Oscar loves twine

 he likes to pretend like it's a fancy necklace.

so pretty.  so fancy.

puppy chow

have you ever made this before?

I used to make it all the time when I was in high school a century ago.  I kinda forgot about it and was in the cereal aisle the other day and remembered!  So I bought the Chex cereal and went to town!

1 box of Chex cereal (corn or rice.  I used rice)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2-2 cups confectioners' sugar

(when I was young I omitted the butter and vanilla)

Melt butter, peanut butter and chocolate chips together.  Add vanilla.  Stir.

Pour chocolate mix over cereal and stir (or mix with hands) until coated.

Add confectioners' sugar to coat.  (if you put the mix in a bowl with a top that seals on tightly, you can put the sugar in and then seal the bowl and shake it up, baby!)

Next time I think I might replace the peanut butter with Nutella!

I know.  I'm wild.

;)

origami cat!!!

needless to say I was super excited when I came across this.

More difficult than a paper crane, but totally worth it!

his face hooks over the top of the page... adorable!

the perfect book to use a cat bookmark on.

wedding picture project

Mister got me this distressed frame when we got married and it has been so naked for the past 10 months so I decided to dress it up.

I used Picnik to edit some of our wedding pics into a cool retro black and white, then I cropped them into squares.

It cost less than $5 (including shipping) to print them on Shutterfly as 4x6 prints (not bad considering some other sites who would charge at least $1 per print.  I had 16 printed.)

Still have a ton of leftover jute twine from the big day.

yay!

cutesy pootsy!

black bean and mushroom chili

inspired by this pin.

I saw this and I had to make it.  I didn't want to make it in the slow cooker because we didn't have time.  So I just cooked it in a big pot (dutch oven... whatever)

A little spicy so if you're weird about spices... eliminate the chipotle peppers with adobo sauce and you should be okay.

we like cheese in our house.

mmm.

oscar loves pillow fortresses.

no one can penetrate his wall of pillows.

back to regular posting next week... promise!!

Oscar loves box springs

someone got a new bed frame... which means Oscar finds a way to climb to the top of the vertical box springs and chill.

holding on for dear life.

gettin' comfy.

gettin' really comfy.

DIY felt flower

It's always good to know how to make a felt flower... you never know when you may need one.

tools.  felt, scissors, hot glue gun.

cut a strip of felt.

I eyeballed it.  It's about 1.75 inches wide.

hot glue it in half.

*make sure you hot glue just the edge.

cut small slits all the way down the edge.

*opposite the hot glue edge, fool.

stop, drop and roll.

*stop and drop are optional.

this is what it should look like upside down.

and right side up.

now use your fingers to fluff the petals.

whoa!  they're multiplying!!

*notice different slit widths make a different looking flower.

**a shorter length on the felt gives you a smaller flower.

Now you can make a flower for your hair, make a wreath, gift wrap, make a picture frame, make a pizza... NO do NOT put felt flowers on your pizza.  I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.

creamy caprese pasta + cheesey garlic bread

this pin inspired me.

gathering ingredients.

creamy and tomatoey.

penne not my fave, I may try it with farfalle or a different type of pasta next time.

CHEESE!

garlic bread was easy peasy.

french bread, butter, minced garlic, topped with mozzarella and Italian spices.

meatless.

marvelous.

oscar loves drawers

not drawers like undies, sicko.

drawers that clothes go in.

"your chest of drawers is a little outdated, mom.  maybe we should refinish it or paint it or something."

I know, Oscar.  I know.

beware: this milkshake would certainly bring all the boys to your yard.

I have a friend who claims that she hates nutella.  I don't really fully believe her.  I mean, seriously?  How can you hate this stuff?  I think she might have something wrong with her.  I'm not naming any names, but her blog is here.  haha.

This was super easy to make.

vanilla ice cream (about 3 scoops for one serving), a heaping tablespoon of nutella (I mean, heaping), milk (I eyeballed it.  more for thin, less for thick).  Hang on to your syrup.

mix, pour in a wine glass (it will make you feel fancier, trust me) and pour a little choco syrup on the top.

so good.  SO GOOD!

goals, aspirations, hopes, dream boards

our new New Year's tradition.

"aren't we done talking about New Year's yet?" you say?

not quite.

We've done it before, but not on New Year's.  I think it's most appropriate to do on the first day of the year.  Like starting anew.  Reclaiming your life. 

no.  the couch is not where they belong.

the top of my board.

my whole board.

the mister's board.  He put chocolate chip cookies on it just because he loves them.  he's kinda awesome.

DIY sparkly star

we went to a casual party for New Year's, so we didn't get dressed up.  I wanted to be sparkly though so I made this to wear in my hair.  Here's how it went down...

I drew a star on card stock, cut it out, traced it onto some felt (any color would do) and cut it out again.

I glued the card stock star to the felt star.

I painted the card stock a metallic gold.

(you probably could skip this step, but I wanted to make sure kraft color didn't show through the glitter)

After the paint dried, I put a thin coat of Mod Podge on the star and immediately covered it in glitter.

shake, shake shake and there you are!

hot glue a barrette on the back... 

and stick it in your hair!

now I'm sparkly.  thank goodness!