Happiness is Spray Paint {Lamp Update}

Happy Monday! I know, last time you heard from me I was all excited about how much easier everything was when you just plan. Remember that? What I did not plan on was getting that nasty, awful, evil stomach bug. I was so miserable that even the best to-do list could not have gotten me off the bathroom floor couch. Everything took a backseat to feeling better again.

I’m happy to report that a week later I’m back and I have a can of spray paint in my hand #fullrecovery. There is always something on my list to paint. Always. So today I decided to tackle something quick and easy that makes me happy. Spray painting should always make you happy.

Remember this pharmacy lamp I got way back when?  It’s about time it goes HOT PINK! Just kidding. There is nothing wrong with the pretty Oil Rubbed Bronze outside, but the bright white inside had to go. Honestly, there was really nothing wrong with the bright white inside either, but I think it would be much prettier and warmer in gold.

I may have already said spray paint, but that was NOT my first medium of choice. I thought those handy little bottles of acrylic paint and a foam brush would work just fine. Wrong. I brought a knife to a gun fight.

It took me all of 5 minutes to tape it off and spray it. That includes the time it took to walk out to the garage and find the frog tape.I don’t know why I question it. Spray paint is always the answer. You can’t see a huge difference in pictures (other than making it nearly impossible to white balance) but in person it is there. The glow is so much softer and oh so pretty. Changing the world one can of spray paint at a time. What have you been painting lately? Need some serious painting inspiration? Please head on over to any/all of these GREAT blogs for the EXTENDED (thank you!) Dog Days of Winter Link Party: Love of Family & Home,  The Francis Family Blog, House of Rose, Blissfully Ever After,  Crafty, Scrappy, Happy, Design, Dining & Diapers, Our Fifth House, I Love You More Than Carrots and Liz Marie Blog.

Planning Makes Perfect

Lists make the world a better place. At least they make my world better. I love to make a list almost as much as I love to cross things off. To do lists, grocery lists, lists of lists- I don’t discriminate.

While, I keep my life line Erin Condren Life Planner up to date and I use the goals and to-do sections pretty regularly, I’ve been seriously slacking on my list-making. This means I’ve also been slacking a bit on my productivity.

But not this week. This week, I brought lists back and better than ever. Let’s start with general “to do,” lists. I’m not that busy, but it helps and actually energizes me to write down what I need to do, even just tasks as simple as “make lunch.” And I want it to be easy so I invested in these little journals from Target and they are list making perfection.

I can make my daily list and pop it in my purse for safe keeping and frequent checking.

Where I’ve struggled even more than general “to do’s,” is meal planning. It works. It saves time, money and stress but I just can’t seem to be consistent with it. I even bought this amazing meal planning pad from Anthroplogie when I was Christmas shopping. (I needed a treat, too. Don’t judge.)

At first I think all the details overwhelmed me, but I really embraced it this week and I hope to never turn back. I planned on Saturday, shopped on Sunday, made one little extra trip to the grocery store on Thursday to replenish produce and this week has been ah-mazing. Less stress, less money, more time for other things. Another bonus is we’ve eaten really well and wasted much less. Having a vision of the week, helps me know when and how to plan ahead and that is priceless. 

I am hoping that I can keep this up because it is amazing how much more smoothly the week goes. How do you plan ahead? The comments are a perfect place to start a list of your favorite tips :)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend- put that on your to do list! :)

The Other Side of My Valentine {Personalized Stamp}

In my personal opinion, packaging is one of the most important parts of a gift. You’ve seen my Christmas presents. I rarely will even do a gift bag unless I can “cute-ify” it up a little and I think the same is true for food treats. I will never take something to work for a food day in tupperware or worse, on a paper plate. If you do this, I’m not judging. If your treat is yummy I don’t care if you had it to me on a paper towel. I just like to create a pretty package. That’s part of the fun for me.

What you saw on Monday was just a simple way to wrap up my yummy Homemade Chocolate Dipped Graham Crackers- parchment paper tied up with red ribbon and a little note. What you didn’t see was the other side of the note. My BFF knows my obsession passion for packaging and got me the most perfect Christmas present. It’s (obviously) a personalized stamp she ordered from Greenhouse Studios on Etsy. It is so stinking cute and I just love it. I’ve even used it to simply stamp a recipe I’m sharing but I’m most excited to use it for food gift giving. It’s the perfect way to “sign” my little treats without, well signing it :)

Happy Valentine’s day (gift packaging) from my kitchen to yours! 

Graham Cracker Heart {Recipe}

Chocolate and and February go together like peas and carrots, Forrest and Jenny, Pinterest and Football. They’re a good match. I pretty much could eat my way through February but as I shared last week in my granola bar recipe I’m trying to eat more real food when possible. To help with that a little, I got this awesome book for Christmas and in honor of the month of chocolate and love, I whipped up a little Valentine’s Day Treat. 

I didn’t even know you could make your own graham crackers but you can and I did. They’re slightly more cookie-like than Nabisco, but that is not a bad thing. Here’s another handy-dandy Printable Recipe for you so let’s start cooking! Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1/2 Cup Spelt Four
• 5 Tablespoons Cold Butter
• 3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 Spelt Flour
• 1/4 Cup Raw Sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 Cup Honey
• 3 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• Chocolate of your choice
• Sprinkles

Chunk up five tablespoons of butter and add it to the first half cup of spelt flour. Mix with the paddle attachment on a stand mixer until all combined.

Then combine the remaining dry ingredients and throw those in the mixer too. Mix until crumbly and combined. 

Then just whisk the honey, milk and vanilla together until it looks just heavenly. Resist the urge to sip it up with a straw.

Add that to the mixer and combine until it forms a sticky dough. Licking the bowl at this point is totally ok.

This is the part that starts to take a bit more time. Divide the dough into 2 portions and flatten then each out to about an inch thick then, wrap in plastic wrap and pop them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The book says you can keep it in there for up to 48 hours.

 Then just roll it out to about 1/8 thick. Use lots of flour- this dough is sticky!

Poke holes in the dough with a fork, then just cut out your hearts.

Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper about 1/2 inch apart and pop them back in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes.

Then just bake in a 350 degree oven for about 14 minutes (turn at 10 minutes) and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Melt your chocolate and dip. I used milk, but I think darker would have been even better. Then just throw on your sprinkle and let the chocolate set.

I wish you could taste these. They have the most amazing texture. If you’re in the Murfreesboro area and wondering where to get spelt and whole wheat flour, stop what you’re doing right now and go to Wild Flours. They freshly milled my flour the day before I made these crackers and it was beyond Ah-Mahzing. Real, fresh grains make these out of this world. I speak the truth.

Freshly milled or not, because these are all real ingredients you can taste them all- the honey, the sugar, the butter and vanilla. Warn your mama before you make these, because you may have to smack her.

These are the cutest little gift when they are wrapped up. Don’t tell my work friends, they may be getting these as treats soon.

Just a quick thank you to those of you who contacted me after the granola bar recipe last week saying “more please!” Maybe in the next few weeks I’ll share something that does NOT contain chocolate, but no promises.

Have you started Valentine baking yet? What’s your favorite treat? Do you need some more Valentine inspirations? Please check out Love of Family & Home,  The Francis Family Blog, House of Rose, Blissfully Ever After,  Crafty, Scrappy, Happy, Design, Dining & Diapers, Our Fifth House, I Love You More Than Carrots and Liz Marie Blog for the last week of the Dog Days of Winter Link Party. It has been so much fun!!

$20 In My Pocket {Thrift Shop Challenge}

While I love some flea marketing and antique store shopping I’ve never had much luck in thrift stores, (that is if you don’t count the long neon patterned coat I found for spirit week when I was in high school) but when Young House Love issued a little thrift shop challenge, it was just the inspiration I needed to give it another try.

The challenge is inspired by a new little song there about thrifting. I know that all of you might not appreciate the song so I’m not going to post a link and while I’m not a huge fan of some of the words they use, I have to admit it cracks me up every time I hear it so I had some fun with the challenge. Let’s see how I did.

Step 1: Go to the thrift store with $20 in your pocket. Check.

If you look behind Mr. Jackson, you will see my spoils (step 2) which were exactly $18.53. Let’s take a closer look.

I paid $5.99 for this ginourmous lamp. I had to text a picture to my BFF and she approved and I bought it. We decided to eventually paint it glossy white. #virtualshopping What else did you see in that picture way up there? Step 3 was to find some items from the song. Well, what I bought just might qualify as grandpa’s style!

Yep. I bought 3 grandpa sweaters. I totally took your grandpa’s style but let me share why. That’s me. Those are my boots. And those are my socks. My boots fall down and you see my socks. It’s no fun! Do you get where this is going? Grandpa sweaters make the perfect boot socks! Just trim them up… and TADA! 3 pairs of boot socks AND they keep my boots up. Yes please. And the lamp just needed cleaning up and a little help from Target. I still think it will go glossy white, but for now it is a great addition to the new bonus room. I just love the scale and weight and the bold patterned shade accents it perfectly. One step closer to a completed bonus room and one successful thrift shop challenge complete! Be sure you stop by Young House Love today to see what else $20 can buy. And for bonus points, this last picture needs no explanation. Happy Thrifting!