Artsy in the Kitchen

My goal this summer: Keep up with my blog! I have been completely ignoring it for quite some time, but we're back and ready to roll!

Last night, my husband and I were trying to decide what to have for dinner after a weekend camping and decided we wanted something kind of light. My husband suggested something with egg noodles, which eventually progressed into this gem of a recipe:

Summer Vegetable Pasta:

(Makes 3-4 Servings)

1. Boil 3 cups egg noodles (or pasta of choice) as directed, to al dente
2. Meanwhile, cook about 4-5 slices of bacon in a skillet. Remove bacon to a paper towel to drain, and add 1 zucchini, cubed.
3. After a few minutes, add diced onion, and salt and pepper to taste
4. In the last few minutes, add garlic to taste (I used 2 cloves), followed shortly by 2 diced tomatoes.
5. Stir pasta and bacon (chopped) into the vegetable mixture. 
6. Now, this dish already has tons of flavor due to the bacon, garlic, onion, etc, but I added a few squirts of Italian dressing to kick it up a notch! The result was delicious!

Veggies before the pasta and bacon are added! So Yummy!

Take this recipe and make it your own! There is no wrong way to make a dish like this - add whatever veggies you have on hand, and whatever flavors you love! I love summer cooking!

Finger Painting Fun

I just wanted to share the fun finger painting my husband and I created! (Sorry for the bad lighting) I was in the mood to do something creative, and so I threw out the idea of finger painting. We hung up a large piece of paper, got out the washable paints, and here's what we created! Finger painting isn't just for kids - I find it very relaxing! Jam out to some of your favorite music while you paint, and it's even better!

**A tip for acquiring large paper: Many newspapers sell the end of their print roll for super cheap (I got my roll for $2), and it's plenty of paper for more than a few projects! Check with a newspaper near you next time you need paper for packing, projects, or even protecting the floor from paint!

Photos

Welcome to my wall of photos!

For someone who really enjoys photos, photography, etc, I have very few photos in my home, because I didn't know where/how to hang them! Anyone else have this problem?? 

I had this wall set aside for wedding photos pretty much since we moved in, and it just hadn't happened (over 1.5 yrs later). So one day I decided it was time, but my plan grew as it went. It is now a mix of photos, a mix of frames, and a mix of B&W and color. I am very happy with the final product! My space feels so much more personal! 

What I used: Photos - Some are ones I have taken, and others are from our wedding, which we have the rights to (Most of these were printed at Meridian Professional Imaging)

Random assortment of frames - Some we already had, some were purchased new, and most were purchased at Goodwill or Salvation Army and given a few coats of spray paint.

Our letter B - Given to us as a wedding gift

A few small mirrors I happened to find while hunting at Salvation Army

The process: The process started with laying out frames on the floor to try and arrange them a certain way, as well as starting to search for pictures. Here's what one of my first attempts looked like:

A couple mistakes I made for you to learn from:

- Pick out your pictures first OR arrange your frames first. I did each kind of separate, then had to change the layout because I had pictures with the wrong orientation, etc.

- Also, I chose to have 3 color pictures, so I needed to change some arrangements to make sure these were spread out.

- Make sure if you buy frames that they are able to hang on the wall. Maybe it's just me, but I had no idea that some frames simply didn't have hooks on the back!

The rest of the process was pretty straight-forward. I hunted for additional frames, ordered pictures, did some spray painting, cleaned the glass on all the frames, and got everything ready to go on the wall. I simply used hammer and nails to hang everything, and because it's kind of a random configuration, nothing has to be perfect.

Do you have a space that could use a photo wall??

Shelves

This is an old project, but one I'm willing to share none-the-less. I completed this project not long after moving into our current house. We had a large blank wall above a couch, and I was hoping to have a place to display my Willow Tree figures. These shelves have proven to be a great way to show some meaningful items that I have added over time.

I found these shelves at Hobby Lobby and painted them myself, but (depending on your budget) you can also buy many different types of shelves other places. The colored glass jars are also from Hobby Lobby - they have lots of great shapes and colors to choose from, and I love the splash of color they bring to a room! The pussywillows (on the bottom shelf) are from the floral section, but the other plants (on the right) are actually from our yard last fall! We added a couple small picture frames, and other meaningful items, and voila! A cute way to display all those fun little things you don't know where to put!

Winter Wreath

Welcome to my home!

I am excited to get started with my new blog, starting by sharing this neat wreath I made. It started as a Christmas wreath, but works just as well being a fun Winter decoration. I first saw this project on Better Homes and Gardens' website a year ago. I bought the materials then, but didn't get around to it until this year. This is a cute, simple, and very inexpensive project - my favorite!

Materials: Yarn, foam wreath (can be found in the floral department), hot glue gun, ribbon or other decoration

Directions: 1. Make lots of yarn pom-poms - here are directions. I made a couple different sizes, and wish I would have made even more varying sizes.

2. Hot glue the pom-poms onto the foam wreath.

3. Decorate with whatever you'd like! I kept it simple, but you could also put Christmas ornaments, or a variety of ribbons!