When life hands you cardboard...

say thank you, pass the yarn!

One of the very reasons I started this blog was to force myself to use the materials I have on hand and get creative with what I have. After unleashing the crafter inside of me, I have begun to hoard collect in an organized manner, all sorts of supplies. Tshirts, fabric scraps, felt, cardboard, string, yarn, frames, foam board, and many more random items that may or may not someday become something AMAZING! Since Christmas is right around the corner (and since I keep forgetting to get my bin of Christmas decorations from my parents house) I wanted my craft night to be Christmas-themed! 

It was bliss. Pure bliss. 

Gotta love the age where kids can't tell time. It was 6:40 and I told my toddler that it was bed time. She totally fell for it... With both kiddos in bed, the husband off at a basketball game (he's a ref, go michael!) I put on a movie, plugged in the hot glue gun and got started!

Can I just take a moment and say that my favorite art supply investment is my hot glue gun. We're best friends. We get along so well, and rely on each other more than any other tool in my stash. Bliss. Pure bliss. 

Anywho, my to-do list wasn't exactly set in stone. I had pulled out everything imaginable and figured the ideas would just come to me. And they did! 

Picture frame Starbucks art?? Check.

Yarn wrapped cardboard letters?? Check.

Snowflake garland?? Check.

Felt ornaments?? Check. Check. And check.

That third ornament is supposed to be a football... you could tell, right?? My husband came home at the tail end of my crafting and his suggestion was a soccer ball ornament. I told him he'd have to settle for a football. 

With all of these little projects done, its making me SO excited to get my bin and go to town on our house!! Opening my decorations bin is like Christmas morning come early. I always manage to forget what I have... Which sometimes doesn't work in my favor "that's it?? I totally thought I had more!" Either way, the second we have our tree up (its a fakey fake. we bought it at grocery outlet the first year we were married. its pretty pathetic looking, but I tend to get sentimental about things, so I doubt this little guy will be going anywhere any time soon...) our house will feel festive! So excited!! 

Who knows, maybe I'll bust out ole trusty again (mr. hot glue gun) and tackle some more crafts! Ooooor, I should bust out the ole sewing machine and actually get started on a few of my gifts... yeah, that's probably a better idea.... 

Storage, take two!

It has once again been a while since I've posted anything... I'm so not good at this regularly-posting, thing! But! Its ok! I'm here again, that's all that matters!!

I did a post a bit ago about changing diaper boxes into storage boxes. I used wrapping paper, which has held up just fine, but I wanted to see how it would be if I used (yet again!) some material I have here. I will be utterly devastated once I use up all that material the previous owners left here... it has come in quite handy to me! Anywho, I love how they turned out!!!

I used the felt flowers again that I had used on a wreath I made... Love it! I've got two more diaper boxes waiting for their makeover, and I'm pretty darn sure that they will both look like this! 

You know what I love about storage boxes?? That I can hide all my random crap in them and still make my house look presentable (although, right now it is NOT presentable... hence the storage box craft...) One of these days I will be shipping off my now-fit-throwing amazing little toddler to her grandparents house so that I can crack down on organization in this house... Trust me, it needs it. As we speak, there is a bag of those snack size chip bags in our bedroom, an easel in our living room, baby bullet under our dining room table, and many more randomly placed items around our house that are DESPERATELY needing a more permanent home... preferably NOT where they are now. 

This will change. Soon. My sanity is counting on it. 

Anyway, have a great rest of your day! If you are up north on I-5 and see random things on the side of the freeway with a "free" sign, don't be alarmed. I might have given up on owning things all together, in hopes of having an organized humble abode....

Birthdays are in the air...

November is busy for us. Real busy. And I love it!

5 Family birthdays and thanksgiving. I can feel my heart warming just thinking about this!

I am a "the more, the merrier" type of person. I love hosting, love cooking, love celebrating... I just love people!! We just had a birthday get together for my husband last night (that went really well!) and I was able to finish my craft project just in time for his party!! Originally it was for my daughter's up and coming 2nd birthday party, but hey, a birthday banner is a birthday banner!

I still have lots of left over material from those curtains that the previous owners left at our house, so this project cost me... $1! That dollar was spent on ribbon. Love when craft projects cost me next to nothing. That also makes my heart feel all warm and fuzzy!

You know what doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy?

Sewing machines.

More specifically, the bobbin. Ugh. I'm shuttering just thinking about it.

For whatever reason, my brain cannot and will not retain the information necessary to remember how to re thread a bobbin. I know, I know. Simple. Not for me tho! I spent about half an hour, watching youtube videos, and trying over and over and over again. And then over again. And again... No. Joke. My frustration level was at an all time high when I literally spoke the words (to my sewing machine) "if you don't cooperate, I'm taking you back to my mom, where you will never get used!!!"

Don't judge. I was angry. I say things I don't mean when I get angry...

Michael was playing video games while this was going on, and he even offered to help me, however, being the insanely stubborn and independent person that I am, I refused. Just when I thought all hope was lost, I realized that the problem was not the machine, but in fact, me. Who knew that the thread on top needing to be on properly for the whole thing to work?? Who knew?? Apparently not me.

I wish I could say that was the last bump in the road, but I'd be lying. There were a few more. And yes, all of which were my own stupidity. When I get upset, I suddenly become blind to the things right in front of my face. Its a weakness.

But even after all of that, I still finished. And it came out great!

I used cereal box cardboard to add some weight to the flags. I'm pretty excited with how it turned out! I do have to admit that I am HORRIBLE at measuring things, so if you pay attention, the flags are actually different sizes... haha!! oh well. Love it anyway!!

Next project I have in mind... well I'm not entirely sure yet. Most likely will be 2nd birthday party related... but I'm also trying to plan a pinterest party... How fun does that sound???? Awesome, I know!!! 

Anyway, have a great day!

My Oma would be proud...

So I realized the other day that I am not so good at blogging on a regular basis. How often are you supposed to blog anyway?? Every day? Once a week?? I'm sure there isn't a hard and fast rule about it, but I feel like I'm breaking the rule anyway... Oh well.

On to what this post is actually about.

Pancakes. Delicious, hot off the stove, covered in goodness, pancakes.

My brandsma-blood is pumping like crazy right now. If you are a brandsma, you love pancakes. Its in our DNA. Test it. Its a fact.

We have made pancakes in my family ever since I can remember. In fact, I'm pretty sure that we were taught how to flip those little flapjacks of love before we were even walking... (that and how to make coffee for my parents... hmm... I feel some traditions passing along to my kids...) They were SUCH a staple in our house, growing up, that I can't help but think of my childhood while making them. They weren't ever a fancy recipe or anything, just plain old bisquick pancakes. Sometimes they were regularly shaped, and sometimes my dad would make them into mickey mouse, snowmen, letters, etc.

I remember one particular time, when my Oma Brandsma was visiting us, she made us pancakes for breakfast, but she added apples without telling us. I remember taking a few bites and instantly knowing that something was different, but for some reason couldn't put my finger on how or why. Of course being a kid, once I found out it was apples, I instantly refused to eat them. (what can I say? I'm a traditionalist. I rarely stray from the norm...)

Anyway, today, I wanted to make some pancakes for my daughter and I for lunch. We have pancake mix, but I wanted to this recipe I saw on a fellow pancake-lover's blog. Well technically it was a cross between two different recipes.

here are the links:

http://www.kissmybroccoliblog.com/2011/11/06/perfect-apple-cinnamon-pancakes/
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/06/whole-wheat-pancakes.html

It was quite the experience! Recently, I made two small (but not so small) changes to my pantry... best changes ever.

Raw sugar and wheat flour.

Anyway, its been a little interesting learning how to cook since they have very different textures than all purpose flour and regular white sugar. In this recipe, I couldn't tell the difference between the white sugar and raw sugar, but next time I might do 75% wheat flour and 25% all purpose flour, making them a bit less dense. But they turned out good anyway! Look at my delicious outcome!

The pancakes are layered with greek yogurt and a dollop of pumpkin butter... Note to self... taste test the greek yogurt before putting on your pancakes... I actually wasn't a fan. Maybe it was the flavor (vanilla). Who knows. It sure looks good tho!

I tried them a couple other ways too, cause I am not a fan of syrup (I know, I'm crazy). One with a little butter and a sprinkle of powdered sugar and another with peanut butter (this was my favorite) and one with just pumpkin butter. All of those ways were delicious. I made half of the pancakes with apple chunks and half without. (made me instantly think of my amazing Oma Brandsma). Mikaela wasn't a fan of the ones with apples in them. Funny how things come full circle. haha! 

Looking forward to my next blog. I'm going to take a break from food posts and tackle some sort of home decor craft. Probably some that will have to do with Mikaela's up and coming 2nd birthday (holy cow, I'm old...)

Have a great day! And enjoy a pancake for me!

When life hands you canned pumpkin...

Tried it. Love it. Will do it again.

Made pumpkin butter, that is.

I saw a recipe for pumpkin granola on a blog (like I said in my last post) and it called for pumpkin butter, so I decided to take on the task of making something that I didn't even know existed. ha! Which actually worked out quite nicely, since I have no clue how its supposed taste, the consistency, etc. I recommend making something you've never had before, yourself, so that your only experience with it is your own! In this case, that worked to my advantage! here's the link!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/pumpkin-butter/detail.aspx

The recipe I followed was pretty self explanatory. There were however just a couple bumps in the road...

I read through a million of the comments that, to be honest, had me a little scared at first! Some people were saying how you aren't supposed to can your own pumpkin butter but then others were saying it was fine... ??? I have NO canning experience what so ever, so I did some research. Basically I just made sure that my jar was sterile (I boiled that sucker!!) and I have been keeping it in the fridge. No clue if I'm still doing something wrong, but so far, I haven't died yet, or gotten sick, so I'd say that was pretty successful!

Once I got past that, I realized that the recipe called for frequent stirring for about half an hour on the stove... hmm. I have two children. Under the age of 2. I'm not really able to commit half an hour of almost constant attention to something other than them unless they are both taking a nap at the same time... which almost never happens. But I went ahead and tried it anyway... it said frequent stirring... not constant...

Yeah. If you have a child/children, wait for nap time. Really. Just wait.

My littlest daughter was screaming because she wasn't being held (gotta love teething) and then of course my oldest daughter was crying because sissy was getting all the love. Not to mention that I was terrified that this stuff would splatter on my kids, since its simmering for half an hour.

Too bad I didn't get any of this on camera. It probably was comical to see me trying to balance one daughter on my hip, away from the stove, while stirring this bubbling goop, and trying to keep my other daughter from reaching up to "help" mommy. Sheesh. I'm tired just remembering this. Although I must admit, it really didn't splatter at all cause I kept it moving.

Seriously, I'm not just saying that so that you won't think I'm a horrible mom. Its the truth. Scout's honor!

Anyway, after my juggling act, it actually turned out pretty tasty! I'm quite pleased with it!

I believe mason jars make anything look awesome. I'm a little obsessed with them right now. And with pumpkin. 

So this was my lunch today. Toasted wheat bagel with cream cheese and pumpkin butter. Yuuuuum. 

Make this. It's delicious. 

Next stop... pumpkin granola!

Little slice of pumpkin heaven...

Fall season just so happens to be my absolute favorite time of year. Love everything about it! Pumpkins, the colors, the change of the leaves, the holidays (heelllloooo thanksgiving! and halloween!!) and yes, even the rain. We are a very green state for a reason, you know! It totally makes it worth it when we have those BEAUTIFULLY sunny, fall days. Those days make me so thankful to live here!!

Back to my main reason for this post... Pumpkins. Love pumpkins. Love the pumpkin patch, pumpkin spiced lattes, pumpkin decor, pumpkin muffins, cookies, breads, etc. Love it all. My husband and I went grocery shopping yesterday and I got two big cans of pumpkin because I knew that I had a few recipes in mind to make! I looked up on google (yes, we are speaking again...) for a recipe for pumpkin bread, and it lead me to my absolute favorite recipe site, allrecipes. Those recipes have never failed me. This time was no exception!! I did tweek it a little because of two reasons... 1) people's comments told me to and 2) because I am trying to get in the habit of using healthy not so unhealthy ingredients.

So, instead of only white sugar, I used light brown and raw sugar. For the flour, I used half all purpose and half wheat flour. I wish I could have halved the oil and used applesauce but have yet to buy a mesh strainer...

I know. What kind of kitchen doesn't have a mesh strainer?? Ugh. You never realize how useful those things are until you need it and don't own one. Lame.

But anyway, after those fixes, I nervously put my bread in the oven. I've never really messed with different sugars or flours before, so this was going to be interesting...

IT TURNED OUT DELICIOUS!!!!

Helllllllooooooo my love!

I'm always a little nervous too about baking because I have the tendency to over stir the batter, and so it comes out too dry. Lame.

But not this time! I fought my urge to keep stirring, and just put down the spatula! Plus I think this bread is just more moist than others I've tried. So delicious.

Here's another picture...

Don't worry, its not undercooked, that is melted butter on my slice of pumpkin heaven. Yum. I think I may go have another piece... 

Next recipe I am wanting to try is pumpkin butter... sounds amazing right? I thought so too. 

Ok, so to be honest, I'm making pumpkin butter so that I can make some ridiculously scrumptious looking pumpkin granola I saw online... Yes, I am obsessed with pumpkin. I'm ok with that. 

It is done...

I am currently sitting in my living room, supposed to be packing for our trip to california... however, I am so excited that I finished my daughter's halloween costume that I decided to post it on here first... shhh, don't tell Michael...

It didn't take as long to finish as I thought it would, thank goodness! And as far as my very first costume ever, I'm pretty darn proud of it. I do, however, have a problem with continuing to add things well after my final stopping point (just can't keep things simple! its a sickness really...). I may find something that I think will absolutely look adorable with it and decide to add more, but for now... here it is!!

I, so badly, wanted to add a brown tutu, HOWEVER, my husband is a total hater of them. My heart broke when I heard this, we've got two little girls!! You're killin me, man!! Oh well, she will look adorable anyway. I tried putting it on her, but it was poor timing on my part. She was mid-hissy fit, so she was in no mood for pictures. Lame. Oh well, come Halloween, I'll be going picture crazy! 

Next year, I will also tackle piper's costume. But we were lucky enough this year to be given an ADORABLE pumpkin costume for her. So cute. I'm totally ok with that!

Chaos is... chaotic

I've never really been a super organized, neat freak by any means what so ever. My mom is, and so her house is always clean. I mean... ALWAYS. She will tell you otherwise, but take my word for it... Of course, growing up, that was super annoying. What teenager wants to clean the bathroom or pick up her room, etc? I didn't. Now that I have my own house however, I see first hand what can happen and now suddenly have a new appreciation for my mom's cleaning habits. Not saying that I will ever be like her... (take a look at my house right now, no where close) but I would like to think that in that aspect, I'm slowly becoming more like her.

With that said, moving is stressful and chaotic and leaves your house in a total and utter DISASTER AREA. Its been driving me insane lately and yesterday, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Things still don't have a place. Some boxes still are unopened. Time to get crackin!

Our house has lots of shelves (which I love) however, a lot of them are open shelves... as in, you can see them. No doors, curtains, etc. I am not dedicated enough to constantly straighten and tidy my cleaning supplies, and/or towels. I saw on pinterest, so many creative ways to make your own storage boxes, using what you have readily available to you. Well since we recently got rid of our moving boxes (thank you nichole!) the next best thing that will we have around for the next two ish years is diaper boxes. I don't have large amounts of scrapbook paper lying around, not to cover boxes anyway, but I do however have wrapping paper! Genius!

On a total side note, that actually does have something to do with this, I watch my friend's son two days a week. Yesterday was one of the days he was here, so while him and my daughter entertained themselves, I got to wrapping my boxes to make them less "huggies" and more "normal storage". Now that I'm looking back on my finished project, I have two points I would like to share with you:

1) Two toddlers don't entertain themselves once they see that you have something cooler going on...

2)I may use something more durable next time, rather than wrapping paper

The wrapping paper worked, and for what I'm using it for, it will hold up fine. But if you want to make a bin that will get a bit more abuse (i.e. your kids will be pulling it out) I'd go for something like fabric. Even some old tshirts or something. Anyway, here it is:

Now I can hide my ugly cleaning bottles and what not. Planning on making more, perhaps all the way across. I am tired of chaos. I want to be organized!!

google failed me.

That's what I've been telling myself since last night. Totally and completely google's fault. I was in no way responsible for the outcome of my previously frozen bread dough. So I keep telling myself...

The dough would not rise the second time around. Well, let me rephrase. It only rose a little. I don't know if I stored it wrong in the freezer, or if there was a draft in my kitchen, or if I was too impatient and didn't give it enough time... who knows. Maybe a combination of all. Don't get me wrong, it still tastes fine, I'm still going to eat it, I just wish it was slightly bigger. And maybe less dense. haha. I still have another frozen loaf, so I can try again. Try to forgive google for giving me false information, and even perhaps find it in my heart of hearts to trust google once again in my search for tips on freezing bread dough. We will see.

I saw a really delicious looking recipe for pumpkin bread last night on allrecipes... they've never failed me before. Perhaps I'll take a little break from google, and try out that recipe first. Maybe that will give my little baking ego a boost, and then try for the second frozen dough. Yeah, pretty sure that's what will happen. 

Two in one day...

I know, I know, why not just combine both of them into one mega post? Well, to be honest, cause I am the most fickle person on the planet. I started my other post with every intention of doing so, then changed my mind, mid-typing. Thought maybe I could save this one for another day... however, I was way too excited to wait, sooooooo, here ya go. Two in one day...

So anyway, I've been seeing all these way cool wreath ideas on pinterest. I've pinned like a million that I would want to try, and finally the other day, I actually made one! Whoop! I took somebody's advice to get styrofoam from Home Depot cause it is cheap. (97 cents for 6 ft... i like) Joann's was having a sale on felt and since I was already getting some for my daughter's halloween costume, I picked some other colors up with this project in mind. They were 4 sheets for $1. Thank you Joann's! It was once again, crazy easy, but TIME CONSUMING... (maybe its not that I'm picking tedious projects, maybe its more that making things at home just takes longer... wow, light bulb!)

Anywho, I am in love with this wreath. Its a little on the skinny side, but I am totally ok with that! I got this recipe box from Michael's one time, and I am in love with the colors on them, and just recently have decided to slowly start building my home decor around this box... well, these colors are a part of that! I am currently in the process of making a christmas wreath out of the other half of this styrofoam tube... hope it turns out awesome like this one...

And a picture of the recipe box, just in case anybody is actually interested...

Don't know what you got, til its gone.

Garage sales are so enticing. There's nothing like someone else's junk for cheap that totally fills my need for shopping. Its true what they say that one man's trash is another man's treasure. I've found my fair share of treasures at garage sales. Right now, I'm totally obsessed with mason jars... but thats a whole other post...
Two mill creek garage sales ago, I bought a bread machine. It cost me $10 and I had all these hopes and dreams of no longer needing to buy bread from the store because the Oxnevad house was going to be the bread making house. Two mill creek garage sales later, the bread machine was NEVER used. It just sat in our kitchen, in the box I packed it in, mocking me. About three weeks ago, I finally gave it away to a friend who has already had way more use out of it than I did. (which wasn't hard since it was never used here...)
What is the point of this, do you ask? Well, it wasn't until after I decided to get rid of my bread machine that I finally decided to try making bread. I googled a simple recipe for beginners. Have I mentioned how much I love allrecipes.com? Cause I totally do. I now love making bread. It is a very long process to do without a bread machine, but I love it! The last recipe I tried was also an allrecipes find for honey wheat bread, only it made 3 loaves... Um. I do not need 3 loaves of bread sitting around,
because I will eat all 3 in a matter of days. Google to the rescue! I read that I could freeze bread dough and bake it later. Now for any of you novice bread makers out there, this could be either a no brainer or a tragic mistake. I read up on some tips, and hopefully tomorrow, I will be able to bake up some dough that has been in my freezer for about two weeks... or, I will find out that I completely ruined the other two loaves and thus wasted all those delicious ingredients. We will find out tomorrow!

A little distracted.

So I had some big plans for the other day to post about my daughter's halloween costume that I am in the middle of making. Naive me, thought that I could finish the costume, take pictures and post on here all in one night... that however was not the case. The costume is started, but leave it to me to take on the MOST tedious projects in the world. I saw this really adorable owl costume on pinterest and thought that I could just do that myself. Well.... its doable, but TIME CONSUMING. So far, all I have done is this:

Doesn't look complicated, right? Its not. It literally is just cutting a MILLION little feathers out of felt. Probably doesn't help that while taking on this project, I had the show "laguna beach" on. Don't judge. Its a guilty pleasure. And a distracting one at that. If I am completely honest, its probably more that the show was on that the costume isn't done. Pardon me, while I go hide my face in the corner...

The original costume I saw had a mask, however, my daughter is almost two. A mask is not an option. I'll have to fashion some sort of hat...

Keep your fingers crossed for me. When making things by hand, it can either look impressive or... well look like you made it by hand. Lets hope that my first attempt at a costume is leaning more towards impressive.

Eat.Pray.Love. (not the movie...)

The other night, I was thinking that I wanted to have some decor in my kitchen but being the frugal person that I have become, I didn't necessarily want to pay for anything. So I got to brainstorming. I wanted some words up, so naturally the word "eat" came to mind. We are church going people, so naturally the word "pray" came to mind pretty quickly there after. My mind immediately went to the title of the movie (which by the way, I have not seen... any good?) Eat. Pray. Love. Who doesn't like those words? I sure do! So I gathered my materials and got to work!

Things I grabbed:
Material
Canvases (whatever size you want)
Acrylic Paint
Pencil
Scissors
Hot glue gun

First things first:

I layed my canvas on the material so that I could measure out how much material I would need (the material I used was just old curtains that the old owners left at our house, I just washed one)

I, then just drew on the back of the material with pencil around the outside the canvas, making it about two inches wider. Doesn't have to be exact, you wont be seeing the back.

Then I used the scissors to cut the fabric. 

Next, I laid the canvas face down onto the cut piece of material (the side that you want to show of the material is also face down) and began hot gluing the fabric to the canvas. Make sure you pull tight cause you don't want the fabric to be loose when you are done.

After that, I flipped it over and began using the pencil to make where I wanted my words. I just don't know what happened to that picture...

I then, went over the pencil marks with my paint. Once you are done, just do it two more times and you have your finished product! So easy and so cute!! 

*if any of this didn't make sense, let me know. this is my first tutorial!

Where do I begin?

I started this post because ever since I became a mom, this whole other part of me woke up and became alive. Suddenly I was creating a home for not only my husband, but also a little baby (and soon after, two little babies!) I began to realize that the ability to use what you have and to think creatively and outside the box, is golden. I've been pouring over other people's blogs lately, just soaking up any inspiration I could. There are some super creative people out there! And the best part of that?? Creativity it TOTALLY contagious!! I want to get back to the time where all we needed was our own hands and a little creativity. So the purpose of this blog is to force myself to become more "self sufficient". I want to fine tune my sewing, learn how to garden, get more creative with cooking, and be inspired to have an AWESOMELY decorated home (which, is ours by the way, no more renting for us! whoop!) And shoot, maybe I'll even pick up some random skills along the way, such as hair cutting (I find it annoying to pay money for my husband's hair cut when it seems simple enough that I could just do it myself) and maybe even wood work (I've seen some pretty awesome wood furniture ideas, best get out my brother's saw and see what i'm made of!). So, here we go!