DIY Monogram Coasters

I've got another Pinterest project under my belt.  I came across this pin on how to do your own monogrammed coasters.  We needed coasters so I figured why not give it a shot.  It's a little bit more detailed than I first thought and it took me awhile to hunt down some good backgrounds and format everything, but I'll gladly share the backgrounds I did find in case anyone wants to do this.

The materials needed are: 4x4 white tiles (found mine at Home Depot in the bathroom tile section), modpodge, sponge brush, felt pads for the back of coaster, scissors, clear coat acrylic sealer, and a computer/printer.  These are the steps:

1.  I started by creating a text box in Microsoft Word. I made my dimensions 4x4 since I was using a 4x4 tile.

2.  I downloaded the font, monogram kk, and used it to make our initials inside the text box.  You have to play around with the spacing and size elements to get your monogram to look right.  You'll want to right click each letter, select "font", click "character spacing" and play around with the scale, spacing and position.

3. Once you have your monogram made, google different background images, right click and save them on your computer.

4.  Go back to your Word document and click in the text box, just to put the cursor back in the text box.  Go to format, shape fill, and then select picture.  Insert whichever picture you like, play around with the font colors & print it out.

5.  Cut out all of your square monogram pictures.

6.  Put one coat of modpodge on a tile, then lay your monogram picture on top.  Be sure to smooth the edges so you don't have any bubbles.  Allow this to dry for 1 hour...and REALLY wait that hour.  I tried to do it quickly on one and it smeared the ink because it was still too wet...not the look I was going for.

7.  After an hour has passed, put 2 coats of modpodge on top of each monogram picture, allowing 15 mins between the coats.

8.  When it's all dry (I waited until the next day), apply 1-2 coats of the acrylic sealer and let dry again.

9.  Lastly, stick on 4 of those little felt pads on the back of each coaster.  You wouldn't want to scratch up your table!

And you're all done!  This was a fun, cheap project and it's personalized just for me.  Total cost:
  $1.28 for tiles ($.16 each x 8 tiles)
+$3.00 for felt pads
+$5.00 for clear acrylic spray
$9.28 for monogrammed coasters

**I already had modpodge and sponge brush

So, I did this for less than $10.  I priced these on Etsy and they range from $15 to $30 for a set of 4 plus shipping.  So that means I did my project for a quarter of the cost, or less depending on which buyer I went with.  My hubs can appreciate me saving the mulah. ;)

 

Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend! XO

Reese's Trifle Dessert

I love getting new recipes from Pinterest.  This one comes from Let's Dish Recipes.  Danelle calls this the Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Dessert, but I put mine in a trifle bowl and simply called it a Reese's Trifle.  Same difference. :)

This is easy, no baking required, rich and delicious, and completely unhealthy. ;)  It'll be gone in minutes.  Here's what you'll need to do...

Reese's Trifle

Ingredients:
-20 Oreo cookies, divided

-2 tablespoons butter, melted

-1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

-1/2 cup peanut butter

-1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided

-1 carton (16 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided

-15-20 miniature peanut butter cups, chopped

-1 cup cold milk

-1 small package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate pudding mix

 

Directions:

1. Crush 15 cookies and toss with the melted butter. Press into an ungreased 9-inch square dish or a trifle dish (which is what I did) and set aside. 

 

2. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter and 1 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Fold in half of the whipped topping. Spread over oreo crust. 

 

3. Sprinkle with chopped peanut butter cups.  I put mine in a food processor to chop them up quickly.

 

4. In another large bowl, beat the milk, pudding mix and remaining confectioners' sugar on low speed for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until it's beginning to set. Fold in remaining whipped topping. 

 

5. Spread pudding mix over peanut butter cups. 

 

6. Crush remaining 5 cookies and sprinkle over the top. 

 

7. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours. 

Her picture is much better quality and shows the inside layers.

This dessert is a bit heavy and rich, but if you like chocolate or peanut butter, you'll love this.  I think my nephews could have downed this whole thing by themselves.  Let me know what you think!

Home Improvements

Having the summer off has been great in a number of ways.  I've been able to do so much around our home that I couldn't find the time to get done during the school year.  This house has been so clean and organized and my checklist is almost all checked off.

I am fortunate enough to have a nice pantry now.  When we first got married and lived in our old home down in North Hill, we had 2 cabinets...we had to fit food and dishes in 2 cabinets. So, I'm very thankful to have the space now.  But when we moved into this house, we kind of just threw everything in the pantry thinking that we'd deal with it later.  Later came and went.  It was long overdue, so it put it on my summer to-do list. Must clean and organize my pantry.  It took me about 4 hours, but I finally did it and it makes me so happy to walk into a pantry that's organized and orderly.  My OCD self feels at peace now.

This was everything that was either on the floor or the bottom shelves.

Right side before...just a mess of everything.

Right side AFTER.  Organized by starches & canned goods.

Left side before.  Just a mumble jumble of baking goods, breakfast items, snacks, and special occasion dishes.

Left side AFTER.  My cookbooks organized, baking goods organized, and dishes all neatly stacked.

Pantry AFTER.  You can better see how it all came together, but it was hard to capture everything.  I was a bit concerned that my baking items took up 2 shelves.  Guess that shows where my pantry's importance lies. ;)

It's amazing to me just how cleaning or organizing something can totally change the look and feel of your home. Maybe it's just me.  Anyways, we've also been working on the main living areas of our home.  We ordered our new furniture and almost all of it has come in.  Our walls are so bare - I have a hard time committing to hanging stuff up.  BUT, we got our console table and finally did our picture wall.  I love the way it turned out.  Props to my handsome hubs because he hung up all of the pictures.  It really makes the house feel more home-y.

Before we decided where the pictures should go, we laid out the design on the floor.  Then we moved photos around, and moved them around some more until we finally settled on a good arrangement.  J then cut out the frame sizes on contact paper and taped them on the wall, so we could be sure they looked right.  Once that was all set, he just nailed the picture right on top of the paper, then went behind after and pulled the paper off the wall.  It really made it easy.  Thanks to my awesome friend, Erin, for that idea. :)

Wall Before

Wall After.  That wooden sign in the middle was a wedding gift from our brother-in-law, Brian.  He's SO talented.

Next up will be the living room.  It'll all be done in time for football season, hopefully.  Oh boy, I can't wait for both - a comfy living room AND football season.  I'm ready to wear my Hog gear.

In addition to inside our home, Jared has been doing an A+ job in the yard.  He used his vacation time to trim hedges in the backyard.  Thanks, babe, for making our yard look pretty! 

Rosie and I were out walking the other day and I snapped a picture of our grass.  It just looked so green.  I'm thankful my husband has a green thumb.  I love the stripes from the mower too.  It's the little things. ;)

Have a blessed day!  Next post will be a recipe for a Reese's trifle that's not only easy, but a total crowd pleaser.

Eat Clean's Summer Salmon

I've had a few people request some healthy everyday meals.  This is one of my very favorite recipes.  Salmon is probably my favorite fish.  I love it's buttery taste and it's Omega 3s are so good for you.  I got this recipe from my Eat Clean Cookbook.  It's called "Summer Salmon", but we eat it year round.  It's so simple and quick.  My husband even loves it and salmon is not his favorite.

Eat Clean's Summer Salmon

Ingredients:

-Salmon fillets (Varies depending on how many you're feeding.  I do one filet per person.)

-Olive oil

-1 lemon

-Sea salt

-Black pepper

-Fresh or dried rosemary (I use fresh from my herb garden)

-1 to 2 green onions, finely chopped

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 425°

2.  Coat a baking pan with non-stick spray.  Lay salmon filets (skin on*) in pan.  Drizzle with olive oil.

3.  Sprinkle salt and pepper on each filet along with rosemary and chopped green onions.

4.  Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the filets.

5.  Bake for 20 minutes.  

6.  When finished baking, squeeze the juice of the remaining half of the lemon over the top.

7.  Enjoy!

*I leave the skin on to prevent the fish from sticking.  It's easily removable once they're done baking.  You can choose to remove it before baking though.  Just a personal preference!

Another Year Older

Another birthday has come and gone.  I'm starting to feel old.  I know that's so silly, but I'm not "young twenties" anymore.  Thirty is creeping up.  I had a great day, but there was a little sadness behind it all.  I hate to even write about it, but I know I'll never forget it so why try to mask my feelings?

As I had said prior in dealing with the miscarriage, there would always be certain days that I'd be sad.  For the most part, I've been good here lately.  I've had great news from the doctor and am feeling back to normal.  BUT around my birthday was when we were supposed to find out the gender of our baby.  I had been so so so excited about this, making plans in my head already and then it was all taken away.  So, I couldn't help but think of that and feel the sting where excitement had once ruled.  I know it'll all be okay, but there were those "landmark" moments in my pregnancy that I anticipated with so much excitement.

I'm just thankful for my awesome hub-sand and my family and friends to give me the love that I definitely needed.  My day started with a great birthday lunch with my mom, Meemaw, and hubs at my favorite local Mexican restaurant.  Their food is so fresh and so good.

Meemaw, momma, and the birthday girl

Jared and I

I get some pretty amazing flowers.  I love flowers.  I always try to have fresh ones in the house.

Flowers from Jared

Flowers from my Meemaw.  Ab Lincoln roses smell divine.

Before going to dinner at another favorite local restaurant, Jared snapped a few pictures.  You know I had to get one with my dog-ter.

A hug and a kiss from Rosie Posie

We came home and celebrated with birthday cupcakes.  I guess this is a tradition because we did the same thing last year.  Jared didn't let me lift a finger and it was awesome.  I welcomed the relaxation.

Jared was in the midst of trial prep, so we kept it low key.  I'm a low key type of person anyways.  I much rather be at home in my sweats.  (Which is in fact, is what I'm doing at this very moment.)

I got a new Daily Devotional from my older brother and SIL.  I hadn't heard of this one, but I love it.  It's so much more in depth and there are actually scripture passages to read along with the devotion.  I had started Confident Woman by Joyce Meyer, but it just wasn't doing it for me.  In my opinion, it was kind of silly.  This was what I had been searching for.  But the OCD in me thinks I need to wait until January 1st to start it because that's the proper order.  I haven't decided yet, but either way, it's an excellent addition to my quiet time.

I was able to really relax this last week and I finally finished another book that I had been wanting to read since I bought it back in March.  I'm a book nerd when I have the time.  The Memory Keeper's Daughter was a great read.  I'd definitely recommend it.

I'm thankful for another year.  Seriously.  When I look back at my birthday last year, we were living in our rental and I was still working at the law firm.  Not that there's anything wrong with any of that.  It's just amazing to me how much grace God has given me in a year's time.  I know I've been through some hardships this last year, but I have to keep it all in perspective and count my blessings, not my troubles.  I must reflect to remind myself of all I've been given.  I'm so blessed with my wonderful husband who can't wait to get home to me every day, our great families who love us so much, our beautiful home to make our own, my teaching career, and a magnitude of people who love me and took time out of their day just to tell me Happy Birthday.  Thank you so much.  XO

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm linking up with Jamie at This Kind of Love for What I'm Loving Wednesday.

Today I'm loving my Daily Bible verse: 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. -Mark 12:30

 It immediately put me in a good mood and I started singing the song that has this Bible verse in it.

I am loving my time off.  It's so relaxing to wake up and drink my coffee while watching GMA.  During the school year, I leave the house at 6:15, so GMA isn't even on yet.

I am loving our new mercury glass lamp (the one on the left).

I am loving our patio furniture set.  It sure is nice to have a comfortable place to sit on the back porch.

I am loving my sweet, supportive, made just for me hub-sand.  He's the answer to my prayers.  He cracks me up, loves me unconditionally, makes me feel good about myself, and always knows just what to say.  Even when I don't want to hear it!  ;)  Our relationship has grown so much.  I didn't think we could get closer, but our miscarriage experience has changed that.  We both feel like we're closer than ever before.

I'm excited about my new personalized school planner from May Books.  Am I a nerd for this?  Possibly, but I'm excited for the upcoming school year.

It's the middle of summer in Florida and it's been hot, hot, hot.  But not today!  I'm loving the cool walk I had with my dog-ter this morning. Hence the reason why it was so cool...Looks like we're in for another stormy day, but that's okay with me.

And I'm loving that this song has a whole new meaning for us.

XO