St. Patrick's Day Subway Art

Top o' the morning!

What Matt claims as his favorite holiday is right around the corner. St. Patty's Day. Ah yes, green beer and Irish whiskey for the boys, and me most likely driving their drunk asses around town. No, I'm just joking. I think St. Patrick's Day will be fun. I'll go to the parade and whatnot. Plus, I get to bake and cook fun foods.

Anddddddd, I get to decorate! One thing I'm using this year is a St. Patrick's subway art printable I made. I'm sharing it here so you all can enjoy!

Mushroom Potato Soup... Yum!

I love to cook and now that our kitchen is almosttttttttt finally done and Matt is here full time (he had to split the week before), I can actually make stuff! Yay!

I love mushrooms. I would put them in everything if I could. But, I can't, so usually when I have the opportunity to use a bunch of them and make it taste delicious, I do! So, in my homemade version I doubled the mushrooms, but for you, I left the recipe as it's supposed to be... It's also the perfect time for nice, warm soup. Coming in from shoveling the snow (haha, yeah, like I'm the one who does that!) to a hearty bowl of potato soup is one of my favorite things in the winter. I got this recipe from people I know in Slovakia. (In Slovak, they call it hriebova polievka or zemiakova polievka.)

Ingredients:

8 oz fresh mushrooms. (Use what kind you prefer, I used white button mushrooms.)

5 cups water

3 large potatoes

4 slices thick smoked bacon

 2 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons sour cream

1/2 cup shredded cheese plus garnish (I used mild cheddar.) 

salt to taste

Put salted water in a pot. Once the water begins to boil, set the heat at medium. Peel and cube the potatoes, then add to the water. Rinse off the mushrooms, slice, and add to the pot. I then added the flour to the mixture. Turn the heat down if it is still boiling a lot, and let the potatoes soften for 20 minutes. Then, you may choose to cook the bacon in a pan, or in the microwave. I used the microwave for 2 minutes, so it wasn't completely hard, as it will cook more in the soup, and cut it into small pieces, then added it to the mixture. Add the sour cream and cheese, and any seasonings (I used some basil.). Let the ingredients cook for another 15 minutes and then viola! Delicious mushroom potato soup!

 

2 Free Mardi Gras Printables

Mardi Gras is right around the corner, and let's be honest, who doesn't want to capitalize on another chance for a fun party?! It doesn't matter how close to New Orleans you are, bust out the beads and king cake and celebrate! I've created 2 free mardi gras printables for you to enjoy. 

The first is a Mardi Gras subway art printable for a little extra decor! 

 The second is an invite to your party! It even includes the famous Cajun French saying, "Laissez les bons temps rouler," which translates to "Let the good times roll." So, print them off, and do just that! Happy Mardi Gras!

A Cheap and Easy Valentine's Gift!

No ideas for a Valentine's gift, with no time, and no money to get one? Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Just make your significant other a "52 reasons why I love you" gift by using a set of playing cards, adhesive, some cut up computer or scrapbook paper, and a pen! You could even simply use a sharpie and write directly on the cards if you really want to. I made a set of these for Matt in a night...

52 ideas may seem like a lot, but it's really not once you start thinking of the little things that bring your relationship together... for example, here are some things I put on my cards for Matt:

- Your gorgeous eyes.

-The way you smile when you look at me.

- We can have a blast just hanging out at home.

- You always make me laugh.

- Our roadtrips together.

- How we told eachother we love eachother.

- Inside jokes we have.

- You watch my girly shows with me.

Just some examples... there are many, many more you can come up with!

DIY Menu Board

There's something you should know about me: I love DIY projects. I know you're thinking, "Well, that's good since this is a type of DIY blog." No, you don't understand I love love LOOOVVVVVEEEE DIY projects. You can find me at JoAnn, Michaels, or Hobby Lobby anytime I get the chance. You can see me roaming about thrift stores searching for my next potential project any time I've got spare time. I even love to go wander around in Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards looking for inspiration, clearance, paint mistints, and of course taking the paint chips! :)

Well, my adventures in thrifting, along with my hoarding of paint and wrapping paper have led me to my latest project in decorating the kitchen! A DIY menu board! I found this little gem at a local thrift store for $1.00:

I'm assuming it was the frame of a mirror that was no longer there. It really reminded me of my parents' old bedroom set from the 80s, but I decided it would look perfect when I put some work into it.

So, I sanded it down a bit. (Just a bit, as I loved the idea of the wood color poking through just a tad.) then I spray painted the entire frame portion with Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze spray paint. No, I did not use primer, because like I said, I wanted some of the wood color lines to show through. I did one slow moving coat over it and then waited a few hours and went over it again with a quick coat. After it was completely dry, I measured the inside and cut out the wrapping paper I wanted to use as a background to fit. Since there was a hole in the top back, I cut the background about a half an inch longer, and attached it to the top of the back of the frame with tacky adhesive. I attached the rest of the paper by using 3M spray adhesive. I then coated the paper with some leftover polyurethane I had. It protects the paper, and gives it a nice shine. I was going to attach an easy to use white board or chalkboard, but I decided I liked the idea of screwing in a cute little hook & hanging a paper menu each week. This way, if I choose to go the white/chalkboard route, I can also just attach it by hanging it on the hook! 

Our Home: The Before

As an HGTV and DIY addict, I could not have been any happier to move into a new home with Matt! Our humble abode is a simple house in Michigan, built in the 1950s. I took some before pictures, but wasn't quite thinking of putting them on the blog, so they're all poor-quality phone pictures... but hey, it's something!

The house is a one story, with four bedrooms, one and a half baths, a large but unfinished basement, and a lot of doors. {And, when I say a lot, I mean A LOT! There are 6 doors just to get out of the house. Why? I really don't know...}

 our bedroom

 little, tiny extra bedroom

 hallway to the garage

 dining area

 kitchen

 living room

 office/extra bedroom attached to our room

another extra bedroom...

Once again, sorry for the poor quality... I'll definitely take better ones of the after pictures!

Valentine's Day Subway Art

It's the time of the year for love... Well, for most guys I guess it's actually the day to celebrate for their love of football, but Valentine's Day is right around the corner! So, if you need some last minute artwork for the holiday, I've created a cute V-Day printable. 

Just click, print, and enjoy!

As for the football love, I'm cheering for the Patriots! Who can look at Tom Brady's face and NOT cheer for him? (Unless they ever play the Lions!)