Easter weekend D.I.Y. with MOM

So I started my Easter weekend off with a few little projects! I have been talking about how my apartment doesn't feel "HOMEY," so I decided to change that! My mom is visiting for the Easter holiday, so I figured it was a perfect time to try some projects! We surfed the web for ideas, shopped, and put together two wonderful projects! 

I have been looking for frames for our wedding photos and I finally found some. We painted these an accent color that is in our living room rug!!

Simple, yet chic! Gave that personal punch to our living room wall! FINALLY!!! 

Next, we decided to try and tackle a project I found at Spunky Junky! We made a few changes to fit our needs....but it turned out OH SO AWESOME! Thanks so much for the inspiration!!

First, I found some cheap frames and spray painted them a pop color from my kitchen.

 Next, I measured and cut some scrapbook paper to pop on the frame backing that matched my decor.

I hot glued the paper onto the backing making sure it went on smooth with no bubbles. (Can you tell that I found this tidbit of info out the hard way??)

Find some silverware you like and spray paint it any color you want. We actually found some baby silverware at a Tuesday Mornings that worked perfectly for where I was wanting it to go. If you use regular sized silverware, you may have to use larger frames. We only used 5X7 frames for ours.

(TIP: We are placing our frames behind our stovetop, so we decided to put the glass back in our frames after this step. The glass will help us keep our paper away from stove splatters and such.)

Now the fun part! Play with and organize your silverware the way you want in the frame! I decided on this layout! Once you decide, get your gluing on and HANG!!!

Here was our final outcome! It gave our apartment kitchen the touch it needed!!

Hope you enjoyed my Easter weekend projects!! Have a Happy Easter everyone!!

Weekend D.I.Y. Apartment Therapy

OK! So I pretty much have my apartment decorated, but the bedroom was lacking personality! We got a really cute comforter set from Crate and Barrel at our wedding shower, but the color has been extremely difficult for me to decorate around. Here is a picture of an edge of the comforter. This was mainly a picture of my dog, but it shows the color of the comforter in the top part of the picture! :-/

So, after searching the internet for several ideas, I decided to tackle my lampshades, which were originally black and boring.

First, I cleaned the lampshades with a lint roller.

Then, I chose a shape from the computer and traced it onto newspaper. I decided to use newspaper for a shabby chic way to bring more gray into the bedroom. I chose a bird for my shape. It matches some other birds I have throughout the apartment.

I cut out several bird shapes. I placed 3 birds on one of the shades and 4 on the other. This is totally personal preference!!

I used Mod Podge to glue my newspaper birdies to the lamp shade.

Here is a picture of one of the lamp shades. They turned out super contemporary, which is exactly what I was going for!

The next project I tackled was a jewelry tree. I recently bought this on sale at Target for $4.88! I knew I needed to bring in a little more of my yellow color from the comforter, so I decided to spray paint this beauty a fabulous solar yellow!!

The last project I decided to start this weekend was my mirror. All of the furniture in the bedroom is black, so my black mirror was adding a little too much darkness in the room for me!! I used my newspaper idea to decoupage the mirror. This took me two evenings and turned out great! Its gives the room a even more contemporary flair!

Now that my bedroom is slowly taking on a little bit of personality, I am starting to feel better! Thanks for following this journey with me!! 

Blank Spaces...

So we have lived in our little apartment for almost two months now.....and the blank walls are about on my last nerve! I have been searching all kinds of ideas to take up some space on our walls. This leads me to my first project.....Vintage Wedding Photo Display. I am going to paint some old frames and display our wedding photos in them, so stay tuned to watch this project take flight!!!

Update on DIY Herb Garden

Thought I would give you an update on how my mini greenhouse is doing!!! My Arugula, Basil, and Dill are already sprouting! I removed the plastic wrap from these herbs, but am keeping the soil moist constantly!

Life As A Newlywed: Year One: DIY Fever

Life As A Newlywed: Year One: DIY Fever: "I have DIY(Do it Yourself) fever! Since living on my own, I have developed this nesting feeling! I have decorated my house as much as possib..."

From Scratch!

This blog is quickly turning into "Life As A Newlywed COOK: Year One!!!!!!!!!" I have been spending so much time in my kitchen lately. I absolutely love to cook! I recently tried making some things from scratch that I love and usually buy store-bought items for: Pizza and Bagels.

I made an Asparagus Pizza this evening. I made the dough and sauce from scratch! It turned out soooooooo amazing! Here is a picture::


It is such an awesome feeling to know about EVERY ingredient that you are putting into your tummy! Everything on this pizza is fresh and it was oh so yummy!

Another item I ALWAYS buy at the grocery store are bagels. Lately, we have not been buying them to save money, so I thought, "why not make them?" Well I used Whole Wheat Flour and made us some Whole Wheat Bagels from scratch! Here is a picture::


They may not have formed the perfect shape as the grocery store ones, but they were soooooooooo much cheaper!!
I am doing a good job staying in our grocery budget and am getting to spend even more time in the kitchen!!!! YAY!

DIY Fever

I have DIY(Do it Yourself) fever! Since living on my own, I have developed this nesting feeling! I have decorated my house as much as possible right now, set up a grocery store challenge for myself, been working as a sub, and it still isn't enough for me to do. My Aunt Pris recently sent me some herb seeds from her garden and greenhouse in Chicago. This is what started my most recent little project. I wanted to do this project with as little money as possible, and I am happy to say that I only spent $6. I created my own mini greenhouse in order to start growing my own herbs. You see, we have a back courtyard area, but we aren't really encouraged to keep much outside. This would allow many people to create more clutter than I would like to look at outdoors! Anyway, I did some research online and found the perfect way to germinate my little seeds! This is such an eco friendly project, I thought I would post it!

Mini Egg Carton Greenhouse for Seed Starting

Materials:
1 paper egg carton cut in half (separating the lid from the base)
needle
Seeds
Seed starting soil (I bought Organic Miracle Gro Seed Starting Soil from Target.)
Spray bottle
Plastic Wrap
Clothes pins (optional)
Permanent Marker


1. Wrap the lid of the egg carton in plastic wrap. This will create a waterproof tray to set the base in after watering.
2.Using the needle, poke 3 or 4 holes in the bottom of each cavity to allow for good drainage in the base of the egg carton.
3. Fill each cavity with moistened soil.
4. Plant seeds according to package directions.
5. Spray seeds with water until soil is fairly moist.
6. Using the permanent marker, write the names of each type of seed on the clothespins. Use these as labels for your seeds.
7. Wrap base of egg carton in plastic wrap and place inside lid. Keep wrapped until sprouts start to form, then you can remove it.
8. Keep mini greenhouse in a well lit window and keep soil moist!

I hope you guys enjoy this little project! I will keep you posted on how my seeds do! I have a really cute way to plant them once they start to grow! I am super excited to have my own herbs in the apartment instead of paying for them every time we go to the grocery store! They are expensive!!!

Being a Wife...

So far, being a wife has been great. I am, however, mostly excited about all of the cooking I have been getting to do. For those of you who do not know me real well, I absolutely love cooking. Mike knew this when he picked out our new apartment and made sure that I would have plenty of space to cook. I have a wonderful kitchen and many new appliances that I have been experimenting with! I have really been able to be creative with our meals, being that Mike and I are not picky eaters. I could seriously cook all day. I know some say that preparing meals like this is unrealistic once kids come along, but we have no kids, so I say forget realism! I have been taking pictures and sending them to my mom and some other family after I cook them, so I wanted to share some of the new meals we have had in our first month being married!

Black Bean, Broccoli, and Spicy Pork Pasta

 Chicken Tacos with Homemade Salsa and Guacamole

Kung Pao Chicken with Brown Rice

Past e Fagioli

Steak and Shrimp Paella

 Crab Cakes with Garden Salad

Fish Taco Salad

Tonight we are having pot roast out of my new crockpot! I cannot wait!

Trying out something new

So... I have been reading many blogs recently and I found one that seems like the perfect little challenge for myself! It was called 30 bucks a week. In this blog, a young couple tries to only spend $30 a week in groceries. I think I can totally do this! I have been looking for ways to stick to a regimen and get going! I think that this little challenge might just be the ticket! Also, we joined a gym this week so I am super pumped about getting this newlywed family back into shape! I will keep you updated on the $30 bucks a week challenge.....I am hoping I can stay under $30 every week! Hmmmm....I will have to iron out the details, like choosing the best grocery stores in this area that give me the most bang for my buck! There are so many to choose from here!!!

Mission 1-------underway!

Idina Menzel - Defying Gravity

Married Life+Living Away From Home=Some Rough Nights

Not only did Mike and I get married, we moved 16 hours away from our families the Monday after the wedding. I am definitely a strong girl, but all of this at once has really tested me more than I thought possible. I love my husband. I love our new apartment. I am just really struggling with the distance between friends and family.
For example, it is a Friday night here and I am lying in bed on my computer at 10pm while Mike is sleeping. I have played phone tag with my best friend for the last week, only heard my families voice for the last month, and really only socialized with strangers, my husband, or my dog.
I have been job hunting during the day, only to find that there are more steps to take before I can be working everyday.
Enough of my self pity. I am just having a little trouble adjusting to everything at once. I miss my shoulders to lean on, but I am strong, and I will get through it. Mike and I are trying out a new church this Sunday. I'm praying that it will be a good fit, and we will have some sort of a routine to start. Until then, I am going to just keep pushing through!

Time flies when you are planning a wedding....

Today is our 2 week anniversary! PHEW! That flew by so fast! It seems to me that I have been focusing on the future soooo much this last year, that I have let the small moments of RIGHT NOW zoom by me. My goal for this next year is to live in the moment and enjoy the life that is happening around me with my husband. I have my entire life to think about "things to come," now it is time to sit down, take a breath, and enjoy the moments of right now!

becoming a wife= becoming a penny pincher

Today I have been married for 11 days. Mike and I have settled in our new apartment and it looks awesome. He has provided me with more than I could have imagined for our first home. We have spent some money on the move and getting the house together. Now it is time to work on saving. I have become a member to several coupon websites and I am ready to look for ways to save some money. I want this marriage to get started with financial sense! We have everything that we need.....now on to saving! Our goal is to save enough money to take our honeymoon sooner than later! Wish me luck on my new penny pinching journey!!!!