Friday Favorites

Let's take a look at some of my favorite things from blogland, shall we? yes, let's do!

Let's start off with this entry way bench from 320 Sycamore. Aren't they neat?...even neater when you find out how she made them and they only cost $40.

I love these picture hangers from The Creative Crate. She made them out of cupboard doors and she shows you how to do it too. I ♥ them.

this next week is spring break for us and I'm looking for good ideas to keep my boys from watching too much TV. I thought we would make one of these rubber band pinball games from Journey into unschooling.

and maybe some of these marshmallow and toothpick buildings from The Idea Room

I actually made these Pizza Pretzels last week and they were a complete hit at the dinner table. Check out From my Tiny Kitchen to see how. FIY: we doubled the recipe and only had one pretzel left over. Yum!

I plan on making some of these delicious looking orange rolls from The Pioneer Woman this weekend.  I've made her cinnamon rolls several times and LOVE them and this is the same recipe just different flavors.

These Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas from The Girl Who Ate Everything have my mouth watering. I can't wait to make these. You can bet your buttons they will be on next weeks menu.

Check out this cute bag that my friend Shannon is giving away this next week to celebrate her baby girls 1st birthday. Go check out her shop and then head to her blog to leave her a comment and enter to win.

Have a blessed weekend friends!

Things I like!

♥ First off, I really like my hubby and he hasn't really had the best of weeks so I decided to switch the menu up a bit (since, due to possible freezing weather, we won't be grilling tomorrow). I showed my love by fixing him some smoked meat. What guy doesn't like a little smoked meat when they are down and out? ♥ I love this necklace! What mom wouldn't totally love this for mother's day. It's a little dressy with the pearl, but casual enough to be worn everyday. (hint, hint!) You can find it here if you wanted to buy one or look at other cool personalized jewelry. ♥ Britt and I really want to make (eat) these. If I had seen these before the baby shower I did last month I would have totally made some. Who knew? cake pops? Soooo cute and they look easy to make! Get your directions here. ♥ Stephanie over at Homegrown Hospitality makes the most wonderful "doodles" I've seen. I would so love to be able to do that. (Isn't it ironic that I picked the "be content" one to show you when I'm obviously wishing I had this ability...so not content of me). I do think I will try my hand at it and use this quote to put in a frame by my front door. ♥ I've always like to make stuff and be creative, but patience has never been my strongest character trait. I also have a bit of an issue with follow-through, unless somebody is counting on me doing something...then I'm good. Lately I've been oooing and aahing over some gorgeous quilts. I would love to try it at least once, but I'm not sure I'd ever get it finished. I love blue,orange and green together so of course I was drawn to this one. I'm so would love to make one of these for Christmas. I've got 9 months, do you think I could get it done in time? As you can probably tell, I like the basic quilts the best. It's really the colors that I like more than anything....and that you could snuggle up with one or maybe have a picnic on it...so many options, what's a girl to do??? ♥ If I thought I'd get it done in time, I'd make one of these cute little Easter baskets. I know spring has started, but I sure wish the weather would cooperate again. I liked it much better at 65° than say 40°. These springy colors are making it much worse! The directions can be found here. What do you like??

Buy 'em toys and buy 'em toys

And what do they do?? They just play with the boxes! We are unable to make a visit to Aldi or Costco without bringing home a nice sized box just for play (often times, more than one). The kids would much rather use their imaginations and transform a box into a bed, garage, train, truck or maybe even a house than play with some old toy. The best part, when they stop playing with them you just toss it in the trash (when they aren't looking, of course). No guilt involved! I had an Uppercase Living delivery the other day and Josiah latched onto the box and decided it would be his lounging spot for the day. It was just the right size for him to cozy up in and hang out quite comfortably. He grabbed his little pillow and blankie and just snuggled in and enjoyed his new spot. He was quite upset last night at bedtime when Eric wouldn't allow him to actually sleep in it. It started me thinking about all the boxes that have made their way into our home over the last few years and all the wonderful creations that have been made. Smaller ones usually become car garages or little beds for stuffed animals. The bigger ones generally become trains or cars. Just add a paper plate and a brad and your on your way to driving bliss. Break out the crayons, markers and maybe some assistance with cutting windows and doors and your good to go. Super cheap (or free), creative fun! If you wanted to get real elaborate you could even make this: instructions available here at Family Fun No need to buy expensive toys that will get played with for 2 weeks and then make their way under the bed or to the depths of the toy box never to be seen again when you can just pick up a box for free. This post is linked up to Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom

Frugal Fixes

I've totally been nesting since I took down my Christmas decorations...nope, I'm not pregnant! I'm just really bored with what I look at each day here at home. Time for a change I think. So in the interest of not spending much, but updating things I've been doing things on the cheap. Here are my new curtains in the living room made with my fabric I found for $3/yd and it was such a nice day yesterday that I broke out the spray paint and painted the rod as well. We did splurge on the plantation blinds, but I've been waiting about 9 years for those so it's all good...and I love them! The next thing I did was spruce up my boring brown candles I have on the mantle. Just took a couple sheets of scrapbook paper and a couple pieces of ribbon to dress them up all nice and perty! I found the candle stick on the left on clearance at Kohl's plus I had a 30% off coupon so it was about $6 and the one on the right was on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $5 ....pretty good for wooden candle sticks. They went from this: to this in about 5 minutes...time well spent! My next fix is for the boys room. When Corban was born Eric's mom gave me these Norman Rockwell prints that she had kept for a number of years, but never used. I love Norman Rockwell and have intended to use them once we turned the boys room to a sports theme. I picked up the frames at walmart for $2.50 each and painted them the red in their chair rail to match. It has taken me a year to finish this project, but hey it's finished now and I think they are pretty cute and timeless . My next project is still in progress. When I originally got this light fixture in the kitchen a couple of years ago I covered paper shades in black and white toille (sp?) fabric and they looked nice, but the paper has cracked on the inside from the heat of the light bulbs so they needed to be replaced. I was at Home Depot the other day picking up my blinds and found these shades on clearance for $2.50 each...a steal since they are exactly what I had in mind, but I thought I would have to pay at least $7/shade. They are shorter than my other shades so they look too ...umm...short to me so I am looking for some sort of trim to go along the bottom to lengthen them. I'm happy with them as is for now though. I have more to show, but I'll save them for another day. I'm currently working on repainting several picture frame for a collage display on my kitchen wall beside the table. Should be done next week sometime. For more frugal ideas visit Biblical Womanhood

Cleaning help!!

One of my main goals for this year is to clear away the clutter and really deep clean my home. I also want to repaint nearly every room (not the kids rooms) in my home since they haven't been done in several years. It will be a major undertaking since almost every corner in our home needs to have the mud/tape redone due to our foundation shifting. We also want to remove the popcorn ceilings....big job, but I think we can do it. Cleaning comes first though and I have a hard time staying focused. I seem to do a lot of wandering around and not getting much accomplished. Does anyone else feel like they have done stuff all day, but have nothing to show for it? Please, tell me I'm not alone! Well, I ran across this helpful cleaning and decluttering guide called Simple mom's spring cleaning for normal people. The Nester has a great post about enjoying your home. She talks about clearing away the clutter, using what you have, utilizing all of your space, using the things you have and being content in what you do have. All things I am striving for this year. This guide totally works for me, maybe it will help you too.

I'm a material girl!!

Want to see my fabric?? It all started when I went to the Dr. again this morning to be re-packed for a little more pain relief. Afterwords, I wanted to go by this home fabric store that carries high-end fabric at rock bottom prices, well they didn't open until 10 and it was 9:15 so we went over to Joann fabrics to kill a little time and see if they had any good clearance. Oh My Word....I totally scored! Their clearance fabric was on 50% off the clearance price.....here's where it gets so good I can hardly stand it! It was all $3/yd....normally each was between $20-$25/yd. I am so proud right now I would like to scream....I called Eric to tell him, he was excited for me, but guys just don't get it. I bought enough fabric to make curtains for our living room, make a new window topper for my kitchen sink window, re-upholster the 2 mission rockers in the living room and re-upholster a footstool that goes with one of the chairs & make 2 new valances for our bedroom. The fabrics match perfectly with the new couch we bought in the fall....I'm so stinkin' excited I could pass out! Here is a picture of the living room & kitchen fabric. The plaid is for my living room curtains and window topper in the kitchen, all the way to the right is my couch, the top middle is a tiny red dot print and below is just a basic upholstery fabric that matches my couch perfectly. Haven't made up my mind about how to use the dot one and the solid one, chairs or footstool, pillows?? Yep...I already clipped it up to see how it would look! They are kinda silky so the sun shines through it and doesn't make the room look dark at all. Love it!! I plan on painting the rod black and eventually the walls will be one of the rich golden tones in the fabric (I think). Since our windows are so very ugly and I've always had a topper to kinda cover them up and now they will be a bit more exposed, my hubby agreed we could get some white faux wood plantation blinds for these windows...yipee!! Here's the tiny red dot fabric....this picture really doesn't do it justice. And finally here is the fabric remnant I bought for our bedroom. I was hoping it was big enough to do our headboard, but it's about 6" shy so I might use it for window toppers or pillows. It's very soft and yummy!! Head over to Biblical Womanhood to hear more frugal stories.

Freebie Friday!

I like free stuff! Here is what I found in someone's trash today....nope, I'm not above taking stuff from people's trash. I know it's a little beat up, dirty and has about 5 coats of paint on it all in various stages of peeling, but I think I can strip it (anyone know how to do that?) and paint it black and distress it. I love the legs on it. I plan on putting it in the entryway under our mirror.