Weekend update

Chelle hasnt done much posting this past week since being home from the wedding meant packing for a business trip early in the week. However, we've actually managed to accomplish a lot in the latter part of our week. The master bedroom is complete (minus the headboard), freezer up and running in the garage, Uppercase expressions on the walls, & bar in the basement. Sorry no pictures this post, other than the pictures of the weekend:

Chelle and the dogs napping in the papasan

Chelle's Dad sporting the Super Mario pajama pants.

P.S. We're meeting with a DJ for the wedding tomorrow. Wish us luck!!



Weekend with the OUTLAWS!!

This past weekend we went to a wedding up in Storm Lake. Although the weather was scorching, it gave us a chance to spend some QT with Kev's parents. It was a MUCH needed opportunity to get some good laughs with some of our favorite people!

Photo of the Weekend

With the weekend wrapping up, we can definitely say we got a lot accomplished! Washer/dryer have been delivered and installed (photos to come), which means that Chelle has finally gotten a handle on the dirty laundry in the house with the big orange door.


The entryway mirror has been spraypainted, shelves have been spraypainted, and shutter has been spraypainted for the office wall! Chelle cant wait to put finishing touches on all of these things and let you in on just what we've been doing around here!

For now, here's a sneak peek of our Yellow/Gray bedroom!

Our Canine Friends

Took some candids of the pooches this weekend to update picture frames as we hang them; check them out here!

Not like it's not blatently obvious, but we couldnt get Bear away from his hippo toy long enough to get any pictures...another day. :)

Give me an "A"

This is a simple DIY project to creatively display your monogram in your house. Even though Chelle is still just "soon to be", she made came up with this cool way to display our last inital in the entryway.

1. You will need a cardboard craft letter and some burlap to start. Chelle used green, to match the couch in the upstairs living room. Cut and cover the cardboard letter with the burlap and some hot glue.

2. After the letter is covered it should look something like this. Craft burlap tatters fairly easily, which Chelle preferred, as it gave it a more distressed look.

3. From the remaining burlap, you will need 3 circles out of the fabric by folding it over and cutting semi-circle shapes. Make four more circles from colored scrapbook paper or old book pages. If you dont have an old book with browning pages like Chelle had, you could always stain your white pages with coffee and let dry.

4. Cut all of the semi-circles into the shape of a flower.

5. Crumple the book pages.

6. Stamp the page that will be the top of your "flower" with a rubber stamp. Pierce through the middle of the flower "petals" layering them on top of each other one at a time, alternating paper and burlap.

7. Attach the flower somewhere on your monogram letter with hot glue. Chelle attached hers to the top of the "A".

8. All finished -- A creative way to display your family's initials.

Herky & Bear

Happy Weekend from the pups!!!

This has been a FULL weekend! Friday night was our night of relaxation; however, bright and early Saturday morning, Chelle got busy with some crafting. Her parents came up for the day and Chelle's dad was greeted by some very excited "Grand-pups"

We ate lunch at our neighborhood Mongolian Grille (YUM), and did some "house" shopping with the 'rents. Chelle got a 5 piece patio bar (and even found some outdoor pillows to liven the colors up!), and Kev got his outdoor storage shed. They dont get delivered for a couple of weekends, but none-the-less, we are excited to be crossing these items off our list!! :)

Hibiscus

Remember this post about Chelle's first attempt at flower planting at the new house? Here we are a little over two weeks later and...

5 Minute DIY

Want a quick, cheap project to stretch your DIY legs? Chelle completed this easy project by combining a few different ideas from pinterest and we love it!

We had one of those shadow box picture frames purchased from Walmart over a year ago that still hadnt found a home on the walls, and some clearance fabric napkins that Chelle had gotten to use as table runners on our end tables. They came in a 4 pack, we only needed two. Voila! Instant DIY project!

Chelle wanted something similar to the look of the canvas-covered corkboard project that we're sure you've seen on other DIY blogs, and she wanted it to match the grey and yellow bedroom theme we're perfecting.

After a little cutting and gluing, we've got this:

This will hang on our bedroom wall, containing a quote written on the glass in black dry-erase marker. Photo to come!

Adventures in Chalk

DIY Mission:  a creative kitchen organization station hidden from plain sight.

Chelle has been looking for a way to keep shopping lists, weekly supper menu's, to-do's ect organized, and when we moved into the house with the big orange door, she vowed never to use fridge magnets again.

Doesnt it always seem that these misc housekeeping to-do's and lists find their way into the kitchen? At least in our house they do. Thanks to pinterest, Chelle found a way to creatively store all of these little lists and say goodbye to refrigerator magnet clutter forever:

Before:

After:

Update:
In response to a reader: This paint goes on very nicely and drys quickly! We used Valspar brand; Rustoleum has one too, even in spray paint form, but we were a little too timid to attempt spray painting inside and didnt want to take the extra step to remove and cover the door frames.
We put 4 coats on (because our pantry doors are very smooth/glossy) and it turned out great!
We DID see white-board paint while at our local bix box hardward store! Currently trying to figure out a way to work that into an office-space. We think a fun idea would be to paint the magnetic paint over or under the chalkboard paint, if possible. Let us know how it goes if you try either!

Lunar Photography--we love it!

Chelle got a chance to hang out with an old friend from high school tonight. She and her little boy have moved to Iowa from Colo Springs and Chelle could not have been more excited to re-connect with one of her oldest, closest friends.

Old friends have an unintentional way of reminding you just how much Father Time really does change us. Life has taken Chelle and Andrea on two different paths; however, their shared love of all things creative kept the conversation-and the wine-flowing tonight.

Andrea owns her own photography business and is a seriously talented photog! Check her out here:

Lunar Photography

We cant wait to see all of the amazing work she does in Iowa; her lens is ready to get to work! Rumor has it that she may be shooting our Engagement & Wedding later this year!

Fourth Of July weekend

Fourth of July party was a SUCCESS!! The house got cleaned up and things are coming together nicely with Chelle's projects! She took this weekend to do some long over-due spray-painting: a shutter, a mirror, some picture frames--all for DIY projects to be posted soon! We also attacked those crazy Ikea shelves for the office....Kevin was QUITE the master of the allen wrench. :)

With almost all of the rooms in the house almost complete, Chelle is looking forward to posting a before/after blog to show you how we've personalized our new home!

For the party yesterday, Chelle made a dessert table that left our guests coming back for 4th's and 5th's: Red Velvet cookies with white chocolate chunks, chocolate covered pretzel rods, and chocolate dipped rice crispie treats! Unfortunately, as the guests started arriving and things got hectic, she didnt get a chance to take pictures to share. After some MAJOR disappointment and four letter words over this discovery, we just decided to post these close re-creations to give you all an idea:

Chelle also got some sweet printables from Twig & Thistle and created these:

Thanks to everyone who came; we had an amazing time and hope you did too!

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Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip

Chelle made this dip for Kevin's food day at work and it was a hit!! She modified a recipe she had pinned on Pinterest, and after some careful thought on what to pair it with, she came up with this:

Recipe as follows:

1 cup strawberry yogurt
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1-2 cups powdered sugar  (add until it gets to the consistancy that you want) *modified from original recipe
1/2 cup choc/peanut butter chocolate chips *modified from original recipe
1 TBL thick caramel syrup *modified from original recipe

Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl and put into your serving dish. Top with additional chocolate chips and drizzle with more caramel. Refrigerate to let this "set" overnight.

This dip is very rich, and although the original recipe suggests pairing it with strawberries and bananas, Chelle did NOT like the idea of cutting up a bunch of bananas that were going to soon turn brown and be hard to handle. She opted on using strawberries as the only fruit (any suggestions on other fruits this dip could be paired with??), and using mini chips-ahoy cookies, animal crackers, and honey wheat pretzel sticks!

GMAT-Giving Morons A Test

...Ok, so that's not REALLY what it stands for. It really means graduate management addmission test or something technical like that. Either way, say a little prayer for Chelle as she attempts to study for this monster to get accepted into Drake's grad school program.