Glitter Deer Silhouette

Last night I went to Hobby Lobby and walked out with enough materials to do too many projects. I planned to get to work last night, but I ended up falling asleep on the couch while watching "Fox and the Hound". (I know... I am out of control.)

Anyway, tonight I must have caught my second wind because I ended up finishing our Christmas tree,

I decorated the mantle a little bit (including the stockings I made and still need to post about!)

And then I settled down to work on a quick craft... So I could fill up empty space on the mantle.

We really like deer in this house, so I love the idea of using them in my Christmas decorating.

I picked up some gold glitter paper at Hobby Lobby. As well as a pack of chevron paper:

I found a deer silhouette online by doing a quick google search. I love this one:

I printed off the deer, cut it out and traced it on to the back of the glittered paper. Make sure to turn the image upside down if you want it to face the same way when you cut it out. 

Then, I cut out the glittered image 

and used a glue stick to stick it to some chevron paper. 

I stuck it in an empty frame that was laying around. 

Ta da! New mantle decor in about 30 minutes! 

Teal Nightstand Redo!

One day, I was driving along the road, after doing too much grocery shopping and I noticed a sad little nightstand for sale on the sidewalk in front of one of my favorite resale stores. 

I immediately turned around, paid the $20 for the nightstand, crammed it into the back of my SUV and I drove on home.

I put the nightstand in our back bathroom/laundry room closet and forgot about it for like 2 months. Well, I didn't forget about it... I just couldn't decide what to do with it. When my cousin gave me a dresser to fix up for Rachel, that lit a fire under my butt so I got moving on my nightstand.

I started out by sanding the nightstand down. The top of it isn't real wood, but sanding it down helps the paint stick.

I used some black cabinet/trim paint on the top. I believe I used 3 coats, just to make sure I got a nice even cover. 

For the bottom of the nightstand I used some leftover teal colored chalk paint. I applied 2-3 coats of it as well. The chalk paint recipe I used is here: http://www.livelovediy.com/2013/05/10-painting-tips-tricks-you-never-knew.html

I swear by it.

I am in love with how it turned out... and it inspired me to get to work on Rachel's dresser! (More on that later!)

Pecan Pie Bars

Pinterest is a dangerous, dangerous place. Well, my desserts board is anyway. Pecan pie is one of my favorite fall treats, so when I stumbled on this pin, I may have drooled a little.

Do you want to hear the worst part? These are really freaking easy to make. Dangerous.

The pin came from this blog and this link:

http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/11/pecan-bars-football-friday.html

You need:

1 can of refrigerated crescent rolls

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 350. 

Unroll the crescent rolls and press into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Press the crust up the sides of the pan 1/2 inch on each side. Firmly, press perforations together to seal them.  Bake for 8 minutes.

While the crust is baking, mix together the remaining ingredients in a medium sized bowl. 

Pour the filling over the top of the partially baked crust.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until golden brown.

Let cool for about an hour and then cut into bars.

Eat with every meal. Every day. Until they are gone. Trust me.

Crockpot Chicken Noodles

One of my favorite things about the weather turning cold is using my crockpot to make all types of comfort food. My all time favorite is chicken noodles. I finally perfected my recipe, so I’m pretty excited to share it!

1 package of uncooked chicken breast 
2 boxes of chicken broth
1 ½ sticks of butter
1 package of frozen egg noodles

Put chicken broth, chicken and butter in the crockpot. Cook on High for 4 hours or low for 6 hours. 2 hours before your end time remove the chicken from the crockpot and shred it. Add the chicken back to the crockpot and add the bag of egg noodles. Stir well. 

Enjoy!

Color Run Recap

Happy Sunday! Yesterday, Justin and I got up early and marked two items off of my 30 before 30 list! We ran in the Color Me Rad 5K in Tulsa! 

If you have never heard of a color run, here is a breakdown. It’s just like your typical 5k run, except not really. This race is not timed, so you just have to finish before it’s dark out. During the run you go through different color stations, where you are covered with colored powder (cornstarch). By the time you reach the finish line, you look like a rainbow, of sorts. 

Here we are before leaving the house. They suggest you were white so your colors show up well  throughout the race.

Aren’t we Rad?

We arrived at the race about an hour and a half early. This was perfect timing because we were able to find a great parking spot. People were still showing up 15 minutes before the run, and I have no idea how far away they had to park, since there was a HUGE turnout!

Justin and I ended up hanging out in the car until about 30 minutes before it was time to start. I got an awful lot of Pinning done, and he completed a ton of email deleting. We are so productive. 

At about 9:30 we headed to the park to stretch and get ready for the race to start at 10:00. We stretched a little, stood around looking awkward and stared in disbelief at the amount of people wearing Tu-Tu’s. It was amazing. There was a spot at the park where people were warming up, under direction of the announcer… by doing Zumba, and by having special contests like some contest that included seeing who could eat a roll of fruit by the foot the fastest? I dunno. I didn’t participate. 

At 10:00 we started to line up and all of the runners were released in waves. We stood in line for about 10 minutes before we were sent on our way. 

We ran for about an mile before reaching the first color station… I was starting to wonder when this was going to happen! When going through the color station volunteers would throw colored powder on you until you are a new beautiful hue. 

I thought all of the colors were powder… turns out, I was wrong and I found that out when I was sprayed with some green water. It was a shock for sure! Take it from me, the water and the powder are not as delicious as they sound. Honestly, nothing tasted like anything, but I did get some green in my mouth. Because I’m a dork, mostly. 

At the end of the race, you are handed a “color bomb” at the finish line. Which is a plastic bag filled with colored powder. Everyone meets at the announcers booth, so you can wait for everyone to throw their powder together. While waiting the announcer threw out lots of extra powder bags to the group. I feared for my life once or twice. Picture being at a wedding and being surrounded by 100 early single ladies when the bouquet is being tossed. Ok, just kidding, it wasn’t AS deadly as a bouquet toss, but almost. 

When the announcer counted down, everyone released their color at the same time. This caused a huge “dust storm” where everyone gets covered head to toe in color.

All in all, it was a blast. And I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Here are the after pictures!

And here are some tips I have to share for your first color run.

1.    Wear something old and plain white! If you are wearing any dark colors, you won’t see the colors quite as well. We threw our clothes in the washer when we got home and just about all of it washed out.

2.    Put Olive Oil in your hair. This is supposed to keep the color from sticking to your hair and staining it. I used olive oil and it all washed right out!

3.    Get an arm band for your phone. And then put your phone inside a Ziploc bag BEFORE putting it in the arm band. I have to give Justin credit for that idea, this protected his phone from the color powder during the race, and he still got to use a Bluetooth headset to listen to music. I didn’t have my phone and I would have loved to use it to take pictures. A lot of people had fanny packs, so that’s an option if you are into that sort of thing. :)

4.    Arrive early to get a parking spot!

5.    Bring baby wipes to wipe off your face afterwards. We went to Quick trip on the way home for some lunch, and I forgot the baby wipes at home.  We got so many crazy looks from other customers. 

6.    Bring something to sit on in the car, such as old towels or old blankets. (This is something else we forgot to do.)

7.    Have fun! It’s ok to act goofy and take your time on the course, and to look like a fool when you are done! 

DIY Personalized Burlap Garden Flag

This is another super cute idea I have seen floating around on Pinterest.... a burlap garden flag. Besides, my yard needs all the decor it can get. :)

I started out by cutting up a piece of burlap that was 12 inches wide and 18.5 inches long. The top of my burlap happened to be the end of my roll, so it was already finished. To finish the bottom piece I just folded in about half an inch and hot glued it in place to create a seam.

I picked up some awesome chevron stencils at Hobby Lobby, as well as some patterned burlap ribbon.

I printed a huge "R" off from Microsoft Word and then used a sharpie to trace it onto the burlap and color it in completely. 

Next, I used the chevron stencil to put a chevron box around the "R". 

I cut out 3- 5 inch pieces of patterned ribbon, folded them in half and attached them to the burlap flag to put it on the garden flag pole. 

I love the way it turned out! 

(Don't mind the fake spider webs, this was pre-Halloween.)

Mr and Mrs Color Run Shirts

Saturday is our big day to do the Color Me Rad Color Run! I am soooo excited, but also fully aware that I will not be able to run for the entire 5k. I am an awfully slow runner... but I'm still pretty pumped!

When we signed up for the 5k, we had to come up with a team name. I had no idea that I would need a team name, so I had to think quick on my feet. We came up with "Are We There Yet?" because I feel like I will say that at least 92 times during the course of the race. 

The website suggests that you wear all white, so I thought this was a good opportunity to make some fun shirts! I printed off the words "Are We There Yet?"  for the back of our shirts. 

I then printed off a mustache for the front of his shirt... and a pair of lips for mine. (Mr and Mrs... get it?!)

Then, I went to Wal-Mart and picked up these totally awesome 80's inspired Sharpies. Why 80's inspired? Because that's what they had... no other particular reason. :)

Then, I stuck the printed paper inside the shirt and used the Sharpies to trace on the outside of the shirts. Make sure to stick a piece of cardboard in the shirt to keep it from bleeding through! If you are in the mood to spend $2.00... Hobby Lobby has t-shirt shaped pieces of cardboard you can use.

 FYI: The adult size cardboard is too big for a small adult shirt. 

Anyway, I think our shirts turned out AWESOME. I can't wait to wear them and get them covered in colored cornstarch! 

:)

Easy DIY Zombie and Flo Halloween Costumes

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! 

I dressed up as Flo from Progessive. I recycled my costume from a couple of years ago. 

I wore a blue headband, white shirt, khakis, and a white apron. I printed out and cut out the word "Progessive" from a google image search. Then, I just taped it onto my apron. The buttons say "I heart Insurance" and "Flo". 

My mom had printed the words for I Heart Insurance, laminated it with tape, and then taped it to a circular piece of cardboard. She added a pin to the back.

For the name tag I just wrote "Flo" on a piece of paper and colored the blue and yellow stripes above the name. I laminated it with tape and taped it to a pin as well. (Can you say super cheap costume?)

And I got compliments all day long. :)

Rae was a zombie. 

We cut up a white tshirt from Dollar Tree and the Justin took it outside to decorate it with mud. We also ripped up a pair of jeans that already had holes in them. We topped it off by teasing her hair, drawing black circles around her eyes and drawing blood on her face. 

Totally gross, but it turned out good! She was super happy. 

Felicia refused to be a minion..... Even though I begged her. So she begged for a store bought costume and I caved. She was a pretty cute witch though! :)