sprucing up the kitchen

I love my kitchen but since we recently moved into the house, I haven't really done anything with it.  I decided to rectify that today and I did it for under 5 dollars using stuff I already had at home!

First, I had a gift certificate for stitcher's crossing so I got 2 yards of fabric for a total of 3.84, which is the only money I spent on this project.  I used the fabric to make a valance for the window over the kitchen sink.  The hardware was already there from the previous owners.  Here is the before and after.

Next, I had this old bulletin board sitting around doing nothing.  It was a little worse for wear and it was just laying in my quilting area.

I saw this idea on pinterest, and I stole it.

I have an inbox, outbox, calendar, and menu!

Here is the before and after of that corner of the kitchen

Eventually I want to get a little table underneath there to put batteries/pens/pencils but this is what I had at home today to work with.  What about you?  Any craft ideas done on the cheap?

Yes...I like food

I really enjoy making food for other people.  To me, feeding people is a way of expressing my love for them.  So imagine all of the love this week when I had people over for dinner two nights in a row!

First, I had leftover bread from making tea sandwhiches. An entire loaf of heels and crust going to waste in my fridge, we can't have that happen! So I made a bread pudding, a savory bread pudding. Of course I didn't manage to take a picture of it, but it turned out great. So great, that people took home leftovers, that never happens! I also made a chocolate cake that I found on pinterest. It required making the cake, refrigerating overnight, and then assembling. I took lots of pictures of this cake :)

The next night I made another winner from pinterest, baked chicken parmesan.  I also managed to forget to take a picture of it, but mine looked exactly like the one in the link, and it tasted as great as was promised.  I had to cook mine about 20 minutes longer than he did, but only because my chicken was still partially frozen.  I even have enough leftover for dinner for me and P tonight, which is great because I'm temporarily out of ideas...back to Pinterest!

Our wedding mementos

P and I were married last year.  Our friends and family were so generous, and gave us so many cards and well wishes.  I didn't want to just stick them in a box, and I didn't want to throw them out, but it was a pretty big pile:

And I really hate clutter.  So, I decided to make an album with the cards and pictures of the people who gave them, as well as other paper memorabilia from the wedding.  Here is the album:

And here are some of the pages:

It was really fun to go through all of them again over a year later, it was such a great wedding!

A crafty Sunday

I am, like many people I know, addicted to Pinterest.  Since joining earlier this month, I have found so many new ideas I want to try out.  I have also found new blogs to follow.  One such blog had a great idea for going a whole month without spending any money.  I realize there are essentials like milk, eggs, etc that can't be avoided, but I love the idea of trying to make do with what you have and use up some of the supplies in your house already.  One of her guest posts talked about recycling oatmeal cans into useful storage, including a ribbon holder.  When I used up a can of oatmeal this morning baking, I knew just what to do:

Mine doesn't look as nice as the one she made, and of course I still have more ribbon to store, so hopefully the next one I make will turn out a little nicer, but it works great!

Next an ongoing project.

 I am attempting to hand quilt cupcakes into a fabric that is not cotton.  It is some sort of polyester blend, and it is not easy to work with.  Here is what the cupcakes will look like when done:

And now I only have 23 left to do as well as 3 milkshakes for the three rectangle sections.

It's a good thing I had all of this to keep me busy, so I wasn't too intent on the football game today where the poor Packers lost.  As long as someone beats the Patriots, I'll be happy, but I was hoping it would be the Packers, Go Pack Go!

Healthy Cooking

Last year for Christmas my mother got me a subscription to healthy cooking.  Even though it's been over a year and we've moved, the issues keep coming.  I hope this continues as this is probably the most useful magazine I've ever subscribed to.  I've made at least four or five recipes in each issue and usually many more.  I received this issue a couple of weeks ago.

Today I finally got a chance to make some of the recipes from this issue.  First, a peach blueberry baked oatmeal

Unfortunately, I had it finished just in time to go to church so we will have to try it out for breakfast tomorrow and see how it tastes. 

Next I made a sausage potato bake.  They make it healthier in the magazine by using ground turkey with spices to imitate sausage, but I really wanted sausage so mine isn't quite as healthy as theirs.

This turned out to be a huge success.  My husband (who hates most vegetables) didn't even mind that there were onions in it.  

If you are looking for ideas about what to make for dinner, I highly suggest this magazine.  I worked as a nanny for over a year for a vegetarian family, and during that time I made almost every vegetarian dish I found in this magazine, as well as replacing tofu for many of the meat entrees.

Getting on the blog train

My husband has one, my art group has one, and now even my mother has one, so I though it was about time to get my own blog.  The hope is to have a place to put all of my attempts at crafts and cooking, so wish me luck!