EVERYTHING COOKIES

I brought these cookies to a church group the first night I met my husband-to-be. (And I think he might remember the cookies more than the details of that night.)

Here is the recipe...

1.5 cups flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cup rice crispy cereal, crushed

2 cups oats

1/2 cup sweetened coconut

2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup dried cranberries/cherries

Melted white chocolate, melted to drizzle on top

Sift dry ingredients to combine. In mixer cream together butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla on medium speed. Slowly add dry ingredients. With a wooden spoon add crushed cereal, oats, chocolate chips. and dried fruit. Spoon out teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet 2 " apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks. Melt white chocolate and drizzle over top of cookies. 

Enjoy!

Now faith is the assurance of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality.

Hebrews 11:1

Wedding Photos

I fixed up some of the bare frames I got from the thrift shop in town and finally arranged some wedding photos around the house. I purchased each frame for under $3. Cleaned them up, painted some of them, and had a piece of glass installed at the frame shop. (The low quality glass was around $2.50 for an 8x10). 

 An arrangement of three in the hallway.

And one in the bedroom sitting on my $6 toolbox shelf that I absolutely LOVE. I didn't have to do a thing to either of these pieces except wipe them down a bit. 

I am so excited to finally display some of the beautiful pictures from our big day.

More to come...

The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

2 Chronicles 16:19

SCRAPBOOK

This is our love story scrapbook. I had a great time revisiting the events of an exciting year in time. 

Stamps, stickers, photos, fancy paper, and hours of meticulous arranging...

It all started when we met at the COTH fire small group in the Spring of 2009. I saw him across the fire and I just knew.

And then one year later....

We went on our first date to Cocina Superior. Then hiking at Oak Mountain the next day.

Later that month we took some separate adventures. J to Alaska. Me to Haiti.

I went to Lafayette with him to meet his family for Easter. And he met mine at the Air Show in Montgomery.

But then he got deployed. And we were separated.

That was hard, but we trusted God, and He brought us even closer during that time.

120 days later... he came home.

We embarked on a whirlwind tour to visit friends and family together. Such wonderful memories.

Visited with family in Ohio and camping at Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee.

And on November 5th we were engaged. 

December 7th we got married at the courthouse and planned our wedding celebration in only 7 weeks (with ALOT of help).

Wonderful friends threw some last minute showers.

Then January 8th. We got married surrounded by the people we love.

What a wonderful day.

And the next day... we pulled away from my parents house with our truck packed, towing the car with "just married" across the back and we made our way to our temporary home in Del Rio. 

What a Journey.

Thankful to be on it with my best friend and the loving support of family and friends.

Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you dont. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless-like chasing the wind.

 Ecclesiastes 6:9

Ribbon Wreath Wedding Present

I have a great friend who got married earlier in the year and I wanted to make her a wedding present while I was at home visiting. One quick trip to Hobby lobby is all it took for a little inspiration. (Gotta love the Hobby Lobby)

I decided to make her a ribbon wreath she could hang on the door of their new place. I picked up some 2" ribbon in a fun print with a patriotic-ish color scheme (because her husband is also in the service). I cut the strips of ribbon into pieces and hot glued the sequentially around the foam wreath overlapping each piece over the previous. I found a foam letter "M" (the initial of their last name) and painted it glittery gold and fixed it to the bottom left. Then I took three cardboard stars (two smaller and one larger), painted them navy blue and hung them with red twine from the top of the wreath.

Such a quick and great project to Celebrate the beginning of life together.

The path of righteousness is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

Proverbs 4:18

Thrift Store Crafts

Here is what I did with all those "thrifty finds." 

This is an old small decorative shutter that I found for $3.00. I got the idea to use it as an earring holder from a friend who has one adorning her wall.

The Before

 

And the After...

All I did was paint it a shabby chic cream color, hang the earrings, and it is perfect. So easy and cute!

For the rectangular frame I found, I simply painted over the whole thing: frame and insert (there was no glass) with the same cream to give it a cohesive look. Then I painted a cute phrase that summarizes this current stage in our life.

This little sign now lives in our office above the space where J does his chair flying.*

*chair flying (as described in "A Spouses Guide to Pilot Training") is flight "practice" in which the student mentally runs through the entire flight as if he/she were actually there (frequently involves sitting in a chair in from of a cockpit poster and talking).

Serious.

More to come...

On a side note: my husband really is normal, this whole Pilot training thing just makes him appear crazy at times. But he still has all my love and respect.

We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall.

Proverbs 16:33

Guest Room Make-over

Some friends are coming into town this weekend so that means time to give the guest room a make-over. Using some finds from my recent thrifty excursions. I took what I all ready had and merged it with old things that I gave some new life.

Here are the Before shots

To start, the room had a standard queen sized blow up bed with charcoal gray bed cover (which I recently purchased). A small side table consisting of two box shelves staked one on top of the other. For wall art, old place mats from IKEA dressed up the wall in a square pattern. A simple chair with a green china town place mat pillow* sat in the corner. And burnt orange curtains flank the window. The curtains were hung with twisted rope (because I ran out of curtain rods)... very Texas. 

The room as a whole was just okay. Needed a bit of sprucing up and a few more things on the walls.  So I got creative with some of my recent thrift store finds.

I used the big rustic frames I had found and created a headboard/wall decoration. I stapled pieces of rope to the back of the frame in a patterned X arrangement. Looks kind of like old barn doors. Again.... very Texas.

On the right side of the bed I created a little shadow box display with some old vintage bud vases, a big silver vase, and a beautiful fresh Gerber Daisy.

I added a dark brown rug to the floor next to the bed to help warm up the space.

The room needed some storage and a bit more interest, so on the opposite wall I put a small shelf and some artwork. The shelf was a thrift store find. It was originally yellow with palm trees on it, but I painted it cream and blue. The artwork consist of similarly colored frames containing sofa prints I painted by hand.   

And here are my After shots

(the cutest part of the guest room)

*green china town place mat pillow: I made this pillow several years ago. I found the green place mat in the China town neighborhood of San Francisco. It had a front layer and a back layer so it was perfect for a pillow. All I did was rip the seam out in one area of the bottom left, stuff it with pillow fluff, and sewed it back up by hand. Easiest pillow ever! Gotta keep your eye out for place mats with two layers of fabric.

"We can confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has in mind for us to be."

Romans 5:2

Dresser Re-do

This dresser has' seen it all. It has resided in numerous bedrooms throughout my family and now lives in our little Texas bedroom as our one piece of standing storage. It had some loose slats (which we nailed down) and pieces chipped off the fronts of the drawers (which I sanded down). Needless to say, it needed a re-do. 

Here is the before:

I removed all the hardware and transported it outside underneath the car port to give it a scrub down and begin the make-over process.

Next I fired up the new electric sander and gave it a once over the entire surface.

For the color I chose a soft crystal blue (which is the accent color in our bedroom.) I used Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint in the color "ozone." This particular brand is my favorite for furniture because it contains primer and paint in one. As far as I'm concerned that means fewer coats, and therefore less time spent. It was looking great after one coat, but I touched it up in a few spots with a second go over. 

I let it dry completely (which only took about 20 minutes in this 100 degree heat), reattached the hardware, and viola!!!!

It looks even better in the bedroom!!

"Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise You!" 

Psalm 63:3

Thrifty Finds

Today I decided to explore the local thrift shops. Some were just too sketchy to enter, but the two that I discovered contained opportunity I simply could not pass up.

Here is what I got:

Bud vases, lots of rustic picture frames, an old tool box (that I absolutely love), a shoe rack, a palm tree shelf (which I will repaint), a kitchen canister, two mini loaf pans, a lace table runner, a sugar shaker and a milk glass vase.

Some I am going to attempt to sell, some I will fix up, and a few lucky items will become the inspiration for the guest room makeover (take two). 

I'll keep you posted.

Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from Him.

2 Samuel 14:14

Sweet Sugar Cookies

Once again, I cant completely take credit for these. The recipe is from my Mom, who got them from a friend. They are very yummy and fun to decorate for any occasion!!!

1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups flour

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Cream butter, shortening, cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients a little bit at a time. Chill dough in refrigerator for one hour. Roll out dough on a floured surface to 1/4" thickness (or however thick you desire). Punch out cookies in desired shape and place onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes.

Then the fun part....decorating!!!

I wanted to make some Easter Egg cookies to send back home to our families, so here is what I did:

I didn't want to buy an egg cookie cutter, so I improvised with a kitchen knife. In turn they ended up looking sort of rustic, but I like that about them.

Next, I made buttercream frosting for a border around the outside of each cookie.

1 stick butter softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 cups powdered sugar (to desired consistency)

milk (if you need to thin it back out at any point)

Combine all ingredient in large bowl with an electric mixer until desired consistency is achieved. 

I took out 1/3 of the white frosting and put it into a pastry bag fitted with a thin point tip. Then I made a small outline of buttercream frosting around the border of each cookie. [This will ensure that when I fill the cookie with icing it wont run over the edges].

Next, I made the icing to fill each cookie.

2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 Tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp almond extract

Mix all ingredient together in a small bowl with a whisk until silky, about honey consistency.

 I used a kitchen spoon and poured icing into the center of each cookie until covered. For the eggs I used half white icing, and then I mixed in a little bit a green to make a very light green color to finish out the remaining eggs.

And finally I took the remaining buttercream and separated it out into two separate bowls. I made one blue and one green. I used the white, blue and green to decorate my Easter eggs with polka dots, crosses, and other egg designs.

Later in the week I made some for the flight room. Cowboy boots. (as manly as possible)

And Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good that we are here."

Matthew 17:4

A Wedding Gift

My Mom is one crafty lady. Any creative-ness that I possess obviously comes from her. So here is one of her latest projects. A wedding gift for a friend at work. J and I actually received an antique chalkboard as a wedding present from my cousin and his wife and we love it! It is such a great thing to hang in a kitchen with a menu or shopping list on it, or to hang anywhere else with favorite quotes or bible verses.

Here is what she did:

The Before

She found this old, wooden chalkboard at an antique shop. It was originally a shiny natural wood frame and the top portion had cork board on it. She removed the cork because it was in bad shape and used chalkboard paint to make it one big chalkboard. Then she sanded and painted the whole frame an antique white color. And then scuffed it up a bit to make it look old.

For the monogram she found the style of letter she wanted to use on a google search, printed it out, and used transfer paper to carry the image perfectly onto the board. She then filled in the letter with paint and decorated the board with her own chalkboard designs.  

And viola.....

I am just so impressed. 

"But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God's unfailing love."

Psalm 52:8

A Thankful Heart

When life hands us a hard day, one of the greatest things we can do is simply give thanks. 

Gratefulness has the potential to change our hearts in a very powerful way.

358... The grace of morning time

359... Warm coffee

360... New opportunities

361... Safety and Peace

362... The beauty of a fluffy tree

363... Late night walks around the neighborhood

364... A fresh start

365... Meeting new people

366... Seeing God's word change people's hearts

367... The smell of fresh paint

368... The sweetness of ripe fruit

369... A gentle breeze 

370... Airplanes buzzing overhead

 

"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."

Psalm 50:23