite (7-up and Sierra Mist would work, too!)

- Mix stew meat, soup, gravy mix, sprite, and onion soup mix together in a crock pot.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.  

- Serve over rice or egg noodles

Enjoy!

Chicken Noodle Casserole

 Hi there!  We're so glad you stopped by! 

As promised, I am going to share a recipe with you that ISN'T a mexican dish.  This is something that's ridiculously quick and easy - and the family will love it!  This is hands down my favorite comfort food.

Chicken Noodle Casserole

What you'll need: 

- 2 cans cream of mushroom soup

- 1/2 cup milk

- 2 cups chicken, cubed and cooked 

- 2 cups frozen mixed veggies

- 4 cups medium egg noodles cooked and drained 

- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

- 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

   

-   Stir soup, milk, chicken, veggies, noodles, and parmesan cheese in a 2 quart casserole dish.  

- Bake at 400 for 25 minutes.  Top with cheddar cheese, and serve!

Chicken Fajita Pizza

Hi there!  We're so glad you stopped by!  I have a new recipe to share with you!  I wasn't kidding when I said that I was obsessed with mexican dishes!  I promise I will share something different with you next week... but this week, I'm going to share my Chicken Fajita Pizza!  We make homeade pizza quite often at our house.  We have become sick of the traditional pepperoni, black olives, and mushroom pizza.  Now we've moved on to hawaiian, BBQ chicken, etc... but this one is definitely our favorite!    

   What you'll need:  1 pizza crust (baked, or I bought a crust that was already made)  2 chicken breasts (cut into 1/2" cubes) Fajita seasoning 1 C. chunky salsa 1 green pepper (chopped) 1 red pepper(chopped) 1 red onion  (thinly sliced) 1 can of black beans 1 1/2 C. mexican blend cheese   Cook the chicken with the fajita seasoning mix as directed.    Brush a small amount of olive oil on the pizza crust, then spread the salsa on the top (this is your pizza sauce) Keep salsa 1-2 inches from the edge.   Top with chicken, peppers, onion, black beans, and cheese.     Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.     Serve with sour cream or taco sauce.  ENJOY!