Random Thursday Ramblings

I wanted to give y'all a few updates. Remember the pumpkin pancake recipe? Well, here they are..

I must say, they were yummy! I tricked my husband into liking them, which is not something that I am able to do often. I made, plated, buttered and smothered them in syrup so he wouldn't notice the nice orange coloring.  I was wrong, he did. 

D: "Is there something different about these pancakes?"

K: "No, why?"

D: "They just look a little different."

K: "Hmm, I don't know."

D: "Mmm, these are good!" (pause) "Are these pumpkin?"

K: "Hahahahaha, Yes! Do you love them?!"

D: "Yeah, they're good."

D: "Buuuut, I still like the other....

K: "Nope! No buts allowed, you already said mmm! and that you liked them!"

"You're just saying that now because you know that they're pumpkin and you don't like to try anything different!" "You're not allowed to criticize after you said you really liked them."

If I would have told him before he tried them he would have already pre-judged them. So I've learned little tricks to change his thinking...but trust me, it's very hard to do!

So my grade on the pumpkin pancakes?! I will give them an A++! So good!

Now, they won't be fluffy, they'll be a bit more dense because of the pumpkin puree. So don't think you've done anything wrong.

I have a fun idea for all you moms out there!

What's better than pumpkin shaped and flavored pancakes...with chocolate chips in them! Mmm, I might be making this for David and I because I love stuff like this!

Since we're on the topic of breakfast and pumpkin...

Happy National Coffee Day!

Except BOO! on Starbucks because they aren't participating in a free coffee give away. Where's the coffee love Starbucks? Seriously!? But could you imagine the craziness that would ensue on every single Starbucks location! Yikes!

Do you remember when I was talking about these from Villeroy & Boch...

and do you remember when I said you could find something like this for much less at any antique/flea market/store? Well, I did...

Isn't the resemblance so crazy! It's the same design, shape and style of glasses and all! I wasn't even trying to stumble across this! So strange. The only annoying thing is that you have to buy this as a set and I don't have a desire to own all of these pieces. Sold separately they would be around $3.50, give or take some change. That's a steal in comparison to the Villeroy & Boch that sells for $14.99.

Then, do you remember my earring frame thingy? Well, I made one for my sister...

Green to match her room...

a little distressed...

and I even painted the back two different colors of metallic gold because it was just ugly. It's not that good of a paint job but it's just the back. Now I just have to attach the picture hanger piece.

It cost me about $8 to make this one because I already had all of the supplies from my first one. I bought the frame at HL in the clearance section for $4, I bought the paint for a couple of bucks and then the wood pieces on the back to raise it out from the wall. (you can find those in one of the aisles at HL and the frame pieces actually attach together on the corners...David had to cut down a couple to make the frame smaller...then just glue it down with Gorilla Glue) The frame was originally silver so when distressed, silver and black show through.

Uh, so cute right?! I love these address labels! I get so excited about the little things but if I didn't, who would?! I ordered 140 of these from Vista Print for $6. That's all! I'm not sure if it was a special or they always offer this but I felt like it was a pretty good deal! I had to mark out our address for the crazies out there!

Confession: No, I haven't made my ruffle shirt yet, but Mom is coming this weekend and that means she gets to help me! I just have a feeling this is not a project that I can do alone for the first time. While we are doing that on Saturday, Dad and David might hit up the gun show in Fort Worth and then off to little Lincon Nimz's 2nd Birthday Party! I can't believe he's 2! Actually today is his birthday so....

Happy 2nd Birthday Lincoln!!

And last but not least, we have an upcoming event that I'm very excited about...

My girlfriend Ashley and I decided to throw a wreathe decorating party for our girlfriends and their girlfriends. I'm so excited!!! I just created this little invite on Pingg, super easy. I can't tell you anything else because I don't want to spoil the fun! But the gist of the party is...fun Fall treats, girl time, door raffle and you get to create a Fall or Christmas wreathe to fancy up your house for the Holidays! It should be a fun time had by all!

I can't wait to tell you about it, but that won't be for a few more weeks! So until then have fun with your fall decorating...I'm already thinking Christmas...trying to get ahead of the game!

Check out The Lettered Cottage! It's great and they have tons of mantle decorating ideas! I'm linking you to a specific post because it's great! Check it out!

Fall Tablescape LOVE

I spent most of my day yesterday coming up with centerpiece ideas for my kitchen table. It didn't take long to figure out what I wanted to do because A) I'm on a budget (and if I weren't I would bargain shop because I'm all about it!) and B) I want everything Pottery Barn. If I could order the entire store, I would.

So it all started with a few pieces that I already had...gold candles from my wedding, crystalish candle stick/pillar holders from my wedding, a gold vase from my wedding, gold floral pick filler (whatever they're called) left over from the wedding and artificial wheat filler leftover from a vase I did in the entry several months ago. I gathered it all together and with my inspiration photos ingrained in my head...I went budget shoppin'!

Inspiration that I drool over every time I get the catalogue:

Where from? PB, duh!

Oh my goodness! Isn't it just magnificent?! It makes me happy just looking at it, ahhh! Then I get sad because I'm thinking, "It would cost me a fortune to order ALL of that greatness!" So I decided I'm just going to create my own PB-esque look on a serious budget!

So here it is...then I'll tell you how I budgeted...

Here's a couple of pictures without the fun instagram settings...

I'm still lacking a pumpkin and couple of gold floral picks...but I thought brown feathers might be a nice touch too. Who knows, I'll eventually stumble upon something else that I must have and want to add. (Notice my little buddies in the background...that pretty much sums up their day, watching me do anything and everything. Momma's boys deluxe!!)

So how much?? I spent around $30-$35 dollars. I'm very pleased with the outcome and I think $30ish is a steal for a fabulous centerpiece! I'll tell you how....

Owl: Ross, $4.99
Mercury Glass Pumpkins (2): TJ Maxx, $9.99 each...$20.00
Wicker/Rattan Pumpkin: Hobby Lobby, $7.99 with 50% off...$4.00
Orange/Brown Pumpkin: Lonestar Antiques, FREE! (It was cracked on the bottom and the tag said free, so I took it and glued it...who looks at the bottom?
Burlap: Hobby Lobby, $3.20 (I bought 2 yards so I could have the length of my table, I folded it into 1/4ths and used 1/4 of it...so I have plenty leftover to play with! I used a 40% off coupon that is on the website and I just showed them my phone. I just hemmed the edges to keep from unraveling)

Everything that I already had is from Hobby Lobby...ya can't beat their 50% off sales!

To complete my tablescape I would add these place mats or something similar...

I would add these gold chargers or similar....

My dishes are from PB and they look like this...



Obsessed with my Gabriella Dinnerware from the infamous PB! Love love!

LOVE this stemware/glassware from Villeroy & Boch...it's GORGEOUS!!! I would use the amber color or anything that is similar and still amber...but I would really want these...and I would use the Goblet because it's the most fabulous. To-Die-For! (Go to antique stores/markets/flea markets...it's so easy to find vintage amber stemware/glassware for sooo cheap.)

Um but wait, it gets better....

Hello Christmas tablescape!!! Ahh, these are GORGE! I can't decide which one I love the most...I love the minty, silvery green but I'm so drawn to the deep garnet-like red. Ah, this is too much!

Then I would do something like this because it looks fab...



Oh but wait, we're on a budget...sorry PB (sad face) 

($26 for 4)

(This is more like $5-10 for 4!)

So cute! Right?! But minus the number and in the middle of my plate because we're not at a wedding..(stating the obvious).

Okay, this is so cute and you would just have to spend some change on a tiny bit of ribbon! (and go on a scavenger hunt in a park or in your yard for these)

So let me share my most exciting purchase with you and my crazy ways to find a great deal on the "knock-offs"...

As I mentioned, I drooled over the PB pumpkins this year. I was reading a blog the other day and noticed this gal's mercury glass pumpkins...I immediately thought PB... jealousy! I kept reading and she said she purchased them at HomeGoods! What?!?! I got on the phone and called every HomeGoods in the metroplex. Sold Out was the reoccurring phrase, sad day for me. So I called the next couple of days and same thing, different day. So last night I was running around and I thought I would run into Garden Ridge to see if there was something somewhat similar to these amazing mercury glass pumpkins. Nada. I was close to TJ Maxx and thought, "I'm just gonna run in for a second and take a quick look around." Welp, I'm pretty sure the "fall/Halloween" section was as big as a tiny coat closet. I was glancing quickly, about to leave and oh my shining stars...TWO mercury glass pumpkins (faux of course, but it looks real) staring at me in the face for $9.99 a piece. I'm pretty sure I could have skipped and whistled to the check-out. In my head that's what I was doing, ha! My husband couldn't quite understand my excitement. I just told him I saved him SO much money and he was equally elated.

I'll post updated pics eventually...if I update it. I'm quite pleased with it just the way it is. I would really like something like this...

PB carved pumpkins but white washed...I'm sure I can find this elsewhere for less.

And I would like to find one or two of these...

But thinner...I love adding different levels.

Here are some more HL lovelies that you might like...

This lamp is unrelated. I would just liked it for my guest bedroom, minus the brown shade, plus a white lineny textured shade. So fab!

I love the turquoise but I wanted to stay neutral and it's a little too loud for me. If I liked B&W I would totally use those because they are so cute, but I don't ever decorate with black. To create an extremely modern fall centerpiece I would definitely go with the B&W and turquoise metallic pumpkins...its just not my style.

The wheels in my brain are already churning for Christmas....I'm really excited!! And of course it will all be created on a budget!

Other happenings...

One of my girlfriends and I are cookin' up something really fun for fall and I can't wait to share! Annnd here is the fabulous tortilla soup that I was yacking about a couple of posts ago!



Mmm-Mmm Good! I made it Wednesday night and it made 6-8 meals...in this house. My husband's bowls tend to practically overflow.

I used FF sour cream, low-sodium chicken broth, part-skim mozzarella (the only cheese that is always available low-fat), a few chips crumbled up and one sliver of avocado chopped up! I ate this for lunch for 3 days this week and I still lost 2 pounds! Not too shabby!

Pumpkin Pancakes in the morning!!!

Happy Tablescaping...and bargain shopping!!!

New Project! Excited..Nervous!

Look what I found!!!

Amazing ruffle tee! Since I recently learned how to ruffle, (not that great yet) I think this should be my next sewing project! Isn't it sooo cute! What's great about it? Well...love that it's a soft gray t-shirt, love the color, can be dressed up and down....wouldn't it look cute with jeans and cowboy boots and maybe some big  Texas turquoise earrings? I'mmm thinking YES!

I'm forcing my sister to make it too so she can lend me a hand with her ruffling skills that are by far more advanced than mine! Ooooh I can't wait! This weekend? Probably so!

If it turns out great I might be making a white one or a gray and white!

I linked the site above for anyone that wants to give it a go! If you do, let me know so we can compare notes because I'm not that skilled in the ruffling department yet!

Happy Ruffling!

Fall Comfort Food ~ Recipes

I've been scouring for some yummy new recipes and found a few that I'm going to try. So I thought I'd share the deliciousness! I really like to include pictures of the recipes that I try out but I'm being a bit premature and sharing before I make!

When September rolls around I'm on a pumpkin craze pretty much until the last day of November. I make pumpkin bread every year and need to find an even better recipe so when I do I'll share. I stole stumbled upon this recipe today on one of my sister's girlfriends blog (Jordan McCall)....

Pumpkin Pancakes

(107 calories per pancake)

2 c. of whole wheat white flour

3 tbsp. brown sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground allspice

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1 1/2 c. skim milk

1 c. pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tbsp. oil

2 tbsp. vinegar

Now of course to make these probably a bit tastier and fattier you can use white flour and 2% or whole milk. But I'm always trying to "health" things up if I can and she mentioned that these were yummy just like this so I trust her judgement! I always use light maple syrup but I'm sure they would taste even better with real maple syrup!

I love making soup when the cool weather rolls around...I could live off of this stuff! I've actually made this soup before but I have to look up the recipe every fall on my sister's friends blog (Kelly). It's super yummy and makes quite a bit so you can adjust the ingredients accordingly.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

3-4 chicken breasts (shredded)

chicken broth

diced tomatoes

roasted green chile's

onion

zucchini

garlic

rice (I don't usually use rice)

corn

black beans

fresh jalapenos

Spices: garlic powder, onion powder,

paprika, tiny bit of cumin, salt, pepper

Toppings: avocado, sour cream, cheese,

tortilla chips or tortilla strips

To "health" it up....I don't usually use cheese, I use a tiny dab of light sour cream, a very small amount of avocado and reduced sodium chicken broth to cut back on calories, fat and sodium.

Another yummy for the fall...this would actually be great to do if you had a bunch of company! I've never made these brisket tacos but they sound and look absolutely amazing! I can't wait to try them!

I wish I could post a picture of how good they look but I don't feel comfortable stealing Kelly's picture from her blog. So I'll post a picture after I make them :) I would direct you to her blog but I'm not sure if it's open and I don't want to blast her either so this will have to do :)

Brisket Tacos

1 brisket (boneless)

1 can chipotle chile's in adobo sauce

1 beer, Guinness or dark Mexican beer

Seasonings: salt, pepper, garlic, onion, cumin,

oregano, chili powder, paprika, seasoned salt

corn tortillas

monterrey jack cheese

avocado

minced sweet yellow onion (about 1/4 c. or so)

lime wedges

1 can beef broth

Kelly's Instructions:

 Place the well-seasoned brisket fat-side-up in the crock pot.

Place some of the chipotle peppers around it, and smear all of the adobo sauce all over the fat.

Pour in the beer and 1 can of beef broth.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours 

Discard the fat, shred the meat, serve on corn tortillas with avocados, sweet onion, cheese, cilantro and some lime wedges!

I can't wait to try this! It sounds super easy and sooo yummy! I love crock-pot meals, you hardly have to do anything to prepare them!

Enjoy!!!

Sewing, Crafting and stuff!

I haven't shared any of my sewing/craft projects in a while so I figure it's about time! (But honestly I've taken a break from that stuff for a while too so it's not much!) When mom came into town we had sewing camp and she taught me how to ruffle! I needed this tutorial because I found a wreathe that I really wanted to make from the Jones Design Blog on my page.

This is my practice ruffle before mom came to town and I had to take a picture of it so she could tell me what I was doing wrong. Well, I was doing a lot wrong. My sewing machine was on the wrong setting, I needed to sew 2 stitches to ruffle as opposed to 1 (I didn't need to but she said the ruffle is prettier), etc...the list goes on!

When mom came to visit this is what she helped me make! My fabulous ruffle wreathe! But now, I actually think it looks WAY boring and I'm coming up with ideas to snazz it up. I don't like using fake flowers, but I do like foliage and dried, natural products so we'll see. She did all the stitching because she's faster and then I ruffled and she ruffled a little too. I just hot glued my ruffles around and voila'! To make this go to Jones Design blog and click on tutorials. It's easy to find!

So then, I had all this burlap that I bought and wanted to make pillows for the guest bedroom. I also had this white canvas material (which is just way too thick to ruffle) and so I thought it would make a pretty ruffle across the burlap. This below was a practice ruffle.

Well, I had some serious issues! I was so mad at this darn fabric! You should have seen me, yikes! I had ruffled this extremely long piece of fabric to stretch across my pillow and I broke my thread in the middle/end! I was FURIOUS! It had already taken me extremely too long because I'm so new at this. I called my mom and lets just say I may have cried just a little bit because I was so frustrated and well I'm a perfectionist. I can't believe I'm admitting this, but yes I'm 28 and I called my mom and cried...whatever, you know you've done it (wink)! She said, "Honey, I've done that so many times and there's not much you can do. You'll just have to start over and next time don't use such a heavy fabric." Grrr, not what I wanted to hear. I was determined to beat this ruffle! So I used my practice ruffle, I cut my long ruffle into two even pieces (what I had left) and placed the cut pieces on either side of my practice ruffle and stitched them together and tacked it onto my pillow! It's not perfect, but hey, it serves its purpose!

The finished product! My stitch to close the pillow up is pretty ugly but at that point I just wanted to be done! I also need to practice doing a whip stitch, I'll get there. (p.s. it's really hard to sew burlap, it gets all womper jawed!)

I had 2 old euro pillow forms from when I lived in my Lewisville apartment which was maybe 3 years ago and I knew that I would eventually use them for something. So my day came and I thought, hmmm, burlap euros!! Genius! I first covered the pillow forms in white canvas material and then the burlap. They turned out great, super easy! I need some more pillows, something frilly and colorful for either side of the small burlap pillow.

David and I went to Grandma and Grandad Trout's in Ardmore in August to hear him preach and came home with two of these! LOVE THEM! I can't wait to recover them in a modern, funky fabric! Thanks Grandma! Grandma's trash is my new treasure!

My incredible grandparents! They are my hero's! David and I love visiting them and wish we could more often! Grandma is one of my very best friends, we have so much in common and have exactly the same taste! My grandfather is my hero and I look up to him more than anyone else! The best people anyone could ever have the pleasure of knowing and loving :) Lucky me!

Our guest room is in progress. The window is mounted way too high I've decided, I need a white bed skirt, need to recover the chairs, need more wall decorations, 2 more pillows, I SO wish we could paint the walls but we can't :(, I need to snazz up the wreath (boring), etc...the list goes on! I don't even want to show you the rest of the room! Yikes! But honestly, this room is not a priority and we don't want to spend too much money on decorating while we are renting. I'd rather wait until we buy because then these things will have a permanent placement.

Right now I'm working on my sisters earring holder (like my blue one), I'm almost finished and then I'll post pictures! And then here's us after church last weekend. I don't post enough of the two of us so this is an attempt to do so, that's the only purpose :)

And my goofy husband that was making me laugh in bible class last Sunday (embarrassing!)

What makes it even more embarrassing is that we were visiting my in-laws and in their bible class! Great! I must admit he's pretty cute and can easily be a distraction! Love him!

Canton

Mom and I went to Canton Trade Days for the first time and it was soooo fabulous! I will recommend not going the first weekend in August because holy hot tamales it was HOT! We haven't been that hot since....actually we can't even remember the last time we were that hot! But we didn't have a choice because it was the only time that we could schedule to go, so we sucked it up and went! I'm so glad we did because we found some amazing things to purchase, even though we were literally dripping sweat!

Here's a short video clip that I took of mom to demonstrate our heat exhaustion....and at this point at the end of the day we were quite silly from it too! See for yourself!

On to the purchases! I found a few loves that I'm extremely pleased with and I think I got pretty decent deals on them too!

First I stumbled upon this German beer crate that I'm just in love with! Isn't it so great?! I now have a place to put the bottle of wine that David got from Bluff Dale Vineyards the day he proposed to me! I even got one of those great corks that you can write on, so I wrote the date of our engagement on it. I can't remember exactly how much I spent but I think it was between $30 and $50. Not quite sure.

Then I found this beauty! I've been looking for one of these steer horn sconces FOR-EVER! I mean, I've seen them but for an insane amount of money that I refused to pay. Like $70 (without foliage), ya right! So I snatched this up immediately when I discovered it was only $24! Then the foliage cost extra. So here's the deal, they had premade sconces but I do not decorate with red or purple and ALL of the premade sconces had red and purple foliage! Annoying! The premade were like $35-$45 but I had to make my own so I spent around $60. It was pretty fun, imagine hobby lobby floral section but 10x's better because they had a really unique selection. So I walked around with my sconce making my little masterpiece and the lady that made them was really irritated with me and kind of snickering like I didn't know what I was doing and I'm thinking, "Lady, if you only knew! Pffft!" "Mind your business!" She sarcastically kept asking me if I needed help or advice or pointers and I'm thinking, "Leave me alone already! Does it look like I need help?!" Geez, they will bug the snot out of you! So then I checked out and she said, "Hmmm, that's actually pretty good." I just smiled and said thank you and went on my way. I'm very excited about this purchase though! I love it! You might be thinking that the placement is really low because it's right next to the light switch, well this house was apparently made for giants because all of the light switches are extremely high and so is our bathroom sink! Good thing it's just a rent house!

Check out my repurposed burlap ottoman (tuft), whatever you wanna call it! LOVE this little guy! 50 Bucks!! Steal! I've seen these and wanted one but they are always more than $100! This was the last one and it was a little dingier than the others that were already sold but I was willing to overlook that because of the great deal and it's vintage so who cares, right?! Love love!

Loving this!! Notice my empty spot on the right side of my hutch...I actually found something to put there and passed on it and then regretted that when I got home! It was a green vintage looking glass ball (you know, blown glass from a wine bottle) for only $20 and it would have been perfect there!  Oh well, maybe next time :(

So we got there at 8:00 and left at 12:00, great decision because it was getting HOTTER! Next time we will go when it's cool outside and we can actually spend the day because we only made it to the sections that are covered which was quite a bit! We want to be able to scoure the entire place! I'm thinking next time we'll start with the uncovered sections. Luckily, we stumbled upon a booth that had misters and fans and we spent some time standing around in there so we could get our second wind!

Let me mention the fabulous food that we found! I can't remember the name of the place but it had "girly" type food and we got the chicken salad crepe with an amazing sauce drizzled on top and for dessert we had a frozen banana dipped in nutella and rolled in nuts! To die for!!!

We had a great time and we can't wait to go back but next time we need to take Kristen because she was sooo jealous that mom and I were going without her! Everyone needs to experience Canton, it's so wonderful! For those that don't know, you can only go the first weekend of each month...I'm pretty sure everyone knows that though.

Happy shopping, I hope you stumble upon some great finds too!