Home is Where the Heart is

So, I've spent so many days thinking about working on crafts for the house, but spent very little time actually doing them.  Since the dog was in the puppy hospital yesterday, I decided to use the opportunity for some uninterrupted pinteresting time.  I noticed a pin recently of a glittery state and I thought it looked like a great craft!

I love the state of Ohio.  I was born here, went to school here, and now I've settled down and built my life here.  I also love the city of Cleveland.  I'm not originally from here, but it has been so good to me.  I have an established career here, I met the love of my life here, and my friends are here.  I get especially frustrated when people ask why I moved to Cleveland or what's so great about it.  I love it because I made it my own.  It's my city through and through and I am so proud to live here.  When I saw this craft on Pinterest I had to do it not only because I love the great state of Ohio, but because my heart belongs to Cleveland.  The step by step directions can be found here.

My personal struggles with this craft were with the outline.  Ohio is a very unique state and after cutting out ridge after ridge, it was time consuming, but it turned out great.  I also don't have a printer, so I took some regular paper and stenciled the outline off of my computer.  It works great if you just zoom in.  Also, I could not find the heart shaped brat at my local craft store, so I used a heart shape I found in the scrapbooking section (It even kept with the glitter theme!)  I also only had dark frames left in my closet and it just didn't look right with the picture, so I went to Michaels and found this white frame that goes much better with it.

Weekend Pin Craft: Doggie Bed

This weekend, I decided to make a new doggie bed for Yogi.  Since he is still a baby, he ripped his original crate bed to shreds and I realized he needed something a little more sturdy if it was going to make it to adulthood. This craft was inexpensive (around $20 total) and required just an hour total to put together.

The supplies you will need for this craft are two pillows, two separate fleece designs, and a pair of fabric scissors.  I bought inexpensive pillows at Target, they were two for $5.00.  I got 1 1/2 yards of each fleece fabric to cover the two pillows and have more than enough room in between the pillows and the seams to make it big enough for Yogi's crate.

First step is to lay out the pillows and the fleece where you want it to lay.  I had a lot of space in between so the pillows could move around, but you can also make the pillows snug. Next, you want to cut about 4 inch square on all four corners as shown below.

    

Next step is to start cutting strands that reach the top of your four inch squares on all four sides for the ties.  Next tie them twice to make sure they do not come undone.  After all four sides are done, your doggie bed is complete!  I loved this idea since it was cheap, easy, and everything is completely machine washable in case the puppy has any accidents in his crate.

Puppy Approved!

Spring has sprung- Front door Wreath

As Danny and I moved into our house in April, I could finally start all of the crafts I had been pinning since I joined Pinterest a few years ago!  I decided my first craft would be a door decoration since we now officially have a front door!  I had seen the design for a monogrammed twine letter that I thought would be cute.  However, I did not think it through since gluing twine on an "S" and trying to make it look even definitely did not work out.  A few weeks later, after I had totally given up on the twine letter idea, I saw a flowered wreath on Pinterest that was the same idea but slightly different (and easier) design.  After creating my own, I think it looks better than the twine letter and it was easier to make!  Check it out below!



The twine letter idea was a huge FAIL for me.

Our new front door wreath made with a wooden letter and some silk flowers.

Spicy Shrimp and Pinterest craft night

Today marks day two of the eat-yourself-skinny.com recipes. I decided to make Spicy Shrimp with Cilantro and Lime. This recipe was only 4 pointsplus per serving (1/2 lbs of shrimp). Danny agreed that this was a lot of food for the amount of points which is always the best recipes when counting points since they keep you fuller, longer. Instead of shrimp, I grilled tofu on the foreman grill which is always one of my favorite meals. Cooking shrimp is something new to me. Even though I'm a vegetarian, I still cook all kinds of meat for Danny. I also lucked out for the fact that Danny is very picky about the type of meat he eats so he usually only eats ground beef or chicken, making it easier on me. Danny does like shrimp though. I have only tried cooking shrimp for him once and it didn't turn out so well, so tonight I was up for the challenge. This recipe was so easy to follow and turned out well. I served it over rice, but you could easily just eat it on its own too.

I also put together a Pinterest craft tonight. I had pinned this craft awhile ago, but just now got around to putting it together. It is a weekly food chart to plan the different meals we will eat. Since joining Weight Watchers, we learned quickly that half the struggle is planning your meals out. Since I still work second shift and we only spend three nights together for dinner, I wanted to make sure I had this craft ready to go when I do go to a normal schedule in a few weeks. It's important to me and Danny to continue this tradition when we have a family to provide some stability and organization for dinner time. To see the actual Pinterest craft, click here.