Sunday, May 29, 2011

Busy week!

What a busy week this has been... I have been meaning to update the blog but hadn't had a free moment up until now. I have been super busy with my graphic design business & trying to keep the new house in order.

We have sanded & painted the metal porch chairs I posted about earlier in the week, so I will have photos of the final product later this week. They are turning out oh so very cute! I am having the hardest time finding some cute outdoor fabrics to make cushions out of. The chairs are going to be a bright aqua color & I want to incorporate some yellows into the cushions as well. Any suggestions on where to find cute outdoor fabric? Everything I am finding is very tropical & a little on the boring side.

I am now on the hunt for a small wooden table to put on the front porch as well. I guess I need to hit some garage sales next week! I want do something similar to this little setup but I want to use the blue tinted mason jars. Isn't this adorable? Check out 'The Shabby Nest' for more photos & inspiration!

The Shabby Nest

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Our new home! Photo overload...

We just purchased a new (to us) home this month & moved in a little over a week ago. I snapped these pics the day we closed on it, while it was still vacant. I apologize for the quality of the photos, as we were getting ready to leave & I snapped them in a hurry!

I have to admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed with the furnishing & decorating aspect of it. We moved from a smaller 3 bedroom 3 bath home to large 5 bed 4 bath home. We have many rooms with absolutely no furniture. I have no clue what room to even start with. Is it weird I want to decorate the laundry room first? LOL!

I won't bore you with all of the photos, but here are a few.

View of front entry & living/dining area. I have a study off to the left behind double doors.


Living/Dining area


Down the hall to the right is the garage, bathroom & hall closet...


My lovely kitchen!


Family Room right off the kitchen.


Up the stairs & to the right is the master bedroom.


Guest Bedrooms, etc.


Right side of bedroom


Left side of bedroom, into sitting area.


Master Bath


Master Bath with different view.

My chocolate chip cookie dough truffles!

These are pure heaven! Little yummy delights of goodness. I took out the baking soda from the recipe & it is perfect! Here's some photos of my truffles & two photos of my little family enjoying the dough itself. :) Enjoy... I know we did!

Click here for the recipe!


Monday, May 23, 2011

Day in the life...

Not much going on here, but thought I would blog anyway. My cousin & her daughter have arrived back in Colorado after living in Florida for over a year. They are arriving at our house later today. They will be staying with us for a few months until they can find a place to call their own. So happy to have them back!

To celebrate them returning home I have made a batch of my famous homemade tortilla soup for dinner tonight. I also have started the process of making those delightful chocolate chip cookie dough truffles. The dough is done & is just hardening up in the fridge. Can't wait to taste those little bites of heaven!

Here's the recipe for my chicken tortilla soup if anyone wants to try it out! It is my most requested recipe & is oh so yummy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup
1.5 lbs. boneless chicken, cooked & shredded (sometimes to save time I pick up a rotterie chicken & pull the meat off instead of cooking my own chicken)
1 can (15 oz.) tomatoes (you can used diced, whole, etc.)
1 can (10 oz.) green enchilada sauce
1 can (10 oz.) red enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 can (14.5 oz.) chicken broth
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 package frozen corn (10-14 oz.)

In crock pot or stove top, combine all ingredients listed above. Cover & cook on low for several hours. Remove & discard bay leaf before eating. Sprinkle with cheese & crumbled corn tortilla chips if desired.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Cookie Dough Truffles!

I came across this on my facebook feed yesterday! Yes, right now I am sitting at my desk drooling...

I am headed to the store today to get the ingredients & am going to whip up a batch ASAP! My cousin is moving back from Florida on Monday (tomorrow) & I think these might be a great welcome home treat! What do you think?

Check out the recipe & the rest of the photos from Love & Olive Oil's blog.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Fun & fabulous garage sale finds!

I love this time of year! I especially love it because it's now officially garage sale season. I've already scored some pretty great finds the past two weekends.

I found a pair of these awesome vintage chairs (see photo below) at a garage sale last weekend for $10 each. I bargained with the nice lady & she gave them both to me for $15.00! Whoohoo! I am hoping to get these sanded in a few spots tomorrow, primed & painted. Then I all will have to do is find some bright & cheery cushions. Super cute & cheap way to brighten up our new porch.

Today I found a a cute wooden bench with lots of potential. Needs some light sanding & a little glue... only $20! I am planning to paint this black & add a bright funky cushion to it. Not sure if it will eventually end up in my office or if it should go in the front living space. I will post pics of this find later!

The cutest little clothes pins!

Aren't these just the cutest clothes pins you've ever seen? Well I think so! Head on over to the fabulous Sugar Pink Boutique's blog for lots of gorgeous goodies & inspirations! Check out her online boutique while you are at it! :)


I am attempting to make my own version of these beauties. I will post some photos later this week!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Super cute freebie printable!

Isn't this sign adorable!? I am going to have to find a place for this in my new house! Head on over to Sprik Space to download your very own. They also have several different colors to choose from. :)

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Mother's Day Craftyness

I don't know about all you mom's out there, but every year I rack my brain for a unique mother's day gift & I always come up with the same thing.  Either jewelry or some kind of photo gift.  My mom claims to love each & every gift we give her, which I don't doubt, but I was trying to think of something a little different this year.

My mom is always telling me how she can't put magnets on the front of her fridge since its stainless steel.  She is restricted to just placing her photos on the sides of the fridge where it's obviously not as visible.  I keep seeing those adorable magnetic memo boards & thought that might be a good solution to display photos.  So of course I check my fave site ever, Etsy!  Found lots of cute memo boards, exactly what I was looking for actually.  However, not quite what I was willing to spend.  They ranged anywhere from $60-$130!  Yikes!

After researching some tutorials I came across a great one.  Which I cannot seem to locate at the moment to give credit to.  I headed to the store & got all the materials & got started!    I decided to make a memo board for not only my mom, but my two aunt's & my grandma.

Here's a list of the supplies, in case you want to try this yourself!

-Frame (needs to be fairly large to accommodate several photos)
-Sheet of stainless steel (this can be purchase at most hardware stores)
-Tin Shears (to cut the stainless steel) - although if you bat your eyes at one of the Home Depot employees, they might just cut it for you!  ;)
-Fabric (make sure you iron it first)
-Adhesive spray
-Spray paint & Acrylic sealer (I used a clear matte finish)

The frames I purchased were somewhat ornate looking.  They had vintagy type of  feel to them.  But they were this awful gold color.  I just spray painted the frames with a few coats & once they had dried for several hours I topped them off with an acrylic spray to seal it.

Then my hubby Karl cut down the sheet metal to fit inside the frame perfectly.  Be careful, because the sheet metal is already sharp & when you cut it there may be some jagged edges.

I then took the sheet metal (not in the frame) outside in a well ventilated area & sprayed the entire thing.  Then quickly pressed the fabric over the metal & smoothed out the bubbles & creases.  Fold over the fabric along the edges & use spray adhesive to keep them down.

Now all that is left is to take your fabric covered sheet metal, place within frame, place the backing of the frame into place & you should have something that looks like the photos below!

I also went one step further & made cute little coordinating button magnets.  I thought the memo boards turned out pretty cute!  What do you think?

P.S. My mom absolutely loved it!!!

My mom's memo board:
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The other three I made:
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My first attempt at blogging!

Not sure what happened for a brief moment in time, but Blogger somehow lost my original blog.  So I am having to recreate an entire blog all over again!  What a bummer.  Hopefully nothing wacky happens this time...

I am hoping to get the hang of this whole blogging thing, as I see so many fabulous blogs & it has inspired me to create my very own blog.

For those that don't know me my name is Jessica & I am a stay at home mom to my five year old daughter Brooklyn (sometimes lovingly referred to as B).  Not sure if the title 'Stay at home mom' will actually apply to me anymore, now that she just graduated from kindergarten.  Once she moves into first grade in the fall I suppose that title will change.  Ha!

I am also a freelance graphic designer.  I have my own online storefront, Sweetest Cupcake.  I create websites & other fantastically fun designs for other moms out there who have their own small businesses.  I dabble in photography & just recently took the plunge into studio photography, which I love!

I also consider myself very crafty & will be blogging about my little projects here & there.  Did I mention I am obsessed with cupcakes?

I recently moved to Castle Rock, Colorado from Highlands Ranch.  Literally just moved last weekend.  I am so excited to begin decorating the new place & starting fun home decor projects, in which I will most definitely be blogging about!

That is all for now I suppose... now onto my next blog entry, the one that disappeared along with my blog last week!