Burlap Revamp

So back in December of last year you may recall a post about a wreath that my mother in law helped me create. You can find that post here. Well I have revamped it to go along with the upcoming season! It was the cheapest makeover, only costing about $7 to change out the flowers.

She went from this...

and here she is now (sorry there was different lighting)...

I absolutely love her! 

So if you are interested in making a wreath like this you can either check out my earlier post or check out this blog. They are a bit similar. Thanks!!

Cupcakes to Spaghetti

My family is so not normal. Well maybe I shouldn't say not normal, the word should be BUSY! Not just my little clan of five but trying to get the Miles/Wright/Hart herd together in one place is pretty hard to do. So as a family we are celebrating Mother's Day/my Nana's birthday a week later on May 20. What makes this great is that I get to polish my cake making skills before then. I must say that my husband loves it while I am practicing this little hobby of mine. He may not like it when he has to put a swim suit on in a few weeks but right now he is loving it!

So my cupcake adventures continue! I am trying to perfect my rose and I must say it is a bit harder than I thought. It is a little sneak peak into what my Mother's Day cake will kinda look like. But trying to get these roses to all look the same will take just a bit of time. So last night I made some strawberry cupcakes and cream cheese icing so that I could practice making my roses. So here is my first rose...

I know she needs a bit more work but I love practicing! So hopefully by our family's Mother's day it will be almost perfect!

But now onto sharing one my family's favorite meals, turkey spinach meatballs and spaghetti.

We absolutely love this meal! It is healthy and sneaking spinach in the meatballs gives your kiddos the greens without them even knowing it. You can also make it with whole wheat pasta. My husband isn't fond of the whole wheat thing or I would make it with every pasta dish! So here is the recipe if you are interested...

Meatballs Ingredients:

1lb turkey meat
1 cup of spinach
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 cup of bread crumbs
1 egg (slightly beaten)

Directions:

In a medium skillet heat 1 tablespoon of oil
Mix all ingredients together
Roll the turkey/spinach mixture into 1 inch in diameter balls.
Fry each meatball until cooked through.

Put on top of your favorite type of spaghetti and sauce then garnish with extra Parmesan and some fresh basil and enjoy :)

Cupcakes and Graduation!

So this past weekend I finally became a graduate of Regent University! It took me quite a bit of time to get this degree but what I have accomplished in between that time could never be replaced by some little piece of paper! But it is so nice to finally be finished! Now to look into getting my Masters in Special Education. Hopefully that will not take as long. I honestly could not have made it through without my family. They definitely kept me going and gave me the strength when I was just about out of gas.

It was such an awesome day! Now onto something a bit different. My love of baking has grown and when I say grown, I really mean it has become something I love to do more than knitting and that it saying something! I was also informed by my family that I should start a little side business. How to even begin that, I have no idea! But here are my newest creations that I made for my graduation party afterwards. Oh and that is how much I love to bake, I make stuff for my own parties!

I had such a great time making these. It was just a simple vanilla cake batter with some simple cream cheese frosting. I added a bit of red die to the white frosting to make the pink stars (stargazer lily?). I love using different cupcake papers. It makes them fun! So word of mouth. Help me spread the word. If you know anyone that needs or wants some cupcakes or a cake let me know! I am just a beginner but excited to bake more!

Yard Sale Mania!

Usually about every quarter the Financial Peace University class at our church does a yard sale to help people get rid of some junk, make some money and maybe pay some debt off. But you know the one bad thing about having a community yard sale? I always end up leaving with something! It never fails. But I must say that this time was one of the best deals I have ever gotten! Oh and my husband agrees and that is major in this house folks.

So this year, even though we were not apart of the class, we decided to purge the attic of some junk. I knew no matter what I was not leaving with anything that I brought because our church always gets the Goodwill people to show and take the rest of our crap!

I did sell quite a bit; enough to buy a few things and still end up on top. The first thing I saw was something for my kids. I knew immediately that it was a must and just seeing the reaction on my sons face when I showed it to him was priceless!

Here is item #1

Oh and I forgot to mention the best thing about a community yard sale...we always get a better deal when we buy each others stuff :). I saw this beauty as soon as the previous owners unpacked it and I knew right away it belonged to me. The best part is I only paid $20. Yep that's right and that sucker works like new. My kids love it!

This next purchase was solely for this momma. Here is a little background if you care to read on...the end tables in our den were sorta temporary. They were given to us by friends and we loved them but those same friends gave the matching coffee table to my sister and her boyfriend. So as much as I loved them, my sister really was wanting a matching set when they move out of their apartment. That time is nearing so I knew that I needed to try and find two end tables for cheap. Oh baby did I do just that and I love them even more than the others. They actually brighten up our living area and they are smaller so there is quite a bit more room as well.

Here they are

 They look cream/yellowish but I am not sure if I like the color or if I will change it.

I love how they match not one thing in my living room! I am not really into matchy matchy furniture and these babies throw everything off. Oh and I do not want to forget to tell you the best part, I got both of these babies for $30. That's right, $15 a piece! Now if that's not cheap I do not know what is.

Best. Yard. Sale. Ever!

Blue Light Special

So over the past few months we have been trying to get rid of the red that pretty much surrounded our home. The first thing to go was the red shutters. I guess I never blogged about that update, sorry! I also painted the front door the same color as the shutters. You can take a look at that here. Along with the front door, I also painted the rest of the outside doors. So it is all unified! Anyway moving on...

I knew that with trying to snuff out the red around home, I was in for some work. Now that I have the shutters and the doors changed, I started to move onto the outside furniture. A few years ago my dad gave us their red Adirondack chairs that were just collecting dust. They weren't in the best condition but I was beyond happy because those suckers aren't cheap! And secretly I have been coveting them for a long time, just praying that they would want to get rid of them. Oh and like I mentioned above, they were red. Back then I was happy about that because they matched everything else. I actually sprayed painted them a brighter red! I know I know! I was obsessed with red! Why I have no idea. Anyway they have stayed red for the past 3 years and this year I knew that I wanted a different color. So here is what they looked like after I sprayed them a brighter red three years ago...

Bright red, I know! They definitely are a bit beat up but I love that! With this circus of a family, we can't afford to keep anything nice anywhere near this house! After I realized the red had to go, off to Lowe's I went. I literally stalked the spray paint aisle for a good 30-45 minutes. I actually had a another color picked out and changed my mind while I was in line to check out. Then back I went to the aisle and continued to stare down the colors. It was crazy! So after way too much time in Lowe's I walked out with this color...

I went there with the intent of a bright color but I honestly didn't think that I would choose a blue, but I did and I love it!!! I have only finished one of the chairs as of yet. It took a bit more paint than I expected so now I get to go to my favorite store again. Darn!

Here is the first one in all her glory...

I actually may put another coat on there but I love love love the new color! I can't wait to get the other one painted and put them on the deck.

Here is a side by side...

Blue definitely wins this round :)

Getting All Wreathy On Ya!

So after a lot of thinking I decided it was time to change up my wreath on my front door. I love love love my burlap one that my mother in law helped me make but I needed something a bit more cheery! So after a trip to Garden Ridge and Michael's, I have finally settled on the one. I may be adding a bit more color once it gets a bit warmer, but for now it is perfect!

It took me a few tries before I settled on the right one. Here is a shot of the my first try...

It was pretty simple. I just stuck the flowers in there. No hot glue was needed! It was very easy but to me it was missing something. So I went to Michael's and got a few things.

I just started by taking the leaves and bending them to fit the circle and hot glued every two inches to the wreath.

Once I was finished with that I added these cream berries.

I also added some simple white flowers to the inside of the wreath but for some reason didn't take a picture. But this is the finished product so far. I know that I want to add some more color but I haven't found the right flowers as of yet.

But I love it and can't wait it tweak it some more!

Red to Brown...

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to paint my front door yellow. Don't ask me why, I just thought it would be a good idea. Well it turned out harder than I expected. There are so many different shades of yellow and it about made me crazy. So I decided to back away from that idea right now but I knew that I wanted something different than my faded red door. I also know that in the near future I want a new door, one that does not have the stained glass. So whatever I decided would just be a temporary fix.

So as I walked out to my paint shack I decided to paint the door the same color that  painted thee shutters a few months back. I knew that brown would be a big change but with the new yellow bench and my new wreath (more on that in a minute), I would have enough color. So brown it is and I actually like it. I think it tones down the stained glass and makes the wreath pop a bit more.

So now onto the wreath. I decided that I wanted to try and make a wreath that will carry me through until the fall but I wanted it very simple. So off to Garden Ridge I went! Next to Lowes and Target its one of my favorite places! With three kids in tow I found some simple but pretty flowers. With the leftover wreath in the attic and using left over paint this little project cost about $5. Not to shabby!

Here is a picture of my old door color and wreath...

Sorry for the shadows in the second picture. It was early this morning! So there is my new door color and wreath. Its hard to tell but I added a few blue flowers from my previous wreath on to this one. You can barely see them but in person they are most certainly there. I am still getting used to not having a red door but I like having something new! Oh and I am sure something about the wreath may change! I love tweaking :)