Thursday, January 29, 2015

DIY: Easy Bathroom Update

As I've said before, slowly but surely, Ryan and I are chipping away on our (ahem, my) “to do” list for the house. One of the top items on my list was to frame the boring builder’s grade mirrors in all three of our bathrooms.

I’ve hated our mirrors since day one. We had these same boring mirrors in our previous house, too, but it never even occurred to me how easy it might be to spruce them up!

Now, depending on your skill level with power tools (we don’t even own a saw), this project can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. We opted for the easy way out, which meant no miter saw needed!

This was the blank canvas we started with…your basic builder’s grade mirror, nothing special.



And this was the end result!


Interested to see how we did it?  Check it out...

Materials Needed:
  • Four corner blocks 
  • Molding (we used baseboard trim) 
  • Liquid Nails (adheres to mirrors) 
  • Painter’s Tape 
  • Wood stain/paint (we used paint) 
  • Paintbrush 
First: Measure your mirror so you know what size to cut your moldings (don’t forget to take into consideration the four corner blocks, which take up roughly 3 inches of your mirror)


Second: Paint/stain your molding (if it's rough you may want to sand it down first).


Third: Put it all together! Use your glue and begin by placing one of your corner pieces onto the mirror first. Hold in place for a few minutes to ensure it dries. Next, glue the on molding.  Helpful tip: you’ll want a second set of hands for this part. 



Fourth: Once all of your molding is glued and up, secure it with painter’s tape for 8-12 hours just to be sure nothing moves out of place.

To accompany the mirror, Ryan also added hardware to the cabinets...



 …and installed a new, bronze faucet!



I absolutely love the way everything turned out!  The best part is, the entire thing cost us under $100 (the molding and glue were only about $30)!

It was so much cheaper than I had expected and so easy! I can’t wait to get started on the other two mirrors in the house!

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All Kinds of Things

Monday, January 26, 2015

Meal Plan Monday 1/26/15

Happy Monday!  Gonna make this one short, but sweet.  Here is a glance at our weekend...

Friday night we headed to the bookstore for story time followed by milk and cookies...



Saturday was a lazy morning of puzzles and movies...


...followed by a Valentine themed playdate with my friend, Stacy and her adorable daughter, Ella. Check out these Valentine crafts we made...I LOVE!




When we got home, it was time for dinner, but neither of us felt like cooking so it was off to our favorite noodle restaurant, Z'mariks for mac 'n cheese! 


Sunday was church, followed by lunch and then a stroll around the mall where Rowen danced and twirled in true "Rowen fashion".  Love her!


The rest of the weekend was spent running errands and meal planning.  Here's what's on the agenda for this week.  Warning, it's heavy on the chicken side, but looks delish nonetheless!  I think we'll be eating leftovers for days...

Monday:  Crockpot Salsa Chicken


Tuesday:  Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo


Wednesday:  Slow-cooker Chili


Thursday:  Creamy Chicken Quinoa and Broccoli Casserole (for the record, I've never had Quinoa before - I am excited to try it!)



Friday:  Not cooking


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Thursday, January 22, 2015

DIY Valentine Mason Jars


So I saw these adorable DIY Valentine mason jars last month on Pinterest and decided I had to have them for myself!  As I've noted on here before, I love to decorate my mantel for the holidays and Valentine's Day (although I am well aware it's not a "real" holiday) is no different!  Check it out...

Supplies (purchased from Hobby Lobby):

2 medium size mason jars
1 pack of white 6" doilies
1 pack of red craft hearts
1 roll red and white baker's twine
Hot glue gun (not pictured)


Start by heating up your glue gun and laying out a doily and a craft heart.  Once the gun is hot, place glue around the outer edge of one side of the heart.


Next, flip the heart over and press it firmly onto the center of the doily...


Next, flip over the doily and add one small pool of glue on the right side (middle) of the doily, and another on the left (middle) of the doily.


Next, flip the doily over and center it on the front of the mason jar.  Press firmly and hold on both ends where you placed the glue.  Your doily should begin to slightly to wrap around the jar...


And finally, take your red and white baker's twine and secure one end to the back of the mason jar using a small spot of glue.  Then, start wrapping the twine around the middle of the jar.  (I wrapped mine about four times and angled it to one side).



Once finished wrapping, cut the twine and glue it to the back of the mason jar.

Annnnd...TA-DA!


It was so simple and inexpensive I had to make two!  Both look adorable on my mantle next to the Valentine bunting banners I scored at Target for $1 each...I just love it!



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Creative K Kids

Monday, January 19, 2015

Meal Plan Monday 1/19/15

Happy MLK Day!  Hope you enjoyed the day...I know I did!  Ryan and I both happened to have the day off work so we spent the morning picking out paint colors for the baby's room, grabbed a bite to eat and then saw the movie American Sniper (so good)!  It was a nice, relaxing day!

Before I get into this week's meals, I'll recap the weekend in a few quick pics...

Saturday, we had our wood floors replaced (long story) so Rowen and I needed to spend some time outside of the house.  We headed to the library for a half-hour song and dance show followed by a little reading and a lunch stop at McDonalds...



The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging Valentine's decor and watching a movie with my sister...




We spent Sunday at a neighbor's 1st birthday party and then I spent the rest of the evening hammering out an invite order...


Not a very exciting weekend, but fun nonetheless!

Now on to meals for this week...

We didn't cook tonight and we don't plan to cook Friday, so that meant I just needed to plan meals for the middle of the week...easy!

Monday:  Dinner out with family

Tuesday: Crockpot Honey Pork and Apples


Wednesday: Chicken Mozzarella Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes


Thursday: Slow Cooker Carnitas (tweaking this recipe a bit and using left over pork from above)



Friday:  Out to dinner - not cooking

That's it for now!  Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!


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Friday, January 16, 2015

Five No Candy Valentine Ideas


Can you believe Valentine’s Day is right around the corner?!   I don’t know about you, but we are STILL eating Halloween candy at my house.  Between our giant ghost bowl full of candy and all the sugar I consumed at Christmas, the thought of Valentine’s Day candy literally makes me ill!  Unlike last year, this year, I plan to do something non-edible as treats for Rowen’s friends at daycare.  I am LOVING these five, fun ideas I found online so I had to share…check it out!






All of these are SO darn cute...especially number five, I have to try it!


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Time for Mom

All Kinds of Things