Pink Flamingos and Christmas Wreaths

Happy New Year's Eve, y'all! I guess this will be the last post of 2014! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Holiday. 

As y'all know I have been on a bit of a wreath kick recently (which reminds me, I need to post all of the Christmas wreaths I've been making!). A friend of mine came to me with a couple of wreaths she wanted to make for her grown kids. Let me give you some background before we dive into this because it's not your typical Christmas story....

This friend of mine lived in Hawaii for 10+ years and raised her two children there. Their holidays were filled with sunshine, beaches, and old St. Nick running around in swimming trunks...oh, and flamingos. Wait....what??? Yes, I said flamingos! Actually, the flamingo thing started as a joke when her daughter got married. Apparently her and her son in law exchange obnoxious flamingo souvenirs every year for Christmas (and all throughout the year when they find a flamingo that is worthy enough to be displayed with all the others). Well this year, Friend decided to change things up and really give the son in law (who lives in snowy Boston) something that represented a true Hawaiian Christmas filled with pink flamingos. I'm so confused. 

The wreaths I have been making have been filled with greenery, fake snow, jingle bells, and bright red ribbon. So I was really excited when Friend came to me with this idea. So instead of doing the typical burlap bubble wreath that goes perfect with any Christmas decor, I got to switch things up, and get in the mind set of being in Hawaii for Christmas (cue the ocean waves on the noise machine!). This time, burlap just wasn't going to cut it. Sooooo here's what was decided! 

The scrap fabric wreath! Except, I went out and bought this fabric because, I don't know about you, but I don't have any flamingo inspired fabric scraps laying around my house. 

Here's what you will need: Fabric scissors (or one of those fancy straight line fabric cutters...which I do not own...hint hint...), about 4 yards of fabric (mix it up - I do a half a yard to a yard of a few different patterns and colors) and a few spools of ribbon, along with the well known wire wreath (this was an 18 inch wreath). 

Now, get to cutting. The strips do not have be perfect by any means but typically mine are about 6 inches long by 1 inch wide. Same for the ribbon. 

*Tip: fold your fabric up and cut several layers at once - this makes the process a little faster. 

Now, one at a time, alternating different fabric and ribbon, start tying them onto the wire. It's very simple but somewhat tedious. 

*Tip: you don't have to fill each section of the wreath completely. I went about half way before I started on the next section. Once you get all the fabric on there and fluff it up and spread it out, it will look full - so, no need to completely fill the wreath (unless you just want to). 

Now you will start seeing what the finish product will look like.

And the final product! 

I finished it off with a flamingo themed Christmas stocking and then Friend added a Mele Kalikimaka sign to make it Hawaii Christmas official. 

*Picture coming soon!*

Also, here's a picture of the other Hawaii inspired Christmas wreath made for her Son and Daughter in law. I think they turned out great!

I wish everyone a very safe and Happy New Year! 

xo - KC

Long Flights and India Nights

Well, we survived! Our trip to India was quiet the adventure.... 

Where to start? I'm not going to go into full detail of every day, because I could write a book about our trip. But, I will say that we were full of emotion from the time we landed in Delhi to the time we took off. It's overwhelming for a not so seasoned traveler. And by that, I mean I LOVE to travel but I've only gone a few places. I love throwing myself into the different day to day activities of other cultures. I've hung out with the natives of Costa Rica in their local bars, I've walked high street morning and night of a small British village to pick up a pastry for breakfast or a bottle of wine and some fish and chips for the night's meal. I've danced to the music of the Dominican and taken shots of the most awful tasting liquor I have ever tasted, but the locals always insisted. But I didn't consider myself seasoned, until this trip. 

The flights were long....very long. After traveling for 22 hours, Hubs and I were ready for a nap. But first we had to fight the morning's traffic back to our hotel room. Wow! I thought Houston traffic was bad but boy was I wrong. Traffic signs and laws are just suggestions...cars going anyway they please. But the funny part is, I think the traffic moved a little better than Houston traffic. If you get in a grid lock, you just push your way through the crowd, tap on your horn to let people know you are there, and come out on the other side. Cows in your way? No worries, just give them a little nudge...they'll move! Ha! So amusing, but it works. Finally we reach our destination and we immediately started in on the wedding festivities. The ceremony's for India weddings are like nothing you could ever imagine. The rituals are filled with the most wonderful colors, unforgettable scents, and some of the most genuine people I have ever met. The food was bold and full of flavor and the music wouldn't let you sit still. Everyone was constantly making sure we were comfortable, we couldn't have asked for a better experience. Oh, and if you want to taste Indian food, find a wedding to go to - I thought my family liked to eat but our meals are nothing compared to these all night feasts! 

The poverty in the city was a hard pill to swallow, but that just comes with it. I don't think I fully understood poor until I walked the streets of India. And honestly, Hubs and I were a little uncomfortable until some of our new friends took us out shopping around the markets and we learned more about our surroundings. Yes, it's poor, and yes kids are begging for food and money right along side the dogs roaming the streets, but they survive, they make it work. It's really beautiful to see families working so hard together and seeing how much love and support they have for each other. We learned quiet a bit walking the streets of Ghaziabad. We learned that the coconut water and fruit juices are amazingly fresh and completely take over your taste buds, that you can bargain for anything, and we also learned to love riding on the back of a rickshaw (picture below - basically an over sized basket on the back of a bicycle). 

I would say the most stressful day of our trip was when we set out to see the Taj Mahal. Agra is an interesting city that sits about 150 miles south of New Delhi. Kind of quaint but at the same time it's a busy busy place! Monkeys are EVERYWHERE. I saw more monkeys in the middle of the city of Agra than I did in the rain forest of Costa Rica. And they were very mischievous! Did you know that the Taj Mahal (translates to the Crown Palace - one of many things I learned!) isn't out in the middle of no where? I always thought it was! But it sits in the middle of Agra. Once we got onto the grounds, we were overwhelmed with the amount of people wanting to help us. After meeting our tour guide, picking our ride into the park (camel or golf cart? Which would you choose?), and buying our entry tickets, we were walked through the most amazing gates and finally got our first glimpse of the white gem. It nearly takes your breath away. Gorgeous! We were very thankful for our tour guide as he really helped with picture taking and showing us around the property. That was our last day in India. On the drive back to Delhi, Steven and I were reflecting on our trip and all the memories we made with our new friends. We had some minor "bumps" in the road on the way back to Delhi that day....that lead to a complete meltdown later on....but we made it and we were SO ready to catch that plane home...oh, and eat some pizza!! 

We will never forget the experience we had in India. The food, the people, and most of all the memories we will have for a lifetime. Below are some pictures of our trip. I hope you enjoy!

Coconut water

Ride in the Rickshaw

Beautiful mehndi/henna - we were letting it dry...for 3 hours... 

The next day

The beautiful bride and groom at the reception 

Wedding site

Hubs and I showin' off our traditional India wedding outfit

 

Taj Mahal

Be safe! XO - KC

Plumbing Pipe and Wooden Shelves

Hey, y'all! It's Friday!

I wanted to post this real quick before I go sit in traffic for an hour or longer... blah!

Hubs and I are making these shelves! Made out of plumbing pipe, they have a lot of character and are great for an office or any home decor. This particular one was made for an office - very basic. Share with your family and friends and let me know if anyone wants to get going on their Christmas shopping! We'd love to make you a shelf!

I thought this would also be a good shelf to have in your kitchen to hold spices, flour, and sugar. You could also easily screw hooks in the bottom to hang coffee mugs on. 

KC Tip: You know how I always say flip things around, turn them over, and look at them at all different angles?? Well here's a tip with this shelf...flip it upside down! When you flip it over, the top (or bottom..?) still works as a shelf and the bar in the middle becomes a towel rack. This piece would be great in bathroom to hold a towel and some toiletries for your guests. 

Xo! Have a great weekend and as always, stay safe!

KC

New Bottoms, New Nightstand

Good evening, all! It's Sunday night which means I unfortunately have to go back to my day job tomorrow. Sunday's also start this horrible emotion that I like to call "Sunday Grumpies" which basically means, I've had such a fabulous weekend spending time with Hubs, doing some household crafts and furniture redo's (of course!), and thinking about how much I wish I could do all of this for a living. But hey, we all have to work, so back to the grind tomorrow!

Things have been a little crazy for Hub's and I lately. Busy busy! There have been weddings, trips, and life that have really been keeping us on the go! Oh, and we also decided to go to India to see a dear friend celebrate his wedding (coming soon to a post near you in December! Eeek!!). So, yes, I'm a little behind on the posts!

Okay, enough excuses as to why I haven't been posting. Let's get down to business! I had mentioned in  previous posts, Barn Wood Bench and A Vase and a Lamp Shade, that Hubs and I have a list of things we needed for our bedroom. Well guess what?! Today I finally get to cross everything off that list! We finally found the prefect nightstand to perform a little bit of Consigned Design magic on. Excited? I am!

Here's what we found:

Flea Market find: $100....minus $40 after a little bit of negotiating. This thing is ugly but it had great bones...well sort of. I'll get into that a little later.

First step was to get all of this ugly paint off of this poor piece of furniture. Little did we know how much paint was actually on this thing. LAYERS and layers. So, needless to say, this took a little a lot of elbow grease. I couldn't have done this without my friend, Paint Stripper. Actually, we used a spray on paint remover that worked great! You should be able to find this at any local home improvement store.

PLEASE be sure to use protective gloves, eye wear, and long sleeves to do this. If the wind catches any of this mist and gets on you, it will burn a little. This stuff is no joke. So please use with extreme caution. Also, do this in a well ventilated area, aka - outside, the smell is intense.

First, just spray the paint remover on like spray paint. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes until the paint starts to bubble (be sure to read instructions on the can as well!). The longer you let this sit, the easier it is to scrape off the old paint. Then use a steel paint scraper and get to scrapping! It's best to work in small sections. I started with the drawers and then did the rest of the piece.

Since there was so much paint on this silly thing, we had no choice but to sand off all the excess. But, I still think it's a good idea to do just to make sure your surface is nice and smooth. We used 80 grit sand paper for this.

Ignore the gardening, I never said I had a green thumb!

Back to the bones: Here's a little reminder to you while you are out junkin' (definition - going into the most run down places that have piles of crap in them and dig for a gem) - be sure to look at your piece entirely. We made the mistake of only opening the top two drawers of this piece while at the flea market, but once we got it home we realized the bottom drawers were falling apart. So, we decided to go ahead and put new bottoms in all of the drawers. Hubs went out and got some fancy ply wood (yes, I said fancy) and made new bottoms for each of the drawers. They turned out great!

I really wish I had taken a before picture of these drawers. You would have been shocked to see what the bottoms of them looked like.

Next step, prime! This is when I think the piece really starts to look like a new.

Last are the finishing touches. You can really finish this up however you would like. We actually bought a piece of furniture (I know! It was the first piece of furniture that we had actually bought new in a long time. Ha!) that we loved the finish on so we were trying to match it. We used the same antique gray paint we had finished our Barn Wood Bench with. Remember - once you do a coat of paint, let it dry for 24 hours, sand it down, and paint it again. I always try to do this a few times. It takes A LOT of patience but it's worth the extra time and work. Once the painting was complete, I sanded some key parts of the nightstand to really give it an antiqued look. After I got it roughed up a bit, I used some glaze and dark stain to complete the look.

Oh, and I can't forget about the new hardware! The original "hardware" (if you can call it that) that was on this piece only needed one screw to get it secured into place. We wanted to switch this up so we covered the old holes with some wood filler. Then Hubs got the new hardware put on. Here's another reminder - always measure twice. Don't tell him I told you this but the bottom drawer's hardware is a little off....actually its way off...which is why the final pictures are taken at an angle. Ha! Hopefully you can't tell.

Finished product!

Cost of redo: Approximately $70

Total cost of nightstand: About $130

Alright - bed time. Night y'all! Stay safe.

KC

PS - I will upload a picture soon of the finished product in its new home. You'll love it!

Burlap Bubble Wreath

It is so hot in Texas right now. And unseasonably, it has been raining every day which is NOT helping with the humidity.  I made a comment the other day that I was over summer and I am now ready for the cooler temperatures of fall and winter (well as much fall and winter you can get down here). Why do I live in Texas, again? I miss having 4 seasons!

So, with fall and winter on my mind, I decided it was time to start stocking up on holiday decorating! Actually, in all honesty, I really don’t like decorating for holidays (except for Christmas, of course) just because I don’t like the hassle of putting everything away. It makes me feel like I’m moving every other month. So, solution to that….door wreaths!

I’m thinking I might turn into a crazy wreath wife. I’m sure my husband will love that! But I had so much fun making this wreath that I see many many more in the future.

Here’s the list I plan on accomplishing:

Every day/Summer

Halloween

Fall/Thanksgiving

Christmas

Birthday (this will be in place of Valentine’s day)

Easter/Spring

Fourth of July

First of all I will say that I quickly learned that you need more burlap than you think (especially if you like a tighter look to your wreath). So, buy a little extra and if you don’t use all of it you can always take it back. Oh! And I will mention that the tighter woven jute is much easier to work with than the lose weave.

All you will need is your burlap ribbon/garland – I used 5 inch wide and 20 yard long spool but you can buy it in many variations – found in the floral section of your favorite craft store, a green wire wreath, pipe cleaner to match your burlap, and your accessories. You can choose to accessorize your wreath however you’d like but in this case I used barrette flowers  

So, when I first started this wreath adventure I couldn’t find instructions ANYWHERE on how to do this. I found people that sort of kind of explained it but most people just said “there isn’t a wrong way so just do what works for you.” That’s great advice but I need instructions! So, with their advice, this is the best way I found to do it and now I’m going to share it with you!

You may think I’m completely crazy but start out by unrolling your entire spool…..just do it!

1. Start by tying a knot on the inner most ring of your wire wreath (for a little extra support you can actually tie it to one of the divider pieces that runs perpendicular to the rest of the wreath).
2. Now, you are going to start weaving your burlap through the wires. Over, under, over under....
3.  Pull all 20 yards through your wire wreath and pull tight.
4. Now make your loops. You can do this as fluffy and loose or as small and tight as you want. I’d say my loops are on the small side - Personally I think it makes for a cleaner look.

     5.   Now go the other direction

     6.   Pull tight

     7.   Make your loops

     8.   Continue! 

Once you come to the end of your first roll of burlap you will need to tie off the end in a way that will keep what you’ve done, nice and tight. This can be done simply by using a pipe cleaner. Be sure you get pipe cleaner that’s the same or close to the same color as your burlap. Oh, and notice my helper in the picture below? He’s showing you how much of the wreath 20 yards of burlap covers.

As I mentioned before you can use whatever you would like to decorate your wreath. I found that the easiest way to do this is with barrettes. Craft stores have tons of these things and in several different colors and sizes (or you can even find them at girls accessory stores, too!). Barrettes are the easiest thing to use because they clip on to the burlap and will always stay put, AND they are easily changed out if you want a different look!

And here’s the final product! Simple and chic.

Oh yeah…I would suggest doing this outside. Apparently burlap sheds….EVERYWHERE. The shedding is worse than the big orange cat's. But if you do want to craft on your couch (like I do) then the shedding is easily cleaned up with a dryer sheet and/or a lint roller.

Have fun y'all and stay safe!

KC

Breakfast....cupcakes?

So, I wouldn't consider myself a really awesome cook. BUT I do like to try out new recipes. Hubs always gets mad at me gives me a hard time because I never follow the recipe exactly. But, hey! I’m my own person and I like doing things my own way. Ha!

One thing that’s really hard for me is breakfast. Unfortunately, I have a day job and even more unfortunate is that it is an hour to an hour and half drive from my front door to the parking garage at my office. Blaaaah! So needless to say I’m typically in a pretty big hurry when I am getting ready for my day. I get into these really bad habits of stopping for breakfast (yes, I too have a Starbucks addiction) but I’m trying to come up with easy breakfast ideas that me and Hubs will both like.

This was one we tried this week and it was a pretty big hit! Hashbrown Cupcakes! Easy to make, grab on the go, heat up at the office. Super simple and pretty tasty! There are many different ways you can do this. Personally, I’d prefer to add some onions and peppers into mine but Hubs would wrinkle his nose at that…SO we stick with the basics.

First preheat your oven to 350 F.

Then, all I did was brown 1 pound of sausage (you can use turkey sausage to make it healthier!) and mix that with one bag of frozen hash browns (thawed), a little bit of milk, 5-6 eggs depending on size, 1 and ¼ cup of shredded cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.

You can make this as a casserole but for the purpose of it being a “grab and go” meal, I decided to use muffin pans! This mixture makes about 18-24 cakes depending on how many eggs you use and how full you fill your muffin pan. Be sure to grease your pans first because the hash browns WILL stick.

Then start filling your muffin pans. Quick tip for a not so messy process -  use an ice cream scoop!

Now, place in oven and bake for about 25 minutes. Be sure to check on them every once and a while…you don’t want them too crispy. Once they start to turn golden brown, pull them out of the oven and let them cool in the muffin pan for about 10 minutes. Once cooled, you can use a knife or spoon to get them out. They make such a perfect little cupcakes!

Reheat instructions: 25-35 seconds per cake in the microwave

Hope you enjoy! If you come up with any fun variations, please share in the comments! I’d love to hear about your creations!

Stay safe.

KC