My Cute MARKET FRESH Sign

This is one of those super easy projects that the most time is spent on it drying...

Go to your local hobby lobby or craft store and buy a blank wooden sign...I bought one that was kind of like a pallet/fence (because I loved the character it had). They always have lots of options at these stores; some of the signs are raw wood, others are already stained or finished. Mine was raw, so I stained it with my left over dark walnut stain from my table. Be sure to let the stain soak in for about 5 minutes and then wipe up any excess stain so there isn't any drippings or stickiness. I wanted my sign to look weathered and worn so I only did one coat of stain..since the wood had different grain patterns on each board, they all took the stain differently and I really liked that effect! Let the stain dry over night or at least for 3-4hours. Cut a stencil in vinyl or buy a stencil from a craft store (I used my Cricuit so I could have the font and size I wanted). I used vinyl so the stencil would stay put for multiple paint applications and so paint wouldn't leak around the edges. When applying paint, use a sponge brush and white acrylic paint. Dapple it on in small random strokes. Be sure you do stroke a little bit and not just go up and down with your brush...you want mini strokes instead of big ones (so they give dimension and are less noticeable, plus it won't matter if they don't match up with the other letters.) Apply a second layer just like the first but don't try to cover every area available. You want it to look worn and imperfect. Let that dry for about an hour. 

Now, grab some 220 grit sand paper and roughen up the edges of your sign..I was able to rough up some of the middle pieces of mine too! Then, take the sand paper and lightly sand around the outside and inside edges of the letters...don't make each letter the same, you want random and imperfect. Like it's been stored, dropped and bumped for a lifetime.

Once you've reached the level of wear and tear you like, you're done! Hang it up and enjoy! I know I love mine!

Refinished Dining Table

When Jaron and I got married, his Mom and Aunt found us a cute little dining table and chairs at a garage sale for next to nothing. My hope for the past three years was to refinish it but we first lived in an apartment complex...no room for big projects. Then we moved into a duplex which was much bigger but had no garage or over hang to protect from all the southern rain and humidity. But now that we've bought a house (YAY) with a nice big garage (YAY) I've finally been able to do my table! 

I don't have a "before" picture of it all assembled due to it coming straight from storage..but to give you an idea of the color, here's a picture of the top.

The grain is gorgeous! I just couldn't cover it up with paint. So I sanded the top in hopes to stain it. I used my mouse sander with 80 grain sand paper and went to town (always sand with the grain of the wood). It took a while since I didn't strip the wood before but it was well worth it!

After sanding, I wiped it down with a damp cloth to make sure all the dust was off before I started to stain. I used Minwax dark walnut stain. I applied the stain first with a brush and then spread it out (with the grain of the wood) with cheese cloth (then you don't have any brush hairs). I gave it about 5 minutes to soak in and then wiped away any excess. Be sure to wipe away excess so you don't end up with a sticky table top! I applied two coats of stain and let it dry while I got to painting the chairs and legs of my table. 

For paint, I used Glidden 2 in 1 paint and primer in the antique white color with the eggshell/satin finish. It took 3 coats to cover my chairs and legs of the table. I noticed that this paint grabs any and all types of dirt it can..fingerprints and all! I figured white would be harder to keep clean but this literally attracted and hung on to dirt. So I cleaned it well, and applied a thin layer of the polycrylic on top of the paint to keep it from grabbing dirt and making it much easier to clean.

 As that dried, I went back to staining! When the stain was all dry, I applied 3 good solid layers of Minwax Polycrylic in Satin. Be sure to apply with the grain of the wood. Let each layer dry for at least two hours between applications. I also sanded briefly with a 220 grain between each layer and brushed off the dust with a clean rag.

Once everything was dry, my husband assembled it all together and we've been happily using it ever since! I absolutely love it! And I'm confident that it will be able to stand up to some good wear and tear!

UPDATE: as seen in the picture above, I just did two chairs out of our set of four. I wanted to try something a little less time consuming for them instead of applying 3 coats of paint and a clear coat. So I went out on a limb and bought some spray paint primer...just white primer. I bought a can of primer per chair. I then sprayed it down, focusing on the difficult to paint parts (legs, dowels, etc.). Each can coated the chair very nicely! I then added my first coat of paint and guess what! I only had to do some minor touch ups after the first coat. I let that dry and applied the polycrylic and was done! I got two chairs done in 3 hours whereas the first two chairs took me days to finish! They look the exact same! So do yourself a favor and do it the easy way...if you're low on funds and don't want to pay the $3 a can for spray paint then the extra time may be your option. However, for me, it was worth the extra money!

Twig Flower Wreath

This cute wreath is really one of the easiest projects I've done in a long time...and it turned out so cute!

Things you will need:

Wooden twig wreath (I found mine at hobby lobby...see picture below)

Silk flowers with long stems (be sure the stems are BROWN not green!)

Wire cutters

Size up your wreath to see how many flowers you'll need. I got 3 stems of flowers (each stem had 4 limbs). My wooden wreath was the smallest one you could get..about 10-12". As you can see, the wooden wreath in the picture is ginormous. We're making the same wreath, just jumbo sized, for my sister in-law's wedding. 

Take the silk flowers and cut the limbs from the stem making them close to the same size but not exact. Small variations in size is nice...you want it to look natural.

Take the cut limbs and insert them into the wreath at a diagonal. Make sure the stem doesn't come out the other side. Weave it in there nice and tight. Continue this around your wreath evenly alternating where you place them (front, inside, outside). 

Remember, can always go back and add more where is needed. You don't want to be too heavy on one side because you ran out of flowers. So be sure to cover the entire wreath before going back adding more in an area. Once you achieve the desired look and amount of flowers you want, you're done! Hang it on a door hanger and away you go!

Blueberry Pomegranate Syrup (sugar free)

4 cups Blueberries

1/2 Agave Nectar or Honey

1/2 Pomegranate Juice

1 Lemon

 

Peel five 1-inch strips of zest from the lemon then juice the lemon reserving 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Set aside.

Place blueberries and pomegranate juice in a saucepan over low heat. Gently mash the blueberries with a potato masher and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once blueberries are mashed completely, place a metal mesh strainer over the pot and scoop half the juice mixture into the strainer. Mash down skins to remove all the juice you can and discard the solids. I strained only half of the juice and the other half I blended with a hand blender and left them in there. I like how the skins add flavor and a little texture. You can strain all of the juice if that's what you prefer.

Add the lemon zest and agave/honey. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of your spoon. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Continue stirring and boil over high heat for 1 minute. Remove from heat, fish out the pieces of lemon zest and discard them. Pour syrup into sterile mason jars (be sure to leave 1/4 inch of space from the rim of the jar) and process in a water bath for 10 minutes. Makes about six 4oz jars. You may have a little extra....I used it on ice cream. Mmm!!!

Baseball Wreath

I LOVE BASEBALL SEASON! I've found that there's not many things better than sitting in your lawn chair with your dog by your side on a sunny day while watching a good game of baseball. Mmm! And what better way to show team spirit, than a festive baseball wreath?! 

What you'll need:

-12 baseballs (used or unused; I personally like them used because it gives more sentimental value.)

-1 metal hanger

-2 bolts of ribbon (one thinner than the other, each different colors)

-Drill and bit (I don't remember the bit size, just long enough to go all the way through the baseball and wider than the hanger)

-Needle nose pliers

-Wire cutters  

How to: 

Place the bit in the drill so it is long enough to go through the entire baseball. Drill one hole into each baseball (be sure to drill into the middle of the ball..you don't want a lopsided wreath), rotate where you drill each hole to give variety and randomize your wreath. 

Once all the baseballs are done, undo the metal hanger. Using the pliers, straighten the bends and curves of the hanger (the baseballs won't go on well if the wire is bent). Strand the baseballs onto the hanger and measure 2 inches of hanger on either side of the balls. Cut off excess hanger with wire cutters. Using pliers, bend an inch of the hanger tips down but not all the way. Latch the ends around each other and bend completely shut. 

Measure the length of ribbon you want from each bolt (enough to tie a nice floppy bow with long tails). Place the thinner ribbon on top of the thicker ribbon and tie around the area of the hangers where the ends meet. Hang wreath on a door hanger where the hanger ends meet.

When my husband and I lived in Arkansas I made a wreath using the baseballs from the games that he pitched, making the wreath mean that much more! Every time we look at it (the wreath shown at the beginning of the blog) we always remember the good games, hard games and fun memories! Besides, I think used baseballs look cuter. ;)

Miracle Body Butter

The post you've all been waiting for...drumroll... My Body Butter!!!

Hopefully you have already read my post on shea butter. If you haven't, go there first. It explains all about shea butter and its natural benefits to our skin's health. Unrefined shea butter is a major ingredient to my body butter recipe. 

Another ingredient for this body butter is coconut oil. Many of you may already know the benefits of coconut oil to our skin. Coconut oil is so neat because it does so much for our body both inside and out! Inside, coconut oil supports the liver, kidneys, digestive system, heart and brain, fights inflammation, promotes bone strength, stabilizes blood sugar and cholesterol, and can also be used for constipation relief. On the outside of the body, coconut oil is a natural sun screen, insect repellant, wrinkle reducer, moisturizer, hair conditioner, makeup remover, and wound salve. Coconut oil also has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties so it eliminates bad odors, skin rashes, fungal infections and more. 

A less common natural oil that is very healthy for our skin is apricot oil. It is pressed from the kernels of apricots. It's full of anti-oxidants and has many anti-inflammatory properties. It's is great for clearing pores and retaining moisture. 

Beeswax has non-allergenic properties making it very useful on skin as protection against allergic irritations. Especially when the wax is local! Beeswax also acts as a barrier that helps lock in moisture, and enhance healing and protection. 

All of these action packed ingredients put together make one powerful moisturizer for your body! My hands are constantly dry. Being a nurse, I am constantly washing my hands and using alcohol based hand sanitizer. They last thing I want is for my skin to break and something nasty to be introduced into my bloodstream...yuck!

Ingredients:

1 oz Beeswax

1/2 cup Unrefined Shea Butter

1/4 cup Coconut Oil

1/4 cup Apricot Oil

How to: 

Place a glass container in a pot of hot water and melt all of the ingredients in the order listed above (double boiler concept). Once all ingredients are melted, stir gently until all signs of separation are gone. Remove container from the double boiler and set aside to cool. Let mixture cool until it's stiff (this may take a while). You should be able to push on it easily but it should hold your finger indentation. Take out your hand mixer and beat the mixture till fluffy, making sure there are no clumps. Place mixture in desired container. Be sure to store in a cool place so your oils do not melt. If it does melt, no biggy! You can re-whip and re-store. 

I have a friend who's young daughter had some moderate eczema on her legs...I offered her some of this body butter knowing all of its properties should help it heal. In a couple days she got back to me and said that her daughter's skin was nearly cleared up! Seriously, miracle cream! My husband also came to me today with both of his hands having quite the rash from an unknown source (probably the baseball field). He got to be my experiment with mixing the butter with a couple drops of tea tree oil. We'll see how his hands are tomorrow! 

Peanut/Almond Butter

 Do you remember the many salmonella outbreaks in peanut butter? Do you know what caused these outbreaks? Unclean conditions. Cockroaches, rats, bird feces, grease buildup, improper processing and more. Do you wanna know how to avoid said problems? Make your own peanut butter!

What you'll need:

16 oz dry roasted peanuts (recipe also works with almonds)

1 TBSP almond oil

1/2 tsp salt

5 minutes of time (seriously...that's all it takes!)

When choosing your peanuts you need to consider how they were cooked. Raw nuts can sometimes carry illness-causing bacteria. Salmonella has been reported from eating raw almonds and pistachio nuts. Cooking the raw nuts is important to kill that bacteria. A couple ways that is done is with steam and dry heat. This reduces the risk for contamination with bacteria from raw nuts. You can look up on the label how they were treated. I bought dry roasted peanuts and made sure there was no other additives in them like oil or salt. 

How to:

Pour peanuts into food processor and blend until they look like the picture below. Pour almond oil and salt over mixture and continue to blend. It'll feel like your blending forever but it will soon turn into a paste consistency. Test your texture until it's to your liking! I like it a little grainy so I didn't completely purée mine. 

When your finished, place it in a sturdy 16 oz container. This peanut butter needs to be refrigerated because there are no preservatives in it. But that's it! Happy homemaking!

BONUS RECIPE:

Greek Yogurt Fruit Dip

(Not one of my recipes that I made up but I have altered it to my liking and OH MY GOODNESS it's so good!) 

16 oz Vanilla Greek Yogurt

1/2 cup homemade peanut or almond butter

2 TBPS raw honey

Using a hand mixer, blend all ingredients in a small bowl. Chop up some fruit- apples, bananas, strawberries, etc and place on a plate. Dip the fruit into the yogurt mixture and prepare your tastebuds for journey they will never forget! Enjoy! 

Layton Lancer Jacket

As some of you know, Jaron is the pitching coach for Layton High. Lately, we've had to restock on Layton High gear considering we had to downsize due to moving twice since we've been married. What's left of Jaron's old gear is rather faded or roughly worn. 

The other day, we were at SavOn Sporting Goods picking up baseball helmets and getting Jaron some coach's pants and found a navy blue pull-over jacket for $15! So we snatched that deal and I gave it a little makeover... 

I didn't do much but get on my design space on Cricut.com and typed "L". The only obstacle I came across was finding the right font. Since Layton's mascot is the Lancer, it had to be an Old English font...and the font on design space cost $5. Being as frugal as I am, I tend to do things the hard way and get around a cost. I wasn't paying $5 for one letter! So I went to my favorite free fonts site: 1001freefonts.com and downloaded the Old English font called "Cloister Black", imported it to my cricut design space  and created away! After my cricut cut out the L, I removed any unwanted material, trimmed the clear plastic around the L just in case the plastic removed color from the sweatshirt. The ironing took longer than expected. I had to use a paper towel as a barrier because a wash cloth was too thick. Since it was a very angular font I made sure all the corners were down tight and that was it! No color change either! Super easy, cheap and Jaron has another Layton jacket for a third of the price!

Beeswax Candles

Let me just say that I am IN LOVE with beeswax! The more I read about it, the more I want to use it! My obsession started with making candles. When I started making candles, I just wanted some nice natural smells like pine, lemon grass, sage, etc. I went to Hobby Lobby and found a candle making kit that had everything I'd need to get started: double boiler, wax, scent, dye, thermometer, molds and wicks. I made my first batch of candles and wasn't very impressed. It was an easy process but the wax crystallized, it wasn't smooth. When I burned them, they burned all too quickly, left horrible black soot stains on the containers and anything it was around, and they didn't hold their color or scent.

I later bought some beeswax and honestly I was more into how pretty it was. I really do love the natural color of beeswax! But I dug a little deeper to find that beeswax, when burned, purifies the air! And here's how: Beeswax releases negative ions when it burns. Pollen, dust, dirt, pollutants, and any other floaters in the air all carry a positive charge (that's how they stay in the air). As the negative ions are released from the burning beeswax they attach to the positive ions from the pollutants in the air and become neutralized, making them heavier and fall to the ground where they can be swept or vacuumed up! With that being said, beeswax pulls all this crap out of the air, meaning asthma and allergies will improve! If there's no pollen, dander, dust or dirt in the air, there's nothing to amp up those allergic or asthmatic reactions! Yay! 

Beeswax is a very hard wax and it often cracks. When I made my first candle I had problems with the wax cracking and tunneling. It would look perfectly fine and then I'd light it and the wick would be gone in seconds and I'd find all sorts of hidden tunnels under the top surface of my candle. With some research I found that the wax was drying too quickly and couldn't settle properly. So I needed something to make the wax softer and would slow the drying process. I found that coconut oil does just that! You can use other oils too but they need to be solid at room temperature. After combining the two, my candles were an even prettier color, smooth, no tunnels, and took longer to dry but also took longer to burn. They really stabilized each other! 

The wicks I decided to use are different than the normal cotton wicks you always see. I chose wooden wicks. They look like a flat stick in the middle of the candle. Besides the fact that they look cute and rustic, they crackle like a campfire, add a hint of campfire scent, and they last SO much longer than a regular wick. Their flame can get bigger than a regular wick's flame so use caution. Wooden wicks also come in different sizes. The bigger the wick, the wider the burn radius. So if you're wanting to make a wider candle, you'll need a wider wick.

Through much trial and error, I found the perfect mix of oil to wax and perfect size of wick to jar/candle size. They are so pretty and they put off this subtle sweet honey odor all the while wood crackles in the background. I have been burning the same candle for an hour or two every night for 3 weeks now and it's not even halfway gone. Perfect for not just enjoying but power outages and emergency kits. AND there's no ugly black soot on the glass! Pure goodness to the air! I LOVE BEESWAX!

Banana Bread (sugar free)

Another SUGAR FREE recipe! But I can't take credit for this one. I only made some slight alterations 

Recipe makes 1 loaf.

1/4 cup butter

1/2 greek yogurt

1 cup raw honey or agave nectar

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  In your mixer combine the wet ingredients and beat thoroughly. Combine wet and dry ingredients in the mixer and beat again. Fold in almonds.

Pour batter into greased and floured loaf pan. Sprinkle more almonds on top. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. When finished, insert a toothpick to be sure the bread is done.

After making this I can certainly say it has an awesome rich flavor. Its smooth and moist thanks to the yogurt and honey! AND it doesn't give your teeth fluffy sweaters! I particularly like mine served warm with slightly melted butter and a thin slice of cheddar cheese on top...mmm...

Original recipe from: http://thechalkboardmag.com/save-the-bananas-quick-banana-bread-with-yogurt-and-honey

Fried Pickles (my weakness...)

WARNING: NOT the healthiest recipe. ;) I LOVE FRIED PICKLES! I've tried recreating them many times but could never get them like restaurants served them. And then I lived down south...

They don't sell the same stuff at grocery stores here as the do down there. What you need: Slap Ya Mama Cajun seasoning (BEST STUFF EVER), Cajun Classics Frying Batter, 1 egg, milk, Ranch seasoning, sour cream, dill pickles, oil to fry in (I used peanut oil), and shish-kabob sticks!

Pickles: Pour enough peanut oil in a pot to be able to cover pickles and place on medium/high heat. Dry however many pickles you want with paper towels and set aside. Put egg and 1/3 cup milk in a bowl and beat until combined. Pour some of the cajun batter (its a powder) into a glass pan (I didn't use all the batter at once..I didn't want to waste what I didn't use). Once your oil is hot, start preparing your pickles: dip into egg wash, then roll in batter (do this twice). Poke the shish-kabob stick into the pickle and place into the oil (this allows for easy placement and removal). Fry until golden brown. 

Dipping sauce: Prepare ranch sauce according to the ranch lable with sour cream, then pour 1 TBSP of Slap Ya Mama into the ranch and mix. 

Be sure to wait until the pickles cool a littlle before you start to dipping and munching. We don't want any burns. CAUTION: these are HIGHLY addicting. Once you taste one, you can't get enough! 

Shea Butter

Raw, unrefined shea butter is produced from the nut of shea karite tree which is native to Central and Western Africa. 

There are so many of uses for unrefined shea butter including uses in cosmetics, medicine and cooking.

Unrefined shea butter (which is what I use) has many benefits to your skin. It is full of antioxidants, Vitamin A, E, and F. These are responsible for all sorts of skin benefits and treatments. Shea butter can reduce wrinkles, treate symptoms of eczema and psoriasis, soothe itching from allergic dermatitis, prevent stretch marks, treate acne, treate burns, sunburns and small wounds, act as a natural insect repellant, and moisturizer. Because of the anti-inflammatory properties in shea butter, it has been used to treat sore muscles, joint pain and stimulate diabetic skin too. 

Most stores don't sell unrefined shea butter and if a product in stores have shea butter in it, it's usually refined shea butter. Refining the butter takes out most of its natural beneficial elements. Such a shame!

You can use shea butter by itself, or you can infuse it with other oils and ingredients (which is what I've done). Be sure to check back and see what I've made with my unrefined shea butter!

• Protect and Moisturize

  The texture and water-resistance of beeswax allows it to act as a protective barrier for irritated skin. When mixed in lotion and applied to rough patches or chapped areas, it prevents further damage and seals in moisture, allowing the skin to heal. It also helps soften skin without synthetic chemical additives.

"Gold" Throw Pillow

This has to be one of the easiest projects I've done, but it is by far one of my favorites! Really, I can't take much credit because my Cricut did all the hard work. 

I found this lovely pillow at Walmart of all places! $10! I chopped off the tag (after I bought it of course) and set it aside. Plugged in the iron, set it to the cotton setting and set it aside too. On my computer I went to Cricut's website, designed what I wanted, put the gold iron-on material on the cutting mat, pushed "go" and away it went! After it was done, I removed the unwanted pieces of iron-on and placed the letters on the center of the pillow. Cricut suggests that you iron your fabric on both sides to ensure that the iron-on sticks well, and since I had a premade pillow, I couldn't do that. So instead of using a towel in between the iron-on material and the iron I used a cheese cloth dish towel. Since the dish towel was thinner, the material would get a good amount of heat. WORD OF CAUTION: the clear plastic that holds the iron-on material together WILL take coloring out of your fabric. So be sure to move your iron around by pressing and not sliding and do not hold your iron in one place for too long. Also, you can cut the plastic down close to the wording to lower the risk of fading your fabric in one spot and causing a line...no bueno. You can test your iron-on material periodically by trying to peel the plastic up. If the wording doesn't stick to the fabric, iron a little longer. Once the wording sticks, peel off slowly. As you can see, I used gold wording and its glittery. I was a bit skeptical about using glitter but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the glitter doesn't flake off! No matter how hard I scratch at it! I let the pillow sit for a day before I put it to use just to make sure everything would sit well. It has been beyond sturdy! And I just love how it turned out! :)

Lemon Parmesan Shrimp

Shrimp was on sale at Smith's the other day. So my husband bought a pound and asked me "what should we do with it?" So this is what I came up with an it was a hit!

In a cast iron skillet on medium heat, melt enough coconut oil to generously cover the bottom of the pan. Add a tsp of minced garlic and sauté until garlic starts to turn light brown. Add precooked (pink) shrimp and toss in oil and garlic. (Now here's my secret ingredient- Alpine Touch! It's a Montana seasoning that I've only seen sold outside of Montana ONCE!) Sprinkle Alpine Touch over shrimp, toss, sprinkle again. Then sprinkle 1 1/2 tsp parsley, 1 tsp sea salt, and 2 TBSP lemon juice on the shrimp. Mix all together. Sauté on medium heat until the shrimp have some golden color to them. Turn off heat and sprinkle parmasean cheese over shrimp, toss, and sprinkle parmasean cheese again. Serve immediately. 

We ate them plain...they have such great flavor! But if you desire to serve with cocktail sauce, go right ahead! 

Hope you enjoy!

Fruit Pizza (no processed sugar!)

I wanted to make a good treat without all the processed sugar (not to mention the crash after). So I got to thinking, did some research, and came up with this. And I must say, YUM!

Crust:
5 cups rolled oats (not quick oats!)
1 1/4 cup homemade peanut butter (I'll post a tutorial about the peanut butter later)
1/4 cup Raw Honey or Agave Nectar
Mix together and spread and press on a greased pizza pan. Then place it in the freezer while you run a couple errands.

White stuff (frosting? Not frosting..!)
Its Greek Yogurt! I thought I bought plain but I guess I got Vanilla Honey and I don't regret it! I was going to mix in honey to the plain anyway but my mistake saved me time!
Spread the yogurt on the chilled/slightly frozen crust.

Place any sliced fruit you prefer on top! I did kiwis, strawberries and sprinkled on some blueberries. Then I topped it off with drizzled yogurt! Be sure to keep it chilled until you decide to chow down.

Good luck! I hope you all enjoy it as much as the fam here did!