Faux Chalkboard Menu

Hey there, y’all! Hope you’re having a great week.

As usual, I’ve been a busy little bee, but that’s nothing new. Today I wanted to share a little project I did this week.

As you’ve probably seen all over Pinterest these days Chalkboard anything is really “in”. It’s all over wine glasses, cookie sheets, and invitations.

I’ve been working on some details for a very special party happening soon and I wanted to share my “faux” chalkboard menu I made.

It’s really quite simple.

First, I created the menu on my Silhouette SD. This can completely be done in a Word document. I did it in my Silhouette simply because I didn’t want to hand cut out 40 menus.

Next, I took 8 1/2 X 11 black card stock, I cute sheets in half and then cut a little off the top too.

With a piece of chalk, I colored all over the paper and covered it entirely.

Once it was covered, I took a tissue and lightly {very important to do this lightly} wiped the chalk off.

When it’s wiped off, you have something like this:

Last, I took a 3-D Foam adhesive square, like these,

and attached the menu to the faux chalkboard paper.

Wha-la! It was done.

Super easy and very cute. The ideas are endless with this faux chalkboard paper: invitations, menus, picture mattes, and on, and on, and on.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope y’all come back.

Banana Pudding: Southern Style

Hey there, friends!

Happy Father’s Day to all you daddies out there. I hope y’all all had a great day and were spoiled rotten. You deserve it!

Well, I haven’t posted a recipe in a while, so tonight I wanted to share one of my childhood favorite desserts. Not to mention my husband’s. He’s not a dessert guy to say the least, but the first time I made banana pudding for him, I think I won him over hook line and sinker.

There are many shapes and forms in which one can find banana pudding, but as quoted in My Cousin Vinny, “No self respectin’ southerner eats instant grits…” The same rule applies to banana pudding. I will say it here and take head my friends, No self respectin’ southerner eats banana pudding with instant pudding.

No sir. In order to have a true banana pudding, one must make the pudding from scratch. It’s not hard, I promise! And I’m going to show you how.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 3 cups cold milk
• 3 large eggs
• 3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3-4 bananas, ripe but firm
• merengue – we’ll get to that later

First, you want to preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In order to make the best pudding you’re going to need a double boiler.

Using a double boiler is quite simple. Fill the bottom pot about half way full of water. Place the smaller pot in the holder that sits on top of the larger pot. Keep the water in the bottom post at a simmer to help heat and cook what is in the top pot.

See…simple.

There you have it…see not so hard!

I hope you try it sometime and enjoy it as much as my family does.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great week!

S~

Dining Room Makeover…Part 2

Hey there, y’all!

So, the last project I shared here was the Tale of the Martini Bar...that almost wasn't. I have to say doing that project was a bit of a bear, but totally worth it. It turned out so beautifully and I absolutely love it in the space.

B.U.T…

Once I put the new piece back into the room, the room didn’t fit the new piece anymore. Things needed to change, and then came…

You might be asking yourself, didn’t she just re-do her dining room? Yes, I did. Well, almost two years ago. And at that point, I actually made it into a dining room. You might remember that post here.

When I painted and turned the dining room into a nice, airy room, I loved it. But then when I put the new martini bar in, I wasn’t feeling the whole vibe any more…so time for another change. Just a few things really, but let’s take a look.

Let’s start with new curtains. You may remember my no-sew curtains I made simply because I didn’t have a sewing machine, nor knew how to sew. But since then I got a sewing machine, and have learned my way around a sewing machine…a little anyway.

I went to our fabric store and picked out the cutest fabrics.

I really loved how all the colors went with the room and they really seemed to pop.

I made two curtain panels and replaced them with my no-sew curtains.

Ah, much better, don’t you think?

Once the curtains changed I had to change the chair covers as well.

I loved the flowers of the old fabric, but there’s just something about blue and white horizontal stripes. I absolutely love it.

Once the chairs were recovered and the new curtains were hung, it was a matter of moving things around the room…finding new homes for the things that were already in the room.

Remember the back wall before the martini bar?

When the martini bar went in, the things on the back wall just didn’t fit…time for another change.

I moved the shelves to a different wall and changed those up a bit.

Then there’s the big frame that had the 3-D flowers in it.

I took the flowers down {and will use those at a later time}, and spray painted the frame yellow. I hung it directly over the martini bar, and then wondered, “What now?”.

I remembered my coffee filter wreath that was oh so sad sitting in my storage closed since it lost its place over the mantel. I hung it in the middle of the frame.

When all the changes were made, the room was ready. I can’t tell you how much I love it! It was cute before, but now, it’s totally me. I walk by and just want to stand and stare.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope this gives you a little inspiration that with just a few changes, you can have a whole new room.

Happy Friday!

Confessions of a Housewife

Housewife…is that even politically correct anymore? Who knows and frankly who cares? Right now I feel like Jerry McGuire. I’m about to pour my heart and soul out in this essay and for what? Well, let’s hope I don’t lose my job over it. Ha!

Do you ever feel like you’re at your breaking point? You know, can one more thing be piled on your plate? I know you do, because I talk to a lot of people and thank goodness they feel the same I do…like I’m treading water with bricks tied to my ankles, and all I can do is keep moving my arms and legs as heavy as those bricks are, but I’m staying afloat. Barely.

I’ve said it previously, that I believe May is as busy if not busier than December. Hard to believe but think about it…with end of year activities, recitals, ball games and practices, homework, end of year projects, teacher gifts to hand-make buy, and the, and the, and the…It’s insane. I don’t remember as a kid feeling all this pressure that May brings. I guess my parents did a great job and shielding us from it. All I remember is counting down the days until school was out and summer break started. We were care free. But, I’m sure my mama felt quite different. I’ll have to ask her. But then again, all she had to do was put on her super mom cape and still have breakfast {and I’m not talking just cereal, people} and supper on the table, lunches packed, homework was done, oh and she had been to night school getting her Masters, worked full days, and made sure my brother and I were at our practices on time. I seriously do NOT know how she did it.  I do all this stuff, well minus the graduate school and full time job stuff, and I’m treading water. I found today allowing myself a two minute shower after the gym because let’s face it, I stunk, applying a smidgen of makeup to make myself presentable, and dried the sweat from my run in my hair. Yes, you read that right. {Kat, turn your head or keep reading faster because it will appall you as to what I did to my hair today. Ha!} I didn’t have time to wash my hair, and it was almost soaked from my run, so I dried it. Flipped my head right over and dried that sweat right into my hair….the whole time wondering if people would even notice. I assume not but oh well.

I digress.

All of that to say, after allowing myself 15 minutes to get presentable after a nice workout, I ran all over this town; grocery shopping, making returns, buying Mother’s Day gifts {a tad bit late}, all in and hour and a half because then I had to pick Hunter up from camp.

My list of things to do is a mile long, but you don’t know how that feels at all, right. **wink, wink**

I do all this running, and helping, and driving, and at the end of the day I look around and try to think… “What did I accomplish today?”

Hmmm…

Not much!

My house is a mess. There’s laundry to do. What games did I actually play with my kids today? Yada, yada, yada!

Along with everything else, I realize I haven’t written a blog in I don’t know when and that makes me sad. Unfortunately my little project ,this blog, has been put on the back burner for way to long. I really do not see how true bloggers do it. They post projects galore, cook great meals, are successful stay at home moms, and write on their blog almost daily. I just don’t know how they do it. Maybe they have some time management skills I don’t know about.

My problem…Aged On-set ADHD…at least that’s what I’m blaming it on. I started tonight working on a little Mother’s Day project for my mama {who’s coming tomorrow with my daddy…**eek**…I’m so excited to say the least.}, and I find myself writing this because I can’t get what I wanted to work to work right. So, instead of screaming, I’m gritting my teeth calmly writing {well, typing}.

Anyway…I guess I’ve said ALL of that to say. Being a mama and a housewife is not easy. I seriously do NOT see how mamas work and take care of the house, family, and kids. I commend you and tip my hat to you.

I hear people all the time say that being a housewife is the hardest job. Well, I’m not sure about that, because there are some pretty hard jobs out there…hello, running into burning buildings, running a corporation, fighting day in and day out for our country while in the desert away from family. Those are pretty hard jobs. My job is to keep people alive. I have to keep them fed, clothed, bathed, and most of all happy.

Last week, Hunter needed my undivided attention…bless him. All day, every day it was, “Mama, want to play with me?” “Mama, want to go to the pool?” “Mama, want to go play baseball?” “Mama, I’m hungry.” “Mama, you ready?” And when I didn’t jump at his every move because heaven forbid laundry needed to be changed, I got the sad eyes and the, “You never play with me.” Oh really? What were we just doing for the past 3 hours?! Oh yeah, playing baseball, swinging, playing sword fight, and making lunch. I think people think it’s the hardest job because it never ends. It’s constant-24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s not only the day to day stuff, it’s the night time too. We get rid of bad dreams, we clean up throw up in the middle of the night, we walk them back to their bed 14 times because they’re having anxieties about who knows what. It is a very hard job. But it’s also rewarding and wonderful.

It’s the times that you go to the grocery store or the gym and look down at your shirt, only to find a “Rock Star” sticker that your daughter put there while getting ready. Yes, we may have to fight about getting dressed and brushing teeth in the morning, and I may have to repeat myself a million times before they listen, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world…not even the dried sweat in my hair.

So there you have it. My confessions of a housewife in a crazy, mixed up, rambling essay. I just hope I’m not the only one feeling this way, and that I can find a balance with it all without going coo-coo first. Wait! I might already be there. :o)

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Wednesday!

S~