Banana Nutella Protein Muffins

Posted on July 15, 2014 by simplyschulze

As so many men are, my husband has been blessed with a super fast metabolism and needs to eat a TON to keep from losing weight (must be nice huh? I eat one crab rangoon and am bloated for a week, lol). Given this fact, I am always looking for creative and healthy ways to provide J with snacks throughout the day in addition to the lunches (yes, multiple lunches – why can’t failure to gain weight be my problem? lol) I pack him, because if he were to buy all of his meals/snacks at work we would literally have zero money, haha. I’ve had a lot of success with sending him with “protein balls” (we’re a big fan of this recipe for no bake energy bites) or little egg muffins (I’ll post my version of this recipe soon!), but we’re always looking to switch it up. Since he prefers his pre and post workout meals to be something quick and not too heavy, I decided to create a recipe for flourless protein muffins. In coming up with this recipe, I adapted it from several that I viewed online, just omitted flour and added extra egg whites and nutella since I had it on hand (and who doesn’t love nutella?). Well, I whipped up a few batches during the fake Independence Day hurricane while we were stuck in the house, and J gave me the thumbs up! Granted he will eat anything, but I tried one myself and really like it, you won’t even miss the flour in the recipe (probably because of the yummy nutella lol). Needless to say these went right into the snack rotation for the next work week, since they will keep in a ziplock bag or container for about 3-4 days, I am able to make a large batch on Sunday and have them ready to go for the week. Try these out in place of your protein or power bar, as they are super high in protein and are much more cost effective!

BANANA NUTELLA PROTEIN MUFFINS (MAKES 6)

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup old fashioned oats
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
1 ripe banana, mashed
1/4 cup Nutella (sub peanut butter or another form of nut butter if you wish)
1 scoop chocolate protein powder (or vanilla, whatever you have on hand)
1 Tsp. baking powder

DIRECTIONS

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix all ingredients together until smooth.

Step 2: Line a muffin tin with six cupcake or muffin liners (I use the foil ones) and fill each about 3/4 of the way with muffin batter.

I didn’t use muffin liners for my first batch but will from now on for easy clean up.

Step 3: Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the tops are no longer gooey and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Enjoy!

Microwave Stand Re-Do – Using Homemade Chalk Paint

Posted on July 11, 2014 by simplyschulze

If you’ve read any of my other blog posts I’m sure you can gather that I love re-doing furniture, so naturally I was pretty sad when we downsized to a smaller home last month, as I took this to mean that there would be very few opportunities for me to re-do new pieces without any space to put them. Thankfully I was wrong! Although we did give up some square footage when we moved on base, I am finding that we still have the need for some smaller furniture items to re-purpose as storage/organization pieces, so I will still have plenty of DIY-ing in my future after all.

This particular project was actually born out of necessity, when in the midst of our crazy fast move, I realized that the new house had no microwave! I had forgotten that in our former home, the microwave was a permanent fixture and would not be making the move with us. I figured, no problemo, I’ll just buy the cheapest counter top microwave Walmart has to offer (“Westbend” I hear that’s what the rich people are using these days, right? lol). I did just that, and of course wound up with a defective microwave, so after an annoying second trip back to Walmart which involved having to schlep a giant box and a cranky baby P in 100 degree temperatures, I finally got a microwave that worked. The next problem was, with my new kitchen being fit for a dollhouse, every inch of counter space already taken up. Now I was going to need somewhere to put my super fancy Walmart microwave, lol.

I started trolling Craigslist for microwave stands and almost immediately found one that looked promising at our local thrift store. When I went to pick it up the following day and the girl showed me to the piece, I was upset to see that it was not what I was expecting at all. Contrary to the picture online, the actual product was about two feet tall and wasn’t real wood, I nicely let her know “ummm, m’am, this is a night stand” lol. Thankfully she showed me something similar that was the correct height, real wood and the same price as the ugly night stand, it even had some extra storage underneath – sweet!

Now, since I know you don’t care about my microwave drama, I’ll get to the actual project, haha. I have always been a huge fan of chalk paint – in theory, but have never actually used it mostly because the good stuff like Annie Sloane is just way too expensive for me and because of my prior successes with re-doing furniture using latex paint, I’ve never felt the need to try out chalk paint. That being said, after two of my crafty friends both re-did pieces using DIY chalk paint, I knew I needed to give it a shot, especially because both of their projects came out beautifully! I figured the microwave stand would be a great trial piece, after all, I’m hoping that when we finally settle down our home will once again have a built in microwave so this piece would just be temporary.

The verdict on DIY chalk paint? AMAZING! Not only is it super cheap to make, it works great and by applying a furniture wax to seal the piece as opposed to a polyacrylic or gel top coat as I normally would, I eliminated a lot of drying/painting time on the tail end of the project. I am so grateful that I tried this out, even more grateful that it came out better than I could have hoped and most grateful to my friends Lisa and Courtney who I texted (and by texted I mean annoyed, lol) the entire time to make sure I was doing it right haha. Here is my tutorial and description of what I did, including the products I used, hopefully this inspires you to try out chalk paint on your next furniture re-do!

Color is “Farmer’s Market” by Valspar, available at Lowes.

REFINISHING USING DIY CHALK PAINT

WHAT I USED:

Sample Size 8oz container of latex paint – purchased at Lowes for $2.98 each, I used two because I wasn’t sure how much paint I would need for the project. I probably could have gotten away with using just 8 oz, as I did have a lot left over. Check out my post on my favorite products for refinishing furniture on the cheap to hear me rave about these little sample size paints, lol (really though, they’re the best). NOTE: Adding the chalk to the paint tends to lighten the color a bit, so try going a shade darker if you are trying to maintain a particular hue.
Calcium Carbonate – Fancy name for powdered chalk, haha. There are several different ways to make your own chalk paint including mixing paint with plaster of paris, but this method is non-toxic and according to my friend who has tried both, the calcium carbonate works best. The ratio is 1 part chalk to two parts paint. I purchased my Calcium Carbonate via Amazon here for about $10.00 with free shipping.
Black Foam Brushes
Sanding Block or Sand Paper
Black Satin Rustoleum Spray Paint (if repainting the hardware)
Wood Filler (if you need to patch any gouges or holes in the wood)
Minwax Paste Finishing Wax in “Special Dark” – purchased via Amazon for about $13.00, this will last you a long time. I chose to use the hard wax because it is easy to apply and once you have buffed the piece it is ready for use, as opposed to a gel or poly top coat which requires multiple coats and lots of dry time. The Minwax paste wax is also available at your local home improvement store in a variety of colors.
Rags (for applying and buffing finishing wax)

HOW I DID IT:

before picture

Step 1: I began by removing all of the doors and hardware from the piece. Since I was going to reuse the hinges and screws I cleaned them off and hit them with a coat of black spray paint and set them aside to dry.

this is a very technical process, lol, I just stuck the screws in an old box so that the spray paint would only get the tops and not coat the threads.

Step 2: I gave each surface of the piece a quick sand. I know people say that when using chalk paint there is no need to sand, but I just thought it couldn’t hurt and because I needed to repair a little damage to the top with some wood filler and would ultimately end up sanding anyway I went ahead and did it. I’m sure if you choose not to sand your piece will turn out fine!

Step 3: After sanding I wiped the piece down with a wet rag and then a dry one to remove any dust particles. I then applied wood filler to the aforementioned spot of damage and smoothed out using a paint scraper. After the wood filler had dried, I returned to the piece and sanded it flat.

area where some of the wood had chipped off and it was uneven

where I applied the wood filler before smoothing it out and sanding it down

Step 4: Next I mixed my DIY chalk paint by pouring my two containers of latex paint (I used satin finish because sample sizes are only available as such, some people will tell you to use a flat paint when making chalk paint but from my friend’s experience, satin finish works better anyway) into a container along with 8 oz of calcium carbonate and mixing together until all large lumps had dissolved. The stuff is going to be thick like pancake batter but don’t worry, this is what you want!

Step 5: Paint your piece as you normally would, using even strokes in the direction of the natural wood grain. Unfortunately, although it is said that chalk paint only requires one coat, I found this to be false in my experience, as did my friend Courtney (not sure about Lisa). It may just depend on the original color of the piece you are painting, but as you can see in my pictures, even with the dark red going over the light oak wood, I still required three coats, although I probably could have gotten away with two but I had the extra paint and some areas looked lighter so I figured what the hey? Good news in the multiple coats department is – dry time is significantly less than with non-chalk paint, I was able to return to my piece within a few hours and add a second coat. Pay attention to the humidity in your area though, some people say that you can paint after just one hour of dry time but I was working in my garage in high humidity so I allowed about seven hours.

Step 6: Once your piece has dried, inspect it for lumps or bumpy areas. If there are any just sand them down a bit. Some areas had a little dried white grit from where the chalk didn’t dissolve in my paint, so I just sanded them down and dabbed a tiny bit of paint on the spots. Now you are ready to wax!

Step 7: I chose to use the “special dark” wax because I wanted to add that “antique-y” look to my piece and I also found that in doing this the color of the paint was darkened back to it’s original hue, whereas it looked a lot lighter before wax. Confession: I was too scared to apply the wax myself for fear of ruining the piece, so I made J do it, lol. Use a rag (we used old t-shirts) and begin applying a thin coat of the wax all over your piece making sure to rub it into the grooves and edges. Allow it to sit for 15-20 minutes then using another rag, buff it out (as if you were waxing a car). The wax dries pretty quickly so if you are doing a very large piece I might suggest working in sections. Also, the wax is potent stuff so I’d recommend either working outside or in a well ventilated area. Once you have buffed your piece you’re finished and your piece is ready to use, just reattach your hardware and you’re good to go!

hubby in action, applying the wax!

how we have it set up for now

inside storage area, I didn’t paint the inside just the edges, I ran out of painters tape on my last project so I actually used shipping tape haha, worked great! Probably wouldn’t recommend it on your walls though!

The knobs were purchased at Target of all places! $12.99 for a pack of four, about what you would pay if you purchased knobs individually at Lowes or H.D.

The total cost of this piece was around $50.00 (the original piece being purchased for $35.00 with the addition of paint and new knobs). We are LOVING it, it fits in with our kitchen so well and matches our DIY menu chalkboard that we have displayed in the living room. I am also delighted to report that even with one of baby P’s favorite activities being slamming doors into furniture, it hasn’t even gotten a scratch! 🙂

mischievous squishy baby knocking the door into the furniture, he knows he’s being bad look at that little face! haha

DIY Scrap Fabric Banner

Posted on July 8, 2014 by simplyschulze

Let me start by saying I am in love with this craft. This is the quicker, shabby-chic version of a traditional fabric pennant banner (if this isn’t quite your thang, check out my DIY no-sew fabric pennant banner tutorial or my DIY rustic burlap pennant banner tutorial). I plan to come back to this craft time and time again, especially for holiday and party decor. I have seen these done before, however, never had a reason to attempt one until it came time to throw my friend a baby shower and of course I got way carried away when it came to decor and decided that this would make a great last minute addition. Using scrap fabric left over from the wreath I had made the mama-to-be (I will post about the wreath and the shower itself soon!), I was able to create this adorable scrap fabric banner in about 20 minutes! I think my favorite thing about this banner (aside from the fact that it was free to make since I reused left over supplies), is that while it is simply strips of fabric tied to a string, it is a great way to tie all of your decor together by incorporating all of the colors in your color scheme. This would also make an adorable addition to a nursery, I will absolutely come back to this idea for any future nurseries I may be decorating in the distant future! If you have an event coming up and are looking to add a little something extra, just dig around in the depths of your fabric scraps and chances are you can throw something together with scrap that you already have. If you are making this with no fabric on hand, no problem – hit up the remnants or clearance bin at your local fabric store or Walmart, you can often get close to a yard for under a dollar which is much more than you will need for this project anyway! I hope this inspires your next holiday or party decor project and remember not to throw away any of those fabric scraps along the way 🙂

The banner as we displayed it at the baby shower over a chalkboard with baby’s monogram!

DIY SCRAP FABRIC BANNER

YOU WILL NEED:

Fabric – the amount and color will depend on your color scheme and the size/length of your banner. There is no limit to the kind of fabric either, mix textures and prints and get creative!
Twine/Ribbon/String – to tie your scraps around, I used left over twine from another project but a ribbon of a complimentary color would have been nice as well!
Scissors

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Begin by cutting your strips of fabric. Whether or not all of your strips are the same width and length is up to you. When cutting my strips I started with one fabric and cut a bunch of the same width and length, then moved onto the next fabric and cut them about the same width but a different length from the original group.

Step 2: Lay out a piece of twine or ribbon, the length will depend on how long you want your banner to be. Make sure you leave enough slack on either end for hanging.

Step 3: Fold a fabric strip in half (as shown) and lay it across the twine or ribbon, then pull the two “tails” of the fabric under and through the “loop” (see picture), pulling it tight to form a knot.

Step 4: Continue in this fashion, after each knot is made slide it down so that it fits snugly against the one before. I arranged mine in no particular order but you can follow a pattern of colors to make the banner look more uniform if you wish.

Finished product! This would be great to hang above the crib in a nursery, I know my hubby was too paranoid to let me hang anything heavy over baby P (even wooden letters lol) so this would be a great worry-free piece of decor! 🙂

DIY Hostess Gift – Fresh Lemonade

Posted on July 8, 2014 by simplyschulze

When life gives you lemons … make an adorable hostess gift!!! Since I’ve been cooking up a storm and my last two posts have been recipes, I wanted to make sure I threw a craft up on the ol’ blog since I have SO many that I’ve yet to post! This particular DIY gift I put together as a baby shower prize for a shower that we threw to honor one of our dear friends who was expecting a sweet baby boy (I say “was” because the sweet little baby has since arrived and is just perfect). This gift is adorable, cheap and so simple to put together. If you are heading to a party or BBQ and are not the cooking type or simply don’t have the time or the will to whip something up, this is the perfect substitute – your host will love it! There are so many ways to personalize this, adapt it to different drinks and add your own special touch. The etching was my way of jazzing up the plain old Walmart pitcher (see my glass etching tutorial to see how simple it is to do!) but is by no means necessary to create this adorable gift! You can make this on the cheap (using Walmart/Dollar Store components) for around $15.00 or so (if your dollar store carries glass pitchers then the cost would go down significantly, mine didn’t so I went the Walmart route). Personally I am always looking for new ideas for hostess gifts and have had many “crap! What do I bring!?” moments, so hopefully this helps you out should you ever have one 🙂

HOW I DID IT:

Glass Pitcher – I purchased mine at Walmart because I happened to be there already, it cost around $8 or so. If you have a cheaper option go for it!
Hand/Tea Towel – Dollar Tree
Spoon – Dollar Tree, the plan was to include a wooden one but they didn’t have any at that particular Dollar Tree, so I got a 5 pack of these white plastic spoons of varying sizes and used the longest one.
Lemons – Just use however many will fit in your pitcher, I bought a value pack of lemons from Walmart which came with about 10.
Lemonade Recipe – I Googled a lemonade recipe and printed it out on a recipe card to stick in the pitcher and titled it “The Perfect Lemonade”.
Etching Supplies – Optional, but it’s a great personal touch. See my etching tutorial for supplies needed. Since I did not know who my pitcher was going to I simply etched “Drink.” on the pitcher, but since your recipient will be known, you could always do the first letter of their family name.

The assembly is self explanatory if you take a look at the picture. You could also do a DIY pitcher of sangria or orange juice, the options are endless especially once alcohol is added to the mix, haha. Check back for other variations on this DIY hostess gift as I’m sure this will become my go-to when I don’t have time to cook!

Faux Sangria

Posted on July 4, 2014 by simplyschulze

As if my Mom wasn’t already amazing enough, she is also the creator of this amazing drink that I am about to share with you! Whether or not she will actually read this post is debatable, as it took her about three years to finally master Facebook and a whole seven years to finally hop on the iPhone bandwagon (although she did just learn how to post pictures from her iPhone to Facebook, so there may be hope for her after all lol). Whenever I tell her about my blog she seems confused so either she doesn’t know how to navigate it or she is just too busy being awesome to find the time to read my nonsensical babble, so to give her the benefit of the doubt I’ll say it’s the latter lol.

Anyway, on my recent trip home my Mom offered me “faux sangria” and while all I heard was “diluted alcohol” (yuck lol) when I tasted it I was pleasantly surprised to find that it actually tasted exactly like the sangria at one of our favorite mexican joints back home, day = made! I was even more excited when she told me that you could make it using only two or three ingredients, whaaaaaaaat?! Needless to say when we got back to NC the ingredients for “faux sangria” were at the top of my shopping list (and here I sit enjoying a glass as I write this post and pray that hurricane Arthur doesn’t knock out my power lol). I love a good summer cocktail and I especially love one that is easy to whip up and doesn’t cost a fortune in ingredients you will only use an ounce of (a problem I encountered when making my whiskey punch for J’s 30th, I will post about this soon). While I know this isn’t the most creative recipe and is I’m sure, by no means an original, I still think it’s worth posting because I for one am always looking for new budget friendly cocktails, especially those that lend themselves to social gatherings a.k.a. ones that are cheap lol. I hope you whip up a batch for your next fiesta, even if you’re like me and your “fiesta” involves working on your blog while hubby and baby snooze haha.

I let baby P have at one of the apples while I was making the sangria, only 20 years and three months until he can give it a taste lol

FAUX SANGRIA

NOTE: This recipe can be doubled, tripled etc. It is GREAT for a party and you can use any combination of fruit, I actually plan to come up with a variety of “faux sangrias” using different wine, fruit and oj combos. If you’re on the “skinny” train lighten it up by using Trop50 or if you like a sweeter cocktail add some simple syrup.

INGREDIENTS

1 750 mL bottle red wine (I like dry wines and think that the OJ gives the cocktail enough sweetness but if you’d like it sweeter use a sweet red)
3 cups orange juice
Juice of half a lemon (this just brightens up the flavors, feel free to omit it if you don’t like/have lemons)
1 Apple, cubed
1 Orange, quartered and sliced thin

Combine all ingredients in a pitcher and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving – enjoy!

DIY 4th of July Burlap Wreath

Posted on July 2, 2014 by simplyschulze

Hi everyone! I know I have been just awful about updating the ‘ol blog these past few weeks but between moving and heading back up north for a mini family vaca I have been all over the place! Good news is that I am back on the grid lol, and prepared to pollute blogland with TONS of new posts including my hubby’s surprise 30th birthday bash (a whiskey and cigar themed party, a huge success btw) which I had to keep off the blog until now, as well as some new crafts and recipes I have been working on in between organizing the house and ripping my hair out in frustration over moving haha.

Okay, back to the wreath. Being that we were heading out of town just one short week before Independence Day, I knew I had to eek out my 4th of July wreath if I wanted it to be displayed leading up to holiday. This was not my first burlap wreath rodeo, I had tried my hand at it once before for my Easter wreath (a post that I am yet to get around to lol) and was super surprised at how easy it was to create given how impressed I was with the final product. So while J did his best to wrangle baby P (who is crawling lightening fast these days and getting into everything) I managed to get this wreath done in just about 20 minutes! I will give you a run down of the specific products I used but obviously it is not necessary that these items be used, as the thing I love most about burlap wreaths is that there are a variety of ways on which to elaborate on such a simple idea and that they can be adapted to fit any color scheme or holiday. If you’ve seen one on Pinterest and are hesitant to try it out, don’t be – it is almost impossible to mess up. I know a lot of the written explanations for weaving the burlap can be confusing but if you YouTube “burlap wreath tutorial” you will find a much more helpful guide to making one, I promise! Happy 4th of July everyone, please watch some fireworks for me, baby P goes to bed at six so chances are I will not be watching any aside from what I can see from my porch lol.

baby P looking adorable right before he started slamming the bouquet violently then trying to eat the petals lol.

4TH OF JULY BURLAP WREATH

WHAT I USED:

18″ wire wreath frame – I purchased mine for $2.50 at a local craft store specific to my area but you can get them on Amazon for around $5.00 or so.
2 rolls of red and blue chevron wired burlap ribbon (10 ft. each) – I purchased mine from Walmart for $3.47 per roll but a Google search revealed that it can be purchased just about anywhere, lol.
1 roll of plain burlap ribbon 5 1/2″ X 15 ft – available at any craft store.
white satin 1″ wired ribbon
Flag Print Faux Daisies – these just happened to work perfect and were available at Walmart, however, any red/white/blue flower combo would work or even a bow instead!
1 white wooden letter

HOW I DID IT:

Step 1: I began by weaving my burlap into my wreath, I will refer you to YouTube for the tutorial on how to actually weave the burlap in and out of the wire frame so as to not embarrass myself with an explanation that will make no sense, haha. I will say, however, that I did work by weaving the plain burlap for a few loops, then exchanging it with the chevron ribbon and I worked in “sections” of burlap instead of weaving the whole 15 feet through at once because that would have taken FOREVER. I would just work it through for a few feet then cut it and start over in the next section, since my chevron ribbon was wired it was easy to secure it even though I was not using the whole roll at once.

Step 2: Once I was done weaving my burlap and chevron interchangeably. I wove my 1″ white ribbon through the wreath in no particular pattern. This was simply to be the “white” in the red/white/blue holiday color scheme, the wreath looked perfectly fine without it.

Step 3: I cut three of each print of daisy from the bunch and stuck them through the wire frame, weaving the stem through the three metal bars so that the flower would remain secure. Then using a piece of twine I tied the wooden “S” to the wreath right atop the flowers.

inspecting the flowers again lol

Step 4: Once the wreath was complete, I took a few minutes to “poof” my loops and rearrange my flowers so they looked just right!

finished product!

This wreath cost me right around $15.00 to make and just out of curiosity I did a quick Etsy search for a “4th of July Burlap Wreath” and almost spit out my drink when I saw that the average wreath was going for an average of $50.00 plus shipping – WHAAAAAAAAT???!!! NO, NO, NO, people, you are getting ripped off, especially because you can buy almost all of the necessary components for one of these wreaths at Walmart. Furthermore, if you make a plain burlap wreath you can simply adjust it to each holiday or season by adding embellishments (a big benefit of the burlap wreath is that it is not permanent, if you mess it up or want to change it simply unweave and re-do) so potentially you can have the best wreath on the block time and time again for just around $10.00 for the year. So please, to keep me from having anxiety over thinking of people swipin’ that credit card for a $60.00 burlap wreath, at least attempt to make your own! Friends don’t let friends pay good money for cheap crafts lol.

DIY “Little Lady” Hair Bows

Posted on May 29, 2014 by simplyschulze

I feel like with all of the “little man” projects I’m churning out I need to give a nod to my girls, don’t worry ladies I didn’t forget about you! Here is a quick tutorial for my “little lady” hair bows, which are so easy to make and are just the cutest little gifts for that special baby girl in your life. Also, this would make a great baby shower activity, I will explain below. Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I am obsessed with bows, and even on the 30 side of 20, I still think wearing hair bows is acceptable. Since I couldn’t let J steal all the glory with the matching bow tie set I made for him and baby P, when I tested out this little hair bow, I made mine to match one of P’s little man onsies as well – so cute. As for the tutorial itself, it is basically identical to the “little man” bow ties with slight variation depending on what size hair bow you would like, but lucky for you, the hair bow making process is much easier than bow tie as all you will be doing is gluing it to a clip, barrette or hair band. That being said, if you are planning on making these as a gift an adorable idea would be to make a bunch and display them on a personalized hair bow holder (yes, this actually exists, lol, check one out here.I will definitely be DIYing my own version of one of these if my friends ever stop having boys, so be on the lookout for that!). Hope you have as much fun making these as I have wearing them, you’re only as old as you feel (eight, I feel eight lol)!!! 🙂

YOU WILL NEED:

Fabric (this is a good way to use up fabric scraps or hit up your fabric store’s remnants bin since you need so little.)
Glue Gun
Scissors
Small Plain Hair Clip, Barrette or Headband (all of which are available at the dollar store, Walmart for right around $1.00, so if you’re going the clip route, your cost will be a few cents per clip!)

I chose to use these clips since I was making them for myself. If you are making them for a “little” lady, purchase the fabric covered version.

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1: Use this bow tie tutorial to create as many bows as you want. I used the hot glue method and wherever it said to iron I didn’t (I’m lazy, lol) and my project still came out great. Quick note about sizing, the bow in the tutorial will be about 3.5″ across (give or take), so for an infant this would be fine on a headband but way too big on a clip. If you are looking to make a smaller bow I would change the measurements to 5X3 and 1.5X1.5 for the two fabric squares. Once I play around with this a little more I will give exact measurements and pictures but as I’ve mentioned, all my friends are having boys!

Step 2: Once your bow is complete use hot glue to secure it to your clip or hairband and there you have it! It took me under 5 minutes to complete a bow so you could definitely churn out about ten in a half hour’s time and have a great gift! NOTE: If you want to attach the bow to a hair tie just stop at the step before you glue the smaller piece of fabric (center) or the bow and instead, glue it so that the underneath of the bow wraps around the hair tie (hair tie is inside of the bow).

hairbow2

Fun Idea: Remember when I said this would make a great baby shower activity? Precut the squares of fabric for your guests and set them up along with a glue gun and several different options for barrettes, clips, hair bands and hair ties and embellishments. Give a quick tutorial to your guests and then allow them to make their own hair bow creations at their leisure throughout the course of the party. SO much fun and super cute, you could even present them to the mama-to-be on a hair bow holder.

check out my post on DIY hair bows to see how I made my matching bow!

check out my post on DIY “Little Man” Tie Applique Onsies to see how I made baby P’s matching onsie!

DIY Little Man Onsie – Part II Tie Applique

Posted on May 29, 2014 by simplyschulze

With several new squishy babies coming into my life in the near future, courtesy of my sweet friends, I am in full baby shower planning/gifting mode. I recently posted my tutorial for DIY Little Man bow tie onsies and am delighted to report that I’ve successfully completed another version of a no-sew “little man” onsie, featuring a fabric neck tie in the form of a fabric applique. This onsie was even easier to create than the first and only requires four items (one of which is an iron, so it doesn’t count lol), no gluing, no sewing, just cut, iron and DONE. If I haven’t already captured your attention with the appeal of a three step process let me tell you this – I spent about $6.00 on supplies for this project (not including the onsies themselves, as I used a pack I already had) and that $6.00 investment has the potential to yield up to twenty onsies (if not more)!!! I will reiterate what I said in my bow tie post, and that is, for a few bucks you have a grand slam of a baby shower gift for any “little man” that may come in to your life, not to mention they make ADORABLE decorations in the form of a onsie clothesline that mama-to-be can keep after the shower (see below). If you are looking to give a meaningful gift that is easy and cost effective, look no further! Of course I adapted this tutorial from the hundreds on Pinterest, and will the include the link to one below in the event that you do want to do a bit of sewing.

here is squishy baby P sporting the onsie!

DIY “LITTLE MAN” TIE APPLIQUE ONSIES

YOU WILL NEED:

White onsie or t-shirt
Fabric of any choice (this is a great opportunity to use up scrap fabric or hit up your local store’s remnants bin, as I do. The green gingham fabric featured below I purchased for $0.79 and it is a little less than a yard in length and 12 inches in width, enough for MANY onsies or bow-ties).
Heat ‘n’ Bond Iron-On Fabric Adhesive (any brand will do, if it says it is suitable for patches or appliques you are good to go, I purchased mine at Walmart for about $3.00 and it is enough for tons of future projects so you are getting your money’s worth for sure!)
Tie Pattern (the pattern is printable and available in two sizes, use the smaller for onsies and the larger for toddler boy t-shirts. If you don’t have access to a printer feel free to make your own pattern).
Scissors
Iron

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Take your fabric and cut a piece just large enough for your tie, then do the same with the Heat ‘n’ bond adhesive (this way you can maximize the amount of supplies remaining for future projects).

Step 2: Turn fabric upside down (so back is facing up) and place fabric adhesive side down on fabric so that the paper liner is facing up. Place your iron over the paper backing and hold down for about two seconds, repeating over entire area until adhesive is fused to fabric.

Step 3: Now, trace your tie pattern onto the paper backing and cut out. It is optional to cut the top of the tie pattern in a circular fashion to fit the neck of the onsie, I did so but it looks fine either way!

Step 4: Peel off the paper back from your tie and place it adhesive-side down on your onsie. Hold the iron over the fabric for about 8 seconds, working in sections until the entire tie is fused to the fabric. That’s it, little man onsie complete!

Step 5: A fifth, and optional step, would be to stitch around the onsie as shown in this tutorial (and in most tutorials). As I’ve mentioned before, while I am planning to learn how to use my sewing machine, I currently only sew by hand and to stitch the tie by hand would totally defeat the purpose of this being a quick project, haha. Don’t worry, it looks fab without the stitching as well!

NOTE: Turn inside out when washing, when possible hand wash and hang dry.

Completed onsies!

they had some NY Giants fabric on clearance! Little P will be look fab come football season! Go Giants!

check out my post on DIY hair bows to see how I made my matching bow!

DIY Rustic Burlap Pennant Banners

Posted on May 27, 2014 by simplyschulze

As usual last night I was up way too late crafting, but I was excited to get these done and off of my to-do list. I have a few parties coming up and I knew these burlap pennant banners would add a little extra something to the table displays and make for a great piece of decor to have on hand for future events. There is nothing too special about these and as I’m sure you’ve seen on Pinterest they are extremely popular, lol. However, since I used cheap store bought stencils for my project, I thought my tutorial would be worth sharing as I noticed that a lot of tutorials as that you create your own stencils which is just way too time consuming for my lazy butt. I would say more but there isn’t much else to say, just easy breezy party decor at it’s finest! Hope this tutorial comes in handy for your next shindig, I will be posting pics of how I use them at each event at a later date! Happy Memorial Day everyone, thank you to those who have served, past and present and of course, to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Squishy baby says thank you to our troops!

DIY RUSTIC BURLAP PENNANT BANNERS

NOTE: If you’re interested in making these with a different fabric check out my post on DIY fabric pennant banners, great for parties or photo backdrops!

YOU WILL NEED:

Burlap Fabric (the amount you need will depend on how many letters are in your words, I was able to get over 30 large squares out of 2.5 yards)
White Acrylic Paint
Paint Brush
Large Alphabet Reusable Stencils (available at Staples for about $7.00, I will be using these for several projects so it was a good investment, alternatively you could print your letters out on paper and use an X-acto knife to cut them out and create your own stencil)
Glue Gun
Twine or Ribbon

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1: Create a template for your pennants in whatever shape you would like, I chose a rectangle with an inverted point at the bottom. The measurements will depend on the size of your stencils but if you are using the large 5″ ones as I did, I found a good measurement to be 7.5X7.5 inches.

Step 2: Using your pattern as a guide, cut out as many pieces of burlap as you need. NOTE: I did not care about fraying as I though it added to the rustic look, however, to keep your piece from fraying you can spray it with a bit of fabric stiffener or brush the edges with mod podge and allow to dry before going on to the next step.

Step 3: Using your stencils, holding each steadily in place paint your letters onto the burlap and set aside to dry.

soooo many letters! lol

Step 4: Once letters are dry (I allowed mine to sit overnight), lay out a piece of twine long enough to accommodate the letters with slack on either end for tying the banner up for display.

Step 5: Apply a line of hot glue to the top of each burlap square and fold it onto itself, pressing down to create a firm seal. The spacing of the letters is up to you, I did not measure it out, just eyeballed it. Once you are finished your banner is ready for display!!! Check back to see how I display mine 🙂

Fun idea: If you want your letters to be interchangeable simply do not glue them to the twine but rather use a small hole punch to punch two holes along the top of each pennant and weave the twine through or use mini clothes pins to hold them to the twine!

Easy DIY Nautical Frame – Made For Under $1!!!

Posted on May 24, 2014 by simplyschulze

So with J gone for fleet week (*sigh* it has only been seven days and it feels like foreverrrr already), I have been keeping myself busy with baby P but also, of course, with TONS of crafts, haha. Earlier this week I found an adorable beachy frame on clearance at our local craft store and picked it up for J’s Mom (with all the running around for my niece’s b-day I wasn’t able to get my MIL a Mother’s Day gift, just a card), who loves beach themed decor so my plan was to put a picture of baby P from one of our recent beach trips in the frame. However, when I printed the picture I wanted to use, the store cropped it wrong and I ended up having to use another, but being the weirdo that I am, I couldn’t bring myself to throw out a picture of baby P even though it was basically useless (wow, I am a FREAK lol). In an ah-ha! moment I had the idea to use it in our guest bathroom, which is beach themed and a little gallery wall where baby P’s beach photo would fit perfectly (check out our guest bathroom update saga here). In my mind the project was going to involve rope, a picture frame and some of those baby clothes pins I had picked up for a party craft I am making in the near future, but to save myself the running around looking for rope (especially when I probably wouldn’t use it again, defeating the purpose of this craft being essentially free), I decided to just use twine I already had at home and instead of a frame I purchased a dowel for $0.59 to create my own “frame”. So, yesterday during P’s nap I whipped up this little picture frame in about 15 minutes, but the ease of this craft isn’t even the best part. The best part would be that when broken down, this craft costs about $0.75!!! Baby P looked on in delight as I hung it as part of our little bathroom gallery wall this morning and I just know our guests will love seeing it too :).

The original picture that prompted this idea, isn’t my squishy baby sweet?

YOU WILL NEED:

NOTE: If you find a cheap thrift store picture frame you could use that in place of the dowel, simply remove the glass and begin the instructions at step 3. Also, this does not need to be beach themed, you can wrap the frame in whatever material you would like and then embellish with something that suits your style!

A dowel (round or square, whatever your preference)
Hack Saw (or any saw, if you are desperate you can use scissors if you dowel is skinny enough)
Sand Paper (optional)
Rope or twine
Glue Gun
Mini Clothes pin (available at most craft stores, if you are making a larger version of the frame you could use a regular sized clothes pin)
Ribbon (optional, you could just use more rope or twine in it’s place if you’d like)
Sea Shells or Beach Glass (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Take your dowel and measure and mark the lengths of your frame size. I chose to do a 7″X7″ square frame since I only had a small amount of space available on my wall. Then use your hack saw to cut the four pieces and then sand off any remaining wood pieces or roughness on the edges (no need to make it perfect, you will be covering this anyway). NOTE: If you are desperate, just hack at your dowel using scissors until you weaken it enough to snap it with your hands, it will be uneven on the edges but you can sand them. Ghetto option I know, but I know some peeps don’t have saws and I like to be an equal opportunity crafter, lol!

Step 2: Arrange your four sides in a square as if they are lincoln logs (two on the bottom and two on the top overlapping). You can also do one under the other or glue the corners so that the frame will lay completely flat, it is up to you but personally I liked the way it looked using the lincoln log method. Use a dot of hot glue to attach each of your four corners.

Step 3: Now, beginning at a corner, use a dot of hot glue to attach the end of your rope or twine to the frame. Then apply a small line of glue to the frame and working a few inches at a time, begin wrapping the rope or twine tightly around the frame. Work quickly so the glue does not dry before you press the rope to it. Continue this process around the body of the frame until it is completely covered.

Step 4: Once you have finished the frame, decide where you want your picture to fall within it, then cut a piece of twine long enough to reach across the back width of the frame, securing it at either end with a dot of hot glue.

Step 5: Now, cut two pieces of ribbon, twine or rope of equal length (you will use these to hang the frame), the length depends on your personal preference. To attach each piece, place a dot of glue at each of the two top corners of the frame and secure an end of each piece. Tie them at the top in a bow or knot and it is ready to hang!

Step 6: The last step is optional, but if you wish you can embellish your frame. I used a single seashell attached with hot glue at one of the lower corners. Hang your frame, high-five yourself and if you’re a Mom decided what you’d like to do with the other 45 minutes of naptime! 🙂

Don’t forget to check out my post on our guest bathroom update, where you can view before and after pictures of our bathroom and all of our decor 🙂

	simplyschulze on “Where the Wild Things A…
	Sarah Wilson on “Where the Wild Things A…
	DIY Hanging Beach Si… on Easy DIY Nautical Frame…
	DIY Hanging Beach Si… on Coastal Chic Side Table Re-do…
	DIY Hanging Beach Si… on DIY Hand Painted Sign

	simplyschulze on “Where the Wild Things A…
	Sarah Wilson on “Where the Wild Things A…
	DIY Hanging Beach Si… on Easy DIY Nautical Frame…
	DIY Hanging Beach Si… on Coastal Chic Side Table Re-do…
	DIY Hanging Beach Si… on DIY Hand Painted Sign