Saturday, December 22, 2012

DIY: $4.99 Hair Accessory Organizer

When you 3 month old daughter has this much hair, hair accessories are unavoidable. You can try your hardest to resist, but once you clip that first barrette in her hair you are hooked for life!

In addition to me buying every cute little headband or barrette I see, many people have made me hair accessories for her and that is where the problem lies. I am overflowing with hair accessories and needed a way to organize them. I was talking it over with my sister Luci one day and she said something about seeing an accordion hat rack that would work to organize them and from there the ideas began to flow...

First I went on Amazon in search for an accordion hat rack. I found this one below for $4.99!

 I took it apart.

Painted it pink with the leftover paint I had from decorating her room. (Notice I attached all the knobs on cardboard for easier painting.)

Next, I used some leftover ribbon I had from her room and looped it through the holes of the pieces.

I ended up with all the pieces looking like this: 

I secured the ribbon with a drop of hot glue to the backside of all the pieces.

Then I made sure to press the ribbon down until it stuck and wiped off any excess.

I ended up with all the pieces having ribbons glued to them and just needed to reassemble the hat rack.

I decided to change out the center knobs for some more decorative ones I found at Target.

I hung it up in her room,

and then filled it with all the hair accessories.

Let's just say this is one of the quickest and ONLY projects I have done since she was born. (Just a little busy with a toddler and a 3 month old if you can't tell by the lack of blogs!) It functions great to organize all of her hair accessories and adds some cute decoration to her room. This one is almost full, so I might have to make another one!

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!




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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

20 Minute Meal: Low Calorie Salmon with Creamy Lemon Caper Sauce

I had a hot date tonight, my son. I am trying to add more fish to our diet and because my husband doesn't like it very much I decided to try to eat it on the nights my husband is working. I came up with this yummy recipe tonight! Not only is it super good, but it's low calorie!

4 (4 oz) salmon pieces (You will notice in my pics I only made 2 pieces for my son and I)
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
3 tablespoons light butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons capers, drained and rinsed

Season salmon with salt and pepper. Place in baking dish and cook for 15-20 minutest at 400 degrees until flaky.

While the salmon is cooking, melt butter in a small pan over medium heat.

Once butter is melted, whisk in evaporated milk

Then add in dill

Lemon pepper seasoning

And lastly the capers

Whisk continuously until reduced to sauce consistency, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat. (Make sure you whisk continuously  In between and whining toddler and a crying baby, I stopped whisking and my sauce is not as smooth as I would like it to be.)

Pour sauce over salmon and served with a nicely sized portion of green veggies!

The Skinny: Serves 4 @ 316 calories


*calorie information from http://caloriecount.about.com






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Friday, November 30, 2012

DIY: Hidden Storage Wall Cubby

A few months ago, I wrote a blog about my Paint Only Remodels of our Main Bathroom. Now I have talked about this about a million times before, but if you missed it-- I am only allowed to remodel this house using paint. We plan on building a new house on this land in a few years, so my husband doesn't want me to waste money on something we will eventually bulldoze. (You can read more about it on the blog above.)

Part of the issue with our bathroom is storage. We have three drawers and two cupboards...which are all a perfect height for a toddler to get into and unpack every day while getting ready. It's very annoying. We have tried drawer hooks, but he still gets into them. I set out to create another storage unit on the wall, but we really didn't  have room for another medicine cabinet, so I came up with this idea for Storage Wall Cubbies. A few months ago I created these fake paintings and wrote a little DIY Faking a Painting.

I thought they would be great to use as a cover to a wall cubby! A great way to hide the clutter and add some art to the wall. Here is my little DIY on how I created these Hidden Storage Wall Cubbies

To start you need to create two 10"x10" Storage Wall Cubbies:
1'x4'x7' Pine Boards
2' square of 1/4" plywood
Nailgun (or hammer and small nails)
Miter Saw
Table Saw
Wood Glue
4 small hinges
2 cabinet magnet catches

First cut your 1'x4'x6' pine board into 8 pieces that are 10" long with a 45 degree angle on each piece:

Each cubby will need 4 boards that look like below. I like to line them up to make sure they are all the exact same size.

With the boards above, you will assemble your wall cubby. I started with gluing the boards together to make a square.

You will end up with a square like below. (Use can use a L-square ruler to make sure it is square.)

Using an nail gun (or just a hammer and nails) reinforce the box in each corner.

Measure the outside of your cubby box and cut the 2' square of 1/4" plywood into two pieces to be the back of your cubby box. My cubbies are 10"x10" so I cut the plywood to be a 10"x10" square.

Attach the back using a nail gun (or hammer and nails) to create more support to the box. 

You now have a finished wall cubby (or two in my case!)

Now we need to sand and paint it to look professional :) Most likely, you will have some sort of a little gap where the boards meet. Use some wood fill to fill this gap.

Let it dry overnight.

Then sand it with 60 grit, 100 grit, and then 200 grit.

Paint the box your desired color. My frames on my fake paintings are brown, so I matched the color for the cubbies. 

After two coats and a day of drying you should have two wall cubbies that look like this:

Next, install the hinges. Measure two inches from the top and bottom on the frame of your fake paintings.


Install the hinges and you will have a frame that looks like this:

Next, on the cubbies mark where the hinges of the fake painting will meet cubbie. Make sure you give them enough room to close and line up on the cubby straight.

Drill holes in the cubby for the hinges and then screw the hinges in place. 

Now to attach the magnetic catches. These will make sure the frame on the front will stay closed.

Measure two inches to the inside of the cubbies.

Install the magnetic catches. 

On the frame of the fake paintings, install the metal plate for the magnetic catches.


You should end up with some finished Hidden Storage Wall Cubbies that look like this.


Install them on the wall, preferable in a stud so they can handle weight of whatever you put in them. Once installed you have a couple of Hidden Storage Wall Cubbies that hide all your junk you don't want people to see and 

add a little wall decoration to the bathroom at the same time!






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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Thanksgiving Warm Fuzzies

Well I did it!  I made my first Thanksgiving dinner!  Truth be told I wasn't very nervous because my Mom was there in case I had any questions.  But everything turned out fabulously and was quite delicious (if I do say so myself).


Of course, in the midst of delicious food and the clatter of silverware, I couldn't help but look around and feel so incredibly thankful.  It was just a small gathering, hubby, my parents, and myself.  Still, I was surrounded by three people who have had a profound impact on my life.

My parents continue to inspire me with their wisdom, faith and generosity.  I hope I am half as amazing as they are when I have my own children.

~~~

And my husband.  He inspires me daily with his kind heart and genuine spirit.  It is such a gift to be married to such an amazing, faith-filled man.  How did I get so lucky?


I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating with your loved ones.  It is a beautiful life that God gives us and we have so much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving.


~Christi


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