I just found out that MNUKGIRL over at ...And Bob's Your Uncle! awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award!  I've seen this little award floating around the blogosphere and am thrilled that she awarded it to me!  I am beyond a happy gal today ~ THANK YOU SO MUCH MNUKGIRL!

I also found out that there are several requirements to fulfill when you are given this award...

1.  Thank & link back to the person who awarded you.  

2.  Share 7 things about myself.

• I used to be a flight attendant.
• I married my high school sweetie and we've been married 18 wonderful years.
• We have three great kids, one high jumping little wiener dog & one sassy kitty.
• I love to mow the yard & work outside & plant stuff!
• I'm crazy scared of spiders!  {Unfortunately, I've passed this phobia down to my kids!}
• I love DIYing, crafting, attempting to sew, painting, rearranging furniture, hanging with my family, LOST & VAMPIRE DIARIES. {sorry thought you should know that about me} 
• And...I really love the fact that our paths have crossed because of this crazy wonderful place called BLOGLAND!

Now, I am supposed to award 5 to 15 other blogs that I Love/Follow...

{Drum Roll Please...}

TASHA @ DOT DOT DOT

LAKETA @ 1 LUCKEE GIRL

SHELLEY @ CALYPSO IN THE COUNTRY

3 CREATIVE CHICKS

BELLA @ BELLA BEFORE AND AFTER

EMILY @ NESTING, NEST, NESTED

KELLY @ RUN WITH GLITTER

SUSIE HARRIS

MY SWEET SAVANNAH

BEYOND THE SCREEN DOOR

BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH

MISS MUSTARD SEED

I'm guessing I can give this award to any blogger that I LOVE so I chose some that where "new" like me and some other ones that have been around awhile and are my favorites and I just can't not mention them! ;)

I'm gonna head on over to their fantastic blogs to let them know how great & STYLISH I think they are!  {Woot, Woot!}

I would love it if you would head on over and give 'em a shout!

Happy Friday Ya'll! 

XOXO

~SLIPCOVERED DOG CRATE~

WARNING!  For those of you who may be reading this that can sew, please do not eat me alive!  LOL  This is my first attempt at sewing...I've never owned a sewing machine, much less threaded one or put thread on a bobbin until my mom gave me her old machine.

Last Valentines Day we surprised our three kiddos with a miniature Dachshund.  His name is Marley.  We should've called him Tigger cause he jumps straight up in the air to get our attention -- he's not a happy camper in this pic because he has his coat on.  It's COLD!

The dog cage we have is not very visually appealing so at only $9 for a drop cloth and a free sewing machine I really didn't think I had anything to lose {except time} if this didn't turn out well. 

Here's what I did...

  

1.  Washed/dried the drop cloth aka beautiful burlap!

2.  Ironed it.

3.  Laid it out on the floor and used a yard stick to measure the top/back & sides of the crate.  Transferred those measurements to the drop cloth and began cutting.

4.  Next I took all the pieces and laid them {good side facing down} on the crate to make sure my measurements were correct and then pinned it all together.

5.   Began sewing it all together.  I did have to rip some stuff out and re-sew, stuck myself multiple times and read and re-read the owners manual to this new {to me} sewing machine!

6.  After I got this all sewed up and slipped it back on the crate, it looked good but it was missing something and thought I'd add a little ruffle.

7.  For the ruffle all I did was cut off an already hemmed piece of drop cloth.  Laid it out on the ironing board and began to create individual ruffles then would iron it into place so I could sew it.  I did not measure these...just eyeballed them then ironed.

8.  To add the ruffle I turned the slipcover inside out, measured how long the whole piece would need to be from top to bottom {by adding the ruffle to the slipcover} then pinned the two pieces together and stitched them together.

I'm not great at explaining I know, but I'm sure I don't know all the correct sewing terminology and pretty much just winged this whole thing!  Here is how it turned out...

For my first time sewing, I think I did a good job.  Let me just tell ya that I was pretty excited that it turned out at all and made the entire family come in more than once to see my progress.  Oh, and just so you know I think Marley is really happy with his new digs!

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Trying a new recipe...Cake Batter Cookies!

I know you've all heard of the Pioneer Woman Cooks or the Tasty Kitchen food blog.  Well I was introduced to these "cooking blogs" in early 2010.  I know ~ I'm always late to the party.  Anyway, I {like many of you} fell in love instantly and thought to myself I can do these step by step recipes.  Thus began my love for trying to cook and seeking out great food blogs.

I've never been a great cook.  Well let me clarify, I'm not really great with dinners but I can bake!  Either I get really lucky when I try new dessert recipes or its a sad twist of fate that all the bad for your hips recipes turn out great when I attempt them.

I found another great food blog with lots of good recipes at Mommy Hates Cooking.  I saw a recipe for cake batter cookies and knew right away I needed to try these out.

Here are the ingredients...

1. Yellow cake mix
2. Half of a cup of cooking oil
3. Half of a cup of applesauce
4. Two large eggs
5. One cup of chocolate chips {I think I may have used way more than that!}

 So easy, tossed all the ingredients into a large bowl and mixed it all up.

 

Once its all mixed up she recommends letting it chill in the frig for a couple of hours.  I couldn't wait!  I let it chill about 10 minutes. Ha!  Baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

 

The recipe made a little more than 3 dozen for me.  Our kids went crazy over them and they are so easy! 

However, if you head on over to http://www.mommyhatescooking.com/2011/01/cake-batter-chocolate-chip-cookies.html you can see hers for yourself!  Hers look perfect!  While your there check out her entire site, you won't be sorry!  She Rocks!

If you have any cookie recipes that you would like to share I would love to see them!  XOXO 

 

Hand Painted Football Signs...

A little while back we did a little sprucing up in our little man's room.  You might remember it...the OKLAHOMA BOOMER SOONER inspired room makeover?!  Well I wanted to paint something for his room and this is what I came up with...

 

 And this one...

 

So easy to make these that a caveman could do it!  Ha!  I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself I love those commercials.  Okay, so here is how I did them.

• Bought the pine boards at Home Depot.  There are lots of different sizes available already pre cut for you to choose from.  Just pick up the size you want your sign to be.
• I printed out the font/wording on Publisher.
• Used a pencil to color in the backside of the printed font.
• Flip over the printed paper so that it's now facing right side up and center it on your board.
• I used painters tape to secure it to my board.
• Then I used the pencil to trace the letters.
• For the BOOMER SOONER sign I had already painted the background RED.  For the OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL sign I had painted the board white then used painters tape to create the diamond pattern.  Then using a smaller paint brush just filled in with the tan.

• Painted in the letters, lightly sanded and sealed them both.  Used large sawtooth hangers on back and there ya go...instant inexpensive wall art!

Here they are hanging in his room...

 

I still want to add two additional panels to the rods and add more accessories but for now I am really happy with what we've gotten done.  

Take care & thanks for looking!  XOXO

I'm linking up to...

 

Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up Party
Beyond the Picket Fence
Between naps on the Porch
Type A Decorating
Blue Cricket Design
Domestically Speaking
The Thrifty Home
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/
Savy Southern Style
http://dotdotdotthis.blogspot.com/
http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/

Hurry over & check out all the fun links! :)

Easy Peasy Chicken Sandwich

I thought I'd share this recipe with you.  It's two ingredients so can you really call it a recipe?  Hmmm who knows but it was good, quick and all three kiddos ate it so it is a success in my book.  Ha!  When Eddie is at the fire station I know I still need to cook a good meal for the kids, but I really don't want to.  Is that wrong?  Nah.

Anyway, all this takes is about a cup and a half of Head Country BBQ sauce and shredded chicken.  Did ya know that you can buy pre-cooked chicken in a can?  Well ya can and I dare say it is pretty good & FAST, which is important when you have no desire to be in the kitchen in the first place!  I simmered these two together on low in the crock pot then toasted the buns (which I toasted a little too long as you can see) and served with some Lay's chips.  Wha-la!  Dinner is served and now I can go slip into my comfy pj's, grab a good book and relax by the fire.

XOXO

Home Construction Page is finally up...

I've been hoping to create a NEW HOME CONSTRUCTION stand alone PAGE for some time now and I'm so happy that I've finally gotten that done.  I haven't looked at these pictures since we were building this house almost 4 years ago and I was laughing out loud at all the things that we've already changed.  So if your interested to see what we started with then look here.