Before & After: Closet Organization

Our guest bedroom doubles as my craft room as well as storage for other various items such as camping and photography gear. The closet has a weird dropped floor inside and basically everything was thrown on the floor or piled up on the one shelf near the top. Nothing was hanging in the closet so a lot of space was being wasted. I decided to get creative and measured and designed a free standing shelf system to place inside to make more use of the space we had. Caleb then double checked all of my measurements and adjusted to account for the 3/4 in boards we would be using. Being his awesome engineer self he made a blue print on the computer and we were able to determine how much lumber we would need to get from Lowes ahead of time.

We had to account for the brackets from the shelf already in the closet and along the way we decided it was unnecessary to keep to top board with the 2 in cut out and also easier to eliminate that. Below is the before and after and the rest of the pictures show the process and total transformation. 

 It was a mess before! 

Caleb and I cut and screwed everything together in our outbuilding and then applied

two coats of white paint.

We put hooks on both sides of the closet and hung our backpacks

and organized all of our outdoor gear.

Strawberry Mint Fizzer

I love Pinterest! It helped me find this fizzy drink when I needed to make something with left over strawberries. Looks delicious right? Would make a great refreshing drink any time.

Just take plain soda water and add strawberries, fresh mint leaves, lime juice, and sugar to your liking. 

From Start to Finish

The hubby and I bought a table from a local shop that was in pretty good shape. However, we decided to make it look even better by sanding it down and painting it to match the colors for our kitchen theme. Here are the pictures from start to finish. Enjoy!

Clear coated table before

We sanded everything down and then spray painted the legs in a Satin Black

Then we took a sponge and wiped Cut Ruby by Valspar paint over the top of the table. We did this wiping process three times to get the desired deepness of red but still be able to see a wood texture through it.

We also replaced the drawer knobs and applied the same wiping technique to the faces of each drawer.

We then took some chairs and spray painted them with Satin Black. Next I took the Cut Ruby paint and randomly picked places to paint it on the chair to give it a weathered/rustic look. We then spray painted 2 coats of Satin Clear over the whole chair.

The finished look! Now to add curtains to those windows...

Upcycling: Vanity Dresser (Beginning)

We got this old beat up vanity dresser from a local shop and decided to give it some TLC. It was missing one drawer and had the name "Andy" carved into the top of it. We got someone to make a matching drawer and also bought and cut some mirror to add to the vanity attachment.

Caleb took a blow torch to burn off the clear coat and make it easier to sand.

We then started to sand the whole thing and were able to get rid of the name carved into it as well. More pictures to come soon as I will be distress painting this piece soon and it will be put into my craft room!

Quesadilla de Camarones

Can you tell I love shrimp?! Quick story, when I was very young and a flower girl at a rehearsal dinner, I supposedly got some shrimp from the buffet and started dipping it in ice cream and eating it. Moving on....

This recipe came from Pioneer Woman, but I added/changed a few things- I tend to do that especially if I don't have a particular ingredient or because I want to add some more spices or something.

I added fresh cilantro to the mexican tomato sauce as well as lime juice and combined it with the simmering shrimp.

After browning the onions and peppers I placed a tortilla in a buttered pan. I used a Mexican blend of shredded cheese and put down a layer on top of the tortilla. Add the veggies and the shrimp sauce then another layer of cheese before placing another tortilla on top. Cheese on both sides against the tortilla helps it stick together and make for easier flipping :)

Finished product is a delectable plate size quesadilla- and one is enough to fill you to the brim with yummy goodness!

Most Delicious Shrimp Soup Ever!

Ok so this is one of the most flavorful and fun textured soups you will ever have! I was perusing Earth Fare a couple weeks ago... Let me just say I could spend all my money there in one day if I wanted to and all of my time looking at the walls of wine and cheeses. Anyways I came across this boxed soup base- Cashew Carrott Ginger. It sounded intriguing but I wasn't sure what I would add to it... The box had some recipe ideas on the back so I decided to give it a try. This is what I produced.

I took some frozen snap pea stir fry mix and precooked shrimp and threw all of it in a crock pot with the soup mix and let it slowly simmer and soak up all of the beautiful flavor combinations. I then decided when it was all done to add some cashews for a little extra flavor and crunchy texture. Combined with the crispiness of the snap peas and the tenderness of the shrimp it made for a great texture and flavor party in my mouth!

Busy Body

That's what me and my husband have been the past couple of months- busy bodies. We recently moved out of our rental house and bought our first home! It's exciting to finally be able to paint walls, hang whatever we want on the walls, plant a garden and flowers, etc. We've been so busy trying to get the house ready for family and friends to visit that I have forgot to post. Sorry :(

So I have some catching up to do and should be posting a lot within the next couple of days. I recently received a Pioneer Woman cook book for my birthday (Thanks Ginny!) and have been making recipes from it that I will be sharing. I also just got my new sewing machine in last night so be expecting some sewing project posts in the near future. Caleb and I have also been doing a lot of  remodeling and upcycling with the house that deserves some post attention. Stay tuned!