Guilty Pleasures...

No, this is not a sexual related post! Ha ha! But it is about the next best thing...CHOCOLATE! For me its hard to resist, and with Valentines Day coming up, what better way to show you some of the creative things you can do with one of my guilty pleasures...

One of my all time FAVORITE things is chocolate covered pretzels! I don't know what it is about chocolate and pretzels...so sweet, so salty....YUM! I recently made some white chocolate covered pretzels and had some fun by decorating them with valentine sprinkles...

So fun, and easy and I must say yummy too! The whole family loved them and they didn't last long!

All you need to make these easy crowd pleasing treats are:

1.A pan (or two!) covered with wax paper.

2. Mini Pretzels: 

3. White Chocolate chips-The Nestle Premier White are my fav ;)

:

4. A little Crisco:

5. And Valentines Sprinkles!

You can of course just use red, white and pink sprinkles, but these have little hearts in some of the mix.

If you are using a stove to heat your chocolate (I really need to invest in a fondue pot!) Then you will want to use a larger pan filled with water, and put a smaller pan inside it filled with chocolate. This will help so the chocolate will not burn. 

Now Im not a big fan of Crisco, but white chocolate is delicate to work with. Since making chocolate covered pretzels is time consuming, I needed something to keep the chocolate smooth because over time it will start to get chalky. Add about a teaspoon of Crisco and the bag of white chocolate to your pan. Slowly melt the chocolate on medium heat.

Once its creamy, throw in a pretzel and coat evenly...use tongs flip and get an even coat. Put on the wax paper. Do a few but don't let the chocolate cool completely. You want to add sprinkles while the chocolate is still warm. Dip, coat, sprinkle repeat until the desired amount is achieved. And believe me you'll want to make more than you plan because these go quick! I mean who could resist?!

Yumm!!

I didnt make these for anything special, but if you wanted these could be great gifts too! Use clear wrapping with a cute little message for that special someone...even the kids.

How cute is that?!?!

Or use pretzel rods instead:

 Either way, get crafting :) Valentines day is just around the corner! Enjoy!

Bathroom Remodel...LONG overdue!

Since we bought our house, remodeling the bathroom was one of my #1 priorities. But time slipped away, and we became busy with other projects (the kitchen was first, then the bedrooms, then outside...blah blah!) Ive known for years what I want to do to the bathroom. I mean I cant even walk in there without saying "this to shall pass"! Its a mess! I'm not sure what the previous homeowners were thinking...bright blue walls with some white streaks, golden oak for ages, and the tile...don't even get me started! I could go on forever! On a positive note, its still usable for now :)

I want to give the space an update without breaking the bank, because I honestly want to sell my house VERY soon! Here's the current bathroom:

Notice the "golden oak", the weird tile floors with an unknown pattern, and those walls....ick!

I would like to replace everything in the current bath, but because I dont want to break the bank, and dont plan on staying here more than a few years, Im just going to give it a makeover.

I think the biggest change will be painting the walls. I chose to go with the same color I will be painting the living room to provide a uniform look in the house. Our house is too small for every room to be a different color! Here's the paint sample:

The color is called driftwood. Its a nice medium brown, and a perfect color next to the other colors in my house. This is our kitchen color which is next to the living and bathroom:

I try to keep most of the permanent fixtures, and colors in the house neutral...its best for selling!

Another item I cannot wait to demolish in the bathroom is the floor. Since the bathroom isn't very big, I can get scrap laminate from my work by using pieces from leftover jobs. There are a few pieces large enough Ive had my eye on. This is the one I'm wanting:

I chose to use vinyl because its fairly inexpensive, and durable. Im not referring to the "old" laminate either. The new laminates are thicker, very resistant to damage, and MUCH better looking! This sample has all the subtle colors I'm looking for.

I would love to spend the money and replace the vanity, but its not worth it! I can easily paint our current "golden oak" vanity and save myself the extra money. I wanted to give the bathroom that "WOW" factor so I chose something more modern. Here's what I'm hoping the new vanity will turn out like after a paint job:

 

I will still keep the current counter top which is a white marble(not in bad shape) and replace the hardware with an updated brush nickle finish. My estimated cost to do is around $50.00, rather than $200.00+ to replace...that to me is worth the work!

I will also be replacing the faucet. Since I'm keeping the current counter top, I need to maintain the 4" spread faucet, there isn't a ton of options, but working as a kitchen and bath designer has its advantages! I can get a faucet like this for about $25.00, retail $50.00( SCORE!)

However, I'm going to spend a little more and buy it in a brushed nickel finish. This faucet is shown in chrome, which is too shiny for my taste. Brushed nickle also hides fingerprints and water spots so its worth spending a little extra for. Its not EXACTLY the faucet I would choose if I were to completely replace the vanity, but when I'm done with the makeover it will give me the overall look I'm after. 

Our current shower walls are not too bad. I'm going to have to do some repairs like re grouting (more or less the hubby will!) but they are actually not bad, and will work with the makeover:

Not bad, right? Its worth NOT replacing! Re doing a shower in a bathroom remodel can be 1/2 the cost, so Im glad I can get away with not doing it.

We will be buying a more energy saving toilet in white:

And I will definitely be replacing the current light fixture to something like this:

In order to keep it more modern, yet functional for a hubby that shaves and cuts his own hair, I have to keep the same type of tri-fold style mirror we currently have, just no oak frame (thank God!)

To add color and that Wow factor, I want to put up a mosaic back splash behind the vanity..I LOVE this one!

It has all the colors I want to use in the space, as well as gives me some options for accent colors...Red, Green, Grey... The possibilities are endless if you want to change your accent color!

Above the toilet, we currently have a cabinet, but I want to take that down, and put up glass shelves for towels, and display. Something like these:

I think 3 shelves will do :) I get so excited thinking of the things I can display on these!

 

The Current color of our towels is this khaki color, but I could do red...or both!

Candles will look good, and so will some glass jars for storing things like cotton balls and Q-tips.

The final touch is the shower curtain. As of right now I found this one at Target:

 but I'm not completely sold. I know that I need to keep it simple, and modern, so we'll see what I end up with!

Here's all the materials pulled together:

I seriously cannot wait to get started! Stay tuned to see the re-done space in the future!

A Week in Blogging

After a week of Blogging I've learned SO much!

1. Blogging is not for the faint of heart! It takes time, dedication, thought, preparation for posts. I had NO idea!

2. Where to start... When planning to start a blog a few months back, I became OVERWHELMED with how to start! I decided the first step was to chose a host.  I chose to go with Blogger by Google. Its simple, easy, and allows you to use all the basics for free. I do recommend if you are thinking of blogging.

From there, I had to develop a basis of the blog--what content I wanted to publish ect...Once I got past all of this, my posts came easy =)

3.Designing the blog...I HAD to have a great design, that's what I do, right?!? Unfortunately, I have very little experience in web design, so I started from scratch. I use GIMP a lot when I want to render drawings for my design work, but when I was trying to use it to create a few things for the blog, it wasn't giving me the options I needed. Upon research I found good reviews for a free editing software called Picassa:

Not only does this software help to create boards for displaying , it lets you edit photos, create blog titles, and much more (and no, Im not getting paid to say that!) It helped to make the process of creating my blog title much easier! I plan on doing so much more with it as I move forward with the blog!

4.It was harder than I thought putting my ideas out there for everyone to view because I often wonder if I'm posting things people will want to read, and try....It took all I had to put my blog on Facebook for the first time, but then I figured, what do I have to lose? This is my PASSION, and I LOVE what I do =)

5. Coming up with ideas. I generally do NOT have a lot of time to do craft projects this time of year--unless its something for the hockey team or during my Christmas break. How am I going to keep up with the demands of having new posts and ideas...but then I realized that on a daily basis, I am always thinking of new ideas, I can always blog my ideas...whats an hour a week?

6.To advertise, or not...why not! Sign up for Ad sense...it may be worth it in the end :)

7. And lastly, blogging is another great outlet for all of these creative ideas floating through my head! I hope that I can continue to inspire all of you as I learn new ways to present my ideas (Im always open to suggestions! Feel free to share yours!)...Happy Blogging!

Create  a
Floating Head Board:

In looking for a headboard for my small bedroom (maybe my blog should have been called "This Small House"!) I discovered all the headboards were too large for my space. So, I came up with a SIMPLE and CHEAP design that gives my bed the illustion of a headboard.

I went to the fabric store and purchased a quality polyester microfiber fabric. I say "quality" because there are several microfibers out there that are too thin, and will tear if you use them in this type of application. You can use any fabric you want, you just want to make sure that fabric is strong, and can stretch over materials without tearing. The polyester fabric I chose gives the headboard the suede look I was going for. 

I then purchased batting (used for making quilts, and bedspreads) in sheet form to give the headboard dimention, and padding.I chose a high loft (thickness of the batting) to give the headboard extra padding (I wanted something soft for reading in bed!). You can purchase by the cut like me, or by the bag.

I then purchased a pre-cut particle board at a local hardware store.  Its so much easier than having to cut your own. 

Assembling the headboard was SUPER easy. You can do it by yourself, but the hubby gave me a hand. All we used was a staple gun,and stretched the batting around evenly adding a staple as we went to secure the batting on the backside.We made sure that we rounded the edges and made each side equal in thickness. We then did the same thing with the fabric. When we were done the back looked like this:

We then added the hardware to hang the headboard. To obtain that "floating" look we used mirror hardware. As you can see in the picture above, its a thin piece of metal that is slightly bent. This metal attaches to another piece of metal that you hang on the wall:

We centered both pieces, one on the headboard, and one where you want to hang the headboard on the wall. This hardware was the key to the floating design. It allows the headboard to be secure,and hang flat on the wall. It hasn't moved once since we've hung it!  
The final outcome was just what I was looking for!

My next project is to add some color to my bed by using accent pillows...I am also going to add some art to the wall above the headboard...Stay tuned!

Oh Summer!

Thinking ahead, and dreaming of those long summer days, and camping nights...

It was so nice today, it almost felt like spring! Living in Michigan has its ups and downs. One of the plus sides is you get enjoy all four seasons. The down side is its dreary almost ALL winter! But not today! Its January and it was 54 degrees and SUNNY! Whoot! All this sunshine got me thinking of a summer pool party we had this past year...my inspiration for the dreary months! Heres to warmer months :) Enjoy!

Flip-Flop Invites:

 

These invites are SUPER easy to make! I used my own flip-flop to trace the shape for the bottom of the flip-flop out of scrap book paper. I then used a coordinating paper and traced a slightly smaller size for the top design of the flip-flop. The thong part of the 

flip-flop was done by cutting a slit into the top part of 

the sandle, stringing ribbon into the slit, and gluing it

down. I then printed the info on standard paper...And 

there you have it...Flip Flop :)

The Menu:

I did lemon-aid, and a fruit platter, hotdogs and chips for the main course.

 

Treats! (Of Course)

 

Hamburger Cookies, a hit!

"Ice Cream" Cupcakes--another hit!



The Decor:

I wanted to maintain a simple "summery" decor. I kept with green and blue for colors, and added summer elements. My favorite part of the decorations are the hanging lanterns!

  

 

For the party favors, I filled buckets with water shooters, sun glasses, water noodles, water bottles, and candy for later...

   

I used my Mason jars filled with sand and a candle for the centerpiece.I swear those Mason jars are a staple in my design and party planning!

The water shooter were a hit! Well worth my dollar a piece!

And there were no more ice cream cupcakes left!

 Pool fun

We set up our tent, or so rightfully named the "Taj Majal"!




 


 And the boys partied till dawn...

Another Great Party planned!