Chick-a-dee Chalkboards

So, last Christmas, my family and I did a "Homemade" Christmas, meaning that the gifts we exchanged were homemade and not costly.  So, after sometime of thinking about it, I figured out what I wanted to make. 

A little background: I get so excited at the thought of using power tools, so I do try to come up with any reason at all to make it happen.  One day, I will own my own table saw, and my unfinished basement will be converted into a wood shop. 

Now, as a disclaimer, I do not follow technical safety protocol as I don't even own a work bench.  But I, ever so carefully, make do by fashioning a few similarly sized ice chests or a few seating benches into some pretty decent saw horses.  I know, I need to watch the free section of Craigslist more often... Any who, the moral of the story: Be careful, tools are sharp.  Enough said.

So, the Chick-a-dee Chalkboards:

Scrap wood
Chalk board paint (found some in Home Depot for cheap on clearance in the paint dept. a few months back- SCORE!)
Sander/ Sandpaper
Jigsaw
Acrylic paint (in color of choice)
Metal hangers
Drill and drill bit
Metal snips

Drew it out.  These planks were left over from a shelf I made based on the plans from Ana-White.com (Which by the way is an amazing website).

 

 

Used the Jig to cut roughly along the lines I drew.  Please be careful when handling power tools.  It's probably best if you use a real work bench instead of my make shift work bench like this (this would actually be a wooden bench I made Summer 2012 and painted to match our front porch). 

Sand edges and front smooth.  You can use an electric or a sanding block.

 

 

Paint, paint, paint.  I did 3 layers.  May not have needed so much had I used primer.  Meh.

 

I used an old, dry rag to paint around the edges.  I was going for imperfect, so just a rough, quick go over did the job.  Then paint the little eye and eye lashes (I used my kids crummy paint brushes, so don't fret if you don't have the fancy stuff, you could probably even use a tooth pick).  I then drilled holes for the tail "feathers", hanger, and legs (Probably could have don't this BEFORE the paint, but it turned out just fine).  Next, I snipped some metal hangers and bent them through the holes I drilled.  Pretty straight forward.  I wanted to make it, therefore, I did. 

Its funny how these days, making things with your hands seems so far fetched.  I really enjoyed this little project because I felt so empowered to make my little Chick-a-dees from stuff I had around my house, and had a vision of what I wanted to do- and it worked!  I can follow directions, but to create your own, to write your own directions, no matter how big or how small your Chick-a-dee may be- its very satisfying.  So, don't be afraid of writing your own instructions, of envisioning your own project.  Have fun with it.  :)

LEGO Birthday Party for a 5 year old

Luke's Lego Extravaganza!!

This was such a blast!  I had a ton of fun with this, in part because my sister was in town.  So we may or may not have stayed up till the wee hours of the morning drinking wine and crafting until our fingers were blistered while we rambled incoherently about nonsensical things that at the time were absolutely hysterical.  Ever have those moments?  Yea, me neither. 

The bottom line, we had fun with it.  It's the only way to do something like this.  Also, let me tell ya what, thank the Lord for Pintrest because HOLY CRAP does that make things nifty.  Anywho, without further ado...

The FREE Lego Guy print outs were from www.winksanddaisies.blogspot.com ( http://winksanddaisies.blogspot.com/search?q=lego ).  I initially had issues with the file, but I contacted Dorie, the graphic designer who created them and she emailed me the file.  She was very, very nice and also very timely considering I was asking for a free file of her work.  If I ever have a need for some graphic design work, I know the first person that will come to mind. 

And, I threw together this napkin holder "House" thingy.  My sister also made a nifty utensil holder but somehow I didn't get a photo of... sorry.  I'm ticked about it too.

Chocolate Lego Guys and M&Ms.  Can't go wrong with that!  Unless you're allergic to chocolate, in which case, I don't have to state the terrible-ness of that sort of situation.

 

These adorable "Thank You" goodie bag tags were a FREE download, but for the life of me I can't find it again.  If you do, please let me know as I'd like to give due credit for this little gem.  I loved how these turned out.  I did place red paper behind because I bought velum bags that were a smidge too large.  Problem solved.  Plus, I like the red.  :) 

I bought the ice cube trays/candy trays/crayon trays on amazon for like 13 bucks for both the Lego brick and Lego guy mold.  I thought that was a smokin deal.  Plus, who doesn't like little Lego guy ice cubes.  It makes ANY toddler smile when they see a Lego Minifig diving in their cup.  Its the little things... But, I digress...

One tip when making crayons: use Crayola.  Now, I'm not a crazy 'name brand' kind of girl and I avoid being a walking billboard (ie. logos written obnoxiously across my clothing) BUT, what I found was that their colors had less "filler wax" in other words, the crayons worked better because the color and the wax didn't separate as much.  The ones with the cheap crayon wax separated, so half the crayon didn't write.  I know, lame.  So, learn from me before you snip a trillion cheap crayons unnecessarily... CRAYOLA.  Oh, and who cares if they are used ones.  Recycle, reduce reuse my friends.  This is a perfect use for broken crayons and crayon nubs.  Also makes fabulous gifts. 

The kiddos and a few baby holders.  :) 

My lovely sister assisting with the coloring of the Lego Guy coloring printout. 

So, I just drew the Lego faces on yellow cups.  There were a few spare from a few parties back, so viola.  I am resourceful when I drink wine... and I digress further...

More Lego Guy printouts. 

I made the bunting from scrapbooking paper.  I just cut out triangles and folded about 1/2 inch tabs at the top and glued yarn under the tabs.  Done.  I love bunting.  I wish I were motivated to sew some. 

For food, we ordered pizza.  There's a local joint here that we like to order from when we can.  Its a 'Mom and Pop' biz, so we try to support those establishments when financially feasible.  Instead of cake, Luke made a special request for Brownies (The apple doesn't fall far with that one).  So, naturally, I had to oblige.  We served it on a tray made of Legos topped with a sheet of Plexiglas so the Lego stand could be seen below it.  It was cute, my sis made it.  She's just so dang crafty.

I had games planned, but, they had so much fun just playing in our play room with toys, Lego-ing, and goofing off, that I decided that it made little to no sense to stop the fun only to facilitate fun.  Let the kiddies play, I say!  And they did.  And it was good.  :)  I do wish I took more photos, though.  So, my apologies.  I usually take an equal but opposite position on the photography spectrum. 


We had a blast.  Parents and kids alike were playing Legos.  It was a great time had by all.  I am still getting compliments about how great Luke's party was.  But, most importantly, Luke loved it.  :)  Happy Birthday to my big boy!

Cold out- Keep warm! Workout and post workout meal

It's a very snowy Sunday here in Colorado.  As a matter of fact, we're on a blizzard warning until 5pm this evening.  But, Sunday is one of the few days that the Hubbs and I both get to the gym at the same time, so we trudge through the snow and get 'er done.  Okay, okay- confession: it's not 5 miles one way, it's not all up hill, and we are not barefoot.  It's only 1 mile away and we have AWD on the swagger wagon.

My workout today consisted of a bit of this and a bit of that- and a lot of sweat. 
SB=Stability Ball, MB=Medicine Ball

RDLs (Roman Dead Lift) 4x10
One leg SLOW squats 4x10

Plyo/Cardio Circuits: Do one set of each before you move on to repeating so that you are constantly alternating in your circuit.

First Mini-Circuit- 4x10
SB Knee Ups
Ice skaters
Push ups

Second Mini-Circuit: 4x10
(Cat burglar) Box jumps- these are controlled, quiet box jumps
SB sumo squat alt. knee ups (Hold SB over head during squat, bring knee up to chest when standing from squat, alternate knee up for each squat)
Alt. leg donkey kicks

Third Mini-Circuit: 4x10
Alt. jump lunges
Mountain Climbers
SB skiers

Fourth Mini-Circuit: 4x10
Push ups
(Cat burglar) Box jumps
Calf raises

If you are not drenched in sweat by the time you've finished the second mini-circuit, you're not doing it fast enough.

THEN... finish off with an Ab-blast and some stretches.

Ab Blast:
Side Crunch 25x each side
MB Situps 2x25
Leg throws 2x25 (random)
Bicycle kicks 2x25
MB Russian Twists 2x25

Oh yea, it hurts so good!  Took me about 50 minutes not including stretches.  This is a great body toner, cardio fitness or all around 'I want my muscles to burn in two days' kinda workout.  I did not get this off of a fancy website or workout video, I made it up because it gets me into great toned shape, stronger and fitter.  I do switch up the plyos each time and do some variation of the above a few times a week. 

Additionally, I PREFER to do more than one lift with weights, but I was somewhat hell bent on Push Press (alternating sets with bent rows) today but these two buff dudes were hogging the weight cage for the entire hour!  Ugh.  Take half that weight off and you might not compromise your technique on the next set...  Okay, yea I was a little peeved, but geez, really?! I do recognize the flaw in my logic and could very well have completed push press outside of the cage.  However, I'm set in my ways and I do firmly believe that push press should be done in a weight cage with spotter bars.

Disclaimer: Please be responsible when attempting a workout, consult a physician, etc. to ensure your personal safety and avoid injury.  I learned Power lifting technique under supervision of an instructor using a PVC pipe until I "graduated" to the big kid barbell.


So THEN I round up the kiddos from the child sitting, and let the two big ones climb around the awesome play structure in the rec center while I nursed my 6 month old.  Yes, that's right, I nurse in public.  Great calorie burner in addition to all of the amazing health benefit for your little one! 
*Note: if you do nurse after a work out, please make sure you have de-sweated applicable areas.  Enough said. 


Once home, Husband made awesome tacos consisting of pinto beans cooked up with some peppers, onions, salt and garlic, fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, pico-de-gallo, spicy green chilies and avocado.  I then proceeded to load it up with some fresh organic baby spinach.  I named him (the taco, not the husband)"The-Post-Work-Out-Spinach-Blast-Vegan-Taco" and ate 'him?' (haha oh I amuse myself, stay with me here) with an adorable little clementine cutie on the side.  Then I ate another one just like 'him'.  Okay, I'm done.

Have a great Sunday.  Even if it's snowing, don't be afraid to break a sweat.  For the Mom's out there, it's your ticket to sanity!

What's your favorite lift and why?  Mine is the snatch <insert snigger here>.  Snatch is sort of the 'love child' <repeat snigger> of the Over Head Squats and the Power Clean, which are my next favorite lifts.  Check out the youtube video below (No, that is not me).
Female Olympic Lifter Demonstrating Snatch

Quinoa and Kale Quiche

Happy Saturday! I'm especially ecstatic because I woke up flu free (and for those of you with little ones, I'm sure you can appreciate that statement).

So, naturally I woke up at 6am (and by naturally, I mean that my 2 year old climbed into our bed and put his freezing cold toes on my back), and went downstairs to clean/disinfect the house, and get a head start on a nice Saturday morning breakfast.

Since my hubbs thoroughly enjoys quiche and I've never attempted it before, it would be quite fitting to use him as my test subject. Since we're vegetarian as of a few months ago, and my husband isn't fully on board just yet, it's a nice way to challenge myself with a (sometimes brutally) honest opinion of what he rates the vegetarian/vegan meal from the taste stand point of a meat eater.

I found a crustless quiche recipe from http://food52.com/recipes/14244-quinoa-and-kale-crustless-quiche which I then significantly tweaked.

Side note: brownie points for being gluten free so I can keep this recipe gem in my back pocket for when I am hosting Sunday brunch for guests with any dietary restrictions.

1 1/3 cup cooked quinoa (I cook a big batch and keep it in the fridge once or twice a week)

1 tbsp olive oil

Bunch of kale (washed, dried, stems removed, sliced into 1/2 inch strips) <Dirty dozen + opt for organic if possible

3/4 Walla walla onion (what to do with left over 1/4 onion? See here)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1/3 cup Parmesan (fresh grated tastes better, I think)

3 oz. cream cheese (cubed very small)

6 eggs

Himalayan sea salt and cracked pepper (regular salt or sea salt works too, but it is believed that Himalayan salt helps with nutrient absorption in the GI tract as well as adds a nice flavor).

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a 9" pie dish (spray with baking spray or olive oil). If you have not made the quinoa in advance: Rinse the quinoa. Combine the quinoa and water in a pan. Bring to a boil on medium-high heat and then reduce to a simmer. This will take about twenty minutes. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, start to caramelize the onions. Heat the olive oil in a large saute on medium heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the onions. Slowly cook until the onions are soft and browned.

3. Remove the onions from the pan, and place them in a large mixing bowl. Add the kale into the hot onion pan. On medium heat, cook until the kale is wilted and bright green, about two minutes.

 

4. Allow the greens to cool.

5. Add the kale, quinoa, garlic, and Parmesan cheese to the mixing bowl. Stir the ingredients so that they are evenly distributed.

6. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and cubed cream cheese so that they are pretty well combined (cream cheese can still be quite lumpy but broken into smaller bits). Pour over the quinoa/kale mixture. Stir until the egg clings to the greens. Add salt and pepper.

7. Pour the mixture in the prepared pie dish. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the top is golden and the pie has started to pull away from the edge of the baking dish. This dish is delightful hot, but even better at room temperature.

My husband, who'd prefer a greasy pork green chile smothered bacon and egg burrito (can't really blame him, I'll go over my pork green chile recipe another day) rated it as follows: "Like a 7 or 8. I mean, if you made it again, I'd eat the crap out of it. I think I'd probably like a Mexican style quiche better you know, with tomatoes, and jalaps [and chorizo]" Okay, he didn't say the last part, but I KNOW that's what he was thinking.

My two-year-old devoured his over sized piece! I'd say that counts as a success.

Another little mixer-upper I'll try out in the near future will involve subbing the Parmesan cheese for Feta, and the Kale for Spinach…maybe throw in some halved grape or cherry tomatoes! Side note: I wouldn't precook the spinach or tomatoes, just mix in with whisked eggs.

Please let me know if you've tried it and what you think!

 

Please remove your shoes! SIGN

Mornin'!

I might sound quite chipper, but you needn't be misled.  I'm typing from under my cozy blankets while the world outside is covered in a much colder blanket of snow.  Hubbs took the two older boys to the rec for swim and gymnastics.  I on the other hand have a very gnarly flu that my oldest so generously shared with me, so badda bing- badda boom here I am.  I'll take this time (before baby wakes up) to share with you a previous project I made.

We moved into our new home last April and had brand new carpet installed, so we decided to implement a "no shoes in the house" rule...

'Please remove your shoes' sign.

Before we start, decoupage, while the name sounds a bit intimidating, is a pretty cool form of art that I recently stumbled upon.  We've all been conditioning for our decoupaging moment to shine for years!  Think back to Kindergarten/1st grade, cutting, pasting, cutting more, pasting more.  Dumping glue all over your artwork just to see what happens.  Peeling elmers glue off your fingers, only to repeat the above steps.  Yep, we're all decoupagers because decoupage is just cutting and pasting!  Awesome right?!  I love starting a learning curve with a serious head start...

Materials:
-decoupage glue (I used modpodge, but I have heard plenty of claims that 1 part white Elmers glue and 1 part water does the trick)
-wooden craft frame (got mine at Michaels for approx. $1 some time ago) just plain unfinished wood, no glass included.
-white (or other desired color) acrylic paint
-scrapbooking paper
-old wire costume necklace (I made this one back in college and rarely wore it), or ribbon, chain, or what ever strikes your fancy that you can attach.
-old ink stamp pad or distressing ink pad. (optional)
-credit card (No, you will not be shopping.  A library card or other sturdy card will work as well)
-paint brush
-pin/sewing needle/earring/seam ripper/razor blade or any other super fine makeshift poking tool for popping small air pockets.
a bit of wire (you can pull the paper off of the produce twistie ties)
-Drill and small drill bit OR hot glue gun

First off, I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE the old barn style/ Americana look, so with that being said my sign was intentionally a little 'rough around the edges.'  But seriously- I roughed mine up a bit on purpose. 

So- frame first:
-Paint sides of frame with arcylic paint in desired color.  I chose white.  Let dry.  Fortunately in this case acrylic dries quickly, a few min. if you didn't glop it on.

-Brush on a layer of glue/modpodge and place scrapbooking paper on top.

-Brush on another layer of glue/modpodge on top of paper.

-Using credit card/library card smooth out the surface of the scrapbooking paper working from the middle outward as to push all airbubbles out.  If air bubbles can't be smoothed out, use pin to make a very discreet hole then carefully smooth with credit card once more.  Air pocket should be gone.

-Once smoothed out, let dry.

-Cut around the edges of the frame to trim off most excess scrapbooking paper.

-Use credit card edge to scrape the front corners of the frame until any excess scrapbooking paper is removed.  If edges are rough or imperfect, then perfect.  It's supposed to look a little bit weathered.

-Paint on another layer of glue/modpodge.  This is just a finishing layer to give a nice finished texture to your frame.  Be sure to get the sides of the frames (where you painted acrylic earlier) and any rough edges of scrapbooking paper along the corners of the frame where you sanded/scraped off excess paper with the credit card.  Let dry.

-Drill two small holes into the frame about 3-4 inches apart (or hot glue ribbon or wire necklace to the back of the frame with a likewise distance)

-Attach necklace segment into holes using piece of wire.  You can simply twist it a few times on back to hold in place in each hole.

-Using the distressing ink/ink pad, lightly smear the edges and corners until you get the desired darkenss.  Remember, when in doubt, put the project down and walk a way.  Come back and decide if you need the ink darker.

-Using a pencil sketch out the writing on the bottom, or if you're lazy like me, just paint it out.  Remember we're not going for perfection here.

For the photo: I took a picture of my kids feet, and in Photoshop gave it a 60% sepia filter and lens distortion vignetting.  If you'd like to use my image, I believe you can save the image below.  Please let me know if the resolution is no bueno for a 4x6 or 5x3.5 (which is the typical size of a craft frame).  I am still working out what can and can't be done in Blogger with regards to links and file sharing.  I'm a technology challenged blogging rookie slowly trudging along the learning curve.

So there you have it.  I, sad to admit, had all of these things among my crafting heap, so my total cost was $0 spent specifically for this project.  If you have any questions, comments, please leave below.  I'm happy to clarify, respond.  Took me about 1 hour including drying time.

Gotta start somewhere.

Hello and Welcome!!

I began drafting an "official" first blog post on several occasions.  It wasn't until a friend of mine casually asked me, "Have you started your blog yet!?" and for me to not-so-casually have no good answer other than plain ol', "No." that I realized that everyone and their Mama have blogs these days-  so I decided to quit being such a Sally (I don't know any Sallys, but I'm sure they are all quite lovely) and get goin'.  So here I am. 

I came up with the name Paisley and Parsley because I have very eclectic interests.  Very "artsy-fartsy", cooking, photographer-wanna-be, chocoholic and (dark) beer enthusiast twenty-something Mom who loves a good pedi after an intense power lifting sesh in the gym (gasp).  These interests, among others have sparked my desire to keep this informal blog.  I suppose this will be my creative output and voluntary commentary about who knows what.  I hope I can inspire a few people while I'm having fun.

Misha