DIY: Acai bowls

Kyle and I are big fans of acai bowls!  So fresh and filling yet you don't feel too full.  We will sometimes treat ourselves to acai bowls but they aren't exactly cheap.  I found out you can order acai powder and make your own at home for way cheaper!

This bag of acai powder lasts forever!

Since we haven't been able to go out and pick up bowls we have been making plenty of acai bowls!  So delicious!

I don't really follow a strict recipe, throw some things in a blender until it reaches the consistency I want and then top it with everything!

Here's a recipe to start you off and then you can figure out what works for you:

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Acai powder

1 cup Milk of choice

1 cup Frozen fruit

1 frozen Banana

Toppings:

Granola

Coconut flakes

Sliced Fruit (strawberries, bananas, pineapple, kiwi, etc)

Peanut butter or any other nut butter

Nutella

Honey 

Chia seeds

Directions:

1. Add the frozen fruit, acai powder, and milk to a blender.  Blend until creamy and smooth, adding extra milk if needed to get blender running.  You should aim for a frozen-yogurt like texture (thicker than a smoothie).

2. Spoon the acai mixture into bowls and top with anything you want!

Notes:

- Optional additions: You can add yogurt, protein powder or other additions to bulk up your bowls if wanted.

Let me know if you try this one out and your favorite toppings!

Eggnogg Latte Recipe

If you follow me on instagram you know my love for coffee.  Americano, cappuccino, latte give me all the coffee!  I love to go to a coffee shop and pick up a cup but that definitely adds up.  Today I'm sharing my recipe for a homemade eggnog latte.  I love eggnog but if you aren't a fan you could just replace it with milk and add flavored syrup.  

What you need:

- 2/3 cup eggnogg | my favorite is this Southern Comfort kind

- 1/3 cup milk | we had coconut on hand but your can use whatever you want

- 1/2 cup strong coffee | I used a K-cup 

- pinch of nutmeg 

- Optional 2 Tbsp sugar

What to do:

1. Measure your eggnog and milk (and sugar if wanted) and mix together.  Pour into a mug and microwave for about 1 minute and 30 seconds.  

2. Froth your milk and eggnog mixture.  I like to use a frother for ease but you can also pour the milk into a jar/cup with a lid and vigorously shake for 30 seconds until it has doubled in size and you can see the froth.

3. Measure your coffee.  I typically use a dark roast k-cup and make it on the smallest setting.

4. Top with nutmeg and enjoy!    

This is one of my favorite holiday treats!

DIY Floral Embroidered No-Sew Sweater Top

Embroidery is such a big trend this fall and I am loving it!  These pieces can be expensive so I decided to DIY my own version.  It is so easy, no-sew and depending on your items can be less than $10! 

You need:

- a shirt (I picked up this sweet sweater top from a thrift store for $1)

- Liquid Stitch 

- E6000

- Patches (I got mine from aliexpress for less than $2)

Directions:

This is super simple all you do is put the liquid stitch on the back of your patch, place it on your top and then follow the directions on your liquid stitch.  Mine required me to iron it so it would set.  

I had a little trouble with some spots coming up, I used the E6000 to set them and they have been good to go.

I am obsessed with how it turned out!  It looks so vintage and pretty.  I love that I was able to use this grandma chic sweater and turn it trendy.

Let me know what you think!

DIY Customized Disney Magicband

With four Disney trips this year, my Magicband was becoming a well worn accessory.  For those of you new to the Magicband world, they are your ticket, room key, and money for the parks.  I have the basic gray one that is a good neutral, I just felt like it needed a little extra sparkle to make it more Disney.  This was such a random project and takes five minutes or less but the results are so cute!

I started out ordering a castle sticker with a cute Minnie on it, I got it from etsy.  I love the color combo and Minnie's little bow.  I wanted to make sure it stayed put on my Magicband (we Disney hard) so I put a clear coat of nail polish over it.  After that dried I figured why not add some sparkle to the rest of the band and cover it in glitter nail polish.  It was super simple I just coated the band and let it dry.

My glitter polish did end up cracking a little bit when I put it on for the first time so try painting it when it is wrapped around something to limit this.  

Dining room chair redo

It's no secret that I love DIY and home decor.  I love the process of creating something new from something old.  My husband and I were given a set of chairs from my grandfather and while very nice the actual chair vision was old and tattered and in need of replacement.  I picked up 2 yards of cotton duck fabric from Walmart and got to it.  

Duck fabric is thicker than just regular cotton fabric and I thought it would hold up better.  It's similar to a canvas fabric.  I picked a light floral fabric to give them a brighter, fun feel.  

I am not a professional furniture reworker but here's my simple supply list:

-old chair

-fabric of your choice (again I used a thicker duck fabric and 2 yards was more than enough could have gone with one) 

-staple gun 

-scissors 

-screwdriver 

Here is the chair before hand, good bones but that fabric had to go.  

All you do is flip the chair over and unscrew the cushion from the base.  Hang on to your screws!  

Then lay the cushion on your fabric and cut how much you need.  Take your staple gun and pulling the fabric tight secure the fabric to the base.  

You can also replace the actual cushion if needed, I just decided to keep mine like it is.  

Once your satisfied secure the cushion back to the chair win the old screws.  

 

Ta-da you have a new chair!  The wood on these chairs is a little scratched and needs refinishing but that is a project for a different day.  

I love a simple easy redo project!  Let me know what you have been redoing lately!

DIY: Filing Cabinet Transformation

We have been needing a filing cabinet to keep paper and receipts and things but oh man they are not exactly cute.  

While perusing my Redbook subscription I came across a redo of a filing cabinet using paint and a stencil.  I was in love. 

This is such an easy project and so customizable.  It's not exactly quick...it's been sitting on our porch for a few weeks but the end result is worth it.  

What you need:

- Filing cabinet needing some love (my mom found ours at a yard sale, but I've seen cheap ones at goodwill and Craigslist) 

- metal primer (I got a spray primer from walmart) 

- sandpaper 

- paint (I bought a mistint quart at walmart on clearance) 

- craft paint (michaels) 

- brushes 

- stencil (michaels)

- painters tape 

- sealant 

Alright so first off you wanna give your filing cabinet a good wipe down.  I just used a Clorox wipe and a rag.  

Mine was super rough looking and had rust in some spots so take that sandpaper and smooth everything out.  Use some elbow grease and sand off the rust because you don't want that hanging around.  

(Sorry I don't have a before pic...blogger fail) 

After you've got it sanded to your liking you can prime it wih your chosen primer.  

Once your primer has dried get out your paint and cover your cabinet.  I took off the handles and plates because I was going to reprint them a different color.  Oh and pull the drawers out slightly or they will be painted and stuck and really hard to get back out...trust me.  

Here's my mistint paint (sorry it's a disaster) but I'm obsessed with clearance paint...seriously I didn't even know this was a thing! 

Alright once your paint has dried it's time to get creative.  Take your stencil ( I got mine for around $3 at micheals with a coupon) and tape it into your cabinet wherever you want with the painters tape. Mine didn't always stick so well so good luck.  Take some paint and my super professional technique was to sponge/dab it on until everything was covered.  I also didn't wait for the paint to dry before removing the stencil I just peeled it off very carefully.  

I used the craftsmart multi surface in parchment 

Here is the stencil I used, got it at Michaels with a coupon :)

Make sure you wash it between uses so you don't get paint spots.  

I had some mistakes on some parts so what I did was go back in with the gray paint and a tiny paintbrush to fix it the best I could.  Then I sprayed it with this sealant.  

Life this week

What's been going on this past week;

So this actually wasn't this week (but it wasn't too long ago).  My husband and father in law love to go to baseball games.  I like to go, its the sitting for 9 innings that I'm not crazy about. I love the atmosphere though and just hanging out.  Oh and until this game I had never had a hot dog at a baseball game...I know I'm so un-american.

Here's my first official baseball game hotdog, I was pretty excited about it an it did not disappoint.  

It was such beautiful weather and even though the home team lost it was a great time! (Check out our old man photobomber...) 

I have been crafting like crazy y'all, seriously I have like 3 projects going on right now on our front porch alone.   I mean we are moving into a big nice house soon so I've gotta get my stuff pretty.  I'm planning to do some blog posts in the future, but here's a sneak peek:

DIY Kate Spade inspired earrings

Guys these are quite possibly the easiest DIY project ever.  Seriously you only need two things and no skill.  My earrings were an old pair but I have seen a lot of projects using some from Walmart that are less than $3.  

What you need:

• glitter nail polish 
• earrings (mine are not J.Crew...that was the only earring card I had)

What you do:

1. Take your earrings and paint with your choice of glitter polish.  You might have to do a few coats...just paint it until you like it.  

2. Let it dry and there you go :)

For these I used essie in Shine of the Times and I absolutely love the iridescent look of these.  So dainty and classic!

I also made another pair with OPI Nicole in Confetti Fun which is a rainbow glitter, they are like a party!  (these did take like 7 coats or so...I wanted them to be really glittery!)


Let me know if you guys try this!

DIY anthro inspired mug

I got this adorable mug at the Goodwill and knew I had to do something to it.  

What you need:

• mug that needs some sprucing 
• spray paint
• plastic bag
• tape

What you do:

1. Cut a small hole in your plastic bag and push the handle through the hole.  Tape all around the handle covering any openings.  Make sure you do this really well as the paint seems to seem through easily.  

2. Spray paint the handle whatever color you want.  

3. Once the paint has dried take off the bag.  If you have any paint mistakes a Q-tip dipped in nail polish remover works really well.  

I haven't tested this in the dishwasher yet (since we don't have one) but I did cover it in clear sealant for an extra seal.  

Christmas DIY: wedding invitation ornament

Being newlyweds we don't have a large supply of Christmas ornaments yet so I have been looking around for DIY ornament versions.  I also wanted a way to commemorate our wedding in an ornament.

Here's what you need:
-clear ornament
-scissors
-wedding invitation or program
-ribbon

What you do:

1. Take your program/invitation and cut it into strips.  These can be as large as you want them to be.  Also be sure to cut in the direction of the text so you can read what it says.  

2. I chose to stick my strips straight into the ornament but you could also roll them up like the sheet music ornament diy if you wanted.  

3.  You can stop here but I also chose to add a bow to the top in our wedding color.  

I love being able to look at the ornament and remember our special day.

Christmas DIY: ruffled burlap tree skirt

Since we got married we didn't have a tree skirt for our Christmas tree.  When I looked online for them they were all WAY more than I wanted to spend.  I found one I was absolutely in love with on etsy but $100 for a tree skirt was a little pricey.  I decided I would try and DIY this.

What you need:
-2 Rolls Burlap Garland
-hot glue
-tree skirt or fabric (I got a felt tree skirt at the Dollar Tree)

Here's what you do:

1. Lay out your tree skirt and smooth out all the wrinkles.

2. Take your glue gun and glue a line of glue on the tree skirt.  Quickly with your burlap ruffle it along while pressing it on the glue.  If you are confused about the ruffling check out a picture below, really you just lay it out and bunch it together.  Don't worry too much about it being perfect.  When you get to the end cut and glue.

3.  Using the burlap as a guide lay it over the first layer to determine where to start your glue.  Then continue with the directions above to finish the layers.  You can do as many layers as you want.  You can also add things like lace or other fabric.  

Here's the finished product!  I love the rustic look and besides a couple glue burns it was very easy!! 

I love the rustic charm of mine and all my supplies were things around the house, but it costs less than $10!!