Hello

Just popping in with a fun, quick project I did to brighten up my porch for summer. I was out and about at the Hobby Lobby and came across this fun easle that was on sale. It was screaming to go on my front porch.

I have wanted to do a sign for my porch for a while, but I didn't have room to hang anything anywhere. I grabbed this easle, and went to work on my silhouette. I knew I just wanted something simple, yet a little fun and modern looking. My son actually came up with the idea of using a chevron print, and I wanted it to just say a simple Hello.

I decided to give it a pop of apple green since everything on it was so black and white. So fun, and it is not permanent. I can change it up, put it in a room in my house, or just keep it how it is. The vinyl will peel right off when I am done with it.

Here is how it looks on the porch. Yes, I know, I need to fix the flags so they are centered. Crazy wind. Pin It

Chicken Alfredo Pizza..fast...easy...Yum!

Today I am posting a fun family recipe that is so dang easy to make. The best part, the kids love it, my hubby loves it, and I love it because it is so fun and easy to make. Win win! Perfect for a summer night.

Chicken Alfredo Pizza
Pizza crust (either your favorite recipe from scratch or refrigerated dough)
4 boneless chicken breasts cooked and diced
3 heads of broccoli chopped and cooked
1 bottle Alfredo sauce
2 cloves of garlic
Mozzarella cheese
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Roll out your dough and cook for five to ten minutes. The crust doesn't have to be totally cooked, but just started. While the dough is cooking, cut up your pieces of chicken into cubes and cook them in a pan adding the garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Cut up you broccoli and place it in a sauce pan.  Cover with water cooking until tender. Take the pizza crust out of the oven and spread the alfredo sauce on top. Sprinkle the chicken, broccoli, and top with mozzarella cheese. Put them in the oven and bake for another five to ten minutes until golden brown on top. So good...so easy.
This recipe usually makes two pizzas. Pin It

Painting cabinets

I recently had the opportunity to teach a class about furniture and cabinet painting and re finishing. This was such a fun topic to talk about. Finding old and dis-guarded furniture and giving it new life is what I love doing most. My family jokes with me that besides my piano, no piece of furniture is safe around here. It is true.  What better way to transform a room than to give the pieces in that room some new life. If you can do that for just a few bucks worth of paint....even better right.  Here are some fun tips and tricks I have learned along the way through my own trial and error that I want to share.
First I am always asked how I prep the furniture that I am going to paint. Let's say I am doing a kitchen full of cabinets. With so many doors and drawers, sanding each one seems like a way daunting task. I have found a product that I use not only on my cabinets, but the furniture both wood, or already painted.

I first remove my cabinet doors and all of the hardware laying them on cardboard large pieces of cardboard. I love painting on cardboard because you don't get the goop on the sides of the doors you get when you lay them on plastic. Then I look at the cabinets and see if there are any spots that need actual sanding or if there are any holes to be filled with putty.  After that is done I take a clean rag and wet it with the sander deglosser and go to work wiping them down.  The great thing about this product is that it both cleans and sands your cabinets. Two steps in one. Next I prime the cabinets with Zinnser primer. 

This is the primer I love using. They have many types of primer, but I this oil base primer works great. You can still paint water based paints over it. I brush on the primer, doing two coats, and sanding between each coat.  After the cabinets are primed, I move onto paint. I always have just used regular satin finished wall paint from Lowes or Home Depot. I paint two coats, usually using a foam roller. This has always given me the desired finish that I am trying to achieve. When I am painting my cabinet doors, I always start painting the backs first, then when they dry, usually overnight, I flip them over to do the front. I do not install them back onto the cabinets until giving them a good 24 hours of drying time. I never fully shut my cabinet doors or drawers for a week after painting them. If you want to sand the edges for a more distressed finish, always wait at least a week before sanding them. 

While looking for ideas on pinterest, I came across this inventive idea from This Old House. 

They said they drilled two small hooks on the back of the doors, painted one side, flipped them over, painted the other side and hung them to dry on hangers. http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/step/0,,20315665_20696254,00.html

When your cabinets are done, don't forget the hardware. Nothing transforms cabinets or a piece of furniture than the knobs. I love to take chunky knobs and spraying them a fun glossy color.

It adds such a pop of personality to the room. It is amazing how some work and some paint can give a room new fun life.

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Outdoor spaces

I love summer. I am so glad that summer is here, things have slowed down, and yard work has begun. I love working outside. I look at it as another fun space to create.  Every year I do a little something different on my porch. I either paint my door a new color or spray some accessories. Either way, nothing stays the same on there for very long.
Two years ago my door was turquoise, and my porch looked like this.

Last year I re painted my door an apple green and found a clock to hang on the side of my porch. I sprayed the clock a turquoise color, and the two chairs on the porch got placed in the backyard and I put only one chair on the porch. It gave the porch a larger sense of space.

It was bright and colorful and I really liked the green color for my door. This year not a lot has changed. I kept the door color the same, but got out my spray can and painted my lantern a dark eggplant color. I painted the clock gray and found some fun pots at Tai Pan that I thought went well. It is a little more toned down, but I love the pop of purple.

I love the neutral color for the clock and the pop the turquoise hands give it.

I also added some fun things to my back porch. I have wanted something for under my window for a long time now, and didn't want to necessarily do window boxes.  I decided to put three large planters under there instead. The only problem was finding planters where I live. They either weren't big enough, the style was wrong, or they were more than I was willing to pay. So my hubby and I went on a trip to Cal Ranch.  Not my favorite store, but I thought they might have something...and they did.  Large metal garbage cans.  I loved the idea instantly.  It was fun, unexpected, and unusual.

They were the perfect size and I love the way the flowers and grass look in them.

We also made this fountain using two pots. The larger on the bottom to hold flowers and the smaller on top for the water feature.

With just some spray paint, some creative pots, and some pretty flowers, outside spaces are a fun way to add personality to any house. Pin It