Stopped Dead in my tracks

Have you ever had the most brilliant idea only to have someone stop you dead in your tracks? Well, I have and did!! A few posts ago I mentioned that I was going to be re-doing my house room by room. I had planned on starting in the family room by re-doing my mantel. I HATE this fireplace wall. I've HATED it ever since we bought this house almost two years ago. This is what it looked like when we bought it....



Horrible, I know. The white rock along with the gold glassed in screen, UUuuggg! I love having a fireplace, but I really wanted a mantel for my fireplace. I wanted to find a black mantel with wonderful aged detail but had been looking for almost a year with no luck. Then I found one at our local Habitat for Humanity thrift store. It was a great deal at only $60 but wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I knew I could paint it though and make it beautiful. I loaded that sucker up and brought it home. But....like most things I do, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to mount onto the horrible, ugly, dated white rock. But of course, like he always does, my love found a way...what do you think?




Better Right? Yes, of course its better but not perfect. I really want to paint this mantel. So what's the problem you ask?

My love has told me NO!



What?..... This is something I rarely hear from him. He usually is very supportive of my "projects" but he has put his foot down on this one.....Bummer!
Although I haven't actually gotten out of him why he wont let me paint the mantel, he has said that I can paint the rock.
Wow, this shocks me even more than him telling me "NO". Maybe I should pick out a color for the rock that looks horrible with the existing color of the mantel and then I'll be forced to paint it, hmmm. For right now, my plan is to paint the rock and then talk him into letting me paint the mantel. Well, I'm off to pick out paint for the rock wish me luck. I'll be keeping you updated with the progress of the fireplace along with some other projects I have going.

Thanks for stopping by,

Kris

Valentine's Day Mantel

As many of you know, I'm a thrifty type of gal. I don't like to spend alot of money on anything, well almost anything. There are some things that I splurge on but usually its shoes or purses. So when it was time to decorate my mantel for Valentine's Day I certainly had to get creative if I didn't want to spend any money.

First I went to my candle closet...yes, I do have a closet where I keep all my candles. And I pulled out all of my red candles. Then I gathered up all of my white or cream candle holders and tied some of them with these cute little gingham hearts I found at Ikea. Then, I stuck little red & pink heart picks i had found at the dollar store into my silk plant that stays on my mantel all year round.



Hmm...it still needs something. So I went to my catering closet and found a red vase that I had, but it wasn't enough. This is where my "cheapness" kicks in. I needed some more red vases, so I hit up my local Goodwill on Dollar Day and found another red vase for..you guessed it, a dollar and it does the trick.



Remember the "Love" blocks I posted about earlier?



This is the perfect home for them as well. They look great sitting on my mantel. Aah, its almost done. All its missing is one more little thing. I grabbed a plain white frame from my stash and added a scrapbook paper mat and cut out the words, "Be Mine" out of construction paper using my cricut and glued them to a plain white piece of card stock. This added the perfect touch of color and a little cute, whimsy surprise.





I love choosing one area of my home that I can decorate for each holiday. Valentine's Day is one of those holidays that I don't decorate the entire house for, but just adding a few things on the mantel is a great way to make it festive in the house without going overboard. Hope your doing something fun and whimsy this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by

LOVE,
Kristen

A Sweet Treat

As Valentine's Day quickly approaches, I'm growing weaker and weaker. The lure of Chocolate is almost more than I can take. What is a girl to do? I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Today I made some yummy Oreo Cookie Balls dipped in chocolate. Yes, you read correctly. Oreo's dipped in chocolate. The world is a wonderful place after all....so, here is the break down.

First start with a package of Oreo's. Place them into a plastic zip lock bag. Then smash them. I used a rolling pin. (this is also a great job for your kids to help with)


Once they are smashed, add 8oz of softened cream cheese and mix it well into the oreo's until a firm dough forms. Then roll the dough into "Ping pong" size balls.






Then it's time to melt some chocolate. I use "Almond Bark" when I am dipping things. I think it melts much better than chocolate chips. Melt the chocolate according to the directions and dip each ball into the chocolate. I used white and regular chocolate. Once you have dipped each ball, place them on a non-stick surface to dry.




Once they have cooled and the chocolate has hardened, you can place them into baggies, or onto a plate or into your mouth which is where several landed before I was even done with this post. They are way yummy and so easy to make. ENJOY!!!




Thanks for stopping by,

Kris

Recipe

1 lb chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 lb. Vanilla flavored candy coating, melted.

In a large mixing bowl, combine crushed cookies and cream cheese to form a stiff dough. Roll into balls and dip with a fork in melted candy coating. Let rest on waxed paper until set.

Makes approx 36 balls

Valentine's Pillows

I just cant help myself. I've gotten bit by the "Love Bug". Valentine's Day usually doesn't really do that much for me. My husband is very romantic and tries very hard to make everyday like Valentine's Day.....well, almost. So I usually don't get super excited for Valentine's Day. This year however I've had a lot of fun making new crafts and decorating the house.

My latest project is a few Valentine's Pillows for the bench outside my front door.



These seriously only took me 10 minutes per pillow start to finish. And I cant even sew that well. Despite a few snags (bobbin issues) these pillows were sew...simple to make. I used leftover valentine's fabric from a past catering job and some remnant pieces of striped fabric I had. I think the filling I used, I got at Goodwill on one of their Dollar Days (this I buy only if it is unopened/unused)its a great place to find batting, filling, etc... anyway, I let my girls fill them, and then I stitched them closed




and TA DA....instant color for a rather boring bench.



I also made a valentine's Day sign for out there, but that reveal is coming in another post. Happy "Love" week. Thanks for stopping by, see you soon.

Kristen

Sweet!!!!

Man, its cold outside. For this Arizona native, anything below 70 is cold, so imagine what these 30's and 40's are doing to me. Brrrr....but the good thing about this weather is that it has forced me to stay inside and get some crafts done.

Lets take a look at what I've been working on lately.



I made the "Sweet Shop" sign using a yard sale frame, some scrap book paper and a little red spray paint. Sorry I got so excited while doing this project that I forgot to take step by step pictures, but I'm sure you can figure it out.

So, first I found a frame in my frame stash and spray painted it "Apple Red" by Rustoleum....(love that brand) Then I took some red & white striped scrapbook paper and placed it behind the glass. I used my cricut machine to cut out the "Sweet Shop" in white vinyl. I placed the vinyl on the outside of glass. That way, I could easily remove it when I get tired of it. If you don't have a cricut machine, you could easily make your letters with white paper and a letter template. I would just adhere the letters directly to the paper at that point.

So simple, but so cute! I then placed a red piece of tulle on the counter and filled all different sizes of apothecary jars with valentines candy and ta da....SWEET!






See you soon,

Kristen